Just dropping in...

Hi everyone

Just thought I would show you what I have been up to this week. 

First is the commissioned piece i was telling you about in my last post. It is painted on a 90cm x 90cm stretched canvas and the lady wanted a bright pink hibiscus on a black background. I thought straight black would be too heavy so i mixed it with Mars Violet. I used Atelier Interactive Paints so I could go back and reblend or re-activate the paint if I needed to touch something up. I also textured the background layer a bit so it wasn't so flat. I am varnishing today and delivering it on the weekend so here's hoping they like it.

The second one is a card I made for a friend's 50th birthday party we went to last weekend. 

I used my Big Shot machine to emboss some black cardstock, then rubbed over the embossed image with Jo Sonja Silver paint, painted some chipboard flourishes with black and silver and then covered in Clear Opals, stamped some flourishes and text onto vellum and some cardstock, stamped script onto some flowers, rubbed the edges with Jo Sonja Silver and layered them and then put it all together. I also rubbed some silver onto the main black cardstock to give a brushed look and all around the edges of the vellum, white cardstock and the black cardstock. 

I really like making cards so hope to do some more just for the fun of it during the year so I have some in stock not just making them in a rush when I need them.  

Ahh now that would be called getting organised wouldn't it.... not something I am famous for!!

I also wanted to pass on a competition I have found where you can win a basket full of goodies valued at $900. You can go here to learn some more

I hope to get some art journaling this week using all the new Crafters Workshop stencils I bought recently so I will catch up with you later.

My quote today is from Ghandi

 "We must be the change we wish to see"

What is something you want changed and how can you go about contributing to that change? It might be something small, within your own environment (like me getting myself and my art space organised) or it could be something in your greater environment. The choice is up to you. All I know is that each moment is precious so why waste it on hoping things were different when you can take that step to making them different?

Have a fantastic creative weekend everyone.

Namaste

Lee

Spring is in the air...............and up my nose!

Yes you guessed it I have hayfever. First time in about 4 years and it is driving me nuts. I hate sniffing and not being able to breathe and the sneezing is enough to give a girl a hernia. I don't like taking drugs unless I have to so I have pulled out the big guns today, the blue lace agate and citrine crystals, the garlic, horseradish and vitamin C tablets and the olive leaf extract. I rattle like a pill bottle and I have crystals stuffed down my bra and in bracelets and necklaces.
 I have looked up Louise Hay's book to see what the metaphysical reason is, here is what she says - Hayfever is usually caused by emotional congestion and fear of the calendar. Now we get to the nitty gritty.
Christmas is coming and I am usually running around like a ninny and not organised till the last minute, although this year Kerryanne over at Shabby Art Boutique is helping me with that this year, I have my sons 21st in less than 3 weeks and I still haven't finished his scrapbook album or put together the photo slideshow for the night and we have ALL of our relatives (that would be 9 ) staying at my place. Don't get me wrong I love having the family here as it doesn't happen very often that we are all in the one place at the one time. Lucky for me I have a great neighbour who has generously donated the use of some beds. So yes, I think I am scared of the calendar at the moment and that I won't get it all done on time!
So my affirmation to rid myself of hayfever is I am one with all of life. I am safe at all times.

So on a lighter note here is what I have been up to in my absence.

I have been playing with a new toy. A Big Shot embossing and die cutting machine. As you can see in the background I have taken over the dining room table with this "little" project so I will be glad when I have finished it and it is cleared away ( and so will dear husband).

 I have been using it in my sons scrapbook with the coloured core cardstock so when you sand the embossed areas they reveal another colour underneath, so neat. I have also bought a couple of die like this tag below. You can emboss and cut out shapes with the one stencil. Here is a photo from his school pages.

Another thing I have discovered and hence now have an addiction for is Opals embossing powders. My friends at Scrappers Warehouse had a sale on last weekend and so I went to support my friends :) and bought a few more things for my sons album. Here are some chipboard letters I played with using two or more colours.









In the Water baby photo I also used fantasy film on them as well.
I am still perfecting it but love the look I can get.
You can also paint the chipboard letters and then just clear emboss over the top so I can see endless possibilities here for my scrapbook and art journal pages.
What do you think?







I have been doodling a bit too. It keeps me sane and relaxes me when everything else is getting too hectic. Just 15 to 30 minutes and I feel so much better. I especially love doodling after a meditation so it keeps me in that habit as well. The first one was inspired by a lotus flower hence the name, and for the second I wrote - 'the eyes of the soul in a woven tapestry of life'.

In this next one I painted the background first in Jo Sonja Prussian Blue Hue and Aqua and then thought white pen would be nice over the top but I had a terrible time getting the white gel pens to give me nice flowing lines. Then I remembered a packet of Souffle pens I recently aquired and they worked a treat.

I leave you with a photo of my rose which is gloriously flowering and smelling delicious.

and a quote

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.
Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 

I hope you are all having a glorious day wherever you are and that you take time to smell the roses

Namaste

Lee