2016 was a big one for us, with the purchase of our first home in April and the arrival of our second little cherub, Toby! So understandably I was a little slow on the creative side, but I did manage to have a fairly productive year, considering.
I completed four watercolour artworks including two illustrations ‘Caleb Clarke’ and a remake of ‘Darcy Plum’. (the first painting of Darcy had some additional squiggles from my 2 year old) I also painted ‘Windswept’ for a magical fairy gift box and ‘Toby’s Dragon’ for our new little man. And I finally got around to painting toadstools on a piece of wood I had.
Just recently I contributed to a colouring in book for Rafiki Mwema, to raise funds for their children’s home. The book is available now on their website, check it out! The theme was ‘Africa’ so I drew an African warrior goddess to represent the fighting spirit of the young girls living in the Queen’s Castle.
To make up for lack of artworks last year I did do a lot of crafting, so here’s what went down..
I had a lot of fun putting together the Magical Fairy Gift Box! Complete with little letters, trinkets, surprises, and the original artwork ‘Windswept’ hidden in the lid.
DIY’d the hell out of a little chest of drawers for baby, from hubby’s hard rubbish pile to nursery ready.
I made a batch of hanging toadstools, a handful of minis and a few dream catchers. Leading up to Christmas I became all crazy eyed with festivity, making lots of decorations with Oscar and singing carols. Yes, loudly.
Also during the festive season I made a little fund raiser to build a well in cambodia and it was a huge success, selling all my Karma Stars within 48 hours and raising $225!
Not a lot happened on the photography side of things.. but I was a finalist for one of the weekly competitions with Camera House for their theme ‘Family’ with the picture below left. They also used my image from the year before as one of their top favourites, woo hoo!
I attended my first ‘Blog hop’ taking part in the annual Mad Hatters Tea Party by A Fanciful Twist. It was an interesting way to meet other artists and bloggers by inviting them to my online party and popping into all theirs for some virtual tea and cake. Also made for a fun photoshoot.
And finally I entered a ‘through the looking glass’ comp for Threadless, which I didn’t win but I put a lot of work into my entries so I can’t not share it again.
Oh so much work.. but a good learning experience too.
Bring on 2017! I hope to focus more on my Etsy shop and work towards having a market stall at some point. I’d really like to paint a bit more too, but I’ll see how I go being home with 2 kidlets this year, I have a feeling I’m going to be one super busy mama.
To be continued..
Your creations are beautiful.
Thank you so much! xx