Crash Course - Encaustic Indulgence

I have yet to tell you my very sad, sad story... I was booked in to attend Patricia Baldwin Seggbruch's, Encaustic Indulgence class at Summer School this week.  I was jumping up and down with excitement late last year when I realised that Trisha was going to be in my hometown and teaching encaustics whilst I was still on holidays!  I promptly booked myself in, knowing that this was possibly the only chance I'd ever get to do a class with her - it was kind of a once in a life time thing.  One of my friends also managed to book into her class and we were eager and terrified at the same time, both knowing that we lean more towards the crafty side than, arty side of things when it come to creativity.

Anyway, on Sunday after talking to my doctor, I realised with a huge amount of disappointment (yes there were tears), that I would not be able to attend... I was not well enough...

Anyway, to cut this long story short, I was able to visit the classroom on Friday, meet Trisha and her son Patrick (they were so welcoming - both truly wonderful people) and see what everyone had been up to over the week!  Before I knew it I had some encaustic boards given to me and was having a crash course in working with wax!  I was only able to stay for about 45 mins and so I had to work fast... my friends helped and Patrick got me working on some really fun techniques!  I ended up walking out the door with three samples, the final one is very incomplete.

I know I've missed out on an awesome class, but I left feeling abundantly blessed to have met both Trisha and Patrick, to have been encouraged by my wonderful friends and in the end to have had the opportunity to try out encaustics with such an amazing tutor!  And you never know, perhaps one day there'll be another chance to do a class with Trisha... I sure hope so!

1st Exhibition - Sneak Peek

My local church is 'Celebrating Creativity' this weekend as, we reflect upon with wonder, our awesome Creator God.  The church is hosting an Art/Craft exhibition and there is also an official opening concert tonight.  My friend Susan and I are participating in our first ever exhibition, which we've entitled, 'The Lazy Susans'.  This is a sneak peak of our table and I'll add more photos over the weekend.  We had a lot of fun setting up yesterday and I was amazed at how beautifully our work blended together.

Oh, did I mention I'm singing at the concert tonight too?  I'm singing with an amazing group of gifted muscians and singers, so am currently very excited and a little nervous.

Wind Farm

Late afternoon at the wind farm...

and an awesome sunset

With Joel :)

Oxford Impression's 'FARM BOY'

I'm most excited to announce that I have been invited to join the Oxford Impessions Design Team. OI has just released a new stamp plate called 'Farm Boy'. As I know one of the cutest little farm boys ever, it has been a pure delight to work with such a great set of stamps. This set also works beautifully with OI's 'Country Girl' plate and I have included a couple of these images in the work that follows.

'Baby Chicks' Postcard

'Organic Eggs' ATC

'Seed Company' Postcard

Speaking of cute my cute little farm boy, here's come photo's of Sean, taken on Easter Sunday.

Sean, Lambo and Freddo

Time for a walk!

Leaning Post

Look!!!

'Farm Boy'

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Green

Yesterday I had the delight of witnessing the marriage of Ashley and Elaine out at Wignalls Winery. It was a very happy and relaxed ceremony - so special to see my friend Elaine so happy!


Arriving...


The gorgeous cake!


All the decorating was exquisite - very shabby chic!


The card I made for the special couple.

The Wizard Of Oz!!!

I'm taking two of my nieces (I have six - all adopted - and one adopted nephew, as well as Sean Alexander!) to see 'The Wizard Of Oz' next week. Georgia and Olivia are sooooo excited and really looking forward to our outing. I thought I'd give them the tickets and flyer to 'stick' on the fridge for a little keepsake! Only nine more sleeps!!!!!

Grandfinals!

See these trophies! They're both mine!!! I'm so excited about them!!!

I play indoor beach volleyball twice a week. On Tuesday nights I'm in the Ice Maidens B grade team. The team consists of 4 gals and 2 fellas. Anyway, we managed to win our final (by the skin of our teeth) last week and then played in the Grand Final that night and won! So the reason I'm so excited is that this is the first trophy I've ever won in some 30+++ odd years of life.

Then Friday night's game was even more exciting as my team Hit & Hope (mixed - 3 gals & 3 fellas) had played in a number of grand finals and choked each time. (We were thinking of renaming ourselves The Chokers because of this.) At one point towards the end of the game, we were up by 10 points... in the end we won by 3!!! I thought I was never going to hear the wonderful words 'TIME'! But alas, we did and I have the trophy to prove that we won!

The extra special thing about this, is that I've never been in a regular sporting team until I took up volleyball 2 years ago. It's been an amazing experience for me being in a team, working together and having a lot of laughs (and a lot of sand in unmentionable places)!

Easter Bunnies

I had the loveliest of days yesterday - our trip to Denmark was great. We ended up at the Alpaca Farm... and got to cuddle some real live Easter Bunnies!!! There is quite a menagerie of animals at the farm and my friend Sue's grandkids loved seeing all of the animals. We ended up that the markets later in the day and I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the art works of some very creative people - very inspiring! I was particularly tempted by the wonderful hand knitted beanies and tea cosies from Peaceful Bay, but somehow managed to walk away empty handed.

Here's my first attempt at a Skinny. I took up this weeks Skinny Saturday challenge - Women At Work. The stamped images are both by Collections.

Finally I'm Back In the Land Of BLOG

Oh dear, it's been sooooo long since I've blogged! I hope at least some one out there has missed me just a wee bit ;)

I don't have any really good excuses for not blogging, except that firstly I was busy getting ready for Christmas - I managed to make quite a number of gifts for friends when school holidays began... it kept me VERY busy, but I really enjoyed being able to give handmade gifts to some of the extra special people in my life. Next it was Christmas and then I just went into complete holiday mode. Before I knew it, I was getting things ready for school and, well like I said, there's no great excuses!

I've missed checking out what all of my blogging friends have been up to, so I'm planning to have a good catch up in the next week or so.


Sephi has blessed me with a 'You Make My Day' Award. This is really special to me because it's my first blogging award. Thanks so much Sephi! Sephi really makes my day too, most days I come into work early to visit my favourite blogs and I always (when I'm in blogging land that is) check out what creative wonders Sephi has been working on.

Now it's my turn to present the 'You Make My Day' Award to 10 people who bring inspiration, encouragement and joy into my daily life. Some of these amazing ladies don't even know of my existance let alone have any idea of the creative impact they have on my life. So a BIG thanks to Sephi, Debbi, Audrey, Gillian, Jo, Julie, Sharon, Kelly Rae, Nina and Lesley some truly amazing women that inspire me on a daily basis.



Now I'm off to play the front 9 at my local golf course. The picture above and at the top of the post were both taken last year on one of my many visits to the course. I have a set of hot pink clubs and a hot pink buggy... so I really look the part, until I start playing, that is!

Blues At Bridgetown 07

How was your weekend? Mine was fabulous!

I had the most wonderful time at the Bridgetown Blues Festival. We (My friends AJ, Ben & I) arrived in Bridgetown just in time for lunch and then meandered our way along the main street of Bridgetown for a few hours. We discovered many treasures in a wonderful little shop called 'Vintage Vibes', but I restricted my purchases to some lovely vintage sheet music, an old wooden measuring stick, a game of lotto and two pianola rolls.

Andrew Winton Duo

The music all weekend was a real treat. I particularly enjoyed performances by Andrew Winton Duo, Paul Gioia Trio, Kyla Brox , Toby and Wiley Reed.

We decided to do a little more meandering on the way home with Joy and Sally - we went the long way - stopped off at a sweet little spot called Fernhook Falls.


And finally home.... to sleep.... a lot!

A Long Weekend...

Well, I'm off to the Bridgetown Blues festival for the weekend. I can't wait to get there!

See you when I get back!


Susie