Canvas board done in DJ Pettit's Class

I have at long last finished the canvas board that I did in DJ Pettit's class at ART Queens retreat in April.
The class was fantastic and huge thank you to DJ, but also to Bevlea and Lucy for organising such a fantastic retreat again. (Can't link at the moment, my Internet not doing what it should tonight, so I will edit it in a few days)
Anyway........ I love owls and have done so since childhood.

Here is the result of my "Seeing Things Differently" painting.

DJ is such a patient lovely teacher, always willing to share her knowledge beyond what she needs to in a class. I know we all love her to bits and hope she comes back down-under again sometime. This was done in her Sunday class. I am not sure how I will frame this yet.

On Friday we did the "Be Squared" Book.
I am still working on that and hope to get it completed this Wednesday coming.  We made all the signatures and painted the covers and learnt some interesting techniques that are absolutely great and I will be using them time and time again.

Anne Squire from Rotorua NZ came over on the Thursday and stayed with me and we went to retreat expecting to have fun and friendship and we sure did.

Anne Squire and Glenda

The lovely DJ Pettit and Glenda

I will load more pics after I finish the book. See you then.

Long time since I have posted

and Wow I come here and blogger has changed everything around. I had to hunt around to find things. I'm too old for this much change LOL.
Anyway, last time I was here we had just got back from the Tocumwal weekend and Barb had that horrific accident. She is still in Melbourne in rehabilitation although is staying at her sisters place to be close to all that she needs. Talked to her a few days ago again and she sounds better than last week when I talked to her.

Anyway.. Artwise I have been making a little bit, not much. I am too tired at night to do much but fall asleep on the chair, but when I do have some time that I feel good I have done the 5x5 Vintage Fat Book pages up to June for Paperarts swap. I am really enjoying this swap as its only 3 pages, 2 to swap and one for myself. The rules are we have to use Sepia, Latte and one other color. Black & White are ok.
Here is the pics of the ones I have done so far.

For January: Title Doors and Windows...

By Lucy Leatham.

By Glenda

By Jane Wilding

Next for February is Women in Literature.

By Trizzy Crouch

By Alessandra

By Glenda

By Debbi Weiss

By Glenda

March is Music

By Bevlea

By Alessandra

 Oh well. that took me a week to get back to LOL. I will continue it in a few days time with the other ones I have done and a bit more. See you then.

Tocumwal

Last weekend I went with Bevlea and Lucy and met Barb T up at Tocumwal for a BFF weekend of arting, fun and friendship and also some photo opportunities for Bevlea. Check out the Rusty Ramblers for Bevleas run-down of our weekend.

We stayed at "Elizas on the Murray"
 Our room was the last one "number 9" 
We had a fabulous time,  We had dinner at the local "pub which we wont be recommending for any awards, the chicken snitzel was overcooked, chips weren't bad, the put off for me was the dogs roaming the eating area, one of them being quite a rabid looking thing that the pub people said was not theirs but was seen on a vehicle the next day with the other dogs they "did" own. Next night we ate in with Barb doing the honours.  Sunday night we had fush n chups which were ok, the Spring roll tho was the worst I have ever eaten, well didn't eat I threw it out. LOL food left a lot to be desired that was purchased external to what we took with us, and what we had at cafes in Tocumwal and Cobram for lunch .
We had a great time arting, eating, and giving each other heaps of jibes. Fitted in a 90mins massage in Cobram which was"nice".
I managed to cut out my birds for Paperarts swap get some catch up sleep and made 3 of the monthly Fat book pages. I also made my desk name plate that Lucy's wonderful husband cut out the houses and base for us and we bought our name letters ourselves. When Bevlea sends me some pics I will put the name plate here for you to see.

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....