Hope Santa was good to you.

Happy Christmas everyone. I've missed you here and missed visiting your blogs too, I haven't been on the computer much lately.

I'm sorry I've been away so long.

My dad is doing a bit better now, for those who wished him well, "Thank you".

Lots going on here since I last posted. Our black Labrador, Piper's sight had been getting steadily worse over the last couple of years and more recently she was bumping into things regularly including us. She missed steps when she was out and walked into poles, walls and branches if we didn't divert her in time.
At the end of November she went through eye surgery in both eyes. She had cataracts removed and now also has new artificial lenses in both eyes.
Her eye sight is definitely improved now, though her night time vision still isn't great we have a good strong lighted torch with a wide beam which helps a lot.
Piper had the dreaded cone on for about a week after her surgery, and has been getting regular eye drops and pills since her op. They are gradually getting less often now only 1 tablet and 6 lots of drops in each eye per day now, instead of the 4 dozes of tablets and 12 lots of drops when she first came home.


Anyway I didn't get much time for card making this year due to these things, but I had been asked a few months ago if I could do another dog portrait for a lady I know for her daughter's Christmas.
I finished this just in time for Christmas eve.

Here is her wee dog Cooper:

Also here is another flower digi stamp for you to use. This one is a Wallflower. 

I hope you like it too, if you use it please let me know, and if you want to share it, please send other's here for this. I'd love to see any projects you make with it too.

Thanks for visiting my wee blog,  I love knowing you dropped by, so if you can, please let me know by leaving me a comment.

Happy Christmas hugs,

from Alexandra

xx

Rusty's portrait... work in progress

Hi, I just thought I'd share a portrait I'm doing for Celeste. She asked me if I would do a portrait of her DH's dog Rusty when she commented on Kath's lovely boy, Buddy's portrait I did in July.
I asked her if she wanted me to do a colour portrait instead of the graphite ones I've been doing here so far. The last coloured pencil work I'd done was around 10 years ago or maybe more so I'd forgotten it is a much longer process to complete (around 16 hrs so far), but I'm getting there.

So for you Celeste, this is a peak of how your lovely wee dog's portrait is coming along .

 

I shouldn't be long finishing it now. I've worked on it more since this photo.

Hugs
Alexandra x

A VERY handsome guy!

Hi all,

I thought this title might get your attention. Hee hee!

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments, and welcome to every one who has decided to become a follower of my arty blog. You all make me smile. :o)

I'm back today with another piece of art. Another graphite pencil portrait I completed over the past couple of weeks.

I'm a sucker for handsome good looks, and this guy would melt the heart of Cruella De'Vil.
Don't get scared now Buddy, if your reading this, it's okay, she's nowhere around.

Some of you may recognise him already. Let me introduce the co-star and sweeper-upper of Kath's blog.
The gorgeous (and his mum says naughty!... Why? I can't imagine!)

happy boy, Buddy.

He's so good looking, I had done another before this one.
(p.s. Buddy, your head is perfect it's normal size, so no up-sizing with these compliments. Having a big tail is trouble enough!)

This was my first portrait of him.

Here, he's got that typical wee sad look Labradors are good at, as if to say
"A cuddle or a treat will make it all better"..... and it works every time, lol

Thanks again for stopping by.
Let me know you were here, I love hearing from you.

Have a great day

hugs Alexandra x

"Say cheese" and celebrations

What a whirlwind of a week I've had. Shopping, preparing for visitors coming and arranging a family party yesterday with lots of food for my DD's 18th birthday. I baked her a cake on Monday and put finishing touches to it on Tuesday.

She is a fantastic upcoming photographer and is starting an HND course in Photography this year, she loves photography and so I thought this camera cake I created for her was apt. The camera badge has her initials and 18.2day on it, in case you were wondering what kind of camera it is.

I had intended the camera strap to be made from a Catherine wheel liquorice strip, but after unsuccessfully looking for this in a few shops, weary feet and time constraints pushed me to compromise by using the strawberry laces instead.

It didn't give the finished effect I was looking for though, but tasted yum anyway.

Our other celebration yesterday, was that we also proudly attended our future DIL's Graduation yesterday morning before the birthday party.

Well done Clare!

Here is the card I made a card for her using the Geranium digi sketch I posted recently.

I coloured it using oil pastles blended with odourless mineral spirit on a compressed paper stump.

The photograph was taken at night with the flash on, so the colours are a bit paler than in real life.

Thankfully I've had a few days off work this week. I wouldn't have managed to fit all this in otherwise.

I've been very busy, and am feeling a bit tired after all this now, but it's been a very happy start to the week.

Unfortunately, I  had to attend a work related meeting in Glasgow today, but....

It's Friday tomorrow, I don't have to go to work. I've just a bit of tidying up, and some laundry to catch up on, then all going well, I plan to get my feet up, pencils out and relax with my sketch book.

I hope you have a good day tomorrow too.

Alexandra x

Our wee ray of sunshine.

This is what I've been working on for the past couple of weeks. I created it using "Derwent Graphic" pencils. I completed this portrait only yesterday.

This is our gorgeous boy, my grandson David.
He's only 10 months old now. He's a good baby and I love him to pieces.

I did this as a gift for my son as this was his first father's day on June 17th.

I was pleased with the finished result.

I hope your day is full of rays of sunshine too.

I love hearing from you, please let me know what you think.

Alexandra x

Baby Bonny

I've been out working in the garden for a wee while today, weeding and tidying up again.
The weeds seem to grow so fast at this time of year. Milder weather and plenty watering from Mother nature seams to help them along.

I thought today I'd share this portrait I did of my, then 15 year old son, playing with a bit of string with his gran's new wee kitten "Bonny".

Kittens and cats are very entertaining with this natural hunting instinct when the prey is made of wool or cotton. Not so much when they get older and they bring home "presents" of the live variety.

Thanks for visiting.

Have a lovely Saturday. 

Alexandra x

First kiss

I thought I'd introduce my daughter, or a least an old pencil portrait I did of her with her much loved pony. I created it from a photograph, using artist coloured pencils many moons ago. She wasn't quite 2 years old at the time of this photo.

She was a very cute wee girl. On this particular day her daddy was taking a few photos of her tottering around playing, when out of the blue she planted a kiss on her pony's nose.
We couldn't have planned a sweeter memory.

Every time I see this image I'm transported to a simpler time in her life, and I smile.

I 'd love to hear from you, please let me know what you think.

Alexandra x