Extraordinary Dog ...

I'm so into dogs since Beau became a part of our family and I just loved this video of Kate & Gin from the show "Britain's Got Talent". Gin is a Bordie Collie, a working dog breed just like our Australian Working Kelpie Beau .... hmmmm ... I can see the lights now ... hmmmm ... Beau, Beau, come here boy ... let's get dancing ... only joking!

Have a wonderful Christmas.

More ATCs completed ...

I finished a couple of ATCs for swaps due this week through The Scrapbook Cupboard (in fact I'm a few days late for one of them).

The first one is for an "Era" swap and the title of my card is "Renaissance painters ... end of an era!". The picture is a tissue that I stuck down with Mod Podge with two angels that look as if they've been painted during the Renaissance period . I then added a frame of plumbers tape that I embossed with the Cuttlebug and rubbed black rub 'n' buf over the top. I used Tim Holtz splatter stamp to add som paint splats.

The next ATC is a very simple one for a "Christmas Tree" swap ... I had good intentions of doing a really cool transfer technique of the tree and then add the bauble and sign ... but time just ran away and I decided a quick card will have to do.

You'll be happy to know that I have done and posted my christmas cards ... finally ... and here's the finished product. Primarily family gets the hand-made cards ... I'm sure friends wouldn't want to have a picture of us sitting on their mantel. Ferg was a pretty good sport about the picture on the card in the end ... although in some of the Irish cards he wrote that he sat on Santa's knee for a promise!! He's a funny boy.

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."
~Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993, Pastor, Speaker and Author~

Christmas Carol

On Thursday I went to the Addicted to Scrap swap to hand in and collect ATCs with the theme of a Christmas Carol ... there was a little twist to this card as we were to depict the carol without using words. Of course, the carol I chose (We Three Kings of the Orient Are) I didn't even know (did a search on the internet) so I had to place the words on the back anyway just in case anyone was in the same position as me.

I had the best time making the backgrounds. I was inspired by one of Linda Baldock's techniques that she did sometime ago and I think I could be addicted to it. So here's what I did, firstly I cut up sheets of canvas into ATC size, I then ripped up loads of pieces of tissue paper and stuck them onto the card with Mod Podge or PVA ... I sort of kept the bottom area free, knowing that's where my image was going. Once the cards were touch dry, I sprinkled embossing powder over the card and melted with a heat gun. The next stage was PVA randomly swirled over the card, then zapped again with the heat gun ... this part was really cool because the embossing powder and glue bubbles and pops. I chose two colours of paint - light blue and purple - glaze paints by Making Memories (Linda originally used Lumiere's) and covered the entire surface, again I got out the heat gun until the surface was touch dry ... I really liked this part too, the paints also bubbles up and creates all this extra texture, not to mention the PVA and embossing powders underneath get going again. The final background stage is to add a little bit of gold Rub 'n' Buf and it's done ... voila ... backgrounds ready for image to be stuck down. Here's a pic of the background before I added the picture ... pretty cool huh ... well I thought so anyway.

Oh you might be pleased to know that I actually got my hands dirty ... yep, my hands were covered in glue and paint ... see Kyla, I can get my hands dirty!!!

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty?
~Cicero, 106-43 B.C., Roman Author/Orator/Politician~

ATC Quarterly finally received

I received my copy of ATC Quarterly today and I was a little bit chuffed to finally see my work in print. I was featured in a Triptych layout as well as the centre spread with one of my ATCs called "Two Birds of a Feather Flock Together" as the theme this time was Puppy Dogs.

One must lose a fly to catch a trout.
~George Herbert, 1593-1633, English Clergyman and Metaphysical Poet~

Live Swap Meet

I went off the the Live Swap Meet at the Scrapbook Cupboard today and finished 12 of these ATCs this morning ... just before the swap mind you. The image is by Crafty Individuals, scrapbook paper by Cosmo Cricket which I ran through the Cuttlebug with the diamond embossing plate which I'd rubbed Ranger Antique Linen ink all over it and to finish off a little pice of Mica adhered with a few brads.

Now onto the next lot ... Christmas themed ones - Christmas Trees and Christmas Carols Without Words.

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

~Immanuel Kant, 1724-1804, German Philosopher~

Bernie Berlin ATC Workshop #4 Swap

I feel like everything is moving at super speed in the lead up to Christmas ... I'm either just getting my ATCs created by the deadline or I'm late (because of Christmas need to get them in earlier). I finished the final touches on my cards for the ATC_World Artist Trading Card Workshop Swap Part 4 today and quickly rushed down to the post office to send them off to the wonderful host Tammy (feel free to visit her blog - http://twodogstudio.blogspot.com/). I'm hoping they will arrive on time, but if it's like the last lot I sent to her, they will probably get there a day or so late.

Anyway, here are my interpretations of Bernie Berlin's techniques from her book - Nevr Dull, Phone Book Paper and String:

NEVR DULL - believe it or not, I actually found Nevr Dull at a shop called Horseland in Underwood (right around the corner from Scrapbooks Etc where I spend every Wednesday). As this is a product from the USA, it's not readily available here, so this was a real find. The background was a magazine image of a tiled wall, so I placed the PVA on alternating tiles and then rubbed out the bits in between with the Nevr Dull. The colour I added is of course a Glimmer Mist in the terracotta colour.

PHONE BOOK PAPER - I actually tried Claudine Hellmuth's Peeled Paper technique with the telephone book paper and loved how it turned out. I started with a canvas cut down to ATC size, then used various paints for the background ... I probably could have taken some more colour off as it's a little bright but I liked it so stuck with it.

STRING - by the time I got to the string technique, I was out of ideas and inspiration, so this is a very basic card with scrapbook papers as the background, a public domain image and string to look like rope to make the card appear like it's got something to do with sailors (the title is "Ahoy there Sailor).

I love trying out Bernie Berlin's Artist Trading Card Workshop techniques through this swap and will be doing one of her workshops at the Creative Soul Retreat in March 2009 ... I can't believe I'm actually going to meet her ... it's so exciting.

Now I'm off to start creating some ATCs for the swap I committed to attending on Saturday ... rush, rush, rush, rush, rush ... lucky my hubby's out of town this week. See ya!

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
~Source H. Jackson Brown, Jr, Life's Little Instruction Book~

Things that fly & Tanya's Birthday

I finished this ATC for the Stampers Hut swap which is always due at the end of the month. The theme this time is "Things that Fly" so I figured there would be lots of butterflies and birds and things, so I went with a "Flying Fish". The background is tissue paper sprayed with Sapphire and Spring Mint glimmer mists (I love those glimmer mists ... they're so easy to use).

A group of the scrapping / ATC girls went out to lunch today to celebrate Tanya's 32nd birthday. I was surprised at how many people turned up considering it is a work day ... it was so nice to get together with everyone, it's been ages since I've seen some of the girls.

L to R - Belynda, Kathryn, Kerri, Kyla, Tanya (in the black outfit), Pam, Jane, Lisa, Me (Diana bending), Sarah. Sarah's daughter Claire who's 5, took this photo, isn't she a clever little ducky.

Me and Tanya

You can always guarantee laughs when Kerri & Tanya get together.

I made Tanya an ATC for her birthday instead of a card ... I love receiving small personalised gifts like this and hopefully Tanya did too. The background is courtesy of Valerie Brincheck ... I just love having some ready made backgrounds lying around and the ones she created are beautiful. By the way ... Tanya loves owls, hence the theme.

"You just don't luck into things as much as you'd like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it's friendships or opportunities."

~Barbara Bush, Former First Lady of the United States~