More Blog Awards ...

The awards keep rolling in ...

A couple of days ago, the lovely Kate Crane awarded me with the Lemonade Stand Award. The rules of the award are to:

• Comment on this blog.
• Save the award logo to your own computer and use it in your own blog.
• Nominate 5 to 10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.
• Link to your nominees within your blog post.
• Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.
• Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

I'd like to nominate this award to these lovely bloggers:

• Tanya - http://tanyastreehouse.blogspot.com/
• Nic - http://nichohn.blogspot.com/
• Barb - http://somethingztocrowabout.blogspot.com/
• Eva - http://postscriptvoyages.blogspot.com/
• Sam - http://colour-by-numbers-samantha.blogspot.com/
• Jen - http://amarkintime.blogspot.com/
• Elizabeth - http://thequeenoftoys.blogspot.com/
• Belynda - http://belynda-leeduffill.blogspot.com/
• Martina - http://artymarty62.blogspot.com/
• Kyla - http://kyladeruiter.blogspot.com/

I also received the following "Your Blog Makes Us Smile" award from the gorgeous Belynda and it doesn't seem to have any rules attached, so I'll just pass onto a few Blogs I love to frequent.

• Kate - http://thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com/
• Shelly - http://papermischief.blogspot.com/
• Nic - http://nichohn.blogspot.com/
• Tanya - http://tanyastreehouse.blogspot.com/
• Jen - http://amarkintime.blogspot.com/

My next post will have a few more ATCs I've made of late.

"Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a change of attitude."
~Katherine Mansfield, 1888-1923, Writer~

Scrapbook Cupboard: Optical Illusion

I have finished my ATCs for the Scrapbook Cupboard's swap this month, with the theme of Optical Illusion. I really like the themes that Lisa (the owner of the shop) is coming up with each month, they really get the creative juices flowing.

To which body does the head belong?

I borrowed a couple of books on the theme from the library and one of them had this image in it with two women hugging and you can't tell which body the head belongs to, so I though that fit the "optical illusion" theme perfectly. The background is a little blurred in the picture because the scanner doesn't like depth and the image is raised with foam tape. The only thing the book didn't tell me is which body the head actually belongs to, so any answer is right ... I think the head belongs to the body on the left ... what do you think?

"You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing nothing. Get interested in something! Get absolutely enthralled in something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something! The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have."
~Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993, Pastor, Speaker and Author~

Jen Crossley Workshops Part 2

Hard to imagine that it's now been a week since dear Jen Crossley graced our shores and I am only now posting what beautiful creations we made.

On Saturday (16th May) the day started early (we left the Gold Coast at 8am) after the late finish on the Friday night. Pam, Kyla and I all travelled together and managed to get there without a wrong turn like Kyla and I did last night. We finished around 8pm ... quite a long day considering I only had 5 hours sleep. We created a type of altered book made out of chipboard windows and alas ... I was unable to finish mine, but here are a few pictures of us working away and of the unfinished product. I will post more pictures in the future when I've finished it ...

Me (in the pink apron), Kyla and Karla working away on our books.

Ginny, Pam and Margaret also in the swing of book making.

Sample pages of the inside of my book. It's difficult to see, but some are completely transparent.

On the Sunday, only Pam and I attended the class as Kyla was hosting a birthday party for her oldest daughter, Summer. We got into etching and bashing metal with a rubber mallet and drilling and all sorts of things to come up with this gorgeous necklace. I've worn it a few times now and it's always met with oooohs and aaaahs.

Long shot of whole necklace.

Close up view of the gorgeous details.

Here we all are wearing our finished product - L to R - Jen, Ginny, me and Pam.

The gorgeous Jenny and me.

"Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them."
~David Hume, 1711-1776, Scottish Philosopher/Historian/Economist~

Bernie Berlin ATC Workshop #9 Swap

I've finished my ATCs for the next instalment of the Bernie Berlin Artist Trading Card Workshop swap through ATC_World. The 3 techniques for this swap were Machine Stitching, Metal Tape and Mica and here are my interpretations of the theme.

Machine Sewing.

I bought the stamp of the girl through The Stamping Queen and can't remember the brand name. This card was also inspired by one of their design team members Gillian Hamilton. My sewing machine didn't like this technique much, but I think it turned out ok, even if the stitching's a bit dodgy.

Metal Tape

I covered the metal with alcohol inks then adhered to chipboard, ran it through the Cuttlebug with the spider web embossing plate. A bit of Stazon rubbed over the raised web and a border of dimension paint around the card and the image, which was printed on a transparency with gold paper behind it.

Mica

I tried to get larger sheets of Mica to make a complete transparent card for this swap as featured in Bernie Berlin's book, but in Australia Mica is difficult to come by at the best of times so I made do with what I had. This ATC started off as a piece 5" x 3.5" and then I folded it in half. I cut out an oval shape that went through both layers of the cardstock. I added a thin piece of mica to the back, a transparency image of William Garrison (a Dignatory and Abolitionist in the USA from the 1800s) then another piece of mica stitched onto the front coloured with alcohol inks. The text paper is 7 Gypsies that I aged a little more with Walnut ink. The word is also a transparency. So this is still a tranparent card with mica.

"You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle."
~George Lucas, Film Director and Producer~

Jen Crossley Workshops Part 1

I had a fantastic weekend doing 3 workshops with the fabulously talented Jen Crossley (aka "Captain Underpants"), who flew up from Ballarat to teach a group of us. The workshops were being held at the lovely Evelyn's place in Waterford (Queensland) and boy did she look after all of us with her wonderful husband John.

For those of you who may not know, Jen's alter ego "Captain Underpants" took form at the Creative Soul Retreat in March as she "flew" around the retreat with her Australian flag cape, but I felt she wasn't quite complete without some special "underpants" so made up a pair for her as a gift, and presented them on Friday night.

Jen presented with Captain Underpants


I think they'll do nicely!


Jen even taught in them ... I think she forgot she was wearing them after a while.


What's this, someone thought this sight was worth paying for, with Amanda & Evelyn in the background.

Kyla and I started on Friday night at 6pm doing the Resin Book class and were too hyped up to notice it was 11pm before we made our way home with our finished masterpieces. It also happened to be Kyla's birthday, so we had to have a little cake and a sing-along too.

The lovely Ginny, who sat opposite me all weekend.


Happy Birthday to Kyla ... I'm surprised I got a shot of Kyla, she doesn't really like being in photos.

My finished Resin Book front cover.

Back Cover.

Side View.

Open View, you can see we used an antique Band-Aid tin as the front and back covers.

All-in-all it was so much fun and it took me until around 1am to finally come down off the high and go to sleep, so I could wake up fresh and ready for a full day of Jenny on Saturday!

"We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents."
~Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, Author.~

Blog Awards Galore

Today I received not one, but two blog awards from the lovely Kate in the UK ... you simply must visit her blog for plenty of artistic inspiration - http://thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com/.

The first award is "the Renee award and was created by Bella and Ces in honour of their friend Renee. In Bella's own words "this is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed and watching it grow. I hope it finds it's way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns…” Visit Renee's blog: Circling My Head.

I have passed on the Renee Award onto the following amazing artists that I believe selflessly share their creative talents to help others grow ... just like an Oak Tree:

Barb - http://somethingztocrowabout.blogspot.com/
Kelsey - http://ko-ok.blogspot.com/
Dot - http://dotslifeandart.blogspot.com/
Nic - http://nichohn.blogspot.com/
Jen - http://amarkintime.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth - http://thequeenoftoys.blogspot.com/

The second award is the Friendly Blogger Award and I am to pass this award along to 7 other "Friendly Bloggers". I have chosen the following bloggers because they have either been generous in leaving lovely, friendly comments on my blog in the past ... or ... they are just overall friendly, so here goes:

Kyla - http://kyladeruiter.blogspot.com/
Tammy - http://twodogstudio.blogspot.com/
Eva - http://postscriptvoyages.blogspot.com/
Sam - http://colour-by-numbers-samantha.blogspot.com/
Belynda - http://belynda-leeduffill.blogspot.com/
Tanya - http://tanyastreehouse.blogspot.com/
Sarah - http://sarahwalker1971.blogspot.com/

I've met some wonderful people through blogging and hope that these awards continue to make their way through the blogging community, spreading much joy and good feeling along the way.

Ciao for now,
Diana

"When you cannot get a compliment any other way, pay yourself one."
~Mark Twain, 1835-1910, American Writer and Humorist~

Scrapbook Cupboard: Little Dutch Girl

When I was little I loved knowing that I was from a Dutch European background and if anyone locally asked me what my nationality was, I always proudly exclaimed that I was Dutch. Yet whenever I travelled overseas and anyone asked me where I was from I always proudly exclaimed that I was Australian! Funny isn't it.

As I got older and wiser I realised that I was always trying to be something that I wasn't and decided that I was born in Australia, sound like an Aussie, have lived here my whole life and love coming back whenever I've been overseas, so I'm now always a proud Australian.

My ancestry has, however, inspired my latest ATC creation - Little Dutch Girl. I love to visit Holland whenever I get overseas, as I still have loads of family over there and do miss spending time with them, especially my sister Magda.

"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored."
~Earl Nightingale, 1921-1989, Radio Announcer, Author and Speaker~

Family Photos

Mother's day is coming up next weekend and the four kids decided to give mum a photo frame that can take three 4 x 6 photos. We decided to place a verse in the middle photo slot and two photos on either side - one of me & Sylvia and the other will be of David & Natalie ... all of mum's four kids in one frame.

This is the photo of me and Sylvia for the frame ... not sure if we'll make it colour, sepia or black and white at this stage so we're sending one of each for David & Natalie to decide which will look better with their photo.

Alexis, would not be left out and even put lip gloss on so she could be in the photo with us too ...

Here's an updated shot of my niece Alexis (2 years 8 months) and nephew Harry (11 weeks) ... all beautiful in blue.

"I am thankful for laughter,
except when milk comes out of my nose."
~Woody Allen, American Film Director/Screenwriter/
Stand-Up Comic~

ATCs completed

Some more ATCs finished for swaps due at the end of the month.

MEDIEVAL ATC - finished for the PaperArts Yahoo Group swap. The background was cut into an arch and painted with red, white, grey and black. I then added a picture of a Medieval Knight chest plate which I stamped with Tim Holtz splatter stamp with red paint to look like blood. A bit of sanded German Scrap and it's done.

Medieval ATC for the PaperArts Yahoo Group

GREEK GODDESS ATC - I chose the Greek Goddess Artemis as the theme for this AATCUK Yahoo Group swap. This ATC is 3 layers of clear material so the whole ATC is actually see-through. Firstly I did a gel medium transfer of Artemis' face onto plastic. I used alcohol inks on another piece of plastic and the final layer is greek writing on an ink-jet transparency. I used a corner rounder (which actually broke 'cause the plastic was a bit too thick) then joined them with eyelets. A walnut inked tag in the corner with the name Artemis written by hand on one side and my information on the other side. Hopefully this will meet with the standard of the other artists of the group ... they're such a talented bunch.

Mythical Greek Gods & Goddess swap through Advanced ATCs UK, hosted by Laura Carson.

CLOWN ATC - Yep, another Clown themed Swap this month, this one through a local scrapbook shop Addicted to Scrap. I was inspired by Kate Crane's techniques for this ATC and have painted the background using red & yellow Golden Fluid Acrylics (may as well use them seeing as I bought them for the Creative Soul Retreat and didn't use much of them at all) painted in a circular motion, I then added my image and stitched the whole way around ... stitching is so not my forte, I managed to get a cramp in my foot, the tensions way too tight and I have no idea how to fix it and I spent more time hand turning the needle than I did using the pedal!! Still I'm happy with how it turned out and this is a good lead up to the machine stitching themed swap coming up next month through ATC World.

Clown ATC for the Addicted to Scrap Live Swap Meet.

He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.
~Socrates, 470-399 B.C., Greek Philosopher~