Happy New Year!



Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

Merry Christmas


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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

Blogs, Websites and Give-away

I'm nearing my 10 000 visit milestone (well it's a milestone for me in any case!) here on Life on a Cupcake, and I've decided to give away a little something to celebrate once I've reached it. I'll tell you more about it when we get there!

In the meantime, I've never really shared all my blogs and websites with you in one post before, so I've decided to do just that today! Please feel free to visit and leave comments, I always love to hear from you all!

Most of you know that I'm the owner of Little Canvas; where it's all about miniatures. On the website, www.littlecanvas.co.uk, I sell my miniature art, which range from tiny dolls house size to slightly larger artwork and ACEO's. On the blog, www.littlecanvasart.blogspot.co.uk, I talk about my artwork, miniatures and dolls houses in general. I bought my first dolls house - Mock Tudor - a while ago, so there will be a lot of photos on my progress with it in the future; as I go through the process of restoring and revamping it, as well as decorating and making furniture and accessories. And then there's the Little Canvas Facebook page. My Facebook fans are THE best in the world! I have a lovely community of virtual friends, where we have lots of fun and chit chats and hot chocolate to get us through the day!




I get bored very easily. So to prevent that from happening, I do all sorts of other fun and creative things. Like creating gorgeous boxes. On my other website, www.prettylittleboxes.co.uk, I sell all kinds of gift boxes and gift bags, as well as decorated/altered boxes and containers that can be used to store all your precious trinkets and mementoes. 


Now, all my family and friends know I have a thing for shoes. So, to indulge in my love of shoes, without it costing me anything, I created a blog; www.formyloveofshoes.blogspot.co.uk. Here it's all about the shoes! I don't talk much, I just share photos and links of gorgeous, funky, drool worthy and fabulous shoes. Anything from paintings to shoes in the shops, to amazing up-cycled shoes. 


I hope you have fun visiting all my blogs and websites! See you soon! 

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

DIY Ribbon Storage

So I saw this brilliant idea on Pinterest for ribbon storage earlier this week and I knew at last what I'm going to do with all the empty hot chocolate containers that I saved!! How clever is this??




I store most of my ribbon in glass jars, but I have these few rolls of ribbon and I've been wondering how to display them for a while now.



I can't cut straight to save my own life I tell you! So I had to prettify it a bit to hide my edges! I covered them in the same wallpaper I use to cover everything in my craft room. What do you think? I quite like how it turned out!



If you'd like to see where I got the idea from, you can find it on Pinterest here; or the original source here.

 Recycled Ribbon Holder... use an oatmeal container. I have just ordered a number of rolls of beading wire. I hope they will be of the right size to fit into a companion oatmeal box. SO COOL!

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

Vintage finds and Aromatherapy Oils

Hello everyone!

Hope you're doing well and that life is treating you kind!

I had a terrible cold last week which ended in inflammation, and me feeling slightly sorry for myself. So after a visit to the Dr's, I thought I'd quickly drop by the charity shop to see if I can find something to cheer me up a bit. They did not disappoint! I found this gorgeous table cloth for just 50p and the card with buttons for 10p. An absolute bargain and I love them! I'm no expert, but they look pretty Vintage to me!


As I might have mentioned in the past, I love using Aromatherapy Oils. So, when I won a voucher to use towards a purchase a few weeks ago over at Beesy Does It with Ecomum-wikaniko, I immediately knew what I wanted to order. Aromatherapy Oils of course! Seeing as we all had colds at that stage and I'm fresh out of oils at the moment! I ordered Lavender - which I've been using for many years - and Marjoram. This is the first time I'm using Marjoram, but as it is recommended for Arthritis, I thought I'd give it a try. No complaints so far, it seems to be working well! Wikaniko's service is excellent and though I haven't used any of their other products yet, I can highly recommend their Aromatherapy Oils. It's good quality oils and their prices are great!


Do you use Aromatherapy Oils? Which one is your favourite?

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Disclosure: I was not asked to, nor did I receive any compensation or products to write this review. I'm sharing this information with you purely because I like the products and I do like a good recommendation myself.
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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

Altered Pin Board

I've altered a basic cork pin board into something lovely for my craft room. I use it to display pretty pictures and postcards. I've done one for the kitchen as well and I'm almost done with one for my bedroom. Then only two more for my boys' rooms, which will obviously not be spruced up and embellished to such an extend! I'll share them all with you at a later stage. Today though, I will show you the one in my craft room.

I apologise for the poor quality of the pictures. If I have to wait for bright sunny days for better lighting, I'll wait forever. Plus, that is one very shiny postcard I have on there!



I used fabric, ribbon, brads, paper flowers and pins that I can hang 
decorations like the key-ring on.


I like to display pretty pictures and
postcards of beautiful far-off places.
And ACEO's, like the ones I created yesterday!


I do like the new look of my pin board!


On a separate topic; I've just started a new blog for my ventures in the miniature world. Feel free to visit me over there any time! http://littlecanvasart.blogspot.co.uk/ 

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

The seasons they are changing!

Well, the summer has come and gone, and we are well and truly into Autumn now.The days are cooler, the nights definitely colder. And I for one, had to warm up the house with the central heating a few times already over the last few days!

Those were the sunny days... we hoped they'd never end.....!


With the colder weather, we see the last of  the Blackberries
and summer flowers, 
the first spiders making their way into our gardens
with their gorgeous webs...


and those mystical homes of the fairies and gnomes!
(When my children were small, I used to love telling them
 stories about the gnomes and fairies that
 live under the mushrooms.)


Don't you just love the changing of one season into the next?

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!
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Little Canvas Give-away!

UPDATE (26/08/2013): This give-away is now closed. Please do not enter. Thank you and good luck to all of those who entered. Winner will be announced and contacted within the next 24 hours!

Well, I promised a give-away when I reach 500 likes on my Little Canvas Facebook page, and here it is! Thank you all so much for your support and helping me reach this milestone! I appreciate each and everyone of you!

All you have to do to enter the give-away is:

1. Like my Little Canvas Facebook page. (This will only be fair towards the first 500 people who helped me reach the 500 mark in the first place)

2. Write your name in the comment section below this blogpost. (These are the entries I will pick the winner from.)

That's all. You don't have to share/ follow/ subscribe/ write me a poem or anything else, unless you want to of course! In which case I will appreciate!

Entries close at noon on 26th August 2013. Good luck to everyone!



Birdy on a hill, with flowers.
Painted with Acrylics on 300gsm Acrylic paper
Not framed, but will fit in a 3.5 x 3.5 (8.9 x 8.9 cm) frame.
Watermark does not feature on the original artwork.

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my Facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

Cloud Watching

One of my favourite (secret) pastimes is cloud watching. Used to love doing it as a kid; with my kids when they were younger; and still like to do it today! A lovely sunny day, with blue skies and gorgeous, fluffy clouds is a rare find in the UK, so when the occasion presents itself, one has to grab it with both hands! I've taken hundreds of photos of clouds over the years, thought I'd share a few with you.  I captured these images last week.  And there's even a  picture my son took with a lovely sunset glow! Enjoy!
(P.S. I did not alter any of these photos, except to crop out roofs and antennae where necessary.)


Always a good shot when the sun is behind a cloud!


 Can you see the elephant? 


Now you don't see it.........


 Now you do! 

This one has no clouds.... it's more a game of spot the plane!

And last but not least, a beautiful sunset.

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

Favourite Pins Tuesday.

First let me apologize for the slow strike I'm on at the moment! It's school holiday, summer has finally arrived in the UK and I've been very busy with Little Canvas. Now, seeing as I plan on sharing some of my latest miniature paintings with you later on, I thought I'd do a doll house and miniature theme for my favourite pins today! Hope you enjoy!

First up is this amazing miniature library.
Dollhouse library

And how sweet is this diorama?
The Green Door, a diorama

Love this one!
lutjeboudel.punt.nl

And last but not least, this absolute show stopper!
Amazing....

Do visit my Dollhouses and Miniature;  and Miniature Tutorials boards on Pinterest for many more lovely pins! 

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

Favourite Pins Tuesday

Wow! Tuesday again! It's when you do a regular thing every week that you realize how fast time really flies! So here I am again with a few interesting pins from my Pinterest boards! Shall we stick to a crafty theme this week?

(Where possible, I will give the link to both the pin and the original source)

One of the first craft rooms I pinned, long time ago, but still one of my favourites!  
Gorgeous craft room!

I also use suitcases to store my craft goodies in. 
Ahh, all those gorgeous colours!
Yarn storage

And look how lovely this one is:
Vintage Suitcase Recycled into a Stylish Sewing Storage Space.

I still have that printers tray I want to alter,
this one certainly is a favourite as far as ideas and inspiration goes!
Altered Printers Tray with Handmade flowers

And how cute is this idea?
Reuse empty foil or wax paper cardboard boxes as 
gift packages for cookies.
DIY Reuse empty cardboard boxes of  foil or parchment paper and use as gift packages for cookies ~ a clever tutorial ~ from Aunt Peaches: Box'n and Cookie Swap'n 
Original Photo Source

Hope you all have a crafty week! Until next time, keep well!
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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

What I've been up to this week

It's been sort of an up and down week for me. Seems I'm in a bit of a slump during the day, and then at night time, I develop the urge to work, create and paint! As I've mentioned in my previous post, I painted a little birdie on Friday night. As it was so late, I wasn't really in the mood to sit there for hours, so I took the shorter route by using an ink stamp, Acrylic paint and a fine liner pen for the details.

This is how it turned out:


I think she's kinda cute, but she seemed a bit lonely, so I made her some friends last night:


They have now all happily moved into their new home; my craft room:


I also managed to squeeze in a pencil and charcoal drawing 
for the Little Canvas website last night:


I'm pleased to say I've finally finished off my websites and will launch as soon as I have enough stock not to look ridiculous (4 or 5 items on a website might look like my paint dried up or something, don't you think?). Other than that it's been the usual things we all (well, most of us) have to deal with on a daily basis; family, home, etc. It's my son's Prom tonight and he just looked so handsome and grown-up when he fitted his suit for us over the weekend! I suppose I will be a bit teary eyed, but at the ready with my camera to take lots of pictures!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

Favourite Pins Tuesday

Soooo, what have you all been up to this week? I'm still working on my new project (which I will share with you soon), and I've missed painting, so I did a quickie late Friday night... painting that is! Let's keep it clean! hahaha

Now, back to this week's pins. Let's see what lovely and yummy things I found on Pinterest.

Let's kick off with these scrumptious BBQ Ham, Bacon and Pineapple Quesadillas
BBQ Ham, Bacon and Pineapple Quesadillas (aka BBQ Hawaiian Pizza Quesadillas) ~ via Closet Cooking

And these yummy Cheesy Dinner rolls
Homemade Cheesy Dinner Rolls

Now this looks like a very interesting Kitchen tip. I haven't tried it myself yet,
but if it works, then it really will come in handy! I will let you know when I've tried it!

A Good tip: "I baked these cake layers the night before I was putting my cake together. I left them out on the counter with a slice of bread on top so that the cake layers would not become stale. The bread becomes hard as a rock, but the cake layers remain moist and as perfect as when I made them. I use this same trick with muffins, cupcakes, anything that I want to leave on the counter."

How about something super luscious to drink?
I will have to try this out!

Governor's Mansion Summer Peach Tea Punch

Let's round it up with some gorgeous summer colours in Macaroon Hues.
macaron hues

Hope you all have a fun week!

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!

Favourite pins Tuesday

As I might have mentioned (on several occasions) before... I LOVE books.Today I'd like to share with you a few of my favourite pins about books.

That's me!


Yes, I know, he's not reading a book per se... 
but still 'n nice spot for a child to relax!


"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building more bookshelves." ~Anna Quindlen


What a lovely sunny place to sit and read!


True!

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Thank you for stopping by Life on a Cupcake! If you are a first time visitor, welcome! I would be honoured if you would take a moment to leave a comment; subscribe to my blog or "like" my facebook page, Little Canvas. Do keep in touch, I love to hear from new (and old) friends! Until next time, keep well!