Desperately seeking.....

I'm doing a quick shout out for:

CARLA

who left this comment  "I would use these for altered art projects! Love all the colors!"

PENELOPE GIDDY

 who said "Lovely!! Thanks for the opportunity:)"

AND
MONIQUE BAKER

who commented "I am a new liker and love your work. I would love to win one of your artworks :)"

You have all won prizes!!  So please contact me at littlebitsofme@hotmail.com so I can send you your goodies.  If I haven't heard from you by next week I will be redrawing winners, so for those who weren't lucky the first time, you could be in with a chance again.  :)

Now I'm off to spend the rest of this lovely afternoon with the family.  My husband and I are celebrating our 11th Wedding anniversary today!  :)

My day today....

Well, it's a cold and windy day today here in Toowoomba, so rather than brave the weather, we've decided to stay inside in our pyjama's.  It's been so long since we've had a day like this and I tell you, it's LONG overdue.  My darling husband has been away for work during the week for the last two weeks AND the girls have both been sick - Amani with an ear infection and Jenna with croup, so not a lot has been done around the house.  So this morning, I've been cleaning away and feeling good that I'm getting a chance to actually do it!

The girls have been keeping us amused too - it started with stripping their pants off, then doing some kind of knee-slapping dance, and then deciding to switch pants.  Although Amani wasn't a huge fan of that idea so Jenna ended up wearing two pairs while Amani had none.  LOL

I'm also a little excited at the moment because my wonderful hubby put one of these on laybuy for me...

I've been wanting an SLR camera for absolutely ages and I've decided that now is the time... my old camera just isn't what it used to be so it's definitely time to upgrade.

Now I just need to pay for it...  which leads me to mention the "Market weekend" I'm having over on my Facebook page.  Up for sale are some of the new NECKLACES that I've been making featuring my artwork, as well as new GREETING CARDS and also some framed prints.

I'm so, so proud of these new products - I've been wanting to introduce some new, more affordable products so that no matter what your budget, you will find something for you.  That way if you connect with a certain piece you can own it in one for or the other... postage is also a lot cheaper for these than original paintings.

So stop on over at my Facebook page and check them all out.... let me know if there's something else that you would like to see me selling.  I have SO many more ideas, I just need the time to do them!

I hope you're having a nice, relaxing weekend!

Studio tour

I'd like to welcome you into what is my studio space at the moment!  Before we moved, I had a bedroom to house all my things, however when trying to squeeze a family of four into (effectively) a 2 bedroom house I don't have that luxury. 

For those who aren't aware, we are temporarily living at my Dad's house after our big, crazy move of quitting our jobs and moving towns.  My Dad is travelling around for work so it suits us both that we are able to "house-sit" for him over the next few months.  So we are here until we find a house to call our own...

Let's begin the tour!

My Dad's house is what you would call a "work in progress"....  he's been slowly renovating it over the last couple of years and now most of it is done, except for the kitchen/dining.  The kitchen is half done, it has some new cupboards and Miele appliances, but also unfinished floorboards and dodgy benches.  You can see some of the dodginess at the top of the stairs.  My studio area will end up being the dining area.

So for now, I am sharing a room with the laundry... there is a garage being built on the outside of this wall, which is why it isn't lined properly - there will be a door going in there somewhere.  We've also tried to cram as much furniture in there as we were running out of room in the shed.

 

 This area is mainly for storage... all of my paints are in the cane baskets up top where the kids can't reach.  I started out with just one basket and it's grown to three.  One is totally devoted to Matisse Derivan Structure, another for Matisse Derivan Flow and the bigger basket is assorted (although I plan on phasing out the "assorted").

 I've hung my finished paintings up on the wall to save on storage space - they also look pretty.  :)

 Blank canvases waiting to be worked on....  the bottom basket has all my stencils and some larger stamps.

 This is my actual work area.... ignore all the boxes.  LOL  It's a table that my brother salvaged from somewhere and painted, and it totally wobbles.

 The upside to having the dryer down here - when it's cold, I wash a load of towels and then stick them in there to dry.  Warms up the room nicely.  :)  You can see the back door to the left of this picture - one of the trickiest parts is the fact that I can't close off my area, so I've had to try and store everything up as high as possible to keep it out of the kid's reach.

A closer up shot of all my inks, mediums, books and other items.

So that is my studio for the moment....  it's crowded and messy but it works.  I can't wait until we buy our own house again, one of the requirements is that it has a big area which I can solely dedicate to being a studio.  Lucky for us, there seems to be a lot of houses around here with detatched studios so I'm sure I'll find the perfect one!

So do you have any photos of your "creative area" to share?  Any favourite storage tips?  Leave me a link in the comments.  :)

Giveaway Winners and one last surprise!!

The kids are in bed, the house is quiet.... I think it's time to draw the winners!  All winners were chosen using the random.org random number generator.  If you are a lucky winner, please email me at littlebitsofme@hotmail.com and we'll organise delivery of your goodies.


The winner of the 5 bottles of Kindyglitz is.......

CARLA!

The winner of one of my fabulous necklaces is....

KAREN!

And last, but not least, the winners of a print of their choice are....

PENELOPE GIDDY

AND
MONIQUE BAKER!

A big "Thank you" too all that entered, and I hope all the Mothers out there have had a fabulous Mother's Day and been spoilt rotten.

And just as one last surprise, I've decided to have a SALE on my prints over on my Facebook page... and not only in 8x10 size.  You'll have to head over to my page to check it out!

My day today.... and WIN a print!

Today is normally "daycare day" - it is one of the days of the week that I can concentrate on my business, cleaning the house and getting a bit of me time.  However today I had one sick little girl at home with me - Amani's cold decided to step it up a notch this morning so I thought it best to keep her home.  So we played with Kindyglitz instead!

And it was the best idea ever!  Want to know why??  Amani hasn't quite grasped the concept of squeezing the bottles, she just taps them.... so NO MESS!  She ended up using only the tiniest amount of glitter but she was kept amused by the colours and taking the lids off and moving them around.  So much easier than paint!  LOL

So now for another giveaway to celebrate a year of my Facebook page....  two lucky people will win a print of THEIR CHOICE from those available on my page!  Here's a quick look at what there is to choose from.

You know the drill, just leave me a comment on this post and I will randomly choose TWO winners on Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another giveaway!

To celebrate a year since my very first market stall, I am giving away one of my new necklaces that I have for sale featuring my artwork!

These babies sell for $14.95, but you can get this one for absolutely nothing!  Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a random winner this Sunday.  You can also stop by my Facebook page and check out the other designs I have available.

Don't forget to enter the Kindyglitz giveaway as well..... and there will also be another freebie up for grabs tomorrow!!

Exciting news!

I am a little bit excited about what arrived in the mail for me yesterday.... who am I kidding, I'm a LOT excited!

I seem to be living a bit of a charmed life at the moment.  Taking the biggest risk of our lives has certainly paid off and I'm doing things that I never dreamed would have been possible.  One of those things is the chance to work with a fantastic Australian company Derivan.  I remember when I first started art journaling I went for a trip to my local Spotlight store to get some supplies.... two out of the four products I bought were Derivan, and I've been using them ever since.  Check out the old blog post here.

Not only do I love Derivan for their fantastic products, they are a company with a conscience!  They treat their staff like family and always try to minimise their environmental impact. I'm so excited about being able to contribute whatever I can.  :)

And to celebrate this wonderful news I am giving away 5 bottles of Kindyglitz!

The colours of these are absolutely divine - Blue, Black, Hot Pink, Aqua and Lime.  Simply leave a comment stating what your favourite use for Kindyglitz is and you'll be in the running.... I will pick a random winner on Mothers Day! That's the 13th of May for international people - and yes, you can enter too!!  If you have a link to a project you've done using Derivan products, include that as well.... I'd love to see it!  :)

I'll be doing more giveaways to celebrate a year since my first market selling my art, so keep your eyes peeled!

May 123 Challenge

Time for another 123 Challenge!  I had last month off with all the rush of moving but I'm back on board this month.  The criteria for May are:

WORD: ENJOY

COLOUR: ORANGE

TECHNIQUE: Using Bakers Twine

Now, I think I must have been the only person in the world that doesn't already own baker's twine.  Natural twine, yes.... but none of the baker's variety.  So off I toddled to my new local scrapbooking store where I was lucky enough to find some.  So here is my sample for this month....

I used the baker's twine like sewing thread - I sewed it through some ribbon and also put a bit up in the top corner.

Make sure you stop by the 123 blog and check out all the samples from the rest of the creative team... this month we are saying farewell to team member Louise Nelson who we will all greatly miss.  I know she has been a HUGE inspiration to me.... not only for her unique style, but for holding her head up high and staying true to herself.

I'll be back tomorrow with some exciting news and a bit of a GIVEAWAY!!

After the move....

Well, I am now in Toowoomba and life is GREAT at the moment! The last 2 weeks have been completely hectic, but it feels like things are starting to settle down a bit so we can start getting back into some kind of routine and get started on all the things that we want to do.

We moved down here over the Easter long weekend... what better way than to spend that time cleaning and packing, driving all day, and then cleaning and unpacking. We were lucky to make it to Toowoomba when we did... about half the way down we blew a tyre, which isn't the best thing when you are going at 110km/hour. After changing it we just happened to stop at a small town called Wandoan to check the air in our tyres - there was a tyre place right next door to the service station and I was considering calling the emergency number to get someone out. Even luckier that someone pulled up out the front of it and went in - he worked there and his son needed a new motorbike tyre. He looked at the other front tyre and it was bald as well... we wouldn't have made the next 4 hours on it. So luckily he fixed us up and we went along our merry way. I can't even imagine what we would have done stuck in the middle of nowhere with a flat tyre and no spare. Now normally we would have given the car a service and checked the tyres before we left but we were just too busy - lesson learned!

So the last week has been spent unpacking, buying winter clothes and with Noel trying to find a job - which he did today. We are SO happy with this new opportunity - it is better than what we ever expected he would get, especially so quickly. We also have a contract on our house so hopefully that will be all sold in the next month.

Now it's time for me to a daycare for the kids so I can get a job - I only want a day or 2 a week so I'm hoping it won't be too hard. I do have another AWESOME job lined up (if you are personal friend of mine on Facebook, you'll probably know what it is) but I just want to wait a few more days before starting on it and then I will share with everyone. I am extremely excited about it and it definitely deserves it's own post.

Now for some pictures.... I did a painting class at Shiny Happy Art over the weekend. It was fantastic and it felt really strange to use only paint and not reach for a million other different things. Here is what I created...


If you are in the Toowoomba area, I highly recommend that you make it to a class!

And here is a piece that I finished off before leaving Rockhampton, but I couldn't share until now as our computer died during the move. It is a commission piece for my great friend Ali Russell who owns Live, Laugh & Love Photography. She took some fantastic photos of our little family before we left... she also runs Divine Miss Ruby Designs and she will be doing some designing for me in the near future, I just need to decide exactly what I want!


I completely see me doing another girl on this large of a canvas... I love how it turned out!

**Market Night this Wednesday**

One of the sad parts about leaving Rockhampton is that I'm not going to be able to have a market stall at the Heritage Village Mother's Day markets in May. That was my VERY FIRST market... I debated for weeks and weeks whether I should go and whether my art was good enough to sell. I really wanted to be there as a way of celebrating just how far I've come in the last year.


But since I am not going to be attending anymore markets here in Central Queensland, I have decided to hold my very own "Market Night" over on my Facebook page. Everything I have available will be up for sale at 7.30pm (Qld time) this Wednesday night. There will be originals, prints, washi tape and maybe even a couple of art journal kits up for grabs..... but you'll have to be quick, as it's "first come, first served" so the first person to comment "SOLD" will be the lucky new owner.




All the original paintings pictured in this post will be up for sale as well as a few others.... so make sure you stop by my Facebook page to check out the rest. :)


By the way, I have decided that I am the worst "Photo A Day" person EVER!