Blooming Beautiful

This morning while standing in my garden, I could feel the first sweet hint of approaching autumn in the air. For those whose favorite season is warm and sunny Summer, this may elicit cries of "Nooo!!", but for me it's a much anticipated and welcomed shift in the air. Autumn is absolutely my favorite time of the year, and I watch for those first small signs like a kid waiting for the ice cream man to arrive in the neighborhood. Bring on the crunchy leaves, the pumpkins, and wood fires! The summer roses are ripe and beautiful with what might be the last blooms I get this year. I took some photos earlier in the week and have been having a bit of fun with them in photoshop. Sooooo pretty and fragrant, and in spite of my love of fall, I'll be sad to see the blooms go :-)

Hope you've all enjoyed these last days of summer, thanks for stopping by!
~Angela

Of Mice And Men

Hello to all of you in blogland. What a wild few months it's been! In spite of all my plans for celebrating and sharing the holiday season here on my blog, it's been more than a month since my last post. Without giving a vivid laundry list of all the things that have kept me away from my space here, I'll sum it all up with "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray".  It's been a topsy turvy, whirly twirly few months, but as 2013 begins and the waters start to calm, I look forward to being present here once again. So a belated Happy New Year to you, and I look forward to seeing what you've all been up to! 

I thought I'd post a quick picture that I took a few weeks ago while out wandering. It seemed quite poetic at the time and I couldn't help but compare the racing river with the changes life brings. The swift and unexpected currents that carry us on to new adventures! I begin the New Year with thankfulness and gratitude for my friends and family and look forward to all that awaits us in the coming year. See you soon!

~Angela

Yes...I'm one of "those" people.

Ok, I'm going to be right up front and admit it.....I'm one of "those" people that gets so excited about the holidays that they start celebrating way early. You know...the woman who has her Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving and plays Christmas music so often that you wonder how on earth she isn't sick of it by mid December? Yes, that's me! I've come to the conclusion that I have mainly my Mom to thank for that warm and fuzzy feeling that settles firmly in my belly starting early in November, lol. 

Our family was far from perfect and like most families, we had our fair share of dysfunction and mayhem, but when it came to Christmas, my Mom always made it beautiful. We had special Christmas traditions that we looked forward to each year, and whether it was a tight year financially or not, it always seemed a magical and beautiful time for our family. So....with that in mind...I've decided to start a special weekly holiday feature here on my blog throughout the month of December. Each week I'll share some of the special family recipes and fun traditions that have made the holidays so near and dear to my heart. What I'm hoping is that others will join in each week and contribute by sharing and telling us about some of there favorite holiday stories, traditions, and recipes too. So be sure to look for my first holiday feature starting the first week of December and do join in!!

As you can guess, my painting and art projects have been mainly focused on fun holiday themes this week, like the peace on earth mixed media painting above, and this whimsical snowman scene. I plan to relish in as much twinkle light loving, sparkling snow flake wishing, Bing Cosby singing, fudge making fun as I can over the next several weeks! 

Thanks for stopping in to visit, and I hope to see you here again soon!

~Angela

Soon....are you ready??

Are you getting ready for the festivities this weekend? I love love loooooove a good Halloween party and this weekend's blog event is sure to be so full of creative Halloween spooky fun that it will take days to recover from all the creepy goodness! I can't wait to see what everyone has in store :-) If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then perhaps you should run (don't walk) over to Vanessa's blog at A Fanciful Twist to see what all the hoopla is about! Ok, not physically run, that would be just silly....digitally run that is.

 In the midst of getting ready for the upcoming blog event, I've also been painting up a storm. I've been having fun with new holiday themed pieces, but in keeping with the Halloween spirit, I did do this little whimsical watercolor and acrylic painting. She's dressed in her favorite purple dress and mask and is headed to the Halloween ball. 

Now it's off to finish up some last minute projects before the spooky fun begins. I've got a fun giveaway as part of my party post, so I hope you can visit over the weekend to say hello and check it out! See you son!

~Angela

Totally Smitten!

Happy Monday everyone! In spite of the gloomy, rainy, English weather here in my little part of the world, it's a lovely day inside the Whimsy Ways studio. I've got homemade beef stew simmering in the oven, I have every candle in my house lit, and my newly carved pumpkins are glowing softly......and if that isn't enough to make a girl happy, my hands are covered in paint from the fun new mixed media piece I've been working on this morning, and I have a goofy old Halloween movie on in the background. Oh yeah...it's a good day indeed!!

I wanted to pop in quickly to show you something so adorable, so AWESOME, that it just has to be shared. Remember me mentioning that I had won the recent blog party giveaway from Julie of Pippins Nest? Well...her lovely package arrived over the weekend and oh my goodness, what a wonderful bunch of goodies she sent! First there was this gorgeous handcrafted ticket that was part of the theme of the carnival blog party. You can't tell very well from the picture, but it has lovely silver sparkly goodness all along the edges. So pretty!

Then there were these totally and completely adorable little handmade miniature pumpkins. Perfect for adding autumn goodness to little spaces!

And then, last out of the carefully wrapped package was this gorgeous handmade art doll. It was love at first sight. I mean...just look at her!! I really was truly smitten as soon as I'd unwrapped her and gotten a good look. Her quirky expression, orange hair with little tophat, and black lace dress are so much fun. 

She is now in a place of honor on my mantle and every time I look at her it makes me smile. Big big thanks to Julie for her generous giveaway and for sending her gorgeous handmade creations. I will truly treasure them!!! If you have not visited Julie at Pippins Nest, please do pop over and say hello!

Now it's back to making a mess with paints for me. Thanks for visiting!

~Angela

And The Winner Is.......

Today is the day to announce the winner of my giveaway for the wonderful Carnival Mysterieux event from this past weekend! What a wonderful time I had visiting everyone's blogs and seeing all the fun, spooky, and creative posts. I love discovering new blogs to follow and visit, and I think these types of events are such a great way to do that. Another big thanks to Anna of Frosted Petunias, and Marfi of Incipient Wings for hosting the festivities! So....as you may or may not remember, I offered this vintage style gemstone and lock and key necklace as a giveaway for my lovely visitors.

I used random.org's random number generator to choose the winner, and the number that came up was lucky comment number 21 from Mina of Green Witch With Fairy Sparkles! Mina, I'll be contacting you directly to get your info so that I can mail you your treasure! Thanks again to everyone who visited and commented, it was wonderful to have you all here!

Now that the carnival event has passed and we are full on into autumn I am getting totally excited for Halloween. I've mentioned more than once here on my blog how much I love this time of year and I can't wait to get out into the forest this weekend to get some autumn photographs. I've got several new autumn themed watercolor paintings in the finishing stages, and will be getting some pumpkins this weekend for pumpkin carving fun. Yayyyyy! My lovely hubby has never carved one and I plan to show him the ropes. Can you imagine??? He's never had the fun of scooping gooey pumpkin and seeds from the center of a freshly cut pumpkin, lol. Here in England, they don't "do" Halloween in quite the same way they do in America, so I feel compelled to share all of my American Halloweeny ways with him, lol. Ohhhh, and I can't forget to mention....there is a wonderful spooky Halloween blog event coming up in a few weeks! The lovely Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist is hosting her annual Halloween blog party and it is going to be so fantastic. Be sure to check it out!

I'll be back in a few days with some of my new creations and hopefully some lovely photos of my adventures in the forest this weekend. Hope you're all having a great week, thanks for visiting!

~Angela