DIY Printable Valentine Cupid's Arrow Card

Shot through the heart and you're to blame...

I made these for my young men last year and ended up making a heap for my friends and family too, they were such a hit I wanted to share the link with you again.

These were created by Sweet Muffin Suite - they are super cool and very easy to make.

Here's a link to my original post which also includes a sweet recipe for a spicy black pepper chocolate valentine brownie, perfect for gifts too!

Owl be downloading you again this year!

Have you got your calendar for 2013 yet? If not you will have to swoop down on this one. I've downloaded these for the last two years and am very happy to be able to do it again this year.
My Owl Barn has compiled, once again, a gorgeous collection of owl illustrations for you to download as a calendar. You get to pick your favourite for each month - so hard to choose!! Here are just a few examples below.

Thank you, thank you, I will treasure it all year long... you can never have too many owls, seriously.

So either click on my link button to the side or go here to get yours!

movie night in the suburbs

I wish I could say this was my suburban backyard hosting this amazing outdoor cinema party but this is the work of a delightfully creative friend of mine from college.
She created this beautiful evening with the help of her family to celebrate her birthday!
The photos are just gorgeous and there's a beautiful little film of the night too. So many wonderful
details and cool ideas. Makes me want to drag out all my cushions and rugs and set up movie night
under the stars at my house.
I was excited to share this with you because the photos are so lovely and I'm sure you will like them too.

Love your work Shayna!

To see the full post and all of her gorgeous photos of the night, visit Shayna's blog ~ Mulders Drapery ~ I always look forward to seeing her new design work.

mess!

I knew my white painted table top wouldn't stay tidy for long. Here's what happens when I get excited about a craft project...

hmmm, I know I left my creative genius in here somewhere...
It's rainy, I have the morning off work and I still have a few more match boxes to go.
Please tell me your craft space is just as bad.

matchboxes

The Gentleman's One

one for the gents....

I painted a woodgrain effect box and covered the outside with vintage gentlemen's advertisements.
I made a tiny silk bow tie, a pocket watch and cut out some cricket collector cards and some playing cards too.

The Rose One

one for the ladies...

this one is covered in rose fabric and a vintage silk rose bud {one from my Nan's collection}.
Inside is some tiny roses, a pale green button and a bead as well as a bundle of rose incense which was part of a box of floral incenses sent over from Japan several years ago. You can see part of the packaging on the back of my matchbox.

So many more delightful matchboxes at Lobster and Swan. Their makers have come up with some really creative ideas. See more at the group's flickr page.

pepper & spice chocolate brownie for valentine's day

I made these by adapting a fantastic recipe that my friend Jamie gave me. 

The original is called "Mother Of The Year Chocolate Brownies".

Unfortunately I'm not sure where the recipe came from but I have added it here with my extras so you can print it out and try it yourself.

It's so quick and easy you can whip up brownies at the drop of a hat. 

Jamie uses this recipe as a base and adds all sorts of ingredients and makes all manner of 

amazing cakes, desserts and cupcakes from it. She's very clever!

I just chose to add black pepper and mixed spice {another idea borrowed from a chocolate spice 

biscuit recipe from a friend!} and made them into cupcakes. 

These will be for the boys for valentines day. Luke did a fantastic job at decorating the top of this 

one with a red candy heart and chopped up musk sticks!

* just to let you know, these brownie cakes taste amazing with the pepper and spice addition!!

here's my adaption...

and look what else...
how cool are these!

I found this free printable project at sweet muffin suite printable valentine's card via creature comforts 
I made these up in about 5 minutes this afternoon using some cute black pencils I found at spotlight.
I think they such a clever idea.

The boys will love them I' sure.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow!

A little present

Just finished making a little memory wire colour blocked bangle for a little lady's birthday.
So easy and fun to make. Do you like the bird charm at the end? It was one half of a pair of earrings whose partner was lost. My sister brought a little box of beads and broken jewellery for me to add to my bead collection and I found this lonely birdie in there. Happy for him to have found a new home!
I am also using the Happy Birthday matchbox I made instead of a card. I just wrote a little message inside ~ hope she likes it  ♥

Matchbox A Day

Whoa there!
I'm getting behind but still enjoying a quiet moment to myself to make these little creations...
here are some more of my Match Box A Day contributions


The French One

This one is covered on le inside with a picture from my Jean Leyssenne Calendar {beautiful watercolours}.

The Thank You One

I couldn't think of a more perfect way to say thank you than a thank you letter and a bunch of flowers.

♥ I think I will dedicate this virtual thank you to Jody at Lemon Rhodes who gave suburbansider
a mention as one of her blog loves this week! Thank you Jody - so cool! I was delighted!

Matchbox A Day

A new month and so a new creative challenge.
I found the February Matchbox a Day challenge at Lobster and Swan via Meet Me At Mike's.
It looked very interesting and is something I haven't done before. I knew I would have plenty of bits and pieces around the house I could use therefore it would be a "no spend" kind of activity, apart from the match boxes themselves.

image from Lobster and Swan

Here are just a couple to begin with...

Day 1  • the airmail one

This one is covered in a page showing "world communications" from my vintage map book and the inside is lined with a map from the same book. I cut out a little red plane and attached it to the top with some fine black wire. In the box are some stamp pictures and a real one, a little red toy pillar-box from England and, I copied out a very tiny version of the letter from the movie 
"The Love Letter" because it's just gorgeous.


Day 3 • the happy birthday one

Happy Birthday - a perfect excuse to eat cake and wear a party hat. I made the cake using scrunched up tissue paper in a mini cupcake liner and sprinkled glitter and seed beads on top. The hat is made with paper, washi tape and a feather on top.



I have done a few so far and will keep posting them on my flickr page.  Here is a link to the group page on flickr if you would like to see what others are making.
If you would like to join in too, please visit Lobster and Swan for more details.

Tuesday Treasures

This is going to be a lengthy post but there where so many brilliant pages to show you from my collection of Walter Foster Art Books.

These I believe, were published during the 1950s and 60s. 

They are a large A3 paperback "how to" series of art books featuring techniques from different artists.

I had most of my books passed down from my Dad who studied art. I also was delighted to find some recently during a trip to the Mt Tamborine markets. 

So much vintage goodness and they have been a valuable resource to me... now my 14 yr old has nabbed them! Strict instructions to look after them, however what I love about them are the splotches of paint from across the years! 

These are very much treasured by us.

               

More Tuesday Treasures at Picklebug! Do go and visit!