☆ Round Here [life as it comes]

Tweet

Seriously, can someone tell me where April has gone.... Again, seriously... Where did my 'relaxing' Easter break go, where did the school holidays go, where did my fabulous time off go...

We've had rainbow nails...

We've tried new things, fallen down + gotten up and tried again. [Bug was awesome!]...

On our school holidays, we've played 'school' incessantly!

I've sketched in the park [so relaxing]

We have had a very cute visitor in our front yard. ["catch him daddy!! Catch him!"]

I had an awesome time at the markets [Mac was the perfect assistant]

And I had two gorgeous helpers [although all they wanted to do was run wild with the glow sticks!]

And then we crazy danced with glow sticks while they 'balloon glowed' [And yes, everyone else thought we were mad!]

So okay, it's been busy, and looking at these photos, we have had a great couple of weeks, but now schools back + I have crap loads of work to catch up on, as well as a house that is in complete disarray + a pile of washing that is just scary!

Back to reality I guess. {sigh}

I hope you had an Awesome April, and that your Easter was was fun + relaxing! I would love to hear what great adventures you had.. 

Tweet

☆ Springtime Journaling (in the Fall) [Life Book]

Tweet

Week 14 - Springtime Journaling Collage Bonus Lesson with Dyan Reaveley

You know the thing I love about Life Book, is that every week, I learn something new.

A new technique, a new medium, a new way of using a material, a new idea, a new challenge...

This week the fabulous Dyan Reaveley, took us through a quick journalling exercise, celebrating spring, or fall in my case!

And while it may have been a quick lesson, it has quickly become one of my favourites...

Because I realised how true it was, my affirmation, if you nurture your flowers, your relationships, your kids, your art, it will bloom, and it will bloom huge.

So how long has it been since you NURTURED your flowers, your relationships, your art? Maybe it's time to pull out the fertiliser out....

Tweet

☆ Tangled with Anna Dabrowska [Life Book 2014]

Tweet

Week 12 - Tangled with Anna Dabrowska (Finnabair)

This was such a great lesson by Anna Dabrowska. And totally outside of my comfort zone. Adding ephemera to my art, is something that I would love to do more of, in fact I have a box of little things, that I collect that one day, I would love to use. But I just didn't know where to start.

I love the way that this turned out, but there is also a big part of me that thinks it's not finished. 

I know it's not finished. 

But part of Anna (or Finnabair's) lesson is about listening to your intuition. + my intuition is telling me to leave it alone for now.

Leave her be, for just a while, a moment, and come back another day.

Listen to my intuition.

So I will.

Have a fabulous week.

Tweet

☆ Easter Tags for the Kids [+ a free download]

Tweet

 It has been a bit of a strange week here, it's the first week of the school holidays, so Bean has been home. She + Bug are slowly readjusting to being with each other again all day.

The dominance battle is interesting to watch + what I expected to happen, (Bean becoming the top dog again), hasn't happened. And although there are moments where I just want to tear my hear out, and have to separate them, they are building a beautiful partnership, which is just lovely to watch.

So part of this weeks activities, apart from spending awesome time with visiting family, is obviously Easter Craft + Arts. There are chickens to make, colouring competitions to complete, and Bean asked me to draw a very special Easter drawing for them to colour.

But I decided I wanted to make some Easter tags for them to give to their great grandparents, cousins + friends.

As I was printing it out on water colour paper, I started thinking (when I say this to Mac, you can see him visibly bracing himself!)

But I thought that I would also share with you the template + you or your kids can decorate your own Easter Tags to share with your friends + family.

Click on the image below + it will take you to the pdf to download, put in some card stock/ or paper in the printer + just press print. Et voilà - that is it!

These are my versions decorated with water colour. The ink smudged a bit, because I didn't wait + I loaded crap loads of water onto the page, but I really love how the water colour left a little water marks on the page. I made them part of my tags.

 

 

So these are for my kids, with their little Easter presents. 

And I will be sharing the girls tags on Facebook + Instagram over the weekend, so make sure you pop over to see their beautiful artful tags!!

I would love to know if you download them + decorate them. Feel free to email me your decorated tags + I would love to share them.

 Happy Easter Everyone.

Tweet

☆ LAST CHANCE [super sale code]

Tweet

Hey Guys!

Just a quick reminder that there is still time to grab a whopping 50% off all items in the LilliBean Designs Store. 

But time is running out + you only have until tonight to use the discount code.

This is a never to be repeated sale + I will be retiring some of these paintings once their listing is retired.

Do you know of some one who might enjoy one of my paintings? Please feel free to share this code with others - you can do it simply by using the social media buttons on this post. Thanks x

Tweet

☆ The Tree of Life + Connections [Lifebook 2014]

Tweet

Week 11 - Tree of Life Bonus Lesson with Tam and Gracie

This week was all about celebrating our life connections. Connections with people, things, books. All the positive connections that we have.

And it turns out that I have a lot of positive connections.

Not only with my family, friends + acquaintances, but also with the things I surround myself with, music, books, art, the environment etc.

So this is my tree of life, and the stars are a representation of my positive connections.

Have you had a think about your positive life connections? I bet you will have more than you think.

By the way,  there is only a few days left to get any of my paintings in the LilliBean Designs store for up to 50% off.  

Do you know of any one who might enjoy one of my paintings? Please feel free to share the code with them.

Have a great week.

Tweet

☆ The One Which I Have No Idea Where she Came From [Friday Art]

Tweet

Week 15, April 2014

So I loved painting my freer flowing watercolour from last week, that I wanted to do another one, but this one really surprised me.

Part of me doesn't even know what to say about her except that every time I look at her, I see something new every time I look at her. 

And that I love it.

And as I sit here with a head full of the first of the winter colds, slightly struggling writing this post, I realise that sometimes you don't have to say anything, sometimes your paintings can just speak for themselves!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

Tweet

☆ Decluttering your Life + the Super Sale Code [LilliBean Designs Spotlight]

Tweet

Is your clutter, cluttering up your mind, your life or your creative flow? 

Last week, subscribers to my newsletter received this exclusive code to get a HUGE 50% off everything in the LilliBean Designs Store + now I am opening the sale up to everyone!

And you may wonder why I am offering such a huge discount? Well this is why...

Is your clutter, cluttering up your mind, your life or your creative flow? 

And you  may wonder what clutter has to do with art + creativity, but I believe that it has everything to do with it.

See, with the upheaval we've experienced the first 3 months of 2014, which I won't bore you with again, our household fell into complete chaos. And lets face it, while I am not the worlds greatest house wife, [In fact I should totally be fired from that group!], our house is usually fairly tidy, but this last month it has totally spun out of control.

Every where I turned there was crap, the girls toys, my sketchbooks, Macs boots, school bags, hand bags, pencils + markers.

Crap. was. every. where.

So I rallied my gang and told them in no uncertain terms I was sorting our shit out, we were throwing things out, moving furniture around, having a garage sale + we had a week to sort it. 

It took the whole weekend, and it was amazing, how much lighter, freer + clearer I felt afterward.

So what does this have to do with being creative?

Well once I sorted the bomb that was my house + I had stopped obsessing over tit, my brain started flowing again + some awesome creative ideas began to appear.

I am always amazed how everything in my life is connected.

So if you are feeling blocked in one area of your life, (whether it's your creativity, your family, your friendships, your house), try decluttering somewhere else + I bet everything else will start to flow.

And now I am on a mission to declutter other areas of my life. And this is why I am offering 50% OFF everything in store

 But you only have until April 16 to use this code... so pop over to the store now.

And let me know if you've decluttered a part of your life... I would love to know how much freer your feel!

Tweet