The week that was ...

We've had quite a week in Queensland, on Wednesday a dust storm that smothered New South Wales made its way to us. We were hit with strong winds and low visibility on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane. On the roads everyone was driving with their head lights on as if there was a big storm or misty.

I was reading in the newspaper that on a normal day we might have around 10 micrograms of particles per cubic metre of air and a bushfire might generate 500 micrograms. The levels on Wednesday soared to 15,400 micrograms per cubic metre of air in some areas ... that’s just incredible. The Bureau of Meteorolgy said the storm in NSW was the worst in 70 years, if not the history of the state. It’s all due to the fact that we just haven’t had much rain in the last 6 months, so the drought ravaged country areas have been really affected by these fierce winds.

I have received some cool photos of the dust storm via email from my sister in Sydney and also some from our local area, so check them out:

A picture of the Sun when I was in Underwood, Brisbane.

The M1 freeway travelling back from Brisbane to Gold Coast.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge.

A view of Kings Cross, Sydney.

I have made a couple of ATCs for two local swaps this week. The first one is for the Addicted to Scrap swap and the theme was Italian Renaissance, so I used up a stamp I had in my stash that I hadn't used before. I love the quote on this stamp by Da Vinci "Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful more simple or more direct than does Nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous."

Leonardo da Vinci

This ATC was made for a face-to-face swap and I've used the images from Itkupilli Etsy Shop - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7021557 - I picked up this link from Jade Adams who made an ATC using these creepy doll images ... I think they're divine. I think I might choose a new backgroud from Itkupilli for my blog ... I'm off to check them out now.

"All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them." ~Walt Disney, 1901-1966, Cartoon Artist and Producer~

Happenings and creations ...

My love affair with paper started when I was quite young (I much preferred stationery as a gift than toys or clothes) and then after years of studying and working, it was rekindled again when I discovered scrapbooking 8 years ago. This love affair has evolved into anything mixed media and the last 18 months has seen me use more products and techniques than I ever imagined possible, in making ATCs.

Last weekend I went away for a crafty / arty weekend and for the first time in ages I was back in the swing of scrapbooking. I still go to my local scrapbook shop at least 3 times a month to do a scrapbook class (so I get through my photos) and the last year has seen all the layouts piling up because I haven't added photos, or a title, some embellishments or journalling ... so it felt really really good to finish a bunch of layouts from a holiday taken overseas in October 2007. I'm still not completely done with the whole trip, but I feel organised and have printed all the photos and now just need to complete the finishing touches.

So here are some pictures from the weekend ...

Here I am doing some scrapbooking.

We awoke to a cool misty morning Saturday.

I shared a cabin with Sandra & Jill ... same one as last year.

A local deli ... my coffee saviour over the weekend.

I left early on the Sunday to attend my niece's 3rd birthday party, but on the way home I couldn't resist the "markets" sign and had to stop in. They had loads of stalls with vintage pieces and I bought this old Italian book and ruler.

My niece Alexis, 3 years old, with her Barbie birthday cake.

Me and Alexis.

My nephew Harry has to get in on the action too.

Here's my latest ATC creation for the Fan Swap through Advanced Artist Trading Cards UK Yahoo Group. I've scanned each individual blade before I put the whole thing together and added embellishments. The theme for this piece is the "Evolution of Life" and it encompasses major experiences in one's life such as birth; education/attainment of knowledge and skills; sharing of life with a significant other; acquisition of a home, car or even having children; then the end / a funeral. I am sending my creation to Suze Urquhart in the UK.

The beginning / birth.

Attainment of knowledge / skills.

Sharing life with another.

Acquisition of house, car or having children.

A funeral / the end.

The fan all together.

A close up of some of the detail.

I received my fan from Heather Fenn-Edwards also in the UK and it's just fantastic. Heather hand made the dragonfly embellishment and is going to be published with this beautiful bead-work, so I'm one of the first to see it.

ATC Fan by Heather Fenn-Edwards.

The amazing dragonfly.

Beautiful bead-work ... a skill that escapes me.

Lovely fibres and beads.

"Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities - always see them, for they're always there."
~Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993, Author of The Power of Positive Thinking~

Blog Awards Galore

I recently received not one, but two blog awards ... both from lovely and creative ladies. The first one is from Kate in the UK:

and the other award is from the lovely Barb in Wagga Wagga, NSW Australia:

For the award from Barb, I'm supposed to list 5 things that I love and choose 10 of my favourite blogs, so other than my beautiful husband, my friends and relatives my top 5 things are:

1. My fur-baby, Beau ... I never knew how much love I could give a dog until I owned one.
2. Creating art and trying new techniques.
3. Going to a craft fair, recycle centre or a flea market with my fellow arty friends and a great find at either that I can use in my art.
4. Taking in the wonder of nature, whether on our property, beautiful vistas discovered on trips or just the sound of the ocean.
5. A glass of good red wine and good conversation ... nothing beats it.

And I send both awards to the people listed below, if they choose to accept them:

1. Kyla - beautiful art ... if only she'd update her art more often.
2. Shelly - a gorgeous person and great artist, I'd love to see more of her creations more often.
3. Nic - another beautiful creative soul
4. Marion B - such inspiration and the postage people queen.
5. Samantha - such a diverse variety of art.
6. Elizabeth - such a giving soul and more great art.
7. Jo - an amazing painter and creator of art dolls.
8. Jen - artiste extraordinaire.
9. Kathy - fantastic artist.
10. Lynette - such talent ... and personality
11. Kate - I'll be sending the 2nd award as her art is just beautiful.

All fantastic artists in their own right and even if they don't accept blog awards, I want them to know that I love to visit their blogs and look at their art.

Thanks ladies for thinking I am deserving of these awards.

Giveaway

I was visiting the lovely Eliza's blog and she pointed me in the direction of Jo James' blog, so I had to go and see her creations. Her dolls are wonderful and she is celebrating her 200th blog post by giving away an art doll and some patterns.

So go and check it out by clicking on this link to find out more - http://thecartbeforethehorse.blogspot.com/2009/08/200-posts-and-giveaway-or-two.html.

"We say that a girl with her doll anticipates the mother. It is more true, perhaps, that most mothers are still but children with playthings."
~F. H. Bradley~

Medieval & Winter ATC Swap

A quick post today as I'm getting organised to go away for a weekend of crafting.

I met up with some ladies for an ATC swap at a lovely cafe yesterday. There were two themes this month, the monthly theme of Medieval and the quarterly theme of Winter.

My Medieval ATC is based on the 'heretics' and burning of the witches of the time. The first layer is a seviette background in grey tones, with 3 colours of paint added with a brayer - white, grey and black. I rubbed a wooden skewer into white and red paint to add the lines, glued a bit of red German Scrap along the base and rubbed a black metallic rub around the whole perimeter.

The Winter ATC started off with a piece of Basic Grey patterned paper from last year's christmas range ... I love the wintery cool colour of this paper. I stamped the trees with pine cone coloured ink and went over the top of it in the same position with a glue ink pad and added white flocking ... it's difficult to see in the picture but it's all soft and fluffy looking. I inked around the edges in a Nagara Mist coloured chalk ink.

I went for a walk the other day with my husband and look what we found under a large tree ... a tiny little nest. It's just the cutest thing and really small, it fit in the palm of my hand. It's quite amazing to see all the little bits and pieces the birds place inside a nest to make it all comfy for the eggs ... it's a shame they didn't stick this one in the tree very well.

I'm off to a weekend of crafting up at Mt Tamborine this afternoon, so I look forward to catching up on everyone's blogs and creations when I return on Sunday .... have a great one.

"Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it."
~William Feather, 1889-1981, Writer~

Art Sisters - AOTM

The time has come to complete my monthly creation for the Art Sisters Yahoo Group Art of the Month project. This month I post to Jacky and Samm posts to me ... both amazing artists so take the time to visit their blogs. I always look forward to when the end of the month comes near, so I get to see what amazing creations everyone on the group has made. I was also happy to find that Jacky loves birds, nature, fabric, collage and all colours, which allowed me free reign for my creation this month.

This time I decided to alter the cover of a notebook that I'd bought recently at the Scrapbooks Etc Trash & Treasure. The cover was burgundy, which I quite liked, but you can't see any of it on the end product. I started with cheesecloth glued onto the cover, then a serviette over the top of that so there was a fabric texture. I coloured the serviette with Olive and Creme de Cocoa glimmer mists and found it was too dark, so added another nest from the serviette with a piece of white paper underneath so you could actually see the detail. I used Patina and Spanish Copper Rub 'n' Buff around the edges as well as copper foil tape and german scrap along the bottom.

The chipboard bird is covered with paper from an English / Japanese dictionary with the definition of bird. It has been coloured with Walnut Ink, coated with crackle medium and once dry Espresso alcohol inks to accentuate the cracks. The microscope slide has a feather stuck between the two pieces of glass, again with copper foil tape and aged with Patina & Spanish Copper Rub 'n' Buff, held in place with rusty wire. I was a little disappointed that my microscope slide cracked, but then felt the "rustic-ness" of the broken glass added to the piece.

It'll be in the mail this week to Jacky, so I hope she likes it.

"Out of difficulties grow miracles."
~Jean de La Bruyère, 1645-1696, French Writer~

A Favourite Holiday Photo

Sometime ago I posted a picture of a photo onto our local newspaper's website (News.com) that I'd taken when Ferg and I went camping on Fraser Island, then yesterday Ferg emails me to say he'd done a search of our name online, and up pops our photo.

Here's the link to access our photo and 19 others that News.com says are a "selection of the best travel photos" - http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/gallery/0,21592,5028152-5007153-10,00.html. Or if it's no longer there, here's a picture of it on the page.

"It is good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good too, to check up once in a while and make sure you haven't lost the things money can't buy."
~George Lorimer, 1867-1937, Editor of Saturday Evening Post~