Tackling the bridal market

Colourful nails for colourful bracelets

I really enjoyed painting my nails for these photo shoots. Every bracelet deserves colourful nails to match. All bracelets feature a mini print after my paintings and they are designed to complement and enhance the image. For that, I used colourful glass beads, gemstones and millefiori beads as well as connectors and clasp toggles so they would be easy to put on. They are perfect either to complement your colourful outfits or as an accent piece that will draw the eyes. What I like about bracelets is that you can see them too when you are wearing them, unlike earrings for example. Have you ever thought of that :)? Enjoy the showcase and please let me know which one is your favourite.

Meadow connector + agate slice stone, agate flower bead and lava bead.

What to do with an Ikea box frame?

I normally put my work into three categories: 1 - ready to sell; 2 - I'm not so sure, needs more work; 3 - I like it, but I won't sell it. Those in the second category go through a few processes of adding, taking away, remaking until I am happy with the result. Sometimes, it might take weeks or months to rework a painting and this is the case with one of my cottage artworks that was waiting to be finished and I just couldn't visualise what else I could do with it.

July Healthy Eating

This is a visual feast of some of the foods I cooked this month. If you want to know more about any of them, please feel free to ask. Also, you can share your own versions, I would be happy to try them. In the meantime, enjoy the photos and let me know which recipe appeals to you the most.

Broad beans and spring onion soup, decorated with fresh basil, Parmigiano cheese and red chillies.

Yellow Summer Necklace

My latest creation: yellow summer pendant necklace with print after one of my floral paintings.

Studio Tidy-up 2017

Every year or so I have a studio tidy-up which implies cleaning, tidying and moving furniture around. It is still used as my working room and guest room and throughout the years, I had a sofa bed, a futon, nothing at all (we set up a mattress when we had guests) and back to a sofa bed again, this time a smaller one. The room is very small indeed and I have to fit everything in there: hand painted furniture, shelves, storage boxes and my tools and materials, not to mention that I want it to look pretty too. Here are, once again, the tidying up photos.

Blue & Green Bracelets, Perfect for Summer

I haven't created new jewellery with prints of my paintings for a while now and, as I had two pendants connectors ready to be used, I thought I could create a couple of blue and green bracelets, the perfect summer accessory, especially as I just acquired some new lampwork beads by Helen G Beads from Exeter Craft Festival that I was eager to use.

Exeter Craft Festival

Take some sunshine, a lot of talented Devon artists and crafters and a violin player standing on a wire on one leg and you get a taste of the Exeter Craft Festival 2017. I don't know if the violinist is part of the festival or he just came to town for the day given the influx of visitors, but the variety of arts and crafts on show certainly is.

Artwork from recycled paper by Kim Watkins

Tin Cans Planters for a Vertical Garden

You may have noticed in last week's blog post that I was posing with my newest top in my patio accompanied by some painted tin cans. Well, after seeing these projects and being obsessed with vertical gardens, I wanted to create my very own. I collected a few tin cans and I went to my local shop that sells chalk paint to ask if I can use it on metal and if it is suitable for outdoor use. The answer was yes to both, so here it goes: