Gingerbread House

Thought I'd share the Gingerbread House I made this year. My very first gingerbread house ever in fact. I had a lot of fun making it and am even contemplating selling them next Christmas. We'll see...
Anyway, here it is.. It measured 32 cm tall (undecorated) and weighed an absolute ton! lol We had a lot of fun smashing it on Boxing Day! (Dec 26th for those of you who are not familiar with it)

Shirl   :o)

Well I finally got around to finishing my 'Countdown to Christmas' tree!
here it is...

Kaisercraft Countdown to Christmas Tree - Lights on

Kaisercraft Countdown to Christmas Tree - Lights off

Products used..
Kaisercraft Countdown to Chrissy Tree
Kaisercraft paper blooms
Kaisercraft wooden flourishes (star & word 'christmas')
Basic Grey paper (old one..Blitzen was the name of it I think)
Winter white paint (semi gloss)
Cricut with 'Sure Cuts a Lot 2' (to create numbers and words 'days til')
Gold ink pad (to colour words 'day til')
Silver plain eyelets
Silver Snowflake eyelets
Set of battery operated LED lights
Drill to create holes for lights

Hope you like it :)

Christmas is coming!

Only 7 1/2 weeks people!
Scary thought hey. Well for me anyway because I haven't even started my shopping yet..which is a bad thing considering I have 4 kids, 3 of whom have birthdays in December! Yes..it's true...I am a completely unorganised person and no matter how I try I don't seem to be able to improve on that.
...sigh...Maybe next year I'll finally get my act together ...doubt it ;o)

Anyway...in the meantime I have got around to doing some Christmassy Craft! yayyy!
Thought I'd put together an Advent Calender...not that I needed one...I already have a few...but you can never have enough advent calenders I think! lol
This one was made using the wooden kit from Kaisercraft (a local company who's made big). The kit comes with all the peices you need to build your calendar. After it's all glued together you then decorate it however you like. I went with a bit more of a mature theme...roses and Silent Night. You could do some adorable kiddy versions if you have younger kids.
Pretty much all of the items I used to make my calendar are from Kaisercraft. They have some lovely papers and embellishments. Check them out.

Silent Night

Side detail

Top detail

More Christmassy items coming soon...and you never know...maybe even a painting or two!
Have a lovely day everyone
Shirley :o)

Just dropping by...

Well it's been ages since I last posted and seen as how I ended up here today (via a friends blog) I might as well update at least a little.I thought I'd share a little gift box that I made for another friend a little while ago. It was made to house a badge for the place where she had worked...a little momento for her to remember the place by.

It measures approx 3" x 3". I used some of my old TLC papers and cardstock. The rose on top is made out of cardstock.
Here's a few pics of what it looks like opened up. (I've blocked out the info on the badge for obvious reasons)

Shirl   :o)

Charcoal...

Okay..until last week I had never used charcoals before in my life so its all very new but I think I'm doing quite alright with them considering.
I started an art class 2 weeks ago and am thoroughly enjoying myself so far.
Our assignment last week was to colour a massive sheet of paper completely in charcoal and then use paper and paper sticks to take the charcoal off and 'hopefully' create a picture. I highly doubted I was going to be able to achieve this!! lol But in the end I'm really quite happy with how it turned out. The photo I had to copy was of an old statue of Jesus.
What do you think? I like it! :o)

Jesus - Charcoal 60cm x 81cm

Cordyline Fruticosa

This is a painting I started quite a while back but got distracted with lots of other things along the way so I never got around to finishing it...until now that is! :oD
Yayyyyy!!!! Finally!!!
Its going to sit on an easel in my family room. I love the colours...they're so bright and vivid.
I got the idea for this painting from a photo that was in a garden magazine years ago. The photo was so eye catching I knew I had to paint it. Anyway, here it is...hope you like it.
Shirley   :o)

Cordyline Fruticosa - Acrylics - 90 x 74

Closer view

Alone in the night....

Here's another one I've created using a magazine photo. I actually did this one the day after my Kansas pic but am only just getting round to putting it up here. (<~slack :oP)
I've decided I'm having lots of fun creating this way so I'm thinking I might stick to it for a while...it might help me loosen up a bit and not worry so much (I'm such a worrier! lol). Anyway, this one is called 'She Dreams'. I hope you like it.  xxx

'She Dreams' - Mixed Media

Been a while...

Well it's been a long time since my last post but that doesn't mean I've done nothing between then and now...it's just been a case of nothing worth sharing. More mucking around and trying to teach myself new things...nothing complete...just play.
But yesterday (at approxiamtely 4am) I decided it was time to actually do something! So I did. All bleary eyed and completely NOT bushy tailed...in the dark of night I got out my paints ...with no idea what I was about to do and no idea where I would end up...I went for it. lol
Anyway...certainly no master piece but still a bit of creativeness none the less....

'Something tells me....'

The photo was from the front cover of the tv guide. The guy is called Shaun Macalliffe and he's the host of a tv show called 'Talkin about your Generation'. He's also a well known and much loved comedian. This weeks show was all about the Wizard of Oz..and as you can see he was Dorothy. I think he rather suits the costume don't you! lol Anyway..this was the picture that caught my eye in the early hours of Sunday morning so I went with it. I'm kinda pleased with how it turned out. lol