What do you record...

These are the waste paint covered journals I mentioned in the previous post. The picture of all four together is true to colour. I have given a couple of journals/notebooks away this week, the rest will appear for sale soon.

I give my little notebooks hoping they will be used, happy if they are full of shopping lists and shoe sizes, reminder notes or puzzle solving. Some friends tell me they are, 'Too good to use.' Please do, I can always make more. One of this weeks is going north on holidays, with a lady who has never travelled, another is being used to collect encouraging quotes. I heard this week an older one is being used to record things which make its owner grateful. What a blessing for be involved in people's lives through my little creations.

On my desk at the moment is a mess! But under that are two half finished necklaces, some ATC's and some earrings. I am so so looking forward to some chunks of creative time next week. Perhaps I will make a list ...

Faces, Award and Love

I think I have finished playing with faces now - until I need one. The colours in this top pic are about right for these four - all drawn while looking at magazine pictures. The centre bottom ATC took more than an hour, but at last I got the shading to blend rather than splodge. I was going to scrape the round canvas clean, but after an week or so on the floor, where the dog literally walked on it, the colours seemed to meld a little better and some of the lumps disappeared.

The lovely and talented Bevlea blessed me with a Kreativ Blogger Award; the teacher does so want to correct the spelling :).

The Rules:List 7 things that you LOVE. Link to the person who has tagged you. Choose 7 more bloggers to give the Kreativ Blogger Award to. Comment on those 7 blogs to let the recipients know you chose them.

7 THINGS THAT I LOVE

1. Jesus

2. Family (Furry and Two Legged)

3. Sandwiches (I could eat them three times a day, 15 salad veges, plain cheese and pickles, peanut butter, anything, toasted or not, just fresh).

4. Sunshine and blue skies

5. Reading ( I read EVERYTHING - contracts, books, cereal boxes, signs, the lot)

6. This little art world we belong to online

7. My friends, who are always 'there' - thank you.

I am a dud at passing these on and this is no exception, thank you to all the creative people who inspire me.

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.

Grunge and Sweetness, or ...

... rather sweetness and grunge. I think the sweetest gift of Christmas was some quality time with the newest little ‘H’, my nephew ‘A’. This photo was taken at lunch while he slept all snuggled in and I battled the brussels sprouts. Why do mother’s think those small green stinky vege are a traditional part of Christmas? I must say everything else was delicious and of course I ate too much.

I kept last years resolution, 12 months without hair dye (actually I lasted 13) umm, perhaps I should not mention hair when I have the frizz happening above :). So I will boldly state this years resolution - to drop three dress sizes. Other aspects of my health have been my focus for many years and medication took its toll, but I have stayed the same size all 2008 so I am sure that with a little work I can remove some of the excess.

I am not sure I will ever be able to sit like the sweet angel to the left (my niece) but I would like to be able to keep up with her as she plays her games and runs around the garden.

This was the third notebook I made and I experimented with some new colours - I like the green with my usual "grunge" and rust tones. I cut and covered all six covers, applied several paint washes and some stamping then worked on one book at a time.

This book was not meant to have webbing spray on it's corners, a certain ginger purr-baby decided to jump on my lap as I was spraying the back ground of the other two - luckily only the corner was effected and I decided it added to the texture. I can convince myself of almost anything.

After I made the note books I found one more of the tin signs I used as the focal point of each book. "spirit" started out red, the others were shades of cream and white to begin with.

Treadmills and Trivia

A sneak peak at three cards I made last night and one already given this week. I apply all my left over paint to a sketch pad - be it stamped, brushed, swooshed or splattered. I had four sheets in similar colours, a few stamps and some black ink and they were ready to play with.

Some bookmarks I made this week too. I have had quite a few requests/commissions for these and they are such fun to make, fairly quick and all different.

The treadmills? Real and metaphorical. I have felt for the past month that I was on a run-away treadmill, and yet somehow last week I took control, nothing has changed, I just feel like I am walking in time with my life again. And the real? My Dad is coming to drop one off this morning. Dear Archer is not as dependent on his walks and his portability means I often pick him up and take him to the beach, or to the park with a friend and her children. I am finding I do not walk as much as I like to, I tend now to amble, to take photo's and to chat to others. My parents had a good treadmill they were not using so I have asked to loan it. Perhaps a commitment to SBS news on the treadmill? I will have to see how it goes...

Under the Sea

For reasons known only to my subconscious I began to explore the concept of those lost at sea, and at the same time had the urge to make a present for my fish. Hence, the fish have a new flake holder and I still don't know what my mind was on about.

Either way I am happy with the end result, liquid nails, pink, blue and green fimo molded shapes, a shell, golf tees, gauze bandage, and layers and layers of paint (all applied in washes and blasted with the heat gun) on a tin milk churn. The end result may not be deMeng, but the skills (if I can call them that) were learnt in his class.