Colourart Junior is here

Finally it is live!!

A new site showcasing all my children's art collection.

www.colourartjunior.com

Its all divided into categories, so whatever your child is into you can find it quickly and easily. So whether it might be fairies....

...or maybe cars...

....it is so easy to find.

I have a new name to....

colourartjunior

......a new logo....

and some new business cards from moo.com

So we're all new and shiny here at Colourart, so keep checking back as new designs will be added soon.

Honest Scrap Award

Ok, so it's been half term and well now I'm here for a rest as we've had lots of celebrating going on. How come a 7 year old can stretch a birthday right across 3 whole days? Still back to blogging land.

I've been awarded this Honest Scrap award by http://aviyaglass.blogspot.com which is great - thank you. Now what do I have to do.

I must list 10 honest things about myself and put a Logo on my blog (this bit t'is done)

Honest Things List

1. I talk far too much

2. I trained as a textile designer, but left my textile job to be with my kids more.

3. I spend far too much time shopping for things I don't really need, but hey a girl has to shop

4. I'm a dreadful speller, I needed a dictionary just to do this.

5. I need to go on holiday every year.

6. My favourite place in the world is Florence, Italy (so far not been everywhere).

7. If I had a pot of gold it would be for a home in Tuscany.

8. I am big Lily Allen fan.

9. I believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden (well why not?)

10. I set up my business as I have a big passion for design.

Now I just have to send this award to 7 other bloggers.

They are:

http://www.heartfelthandmade.com/

http://katianmosaics.blogspot.com/

http://raspberrycupcakewithacherryontop.blogspot.com

http://buffyscharms.blogspot.com/

http://tiptoptoppers.blogspot.com

http://jasmijnpaauwe.blogspot.com/

http://thechildrensjewellerycompany.blogspot.com/

Colourart Junior Collection at The Designer Baby Show

I am fortunate enough to be showing my paintings at The Designer Baby show in November. This is a very exciting opportunity to show my nursery collection of paintings at this very special event. So to see a great spectrum of designer baby products including my Colourart Junior collection, circle 15th November on your calendar. See you there.

Personalised Childrens Garden Canvas

Just completed this commission for a personalised painting, just adds a personal touch, great for a christening or new baby gift. Many more of my paintings can be personalised and I'm happy to do it for no extra charge.

Here are some others to show you.

Kim Smith (SRAJD) Charm Bracelets

If you love jewellery and are looking for something special and beautifully handmade then pop over to etsy to find Kim Smiths Charm Bracelets

Kim's shop is filled with the most beautiful handmade charm bracelets in all sorts of juicy colours. The bracelets are made with lots of details, different beads and charms. I have two of my own and have recently commissioned a childrens one for my daughter Shelley.

These bracelets are all about the detail, this one for Shelley has flowers and fairies.

Here are some of my favourites from Kims Etsy store.

Zest for Life - a summery mix of citrus colours

Cherry Blossom - fresh turquoise and pink

Summer Romance - summer berry tones reminiscent of a summers evening

Bracelets come really well packaged, great for giving as a gift although you may want to keep it all for yourself.

Please take a look at Kims shop, there are many more.

Amanda xx

Owl Nursery Canvas for Childrens Room

I love birds, and there are all sorts of birds in design around at the moment. In homage to gorgeous birds I have had fun designing this little Owl canvas. She's very cute, in soft pastel colours and is looking for a new home. She has been decorated with soft patterns with some silver outlining. She will be available to buy from my on-line store, Colourart very soon, but I just wanted to show her off as soon as I could. **Just a quick update Owl is available to buy now at www.colourartjunior.com **

Handmade Felt Birds For Easter

Let me introduce my tweet family. I saw some lovely felt birds on Flickr a few weeks ago and wanted to make my own, to give to family at Easter, so...

......I took a few sheets of felt…

.......some buttons……

.........some ribbon………

........a sewing box and sewing machine…..

………and here ……..

are my little family of felt birds.

Happy Easter xx

Technorati Tags: felt,handmade,birds,colourart,sewing,ribbon,easter gift

Nowton Park, bury St Edmunds and Homemade Cakes

Daffodils out at Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds. We went a few weeks ago and none of them where out. They are now and they are stunning, a sea of yellow lines the walk, so I wanted to share them.

and in a few free moments this weekend, we made some cupcakes and enjoyed decorating them with some great pastel colours.

Yum Yum!!
xx

Spring Colours

What Colour brings Spring to mind?

These are my mine, what are yours.......

"I see a green tree. And to me it is green. And you would call the tree green also. And we would agree on this. But is the colour you see as green the same colour I see as green?" - Carson McCullers - Author, Novelist, Short Story writer

Spring Green, with a touch of cerise.

Yellow - Nature, fun, sunshine, warmth.....and those cute little chicks.

Green - Nature, earthiness, warmth

Pastels - Pink, Blue, Green.........

A new Colourart print coming soon

...........evoking the joy and subtlety of Spring,

and don't forget the Easter Bunny xx

Handmade Crafts Directory and Gift Wrapping

I've decided on doing a spot of advertising on handmade-crafts.co.uk and have put togther this logo. Handmade-crafts is a free directory of artists and crafters. I've shown my support for buying handmade on there, so pop over and have a look if you get the chance.

Also, I have just finished this painting, I was asked to add a message to it before I sent it as it is a gift for a new baby. So I made a special gift tag which includes an element from the design.

I hope the new owner of this piece of artwork enjoys it for a long time to come.

I'm always happy to gift wrap a painting for someone if they so wish. Just go to show its always worth asking.

Coming Soon.....

A new development to my main Colourart shop comes in the form of ColourartJunior. ColourartJunior is to be launched very soon, and will be an online store filled with paintings suitable for kids only. All my art for children will be focused into one specially designed site. I am really excited about this site, so I wanted to give you a little sneak preview before it launches.

See you soon with the online www.colourartjunior.co.uk
xx

Snowdrop Sunday - Hedingham Castle

Making the most of the warmer weather we headed off to Hedingham Castle this afternoon for Snowdrop Sunday. The snowdrops carpet the ground of the woodland walk, with clumps of white flowers everywhere. Some are opened in full flower, others are still closed forming droplets.

This was taken looking up into the snowdrops.

I was lucky to get this without any people in it as there were plenty of people wandering around.

Some fugus found in a tree, I'm fascinated by the layers it forms - beautiful!


Back to the snowdrops, spotty patches of them this time............


....and taken by my six year old,

and finally Hedingham Castle - where I enjoyed a free glass of mulled wine - mmmmm xx

Competition Winner

Thank you to those of you who entered my Blog giveaway. The winner has been drawn out of my winter hat and it is **drumroll**...................

Debsjeans - Circle the Shore

Thanks for all the fab suggestions of names for my painting.

Well done to Debbie from Debsjeans. Check out her jewellery in her Misi shop.

I will contact you shortly and pop your winnings in the post next week.

Cupcakes - no you can't eat these ones! (and some snow)

Couldn't resist writing about the snow....well it is supposed to be the worst snow fall for 18 years. Mmmmm, but we were prepared, weren't we?? yes just shut everything down, that will work!!??! So no school today, no bin collection, no post.....

....but just to show that its not all playing in the snow, here are a couple of goodies I've been working on. A commissioned 'to do/shopping list holder' which has been decorated with cakes, this together with a Cupcake canvas has been commissioned as a new home pressie.

and here is the collection of all my fairy cake product which I have been working on.

I writing this hoping that I can get to the post office without breaking an ankle on any icy patches. Roll on Spring.

If you want to buy one of my cupcake paintings they are available from my Colourart shop www.colourart.co.uk/Childrens_feb08.htm

Blog Giveaway - A cupcake keyring and an art card

Here's a little competition to win this keyring and card. The card is handpainted by me, and the keyring has been specially printed from one of my paintings. You could give them to someone special or keep them all for yourself, the art card can be framed if you don't want to give it away.

The original canvas the keyring is printed from. See more on my website

All you have to do to win these two items is leave a comment on this post with a suggestion for a name for this abstract painting. Everyone who suggested a good name will be put into a prize draw. You will also need to leave a way for me to contact you in case you are the lucky winner. The closing date is 7th February 2009 at 12.00 p.m. , they'll be with the winner before Valentines Day!

All that is left is to say good luck!!

This competition has now closed - we have a winner

The rules:

1. All names will be entered and judge's decision is final.
2. One winner will be notified on 7th February 2009 after 12.00p.m when the competition closes.
3. There is no cash alternative for this prize.

Abstract Paintings...New for 2009!!

I have two new pieces to show you. This first one is very textured and in calming teal blue, shades of brown with hints of bright white and soft whites.



I'm happy with the printed circles, I didn't want them completely uniform as I wanted them to have a handprinted feel.

If you want to buy this painting, please visit http://www.colourart.co.uk/Earth_tones_Feb08.htm or if you want to browse at any of the others I have in my online gallery please visit: http://www.colourart.co.uk/


The other design is a tripych which is entitled Aqua Distant Trio, I was inspired by the beach and the way in which the waves lap up onto the sand when painting this design.This is also available for sale at www.colourart.co.uk/Cool_blues_Feb08.htm

Don't forget Valentines Day - they'd make a great gift for someone special, you can commission one in your loved one's favourite colours.

Its Cold Outside....Brrrrr

Happy New Year!!!!

Just popped into the garden, the skys are blue and all is frosty!!

Oh and here are the fairies....did I find them in the frosty garden.....

no, not quite, they're thanks to the Christmas display in MK shopping centre.

My Bright Sunday Evening.

How lovely to see that Ruth from Tiptop Toppers has awarded me this fabulous award- thank you Ruth.

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming.
These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.
They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement.
Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!
Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

So with these reasons, I would like to award it too:

Sam - because of the beautiful handmade accessories on her site. A treasure trove of lovlies.

Laurie - because of all the pretty textiles. A have a soft spot for all things fabrics and pattern.

Sara - Lovely work, flowery and colourful (and for being my camper van swap partner)

Steph - for her fantastic work with glass. The rainbow of colours on her blog always brighten my day.

ChichiBoulie - because her work is fab.

Emma - I know she already received this from Ruth but I couldn't miss her out because I read her blog everyday and it's sooooooo funny.

Karen - If only I was getting married again. Lovely sparkles.

Claire - for the mushroom, who my son loves dearly, and travels with him near and far.

So, there are my 8 and thanks to Ruth for making my Sunday evening ;0)

Fairy Canvas and Christmas Craft

How many sleeps till Christmas???



Oh not sure, but here's the latest addition to my craft fair stock. I've painted her just in time for my Christmas fair, but she'll go on my site beforehand. The canvas is 20cm x 20cm and she is very sparkly. I have used plenty of silver glitter and added some little stars, just for some extra fairy magic.

xx

Also here is a sneek preview of a WIP. Thanks to http://www.craftshapes.co.uk/ these lovely shapes arrived and after hours of priming them they are ready to decorate. All 60 of them. I am inspired and ready to go. I'll post piccies of them when they're finished.

Coming soon. A digger, a fairy and a dinosaur painting.

Eeeekkkk. Less than two months until Christmas and just over one month until the only craft fair I do in the year. Not because I'm lazy or allergic to people but because I do enough online business to not have to drag myself away from my cosy home. I do like this one though because its local, and I do usually sell there. So here are a couple of pieces to go to my craft fair with me, but I will be adding them onto my website soon.

Oh yeah, and the different bit is they are framed. This is different for me but it makes a change. Oh and I had fun choosing the colours. (No glass though - perspex instead as they are for kids)
=)

Coming soon - some christmas decorations with a twist. I'll keep you posted.