A couple of swaps.

I have made these items for a swap on paperarts
The "Ravens" was about Edgar Allen Poe, the background painted black and then put Jo Sonjas crackle then painted cream and it didnt work boohoo..........

So next was cover the lot with credit card technique and black and silver paint and spritz with a little water and then wipe some off...... Ok, then onto adding images etc........ I hope the recipients will like it........

Also for the same group was a microscope slide pendant. I had done some soldering at Evas a few months ago and we did microscope slides. So I did similar this time and made two. Now which one will I send eh Barb

anyway I enjoyed making them and had also shown HRH very quickly how do do it too.

I am also starting a swap for an NZ group ATC Taranaki, we are doing half masks.
I will take photos as I go, bit hard to scan masks. This first one is Shades of the Peacock or Cirque Reinvente. So stay tuned for further developments

Sunday night

Well less than a week has passed and here is a new post. My my.........Yesterday Eliza came for a visit and we played all day. Well she showed me how to do a journal in fabric etc and I did the work sort of........ While she played with my blog backgrounds. I fell in love soempics I found so we put this new background and the header on my blog. I love it, but might get a bit sick of the brightness of it. Who knows, so check back and see occasionally.
So........we started off by masking some watercolor paper with gel medium and then leaving it to dry. Then came some fun. Sewing which I have not done since leaving NZ. I will do a series of uploads of pics to show you the stages of the journal.

these are the covers for the book. I think that the signature covers may hang out a bit much but I will see when I put it together. I need to go find some upholstery type scraps somehwere and some other bits. I have heaps in NZ but Eliza shared hers with me for this journal.
Here is some of the signatures and the covers.............













We started the day about 10ish. At lunch time, Geoff called us to come and get a cuppa and he had made us yummy bacon and cheese scones for lunch. He's a good man.
Well off he went to do the job he had to for work and we continued to play, no scones for afternoon tea, just a drink and on we went playing and sewing and talking. Geoff came home and he watched TV we thought, but just as I started to show Eliza how to solder microscope slides he called us to come for dinner, hey Eliza was going home LOL, but he had cooked a stew of beef and veges for us. What a man......... and hes all mine .....So, now....... I need to continue the process of finishing the journal by making the signature pages and then putting it all together with a book-binding technique. I did a course for two years in NZ with Yoka Van Dyke in Wanganui. She is a very capable and accomplished Bookbinding expert and taught at the Wanganui Arts College.
Hey Yoka, thanks for the patient teaching. Wish I could do more with you. One day!!

So as I do more to it I will load the pics for all to view.

I went and bought a Scrapbook Creations magazine today. Ahhhhhhhhhh you all say, but nope inside was a lovely canvas done by none other than the lovely Kelsey , a canvas about her grandparents wedding. Well done Kelsey, its fantastic and love the texture paste use..... Was it black LOL.............. I am going to do a bit of scrapbooking this year as I have loads of photos that my poor kids would have no idea who, what where etc if I should conk out of this world LOL...........

See you all in a few days.

2 Months have gone by

since I last posted here. What did happen to my new years resolution to blog at least weekly and to do some challenges. Well the year has bought some bad health issues for me, but not life threatening. I'm OK, just extrmely tired and combine that with working full time and I dont seem to find a lot of time for any art work or blogging.

In March I attended CSR and had a ball. I was so tired (part of my not being well) that weekend I dont know how I managed to do anything. Hey HRH next year will be a different story, you won't be up by yourself at 3am LOL, you can keep your bottle to yourself though, I stick to my EB tea............. I did have a fantastic time and attended Bernie Berlins class Saturday, DJ Pettit on Sunday and did face painting which I found very daunting but DJ is an awesome tutor.
Here is my face I did.

Then Monday I did Stephanie Lee's Elements Handbook, made with plaster gauze and the cover was soldered over rose brass. ohhhhhhhhh that was scary and it took me forever along with a few wonderful helpful ladies to get my "pro-torch" working. It just did not want to work, so I got way behind and didnt finsih it totally, and its still not done. I will put a picture in here when I have finished it. Now thats a promise.
The day after the retreat weekend our daughter Tanya returned home to NZ, she had been with us since the day after Victoria's Black Saturday.
Then Easter arrived and Geoff's sister and a friend came for a few days. Loved having them all, then it was count down to our visit home for family and to do a conference for work.

We went over on 9th May and returned here on 23rd. We enjoyed catching up with family, grandchildren who are so adorable and friends etc. Time was too short.

Anyway............I will be back in the ncest day or so to add more retreat pics and also some art work etc.
Cheers