Nosy Rosie Designs

2011-11-09T10:07:00.003-08:00

2011-11-09T10:07:00.001-08:00

Nautical Signs

2011-11-08T15:29:00.000-08:00

Hi!

I am going to publish several photos (not all of them good either I am afraid!) of some of the signs I do with a nautical flair, as I have been previously talking with a lot of people who are interested in them.

I am doing this, so that should people be interested in what I make can look though this and find the photos!

I know there are photo sites around and I also know that I could do them on Facebook, but I am not crazy about FB, and for now this will suit, so forgive me for repetive content!

Any of the signs are available in colours to suit decors, and if you want something special and individual do contact me and I will do what I can.

I presently sell through Not On The High Street and eBay and will happily post any orders through either. My desire is to have a dedicated website, but with my limited techno abilities, that may have to wait.

I will get there with a website as soon as I can - that will be a priority for me in the coming months, but for now, my blog wil have to be my contact.

At the moment, Christmas is upon us, and with that I have booked into several shows for the season and thus I am within a sea of projects!

I will post pictures of Seaonal Christmas stock as soon as I can!

Sharon
xoxoxo

Adding pictures

2011-05-11T06:49:00.000-07:00

My poor sad little blog - no attention since before Christmas so here goes the first few pictures for all the lovely people at my various craft events who have asked about a webiste.

At the moment, I am afraid there is no dedicated website, but I will add pictures when I can for you to see the range I do.

Only a few today though as I am only on a break from painting! I agreed to do the Westcliff Art Trail again this week, but because I have been so busy with craft sales and orders and builders redoing my kitchen, as well as the Photoshop and DSLR Camera classes I do during the week, this has been put on the bottom of the pile and I have finally reached it!

Therefore in my coffee break I write this and will add a few shots and come back to it when I can .

Here are a couple of photos taken of my stall last September at the Leigh Regatta and Village Green events in Chalkwell Park! A mix of seaside and vintage chic signs, tags, accessories and decorations!

2010-11-11T00:51:00.000-08:00

Following on from Handmade on the 2oth of November, I will be at the Community centre again (same place!) on the 27th of November for the Leigh on Sea Handmade and Vintage Fair, organsied by Anna Cooper. This is a brilliant and fun fair, with some fantastic handmade crafts, many in a vintage theme, as well as vintage clothing, cakes, jewellery, paintings and signs. There is also a tearoom on site run by all the Tea and China, serving tea in vintage china an cucumber sandwiches and delicious cakes.

A fun day and a very popular event! Pop in and say hello if you are there!

Tis the Season

2010-11-10T06:08:00.001-08:00

Where has the year gone? Here we are - November and my busy period!

I have several craft events this season including the Westcliff on Sea Women's Institute Christmas Craft Evening held at the Cliffs Pavilion on the 11th of November! This group WOSWI - are the greatest bunch of ladies ever! Ranging in ages from 18 to 70 plus, every meeting is full of fun, laughter and friendship! I am looking forward to the evening!

Followng this event which is a group event and not a public event, I will be showing at several venues in the Southend on Sea area.

The season is Christmas and therefore a lot of my wares will be in that theme, and will include signs, shelf sitter block sets, ornaments, cards, and wreathes, and there will also be wares to purchase as gifts in different themes including cakes, vintage chic, and shabby chic roses.

The list of events is below - if you are in the area pop in and say hello! There will be many stalls selling a huge variety of special hand crafted items made with love!

Hopefully I will see you there!

Saturday, November 20th, 2010- Handmade.

This event is organised by Southend Adult Community College and will be held at the Leigh on Sea branch (Leigh Community Centre on Elm Road). This event is held upstairs and co-ordinates with the popular Farmer's Market which is held downstairs in the morning.

All wares will be handmade by various artists and craftspersons - many who were at some time, or still are, students at the college.

Expect to see a wide range of beautifully made by hand items ranging from fashion accessories, jewellery, mosaics, cards, painted art, collages, and more!

Entry is free and the hall will be open from 10 am to 3 pm. A lift is available and refreshements will be available.

A fantastic oppourtunity to grab some unique Christmas pressies!

Cakes!

2010-09-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't like a bit of cake? Even if you do not have a sweet tooth - the revival of the cupcake and cake decorating for eveyday is a welcome return to day of old! Cupcakes, either real or in the form of decoration has been a huge trend for sometime now and of course I had to put my two cents into the equation as well! I am not a domestic goddess however, so my cake stand may never hold the edible sort - but who can resist these lovely cake stands? Not me - that is for sure! I had a lot of people wanting to buy the stands - perhaps I ought to get some to sell!

A Mix of Seaside and Vintage Chic with a bit of Halloween and Christmas thrown in for fun!

2010-09-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

A stand with something for everyone! I made sure I had a mix of styles on offer which included not only the seaside styles but also Vintage and Shabby Chic (two styles I am very fond of!) I also included some holiday signs as it before we know it - it will be that time of year once again!

Seaside Hanging Tags

2010-09-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Selling Signs

2010-09-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

Below is a selection of some of the nautical signs I have been working on. I had a lot of fun putting colours and sayings together! I used jute string on these signs as opposed to the usual wire I use but I thought it would lend a beachy feel to them!

She Sells Sea Signs down by the Sea Shore!

2010-09-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

Update on Annoying Posts

2010-09-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

Just to say a big thank you to the moderators at Blogger! They have somehow magically fixed the annoying posts I have been receiving and a big thank you to you for doing so. No longer am I getting these comments and I am very happy about that! I had been considering closing my blog and now I do not have to so .....................Thank you so much!

I am happy now!

2010-09-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't enjoy a day at the beach - sun, sand and lots of fun! All of Southend on Sea - from Leigh to Thorpe Bay and Shoeburyness has beaches running along the coastline, and in the summer the beaches are packed when the tide is in or out, especially on a sunny day!

Many people travel in on the Fenchurch Street Line (rail)) to spend a day at the seaside, and although summer is the busy time, there are still people to be found near the sea on any given day.

In the winter months when the wind is wild and strong, it may not be easy to actually unwind on the Beach, but it can be very refreshing and my little pal Riley will happily have his walkies by the beach on any day - rain or shine! He may be a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel - regal by breed name and nature, but he loves to get his paws muddy and run along the beach!

Leigh Regatta and craft sales!

2010-09-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had a craft stall at the Old Leigh Regatta in Leigh on Sea, Essex.

The annual regatta is held in Old Leigh - the original fishing village down the cliffs from the main town on the Thames Estuary. Old Leigh is charming with it's lovely little cottages, traditional fishing pubs , seafood vendors and restaurants and cafes.

Every summer the old town is packed with visitors - both local and from London who come down for a day by the sea.

This is the first year I have had a stand at the Regatta and I will defintely be back for more!

It was a great weekend, and despite a bit of rain on the Saturday, the town was buzzing and it was great fun!

I decided to take the nautical theme and run with it so I made signs with a seaside theme and painted up small boats, anchors and beach huts! Not wanting to leave anyone out, I also included vintage chic items, my speciality roses and a few Christmas and Halloween items just to get people ready for the seasons to come now that we are in September!

Thank You Carole at Prim N Raggedy!

2010-09-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

A BIG, BIG THANK YOU to my lovely friend Carole over at Prim n Raggedy!

Carole has been so kind to feature me on her blog and thank you so much fro doign that Carole!
http://primnraggedy.blogspot.com/2010/09/gorgeous-handpainted-signs.html#comment-form

Carole makes the most wonderful Primitive candles, wax melts and room sprays! I have several of her room sprays and they fill my home with the most heavely scent and really, and truly they smell good enough to eat! She also has a line of the most wonderful Nappy Cakes - beautifully bundled packages of gifts for babies!

Carole also has a selling blog - The Primitive Crows Nest - where you can buy Prmitive fabrics, supplies, signs and other goodies!
http://www.theprimitivecrowsnest.blogspot.com/

ANNOYING POSTS TO BLOGS

2010-08-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I had two blog comments left on a post, and they were written in Oriental letters. Excited to see that I had a commnet from someone in a land far from me, I clicked on one and then had pop-ups of very distasteful piccies. I tried to see what I could do about this but there seemed no way to get help other than read forumn posts and on there I found that it is not just me who gets them and that the only thing i could do is to moderate all comments, which is what I have had to do now. Everytime I get one of these comments, I block them in my Junk Mail folder, but the symbols change everytime, and I still get them regularly.

I do not want to have to moderate comments, and if anyone wants to comment on anything please do not be scared off as I am not being choosy about who I welcome, but I do not want these particular distasteful comments.

If anyone reading this has had a similar problem and found a way to stop it, please do let me know - I don't know what else to do other than close my blog down and I don't want to do this.

Thanks to all my readers for any help you can give to me.

At the Beach

2010-08-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

Summer days are here and with it the call of the sea!

We live on the mouth of the Thames Estuary in a town called Westcliff on Sea and we live just up from the beach where I head off most days with my pal Riley for walkies!

I am signed up for several events this September this year including the annual Leigh Regatta and have decided that it is about time I made some signs with a nautical flavour - so that is what I am doing and this is a sampler of some of the designs.

My hubby Dave sails a Tornado - which is a racing catamaran and his family are into boats in a big way. They own an old sailing yacht built in 1896 in Blackwall on the Thames. She is called Hypatia and is kept in Holland year round in a lovely ancient shipping town called Veere. We go there most summers to spend some time on the boat and in Holland which we love.

Dave approves of the nautical signs which is a break from flowery ones which I normally do!

Wanda The Witch by Just For You...designs by Lisa

2010-07-09T02:08:00.000-07:00

Wanda the Witch flew into Essex from lovely Wales just for me last fall! She is the most adorable witch ever, and I love her to bits!

Made by the very talented Lisa oa Just For You.....designs by Lisa as a group swap. I am fortunate to be a part of the ebay groups Crows 'n Roses and honoured to be friends of the nicest and most talented ladies around!

Wanda is having a rest at the moment building up her energy for when summer is over an the seasons change for shorter days, cooler weather and time for mischief making!

Just For You - designs by Lisa

2010-07-09T01:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Lisa makes the most gorgeous quilts, dolls and fabric ornaments and
she has just launched her first pattern for sale. I have been telling her for some time now she should do that and I am so glad that she has. the new launch is for her lovely kitty - I bought one of these that she had made, for my daughter - and it is the sweetest kitty ever! Trust me on this!

I am lucky enough too to own several items made by Lisa, both as gifts and as purchases and in some instances they were purchased by me as gifts but far too tempting and I have kept them (that is so bad of me - but her work is irresistable! )

Lisa is having a giveaway - a surpise package of her treasures and if you go over to her blog you can enter for it! I knwo you won't be disappointed - so don't delay as it is ending soon! Click on the link for Just For You ...designs by Lisa in my blog list and feast your eyes on Lisa's lovely blog!

Have Fun!

Roses on Everything

2010-06-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

On the same day at the end of April when Lara set up her tea party photo shoot, I used her set up to take pictures of some of my latest paintings.

I have been painting a lot of distressed signs lately and love to sneak in a rose or two or three whenever I can and these little Vintage Chic signs with rosebuds are fun to do.

Given my way I probably would paint roses over anything and everything, but I do have to take a step back and not do that!

On this particular day, due to a long cold winter and spring no roses at all were in bloom in my garden so I had to use some fake roses, which although quite good for fake roses, are not like the real thing by a long shot. A month on from the date these were taken, with a few weeks of warm weather and my roses are once again out in the garden - a riot of colour, and scent with full blooms and lusciousness and now as I write, it is raining! Sigh!!

Maybe that is the reason I am always painting roses onto whatever I can?

Tea in the Garden

2010-05-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

My daughter Lara recently set up a photoshoot to represent a teaparty for one of her photography tasks for college, and what fun to get out pretty china, silverware, a table cloth lovingly crocheted as a gift for our home and also the excuse to buy some decorated cupcakes! ( I admit - being a Domestic Goddess is not something that has happened to me - although I love cupcakes and often paint them which is a better option waistline wise too. I have no talent or patience to make edibles cakes! )

I love teacups too, and am having great fun finding pretty ones in the charity shops which sadly is getting harder to find now that Vintage Anythings are all the rage now!

I don't drink from teacups often, but again I do like to paint them - having been totally influenced by Connie Parkinson who is the Queen of painted teacups, cottages, roses, cakes and all things quintessentially English!

Connie is an American painter living in California and if anyone can be described as being the Queen of Tea - I would say it is Connie.

I came across Connie in 2004 in my internet search for book, dvd's, pattern packs and anything else I could find which would help me to learn how to paint roses.

When I chanced upon Connie's work - it was as though my quest had been answered - here was a lady who was doing all the things that I aspired too and I was hooked.

At this time - it seemed to me that most people in England had little interest in the tradition of tea and roses, and cottage gardens, and yet in America there was a whole community of women celebrating the traditional customs of tea, growing roses, tending cottage style gardens and decorating their homes in pink with distressed painted furniture covered in roses. Connie introduced me to many talented rose painters selling on ebay at the time, and I spent hours searching through pages and pages of US ebay listings of painted furniture and accessories being painted and presented for sale, and drooling over all the pretty pretty items.

I was hooked and have spent the years painting as often as I can and trying to learn as much as I could, never actually reachimg my goal, but helped along enormously by the encouragement of Connie, a very sharing painter.

Well now - now that teacups, roses and traditional pastimes like sewing, knitting, gardening and crafting are all back big time in this country, as well as the tradition of taking tea (see June 2010 issue of County Living for pages about it!), I have been pestering Connie to come over to teach a painting seminar in England sharing her knowledge and instructing us as to we can learn to paint all these wonderful traditional iconic symbols of days gone by!

Now won't that be the icing on the cake!

Have a look at her website which is on the page next to me to have a look at here art and see how wonderful her art is!

Riley and the Roses

2010-04-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Some guys just gotta be the centre of attention! This is my little pal Riley when he was a year old. Over the years our two children have taken so many photos of this dog that now- point a camera at him and he automatically rolls over on his back and poses like he is Burt Reynolds on a Cosmopolitan photo shoot!

We had a lovely cat called Sophie, sadly no longer with us, but she used to do the same and purr and look adorable. We used to joke about that, saying that when we would go out, she would teach the dog to do it, because he sure does look like her when he does it - even if he cannot purr like her!

Isaphan Damask Rose

2010-04-14T10:17:00.001-07:00

Mme Alfred Carriere being elegant and demure!

2010-04-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Mme Alfred Carriere shows off her bountiful Spring Skirt!

2010-04-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

Mme Alfred Carriere with pink noses from the cold!

2010-04-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

2010-04-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

A simple sign with a small bud and an open rose - the first of the season?

Actually - the first rose in my garden to bloom every year is an old beauty of a rambler called Mme Alfred Carriere- a most gorgeous rose with gorgeous scent and shaggy creamy white petals which tint to pink when the weather is colder. On warmer days it is soft white with touches of soft buttery yellow - not like this at all! It has three strong flushes of flower every year and is the first out and the last in,and it grows like a weed - but what a wonderful weed it is!

The second rose usually out every late spring, early summer is often one called Isaphan - a most lovely pink Damask rose with beautiful dainty flowers and sweet scent! I grow it along a fence and it is growing like a climber! Even though it only blooms once, it blooms for a long period and so lovely to behold! I will pop some photos of them on here for you to see!

Vintage Chic Signs and Such

2010-04-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

Vintage Chic Anythings!!

2010-04-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to add new products to my shop front store - Nosy Rosie Designs -on the Not On the High Street site for ages, and have found that a challenge, but I am feeling smug now that I have finally managed to get some pictures which I could make square and that don't look really bad!

They have either been too dark, or there has been something in the background that doesn't work, or I have cut off a corner, or they are blurry or I haven't enough background to crop them to a square shape, but now that I have bought a new Pentax DSLR, and been taking Photoshop lessons at the college I teach at part time, and with a sunny day (finally!!!) I have managed a couple of shots which are usable!

Don't get me wrong here - I won't be winning any awards for my skills as a photographer by any means, but I am beginning to realise what an amazing tool this Photoshop really is. I can still only do the basics, but those basics have helped clean up the things that are not so good and that in itself is "oh-so good!"

So - new signs to add to the ones that are already there and these ones are in colours which have a fresh feeling - like a fresh spring day with a gentle breeze and wispy white clouds! (Well that's how I feel about them!)

I could not resist a lovely Heritage Sky Blue paint by Dulux the perfect shade of vintage duck egg blue which so Ooh La La!! On cream it is divine and with pink it is bright and uplifting!

You can tell I am a colour freak by my sheer joy of colour! More than anything - colours inspire me - I keep several folders of inspiring magazine cuttings not only for their content - but in most cases for their colour schemes!

I have several more photos to edit which will come as I figure out how to fix them! I took some shots of more vintage chic rose signs against a window with an uninteresting and distracting background view out the window and now I need to work on my layers skills, so I can cut out the bad view and insert a nice view! Cheating? Yeah but..........a gal's gotta do what a gals gotta do when I need a decent piccie!

Gather Ye Rosebuds!

2010-04-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

Everything is Coming up Roses

2010-04-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Ok - here we are - already it is April and we seem to be no nearer to the lovely and inspiring season which is Spring in England. I love spring here! The beautiful bulbs with their bright and cheerful colours and heavenly scent!

I grew up in Northern Canada and the thing I most recall about spring there is slush!!! Walking through enormous puddles of slush - half melted snow and ice - wearing me knee high wellies (rubber boots)!

It is so different to be in England in the Spring!

However.............we are having such a cold spring here - very few bulbs are up now, there is a nip in the air unusual for this time of year and the past few days have seen parts of the UK where people are having to deal with more snow than we usually get in the winter.

I feel like we are missing out on Spring, so I have been painting roses lately - roll on summer if we are to be cheated out of spring!

All my signs lately have found roses sneaking into the white bits to brighten up my days!

I should be painting tulips and dafodils, but for the moment it is roses, roses, all the way!

Fingers crossed that we do get summer but if not, I will be painting more of them!

Santa Claus is on his way!

2009-11-17T00:56:00.000-08:00

This is the other side of the Snowman in the Meadow set!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Christmas will soon be here!

2009-11-17T00:47:00.001-08:00

Where oh where has the year gone?

I cannot believe it is almost December once again! I had good intentions of spending the year leisurely painting for the Christmas Craft Events, and now here I am again, scrambling to make enough! Nothing changes!

Here is a sneak preview of one of the items I am working on for this year! Every year I make two sided block sitter signs in a distressed fashion! Ok, so we rarely have snow here in the Southend on Sea area, but we can dream about a White Christmas - can't we?

Catching up!

2009-11-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

Where to start? It has been literally months since my last post!!! I have had such a busy year, and so many troubles with computers and ---- well no excuses - just time to get back on!

Well I managed to participate in my first Art Trail in the town I live in - The Westcliff Art Trail! This was a great experience, put together by some very hard working people and I am grateful for being accepted and also grateful for all their hard work!

I displayed at a small cafe in town run by a lovely lady and although I did not sell anything, I had some great exposure and thank Lesley frome Chili Peppers for her hospitality!

The other big thing for me this past summer was joining and setting up my shopfront on Not On The High Street! This has been exciting and the site itself is full of beautiful things sourced or handmade by many talented people! I feel humbled to be a part of the group!

I am so happy to be part of it, but have found myself so busy these past months, I have not been able to make the best use of the site up to now. With Christmas looming I am in full swing now making Christmas signs, block sitter signs and ornaments and I will be listing some of these within the week!

If you fancy a peek at what I have up now, here is a link! http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/nosyrosiedesigns

Click to view all products to see what is there! Check back soon to see what I have to offer for the Christmas Holiday period!

At the moment, all my items are garden inspired paintings in the style of a vintage sign with distressed paint effects. I love flowers - so I guess that is what I am gonna paint! Well in the summer anyhow!

The hydrangeas painting above is entitled Amelia's Hortensia's, inspired by my mother and her parents and their lakeside home. I spent many happy holidays there and feel such a wave of nostalgia just thinking about their log cabin style home built on the lakefront of Adams Lake in the beautiful Okanogan/Shuswap Valley of British Columbia, Canada. My collection of twenty paintings were all part of a group of happy memories from that time.

All for now as it is late (story of my life - I seem to get a second wind after 10 pm! ) but I will post more soon! I will add a few more pics of my paintings over time!

Night night!

Let Them Eat Cake - It's Summer!

2009-07-04T02:07:00.000-07:00

I love to paint cakes! Cakes are so pretty and painting them does not add inches to the waistline!

These paintings all feature cakes and most were painted for the Westcliff Art Trail I exhibited in during May.

The two large signs painted on cupboard doors feature cakes, teacups,lilacs, and roses as well as words - all of these elements are inspiring to me not only for their visual impact but also because of the memories and meanings they evoke to me personally.

Teacups - well - Connie Parkinson is truly the Queen of Roses and Teacups and I can't help but swoon every time I look at her beautiful paintings! I have a growing collection of teacups of my own - several which belonged to my Mother and her Mother, and a few years ago, I made an altered book titled Granny's Teacups. This book was very personal to me, at the time my Mother was very poorly in Canada and I had not long returned from spending time with her there. As she was unable to return home after that, I brought back her small collection of treasured teacups and these inspired me to make my book about both my mother and my grandmother and the impact they had on me and what is important to me.

Granny's Teacups made me think and reminisce about happy times spent at my Grandparent's Lakeside Home at Adams Lake in British Columbia, Canada, and these memories were the inspiration behind the entire collection of cakes and flower inspired paintings that I painted for the Art Trail.

One memory still vivid in my mind after at least 37 years is an afternoon I spent with my Grandparent's lovely next door neighbour Ina.

Ina was kind and glamorous and very friendly and one day she was decorating cupcakes for the Summer Fair Cake Competition. I was mesmerised with watching her make the most exquisite flowers, bows, loops, and trellis designs on these tiny little cakes in pleated paper wrappers.

I can still picture them to this day and thus my love of them and their pretty forms, and so this is why I love to paint them - that and the fact that I am not, or never will be a Domestic Goddess able to make them myself!

I will leave that to my friend Donna - she makes the most gorgeous cupcakes and is in high demand - thus she has started her own business entitled Let Them Eat Cake!

Summer!

2009-06-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and with it are the roses in bloom, warm weather and sunshine and light! I love this time of year and especially when we have warm days and sunshine (but not too hot - like the garden flowers I tend to wilt if it is too hot!)

I have been so busy lately that I haven't posted in ages and I cannot believe how much time has passed since my last post.

I managed to get twenty paintings of flowers and cakes done for the Westcliff Art Trail, in May! I exhibited in a lovely little cafe called Chilli Peppers. Leslie and her staff are friendly and very helpful, and I am very grateful they allowed me to exhibit in their space especially as Leslie was getting married the following weekend! Thank you to all the staff at Chilli Peppers.

The art trail itself was a great experience and although I did not sell any work, it was an honour to be a part of it, and definitely something I would love to participate in again.

In June, the Leigh Art Trial ran for a week. This annual event, which is in it's 13th year, is very well attended, and Southend Adult Community College, where I teach Interior Design and Decorative Painting was one of the sponsers. They held their own exhibition of students work from all the arts and crafts courses run at the college and this was a fabulous showing of very talented student work.

Crows 'n Roses Spring Swap

2009-04-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

I belong to an eBay goup of fabulous creative women,a nd every season we swap with each other!

This spring I received the most beautiful basket of fabric roses complete with a fabric postcard sent to my by the lovely Charlotte! Charlotte is a very talented lady who makes beautifully stitched fabric items! Not only that but Charlotte has her own website - The Homespun Loft - where she sells what se makes alongside primitive giftware and the most beautiful homespun fabrics!

These roses are so beautiful and they also smell like real roses and I am so pleased to have such a lovely gift! Imagine how thrilling it was to open the box and find these roses inside. Charlotte knows how much I love roses and this is a very thoughtful and heartfelt gift!

Thank you so much Charlotte!

Tea Room sign

2009-04-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

I have been working on signs lately for an exhibition in May and this is another one for it painted on a shutter type door. I wanted to get in all the things I love to paint - teacups, cakes, chocolates, roses and distressed finishes.

I plan on doing another shutter as maybe a bakery shop with more cakes and such and maybe with lilacs hanging over the same sort of twig frame. I haven't fully decided but I wanted to keep them related somehow. Tomorrow I will work on a series of 6 smaller signs on wood with distressed finishes - all again with a garden theme and next week I want to work on cakes.

This is the plan anyhow - the reality is yet to come and that will determine how much I actually get done. I haven't much time now but I will do what I can in the time I have.

It has been a beautiful and sunny day today - I love the fact that Spring is here and Summer is on the way!

Just For You Designs by Lisa

2009-04-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

Here is another wonderful blog from the very talented Lisa, who lives in Wales and designs and makes a beautiful range of lovelies which she sells through various shops in England and Wales. Lisa is also the brainstorm behind Crows 'n Roses, an ebay sellers groups full of lovely ladies - all who craft, and all who have become good friends together!

Have a look at her blog and see what I mean! Lisa works full time, and has a family and home to run and she still manages to make so many beautiful items! Her latest treasures are gorgeous chickadees!! I know you will love her special designs!

The Junk Art Queen Extraordinaire

2009-04-14T03:07:00.000-07:00

I have just added a link to the blog of Susan Wymola for you to have a look at! Susan is a decorative painter who specialises in transforming trash to treasure in the most innovative and inspiring ways!

Susan loves to paint roosters, chickens and flowers and calls herself Suzie Cackleblossums! She has also formed a Yahoo group called Chic Chicks which is a fun and friendly group. Susan is now teaching on-line and she designs painting patterns available through her Etsy shop!

Not only talented, Susan is also friendly and sharing and a great gal too! I am lucky enough to have swapped with her in a Chic Chicks gift exchange event and now have several of her pieces of art in my own home! Have a peek at the photos! The Rosy Bugs plaque is made from an old cd, and Suzie has used buttons beads and hearts to make a Rosy Bug plaque complete with roses! Rosybugs is my Etsy Seller name and this is a unique and very special gift! Thank you Suzie!

The chickie is adorable and has slogans which can be changed to represent my moods! Other gifts included native Texan bluebonnets painted on broken tile, a jam jar painted with adorable cherries filled with sweets and another CD painted with Suzies lovely roses! She also sent me some of her fabulous painting patterns which are full of pictures and demos and are well written and easy to follow.

Have a peek through Suzies blog and her links and I guarantee you will have a fun time!

Roses

2009-04-13T02:58:00.001-07:00

Here is a little sneak peek at one of my signs for the art trail. I love to paint roses and have been painting them now for several years in various styles. I have had a lot of help from Connie Parkinson who always gives me great advice and guidance!

I have since wired this sign for hanging, but I wanted to get picture when the light outside was bright, and that was when the paint was still fresh! I have two new cameras (long story) and they do not work anywhere near as well as my old Kodak, so I am a slave to bright outdoor light!

Painting Signs

2009-04-13T02:45:00.001-07:00

I have been so busy lately with painting signs for clients and shops that I have not had a lot of time to just post blogs, so I am going to catch up today with a few new posts before I secret myself away in my studio to work on creating new signs and paintings for the Westcliff art trail. This is an art exhibition for artists in the town I live in, and it is where artists exhibit their work for sale in local shops and businesses. I have never participated in anything like this before and so it is a new venture for me.

This wisteria sign was made for a client for her cottage home. I have never painted wisteria before and so getting commissions for flowers outside of my comfort zone is a great thing for me - as it means I add something new to the flowers I paint. My style of painting is loose and can probably termed more impressionistic than realistic, and is of course based on strokework derived from traditional folk and decorative art. I am a decorative artist as I paint art to decorate interiors, and I work primarily on wood which is often in the form of signs, furniture and interior accessories, but I also paint on canvases too. I think all art is decorative to be honest - as it ultimately decorates walls and interior and exterior spaces.

Spring Violets!

2009-04-13T02:29:00.001-07:00

I think wild violets are the sweetest little flower and I love how they grow anywhere! This little clump found a home in a hole in the pavement and I could not resist taking a photo of them! Some of their friends found a home in a wall nestled amongst the bricks/stones using the smallest amount of soil to feed and provide a display. I call it wall art!

Pretty in Pink

2009-04-13T02:20:00.000-07:00

I love flowers - and I love vintage china and if it is old china and has flowers on it - I am happy, happy, happy! I couln't help photographing the blossom on the plate! Ok - I know the blossom is a spring thing, and the roses are a summer flower, but I still couldn't resist the combination!

Spring Blossom

2009-04-13T02:11:00.000-07:00

As a painter, I am always looking at flowers closely to see how they are made (basically!). These blossoms I collected in 2006 to observe and I photographed them to add to my inventory of inspiration. As of yet, I stil have not painted blossom,- perhaps now is the time to think about that!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T01:59:00.000-07:00

Here it is - already Easter Monday and soon the holiday will be over!

I love the spring in England - the flowers are so fresh and the birdsong is all over the place as robins and blackbirds fly about gathering bits of straw and such for nests. When the blossom is on the trees I think of ladies in frilly ballgowns and I wish I had room in my own small garden for one of those ornamental cherry trees smothered with the overblown blousy pink blooms. A whiff of wind and they decorate the grass below! A rug of pink petals - wouldn't that be something!

Help from Friends

2009-02-19T05:41:00.001-08:00

Thank you Stephanie from My Calico Heart for helping me add websites and blog links! Stephanie makes the most gorgeous fabric items and is a fellow member of the Crows 'n' Roses ebay group. Have a peek thorugh her blog for pictures of what she makes - she has the most gorgeous angels and hearts made for her Christmas craft sale! I am not surprised you had a great sale Stepahnie!

Because of Stephanie's help I was able to add two website links today - St. James Place the webite of Connie Parkinson, and also the link for the online store - Vintage Home.

Connie is an artist from California who paints the most exquisite roses, teacups and cottages! She teaches, designs pattern packs for sale and has five published painting instruction books, as well as a teaching video and CD rom - all available in her on-line shop! Have a peek through and don't forget to look at her gallery and her Rose Gallery. You will be amazed at her talent! Not only mega-talented, Connie is also very nice and extremely helpful! My goal is to get over to America and be in one of the classes she teaches all around the USA and Canada. She is teaching In Las Vegas next week at the creative painting convention.

Vintage Home is the ultimate website for anyone who loves the vintage look and lifestyle. Clare and her husband sell the most wonderful array of fabrics, paintings, china, and homewares through their UK based site - and it too is just a feast for the eyes! Have a peek too at her blog - it has gorgous photos of her home and the treasures they find! I find myself wanting to live in these pictures! Her website is newly updated and is beautiful - I love the colours and the feel to it all.

I myself am in the middle of making lots of distressed signs and block sets for a craft sale this weekend. I am in a mood for coffee and cakes and so this seems to be the running theme - both colour and motif wise, and I hope to put together a few cupcake signs and hearts to take with me on Sunday to sell. (Well that is the intention anyhow!) My own coffee break is at an end and so I will go and get back to the paint!

Roses in May

2009-02-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

These roses are so gorgeous and I love all the colours together. They bloomed early in 2005, and the varieties in this shot include Madam Caroline Testout - an old hybrid tea climber (c. 1901), Charles de Mill - a beautiful deep crimson rose of the Gallica family(c. 1790), Constance Spry - the first David Austin English rose and so beautiful (c. 1961)- and it grows so strong it climbs high filling the air with it's gorgeous scent! the one at the topon the left is Zephirine Drouhin (c. 1868), another old climber, this lovely clear pink rose is delightful in bloom.

2009-02-15T06:12:00.000-08:00

2009-02-15T06:11:00.000-08:00

2009-02-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

2009-02-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

Roses and Painting

2009-02-15T05:46:00.001-08:00

Longing for Summer!

At this time of year my thoughts are preoccupied with the fact that summer is on it's way and with it - my roses will be in bloom. To tide me over until that time, I try to paint as many roses and flowers as I can!

I painted these tissue boxes in 2005 and sold them on eBay to ladies across the pond in America. During 2005 I sold a lot of painted roses and hydrangea articles through eBay - all to ladies in America.

I learned how to paint them by purchasing a video from Ros Stallcup in Virginia. I have had the good fortune to paint with Ros in the UK twice and she is a fabulous teacher and a lovely person, and she is also an amazing painter. I have all of her books and use them often to teach myself new fruits and flowers to paint.

Marie Antoinette would have loved these roses!

2009-02-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

I have a fascination and interst in Rococo design - the art, the interiors, the fashions, the decorative items, the china, the fabrics, the paintings - and I can't help but think of Marie Antoinette when I look at these roses. This is another view of the James Galway roses - and all the frilly edges, and the tightly pack blooms, the number of blooms on each stems, and the sheer size of the plant itself (this is a large shrub rose and it climbs on my fence and would take over the whole garden I think, if it just had a chance!) just makes me think of Versaille in the 18th Century and Marie Antoinette on all her finery!!! Imagine a full skirt with roses like this as trim! Fit for a queen.

James Galway Roses - David Austin English Rose

2009-02-13T11:44:00.000-08:00

James Galway Cut Roses

2009-02-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

Rosie's Rose Garden

2009-02-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

I love roses - not only to paint them - I also love to grow them and the roses I love the most are the Old Roses - the vintage roses - Bourbons, Albas, Musks, Damasks, Portlands, Gallicas and Centifolias. The shapes, colours and scents of them in bloom is eye candy on a warm June day!

I also love the English Roses from David Austin and this one is a climbing James Galway rose - and what a lovely sight it is in full bloom! It is a miltitude of colours with a warmer centre paling to the edges, and has a lovely scent too. I love cutting roses and bringing them into the house!

Rosie's Roses!

2009-02-13T08:19:00.000-08:00

With my new ambitions to make more of my blog, I am also going to add more picures to my blog - being comfortable with resizing and posting pictures is something I have to come to grips with too, so here is my effort!

These three signs with painted roses are the first three things I posted on eBay way back in May of 2005. All three are in different styles, and this was an important time in my mission to learn to paint roses. At the time, I absorbed every bit of information I could find about how to paint the flowers I love most and at this time I was buying painting books and patterns through eBay from the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK (when the occassional one came up!) and even from Israel! Almost very artist I could find who painted florals or roses - I added to my collection.

These three signs are painted using three different designers patterns from the books I bought between 2004 and 2005. The small rose is adapted from a Jenise Jackson design, and the two roses on the blue sign behind are an adaptation of a Pam Childress design. The roses on the cream ground are from a pattern by Connie Parkinson in her book called A Classy Affair.

Connie is a fabulous painter who paints the most gorgeous roses, and she teaches at conventions and seminars throughout the USA and Canada, as well as publishing books, pattern packs, videos, dvd.s, and articles for painting magazines, and she has been an enormous inspiration and help to me in my quest to learn how to paint. I will try to post a link to her website so you can have a look-see! I am not sure if I can do that here so will check out the options! Prepare to drool when you look through her work -a feast for the eyes!

It is about time I got back to this!

2009-02-13T07:52:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been awhile since I posted anything on here and so I am going to make a new effort to do so now! This has been prompted because just a few minutes ago I chanced on an Etsy sellers site and found a lovely digital OOAK Blog Banner from castleandcottage, and I am waiting for it to be sent! How exciting!!!

Impulse buying is usually not a good thing, but having just bought something on a whim means that I now have to do something about my blog - make it look more interesting - and make it have a bit of a personal feel to it. This banner will add WOW factor to it - and I have the task of figuring out how to do that! Just now, I have learned how to make my blog more intersting by changing the background and font colours!!!

2008 ended with big changes in my life with the death of my Mother in Canada and so I made the trip back from the UK for the funeral and to spend some time catching up with my brother. It is just the two of us now, (our father passing 7 years previous, our oldest brother passing 38 years ago), and both of us with our own memories of our parents, brother and childhood.

This year - 2009 - I am determined to accomplish as much as I can on my list of 'Things To Do Before I Die'. Maybe that sounds morbid, and I don't mean for it to be -I just realise that time is tick, tick ticking away, and if I intend to tick (sorry!) off the list of my goals and aspirations, I need to get started now!

One of those ambitions/goals is to get to grips with computer technology and get over my fears of it! A good starting point is for me to pretty up this blog and finding this lovely banner is the perfect place to start!

Keep an eye out for it - I will get it up as soon as I can! I can hardly wait!

Finally, a bit more time!

2008-09-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

It has certainly been a busy summer and now that Autumn is starting to settle in, the need to create looms as I prepare for my Autumn and Christmas sales.

I have had such a busy summer - most of it spent in learning. I have had the good fortune to be involved with a fantastic group of creative business women on a Universtity course for female entrepreneurs, and to say that it has been a life-altering experience would be the truth. I have hooked up with a lovely bunch of women who are multi-talented, fun and friendly and just the greatest bunch of gals you could ever meet.

Today was a teaching day - a workshop of 4 and we painted rosebuds on little clay pots. Unfortunately my camera is not working so well, so I cannot get any pics of the project! Must get a new camera!

I will try to post a picture of something for interest, but as I am technically challenged and still learning, it may not happen tonight (It is after all, too late to be doing this!)

Of fto bed - so good night all!

A New Beginning - Roses, Art and So-on!

2008-06-12T02:17:00.000-07:00

Ok- This is something completely new for me - a blog! For most people this is not a big deal, but for someone not totally confident (well - more 'not confident' at all!) with computers and stuff, well this is a big thing!

Roses, teacups, fabrics and art - these are the elements which inspire me to paint and create. I have loved roses since childhood - in the garden, in paintings, on greeting cards, on fabric for both curtains and cushions and dresses and bags, and more recently on furniture and decorative items.

The Shabby, Vintage, Retro style which is so popular now is just THE look, THE lifestyle, THE art-style which I feel suits me the best, and I love the look. I find vintage textiles, wallpaper and china bric a brac and tea sets, so, so inspriring, and I while away hours on the computer or with my nose in books and magazines, looking for images to absorb into my brain box, sorting it away for inspiration for some future project. I am drawn to the beauty of that faded grand era of the past - so perfect in it's day and no less beautiful, but with fading, or scratches, or chips or stains, it has an honest and loved feeling to it!

Now - since blogs, I have discovered a whole world of people around the world with similar interests and loves and I find I can lose myself reading about the lives and loves of others and this is what has led me to face my fear of computers and stuff and get on with it.

I will be back with more and am hoping this even gets to where I intend it to!

Catch you later!

Sharon