A river of warmth ...

A little frog, a seahorse or two, ribbons, sari silk, wool, beads and me; the ingredients for this scarf, winging its way to a new home now.

Are you enjoying rivers of life?

Oh and a confession, I wore it once, just because ....

Christmas Cards and Snippets of Life

I needed to make a few Christmas cards to send home with an overseas guest, one led to another and now I am all done - yippee! These two pictures show Christmas cards which feature playing cards from a pack I purchased several years ago and did not do anything with until now.
My gift cards, ready to put on little end-of-year gifts at school.
Last year I bought cards for the first time in almost a decade, and regretted it, I am so pleased to have these all ready to give and send. Now to complete some swaps I have due, and have somehow left to the last minute again.

My Art-of-the-Month for September from Bevlea. A beautiful montage inside an equally beautifully decorated tin.

Beautiful bookmarks purchased from Carole in New Zealand.

Charles: The best excuse for not ironing.

Yum! The beginnings of a red marsala curry sweet on my tongue and then so hot the top of my head was sweating and my lips went numb.

My Art-of-the-Month from Debbi in August. A wonderful fabric collage now hanging in my entrance.

Today was wonderful I taught a jewellery class at school and the class were so interested in the art side of jewellery and the choice of found objects as a focus - bliss. I only teach on special occasionally as I find it takes the joy out of my personal creative time if it is also my work.

The vintage is out of my system, for now...

A 1-4-1 swap on an Aussie art group I belong to. 4 x 4" canvas boards painted, inked and embellished for Lucy.

Necklaces and Steampunk?

These two necklaces were a lot of fun to put together, lovely old pocket watch and clock pieces with copper chain. I am told this makes them 'steampunk' I did some research and I am not sure I agree... but steampunk is fashionable and I rarely manage to be fashionable so I guess I will accept the label as a compliment.

The top and bottom necklaces are for swaps, the one in the middle a commission from a good friend.

This bottom necklace combines a delicate antique doll and shoe button with sturdy copper and a focal lava bead. There are other contrasts, the egg shaped bead and the calcified, umm.. poop.. from the ocean. There seems to be a focus in our art world at the moment on the symbology of eggs, this farm girl remembers where they come from... And holds that thought with the potential and new beginnings promised. The realistic logical side of my brain playing with the arty dream weaving side. Does it work? I hope so.

Spoons, Treats and Blogarithm

Altered Teaspoons

I recently hosted an altered teaspoon swap on INKrediblyRt - look at the wonderful collection I have ended up with. The first two are my own, then their spoons by Peta, Nikki, Kim, Kylie, Carmel, Jane and Dawn. I do apologise for the quality of the photo - they dance and sparkle in real life.

This darling bird pin was purchased from Moorhouse Moorhouse on Etsy. I know I will wear it a lot with my winter jumpers. The wonderful wire necklace is from the very talented Carmel, a one-for-one swap.

I know I got e-mails saying blogarithm was changing owners, but despite my best attempts at searching my trash files and haunting my inbox I don't seem to have heard from the new people. Does anyone know if I was supposed to do anything? I like my daily digest of updated blogs and am hoping someone can tell me how to keep them coming.

Swaps

Natalie B is hosting a canvas niche swap on INKrediblyRT. The canvas was supposed to feature an inchie - I am not sure what happened along the way. .. but this is the canvas I sent her. The inchie is in fact a framed photo of the face on the fist beaded doll I made (in Kelsey's class) and the focus is on a removable and wearable doll.

I was actually so pleased with this piece it spent a few days sitting on the shelf with some of my dolls (made by Dot) before it headed north.

These bracelets were fun to make - gifts for a VERY pink friend.

As far as stunning jewellery goes look at the necklace Kim made me! This style, inspired by Kim's friend, and sometime muse, Nina is simple perfection and so lovely to wear. Kim and I have swapped before but this one was because Kim was my Mystery Muse partner, also on INKrediblyRT.

The journal below is the gift I sent my MM, Genevieve, this month. I could not get a good photo but was pleased with the end result.

Art I am happy with, beautiful gifts and so many Earthly treasures, now I just need to banish the clouds.

A very special swap.

My friend Kim proposed a 1-4-1 swap. Each of us would select four items to send to the other. The recipient would use 3 or 4 of the items in a piece of jewellery and return it. Kim sent me the items above and I knew at once that the solid metal tag was going to be my base. My typewriter keys were already out on my desk, as were a second set of wings I had aged when making 'Soar'. The rest seemed to follow.

I sent Kim these blue and silver items.
Both Kim and I have attended workshops with Nina Bagley (on opposite sides of the world) and her influence is present in the copper mesh I have attached to the bottom of this necklace for Kim and the wire we have both used.

Kim made me this stunning necklace which I have worn already. I love that the 'J' has a 'K' stamped on the back and the lovely old button she has added. The topaz/gold beads were the perfect colour contrast too. Thank you so much for suggesting this one Kim!

Swap - to die, or at least suffer, for ...

well a girl only has one life. My fellow rust lover, and artist extraordinaire, Leighanna and I recently swapped art AND rust. I came home last night to this fabulous canvas - Leighanna let me choose and I chose this because if seemed to combine her quirky and natural art themes. There are so many layers on this and the texture is wonderful. Love it!

As to the rust, look at these goodies - spiky cogs, an old 'J' key and a nail. But not just any nail - this one has the number '27' on top (one of my lucky numbers) and I know how much Leighanna loved these when she found a small set recently.

What a joy the art world is, I so appreciate the generosity of Leighanna and all the other beautiful people I swap with.