Sunday Underway

Once again I just could not think of a good blog title!

This is my second page in Vicci's square journal - it is water colour paper with multiple layers of stamping and colour washes, another vintage image printed on inkjet fabric and a grungeboard flourish. Because the journal is so thick it was a bit hard to get a good scan of the page - it looks rather crooked but isn't really!

I'm planning on playing some more today with the grungeboard - it is incredibly robust and flexible and takes wet colour very well. I really think this will be one of those products that becomes a staple item for paper artists and not just a fad.

PS In case anyone is interested we had a lovely Christmas party last night - fortunately we all managed to stay warm enough to have a good time! And we have woken today to thunderstorms and rain which feels extremely bizarre considering what the temperatures are normally like at this time of year. Great for the garden!

Circle Journal Pages

Tonight I finished my pages for Tricia Scott's Circle Journal - I posted my first page for this book back on the 15th of September but as I post to Jo and as she is on holidays at the moment I had some extra time to play with this beautiful book, so I did four pages instead of the required two.

The first scan is the back of the first page - this one has really changed along the way with various layers ripped off and new ones substituted when I decided I didn't like my first attempts! In case it isn't obvious I should point out that Tricia decided not to create a circle shaped book but to require the use of circles on our pages. This page has a lot of circles, spots and dots in the background, plus the buttons! The vintage nude is printed on fabric - one that I had left over from another project from some time ago. I have used fusible webbing to adhere her to the paper layer.

My next page was based on my favourite background of Adirondack Color Washes sprayed on with additional water and Moon Shadow Mist in gold. It is a relatively easy and quick but pretty background. I have used some circle stamps and more dots on the background as well as some stencilling. I used some of my various circle punches (of course, it is important to have a selection of sizes for exactly these moments!!) to punch circles from a circled themed scrapbook paper and vintage photo reproductions. I used my sewing machine to stitch around the outer circles in gold thread (with my lovely new and efficient sewing machine!). I also got to use my newest punch - the cute little ribbon buckle.

My last page was an experiment as I haven't printed on fabric since I bought my new printer a couple of months back. I love this vintage baby photo and I am also going to use it on a series of baby themed fabric postcards that I am due to start soon. I really need to spend some time learning how to maximise use of each fabric sheet but at the moment I begrudge that sort of time on the computer. I am using Printed Treasures sheets which are lovely but way too expensive here in Kalgoorlie. This page is my attempt at being a little less rigid than normal with torn fabric, uneven edges etc!! Tricia loves green, red and brown so I was trying to use these colours. So now this one can be posted and I can start on Patti Gramza's gorgeous little octagon deco.

Monday

Now this is a bit of a different style for me. This is my first page for a fantastic shape based journal exchange that I am involved in - this one has an upright rectangular shape (which I love) but the shape we have to incorporate in our design for this journal is circles. So as you can see I have gone for two layers of polka dot papers, circular stamps (Fancy Pants) in the background, polka dot ribbons and also circular alphabet beads.

I may have got a bit too wacky with my "OH MY" but I thought that the woman sort of looked like that might be what she was saying (even if her mouth is not forming a perfectly round "O") as she looked downwards - perhaps at the scales (hence the tape measure) or perhaps at her overly rounded toes!! I've said toes as we wouldn't want our beautifully rounded heroine to have body image issues would we!

Until tomorrow...

Something completely different!

These two pictures are of my two pages in Fiona's Heart Shaped book. It is part of a small round robin based on shaped books (mine was the arch). Other than using the heart shape for our pages, Fiona's only other requirement was that we include something we love at the moment. I am in love with the pink and orange colour combination and have been for quite a while although I don't actually do that much art in this colourway so my pages celebrate this love! The background to the scans is silk fusion paper which I have also made in these colours but I didn't end up using any on the actual pages.

The first page is based on a piece of very pink fabric paper that I made some time ago (a la Beryl Taylor). I have toned it down with gesso and then added some stamping, the picture, beading, the orange flower trim etc and a final dusting of Micropearl Pearl-Ex which is a product I have had for several years and hardly used.

The second page is based on striped scrapbook paper which had been stamped several times in different colours (white gesso, Orchid Chalk Ink, Brilliance Orange) with flourishes/swirls (Fancy Pants and Rhonna Farrar), text (Oxford Impressions) and a small heart. The picture, embellishments and trims are then added along with some dots of dimensional paint and gel pen. The flower in the little girl's hair looks too big but it only just covers the enormous bow she was actually wearing in the photo! The ric rac doesn't go all around the heart as Fiona is binding the book on the bottom left side and that part needs to be relatively flat.

A Comment on Comments

I'm not really sure how to put this but I have noticed that some lovely people send me an email when I comment on their blogs whereas I hardly ever do. The reason I don't is that I just don't have enough time, although it is obvious that others actually make the time and after all, we all only have 24 hours in a day! So for anyone that ever comments on my blog posts, please KNOW that you make my day big-time when you comment and that I love the connection you create even if I am not able to reply.

On the same general subject I have to admit that I was not even aware that there were any blog protocols (such as linking the blogs you love to your own) and I really hope that everyone I ever link to sees it as a compliment. I didn't realise for the first year of reading blogs that strangers actually commented on blogs they read. I thought everyone actually "knew" the person whose blog they commented on! I now of course know that I can comment and have made some wonderful connections as a result. I really hope I am not the only person out there who struggled to work it all out!!


Now to more creative stuff - I have (finally) finished my wall hanging for the Paint Metal Fabric Challenge for Fiona and was going to post a photo tonight but I have just decided to change the hanging part! I am determined to get it in the post on Monday so I will make the changes tomorrow and show you the final result.

The photos today are of some pages I have created in journal exchanges. Both of them reflect my love of patinas and metal products - the top one has fine copper mesh which has been scorched over a gas flame and cut and folded to make a frame and the second one has a faux verdigris patina (using those wonderful products by Langridge) and oxidized copper tape. Now I am off to hopefully resolve my dilemma with my Paint Metal Fabric hanging...

This is Monday's Post

Last night I couldn't upload pictures again so this is yesterday's post (which was going to be titled "I Feel Special!"):

Joseph left yesterday on a work field trip that means he won't be back until Thursday evening so I treated myself to a little variation from the work day routine and set the alarm for an hour later than usual.

Bad mistake for a Monday! I was rushing around the place instead of leisurely reading my emails with my first cup of tea. Anyway I did quickly log on and wow what a wonderful surprise I had when I saw all those comments as a result of participating in the Wednesday Stamper challenge! It made me feel very special and really helped me get through a busy day at work!!

So thank you to all the lovely people who visit my blog and an extra big thank you for the comments.

The photo tonight is of a postcard I finished yesterday. I am calling it a fabric postcard but I am not sure whether they are "meant" to be made entirely of fabric? Anyway it doesn't matter to me as long as it is fun to make. This one is a piece of gessoed canvas (fabric?), stamped with a large asian script image, coloured with chalk inkpads (direct to canvas), has napkin images and torn asian papers adhered with Mod Podge and black gesso added in select areas. The canvas was then stitched to black felt and backed with black cardstock which was stitched around the edges. The asian coin is made with polymer clay and a Krafty Lady mould. It is painted with acrylics and finished with Pinata Inks.

The beautiful Cream Journal Pages below were created by Kate Palmer, a wonderful Queensland stamper/paper artist. I love the way the pages are created story-style.

On my lunch break

I'm not sure what is going on with blogger lately but I am suddenly having lots of trouble loading photos - the functionality just disappears for hours on end. This was the case again last night so no post because it just doesn't feel right without photos!

Anyway, I am on my lunch break now and I have come home to find that the three poor little roses that were on my rose bushes yesterday (unseasonal but much appreciated blooms!) have been obliterated by the howling dusty winds that have been blowing all night and this morning. This photo was taken in January I think and is what our front fence looks like when the roses are blooming (and there is no awful wind). As an aside, the red house next door has been repainted by the new owners since this photo was taken, as has the deep purple fence which I edited out of the photo!

Last night I was lost in my new Cloth Paper Scissors (I just love this magazine) so didn't get anything much else done creatively. Zach is off on a school retreat for the rest of the week so no doubt the next three evenings will be more productive. My stars for today "said" that I should not worry so much about productivity - made me laugh out loud as I always worry about that!


These scans are of the front and back of another page I did in Ann's Metal Journal for the exchange a couple of years ago. The backgrounds are sponge painted with Lumieres - the olive green is a favourite colour and I think it goes beautifully with copper. I love windows and peep holes in journals and altered books and I am thinking it would be fun to do with art quilts as well. I love Jo's recent quiltie where she included gorgeous little metal doors. Have a look if you haven't already - it is really nice.

So now it is time to go back to work. One huge advantage of living and working in a small town is being able to come home for lunch!

Saturday Night Addendum - Ocean Nostalgia

Thought I'd try uploading one more time and sure enough all is well with blogger again. These scans are of two pages I did quite a while ago in a Journal Exchange that was loosely colour based - this one was "oceans". The journal was much larger than I am used to so I used canvas, sea-life themed decorator napkins, scrim, cardboard stencils (from Ma Vinci's Reliquary), lots of paint, stamps (mostly alphabets, again from Ma Vinci and netting), fish bone beads that I bought at the markets in Margaret River while on Christmas holidays, starfish, a small carved fish etc.

Living on the edge of the desert makes you miss the ocean...

5 Days of Bliss

In Australia we have a public holiday tomorrow for ANZAC Day and as it is mid-week I am taking the opportunity to have a five day break by having a couple of recreation leave days on Thursday and Friday. I have come home from work and I'm sitting here at my computer with a glass of champagne. I feel light hearted and filled with the promise of five whole days!

I'm about to move to the kitchen to make the tray of brownies that I mentioned in a previous post, then I am going to watch "Painting Australia" on TV (a rare event for me - watching TV!) I was watching this show when it first started, but missed the last two weeks as I am so inattentive to TV programs and forgot all about it. It is a really interesting show and fills me with even more respect for artists, so I really must try and remember it every Tuesday evening for however long it runs.

Tomorrow I am getting up early (promise to myself) and putting together, hopefully with the able and willing assistance of 16 year old Zach, the new bookcases that I bought during my lunch break today. I will also be getting all my domestic stuff out of the way so that I have most of the other four days for creative stuff! I am hoping Zach will also teach me how to use the Dremel I have owned for three years...

I am a bit accident prone (usually from trying to do too much in too short a space of time) and last night I burnt myself doing a waxed canvas for a lovely blog/stamping friend (who must be wondering where the promised mail is!!) so I need to be very careful with the Dremel as I can imagine that the potential injuries are a little more inconvenient than a blistered finger!

As I didn't finish anything last night I am uploading another scan of one of my "ochre" journal exchange pages. This one was waxed and probably involved a burn too. I loved doing these pages and got to use some of my favourite stamps - I love the tassels from Lazar Studiowerx and the calligraphy from Alphabetique.