jenxo

the Little Book of ATC Techniques.

2012-02-14T17:58:00.000+11:00

A few years ago i organised a technique swap for an atc forum i was involved in.

everyone sent me a background technique with a description on the back and i compiled them into books and sent them on their way.

It was lots of fun and i still get my book out when i get stumped or need some inspiration....

but.........

i havent added to it.....

so thats where you come in.....

bubble and acrylic paint layers...

would you like to particpate ?

alcohol inks and tissue paper

would you like to start your own book or add to the one you already have ?

im hoping we get about 10 people and all you do is make a background for the 10 and send them to me and you'll recieve 10 different ones back....

rusty background technique.

because some people that were in original swap will want to particiapte im listing the backgrounds that we DONT want....

TIm Holtx distress ink [ done with silicone sheet and water]
Rusty technique, wet and dry using vinegar and watercolor paper.
Bleach Stamping
copperleaf pen, watercolors
alcohol inks
Tissue paper
pealr ex
acrylic paint layers
ink resist
burn organza/tulle
crackle accents [could do a crackle paint background]
painted paper towel
Embossing
Bubble print
jens oil pastel/paint/ collage
radiant rain
twinklings and salt
fused plastic
water soluble crayons and gesso
credit card tecnique

as you see there are heaps more we could add to our books or start new ones....

so if you want to be part of this, just leave a comment with the technique you want to do so that everybody knows what you are doing and then we wont have any double ups...
ill leave it open for the next two weeks and then be in contact with you with how many atc's you need make and other deets....

if you have any questions then leave a comment and ill get back to you...

Happy Australia Day everyone :)

2012-01-26T09:05:00.000+11:00

Tag Tuesday....Vintage...

2012-01-24T21:59:00.009+11:00

and the transformation of a scarf....

i had this bright idea to make lacy scarves but they didnt look very nice on, so ive been debating about what to do with them....

i decided that some cut off would make a nice tag for Tag Tuesday...and being vintage, well that was just perfect.... using lots of vintage laces from doilys, tablecloths and table cloths...

i then added the flower made from singed organza , tulle and satin using doily as a base.......
i love making these flowers :)

then luce put it around her wrist and i lost it...its now a cuff :)

lucy is not that orange in real life, really !

Think i might cut up the rest and make cuffs for the next market :)Thank Luce!!

my tag this week...

2012-01-22T20:56:00.008+11:00

i had made my tag earlier this week but the camera was flat... :( anyway this weeks Tag Tuesday was white and i knew that would be challenge, being a color person...

i virtually pulled out anything white with lots of texture, embossed vellum, muslin, the white bubbly paper off the top of chocolates, doily bits, beading, organza and torn bits of table gripper...:) the icing on the cake was when i found the frosty butterfly from the kids old jewellery...

its pretty messy , i just kept layering stuff :)

ive just gone on two weeks holidays and have started or should i say restarted charlies quilt...i made it last year for her 18th but didnt like it, i had no plan apart from the bottom and after that it got very boring and structured ! anyway last night i pulled it apart and i have a plan ;) it would be nice to have done for her 19th bday in a couple of weeks... today hasn't been great with a burn, a cut and mismatched squares lol

im liking the fabrics and the photos form her travels...i can reuse most of them but its not working for me at all...
im having lots of trouble uploading pics tonight, only one at a time, it seems to be able to handle..:(

70'S AND JETSETTING...

2012-01-18T07:20:00.006+11:00

i was invited to TWO functions on the same evening,that never happens here!! Anyway, i chose to go my friends 60th which was such a fun night, lovely food, music and lots of dancing with very sore knees the next day at work :( [it was worth it... ]

it was also quite eventful with the sparklers on croquenbush birthday cake, setting off the fire alarms, causing us all to be evacuated and two fire trucks turning up....:) luckily it was a warm night to standing on the pavement !

the other do thatt was on was my nephews and his partners celebrating their combined 35th birthdays and having 70's themed bash !

Charlie was undecided what to wear and asked me if i still had 'that' top. i said yes and could put my fingers right on it due to all the purging that has been going on here. ive kept it all these years because i have always loved the fabric and hoped to fit into it one day.....yeah yeah, one can only dream :)
anyway it fitted perfectly and has now become her favourite top. i showed it to both my girls years ago and they both hated it , funny how things change. anyway she looked gorgeous with centerpart, blue eyeshadow and denim shorts but im not allowed to show pics :(

So heres me in 1972/3, in my top !! ive just realised we are all standing right under the keep off sign lol, maybe it was thing in the background and not the tree !

my brother looks a bit perplexed !

and the cropped out daughter with danish flower necklace..

So while at the 60th, i get a text thru the night saying that the birthday party had turned into wedding !!!!!! i was really sorry i missed that as it turned into such a great family night....
Congratulations Tim and Michelle, heres to a wonderful life together !

and speaking of Charlie, we celebrated 12 months of her being home last week and im really proud of the way she has got back into life here again which i know hasnt been easy... she has just left this morning for Palmerston Nth in New Zealand for 10 days to see her friend she was on exchange with. she was so excited...i love the way she has goals and works towards them...she was planning and saving for this all year....
anyway im off to do some housework and get ready for craft and work, have a good day and stay cool , another hottie here today ..xxx

Tag Tuesday...snowsports...

2012-01-15T18:18:00.005+11:00

so hows your weekend been? ive been pretty relaxed watching the test while making backgrounds for atcs and my tag for this week.

the theme is snowsports and i was thinking of doing ice fishing as that fascinates me... im not sure why but i think its the cute little houses that appeal to me [the cold certainly doesnt and im not big fan of fishing or spending my time looking down a hole in the ice..] I was thinking they must lose some of cute little shacks if the ice suddenly melts and was googling images to find for my tag and yes, there they were trying to save them.......

Anyway then i came across this image from
The Sum Of All Crafts

i thought at first these innocent little munchkins are building a big snowball to roll off the nearest mountain , create an avalanche and swallow up the town below.....

or

maybe they are just buliding a snowman !!!

Anyway, heres my tag. i printed image onto canvas , stitched lots of layers of muslin over the top and cut out the middle and around the outside. i had hoped the circles around the outside would come out bubbly :( i added some tulle, organza and beads for the bow and it was done...im enjoying these challenges as they make do something :)

Its been nice making atcs again... i have a local exhibition in Feb [details following soon] so am getting busy.

Hope you all have a creative week....

Tag Tuesday

2012-01-10T16:03:00.003+11:00

I thought it would be fun join a challenge this year but just a little one... so i joined Tag tuesday and the theme was snow....not that its anything like snow here, a beautiful sunny day but i do love doing snow themes....

its made from fabric paper, metallic paint, loads of glitter..... the snowflakes i wanted to be transluscent so i cut up a plastic bag and glittered them. they were a bit tricky to cut out lol
a couple of vintagy buttons and some cute ribbon with sparklys on the end from a decoration and it was done ! i am sneaking in after my invite went to my junk mail.....

Turquoise swap...

2012-01-05T17:27:00.004+11:00

Turquoise is my favorite color a the the moment and I was lucky enough to participate in a Turquoise atc swap a few months ago, organised by ros.

i received these little beauties back in the mail just before Christmas...

these are mine i sent off, some asian papers inc tissue, kimono scraps and gold choccy wrappers collaged and inked with turquoise [id been wanting to try inks and bought a bottle specially for this....

i really loved the background and didn't want to cover it too much so stencilled a circle with gesso and used one of my typo birdy stamps. i softened it with some Lumiere powder.

Thank you to everyone who participated, i didn't do many swaps last year and it was really lovely to add them to my collection, thanks Ros too for organsisng it.....

so hows all your new years resolutions going.....?

im purging like you wouldnt believe.... and it feels so good !

im tackling my bedroom which has become a bit of drop off point for everything and every time i think i m getting to the end i find another bag of stuff to sort out. so far i have sent off 4 bags of material to friends, [ im a bit of a collecter of curtain fabric :( ], a big tub of books and garbo bag to the op shop, 2 bags of rubbish and another bag of papers for the recyclying. i took a pile of mags in work as well....
Im sorting all the girls keepsakes, school reports, photos etc into their own big tubs as i go too. That way when they eventually leave home they can take them with them, well thats the plan anyways....

Im determined to have a 'nice' bedroom this year and will repaint after i have done all the sorting...sooon i hope !

ringing in the new year.....

2011-12-31T16:38:00.003+11:00

I'm just popping by to say

Happy New Year

to all my lovely blog readers....

as i look back over 2011 , its been an interesting with some very lovely highlights and some not so good ones....all in all not a bad year but i hope 2012 will be way better.....

i found this journal page, i made on Jan 1. it was a part of 10 min art journalling a day , i lasted 3 days lol.

art journalling it seems, is not for me....

anyway it made me quite depressed as i have only managed to tick one thing off for the WHOLE year [probably why i stopped making new years resolutions years ago]

Anyhow, those are still my goals so i will just keep plugging away.....

Have you noticed how people have words for the year that they try to live by?

nice words like

true,compassion,refine, collaborate, authentic [liked that one patty], create etc....

well mine for 2011 ended up being ......stressed !

and for 2012?

purge....

yes purge , it has a nice ring to it doesn't it ?

i am decluttering my life of all the crapola that has built up over the years....my family is not impressed as i have started on our books and then the linen closet , oh wait it was the fabric cupboard from hell . i now have 3 shelves for linen, what a luxury.... i will make some people very happy with my purging so its win win for everybody :)

anyhow enough rambling i would like to thank you all for the wonderful inspiration, eye candy and lovely comments, but, most off all the wonderful friendships :) online and otherwise....wouldn't it be lovely to meet up some day?

i hope the New Year brings you ...

good health [always my number one cos without it you are stuffed !]

enough money to keep the wolf from the door

and

good times with family and friends....

looking forward to cocktails and vids with my family tonight.....

Happy New Year !!!!!

Joy to the world

2011-12-24T17:44:00.005+11:00

and lots and lots to you and yours tooo.......

Santas just been past on the fire truck.......:)

Merry Christmas my dear bloggy readers...... jen xoxoxoxoxox

The Market, pic overload !!!!

2011-12-18T22:41:00.006+11:00

Where has this week gone? i cant believe its been a week since the market. Jenny and i had a lovely day together and really enjoyed ourselves....its such a great venue and the crowds were steady all day....we had a great corner stall right near the back entrance.
Jenny is a whiz at displaying stuff nicely and we had fairy lights and pink baubles as well Lucys wonderful branchy tree.

Hubby made me last minute stand from a copper garden stake from Bunnings for my silk scarves, it worked perfectly....

i had trouble finding something to fit my rings and after we tramped around the shops looking for ideas, i came home and Lucy told me she had exactly what i needed. She lent me her vintage glass box and some black foam rubbery stuff which i concertinered. worked beautifully....

busy busy .....
canvases , snowmen....

and Jennys vintage tags which were absolutely gorgeous...
journals and pendants...

nearly sold out of luminaries :)

Sari Wraps, easy and fun to make using up my left over beads .....would be fun to do lacy, frayee ones too...

button angels on kaiser tree that i picked up cheap as it was damaged. it was damaged some more with the distressing....;)

Jennys wood block girls....

and my scrappy doily brooches, love the packaging,although it takes me longer to package than to make...

i turned some into head clips ,[recognise your bowl Kath ?!]

so what were the big sellers ?....luminaries, pendants,journals and my doily Christmas ornaments...
All in all, it was a great day and i like to thank my family for all their help with displays and doing all the household stuff so i could get on with it...thanks to hubby for feeding us so well on the day too :)

and Jenny, its always fun spending time with you :)

Bananas....

2011-12-08T20:27:00.001+11:00

This is what greeted me this morning when i went to have a nana on my weetbix this morning .....

made me smile :)

such a crafty household.....

Luminaries

2011-12-06T19:52:00.007+11:00

Theres a blog i love to visit and Kim makes these wonderful luminaries from tea bags..... that really appealed to me but i didnt have to time to collect tea bags and wanted to put my spin on it....after some experimenting i discovered that scraps of napkins,patterend tissue, thread and glitter sandwiched bw tissue paper work beautifully...i wish my sewing machine took metallic threads as they would been lovely stitched however i used leafing pens to go over the stitching and they gave them a nice edge. i also embellished some of them with twinklings and the lumiere powders....i am also going to experiment further with stamping and stitching........

one day....

after Christmas ;)

love the way the candles and Chrissy patterns show thru on these.......

taken in daylight.....

night time....

\
Maragrets swiss napikins with the little daisies...

Kim had a tutorial for these in a magazine and makes lots of lovely stuff too, love her journals with the loose pages and jewellery.

ill be selling these with a battery operated tea light too....now im onto pricing and packing..:( looking forward to Sunday too....

busy and healthy :)

2011-11-26T16:22:00.007+11:00

Its been a bit up and down the last few weeks with 2 trips to emergency and a misdiagnosis thanks goodness. The good news is i dont have angina [freaking out at 51!!!!] but a hernia, which i can live with...
the other good news is that it got me out of a really stressful job into one which lets me sleep at night....so all is good :)

So into production Jenny and i have gone. I've made button fairies and got some lineny ornies on the go......we are hoping to have a very Christmassy and festive stall The Square Market Sunday the 11th DEC.

and for you local girls you can print off our voucher for 10% discount. It will also be available on our pink possum and facebook page.

I've loved reading all your animal rescue comments too.....

One of the lovliest dog rescues happend at work a few years ago. we discovered a german shpeherd puupy living under the shop. we all fed it for about a week as it would come out a little bit and then run back in. finally, it was caught and faye took her home and called her jewel. she was very timid but grew into a lovely dog. when she went to the vet to have her shots they couldnt find a microchip so with faye she stayed. Then when she was bit older, she was taken into be spayed they found the micro chip using a different machine. her owners lived not far away from the store and the vet had to legally notify them. you can imagine how upset faye and her hubby were. they offered the owners money but no they wanted her. she went off to live in this house of wild kids and other big dogs.[these people were what we would call puppy farmers].
But wait..... theres a happy ending....after a few months they rang faye to collect her. she wasnt the same dog that returned home, timid and scared but she ran up the verandah and jumped in her bed, so happy to be home. Faye said she is doing much better but it was pretty obvious she had been mistreated. some people dont deserve to have their animals...or kids for that matter.

oh and Marco [Polo.....get it !!!!]the ferret has settled in really well too.

I have slowly been getting around for a big blog catch up too as we were on choke speed for nearly 2 weeks last month but never again . ive upped the gig so we can all watch and read what we want...not that there will be much of that the next two weeks :(

my old man ..the ferret whisperer...

2011-11-12T16:15:00.004+11:00

or should it be rescuer...

we went off to do the weekly groceries this morning, not very exciting and as we walked into the car park a woman says theres a ferret over by the wall....hubs dumps the trolley to me and walks up to it [ talking to it like he does his dogs !] and calmly picks him up. He is really tame and he proudly walked him back to our car offering pats to the kids [who were, lets say, were a bit aprehensive, and their dads!! ]

we had nothing to carry him home in so put him in the car. we didnt even get out of the car park and he shot under my seat between my feet giving me a helluva fright...we stopped and gave him a dog bone to keep him amused...however he stashed that and kept roaming the car....it was the longest 3 minutes home lol....

now hes happily ensconsed next to some lady ferrets after having a huge drink [poor bugger, its hot here and there was no water to be found in the car park] and something to eat.

it reminds of luc at about 10. i got this phone call one day from the rspca to say there were some ferrets that needed rescuing. unbeknown to me she had rung up and put her name down to be a ferret rescuer....4 came home the next weekend....

thats my girl [and hubby] :)

a weeny matchbox..BOO!!

2011-10-29T08:25:00.003+11:00

I made this Halloween matchbox for the Flikr Matchbox swap and swap partner Karen.. its covered with strips of calico painted black.

I made the wings from layers of tulle, organza, ostrich feathery fabric and purple lace, free motioned it and burnt it back. i had purchased some plastic skellies and had much fun cutting them up :) cut the head in half with hubbys help and the dremel. it was solid plastic, to make a drawer pull. then embellished the box with other bones...image was from an etsy seller.

i also made a tile necklace as a gifty for Karen.

I have been cutting up some bamboo place mats for while now [in the absence of finding dominoes]to paint and collage on. i gesso first then use oil crayons, a bit of stamping and an image . i wanted a bone hanging off it [i have a good supply now ;)and the beauty of these tiles is that have pre drilled holes top and bottom where they are threaded together. i even used the plastic string that came out of it. after wiring i made a paper bead colored it with oil crayons and inked the ends. glued it onto the top and then covered the whole thing with diamond glaze. i might make one for me for this monday !

not much else to report , manic at work, lots of long hours, i hate this time of year, not a good mix with Christmas, heat and curtains:(

However, Jenny and i got into the Square Handmade Market at Christmas so its full steam ahead from now on, no fluffing about :)

2011-10-14T18:57:00.007+11:00

It has been the longest week...what with school hols, our internet went onto choke speed, so now i am having the biggest blog catch up lol...ive discovered that wordpress is the quickest to load followed by typepad and you can forget about blogger, it takes forever lol....

my friend Fayze went to Paris a little while ago and brought me back the most scrumptious goodies. She is always incredibly generous and i was very spoilt....

the most beautiful trims...

now imagine this....when you are in the store you have to grab sales lady who is wandering about with measuring ruler...then take her to what you want cut , Faye reckons she was about 3 hrs waiting to get served in one place....i dont think that would catch on here, do you ?!!! id like to be a wandering sales lady, it would beat standing/sitting in one spot all day lol
mind you, we seem to spend hours waiting to get served everywhere with all the cuts in wages :(

look at these beautiful wood/metal 'J' stamps she brought back, just gorgeous....

befor she left i gave her scarf for her birthday and she said she would hang it off teh Eiffel Tower for me.....well she climbed all the way up.... the lifts were not working :(

and lookie...my scarf :]

i remember back in 85 on my 25th Birthday standing on that 3rd sq and looking up wishing we had enough money to go up....we were backpacking around Europe and were down to our last $1000.00 and knew how quick that would go, once we got back to England..... and i wasnt going home after just 6 months ....i thought we wouldve gotten back there later but it was not to be, not yet anyways.....i dont have many regrets but thats one of them....anyhow have a good week, im looking into new interent plans :)

Heathcote 2011

2011-09-21T16:14:00.009+10:00

Our Heathcote Craft weekend away is always lots of laughs and we always come home exhausted from doing nothing but eating, drinking and making stuff....

We fitted loads in including visits to ops shops [where i got the most beautiful buttons], local patchwork shop and bakery for wonderful morning and afternoon teas..

There were lots of ufos being finished, new projects being started from books, to bags,

quilts, knitting and hand sewing.

As well as that we looked after wonderfully by the new owner Toni who is quite talented herself.

On the way there we visited a bakery and trekked around the back to the loo.

now i know a loo is not probably a blog worthy topic for conversation but it had grass carpet,

a lovely old vintage mirror and and never ending supply of dunny paper.

But...have you vere seen one of these? it even came with instructions....you have to press the side handle and wash you hands straight away and the water runs in the tank for the next flush!!

cool recycling huh ! The girls must have wondered what i was doing taking so long to photograph lol...

its been really hard going back to work after such a lovely time away, im really lucky to have made such wonderful friendships and hope we have many more weekends away to come.

The colors of Australia...

2011-09-14T15:20:00.012+10:00

Ive been making this book for our altered photos class. ive recycled an old book and rebound and covered it... ive also include some eyelets so i can join in the fun with inkurable stampers this month...

the cover is collaged with all sorts of maps and leaflets i collected and painted with lots of twinklings and gesso.

i love the litle map signs peaking thru from the caravan park leaflets where we stayed....

and the way the bird prints (typo stamps) took the paint away as i was too impatient to let it dry properly.

i think it will be perfect for the photos/journalling of our trip around Australia wayyy back in 2005.

We took the girls out of school and hubby took 6 weeks of long service and we covered about 10,000 kms, gosh Australia's huge, you don't realise til you have to cover it...lol....originally i wanted to go to the great Barrier Reef before it disappears with the bleaching...

Hubby says lets go up the centre and then across to Brisbane , yes says me, happy to go anywhere.....i wish i checked out how many hours we would needed to spend in the car but it was well worth it, we saw and experienced so much.

front cover

It was wonderful family time before they grow up and flee the nest, and knowing mine they wont hang around ... oh and i didn't get to the Great Barrier Reef....

back cover...

im off to spend some girly crafty time with my craft group at Heathcote Country Lodge this weekend, cant wait , now if only i could decide what to make :(

mini break....

2011-09-01T21:44:00.006+10:00

I had a great little mini break in Melbourne last weekend with Jenny and two friends, Jennifer and Lynne who flew down from Queensland.
I love coming into Southern Cross Station with its big wave roof.....
We went to Paperific which was great, spent lots on nothing [oh we did stock up on some Tim Holtz inks and paint daubers [there were some good deals to be had...] but what was fun was seeing all these kids dressed up as their favorite Japanese anime characters...it was a big convention and they really went all out....

We tripped all over Melbourne taking pics of lots of graffiti, street art and the beautiful architecture of the buildings. This cake shop out was doing a roaring trade, you shoudlve seen the queues...i loved the inside with its loopy ceiling and huge stenciled mirror...

We also went to the Rose street artist market which had some beautiful handmade everything :) and great atmosphere.

loved this colorful character heralding the people into the market....

On our walk back to the tram we came across these lovely mosaic seats and these 3 random people just plonked them selves down and wanted pics taken, cute potato got in the act too...

We left Melbourne at 5ish , unfortunately we left poor Lynne behind minus her bag, money, mobile, her coat and her ticket !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fortunately, she had expensive jewelery she could hock [just kidding]

The V line staff were marvelous, really looked after her and put her on a train to Bendigo. She got back way before us as we got half way home and then went back to Melbourne to look for her ....visions of Jenny and me jumping off the train with a million bags and hiking it across the tracks to the other platform in the dark with just seconds to spare to catch the train back , it was a like something out of the keystone cops i tell you but all that ended well...

Art Journal covers

2011-08-11T22:13:00.002+10:00

a couple of months ago, i was lucky enough to get to work with another group of koori students, teaching something textile based. we dyed up silk scarves one week and then made a4 journal covers for their art journal. they could make their own design or copy mine.....some of them did really funky lettering and went to town with the stitching....

we used fabric that they had been practicing their tye dying on ...they ripped and then glue sticked to stiffened calico with some some random sewing.
i was really happy with how they turned out.......and i think they really enjoyed it...

these are my two class ones...

and heres a few photos of the students work.........

front....i showed them how to make fabric beads for the ribbon .....

back....

small a3 cover wip, believe it or not this was black dye but it came out this beautiful indigo color. i intend to free motion over it when i can find my foot :(
this was done with rubber bands....

and this with pebbles....

Pretty Things .....

2011-08-08T19:39:00.003+10:00

Well we did have a scrumptious backgrounds class planned but people seem to like to make something and complete it in a day soooo we changed it up a bit....

still lots of messy arty stuff but also a pretty canvas thats achievable in a day...

all the deets here .....as well as Jenny's lovely turquiose and ornage canvas.....

and one of the best bits of our class is Jenny's Jelly slice...nom nom...

time to play...

2011-07-24T18:22:00.003+10:00

art journal page....

its been ages since i got all my favorite arty products out and just messed around...here i was playing with putting all different greens on a collaged page. and for those of you who i got hooked on oil crayons then get yourself shiva paint sticks,[jenny got me hooked on these!] they are so creamy and easy to use, no more blisters for me:)

these backgrounds will part of the next class we will teaching locally in the coming months, more to be on pink possom blog later on....

i am trying to be good and reply to comments and if i havemt replied its because you have 'no reply' blogger in your settings...

Not much other news in thislitle corner of the world however i was shocked to hear about the gunman in Norway and all his poor victims. What goes thru some people heads ?

oh and oi oi oi Cadell...:)

*edited* i meant to add that i was realy inspired by the cover of the cps mag for the skirt spots....i had doodled ovewr the skirt and smudged it all so then i painted it in. I was wanting something funky but after much deliberation walked away from it to tackle another day... sitting on the coffee table was the cps with that beautiful dress on the cover....i hope i havent flouted any copyright laws...

a visitor all the way from the states....

2011-07-20T22:14:00.004+10:00

Look who's arrived in Australia. Cute Potato arrived after a very long flight in one of the busiest times of the year for me....

After a long rest she has been enjoying the winter sunshine and frosts in the morning....

She came to craft with me and had cuddles with the girls,

it was such a lovely sunny winters day she stopped and sat in the sun with Merry's pottery chook...

then enough resting, she wanted a play on the old tractor ....

finally she crashed this afternoon and had a snooze on the dog couch with Luey...

It's unreal to think to think she has traveled to so many countries and seen so many things......it wont be long before i send her on her way however we still have a few things to do yet...:)

you can read about how her journey came about here....

2011-06-28T20:04:00.005+10:00

WOW!!!What a great atc swap...first of all i recieved my fantastic atcs for the Black, white and orange swap hosted by Sarah from Inkurable Stampers.

Each and every one of them is wonderful, thank you to all the participants , im rapt to have them in my collection....

first one by laury55, words of love by fiona schultz and delish by kim price.

then hot hot hot by me , because by karen daly, im late by carol lee and party time by vicky fernando.

then chic by shirley henry and hello from sarah....

Thanks Sarah for putting this together, it was lots of fun......

happy faces....

2011-06-19T15:56:00.010+10:00

i finished my Thursday teaching up for one class last week....the smiley faces say it all....
i had a great time with my class and was lucky enough to recieve some flowers and a card from them.... so nice to feel appeciated and it was so much fun.....
we used insulating tape to mask off the colors we wanted to keep,we went thru hundreds of rolls but it works really well. the tied up tees look like funny creatures...

helloo.....im still here....

2011-06-13T17:20:00.006+10:00

just.... but i am.....what a busy and stressful couple of months. Stocktake is officially over and i am reclaiming my life back....first on the agenda is looking for a new job :]

weve had a few health issues too but things are on the up there too but it did make me take a restock of things and one of those is to get some more balance in my life...

ive had a little casual job too teaching on my day off over the past 7 weeks.... tie dying Tshirts and calico bags to celebrate Naidoc week.
i took these home to rinse , pretty good HUH?! the students are very happy and proud of themselves....hubby is going to screenprint a logo of the centre of the circle....

ive really enjoyed the teaching and am off to Echuca for 3 weeks of more dye stained hands only this time we be playing with silk scarves and art journal covers..

the Square Market has crept aound very quickly and ive just updated the pink possum blog so go check out my doily madness.... doily brooches..

and a pic of some atcs i made at Bacchus Marsh for lynne who has recieved them....i havent made an atc for nealy 12 months. now thats sad :(

Easter and Anzac Day...

2011-04-25T18:16:00.004+10:00

i hope everyone has had a lovely Easter and not indulged too much....its back on track for me tomorrow..... too many hot cross buns and choccies and my jeans were a bit tight today....:(

It is Anzac Day today and each year the crowds get bigger not just here but around the world in France and Gallipoli. My friend Merry exhibited this quilt at the quilters Easter exhibition using all her families photos and information....the photos were kindly taken on charlies iphone as i forgot the camera ...again ! and the qualities not that good, i wish i couldve gotten really good closeups to see the lovely details...like the stuffed frames and needle felted Gallipoli and poppies...she hand painted in the pyramids and threw the whole thing together in a couple of weeks :]

Jenny and i had a little exhibition at the Bendigo Textile Artists next door and received lots of favourable comments which was encouraging.....we were the ladies with white gloves who tried to look knowledgeable [how did they make this or whats this? hows this been knitted?] having been to only one meeting i was a bit in the dark but used technical terms like water soluble plastic to fluff my way through it..;)

There are lots of talented ladies in both the quilters and textile group and was lovely to see it all on display.

i made these this little collages, 5x7 using the last of tissue paper pattern scraps. i couldn't find any flowers so made them by wiping calico over a tim holtz ink pad and then rinsing them to spread the ink. The stems i wrapped in masking and swiped them with another ink pad.i stamped some of the srips to use as base... i love it when you don't have something and have to make something from nothing :)

lots to share...

2011-04-16T19:10:00.007+10:00

i spent a most enjoyable afternoon painting pages for Caroles journal class...I've never stained with colored teas before and had some raspberry/peach on hand to color my pages...i let 3 tea bags really stew and it was a wonderful rich color....the bags were splitting by the end and let bits of leaves settle on the pages...they left lovely purply marks ,Lhs page below:) and it smelt so good too...

i did washes of twinklings, walnut ink and plain tea too....
lots of splatters....and dribbles...

and salt too.....

bubble wrap pushed onto wet watercolors.....

i couldn't work out where the lines were coming from as i was finger painting....

turns out the big blister [from rubbing oil pastels into canvases]had scabbed over :) i liked the lines....

raspberry tea, twinklings and walnut ink...pretty colors ....and more purple tea spots...

only two colors here used, walnut ink and raspberry tea...the pink is soo strong that i dyed little lace scraps and paper flowers with the left over tea....

now there is no cutting with scissors in a Carole's class and i have a confession to make...i ripped my pages a bit big....and cos i couldn't rip a small bit off...i ended up cutting them with the paper trimmer...smack !.... but i used my paper rougher upper to get rid of the cut edges, i think they look great and cant wait to get started in the next bit.... I'm making two journals, an Asian, oriental inspired one which the brighter pages are for and a softer one. I was really stumped about what to do with the second one but during the afternoon painting i had a phone call from young friend telling me that his brother had committed suicide......he was only 25.....its been a sad week and made me feel grateful for what we do have......

so my journal theme will be Grateful....

craft weekend away....

2011-04-13T22:40:00.009+10:00

I had a fun weekend away last weekend with some of my craft girls and the local patchworers... We went to Bacchus Marsh and visited op shops, a really great paper shop with loads of interesting products and beautiful papers and stamps. Lots of good food, great company and laughs .....and we got some things made too...mine are all unfinished of course :) Thanks to jenny for the pics as i forgot my camera....

this lady free motioned this quilt all weekend and finished it just before we left , such good timing... its a spectacular quilt...

huge thank you superpost :)

2011-04-03T16:05:00.012+10:00

i just wanted to say thank you for all your kind comments on our market stall...i have been on a high all week but oh so tired....but that good kind of tired :)
This is a HUGE catch up post to also say thank you for all the goodies that have arrived recently that I've not had time to photograph or at least post about...

OWOH 2011 This was one of my lovely prizes from Lisa, a gorgeous clay brooch with a lovely pearly glaze. Lisa sent it with newspaper cutting of an interview she had done at Christmas time so it was nice to get to know her a bit better...thank you Lisa i love it !

I've heard that all 3 of my journals made it to their new homes , so that's good too :)

Shrine swap.... with Les... les sent me one of her shrines, I've still to make mine and send it, i was hoping to get it done today but am actually enjoying having a kitchen table we can eat off ;) She sent loads of stuff, which i packed away...sorry.... (( but check out her shrine, i love it.

it sits above the computer so i can stare at it adoringly :)) aren't the little shrinky dink butterflies just gorgeous....and I'm going to get some of that TH tissue tape too...

Matchbox swap on Flikr... I joined in the Romance matchbox swap and this is the one i sent to
JoAnne I made a dingle dangly charm and added a few other lovey dovey things ;) My Matchbox then came from Kath who also sent me a truckload of stuff....first of all her mb came in a surprise tin... and then inside......the cutest lil mb.... and inside that.... ....she sent another surprise one as well[ i love surprises!] another little mb filled with lots of gorgeous brads... As well as that ..i had won a prize on her blog , one of her hand painted snowman bowls along with some stamps and cards......sweet huh? will be nice to have out for Christmas.... i love it when people make things from tutes i have done and Kath sent a gorgeous little Valentines pocket with lots of little metal hearts inside ...thank you....i seemed to be unpacking for ever :)

Pay it forward......
last week i received some beautiful goodies from Jan from the PIF she had on her blog.[i still need to do mine!] gosh that girl knows how to stuff a matchbox , i can never get it all back in to photograph properly lol i bet her kids had the best stuffed santa sacks .....:) i couldve stood the little ballerina up so you werent peeking up her dress:) love how she has made the knob too.... i love the sewing theme with its pretty laces, dress patterns, mannequins and all the wonderful bits and pieces she included, it will be great to use....

and then theres Carole :)
I won one of her blog prizes.... this sweet little birdie tape and some chocolate fish....
>
unfortunately i ate all the chocolate fish which i havent ever seen out here [ they are choc coated marshmallow shaped fish.]

Now no one ever throws out empty packets in this household, they get shoved back in the cupboard so you think you have stuff and you dont. i thought since i ate all the fish i could photograph the packet and left it in the pantry for safe keeping :] and wouldnt you know it..... it has been thrown out ..oh well...

they tasted good !

Im also doing Caroles Journal class, i was really envious of all the beautiful books that came out of her last class but cant decide what theme to do...im leaning towards asian as i have alot of stuff but then i guess i could do two different ones if i get productive lol I really love her combinations of paper fabric, embroidery and free motion so it should be fun....

Thanks again to all my lovely swappers and givers, it's been lovely to get all this wonderful mail:)))

what a great world bloglandia is :))

now i need to learn how to link pictures to blogs, that is a really cool feature.....

2 pink possums....

2011-03-26T18:05:00.012+11:00

well not pink but two aussie girls [not really girls anymore either but.....!!]

we had a fantastic day, had some good sales , some great feedback and prospective students signed up to classes.....

the town hall is a beautiful old building and we had really good crowds through. I don't think it was as busy as the first one which was pre Christmas but it was still great.

its the first time I've done a stall with my stuff and i was bit hesitant making it to sell but once i got going it was fine....i couldve sold heaps and heaps of pendants, they were a trial and error but now i have them worked out i will do more...

i had a disaster with the fridge magnets. I discovered at midnight i had glued them on all backwards[not juts one but all of them!] and they wouldn't stick to the fridge....who knew they had a right and wrong side , not me obviously !!lol
luckily hubby and luce helped me out and i got to bed at 1....
It was so nice to spend the day with Jenny and i have to say a BIG thank you to her for all her organising and running around for displays etc.... the bi fold stand she picked up was perfect for our canvases....

we didn't sell one canvas which was disappointing but anyway we have stock now for the Easter market...

and Ive just realised Ive had my top on inside out all day...lol luckily its one with the some seams meant to be outside anyways .....

off to market...

2011-03-25T23:01:00.002+11:00

i havent been around much lately as i have been busy makng for our market tomorrow...

jenny and i had great day on Wednesday and got our table dipslays organised, price tickets made and all those little things that need to be done......its was lots of fun but i left her house in the biggest mess...every room we had been in had stuff everywhere...mine looks like a bomb has hit !

its so hard to price everything but i think we have great range of things....it will look really bright and colorful.

jens been a good little blogger and posted pics of some of the things she has made....

wish us luck :)

2011-03-05T19:22:00.007+11:00

Things must be bad when your daughter tells you she is disappointed because you haven't blogged about her leaving home ! i blogged all year about Charlie apparently.... i told her that I haven't blogged about Charlies 18th either or the fact that she hasn't received her quilt for her birthday yet so she was doing OK......:)

anyway two weeks ago Luce left home to go to college where she gets learn about all things equine. its a beautiful campus stuck out in the sticks and a working horse stud. she has settled in beautifully and is the most animated and happy i have seen her for ages.... she has been home both weekends but that will stop when her horse goes down next semester. its about 7hrs and two trains, too much .....
i think she has done so much growing up in the last two weeks ,

her room......we didnt have much time to get it all set up....

yes her tedda went down , looking the bit worse for wear!

nice campus huh?

OWOH winners...
i sent my journals off a good week ago so they should be getting close to you by now.....

I have also been making more journals thanks to Doreen for sending me some pattern paper [havent taken pics yet] and i have been making decoupaged bangles using paper napkins. I gessoed around the inside and then smudged oil crayons.

its all go here i tell you !!!!

OWOH WINNERS !!!!

2011-02-17T21:14:00.006+11:00

wooohooo congratulations Ladies....

and the first one out of one of my favorite bowls was

1 MICKI WILDE

followed by

2 QUE BELLA

and

3 BARBARA

Ive emailed all my winners and will get them off as soon as i hear from you .....

I want to say thank you to everyone who came and left such lovely comments. I was absolutely blown away but all of you !!! i would have a smile on my face everyday i logged on and read them.... i really do appreciate all my comments from any of my posts.

This whole event has been fantastic, i found some really wonderful blogs and bloggers and while i didn't get round to visiting everybody , i really tried :(

we had a little hiccup a few days into owoh. with an extra bod home we went onto 9 days of choke speed. blogs took forever to download and photos...well ...we wont go there....it was the longest 9 days lol and it couldn't have come at a worse time :(

My intention was to get around to all my commenter's and i did about two thirds of them so i will catch up with the rest in the coming weeks....

Thank you to Charlie for cutting and scrunching :)

Congratulations again and i hope you enjoy them...

ONE WORLD ONE HEART......:)

2011-01-30T10:23:00.012+11:00

So its that time again .......... ONE WORLD ONE HEART 2011

What a fantastic event, i had so much fun last year visiting tons of blogs and meeting new people.

It was also sooooo exciting checking in each day and seeing how many bloggers had visited me :)

So what is OWOH 2011? [you can click the link above for more information]

Well its a coming together of the blog community run by Lisa Swifka from a whimsical bohemian., a chance to meet new bloggers and make new friends.
All the blogs are hosting a giveaway or door prize and it runs from the 30th Jan until 14th February....so keep checking in as new blogs are added daily.....
This years is the last event having run for 5 years, I can only imagine what a ton of work this is to organise so THANK YOU Lisa for all your wonderful effort :)

So i welcome you to my little corner of bloggyland in Australia :)
I like making mixed media in my spare time which is not as often as i like as i work part time...insert nearly full time :(
I love to get my hands dirty with glue and paint... but also love getting the sewing machine out and playing around. I'm into bright colors, layers and lots of texture and will have a go at any technique, sometimes with success, sometimes not! i love to share and often have tutorials, something im hoping to do more of this year.
My family are arty crafty so there is usually something messy going on in our teeny house !

I have 3 door prizes this year to give you more of a chance to win :)

3 A5 covered art journals.

They have blank pages with painted and sewn pattern tissue paper covers from Roben-Maries wonderful tutorial.

I really enjoyed making these and have so many ideas for making heaps more, just need to get some more old paper patterns...

I'm opening my blog prize to bloggers and non bloggers as i often receive comments from people who don't have blogs. They contribute to the blogging community too, so you are very welcome here :)

I will anounce three winners on the 18th February my time and winners one and two get to choose...:)

So i look forward to meeting you and i'll also try really hard to get around to visit your blogs as well as the the other owoh participants.....

have a good OWOH :))) oh and spread the word.....

some collages....

2011-01-29T18:33:00.008+11:00

just thought i would show these collages i did before Christmas. im thinking of making some of these to sell IF we get into the market in March.
ive used my vintage prayer book papers and japanese kimonos ....the flowers and stems i bought from blue bazaar, I didnt frame them but mounted them straight onto mattboard ready for framing...
the image on the bluey one i printed onto organza which is a look i really like...Thanks to Margaret too for the lovely brown bamboo paper...

I go to back to work on Monday ...sigh......had a great holiday , not that it was holiday more of break from work :) it feels good to have had a good clean out, catch up on things and spend some time with Charlie who seems to be settling in well (shes not been home much lol ;)
The floods are still travelling through towns around about and another 20cms of rain is expected this week , thats after the 40c day predicted tomorrow.... hope its cooler when i go back to work....

how to turn this.....

2011-01-23T18:02:00.005+11:00

into this.......

in 3 easy steps....hahah noooooo just joking !!

Do you now how expensive custom made pelmets are? Well, working in the industry i do and wanted to make something to cover the roller on Charlies blind before she came home. We had pulled down her fairy Austrian before when we painted and the blind was looking a bit bare.

So my brother gifted us a tele at Christmas[what a wonderful brother!! the sound was about 5Min's behind the picture, it made for some funny tv viewing]

The box was sturdy and strong and cheap and because nothing is screwed into it, it didn't need to be wood.
My old boss where i used to work making swags and tails and pelmets would have a fit ;)
So i cut box and taped and glued ends in.....

Coverered with batting, I had left over warm and natural so used two layers.

Cut material 2.5 times width and 10cm to depth for something to hold onto.

Joined and gatherered along long ends, gathering up to fit pelmet.

Starting at middle, hot glue [and be careful, I've never had so many burns !] the top edge on roof of pelmet about 4 cm over. Glue all around making sure to pleat corners.

I also worked on the back of the couch to rest it on and it was the ideal height for me and so light, not like wooden pelmets.

Now to do bottom edge,hot glue pulling firmly, making sure pleats are kept straight, keep checking to make sure you havent gone skew whiff!

To tidy up , cut off excess material and put masking tape on top about 2 cm back. as her beds underneath i lined the inside with old scrapbook paper...

I then poked holes in the top where the brackets were and tied it on to the L brackets...

and the cost, 20.00 for fabric , 5 glue sticks and some masking tape, not bad eh???

and because it looks so good heres another pic, it picks up her dark purple wall beautifully...

Home....

2011-01-22T21:04:00.006+11:00

It's hard to believe its a week since we picked up Charlie at the airport. It didn't feel like 12 months at all since we had seen her but it was so nice to have hugs again. She made us stop the car on as soon as we got out of the airport so she could see the southern cross. All week there had been no stars due to the wet weather but they were shining brightly that night.....

She has been a bit sad [well miserable , really :( ] at leaving Denmark, her wonderful host families and friends but is slowly settling in each day.

She hates this hot weather [what Hot? its under 30c , not that hot at all] lol

She's missing the snow.....

We wondered whether her dog Luey would remember her.......well as soon as she walked in the door, Luey went ballistic, jumping all over her and hasn't left her alone much at all this week :]

That blazer was covered in pins from all over the world, what a memento....

I'd forgotten how messy she is.....:)

It's been the trip of a lifetime for her thanks to the Rotary club here and also in Korsor and her wonderful host families who gave her so much more than just a roof over her head. I've really enjoyed getting to know some of her host mums too...

I'm sure that she will be over to visit again as soon as she can but for now its all the boring mundane stuff like dentists, hairdressers and getting organised for school in a week...

flood pics around Victoria...

2011-01-15T12:23:00.004+11:00

This is just unbelievable, 30 % of Victoria now under flood but no lives lost thank goodness... these are all small towns around us , thinking of friends and family in some of these towns......keep safe.

Apart from small localised areas in town from the creeks and low lying areas we are not under any threat but its just heartbreaking to see all these communities who have struggled through years of drought to now cop this....

She's on her way....

2011-01-15T09:38:00.003+11:00

yes she is, it feels a bit surreal...

Look at that blazer, she wanted one totally covered...

thanks Hanne for the pics.

FLOODS....

Several towns in Victoria, not a half hr away from us have been evacuated due to the flooding. And Tasmania too. We are safe but all this rain has to go somewhere, thanks goodness for some sunshine today :)

i am so proud of this country and its people and the way they all pull together in times of crisis.

2011-01-13T17:28:00.008+11:00

I started my holidays last Friday, 3 whole weeks off work. Lots of things planned and one was to have big cleanup this week and do all those jobs I've been putting off all year (. i have been doing some cleaning but a lot of the time i have been watching the devastation unfolding in Queensland. The images from tv have been frightening, unsettling and extremely depressing. Its just mammoth but what has been wonderful is the way people pull together in the times of adversity. ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Creative Journey has also gotten together with some very talented mixed media artists and is having an auction [open to international peeps too]. You will need a paddle to bid
so go grab one :)

while i have been cleaning i was thinking, if i was a flood victim how would i clean all that muck out of my home? i have had access to water, electricity, cleaning supplies, a local tip, op shop to dispose of stuff. the ramifications are ginormous....
My heart goes out to not only the flood victims but also to all the people[particularly the SES]who are working tirelessly to make sure no more lives are lost and trying to minimise the rest of the destruction.

Has anyone heard whether they were able to rescue those two horses whose heads were resting on the roof?

.....................................................................................

The mail has finally reached its destinations so i can show you these. A Christmas pressie i shouted myself was the Cloth Paper Scissors gift magazine. This project for the atc holders was perfect for some swapping friends.

This one is made from the recycled envelopes, unfortunately i just followed the directions and didn't measure my covers. Our bill envelops must be bigger than the us ones LOL...so new covers had to be made...i used twinklings and some stamps....

the other one i made from the Kaisercraft Christmas paper book, all the guesswork of mixing and matching done for you :)

I had no beads to match so paionted some with sparkly nail polish...

i love the way they fan out and so easy to do too...

Things are gearing up here for the imminent arrival:) She has been complaining of having wet feet. Its just as bad here , it has been raining non stop all week, hopefully some sunshine next week....

9 days....

2011-01-06T20:20:00.006+11:00

but who's counting , im not allowed to.... ssshhh:)

I've been trying to finish up my atcs for inkurable stampers year long challenge...
this one is for Zodiac, made from Roben-Maries wonderful tute...its made from dress tissue paper stitched, then painted with gesso and twinkling h2o's, its quite tough too....i couldnt find the right sized pic of a crab so i drew one instead and painted it with ws crayons, i was really happy how it turned out...
cancer is the ruler of the 4th house ! i think i am a true crab, i just like being home pottering around....

all about me
this was hard to think what to do soooooo.... color, texture, stitching reuse, recycle with fabric scrap and acetate, sums me up pretty well:)

talking about that tute i made a little parcel for wrapping a pressie for jenny in . i used scraps of lace to make 'pom pommy' thing on top ...

i love the way the stitching picks up the paint...

it made a beautiful parcel....

one of the lovliest gifts i recieved for Christmas was from Jenny and
made by susie la fond.
i just had to show it....
its just beautiful and i have spent lots of time thumbing though it checking out all its little nooks and crannies, it came with lovely little extras too...we both love susies work and i was so thrilled to recieve it...

What difference the sun makes to your photos, it had been so wet and drab here that its been hard to get decent photos. However i guess thats just nothing compared to the poor Queenslanders whose state is underwater, the news reports are just dreadful.Its hard to believe that just over a week ago they were sitting down to Christmas dinner and now their being evacuted. All the crocodiles and snakes in the water is a bit scary too.... you can donate here

and so that was Christmas...

2010-12-29T15:27:00.013+11:00

I hope everyone had a good one and Santa was good to you....

I worked Boxing Day but its been so lovely have time off since.

Thought id better show a pic of Lucy's darling Christmas tree with some special ornaments making their way onto it, all red and white this year...we went minimal and au natural this year.....i love it especially when the sunlights streaming thru the window and the aircons on so all the decorations are twinkling and moving about.

it has developed a bit of lean lol

I dropped off the blog radar well before the big day as i was busy making more pockets. I wont bore you with them all but will show you some of the pretty details....

i love the big flower on this one , ill share how i did this later , i want to do some more experimenting.

I sent off a heap of parcels two weeks before Christmas but they were delayed with the snow and are just filtering through now. Sorry peeps....hope they wont be much longer.

On Monday i made some atc's for the first time in ages, it was lovely to sit down and play catch up, only about 5 to go now for Inkurable Stampers lol
Spooky

Music

They aren't quite as dark in real life...

This one i made so i could practice painting faces, this is very new to me but i do love painting these little whimsies...takes me forever i might add and so much harder to do at atc size.
Mythical Creatures

And the only new years resolution i am making is to catch up my challenges that i started this year. Other than that, i hope you all have a Happy New Years.

Here's to your good health and happiness and stay safe on the roads.........

Easy Peasy Christmas ....Recycled Mini Phone Book Wreaths.

2010-12-15T21:49:00.005+11:00

These are reallly fun and esy to make and would be good one for the kids.
I followed this tutorial and went a step further by adding some beads and sequinds with dimenssional magic. I liked the ones that werent scrunched up as much.

and heres a larger one....
so make sure you keep that old phone book next year.....

one month today!!!!

2010-12-15T14:13:00.005+11:00

and she comes home, what an amazing year she has had thanks to her wonderful host families and new friends she has made...

Here she is cutting her first real tree with her host sister and what i hope will be her first white Christmas.....

She travelled around Europe on euro tour for 3 weeks and then by herself to Ireland to visit our lovely cousins just recently.

and look a snowpaul...[ thanks ciaran] spitting image of her dad! cracked us up!!!

and look at all the stuff to come home including Tedda!

what a year !!!!

Easy Peasy Christmas......Baubleliscious

2010-12-12T08:25:00.010+11:00

Hello I'm back again , today i have a wonderful post to share with you...

Baubleliscious doily baubles, i just love these.....

I had bought some clear baubles from Spotlight last year and had been playing around with ideas for them. They had been painted with alcohol inks and covered in paints and glitter but nothing really worked and then while i was playing around with the lacy cards, i realised how lovely the doily circles would work.

you need

clear baubles or........you could just decorate the outside of bought ones... and not fill them if they are colored.
doily circles cut from table runner or old tablecloth
or cut lace circles from fabric.

gel medium

now if you want colored ones...

paint...watercolor [twinkling's work]
metallic acrylic [works beautifully]
or mix some polished pigments with some gel medium

glitter, mica
buttons, beads and bits and bobs to fill them

ribbon for hanger.....

not many ingredients , just what i like!

remove silver part from bauble....this is what Margaret guessed... i broke one cleaning it , have broken a couple actually :( so don't press too hard

Take your circle and cut the tiny centre out of it.
It will stretch so don't cut too big.

if you are using it for the bottom of your bauble dont cut leave it whole.

The paints good as it helps seal the cut edges.

If you want to paint , do it now. I brushed on different colors, the limy green came out a nice goldy color.

Leave some of the natural color too...

When its dry brush some gel medium on back and place over top and press around gently , moulding it over bauble. Alternately press it on bottom making sure its centered, this was probably hardest bit...

Clean up excess gel on bauble.

Fill bauble with your treasures, i added anything sparkly, also old hooks and eyes and press studs, till about a third of the way and higher for the bottom lacy ones. I used all my small white and cream buttons and had to buy a pack (

Glue cap back on with gel medium and thread a hanger thru....

I bought my white glitter tree and silver birds for big w ...wish i could've more of these little clip on glitter birds...

Easy Peasy ..... lots of pics cos i think they are beautiful....xxx

p.s. must get hubby to clean verandah roof LOL! its shown up in the reflection!

Easy Peasy Christmas......Lacy Cards

2010-12-09T19:25:00.006+11:00

If you are wondering wher i went too...... I have had a little enforced rest from the computer it appears that vodka and the keyboard don't mix :)not mine i might add...

Anyway heres another very easy card so grab out lacy scraps. I've used parts of crochet doily's, a lace edge hankie but you could also lace by the meter that can be cut into separate bits.

you need
blank card
paper, 2 different sorts.
lacy bits
a sewing machine[or pen], double sided sticky or glue stick and gel medium for the lace.
Pencil

Cut your first paper a bit smaller all around than your card, then cut your second slightly smaller. I usually work out what I'm doing with my lace before i cut the second one so its a bit smaller than my shape.

Distress edges and ink.

Stitch top layer to bigger piece. Do all the stitching on this before attaching it to the card.

Now play around with different shapes. If you have some daisy lace then cut it up separately and lay in tree shape. Find a bigger piece for the base...cut it to a rough pot shape if it doesn't fit. The bigger doily's make lovely ornaments with a bit of stitching. If you don't stitch use a pen for the same effect.
Mark the lines lightly for the ornamnets and stitch up and down. Remember to use a large stitch.

I shouldve used black cotton but was too lazy to swap it over...

Glue on your lace.
Stick the whole lot to your card.

Remember the blue card i stuffed up , well i turned it into a tag, the crochet bits came off the edge and were only half circles.

There you go ....easy peasy!!
The lovely papers came from Kaiser, they are such good value these little books of lovely papers.

Stay tuned for my next tute .....doily baubles, they are beeeautiful [if i do say so myself!!!] and Spotlight has them at half price at the moment . I went to buy some more today but they had all gone :(

seems the girls at work liked them too...

and heres a little laugh for you, it certainly made me cackle...thanks Charlie..

Easy Peasy Christmas .......Simple Funky Card 2...

2010-12-04T17:33:00.009+11:00

I love making cards and try to have some spare ones on hand. These are quick and easy to make and if you collect some cheap embellishments at the after Christmas sales you will have a head start on next year.

I've been making these cards for a while now and its one of my favorites techniques to do although it can be messy.

you will need...

white card
oil pastels, metallic is good too, they are really creamy.
fixative or hairspray will do.
embellishments

optional
sewing machine [black thread looks good]
paint or gesso
sequin waste

Start by roughly scribbling a combination of 3 colors on your card.
use your fingers to smudge it out, i do the lighter colors first, don't over mix or will become muddy. Try combinations you wouldn't normally put together...
Smudge out the edges for a softer look too.

This one was done on shiny card and it smudged out more , i even did swirls in it. The others are on matt.
The above one has a rubon which took a lot of pressing to get to work, I don't think it liked the pastels.

Spray with fixative and watch how it it becomes more translucent.

Stitch around inside the rectangle, doesn't have to be perfect, but use a large stitch 3- 3.5.

With your sequin waste stencil a drift in paint or press the crayons in really hard for some lumpy bumpy :)

spray with fixative if you use the crayon. Be warned, this is messy , you will get little bits all over card , blow them off, don't try and wipe, I made a mess of the blue one and turned it into a tag:)

now add your embellishment and a sentiment if you wish....

you can some others ones ive made here and here......

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm glad you all liked the pockets, i loved reading your comments and hope to see some soon......

Easy Peasy Christmas... Scrappy Pockets

2010-12-02T19:22:00.001+11:00

ok here it is as promised....

These little pockets are so cute and the best thing is that you can use up all your embellies, scraps of lace, ribbon, old stickers...... anything really :) and if its not the right color paint it or cover it in glitter.
After all its Christmas and you cant have too much bling :)

You need a cutter, glue, gel medium, scissors, hole punch, sewing machine and cotton, masking tape.

music sheet or book pages. If your music sheet is fragile then back it with some more paper. Otherwise you could stamp watercolor paper instead.

Free images, [a lot of mine came from The sum of All Crafts] gessoe or white paint, ink pads and sponge daubers,

chenille sticks , glitter is good :)

optional....Lots of BLING, lacy scaps, old doilys...crochet ones are great, stickers, pattern tissue paper, buttons, beads sequins, anything and everything, just get it all out!!

kindy glitz, stickles, glitter , mica

Cut your paper into rectangles, mine were all different sizes about 7.5cms/3" X 4"/10cm.If you make them too narrow then its hard to fit fat chocolates in them :(

Allow to fold top over about 1.5cm or 1/2 " or stick another piece of paper behind it and glue down.

cut out your images,ink around edge.

Place on pocket , dont glue yet. Using gesso and fairly dry brush, brush it around roughly image. Smear a few parts elsewhere too. You dont want too much to cover paper but enough to make your image and ink image stand out.

stick image down and ink around around all edges and around image in parts, I used to two colors sometimes too....lighter one first.

Glitter up image :)
When its dry cut a piece of felt about a 1cm bigger all around. Stitch around edges [wrong sides tog] leaving top open. Use a large stitch, small stitches rip the paper. Trim felt so its just showing.

Punch two holes in top a good 1/4" down and across. Dont go to close or it will rip ((

Poke both ends of chenille stick thru holes an then twist up around hanger. You could add beads before you twist it up if you wanted.

now the fun part!!

Embellishing !

POCKET SKIRT....
ideas for skirt, doilys cut in half painted and glittered,edges from lace hankies and doilys
muslin and tulle painted too....

lace [allow 2 to 3 times your width. If you tie the ends together you get a half circle shape which is nice.

tissue paper folded in half and concertinered,

i glued most of mine to the back and dont worry about the mess we will tidy that up later.

now add more layers over the top , scrap bits of lace, braid, flowers ...

add some bling to the rest of the pocket and maybe some text ...

cut some masking tape and glue to back of pocket to tidy up, you can write a message on this too....

fill with choccies, coins and candy canes and watch your loved ones faces light up when they recieved it.

my craft girls loved them and what i thought was special was giving my real life friends something made from all the bits and pieces from my online friends...
If you make some i would love to see.....

Easy Peasy Christmas and a WINNER!!!!

2010-12-01T16:10:00.003+11:00

Yes, we have Winner,

Congratulations Margaret........

who said.....
"Love your pocket!! fab idea! I'm guessing xmas balls, the metal bit off the top which you hang it from, give it a good bash with the hammer and you get ta da!! a snowflake?? erm.. no?? well it might work??"

you guessed it exactly....i didnt need to bash it though! I did break the clear glass bauble shaking the buttons around....

your pocket will be winging it wasy to you shortly complete with Darrell Lea choccies!

Thank you all for kind comments and guesses too, my hubby said no one would guess it , clever miss mx!

an Easy Peasy Christmas....

This month i will making some projects that are not only simple and quick to make but also cheap and using recyclable items.....I had thought of doing 12 days kind of thing but you know work gets in the way of crafting :(

Anyway first one starts on 1st Dec :))

Easy Peasy Christmas..... Scrappy Christmas Cards.

2010-12-01T07:00:00.002+11:00

Welcome to my Easy Peasy Christmas...... simple, cheap and quick to make....and recycled where possible too...

I made these cards for a make and take for Christmas night at work. They are very simple to make and best thing is they are great to use up all your scrappy bits of paper.....

you will need.....

cutter, glue stick, mounting tape, ink pad, sponge dabber

blank cards

scraps of paper [doesn't have to be Christmassy], music sheet and book pages. Some of my papers came from Kaisercraft, they have a beautiful range Christmas papers.

embellies...can be offcuts from old Christmas cards, stickers, Christmas decorations. The white metal trees had clips on the back which i pulled off. On the top card i sponged it with with 2 different inks to change the color and sprayed with fixative.

text...again you could use the sayings off last years cards and ink around them.

Cut your papers into 2.5cm or 1" squares. If you use a blunt cutting blade you get a nice rough edge.

Ink around edges [i do mine all one color so the different papers look a bit more cohesive]

stick down in groups of 6 or 8.

add some mounting tape to your embellishment and stick down

add your text if req'd.
They would look good with stitching around the squares too methinks :)

and VOILA!! you are done. Once all the cutting and inking's done these are super quick to make....

a Shabby Christmas Pocket...

2010-11-27T17:22:00.007+11:00

I made this little Christmas pocket for The Inkurable Stampers Shabby Christmas Challenge this month. I've been on a roll and made 12 so far , i 'll post a tute sometime later in the week :)

They are a great way to use up all your leftover bits and pieces that you collect from swaps and really all i had to buy were the chennille sticks and choccies to put in them.

I've stamped with TH pumice[love this color] Fiskars Harlequin stamp and then TH black soot in a script stamp. Inked around the edges and gessoed areas to make the image stand out more. Lots of kindyglitz, sewn to felt and embellished, they dont take long to make and best thing is they are using upsome of my never ending stash :)

I love the big silver snowflake, if you can guess what it came from , i'll send it to you!

oh and i fixed the snowflake , it lost its gem.....

Inkurable have some lovely shabbies added this month so go check them out....

and dont forget to guess...:)

edit****** i shouldve said just the silver part of the snowflake , it is aluminium and it did come from Spotlight but whats it off? hmmmm????
thanks for the comments....

Brisbane part 2.

2010-11-21T18:09:00.008+11:00

I cant believe how quickly this year has flown by. It hardly seems like any time since Charlie flew out and she'll be home in less than 8 weeks :)

Its just started snowing in Denmark while we have hit the hot weather finally. Although i cant say I'm looking forward to going to work in our big tin shed :(

These are the only pics i took in Brisbane on the first day. Lynne picked us up from the airport and we drove to Paddington to spend the day , what a lovely day that was. We found the handmade shop Jen was looking for by accident and then found this beautiful Mosaic seat overlooking this gorgeous view .... this is Lynne, Jen and i were taking pics :)

the view from seat.....

It is not unlike the one the kidlets helped tile, out at the Bendigo Pottery, a [long ]while ago...look at them...aren't they cuties!! Hubby's campus was at the pottery and they had a big wood kiln which took days to fire. He used to take the kids out for sleepovers all weekend, they loved it as you can see....Mum used to love it too ;)

Its all been pulled down now which is a shame. I snagged this photo from Charlies old scrapbook, and her page with her lovely writing and 'mosaicing' down the side :) her scrap style has changed quite a bit since then :)

Gone Dotti was a wonderful shop with the most lovely handcrafted lovelies from Australia. We spent ages in there looking... and buying.... and Megan the owner was absolutely delightful. It was one of those teeny tiny shops crammed to the hilt, you didn't want to miss anything... so we walked around again and again :) i loved these rings made from the ends of teaspoons.

We then spent the day wandering around collecting napkins[we found heaps of different ones] shopping and eating in delightful eateries.

We got incredibly lost on our way to the motel that evening , [ a reoccurring theme !]thanks to all the roadworks and the gps trying to send us out of town. Poor Lynne nearly had a heart attack when she turned into two lanes of one way traffic.... (( not good!

view from motel across the river. Brisbane is a very pretty city....

The reason we went to Brisbane was to attend the Gutsy girls art camp. I have been following Jilly's blog for ages and been a big admire of her artwork so jumped a ta chance to do one with her. She and Ngaire were wonderful specially as we were late... again....[no signage and out of date map lol] we had such a great day painting and prepping and completing pages that i didn't even get the camera out ! Jens got some pics on her blog tho! Just as we were leaving i felt sick, just like that .....i didn't want to do a repeat of the woman on the bus so asked for a rubbish ice cream container to take lol. I felt like an idiot but i didnt need them thank goodness.. However, by the time we got to the Motel, i had a fever and chills and that was the end of me.

We did bit of shopping in Brisbane the next day and i snapped a pic of the jacarandas... arent they glorious?
and look at the yellow bikes...cute!

We went to the Stitches and Craft show but i kept the seats warm in the coffee lounges mostly! We then went back to Lynnes on the Sunshine Coast.
By that night i was very sick and really didn't get out of bed much for the next two days. I was glad Jen got to catch up with her family and i hope Lynne fumigated her house thoroughly :) My room had a lovely view overlooking the lake with some ducks so i could console myself a bit.
I was very lucky i had two great friends looking after me cos i had no energy and had never felt so sick in all my life. The fevers and chills did not stop for 5 days and i had to take time off work but i did bounce back pretty quickly once the antibiotics kicked in.

All in all we did have lots of laughs some lovely food and a fun class so it wasn't all bad.

Life is very busy at the moment, especially with work [why DO people have to have it for Christmas?] but i am finding time to make some Christmas things ....i am way behind in some of my challenges but i figure theres always next year :)

Have a wonderful week.......

brisbane part 1

2010-11-07T08:14:00.003+11:00

just to let you know i haven't dropped the face of the earth!

i went to Brisbane a couple of weekends ago to do the Gutsy girls art camp.

It was a very eventful trip. It started before we left. Jenny and i had been planning and looking forward to it for months!

5 whole days in Brisbane......

The night before we fly out i hear from Jenny saying she may not be able to go. We decide to wait til 5am next morning to see!

Get text, shes going, whoo!!

We take airport bus to airport.

have whole[mini] bus to ourselves........

til sick lady gets on half hr into trip.

about half hr from melb she is looking very green.

i ask if she is ok?

no answer(((

5 Min's later she throws up everywhere.

bus does not stop.

Jen and i have legs up and bums as close to windows as possible as spew runs down the aisle !

itsa very small bus...

bus does not stop

still vomiting.....

bus stops !!!!!

Jen and i are dry retching and dive off bus.

we are all standing on side of road gulping fresh air trying not be sick.

Bus driver stands around.

Jen asks if he has anything to clean up?

some tissues says he.

Jen says she has paper towel in her bag [thanks to art camp!] and braves bus to get bag.

bus driver stands back like he expects her to clean up.

Jen dumps towel on step and says here you are :)))

driver drops towel and tissues over spew and says that's all he can do , nothing to clean it up (((((

we all pile back on bus dreading last half hour into airport

try to open windows .......

they are glued shut.

all except drivers, who has his wide open thank goodness.

sick woman sits in back of bus and vomits some more[into bag that driver miraculously had]

with hands over noses and trying not to vomit we make it to airport and dive off bus :)

sick lady is flying to Cairns, so she would've had a dreadful trip.

Jen and i check in and first thing we did was head for was coffee and toast to settle those queasy stomachs.

and it pretty much went downhill from there, well for me anyway!

wonderful weekend...photo overload !

2010-10-17T17:23:00.010+11:00

last weekend was really great as per usual. The lovely Faye treated us to lots of delectable feasts, none of which i photographed as i was too busy eating! Faye freezes the leftovers for her TV dinners but much to her consternation we ate BOTH lemon meringue pies, not a skerrick was left :))
Some of us sat up on Saturday night and watched Merry's son Tim compete in the hammer throw in the Commonwealth games. He came 6th, Wtg Tim....
I showed Di how to make felted lilies, hers worked beautifully,
mine i pulled apart:( another failure lol.

poser!!

She made another one the next day using doily as the centre , it semi worked just needed bit more wool to felt it together.

I made no knit scarves, so wonderful to be able to lay out everything without having to pack it all up all the time. i got five made......not terribly prolific, i was sick :(

added some sari silk to this one for Lucy...

Our craft room, the old squash court.

this is some of the girls work....

H's lovely needle felting

V had her music quilt top all cut out friday night and was hand quilting on Sunday...

arent these appliques lovely? h was working from her own photos.... the bungle bungles...the fabric is perfect for those rocks. They will be further worked with free motion stitching.
and a boab tree...i always think they look like upside down trees to me...

the pointy garland are for a quilt Merry is working on ....

H was also working on freestyle crocheting to put onto bag mesh. Now if i could crochet :(

anns lovely stitchery....

Dis bought this gorgeous red hat and just Had to make scarf to go with it. she added some of my red sari strips to put in it...

Di's quilt....

group photo...Thank you all for such a lovely crafty time away.....

Busy hands....Heathcote 2010

2010-10-10T18:11:00.007+11:00

quickie post ....

2010-10-06T16:57:00.004+11:00

Just dropping by to say hi and a quickie update.....

Whats news in this part of the world? well Ive applied with my friend Jenny to be part of Christmas Handmade market stall on Dec 18th . We don't if we have been accepted yet but we are in planning stages. Ive been working on some collages and card ideas as well as making some sewn things like pincushions. Its all very exciting!

I'm off to Heathcote for crafty girls weekend away this weekend, cant wait! more fun, lots of laughs and great food for sure !

2 weeks later I'm flying to Brisbane to attend the Gutsy girls art day. Jenny and i have taken some time off work and will spend 5 days up there . the stitches and craft show is on too , so it will be another wonderful mini holiday.

Lucy has her dress entered in the ag art show tomorrow , so keep your fingers crossed!!

Charlie has just returned from a 4 day school trip to London. While she was there she texted me to say how she would like to catch up with some of the English rellies. I texted over Paul's Auntie J's no and lo and behold next thing she caught two trains and spent a lovely few hours with her.
I found out later that that she snuck off during free time on the tour.
My Miss Independence!

Other than that here is my metal card for Inkurable stampers, using my foil background.

And then some Birthday cards....
I love this one, the background is all layered napkins and the butterflies [from Blue Bazaar but their website is under construction] are just gorgeous....The back side actually looked better but i broke the body pulling it apart. However i did manage to rescue the antennae....

This one the text background is form the packing off some lovely flowers i ordered, probably Prima ones...

and this i used twinkling's on the vintage Japanese prayer book paper. They work beautifully , it just sucks it up....

and lets not forget Halloween

Smokin hot..

House of fun....Traded.

Waiting forever....

Hervey traded.

now there's a mixed bag for you ....have a good week....xxx

rain rain go away.....

2010-09-08T19:30:00.004+10:00

Well its raining again, not as heavy as the torretial downpour we had last weekend, 83mm in 24hrs..... Was just a tad too much!
Half the state is underwater and more rain is predicted with several towns under threat from the rivers breaking their banks. We have been ok here but check this video out , its at a sportsground nearby...

at least there wouldnt be any crocodiles....

I spent a rainy Saturday making tin foil backgrounds. I saw this bedside table that had been foiled and painted on a blog and thought that make a nice background.

so i stuck crumpled tin foil onto cardbord,in random pieces.

I left gaps on one just to see what would happen. Used a blue serviette to wipe up the gel medium and it left the color behind ...)

Metallic paints.....

metallic paints and alcohol inks...

two sides, one with black stazon rubbed over to hilight the foil....

this one i rubbed runny black paint over half of it so it ran in the cracks...

and a quick card made at 7.30 on Fathers Day morning for my hubby who has been enjoying reading all your lovely comments........

woot woot first day of spring.....

2010-09-01T20:38:00.006+10:00

not that it felt like it but its coming....

It would be nice if the rain would just stop [oops did i say that!] for a little while to dry out and then it could rain some more....we nearly need an ark here to get around, its that boggy!

Like my lilies? i made these at the craft show:) super easy, except i was the ONLY student [ever] whose flower fell apart at the end.

Dont you love it when the teacher tells you that? I had been watching the girl across from me who was a few steps behind and wondered why i hadnt been shown that step.

Which turned out to the most crucial.

Never mind, i got to make second one and i can sew the other one up.

back view, i love all the wrinkly goodness...

Like the blue pot/vase? Its one of hubbys. He had an exhibition in Sydney last weekend.He had the wall and his friend Su had the floor.....

Landmarks....

wood fired wall 'pillows'

He makes his own stamps from foam for his designs and then screenprints his own decals. The pots are then fired multiple times to build up the layers in his little electric kiln....

ahh, my man!!!

show and tell and bloggy thank you...

2010-08-22T11:43:00.011+10:00

Aren't bloggy friends the best? I'm sure you will all agree :)

This post is bit overdue mainly due to the fact that all it has done is rain here
[which I'm not complaining about] but makes it hard to get decent pics. So today the sunshine is out in full force and i grabbed the opportunity to photograph while i could.
First of all Jan sent me a lovely surprise or my birthday , one of her beautiful matchboxes filled to the brim and also some flowers which I've since used, so no pic... sorry...
i took it it into work and all the scrappers/mixed media peeps went gaga over it. It was huge hit. The little birdy in the nest is so sweeet...

I am having trouble with my pics not saving the right way round. I have tried to rotate it but it still wont save to blogger properly.
This was a bit fuller but ive been raiding it!!

Thank you Jan, you made my Birthday very special...

Then i did a swap with the lovely Margaret. I swapped her some Japanese fabrics, papers and general pretties...and this is my loot!!

Wonderful Asian napkins, bits of fabric papers and even a lantern :)
see i kept the blue tape off the parcel. Margaret said it was falling off at the post office, so it was lucky to make it :)
all beautifully packaged and even a little origami kimono...

also some lovely Swisse things,tickets, cards , lovely cutouts, it was all wonderful.
All sorts of little treasures in there....

She made me an atc too, which has gone into my favorites, i just adore it...

and.....
I haven't really gotten into inchies but I've received the most gorgeous inchie books lately, this one from Margaret....

beautiful HUH?

and this one from my friend Les for my birthday too. It has the most beautiful quote from Michelangelo.

They are both such beautiful little treasures to look at and keep...... I tell you it was the birthday that went on and on!

Maybe all 50's should be like that!

August dressups

2010-08-08T14:08:00.005+10:00

I'm early this month, its so good when inspiration strikes...

This is August Dress, made from woven sari silks...... aren't the colors delish!!

Ive been seeing a few woven backgrounds around here and here. Jacky's been inspiring me :)

I thought it would be perfect for this. However, it was incredibly fiddly but i do love the end result especially all the frayed fibres and twisty bits.

The dog had another go at my wardrobe after i resurrected it [it had come up pretty good]. I've stuck a pole in there for these shots. I think i need a bigger box too. They aren't all in there as i need to make hanger for Feb's dress and finish Junes.

I love visiting all the other dresses and cant believe how the numbers are growing still...

Fletcher update....

We had a phone call from a lady last night who reckons she and her hubby have seen him in area just out of Castlemaine. They have whippies and said it looked like him. He was running next to a man on a leash along the roadside. The only way he would've survived this long is if he had found a home, its been so cold........ It may not be him but all we can do is try and find out.

Hubby and Luce will be doing a letter drop and knock on a few doors tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed..... I'll keep you updated...

this and that...

2010-08-01T16:54:00.005+10:00

I've had a lovely weekend puddling about making things and packing up stuff to send off for swaps etc .
We've had some massive downpours so it been really nice to be inside in the warm making my usual mess :) last week i thought the coldest days of winter might be behind us as we had some lovely sunny weather, but no, they are back :(

The week before i went to the Stitches and Craft show with my bestest friend Ann on the train. We met up with some others from our craft group but generally wandered around on our own, meeting for lunch etc.
Now, i haven't been for years but i was really impressed. There were so many interesting stalls to appeal to all tastes plus the quilt exhibition. I found this wonderful chipboard from here and could've spent a fortune but i reigned myself in. sigh.
I bought two hanks of this wonderful sari silk which I've pulled apart and have started using...

a housewarming card and thank you card. My free motion stitching is very 'free' i need to practise it more on paper....

I do so love the last little house, it looks like a little gnomes house Lol

loads of beads , charms, velvety flowers , printing sheets in silk and cotton and some cogs and sprockets used here.
All in all a fabulous day was had by all...

here are some other Atc's ive made for recently . This one i sent to Margaret...cut into my japanses fabrics, that was hard !
Backgound is masking tape with metallic crayons, rubbed back.

This was for a bridges swap which had me really stumped [not that hard to do lately]
Before you say what a wonderful drawer i am ;), its a magazine image gessoed and colored in with watecolor crayons. The big cloud was the Goodyear Blimp! It looks pretty ordinary until you tilt it and the water sparkles with that stampee foil. So hard to get a good pic though...

I call it ...The Best Bridge in the Best Location in the Best Country!!!!!

The Stamping Queen ATCS

2010-07-25T14:33:00.007+10:00

I received some lovely goodies for the design team challenge at The Stamping Queen this month.
I couldn't wait to get started!

I am slowly building a bit of stamp collection and mostly the ones i buy are background ones or text/alpha ones that i will get multiple uses from.

When i first saw this stamp, i must admit i panicked a bit :)

How was i going to do 4 different stamps using that one image?I didnt want them to look all the same... [i hate making 2 of anything the same, comes from my days of making 200 wedding charms a day for two years LOL]
Its such a cute image. He has such a pretty face doesnt he? To start with, that's where i went with it...........i turned him into zetti girl!

I had loads of fun designing different do's and playing around with eyes etc...

IN-D-VID-U-AL

Catwalk Queen

Then i multiple stamped the image so i ended up with a filmstrip and painted with my new aquabrush [oh why didn't i get one these before, its fabulous!] and water soluble crayons. The background is tissue, painted and gessoed by La Lucy and ...

Memories

and

and....

You cant its see it very well on here, just a bit o' sparkle on the bottom... i bought an embossing pen and used some 'stuck on you', [powder glue, you heat melt it] Once its melted, i rubbed on some stampee foil that looks like water. Place it b/w paper and run it though your laminator. When its cool, rip it off and it leaves the foil where you embossed. I saw it demonstrated at the Stitches and Craft show on Thurs but that will be a later post! The whole background is all shimmery...

I was on a roll now and had some fun turning the film strip into a window, which led to this...

My Place

Masking tape background, gessoe, watersoluble crayons and then cooked it [unintentionally] and it bubbled.... happy accident as it looks like sandstone, here's a shot before i cut the window out...

No matter how i photoed or scanned these they turned out quite dark. It is more a honey color in real life. I christened my new Alpha Plus markers [from my family for my b'day, they are a cheaper version of copics] for the climbing rose bush.

This whole process has made me look at stamps in new light and they were lots of fun to alter....

Some of the other lovelies Barb sent me I've used for a shabby chic swap...

Images here and here....
Text words here...
Kath's lovely lace background and Jan's sweet flowers....

Remember to be in the draw for these and the other 8 Atcs, you need to be a customer at The Stamping Queen this month.....

Cant wait to see what the others do :)

Christmas in July....

2010-07-18T17:36:00.006+10:00

so here's my July dress, 99% recycled.

lovely vintage music sheet from Jenny, gold lame from old earing and then.... i received this really ugly tassel for my birthday. It had big chunks of glue and really horrible plastic parts. I was about to donate it to the op shop when it hit me...pull it apart as the rest of it is nice. So I've used the braid,cord and beady bits!

Just got to find a use for the fringe now....and Jenny there will be no discussion in the tea room, dont want to upset anyone ;)

This is probably the quickest one to date....

Party, party party....

and this atc i made for a July swap, i couldnt wait to use this fun stamp from The Stamping Queen. The background is oil crayons over gesso and i colored him in with gel pens.

Gosh why do the weekends go so fast?

Its nearly Monday again AAARRRGGGHH..

I am off to the stitches and craft show in Melbourne on Thursday so that should be fun.....

May Dressups...

2010-07-14T14:47:00.009+10:00

I am finally getting caught up with my dress ups. I've loved making them but sometimes it takes a while for inspiration to strike :)
In May, we took Luce to an equine college that she wants to attend next year.
Oh My, what a beautiful campus! They have weddings there so i will leave it to your imagination as to how lovely it was. I didn't take a camera unfortunately. It was autumn and all the trees were brilliant golds, oranges and reds.
This has been ticking away in my head for a while sooooooo.......

Chocolate wrappers painted with alcohol inks. It looked bit plain so it got a little necklace too...

I love the way the foil actually looks veiny like leaves...
Its a dull old day today so my pictures are a bit dark.
I have finished July's dress but am printerless for Junes at the moment. I'm just about caught up YEY!! Ive rescued the wardrobe too and am working on that as well....

At Craft, Merry's lovely sister Heather was visiting. Heather has been away with us on numerous retreats so it was nice to see her again. When we went to Bacchus Marsh in March, she brought these beeea-utiful fabrics and has made this huge quilt top [her own pattern]. She's used every skerrick of fabric that she purchased too! I like the addition of the ric rac in to break it up too.
This my kind of quilt, i just love these fabrics....

2010-07-11T15:50:00.010+10:00

Another long blogging break , truth is i have been really busy with work and pretty tired so have just spent minimal time on the computer as possible. I think i need a holiday but the the thought of going back to such a backlog of work after two weeks holidays just puts me off, specially as I'm just catching up.

No news of Fletcher, although we did have a false alarm with a dog answering his description brought into a pound the other side of Melbourne. A whippy friend who happened to live about 100 m from that pound went to investigate and just as he about to ring and say 'i think its him' the owners turned up :( good for them tho ......

I also had my Birthday......another reason i was away.... had something on just every night that week, lots of fun but was exhausted by the end of it or maybe its turning the dreaded 50 that had something to do with it....I got very spoilt by work, friends and family and its sort of been the birthday that keeps going on and on. I think its done and dusted now!!
I shall leave you with some lovely photos of the some of the lovely art work at the Frankston foreshore
I just loved these sculptures by Ann Ross called Lost and Found.

Love the way the sand fills and washes over them , changing them daily i would say.

And i didn't strategically place the leaves , nature engineered that one...))

And these beauiful mosaics by Loiuse Lavarack called Night Line...

And thank you all too for all your lovely comments too, they mean a lot......i really do appreciate them.... jenxo

my purchases.....

2010-06-27T15:41:00.010+10:00

from Ziguzagu....Japanese warehouse.
The first thing that hit me when i walked in was the smell....cedar mixed in with paint. 2/3rds of the warehouse is filled with beautiful vintage furniture which they restore. I wish i had taken pics of this part. Such beautiful carvings and paint finishes on the pieces.

The other section is reserved for the beautiful vintage fabrics, kimonos which they pull apart and sell by the metre. Nothing seems to be wasted. They also have an instore custom made service for cushions etc.

I loved the indigo cloths but i think Jacky beat me too it :)

However, i did find two i liked , this one from the 1930-40's.....so fragile and faded...

and this one a narrow strip from the sleeves. I love the texture too , its sort of like a waffle weave.

I should've pressed them but the daylight is fading :(

I spent ages deciding which fabrics i like but in the end just went with the colors patterns and textures i liked. Don't know what I'll do with them yet ....more to add to the stash...

i do love the bottom on this one...bonus..

While wandering around the furniture wishing i had a big house and pots of money, i found these little prayer books with the most beautiful text and images. Each page is folded into four on the brown ones and the coptic binding looks wonderful.

Then after a rather lot of money exchanged hands i found these lovely tie dye leather belts. I couldn't decide so all three were added on the credit card :)

They will make lovely bag handles.

This is how they are used...

Jacky has some pics on her blog too. I bought some of the little bone skeleton heads and after i got home wondered what type bone they were made of ?!

And you know what i really loved? Its so nice to go into shop thats not sterile, where you can poke around to your hearts content and things have a history.....

All in all a very good time was had by Jen :)

a busy week....

2010-06-26T17:06:00.005+10:00

We have had a very busy week but still no news of Fletcher. We are feeling very dejected and hope he has either found a good home or met a very quick end [not nice i know but i would hate to think of him suffering in this cold and nasty weather].

Last weekend we went to Melbourne with Lucy for her model horse show. We stayed at Beaumaris and had some lovely walks on the beach.The above pic was taken at Frankston, such lovely little sculptures on the foreshore.
We tripped into Ikea and Ziguzagu,a fantastic japanese warehouse.[Big thanks to Jacky for putting me onto it, it was wonderful, might be while before the credit card recovers!]
haha, both places could not be farther apart in style but i enjoyed them both!
I haven't taken pics of my purchases yet...next post :)

Anyhow amongst the all the wonderful nights out this week i have finally finished these atcs .
The lovely Margaret was a guest designer for June here and made these lovely atc pockets. I couldn't wait to have a go, mainly as i wanted use the cute little lanterns that i bought a little while ago. Ive lost the packaging so cant tell you who they are :(

The technique on the dresses is the string technique. The red is from my friend Les and i made the brown.[I never get it to work very well, its always a bit chunky.]
I am slowly getting around and visiting the other pocket atcs,the ones i have seen are just lovely.

and finally because i love seagulls, especially when they are fighting over chips :)

Some exciting news...not the dog :(

2010-06-16T20:12:00.004+10:00

I found out this week that i was accepted as a member of the Design Team at

The Stamping Queen.

I'm pretty excited and cant wait to get my hands on some of their products to make some Atc's.

4 atc's a month to be precise , 12 between us, each month that you could have a chance of winning !

Congratulations to the other very talented DT Members too,

Fiona

Marcy

I've often wondered what was involved with Design Teams and know i know ;)

Thanks Barb and Ray for the chance to be involved !

wanna hear a story.....

2010-06-15T19:51:00.004+10:00

We used to breed whippets [and border terrriers]. Anyway we gave one of our whippies, Fletcher to a guy who just adored him and used him on the rabbits.
Anyway two weeks ago, he went down to do some business with a lady friend about 100 kms away in Ballan. On Saturday 10[days ago]he was in the paddock and he hit the electric fence and ran off.

Much to everyones distress.

He has run off before and we all thought he would try and make it home but its 100 kms and lots of forest and highways. Plus its really cold now at nights and whippies dont have much on them to keep warm.

After numerous calls to pounds, rspca [who were not very pleasant], rangers and councils no one heard anything. After a week we were beginning to give up hope.

Hubby has been quite upset, so on Sunday , Lucy made up a some great flyers and they dropped them off in Daylesford and Castlemaine.

Anyway, Monday we got a phone call from someone who had sighted him in the tip road at Daylesford a few days ago.

Tonight , a lady rang and she patted him Castlemaine, 30kms away. She described his yellow eyes which you couldnt see in the poster.

so we know its him....

C'MON Fletcher, you are nearly home, provided he doesnt run over or shot :(

keeping everything crossed, keep you posted!

bat-tered bendigo...

2010-06-13T15:03:00.006+10:00

Good title for another post , wish i'd thought of it! It was the headline in the paper just after i my bat post.

This is what the sky looked like and i was hoping to catch late in the day last week. Isn't it amazing to see them swirling around the clocktower....Either they are on their way out for feed or something stirred them up.
these photos are from the Bendigo Advertiser staff....

cute little faces....

love the see through look and shape of their bodies...

Spoke to Di about the 'regurgitation' too at craft, there were quite few laughs to be had!

Its the long weekend, [Queens Birthday, even though its not!] always one of mixed emotions for hubby and me. On one hand its nice to have 3 days off and i wont go back to work til Thurs as i have meeting on Tues and my day off Wed. woohoo!

I have been painting the kitchen table and here are some peeks...hoping to mask it out tonight and start the fun stuff tomorrow...cant wait to start the actual painting!

And its 20 years ago today that our son Jack was stillborn. I don't know where that 20yrs as gone and i didn't think i would ever get through that first year but thanks to support from family, friends and the SANDS group, i think we both came out the other side pretty well.

Our midwife was fantastic , really ahead of her time and that helped so much with her kindness, validation, and the beautiful photos and clothes she had organised for our little one.
Sometimes i feel like it has happened to another person, it feels a bit surreal but I get his things out and the memories come flooding back.

i only have to look at Lucy to know what he would've looked like, same eyes, round face and dark hair :) no offence Luce!
One thing it has made me is stronger, be more compassionate and really appreciate the two beautiful girls i have now....

I thought long and hard about posting this and will probably still delay hitting the publish button but i need to get this off my chest today. I'm not looking for sympathy, but i think stillbirth is something not talked about much.
Enough said :)

Hubby and Lucy have just gotten back from Castlemaine and they picked these amazing hand carved stamps from the Gallery there.

arent they beautiful...

They are Indian, wooden and about 4-5 Cm's deep, unreal ))) They remind me of the twelve apostles

Might have to have play with them tonight!

bat love or not.....

2010-06-04T18:24:00.007+10:00

For several months, our town Park has been invaded by fruit bats. I didn't realise how bad it was until we were in town one late afternoon and, no joke, there were gazillions of them flying around the park, it looked like something out of a vampire film, how i wish I'd had the camera then :(

The poor old park is quite infested and unfortunately its the main pathway for all the primary and secondary students to get into town. Its only a block from the main street.
I've heard the primary students wont even go out in the school yard to play because they are scared of them. They have destroyed two very old trees and there is scat everywhere..... Yuk..

It has quite divided the town and the council in its infinite wisdom came up with a plan to scare them off. They let off crackers and just succeeded in spreading them all over the Park, whereas at that stage they were contained to the fernery in the park.

Apparently this year and it happens every ten years or so, we have 3 types of trees in flower at once that they like to eat ...and you gotta go where the food is ! We are 6 kms out of town and they come out here at night and feed, breed and make a hell of racket. They stink to high heaven too.
They were supposed to go when the weather got colder but we are having frosts now and no signs of them leaving !

And....there was a big discussion in our house about how do bats poo when they hang upside down? This in turn led to a very interesting and funny discussion at craft and Di very knowledgeably set us straight!

* they regurgitate their poo.....even more YUK!!! [no poo hole!!!] Just thought you should all know ;)) *

EDITED!!! well after Melindas comment i thought maybe i'd better google how bats poo! guess what they do indeed poo normally , they hang by their wing claws and straghten up to poo!!

Wait till i see Di on Wednesday ;(

oh well it gave us a laugh!

I love how these four are hanging together...

and they do look rather lovely with the last of the sun on them...

sometimes...

2010-06-02T15:07:00.004+10:00

sometimes it gets so long between posts that i don't know where to start!

I don't mean it too but it gets away on me sometimes. Anyhow, i have been sick with a cold / fluey type thing that has now lead to an ear infection. I had one day off work and its been really busy with lots of extra hours so i have just been going from day to day!

Today i finished my April Dress. We had so much rain in April that it had to be an April Showers dress plus Ive been dying to use one of those paper parasols.

I used the basic dress pattern but added a collar and slimmed it down bit. Its collaged with gesso and then lots of blobs of twinklings. Twinklings really resist so you have to 'blob' it and let dry naturally.

Jacky had sent me a lovely stamped tea bag with chinese lettering and Ive been waiting for something special to use it on. I ripped it up and gelled it on along with some mesh Debbi sent me [ so lucky to get all this interesting stuff from various swap partners]

The images i colored with water soluble crayons and i found the perfect flat bottomed fresh water pearl bead [its not really! well fake] for the parasol.

below is a very sad picture...

luckliy no dresses or dogs were destroyed in the process...

ahh.... finally i can show you....

2010-05-05T16:56:00.006+10:00

Ta da........

Charlies journal cover..

i'm feeling pretty pleased with myself ;)

i designed it and took me ages to work it all out with Di's help :) as i wanted the plastic part to be a bit deeper so it would accomodate all the stationary.

i worked on it at my weekend away with the PP's [proper patchworkers]. I didnt want to quilt all over the gorgeous Reindeer fabric [perfect for Denmark memories] so just went around the trees instead.

I found the green trim at Maldon and while i was there was trying to find something for the liner. Anyhow the nice lady there said she had some new ones out the back and blow me down if the circle one wasnt a perfect match. Made by same designer so is very likely from the same range.
Charlie has everything in there, stapler, mini gel pens, sharpies and gel pens. double sided sticky, water color pencils , pencils, textas scissors and whatever else i could stuff in there. In the other side is an art journal but thats a whole other post....

oh and she loves it so that makes me happy :))

ATC making...

2010-04-26T14:48:00.006+10:00

Its been busy a week but so nice to have a long weekend for Anzac Day. I felt so sorry for those diggers [and the driver] who got mowed down by the runaway jeep at one of the ceremonies. Ironic that you survive being in a war and but nearly get killed marching in remembrance for your lost mates.

I've been fiddling around making Atc's. One of my groups posted a challenge to make faux metal, so here are mine.... lots of fun this and lots of experimentation.Its very hard to get decent pics , they are very shiny and look very metally in real life.
Basically i used silver card and turned over and embossed with a biro, just going over and over like this....

Then i applied black stazon and sanded back with wet and dry. I applied different colors of alcohol inks[sunburst orange is great rusty color] and some distress ink which takes bit to dry.

i am leaving this one as is, don't think it needs anything...i know pink sunflowers...artistic licence ]]]

With this tree one , i was drawing my my tree with card on the base of of one of those plastic black liners that come out of the green bags. It had a checky pattern and the tree and leaves came up dotty which really suited it...
the lovely images come from Suzie Que. I was really saddened to hear she died recently , I didnt know her personally but she was very generous with her freebie images.

And these are some others , using this painted technique i found in Bernie Berlins book[finally ordered myself a copy after drooling over a friends copy.]
i just love doing this...you gessoe lightly a magazine image and then outline in waterproof marker, then paint, texta, color in with pencils...i used water color pencils

Freddy, Ursula and Nero = FUN

Cat image from land of nod.
borders from Astrid McLean.

Ruby Red Shoes.... 2/2

p.s. tell me if this fonts too hard to read and i'll change it...

March Dress up ........ a leeettle late!

2010-04-18T17:18:00.008+10:00

March sort of go away on me and even though i started this dress at the start of march , here it is half way through April and no idea what to do for April !!
so guess what,that may be late too!lol

Lucy made me the birdcage for this dress, shes so good with twisting wire into wonderful quirky things! i gessoed it, then painted it with brown and orange paint and sprinkled on cinnamon, most of which came off in the attaching.
We spent an afternoon making birds too from masking tape but the birds that i had in my head came out on the cover of CPS. i couldn't believe it!
anyhow, then i decided on a print out and some dangly beads.... see the meshy stuff underneath, luey wrecked one of those bathroomn fluffy scrubber things , its got heaps of fabric in it and was perfect for this.
The lovely leafy tissue paper is from Blue Bazaar.

I have been really enjoying visiting all the dressups, i love seeing everybody's interpretations and some of the materials used.

We had some drama just after Easter. First day back to work hubby was moving some metal furniture and it slipped and gashed his forearm. A tourniquet, ambulance and lots of stitches later, he was a bit sore and sorry for himself. Hes been a good patient up until now and is driving us nuts ;(( of course it should be healed after two weeks and everything working properly [doesn't have full use of his little finger] and no pain! they put 6 stitches into the muscles so i think it might take a while, he was lucky he only scraped the tendons. I cant look at it, never could be a nurse so lucy has done a fine job cleaning it.

And lastly but not least look at this fabulous Loot that i won when Tina had a giveaway in honor of grandmother recently. I couldn't believe it when it arrived this week, i just kept pulling it out and covered the kitchen table with it. All sorts of papers , stickers images,ticket stubs, you name it was in there!! THANK YOU Tina , you are very generous!!

Happy Easter everyone...

2010-04-05T16:44:00.006+10:00

I hope you all having a wonderful Easter break...Its been so nice not to go to work and sleep in most days, having four days off is such a luxury. I decided i needed a project and started sanding the kitchen table . I bought the paint on Saturday and have it all undercoated. Of course there have been lots suggestions on how to paint it but i have a plan :)

It was given to us as a housewarming pressie 20 years ago and had the top redone, so it was a lighter pine than the legs. Over the years it has accumulated a lot of dints, paint, glue [i throw a table cloth over it when we have guests!!] and even a little carving.

Luce did this when she was five ...

I was very cross at first but secretly thought how clever she was to carve her name out so well. lol. I found it again buried under layers of paint. I could've sanded it off but its a been a part of this table for so long, it brings back happy childhood memories of all the things we used to make on this table. still do!!

Bendigo has its usual celebrations going on over Easter and there are people and cars everywhere. For the first time in forever we didn't have an Easter egg hunt this year, and neither did Charlie. The locusts would've eaten them anyway !! We have a huge locust plague here at the moment, it looks like snow flakes floating down the street. Added to that there is invasion of fruit bats that have moved into the Park in town. Now if the fruit bats ate the locusts.......

I have to say that one thing that has really made me mad over Easter is the stupid chinese tanker that decided to take a shortcut through the Great Barrier Reef, not only running aground on a rare coral reef but dispersing several tonnes of oil, and looks like much more to follow. What is it with these people, they didnt even have a pilot on board and did not have permission to be there in the first place. IDIOTS!
Our reef is a national park and a migratory path for the whales and dolphins. They say they will fined up to a million dollars, thats not a penalty, thats a slap on the wrist........makes me mad that something that could be so easily avoided will do so much damage to the already vulnerable reef and tourist industry.

Something i wanted to share too was when i went into work on Thursday, Fayzie had a little basket of the abvove goodies and was handing them out to everyone. Something so simple brought a smile to everyones faces especially as it was 9 till 9 sale day, certainly put me in a good frame of mind. Faye always does realy neat stuff like that, her desserts are to die for!