Category — Artist Ramblings

Join us: http://www.creativeadventures.ning.com

xxx

I am so excited! I have just opened my very own creative community for you to come and play in!

My first online class Mixed Media Basics was so much fun and I really loved the teaching, it really opened up so much for me creatively than I expected. I’ve tried creating my own communities in the past but it just wasn’t the right time for me but now I feel it’s right to go ahead and jump right in.

I taught the first MMB class on a private blog which turned out to be more limited than I had realised, so I decided to move to Ning and open up the options to teach more classes in one place as well as have the opportunity to offer free classes and add not just my art and videos but be able to enjoy communicating with you on a much larger scale.

This is going to be such fun and as the name suggests a big adventure!

I really hope you will come and join me at: Creative Adventures, I’ve opened up Mixed Media Basics for another round in the Autumn and Style & Inspiration will be opening soon also.

Lot’s of exciting stuff, and don’t worry if you can’t afford a class right now there is plenty of free videos to inspire and teach you and you can chat and share your art for free too.

Come and join us: http://creativeadventures.ning.com/

xxx

Lately I’ve been trying to put more routines in place. I tend to get quite stressed if I have a lot on and don’t know where to start. My trusty diary helps so much but still I find myself craving more of a routine during the day.

I let things slip in like “Oh I must do the laundry” or “Oh I need to pop out and get such and such” you know. Then before I know it my to do list has gone from 4 big things to do to a load of things to try to fit in in one day and it just can’t be done!And then of course there are those unexpected disruptions of the not so good kind that crop up from time to time – lately a lot! Like my laptop battery ac blowing up…

So I’m thinking I need to stay focused and have a routine in place so I don’t fall behind on the important things.

What do you think about routines and how do you use them in your day to day life, including your work/business?

xxx

5 x 5”

Country Life

I need your help! I’m conducting a short survey so that I can find out how my art is serving you, would you help me out please?

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W6PB7H9

I’m offering 1 free print to anyone who completes my survey and places an order over at Etsy between now and next Friday.

I really appreciate you!

Thanks

xxx

On Saturday it was the Big Day! The day I turned 30. The start of a new decade, boy that sounds scary :0 Still I’m sure God has great things in store for us so I won’t complain.

I had a lovely huge cake which Mum in Law made (Thank you!) and it took me quite a while to blow out all those candles lol

Thankfully the rain held off till later on so we were able to enjoy a lovely BBQ with family and friends. A very blessed day all round.

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes on Facebook, I was so surprised to see so many

This new week brings some new paintings to share with you over the coming days…

5 x 5”

{Original Sold thank you! Prints available at Etsy}

‘Sweet Hearts’ A cute little painting on wood, with a touch of vintage. I used vintage style collage papers to make the flowers and finished it off with some glitter (of course ) and an antique wash. Ahh love, makes the world a much better place don’t you think?

The outpouring of love shown to me over the weekend really touched my heart, it’s wonderful to know so many people care. Sometimes we think that ‘we aren’t enough’ or ‘nobody cares’ and it’s hard to dig ourselves out of that pit. I’ve fallen in many times and probably will again and again, but I know that people around me love me and that they are always there to give me a hand up and a lovely warm hug.

Don’t forget, You Are Loved!

These two little gorgeous owls are waiting for a new home, find them on ebay now.

Hope you had a great weekend,

xxx

On the Thursday we got to have a day out in Lille, a large city not far from Thumeries. I was fascinated with the buildings, the Cafes and the shops.

The sidewalks were beautifully lined with trees, just like you see in the movies- and we even saw romance in the air, how sweet! (I didn’t photograph that of course lol)

Here’s some pics of the centre…

There we so many Cafe’s everywhere and some very chic shops. I’m amazed I didn’t take more photos!

So that’s it from my France adventures, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing all the pics. Hopefully another adventure won’t be too far in the future.

You can find some of my France photos available as Fine Art Prints in my Etsy store.

Many Blessings,

xxx

As promised more photos from France! The Chateau grounds were blossoming with lot’s of gorgeous blooms including these beautiful white blossoms.

Red ones…

I loved the red the best!

This is the moat around the Chateau, see those beautiful red blossoms.

Here is the large greenhouse that we where in and out of all week

This is the gate leading onto the woodlands, looks like the entrance to a secret garden doesn’t it!

So that was all the beauty of the grounds I captured and tomorrow I’ll be sharing our pics from our visit to Lille.

See you then,

xxx

{Blossom Photos now available at Etsy}

We’ve been in France all last week for a Church mission trip! It’s been very exciting since this was my first time abroad and I’ve always wanted to go to France.  A dream come true!

I took plenty of pics so I could show you where we were and what we did.

This is Chateau Blanc in Thumeries, France. It’s a mission prayer house that is involved with various works and last week a team of us went to help maintain the building and grounds.

This is the view from our bedroom, which you can see in the first pic, it’s the turret at the top

This is the bed we were clearing on the first day, it was pretty overgrown so we got to work weeding and chopping and re-potting.

This is the view looking from the grounds towards the Chateau.

There was much work to do including re-pointing, painting, gardening and more. We all shared out the work and enjoyed the fellowship with each other. In the evenings we went for walks and chatted (there was no tv which was really nice actually!) I really enjoyed the slower pace of life and even though we were working hard every day I felt so much more peaceful than at home trying to do so many different things.

This trip has been great for me in so many ways but especially it’s made me realise even more how I need to get my life in balance – which I’m finding very hard to do! More creativity and less busyness + a slower pace!

How do you create balance? I’d love to hear your tips.

Join me tomorrow when I’ll be posting more info about our trip and more photos.

xxx

P.S Like the new look?

First there was Art Club at ours on Saturday, we made ATC’s which was great fun and great therapy for me.

Then after a great service at Church on Sunday we enjoyed the gorgeous weather and planted these beauties…

I love these large bellis (I call them puffs lol) and my mini daffs and pink primroses.

Our front garden is starting to look lovely again at last!

While Hubby planted those beauties for me, I baked some more apple sauce muffins and Ellie happily chomped on her bone.

The weather was so gorgeous Sunday we enjoyed a lovely long walk by the river and then came home for dinner before rushing out to our Churches evening healing service.

Today it was back to work, which I am very happy about! I got right back into painting and created another cutie for you to enjoy which I’ll be listing on ebay tomorrow, so look out for a blog post on that.

This short break has really helped me to see life differently (even more than usual), I’m always pondering but I felt like God has been really teaching me that I can completely rest in Him, have peace and enjoy everything He has given us…I fully intend to!

Live life to the full guys…

Love

xxx

P.S Today I added a cool page of Q&A’s to help you with your paintings. I also updated my About Me page with some fun facts. xx

We had a great weekend, Saturday was spent enjoying a relaxing free day, no plans, nothing to rush to, lovely! We walked Ellie to the local yarn shop in the morning and I picked up some gorgeous yarns to work on our ripple blanket for our bedroom and then we headed to the park and Ellie and Hubby had great fun running around for a while.

Then we headed back for some lunch and I helped Hubby make some lovely fresh baguettes which we shared with Mum and Dad. Homemade bread makes a great gift!

I got working on the ripple blanket for a while and then started thinking about the beautiful fabric I recently got to make a little curtain for our kitchen cubby. We actually call it Ellie’s cubby, because ever since we’ve had her she’s loved to hide in there.

So that’s what I did, I got all my stuff out and had a go. It was way harder than I thought it would be. All the measuring, marking and cutting went really well and that’s surprising because that is the part I like the least! When it came to sewing the hems, I had real trouble. The fabric kept slipping and so my stitch lines were a little wavy lol Still, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out considering I haven’t sown for ages. What do you think?

Sunday was spent at Church in the Morning and then I dashed off to grab a lift with Mum and Dad down to Dagenham to visit our family for Mother’s Day. Lot’s of gifts, cards and food

After a great weekend, I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day and decided that some baking and homemaking was in order. I made some more Apple Sauce muffins and have just got this yummy loaf out of the oven. It’s Alicia’s Oat & Honey loaf. It doesn’t look much like hers but I’m hoping it will taste great!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend, let me know what you did…

xxx