I Love You to the Moon & Back, Hanging Hearts and Snowy Scenes

Hello all, another busy week, whether it's shopping, baking organising or making. I'm sure you've all been busy too.

One of my jobs this week has been painting a few Hearts, these are all 15cm x 15cm or if you prefer imperial measurements it's 6x6inches and have a ribbon for hanging up.

I Love You to the Moon and Back has continued to be a popular saying, these Hanging Hearts were ordered as a gift for sisters, They have slight differences in the placing of the stars and the colours, one being dark blue the other a deep purple.

I Love You to the Moon & Back

Hanging Hearts with Moon & Stars

I usually leave the backs of the Hearts plain but I decided to paint stars on the back of these, I know if they are hanging against a door or wall nobody will see the backs anyway but if they are hanging in a window or somewhere they can spin around I thought it would be a nice touch.

I've also been painting snowy scenes on Hearts.....

A Snowy Scene on a Hanging Heart

Houses in the Snow Hanging Heart

Hand Painted Hanging Hearts

Wishing you all a great week and don't forget to pop over to this weeks Handmade Monday Link up.

Jan x

Gingerbread Houses and Doors for Santa's Elves & Winter Fairies

Gosh, it's the first day of December already, the day you can start to open the doors of your Advent Calender.

This week I've been busy with Gingerbread Houses. 

Gingerbread has a long history, I read that Gingerbread was brought to Europe in 992ad by an Armenian Monk and from there the love of Gingerbread spread across Europe to Britain and America.

It's believed that Gingerbread Houses became popular after the story of Hansel & Gretel by The Brothers Grimm was published. 

These Christmas Tree Decorations are painted individually so are all slightly different and in different colours. 

Gingerbread House Tree Decoration

Handpainted Gingerbread House Tree Decoration

Gingerbread House with a Candy Cane

I've also painted a little Gingerbread Man for a Tree Decoration.

Watch out here comes the history snippet.. 

The popularity of the Gingerbread Man has been attributed to Queen Elisabeth 1. (1533-1603) It is said that she had the gingerbread figures made and presented in the likeness of some of her important guests and courtiers.

Gingerbread Man Christmas Tree Decoration

Christmas Fairy & Elf Doors have been a hit this year too, they are great for weaving a story around, they are a way for Santa's helpers to pop in from the North Pole to see how the children are behaving or as an alternative to a Santa Key. If you are going away from home for the festivities you can take the Door with you and Santa will know where to leave any presents.

I have traditional Reds and Greens,

Christmas Elf Doors in Red & Green

lovely Blues

Christmas Elf & Winter Fairy Doors in Blues

and even Pretty Pinks..

Pink Christmas Doors for the Winter Fairy

Don't forget that if you'd like to purchase any of these items (or similar) please contact me.

I hope you all have a great week and don't eat all the advent chocolates before the first week is out!!

This post is linked to  Handmade Harbours Linky Party

Jan x

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer & Christmas Tree Decorations

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has been a favourite character since his creation by Robert L. May in 1939. He was first commissioned, drawn and appeared in a colouring book. Did you know that Robert May considered naming the reindeer "Rollo" and "Reginald" before deciding upon using the name "Rudolph"?

Here are some of my Rudolph influenced Christmas Tree Decorations...

Red Nosed Reindeer

Christmas Tree Hanging Decoration

Reindeer Christmas Tree Decoration

Rudolph has been immortalised on the big screen, his first appearance was in 1944 and there have been many short films and movies made since.

The well known Rudolph song was first published in 1949 and sung by Gene Autry, it became the Christmas Number 1 in that year and has been sung by countless children since....

A Herd of Reindeer

These Decorations are available through my online shops (links in side bar) or you can contact me through this blog :)

Don't forget to pop over to Handmade Monday.

Regards

Jan x

A Classic VW Beetle for Handmade Monday

Gosh the weeks are rattling around really quickly, it's been a really busy week for me again, I'm certainly not complaining, I love doing what I do.

One of the things I've done this week was a Plaque for a Beetle fan, no, not the creepy crawly insect kind and not the sing song band but the VW Classic Car kind.

I painted the plaque from a couple of photo's I was sent, it's a lovely car and a beautiful colour, this is what I came up with. (the plaque has the registration plate painted on but I've pixelated it out for on here)

VW Beetle Work in Progress

The finished VW Beetle Plaque

Yellow 'Classic' VW Beetle Painted onto Wood

I was very pleased with the final result and more importantly the customer and the 'Birthday Boy' were really pleased. I got some great feedback, here is a snippet....

It's arrived! :) He loves it (and so do I)!!

Packing was lovely too.

Thanks so much!

It's Handmade Monday once again, a time to relax and have a mooch around lots of other great blogs, so follow the link and pop over, enjoy and have a great week.

Jan X

 

Cupcake Plaques for Gifts

My Cupcake Plaques have once again been a very popular choice for gifts this year. I enjoy painting the different combinations of colours, fruits and swizzle sticks. 

Cafe Crème Cupcake with Swizzle Stick

A Blue Cupcake Plaque for Teresa's Pantry

A Yummy Strawberry Cupcake for Mum's Pantry

A Strawberry and a Sprinkling of Sparkle

Similar to these can be ordered through my Wow Thank You shop using the multi choice drop down box or if you want a different colour, fruit or topping that's not listed please ask as I'm always happy to help.

Jan x 

Santa's Magic Keys and his Reindeer

This week has been a bit about the run up to Christmas, I went to La Hogue Farm Shop Tasting Day, while I was there I met....

Santa's Reindeer

I had a taste of scrumptious cheeses, meats and wines as well as honey and fudges, I can't show you all that I bought, I find that this time of year we often turn into Secret Agents, (cue Bond Music) but I can show you these lovely jams I enjoyed tasting, they're delicious. They are Wild Mirabelle which is a plum and Strawberry & Gooseberry which is an unusual combination but works well.

Yummy Jams from La Hogue Farm Shop

and this 11.2% beer, the percentage means nothing to me but apparently it's very strong.... I've no idea if it tastes good but I'm sure my son will give it a go.

Insanely Bad Elf Beer

I've also been making Santa's Magic Keys....

 

A Magic Key for Santa

The Keys are Tibetan Silver and these are available through my Facebook Page or my Folksy Shop

or you can always contact me through this blog.

Jan x

This post is linked to The Handmade Harbour blog hop I hope you can pop over.

Having Fun

Last week was busy and lots of fun, we had family to stay, we went to the park....

Climbing in the Park

We went to the Pumpkin Patch, this time I was there as a visitor and not as a stall holder.....

In the Maize Maze

We went for walks and met the cows....

Moo cow Moo cow how do you do

I managed to make a start in setting up a new (2nd) Wow Thank You shop, ok it's not 'live' yet, I'm in the process of uploading and tweaking but hey the cows and play time come first.

I've been painting houses, these houses.....

I can't show you the finished pieces yet, I'll do that in a future post when they have all been safely delivered. Meanwhile, I'm going to grab myself a coffee and mosey on over to the Handmade Monday blog 

Wishing you all a great week

Jan x