12 Days ready to go!

Here are some of my gifts wrapped and ready to go for a wonderful small group I'm part of. This was so much fun last year and looking forward to what everyone came up with for this year.

Marilena's Birthday Art

This year we decided to go with a recycled art theme for Marilena.  I chose to collage two jar lids, joined together with wire and beads and fill with resin.  The lids were also painted and given a green patina finish on the outside.

Judy's Birthday Art

This  house shaped wood block was made for our lovely art group member Judy for her birthday. Each of us had a house shape to work with which needed to include a photo of one of her family members, fabric, stitching, nature and certain colours. This is Judy's mother at age 6. 

Sept card swap

This is my latest swap for my card pals.  I swiped the calico fabric with gesso and when dry used various distress inks to dye the fabric and later stamped the tree in the centre.  I prepared the fabric a day before my surgery, so that I only had to cut pictures and use glue to finish the cards while I was recovering in the following weeks. 

House page 5 Numbers and Birds

This was a fun theme to play with but was not well and recovering from surgery, so felt I could have made something more exciting had that not been the case. 

Correspondence Page

Page 4 of our house page swap was themed Correspondence.  It was great to use so many rubber stamps on this one.

Vibrant flower

This plant was growing under our verandah and produced the most gorgeous bright pink flowers.

Fab Blog Award

Thank you Debbi for thinking of me and awarding me a Fab Blog Award.  I'm not strongly opposed to such awards so decided to accept and pass on as others have done, who may choose to accept or not.  

In accepting the award, I need to list 5 obsessions and 5 blogs I love to visit.  I could really do 25 of each.  One only has to see my stamp room and then my house to see of course I'm an obsessive person.  I have collections all over the place.  Fortunately, or not, my husband is similar. 

5 Obesssions.

1. Buying and collecting rubber stamps.  I say collecting as the vast majority of my stamps have never been inked and yet I keep buying.  The thought is that one day I'll need it!

2. Buying food.  My kitchen pantry is full, the second pantry in the garage is almost full.  My three fridges and two freezers are constantly full and all are continually replenished.  I have 4 hungry men to feed so feel compelled to buy lots of food.  

3. Watching UK TV shows especially murder mystery. My current favourite show is Monarch of the Glen which is not a murder mystery but rather humerous. 

4. Being creative.  Sometimes I feel quite desperate to find creative time almost to the point of panicking like needing oxygen to breathe.  I find it balances me.

5.  Solitude.  No where near enough of this, but I really enjoy it and need it at times, but most of the time I need to be with my wonderful  husband and 3 sons.

Now to choose 5 blogs to receive the award in no particular order.

Kasha Rolley - A very creative person and dear friend.  Love her style and photos of trips abroad.

Gaye Todd - I just love Gaye's grungy style and admire everything she makes and is another dear friend.

Sue Smith - Sue's work is wonderful and inspiring. Love the use of fabric and stitching mixed with the paper.

Gaby Braun - Lovely paper arts and many free images to use.

Viola Erdmann - A wonderful mixed media artist with an amazing collection of laces and fabrics and ability to use these to make stunning works of art. 

Donations for The Art of Nursing

A friend recently asked if I would make something suitable to donate to the inaugural The Art of Nursing Exhibition.  Funds raised from the artwork created are to help the survivors of breast cancer in our area.  The art is primarily a collection of works created by nurses.  Though I am not a nurse, but working in health, I was eager to offer something in hopes of helping to raise money and supporting this event to be on Friday 21st August.

I decided firstly on a hanging fabric collage and painting in the style of DJ Pettitt as learnt from a class I took with her in March at Melbourne, Australia. This is my first attempt since then and I found it enjoyable though disappointed that the background collaged papers are wrinkled despite my attemps to flatten and so these show up on her face and neck. 

Not sure whether the painted hanging would be suitable,  I decided on doing something different with a  5 x 7 inch canvas and using pink tones.  This was also fun and quick to make.  I do hope someone likes them enough to buy them and raise money for this worthy cause. 

Out to Lunch

These are our three sons joining us out for lunch one Sunday in town.

From left Simon 20, Luis 14  and Dominic 21.

Magical Trees

Kasha's birthday gift was to decorate various blocks of timber she provided to choose from. The theme was Magical Trees and colours of black, white and red. The tree image was stamped on acetate and I then burnt a hole in the centre for the bird to pop out of. This was later hammered into the block of timber and the other bits were added on top. There is some pearl mica glued on the inside of the tree to give that 'magical' appearance but this is hard to see.

Keeping Watch

This hanging was made for a special friend overseas.

"Oh dear, how do I explain this"?

This is a partner to the previous hanging which will hang beside the other as well in my art room. I made one almost identical for Marlene for her birthday last month.

It is the Beautiful Bird which gets Caged

One of the latest hanging pieces I've made recently. My husband insisted that I keep this and hang in on my art wall which was a lovely compliment. It measures a little over 6 x 9 inches.

Latest Card Exchange

These are two of the latest cards I've made for my swap pals both here and in the US. There are eight altogether and each have different birds, fairies and coloured flowers.

Birdie ATC

This is an ATC I made for my friend in the US.

Italian Influence

This is my third page for our Page Dwellers group themed Italian Influence. I used an Italian themed serviette for the background and a few rubber stamps. The title for my page is "Style is Eternal".

Great Giveaway

Check out Magic Moonlight Studio. This is a lovely site full of free clip art and Blanca is currently running a cool giveaway competition.

House page swap

Here are my first two house pages for a swap I'm involved.  Magical Trees was the theme for the first month and By the Seaside the second.  With five in the group and 5 monthly themes, we will end up with a glorious fat house book.

Art of the Month

This lovely felt brooch was made my the very talented Samm Menzies.  I was lucky to have drawn Samm for the month of March and has been a lovely piece to wear this winter. 

Art received

This gorgeous card was made by Annette Husband and given to me for my birthday.  Annette drew this picture more than 20 years ago.  There is so much depth in this piece of art and I find something new each time I pick it up.  Thanks Annette.

Gift for Mary

Here is the hanging piece I made for Mary which was intended to be in lieu of a  Birthday card, but in the end, I decided to make her a card as well.  

Birthday card

Two days ago I had finished a little hanging piece for Mary's birthday which was supposed to be in lieu of a card, but decided to make this simple Asian style card for her as well today.

Mother's Day Hanging Canvas

Kasha kindly demonstrated a lovely background technique from Kelly Rae Roberts' wonderful book, Taking Flight, at our last PP get together.  This was a lot of fun and today I decided to add  some pictures, paper and embellishments and give to my Mum tomorrow for Mother's Day in lieu of a card.  

Birthday Art from the Paper Princesses

Here is the wonderful canvas I received for my birthday from the Paper Princesses. Each created two panels which I later glued down to the canvas I prepared prior to seeing what they had made. There were a few added embellishments added to the canvas background to fill in some empty areas. The theme was Rustic Vintage. It all came together beautifully and is proudly displayed in my lounge room for all to admire.

Tenterfield's Giant Cork Tree

This cork tree was brought from England in 1861 and is believed to be one of the largest specimins in Australia.

Autumn at Tenterfield

I love the Autumn colours which are unlike what we get here at home since our climate is not as cold.

Beppi on Pyramid

Here is my husband Beppi, standing on the rocks of the pyramid to show the size.

Pyramid at Ballandean

 

We came across this pyramid on our way to Stanthorpe and was built by a winery to attrack visitors.

The Paper Princesses

Here is our group while celebrating Margaret's birthday.
From left back, Kasha, me, Marilena, Gaye and Judy with Marlene and Margaret seated.

Birthday Art for Princess Margaret

The birthday art project for Margaret was to decorate a large shipping tag in bird theme, mainly on one side and decorate two small metal hanging birds. The colour scheme was pale pink, sage green, with some black, cream and burgandy.

I kept one bird quite plain only adding some foil to highlight some areas and some beads to hang from below. The other birds is covered in a serviette, then painted over with a transparent gold glaze and some more beads as trim.

April AOTM for Debbi

This month I decided to alter an old coaster for Debbi Baker. The gorgeous Tim Holtz tree stamp was perfect for this project.
A few bird images and a cute girl from Lisa's Altered Art were glued over a base of various vintage papers followed by a coat of lacquer. I hope Debbi finds the coaster handy.