I really enjoyed creating this one. Not a fairy this time but a guardian angel.

This is the quote that inspired what I wanted to do...

'The guardian angels of life fly so high as to be beyond our sight, but they are always there looking down on us.' ..Richter 

I did have the quote on the page but it looked too busy so I got rid of it.
My scanner has cut a bit of it off although you can pretty much see all of it anyway.
I really love how her wings turned out. :)

'The guardian angel of life' - mixed media

You can buy a copy of this piece here.

'Sunshine, freedom, & a little flower' - Mixed media

Well I started another class...this one's called Lifebook 2013. It's run by a lovely lady called Tamara Laporte who is based in the good ol' UK. She creates a lot of classes for this year long course but there are also a ton of other artists involved who also create their own classes. So you end up with pretty much one class a week over 52 weeks. It's a great way to learn lots of different technique and well worth signing up.

My first exercise was to create a 'Fairy Art Mother' and put speech bubbles around her. In those speech bubbles you are meant to write words of encouragement to yourself. In other words, whatever negative things you normally tell yourself over and over eg:- 'I'm not good enough', 'Everyone else is better', 'I'm not an artist', etc, etc, etc (I'm sure you know all too well what I'm talking about)... You just write the opposite in the speech bubbles. So now you'd have 'You ARE good enough', 'You are JUST AS GOOD as everyone else', 'YOU ARE AN ARTIST'! Then you place this somewhere where you can see it all the time whilst you are creating. It's just a reminder to stop doubting yourself. I really loved this idea. I am definitely guilty of negative self-speak and it's something I need to work on changing.
Anyway, I've decided not to share her on here as the comments she's making are a little personal...so instead I am sharing another exercise that I did in the same course. :)

This one was a 'technique class'. Using foil, paper, tissue, etc..whatever you wanted really. (Paint/ink/spray your tissue ..or other...and then glue to foil. Cut out the shapes you want and then mold & glue into shape). We were supposed to make (almost) 3d flowers on our painted background. Well of course mine turned out not to be flowers and instead a fairy appeared. lol
You will see the wings are created using the same foil/tissue/etc technique.
It works really well. :)

'Sunshine, freedom, & a little flower' - Mixed media on paper

'I wish I could fly like the birds' - painted paintbrush

Hi everyone, I thought I would share something I did at the end of last year when I was doing the Frolic class with Mindy Murphy Lacefield. It's just a plain old paintbrush that's been painted up with a couple of bunnies. It turned out just soo cute! I love it. I have two other brushes that I would like to paint up to match the first...IF I ever get around to it of course. lol I'll be sure to link back to this post if I do.
Anyway, here it is... 'I wish I could fly like the birds'

'I wish I could fly like the birds' - Acrylic on paintbrush

Bounce Bunny

Well I finally got around to painting again...Yayyyy!!... after taking time off to do my daughters bedroom reno. And it felt SOOOOO good to be painting again.

This time, as I have signed up to do Mindy Murphy Lacefields 'Frolic' class, I did a little bunny girl.
I just love her eyes. She seems to be looking right at me. :D

Bounce bunny - Mixed media on paper

Something a bit different....a Bedroom makeover!

Well I haven't got any painting done whatsoever over the past few weeks whilst my daughter was in Japan.
But there's a very good reason for that.
We decided to do a surprise makeover on her bedroom whilst she was away. :D

And it turned out so well! We love it!

...the great news is...my daughter, who is now back from Japan, absolutely adores it too!
Her exact words when she opened her bedroom door...
"O.M.G.!!! WOW!!! ..It doesn't even look like my bedroom anymore!!"
...and then she spent the next half hour asking us about how we did everything.
Made us feel very good to see how much she loved her new room I can tell you! ♥

Anyway, I thought I would share the photos so you can have a look too. I made a lot of the deco myself. (got a few great ideas from Pinterest ...My FAVOURITE FAVOURITE SITE!!). I'll explain what I did below each pic.

The before photo

Forgot to do the before pic until after we'd cleared out the room. 

Our two helpers! NOT! lol

The finished room!

Isn't it lovely! :oD I just adore it!
The whole room was repainted. & The wallpaper is so gorgeous I want it for my room too!! ;oP My first attempt at wallpapering and I did a bloomin marvelous job (If I do say so myself! lol). Hubby was my paste-man! ;o)

Pretty new bed. Beautiful new bedding from Bed, Bath & Table.
The garland laying on the bed was made by me. Flowers made of hessian and calico as well as salt dough hearts which have been stamped. A combination of 2 ideas I saw on Pinterest.
http://pinterest.com/pin/222576406554772781/
http://pinterest.com/pin/185703184605294446/
Gee's I LOVE Pinterest!
The garland will eventually hang on the wall behind the dressing table.

Another view of the bed. Isn't the bedspread pretty.

2 cushions I made. (post card & birdy) Both made from tea-towels!! :oD

Picture frame photo display

I had sooooo much trouble finding this picture frame!! Finally found it at a local second hand market. 
The molding had some damage (bits missing) so I had to get out the gap filler, and my little knife, and sculpt it til it was the right shape. It came out perfectly. A coat of paint and it looks like new.
Got the picture display idea from Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/pin/222576406555049026/
Maddie has a Polaroid camera that takes tiny photos. I thought the washing line & pegs look was a great way to showcase them. Looks really nice against the wallpaper.

Side table and lamp

The side table has the same revamp as the dressing table (see below). Lamp (bought on ebay). Shade recovered. Candles are battery operated (no fires from these beauties). They look like candles, feel like candles, flicker like candles, and they have a beautiful smell. I dressed them up a bit with some hessian (burlap) and string.

Main window

Got rid of the vertical blinds. Made a shelf so we could add more deco above the window and added a curtain rod so we could add curtains to soften the look. http://pinterest.com/pin/130182245448203058/ Also made some roman blinds.

Bookshelf & baskets from Ikea

The letter 'M' I covered in hessian (burlap) put white paint over the front. Then made a little hessian flower and stuck it on.
The plate sitting on the bookshelf is filled with more salt dough hearts and also pebbles that I stamped with letters to spell Maddies name.

Salt dough 'cookies' and 'pebbles'

Birdy in a cage

Vase & flowers from Ikea.
The gorgeous bird cage idea also came from something I saw on Pinterest. So sweet!
http://pinterest.com/pin/222576406554828123/
I searched 'everywhere' for the perfect book. In the end I found it at the Second hand Markets.
  The book is called 'The Honourable Mr Tawnish'...which I thought was a very good name for my little birdy! So Mr Tawnish he became.
The cage is made of wire. Mr Tawnish is paper mache covered in book page feathers.
I'll try and get some clearer shots so you can see him better.

Be.You.tiful

I saw one of these signs on Pinterest and thought it was lovely so I made my own.
http://pinterest.com/pin/130182245448203058/
A piece of wood. Blackboard paint and white acrylic.

Couple of birdy pals

I really love little wooden houses so I just had to make some.

My hubby cut the shapes for me and I then painted them with acrylics

They're so cute :o) I'm going to make some more ...for me! lol

This dressing table (which matches the bedside table) belonged to Dave's sister when she was a little girl. Its belonged to our daughter for years now but we thought it was about time it got a makeover.
Repainted. Removed the handles and added some pretty pale blue knobs. Cut out the middle drawer so its more like a desk and Maddie can get her knees under.
This still has more to go before it's finished....something a bit different. ;)
I'll share pics when its done.
Bought the chair on ebay and gave it a revamp too.

The wall that the dressing table sits against hasn't got anything on it yet. But we've got plans. Hopefully we'll get that done soon.

Side window & roman blind.

 Isn't it pretty! & the room looks so much bigger and brighter. The wallpaper is just gorgeous. If you're interested here are the details. It is made in Germany but this is the company who supplies it here in Australia. www.eurowalls.com.au. It's in the New England range. It's 'paste the wall' type paper. VERY easy to apply and supposedly really easy to remove too.
If you have any questions about anything please feel free to ask. I'd love to hear from you. ♥

Kimono girl

My daughter leaves for a month long trip to Japan this weekend. I'm so excited for her but I'm going to miss her like crazy whilst she's away. :(

She of course can't wait to get there! She's going to have such a wonderful time.
The last week she's there will be spent doing all of the touristy stuff, but before that, she'll be living with a Japanese family.
My 2nd eldest son has already done the trip and absolutely fell in love with Japan and it's people.

One of the things we did last time, and which we are doing again this time, is sending thank you gifts for the family. Items like a photobook (of where we live, our family, etc), typical Aussie souvenirs, ornaments, and other such things. But I decided that this time I was also going to make a painting for our Japanese family...and here it is.

Kimono Girl - Mixed media on cradled wood panel

It makes me think of what my daughter is maybe going to experience whilst she is over there. I can't wait to see all of the photos!

xxx

Pretty little Coral

Well I'm still feeling VERY Summery (or should I say 'Springy' ....it's the last day of winter today!! Woohooo!!).
I think it was the thought of sunny days & beautiful blue seas that inspired this one.

She's a pretty little mermaid called Coral...and she is so very proud of her beautiful tail. She only wishes she had a mirror so she could admire herself every day. ..sigh..
lol

She's a mixed media, painted on a 16" x 16" (40.6cm x 40.6cm) Canvas Panel.

Hope you think she's as pretty as I do. ;)

Pretty little Coral - Mixed Media

Susie loves the Sunshine

Spring is almost here in Australia .. YAYYYYYY!!!!!
I'm just a little bit excited about that! Can you tell?
I'm sooo over winter and ready for some warmer weather and lots of blue skies! (There had better be plenty of blue skies otherwise there is going to be big trouble! grrr)

Anyway, I think the excitement of Spring inspired my latest painting. It's called 'Susie loves the Sunshine'. She's only a little one this time. 4" x 5 3/4" on paper.

I love her little striped stockings don't you? :D

'Susie loves the Sunshine' - Mixed Media

Isabelle et son petit chien

This one was inspired by a lovely bunch of ladies some of whom have spent time, or are still living in, Paris. The name 'Isabelle et son petit chien' means Isabelle and her little dog'. (It sounds so much better in French doesn't it! lol)

'Isabelle et son petit chien'- Mixed media

My Heart, My Home

I did this one during the London Olympics. Obviously I must have been feeling rather patriotic at the time! lol
I moved here from England 31 years ago and fell in love with Australia straight away. I think this painting expresses just how I feel about this absolutely wonderful & amazing country.

'My heart, my home' - Mixed Media