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.