Blog Crush Wednesday - Janet Hill Studio

For those of you who are not familiar with Janet of Janet Hill Studio then I'm glad you are stopping by today.  The best description of Janet can be found at her 'about' section on Janet Hill Studio along with the beautiful Fairy Godmother portrait.....

Fairy Godmother

"Janet’s work is both elegant, yet whimsical, often with an underlying narrative that instantly captures the imagination.  Her painting style evokes a sense of nostalgia,  timeless beauty, mystery, humour, and comfort.  Her work is displayed in private collections throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Some of Janet’s corporate clients include Tiffany & Co., Hallmark UK, and Harper Collins.  Her work has also been featured in Matchbook Magazine, Design Sponge, This Is Glamorous, The Neo-Traditionalist, and Oh Joy!  Janet lives in the beautiful city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada.  She paints in a small in-house studio where she lives with her husband John, and their cat and dog."

I love, love, love, love, love her artwork!!!!  The Janet Hill Studio on Etsy is filled with creative,vintage inspired works all printed in glicee style on exquisite paper and each and every one of them tells a story.  Here are a few of my favorites....

Starlight

Country Squire

The Go-Getter

French Lilac

In The Jungle

Janet utilizes the blog platform to introduce us to her works, her muses, her frustrations and her successes.  Recently, Monica Lee of Smart Creative Women interviewed Janet and you will learn early in this interview why I respect her courage, determination and CAN-DO attitude.  She is a wonderful role model for anyone wishing to pursue a career in the arts.

Let me know what you think.....I'd love to hear about your Janet Hill favorites too!

Heather

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

As we all prepare for Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share this unbelievable DIY Thanksgiving Art Project by Roeschel at DIY ShowOff!!! I'll be looking at thrift store art from a different perspective now.

Thx Roeschel for opening up my eyes to a new decorating recycling idea!

On Thanksgiving Day, all over America, families sit down to dinner at the same moment - halftime!!!  Author Unknown

From our home to yours, Happy Thanksgiving....

Heather

The Gilded Age

Have you ever received an email from a flash sale site like One Kings Lane or Joss & Main and thought, I can make that?  Well, that's exactly what happened to me the other day when I opened The Gilded Age shop at One Kings Lane.  I fell in love with the gorgeous, gold leaf bird silhouettes by Mirror Image Home.

"This gold leaf bird silhouette adds a glamorous touch to the bird's natural, delicate beauty. On oyster linen with espresso bamboo frame, the art is elegant and ready to hang."  I LOVE them!!!

However,  I didn't love the price!!!.  The original retail was $360/silhouette and the flash sale price was $189.  So like most DIYers, I decided try to make my own bird art.

My first stop was The Graphics Fairy to find the perfect bird silhouettes and I did....

My next step was to copy in black and white onto card stock and make stencils.  I also decided that I wanted  more of a rustic feel so I opted to use burlap instead of linen and silver leaf instead of gold leaf. 

So, here are my tools....burlap, silver leaf and adhesive pen, 2 canvases and decorative tacks.  

I adhered the burlap to the canvases with spray adhesive stapling it along the back edge utilizing my gift wrapping skills as shown below.

I then marked off the edges of each canvas in 1 inch sections and with my handy dandy rubber mallet taped in the decorative tacks.

My next step was to trace the silhouette on to the burlap and apply the silver leaf glue with the adhesive pen provided in the package.  Now I must admit, silver leafing on burlap is a bit frustrating.  I think I now know why my inspiration art was done on linen!

The entire project was a bit more time consuming than I had imagined but the bottom line is, I'm very pleased with the outcome.  I especially like the rustic tacking and burlap coupled with the more sophisticated silver leaf.

Let me know what you think....

Heather

     

 

New Year's Resolutions

I generally don't make resolutions for the New Year because I generally don't keep ANY of them.  This year however, I've decided to make a FEW that I hope to fulfill and here they are....

1. Complete projects that I start - Need I say more!!!
2. Redesign blog - I am technically challenged but I will give it my best.
3. Start a linking party on Larissa Hill Designs - Any and all advice welcome.
4. Take an art course - Something I've always wanted to do.
5. And finally, run a 5K - I can't believe I put this on my list.

What are your resolutions this year?  Wish me luck....

Etsy Inspiration & Giveaway - Winterberry Cottage

Welcome to  Winterberry Cottage ..... 

 AmyLynn of Winterberry Cottage creates lovely images on vintage book pages to decorate your space.

AmyLynn's imaginative print combinations are created from recycled music and dictionary pages and incorporate vintage inspired elements.  Her designs range from Alice In Wonderland themes, Paris inspired silhouettes, sea worthy portraits, floral, beautiful butterflies and birds and so much more.   Winterberry Cottage's selection of images is endless and you are sure to find a number to suit your design needs. 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and these pilgrim children and turkey would complete any fall inspired themed dining room.

      

Her delightful vintage Santas range from  Santa delivering gifts, Making His List and Checking His List to see Who is Naughty or Nice...

And, AmyLynn has taken this art form to a new level incorporating vintage atlas pages in combinations with hot air balloons, sailboats, automobiles and so many more transportation silhouettes and maps.

   



You will be amazed at AmyLynn's selection of unique upcycled art that she has created and even more amazed at her pricing. 

As part of Etsy Inspiration & Giveaway, Winterberry Cottage is offering a $25 gift certificate for her shop of fabulous prints to the winner.  

Just visit Winterberry Cottage  etsy shop and find your favorite designs. Then come back to Larissa Hill Designs and post a comment letting me know which one, two or three of her unique upcycled art print designs you like best. I guarantee you will have a difficult time selecting your favorites because each and every design is so wonderful.

You must be a subscriber to Larissa Hill Designs to be eligible for the giveaway.

Good luck!!!

Etsy Inspiration & Giveaway

I am changing the name of Monday Market & Giveaway to Etsy Inspiration & Giveaway.  This weekly posting is a feature on "Etsy" shops and I feel the title should reflect that. 


So, today I am launching Etsy Inspiration & Giveaway with Rococco Co.


I have fallen in love with Antique Book Art prints and during my weekly shopping trip on Etsy, I stumbled upon Rococco Co.


WHAT IS Rococco Co?   According to the shop owner Zlatka, it is the place where Marilyn Monroe meets a 17th century bird in the playground of a vintage Dictionary and exclusive home of "LOVE CARRIES ALL", even an ELEPHANT!!!!!!

Zlatka is an artist and designer working in numerous media - paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics and jewelry who loves to twist ideas, forms or meanings of things. Her current inspiration comes from her old Bulgarian- English Dictionary.  After 20 years of living in the US, learning English and a lot of appreciation for world culture, her desire was to give new life to this treasured book, recycle the pages and share them with you. You will be amazed with the art she has composed, created and printed.


Rococco Co has been featured on numerous blogs including elementsofstyle displayed as an "incredible series on a wall".


Rococco Co  has a unique art print collection on upcycled dictionary pages ranging from vegetables, botanical, birds, marine life, people and the list goes on.  Here are a few of her gorgeous prints....




And of course, here are a few whimsical Halloween prints....



As part of Etsy Inspiration & Giveaway, Rococco Co is offering 4 of her fabulous Book Art Prints to the winner.  Just visit Rococco Co  etsy shop and find your favorite designs. Then come back to Larissa Hill Designs and post a comment letting me know which one, two or three of her unique upcycled dictionary art print designs you like best.  Expect to spend some time perusing her shop.


You'll be amazed at all Rococco Co has to offer!!!


Remember you must be a subscriber in order to participate in the giveaway.

As most of you know by now, I try to recreate what the Etsy artist has done.  Well, this time it was so much more difficult than I thought it would be.


First, I had to go out and buy a dictionary (I haven't used an actual dictionary in so long).  Then, I had to find graphics that I liked.  So, off I went to Graphics Fairy.  I chose 3 trees that I can use in my guest bathroom.


Then I had to play around with resizing and printing the graphics on to the dictionary pages.  I wasted more pages than I care to admit. I had far too many problems centering, resizing, printing and so on....I think I'll leave this art to Zlatka at Rococco Co.


Anyhow, here are my 3 Antique Book Art Prints that I created.

Let me know what you think....