Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad

My Mum and Dad celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary on Monday.  I decided to make them a card celebrating them and the family they have produced over those years in a family tree card.  

At the top is my mum and dad, then my brother, me and my sister and then underneath each of us the children we have....I have some catching up to do as my brother and sister both have three!!! ;o)

I used the saying "from Mighty Oaks tiny acorns grow" which I thought worked quite nicely until my dad pointed out that the saying is actually "Mighty Oaks from tiny acorns grow"..oops.  still you get the idea.

Jungle Canvas

I've finally finished the jungle canvas in Max's nursery, a project that I started when I was 6 months pregnant!!!! It's been hanging in the nursery un finished for the past 7 months since Max's arrival and every time I looked at it I felt bad for having not finished it, SO, a couple of evenings staying up until 2am and I did it!! Hurray!! 

Above:- Finally Finished!! Jungle canvas painted with acrylic paints and layered with a collage of papers to create the leaves and grass.

 Max has always been very interested in the canvas.  He loves to touch it and always smiles when I hold him near it.  I talk him through all the animals and tell him what noises they all make (although I get a little stuck when I get to the giraffe!) which always gets him laughing.

 The nursery has a  jungle theme and the canvas really is the centre piece. Max is also building a very nice little collection of jungle animal soft toys!

Above:- Max's Jungle room.

Now, what to do next ;o)

For Poppy

I went to a very special Christening on Sunday.  It was for a little girl called Poppy who has made quite an impression on my little man Max over the past 7 months!  Poppy's mum Catharine has quickly become a very good friend of mine since our babies arrival within 3 days of each other.  We met at NCT classes when our babies were just bumps and we, along with 7 other new mummies have formed a really special friendship while experiencing the many new and rewarding challenges that motherhood brings.  

Poppy's Christening gave me an excuse to make a special gift for her and her mummy, a gift that I hope they will treasure.  

I used photos of Poppy and some fitting bits of music sheets including 'eyes o blue' and 'a smile for me' which seemed to sit really well surrounded by all the beautiful smiling pictures of Poppy!  I'm really pleased with how the frame turned out and I hope that they like it too.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of Poppy's super cute shoes on her Christening day and decided to use the picture to make a personal gift tag.

In with the Old

I've recently re decorated my work space at home to try and brighten it up and make it a more inspiring place.  As part of my re vamp I put together a mood board to display on the wall...the idea being that I'll constantly be updating and replacing this mood board to keep me inspired and excited.

At the moment the mood board is based around old treasures and I titled it 'In with the Old'

My mood board includes old photos, postcards and stamps that I've found in car boot sales and antique shops.

  

Above- My finished mood board on the wall in my new work space (this is the tidy half of the room, the other side is far more messy and colourful!)

Little pieces of art

Here'a a couple of images I created using just some of my many hoards of treasures and bits and bobs.  It was really nice to get all the old bits of jewellery I've collected over the years out, I didn't realise I had so much (mainly thanks to my nan's costume jewellery collection).  I also love the old vintage sewing accessories, especially the old tape measure and needle packets! I feel the scrabble letters fit in well with the feel of the images, giving an overall feel of attic finds and shabby chic treasures!

 I entered these photos in to the 'Tigerprint' female photography competition and my 'Wonderful Treasures' image got to the final 24!! Not bad :)

Farrant Art Prints

As I'm sure I've mentioned before my partner is a very talented painter, as is his father David.  They have just launched a website (designed by Jim's sister..very talented family all round!) promoting and selling high quality giclee prints of some of their wonderful work.  Take a look at Farrant Art!

PADDLING

45 cm x 48 cm (number in edition 195)

£195

SUSANNAH

50 cm x 54 cm (number in edition 95)

£275

The top painting paddling features our nutty Cocker Spaniel Rocket and the bottom painting is me!!

Box Frame Art

I recently painted my new work space bright white in order to make it as light as possible.  I wanted to break up that white with interesting pieces on the wall.  Last summer I collected quite a few box frames from car boot sales but was yet to put them to good use...until a couple of weeks ago when I finally got some super glue and made some funky pieces of art.

 Above:- Using some old rusty keys bought from a car boot sale for 30p each!

 Above:- I have sooooo many buttons, I thought it would be nice to display some of the more

 interesting ones within this long box frame.

And here's my 'Art Wall' so far!!