Jo's 30th birthday present

Ages ago my brother's girlfriend saw some of my paintings and said she'd like one. Hadn't had much time to get anything done, but as it's soon her 3oth birthday I thought I'd try to do her one. The only thing she'd said to me before was that she'd quite like a pink one.

So here you go:

I'm quite pleased with it....although I still look at bits of it that I think are totally wrong!

Hoping to try something different next time, although another friend has asked for a set of daisies for her daughter's bedroom!

And as I had some paint left over, I did this:

And now another friend has asked for a couple of those for her bathroom! I will paint something for myself one day!!

A difficult brief!

My friend asked me to do a birthday card for her husband. Sure, I said. She text me a few days later. It's his 30th - fine I said. Can you make it Aston Villa colours she asked - No problem I said. I'd like it to reflect his life so far, so can it include a hockey stick, a football, something like a whistle to reflect the fact he's a PE teacher, our wedding and honeymoon to India, and the fact we have a baby due soon. Er.......

It was a tall order lol, and I had to use clip-art pictures which I don't like doing, but I just couldn't find all the other bits, but I think it's ok and I think she liked it!

Not a very interesting one...

...but I might as well log it. These are the thank you cards I sent out to people thanking them for all the lovely 10th wedding anniversary presents they gave us :O) (in the background are some beautiful flowers that one of my bridesmaids gave us!).

Finally!

I've had this painting half done in my kitchen all summer, so I finally decided to ignore the children for long enough today (;o)) to finish it off. As usual obviously I'm not entirely happy with it, really must try and find a part-time course somewhere so I can learn a bit of technique!

Ergh! Been nearly a month!

Since I last came here! But then it is the summer holidays and it's pretty much impossible to do anything creative with two small needy whirlwinds around!


Still, have just sent out invites for our 10th Wedding Anniversary BBQ/Party in September...

My first sale!

Hehe. The first painting I've done where I've not just foisted it on someone! My friend that had my very first painting asked me to do another, larger one for her, and liked the one of three tulips I did for our mutual friend, so I did one similar. I'm not entirely happy with it (I never am) but there's some bits I quite like. She seemed to like it, and forced me into accepting money for the materials at least (I'm never going to be a businesswoman, I can't possibly imagine anyone wanting to give me money for these things!).





I had paint left over, so I've started on a lily just for me! And after that I have an idea for something else, but I'm keeping that one under my hat for now! (not least because it'll probably go completely wrong!).

Cara's Tiara!

My boss got married a couple of months ago and I offered to do her tiara. She quite liked one of the ones on my blog, so I made one similar but with clear crystals instead. Haven't managed to get a good photo of the tiara itself yet, but Cara's (rather fab) photographer has said I can use this one. If you have a moment go and look at his blog (http://www.robertburress.co.uk/blog/default.aspx), his photography is amazing - almost makes me wish I was getting married again!

Anyway, here is Cara looking just gorgeous :O)

Invites!

I did some birthday invites for my friend's daughter a couple of years ago, and this year she asked me to do them again. They're going with a pink gingham bunting type theme, so hopefully these will be ok! (she hasn't seen them yet!!!) They're quite plain, but I've got 30 to do and not much time, so hopefully they won't mind that they're not too glitzy!!

Aloha!

It was Ollie's 5th birthday last week. His "girlfriend" was born two days before him, so for the past couple of years we've been having a joint party which has worked very well. So this year we asked the couple what theme they'd like, and as usual they replied with "Pirates and Princesses"! Milly's Mum and I groaned, I think it would have been the third year for Pirates, and I'd had enough!

So we suggested a Hawaiin theme! Girls could still dress up all pretty with flowers and grass skirts and the like, and the boys could be surfer dudes (which didn't require a lot of effort if there was the odd one that wasn't that keen!). But as usual, once I've got an idea... 8-)

So, here's a few photos! I have to say it was an ACE party, everyone made a real effort and it went with a swing!

It's been a while!

Blimey doesn't life have a knack of getting in the way of creativity! I've done so little recently, just because there's been so much else on!

I have made a tiara for my boss and friend, Cara. Her wedding was a few weeks ago, and she looked stunning! The photos are great and I think the tiara looked good too - just need to get a photo to put up here!

Will post above re Ollie's 5th Birthday party - which is where most of my creative efforts have gone in the last month or so!

Next is most definitely the painting for my friend (who I painted the very first one for) as that's still outstanding I'm embarrassed to say! Then what? I don't know. I have been busy snapping away at flowers when out on walks etc, so hopefully I'll have a few ideas once I've looked through those properly!

Finished Picture

I decided on an off-white for the background in the end, but I'm not that happy with it. It looks very messy, and because I used dark grey and silver for the twig it looks a bit like pencil - v. smudgy!

Still, you live and learn!

Work in progress - opinions please!

I'm working on this for a friend. She wanted something black/charcoal/silver/white with a splash of vivid pink. Trouble is I can't decide what colour to do the background, I guess it's either black or white - opinions please!!

(ps, flowers aren't finished yet, so it still looks a bit crap I know)

Easter weekend project

Quite pleased with this one. It's the largest I've done so far, and obviously there's still a fair bit wrong with it, but I quite like it. I'm going to give to my friend Lynda for her house in France (then it can "disappear" if she doesn't like it! lol). She bought me some tulips like this last week and the colours were so vivid I thought I'd give it a go.

Wish me luck, next project is a set of Russian dolls for my Sister-in-law!! Eek.

Bit of a turnaround....

Rubbish picture below that I was painting for a friend turned into this.....

Completely different canvas etc. I was given some Gerbras for Mother's Day so I thought I'd have a go at actually painting something proper iyswim lol! Instead of just drawing whatever I wanted on there like I usually do. It took ages, and I painted every single petal separately, but it was really good fun. I'm not sure I really like it, but I did enjoy doing it. My friend seemed to like it too. I'm still really rubbish at looking at something and translating it to paper/canvas well though.

From this....to that!

Photoshop is another of my loves lol. I took this photo of my friend's little boy whilst we were out one day, and turned it into this! And she now has it and some others I've done for her on her dining room wall!

Mum's 60th!

We decided to all go away to a hotel overnight for Mum's 60th. And as usual as I can't do anything by halves, I decided to do a cake, table decorations, place settings, balloons, flowers and chocs in the room etc!

Anyway, all turned out well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, didn't take a lot of photos but here's a few!

Tantrums and ...

Tiaras :O) One of my favourite subjects!! I don't even really remember how I got into it, but I made the tiaras for my bridesmaids ten years ago now. Thinking back, they were pretty crap, but obviously since then with some practice I think I'm getting a little better! Here's a selection, stupidly I haven't remembered to take a photo of every one I've done, but I can pretty much do whatever people want these days.







This one is one of my favourites, although it is rather tall and not to everyone's taste. It took ages to make and was incredibly fiddly, but I still loved doing it!

Nick & Simon's Wedding Photos

Ok, so this one is way out-of-date, but I still love it! My best friend Nick, and her husband-to-be, Simon, asked me to take the photos at their wedding and I jumped at the chance!


However, I didn't have a decent camera at the time, so I borrowed a friend's - which was a big mistake! I didn't know what I was doing with it and the photos came out really badly. I was mortified, and vowed to fix it. But how???


Well, my wonderful husband showed me the lifesaver that is Photoshop, and off I went to work!! I had great fun, and decided to make an album for them that was a little different! Nick is very crafty and definitely one for an eye for details, so I picked bits out of a lot of the photos, and changed stuff around, removed backgrounds and all sorts!


Then I cut out a mass of different mounts, bought an album, covered it in purple velvet (to match her dress), and ta-dah!!


I'm sure Nick's probably very bored of me borrowing it to show people too!!

My Five Minute Dino Picture!

This is affectionately called my Dinosaur picture! Why? Because the boys (my 3 and 4 year old sons) had been painting plaster dinosaur "fossils" and there was some paint left over - well, I couldn't waste it, so literally just experimented and knocked this up in less that five minutes! It's no masterpiece, but I find it quite pleasing to the eye! Tried taking a closer photo buy my camera didn't seem to like that idea!

Old work!

Unfortunately this blog is going to be rather messy me thinks! I want to put on stuff that I've done years ago, but really can't be fagged to try and do it in any order!

So, today's ditty can be about the painting I've just done for a friend. It was her birthday and she had been bemoaning the fact she had very little on her walls, so I thought I'd buy her a picture for her birthday. The only problem with that was that everything I liked was WAY out of my price range. And then I remembered the canvasses and paint I had stored away upstairs from years ago when I thought I might have a go, so I decided to paint her a picture myself! And this is the result:

Considering it was my first ever attempt I'm quite pleased! And my friend seemed to be, especially as she's asked me to make a bigger, similar one, as she thinks this one doesn't make a big enough statement!

Oooh, I love friends that do your ego good!!

I've done one other since, will try and upload a photo, and I've two more on the go. One's very experimental lol, and the other is similar to the one above, for a friend who's having a real hard time of things at the moment. I hope it turns out ok and she likes that too.

Watercressline Outing yesterday

Went to the Watercressline (steam railway near us) today with the kids and my Mum and Dad. Weather wasn't really up to much for decent photos, but I thought I'd post a couple anyway, was quite a nice day out despite the bitter weather and horrible food (that's a different post entirely!!!).

Hello!

Setting this up feels very egotistical! As if anyone wants to read what I have to say!!?? Anyway, it's been set up to show off my work really. Although "work" is perhaps a grand title - various hobbies really. I talk to friends about what I'm doing but don't always get the chance to show them, so I thought here at least I could tell people what I was up to and post a few photos.

That's about it really!!

Karen
xxx

PS...I've called it "Jill of all Trades" as I'm forever moaning that I'm ok at lots of creative things, but definitely not a Mistress of any (so don't expect any masterpieces!)