Colours to Cheer

Without wishing to sound like a moaning old woman, I've been feeling a bit crap lately. I try to stay positive as much as possible and generally do achieve this, but this lead up to winter and the prospect of cold, dark days and even colder, darker nights for months on end really do depress me. On top of that, I've been feeling pretty fed up of the cold I developed last week, which is making me ache and has given me a sore throat which in turn prevented me from going out to sing last night as usual.  Not really something to complain about, I know, but I thought I'd cheer myself up a bit in a creative way and spread some of that cheer to others by curating a Treasury on Etsy. Entitled "Seasonal "Cheer", I included items that I liked the colour of and that appealed to me for various reasons. I simply had to have a cat in there, for instance, and some knitted/crocheted items - that is something that I don't think I will ever be able to do with any success so I always admire those that can!

You can view the Treasury in detail by clicking on the link to it here.

Please feel free to click on the individual items in the Treasury and check out the rest of each member's shop - also, you can share this treasury on your web-site if you wish, or on your FB page, twitter etc - just use the link I've provided above!

Latest commission

Just thought I'd share my recent commission for a decorated notebook with you. This one is to be given as a gift for a teacher - which, in my (completely unbiased, of course) opinion, is a great present. A very personal, original gift that will also be practical as well as decorative. I hope Mr Crisp is happy with it when he receives it at the end of term this coming week!

New Items On Etsy

I have recently listed two more of my magnetic note-pads on Etsy, which you can purchase there by clicking on the title link of this post. I am taking all of these to the next RGC exhibition on May 16th in Cookham and still have a couple left to decorate before then.

They make great birthday gifts at only £6.75 each (on Etsy everything is priced in US dollars) and they are practical as well as arty!

On the left is "Palest Sprite" and  on the right is "Tartanic".

Home made sweets

I thought I would share some of my home-made sweets with you - not literally, unfortunately, since that would be rather difficult unless you lived nearby and popped in for a cuppa one day!

I made a selection of sweets for Christmas presents this year (2009 actually, so technically last year!) and gave them to my immediate family members in the cute little gift boxes pictured here. I bought the gift boxes flat-packed from Ebay and they are useful for anything that is difficult to wrap in the conventional way, so I will no doubt be going back for more soon!

I thought you might like to see the recipe for these tasty treats, too, so have included them here just in case.

The recipe for White Chocolate & Cranberry Fudge was taken from a free leaflet that came with the shopping one week from Tesco, and it was the first time I'd made it, but it was a huge success so I will be doing more throughout the year as birthday gifts for people.

White Chocolate & Cranberry Fudge

Ingredients:
350g (12oz) granulated sugar
25g (1oz) unsalted butter
175ml (6fl oz) can evaporated milk
100g (31/2oz) dried sweetened cranberries
300g (10oz) white chocolate, chopped.

Method:

• Cut a piece of baking parchment large enough to line a 1kg (2lb) loaf tin. (I used a rectangular shaped lasagne dish, which worked just as well!)
• Put the sugar, butter and evaporated milk in a large heavy based pan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved completely.
• Bring to the boil, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. It is a good idea to set a timer for this.
• Immediately remove from the heat then add the cranberries and chocolate
• Allow the chocolate to melt (the smaller the pieces, the quicker it will melt) then quickly stir the mixture and pour straight into the tin/dish. It will thicken immediately.
• Spread into the tin/dish (I used a silicone spatula for this) and chill for an hour or so until firm. Cut into squares.
  

I then placed small squares of parchment paper in between layers of the fudge in these little boxes:



These would also make a lovely gift for your loved one on Valentine's Day! (or you could pretend they are for your loved one and help with the eating of them yourself!

Mini Art - latest works

I have been working on 4 new mini art works recently, all of which have been uploaded to my Etsy shop, but here's a snapshot of the latest one, along with the matching trinket box I have also decorated. They go well together but are listed separately in case anyone just fancies buying a miniature work of art on its own, or a trinket box as a gift.

This paritcular creation is called Celadonia.

First painting of the year

My first painting of the year was a surprise birthday gift for my sister - a portrait of my niece, Charlotte. I hinted at this project in my earlier blog post but couldn't be specific about it in case my sister read the blog! The painting of Charlotte was based on a photograph I took when the family were here for a meal on New Year's Day - so she is seated in her high chair. I used acrylic, which I favour over watercolour, and completed the painting in approximately 10 or 12 days. On a box canvas, sized 20 x 25cm, I was rather pleased that my sister liked the end result!

Charlotte is 7 months old and really starting to take an interest in the world around her now.

The reference photo I used had a very dark background and a green tablecloth. I changed the background to a colour I thought Rachel (my sister) would like, and the tablecloth colour I altered to a deep red. I think I could have spent even longer fiddling with the painting, as perfection takes forever, but in the end I decided to leave well alone and all in all I am fairly happy with the finished piece of art.

Here's the reference photo I used: