A Wedding Keepsake Box

For the past few weeks, I've been teaching craft to some lovely ladies who are new migrants to my country and; we have been having a great time. I decided to show them how to take a plain paper mache box and transform it into a special gift.

I chose to make a keepsake wedding box as my example. I washed soft neutral colours in Jo Sonja's acrylic paints over the sides and base of box. Then; did my favourite technique of using sequin waste and sponging paint over the top to create a textured look.

I covered the box top with torn papers then; sponged the sequin waste over it. I made the bride from papers and embellished her with a lace veil and a pretty bouquet. I used Texture Paste to create her hair then; sponged a light fawn over the top when it was dry. Oh; the inside of the box is painted with Jo Sonja's 'White Pearl' acrylic paint which it has a pretty pearly shine to it.

And just for fun.......I'm entering my box into the 'Unruly Paper Arts' - MAY RAQ I: Anything Wedding-Inspired Except a Card. I've pasted the link below; as Blogger won't allow me to put the link over the wording at the moment ?????

http://unrulypaperarts.blogspot.com.au/search?updated-max=2012-05-01T15:00:00-04:00&max-results=3

"Show and Tell" Time

Hi There Blogging Friends; I finally found some time to have a play with a packet of shrink plastic by the name of 'Shrinky Dinks', which has been sitting on a shelf for quite some time. My goodness; I am completely amazed at this stuff.

I decided to have a go at making some spare key tags so; I stamped some houses onto the plastic with Staz On Ink. Then; coloured them in with ordinary colouring pencils and used a shape template to cut them out. They were quite a large size but after a few minutes in a hot oven, they shrunk down to these cute little tags.

Here is a pic of how big the stamp and shape cutter was in the beginning and; the size the finished tag came down to. It has a complete zoom down affect and was a lot of fun to watch in the oven....must find some more time to make some more!

I also decided to give my Stampin' Up Punches a bit of love and used them to make up some coasters. I used Artists Gel Medium (love that stuff), to glue all the papers down. Then; did a bit of sponging with sequin waste and acrylic paints and finally gave them three coats of Jo Sonja's Matte Varnish. Fill a new mug with some chocolates or freshly baked biscuits add a handmade coaster, wrap it all in cellophane and you have a great little gift for someone special.

I've also been blessed with winning two giveaways last month. What a lovely surprise it is to receive such gifts in the mail. The first win was on Amy's Blog; The Crafty Book Nerd and here are the gorgeous items. First are two elegant tags handmade by Amy.....

then; some beautiful embellishments......

then; some lovely papers, butterflies and flowers.....

then; some gorgeous cards, stickers, trims, some fabric and more embellishments.......

and finally; some pretty notepaper and envelopes plus the sweetest die cut cards. How wonderful is Amy to send all of these pretty and useful items.....thankyou sweetheart!

My second win was with Wendy at Art By Wendy and I received this sweet handmade carry bag which was made by Wendy herself. What a darling little bag it is and just perfect to hang off the shoulder on a night out.....

Wendy also sent me a card with her own Art on the front and two equally gorgeous metal embellishments. Love you heaps Wendy....thankyou for your generosity.

and......my monthly tag swaps with Tee on The Altered Paper Blog are a joy to be involved in. The April tag theme was 'Easter', so this is a pic of mine which was sent to Jenny in Virginia USA.

Apologies to everyone for not putting in the back links to their blogs, but Mr. Blogger (who seems to be playing up a lot lately) won't let me do that to-night!

Life is Good.....!

A week of fun......AGAIN!

Hi There Blogging Friends! If someone gave you a blank wall down the street and said "it's your turn to come up with some street art....go for it.....have your say!", what would you put on it???

Makes you stop and think doesn't it?

This is what happened to all of us who are taking up the April challenges on the Art Journaling Site. Graffiti was allowed as it is considered to be wall art....mmmm.......not my thing.

So; what "is" my thing? Well; since I have been playing with Art related ideas, I've come to realise that Art is all about putting a message out there. It can be a personal one, which opens up insight into emotional or physical pain, joy, love, fun etc. However; it can be something that causes people to stop and think or even to take action to change their lives.

I decided that "stopping people to think about their current situation" was the way I wanted my street art message to go. I started with a neutral background of acrylic paint then; stencilled a brick wall over the top of it. Then; I used the new technique that our prompt teacher Paula, shared with us and I wiped away a hole in the wall with a baby wipe.

The hole in the wall became "another life" and all of a sudden my title sprang to to the fore. I called it "Choices". Has it got you thinking? Hope so!

The lovely people organising the 'Journal Journey' over at Roses On My Table are not to be outdone with a difficult challenge either. The challenge prompt for March was "Relax, Breathe, Let Go". It took me awhile to ponder this one; but my thoughts of my days working in the city gave me inspiration.

I remember well; the rainy, gloomy days during winter where everyone would get off the trains and trudge to their office blocks. Men would be dressed in dark winter suits with their large black umbrella's up and walk as a mass down the footpaths. Being a young woman; I used to hate the boring depressing sight....so; why not tell everyone about those personal thoughts with my art!

Finally; a different type of challenge. We here at Taree are blessed to be having a visit by the travelling roadshow of the winning entries in the 2011 'Alice Springs Beanie Festival' Challenge. The exhibition will be held at; 'The Manning Art Gallery' from 20 April 2012 to 20 May 2012 and; our local craft group, Taree Craft Centre will also have a 'Creative Beanie' Challenge on display with the visiting exhibition.

Now; I wasn't going to put an entry in our craft group challenge....tooooo busy........did not have time, I told my friends! However; my cry fell on deaf ears and my friend Sue threw a knitted beanie at me in a gorgeous teal green colour and said "do something with that"!

The rest is history so they say...the beautiful colour got me in and all I could see was the 'Barrier Reef' in Queensland......here it is!

Until next time.....HAPPY CREATIVE CRAFTING!

Taking a peek in my Studio

Hi There Blogging Friends! Oh my goodness I've been busy lately. There is so many fun things to make and do that I seem to be dabbling in them all so; I thought I would give you a peek at what I have been up to.

First up; is my Mixed Media work. Our craft group is having a display for Autumn(Fall) so I created this canvas for it. I've used acrylic paints, texture paste, stamps, glimmer mist and sponged with found objects. Loved making this one.Here is a close up of my "mother bird". I used my 'Stampin' Up punch and punched her out of mulberry paper .Did you notice her little nest in the main pic? The leaves were stamped then handpainted with acrylic paints here and there.

This canvas is also for the Autumn display. I'm still working on it....background is done and I hope to get my girl finished this week. She is going to be throwing some Autumn leaves around.....Have you been tempted to lift up an armful of those gorgeous Autumn leaves and throw them in the air? I have!

and...Yes; I have been designing as well. Here is a cute softie shelf sitter. 'Happy Cat' got finished to-day.

and Yes; I have been knitting also. I fell in love with the delightful Mug Wraps that Val Pierce (UK) has just published in her book 'Knitted Mug Hugs'. Take a peek inside this fabulous little book....

Aren't they divine!! I purchased my book from our local 'Spotlight' Store here in Australia but if you want to track it down on the net; go to www.searchpress.com (the publishers) as I am sure you will find it there. Val has a range of these books called the '20 To Make Series' and all are filled with lovely little things to knit or crochet. Perfect little gift I think!

Finally; the mail has been kind to me with the sweetest tag, arriving from my swap partner from The Altered Paper Blog. As St.Patricks Day is in March, my partner Jane made this darling tag for me. I love it; as I don't have anything for St. Patricks Day. It will come out each year for display from now on. Thankyou Jane!

Fun With a 'Cool Cowboy'.

This project was a lot of fun blogging friends. It's the first Art Journal Challenge in a free 12 month workshop from the nice people at 'Art Journaling' ; who operate a ning group on the net. Each month there will be two challenges, with the aim of persuading us to get out of comfort zone and do something different.

For this challenge, we were asked to use the colours; denim blue, ochre, brown and walnut ink stain and to incorporate those colours into a cowboy page.

I decided to go for a giggle and give my cowboy and his horse "cool heads" which were the essence of their survival.

My cowboy is speaking to a passer by and saying

" It's tough out here Pilgrim, the only way to survive is to keep a COOL head!....lol!

It's amazing where a challenge can take you....if you want to join in the fun, just log into the group and request to join.....it's that easy!

An Arty Crafty Week!

Hi there blogging friends! I enrolled in Christy Tomlinson's 'She Art' on-line class earlier in the year, so have had a nice week coming up with my own style using the techniques Christy teaches.

Christy's girls are so bright and colourful and her backgrounds are alive with stamping, doodling and layers upon layers of papers and paint. If you haven't seen Christy's work you must pop over to her blog and drool over her talent.

Anyway; I'm a bit more conservative with my work, so came up with my first girl on a soft, soft background. I've allowed more of my papers to show through and tried to capture my girl walking through a garden in autumn.

With the aim of being as original as possible; I decided that my girls will have hats on their heads, so this one has a nice soft hat for her stroll in the warm sunshine. I also decided that I would have a foreground in front of my girls and this pretty bird sitting on a gorgeous open rose was just perfect. The papers I used are; 'Sweet Nothings' by KAISERCRAFT....just adore them!

Tags were also on my desk this week. Below is a special tag for my partner Jane who I have been paired with by Tee on The Altered Paper Blog. It is winging its way over to the USA as I type this post. Our subject was "Spring", which I believe is the upcoming season for the States.

The next tag is one of three that I completed for my friends at 'Roses On My Table' for our theme 'Lights-Camera-Action'. It was great fun searching through clip art images of Actors and Actress's to come up with a layout. In the end, I decided to go with; Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon who are both dressed up as women in the movie 'Some Like It Hot'. Marilyn Munro was the leading Actress in the movie as well.

I didn't have good light to take this pic but Tony is saying to Jack "this corset is killing me Jack" and Jack is thinking.....Mamma said there would be days like this! I loved keeping this layout in the black and white movie look of days gone by.

Free Photography Pics For You!

Hi There Blogging Friends! Did I tell you that I do a little bit of photography work?? Probably not, but yes I do, and I thought I would share some of my favourite floral pictures with you.

I have taken all of these photo's in the garden of my previous home or in the gardens of some of my friends.

You can use them if you like.....maybe as a nice background for something or; if you are real clever and can use Photoshop you could come up with anything amazing! Let me know if you do....I would love to see your creativity.

Pink Roses

Hydranger

Wisteria

Morning Glory

Pansies

Daisies

Frangipani Hope they warm the heart of all of my International friends who are still experiencing a cold snowy winter.

February Journal Journey

Hi there blogging friends! I have just completed my second page with the Journal Journey Group on Roses On My Table and I just love the soft colours I used for this one.

The prompt for February is; "you are different, you are unique". I used some vintage music sheets from the Opera 'Madam Butterfly' for the base papers.

Acrylic paints were white washed over the base papers. Then; I used stencils, stamps and found objects like sequin waste to create the textures. I am loving this type of mixed media background.

Here is a close up of the gorgeous vintage images that were free on the net. I can never remember where I get them, but you will see my favourite bloggers who generously upload free vintage photo's on my side bar. So pop over and visit them.

Swapping Fun Again!

Hi There Blogging Friends. My latest ATC challenge with my friends at 'Roses On My Table' is "Famous Artists". I have to say that I pondered quite a bit, about how to alter some famous art but; as soon as I got "Mona" in focus, there was no holding me back.

I'm sure Leonardo Da Vinci would not be impressed, but sorry Leonardo; Mona's gone mad about hats!

Here is a closer look at the six I am sending off to USA tomorrow...

I fell in love with the the sweet little boy below "James" on Tee's blog 'The Altered Paper' and do you know what; that sweet Tee sent him to me.....wasn't that soooooo nice!

Now; I don't know if you know it or not but there is an unwritten courtesy rule; that if someone gifts you with a special Artist Trading Card (ATC) which represents their work.....the polite thing to do is to send one of your's back. Apparently, this goes way back to the early Masters of Art.

So; below is my ATC which will be winging it's way over to Tee tomorrow.

She is called 'Gentle Woman'....

I also received my February Valentine Tag from Denise, my partner in Tee's swap at The Altered Paper. Denise reminds us to spread a little February love around out precious garden ornaments....so cute!

Have you given your gnome a little bit of love lately??