Carnival Soiree - A Date For Your Dairy!

I am very excited to announce a magical Blog Event that my friend Lisa Kettell is having at her blogsite Faerie Enchantment! The date for your diary is Saturday 14th March and the theme is "A Carnival Soiree"

“What’s involved?” I hear you ask, well in the words of Lisa Kettell herself; Magic and Mayhem, lurking behind every corner, every velvet curtain, secrets buried beneath the Big Top, portal to a hidden place just inside the Seahorse Carousel, where a certain song at half past 8pm, can transport you to one of those worlds!

What to expect:

-Carnival Tea

-Games-Tokens

-Giveaways consisting of Lisa’s collage cd: Circus Follies, plus an altered poker chip kit

-Free Circus images/ephemera

-Carnival party pictures

-Circus projects

-Stories

So make sure you wear your Carnival best, think rainbows and pointy harlequin hats, Pageant Queen gowns, or Mermaid dress, top hats in every colour and tutu's complete with pixie wings.

Weekly Showcase

I had some quality art time last week and managed to get a few new pieces finished, the first is this pretty Art Tag, I had been wanting to do something with this image for a while and inspiration finally arrived in the form of this 3D Art Tag.

This next piece was created on thick cardstock using vintage papers, a beautiful sleeping lady image which I altered by adding pretty acetate wings, a half moon accent and a little fairy dust. I will be listing both of these items on Ebay in the forthcoming weeks, along with other pieces that are waiting for good homes! I'll keep you posted.

Boudoir Feather Dusters

I have long adored the little china pin cushion dolls from the 1920s onwards and began collecting them a couple of years ago. I wanted to do something with them that would alter them in some way (as I love altering old things so much), but I wanted to keep their beauty and vintageness at the same time. So I came up with the idea of adding feathers to their base and finishing them off with pretty trim..... et voila!! The Boudoir Feather Duster was born!!

They have become a very popular selling item for me, so I am constantly scouring antique shops for new china dolls to alter. The feathers I use are generally Ostrich or Pheasant feathers, some are dyed to match, or bring out the colours in the dolls.

They look wonderful displayed on an old vintage dressing table. I get alot of comments on my duster when I have people to stay. "But is it practical?, Do you use it?" I hear you ask.... Well yes, I do, it's particularly good if you've just popped on some loose make up powder and a little gets sprinkled on your dressing table, all you do is pick up the little lady and dust it off!!

You can purchase my Boudoir Feather Dusters through Maygreen Fairies Website. Prices vary depending on the cost of the China Doll itself, because some of these dolls are quite collectable, some are more desirable than others and this of course affects the overall cost. But suffice to say, they are beautiful items to own and are wonderful given as gifts! I adore mine, wouldn't be without it! LOL!!!

Published Works - Take Flight

I was over the moon last weekend, when on Valentine's Day the postman brought me an Art Book I had been waiting to land on my doorstep for months... Art Circus! I did mention in an earlier post that some of my art had been published in new Art Book and the finished article finally arrived on my doorstep on Valentine's Day of all days!!

The book is gorgeous, it is full of magical art projects by my wonderful friend Lisa Kettell of Faerie Enchantment. If you are a fan of altered art with a vintage, whimsy feel then this book is a must for you. It is packed with lots of eye candy and easy step by step guides to creating some enchanting art.

At the back of the book there are several pages dedicated to other altered artists including myself, with links to their blogs and websites so you can explore even more eye candy on the net.

One of the pieces I submitted for this is shown above "Take Flight"

If you are lucky enough to already own this book then I think you'll agree with me when I say it is a feast for the eyes and an inspiration for the mind. You can purchase it at Amazon now!

Lots of love to Lisa Kettell, author of this book, you are a wonderful, wonderful artist and I am honoured to know you hun. xx

Maygreen Fairies Shop Section Open

My shop at Maygreen Fairies is finally open, although not every section is uploaded with stock, most are and you can rummage through my handmade greetings cards, magnets, bookmarks, vintage prints, Boudoir Feather Dusters and much more. So if you get the chance, grab a cuppa and take a look....click here to be taken to the Maygreen Fairies Site

Enjoy!!

And The Winner Is......

Above: Amanda in Fairy Mode - If I could I would fly the prize all the way to the Winner!!

I am so pleased to announce that the winner of the One World One Heart Giveaway is........ De de daaaahhhhhhhh........ Abigail of Rusted Wings Gallery. Abigail, the Bookmark and Gift Tag will be winging their way to you very shortly, I hope you enjoy them.

To all who took the time to comment on my OWOH post, I thank you so much, I only wish I had enough time to make each of you something, but sadly there are just not enough hours in the day! I will make sure I visit each of your blogs though to say Hi! And a final thankyou to the organisor of OWOH, it is a fantastic worldwide blogging event and I will be sure to participate again next year!

Above altered photo courtsey of imikimi.com

Weekly Showcase

Well I've been a bit late with this one, no excuses!! This is a piece I produced last year which recieved alot of interest on Ebay when it was auctioned. The image used was from my large collection of antique photo's and I altered it to add transparant butterfly wings to each lady, the wings on the lady kneeling actually stick out from the card itself to give a 3D type effect.

The background for this piece is layered with old papers, including dressmakers notes and then topped off with beautiful flourish stamps. I then edged the piece in gold pen and created a stand to display it on.

I've been MeMe Tagged!!

The lovely Becky at whymsicalmusings.blogspot.com has tagged me with the”MeMe” Tag. It’s real fun to do, here are the rules:

Open a document or folder; Choose the fifth folder along and then the fifth photo in that folder; Do a post describing the photo and then tag five friends to the “MeMe”

So here goes..... The above photo is from a collection of photos that I purchased from the wonderful artist Lisa Kettell of Faerie Enchantment (you can visit her blog below). I had only downloaded this particular photo a few days ago with a view to using it in a forthcoming piece I had in mind. Gorgeous isn't it!

Here is my list:

1: Angela - http://yourangil.blogspot.com/

2: Nic - http://girlfromstanduptubland.blogspot.com/

3: Lani - http://artistlanikent.blogspot.com/

4: Lisa - http://faerieenchantment.blogspot.com/

5: Marva - http://purplepaintsmuse.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!!!!

So, So, Snowy!

This is a photo of one of my twins at 9am this morning trekking through the snow from our house to the woods at the back of our home. We thought we'd get out early and catch the fresh snow in the woods before any other walkers came by. On the way we passed a neighbours house, it looked so gorgeous in the snow I just had to take a photo, here it is....

Once we reached the woods they looked spectacular, everywhere was so snowy and white and so very quiet....

The boys were having a blast, they had never seen so much snow in their little lives, it came up to the top of their wellie boots most of the time.