Not fading into the background!!

I spent yesterday tidying up my etsy shop and giving it a spring clean for the New Year. All my prints now have a coloured background and will all be printed to A5 size with a white border.

This makes them super easy for framing.

Here are a few of them for a sneeky peek.......






I wish you all a Happy New Year and all the best for 2010. See you next year!!!!

OM xx

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.......

This is how beautiful my hometown Edinburgh looks in winter - and I can tell you that we appear to be in the throws of winter today. Ice-y roads, snow falling as a blizzard and snowmen being made in our garden! My kids have been out in the snow for hours today, until their hands were bright red underneath their gloves. We don't really get to see snow like we have seen today so it is making us feel all very festive in the run up to the big man in the red suit visiting us next week.

Today has been a day for making soup and baking banana bread - I have even managed to get a bit of housework done and have washed floors and cleaned bathrooms (dull I know, but I feel great for having done it!!). It has been a lovely day for pottering and pondering. I have managed to catch up on the blogs that I read and have been inspired by each and every one of them. Looking ahead to next year, I am planning big things for my wee etsy shop and hope to get lots of new drawings done over the holidays.

Hope your hometown is bustling with festivities this weekend - enjoy!!

OM xx

What a bad blogger I am!

I do apologise for letting this blog slip by the wayside - new year's resolution for 2010 is to get it right back on track! Here is a wee pic of a recent piece of work that I have for sale on Etsy.



Over the past couple of months, I have gone back to art school as an evening class and I have had such a great time. It has finished now for over the festive but I have learnt lots of new techniques and have learned how to visualise things differently to what I was doing before. It is funny how you get a bit stuck in your old ways so it was great to break from the mould a bit.

Hope you are all organised to the upcoming festivities - I have still so much in my head that I need to do before Christmas which involves getting my sewing machine out, getting baking and doing lots of wrapping!

Bye for now,
OM XX

Etsy Purchase...... Love it!

I just realized this week that I go on and on about the goodness of Etsy and how wonderful it is and how much I want people to buy my illustrations and have them hanging on their walls at home, and do you know what? What? I hear you say..... I have never bought anything on Etsy yet from another seller - yes, you heard me right, NEVER!!!! How shameful is that?

Well I am happy to announce that that has now been rectified and I am soooo excited, I have just bought these........



Pic courtesy of Rhinestone n Rust Vintage

I hope you can see them as the pic is a bit small (I will post a bigger pic when they arrive). They are a set of three Silhouette wooden plaques and are just fabulous. They are being shipped to me today from the States so I should have them in the next week - I can't wait - I have a position for them already in the house!

They are from Rhinestone n Rust Vintage. Thanks Pam.

OM x

Apologies for the break......

Sorry about the unplanned break - my husband and I have been very busy behind the scenes setting up something new........ Just teasing as I can't show anything yet, but soon, I promise!!!

Hope you have all had a great weekend. Ours was way to social!! Lots of vino, food and good chat - I now need a rest from food, vino and chat..... lol

OM xx

Shop Update.....

...and not before time..... These print have been waiting to be uploaded for a couple of weeks now.





.... all now in the shop and waiting for a new home!

OM x

I made front page.....

I am just delighted, my "Apple on Legs" print has made it to the front page on Etsy.



I missed seeing it but noted that one of my prints has a lot more views so I thought I must have been featured in someone's treasury. You can imagine my delight to discover that it actually made the front page.

I am a very happy bunny.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

OM x

You know your friends know you well when..........

.... they buy you something you just love out of the blue!



I love sewing and making "things" - bags, aprons, vampire cloaks (don't ask!) and more.

A perfect gift from a pefect friend - thanks LJ!

OM x

OIlive Mac's first feature on a blog....

I have had my first feature on another blog today. The blog is called LilacPop and you can check it out here.

Janna of LilacPOP makes lovely jewellery and her Etsy shop can be found here.

Thank you ever so much to Janna for the mention - I am just delighted!

OM x

It's all white.....

We woke up to a blanket of snow this morning and my children just couldn't wait to get out there and throw snowballs and make snowmen.......



They managed to throw snowballs on the walk to school, but had to wait until after school to make the snowmen - thankfully it is starting to get much lighter late afternoon so they managed to get a good bit of snow play time.

There are now 4 snowmen in our garden (a mummy, a daddy, a boy and a girl) and a snowcat which is sat on a wall. It was too dark when I got round to thinking that I should photograph them to show here - maybe tomorrow, that is if the snow doesn't melt over night......

Don't you just LOVE playing in snow?

OM x

What do you do when you are stuck indoors?

You make cakes..... Or at least that is what we did today. Nice fairy cakes with butter icing, sprinkles and a cherry on the top.



I am amazed at my tonsil-less babe's recovery so far. She is upbeat and wants to go out to play, but we have been told to keep her away from other children for about 2 weeks incase she gets an infection. So lots more cake-baking to come.....

Hope you all had a great weekend.

OM x

Tonsil removal - done!

What a hectic past 48 hours we have had. We got a cancellation appointment for my daughter to get her tonsils and adenoids taken out! So off we popped yesterday morning, teddy bear and dolly in hand.

She is only four and has coped with it all brilliantly. Remarkably, she was eating toast within an hour of the operation. No ice-cream these days - straight onto the hard stuff!

We just got home at 11am this morning after an over night stay (with me on a z-bed beside her) so not much sleep all round.

I think the run up to it was more traumatic for me as she was blissfully unaware of the operation - she was just looking forward to a "sleepover" at the hospital. Anyway, I am glad that it is all now over - the whole process went so quickly and relatively painlessly, a bit like ripping off a band-aid.....!

A huge thank you to all of the wonderful nurses and doctors at The Sick Kids in Edinburgh - you made my baby's stay very comfortable.

OM

x

More in the shop.....

I have added a couple of more prints to my Etsy shop tonight...



I promise to start showing other pics rather than things in my new shop!! Just excited about the whole Etsy thing....

OM x

Added to the shop tonight....

.....this lovely lady who is keeping her hands warm. I must have known that snow was forecast when I sketched this on Friday. She has been coloured digitally tonight.

We have snow forecast for tomorrow through to the middle of the week. I suppose we can't complain too much as our winter has actually been very mild so far. Will look out the sledges tonight incase we can have some fun in the snow tomorrow - knowing our luck it will just be slush!!

Enjoy, wherever you are.....

OM x

Happy Friday.....

it has been one of those weeks and I am glad that it is Friday. I am still to finish my tax return (which is due with the Inland Revenue tomorrow!), my car needs to be taxed also tomorrow, and my weekend is now full with kiddies parties, trips to the hairdresser, and a farewell drink with a good friend of mine who is moving to Northern Ireland on Sunday, and some quality family time with my husband and kids. Phew! - I am exhausted just typing about our weekend ahead.

Just time to squeeze in another before and after pic......




Have a fantastic weekend - hope it is full of fun!

OM x

A couple more for you..... and a mouse in my house!

This is the before sketch.....
and this is the after.....


Look how cute his wee mousy face is and his wee pot belly...... Big coincidence - after sketching this guy last night, we found a wee mouse of our own in our kitchen today (well we didn't see the mouse itself, just the little "presents" it left in our larder!!).

OM x

And here it is in colour...

More before and after pics to follow.........

Hello - it's just the beginning....

of my new blog - Olive Mac.  Here I will share with you my scribbles and sketches and also the finished prints.

Here is my first tease for you - this is a wee sketch that I did earlier this evening.  I have now scanned it and am about to bring it to life by digitally colouring it in Photoshop.

Once finished it will be available in my Etsy shop.