Sketch Books, Love Potions & 2016

I know we say this all the time but I've got to say it again...... Wow, how time has flown, I can hardly believe another year has gone by and it's 2016 already!!!!!!

Like every New Year I like to plan on doing and making new things, for inspiration I've been looking through my sketch & idea books...

Pages from my sketch books

....they are full of things I can expand and experiment with, I'd like to do more work with polymer clay with a bit of paper mache thrown in.

I've been having fun with my miniature bottles so I'm planning to do a few more, my Christmas ones were a huge success so I thought I'd move on to Valentines Day themed bottles....

A Miniature Bottle for your Valentine

I've also been having a little play around with a logo for my Etsy Shop

Playing with Logo's

These are some of my works in progress, still lots of sketches and jiggery pokery to do but I'm quite liking this style and it's been great fun playing around with coffee and ink stains. 


I'll leave you all with my best wishes for a wonderful 2016

Jan x

The linky party over at Lucy Blossom Crafts  is still open so I'm popping this post over there, why not wonder over and see who else is joining in.

Star Wars Christmas Decoration

I believe that lots of us 'crafters' make some of our own Christmas Decorations, have you made any? either for yourself or as a gift for someone?
For the past few years I've made my 6 year old grandson a decoration to hang on his Christmas Tree, this year he asked for Darth Vader from Star Wars, he had to be wearing a Santa Hat too.

Darth Vader

 In previous years he's been given Creeper from Minecraft.....

Creeper

and the Tardis from Dr Who......

The Tardis

I've also painted him a Spiderman in a Santa Hat but can't find the photo for that one.

I've written on the back of each decoration, 'From Nanny & Grandad' and the year. Because they are made of wood, painted with acrylics and varnished they will be used to decorate the tree for years to come.
I think this has become one of our 'family traditions'

Do you have a family tradition? I'd love to hear about it.


Best Wishes

Jan X


I'm popping this over to Lucy Blossom Crafts Link Up  if you want to pop over and leave your own blog post it will be open all over the holidays.

A Beautiful Sunrise

I awoke yesterday to the most brilliant sky, the colour was so dramatic it filled the house with a brilliant light. I threw my coat over my pj's, grabbed my camera, ran outdoors (still in my slippers) and managed to take a few photo's. The sky changed so quickly, each of these pictures were taken less than two minutes apart.

A Fiery Sky

I haven't used any filters or enhancements,  this is exactly how it was.

The Morning Sky turning Purple

Within minutes the light changed completely....

The Sky becoming Paler

...it paled and turned lilac, then within minutes the colour was gone. Nature can be such a wonderful thing. 

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As everything I'm doing at the moment is either a Work in Progress or can't be shown yet I'll leave you with this one little Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

A pretty little painted star for a shelf in the nursery.

Do You Know How Loved You Are?

Can you believe that I picked those daisies from my garden this week..... daisies in December!!!

Wishing you all a wonderful week

Jan x

This post is linked back to Lucy Blossom Crafts Linky Blog

Stonham Barns Owl Sanctuary and Outdoor Plaques

It's been a week of painting Fairy Doors, Wooden Houses and Key Hook Plaques but I'm afraid I can't show them yet. Soooo I thought I'd share my day out with you instead.

Today, even though it's a wet and windy Sunday, hubby dragged me away from my painting table AKA the kitchen table, to treat me to a day out. We went to Stonham Barns, I'd never been before and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's an Owl Sanctuary but has lots of other birds of prey to see...

This was the weirdest looking Snowy Owl I've ever seen, It's winter plumage makes it look like it has a big fat pair of legs....

Snowy Owl

I took so many photographs I really didn't know what ones to show you, I managed to whittle it down to these.

Please don't ask me what they all are, I really should of taken notes, or better still, taken a photo of the information card that was with each of the birds.

As well as the Birds they have these cheeky chappies, I could of stayed watching them for hours....... 

Meerkat Kastle at Stonham Barns

 

....you can see them on Youtube here...  YouTube - Meerkats at Stonham Barns

The sanctuary has a wide variety of birds, there are Falcons, Eagles and Red Kites to name but a few.  

Some of these magnificent birds are here because they were injured, usually by other birds or animals but can you believe that one of these birds had been shot, it was brought to the sanctuary after being found by a dog walker.

As well as the animals and birds there is a restaurant and a selection of gift shops so if you're out and about in the Suffolk area I think it's worth going, although I think I'll wait till the warmer weather for my next visit.  

You can find out more about it here....

Stonham Barns Suffolk Owl Sanctuary

To redress the balance, as this is a Crafty Blog, here are a couple of plaques that are in my Folksy Shop at the moment,

 Did you see what I did there?..... As they are outdoor plaques I thought they would fit in with the theme of this post.........

            ........and there's a feather in the photo too.

















I'm going to pop this post over to the Handmade Monday Link Up @ Lucy Blossom Crafts


Jan x

Sweet Dreams & Moonbeams in a Fairy Dust Bottle

A few weeks ago I acquired some cute little bottles with cork stoppers, my plan was to decorate them for Halloween, you know the type of things, Dragons Blood, Witches Brew etc, well I think I'm living in some sort of time distortion field because before I could turn around and say BOO, Halloween was over and Christmas is on it's way. So, as the empty bottles were still sitting on the shelf I decided to Glitterfy them (apparently Glitterfy is not a word, but don't you think it should be)?

Tadaaaa... here they are..

Bottles of Magical Glitter Dust

 

Can you see the little bells? I thought they were so sweet and they have an antiqued look to match the labels.

They look lovely hanging from my twiggy tree and would look equally good on the Christmas Tree if you have one.

Fairy Dust on a Twiggy Tree

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Sweet Dreams & Moonbeams

They were such fun to make, from choosing the colours and matching up the ribbon to making and aging the labels, I think I'll be offering these to be personalised, it's only a tiny label but I'm sure I can fit a name on, for example.... Molly's Fairy Dust  or Tom's Elf Dust, as long as it fits.

I hope you've all had a good week, I'm popping over to Lucy Blossom Crafts for a catch up, I'm linking this post to her weekly Crafty Link Up 

Jan x

A Cheeky Monkey Plaque or should that be a Plaque for a Cheeky Monkey?

Helloooo everyone, what a busy ol' week it's been and not all crafting, I've had visitors which was lovely (and hectic), I've been visiting which was even lovelier (as I did all the eating and non of the cooking) Mmmm yuymmy
At the moment I'm working on a couple of commissions that I can't show yet (as it's 'that' time of year).
But I can show you a finished plaque that's on it's way to Australia...

Cheeky Monkey Plaque

This Door Sign is for a returning customer, you can see his sisters Butterfly Plaque here

This week I've spent most evenings reading the link up blogs over at Lucy Blossom Crafts and even though I haven't managed to leave comments I have admired the stitchery at Caroleecrafts 
the lovely watercolours by Clare Willcocks
the sweet Tweeters at The Red Haired Amazonan 
and the pretty gift tags from Freespirit Designs
as well as all the other wonderful bloggers and crafters that take part in the weekly linky party.

I was going to add this post for the link up at Lucy Blossoms link up but it looks like she may be having a few problems this week so I'll get onto my bloggers list and pop over to a few.

I'm adding this post to Paint Party Friday.blogspot whom I found via Clare Willcocks' blog :) 

Jan x

Angels & Elves, Peg Dolls & Christmas

Have any of you ever taken part in or organized a Market Night on Facebook? I took part in one last week and it was great fun, it was held by the lovely Zoe over at Scented Sweetpeas. She worked hard to get everything organized, there were lots of other great artists and crafters taking part so it was lovely and varied.

I added some of my Peg Doll Angels to the event....

A Trio of Angels

as well as 3 little Peg Doll Elves....

A Trio of Elves

a Christmas Bird House.....

A Christmas House

and one of my Christmas Fairy Doors.

Pretty Pink Christmas Fairy Door

Phew, it was very busy evening and my organizational skills were stretched to the limit, I really should of had a notebook with each item listed so I could keep notes of who ordered what. I did manage to get it all together in the end and managed to match up names, orders and emails.
I made sales, got some new orders and had some new visitors over to my Facebook Page so all in all it was a very successful event and one you should try if you get the chance.

That's all from me for now

 Jan x

I'm linking this post over at Lucy Blossom Crafts Blog

A Fort and a Castle

The weather may be changing and winter is drawing in but that won't stop children from playing outdoors, especially when they have their very own 'fort' and 'castle' in the garden.

I had an order for these 2 plaques via my Wow Thank You Shop 

A Fort for a Boy

These have been finished off with an exterior varnish.

Add caption

They both have brass screw fixings.

A Castle for a Princess

They also have a sparkly finish.

I had lovely feedback for these pretty plaques.....

I just wanted to say a big Thank You for the really lovely wooden 
plaques that you designed for my two grandchildren: A..... and H....  
They were absolutely thrilled with them and they will look amazing

above their respective home-made garden Castle and Fort.
Good Luck with your online business :)

It's a great feeling when your work is appreciated and makes people happy.

Jan x

It's Handmade Monday time again so don't forget to pop over to Lucy Blossom Crafts Blog and join in with her weekly link up, it's a great way to find other crafty blogs.

Autumn Leaves and Garden Plaques

Hi, I'm back, can you see me waving.....
I decided to take a bit of a summer break, summer has gone and now it's Autumn, the way the time is flying by it will soon be Christmas but we won't think about that just yet.

I love the colours of Autumn,

Autumn Sycamore Tree

 I can see this lovely Sycamore tree from my window, it's lovely to see it change through the seasons.


I've busy painting plaques, these both have the same spade and fork design but to make each plaque individual there are small differences in the birds and insects. There is also a choice of colour, twine or wire hanger or brass screws if preferred, these ones were ordered via my Wow Thank You Shop

A Plaque for a Shed

A Garden Plaque

I'll leave you with a few more Autumn Leaves to look at while I pop over to Lucy Blossom Crafts to take part in her blog linky party.

Autumn Colours

Jan x

A Plaque for a Playroom, Fairies Welcome

I have another commissioned plaque to show you this week, this time it is for a playroom for a couple of little girls. I was contacted via my Handcrafted by Picto Facebook Page and after an exchange of ideas and a sketch sent for approval this is what I painted....

Playroom Plaque

 I love the colours, the brief was lilac, pink and yellow in pastel shades.

A Playroom Fairy

 I have put a shimmer of sparkle paint around the edges and on all the details.

Fairies Welcome

This Fairy Garden is filled with Butterflies and Dragonflies, Toadstools and Flowers.

Welcome Plaque

I added a couple of snails, ladybirds, a caterpillar and a wiggly worm in the grass.

A Fairy Plaque for a Playroom

 This plaque is a tad larger than my usual size, about an inch all round and slightly thicker, I can also do any of my plaques on canvas or paper on request. This picture gives you an idea of the difference in size.

Plaque Sizes

Just before I go I thought I'd show you a returning visitor to my feeders...

A Great Spotted Woodpecker at the feeder

I think I may paint one of these, don't you think the markings are lovely?

I'm off to join in with Lucy Blossom Crafts Blog Link Up

Jan x

3 Puppies on a Plaque

For this weeks Handmade Monday post I'd like to show you a plaque I made to hang doggy leads on...

My customer sent me photographs of her 3 dogs and done this quick sketch for approval before I started painting. 

These cute little puppies have been painted using acrylic paints onto wood.....

The hooks are for dog leads but could easily be used for keys. I've added a ribbon to display it for the photographs but I supply a couple of brass screws and rawl plugs so it can be screwed into the wall. This makes it more secure for hanging the leads.

The painting has been continued around the edges, can you see the toadstools?....

I do like to add daisies, butterflies and ladybirds and as all 3 doggies are female and love romping in the garden it seems quite appropriate.




Jan x
I'm linking this post to Lucy Blossom Crafts blog link


 

Pink Unicorns on Name Plaques

For this week's Handmade Monday I'd like to show you Pink Unicorns 

Stories and legends have been told of the Unicorn since time began, this wonderful creature has always been woven into tales of myth, magic and folklore.

The Unicorn is a popular request for personalised plaques, here are the latest two that I have painted....

All pink for Sophie

Pink & Brown for Libby

They have both been finished off with a coat of sparkle, it's a pity it doesn't show up well in the photographs.
These can be done in any colour or wording so if you want something similar just let me know.

Wishing you all a magical week

Jan x


This post is linked to Lucy Blossom Crafts Blog Link