Come out, come out.......

Guess what Mr Whale had for his last meal.....?

....A long long time ago in a land far far away, lovely Ms Paula send me a sweet mail about how she was after a custom artwork for her soon to be lovely shop!

Well..... it was actually just a month ago, but I'm always inclined for a fairytale opening ehhe.... you know how it is :D Plus!  time runs so frantically irregular in my latest adventures that even a month ago seems like ages.

Anyway......

Lovely Paula from Baby Swan Desing Studio makes the cuddliest vintage-style mohair teddy bears!! Just toooooooo cute! How do i know you ask, since her shop has not opened yet? Well, one of the bonuses of doing custom projects!! :D

Hooray!! for special previews !!!

Can I share them with you ..??? Hmmm let me think...

....NOPE! You'll have to wait to get the first glimpses...all i can say is that they are worth all the waiting :D Her lovely shop will be open in the next couple of months. You might want to fave it now cause you're bound to get a teddy to cuddle :)

There are really few things as enjoyable and gratifying as working on commissioned projects!! And even fewer that are *more* enjoyable!! Like, ....guessing the content of old apothecary jars or playing thumb-wars or painting faces on aubergines, for instance! :D

But anyhow, the fulfilment of bringing your playmate's dreams into reality is indeed priceless!

We worked on it and sweated over it and had long discussions about it and here's the outcome just for you:

Lovely Ms Paula had kindly agreed for me to sell the finished artwork in Hide n Seek, but as i was putting the first pencil strokes on paper, i knew where my whim wanted to take me..... so i let my runaway creativity rest for a while and i focused on the project....

After it's conclusion, i did some drastic changes to it and created my new artwork "Dad, this is the friend i told you about" "...he brought the fish you like..."

Dad, this is the friend I told you about -- Print

I love, love, seriously LOVE whales, especially the antisocial ones!...and believe me,  Mr Whale here is quite the grumpy type. He also happens to be little cute girl's dad... *hungry* dad, might i add!

So let's hope he really likes the fish the little boy brought him..heh hhehehe lol!

You can find it now in my shop along with with many many new goodies :)

I'm currently working on tons of commissions that are very very exciting, but in between i'm working on some new artwork too!!!! hooZza!!!! lol !! So not long for some new surprises! ;)

xxxxEnjoy sweeties and many hugs to sweet  Paula for the lovely project!!!!!!! xxxx

My one month old "New" artwork

YAY!!! May is here and summer is around the corner!!!!
We might even see some sun here in England for a change..lol:D

So!! Where to start from..?? Hmmmmmm
....let's  see....Have you seen my new artwork???  hmmm....right! n when i say *new*,  i actually mean "almost a month old" new.....
!hah! Time flies SO quickly my lovelies....!
Anyway, i need to present you my -one month old- "new" artwork so that i can then show you my  "really new "new ones!!!
So! so!.. after your extremely positive response to my "Mom, this is the friend i've told you about" artwork, this cuty came:

He says he can hear the Forest whisper  -- Print

It's called, "He says he can hear the forest whisper" ..."I can only hear his big heart"
...nnnnn so the story goes.....After a long mushroom-picking forest stroll, the cute ebony hair girl and her friend Mr Bear, take some time to rest before they take the long n extra wavy road back home.
Wouldn't a simpl-er- short-er- n staight-er-- road to home do just fine ...you say? NOPE!! The wav-i-er- the bett-i-er- :D
Can such a small basket of mushrooms fill both a tiny stomach and a huge? .....NOPE!
Will Mr Bear fit through that tiny doorway...?!? NOPE! Unless there is a good dinner  waiting inside for him!
...but only Mom is waiting inside....
"I can hear his BIG growling stomach too....ohh you promised you'll behave Mr. Bear!!"

xxx Sending many many hugs everywhere around sweeties xxx

-THnSCH-!!! The Hide n Seek Complaints Headquarters !!!

Hello all my sweet cuties!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                Happy happy April!!!!!!!

I know, i know...it's been some time....BUT as always when you are busy you have to sacrifice doing what you enjoy most :((

And here's what kept me from writing the oooohhhh so many things i want to share with you...:

After long, exhausting n non-stop working months, my printers got together, organised a  convention and formed a United Printers Trade Union/Guild of protection of their rights !!!

Hours later, they all stopped working on me :(((

They blamed me for inhuman labour conditions n hardships as well as mistreatment of their printer rights !!! It took long discussions of pleading them to work, where i had to comply with their demands that included among other paradoxical things,  extravagant feasts of the best quality of ink n paper, tedious cleaning and refurbishing of their private parts, long walks at the park, visits of psychologists/technicians to relieve their distress and dysfunction, even adopting a new printer to heal their loneliness....and only then they co-operated!! pheeeeeeeeeeeeeeewww!!!!

It was a nightmarish period that luckily will never come again!! Now I treat them good, i swear! lol!

Apart from this that happened some time ago, a dream-ish period came for a change !!

Hide n Seek Troupe has been really really busy! :)

It happened quickly and unexpected as it was, all this traffic brought complete paralysis here at the Hide n Seek  Headquarters. I have only now managed to catch up and still feel quite shaky from all the -still hard to believe- interest everyone's showing!! :))))

There are many new collaborations, projects, plans, artwork n goodies that are coming and i'll be sharing with you all sweeties! Plus many many grand changes for Hide n Seek!! *hhmmm...mystery...*

However, after this long n quite atypical absence of mine, i think it's only fair that you could n you SHOULD complain to me ALLLLLL you wish!
Send your complaints  here and i SWEAR  i'll read n answer to everyone!!! ;) LOL!!

                        ........xxxxKisses to allxxxx........

...Come!..I'll take you meet my parents!!

...hhmmm...Don't you just love the first day of Spring when, after many long n sleepy months of cold n waiting, you dare to wear that pretty, apple-green, airy dress you bought and take a berry n merry stroll to the nearest park or forest, just to celebrate the coming of Spring, greet any new born squirrels you don't know already and above all prove to your self that indeed Spring is here to stay.... ??

....but then you passionately n whole-heartily regret it, since the chilling cold is here for a while longer, so you take the long way back with eyes pleading for a warm hug from any good Sir or Madam passing by, a kind offering of an over-sized woolly coat or a chance to fall upon

a) a friendly,

b) generously hairy,

and c) still slightly sedated from the long winter sleep,

Mr Bear to snuggle into his big arms and get thoroughly warmed ..? :)

I know, the last case would be a wee bit difficult to happen, as wonderful as it sounds, especially since the particular Mr Bear has some long term late-night bad habits so you can hardly ever find him awake during the day.
It would most probably be his poor third wife that you'd fall upon, the Misses Bear No 3, the one that fetches food for all the Bear family and does all the chores for Ms Bear No 2 and her little ones. ( Ms Bear No 1 has left with another male 2 summers ago...shhhh don't tell, Mr Bear is still quit sensitive about this)
...Anyway, it would be quite easy to fall upon Ms Bear No 3 and plead kindly for a warm hug so you can reach home without a terrible cold, but I'm not sure if you would really want that, since most of the times she runs frantically in the forest with a big trail of vengeful bees behind her.......yep!!...exactly! ...you guessed right, that's only for Ms Bear No 2 's  little n quite mischievous ones, to devour peacefully the golden honey!! Poor Ms Bear No 3...! she so deserves a hug herself such times....:)

I've always wanted a chestnut brown bear friend...yeah I know, didn't we all? :)
Inspired by this desire of mine, I made my new artwork, “....Mom..., this is the friend I told you about!..”

Mom, this is the friend I told you about  -- Print 8 1/2 x 11 inches --

Mom, this is the friend I told you about -- Print 5 x 7 inches --

It embodies many of my childhood fantasies for taking beautiful strolls and making new forest friends (however dangerous or huge claws they'd have) :)  However, it seldom happened except in my mind or my drawings.
                                          ♥ So enjoy ♥

Happy Green Monday

...!! Ha !!.. I'm so excited!!
Some time ago, I got this happy e-mail with an offer from whom!?!...!!poppytalkhandmade !! yes yes poppytalk handmade..., i rubed my eyes twice too;)...saying that they'd like to have me participate on  their 6th month of  eco-themed market!!! ...hooray!!
I wore my spring green dress and jumped and rolled and skipped in it, laughing and singing and i suppose that was my way of saying YES!! :D
So here it is, today is the first day where you can find my new spring artwork and many other Hide n Seek goodies , at my  poppytalk handmade table or just try to find me playing Hide n Seek with me...*hint* If you get lost and can't find me quickly enough....I'll be hiding under my table* :D
This market will last for a month till 11th of April and it  is full of many great artists and crafters with colourful (or mainly green)  spirits lol...i swear it looks great!! Take a look at all the participants here!
          **** So Happy Green Monday Sweeties****

...i want a patched-eye boy too....

Yes!! Yes!! This is THE day! *so excited* ^.^
Today i'll be announcing which story won the cute Hide n Seek gifties for the First-kiss story Competition i held some time ago!!!
Soooo the winning story isss......s.....s......!..  ? ...
......hmmm...well i don't know!
........I CAN'T choose..:(

..help....?
Ok, ok i know i have to be strong and choose one, BUT they were all SO00oooo.... darling :)

Well i guess i will choose two runner ups as well to receive something cute from me! :))) which makes me very happy cause i loooove sending gifties :D and makes my choice even easier!

...and the first Award for best story goes to.......tatdatatdtdatdtadttatdtatdttatdtadtatdtatdaaaaaa

Miss Jamie for her story of sweet kisses on a tree with a little patched-eye boy:)))
While reading it, I thought of finding Jamie on the next recess and scream at her ear..."Jamie and a patched-eye boy, sitting on a tree,  -K- -I- -S- -S- -I- -N- -G-..." How sweet it was!
Enjoy:
Cute eh?

The second award for the most awkward moment in history (yet supremely cute) goes tooooooooooooo....

Miss thewildhare, for her story of sweet girly innocence and her awkward moment of bravery!
I've loved it dear wildhare! Thank you.
You can read it here

And finally, the third award for the cutest way of saying "I love u" goes toooo...

Miss LilBeanBaby, for her shy story of true love! You can read lilbean's story here ! Adorable!

On the same note, many congrats to the winner of  The Downtown Boutique Giveaway , Annie Howes of  http://www.anniehowes.com/

Thank you all, SO much my sweeties for sharing all your beautiful stories with me!
I'm so charmed and thankful for having the chance to know some of your sweet memories!
To those of you who didn't win, i wish i didn't have to choose some over the other, it was such a close call with all.  All your stories were pretty and special!
Thank you!
I'll be holding other give-aways and competitions soon, so please try again :D

                                          ♥Many kisses♥
                                                   xxxxx

!!!The Downtown Boutique Giveaway!!!

...Wanna read my first ever ♥ interview ♥ ???
...?
no?
Then, ...what if some cute Hide n Seek giveaway goodies are included in the deal?? ;)
Yeah, i knew it!!:) lol

Ha!!  I'm soooooo happy about this one!!
I've been so grateful to wonderful Angie, a fellow Etsy artist, for featuring me in her delightful blog,  Rio Oso Designs the first time, BUT now I'm even more thankful to be interviewed for her new, beautiful second blog,   The Downtown Boutique!!!

For the giveaway, I'll be happily giving those cuties:

Is Miss Ladybug made out of poppies or the poppies made out of Miss Ladybugs  Part 1  -- Print 8 1/2 x 11 inches --

and

Hide n Seek -- 1 Card 4 x 6 inches -- with 1 Ivory  Envelope

So, even if you are not one of the First-kiss Competition winners, which by the way I have to say that this competition has been extremely enjoyable and I'm very very ♥ charmed ♥   from every single one of you that took part in, left your sweet story or just read through, ...then don't worry cause here is another chance to get some Hide n Seek goodies:))

Go check it out here and don't forget ...it ends on Friday the 7th of March! :))

                       ♥ Best of Luck to all of you my lovelies ♥ 

Frontpage happiness!!!

I'm on the frontpage !!!!

Just now, my lovely friend and superb artist Andrea, just sent me the smiley news:))))
This is my third time in the spotlight of Etsy frontpage but first time i see it fast enough to take a snapshot of it:))) so excited!!:))))) giggling n skipping around:D
....yep!! Little Eloise is smiling and is very very Happy!!:))))))

♥The Book of Isabella♥

.........!!!!!!!!! Ta Da !!!!!!!!!.........

So here it is!
My super enjoyable commissioned new artwork:
♥The Book of Isabella♥

The Book of Isabella

I can finally break my silence about this one...
It was quite some time ago, when i received this intriguing   suggestion of being commissioned for a project that involved  the cutest 6 year old red head, Isabella, and her mommy's birthday.

Isabella's dad wanted to surprise his dear wife, by presenting her with a commissioned artwork of their sweet daughter as a birthday present.
"....How adorable!!" , i thought, and i didn't regret a single moment of it!

I'm so happy to be able to share this lovely artwork with you, since Isabella's dad also kindly agreed for the artwork to be sold in my Etsy shop so that it can be enjoyed by everyone around the world!

It took 2 and a half months of ideas and counter-ideas, proposals and counter-proposals, sketches and scribbles, disappointing defeats and glorious victories,   many cups of energising tea and quite a few pencil leads. Eventually here's where we are now! "The Book of Isabella".

Little Isabella's story book, the book of her life, still in its early pages with only 6 years worth of beautiful memories written in it. But she is not the kind of girl to let her destiny unravel uncontrolled, with her spirit as fiery as her hair she takes control of her life and fills her Book however she likes. She paints on and writes on and scribbles on and tears and crumples and straightens again and puts back in and pulls back out the pages of her Book. It is her own life and her own destiny!

But foremost in her thoughts is always her loving family that she loves painting in her book over and over again. You can see little Isabella's original masterpiece of her family on the bottom left corner, which her loving dad managed to sneak out of the home and scan and mail to me secretly so i could put it in the drawing :D

It was an honour to emulate Isabella's unique style as i drew her and her family jumping out of the book!! Little "crayon" Isabella can't wait to explore the world as she is climbing down from the Book, while big Isabella is putting the finishing touches on her "crayon" mommy's smile who is herself about to jump out of the book and give a big hug to her "crayon" husband for the wonderful birthday gift he gave her ;D

Oh, little Isabella likes Praying Mantises because  she says they always seem to be smiling. Well, it seems that the Praying Mantises also enjoy Isabella's beautiful smile because they have gathered around to stare at her!! Speaking of her beautiful smile, i could never be skilled enough to put on paper how lovely and cute Isabella is when smiling!!!

This has been such an enjoyable and fulfilling project. I'm very thankful and excited with how everything turned out and i decided to take the big step to start putting big prints on my Etsy shop with this lovely illustration. So you can find "The Book of Isabella" in three sizes: A3 (a full 11 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches!), 8 1/2 x 11 inches and 5 x 7 inches!!

You can also find tags inspired by this cute illustration, with buttons, magnets and a pocket mirror coming soon!

The Book of Isabella  -- Tags --

The Book of Isabella  --Pocket Mirror --

2 Days left !!!

Hurry sweeties!!!
Only 2 days left in order to win these cute Hide n Seek goodies :

Playing in love  Part 1 of 3  -- Print 5 x 7 inches --

and.....

Playing in love Part 2 of 3  -- Print 5 x 7 inches --

and....

Playing in love Part 3 of 3  -- Print 5 x 7 inches --

and....!!!

 

Playing in love -- Pocket Mirror --

To take part, simply read my ♥----First kiss story competition----♥  post and leave a comment with your cute story here or there :))))
Admittedly though, the stories so far were all SO devilishly cute!!
I'm gonna have such hard time deciding.....hmmmm....i think we'll have some runner ups! :D
Read the first-kiss stories so far here

♥Good luck everybody♥