[salmon & lime with a twist of gold]

Where does the week go!

I'm suffering from a severe case of blog neglect.

Life has been hectic and I needed a breather, so last Friday night I dusted off the paintbrushes and played with a little colour...

What do we think?!
The plan is to try a little DIY framing in a lovely birch wood and hang them above the television - hopefully a bold enough distraction from the soulless black box!
Fingers crossed the final result is not too far off!

In other news, we're officially less than 12 weeks til the big day.
First dress measurements are in 2 weeks (ahhh) and I'm ordering my shoes online tomorrow!
Flat ivory goodness here I come!
Jx

[all done my deer]

He's all done.
Didn't manage to get him to the bride-to-be before she became a bride (she was a beautiful one at that!)
I painted him as an engagement gift.
I had taken my watercolours camping a few weeks ago in case the weather was unfavourable.
Lucky for me it pelted down all day which gave me plenty of in-tent painting time - not that my little deer had much to go.

Happy monday everyone!
Jx

[our engagement thank you cards]

A little while back now, Dan and I celebrated our engagement with a few close family and friends.

I decided it might be nice to design my own thank you cards for our guests so I painted a little watercolour of us both, scanned the image and then created and ordered cards through Vistaprint (extremely reasonable and quick as well!).

I painted us in the very outfits we wore that night!  Only half the recipients realised - the other half must have had a really good night!

Very happy with the final product.

And now we also have a little piece of art as a nice memento of the night.

In other news, we had our engagement shoot yesterday!
Stay tuned!!!
Jx

[pretty inspiration boards]

Happy Pseudo-Friday everyone!I feel busy! Really busy! I'm sure it's because the world stops over the Easter long weekend which creates a tidal wave of over-shopping and a sense of urgency with every task on the to-do list.
Here's a little "inspiration board" inspiration from A pair and spare to get you in the weekend organisational mood.

And now for mine

(a tad smaller and less inspiring)

Simply cover two plain cork boards with fabric using a staple gun.

An easy peasy way of sprucing up the study nook!

and here's a little watercolour of mine.

Enjoy the rest of the week folks...

...what's left of it anyway!

Jx

[just something i'm working on deer]

Last night it was my friend Adie's turn for a hens night.

She's marrying her man in two weeks from now.

I remembered as she was donning the mandatory flashing tiara and veil that I had not yet given nor completed her engagement present.

As they too are still in decoration mode of their own unit, I thought I might paint them a little watercolour.

It's now a very belated gift!

I think it will look quite sweet once it's done - hopefully before they become Mr and Mrs!

I hope they think so too!

Jx

[pears]

Happy happy friday!

After posting a pic of one of my little pears yesterday, I thought I might take this oportunity to show you the rest...

This one's my favourite - don't tell the others!

Crocheted doilies - sigh! So very versatile!

Have an amazing weekend everyone!

Jx

[pink ribbon breakfast - the art auction]

After we all gorged on the delicious goodies and had ourselves a couple of champas and guava, the art auction for breast cancer began.  Everyone was to bring along an original piece of creativitiy to auction off to one another...

Sarah's colourful typography "Auf Deutsch" that I purchased.

Tiffany's beautifully painted cup, entitled "cup" which I also bought.

(Straight to the pool room... or Dan's Christmas stocking!)

The two pieces that Al won:

Katie Green's "Owls in Flight"...

...as well as my "Flying Wall Ducks"

My other water colour that Amber purchased.

 <  Becky's piece - a lovely Buddhist quote that Amber also fancied.                                

                                 Becky with her purchase - "Love"- a mixed medium by Lozzy  >

Louise (from A Pot of Tea Under a Tree) painted a suitably fashionable piece that Tiffany won.

    Another by Louise, that Cass won        and Al's painting which Louise won.

Amber's origami lily that Miss A had her eye on

Cass' "Hooters" painting that Sabina bought...

...and Sabina's "Icecream" bra and coffee cup that Katie Green bought.

Between us we raised $474.35. Not bad for a casual Saturday brunch.
Thanks for the "support" girls!
Jx

[pink ribbon brekky]

It's creeping up! October is Breast Cancer Month and there's no better way to raise money for such a wonderful cause than to get together with you're closest girls for a pink ribbon brekky!  I'll be a busy bee over the next few weeks organising my little gathering!

I thought I'd share some shots of mine from the event I hosted in 2009.  The website has a myriad of ideas to raise money at your event.  After much deliberation I decided to encourage my friends to put their crafty-caps on and create an art piece to auction off to each other.

Firstly there was the business of champagne with guava nectar, ham and leek mini quiches, blueberry yoghurt muffins and of course the pink cupcakes.

This was my little piece that my lovely friend Al bought...

...and I won the bid for Al's creation of words to inspire (creatively directed by her now fiancé Chris of course).

 Adie-pants' piece was perfectly suited to the cause:  Dayna's lucky buy for the day.

...and me and my gorgeous sister.

Looking forward to the next one!  Make sure to stop off at the Pink Ribbon Breakfast website for more information on hosting your own.  Wonderful way to start the day for even more wonderful cause! Jx

[little toy plane watercolour]

A work colleague of my mum's just had a little boy on the weekend so mum asked if I could paint something for his nursery.  His Dad's a pilot so a little toy plane was the obvious choice!

Welcome to the world little man!

Hope you're all having a lovely week.
Oh and by the way, my choccy muffins were a big hit at the new job - I'm in!
Jx

[down the rabbit hole watercolour]

Twas Ms Charli's birthday party last night and as theme was "Down the Rabbit Hole" I thought I'd paint her a little alice.  It was my watercoloured version of one of the original illustrations from the book.

...and all wrapped up and ready to go.  I also managed to sneak in a mini crafternoon with Al to play around with gift tags using pages of an old book. Jx

[gran's 80th and the nude...]

My most recent visit to Melbourne was for Gran's 80th Birthday.  At a guess, she's been bugging me for a life-drawing of mine for about 8 years.  So I got my act together and here it is...

She was either extremely excited or after 80 years she's really mastered her acting skills.
The next day was her party and geez our family like our food!

 Me and my sister.

 The divine raspberry macaroons my Aunty made.

(the next foodie challenge I'm setting myself)

 ...or you could have taken your pick from any of the other ten or so desserts.

Gran's amazing tiered and toffeed cake that my very talented young cousin Tash created. If you're a Melbournite and are looking for a caterer, you can find her here.

 The youngest cousin.

 Me and my Daniel San

...and a few more cousins.

Happy 80th Gran.

Jx