Creative Correspondence - Island Dreaming

On Sunday I discovered Hels 'Sunday Stamper' challenge and the current theme is 'dream'.  For this guy, there was not a moment that passed where he wasn't, 'Island Dreaming'.  

I, myself, have been 'island dreaming' for many a year... dreaming of one day visiting the island of Tasmania!  And my dream finally came true in November last year!  

Here I am at Dove Lake, Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, on my birthday, living my island dream!  A place full of awesome beauty and pretty chilly weather too.  There was a hint of snow on the mountain, a crispness to the air and  a little sprinkle of rain.  That's pretty much the perfect way to experience this amazing place!

Yes, there I was, at Cradle Mountain, practically right in the middle of Tasmania.  I was waiting outside this shelter for my friend Amanda, when someone said 'hello'!  It took me back a bit and a little while longer to comprehend that it was actually someone I knew and knew very well.  It was Neralie, a friend and colleague from school, also on long service leave and also travelling around Tasmania.  We both knew we were in the same part of the world, but didn't expect to bump into each other while we were travelling!  It was a lovely birthday blessing to spend time with her and her husband Craig - even if it was just for a short 15 minutes or so!

All rubber images are by Oxford Impressions (purchased in Tassie).

Every Inchie Monday - Girl

'Girl' is the theme over at Every Inchie Monday this week.  All images/words are from ARTchix Studio.  This is a very simple composition, with a dash of pearl white paint.  Oh, and there's the tinsiest bit of stamping on here too!  This girl has green thumbs, unlike me!  I'm ashamed to admit that I am a lazy gardener, unlike my parents who worked jolly hard in the garden, with beautiful results!

One Word - Playfulness

Play is the highest form of research.  Albert Einstein

And finally, it's time to write about the word I have chosen to help give me direction and inspiration throughout 2013 - playfulness.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, 'playfulness' seemed to be the word that kept coming to my mind as 2012 drew to an end.  I can be rather serious at times, especially in the creative process and find myself caught up with the frame-of-mind that I have to produce a certain amount of work and it needs to be great and there's no time for mistakes and there's no time to play, after all creating is a serious business, right?  There's not enough time to just create just for the fun of it, there's no time to explore and discover new techniques or develop new skills, there's not enough time to do all that and produce work suitable for publishing... well there's no joy in that!!!!!  I suspect too, that the ability to produce work which communicates 'life' and 'beauty' and 'joy' can not be produced without somewhat of a playful heart.

So one of my great ambitions for the year is to develop a more playful heart!  And guess what!?  Not only have I had a great time in the studio lately, playing to my hearts content.  As I write this post I am wearing a red and green hair extension (a Christmas gift from my lovely In-Laws) and it's putting me in an even more playful mood - watch out world, it's time to play!!!

Creative Correspondence - 'They Bounced'

'They Bounced' Postcard

Here's my playful start to a Sunday morning... I've been pondering how to approach this week's Play Date Cafe #164 Challenge for a few days...

First thing this morning, I wander around the house picking up supplies that fit with the colour palette for the week

Cadet Blue...Chartreuse...Leather

and played around with what I'd gathered.  The cartoon image is from an old Golden book that is beyond repair, well loved by it's previous owner and thrifted by me in recent times.  I settled on making a postcard as I'm attempting to send one piece of creative correspondence out into the world each week of the year.  I think this postcard might be well received by my nephew Sean, who absolutely loves to receive things in the post!

Today I hope to relax, enjoy the feeling of good health, perhaps play a little more in the studio, spend time with my beloved and then head to church for the evening service.  

Blessings to you!

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!

Every Inchie Monday - Star

I'm going to try to participate in Every Inchie Monday for the entire year of 2013... so we'll see how I go.  If I manage it, I will have a lovely little collection of inches by the time we get to December.  I figure if I can't find time to complete an inchie a week, something is wrong!

They are a fun and fiddly challenge (what with a scale of 1" x 1" they're incy!), so trying to find images and stamps small enough to fit can be a frustration at times!  I often surprise myself in the end with how much you can actually put onto an inchie!  ARTchix has a lovely assortment of vintage and collage images and I'm going to be aiming to create an inchie collection that has a touch of ARTchix wherever possible.

This week's theme is 'Star' and this pretty lady is letting her little star, shine!

Fun With ATC's #78 - Something New

'Silk Design'

Fun With ATC's is a new challenge site for me and their current theme (#78) is, 'Something New'.

Here's a sweet little ATC I've put together using my brand NEW Crafty Individual stamps that I purchased recently when on holidays in Tasmania.  There's quite a bit of layering in the background - scrapbooking paper, paint, stamp and more paint.  I've combined two Crafty Individual stamp sets to make this ATC -   (CI306 and CI328) they are a wonderful collection of small stamps perfect for ATC's and other tiny artworks.

Moo-Mania - Key(s)/Lock(s)

'Love Never Fails'

I'm pleased to say that I'm really beginning to feel well again!  Finally!  Long may it last!

I've had a lovely creative morning working on a project that I hope to get published (sorry I can't share that one with you yet) and since I'm in 'the zone' I thought I'd stay put in the 'studio' and keep playing.  I find online challenges can help give me focus when I don't know what to do next, so I popped over to Moo-Mania and was pleased to see that their current theme is - Key(s)/Lock(s).  I have the perfect Darkroom Door stamp set for a theme like that!  It's called, 'Doors'.  The collage image is from Darkroom Door too!

I think one of the main 'keys' to living a happy and content life is 'love'.  If we can push away our selfishness and love one another, it seems to work wonders!  Maybe it's a simplistic view of life, but it's the one I'll try and stick to today!

Making a Moo can be a little challenging, what with the surface size only being 28mm x 70mm.  I find I need to get my fine motor-skills up and running to do the fiddly bits, which also helps me focus.  The great thing about Moos is that they are often completed in a relatively short amount of time.  If you've never made one, I'd recommend having-a-go... it just might help to blow out the cobwebs if you don't know what to do next!

Sew In Love

See... brown paper bags... my new addiction!!!!  

I was having a play with some of my Spellbinder's dies and put this love banner together recently.  I really enjoyed hand-making the flowers, doing some beading and hand/machine stitching!  Happy hours were spent putting this together, reflecting upon our 'big day' and how wonderful the gift of marriage is!

There's even some scraps from my wedding gown in there!

It's so good to be back home with my Mr!

And it's wonderful to love and be loved!

At Home with Darkroom Door

Yes, I am home from hospital and I'm starting to improve bit by bit.  Being home is partly the inspiration behind this little house I created today, as is joining Darkroom Door's Creative Team!  You may have already heard my exciting news via other blogs... unfortunately, I was otherwise indisposed and unable to make the announcement on Friday with Rachel and the rest of Darkroom Door's Creative Team.  If you missed the news, along with me, this is how it was announced.

Announcing the 2013 Darkroom Door Creative Team!

We are so pleased to announce we have a new Creative Team for 2013! Please welcome the following ladies who will be sharing lots of new ideas and projects with you throughout the year!

Anna-Karin Evaldsson - South Africa 
Belinda Spencer - Australia 
Connie Mercer - USA 
Godelieve Tijskens - Belgium
Hels Sheridan - UK
Liesbeth Fidder - Netherlands
Marjie Kemper - USA
Melissa Phillips - USA
 Rachel Greig - Australia
 Sephi Kemp - Australia
Susie Campbell - Australia
 Suzanne Czosek - USA 
Teresa Abajo - Australia

We are so excited to have these ladies on board with us! It's going to be a very creative and inspiring year ahead!

Please welcome the team by leaving a comment below! And let's start the new year with a giveaway!!! We'll pick out one lucky winner from all the comments below to win a Darkroom Door stamp set of your choice!

Unlock the artist within!

Make sure you go and visit Darkroom Door's blog to leave a comment and then you will be in the running to win a Darkroom Door stamp set!

Back to my little 3D house... I created it from a small brown paper bag.  Firstly I added some ink, glimmer mist and Darkroom Door background stamps (Dots and Floral) to the paper bag.  Then I created the windows and door from little paper scraps (the button makes a cute door handle) and affixed lace and Darkroom Door collage images (I sketched some legs below the handsome man's image).  Finally I stuffed the bag, turned the top edge over and cut a roof from the scratch paper I had been working on to make this project (so the inking and stamping had already been done on it as I worked).  

In sickness and in health...

Unfortunately, I've been putting some of our very new marriage vows to the test. Well one of them mainly! I've been unwell for the last two months, this latest illness landing me in hospital on Thursday night! Joel has been an amazing and supportive husband through it all. I'm so thankful for all he's done for me! Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm on the mend this time and God willing, I'll be able to come home to my sweetheart tonight.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Harmony

Here's another ATC I made a while back for a Darkroom Door ATC exchange.  

I love listening to music, I love to sing too and I especially love to hear/learn a great harmony.

I'm pretty sick today and I couldn't push past the pain to create and I wasn't really playful to be around either.

I've been to see the doctor and she's set me up with 5 different meds... I should be buzzing by now, but I'm not... so I won't be playing in the studio tonight.  Hopefully things will look a little brighter tomorrow.  

Footnote:  Since writing this post yesterday I've had the lyrics to 'Tomorrow' from the musical Annie running through my head... 

The sun'll come out
Tomorrow 
So ya gotta hang on 
'Til tomorrow 
Come what may 
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow! 
You're always
A day
A way! 

The sun has come out, the medications are starting to do their job and hopefully I'll be able to play, even just a little, in the studio today!

Half A Cup Of Playfulness...

Happy New Year to you one and all!

This is not the piece that I wanted to represent my new word, for the new year - 'playfulness'.  However, my year has also not really started in the way I would wish.  I'm unwell again and did not even think I would make it to the studio table today.  There is so much I could whinge about too - the pain that I'm in (and it's a public holiday so I can't see my doctor), the heatwave we're having (in a house that doesn't have any aircon) and to top it all off the ants have invaded us, and worse still they found my chocolate stash and raided it beyond rescuing!!!

When I did muster up the strength to sit at my desk, the first thought that came to mind was... 'when life gives you lemons'... you know how it goes!  So I thought I'd try and make some lemonade, so to speak, and I tried to create with a spirit of 'playfulness' in the midst of a little misery.  I knew it was going to need to be a piece that was quick to put together and so I just grabbed two key elements (the Stampington stamps and the Lemon Myrtle teabag and worked from there.

I found the process of putting this together very therapeutic, I was no longer focusing on the pain I'm in and I was turning a somewhat bad day into one that had at least half a cup of playfulness in it.  Through this process I've also discovered that I can in fact create, even when I'm not feeling 100%, I just had to push through the frustration and doubt.  I also needed to remind myself that playfulness is all about the process (having fun) and not the end product!

How has 2013 started for you?  I know in the big scheme of things I have nothing to whinge about really and I'm going to try to spend the rest of January 1st looking at life with a 'the cup is half full' kind of outlook.  Hmmmmm, a icy cold glass of lemonade could down quite nicely right now too!

Oh, I also stumbled upon the 'Just B' website today and Pip is running a 'Month of Moments' challenge.  I've decided to play along when I can.  Today's prompt is 'brand new'.  And as already mentioned, 'Playfulness' is my brand new word for the year!

Blessings to you and yours on this first day of a new year!

SDC80: Out With The Old, In With The New

'Brave Girl'

Stampotique Designers current Challenge (#80) is Out With The Old, In With The New.  It's the last day of 2012 and I've been reflecting on this past year, so full of blessings and so full of struggles.  'Brave Girl' has been my catch-phrase for the year (yes, I most likely caught the phrase from Kelly Rae Roberts) and so I wanted to create a keepsake in celebration of doing just that, being brave and overcoming many of my fears.  This piece has been pretty much created from my collection of scraps.  The only things that are new are the white flowers in the bride's bouquet and the one in her hair.  I got a little 'brave' today and had a go at creating the two characters in this piece, the girl and the owl... drawing is a little out of my comfort zone, which is why I love stamps so much - especially this Stampotique tree!

Right at the start of this year I was in the midst of making one of the biggest decisions of my life, Joel had unexpectedly proposed in early December and I had yet to give him an answer (I made him wait about 5 weeks in the end)!  Yes, he can be quite a patient man!

I knew for me to say yes, I would need to be 'brave'... maybe it sounds funny to you, but being the age I was, having never married before, knowing that my life would never quite be the same, and not really having expected this possible change of marital status (I had pretty much resolved myself to the fact that I was going to remain single for the rest of my life) I was going to need to be 'brave' in trusting Joel and to be 'brave' enough to give myself to someone in a way I had never done before.  

Being a 'Brave Girl' kept ringing in my heart right the year through... I've had to face and deal with a number of huge fears this year... which to many would seem totally insignificant, but to me, they have been momentous.  I know that my faith in God, the encouragement of Joel and other close family/friends has enabled me to be brave and conquer fear, and for this I am very thankful!  What a blessing!

PDCC162 - Happy HAPPY New Year!

It's been so long since I've been able to have fun with everyone at The Play Date Cafe.  Challenge #162 is inspired by the picture below - the challenge was to create something using the following colours:  

Gold

Teal

Mint

 Lavender

As I didn't get to 'play' with this challenge until after Christmas, thoughts of the New Year were my inspiration and starting point.  The cute 'star of the show' is from Stampington and the words are a combination of Making Memories and Hero Arts.  I stitched and beaded some extra stars into the background and wanted to approach this piece in a playful way... playful may be my 'word' for 2013, especially with my creative work.  I can tend towards being too serious and I can find myself losing the sense of fun during the creative process.  So next year I'm going to aim to be more playful in the way I approach not just my art, but life in general.  

This piece is created on a seed packet, so there's a pocket to hide dreams/goals/secrets for the year too. Actually, I already have a big secret that I'm keeping and will be able to share it with you very soon!

Here's to a very Happy, HAPPY New Year to You!  Yes, I'm just a little early - makes a nice change, eh!

There's Never Enough Time...

to do all the nothing you want.  Bill Watterson

This quote is ringing so true to me at the moment... my long service leave is coming to a rapid end and I know it sounds very self indulgent, but I still don't feel like I've had enough time to 'do a whole lot of nothing'!

My LSL has been action packed and I wouldn't change a minute of it  - except perhaps for the virus that I've had for the past two months that has forced me to 'do a whole lot of nothing' for quite a bit - mind you is was pretty frustrating to not get to choose when you do a whole lot of nothing.  The greatest discovery through being quite unwell for an extended period of time was finding out just how caring and supportive my beloved is!  He has been truly wonderful through this mysterious illness.  By the way, I'm well on the mend now and feeling very thankful for my return to good health!

Anyway, this ATC was another Darkroom Door ATC swap from a while back.  I really love beachcombing and totally enjoyed working on this ATC!  I even remembered how to do a reef knot (at least that's what I think it's called) from my Brownie days!  

Joel and I got to the beach around 7.30 am this morning for an early morning dip (our first swim in our hometown together).  We enjoyed it so much that we plan to be there early tomorrow too.  It's such a fabulous way to start the day when the summer days are a little too warm for my liking.

Simplicity

I've been admiring paper dresses made by Ruth Rae and Colette Copeland for quite some time and have been yearning to make one myself... I've hesitated to attempt one as I was worried that mine would look just like their's!  And yes, perhaps their influence is obvious, but I hope there's a unique touch to it that's more from myself than from them.  I guess the more I explore the possibilities, the more I'll make the dresses in my own style (whatever that is)... and anyway, it's the perfect excuse the keep playing and exploring paper dress making!!!

This morning I looked at a little pile of left-overs from an earlier project I was working on this week and thought the handmade flowers would look rather sweet on a paper skirt.  The dress kinda grew from there.  I'm also in the middle of a love affair with brown paper and I'm thankful that I've kept a vast amount of it tucked away from parcels received in the post!  There's so much of it available to me right now that it seems to give me freedom to create... if I mess one piece of paper up, there's plenty more where it came from!

The best thing about this dress is the message, 'Simplicity'... I'll be hanging this in my studio as a reminder - the simple things in life are often the best!

Old World - French Pattern

'French Pattern'

Here's another postcard created for our little swap group this year.  The theme was 'Old World' and Oxford Impressions Regency Fashion plate was definitely the starting point for this piece.  The elegance of this era of fashion is stunning and pretty perfect if you get to sit around the home for most of the day reading, playing the piano, embroidering or sharing in a pot of tea!  

Gosh, doing all of the above in your pj's isn't quite the same, is it?!  

Sew Cute!

Happy Boxing Day to one and all!  

Are you having a relaxing day today?  An artful creative one?  I'm hoping to spend some time in the 'studio' today... but first I'm going to have to pick-up the pieces and have a big tidy up - all the Christmas creating has left it in an unworkable state.

The 'Sew Cute' postcard was created for our November exchange.  I was just starting to attempt free-motion stitching again, after not doing it for so long and it was a bit of a disaster!  The most disastrous bits are hidden away or mended with double sided tape at the back!  I had forgotten how to set my machine up for free-motion sewing, but since then have had a refresher lesson from my dear 'Mummy Gayle'.  Now it's 'sew' much easier!!!

Have a great day, what ever you get up to!

A Pocketful of Joy

Wishing you a 'pocketful of joy' and a very happy Christmas Day!  

I had the most amazing surprise when I finally got to looking at The Stampers' Sampler Autumn, 2012 issue and found this two page spread of my Christmas pockets!  

Happy Christmas everyone!