Catch up!

After a brief hiatus I am back and ready to be creative once again! It's that time of year when my age turns to another number I'd rather forget about!

Cake from the Boys

I recently visited Kew Gardens (not very far from where I live). I was very impressed by The Temple of the Imagination - or rather the metal flowers adorning it! I would really like this at the bottom of my garden with the addition of some lockable doors so no one could disturb me! 

The Temple of the Imagination (photos  J.Hannah 2010)

The Temple of the Imagination (Kew Gardens)

The Temple of the Imagination (Kew Gardens)

The Temple of the Imagination (Kew Gardens)

These remind me that I have quite a large collection of Silver leaves I made a while ago out of Precious Metal Clay. I still haven't got around to doing anything with them!

Some of my Pure Silver Leaves

  I particularly like anything forged out of metal at the moment as I have been learning how to use a jewellers saw and how to create pierced and cut pieces. I am getting through a lot of blades...it's not easy! One wrong move and PING - snapped!.

My Saw with a surprisingly unbroken Blade (for now) & work in progress

Now in praise of people with real artistic talent! I recently commissioned a Pastel drawing by Artist Sarah James of three dogs from my childhood. It was a gift for my Mother and it was nice to have a picture of all three dogs sitting within the same frame! This never happend in life. Sarah only had the most awful pre-digital photos to work from and did a magnificent job.

More interestingly if you visit Sarah's Blog you can see the process by which an Artist creates a piece of work - from rough sketch through to finishing touches. It's fascinating to see an Artist's "Work in Progress".

The Dogs by Sarah James

Finally - if you have a Twitter account please feel free to click on the Tweet button at the top of this post. It took me ages to figure out how to install it! xxx

Jolicious is Forty-licious

This week has been a bit strange. I turned 40! I don't know why but that number seems to be such a milestone. I'm not sure how I feel about it - it's a mixture of good and bad. Unfortunately I have no means of stopping the wheels of time - it waits for no one! I guess I'll just have to accept it!

Anyone who knows me will know I am not a party animal or even that sociable! There was no big party just a quiet Dinner with my hubby who constantly reminds me that he is still in his 30's! We went to Claridges and had some great food at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. I was even presented with a teeny weeny cake with a candle!

I received a fabulous gift from my friend Anne. It is a Pastel portrait of my three boys done by mutual friend and Artist Sarah James. I took it to the picture framing shop to be framed yesterday and can't wait to get it back to be hung in pride of place!

Sarah has recently set up her own Blog and Facebook Fan Page so please pop over and take a look at her pages - she is very talented.

My birthday celebrations aren't over yet! Next week I am having a long weekend in Florence with Hubby!

Before that I will try and get on top of listing new items in my shop. Here is a sneak peak of some of my new creations

I still have a tiny piece of the birthday cake the boys picked for me, so I might just go and finish it off before the return from school!