December and where did the time go.

Goodness me, so much for my promise to post every week LOL......
We, Geoff and I just celebrated our 43rd Wedding Anniversary for those who haven't seen it on face-book. Here is one of our wedding photos:
Dec 5th 1970.

And now its nearly 2014..........
Wow, I started this about 10th Dec, that month went fast too. So busy all the time, especially now too as we are moving to a new town, new house, new job. We are going to become the camp managers of the Cheshunt King River Camp,  Also we have finally got our little girl Aroha to come and live with us. She is now 2yrs old and apparently a real cute little princess. Long story that I will share one day. I and Victoria go to NZ on 11th Jan to pick her up and bring her back here. I have been packing up art room so not a lot of art has been done.

I am off to Wagga Wagga on Monday with the lovely Bevlea and Lucy to visit our  BFF Barb, unfortunately we had to spoil the surprise  that it was meant to be, she thought we were all going to Lakes Entrance for a break and it was too far for her to come :-) But she is going to have an operation on her knee one of the days we were to be there, so we decided to still go anyway and go through to Gundagai for a day visit while she is under the knife. We are all so looking forward to it as we haven't seen her for such a long time. Good thing is our new job has loads of room for visitors, a lovely big hall and great tables etc to use and is halfway from Melbourne and Wagga. Yay....art retreats....  We are all going to use our Gelli plates as Lucy and I haven't braved it yet LOL,  Bevlea has,  so Mrs Clever BFF will show us how its done. I'm hoping the wee gift I have for a certain lady arrives before we go. The place sent me a crotchet book instead of what I ordered, but have honored the mistake and sending out the correct article.

On the home front.
A star in the making.............
Toria had a ballet concert at the end of November, she is so cute, they all were, but she stole the show on one of the dances by going back on stage and taking a very deep bow, musta watched too much Dance Moms  with me LOL...
Here is a head shot of her. She is so gorgeous and I love this photo.

 

She is growing up so fast, she goes to school in the new year. Here in Australia they all start on the same day at the beginning of the school year, whereas in NZ they start on the day they turn 5.

             

        This is Paul at his school (Rolling Hills Primary) Carols concert, they the Preppies sang Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and they were the best out of all the items performed by the children, they were so enthusiastic and loud LOL... He is looking forward to the new school, it only has about 50 pupils, 2 teachers etc. Country Victoria.
He got a new bike for Christmas and is so proud of it. It has 7 gears, so he can keep up a bit better with Daddy.  Need to Photoshop that pic from Christmas morning LOL.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh too early in the day for this Night owl.

Anyway, I am not going to promise to come back within a week LOL, but see you hear soon. I wish you all a very Happy New Year and that 2014 is prosperous both physically and spiritually for you all.
Lots a love Glenda xxxxxx















                 

 

 

Luscious Sprays

Yesterday, I went over to Bevlea,s, one of the 4BFFs, Lucy was there too and we had a great day, just chilling, chinwagging over lunch, its been a while since we all got together.
While together, Lucy used the Big shot to cut and emboss some of my dies and embossing folders. Bevlea and I mixed up some sprays using my pigment powders and a mix of hers and my distress reinkers to make the most luscious sprays to use.
Bevlea took a pic of the completed bottles.

Luminarte Pigment Sprays

Aren't they delicious?. Bevlea tested them out last night and I started the first page of the journal I made at Jan Harris class. I am going to use it like Bevlea is using hers to have as an art journal to just jot things try things etc.
Bevlea also updated my external hard-drive with a few things to transfer to desktop and laptop, Mostly images that we have bought but she had hers sorted into a great filing system so now mine are the same :-)
Hope to get together with them again real soon.

I joined in with Denis Phillips from Birdnuts Mixed Media ATC swap again, with Hidden Vintage Studios kit called Teacup Tricksters. They are winging their way across the ocean to her home in Canada to join the swap. I am not into Halloween in any way, but the images are quite gorgeous, so here are mine.

See you again soon.

BTW, Geoff has been over in Israel as a bus captain on a large tour, he was looking after a busload of people from USA and Canada. He said he overheard them telling another bus lot that he was a Kiwi and was quaint ROFLMHO.... He is home tomorrow night thank goodness, I am not very good at being a solo mum :-)  

Mail arrived today

from the lovely Marion from Germany
Lookee what I got.....

I sent Marion some arty feathers in the swap envie and she had never seen the colored ones so I got some and posted to her to use :-)   I do so  love both of these pieces of art..... Thank you so much Marion. My first originals from you. Yay!!!!!!   and the postcard says it all for me as:

I am home alone with the children at the moment as my beloved is in Israel with his work as a bus captain looking after about 50 lovely USA people on the tour. I can't wait for him to come home, mind you I hope he takes heaps of photos of buildings etc for me to use in artwork. We have never been away on trips overseas without each other and this is so hard...............

4 Weeks has past

wow, and I haven't posted in that time. Bad me, but I was visiting lots of fabulous blogs for the Where Bloggers Create 2013, see previous post.
I received from a new Facebook friend in USA a gorgeous canvas of Zaccy that she painted for me from a pic of my boy. This is the Facebook pic, might need to take a pic or scan myself and put it in. He has had a haircut since this tho. I was so blown away that Sherry (visit her via the link), wanted to do this for me just because I said something nice about someone :-)

Zaccy

Then we arranged to swap a fairy shrine from Retro Cafe Gallery  so I bought a few shrines and made hers.

This is the one from her.

And mine to her..

Front

Back

She has gone on her way via Aus post and hopefully has winged her way across the seas by now. :-)

Also have done another page for Art Queens of Australia swap. This one is for Vivienne. I don't think I am totally happy with it yet, so it may change a bit over the weekend.

I have a few more swaps to finish over the weekend, so will hopefully post again soon. 

Thanks for visiting and please leave me a comment. :-)

2013 Where Bloggers Create

at last. I have sorted the room a little enough to be able to see my desk again. After my knee replacement I couldn't sit in my room on a chair so bought a lot of stuff out to beside my recliner chair in the lounge and hubby rearranged a few things and put a filing drawer behind me to work on. But now its back to the "craft room/office to create.
We are in the process of making a new studio room off the side of the house so Paul can have his own room and Toria wont be able to keep him awake at night etc.
I know this is not as "gorgeous" as some folks but it is workable for me.
The cot will be gone on the weekend and the blue plastic drawers back in there. The cot was for Aroha our youngest little grand-daughter that we are in a court case over with our sons sister-in-law, but by the time and if she gets here she will not be in a cot anymore.

So here goes.
Pic 1
 through the doorway, the room is not very large about 8ft x 8ft

Pic 2:

Storage drawers that hold my stamps, some inks, punches, chipboard, embossing powders, and lots of bits and pieces. It is in our dining room at the moment as the cot is in the space that they are normally in.

Pic 3

Part of a bookshelf just inside the door that has Moonglows, stain bursts etc and next shelf down has Ice Resin basket, etching, patinas etc in the next basket, next to them is my butane torch and other bits that need to be tidied up :-) 

Pic 4:

My paper racks with 12x12 scrapbooking papers and the trolley that is beside me for holding scissors, clamps,small hole punches etc. The drawers hold blank canvases, photo frames, all my stationary stuff etc.

Pic 5:

Golden Ted sitting on the paper racks and a stuffed doll which was a gift from Barb one of the 4BFF who are myself, Barb,  Lucy and Bevlea . The TV is only generally used for viewing DVDs etc and a bit of music now and then.

Pic 6:

Work area, computer on one side of desk and  the  shelf that has all my Goldens, Lumieres, Luminarte powders etc on it. The drawers to the right of the computer screen have all my various pens, tombows etc, metallic rubons, tubes of texture paste, small cutting mats that can be used with pergamano (which I havent done for about 7 years) I also use them with my Japanese Screw punch. Under the desk is my fabric bin and a bin of paper napkins (I have heaps, used to be a compulsion to buy up all the lovely ones I saw LOL )

Also close up of Fairy shrine from Retro Cafe Art Gallery that I am making for a friend in USA.

Pic 7:

Work space with the Fairy shrine pkt on my well used cutting mat, with my paint brushes, glues more pens etc. This desk area looks out the window to our large deck where the kids can play while I play and I can see what they are up to. :-)

Pic 8:

Nearly forgot these areas. This is my shelf that has my Lumieres, goldens, Luminarte powders, various gel mediums etc.

Pic 9:

The wardrobe, which has no doors now and hubby built shelves in it to hold my containers with all my laces, ribbons, braids etc. Bottom row has paper drawers, with jac paper, handmade papers etc, A4 paper racks, middle row is the little bins with the ribbons etc, top shelf has my unmounted stamps and beads. Bottom shelf has magazines and lovely books for inspiration.

Phew, if you made it to here, THANK YOU.... I love doing mixed media artwork and I wish my new studio was done but it takes time and money. Maybe next year when you stop by it will be done and look really lovely LOL.... Keep reading down the posts to see some of the work I have done recently.

Cheers

Glenda

Now I am off to check out more of the lovely spaces that bloggers create in.

WHERE BLOGGERS CREATE 2013

Mine is still coming, so sorry. Please come back and visit me, in the meantime go to My desert Cottage and have a look at some of the other bloggers creative areas.
I promise I will have pics up tomorrow or Monday night. Things have been a bit hectic here with school holidays...Pain in my back, been very debilitating.
So please come back soon.

Tryptich ATC swap with

Denise Phillips and Nancy Baumiller of Crowabout B studio. .Nancy is giving away a $25 Gift Certificate in a draw if you use some of her images on the ATCs.
The swap is to do two sets of ATCs, one that Denise will keep and swap with one of hers and then the other goes to another participant. There are only 20 spaces in the swap, so should be good.
Here is my entry.

I have used my own background, then two images from Nancys range. The wings are from Itkupilli that I have recolored. Added some punch stars and some words. I love this one and can't wait to see what I get back in return.

Art Queens Tip In 2

It's time again for a Tip-in page. This one is for Kyla DeRuiter. Sort of a bit Zetti, but not too much. It has to have a quote on each one, this one says "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words"
Strayed into different colors, background started out as Pink/Teal and Silver., then added some white stamping with a wooden stamp, then a mask with "frayed burlap" distress ink. Added some "peacock feather" distress ink through some sequin waste. Pic is from CrowaboutStudios . Also put a piece of Washi tape along near the bottom so the girl is not floating in the air.

I hope Kyla likes it.  I love doing this style. 

I am also doing some ATCs for a swap with Denise Phillips and Nancy Baumiller  from CrowaboutStudioB, using an image from Nancy,the ATCs are Tryptich playing card ATC's. They have to be in Denise's hands by mid July so I need to get onto them this weekend :-) I will show you when I have done them. I need to make two sets as one set gets swapped with another artist and the other is for Denise and she will send a set back done by her, yipee.................. So off to work I go......

My Home is my Castle ATCs

This year I am again participating in Marion's swap. Title is as above.
Here are my creations.

Now lives with Peggy Gato

Now lives with Birgit

Now lives with Clau

Thanks again for the invite Marion. I look forward to receiving back artwork from round the world. One from bockel24 would be nice too LOL.

Tip In Swap for ArtQueens

Artqueens is holding  a Tip-in Swap, we are making one page a month and working through the list of who to post it to. At the end of the swap we will have art work from each person to put into a book or bind however we want to do this. My first page went to Kasha.  I had forgotten that the pages required a quote, but hope my words are ok as one.

This page is to me from Bevlea for June.

Lets see if I can do something on here each week from now on. Pigs fly too, or as the saying goes in NZ "Yeah Right Tui"  Maybe I better join in the WOYWW.  Through "Whats on Your Workkbench Wednesday that is run each week with the guidance of Julia Dunnit.   But then again I am not so sure I could commit to it. We shall see. 

I am about to make my ATC's for Marions yearly swap which need to get to her in Germany by mid July. This time the title is My Home is my castle. So got to rouse my muse and get on with them. See you soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO ME, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.
Well, another year has passed, another year older. AHHHHHHHH!!

I got this lovely card from Nephew and wife Rhys and Ruth and little Christian. Its lovely, The black is actually silver.   So now not only am I an ArtQueen, I'm a Queen for any day I choose to look at this card.
Paul made me a lovely card at after school care

and Tori had Geoff's help to make a card too. We enjoyed a lovely desert with Rhys and Ruth, so are all very hyper on sugar LOL.

I have made a bit of artwork lately for swaps, but haven't scanned or taken photos yet. I will do that in next couple of days and load on here for you all to look at. To those of my friends in NZ, hope you had a fabulous Queens birthday weekend. Ours is next weekend.

New Piece

I made this piece today to send to a friend who is not feeling well.
Hope she likes it....
Background is an Itkupilli image, the lady is Hidden vintage Studios, owl is a found piece.

It will be postal in the next few days.
The previous canvas 12x12 is heading to Greece to Valerie, one of the ladies in our Paperarts group. I hope she likes the canvas when she receives it. I am getting hers so it will be interesting to see how each of us interpreted the same image.

Visitors

to our gum tree beside the deck.   These parrots came in on Sunday afternoon to our gum tree.
They make rather a mess, but it probably does the tree good to be pruned like they do.
Not sure what sort of parrot they are, maybe somebody could leave me a comment and tell me what they are. They are quite noisy too....

Aren't they beautiful , I love birds, I used to have an aviary when I was a kid with budgies, then when Geoff and I got married I had a large aviary with lots of different kinds of birds, including Kakarikis (NZ Parrot) and Lorikeets, cockatiels, love birds, canaries etc etc. They and the aviary got moved every time we moved house. 

He (Geoff)  is a  treasure :-)... I gave away my last few birds when we moved to Australia, but I get blessed loads with lots of beautiful birds just being here in our backyard.

Paperarts Same Image Canvas

We got sent an image from Lucy and had to use it on a 12x12 or slightly smaller flat canvas.
I only had  a 12x12 and no opportunity to go and buy anything smaller so this is my effort.
I don't know who it's going to yet.

Knowledge is not necessarily Wisdom.

I started off with two pieces of scrap-booking paper and put them on each half, originally going to do it landscape, then decided to do it portrait. The image we had to use is the girl from Hidden Vintage Studio, "Sitting pretty girl." From DeviantScrap Because she had a book in her hands it denoted wisdom to me so needed an owl (which I love)  as well. I have added molding paste through sequin waste and then colored with several metallic rubons. I hope whoever receives it likes it. Its always hard to do this sort of swap not knowing who its going to so not knowing their tastes at all :-)

Book has arrived in NZ and loved by the recipient Jacquie

Here are a few more pages now. Her title was Living the Dream. It was quite hard to interpret, but I hope she likes what I did.

Cover ala DJ workshop.

The journal has five signatures, of six pages put together in the book with a binding of old lace, and various ribbons and bits of fabric etc in it, hanging from the side.

My favorite page, still trying to get the clean up in Photoshop right ahhhhhh

Spine

One of signature pages

Another signature spread

Butterflies are a serviette, raised a bit for texture.

Anyway, it was very costly to post to NZ....... And I was worried it had got lost as Jacquie didn't let me know it had arrived, BUT!!!she was away on holiday and emailed me the minute (virtually) she got home... 

I hope she has had a chance to have a good look through it by now.

This page has texture molding paste on it. With a bit of mica over the picture of the girl.

I left some pages like the left hand one so Jacquie can  add some inspirational pages if she wants to.

See you back soon. I have another project , for Paperarts to photograph and put in here too. Hopefully will get it done tonight or tomorrow.

Papertrader's Blog Hop Winner

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments from such wonderful people who have visited my blog over the weekend of the blog hop. It was fun to visit others in the group.
Here is the winner of my giveaway........
As you can see I used  Random.org to generate the list.

There were 18 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Donna M
2. Jo M
3. Michelle
4. Denise T
5. Fairyrocks
6. Beckie H
7. Stampgran
8. Bevlea R
9. Marion
10. Cathy C
11. Amanda E
12. Patti McC
13. Redjanfern
14. Joy
15. paintedlady
16. Gill
17. Cathee
18. Barbara de L

Timestamp: 2013-04-22 06:21:21 UTC

I will be in contact for your address shortly Donna. I hope you like the piece in the flesh when it arrives at your house.

More work to share with you

Paperarts, has some year long swaps running. One of them is Francophilia, whereby we make a 22cm x10cm page in various themes for Francophilia.
Here is my first three months efforts.
1: Fashion
2: Napolean
3: Revolution.

Its a fun swap and I love doing them.
we also have a swap for Tiles that can be put on a canvas or some other substrate at the end of the year. It will be quite large as we do 10 tiles per month in a set size. The backgrounds have to be done using Collections papers. Otherwise we can use any ephemera at all.
So far we have done Jan, Feb and March. These are my ones.

See you again soon.

PAPERTRADERS BLOG HOP

I am so excited to participate the First Paper Traders Blog Hop. I hope it will be a way for you to get to know me and a few of the other group members better, see our art, and get a chance to win some nice prizes that are being offered along the way.  Maybe you'll even be inspired by what you see and want to join the group.

The Blog Hop will be open the entire weekend of April 19-21, 2013.  Be sure to start at the Paper Traders Art Blog here and follow the blog hop list of participating members below:

1. Marion Bockelmann
2. cathee s
3. Gigi Lorenc
4. Heather R
5. Beckie Holso
6. Amanda Evans
7. Donna B Miller
8. Cathy Calamas
9. Sam Bonney
10. Connie Holso
11. Glenda Laing  you are here  and welcome.....
12. Pam Colosimo

Each member will share a little bit about herself and offer either a handmade art piece or other quality prize that will be randomly awarded to blog readers who leave a warm, fuzzy comment.  Just comment below and provide a way for me to contact you and I will pick a randomly drawn name from those who leave a comment.  One entry per person, please.

Here is mine: Titled "Kookaburra"  probably will add a little bit of ephemera in the giveaway too :-)

Have fun on your journey and I hope you'll come back to visit me soon!

A little about me.... I am a Kiwi (New Zealander) who has been living in Australia for 7 years. We love it over here and probably will never go back to NZ :-)
I got into paperarts through becoming a Creative Memories Consultant and that led to me opening my own scrapbook shoppe in Wanganui where I was fast-tracked into learning stamping etc very fast. I saw a picture in a magazine of some stunning work done by Aussie Joy Bathie and I was hooked into Mixed media and ATCs. Never looked back since. Its been a learning curve with painting and that started with doing a course with Joy just after I moved over here, then my friend Bevlea ran some art retreats and I had the pleasure of meeting and doing classes with DJ Pettit (waving at ya Marion) twice even,  the painting and journals are still a learning curve. Over the years I have done many crafts from making children's clothes, knitting, macrame, basket weaving and the list goes on. I think about the only craft I never attempted was tatting, too fiddly for me. But!! Paperarts is now my passion for craft. I love it and seeing what others do and learning from them.
So thank you to all that have blogs etc out there that share their work and techniques...