Artiology

Arty Times

2012-02-24T22:17:00.002+11:00

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way"

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

The first weekend of February, I journeyed up to Tocumwal on the Murray for a fun ' BFF' weekend with Barb, Lucy and Glenda..

I made a name plate for my sister, Barb and Glenda made one each for themselves (I had made my own on a previous trip), and Lucy, whose muse had deserted her entertained us with chatter and wit :-)

desk name plate.. thankyou Mr Lucy for cutting the mdf houses and boards for us :-)

We had a fab time making art, eating, drinking and taking the mickey out of each other... it was a wonderful fun filled, supportive weekend with good friends that I'll treasure.. we enjoyed ourselves not knowing how close we all were to our lives changing forever.

Last morning, all ready to head back to our regular lives...... blissfully unaware

On the Monday we all headed home, Barb towards Bendigo to spend time with her parents and Lucy, Glenda and myself back to Melbourne. Barb didn't quite make it - having a major car accident just outside of Bendigo, but she survived and is on the road to recovery. (full story on the accident on Barb's Blog)

Treasure each moment and take none for granted.. and yes, tell your significant other and friends how much they mean to you. You really never do know what's around the corner.

Jan Harris Class

2012-01-10T16:18:00.000+11:00

Last October I took a two day class with Jan Harris... first day was a hand made journal with repousse and the second day was wax...

I didnt end up finishing my journal in class but polished it off when I went away to Rosebud with Lucy in December.... one more UFO knocked off :-)

I plan to use it as a travel journal.. I'm really not much of a journaler, but thought it would be good to use as a 2012 travel journey for the Rusty Ramblers travels :-)

Last minute, Last Day UFO's

2012-01-01T14:05:00.001+11:00

Back in September Lucy and I took one of our little trips, this time to Ocean Grove... while there we started these desk name plates... well, I started mine, Lucy had completely finished hers by the time we left LOL

Lucy's lovely other half John cut the MDF houses and base plate for us, and we bought the letters at the Kaiser factory in Geelong on the way through. Then we painted them, decoreated with papers, bling, chipboard etc and glued it all together. I finally finished mine yesterday... Dec 31st 2011... so I did finish it the same year I started LOL.. this has not been added to my long list of UFO's to be done!

Proud of me lucy? ROFLMAO

2011-08-29T23:01:00.000+10:00

I have (again) been very remiss in keeping my blog up to date... feel like a confession, forgive me father its been ages since my last post....

I havent been doing a lot of art... have found that unless I am in the company of like minded crafters, I do very little.. I sit at my table, papers, glue, bits n bobs spread around... and before long I have either moved off to the armchair to read a book or to the computer to play a game (damn you FB LOL)

I am however, off to an arting weekend with Lucy in about 2 weeks and we have several projects planned... so in the meantime, for the sake of saying something, I thought I would ~~bore~~ dazzle you with some photographs I have taken lately... taken at Emu Bottom Homestead, built around 1836 its Victoria's oldest homestead

Swaps n Stuff

2011-07-25T15:45:00.001+10:00

Have been running way late with a few swaps and am finally catching up

First up isnt a swap, but a class Lucy and I took with Julie Van Oosten down at Scraptacular about six weeks ago (did i say I am running late lol?) Class was on her new printers tray kit... great class, ran into lots of old faces and had a lovely time. Took home the completed tray at the end of the class too! (which is always a good thing, because if it comes home half done it never gets finished! LOL)

Then I finished a Houses of History page for Jane... her theme was Captain Cooks cottage so I have taken the cottage and added a pop up garden

and finally is an ATC for the WTA on PaperArts.

Trentham Falls

2011-07-25T15:33:00.000+10:00

Last Saturday I headed up Dayslesford way with my sister... we where heading to Trentham Falls..... with a short stop at Woodend for morning tea where we found Bourkies Bakery. Best coffee and pastie I have ever had... and we bought some of their famous Vanilla Slices to take home for afternoon tea :-)

The pathway to the bottom of the falls was closed, and while it was easy work to get over the fence, I decided on caution being the better part of valour as the track was so muddy, I could picture myself making record time to the bottom (with several broken bones lol)

Falls were awesome, and totally running .... we could hear the falls from the carpark, and they were a great sight...

Trentham Falls

After the falls we took a walk through the botanical gardens at Daylesford.. lovely gardens, very, very established... its obvious they havent been touched by bushfires.. but it was soooooo green and mossy there I don't think a fire would stand a chance lol

Fernery at Gardens

Trees along side of scenic drive.. note the moss!!

And cupcakes to take home for the kids!

New Beginnings

2011-07-17T09:18:00.001+10:00

Last weekend (July 8th) the big day finally arrived and my son married his soul mate Nadine, sorry for the rest of the males of the world, there is one less amazing lady available.

I am sooooo proud of them both, they organised the wedding themselves (well Nadine did with I think a lot of ok, ahah, and absent minded head nodding from Matt LOL) and did a magnificent job. Nadine looked stunning, Matthew handsome and they both couldnt stop smiling.

Sunday they headed off to the US for four weeks starting in LA and travelling through Florida, Washington, New York and Niagara Falls.

Welcome to our mob Mrs Nadine Ross, I'm gonna love having you as a daughter :-)

Nadine arrives at the church

Signing the Register

Mr & Mrs Ross

Our family

Cutting the Cake

Road Trip #3 - Queenscliffe

2011-05-23T14:15:00.001+10:00

Last weekend Lucy and I took off on another of our 'mental health weekends' and headed off to Queenscliffe for some arting, fun and frivolities.....

We drove down Friday through intermittent squally rain to our little cottage we had booked and settled into our temporary home... it was small, and quite old (very 50's little granny flat) but it was warm, beds were comfy and the hosts had left us ample provisions for the weekend. After a quick and very yummy lunch at the Atrium Cafe, we stayed in on the Friday and got stuck into our first project, The Fork In The Road journal.

Queenscliffe is a lovely little town... very pretty with loads of old buildings and Italianate mansions.....had lots of fun with the camera.

Windows and Turrets of an old beachfront mansion

Saturday we started our day with a one hour massage at the Queenscliffe Day Spa... was heaven!! we enjoyed it so much we plan to go back there for another one when we go to Ocean Grove in September. After some lunch and a spot of sightseeing we headed back to our cabin where we continued our Fork In The Road journal, we found the instructions for the journal a tad challenging... but we eventually worked them out (albeit we altered the format a little lol) and finished it Saturday night.. then started our Configurations box.

Queenscliffe to Sorrento Ferry

Sunday it was off to Sorrento on the ferry... overcast day but no rain and not as cold.... lunch and a wander around Sorrento before heading back to Queenscliffe and our little cottage to work some more on our configurations.

Under Point Lonsdale Pier (and yes, the wave missed me LOL)

Monday dawned with blue skies and sunshine (typical, we always get the good weather on the days we head home LOL).

Point Lonsdale Beach

We detoured past Point Lonsdale, awesome beach front there, had breakfast in Ocean Grove and then headed home... arriving back home in time for afternoon tea :-)

Lucky the wind didnt change!

Queenscliffe Guest House

Configurations box (not quite finished)

Fork In The Road Journal

Journal Open (zigzag book on left hand side, and the lid comes off the box with legs)

Etched Book

2011-05-01T15:44:00.004+10:00

Inspired by the beautiful book Jen Crossley from A Mark In Time made....a couple of weeks ago, I got together with Glenda, Lucy and Caro and we etched and made this little book. Well, mostly made it vbg... the covers stamped with Tim Holtz new stamp 'Book Covers, and then we etched them... while the etching was working its magic we made plaster pages for it... Last week Lucy and I got together and started putting them together, but the plaster was so crumbly and messy we decided to ditch the plaster and go with canvas signatures.

The signatures were stitched in with coptic stitch, and then beads, trinkets and other dingly danglies added to the spine, and a small metal 'staff' finish it off... was happy with the way it turned out.... would def make another one, though I think the next one needs to be a lot thicker....

The CPS House

2011-04-17T10:14:00.000+10:00

Some time ago I downloaded a free ebook from Cloth Paper Scissors and we decided to hold a swap for it on our PaperArts Yahoo Group. We each made the house, according to the instructions, but in whatever theme we liked. I had some cool Alice paper so I made the following Alice house... its now waiting for news of who to post it to :-)

House has a detatchable roof and is made from 300gsm watercolour paper with scrapbook paper glued over it.

Pages were then stitched together on a sewing machine

house is tied closed with silk ribbon, and opens out flat with roof off

Eves are also stitched on, and roof just sits on top

Drink Me!

Finishing Up A Swap

2011-04-09T13:48:00.000+10:00

For the past few months I have been working my way through a swap on Arty Oz... tags and envies, its been fun to do and a bit different to the usual swap. These are the last two to be done... posted them this morning.

This one is for Greta.... theme was Collections products and to be done in colours turquoise, cream, black and sepia

And the next one is on its way to Donna...Theme was use distress ink colours, and flourishes

Royal Progress

2011-03-20T15:00:00.002+11:00

Seems that's the theme this week vbg.

The Art Queens are planning their gathering with the dowager queen (sorry DJ) coming over from Oregon for the confluence in 2012 vbg.

Lucy and I got together on Friday to 'play' and we made these necklaces... as serendipity would have it the words that jumped out at me, and fit in the bezel was 'A Royal Progress'... so I'm going with it :-) The bezel came from http://www.amarkintime.com/ added old chandelier crystal and other bits and bobs... the little Queens chair was a gift from Lucy. The plan was to fill it with Ice Resin.. but thats another story... so we ended up using dimensional magic. Am really happy with the way it turned out

Had a lovely day at Picture to Page yesterday.. went with Lucy and met up with Glenda and Barb Thomas there...considering that all the way to the show Lucy and I were saying we didnt need anything and weren't buying anything we left with two bags each! After the show we headed over to the Burvale Hotel for lunch and good chinwag... lunch wasnt much, but thoroughly enjoying our chatting out in the courtyard ... we were there two hours before we ran out of things to say! LOL

Road Trip #2 - Lakes Entrance

2011-02-11T14:29:00.003+11:00

Last weekend Lucy and I packed the little gold bullet and headed off to Lakes Entrance for the weekend while the hubbies stayed home to mind the fur babies :-)

Ninety Mile Beach

Friday was terrible weather, poured torrential rain most of the way there, roads were becoming swamped around Warragul and Morwell but we arrived safely late afternoon and headed to our cabin.

Pelican Air

We spent a lovely three days there, staying in and 'arting' on the Saturday (too wet to go out) took a lake cruise to Metung on Sunday when the weather fined up ... had no idea there were so many black swans at Lakes Entrance... heaps of birdlife too.

Black Swans

We came home in glorious sunny skies on Monday via Buchan taking in a tour of the Fairy Cave.....

Fairy Cave at Buchan

Had a fabulous time and are already planning our next trip!

Tumbledown house just out of Bairnsdale

Road Trip #1 - Wagga Wagga

2011-02-11T14:11:00.002+11:00

My Canvas

A couple of weeks ago, Lucy and I made a short and impromptu visit up to Wagga Wagga to stay with the demented diva (Barb Thomas) for a weekend.

While our time there was short, we had a ball arting, eating and tippling.... plans are we will do it again later this year....

Lucy, Barb and Me

Mileage

2011-01-26T12:04:00.003+11:00

Is all I seem to be clocking up lately LOL.... went to Albury and back weekend before last in one day, a six hour return trip.... then out to St Kilda beach and Luna Park on the Thursday, Bendigo and Maldon on Friday and Wagga Wagga from Saturday to Monday.... have a (hopefully) quiet week at home before Lucy and I are off to Lakes Entrance next weekend....

St Kilda was very nice.... havent been down there in years... I slipped, slapped and slopped but forgot the legs and they ended up very red and sore...

After the beach we wandered off to Luna Park... havent been there since I was about 13.... not a lot seems to have changed.......

Love the old Bendigo Law Courts... the architecture of the town, built on the money of the gold rush is amazing....was obviously a very wealthy town in its youth

Old Bendigo Law Courts

Conservatory Gardens

Lucy and Eva in Bendigo

HeartStone...spotted by Lucy in the bluestone gutters of Maldon

Merry Christmas

2011-01-03T08:20:00.001+11:00

Well, not a lot of art was done over christmas, way too much food, drink and people to find any time for that vbg... hoping now its all settled down I can get back into and catch up with a couple of upcoming swaps.

The MOTH and I went off to the son and DILs for NYE... was a lovley quiet nite.. just the four of us (and three dogs). New Years Day we went for a drive down to Phillip Island and had a picnic at Kilkunda.

Kilkunda surf beach

Inlet of Wonthaggi Desalination Plant Pipeline

Boris Was Here

Boris

MOTH and The Princess

Boris with mum and dad

Christmas 1-4-1

2010-12-20T17:35:00.001+11:00

I received my Christmas 1-4-1 from Ness Henry today... a lovely reversed canvas with shadowbox front and a bust of Venus de Milo ... pic doesnt do it justice... thankyou Ness...

Tiled Shadow Box

2010-12-20T17:32:00.002+11:00

I have just finished three of these, one for a birthday gift for Lucy, one for a christmas gift for Eva and another for a 1-4-1 on Arty Oz for Audrey Underwood... had a lot of fun making them and have put up a project on how to do them at http://www.2cre8art.blogspot.com

Werribee Mansion

2010-12-06T15:45:00.003+11:00

I visited Werribee Mansion today... spectacular old italianate house of around 100 rooms, built around 1877 by Scottish immigrants Thomas and Andrew Chirnside (and here endeth the history lesson vbg)

House is now restored by the Victorian Government and open to the general public... the house and gardens surrounding it are quite spectacular... would take an army of staff to have kept it going while the the family lived in it.

Its still surrounded by ten acres of manicured lawns, a rose garden with 5000 roses, herb gardens, lake and grotto... originally they owned 400 acres and it was a working farm.

UFO's and Swaps

2010-11-14T13:30:00.005+11:00

I have been on a mission this week... finished off two swaps for PaperArts, one a collab book based on the Night Before Christmas poem, and the other a swap for 12 Days of Christmas, made and posted two more tags from the ArtyOz swap ...... and knocked off a UFO! (not a lot of housework done this week lol)

For the collab book I had to make 15 pages, put the first line of my allotted verse on the front of each page, and the rest on the back.. by the time its assembled it will be able to be read as the verses will flow in order.

The roof is impasto troweled on through cheap lace curtain fabric, and the window is one that I got on a special order from Scrapmatts

Next up was the 12 days of Christmas swap, I made 12 items, wrapped them and put my number on them... the other 11 ladies will do the same and once they are swapped out and returned everyone will have 12 gifts numbered one to twelve which we will all start opening, in order, one a day, starting on 12th December

For the Arty Oz tags this month, Ruth choose brown and elegant...I went with a birth theme...in vintage browns...

Mickeys theme was Rustic, Architectural and green.... the cogs frame on the envie cover is from scrapmatts, and the car in the frame is a derelict truck on an property not far from here (used to be a cheese factory) and I photo-shopped it to turn it into a vintage photo

Haberdashery Shadow Box

2010-11-14T13:29:00.000+11:00

Some time ago, I purchased the Haberdashery kit from Maxine's Melange.. then encouraged Caro and Lucy to do the same under the theory we would do them together on one of our arty days.

Lucy and I got ours half done a few weeks back on an arty play day, and then she finished hers that weekend at home. Mine sat here in bits since then, but I finally got stuck back into on Friday when Carolyn came over with hers .... and today its done and hanging on the wall!

Somerset Studio.........A review

2010-11-07T07:23:00.000+11:00

Has anyone noticed what Somerset Studio has become lately... or rather, what its not?.

It used to be a quality publication, full of great art, inspiration, interviews and techniques. I would grab a cuppa, plonk myself in the armchair and devour it cover to cover, mentally ticking off must try that, love that... that looks great.... scour the back for how they did it... in short I loved it.

It never crossed my mind, that the departure of Jenny Doh would have such a profound, negative impact on the magazine. Yes, a new editor would want to put her own 'stamp' on the magazine, yes she would want to bring in new ideas and take it ... slowly.. in new directions. But would she totally take it into new uncharted, dull and lifeless waters? I wouldnt have thought so... but it is becoming more apparent I should have thought harder as I was defintely too trusting of my favourite magazine to know what it was doing.

The very first issue after Jenny left was unarguably the worst issue I had received. I leafed through it in about 5 mins and found absolutely nothing that interested me. Thought, no problem, its her first issue.. give her time to settle in. There has now been two issues since and my sense of dissapointment grows. The issue I just received has a lovely inviting cover, very cool art on it. Sadly, its the best thing about the issue... I leafed through it in 5 mins, found nothing to take my interest, nothing that I wanted to read... and the art in it was IMHO nothing short of bland... nothing to stretch the imagination or teach the regular reader anything new.

I am giving it two more issues... and hoping like mad that it turns the corner sails into view with a shipload of art that will again put it at the top of tree. If it continues on the way it is, the next two issues will be be last and while I don,t get it direct from Stampington itself, I have a standing subscription with the store and buy every issue.... but I wont be resubscribing.

would love to know the thoughts of other regular buyers, so feel free to leave a comment

2010-10-25T11:45:00.000+11:00

I am in a swap at the moment on Arty Oz - we all have 12 tags with envelopes that we decorate in the chosen theme of each recipient, and then post two off a month to the two ladies whose turn it is.

The first month Ness Henry and myself were due to receive all our tags... this is the one I made for Ness... her theme was vintage fabric....

Front of the Tag is an old doiley, old sewing spool label and a chipboard mannequin from ScrapMatts

Back of the tag, some old buttons, another spool label and random machine stitching

Front of the envie is more vintage fabric, buttons, old crocheted doiley and random machine stitching

(I made it on watercolour paper and glued it to the envie)

Back of the envie, more stitching, fabric and buttons.

Birthdays

2010-10-25T11:35:00.000+11:00

Its a busy time in our family, birthday wise around this time of year....a neice and I share the same birthday, with another neice following up 5 days later...this year I turned the big 60... never thought I would ever be so 'old' lol

Had a lovely birthday out with my sister, and being a big number birthday the family all put in for a
'big' pressie and I received an iPad that I had been coveting.... love it! how did I ever live without it lol. Saturday night the family and I (and Lucy) went to the Titanic Theatre Restaurant in Williamstown... had a fantastic night.... can highly reccomend a trip to it....................

Time Flies

2010-10-04T16:03:00.000+11:00

35 years ago I met and married my 'soul mate'. We met early July '75, set the date mid august and married late September 1975. Any music at the wedding was drowned out by the chorus of "its too soon, too quick, it wont last, it wont last, it wont last".

35 years later we are still together, in love and very much married. Over the years we lost track of the dissenters as they, after long courtships and engagements, separated and divorced, otherwise they may have got an invite to our anniversary celebrations and surprise vow renewals. I say surprise as it was a covert stealth operation hatched by my sister with help from #1 daughter and #1 niece, with secret complicity by hubby.

We had a fabulous night, just very close family for a full on cocktail party... all in our swish after five gear... even hubby.. who decided to wear a kilt (in the Ross tartan lol) that night in honor of his scottish heritage LOL

thankyou to my darling sister for her help and planning.. and to the family who attended... love you all.

View Photo Slideshow

Arty Play Days

2010-09-12T17:41:00.000+10:00

It was our 'regular' play day time last friday, this time at Lucy's house. Caro was missed as she was tied up at the last minute with family committments.

We made the Angel Wings project that we all bought from Collections at the recent Paperific... while it didnt go as smooth as we liked they were all done by lunchtime (maybe its just us but the instructions were a bit confusing lol).

We planned to start on the Scrapware project after finishing the first project, but after a nice lunch we completely lost our motivation and just kicked back and chatted with the plan that we would do it at home and have show and tell next time we meet.

I got stuck into mine yesterday and had it done in a day (think my mojo has found her way home lol)

Reversed Spooky Canvas

2010-09-05T15:48:00.000+10:00

This months PaperArts swap is a reversed canvas, spooky theme. Its supposed to be 5 x 7 but after going to three shops, two of which didnt have canvas's at all, I grabbed them at the third...

They are the wrong size coming in at 9 x 7 but be buggered if I was driving around looking for the right size all day. If they get rejected cause of the wrong size I'll just keep them as I was very happy with the way they turned out.

I have gone for a vintage, ghosts of house from times past type of thing...two ladies trapped forever in the spooky mansion by the children/ghouls.

We had to make two canvas's, then hinge them together so they will stand....now I just have to wait to see who I post to...

Titanic

2010-08-27T14:15:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was Titanic day. We had the tickets for the exhibition and the IMAX doco for a couple of weeks and were really looking forward to it. Carolyn B and I went along and took my sister for a belated birthday gift... and we were all so glad we went..

The exhibition was amazing... definitely the best one I have been to at the Melbourne Museum (Pompeii was 'ok' but the Egyptian was very dissapointing). Titanic redeemed the museum and we are now looking forward to the next one they run.

The exhibition itself took a full two hours to get through, armed with our audio guides we sauntered through looking at the artifacts taken up from 'her' resting place as well as video displays, recreations of the interior (the grand staircase is AMAZING!). There is even a real very large ICEBERG set against a starry backdrop!

We all had boarding passes with the name of a real passenger on the back, and you could check the wall of the passengers names to see your fate... I was 'Mrs Benjamin Peacock (Edith Nile) a third class passenger, and like most of the 3rd class I did not survive... sadly Edith's two children a 3yr old daughter and 9mth old son perished along with her.

After the exhibition and lunch we saw the doco in 3D at IMAX, again spectacular. If you are thinking about going to this exhibition, do so! It was well worth the cost of a ticket, and the best day I have had it ages.

(the two tarts with me were first class passengers and naturally survived)

Swanning Around

2010-08-27T14:06:00.000+10:00

Its been a very hectic 7 days in the Ross Household. Came down with a rotten lurgy last week, lost my voice, got it back just in time to attend my neice's 30th birthday party which also turned into a surprise engagement (dont think anyone was more surprised than her lol).

She had no idea, and was totally shocked, followed by tears when her partner went down on one knee in front of 80 people and proposed to her. (and yes, she said yes vbg).

Next day was my sisters birthday, with more celebrating....... coming up soon is my son's engagement party... must be spring in the air vbg

Winter's Grey Cloak

2010-08-16T13:07:00.000+10:00

I do truly hate the winter months.

Grey leaden skies, barren trees, icy winds, lashings of rain on the window. Yes, I KNOW we NEED the rain. Is it too much to ask that it rains at night, while I am safely snuggled under the doona with the electric blanket keeping me at a basting temperature?

Spring is now only 16 days away... and on our (rugged up) morning walk yesterday, I spotted the first signs that its finally starting to make an appearance... bliss is not far away...

August Art Queens

2010-08-06T17:58:00.000+10:00

Had a lovely play day today with the Queens (Glenda, Lucy and Caro). We etched, ran copper through the sizzix, hammered and bent a couple of cuffs.... enjoyed a nice lunch, good company and lots of laughter.....

Otis the show pony has to get his head in every pic

copper, out of the etchant

Me, Lucy, Glenda and Caro (the the camera hog Otis)

Tarting Up The Bedroom

2010-08-02T18:29:00.000+10:00

Which is the only tart in there LOL

I did a revamp of the bedroom last week.. new doona cover set, new cushions, bedhead, bedside tables, lamps....then decided I need something to go over the bed as the wall looked blank. I painted up a 15" x 45" canvas, picking up on the colours of the bed cushions... love the finished result... and would love your feedback too (hubby just goes 'uh-huh... looks good' which translates as "I have looked, hopefully said the right thing, can I go now?"

I have to add too, the gorgeous paper dollie in centre panel was a gift from Barb Thomas, def not my own work. The colours worked soooooo well with the bedroom I incorporated it.

BTW.. the princess liked the 'pillow' make over
before the canvas went up...

where is my girl?

ahhhh there she is! lol

Good Times with Good Friends

2010-07-23T21:03:00.000+10:00

Had a lovely day at the Melbourne Craft and Quilt fair with Lucy and Caro today.... was much better than the last time I went and I seriously gave the plastic a workout.... bought some lovely goodies to make necklaces, earrings etc., met Sophie from Scrapmatts and bought some of her lovely goodies.

~ Princess Maggie with her favourite activity... sleeping! ~

Was just relaxing reading a few blogs I follow and found this on Jo's blog (she found it on Martha's).. its from the Simple Woman's Day Book.... sounded fun so I decided to play too

Today (Friday)

Outside my window... Its dark.... and cold
I am thinking... should I eat before bed?
I am thankful for... Family and good friends
From the kitchen... chocolate cake is cooking
I am wearing... purple fluffy dressing gown
I am creating... thrinchies
I am going... to bed soon... big day today, another biggie tomorrow
I am reading... Relentless, by Dean Koontz
I am hoping... For warmer weather to hurry up
I am hearing... the football on the downstairs telly and the boys second guessing the umpire
Around the house... my sister is making cake, the men are watching telly, the princess is asleep on my lap
One of my favorite things... cuddles with my doggie
A few plans for the rest of the week... a workshop tomorrow to make a Junque Journal, dinner tomorrow night for the neice's 13th birthday....

Arty Play Day

2010-07-16T19:23:00.000+10:00

Well, my day didnt exactly go to plan today. Lucy, Glenda and I were getting together today for an arty time.... but I slipped on the wet bathroom floor this morning and whacked my head on the corner of the wall as I went down.... split open a good gash, blood flowed.... but apart from a goose egg, dried bloody hair and feeling a bit fragile all was fixed with a cuppa and two nurofen LOL

I had a lovely day with the girls making some goodies from
Stephanie Lee's book Semi Precious Salvage. They have turned out to be real shared friendship items.... I used a crystal from a chandelier drop in mine that I bought when I was in Tassie a few weeks ago, Glenda gave me the dolls arm.... Lucy and Glenda have beads in thiers that I gave them, the little charm on all our dolls arms is from Lucy.. and the etched metal was from a previous play day vbg

We got the first project (a necklace) done so quickly and trouble free that after lunch we decided to do some earrings... I am not a dangly earring person but love how these turned out :-)

Getting Out Of Dodge

2010-07-03T09:39:00.000+10:00

I left Melbourne on Thursday morning to come up to Wagga Wagga for a long overdue visit with my dear friend Barb Thomas. The princess has been left at home much to her disgust, under the watchful eye of Ella. I left at 9.30am in the rain, and I continued driving through rain, sunshine and more rain, all the way here for what was supposed to be a leisurely 5 hour drive that ended up becoming a 7 hour trip.

Cars! ugh! She drives beautifully in the city but became quite tempermental heading for rural NSW. Lets hope the return journey is smoother! Drove past lots of cows, sheep, green fields, quaint towns, big towns, rest stops, road houses with cold chips and too strong coffee.....

We have only four days together before I have to head back, a very short space of time to refire each others Muse's... so far I have been working on some Steampunk ATCs for a paperarts swap and Barb is putting the finishing touches to hers. Today we hope to finish them off so we actually have some art to show for our time together!

(check out the urban footprint to the below, what a blight on the landscape!)

Another Itch Scratched

2010-07-03T09:35:00.000+10:00

I attended a workshop at Eva's last Monday.

Great company, lovely tutor, very nice afternoon tea... and an itch scratched. Enamelling is NOT for me. I dont like its imprecise nature... its something that no matter how good you get at it, you cant control exactly how it will turn out.

Too many variables with heat, thickness of powder, impurities on hands... erk... the work done by everyone else was lovely... but its something I would need a lot more practise at...so shelve that and move on vbg.

The last picture below is not all my work...Eva's is the one with the bee, Lucy was the disc with the fluer de leis that you can really see... mine is the one that is raised embossed... NOT what I was supposed to be doing lol

Maggie Turns 2!

2010-07-03T09:28:00.000+10:00

Seems so long ago since I brought the little princess home, its only been two years, but it seems like she has been with us forever, cant remember 'life before Maggie' vbg

She was a tiny little thing with a big head and fine little legs that weighed nothing and would fit in my computer desk drawer while I worked (safest place for her too as she had a real 'taste' for cords and cables!).

She's still small but is now a hefty 5.3kg with a head she has grown into and lovely long ears and coat... being a Cavelier King Charles she's never going to go toe to toe with Uncle Darcy the Boxer, but my she has grown!

She was so timid when we brought her home, took to us like a security blanket and bolted when we had visitors, she's still 'shy' but is so much better...she now even lets the little visitors pick her up and pat her... mind you she still does the 'freeze and brace for impact' posture lol

(check out the meatloaf birthday cake!)

The ArtQueens Affirmation Journal

2010-06-19T15:26:00.000+10:00

Along with Glenda and Lucy, I have been working on my journal... my first effort at journaling, and while its fun, I'm not that sure I am happy with what I have created... think they all need 'something' and I do wish my handwriting was nicer..... and yes.. I have changed the book I was using, the first one.. after pulling out all those pages, didn't sit flat enough, so I have swapped to a wire bound blank book

We are using a little deck of cards called Treasures from Tikashi...

First page was 'Honesty'... scrapbook paper with punchinella stencilled over the top, birdcage from the new Tim Holtz die, some collage images, and stamping...

Second page.. 'Completeness'

painted background, punchinella stencilling again, stamping in paint, serviette glued down and varnished over the top...

Third page - 'Gentleness'

scrapbook paper again, more serviettes and some scribbling.

Digital Magic

2010-06-19T11:14:00.000+10:00

I signed up to do an online course with Marie Otereo in May, and its just started this week. Am really enjoying the class... learning how to get more out of Photoshop...have been using PS for over 5 years but its such a huge program there is heaps that I havent learnt yet. This week we have been playing with creative effects such as sepia, vintage, adjustment layers and masking

we started with this

and converted it to this

then this guy

became this one...

then this pic

became this one.

Faeries in the Garden

2010-05-31T16:11:00.000+10:00

Well, I havent seen them, but going on these they should be there vbg.

These beauties popped up almost overnight at my son's "old" place.... they had a couple last year, but this year, they are a veritable fey housing estate with around 18 of them.... lol.

Thanks to Janine Evans for identifying them.. we had no idea what they were when they cropped up last year... they grow under a large pine tree in their front yard.. which is where I was lying when the DIL drove in today (it's ok..she already thinks I'm strange lol).

They moved out of their rental and into their first real house this weekend, so I had to go and grab the last lot of the pics I will get of these.....

Art Queens Journal/Play Day

2010-05-23T11:52:00.000+10:00

Had a lovely day with Lucy and Glenda on Friday... we worked on our art journals... just backgrounds as we are doing the collage and words at home before our next meeting. Mine is in the book I derforested vbg... Lucy and Glenda are using boxboard (chipboard) and will bind theirs when finished.

My first spread was a peeled paper background with paint and mica sprays (Moonshadow Mist and Glitz Spritz with liquid dye added for more colour) and then some gold added via punchinella stencil and a couple of stamps using gold paint again.

Second spread is scrapbook paper with the punchinella used again, and glimmermist stencils, but drybrushes in with paint rather than spray.

Destroying A Boring Book

2010-05-17T17:00:00.000+10:00

Step one... vbg.. I have pulled lots of pages out from the middle of each signature and glued three pages together all the way through to form the 'backing' of my pages... and have ended up with 32 spreads in the book...

I have 75 little cards, called "Treasures from Tikashi" I plan to randomly choose 32 and use as the words from each card on each spread.

I usually choose a card each day as my 'thought' for the day, and funnily enough they almost always seem appropriate to how I am feeling....Today's card is:

Breathe... Breathe deeply. Your breath draws life giving oxygen into your body. When faced with difficulties remember to breathe. Nothing is ever solved when you hold your breath.
Allow the flow. Now may be the time to breathe some new life into what you have pushed aside.

Scary.

New Play Day Project

2010-05-17T11:37:00.000+10:00

I have finally decided to actually start an art journal after thinking about it for ages... t'will become the ongoing project on arty play days... we'll do backgrounds etc., together and then finish the pages off at home by ourselves with collage, paint, drawing, words etc., and have show and tell the next time on our pages.... this will be an ongoing project...taking up play days for the rest of the year.

For my book I have decided to convert an old book I have here, it has sewn in pages so I can remove excess pages from it and will do the work off the page and then add it to the book (one of the many great tips and tricks I learnt in my class with Judy Wilkenfeld). Am looking forward to this... will be fun to get back into arting after such a long break.

Moving On

2010-05-16T22:42:00.000+10:00

I have, I am comfortable in admitting only a few good friends. I know quite a few people whose company I enjoy and look forward to, I have family whose visits I look forward to... but a few of those friends, I am proud and grateful to call confidante's.

I am a very private person in that I don't share me easily, or my deepest feelings freely (people are so judgemental vbg). But I do have a few close, true friends I can bare my soul to in total confidence, not be judged on what I thought, said, or did and they will cry and laugh with me, hug me when I down and kick me up the butt and tell me to get a grip when I over react. I am glad they are in my life and I say a thanks every day that they are there for me.

I have come to appreciate these friends so much more over the past few months. They probably don't realise (or least didn't, before this post vbg) how much they kept me sane and functioning with their belief and faith in me in the last few dark weeks...

The old saying is very true....new friends are silver...old friends are gold.. and I have three I count as gold... (now you're counting.. and I can't afford to buy you all a gold necklace lol)

Its thanks to them I have come out the other side with a smile on my face and optimism in my step...there will be more classes but not as CSR.... we will have a new name, goal and direction. Stay tuned, the fat lady hasnt sung yet................

Time Away

2010-05-13T21:42:00.000+10:00

I was away last weekend... a lovely mothers day gift from the kids... Hubby and I went across to Devonport Tas on the Spirit of Australia, collected a hire car, drove around for a few days taking in Ross, Campbelltown, Launceston, Port Arthur and Hobart before flying home.. had a lovely refreshing break...all those sharp edges have been rounded off again and I feel ready to come down off my mountain vbg.

Elizabeth River, Campbelltown

Sunrise in Hobart

Isle of the Dead, Port Arthur

Port Arthur Settlement

Ross

Welcome

2010-05-03T20:15:00.000+10:00

Yes, I know.. I have moved again.. not 'house' this time.. but blog and direction.. my mental compass is now spinning in circles like an old mariner in the Bermuda Triangle. I know there is land out there somewhere... but dont want just somewhere... but a safe haven...

The events of the last few months, have been both uplifting, rewarding and at times downright soul destroying. This 'new' blog is purely personal..my road back into the sunshine... nothing business.. just art, and hopefully a bit of fun with both art and friends.

Hope to see you here with me