another week flown by.....

cant believe how quickly the year is flying by. i am particularly busy at work and its only going to get worse with the new shop opening and warmer weather.....

remember how the fires of last feb came up to the back door of my work?

well, we shifted out 7 container loads of stock, mainly fabrics,then moved into the vacant store next door as temporary premises while they refurbished the old shop.

in the last few weeks it has undergone a total transformation, the shopfitters came in and fitted it out like a big mechano set in two weeks. then the merchandisers, dispatch people and extra staff , flown in from stores all over the country, cairns, toowoomba and even new zealand had the shop nearly stocked in two weeks as well. ive been particularly interested in seeing how the shop displays go together, really interesting how they just put things together and twist and pin fabric onto the mannequins to make trendy outfits.
weve all been doing lots of o/t too although i havent had to do any 8-6 days.

my new area [custom made furnishings] is looking beautiful, it took 3 days to fit out and it will be a loverly place to work :D, ill get some before and after shots so you can see the hovel im working in at the moment. the big shift for me is thurs, and we open on Sat with brekky at 7am. no weekend off next weekend :(
the old store is now a clearance centre and we have a week to get rid of it. i have been buying sheets, doona covers and wool like a madwoman!!

so nothing made but lots of lovelies in the mail.... first of all from my fused plastic trades.

jeannie sent me this lovely one made from fp with copper foil tape. the foil and copper tape work really well together. its fascinating how diferent plastics react when they are fused too...




and debbi sent me these lovelies.... love how shes punched and stamped the shapes and used different types of stitching.



debbi also sent me this fab blog award which i am finally getting around to posting.



i feel very honored but always feel a bit funny about passing them on, especially when theree is huge list of requirements to fill in. we all spend far too much time on computers as it is!

there is however no presuure with this one so you can accept and leave it at that if you wish....

so i am listing 5 obsessions......

1, chocolate would have to be the top of the list, although i am trying very hard to cut back on that little obsession!

2, fabric, you can never have enough and i just love to touch and feel it...

3, my craft group, i get really antsy if i miss a week!!its so good to touch base and have laugh over coffee..

4,making stuff.....could be a bit more obsessed at the moment but i always love to be making something, always have....

5, the sea, i wish i lived by the sea, i can spend hours watching the waves, its sooo relaxing.

and 5 blogs in no particular order....

1, The loverly Les' blog Les and i met and started a yahoo atc group together. shes turned into a technique junkie and is always up to something interesting. she has some great tutes on her new blog too....

2/ the fabby Jan whose blog is new too and makes lovely atc's. check her mermaid ones out... beats me at scrabble quite frequently too ;)

3/patty's blog always has wonderful eye candy and she's such a beautiful person too....

4/ another one i lurve visiting is margarets blog, always great art, lovely pics and amusing stories...

5/ and finally jacky whom i havent met yet but would love to one day.....love her klimt dollies!

its very hard to narrow it down to 5 blogs because i have so many that i love visiting..

Also, i just wanted to thank you for your lovely comments on charlies deb too, we were so proud of her.....and 250.00 later the next morning the cars ignition was fixed too:)

Fused plastic.....

for the last few weeks i have been playing around with fusing grocery/shopping bags etc. its not that fumy and the fp makes great surface to work on. being plastic of course, its so tough and durable too.
ive uploaded two tutes [on rhs], one on making the plastic... i did mine with 8 layers but you can do it with four.
The second tute is how i decorated it and how to piece it togtether [mainly because its not as hard as it looks!]
if you are not sure of anything, you can always email me too!

Here are the atcs i made but i think some notebooks or journals or lucys wallet would be wonderful too.......


1/6


2/6


3/6


4/6


5/6


6/6

These are all for trade and what id really like is some fused plastic ones back in return, but you dont have too!!

Just found this even better tute for fusing the plastic...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorsner/3546922434/

Let me know too if there are any glaring omissions or mistakes or you have trouble downloading,[i changed it to pdf this time so it should work ok. [fingers crossed]

I decided before i left for Sydney that i would make a luggage tag from some fused plastic i had lying around. I had made a heap ages ago and because it was so looked boring i didn't do any more with it!

But it paints really well!!!! so i splattered on paint, lots of drips and splashes[ inspire by Ruby] and then wildly stitched in black cotton. It was actually supposed to be daisy stitch but it gripped a bit on the gel medium and came out very random. Thought id stuffed it but on closer inspection , i really liked it and thought it looked like birds tracks! so i did more ;)
i stitched it to another layer of fp and wrote my details on the back in permanent marker.
some sparlky fibre, a few beads and i love it! being plastic its really durable too.

now i am inspired by Alisa Burke and Threadbanger [a really cool indie site that i spend too much time on...] to make some more and join it togteher, although a little make up purse would be cute.

the work trip was just that ....work.... learnt lots and came back in two minds..... i can do it and freaked out!
i didnt see anything of sydney except traffic and a bit of greenery!

some atc's i have been fiddling about with , thanks too this very generous artist
I found some canvas printer paper going out cheap and had fun splashing some paint around. I am really into dribbles at the moment![not the old lady kind!]
Lucy drew the mermaid tail for me, she"s really good at that kind of stuff and i like the way it goes backward. i cut up an atc with some lace on it to give her a 'scaly' tail.



Im a bit over wings but coudnt resist these sparkly silver ones....


The silver 'things' on the geisha are from some earings and i changed the color by rubbing some alcholol ink on .... it kinda looks like a lantern!