A grey and dusty day

I always find it strange how one day I manage to fit a mountains worth of work into a few hours, then wake up the very next morning, just a few hours after the 'productive explosion' and the day just slips like silk through fingers and I seem to drift along and flit from this to that , as if I were a butterfly.
Today seems to be the latter.
Its grey and quiet today. A fine soft drizzle is falling and the temperature has risen enough to stir some of the harlequins from their winter sleep.



Only a few remain now, as most have already moved on.




Time is ticking by and we are only a few days away from March. Well, to me March means Spring! The March hares have all been cut out and are waiting patiently to be painted. And of course, I suppose I must do some Spring cleaning!?



The house is in desperate need of a clean. As you may have noticed from the photographs, it is all very dusty!

What I need is a little fairy angel to help me! ;)

New item on Etsy

This heart is about to be listed on Etsy , if anyone is interested?
Its handpainted and signed on the back.





Its been another glorious early spring day here again. I would have loved to be out in the garden, but sadly we had to go shopping for new rugby/football boots for school. Oh well, hopefully the sun will shine again tommorow.

Parcels and Toads

What a lovely surprise I had in the post yesterday!
A Parcel from Celia over at Purple podded peas.



A comment I had left on her blog had been chosen for ' a little something'
Well this little something was so gorgeous , I just had to share it!



These beautiful hare cards! I love them!
Sorry family and friends, but these cards will not be sent, but framed and put on my wall :)
Celia creates the most wonderful lino prints.So don't forget to stop by her blog and have a peep into her Etsy shop. (Thankyou Celia x)

Today the sun was shining and Spring had most definitely arrived.
How could I possibly refuse a day in the garden?



I captured the first daisy on the lawn...



Found the tiniest of toads.....



and disturbed his lunch!....



Then came indoors and listed this on Etsy......



Have a good weekend !
x

Castles and white stags

Its half term this week ,which of course means no school for the children, and if we're lucky, time to get out and go adventuring!
We all love castles in this household, so decided as the weather looked good, to venture abroad ;)
So, over the severn bridge we travelled, into beautiful Wales. Luckily for us, only an hours trip.
Our first stop was the magnificent ruined Caerphilly Castle.
So many stories and secrets of times gone by within its cold stone walls.





With the sun shining and a definite feel of spring in the air, we sat and ate our lunch in the same place soldiers had, hundreds of years before us.
Just a few miles down the road we continued on to our next port of call.
A very different but equally beautiful Castell Coch...





This castle was built on the site of the original Castell Coch by a hugely wealthy Victorian. Whom you can read about here.
A fairytale castle with beautiful windows...



Walls hand painted and illustrated with characters from Aesops Fables....





Starry painted ceilings adorned with birds and gold....




And woodland views...



A lovely day out! We are now looking forward to our next castle adventure......

In between times I've done these....

Some things that I love

A little while ago I was very kindly given this award.


Thankyou Julia at: East Of The Sun West Of The Moon.

To accept this award I have to list 7 things that I love. This isn't difficult to do, so I,ll play along...
I won't include family, as they know I love them already :) x

1. Sparkly things and turquoise green



2. Snow!

Don't worry!.. I,m not going to post another snow picture :) Although I could quite happily snap pictures and pictures of it as I LOVE it! And, I'm sorry but I can't guarantee that there will not be any more pictures of it this year ;)

3. Beautiful old doors and windows.

(These are from the gorgeous little fairytale cottage in the grounds at Stourhead in Wiltshire)




I would love to have a front door like this....



4. Notebooks.
I fill them with scribbles , sketches, ideas, lists, books that I must remember to read, music that I have heard and want to hear more of and snippets of stories that dance inside my head, that hopefully I can pin down into picture books one of these days not so far away.



5. My garden.
Especially in the spring when the air is filled with the scent of apple blossom, the cowslips are in flower and the lawn a carpet of daisies.



6. Birds and birdsong

I dare not imagine what the world would be like without a sky full of birds and the beautiful songs they sing.

7. The night sky

I could just sit and stare at a starry sky and the moon for hours.
Last summer we all decided to sleep under the stars. Not in a tent, but just on camp beds and duvets on the grass in front of the front door. I fell asleep looking at star filled heavens. Luckily it was a saturday night, otherwise the postman would have thought we were a little strange. Our neighbours did I think?

So, thats my seven things. I am supposed to pass the award on to 7 other blogs, but as there are so many wonderful ones out there , I don't know who to choose?
So I invite anyone to play along.

Now I really must get on. This week has flown by in the blink of an eye and seems to have been filled with domestic jobs and silly little but never the less important things that have had to be seen to, therefore I have very little to show for it creative wise which is quite frustrating, but I'll survive :)

Winter wonderland

The Snow Queen visited us again last night ...







With her icy breath and swarm of white bees, she tranformed the garden into a magical place for snowmen to be born....



and cats to go adventuring.....

More Hearts

We had been hoping and watching the skies. Crossing our fingers and toes. Listening to the weather forecast and sniffing the air.
And at last... we have some snow!!! :) :) :)
You have probably gathered that we like snow in this house.... very much!



Yesterday I spent many many moments just gazing out of the window watching it fall.
And walking outside letting the snowflakes settle in my hair and on my eyelashes.



When the children came home from school, we stayed out until twilight having snowball fights and throwing snowballs for Jasper our cat to chase. Its the first time he had seen snow and absolutely loved it. He used his paws to push the snow like a snow plough then would suddenly jump up and charge around the garden excitedly. (I wish I had caught him on camera)


Its cold, but we are happy.

Whilst not playing or looking out of windows, I have been doing these.....
More wooden hearts that will be listed on Etsy shortly.
These however are not hand painted, but are decorated with printed imagery from cards I have illustrated in the past. I'm afraid the hand painted ones are so time consuming I have decided to only do them very occasionally.


Stay warm everyone!