It's All About the Wrapping at Inky Co.

 I am a wrapping fanatic as I'm certain a lot of you are too! I'm always buying little bits of ribbon, string and twine and recycling things to create beautiful wrapping. Well this time, after many many moons of feeling awful about buying cheap wrapping paper which is of course completely un-environmentally-friendly, I decided that it was about time to buy some that wouldn't make me feel so guilty and here's what I found:

Indoor Garden

As some of you are aware, Andi and I have been experimenting with indoor gardening (as well as outdoor gardening). Check out this post about our hanging indoor kitchen planters. So far we’ve been having a lot of luck especially with succulents. Andi planted some in a Keen’s Curry tin. We also have a chilli plant, some lavender, rosemary, thyme and mint in the kitchen.

How to Make Clay Tag Christmas Ornaments and Decorations

These little white heart clay tag ornaments are really simple and easy to make and you definitely don’t need to go searching tutorial after tutorial to get it right.

Christmas Decorating {Christmas Tree and Stockings}

Depending on what kind of blog reader you are, you’ll either think I’m super fast or really slow with my Christmas decorating. Well here you have MY first ever Christmas tree in my new home. I have been very excited about getting the tree and made Andi rather unhappy with me by choosing the largest, most expensive tree I could find but I just HAD to!
I’m not a big fan of plastic ornaments so I decorated with burlap ribbon, red and white ribbon and made big red bows out of red satin. I also made little white clay heart tags, there’s a house and a cat to come too and of course a tutorial!

I have always loved the idea of hanging stockings and Andi decided some stockings would look great hanging from the lights either side of our antique green mirror and of course I went full steam ahead with the idea, searching for hours to find the perfect Christmas stockings. I got these beautiful socks from Etsy seller, Ben Loves Birdy. These are Pottery Barn red cable knit stockings that were personalised with our names. I love them!
Linking up with: 504 Main, A Delightsome Life, A Diamond in the Stuff, Alderberry Hill, A Night Owl, A Stroll Thru Life, Be Different, Act Normal, Cheerios & Lattes, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Claire Justine oxox, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Cozy Little House, Crafts a La Mode, Create with Joy, Cupcake ‘n’ Bake, DIY by Design, DIY Dreamer, Domesblissity, Ducks ‘n a Row, Elizabeth & Co, Feeding Big, Green Willow Pond, Happy Go Lucky, Hickory Trail, Home Maker on a Dime, Ivy & Elephants, Katherines Corner, Kathe with an E, Lil Luna, Live Laugh Rowe, Liz Marie, Lolly Jane, Mop it Up, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Milk & Cuddles, Mostly Homemade Mom, No Minimalist Here, Our Delightful Home, Petals to Picots, Pursuit of Functional Home, Salt Tree, Say G’Day Saturday, Savvy Southern Style, Serenity Now, Shabby Creek Cottage, Share Your Cup, Sincerely, Paula, Six Sisters Stuff, Someday Crafts, Southern Lovely, Sugar & Dots, The Best Blog Recipes, The Trendy Treehouse, This Gal Cooks, Too Much Time, Weekly Creative, We Like to Learn as We Go, While he was Napping, Charm of Home, French Country Cottage, House on the Way, Primp Junktion, Romantic Home, Diana Rambles, Dukes & Duchesses, Ginger Snap Crafts, Katie’s Nesting Spot, Life we Live 4, Redoux, Say Not Sweet, Sunday Showcase Party, Tatertots & Jello, Knick of Time

Harry Potter Magic Potions Jewellery & Bookmarks

These are just a few of my newer designs in my new shop Keepings, I’m particularly fond of these because I discovered how awesome engraving my little pendants is rather than metal stamping them. I found this out purely through necessity because I couldn’t possibly stamp that many letters into the pendants. I’m very happy with how the engraving turned out instead!
This one is of the Felix Felicis potion for luck and the next is Amortentia, a love potion. So far I seem to be the only one making them in the accurate “mother of pearl” colour rather than the obvious red or pink. Unfortunately I couldn’t pick up the sparkles in any of the photos. I used a type of glitter that is extremely small which looks better in real life but it’s too tiny for photos!
I have a bookmark and a necklace in each. What do you guys think? See them here.



Linking up with: 504 Main, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Cozy Little House, Crafts a La Mode, DIY by Design, DIY Dreamer, Green Willow Pond, Live Laugh Rowe, Lolly Jane, No Minimalist Here, Say G’Day Saturday, Savvy Southern Style, Serenity Now, Shabby Creek Cottage, Share Your Cup, Weekly Creative, Ginger Snap Crafts, Katie’s Nesting Spot, Life we Live 4, Redoux, Sunday Showcase Party, Tatertots & Jello

Keepings by Kirsty Girl, Custom Bookmarks and Adventure Time Jewellery

I am so super excited to announce that my new Etsy store, Keepings is finally OPEN! Woohoo! It’s been a long time in the making and I had a long day uploading everything yesterday so I would really really LOVE for you to stop over even just to say Hi! I definitely need to make some more friends over there and would like to follow all of you on Etsy too so if you have a shop or just an account let me know about it and I’ll be following along with you!

So far I have a couple of different types of products for sale though I have way more to come!

These are my customisable bookmarks for sale. I got the idea after searching for jewellery on Etsy a while back and wanted to be able to pick and choose certain charms from different listings but couldn’t. So I decided to do that myself! I think these would make a really great gift! I even made one special for my Mum last weekend for Mother’s Day! I choose white velvet with her name metal stamped on top and the little k on the brass heart that you can see above. I personalised it with a music note because she’s a huge music fan and the four leaf clover because she’s an Irish lass!

I also have Adventure Time Jewellery for sale! I love these guys, don’t you!?

Please come on over and say Hi if you ever use Etsy. Even if you don’t look at my stuff I’d love to be able to follow my blog readers over there too! Who couldn’t use more followers right?
Linking with: 504 Main, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Cozy Little House, DIY by Design, DIY Dreamer, Green Willow Pond, Live Laugh Rowe, Lolly Jane, No Minimalist Here, Savvy Southern Style, Serenity Now, Shabby Creek Cottage, Share Your Cup, Weekly Creative, Ginger Snap Crafts, Katie’s Nesting Spot, Sunday Showcase Party, Tatertots & Jello, Say G’Day Saturday

Hemp Stamped Necklace

For Cookie’s birthday I made her this necklace out of eco friendly hemp, green and copper drop beads and alloy charms that I stamped the letters of her name in to. I am working on a line of hand stamped items and jewellery for my new etsy store. While it’s not up and running yet it should be very soon! I am excited! I will be listing items for sale here too so stay tuned!
What do you guys think?
Sharing at: Knick of Time, DIY Dreamer, Primp, Green Willow Pond, DIY by Design, Cozy Little House, Ginger Snap Crafts, Live Laugh Rowe, No Minimalist Here, Share Your Cup

Birthdays, Beginnings, Butterflies & Bird Baths

The other day I had my Birthday and I got super spoilt! It was great of course! What I am really excited about are these metal stamps and tools that I received. I have been practicing and I can’t wait to begin creating. I have a lot of ideas! There are some exciting things happening over here at Kirsty Girl. Stay tuned!
Check out my gorgeous new bird bath too! It’s under my bird house.. can you spot it?

Linking up with: The Shabby Creek Cottage, No Minimalist Here, Share Your Cup, Green Willow Pond

DIY Twine Wrapped Glass Jar

I am such a saver of glass jars. Do you guys do that to? I have been experimenting with them recently and have a few projects to show you. This is my first though. I needed something like this for the bathroom and I didn’t want to sit just any old boring glass container on the bench. This is super easy to do. All you need is glue (I used wood glue), twine and any old glass that you have sitting around. I used a garlic jar, cleaned first of course! Paint on a thin layer of the glue using an old paint brush and slowly wrap the twine around the glass. Starting off is the only tricky bit, once you get it going it’s a breeze and will be finished in no time.
You could do this to practically anything, old tins, vases, anything you have handy that needs a re do!
Linking up to: Share Your Cup, No Minimalist Here, Time Washed, Savvy Southern Style, Primp Junktion, 504 Main, French Country Cottage, the Charm of Home, Common Ground, the Shabby Creek Cottage

Shabby Mail Holder

I couldn’t even tell you when I got this mail holder. It has been sitting around my junk bits ever since I was a little kid. It came to me as a completely blank canvas. Over the years it has been blue, green and now white. I painted it with a really old tube of white acrylic and sanded down the edges and corners. Now you can see all those old colours showing through. Not only does it look great in my new kitchen but it has been doing it’s job and tidying the bench up excellently!

Linking up with: Shabby Creek Cottage, No Minimalist Here, Savvy Southern Style, Primp Junktion, Time Washed, Diy Dreamer, Cozy Little House, 504 Main, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, French Country Cottage, the Charm of Home, Common Ground, Share Your Cup, Green Willow Pond

Limousine Cow

This is a painting I’ve just finished of a Limousine Cow. I love him. I’ve been watching a lot of Deadwood lately and listening to Alberta Cross so I was in a very country kind of mood for this one. I have wanted to paint a cow for a long time now and I finally got around to it. I’ve never painted an animal before!
I actually painted this one in Acrylic for a change, rather than the usual oil. I practically got it finished in a day, rather than months and the cleaning process only took 10 minutes instead of the usual hour. I think I’m a convert. I’m crossing over to the dark side.
Hope you like him!
P.s. Cows are not food or milk machines they’re beautiful, feeling beings that inspire art. Click the Vegan Tasmania link to learn more and cut out meat and milk from your diet. Thanks!

Beach HeArt

While walking along the rocks at the beach last weekend I found this sweet thing and wanted to share with you! Pretty. I wonder who made it. I thought it looked pretty special and deserved a couple of photographs. <3

A Photo of a Drawing of a Cat

I took this the other night after doodling this catty picture. I have no patience when it comes to my oil painting so I’ve decided I need to draw more and create more pictures in general, and hopefully some kind of patience and skill will reveal itself to me.
As you may have noticed there was no linky party yesterday. I have decided to stop hosting the parties. I don’t know whether this will be forever but there are certain aspects to the blogging world that are too easy to get caught up in.. and as a result you forget the purpose of the blog in the first place. I know many bloggers write about this but it’s true. I do not blog to blog. I blog to put down my photos and paintings. More content and less Alexa Rankings for me.
If you’re a blogger too, I hope you’re still enjoying yours! I am.

Blue and White Daisies

These are a couple of photos I took of the daisies my little sister, Chicken brought home for a science experiment.

We put some water and drops of blue food dye into a vase and watched the white daisy’s turn blue!

Pretty!

Harry Potter Birthday + Kirsty & Friends Linky Party

A couple of weeks ago my little sister had her tenth birthday party! She invited her best friends and we played lots of party games together.
This is a picture of Chicken with the “pin the tail on the donkey” game that my Mummy dear and I came up with. As you (hopefully) can tell, it’s a drawing I did of Harry, Hermione and Ron. In the background I have made the outline of Hedwig.  For the game the party-goers had to make their own Hedwig out of a Stampin’ Up! Owl punch. We put magnets on the back and hung the picture on the fridge. Then the game was just like the usual stick the Hedwig on the Harry Potter picture.
You can head over to my Mummy’s blog Stamping Still for more info on this and how we made the owls!
Ok on to the party. Please link up your best post of the week and please remember to link back!

<a href="http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kirsty Girl" src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc69/kirstygirl7/kirstygirlbutton.jpg" /></a>

Marilyn Monroe Oil Painting + Kirsty & Friends Linky Party

Yay finally I have finished my Pop Art Marilyn Monroe! Oil Paint on Canvas. Totally black and white as you can see aside from the hot pink smoke from her cigarette. I’m pretty happy with her, but I’m terribly biased. So let me know what you think! You can view my sketch of her here.

Now on to the party! I have done a couple of linky’s in the past but it was never on an ongoing basis but I am committed now and I hope you will be too! So please join up, get your blog some well-deserved exposure and share the love.

While you’re in the joining spirit please visit me and befriend me over at www.stopandadvertise.com too. It’s social networking at its best for your blog/business. Think Facebook meets The Blog Frog. I’ve also got an Art/Photography group over there too that I’d LOVE you to join! Here’s the link: Art/Photography Group.

Please Link Up and Remember to Link Back!

<a href="http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kirsty Girl" src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc69/kirstygirl7/kirstygirlbutton.jpg" /></a>

Wishes Notebook (Penny Black and Stampin’ Up!)

I made this little notebook for my dearest Mummy for Mother’s Day and thought I would share it with you. You’re all into crafts right? Anyway the mouse is a cute little Penny Black stamp and the words are from Stampin’ Up!s “Heard From the Heart” stamp set. I thought the two went perfectly together.

It’s a little notebook for writing computer notes in, I’ve written a few in myself about how to upload photos, set the contrast, put in a watermark etc. Also a great place to store all of those usernames and passwords that you can never remember.


I made the clouds by using my Mum’s own special technique, you can see how she does it here. You should all go and check out her blog too because she’s a card-making genius, if you’re into crafts (especially stamping) you’ll love it. Go here.

“May All Your Wishes Come True!”

Linking up with: 504 Main, A Beach Cottage, Chic on a Shoestring, Serenity Now.

Duke’s Knitted Mouse

I little while ago now, I knitted my sweet kitten a little mousey to play with! I just knitted a square and thread the ends together. I put catnip inside and gave it some whiskers, button eyes, and a really long tail so that I wouldn’t be killed while I played with him.



Of course Mr. Mousey is a little worse for wear now but I got some nice pictures from their meet. I love how green the paint has come out in these photo’s. The sunroom looks so country and sweet.

Kirsty Girl Features: Stamping Still & Desire Empire

I have been nominated for my first ever blog award!

By none other than my gorgeous Mummy! Yay! Thanks Mum. Haha. Apparently now I have to tell you 8 things about myself that you might not know. Scary!

1.  When I was a little girl I was obsessed with witches!

2.  Now that I’m a big girl I love mermaids!

3.  Cookie and Chicken, my two wonderful little sisters, are my best girlfriends.

4.  I taught my Mummy how to blog.

5.  For my birthday I am getting a mandolin off the beautiful Andi!

6.  Over the course of a very long time I plan to be able to skateboard and surf.

7.  Even though I want to, I know deep down I wouldn’t make a good mermaid because though I adore them, fish scare me.

8.  The average age people assume I am is 16.

Yay! All finished!

Now I have to nominate 8 bloggers to pass this lovely blog award to! So I nominate those who joined my first ever linky party! Which you can still link up to here.  Thank you! You’re all so very Stylish. I’ve also nominated a couple of favs!

CeCe's 20's Life
A Perfect Dose of Life
Journey Keeper
Beader Bubbe
Trails Net
Desire Empire
I'm Downtown
Proper Prim

Now on to the features!

Stamping Still

Stamping Still is my lovely Mummy’s blog! You should all go and check it out. She’s very crafty and talented at what she does. Here are some of her wonderful crafts:

Click on the pictures if you would like to see the post they were in.

 

Aren’t they gorgeous? Aside from just showcasing her cards, she also offers tutorials on different techniques and crafts. She is a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and loves her job.

If you get a chance please stop over and say hello at Stamping Still. You’ll be glad you did.


Desire Empire

For my next feature, I literally found this blog just this morning, as I was lucky enough for her to join my linky party, which is still open for entries here. 

Desire Empire, from Sydney, Australia, has been around for only 7 days! I’m so happy that I get to jump on the band wagon of this blog so early in it’s life! This blog is definitely destined to become a Queen in the blogging world. Go check it out!



I think this picture sums up my love for this blog perfectly! The gorgeous white jug, the vintage Coca-Cola tray and the hanging surf board, what more could you want?

Please join my linky party while it’s still open! You may be my next feature!


Linking up with: 504 Main, Chic on a Shoestring, LambAround and Serenity Now.

Marilyn Sketch

This Ladies and Gentlemen is my next masterpiece. Of course it’s just a very basic sketch on canvas using a crappy HB pencil but it does the job.

I have already begun the painting, yes it is pop art Marilyn. I know, it’s been done. A LOT. But it’s going to be cool! I swear… hope.

Happy New Year!

Linking up with 504 Main, Chic on a Shoestring, The Lady Bloggers and Rook No.17.