Toe in the water.....

Have almost forgotten how to upload........its been such a long time since last I did.  My creativity has taken a beating this year but I have found some inspiration at my local artists outlet and Gallery, the delightful Opendrawer in Hartwell.  Every nook and corner of these rooms is filled with the quirky, the fascinating, the beautiful.....and all made by someone local.  To my great delight there are classrooms too and I find myself stretched gently in different directions.  Here's something I made at the first class.  A great way to use up a boring book, providing its spine is intact, and the paper is not too cheap - takes about an hour and a steady hand.  I love them.

Branching Out

........there are trees so dearly loved by Electra, and there are other branches in ones life too.  Some of the paths they take are not expected.  However, zendoodles fill all sorts of interesting spaces, and this one of mine fits the latest Opus Gluei challenge.  

Thanks to a new friend who inspired me to fill some time doodling, this came to mind.  Amazing what you can accomplish in quiet evenings, armed only with paper, pen and a glass of wine (not compulsory, but good all the same....).  I do love ATCs, if for no other reason than they're little.


See what other people have created too......................

Simon C Thomson 

2 June 1987 - 26 February 2012

Watch the birdie.........

What did I do before ATCs?  Little pieces of whimsy, or just a smaller place to make a mess!  Some things work better in my head than on the page, but NOBODY's perfect, and the world hasn't crashed to a halt.

The Poobahs at Opus Gluei decided on a bird theme (its called Tweet, chirrup and trill) and the other entries are so cute.  Go and look (or if I get the Mr Linky thingy working, they might even be here on the bottom of this post).  Mine are an odd assortment on the avian theme.........  I started with the bird cage and the little silver dove and added a chain to hang the cage from, then I went hunting in the Busy Room.  First to light was the emu family and their very disapproving stares.  I don't think they like being on a card so I apologise to them right now.  I love their double feathers and the stripey chicks, and they have a penetrating red glare that follows you.  Their beak is sharp and unforgiving too. 

Next was a scrap of a Kay Nielsen illustration for "A Thousand and One Nights".  There's a whole other story about how I came to discover his work but I'll leave that for another time.  In the original, the flamingoes float in deepest blue so I made it the night sky.  The last is a protective mother bird, except that I think she should be sitting on the eggs, not watching them from a branch.

See what other people have done......

Opus Gluei #122 Take a picture, it lasts longer.

Can you imagine how many things in my life I should have taken a picture of?  A pair of patent leather shoes I wore to death and had re-heeled over and over again; a black silk jersey jumpsuit (I was very thin); my Aunt's black and white tiled floor under her grand piano; my first boyfriend; the house my grandmother used to live in.....

Being a quiet retiring sort of person (in my dreams) it seems I have few photographs of me, and none I'm willing to share any time soon, though I could have photoshopped out the green horns I dare say (this will make sense to some people and just bemuse the rest).  So I hunted out some images that could have been photographed but weren't until they were painted.  Don't go trying to play the music above the image of Beethoven because its definitely NOT one of his best works, which is why he looks so grumpy.  The other is a piece of a larger image of a dancer complete with maracas.  I gave her flowers instead because she needs to be exotic and a bit more mysterious.

More ATCs, just love them cos they're little and collectable.  Can we have another swap sometime soon?

Opus Gluei 121 "Out with the old and in with the new"

There's something about staying home that gets me in the mood to spring-clean, even when its summer and so hot the roads melt.  So far there are 6 boxes waiting to be collected by the charity people, but I'm not ringing them yet because I know there's more to find...........I've started the "out with the old" bit.

I even winkled out a few things from the busy room, then I remembered my New Year resolution for 2012 (well, one of them) which is to spend less time on the computer and more time getting gluey, so the first port of call HAD to be OG.  After a day with friends, making cards and eating and laughing and giving eachother advice on every topic under the sun, I had to keep going and raid the boxes for this challenge.  Its all very well saving things to use, but eventually, you actually have to use them (Rosemary, this applies to you too).  My 3 ATCs are my way of getting rid of some old, and recycling them into something new.

The cat is a mosaic from a postcard along with some cord from a parcel. Orange cord is so good you HAVE to save it, but maybe not forever.  The oriental one has a piece of a wrapper from my chinese tea, another snippet of a postcard with tea-mugs, and a brad which just might have a tea leaf or two on it.  The third uses my last piece of handmade gold paper from when I started making cards, oh-so-long-ago, along with an image that reminds me of my Mum's button jar, right down to the rusty lid.

And of COURSE the backgrounds are black; some things never change!!

Christmas is coming.......

I don't know where the time goes.  This is not just days, its months.  Somehow I got out of the habit of taking photographs (note to self, catch up on shuttercal too) and TOTALLY out of the habit of making cards, except the ones I had to rush off to attach to a present that was due NOW.  

But the holidays loom.... the reports are finished, the puddings are made, the Christmas cards are the next thing on the list (writing them not making them) and then I'll start baking goodies.  If I can find a day at home.

This card is for my dearest (well, to tell the truth, ONLY, but she's very dear to me too) niece who lives on the other side of the world where it actually gets cold for Christmas.  It could be just about any sort of weather in Melbourne, but it certainly wont snow, whereas in beautiful downtown Hertfordshire, it just might.

All the papers are from last December's TE Key Ingredients kit, which goes to show how much of a hoarder I am....and the snowflake brads were just waiting for me to open the right drawer.

Merry Christmas KT!

Everything's coming up roses!!

Roses........ well, I have a garden full of them but when I looked into the boxes of useful things...... there were daisies, orchids, camellias, daffodils, sprays of jasmine, bunches of bluebells........ but not a rose in sight.  It took a bit of searching but here's my take on the latest challenge from the Opus Gluei Poobahs.  

The image  is an old perfume advertisement from a sheet of decoupage paper I saved a l-o-n-g time ago.  I've added some pearls and some bling and a few gold highlights here and there.  Hope its rosey enough to suit......

 

(and Rosemary, this means the house is still dusty!! )

Opus Gluei #111 "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside..."

And I do too.  Nearly missed this challenge ( the latest from the lovely PBs) because life keeps getting in the way of anything remotely creative lately.  Unless you'd call laundry creative?  And no, I don't mean worrying about how the clothes are hung on the line (but of course you could do it by colour, or size or type, or match the pegs to the clothes, or hang your socks in pairs........) see how easy it is to digress?

So here's my very simple take on the seaside........doubling as a Father's Day card for my Dad who is the second last in a long line of sailors in the family.  I'm the last.  The image makes reminds me of the trip to the Kimberley coast we did together, and how it must have looked like this to anyone watching: the boat with its tender tagging along behind (but you should be able to see my Dad fishing from it).  And to tell the truth, our skies were lots clearer, amazingly clear and blue.

Nothing terribly fancy about this, just a piece of blue card-stock, a memorable image and a foil embellishment.  Almost minimalist!

Cards for friends

I know why I don't have to time to make Christmas cards in the middle of the year (Electra, are you listening??)..... everyone I know is having a birthday this month,  Herewith two cards made with the contents of the latest Key Ingredients kit from Taylored Expressions........ 

I love the summery colours even if here in Melbourne its cold and wintery (and it snowed somewhere very close to home last night).  The patterned paper is just beautiful no matter which side I turn it, and the name of the pack "Sweet Threads" doesn't really give you a hint of the lovely things inside. It looks like linen because of the cross-hatching all over it.  Love it, and as usual I get carried away with the paper and dont use all the embellishments.

.....but there are brads, and pieces of ribbon, and for once the only things from the shelves of the busy room are the white cards I've used as the bases and two SU embossed flowers.

Happy Birthday Ann and Maureen.