around the nook.

around the nook today, is me making notes on post -its for all the upcoming things for the blog. Currently working on the cooking post for we try it Wednesday's.

filling my tummy in the mornings with a Paleomg recipe - Banana Bread which is my favorite thing to do with the brown bananas no one wants to eat, of course no bread is complete without a hot cup of tea. in a deer mug.

lily boo, the budding artist. This girl fills notebooks faster than I can buy them, with her colours and 4 year old drawings, if shes quiet for too long, shes usually curled up in her room drawing...just like her mummy.

and me...on a sunday, finally in a place where I feel things are looking up, where I am happy.
have a beautiful sunday! and I'll see you tomorrow for Monday Mantra.
x Courtney

Supply Sunday - Coming Monday!

I decided during the family bbq today that I wanted to do a video using my copics for supply sunday, then by the time we got home out of the heat, with the kids fed bathed and in bed, I was and still am much too tired to art. So my dears, this weeks Supply Sunday will be posted tomorrow, so you get a nice little art vid to go with the post.

below today's tired selfie after a day in 31 degree heat!

my little ones had an awesome time thats for sure! they played for three hours straight with small breaks for water guzzling and lunch. Here is eli after his first go on a flying fox! he was so proud of himself.

and after the bbq, the boy and I decided to take the little ones to an ice cream parlor for a much needed cooling down...lily got more on herself then in her mouth!

and I swanned around in a bright dress, and my inner dorothy shoes...how I love the wizard of oz.

I shall see you tomorrow, for an art vid and supply sunday!! (monday)
xx Courtney

the artful journey - day 25 almost there

it's almost time to open up the door to my new art journal, just a few more tidbits to go in the current one! I'm excited...
after the little ones were in bed, and the man has driven home, nothing left to do but sit on my bedroom floor and work on my canvas for a while.


and on the subject of little humans...here they are at breakfast this morning..


sleep well, I know I will...
xx Courtney

Day 4 - The Artful Journey.

8 hours on the road, several stops for teacup humans to go to the loo, stops for mumma to take photos and we are finally home in our Sydney home for two weeks. It was an epic trip, but we made it safe and sound, and I did some art in the car...not this page lol but tomorrow drawings were all created on the long trip..which was extremely hard with the bumpy country road.

This is my day 2 page from Gulf Sprite's Course, now with finished leaf and background, I think I will be going back over it tomorrow with some sharpie pen and a little doodling.

its just missing something...not sure what yet.

Today was fathers day in Australia, and we celebrated with a yummy bbq breakie at my mum and dad's place. I was designated BBQ wench so I cooked up some bacon, eggs, snags and tomatoes, we also had tea and croissants.
I think for me, the stillness and the tea were the highlights for me, I feel like Ive been on the go for the last month! so taking a small amount of time to just sip some tea was exactly what I needed.

Below are the photos from my day, tea, baked goods...and two shots from our long long drive.
I am rather sleepy, so I'll tuck myself into bed, and get completely caught up with my pages tomorrow now that I'm in one place for a length of time! pictures of the dollhouse and miss boo tomorrow.
Pop over to Traci's blog to see what shes up to!
I'll leave you now, with my little teacup humans.

Day Three - The Artful Journey - Week in the Life

I'm one very sleepy blogger. My little lily had her birthday party a few days earlier than her actual birthday so we could get back to Sydney for the boyfriends birthday with his family. So my art time today was very limited, I will be finishing the page within the next few hours while I snuggle up to my man.


Working on Day two of Gulfsprite's 30 Days of Art Journalling, was about the maple leaf...another item that I wouldn't ever use on my on accord. I've done the base work, I just need to get my background finished, and give the lovely girl some more details, then tomorrow I start work on the Ruffles!
I used lots of sprays, home made and bought, stencils, and white paint, then some finer details with my sharpie on the maple leaf.


My girl was coloured with a paper stump, prisma pencils, and watercolour paints. I'm really proud of myself, my eyes are falling out of my head, I haven't packed for sydney tomorrow, and my kitchen looks like a bomb went off! but I made the time for art, because that was a promise I made to myself, and I intend to keep it... no matter the magnitude of my day.

Day 2 On a week in my life... A Saturday...here are the small collages of photos of My little Lily's day.I was a very busy mumma in the kitchen this morning, icing cupcakes, making fairy bread! While my dear man made me pancakes.

Enjoy the last of your evening, Im going to sit on my bed and finish my page, so I can keep up to date with Christy's videos, its my mission to keep up.
xox Courtney

oh pop on over to Traci's blog for her get your art on post.

Artful Journey Day Two + Week in my life

A Friday, is always a cherished day in my house, one because its one of my quiet days, little ones went off to kindy..but the best part...is when the boy arrives late at night for the weekend... so already its a good day!

But lets get to why you came here..
Day one Of the GulfSprite 30 Day Art journalling course started today, and the prompt was about the Harvest, as they are coming up to that time of year, it was a little strange as we have already passed such a time here in oz..I did a little google search, and one of the first images I saw..was a Harvest Moon...and so I began creating just that.

sketching away while I spoke to the boy, colouring her in adding layer and layer of prisma pencil, a little ink from a sharpie, some watercolour for depth finishing the page off with some dripping watered down watercolour...and some Spray ink in a coral.



it was a great experience, as these are the types of things I don't draw..or even think to draw. I must admit I did do an image search to see what wheat looked like so I could get a similarity.

I do adore her..something so sad about her and yet peaceful aswell..it's probably a very good portrayal of how I am right now..
My Boyfriend said ' but the moon looks so sad!'
'dont worry my love, she wont be sad forever, I promise' and I won't
another little work in progress is a wood block I've been tinkering with from my dad, she isnt finished yet, I know that much. But I am liking her.

I was using up excess paint from a journal page, which is why the background looks so random lol but I like what came out over the background..home right now..is two places so it's very much on my mind.
I have gotten together with a few of my dear friends to do a little project, A Week In The Life, basically documenting each day for a week. I want to create some digtal collages and print them out to make a book actually, to go into a yearly book if I am on the ball! so without further ado..here is my Friday - Mainly my morning, as I cleaned for most of my day before Lily's Party Tomorrow.

'Friday Sunlight'

The first morning rays on Friday morning. A little cold..but rather a lovely sight.

6:20am from my bed.


'Morning's Lament'
I know I have to get up...but I just don't want to
Friday Morning
7am

'Stop for a Moment'
Just after dropping little ones to Kindy
My front yard - 8:53am

'Come in, Stay a while'
One of the most fave parts of my house..is the door handle
8:57am


so that's me for today, tomorrow there will be more art..and more week in my life photos!
oh there will be party photos!
take care..pop over to Traci's Blog for her day two (it wont be up yet, I'm a day ahead of her hehe)

leave a comment, I love hearing from you! and post your blog address if you want, I love a good blog hop at night with my tea.

take care! xx Courtney

Sunday Snippets

Playing along with Tinnie Girl in her Sunday snippets. Today has been a long day indeed, the boy leaving at the crack of dawn, and the little ones being rather pushing of mumma's buttons. but alas, here are the pictures from my day...

adding graphite to my girls face, and giving her more defined hair.

I worked on a new journal today for myself..which resulted in me unpacking a box I'd already packed to get to my font stamps.

that simplest thing like the curl on my girls forehead...

elijah..playing hide and seek in a cupboard...(before the tantrums lol)

binding my first journal by hand... from scratch.

the cover of the journal...when you fold the covers out to size, its a dripping rainbow, I am slightly in love with her.

so that is my Sunday, Im worn out, drained and a little bit emotional after the day the kids put me through..but its all ok...because I have a new art journal.
xx Courtney

Thursday Night in the Brook-Diaz House

Thursday night in the Raven house, was bbq movie night, a little treat for the bumbles, and also a reason to test drive the boy's new bbq! was a nice night, kids played outside while we cooked the meat, sorted a movie out and made popcorn on the stove.

lily being a little dork hehe but shes adorable.

eli playing with me on the bed, first time I've gotten him to just be silly and let me take photos! this was a happy accident snap...and its one of my faves of him.
we had snags, chicken kebabs, and a mexican marinated beef for dinner, served with wedges and fresh crusty bread! was soooo good! the boy has taken left overs to work for lunch hehe.

and after they watched the lion king, ate their mumma cooked popcorn they were off to bed...and I finally got to slink into bed, and do a little art, before the boy and I watched Water for elephants...adored that movie was so beautiful.

so that was Thursday night in our house! tonight a whole different story..packing today and driving through the night to get home to Inverell for a mere week before we are back in Sydney for two weeks! crazy time in my life I must say!

take care my dears
xx Courtney

Get Your Art on Day 23 - a little detail.

I started this picture a few days ago, and today while we ate lunch at the zoo I started filling in the details, nothing major but its all the art I got in. Building shadows more of the blue background, and using my black sharpie for all the outlines where needed.

so today We went to Taronga Park Zoo with the little humans and man did we have a good time! the kids were mesmerized by the magic of the zoo animals. Here are our little ones in some new clothes my boyfriend's mum handmade for them. so so cute, she made them a few items of clothing they are just adorable.



this is the view from the sky safari we went on at the start of the day and at the end of the day, it takes you over the top of the zoo so you can see the animals from above. Fantastic view of sydney.


the Giraffes were spectacular to see! Elijah picked a soft toy of the giraffe and lily picked a Koala. I also bought them little elephant cups from the zoo shop.

the Lemars, such adorable quick little creatures! this one came right up to the window and sat there for the kids to have a good look at him before he scurried away.one of my fave pics from the day, my man and my kids...they are perfect.

pop over to Traci's Blog for her arty photography
see you tomorrow for another little art adventure
xxo Courtney

Get Your Art On Day 10 - Curly Locks

my little lily has springy little tight curls, they bounce as she runs around at top toddler speed, they seem to act as a mood ring almost, when shes frustrated they turn to frizz when shes happy they bob around her little button face without a care in the world, and as I sat there this morning combing her curls taming them so she could wear a little headband I thought I would use those little chocolate springs in a little journal spread today.

below you'll see my workings for this wintery morning while the teacup humans play with a swirly orange bouncy ball outside. Brown eyed just like my lily, some watercolours, washi tape few stencils the green negative circles was put there a few weeks ago...I like to use my excess ink on other pages only to stumble across them weeks later when I finally make it to the page.

I used a pitt pen to outline the circles then some watercolours to fill in. Watercolour markers for her top lip, nothing special used on the spread just a little time and a tiny smile on my face creating something that had a little bit of lily tint to it. I might add a bit more too it, some text in the corner and some gel medium to tack down the paper making sure it doesn't move.
time image was a image of a bright cloudy sky but bit hard to see now with all the layers!


I might even put wings on her, as miss L, thinks shes a fairy princess more often then not. The little ones are asking to do a little art so I might set them up in the sun with some old clothes on and some paint and sponges, see what they create.

pop on over to Traci's blog to see what shes created for the day, I am early today! so I've beaten her in regards to posting times! Im an organised little artist today ( for once)
tomorrow I will go back to my background page I showed you last night and see what becomes of it....
got a little side tracked with chocolate curled girls..who wouldnt!

xx Courtney