Handmade Gifts.

If you know me then you know i'm not much of a gift giver. 'Wings not things' - I prefer to give experiences, and if I have time then handmade gifts or cards. I'm not a materialistic person and feel like we already have so much "stuff".

One of my favourite handmade gifts was this set of Babushka Matryoshka Nesting Dolls that I hand painted for my husband. He was talking about getting these Russian dolls as a tattoo at the time, he also travelled a lot and loved art - it was soft of like a travelling mini gallery.

The first doll was a replica of one of my 2 meter sugar skulls (she had peace in her eyes which were doves), the lace I used actual lace and spray painted it. The second doll was Buddha in a lotus which I collected Buddhas at the time so I was always painting them. The third doll was the OJ Russian doll, followed by the snowman (he's a snowboarder). The final doll had me stumped for a while it's so tiny and almost impossible to paint sitting at about 1cm tall. He nicknamed me Tinkerbell at the time which actually seemed like a perfect fit as she is a fairy and tiny.

I think with handmade gifts it's just as much about presentation so I take extra care with wrapping and try to include a handmade card.

One of our friends had given us his pots and plants when moving overseas and he could not take them with him. So I made him a mini painting of the snake plant with a skull to say thanks and it was something that could travel with him.

Below is my sons first skateboard (or any board actually) I had time on my hands so I sanded it back and painted a tiger, my favourite big cat.

Another recent side project was a set of gift cards using my skull artworks from my Skullerful exhibition.