Although I haven't been blogging for a long while, I have been very busy. Here's a toybox that I painted up for the boys at the end of last year:

I used the book "The Tiger Who Came to Tea" by Judith Kerr as my reference, as it was my favourite book as a child, and the boys love it too.  The picture on the top of the box appears on the back of the book.

This is the side of the box, showing the Tiger drinking all the water from the taps so that Sophie can't have a bath that night (even as a child I knew this wasn't possible, but it didn't spoil the magic of the story!)

On the inside of the box I painted my favourite scene in the book. As the Tiger has eaten everything in the house, there is nothing for dinner, so Sophie puts on her coat and wellingtons over her nightdress and goes out to a cafe with mummy and daddy for sausages and chips and ice cream. As a child, I thought the idea of going out at night after bedtime (particularly in your nightie!) was just magical. As the lid is often open as the boys rummage around for bits of lego, this view is often on display.

Originally I had planned to paint scenes on the sides and back too, and I should really have painted the inside as well as it looks rather shoddy! But I'm afraid I had run out of patience by this point and was desparate to move onto something else! Being a bit of a perfectionist my eye is drawn to all the mistakes, but I am basically fairly pleased with the end result. I find painting furniture very enjoyable!

Now where did I put my mojo?

I have done nothing for about two weeks! Still feeling under the weather, and just shattered in the evening, which is when I do most of my work. However here is something I have been working on at a recycling workshop:

 

This was an ordinary wooden table, picked up at a junk shop, which I sanded and painted ivory. I then used cement to adhere the pieces of pottery to the top. I had collected the pottery on beachcombing outings over the previous few months - I have a lot more, but just picked out the blue and black stuff, then interspersed them with white pieces. They have all had their edges softened by the sea and feel fabulous.

Before grouting, I painted on a layer of protective coating (not sure what it is called, but it stops the porosity of the seawashed pottery from soaking up any spills). Finally I used an ivory grout so that it looks like the pottery has just washed up on the beach.

I am quite pleased with the final result, but being a perfectionist I can see all the bits I am not happy with!

Happy New Year - Da Cat is BACK!!

Well hello again, what a long time it has been since I blogged! New year, new start I think. I will try and keep up this time!
Although I have had a blogging break, I have not been on a craft break - in fact, it's because I have been so ridiculously busy that I haven't had time to write. So I'm sorry for abandoning you all, and I promise I will make it up to you by wafting around that magical word ... GIVEAWAY ... coming soon to a blog near you!

Anyhoo, re the pictures - this was an ordinary pine kitchen chair, which I stripped, sanded, painted with two coats of pale blue, then dry-brush with some off-white, then painted on the cat picture with acrylics, finishing off with a couple of coats of varnish on the top. Am very pleased that I resisted the urge to overwork the fur and am quite happy with the result! (It evens says "Miaou" on the back of the chair!)
I hope you all had a great Christmas and a good start to 2010 - look forward to catching up with what you are all up to in the near future.

Just for a change ...

... I painted a picture :)My eldest daughter loves Charlie and Lola (don't we all?) so I painted this in acrylics and outlined it in pen. (Unfortunately I rushed it a bit to get it finished before the littlest one woke up and smudged it ... gah)

Caitlin is most thrilled with it though.