passion84paper

AN EMBARESSING XMAS STORY THAT HAPPENED TO ONE OF MY FRIENDS...

2011-12-16T19:13:00.000+11:00

Okay ....

Theres no friend ...

***sigh***

It was me! LOL

Well, for two weeks I have been trying to win a radio comp

worth a $1000.

I shoulda won it by now being

I have tried ringing like 50 000000000 times

the competition is to listen and identify in order

the 12 famous peoples voices.

It is called...

THE 12 ~~Days~~ DAVE's OF CHRISTMAS...

Being that all the voices are Famous Davids....

Dave's happens to be my expertise

I have lived with one for 20+ years

sadly he wasnt on the list and yep

... nope...

no luck

that's right

if there had been any luck..... I would have let the world know!!!

Anyway I have played each morning devotedly,

sitting next to the radio poised

( no bladder control comments here folks! )

finger over the redial button !!!

Even though I have given everyone else half the answers

I was still thrilled for a box of chocolates and a $50 gift voucher ....

Mr Connor Casanova ( 10 no less!) took the chockies for his "girlfriend"

and then ...ten minutes after I won the Priceline voucher my hair dryer blew up!!

A bang, smoke N all so ....

voucher = new hair dryer right?

Then I had the brain wave ...

I could use Daniels hairdryer and not buy myself one

& save money on xmas presents!!!

I'd use my voucher to buy my favourite "pretend" sister in law

and her two daughters a really lovely gift.

Sounds like a great idea eh?

A beauty gift Box for a fun girls night in with her gorgeous girls!

Manicure set, hair treatments, aromatherapy facial packs,

body lotions, scented candles, even the cutest wee little glitter toe

spaces for a pedicure and foot balm.

I wandered aimlessly around thinking I'll chuck $20 worth in just to spice it right up

and I might even get a invite to hang with the "sisterhood"

as a mother with three boys and no local sisters I ***sob*** have none!

That would be awesome

I could pretend to be a girl...

drink champagne and paint toe nails!

So I shopped even a little harder

after all $ 50 dollars worth was FREE

wondrously FREE!!

Got to the check out and looked at the trolley and thought .....

hmmmm may have over done it a smidge.

I can barely see the checkout chicks face over the pile of pretty pink sparkly girlishness...

"Bleep bleep bleep"... she whizzes it all through...

I may have overdone it, slightly.

I do a last minute paniced mental calculation

as to what is in the bank before my cards declined!!!

OMG that surely would be

the greatest embarrassment to ring up

a mountain of stuff and then... have your card declined due to lack of funds!

Especially as half the staff have helped me find stuff and ponder over products!

They've all watched me traipse backwards and forward admiring my dedication

to my lovely thoughtful "grand plan"

.= $120.00

*** mass panic...mild hysteria ***

oh breathe I'll just bring a couple things back at a later date..

It'll be find ....actually $70 for three people is quite reasonable !

I joke to her about how My Dave doesn't need to know

the WHOLE story...secret women's business

RIGHT? LOL

AND BESIDES...

I have a gift $50 voucher

she waits for me to produce the voucher

I hand it over....

alleluia. alleluia.....

golden beams of FREE light radiate off my voucher

as I hand it over to her

and then...

she says...

"ummm Miss I don't know how to tell you this

but this voucher you won of the radio is

for

PRICE ATTACK ...we're PRCELINE.

Oh ffff....PRICELESS I think!

There is something more embarrassing

than having your card declined ...

She goes on to say...

"If you like I could you like me to take a few things off

make the total a bit ....smaller...maybe?"

so that's what I did ...

when really I just wanted the ground to open up

and swallow me!!!
LMAO!

HAVE A VERY

MERRY N SAFE CHRISTMAS ALL!!

GO AWAY CHRISTMAS... I M NOT READY!

2011-12-11T16:24:00.000+11:00

Makin makin makin ...

PANIC stuff to finish

stuff to post

and oh CRUD ....

I was gunna make christmas cards to send this year!!!

oh well scratch that ...

have to be NEXT YEAR AGAIN!

Christmas looming has given me the kick in the butt i need

more often than not to get moving!

In a week I can show you my bestest made xmas present ...

once it arrives and surprizes and dear friend of mine but till then

I'll have to leave you hanging I am making these whooers ...

HERES A BIT OF A CLUE....

NO MY CRAFTING HASNT LEAD ME TO DRINK....

And now you'll have to wait

for the big reveal .... LOL

These are just the prototypes but they are all but nutted out and are getting easier to put together. Despite everyones fears i hve been playing with sharp sharp bits of tin and big knives havent slipped once yet ...touch wood ***knock on her head*** probably because I did enter the ambulence and hospital number into the phone on speed dial!!! LOL Just in case! How very girl scout of me eh?

I am doing some for both SCRAPTIVATE and I hope to create some

for my local markets in the new year.

In other matters this sunday.....

For years I supressed the urge for my sons to bear toy arms.

Out of principles long since obliterated I had a being a peace love n mung beans type of attertude to parenting and raising my babies but... eventually I had to conside defeat when they'd make their connector textas in to rifles, pick up and hoarde gun shape sticks or chew their sandwiches in to pistols.

Then when all else failed they'd "Pow Pow " with their finger short of cutting their tiny little fingers off I couldnt do a thing about it! LOL

So it was a quick N slippery slope to HERE....

to here....

Today my "big" two the 14 and 10 year olds went to
HUMANS vs ZOMBIES

NERF DART TAG

This is a picture of my

***sob***

once innocent boy Connor ...

The guns nearly bigger than him!
He said "hurry up and take the photo mum this things HEAVY! "

Oh at least I havent shown you the "costume" they adorn themselves with

camo paint, fake scars and blood.etc

I just keep repeating to myself

"RELAX...its just glorified cowboys and indians!"

Then in what I thought was an unrelated matter

Daniel asked me could we plant and grow a mulberry tree.... I asked why exstatic he was thinking about his five food groups and nutrian....

"oh cause Mulburries when you squash em make the BEST FAKE BLOOD!!!"

OH sheshhhh!

LOL

STORAGE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND ...WHAT THE???

2011-11-18T23:20:00.016+11:00

Okay so it
may not make the world turn
but storage for scrapbooker and/or arty folk alike
is the bane of our existance.

I think I ultimately spend as much time organising

( eg cleaning up after creative tornatoes!LOL)

as I nearly do making stuff.

WHO DOESNT LOVE A GOOD MAKEOVER!!!

About a year ago
I made over the boys Gaming central
in our backroom not jooshie just tidy and

I found these CD storage units as I looked for DVD storage!!!!

They were reduced from $25 to $2!!!

I bought as many as I could fit in my trolley

( some would say that because thats what hoarders do...LOL

wash your mouths out those who just said that! )

Anyways some I gave away and some

are earmarked for xmas presents for distant relos who still put their hands out

but this CD storage unit went

From This...

dull, unused, unloved, uninteresting

TO THIS...

{*** trumpets sound, crowds cheer***}

EXXCITING,

REPURPOSED,

ENVIROMENTALLY FRIENDLY,

PRACTICAL

AND A JOY TO LOOK AT !!!!

MY LATEST CREATIONS FOR SCRAPTIVATE ...

2011-11-17T13:36:00.000+11:00

As you who follow my blog would know by now

I belong to the SCRAPTIVATE stores Design team .

For those of you new to my blog or the the paperart world

that means every month the lovely people from SCRAPTIVATE

in Western Australia

send me a parcel of wonderous products from their shop in return

I create some thing for them to display in the shop.

SWEET GIG EH?!!! LOL

But for me this adventure has ment so much more I have

made wonderful friends on the other side of the country who

support and encourage me as no one in my immediate world does

and for that, I want to take a minute now to say

Thankyou ... I am truly grateful!!!

Now....

LOL

on with the show...

This is a canvas I made featuring a tree from the new range of WOW chipboard

available now online or instore at SCRAPTIVATE.

PRODUCTS USED: 8 x 8 Canvas, printed cloth, Wow Chipboard tree, Darkroom Door Steampunk stamp set, German Scrap embossed paper border, INKS, Stampington & co stamps La Blanche stamps Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso and a couple of my MOST FAVOURITE RANGER PRODUCTS- Tim Holtz Distress stain ink dabbers and Adirondak acrylic paint dabbers. Along with those products I used some stamps out of my own stash.... Crafty Secrets art stamps, Stampington & Co stamps, cherrypie red rubber stamp, Grant and Friskers acrylic stamps.

The WOW chipboard tree was put through an machine called a Cuttlebug

which can be used to either cut or emboss patterns onto paper or chipboard.

In this case I used a tool called an embossing folder to press a wood grain patern into the tree.

The same devices and technique have been used to create the "readig boy"s frame.

Then layers of TIM HOLTZ DISTRESS INKS were used to give the naked chipboard some colour.

Some Texture paste was coloured green and slopped onto the canvas where the tree was applied its branches pushed into the paste to give it depth and a more realistic appearence.

This was a little experimental canvas I did first to test out the stamping over gesso

This one features TWIDDLEYBITZ chipboard tree and

Darkroom Doors red rubber steampunk stamp.

I have embossed the German scrap border on the either end of this canvas.

so this was a sample of the fabric that came with my kit. Iwas quite cavas like

and I could have turned it over but the print worked to inpire alot of the projects

in addition to the canvases I made two postcard size images highlighting the versitility of a La Blanche.

Not only do La Blanche stamps stamp a crisp neat image but here I have shown you can play

with the image you would like them to present

Stay tuned for a step by step post here on my blog in the near future.

Here a quick pic of the divine mess I made as I revelled in my husbands,

recent absence for work, and took over the lounge room.

Dont worry ...I laugh now but if Id have dropped the permident Stazon ink pad

on the "good" lounge I woulda been running for the hills or ...

****insert evil laugh here***

devising a story about a child having an "accident" LOL

so theres a few wee projects almost finished on their way ATCs an art canvas and the worlds longest "under construction" art doll is finished I just need to finish her "housing" LOL

So thats it ...if you've wadded your way

to the bottom of this post

I would like to say ...

Thankyou to you too! LOL

Add a comment at the bottom of this post to let me know what you think ,

ask me a "how to" question if you have one

and / or share me on Facebook if you like!

A NEW ADDICTION & AN ART DOLL FINISHED...

2011-11-14T17:15:00.000+11:00

Sorry my poor dear neglected blog….

Well I have neglected the old bloggeroo partially due to arty action

and in part because of my new addiction…. Reading! LOL

Who knew at 38^7%257ISH one could fall in love with reading books again. I can honestly say since I stopped reading sweet valy high romance novels in my mid teens I have never found books of a non artful nature compelling….

It began about two months ago I think I may have mentioned the PERCY JACKSON series my 14 year old son Daniel got me hooked on … I thought it was just the greek mythology/modenday fantasy combination that had me because I have always LOVED Greek and Egyptian Mythlogy since the very first old classic movie they showed us at school…”Jason and the Argonauts” made in 1963

I have just finished reading the 5 th novel in the series I think there are more to come …I hope there are more to come there better be Mr Rick Riordan!!!

My sister is responsible for my latest spell of obsessive reading. She sent Daniel a book called “THE HUNGER GAMES” by Suzanne Collins which has many great reviews and high recommendation including praise from Stephen King. I resisted reading it even though Daniel kept thrusting it under my nose say “go onnn you know you want to! “ and I read the back cover where it described children put into an arena to fight for their lives in an almost post apocoliptic world which to me sounded down right depressing so passed on it a number of times should have stuck with that thought. LOL

Once I got into the first book I would say about 3 or 4 chapters in I was hooked . The descriptive nature of the writing, the emotional investment in the characters, the plot development , the possibility of good triumphing over evil… oh and lets not forget a good ol fashioned love triangle thrown in for good measure! I could barely put it down I read the first novel in about 4 days. Soon realising I was in trouble and would probably …die if I didn’t get my eyes into the next one post haste.

So when Daniel handed me the second novel yesterday at breakfast CATCHING FIRE I was excited thought it would make great bed time reading over the next week or so…. How wrong could I get I was totally suckered in from the first page and finish all 473 pages… by breakfast this morning!!!! (and still managed the family washing and to feed and water the children!) WOW what a great writer my eyes just gorged themselves on chapter after chapter… the twists and turns of fanstacy, romance and danger…. I have actually decided to not buy the last book until our next holidays where lolling about devouring novels is an accepted pass time …gee I hope I can wait that long!!! LOL

the final book in the series ...one to go!

well I will definately have to read the last book before....
THE MOVIE COMES OUT!!!!WOO HOO!!!THE HUNGER GAMES the movie trailer

ON THE CREATIVE FRONT....

I have been playing along a bit with a Facebook group called Artistic Journey Dolls

organised by the lovely Linda Baldock .

It involves the making, showing, sharing and swaping art dolls of all matter and description with other like minded people from the USA and England.

The most recent theme was "The Animal In Me"

I love this group because its so free each theme unless stated otherwise,

is completely open to your own interpretation.

Whatever medium you would like and 80+ woman participate.

So I originally started with a wild Motherhood creature. I creature who had mutated to be the perfect mother part mother part lioness, 8 arms and eye in the back of head the wisdom to see all and know all. Sounded great then made my interptation and though… hmmm she is ment to be a lioness to “guard her cubs” …hmmm I put a maine on her….hmmm lions have maines NOT Lioness’s ….oh DOH!!! You dick marcy! ( I really did say something similar to myself cept bluer! LOL)

The whole time I was making her she was speaking differently to me I couldn’t help thinking wood nymph probably because I was reading about a wood Nymph in my PERCY JACKSON novel . A Dryaid called Juniper and I just kept thinking about her . So as I looked at my theoyretical error with the lions maine I decide dang shes a wood nymph and I just didn’t know it! So I rip off some arms and add some twigs to her hair dress yer appropriately and look at her and that’s what she was all along! LOL How that animally enough! LOL Nymphs are known for their insights into nature and are quite prophetic in their role through mythology so the eye in the back of her head is fitting as she can see all clearly in her woods in all dirrections!

so she needs a name so I'll just call her “Juniper”

She is made from scratch and is mainly jointed with wire.

Shes created out of air dry paper clay, painted then covered in a synthetic fibre.

The idea being to create the look of a pelt type skin.

Her hair is made of wool, dolls hair and twigs from a halloween broom! LOL
Her dress is chanel ....

ha ha just kidding its scrap leather I wet scrunched up

then let dry and wiped Tim Holtz distress Ink over to pick up the creases.

Shes presently on her way to England to live with KRISTEN BOLTON.

Be back soon with my

SCRAPTIVATE DESGN TEAM EXAMPLES

WIN MEGA STUFF FROM A COOL U TUBER!!!

2011-10-23T16:02:00.000+11:00

SMSCRAPPERs FABBO GIVEAWAY!!!!

OMG awesome scrapbooking you tube clips, where smscrapper

shares techniques and projects as well as product information.

Very useful clips especially if you mojos gone-a- missin, youre just starting out or

you are looking for inspiration!

Thankyou SM SCRAPPER from MS scrapper!!!LOL

dont forget to checkout her blog as well...

SMSCRAPPERS BLOG

TIMEY WIMEY CARDS

2011-10-15T23:54:00.000+11:00

Welllll actually nothing to do with the DR at all

(timey wimey is a DRism!)

just missing my weekly dose of DR WHO... LOL

They're all about the

BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE

Collection!

I made these after finding myself inspired to make more cards

by the gorgeous examples created for the

SIMPLY SCRAPTIVATING CARD CHALLENGE

bought to you by the lovely Naomi Cox

click on the link above and come and play along...

go on dare you!

PRODUCTS USED:BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE, German Scrap, German glitter glass,

Tim Holtz Alterations SIZZIX BIGZ Die " Gadget Gears"Black

Dimentional magic and Jacquard Pearl Ex powder Gold,

Pearl Ex powder green- yellow on Bazzill basics A7 cards

PRODUCTS USED:

BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE , Graphic 45 patterned papers,

Walnut ink Tinted Dimentional magic, Stampington Company Lynne Perrella stamp,

German scrap Embossed Borders Lattice Black,

Embossed Paper Shrine Black on Bazzill basics A7 cards

PRODUCTS USED:

La Blanche, GERMAN SCRAP

Embossed Borders Roman Tassels Black

German Scrap Large Wings White

Antique Medallions Black

Embossed German Embellishment Sheet Black

Scrapware chipboard

Tattered Angels Glimmer mist Olive vine.

New colours of

TATTERED ANGELS GLIMMER MIST

just arrived at SCRAPTIVATE

Cadillac Pink, Bahama Blue

and anawesome christmasy deep red

called Mels Dinner

checkout the

TATTERED ANGELS BLOG

for some awesome examples

heres on I particularly like that uses that Bahama Blue....

Jamie D's canvas

okay back to work...

ahh not really back to scraps! LOL

BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE = LOOOOVE!

2011-10-14T14:31:00.001+11:00

As soon as I saw the BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE range I was in love!
Those gorgeous chicks at Scraptivate sent me nearly the whole range and stamps and all I was ecstatic.

So much so I've spent a month and half just playin with a couple of sheets!!! LOL

Well kind due if I am honest to a bit of scrappin slum, school holiday laziness and oh and a little of that "sheshh to do I have to cut it!"

So I hope you love Timepiece as much as me cause I am determined to use it all...

just one tantalizing bit at a time and have a number of things planned for it.

ANYWHO...

on with the show....

I cut this DIECUT sheet into three component parts. Outer circle I didn't mount, just inked. circle frame I mounted onto about two cms high onto three layers of cork tile. Finally the inner circle , the paper with the numbers on it, I mounted onto a single layer of cork tile. now inside that was the centre circle (you keepin up! ;) ) which I kept aside and mounted my photo on sticking it down as the first layer on to the bazill cardstock.

PRODUCTS USED:

BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE DIECUT, BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE TICK TOCK, BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE MOMENTS, Bo Bunny Timepiece Numbers, Bo Bunny Timepiece Gears BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE STAMP SET, Bazzill cardstock, GERMAN SCRAP Embossed Baroque Border Black, PRIMA centres, Satin fabric, TIM HOLTZ DISTRESS INK, Rub N Buff

I painted the cork tile and added GERMAN SCRAP Embossed Baroque Border to the inner and outer cork circle. It is a glossy coated paper embellishment which loves painting, embossing or most especially a rub over of gold wax called Rub and Buff as I have done here.

To boost the layering and hold up my clock images I used air dry paper clay

to get the height as seen bellow:

I have also been on a bit of a trip combing the Internet for different ways to make flowers I try to share what I find on SCRAPTIVATES NING COMMUNITY FORUM the links for the tutorials to make more flowers are there. Here are the links for these flowers

Rhonna Farrer makes DIY flowers on "heidi swapp live!"

this has the most awesome flower techniques on it only one issue ....it takes 20 minutes

to get to and its a bit flowery and fluffy

(shhh I think Rhonna Farrar drank WAY TO MUCH coffee this day! )

but I think worth suffering alittle for your art! LOL

CLAIREs Paper Craft

PLEASE NOTE: my flowers are VERY loosely based on these cornflowers Claire has made.

At the bottom of her blog there are the most popular tutorial blog links are so there are probably more flowers to be learnt if you have the time to wander through the blog ...

This chick is AMAZING!!!! This is an awesome link to a very patient TALENTED paper quiller.

If you speak Koren her blogs probably an absolute no brainer. If your like me, a very yokel Australian and English is your only language you will need some patience. There is a translator button that turns stuff into English but sadly somethings definitely lost in translation BUT the pictures are EASY to follow and there are probably alot more flowers to be learnt if you have the time to wander through her blog.

The flowers I looked at were DEFINITELY worth it.

The die cut I used to make the layout displayed here is for sale HERE at SCRAPTIVATE along with a wide range of the Bo Bunny papers including Add lib, Gabrielle, Gypsy, Vicki B and many more including the most adorable kids range called Blast off for the wee adventures in our life who like rockets ships and the like! They even have small 6x6 paper pads in couple of the ranges so you can have a nice lil affordable taste of the whole enchilada!

I am currently elbow deep in another favourite paper brand at the moment.... CRATE PAPER! They make the greatest versatile papers I have camo, wood grain and playful vintage papers here atm but you can use them in so many ways!!! SHHH secretly I think I love em at the moment because just between you and me they are a little sassafras lassy in their patterning! Yee gawds if a non scrapbooking person read that line they have no clue what I was talking about!!! LOL

I also have a staggering number of UFOs half done including two clay dolls, numerous layouts (***smacks forehead N blushes*** one I found dated back about 5years ago !!!) two art journals and a fortune telling machine. oh and a gift I just realise was started as a birthday present for someone last year and might make it to them for this birthday ... OMG so embarrassed its not like I work or have a social life so I have no excuses!!! ANYONE KNOW A CURE FOR GUNNADOITIS????? NO SERIOUSLY I am sick of getting the greatest ideas and being the slowest cab of the rank!!! Any one would think I was ADBLOODLYD oh why couldn't I have got the H factor I've seen how well that works for wannabee artists!!! shhh ...actually a lazy TVnBEJEWELLED addicted perfectionist I think ...LMAO

Anyway ...shutting up now!

so much for my resolution not to make crackin long blog posts

cause I do suspect they are a turn off and no body ever reads to the bottom !!!

It felt good to have done a "proper" DT write up though!!!LMAO

Till next time

AMAZING CLASSES AT SCRAPTIVATE...

2011-10-14T01:38:00.001+11:00

DO YOU LIVE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA?

MAYBE YOUR HOLIDAYING IN THE PERTH AREA?

OR MAYBE YOU, LIKE ME

WISH YOU HAD A TARDIS ...

AND

COULD ZIP OVER AND DO SOME OF

THE MOST AMAZING ART AND SCRAPBOOKING CLASSES

HERES A SNIPPET OF WHATS ON AT...

SPECTACULAR CLASSES WITH A TOTALLY OFF THE HOOK COOL TALENTED CHICK!!!

IN ADDITION TO GUEST TEACHERS ...

HELD WEEKLY TAUGHT BY

THE QUEEN OF SCRAPBOOKING CHIC... NATALIE WOOLFE

TALENTED WELL KNOWN ARTIST .... VIVIAN BONDER

AND

ARTIST TRADING CARD CREATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

... KELSEY O'MULLANE

FOR ALL BOOKINGS

AND ENQUIRIES CALL...

Come and visit us at

Shop 1, 21 Wanneroo Road

Joondanna WA 6060

Ph: (08) 9444 6626

email contact@scraptivate.com.au

OR SHOP AT HOME ...

www.scraptivate.com.au

MEGASALE AT SCRAPTIVATE!!!

2011-10-14T01:10:00.002+11:00

CLEARANCE SALE

ON ALL SCRAPWARE CHIPBOARD EMBELLISHMENTS

UP TO 50% OFF

TO MAKE ROOM

FOR

WONDERFUL

NEW EXCITING PRODUCTS

ARRIVING IN STORE NOW

NEW CHIPBOARD FROM ...

AND

DIVINE STAMPS FROM ...

DARKROOM DOOR

STAMP IT UP

TJ STUDIO DESIGNS

ALONG WITH PRODUCTS

BY MY FAVOURITE ARTY GURU...

NEW DISTRESS STAINS

SO C'MON ...

TREAT YOURSELF
TO A LITTLE RETAIL THERAPY ...

"CAUSE

**** HAIR/HEAD TOSS***

...YOU'RE WORTH IT!!"

BESIDES....

YOU SHOULD ALL HAVE

A TAX CHEQUE TO SPEND BY NOW

(WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE... X2 THIS WEEK!!! LOL)

SO DON'T DO YOUR HAIR OR GET OUT OF YOUR PJ'S

BREAKOUT THE CHOCKIE N

JUST GET SHOPPING ONLINE AT...

WWW.SCRAPTIVATE.COM.AU

GIVING THE MOJO A KICK START.....

2011-09-01T12:56:00.000+10:00

Some "inspired" sneeky peeks ...

Nothing like a clean up

to give you some motivation inspiration

and a decent kick in the Fancy pants!!! LOL

The catalyst ...My lovely friend Rose Smith gave me her CRICUT!!!

She upgraded and wondering what to do with the older one...and she GAVE it to ME!!!!
THANKING YOU ROSE ...YES SIRREEE!

**** on knees bowing repeatedly chanting "were not worthy were not worthy!!!" ****

So I decided to clear the decks make it some room.

I also decided I was going to concentrate on making my creative space more practical,

easier to use keep tidy ....bugger astetics.

Pretty and coordinated doesnt last long when you cant find what the flock youre looking for!!!

What I did,

was buy a dozen plastic containers and turn my space upside down dagnamit!

For a chick who just wanted to move one thing in I spent a week

discovering that 10 others would have to move too!!!

annnddd....

OMG I threw some stuff out ...

pick yourselves back up of the floor it wasnt alot ...LOL

well it was originaly before ...

shhhh ....

I went back through the garbage and resuced a few things!! LOL

Its working fantastically better it!! It has also given me another idea

to move my paints down from where I have to go on tippy toes to reach them...

to an arrangement like this...

The paper towel roll rod is already there I just have to find some cutlery drainers or even black plastic planters. The meat hook looking hanger thingys could be replaced by really big hinged album rings I buy from the Hunters newsagency or there are also ones exactly like those in the picture they sell at Bunnings for hanging tools up off your rafters in your shed....
***thinking***
...now where can I move those glass jars too that I use a ruler to flick off the shelf
and then skillfully endevour to catch them before the knock me on my noggin....
no seriously ...thats how I get them down!!!! LOL

but for now I have washing to do

{Grrr... always in the laundry! }
a "sick" kid to hunt back to bed and I thought I might try and get a bit of the three dolls
I am working on done...

this one is going on a holiday to SCRAPTIVATE
just as soon as she..... puts her arms and legs on!!!!
Oh and some clothes too I spose shes a bit risque!!!
:)

BOOK WEEK SHANANIGANS N OTHER CON JOBs...

2011-08-29T01:08:00.000+10:00

Every parent LOOOVESSS book week right?

Our neighbourhood kids on their way to school book parade day...Connor and Jarred centre.

I try not to get too stress and try to encourage my kids because in my heart

I can still remember book week as a kid. The thrill and built up, the pent up excitement of

being someone else and playing dress ups!

The specialness of getting your costume all ready

And taking it to school in a plastic bag. I still remember getting dressed in the class’s storeroom

peeking out the store room window to see what’s seemed like hundreds of others

Nan’s, Pops, Mums and dads arriving.

I remember my pride as my heart exploded with excitement when I’d see my mum

had managed to sneak away from work in her lunch hour to watch to me parade around with the bright cheery music blaring out the school PA

Ahh those were the days ...

where it was “normal” fun and

not at all obscene to dress up and STRUT!!!

Jarred again in the FRO just cause he can! seen here with Connor & Daniel

Shhh...

Just between you and me...

keep it to yourself but I have a confession to make…

***shameful blushing***

I always try and lead my kids to the character I want to make a costume for! LOL

The one that’d make a good scrapbook page or I know I have the bits for

or at least half an idea how to create!

I have spent many a whole week sewing or gluing some wild idea up

to make my kids proud and maybe impress a few of my peer mummies.

This year I asked the boys a week in advance to get organised I was determined I

was NOT staying up till 3am the night before “making” a change of mind outfit for anyone!

It’d been a long couple weeks with a number of things going on

but most draining was having Daniel at home for the last 10 days after his two day hospital

stay getting his tonsils’ out. I am a bit of a worrier and had used up a fair bit of mental energy fussing over him. Daniel had gone so willingly like a lamb to the slaughter into the tonsillectomy.

I had managed, for his own good, to avoid going into much of the gorrey details.

Despite the details being quite fresh in my mind having had mine out just 7 years ago. His face had said it all as he came round from the surgery. His shocked and accusatory stare as he looked up at me and rasped “it hurts mum!” and I patted him and said “this is the worst bit, it’ll get better... just sleep”

Poor Daniel SLEEP HE DID for almost two whole days!!!

The experience you could say was pretty traumatic for him.

On the other hand it could be said, in some way s for his mother it was a bit of a hospital Holiday!! Periodically pushing aside the worry ... there were no other kids to look after, no fighting to sort out, no washing to do and no meals to get!!! I managed to sit and sleep in the comfy recliner next to his bed … transfixed by the first thing I had read in 10 years that didn’t include pictures!!!

A real life novel!!!

Well kind of … Daniel had made a pact with me

during our “hospital adventure” (his words!) I would read the first

and he would the 5th instalment of the “PERCY JACKSON” novels.

A kid’s book I hear you say…

oh it’s so much more let me tell you!

You can keep your Harry Potters.

The main character Percy not only battles his teenage emotions, dyslexia

and ADD but all the mythological creatures a boy can handle as the modern day son of the Greek god Poseidon. Percy and his friend face death defying adventures as he is sent on many quests as he attempt to comprehend and marry both his modern and ancient worlds.

As it turned out having always been a mad keen Greek mythology buff you could say

I found this book not only interesting, well written and easy to read,

you could say I found it … bewitching compelling even!!! I picked THE book up on

Thursday morning and barely put it down till Saturday afternoon when I finished it!!!

Within half an hour of finishing it we were at the DVD shop getting the

recently made movie version “THE LIGHTENING THIEF”

Which for book readers,like myself

was riddled with appallingly inaccuracies missing

major chunks of the plot and shamefully mish mashed together

but for one 8 year old boy namely jarred...

“IT WAS THE BEST MOVIE EVER!!!”

Gotta love Urma Thurman as Medussa with an I phone! LOL

No subliminal advertising there!!!

This brings us back to book week …

WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO BE A GREEK DEMIGOD

Who wouldn’t want to be PERCY JACKSON with his had winged shoes for flying!

A watch that turned into a shield, a magic pen that transforms into a sword

that battles 6 headed Hydras, medusas and travels to other worlds???

So Jarred HAD TO BE PERCY the easiest costume in the entire world...

(Complete with GERMAN SCRAP WINGS SEWED ONTO HIS SHOES

… Could that count as a DT project Nat? LOL)

And Connor ...

well I wouldn’t let him go

as an "army sniper with a bazooka"

Even though he pointed out that many history books

have “bloodthirsty soldiers” in them!!!

So defiantly he stated he would not need any of my help

whatsoever and he put his own costume together.

He went as…

{believe it …or not}

A NINJA MONK???!!!!

(What the…HUH??!!)

DISCLAIMER: I Marcy Smith most days being of sound mind

take absolutely no responsibility for the creation of this en some.

Especially not to the velvet "loin cloth" attached to the

plaited women's belt with safety pins!!!

PS. Cant wait till the next kid has something “removed”

I have the second PERCY JACKSON book already packed in the hospital bag!!! We could go appendix's and tonsils look how many books there are and...

that's just the first series!!! LOL

SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT....

2011-08-26T13:05:00.004+10:00

ATC BY BARB THOMAS

OMG creative papercrafter and assemblage genii exists in the backwaters of Wagga Wagga. !!!
I met a lovely and most talented lady yesterday BARB THOMAS .

An ATCer, maker of mini art books n shrines, collector of kitch amazingness,
designer of Golliwogs, bears and doll maker extraordinaire!!!

Hiding her creative light under a bushell she was introduced to me Via everyones favourite quirky art goddess LINDA BALDOCK. It also turns out that Barb is quite good friends with SCRAPTIVATE teacher and designer KELSEY O'MULLANE. Even to the point where they've been to visit each other!!!

WOW how freaky how art can indeed make the world a smaller place
We are here in country NSW, Linda's in Sydney and Kelsey in Western Australia!!!

Barb is a beautiful and warm giving personality. A well travelled woman, shes been mentored by some huge artists including Micheal De Meng. Shes won medals, trophies and been published for her spectacular dolls in cloth, paper and polymer clay. Shes even had Australia Post make a series of stamps featuring her dolls!!! All that and ... shes a ~~hoarder~~ collector after my own heart!!!

I was instantly at ease, as she hugged me on my arrival at her front door. She then took me on a two hour tour of he house on which, I ran out of adjectives to describe how much I was enjoying her hand made inspiration. I felt like ALICE in WONDERLAND. Hubby asked me that night what my meeting with Barb was like and I was lost for adaquate words all I could say was "utopian" ***GRIN***

Her beautiful heritage house to begin with, is a huge art work in itself! From the huge stained glass entrance barb made herself to the beating heart of the home... a stunning skylight lit floor to ceiling timber kitchen. A feast for the eyes every nook and cranny bursting with intriguing much loved collections.

Creatively I felt reduced to a single cell amoeba but when I grow up Barbs home is exactly what I hope my grandchildren find me in!!! The "look around" included entry into her hallowed creative space!!! I felt quite honoured as she let me wander around looking and gasping! LOL So many things to look at including her latest metal art doll assemblage in the process of coming to life Then more gasping as I hit the mother load of eye candy ...her extensive rubber stamp collection!!! I always knew I had an unnatural obsession with Stampington stamps but it was never fully realised till I went to Barb's! LMAO

ART DOLL BY BARB THOMAS

Barb's creative space, once upon a time a bedroom, is as big as my lounge room. At least that's what is felt like! It had all the character of the greatest art studio with supplies galore wall to wall, paintings, artifacts of all descriptions hanging as organically as if they had grown up the walls themselves.

Barb apologised, like we are all are programed to do by dull polite society, about the mess . She needn't have! Unlike my room at home it had a floor to be seen! To me this room was sublime as its messy was more than I could ever aspire to. I say messy definitely like its a good thing!

Its my belief that a neat creative space reflects an unproductive mind

and Barbs could never be called that!

I wondered if her inventiveness actually had an off switch cause the arty farty passion in our creative conversation had no OFF. On a personal level I know she has a husband some kids and a granddaughter and she knows my family is, my husband and kids but we didn't have much time

for all the more ~~"boring"~~ everyday stuff! LOL

Well I am starting to embarrass myself with all this gushiness , I do have a small tendency to get a little over excited on occasion (be warned Barb! LOL ) I had a lovely visit and look forward to making a mess with and getting to know my new friend a little better in the future.

Please have a look and leave some love at Barb Thomas's blog...

somethingz to crowabout

I WONDER...

2011-08-23T16:21:00.000+10:00

I sometimes wonder if my boys really know just how lucky they are

to come home to a mother every afternoon?

Forget all the PC correct reactions we are expected to come out with

HONESTLY...

Does it really benefit them, enhance their quality of life?

More than all the expensive after school stuff like sports, guitar lessons etc?

We are not poor and I would never complain about how fortunate I am to be able to have a choice. Sometimes its ridiculous but we get by on one wage but at what sacrifice.

Nothing changes here we cant afford to renovate or fix things.

7 years after moving in we still have our bright yellow wood panelled kitchen

the taps in the bathrooms have had a dozen husband changed washers but still need replacing, the side fence has surpassed all our expectations and is still falling down the roof still has a leak

that we pretend is magically going to fix itself.

Is it really worth all those high and mighty principles

I carried about before we got married about staying home for the kids. Or do I find myself

questioning things cause one of a dinosaur bred of mum who stays at home occasionally venturing out

only to feel awkward in amongst all our career driven/money earning peers.

I was a latch key kid and I turned out okay ...right?!

oh here come my whirling dervishes now!!! Its an all familiar sound...

They are probably a block away but I can hear their voices yelling calling out goodbyes and then their footstep getting closer until they begin to thunder! I here the frantic competition to the door.

The sound of lunch boxes bouncing up and down the herd of elephant has just stampede in

and both bodies have hit the door with a massive bang!!

The door flies open it sounds like a herd but they are only two boys A 10 year old and an 8 year old. Oblivious to me standing there they are fighting about who "ditched" who on the way home.

Yelling over the top of each other, its who's gunna dob on who....

oh oh there goes the tranquility the squealing has started they both frantically push

through the door trying to be first to the remote!!!

I hope they know as much as I love being here for them. How despite knowing how fortunate I am, I feel lonely here by myself some days. I hope later if they feel like we could have given them more

They know how we have tried to do the right thing for them.

I still guilty I feel as I still wonder if they are missing out on things they should have.

"Mum MUM guess what Gus has got a new xbox 360"

ironically Connor says to me as he whips of his shoes and socks.

" oh goodo I say and...how bout a thankyou for the lovely afternoon tea"

I say pointing out strawberries biscuits and milk

and he grins cheekily

" thank you"

he says as he runs past me

attempting to rub his dirty sock in my face!!!!

oh crud

Mr 14 has just walked

now the three ring circus really begins!!!

LOL

oh crap more irony this just came on the radio ...maybe theres the answer

seriously this just came on... too tooo spooky!

Awesome song though!

Good Charlotte- 1979
( the year I started primary school! LOL)

URMMM YEP......

2011-08-22T14:27:00.000+10:00

When we have our scrapbookers hat on we are often prompted to journal our predictions next photos of our children.

Last night when I said

"Jarred go get ready for bed "

and came out and saw this ensemble

just casually watching TV

like wearing an Afro wig is the naturalist thing to do!!!

That when I thought,

surely my predictions

were validated yet again ....

it'll be some sort of a crime against humanity

if this kid doesnt go into..

Theatre!!!

You saw it here first folks Jarred goes to Hollywood!

When his face adorns billboards and Broadway.

when he pulls out his pocket change

and he buys his ridiculously good looking for her age, mother her first mansion and his dad his first fleet of Harley's

you'll be able to say to your kids and grand kids

"see Mothers are always right!!!" LOL

A LITTLE CLEAN UP.....

2011-08-17T22:10:00.000+10:00

I have a desktop on my computer much like the messy desktops you can NOT see in my office ...

Covered in in an eclectic mish mash of stuff. My PC desktop infuriates my IT husband who has given up commenting but I believe he thinks it looks like image scrambled eggs !!!

so,

Even though it all makes perfect sense to me...

I have decided to upload all the random images I have cloggin up my our computer.

Hopefully if I post them here for your to perusal and viewing pleasure,

and so I can also PIN IT them.

By placing them on my PINTREST boards I can then delete them off my computer....

what sort of an animal is a PIN IT or Pintrest you ask?

What is PINTREST?

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard.

(very much like where I once had a memory I now have the 5 notice boards that fill my kitchen...
a case of art imatating life yet again!!! any doubt I am a visual person! LOL)

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web.

People use pin boards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

( OR in my case....hoarde random images that may inspire a scrapbook page,

a crafty thing or even a "someday" tattoo)

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people.

Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and

get inspiration from people who share your interests.

(TRANSLATION ... another way to loose a day

dreaming and steal images that you like from others boards!!! LOL)

Its simply a matter of signing up and adding a link button to your web browsing page

Hmmm that's a bit techno speaky ...

put simply...

Here's an example of how it goes for me...

I have a little button on my google toolbar that says PIN IT

I see something I like and I click pin it

A message pops up and asks what pin board I would I like to save the picture

I click the appropriate option

(eg inspiration, shopping, links to remember to read later when I have time!)

and it saves it to a storage file in cyberspace and best bit its FREE!

CLICK HERE if you would like to officially know more

COOL HUH?!!!

HOARDERS, LIKE MYSELF

EVERYWHERE... ARE UNITING TO CLUTTER UP CYBERSPACE!!! LMAO!

MY FAVOURITE SHIRT JUST BEFORE IT DIED ...INSPIRATION COLOUR /DESIGN

MAE WEST

WHO I 10 years ago who'll have been most likely to turn for....

KD LANG (still luv her even though shes gone all alnatural!)

awesome picture of Germaine Geer back in the day

KD Lang of my fav album

Inspiration for ATCs

cool type face??!!!

THE hairstyle I WANT!!! different colours though

just because I cant wear em doesnt mean a girl cant dream!

just in case anyone needs a golf ball on their next fathers day card ...

dont know how or why its spining!!! LOL

I love the LOOK on the left hand side most but the right is my fav groovy orange!

REAL woman fashion ...wish I knew someone who could sew! LOL

love the purple colour and the boots!

***sigh*** Id a had this shirt cept it didnt come in "WHOA MUMMA" size!

do yourself a favour though and google GYPSY JUNK shop

awesome awesome LOVE ths online cowgirl repurpose shop

Everyone needs an ear image .... dont they? LOL

well they are very hard to draw and even harder to make in clay so heres one for future reference.

***sigh*** David Tenent EX DR WHO and lust of my life

who forsaken all DR WHO fans leaving to go and "do real theatre"..... pish posh!!!

Interesting bird mythology to use as background paper

cause if I do a newsprint background its even better if it has some relevance to the creation ...

obviously whatever this goes on will have something feathery and nesty on it!

LOL

Handy to have ready for a Facebook posting! LOL

just cute!

LIKEY!!! WANTY!!!

My kinda colours!!!

INSPIRATION....To be re baked at a later date

LOVE THESE FROM PRIMA WISH I HAD A TRUCK LOAD!

MMMMMMmmm! LIKE!

colour INSPIRATION!

welll....gosh I said I hoarded images.... I dont know

maybe I saved it for Travel ATCs...yep THATS IT????!! LOL

This is just stunning just LOVE it!

I loose this recipe at least once a month lets see if I cant keep it PINNED!

Great recipe if you have a day to waste! YUMMY but ...

WANT LOVE!!!

ANYONE KNOW WHAT BRAND THEY ARE???

will one day make these for a mothers day stall or just case they are so darn cute!

made out of a painted terracotta pot and some felt and stuffing!

Just love METAL EMBELLISHMENTS!!!!

just would love a "display" of little smooch inks

Gorgeous inks even gorgeuserr (sp??? LMAO) packaging!

love this image especially in the tattered angels acrylic stamps I have!!!

THE detail in La Blanche stamps IS DEVINE!!

SERIOUSLY!!!

TRY THEM....

BUY THEM at...

SCRAPTIVATE

( never let it be said I missed an opportunity to plug awesomeness!)

along with these designery stamps I love Stampotique, Darkroom Door

andddd Mr Holtz come on down..Tim Holtz/ Stampers Anonymous stamps!

MY grandmother knew me too well I took ownership "insulted"one christmas.

Now, like the rebal I am...I proudly display it ...dust and all! LOL

ATC was based on this researched image

wasnt she beautiful! I have a "wow" woman image file to draw from

That old hollywood era just enchants me!

this was a rita painting I like to look at the light and shade in this one

MY HOUSE DECOR SHOULD BE THIS

WITH A SPRINKLE OF turquoise or light cobalt blue

HOW COOL IS THIS IDEA!!!

love coloured silks!!!

omg bob dylan poster LOVE the 60s- 70s

art nouvo influences so groovey should been born 20 year earlier so

I coulda tuned in and dropped out! Least Id had an excuse!!!! LOL

dont know where this image came from looks Graphic 45 ???

But isnt it SUBLIME!!! ATC fodder???

I have a half started mixed media montage to illustrate

Lullaby- Billy Joel this was an inspiration image for the line

"And like a boat out on the ocean

I'm rocking you to sleep

The water's dark and deep

Inside this ancient heart

You'll always be a part of me"

beautiful song written for his child

the picture was ment to be made for mine but never got finished cause

I out grew it technique wise and welll...Daniel definately has outgrown it 14 years later. I keep it around under a bench to remind me the mixed media chick was always there before she even knew what it was she was sorta doing it !!! Oh that and I used to sing Daniel to sleep with that song ....hmmm thats probably why he would just cry and stay awake! LOL food for thought!

GOOD NIGHT MY ANGEL LULLABY - BILLY JOEL

I have used this image with medusa etc on ATCs in the past

I have a desire to pursue my two favourite mythologies Ancient Greek and Egyptian

by one day going to greece and egypt just about a week after I win lotto I reckon.... ;)

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong (n sorry if I am!) but I think this is a Laurie Mika artwork or definately inspired by! LOL my baddd!

I loved the colours, patterns and textures of this clay tile mosaic...

yep...***sigh*** again with the ...one day I want to do this!!!

Isnt it beautiful!!!

I emailed her ages ago ( like a year or more ago! LOL)

and asked her if I could put up an image or two along with a link to her work....

HERE IT IS...

ARTIST LAURIE MIKA

I have to say PLEASE PLEASE go and look at this website

your eyes will have an absolute feast looking at the exquisite work Laurie does

*****envvy admire...turning green!)***

I think last year she did a retreat here in Australia Heart N Soul

(shhh too xxxy for this no incomer sahm ***sob**)

okayee....

well...

***realise N giggle***

...enough office mess avoidance for one day.....

WADING MY WAY THROUGH A TSUNAMI OF 1/2 DONE ARTIFACTS....

2011-08-15T15:06:00.000+10:00

PRODUCTS USED: COFFEE BREAK DESIGNS MDF SHRINE, 12x 12 Chipboard, TEN SECOND STUDIO METAL SHIM apple green, UTEE clear and gold, Beads, ANGELINA FIBRES, leather twine, Smooch Accent inks, LUMIERE ACRYLIC PAINT halo blue/gold, GOLDEN GLASS MEDIUM Perfect pearls mica paint and Dimensional Magic ....oh and lots of double sided tape glue tissue paper and prayer!!!

COFFEE BREAK DESIGNS ARE AVAILABLE IN STORE IN SCRAPTIVATE

OR ONLINE BY REQUEST :)

some EXAMPLES OF

COFFEE BREAK DESIGNS

Strange first one in the tsunami would be this one!!! ??? LOL

This one I thought my American Picker mates would be dusting this off and wondering why it was never finished!!! It is kinda ...I think it needs a base though?

Anyway here's the story...

Originally I started this in December 2010 round a table in a caravan in Sydney... LOL The greatest weekend in my recent memory the weekend I spent with my friends Natalie Wolfe, Owner and legend friend of SCRAPTIVATE and Jenny Burns wondrous FABBO AWESOME chick babe friend. We were bunking in and working the SCRAPTIVATE booth in Sydney for the Sydney Papercraft festival. So after a hard day at the show what did these birds of a feather do but ....play with arty scrappy bits and pieces till the early hours of the morning ...or until other baahumbugs in the cabin yelled at us to stop giggling and go to bed.

Sadly it seems too long ago! I haven't felt so much a part of the scrappy sisterhood since!

Okay ....back t the story.... the challenge was to make stuff with what ever materials/mediums that came back for the night from the show's demonstration table . I took a shine to this little MDF shrine made by COFFEE BREAK DESIGNS so I began experimenting!

Inside the COFFEE BREAK DESIGN shrine I began to play with layers of UTEE enamel (similar to a clear embossing powder) and beads of a bead trim. whacked it in and heated it up with a heat gun and added some Angelina crystalina fibres (which is like a melt able cellophane) and it all looked "oceany" for want of a better word ! LOL

So I went with it ...

Created a little mermaid from collections images. Created her some hair with thread I got from unraveling the ribbon from the bead trim I took the beads from, then painted it with a gorgeous orange smooch ink.

When I got home from Sydney eventually I picked it back up with a mind to finish what Id started.

Then the ideas snowballed... I added some authentic Tuross Heads sea shells (where we holiday down the south coast) and some coral looking stuff that came home in the same bucket of shells. I added a bit of perfect pearls paint and some Dimensional magic. Then it started to get interesting...

the story gets alittle hazy here cause sometime stuff just happens....

but some how I was playing with my delightful CUTTLEBUG and I decided to try and create some of my own embossing plates and before you knew it a wave was being built to surround the little shrine.

Prototype 1

I made my embossing plate out of chip board leather thonging and dimensional magic. I wanted a mechanical/steampunked wave so I built the "plate" below

It worked but looked too busy with my mermaid environment and took away from the mermaid shrine.

So I refined it and decided to add glue and keep the "plate" stuck to metal shim...

NOTE: a family that plays together stays together ...

Daniels in the background painting War hammer 40 k miniature models! LOL

See the back of the coffee break shrine as its being positioned to see how it fit

before being stuck to the chipboard wave in the photo bellow...

The back chipboard wave was stuck in place to the shrine and foam spacers put in place to keep the two chipboard waves apart. Then I paper mashed tissue paper over the outside and added a long narrow piece of metal shim round the outside.

So then I had my wave shape which I painted with this amazzzzinggg

HALO BLUE GOLD LUMIERE Metallic acrylic paint. Slopping it on at the bottom and on the end of the waves then heating it till it boiled and blew up into "bubbly ocean" . I added some texture and a luminous water effect (that's not very visible in the photos) by painting on and boiling some GOLDEN GLASS BEAD MEDIUM (which comes as tiny balls of glass suspended in a gel medium like paste)

I really wanted a quote to hammer into the metal but couldn't find one either short enough

or if they were short enough they weren't mermaid mysterious enough! LOL

Am I a bower bird for just loving that shiny luminous shimmer around the mermaid!

I feel it needs a wooden base?

PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT...

SCRAPTIVATE

Its a lovely keepsake from the Sydney trip even though the closest we came to water was flying there on the way or the browny coloured lake beside the pavilion at Panthers world of entertainment!

Some how I think I was the only one round there seeing mermaids...

oh then again maybe after a big night and a couple of beverages at Panthers .... NAHHHH LOL

Well back to the mountain of unfinished bits and pieces here a fortune telling machine a marionette doll, a dozen layouts one, a layout dated 2006...

Its so old ...I cant even remember the name of the basic grey I was using! LOL,

till next time...

STAY BEAUTIFUL or stay online PEOPLE!!!
:)

DOLLYs away...

2011-08-10T21:35:00.000+10:00

Im into dollies at the moment after joining a FACEBOOK group called the ARTISTICJOURNEY DOLLS GROUP I created this doll for an international doll swap and the two things

I also recently made an Artist's Trading card

on the SCRAPWARE ATC base, to accompany my first paper clay doll.

Love the bases for creating "heavy duty" ATC's.

This was created in layers chipboard painted background first, embossed art doll stamp on the top and sandwiched in between.... glow in the dark embossing enamel on transparency!!! she's quite eerie in the dark especially after you charge her up right under the fluorescent desk lamp! LOL

Then over the top of the layers, another layer, this one of Dimentional Magic

with sparkly Mica powders sprinkled and dispersed into the wet gloss layer.

The doll as seen above and the ATC are currently on their way to New Jersey USA!

LONG WHILE SINCE THE KIDS GOT A MENTION...

2011-08-04T19:45:00.000+10:00

Busy busy in the Smithy's house this week, Tuesday was open day for education week for school . Jarred was a bit of a star with his teacher raving about what a great all rounder he was, exuberant ( YEP!) and very artistically talented. To which I said" ...there arent two jarred smiths in year two are there? LOL"

She assured me that we were both speaking about the same one, the one that hardly draws and barely writes at home writes engaging amazing narraatives at school. As well as that when every student in primary had one maybe two artworks of merrit in the Education week school art exhibition Jarreds teacher could choose between them so he had 5!!!! 3 of which had elements I could not have drawn or painted ...I kid you NOT! eg alooking down pastel drawing of a gold fish pond compleate with lilie pads and a half dozen guppies!!!

A flower in a vase painting to rival "sunflowers" .. Okayee so maybe thats a stretch, but honnestly this was all a revelation to us. So his teacher said "you got one smart cookie there whos got it all going on!: WOW no wonder hes a wee bit testing at home if hes dishing out all that wonderful at school! LOL Surprized, proud and ....relieved are all words that spring to mind. The baby of the family may have been a little mollicotled but never got the flash cards or the indivdual painting lessons but ...turns out hes doing great despite my lazy mothering! LOL

thats Connor on the left ...thinking!

Moving on to ***cough, cough*** my next brilliant child...Connor. He had wednesday in the main shopping centre with several other schools demonstrating chess for a half day...

in the second photo connors second from the left...

and then Trent Barret Shield footy today all ***yawn*** day today.

Well actually I must say I am really not a footy fan but this round robin competition had 57 teams from schools all over the wagga area! A worried mum was taken over quickly by the barrackin sideline mumma as I watch my little tiger tackle his brains out! They started the day really well playing really cohearantly and confidently as a team and made their way to one of three finals.

connor in the yellow head gear... just backin up his team mate

Steve their awesome coach.... talking fishing?

Nahhh just being passionate about the game! :)

My connor back row, 4th from the left.

Sadly it was warm and they were about knackered but they fought valently but lost to a bigger quite talented rival team. Connors indiviaul performance was impressive considering he doesnt play every week like most of his mates ( his mothers nerves couldnt handle it) He's not much of a scorer but more of a Play maker the glue player between the kick of and try line!Their efforts placed them around fifth overall and the top four teams went through to the playoffs and grand finals. We were all very very proud of their efforts though and they were mighty representitives of Lake Albert public school!

Lastly but no means least, Daniel my 1st baby turns 14 tomorrow...

a smidge under 6 ft ( 5 ft 10.5 inches apparently! LOL) and taking a mens size 11!!!

Hes having some mates sleep over after HVZ on Saturday.

Oh whats HVZ I hear you ask....

"Humans vs. Zombies is a survival game of tag, where "human" players fight off increasingly large numbers of "zombies"; if a human is "turned" (i.e. tagged), then that player becomes a zombie in turn.[1] At the game's beginning, there are only one or two zombies; the zombies multiply by tagging humans, turning them into zombies after a period of one hour. Humans can defend themselves from zombies by using socks, marshmallows, NERF blasters or any other toys deemed safe and appropriate; if a zombie is hit by one of these methods of defense, they are stunned (not allowed to interact with the game in any way) for fifteen minutes. The goal of the zombies is to turn all the humans; the humans, meanwhile, must outlast all the zombies.[2] The official rules, produced by Goucher College students, can also be modified to suit a particular campus; schools can host their games for free at www.HumansVsZombies.org, the official site for the game. Theres a national club and even international clubs check it out...HVZ AUSTRALIA

The wagga club meets and plays this Nerf tag in the local botanic gardens for 5 hours every other saturday ( sorry any oldies who thought a peaceful stroll through the gardens would be lovely) The age of "soldiers range from 10 through to we are guessing 40 something!!! I have observed the older you get the more seriously "into" the game play you get including investing in army surplus outfits canteens and LOL night vision goggles...yes some times the nerdy subculture thingyness can be a wee scarey but my boy is out in the sun not in front of a screen and he's getting exercise with his mates and laughing his butt of soooo I'll hold an intervention and "discarge" him if hes still playing at 30 I reckon!

How cute was he back in 1998!!! He with his Pop and Nan. His Nan was only with us for another year and a half after that but boy did she pack the love in. This is my fav photo and the only one we have of her smiling, it was taken on Daniels 1st birthday!

oh I digress ...LOL anyway its all fun for him this week end as he backs up HVZ with his Warhammer 40 K group day on sunday which is good cause next Thursday he gets his toncils out. Poor baby has no idea but I am sure its the right thing for him they've made him pretty crook over the years.

Well its Thursday night here and hubbys gone off for his regular Thursday boys night out and lets just say by the screaming I can hear I think its time to feed the natives cause its gone a tad beyond restless here!!! LOL

oh Just quickly.... I want to show you all what we had for tea last night....

Creamy curried chicken pie...

with pastry leaves and flowers...WTF

so who else scraps their pies when they are hangin out

and havent been doing enough of the real thing!!! ???

THE FIRST OF THE BO BUNNY TIMEPIECE COLLECTION PIECES!!!

2011-07-31T01:01:00.000+10:00

As soon as I saw this collection I LOVED it. Its so versatile! You can go with the heritage overtones or change the focus emphasise the red, the clocks to make it more modern or quite easily go grunge.

It tried using it with some gold for a layout about my grandmother despite the masculine tones, and its beautifully classic vintage. Fair to say I really love most Bo Bunny papers of late so I was ecstatic when a range of these papers and the timepiece acrylic stamp set arrived in my package from SCRAPTIVATE.

CLICK HERE to see the latest Gorgeous Bo Bunny ranges.....

PRODUCTS USED: Bo Bunny TIMEPIECE collection papers, Lumiere Paints, Canvas, claudine Hellmuth multi-medium, music paper,Ranger crackle paint, SCRAPTIVATE metal charms, Germanscrap paper trims Adirondack Paint Dabbers Scrapware leafy vine and tiny flowers chipboard,

Basic Grey acrylic leaf stamps.

I have a couple of more vintage layouts in the works so I decided to have a

little play with a canvas I had laying around.

I have also been trying to teach myself how to make fabric flowers and this weird mixed media

flower spin off came out of this floral phase I am going through….

heres how it came about...

I wanted red roses but had no red satin. I had long observed the skin acrylic paint made usually when I forgot to cover the paint up and let it dry (doh) I have always thought (probably weirdly??? LOL) that something could be done with that rubbery acrylic you had to throw out… Soooo cut a long story short I spread acrylic paint in a "ribbon like" line across a non stick surface and waited till it dried and using some of the fabric flower techniques I fashioned a rose from it.

Why stop there I decided and had a little think…..

In my head popped the silicon non stick mini cupcake patty cases here that never get used. (Cmon MINI cupcakes! If you’re gunna have cupcakes make mine a maxi thanks!) I worked out that normal acrylic paint could be used but didn’t have the flexibility that the Jacard Luminere acrylic paints did. So I poured some paint into the patty case turning it on its side and rotating it till covered the inner wall of the patty case. I covered the bottom gave it a little blast with the heat gun then left it to dry for an hour. Then I tipped the patty cases upside down and left them for a while then came back and put the heat gun on them. I left them overnight and turned them out the next day and volia a Patty cake flowers.

the one above was a reject but gives you an idea of the rippled effect.

I made some leaves to go with it with brown acrylic paint and a Basic Grey leaf stamp. Through in a couple of leafy chipboard pieces which I coloured with my awesome Ranger paint dabbers.

ART TECH STUFF ALERT...

Co incidentally this has all happened as I have been learning about image transfer, a commonly used mixed media/ collage technique, that is usually used to incorporate printed images into an artwork. There are a number of IMAGE TRANSFER methods and different ways to use them.

For example, combining and or altering a magazine picture into an art journal page, a computer printed image onto a canvas or an image onto clay glass or tiles. The two main forms are direct transfer or gel skin transfer. This canvas was an experiment with collage and gel skin image transfer.

Here the clock was cut out of The Bo Bunny patterned paper and the verse printed onto patterned paper then they were given a heavy coat of Claudine Hellmuth Studio multi medium gloss. Wonderful stuff!!!!

Available at SCRAPTIVATE!!! Claudine Hellmuth Studio multi medium gloss…translation a high quality gel medium. Golden gel medium is availiable at SCRAPTIVATE and works well too!

Claudine Hellmuth Studio brand is creamy and luscious and can be used as glue, a sealer or glaze, to stretch out your acrylic paints (make em runnier, translucent and glossier) and for …image transfers. Ordinarily a face to face or direct image transfer requires a layer of gel medium and then image to be placed face down onto it and rubbed to ensure full contact.

The image is the left to dry and then ripped up leaving the image in reverse behind often you have to rub off the paper just to leave the image ink layer behind imbedded into the gel medium. This is great for collage works for art work heavy in colour and abstract design. Often the image left behind is so think its transparency lets the background colours or patterns through which can give an interesting some times “ghostly” effect. I love that with image transfer I can use and alter old pictures, magazine images and images off scrapbooking papers.

One of the direct image transfer problems though is that it leaves the image reversed. This doesn’t work well with words or ….BO BUNNY CLOCK PAPER! LOL

I NEEDED the clock numbers not to be back the front! So I employed another type of image transfer where a picture is top coated with gel medium and left to dry. Then when dry the backing paper is dampened and gently rubbed off just leaving a “skin” of the gel medium with the images ink imbedded in it.

The beauty of this is its often still has that transparent quality to it and the image is still as it was printed and not reversed. So this is what I did with the clock and the text. With hindsight I liked the lack of the “strip” journaling look to the text but, the readability I found was a bit obscured by the busy background but... live and learn. The other great part of gel skins is you can make them well ahead of time ready to use and less likely to have missing bits of image unlike regular image transfer…

Tune back in now....

Now if all of that sounded confusing or overwhelming complicated ….

sorry…

there are A LOT of learning links on the internet

that will describe the process much better than me

or better still if your anything like me …You Tube clips that will show you.

You can just type image transfer into Google

Milliandes Art community has links to afriginmazing technique video clips

and is a constant source of inspiration and learning for me.

Click HERE for their IMAGE TRANSFER VIDEO.

Otherwise I have been posting all my useful links

on SCRAPTIVATEs COMMUNITY FORUM

pages in an effort to create a link library. I started the thread to entertain a lady in our forum who’d hurt her back and couldn’t scrap. I suggested to her while she recovered she could load up with technique videos and tutorials. The thinking she needn’t have to sit in a hard chair to watch them, but she could still keep in touch with her beloved scrapping. Also I thought a link library would save everyone all that wasted time trolling through the internet looking for information …causeId already done it for them! LOL

I am encouraging anyone & everyone to post their own favourite links but alas…

so far …

I am the most wondrous best lookin contributor and...

oh did I mention only contributor! LOL

Never mind,

if you see anything flowery on my blog for the next ten years chances are

the tutorial or video link to where I learnt how to make it

is in SCRAPTIVATEs LINK LIBRARY.

Okay well that s pretty much it today,

I am so chock full of ideas at the moment and have projects

forming faster than my energy and hands can keep up with

so hopefully the blog won’t be so neglected in the near future.

INTRODUCING THE DROOL WORTHY MS GEORGIA KEAYS...

2011-07-06T19:07:00.001+10:00

WELCOMING

THE DROOL WORTHY

AMAZING CREATIVE TALENTS OF...

GEORGIA KEAYS

THE LATEST....

I am so excited to see Georgia's beautiful smile
and work gracing the Design Team!!!

Her clever fresh and funky layouts never fail to make me
sigh with envy n admiration and fill my mind with inspiration!

Georgia, a well known, well published scrapbooker
and 2009's Scrapbooking Memories Magazine "Master" will be teaching
in the Scraptivate store, contributing to the online community forum and the Scraptivate blog.

I for one cant wait to see her more of her work
and strongly urge you all to CLICK HERE to checkout her personal blog
Its chock full of entertaining tid bits and scrappy goodness!!!

HERE IS A RECENT SAMPLE:

If you'd like to see what the SCRAPTIVATE design team

is up to take a look HERE on the blog

or go to the

SCRAPTIVATE's online community forum and gallery

where you can ....

look through the albums of inspirational work created by everyone

or share some of you own layouts/creations,

ask a question or simply make a friend or two!

New inspiration created by the current team

as well as product and class information

are being added all the time!

Also we love feed back... feel free to stop by and say G'day

offer any suggestions and leave remarks

for the team in the comment box at the bottom of each post !!!

You can also follow the links to the SCRAPTIVATE online store

and find out how to receive the latest scrapping mixed media and kit design news and specials!!!

DON'T FORGET EVERYONE
WHO "LIKE"s SCRAPTIVATE on Face book
or leaves a comment here
will have a
chance to win an Acrylic stamp set
and chipboard basket of goodies from moi!!!

7 GYPSIES PRINTERs TRAY+ FIMO AIR DRY CLAY ..YAY!!!

2011-07-02T01:05:00.001+10:00

Today I'd like to share my one of my monthly

creations for the SCRAPTIVATE store.

A few of you may have seen this,

and/ or fought over who'd own it over on FACEBOOK LOL

but I have posted it here with some better photos for you to see.

and maybe after it has a little "holiday" at SCRAPTIVATE

we can organise a lil give away?!!!

PRODUCTS USED: 7 Gypsies Printers Tray and glass vials, German Scrap ( the glossy black vine trims and and accents) Graphic 45 Steampunk debute patterned papers, Golden gel medium, Tim Holtz Distress stains, alcohol inks, crackle paint and tissue tape , *Adirondack Acrylic paint daubers (may FAV things!),Tsukineko pigment ink pads and walnut antiquing ink spray, Tattered Angels Glimmermist, black embossing powder, mini paper roses, Scraptivate assorted metal charms, music paper, watch parts,wire...

A couple random rubber stamps including the quote i don't know the name

of and small Prima Bella, and Crafty Secrets clear stamps ...

SCRAPWARE CHIPBOARD: flourish butterfly /tiny butterfly/flourish dragonfly/ tiny dragonfly/cog/keys and keyhole/Fancy Brackets, ATC bases, the outer chipboard packaging of Scrapwares mini baroque trim/Chippy Slides and the inner squares from the Scrapware Minchie Set

but the

stars of the show were....

***{ drumroll... }***

The FIMO Air Dry White Clay and the Lablanche Stamp

each of the tiles used in the tray were created using the FIMO clay on Scrapware chipboard;

the minchie pieces , the slide shapes and the ATC bases.

After playing for a while I developed an easy way to put the tiles together

I hope you can follow it from the photos below...

THE "EASY PEASY" TILE MAKING

12 STEP PROGRAM

Firstly, I ran the chipboard squares/rectanges through my Zyron to give them a sticky back. The ahesive backing is covered with that non stick white shiny paper you usually peel off when you are ready to stick down whatever it is you have Zyron'ed. Instead of peeling it off I left the chippies on that sheet and rolled the clay out straight over them with a rolling pin over the top as seen above.

secondly, LOL, I rolled back and forth till each chipboard piece had an even layer of about a 2-3 mm thick. Then used my scissors to cut along the edge of the chipboard for a nice straight cut.

Also by leaving the backing paper on the clay was less likely if at all sticking to the scissors.

The other thing that was great was if you angled the scissors in hard against the chipboard

edge you could create a "bevelled edge which made each tile look neater and niftier

(spell check says niftier is not a word to which I say...phooey!)

End product a blank bevelled edge clay tile ready to go...

Some of these tiles shown here were for another project, I used Tim Holtz distress stain

"wild honey"directly on the dried white clay I also used them to quick coat the colours inside the yellow and green compartments in the printers tray.

The distress stains and * Adirondack acrylic paint dabbers are dauber headed {LOL} that is,

they have a squishy soft sponge top applicator. They are awesome for an easy,

super quick colour coverage on anything!!!

These paints are my FAVE's I would have 2 in every colour

if a lotto win would be kind enough to come to me!!

(And yes as impossible as it is....

due to my enthusiasm for these, along with his other fine products

I have been known as MRS HOLTZ on occasion! }

Moving right along from there...

I stamped into each of my "pre fab" clay tiles, with the selected acrylic and rubber stamps. Then let the tiles dry, painted them either brown or green acrylic paint.

Then to finish off that "carved wood/embossed" look I picked up the stamped details by roughly rubbing over the painted tile with a metallic wax product called Rub n Buff. In the picture below the details stamped on the clay tiles that have the key and key hole on them are highlighted/emphasised by this creamy

Rub n Buff product giving them a gilded, antique or metallic look.

As "sus" as it sounds, I say little bit of Rub N Buff goes a long way (LOL).

I have know folk artists that have had tubes of rub and buff for over 10 years. Some people like to put a tiny dot on a cloth to use it, but I love to use my finger tip its more accurate and as an added bonus...makes hubby squeal and recoil when he see's my feral grotty hands! LOL

WARNING:

THE MUMBO JUMBO TECHNICAL STUFFS....

{ feel free to skim scroll down with speed if u need to ... }

The other technique I used was called Gel skin transfer similar to ordinary image transfer but applying and drying a layer of gel medium or similar to the front of the image and peeling the backing backing paper off to leave a translucent printed image.

This is great for creating mottled effects,image layering or here I have changed the tone of the original image to a more yellowed aged tone by mounting the "see through" image onto a yellow acrylic background. The image transfer technique reverses an image, this technique does not.

So that makes it perfect for type and gives the picture in this case a glossy protective coat too.

For some more info on these techniques either google or go HERE

Theres a million and one things you can do with air dry clay ....

I can show you another fetish that has started up since SCRAPTIVATE sent me clay...LOL

Art Dolls ...

here's one in the making

that will be visiting SCRAPTIVATE really soon and ...

shes not the only one projecting and no they aren't real but the nipples are too cute eh?!!! LOL

Shes made with the same FIMO Air Dry Clay as the tiles here face using a "push" mould...

There are a number available at

SCRAPTIVATE...

CLICK HERE

for example:

These are TEN SECONDS STUDIO texture plates

that are usually used with paper or metal shim

but can be used to stamp into clay!

There are dozens of these lil gems in the Scraptivate shop

and I need one of each!!!

I don't need them... I should have them

see ...

cool tools for cool people! LOL

oh and click below to check out the ...

TEN SECOND STUDIO

HOW TO VIDEOS N PROJECTS

heaps of info and dont miss

TACO TUESDAYs VIDEOs

cause they are fun-ee!

okayeee so you can ...

WAKE UPPPPPP NOW!!!

***snigger***

my long winded post is over

so if you are reading this and not actually snoring...

THANKYOU, TELL YOUR FRIENDS N COME AGAIN!!!

TIRED OF MY loneliness...

2011-06-24T10:04:00.002+10:00

OKAYEEE so now shamelessly I have your attention....LOL

Introduce yourself over amongst the gallery inspiration,
gossip, hints and tricks at SCRAPTIVATEs forum page
and say gday on facebook HEREand be in

with a chance to

***WIN **** WIN ****WIN***

a little goodie basket from moi!

Including an Autumn Leaves acrylic stamp set
and some moocho lovely chipboard

so what are you waiting for...

get to it ....

Click on the link and SAY GDAY!!!

ABOUT ME with a few decadent flourishes....

2011-06-11T23:34:00.000+10:00

“About me” was this months topic and surprisingly in the 7 or 8 years I have been scrapbooking this is only the second time I have made a layout “About me”! Just like most mums it doesn’t occur to us that our thoughts need to be as preserved just as much as our children’s latest birthday party.

I enjoyed creating this page so much I’ve started another about my favourite things.

It’s interesting to see a collection of photos that sum me up.

If you haven’t tried making the page all about you give it some thought …it really was quite fun. :)

My focus SCRAPWARE product was obviously the Damask flourishes.

I love the girly feather boa/diamonds are a girls best friend feel this gives my layout.

Being a mother with three boys I dont often do girly layouts so this was a nice change of pace.

Two of the Damask flourishes came from the Large SCRAPWARE Pack

and one from the small Pack. I also used an inchie square and 3 inchie square,

Impact alphabet and

(I hope you can read this it explains alot about why the busy page is so!)

A COUPLE CHIPPY TRICKYs....

Covering chipboard with patterned paper get a nice trimmed edge by sanding the excess paper

of and rather than using sandpaper I use cheap emery boards. I buy a pack of 30 from THE REJECT SHOP for $2! A handy trick to get into the tiny areas just cut the emery board to a smaller strip

or pointier shape to get in those areas.

Dab an ear bud onto your ink pad to colour all those tricky hard to reach places,

if they still dont get in the space just cut them with sissors to a point works a treat!

Dont loose your letter I dots (LOL) leave them in there chipboard frame and paint them.

They are easier to hold and harder to loose. When dry just pop out... :)

Okayeee thats all I can show you for know...

heaps in this snails workshop ...

***sigh***

hopefully some finished masterpieces to show you soon!!! LOL

For now I hope you've all been inspired

to use your SCRAPWARE to create a layout

that delves into what makes you so uniquely you

I'LL HAVE ONE IN EVERY COLOUR THANKS....

2011-05-29T15:27:00.001+10:00

I love funny Tshirts ...dont you???

check em out hundreds of pmsl stuff...

NOISEBOT- funny tshirts,hoodies and carrybags!

Try not to be offended cause...

You'll be seeing more of these pearls of wisom that crack me up

sadly, probably mostly cause they're rude or sarcastic!!!

Hmmm not sure what that says about my sense of humour!!!LOL

And heres one for my cat lovin mum...

not that she ever reads my blog anyways (grrr!) buttt...

good to know I think of her eh? LOL

JAN SHOWS US THE SCRAPWARE !!!

2011-05-21T21:58:00.000+10:00

Just recently on that wonderous lil time waster Facebook I had the good fortune

to meet a lovely and talented artist Jan Palmer.

Jan has recently began to spread her wings from the painted canvas

to the patterned paper relm.

It would appear she is to be as gifted in the scrapping zone as she is in front of an easel.

I was staggered and impressed when I saw this amazing altered book

and asked her if I could share it on my blog.

(secretly hoping someone would think it was mine!...KIDDING! LOL)

I hope you enjoy seeing this little treasure as much as I did....

CLICK HERE to checkout Jan's blog

including a step by step for the most gorgeous dress form in patterned paper!

dont forget to scoot on over and have a squizz at Jans blog...

lightlyinspired.blogspot.com

I am hoping to encourage her to show some of her paintings there too ...

a very talented lady!!!

A DAY EARLY...

2011-05-07T14:22:00.000+10:00

Just got this from my 8 year old baby for Mothers Day......

I loved the originality he could have picked errr ummm pinched a flower a beautiful rose or something from any of the neighbours gardens and instead he pick this and

not being a florally mum I LOVE IT!

Look at those beautiful Autumn colours!

This pics with a neighbours lil girl Ella as Jarred gently stroked her hair she loves him to bits and he

treats her like the little sister he "always wanted....sweet eh?!!!

Although he did say "it is a blossom isnt it! LOL Gosh love him

AUTUMN....

2011-05-06T01:34:00.000+10:00

Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.

- Albert Camus

Every leaf speaks bliss to me,

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

- Emily Bronte

Winter is an etching,

spring a watercolor,

summer an oil painting

and autumn a mosaic of them all.

- Stanley Horowitz

yes its well and truly here ...

I thought Id start by giving you a dose of inspiration with a few of my favourite quotes/ verses about the Autumn season. These are out of my ever expanding quotes files and really handy on layouts or Artist trading cards. Autumn is the theme this month and I love the colours the reds oranges, yellows and browns all those rich lovely earthy colours are so wonderful to create with.

PRODUCTS USED ON THIS PROJECT:
Bo Bunny, "a gift of love" paper range

Tim Holtz Distress Crackle paint - "Spiced marmalade

Tim Holtz Distress Stain - "walnut Stain", Bazzill cardstock

Catseye chalk inks, Dymo label, Skeleton leaves

SCRAPWARE "Impact" alphabet and

the large SCRAPWARE Doily ...

ALL PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT SCRAPTIVATE

I was lucky enough to have a bunch of Autumn photos of my boys on a camping trip. This was one of those forever moments. I think I may have muttered the usual "settle down someone s going to get hurt" towards the end when someone did ...but I chose to remember this moment for the boys going crazy throwing leaves and laughing.

They were in heaven under a giant tree that had "snowed", down its beautiful yellow leaves all weekend we camped under it. Every time there was a gust of wind it was an amazing sight to behold as hundred of leaves fluttered and glided through the air. They seemed to dance as twisting and turning through beams of sunshine. When they finally made their way to the ground, they looked like they had created a patchwork blanket just perfect for a lay down. Or so my eldest Daniel thought laying down closing his eyes not seeing his brothers whispering conspiring to bury him under a pile of leaves!!! Then it was on!

Id never known what to do with.these photos. No one photo stood out but all of them told them together told a wild story. Then inspiration struck ..."Autumn is a mosaic"! That's it !!! I would create a mosaic, of sorts! LOL I had just gotten some beautiful Bo Bunny " a gift of love" double sided papers from the SCRAPTIVATE store. These papers were patterned on one side plain on the other and they were all perfect Autumn colours.

So I set about creating a template to divide up the inner circle of the doily,

which I then traced onto the push out centre circle of the SCRAPWARE Doily .

I made the sections or what looks like "spokes" in line with where each leaf shape occurred, around the outside circle. Then carefully cut the pieces out where the photos would be according to my homemade template.

I returned the center circle to the outside frame and glued some brown card stock down

onto the back to hold it together while I painted it .

I used Tim Holtz Distress Crackle paint - "Spiced marmalade", to get that cracked paint/aged effect. Then rubbed some chalk ink pads over the dried cracked paint to match the papers. Then watered down some Tim Holtz Distress Stain - "walnut Stain" and used it as a wash.

In the photo bellow I am demonstrating how I use the stain straight out off the sponge tip on the bottle with a wet brush. Here Ive brushed it on as a wash over the painted chipboard to tone down a bright orange paint. As you can see, I use the back of my hand to take off the excess stain or water.

My husband says normal people would use a piece of scrap paper!

So I say ...whatever works or is handy at the time! LOL

The Distress stain soaked nicely into the cracks highlighting some areas and toning down some of the brighter colours giving them that antiqued look. When the frame had dried fully I positioned each photograph and trimmed it down to fit each space. I found it easiest to stick the photos individually onto the back of the frame. I also cut some leaves out of a piece of the patterned Bo Bunny papers and stuck them onto the back of the chipboard doily's leaf shapes, as seen below...

I also inked up the SCRAPWARE "Impact" alphabet letters spelling Autumn to create the title.

Threw on some distress stained skeleton leaves and added some strip journaling to finish.

Hope this helps you begin to get all geared up and inspired

ready for the long beautiful glorious rainy cold days of winter to come....

just perfect for nothing else but...

SCRAPBOOKING ...YaY!!!

KEEPIN IT IN THE FAMILY...

2011-04-28T14:28:00.000+10:00

We inherited a writing desk, on the weekend from my Mums recent clean out.

What really made us laugh was the sticker and slug gun pellet we found. The sticker stuck to the side and slug squashed into the timber by a drawer....

can you tell my brother Jeff owned it at one stage.... LOL

My Pop mentioned in previous blog post built for my mum when she was a kid back in his builder days. It still has the good timber smell in the drawers, it even had a couple wood shavings in a draw. It is so heavy, it took two people stopping repeatedly to carry into the house!

Solid timber ccomplete with recessed joins and technically built as solid as a house a nuclear bomb would have trouble killing this table!!! It will blend in in Mr 10s room with his timber bed despite the wood grain laminate pop used to dress it up, that must have been the HEIGHT of fashion about 40+ years ago when this was built. Checkout those draw handles so 1960s... love it!

Mum told a cute story when she gave it to us. Pop made it for her for Christmas but was caught out working on it in the shed by mum and uncle Ray. When questioned Pop had said he was making furniture for Marr & Co ( the biggest store in town like Myer way back when) and they totally fell for it!!! Mum said she was so surprised and thrilled when she actually found out it was hers on Xmas day!!!

MY GRANDFATHER...

2011-04-27T00:49:00.003+10:00

Mr "Tim" Harry Stevens Flint

WW2 Veteran,

retired builder, retired fireman

fox shooter, wood carter, fisherman, Bushman's bushman,

Expert veggie grower, Tomato Relish Master chef

father, grandfather, great grandfather

well known and liked, respected pillar of the community

and long term resident of Temora.

I am ever so proud of my Grandfather for marching in the Anzac March in my home town of Temora. For many years he wouldn't march, it was just too hard for him to face the day. He is a proud man and the questions and emotions that the day brought up caused a lot of pain to him. as half a lifetime later he seemed to still be trying to make sense of it all.

As the last few years have passed and he has just turned 87 he has begun to relay alot of the stories of his experiences of that time during the war. With an ever growing sense of urgency he has began to tell us all sorts of tradgic, amazing and incredible stories about his past. I had heard very little about my grandfathers wonderful, colourful life. Very little I could pass on to my grandchildren to describe what
a great man Tim Flint was when the time came.

So I am not only intrigued, often entertained, as he retells the past but oh so grateful that I have had this chance to get to know this character, as more than just my grandfather but as the amazing man he is. He often says I talk to much. " Marcy rang and I listened" I've heard he's said! I used to feel abit hurt by this until I realised and pointed out, emphatically, I might add....where exactly

I now know, my story telling skills were inherited from!!! LOL

ANZAC DAY MARCH 2011

Poppy Tim Flint in the front seat of The Veteran's Jeep

On a number of occasions on Anzac day, over recent years Pop could have "got a lift with the oldies" ...perhaps after knee surgery maybe when the walking stick came out? We were worried this year as Pop had had just gotten over a 4 round of antibiotic size pneumonia how he'd approach the march. Much relieved were we when at his own suggestion he mentioned the day before he thought he might get an army "taxi" this year. Secretly in the back of our minds I think we all thought bout time he started being a sensible old digger, the time had come. It was just moments later we had a laugh at ourselves when Pop said:

He didn't feel to bad "just pulled up a bit sore in the leg after stacking the last of the fire wood. He'd had it delivered on Thursday and it was, after all a mere 5 and half tonne! That my POP!

Mum and Pop share a "moment"
Not to make light of the day being overall solemn event even funnier than that story, was my husband helping Pop into the jeep and "nearly breaking his leg!" as he jammed it in when it it wasn't seeming to bend! and me raving over awesome photo I took of Pop, the "money" shot of photos
only to discover on closer inspection Pop wasn't even in it!

would have been good if we'd had a cross wind!

On a more serious note this was the beginning of Pops march this year and even at the start having to lower his lofty standards to get a lift he showed that true Anzac spirit as once seated he reached across and shook the drivers hand thanking him for the help he'd offered today! Then the next moment we are looking down the street lined with people clapping their hands and it hits me. O r should I say nearly overwhelms me ...POP in the front seat of the first vehicle in the march is the face of the parade the first digger people will applaud! I choke back a tear.Then I glance over at my Mum who always wears her heart on her sleeve and shes already using a fistful of Kleenex.

If only my Nan was alive to see this, chills go up my spine,

HOW PROUD SHE WOULD BE. she would have probably need to be held up!

Poor Pop looks ever so uncomfortable in the spotlight, god love him.

I am pretty sure that the kids don't notice as I can hear them

excitedly calling out "There's MY GREAT Pop!"

The marchers are well on there way to the memorial now and in front me I am a taken back. This is the first year I have not been so focused on Pop marching in, that I have noticed how few diggers are left.

Its heart breaking really when I think in the days we marched with our school
(yes okay more than a few years ago) the number of men and women with medals
marching in these ranks was probably for or five times this.

The ceremony was lovely and respectful. The wreaths are layed and the children spoke in length about what they feel about Anzac day. I am in awe of their both their research skills and the courage they show for their tender ages. I know I couldn't do what they are up there doing, addressing practically the whole town. I am particularly moved as a little boy about 10 tells us about a country boy of 16 who goes from being a shearer, to the first Aboriginal Wing Commander in the Australian Air force and
pride registers, all these years later, in this boys voice as he speaks about this
man who This man who was his great Uncle.

The last post is played I still cant get over how haunting it sounds on a clarinet as apposed to the trumpet which was usually played when I was a kid. Then than a minutes silence is observed where eerily you can almost hear the thoughts of remembered lost loves and fallen mates. In your own mind, the horror of your imagination delivers a hefty dose of respect and heartbreak for all those who
suffered so we should have freedom.

These thoughts are only punctured by goosebumps as a vintage CA-16 Wirraway roaring
low across the service and then
that speech, that Ode of remembrance, by Laurence Binyon ....

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

LEST WE FORGET.

Lets hope they never do.

PINK ALERT!!!

2011-04-26T21:09:00.001+10:00

Okayeee technically I think I am meant to represent the "blue" side of affairs here on the DT, given I have three boys! LOL Every now and then we need to cut loose and play outside the comfort zone though don't we? I surely did dive into and beyond the comfort zone here and ...

well ...

I may have drowned in the pink factor, metaphorically speaking of course! LOL

For my project this month

I used the new

SCRAPWARE HOUSE SHADOW BOX KIT

and the

SCRAPWARE

products bellow..

The idea I had in mind was to give this finished shadow box to my cute little niece

to hang on her bedroom door!

Before I give you the low down, I want to share this hopefully handy hint?! LOL

It is much easier when your creating shadow boxes like this kit to tape it all up

then cover it with pattern paper.

( ***eyesrolling***too easy for marcy she has to make it more complicated!!)

If you choose to run a glue line down the inside of each join to join your box.

This is a way of geting your box corners to dry in place without having to hold them

till the glue sticks ....ahhh the joy of watching glue dry! NOT! LOL

I began with the small Crown flourish chipboard, I trimmed a little off each side to make it a fraction smaller. I painted it and a set of Flourish Butterfly wings then used ANGELINA FUSIBLE FILM over the top. Its a cellophane looking film that shrinks to the mould around the chipboard details when heat is applied to it with a heat gun. I cut the butterfly apart to create the fairy wings.

I joined two Curly Q's to either end of a mini frame to create the title at the top of the shadow box. The little text box at the bottom I created with the punch out left overs off some square Scrapware chipboard.

Other features of note:

The fabric quilted background inside the shadow box and the white paper flowers dip dyed

with Tattered Angels cherry blossom Glimmer mist.

I also have to mention a product I recommend highly for its amazing chipboard coverage, LUMIERE ACRYLIC METALLIC paint by JACQUARD. I used the pearl white here on the house front back and walls. The reason I recommend this paint, apart from the lovely lustre and creaminess, is the no fuss one coat coverage. Just one coat of paint that dries really quickly and with just a dab of my brush into the Tattered Angels Glimmer mist and a little pink acrylic I tinted it on the go whist painting to accent the roof.

Finally, abit back the front to mention the roof top last.... but are you surprised! LOL

The roof finish effect was made with paper clay (one of my most FAVOURITE things to play with ).

Its an almost weightless playdoh like product that air dries.

I rolled a sausage shape then applied a layer of glue to the Scrapware roof pieces, then rolled the paper clay out with a rolling pin till it covered the chipboard. Using an acrylic stamp I stamped the "roof shingles" texture into it. Then after trimming it to size I painted it while it was wet and left it to air dry.

I hope you all enjoy my sharing this creation with you and Id like to say as happy as

I am to have used this gorgeous shadow box ... I am...

probably ....all PINKED OUT!!!!

PEACE at LAST...

2011-04-20T14:26:00.000+10:00

Yesterday they couldnt breathe the same oygen, today...

The warring tribesman must have called a truce...

how long it will last, I dare not say!

But for the moment do I dare make a dash for the crafting room????

OMG what am I doing wasting time talkin to u guys!!! LOL

SCRAPTIVATING STEP BY STEP....

2011-04-20T00:19:00.005+10:00

Here's a little step by step created around supplies from SCRAPTIVATE

Featuring Tim Holtz Distress stains (sigh love love love!)

Using a relief technique used with the...

by SCRAPWARE

The idea was to create a brickwork pattern on the chipboard to give it a more realistic look.

To start with I needed a Versamark water mark Ink pad or a glue pad or any clear embossing ink pad , thin masking tape or similar, clear embossing powder, a brickwork stamp and

two sheets of paper or as I have used here two non stick mats.

I masked out the capping on each pylon that's the little space in between each square of chipboard as it rises to form the archway. I slid the gate which I didn't want the pattern on under a sheet to protect it.

Stain ink pads offer a great quick way to cover chipboard.

Here I have used a Tim Holtz Distress stain ink pad scattered straw

pressing it down repeated to get the pylon area covered with colour.

After waiting for the ink to dry I then applied the clear watermark embossing ink to the brickwork stamp and stamped the image onto the chipboard pylons. you can see the pattern over stamped a little up onto the arch way in the above picture. Then sprinkle the clear embossing powder over the image you've stamped. If you stamped somewhere you didn't want the brickwork ( like I did! LOL) just don't put embossing powder on that area.* Tap off the excess powder, set the image by heating it with a heat gun.

*HINT: If you do ever get embossing powder where you would not want it....dont stress

just use a dry paint brush to brush it off!

When we use a heat gun on the clear embossing powder it melts turning into an enamel which sets hard and protects whatever colour is underneath, in this case the Scattered straw Distress stain colour.

Making it look like the mortar between the bricks

Once the clear embossing powder is heat set onto the image then I used a Tim Holtz distress ink dauber to dab on the brick colour. I used a walnut stain here it did dry a fraction lighter. The daubers are the easiest item to use to cover anything. They are ink in a bottle with a sponge head so you can just give something a light wash of colour or apply a couple coats to deepen the colour. All the convenience of ink and none of the mess of paint ...no brushes, water etc.

I removed the masking tape and painted the strips through the pylon, the archway and the gate with black acrylic paint. I used Chromacryl black paint but any black acrylic paint will be fine. Golden acrylic paints are a long lasting quality acrylic that many artists recommend. A black Distress Dauber could be used instead of paint! I also did fences to go with the gate on the final layout.

I had a plain dull light brown embossed paper, I wanted to use in the background of the layout. It wasn't dark enough or the colour brown I wanted so I gave that the the Tim Holtz Distress ink treatment too!

Step 1 was to cover the whole paper using a wild Honey stain let it dry or dry it off as I did with a heat gun. Then step 2 either brush lightly using a Walnut ink Tim Holtz Distress Dauber or use a blending tool (as seen below) to highlight the raised pattern on the embossed paper.

Sometimes a blending tool or ink pad is best for covering large areas and for blending colours...

This is a great tool and I have used it with both Distress ink pads and by dabbing ink from the Distress Daubers straight onto the foam blending tool sponge.

This is the finished layout. For a closer look checkout the gallery pages on the ...

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about the products seen here contact the helpful friendly staff at...

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HELMAR MAGIC...

2011-04-19T21:29:00.000+10:00

Make some fancy flowers with the expert help from HELMAR !!!