Inspiration

This is a picture of the fabric inspiration pack I bought yesterday in Esperance - beautiful fabrics, lemon angelina (the colour is a lot more intense than the photo shows), threads, silk ribbons, prima flowers, orange gutta, braid, sequins, fibre etc - just stunning vibrant colours that call to me (deeply!) You can't really see it in the photo but the top and bottom fabrics are just beautiful in terms of the embellishment on them.

This is a photo of some of the extras I bought - some more paper of course (necessity didn't enter into the equation) and these gorgeous puffy heart and star trims!


And this is the photo side of my "Stamping & Papercraft" article on using the Oxford Impressions Birds Nest stamps as unconventional Christmas stamps. I am really thrilled with the way the cards were photographed together. My long distance friend Sue Smith also has a great article in the same issue (actually she is in virtually every issue!!) - her Christmas card article is just stunning - stamping with paper patchwork, stitching , bead trimming, velvet ribbons...

And now I am off to dinner for a work colleague who is moving across to the other side (Canberra!). We'll eat out on the balcony of a historic goldfields pub enjoying a lovely warm dusk/evening...

Saturday (yet another imaginative title!)

The leaf earrings in the photo are made by the talented France and were purchased this week from her Etsy store. I've used France's Etsy photo because it is so much better than the one I took. They arrived yesterday and I just love them!

Other purchases I've made recently but which haven't arrived as yet are some packets of white and black Misty Fuse from Catherine's Place and some ribbons and mini ric rac from Really Just Ribbons, so hopefully they will arrive early in the week as I need them for a couple of projects. I haven't used teh Misty Fuse before but I have read so much about it I have to try it! (and yes, Mum I will send you some as I know you will want to try it too!!)

I have two pieces in the latest Stamping & Papercraft Magazine which arrived here during the week - they were based around a Crafty Individuals stamp of two boys. The requirement was to demonstrate different ways the stamp could be used and it was interesting to see the variety of results the five participants came up with. I like all the pieces but especially love Jenny Crossley's shadow box - her work is so individual and so special!

I wanted to use the stamp on fabric so after stamping and stenciling on a piece of lightweight cotton, I backed the fabric with lutrador which I had painted - I really love this stuff, especially the heavy-weight white one. I backed it with a piece of the much lighter pink metallic lutrador which is marketed by Pellon as rainbowSPUN. I am trying to loosen up style-wise so this piece was a bit of an experiment for me and I really had to force myself not to keep everything rectangular, neat and tidy!

On my other piece I used my Making Memories Tag Maker which has been a rather under-utilised purchase. I love it and I am not sure why I don't think to use it more often as it makes great little metal rimmed tags. This time I didn't fight my natural style...

I am so glad it is the weekend - I am dying to do something creative! I have plans to do lots of different things and as it is a grey and somewhat wet day here I won't have too many distractions (other than a nice afternoon nap, maybe?).

And now for something a little different...

I have been thinking a lot about my Dad over the last few days - the combination of having some days off work and therefore time to think, as well as the fact that it was his birthday on Friday. He was a potter for a big chunk of the second half of his life and made beautiful functional pieces. It was actually the word "functional" that stopped me in my tracks this morning while I was reflecting on his life. I find it really interesting that something that "just" provides beauty is not seen as "functional" even though it fulfils a very important function for the beholder (now there's a funny word!).

So I thought I would take a photo of one of my favourite little pieces of his pottery to honour my memories of a wonderful father and his art. I love rounded and closed form shapes and this little "vase" is just beautiful.

It is filled with dried spinifex grass and I have photographed it sitting on some painted lutrador (I was trying to get a rusty look with paint) and some sheets of spinifex paper made by the Papulankutja Artists - a group of very talented women of the remote Papulankutja Aboriginal Community (which is located at the foot of the striking Blackstone Ranges between the Gibson and Great Victoria Deserts). The collection of spinifex grass is hard, hot, prickly work and I admire the work that goes into making this delicate but strong fibrous handmade paper. The artists do fantastic little paintings on the paper as well but I stocked up on the unadorned sheets (as shown in the bottom photo, scattered on my cork floor) for my collages when I was out there last October.

It is a bit of a blurry photo but to the left of the photo is a piece of stamped art on spinifex paper that I did for a Stamping & Papercraft "With One Stamp" challenge. The stamp is a great one from Tin Can Mail - a very versatile tag image. My pieces for the challenge have just come back to me so the issue must be due out soon. The paper was great to work on and handled the walnut ink and Tintz dabbers really well.


And now I had better get back to my onion skin dye experiments which have proved to be a fun diversion from my original plans for today! As Joseph would say "Now there's a surprise".

Easter Wishes

I don't know if it is just me but I seem to struggle with titles for posts!

But the title really is genuine - I am sending everyone lots of wishes for a peaceful, loving and happy Easter and for anyone that has creative urges, I hope you get the chance to indulge - sewing, painting, stamping, cooking, gardening, whatever is your bliss...

Last night I was so tired I went to bed early and read magazines - my new "Stamper's Sampler" and "Stamping & Papercraft" both arrived yesterday. Congratulations to fellow Aussie, Loretta D'Onofrio for her fantastic spread in the Stamper's Sampler. Great articles too in S & P by my friends down in Albany - Jhodi Bennett and Sue Smith. These guys are so clever and productive!

As a result of going to bed so early, I didn't have dinner (you know when you are just too tired for anything!) and woke up at midnight hungry, so spent an hour and a half reading newly discovered blogs while I had a cup of tea. It was actually great fun - the house was so dark and quiet, no crappy TV blaring in the background - I am the only one in this house that doesn't have a TV addiction. I had to make myself go back to bed to get the rest of the night's sleep quota so I would have energy for art today! Do you like the little index card at the bottom of this post? I made it via blyberg.net at 2am - I think they are so cute!


The quilt posted today is another from the Art Quilt exchange. This is one I made for Fiona Mortimore. Fiona's theme was Vintage Fairy Children and it was so much fun to do I did both sides. Fiona does stunning work with paper and fabric so if you haven't looked at her blog, you really should. I especially love her use of colur, finishing touches and attention to detail on her art quilts.