WooHoo and BooHoo!

Woo Hoo it is time to announce my blog winners, well actually that is the Boo Hoo - blogger is not letting me upload pictures this week and so my announcement is overdue. But with no further ado, congratulations too:

Doreen and Kelsey!

Faces, with apologies to some beautiful women!

I got lost in the creative zone last night, and I am so grateful! For the first time in ages I lost track of time and played for five hours straight - the result two finished ATC's and two other pieces partially done. These are my first attempts at faces; which I was NEVER going to try, when will I learn not to make sweeping statements?
After creating backgrounds a la Kelly Rae I took some magazine pictures.. and here's the apology, these women WERE beautiful.
I traced over the main features, the first time in blue pen (you can see why that was not a great idea), the second with lead pencil, and then flipped the picture onto my background to transfer the pen/pencil. From there I used paint, Tombow, Distress Ink, water colour pencil, brushes and my trans dermal applicator (thanks Kelsey). I enjoyed 'modifying' the second face, and I guess the next stage would be to draw my own.

Please join my give-away from the previous post.

Stumbling Blocks and a Giveaway

I have really struggled to create since the art retreat, a combination of too many other things to do and some hang-ups. Everything I started seemed to be a copy, I was lost in technique and have not been able to get my ideas to flow. Finally this week I sat down to play and the pendants above emerged, beautiful beads with simple sterling silver joins. They had no purpose other than play so I have given them one, a give-away. Just leave a comment and one of them may be yours - I will use a random selection method and do the draw on Sunday 26th April.

These memory wire bracelets were a lot of fun to make; I have such a lot of beautiful beads that don't work with my vintage/grunge/earthy styles, and spend way too long just looking at them. The bracelets will appear on my Etsy very soon. If you are in my Etsy store you will find some fantastic sale items as I am having a clean out.

I can't seem to capture the translucent nature of the paint on this canvas or the many layers, but never mind, it was a piece I enjoyed making, a piece where I learnt a lot about product and planning ahead.

Despite the fact we have a multitude of pet baskets and comfy chairs, for Charles to rest in, he has made some interesting choices this past week; the box I was dropping work into as I marked and then the shelf. I know, I should have scooped him off and growled, but it was too cute I ran for the camera instead. Don't you love how he is pretending not to see me?

A Class With Stephanie Lee

I have put off blogging this class for ages because I wanted time to do something with my bits and pieces, but alas it was not meant to be.

I was lucky enough to spend two days with Stephanie, a blow torch and some other wonderful ladies. By lunch time of the first day I was in bliss, and said to my roomie, "If I go home now I will be happy with what I have learnt." Stephanie is an amazing teacher who shares of herself generously and has a wonderful positive attitude to life and learning. I appreciated her sharing about the properties of metals (a little science) and her reasons for both the ways she does things and her choice of supplies.

Just writing now takes me back to that lovely room with arched doorways looking out over grassy lawns and trees, with a river running below... all beautiful, but the buzz inside the room was even more amazing, thank you Stephanie.
I can't get enough of my babies at the moment, and photo's of them sleeping are so much easier than when they are playing chasey at full speed through the house or across the lawn!!