I AM SO EXCITED...

this time next week, The FFL or the Rusty Ramblers and two more will be well and truly relaxed on our weekend away on the NSW border with Vic...  Some laughs will have been had, some wine and food and a relaxing massage for some of us and some Arting on its way.. We are away from Friday am til Monday sometime
So watch this space for some updates on artwork. I know that Lucy's wonderful husband has made some more of the wooden houses for Barb and I to make ours too............ Yay!!! Check out Bevlea and Lucy's completed ones.

Sooooooooooo talk to you soon and hope to have lots of photos to put in here

Kelseys Book

Is available for purchase direct from her. You can email her to order yours. It's A4 sized with 40 techniques in it, colour pics on each technique page....all for $35. (Postage in a tuff bag within Australia is $4, 
I have bought one and its well worth it.

The last month or so

Has gone by in a blur. Had a fabulous day with Bevlea and Lucy when we went to Healseville to do a  PMC  (Precious Metal Clay) class. It was great and very easy (if you have the basic craft skills) Not something I need to buy tools for LOL, just the PMC3, but as its very expensive I won't be buying it often.

Has taken a while to post as my lovely printer decided to die and had to go to Printer hospital but its now back and in good working order again.........................Here is my earrings and pendant I made............

I have made various ATC's for Paperarts and NZ Stampers for monthly swaps.
              This one is a Gothic house that had to be able to be opened for Paperarts.

The image I used is one from Itkupilli.







The next is the Gothic Microscope Slide swap which we did one for one.
Mine went to Peta, I hope she liked it.The microscope slide holder           actually broke in the process, so I had to put it together with wire and added some beads.
 The one on the left is the front and back cover, the one above is the inside. The two ladies on the right want to know "who is she" on the left. : These were fun and the microscope slides can be bought from Scraptivate over in WA.


Last Friday the 11th, Bevlea and Lucy made their way over to my place and we had a fabulous play day, lots of fun, food and laughter. We worked on our fabric cuffs some more. Pics still to come when I finish the clasp, But just to say they haven't joined the ranks of the many UFOs that fill my craft room. One day I will retire and finish them all that is if I can then  remember what they were mean't to be ROFLMAO

We also spent a bit of time brainstorming the swaps for mixed media to help the lovely Lucy decide what to do for the Paperarts swaps for next year. They are going to be good ones, so if you belong to Paperarts check out the database.

Jan Harris Workshop

last weekend was fantastic. I loved it and Jan was so lovely and gracious. Had time for everybody, repeated stuff for latecomers and was very generous with the kits provided, plus some other bits for me. Thank you Jan.
Saturday saw us preparing our pewter piece for the Repousse

Jan started off by showing us how to do it, Above.......................
then we made ours ....... Right....





Completed Book...................

 Then Sunday was Waxy Layers.....................................

 At first  I did not like this at all, but as the day went on and the layers built, so did my enthusiasm, then when we added Shellac (below) WOW................... I was hooked, well we shall see if I spend $$$ on wax and pancake pastels etc etc.....and all the things required to go with it....................

 First off we built layers of wax that has been mixed with Resin, then added collage pics etc, then when finished we added Shellac and set fire to it, well Jan did LOL................. The one on the right has been done with different colours of wax in stripes and then added a transfer of the the owl and a piece of stamped tissue then added more layers of wax etc through stencils etc.  Yes I do like it................THANK YOU JAN.

Another House of History page

this time for Shirley. Her title was Narnia. Took me a while to do this one, mainly doing the kids stuff and work in the way.

I hope she likes it.

On the left is the front and the right is the back...




I used texture paste to raise the surface on the front added the pics and tree and painted over bits etc, It still didn't seem quite right so I added John Wayne texture (LOL ask Bevlea) and more paint and it looked better..
This weekend I am joining with a few other lovely ladies and we are attending a Jan Harris workshop organised by Bevlea and Eva. The two days are Saturday Bookbinding called "Not your Mothers book" and Sunday we are doing "Lets get Waxy"
So I hope to be able to post some good stuff here next week of what we did.

On Saturday we went to the Healesville heritage show and then after lunch we went on the Badgers weir.
Its a great place to take kids and visitors.
Here is a pic of the kids and myself.feeding the birds. At first Paul was very wary, but Toria loved it and was chasing around trying to get the birds to feed off her hand, took a while to quieten her down enough to get the birds on her hand.

See you soon. G

My little helper

Took a photo of Paul today helping clear up the table from lunch. He had helped Papa to make some Muffins for lunch and then while I was stacking the dishwasher he came and got the cloth and went and wiped down the table on the deck where we had enjoyed  lunch in the warmth,

He's a good little boy and I love him to bits....

The next photo on the right  I took a few weeks ago. not a very good photo but we have a budding Planker LOL...  She is very good at swinging etc and will probably make a very good gymnast.

Anyway I will come back later and put in some pics of recent artwork.

MORE ATCS and A JIGSAW SWAP

I bought a new collage sheet from ARTchix Studio as a download a couple of days ago and so made these ATCs with parts of them. One is a for the WTA in Paperarts and the other just a spare to swap or whatever . I love Owls and have done since I was a child. My mum had a lovely ceramic owl, but when she died and I went to clear her house out I couldn't find it sadly.

The one on the left is for the WTA (Winner Takes All)
The one on the right is a spare to swap etc.

The months swap for Paperarts was Steampunk with moving parts.
I made a cog background and found a pic of Charlie Chaplin which I sat on a Alterations Tim Holtz Gears die that I cut out with some silver card and added a screw type brad. Charlie does swing from side to side , hence the title ...........                            "Charlie Really Swings"

I also have been making some jigsaw pieces for a group swap in New Zealand.
Each person had a colour theme that we had to do it in. Otherwise it was a free theme.  Sorry they are in centre :-) I couldn't get them to go 3 to a row

Black and White 

 Green & Brown

Black and Gold

Purple and Silver

Torquoise and Gold

White and Gold

Green and Brown

Blue/Green and Silver

.When the recipients have received them I will add the names of who they are for. Lets see if they can guess.
I enjoyed this swap. Mine is not made yet as I want to wait and see what I get back. My colours are Raspberry, Lime green and White....


                                                                                       

ATCs received

I have received my swaps in the Mona and Friends swap hosted by Marion  which she hosts each year and sends an invite to join in.

Mine came from Left Fiona Randall, Centre Wendy Erman and right from Sabine Busch

They are all great. Thanks again Marion for a wonderful swap each year.

I also swapped privately with my friend Barb and this is hers for me. Isn't  she great....

DAMAGED BY SEA WATER
I also received this week this fabulous  ATC from Kelsey as the loser in one of Paperarts WTA swaps. I love it Kelsey and am always thrilled to have a piece of her work in my ATC collection.
It was one from Kelsey's  Watercolour Stamping with crayons ( Lyra or Caran d'Ache ) but she says that Distress inks work too.  Fab as usual Kelsey.

ATCs for Paperarts July Swap

The title for July is Magazine faces altered.

Here  are mine, I couldn't get any faces the same. Mostly they are ads from House and Garden.
I have sort of Zetti'd them, by gessoing the original of which I forgot to scan before I changed them, then blending Distress inks around the figure, some I drew the body and some are images I have from Teesha Moore etc.

I think I will keep the bottom one for myself with the saying "Love who you are". Hope the recipients like them.

Some artwork done in recent weeks

Hi all
I haven't done too much the last few weeks. We didn't get to have our play day a the beginning of the month it has been postponed until next week. I am so looking forward to catching up with Bevlea, Lucy and Caro. We are going to complete our fabric cuffs and Caro and I will be starting the journal that Bev and Lucy have already done

Anyway I have done a couple of Houses of History pages for Paperarts swap. I forgot to scan the one for Jane, but here is the one I did for Roslyn "Art Deco 1950s"

The pics are from an old Art Deco address book that I have here.

Above is the front page,to the right is the back.




I am glad that Roslyn likes them and also the colors, different for me LOL.

I have also done the July ATC for NZ Stampers.

Title was "Elizabeth"

I used a part of Lyn Perella's 8x8 page that I got from Stampington.com
We got sent different 6 articles,(enough for each person in the swap) and we have to use at least one each month. This time it was the little gold coin with a head on it that I have put on the hat..

Now I am preparing the ATC bases for Paperarts. We have to use magazine images and alter them. But the face has to be seen.
A challenge.............................................in the making...