Little Wooden Houses and Beach Huts

I do like it when I'm cutting wood, I don't have a fancy workshop, in fact I don't have a workshop at all. I cut all my wood under the gazebo in my garden. Great in the summer but I have to wrap up warm in the winter. Although by the time I've sawn, whittled and sanded I'm wiping my brow and removing the outer layers.
I've been making Little Houses & Beach Huts on Stands, some of you may of already seen them on my Facebook Page

A Village of Little Houses

This little 'village' has a Cottage, a couple of Tudor Houses and even some Beach Huts. They have been given a distressed look, the green bases have little ladybirds on them, you know I like my Ladybirds. The Beach Hut bases have been painted yellow and blue for the sand and the sea and there are 4 little fishes painted along the edge.

Home Sweet Home Tudor House

The Tudor Houses have signs reading 'Home is Where the ♥ is' and 'Home Sweet Home ♥' These signs can be changed around and can even be personalised. These look really pretty sitting on a shelf or mantle.

Love Shack

I made this Little Love Shack ♥. This and all the other Little Houses have been painted on all 4 sides and as you can see in the photo the house isn't attached to the base so it can be facing any way.

A Heart for a Love Shack

I've also been playing around with little fimo clay hearts dangling from wire, these could be used with the houses or even as bases for my Peg Dolls. I could use different charms or fimo shapes, maybe a sun, a cloud, the moon or a star. I'm enjoying playing.... ahem... working hard making these and have lots of other ideas in mind. As usual, you'll find these in my online shops (links up ▲ and to the right ►)


I'd like to thank everyone for leaving your great comments last week, I loved reading them, it looks like most of you put the writing after the photo you're talking about and I learned a few things about Ladybirds too.

I'm linking this post over to Lucy Blossoms link Up,   pop over to see lots of other great blogs.

Jan ♥

Southwold Lighthouse

I had a brilliant day out in Southwold, it's a lovely part of the Suffolk coastline especially when the weather has been as brilliant as today. Southwold has everything a seaside town needs, rows of beach huts a lovely Pier and golden sands.

Southwold Beach

It also has a wonderful Lighthouse. 

Southwold Lighthouse

Southwold Lighthouse

 

 I've been busy making and painting more of my Hanging Hearts, I love painting the waves and I think the Lighthouse fits the theme really well. 

A Lighthouse on a Hanging Heart

 These 3 Hearts are currently in a lovely shop called Cavern 4 in Bury St Edmunds.

Painted Hearts

After all that sea and sand I'm off to put my feet up and have a nice cuppa while I pop over to Handmade Harbour and check out who is taking part in Wendy's Linky Party.

Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine

Jan x

 

A Beach Hut for a Magnet

The sunshine has been lovely this week end, I hope you have had some too. 

Sunny days makes me think of sea, sand and holidays.... it makes me think of Beach Huts too,

Pink Stripy Beach Hut

 ********************************

 

Here are some ideas for more, I love the fact that they can come in a multitude of colours.

Beach Huts

Each one has different detailing, I tried to pick a favourite but I keep wavering between the seagull, the fish and the deck chair. 

 ********************************

  
It looks great on the fridge, unfortunately this wasn't a winning lottery ticket but it gives an idea of the size of the Beach Hut. (it's 2 x 3 inches) and strong enough to hold an A5 envelope with a letter inside it.

Beach Hut Fridge Magnet

 ********************************

 
I love taking part in the Handmade Monday Linky Party ,  I want to thank everyone for your lovely comments last week, you are such a friendly bunch, so don't forget to pop over and join in.

  ********************************

Jan X

P.S... this Beach Hut is for sale in my WowThankYou Shop

Bird sketches in the garden

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to do a lot more sketching. Sketching means many things to many people, it can be a quick thumb sketch to serve as a record of something you have seen or thought, it can be a way of keeping a record or a reminder of something you may want to use or do at a later date.

 These are some quick workings out for a set of canvases most of you have seen before, for those who haven't or if you want to see them again you can see the pictures here and here

Most of us use this type of thumbnail sketch, usually on any old scrap of paper, notebook or even an envelope, whatever is at hand at the time. It is a good way of working out composition and size. Most of these sketches have been done using pencil with a couple done in ink (el cheapo biro).


Some sketches can be more involved or more intricate and look like finished studies. There are no rules about sketching, there are as many styles as there are people.
You can sketch from books, photographs or real life and you can use any medium, most people use pencil as it is clean and readily available but you can use charcoal, pastels, watercolour or oil paint. Or how about mixed media, tissue paper, glue and even clay. There is no time restraint on a sketch, it can be a quick 2 minutes to a goodly few hours, there are no rules about detail, you can do as little or as much as you want.  The only boundaries are those we put in place ourselves.

To me sketching is a good way of practising some subjects that challenge me and by golly, I need some practise. The beach sketches above were done from memory and imagination, these next lot are done from life. This week has been a bit on the cold side to say the least and I'm certainly not going to freeze my fingers off sitting out in the cold so I started doing a few bits just from looking out of my windows.
Here are some of the results....

Birds in the Garden

There is no real detail in these sketches, I just wanted to capture the positions of the birds in the shrubs. 

The Great Tit eating out of the coconut shell was the most difficult because it was fluttering it's wings continually, the 3 birds sitting together was the easiest to sketch as these little cuties didn't move for long periods, the other 2 are juvenile blackbirds and were not to bad because they repeat the same stance quite often. 

These are 5 minute sketches done in pencil then afterwards I quickly went over the main lines with a pen.

I'm going to try and do a few sketches each week and possibly do a regularish post using both new and old sketches.

 Wishing you all a good week-end

Jan x

A Canvas for a gift

Gosh, the week has gone by so quickly, there have been a few frosty starts and some lovely sunrises, I keep telling myself that I need to get out early and take some early morning photos but I peep my head out of the door at something silly o'clock and dive straight back into the warmth.

This week I thought I'd show you a canvas I painted in December. A few weeks before Christmas I was contacted by a customer who had previously bought one of my Beach Hut Magnets, she had also seen one of my Beach Hut Canvases. I was really pleased when she ordered one as a present for her Mum.

The beginning of the canvas

She chose a 8 x 8" deep edged canvas.

The start of the detail

The canvas is painted using Acrylic Paint.

The finished Canvas

I was really pleased with the finished painting and more importantly, so was the customer, I hope you like it too.

I have linked this post to 1st Unique Gifts so please pop over and say Hi to Wendy and check out all the other great blogs that take part.

Wishing you all a great week

Jan x

Green Man Canvases for Handmade Monday

Another busy week, I don't know where the time goes, it just seems to be flying by.

Let me take you back to last year, I had a a few canvases in a local shop and they sold quite well, a couple of them were of the 'Green Man', well last week I received a pleasant phone call asking if I could do another one, so I got to work and really enjoyed it so I painted a couple of extra ones too and thought I'd try them out in my Folksy shop, I hope you like them.

Oak leaves with pairs of acorns

Leaves painted around the sides of the canvas

Sycamore leaves and paired seeds, or 'wings'

Painting continues at the sides of the canvas

I also finished the beach themed canvases that I posted about in the previous 2 posts, they are only small, 7"x 5" each. I'm not to sure what I'm going to do with them yet. 

I painted them for fun because I had the paint out for a commission and the blank canvases where just an odd 4 that I had laying around for the last few months.

I may put them in my Face Book album and see what happens.

I'd like to say a big thank you to Wendy at Ist Unique Gifts for hosting Handmade Monday, please check this out as it's a great way to hop around the blogs and another big thank you to Linda at  Uniquely Yours for including one of my Plaques in her blog. Linda does a wonderful job of showcasing some of her Folksy Favourites.

Thank you for visiting

Jan x

Brandon Park Canvas

I hope you all had a great Easter, I had a great time visiting my Mum, my Daughter and my Grandson.

It is just a quick short blog today as hubby and I have been in holiday mode for the last couple of weeks, although I did manage to get a couple of commission plaques done. Today I thought I'd show you the canvas that makes up my blog banner.

The unfinished painting.

This first picture is before I painted the flowers in the foreground.

It is of a small lake in Brandon Park not too far from my home. 

The canvas is 16”x20” it is not very big but a lot bigger than the name plaques you usually see me doing. 

When I decided to take the plunge and start a blog I had no idea what was involved in setting it up, I just followed the instructions. When 'asked' to upload a picture for a banner I had no idea what 'look' I wanted so I went into my picture file and asked my hubby to 'pick one' and this is the one he chose. I cropped the photograph and added a lens flare effect at either end, it was all done in a bit of a rush, but turned out ok. 

The colour of the photograph isn't brilliant, this is something I need to work on. The painting is brighter in 'real life'.

Now Easter and my holiday is over  I need to catch up on some orders, I have a few Beach huts to finish off, the new ones are not done with magnets like these ones but have sticky pads on the back, I have an outdoor Fairy door to varnish  and oh, I almost forgot,  I have a laundry basket to sort through.  So in between the sawing, painting, varnishing and housework, I'll grab a coffee and have a look at lots of other wonderful and interesting blogs.

Why not join me in the Handmade Monday blog hop and pop over to see  Wendy at Ist Unique Gifts,

I'd also like to thank Diana Jessie for the mention in her great blog dianajessie, my plaque is the 6th picture down.

Beach Huts and Magnets

I've got two Craft Fairs coming up this week, one on Thursday evening organised by Natico Events Planner and a 'Magical Spring Fair' held in a local Hotel on Saturday.  I'm busy busy busy trying to get things organised. not something that comes naturally!
I've painted a few more flint fridge magnets, and made some 'ickle critter magnets to replace the ones I've managed to sell. These critters are slightly smaller than the size of a 20 pence piece and look great on the fridge.

  

I've also done some beach huts magnets. 

Last year I painted a couple of 'Beach Hut' canvases  and they were well liked, I think it's the bright colours and the thought of warm days on the beach that made them so popular. I'm hoping the magnets will be as popular. 

I thought I'd show you one of my series of 'Beach Hut' canvases that I painted last year, I'm hoping to do a few more this year.

Before I pop off to bed I'm off for a nosey at some of the blogs that feature in  Handmade Monday organised by Wendy of 1st Unique Gifts. If you don't know what that is then come along with me and have a look at what Wendy and other crafters are doing.

Jan x