Ending Of 2013 And The Excitement Of 2014...

Well this is always an amazing time to reflect.....

What a year 2013 has been. 

For me it's actually been the most incredible year....almost in my entire life!!

I went on my first trip alone....no hubby, no kids. That has rarely happened! I went to Vancouver BC to do some training with Kathy van Gogh with intentions to teach classes in Calgary for another shop. 

It was the most fascinating, crazy creative lalapalooza 4 days of my life! I got to meet some new and talented people.

I came home and decided I'm ready for a new journey and to retail the paint! Within one month I was a running studio! From this point on Kathy van Gogh was a presence in my life. She has been a mother hen and I thank her for her ongoing encouragement and support. I didn't even know I had this much of a creative side in me....honestly! Without her I couldn't have nurtured it.

What a whirlwind from there.....and so Ava Blake Creations became a home based business!

I've taught 34+ students from April-December.

I've pushed myself to creative boundaries I didn't even know I had.

I started seeing a healer, an extraordinary woman. She has helped me in this life journey in ways I cannot even describe. I've never been so open and content. OH, it's been work, but as in life, everything is a process. With each day my heart becomes more open. I cannot thank her enough.

I've created over 100+ creations in this year alone!

I was featured on Graphics Fairy and various other blogs over 18 times this year. 

I was published in a local magazine. Airdrie Life, and with a 2 page layout! CLICK HERE to read the article.

I was published in an online magazine, Artisphere Online Click HERE to read the article.

My blog jumped up to 155,389 views from ALL over the world.

The Facebook page I started has almost 1000 likes on it. CLICK HERE to see my page. 

I was in some, and traveled to some Vintage Markets.

I have emailed, talked to and met amazing new people. I've also nurtured the amazing relationships that I already have.

My ripple has reached as far as Slovenia, Nepal, New Zealand and Many more places.

I've learned new carpentry skills, and used more power tools then I ever have. THANKS to my hubby!

I moved into a new home.

My kids had a healthy year.

ALL THIS in just one year....BACKFLIP EXCITING!!!!!!!

I feel like this is the tip of the iceberg for happiness in my life. I've just begun. I seriously get goosebumps with the thoughts of what's to come. I'm not joking when I say The Sky Is The Limit!!!

A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you Ava Blake Creations fans. You fuel me. Without you I couldn't grow and or feel the need to grow.

I'm excited to stay on this creative journey, and over the moon happy that you are all with me! 

I have a MAGNIFICENT Creation to reveal in the next few days, so stay tuned.

With a heart full of gratitude,

Jennifer Pyykonen

Ava Blake Creations

xoxox

Magical Christmas At My House...

Hello Hello! I hope everyone is ready for Christmas and able to just enjoy the love of the season!? I LUV that!

I wanted to share with you the places I will be in, and things I will be surrounded by for this 2013 Holiday season....

Here is my Magical Mantle!

Too see more click the "read more" words...

Antler Bling-O-Rama, Yes We Did!!

WELLLL......In case you didn't know...I LOVE LOVE LOVE my company van Gogh Fossil Paint, I honestly don't ever feel like it's a job AND there isn't enough hours in a day for me to create!

Recently myself and my colleague Annie of Cougar Chic Decor got to "play" with some crushed glass crystals that will be available in the new year. 

Crushed glass is a stunning product, I have seen tons of things done with it and love them all.
BUT.....I wanted to be different.... What did my mind instantly go to?? Antlers!!! YES, animal antlers.....How crazy would that be? So crazy beautiful everyone will want a set!!!

Annie lives on a stunning mountain view acreage. We collected a pile of antlers, sipped our Chai tea lattes, and away we went!

Firstly, a new product we have in our van Gogh Fossil Paint line is our Furniture Frosting. It's a pearl finish of pure awesome-ness! I mean you can make ANYTHING pearl, AND various pearl colors...purple, orange, blue, oyster shell.....it's like touching a mermaids tail!! BAH!

We painted our antlers with Fossil Paint, then pearled them....

Goosebumps right!

OHHH, we played with these in different  ways...

Table centrepiece...

 With flowers....

With candles on a coffee table....

Without candles, but added jewels....

On mirrored side tables, with candles....

On a Christmas decorated mantle...

The entire mantle...

In a Christmas Tree.....

Just being beautiful in a hutch....


SERIOUSLY....where can't these go?!















AND...for the grand finale...The Crystals....

We painted our antlers, pearled them AND then added the crushed glass crystals..... OH-MA-GAWD the excitement is killing me.....

 We mounted the antlers to a Fossil Painted cupboard door, added the flowers and finally hung more crystals on the antlers!!!!
SERIOUSLY, I'm SO ecstatic about these creations....they are SO crazy I'm in LOVE with them!!!


Here are some emerald painted, pearled ones...these ones are mounted onto a vintage frame and again more hanging crystals on them...

Here are the two together on my studio wall!!!

BACKFLIP!!!!

These antlers will be exclusively for sale at my Christmas Open House and at Cougar Chic Decor's Christmas Open House!

What do you think??



Super Love,
Jenny
xoxoxo

THEE Most Stunning Santa Vintage Window EVER!

Happiest Holiday Everyone!

This Vintage Santa makes my heart melt every time I look at him.....he has that reaction on a lot of people!!

I have a pile of vintage windows....lets just say I'm a tad addicted...OH the character they bring, and in SO many ways!!

Did you see my post on the Angelic Vintage Windows? Breathtaking!

Here is my Magnificent Santa in some 1930-1940's windows!

take a plain 'ol window

 

This window still has the original hardware on it...Whoop Whoop!

I also made some little 8x10 canvas pictures of his handsome-ness

AND...some vintage bottle creations of him! Honestly I can't get enough of him....

Obviously I couldn't have created this without the help of my graphics guy, THANK YOU Lee!
I'm not sure I will be able to sell these magnificent creations as I'm getting quite attached!!

What do you think??

Super Love

Jenny

xoxox

Angelic Vintage Windows

My MOST FAVORITE time of the year is Christmas!! The spirit, the love, the magical decor, all of it!

Combining some vintage windows and that magical Christmas feeling=WOOHOO backflip excitement!! Actually I don't sleep for the month of December...I'm always SO excited....I used to wrap other peoples gifts for them to get rid of some of my excitement!!! True Story.

The windows came from my aunt's house in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, THANK YOU aunty and THANK YOU to my Trisha for storing them for me and my Janice for picking them up and bringing them to Calgary for me!!! The images came from my all time favorite resource for vintage images Graphics Fairy

Here are some angelic creations that will be for sale at my Ava Blake Creations Christmas Open House.

Angelic sisters...

I LOVE how this window works with all four images the same. I felt that different images may be to much.

The sweetest little angel girl EVER!!

The whole window...it's breathtaking!

Although this one isn't an angel, this goddess is SO beautiful I had to display her as well...

 

The whole window...

Here they are on my studio wall...

Honestly, these windows are so magical you could keep them up all year. I can't wait to see who the new owners will be!!

Merriest Christmas

Super Love 

Jenny

xoxo

LOVELY Vanity

Good Day Everyone!

Well who doesn't love a vintage vanity?? They are the epitome of girlishness!!

I found this one at a little store... She was a looker back in her day!

I van Gogh Fossil Painted her in cashmere, then I rolled on the van Gogh Luminous eyeshadow.....OOOOH the name right? It's like a champagne glaze. It's hard to see her shine in the pictures!

Then I added touches of Mascara black to the drawer sides and the vanity inside.

I had to add a little graphic...."you look lovely today" was so fitting!

What a great start to your day, reading that every morning!!

 This piece was different from my usual super distress....I just felt like she had to keep her simple elegance, but just a hint of an up-do!

This gal will be available at my Christmas Open House on December 5th, 2013.

THANKS for visiting!

Super Love,

Jenny

xox

Sunken Treasure Bottles....German & French

I can't tell you how excited I am about these creations!!!!!!

 ~~BACKFLIP & HAPPY JIG~~

I've always LOVED vintage bottles, I've been recreating them for about 4 years now!

In the van Gogh Fossil Paint line there is a number of AH-MAZING Furniture Make-up products....one being this Ancient Crackle!

I've had it for a while now....sitting there on the shelf waving at me.....

Until Now....Drum Roll Please......

This my darlings, is my creation of a sunken French Bottle...

I decoupaged this french script onto the bottle, I then added the van Gogh Ancient Crackle to various places on the bottle. I used the van Gogh Antiquing Glaze with the plaster for that time worn feel, and finally, I added the cameo lady and the lost key to some twine and tied it on to the bottle.

Throwing flowers and skipping down the street....isn't is WICKED??!!

Sie sprechen Deutsch?

Well? Do you speak German?

 This sunken treasure bottle was found near Germany....

Vintage German book pages decoupaged on to this one, then I repeated the same steps as above!

~HERRLICHEN~

Magnificent, I agree!!

Be inspired my lovelies...be inspired!

Super Love 

Jenny

xox

The Cat's Meow Vintage Milk Bottles

Good Day Everyone!

Over this past summer I've collected all sorts of bottles, knowing that I will create with them.

I found these vintage square milk bottles.....they sat on my counter for a month....I tried all sorts of graphics on them....grocer graphics, dairy labels, french ones etc.....none of them stuck out like I wanted them too!

UNTIL....I thought of this.....

The Cat's Meow Milk

I found this elegant cat in a tuxedo on The Graphics Fairy.

As soon as I saw the graphic, the name came to me and I knew it was going to be a perfect marriage!!!

I'm going to sell them as a 2 set in this little basket....

How cute right?!

What a fun little project!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Super Love,

Jenny

xox

Flamenco Lady & Bordeaux Painted Vintage Windows

You know I L-O-V-E Luv Luv vintage windows right?! You can see my previous posts on a ton of ways to decorate with them! They are SO character filled!! I always have a pile on hand!

Here are my most recent painted ones.

I painted these ones using van Gogh Fossil Paint!

I free handed this entire image!

 I adore the look of this flamenco lady, look at her form...so feminine and stunning!

Here is a close up of the tiny details on her dress. The pictures just don't do it justice!!

Here is the other one I did....

This graphic of from The Old Design Shop. I only used part of the image.

Isn't it gorgeous??!! Its 4 feet long, much bigger then it looks!

Here it is with a closer view!

I printed the image out on paper then traced it out and painted it in with a tiny brush!

I have a Christmas pile of windows coming soon!

Super Love,

Jenny

Prize Packs, Prize Packs YaYaYa!

Hello Hello everyone!

I haven't been posting much these days BUT I have been busy!!

I'm still settling in with the move. My new studio should be done by mid November!! Whoop Whoop!

You know when you get asked to make up some of the same 'ol same 'ol dreaded prize baskets for banquets and other events? YIPEEEE Well this is year number Three for me and my husbands Dirt Bike Club Awards Banquet. I do LUV to shop and make up the baskets!

I thought I would share what I've been doing, PLUS this also gives you ideas for when the time comes!

Here are a few of the Prize Packs I've made up...

"Shine My Bike" pack....after all this is a Dirt Bike Event!! If everyone else is like my hubby and his shining of his bike then this will be a hit! Full of everything you will need for your bike!

This " Just Add Ice Cream Kit" is perfect for all ages really! I LUV the retro porcelain candy bowls, sundae cups and the lemonade bottles!

d

Here is "Thee Most Comfy Cozy Women's Kit"...we went with the comfy relaxation theme this time....what gal doesn't love to be comfortable?

it's jam packed, a huge grey super soft huge throw blanket( it's hard to see) scarf, mitts, tea, Belgian chocolate covered chips, slippers, some mini flavoured vodkas and more Whoop Whoop!

 

 and Thee most highly anticipated kit of the night...."The MAN Kit"!!!

 FILLED with all kinds of dirt bike tools, manly snacks, nuts, hot sauce, jerky, cleaners, gloves, power outlets, man whiskey etc...How Fun Right??

 

 Ava Blake Creations donated this Divine little entrance table, key/cell phone holder...

van Gogh Fossil Paint Cashmere and Patina. On the back wall of the table is old world brown wrapping paper with handwriting on it!

An elegant graphic on top....

and more handwriting paper inside the drawer!

These are not all the prize packs but some great ideas!

I Hope you enjoyed this post!

Super Love,

Jenny

xox

Painting Pleather Leather? Oh Yes I Did!

Hello Hello Ava Blakers!

As you know, there isn't much I haven't painted with van Gogh Fossil Paint! Metal, glass, fabric, wood, brass, tin etc

I recently did 6 dining room chairs as a custom job. YES, I fossil painted them!

Here is a before picture....

New Home With My Vintage Finds...Be Inspired...

I've Moved!!!!

 I bought a house....FIRST ever house that I didn't build!

I bought it 2 weeks ago and moved in this past weekend!! Good thing I've got this moving thing down to an art.

I'm never settled in a house until it's decorated and I can relax and drink my tea in peace!

SOOOOO, here is what I've got going on so far...

My Mantle...