Spoon Angel Swap

A while ago I signed up for the Spoon Angel swap over on UKScrappers. It was based on a project in the March issue of Craft Stamper magazine. The angels have started coming home now, so I can share...

Picture nabbed from the swap thread.

I was assigned Chrissie who wanted similar colours to me. Turquoise, Lime Green and maybe some Biscuit colours. So here's the angel I did for her. I had great fun going texture-tastic on the background.

Collaged papers and cardboards
Modelling paste
Stencils
Kaiser Colour, Reeves & Liquitex Acrylic paints
Neocolour ii crayons
Sennelier Oil Pastels
Uni ball & Posca pens
Gilding flakes
Perfect Pearls sprays
Some stamping on the wings
Chestnut Satin spray sealant

 I had a lot of fun making her and she's reached her new home now!
I reckon that she brings me up to number 10 on my 40Portraits too! Woohoo - quarter of the way there!

Here is the beautiful and very regal angel I recieved from my swap partner Mistyrat on UKS. She makes me think of the Alice in Wonderland stories - doesn't she look like she could have flown right out of the books? I just love that sunburst behind her - she's wonderful.

Thanks for stopping by for a peep today :)

Rocking My World Friday... Actually on a Friday!

Well lookee here - I'm only posting on a Friday! Calm yourselves. Calm yourselves.  

This might be a short post as I had a massive catch up during the week so it's only been a few days - but there have still been some positives in those few days. Some of which can be illustrated with more of my 100 Happy Days photos...

13. Receiving a little print in the post of a sketchbook page I had admired so much on Lynne Hoppe's blog

14. A wonderful parents evening with Superstar Ruby

15. I've seen these pencils being used in the Soul Food class but Amazon wanted over £12 here in the UK (For TWO pencils!!) Have been watching them on my wishlist and they dropped to £3.60ish the other day. And now they're here. Huzzah! Whether that was a mistake or not as they have shot back up to over £10 again now...

16. The Twitter Art Exhibit launched in Orlando last night. There have been lots of pictures posted online and I was chuffed to bits this morning to spot my crow being displayed. (Over the shoulder of this lovely lady)

The Twitter Art Exhibit also posted this tweet this morning. Isn't that amazing? I'll definitely take part again next year - it's been such a fun experience.

Other things that have made me smile the last few days...

Managing to still serve up proper dinners for a few days when our oven went on the blink. (Not so happy with the £150 to fix it...)

Getting a phone call last night from a school teacher telling us how proud she is of Phoebe and how well she's done in a test.

Warmer weather means not having to put the heating on so much - hopefully save a few pennies there.

Logey Bear talking back to the crows and dogs we meet on our walk down to the school.

Cuddles

Care Bear chats with Ruby who has just discovered them and is amazed that Mummy watched them as a child! I still have my Funshine Bear ;) And Strawberry Shortcake chats too! Though I don't still have my doll with the strawberry smelling hair.

Getting some sort of order in my work areas. I'm procrastinating by writing this post - I should be doing my desk right now...

Finding two fineliner pens in my shedio that haven't been brutally savaged by Ruby's heavy hand. (Hiding them!)

Laughs and cuddles with Craig

Sunshine today after a rainy start.

And that's my lot - not bad for a few short days... popping over to Virginia's now to link up. Why not join me?

Thanks for stopping by today :)

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday or WOYWW?

Welcome to my desk. I hope you appreciate the contortion I had to do to get this view - imagine if you will, leaning backwards over a chair, against a shed wall, on tiptoes, arms and camera in the air - like a badly dressed ballerina hippo from some awful nightmarish version of Fantasia and you might be near. All for you. And there isn't even that much to see! 

Not had much of a chance to get out to the shedio this week yet. But there are some things to have a rummage through. The metallic canvas at the back is waiting for me to find some suitable packaging to send it on to it's new home. The spoon and wings on the mat are part of the blue and green canvas you can see behind the other one. Cola - well that's hidden out there for the weekend again.

I don't resize WOYWW pics - so click for  the bigger picture ;)

Ummmm... Olay box has been hoarded for years - my girls got me an Olay gift set for Christmas one year and I fell in love with the sturdy box it all came in. It's got a magnetic closure and everything. It's time has come to be revamped - am going to cover it in some way, just pondering at the moment - want to keep it flat so that it can be stacked on my shelves. It's to hold my drawing pens - perfect size it is. Indeed.

Sooo...any questions? Let me know. I am once again bringing up the rear from last week so if you get a random comment on the wrong week - that's me playing catch up with the lovely people that visited last week ;) Where are the days going? Honestly!

Thanks for stopping by today - if you'd like to see masses more creative spaces - follow me over to Julia's where there be bounty galore!

Rocking My World (Several) Fridays

What is going on? I am losing all track of time. Remember that word for the year - Organisation, Organisation, Organisation! (It's quite foreign to me!)

This is a quick catch up of the last few weeks and what made me smile - so that I can get back on track-ish. :)

So let me think - what's happened?

At the end of February I turned 37 - Craig is horrified that he is with someone so positively ancient. Cheek. Spoilt rotten I was, with lots of arty presents in the form of stash, books and handmade gorgeousness from lovely people. Craig also gave me some pennies - specifically to be spent on stash. Yay. (I did take pictures and they are on my PC... somewhere!) 

I have been busy, busy, busy in my shedio now that the days are warmer - it's nice being able to leave the door open all day again so I can just potter about and pop out there when I can.

The Soul Food Class still inspiring me, still loving it and although I am behind with it - I am still doing it. And I am not alone in being one of the stragglers  so that's alright. When we moan about being behind we are told to enjoy it and absorb it at our own pace - all good stuff!

Went to my first ever ComicCon in London this week. I was supposed to be going with my sister and Devvie. On the day my sister was poorly - she was gutted, she hasn't missed one since they started. Devvie and I were nervous, being newbies to it. We needn't have worried. We really loved it, watching the artists drawing was my favourite part of the actual event. So good and totally unfazed with being watched. Plus, due to engineering works we ended up having to use 10 trains to get there and home again but we did it and never got lost once! Most chuffed we were. But my even best bit was meeting up with my bud Sarah. So good to see her and her boys.

And of course it would have been just rude not to buy any signed prints (I could have spent a fortune!) The Hulk and Walking Dead art is by Christopher Uminga.  And the zombie My Little Pony and Wonder Woman are by Zombie P.E.T.Z. I also treated myself to a cute little zombie bears comic - purely for the cover art. The Superman is a Des Taylor we picked up for Pheebs to frame. She is a Superman mad at the moment.

We'll definitely go again next year!

I'm also joining in with 100 Happy Days over on Facebook. You take a picture a day for 100 days of something that made you happy. These are my first twelve. Ties in really nicely with the positive thinking of Rocking Friday doesn't it? 

1. View from a very busy desk - happy that my friend was coming in for a cuppa
2. Sunshine on another busy desk (always makes me happy!)
3. Being woken up by Craig with a cup of tea and a bubble bath! More sunshine, washing drying on the line, LOADS of shedio time when Craig and Devvie took Logan for a walk into town... no pictures of all this though so... another shedio pic
4. My Mum's beautiful mini daffs in full bloom
5. Craig had a workshop clearout so I inherited a fabulous trolley!
6. The Bear extremely pleased with an unexpected toy gift he got in the post.
7. Washing my paint cloth and realising it is my most used Christmas present by far - made me smile.
8. An unexpected knock on the door bought me a box full of goodies from a prize win which included a satchel, a journal, pens and postcards.
9. Silver crow visiting the garden out back, in amongst the fog he made a striking view.
10. Comicon and meeting up with my bud Sarah :D
11. A more chilled out day involving a walk around the neighbourhood insect spotting with The Bear. No piccies so this was him enjoying Daddy time, the day before.
12. Strike a pose!

Other things I've been happy about over the past few weeks...

• My back is at the lowest pain level (if you discount the mornings) for a long time.
• Craig and the kids.
• Buying a big sack of spuds and using what we have in the cupboards = a couple of cheap shopping weeks.
• Slowly getting my corner of the living room under control and organised again.
• New hair colour - always feel better after that.
• Sunshine
• Fig rolls
• Book swaps
• Friends both near and far away. On and offline. (Muchos squishies)

I think that probably brings me up to date. I know I am leaving bits out but at least I'm caught up! 

Going to (very belatedly) link up with Virginia now - why not pop over and join us?

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Soul Food - Lesson 9 - Letting Go Of Perfect

Heather Santos encouraged us to let go of perfect with lesson 9 of the Soul Food class. Use limited colours and tools and don't worry about the minuscule details. It was really hard to stop faffing and keep it loose. I did use just one brush... but did go in search of a toothpick to scratch in some details and used a Posca pen and Pilot Permaball to add some final details. Just a few itsy bitsy ones - made myself stop before I did too much. Honest Guv! 

*Multiple picture alert* I took some photos as I went along - she started off on the top of a background I already had in my journal. You can see some of the marks peeking through on the final face.

There were many phases of loving and hating this as I worked through it... but I kind of love her now. She accidentally ended up in the journal where I do arty bits that are a kind of message to myself - so that's where I used the Posca pen - the title of the lesson seemed a good message ;)

I reckon she's number 9 of my 40 portraits too. Yay.

Thanks for stopping by today!

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday

Hello Peepers :) I only just remembered what day it was and so have nipped out to take a picture. My clock has stopped and needs new batteries so pay no heed to that.

After a dismal start it's turned out lovely and sunny so we have a nice airy shedio today. I don't resize my WOYWW pictures so feel free to click and enlarge if you want a better looksee...

Diet Cola is hidden out there till the weekend, wings and spoon are for a swap I'm taking part in to make an Angel Spoon canvas - it was a project in Craft Stamper which you might just see peeking out from under the desk. They will be going on that canvas at the back of the desk. Don't sit down as the journal on the chair is wet - left it there to dry. That's one of the classes from Soul Food. Loving that whole class so much.

Can you see my new addition? My partner had a clear out in his workshop and so I inherited those drawers under the desk. What a perfect fit eh? I was saving up for a wire trolley from Ikea - I won't have to now! Chuffed to bits with that I am. Will be moving all my mediums and glues over there.

Any questions? Gies a shout! I'm still catching up with people who visited last week - time ran away with me - so if you get a random comment on last weeks post - you know why. 

Thanks for stopping by for a nosey today - fancy having a rummage through some more desks and work spaces? Then follow me over to Julia's, Snoopers paradise!

Bubye for now.

Oops - a little p.s, the mermaid that was on my desk a few weeks ago - a couple of people wanted to know how she turned out. She's in the post below this one.

Bubye again  ;)

Mermaid

This is the mixed media mermaid I did for a long overdue swap with a mermaid mad friend. She's got a big butt, I cannot lie! And big boobies! She's been received now so I can blog her without spoiling the surprise.

Modelling Paste
Liquitex and Kaiser Colour Acrylic Paint
Posca & Pilot Permaball Pens
Sennelier Oil Pastels

I used one of the backgrounds I did on canvas board when I was working through the Acrylic Solutions book. Haven't been able to add any to my 40 Portraits count recently but I reckon she makes number 8 of 40.

Ooh - this is a quick post for me isn't it? Sun is shining though and I am off out to the shedio. Hope you're having a good day. Thanks for stopping by :)

Stay at Home CJ - Innocence and Experience

The CollaborArt "Stay At Home CJ" is a project where  all the participants made just one background and come up with a theme for that background. We then sent our background  to our host, Sarah. She photocopied them and then we all got a full set of backgrounds (and our originals) back to work on. We all work on the same background each month - to the theme set by the backgrounds creator.

Month 6 of the Stay at Home CJ has arrived and caused me many a moment to scratch my head and ponder the theme of Innocence and Experience. Set by Pam, inspired by William Blake and coming with an equally challenging background...

So, cutting it right to the wire and beyond...  Getting desperate, I just went really literal, embarrassingly basic... made so many mistakes - am rubbish at hands and the 'old' hand had 6 fingers at one point! Eh? But I've ended up with one of my favourite pages from this CJ.

Pam's background
Acrylic Paint
Punchinella/Sequin Waste
Pilot Permaball Pen

Chuffed to bits with it I am, even the dodgy bits. Please click through and see what everyone else did with the background - so different and diverse! You'll be able to see a preview of next months background too - the theme of which will be: Mermaid Tales! 

Thank you Pam for a really thought provoking theme and a gorgeous background to play with.

Thank you for stopping by today :)

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday

Hello Deskers :) I remembered to take part this week! So without further  waffle or ramble, I present to you... my desk. 

I don't resize these pictures so feel free to click and enlarge should you want to.

Fred the Tree is looking a bit sorry for himself - might be time to move him outside. More Diet Cola on my desk - the shedio is still chilly enough to use as a second fridge and we usually only give the kids fizzy drinks at the weekend - so, you know, out of sight - less pestering!

Two canvasses on the go - the copper one is for a friend, the blue one is for a class. The two white ones are next in the queue to be prepped for a swap.

Those of keen eyes (LLJan) will spot my white board has changed! Yes. I had cause to wipe something off it! A finished project/commitment. Woohoo! For someone as disorganised as me this was a big and ceremonial moment! I took the opportunity to write it out neater and add a few more things to remember. (Organisation is my word for the year.)

And now - a piccie from my shed door to show you how massive (titchy) my shedio really is. 6x5' - my little cocoon. The big canvas on the floor is a family collaboration - everyone has added to it. They've now left me to 'finish' it. No pressure or anything. The white thing on the chair is a little heater that warms it up lovely out there when I have the door shut. The big sack on the floor just in shot is a sack of spuds. Deadly interesting I know. We're going for a cheap week and using up what we have in the cupboards! 

Any questions? Fire away. I'm off now to link up with Julia. Don't know why I'm showing you my desk? Come with, you'll discover scores more creative people showing you where they work! Snoopers paradise!

Thanks for stopping by today :)