TILL THE END OF TIME.

This is a card that I made for the monthly Card of the Month challenge on my favourite Yahoo group. The theme was "Time" and I won with this card. I feel very honoured to be chosen, there were very many lovely entries.

PAY IT FORWARD

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow, or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise!

The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you make a comment and are one of the first three, I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make! Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work.

I will check my blog daily to see who the first three sign ups are, and if they've joined this Pay It Forward exchange, they will be the recipients from me.Make sure to leave your blog address with your message, so I can check your blog. I will also need your email address so I can contact you for details of where to send them.

FREE CHRISTMAS IMAGES

This site has some really lovely Christmas images to share for free;

http://artist-how-to.com/Christmascountdown07.htm

Thanks for sharing the Christmas Spirit

FOUND SOME TIME FOR CHRISTMAS CARDS

This card was made with an image from Trish for the challenge at Next Generation Stampers, thanks Trish.

As I usually do, I entered more swaps than I should have, but I've managed to get them all done and away, and so now I've had some time to get started on making some Christmas Cards. I have managed to make 30 in the last two days, so still have to make a few more before I am finished, but will get some more done tomorrow I hope.

"THE MUSE"

I started this 10" x 8" collage while my friends Bethel and Lucy were here for a holiday, but wasn't happy with it, so I re-thought it and worked on it this evening and I'm so happy with the finished collage now. So today was the day it was meant to be finished.

I think that I was probably a bit overawed by Bethel and Lucy, for whom it seems to come so easily. I have to take a little time and give my creative "muse"

some space to come up with something that feels right.

SYDNEY PAPERCRAFTS FESTIVAL

This is the journal that I did in Celine Navarro's class. Just a practice one so that I remember the process, I have made a couple more since I did this class.
My report on the Festival and the class is below.

I am heading out tomorrow morning to spend a few days in Sydney with my friend Chris. We are going to the Sydney Papercrafts Festival over the weekend, and meeting up with other stampers/artists for lunch on Friday and again, having dinner together on Saturday night. I spent the day yesterday making some ATCs to trade with others at the Festival. Will come back and give a report on my purchases after the weekend.

MY REPORT ON THE WEEKEND:

Well, I had a wonderful time staying with my friend Chris and her family in Sydney. We went off to the Festival on Friday and did some serious shopping, what fun!

We met up with several of the girls that we have got to know on some of our internet groups for lunch, then on to more shopping after taking a couple of loads of parcels to the car. Chris, Jessie and I came back again for a class on Saturday morning called "I Love" with Celine Navarro from France. She was a very lovely girl and we had an enjoyable morning making (or starting) a journal. We ran out of time to finish, but did finish the covers which were metal embossing which we aged when we fininshed, the end result was very nice. Then of course, a little more shopping before going back to Chris' place to get ready for our planned dinner. We met up with 25 of the girls from the internet lists, plus several of the traders from the show for dinner at an Italian restaurant and had a great night. The very generous traders all donated lovely products and everyone went home with a prize, so we were all very happy with that. On Sunday morning, Chris and I both decided that we needed to go back again (which was helped by the fact that she only lives 20 minutes from the venue) because there were still a couple of things that we wanted, plus we wanted to meet up with a couple of the girls who were only able to go on Sunday. So we had coffee with a few of the girls again and more shopping.......and talking........and much fun was had by all. What a great weekend it was. Thanks Chris and Jessie for your lovely company.

RAINDROPS

This is a photo I took at my daughter's place of a Grevillea flower in the rain, you will have to click on the picture to enlarge it and see the raindrops. These beautiful shrubs which come in many different colours, attract lots of local birdlife and are in flower most of the year.

GOTHIC ARCH - MOON

Here is this weeks entry for the Gothic Arch Challenge, the topic this week is about the "Moon".

Here is the link to the Gothic Arch Challenge:

http://gothicarches.blogspot.com/2007/09/moon.html

ALPHA CHALLENGE "J"

Here is my entry for Isa's challenge this week on her new challenge blog.

I have coloured the background and words with Adirondak Butterscotch ink which is one of my very favourites. I think that my choice of Japan was made easy by my friend Chris B who bought this wonderful stamp for me from USA. It has been on my wish list for quite some time. Thanks for thinking of me Chris. I am about to leave for a couple of days away, but will do another for the challenge when I get home.

This weeks challenge is to use Yellow inks, or the letter J, or a Christmas theme, but you can use the whole three. I have used two with the colour and the letter J for "Japan". Here is the link to Isa's site:

http://isascrapandstamp.canalblog.com/archives/2007/08/30/6050546.html

WEDNESDAY STAMPER BLUE CHALLENGE

Here is my entry for the Wednesday Stamper Challenge, the theme this week is "Blue". Here is my entry which was a spread I made for a friends Altered Book.

It's quite different from other work which I do, but I really enjoyed making this page for her "By the Seaside" book.

Here is the link to the site:

http://wednesdaystamper.wordpress.com/2007/08/29/blue/

WOW.......I'VE HAD 2000 HITS

It is quite amazing how quickly the numbers climbed on the hit counter.
Just want to thank everyone who had left such lovely and encouraging messages for me. The best part is that I am really enjoying using the blog and the art community who are blogging and sharing their wonderful artwork..

Rob

GOTHIC ARCHES - SCHOOL

Here is my entry for the Gothic Arches challenge for this week, the theme is School. Here is the link to Belinda's site to check out the entries. http://gothicarches.blogspot.com/2007/08/introducing-gothic-arch-challenge.html

Looking forward to taking part in this challenge, I love Arches.

DRAGONFLIES FOR A FRIEND

I made this card for a friend Evelyn who just loves dragonflies. This technique was one of Trish Bayley's challenges a few months ago. Thanks Trish, I love this look, I just love any way to use the colours of the rainbow.

I'VE BEEN TAGGED

I've been tagged by Jean (Stampin Cos It's Fun). Thanks so much for the honour Jean.

FOR VICKIE'S FAMILY

I have made this canvas to send to Vickie's family. They have asked for friends and customers of hers to send artwork to put in her home in her memory. The stamp that I have used on this canvas was one which I ordered from Vickie and which she posted to me the day before she passed away. I received the package several days later.
It seemed like just the perfect stamp to use and a great way to honour her memory.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Vickie Enkoff who died overnight in USA. Only a week ago, she announced that she would be selling her stamp business because of her ongoing health problems. She will be sadly missed by her family, friends and online communities where she was much loved.

Rob

A CREATIVE DAY

I've had a lovely day today, spent most of the day in my workshop making some cards for friends. This is one that I made for Nola who has just had open heart surgery. Hope that she likes it, I'm guessing that she will. The message in this card is inside the smaller section which is tied with the ribbon.

BACK AGAIN

It's been hard to get back here to my blog due to having lots of things on since I returned from the Stamping Marathon. I spent a wonderful week with my stamping friends, not only being creative, but doing what we all love best, shopping!! So I have returned home with lots of new treasures to play with, and lots and lots of new stamps to get inky. I did some Classes/Make and takes while I was there and this picture is from one of the classes. It's so nice to have the chance to get away for such a lovely week. We had a very long drive up there and thanks so much to my friend Chris for taking Dawn and I in her gorgeous new Lexus, and to the wonderful Bethel for her hospitality while I was there and Eveyln who treated us all with much love and care as well. Shame to have to come back to earth after such a wonderful week away.

xoxoxoxoxox

ATC for Isa's challenge

I have been very busy this week, so not too much time to make a lot of art, but have been making some ATCs to trade at a Stamping Marathon that I will be attending in a couple of weeks, and realised that they definately qualified for Isa's "H" challenge for this week. Here's the link to Isa's site:

http://isascrapandstamp.canalblog.com/archives/2007/07/05/5531510.html#comments

Here is an ATC that I made out of a background technique (Scrunchie) that we have been doing on the Art Techniques group. I really enjoyed doing these backgrounds and have made many different pages of backgrounds to use in future projects. For some reason, I can name this message.

Another one for Isa's "G" Challenge

Here is my second card for Isa's "G" challenge this week, I have really enjoyed doing this, thanks Isa for organising this. Here is the link to the challenge.

http://isascrapandstamp.canalblog.com/archives/2007/06/29/5462382.html

Isa's "G" Challenge

Here is one of my entries for Isa's Challenge for this week. I will try to do another one of the challenges before time is up.

Here is the link to Isa's site

http://isascrapandstamp.canalblog.com/archives/2007/06/29/5462382.html

Dragons are among us.

Thought that I would add this fearsome fire-breathing dragon that I made for a friend of mine, I have one as well to look out for me.

I haven't had much time in the last couple of weeks to get to my workshop, but I am planning on spending some time in the next couple of days being creative, so if I can make that happen, I will post some pics. I am also planning on making something for Isa's challenge this week.

My Inchie Interlude

Well, I just had to try them and had lots of fun in a couple of swaps, but now I am over doing inchies. Here is my collage that I have completed totally out of extra inchies that I made while making the swap ones. I will put it on the wall of my workshop, it will be a lovely keepsake. I also have collaged all of the swap returns that I received on a separate board.

It's very a very chilly Winter night here, and I'm sure that there will be a very thick white frost in the morning, so we might postpone going out for Saturday breakfast and go out for lunch instead and snuggle up in bed until the sun gets up. Cheers everyone and have a happy weekend.

Altered book

This is a spread that I did in an Altered Book Round Robin in a book where the theme was Peace. I was very happy with this spread and the book owner really enjoyed it too.

DOOR

I made this for Wednesday Stamper challenge "Door" , but was a little late and missed out, so now I will try the new topic for this week "Flowers"

"C" IS FOR CANARY COLLAGE

Here is my entry for Isa's challenge this week, the theme is "C", with no brown ink to be used.
I have been using birds a lot in my art lately, so the obvious choice for this challenge was for me to make a Canary Collage.

I am going away to the city for a couple of days for a doctors appointment and will look forward to seeing everyones beautiful "C" artworks when I return.

Here is the link to Isa's site"

http://isascrapandstamp.canalblog.com/archives/challenges/index.html

"B" FOR BLUE - ISA'S CHALLENGE

WooHoo!! I won the challenge last week with this "Blue" collage, what a lovely way to start. Will definately enter again this week. Thanks Isa.

Here is a canvas that I made for Isa's challenge. The theme this week is "B" for Blue and to use Distress Inks to colour with.I have used Vintage Photo to colour the paper down the RHS of the canvas and, as you can see, have pretty much used blue for everything else.

Here is the link to her site http://isascrapandstamp.canalblog.com/archives/challenges/index.html

ANGEL COLLAGE

This is a little 5 x 7 canvas board that I did recently. I got up one morning and went straight to my workshop and made it, without prior thought (although perhaps I dreamt about it?) and was very happy with the result.

MY V.I.P. BAG

With a little encouragement from my friend, here is the bag that I have made for myself while I have been waiting for/recovering from my eye surgery. With little that I was able to do creatively, my little grandson came to visit and he had some crocheting and he asked me to help him with it, and so to my amazement, with his very thick wool, probably around 14 ply, and a large plastic crochet hook, I was able to manage to crochet, so I bought some similar wool and a large plastic hook and got started on being creative again. So here is the finished product with a couple of tassels to jazz it up some. On the zipper pull, I have put a glass tag with the letters V I P embossed in gold (my Visually Impared Persons bag). And so now I have another bag to use, I love making bags and will put some more pics up later of bags that I have made.

SUN SHOWER

Recently, I was staying with my friend Bethel in Queensland, when we had a lovely sunshower.

Sadly, they are experiencing drought conditions at the moment, and so her beautiful garden isn't looking quite as green, but hopefully before too much longer, they will get some useful rain.

RAEWYNS 50TH

Recently my friend Raewyn in New Zealand had her 50th Birthday, so myself and 3 friends got together and made a collaborative present for her. She really loves Masks, so we each decorated a mask, mounted it on a 10" x 8" canvas, then they were all put together to make one piece of art. She got such a surprise when the parcel was delivered at her 50th Party. The only problem that we had was that we couldn't use any feathers, which always seem to be the perfect decoration on masks, because feathers would have contravened the import laws in New Zealand.

A BEAUTIFUL JOURNAL AND GREAT READ

While I was visiting a friend, she gave me this book to read, and I was so enthralled with it that I had to buy my own copy to re-read whenever I want, and to enjoy the beautiful journalling, although this book asks more questions than it gives answers.

I have had a little break from posting here after having eye surgery. I just have to take it slowly for now and am not really able to be too creative. But because I just can't "do nothing" I have been working on a project which I have been able to manage with limited vision. Otherwise I would probably go crazy, I am used to spending some time being creative each day. So hopefully before much longer I will be back to "normal" whatever that is. :)

20 NEW INCHIES

I have joined another Inchie swap and have made a lot more on the little blighters over the weekend. There's no doubt that they are addictive. I am planning to make a large montage when I get all the pieces back from the swaps I am in, I have made lots for myself as well and will make up to the size I need by making more. I remember when I first saw them on Chrysti's site, I couldn't believe that people were making 100 of them at a time. But now that I have made some, I can see that it's not that hard. These are the 20 that I am swapping in a group called ANZ_ART. Some of them are quite similar to the ones I have done before because I had printed out the tiny images for the collages, also these are for a different group of girls.

FABRIC COLLAGE

I love fabric collage, I have been playing with it a lot recently, trying different techniques and doing lots of image transfers, with all different mediums and techniques. Here is one that I did recently, I am really happy with this piece. The picture is a Gel Meduim image transfer and many different fabrics make up the rest of the picture.

SATURDAY'S QUOTE

"The purpose of life, after all, is to live it,
to taste experience to the utmost,
to reach out eagerly and without fear
for newer and richer experiences."
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt

ANOTHER BACKGROUND TECHNIQUE

And this is a notebook which I made and covered with a sheet of this paper, it makes a great cover.

Here is a background paper which I made some time ago, and although it is a different technique, the outcome looks quite similar to the Scrunchies on Arttechniques. This was made with black tissue paper, scrunched up and then applied to Jac paper. Two or three colours of Brilliance ink pads were swiped across the surface, picking up on the high points.

STAMPERS SAMPLER

This is a card which I had published in Stampers Sampler last month. I didn't submit it to the magazine myself, it was submitted along with some other cards from a swap in which we had to use the Artful Mosaic stamp. Mine was one of the ones which was selected to be in the magazine, and although I don't usually aspire to being published, when I saw my card in print, it was great.

JIG SAW ART

This is what I am playing with at the moment. These are Childrens cardboard jigsaws which have been altered to make a lovely collaborative artwork.

Late last year at a Stamp camp, some friends and I decided to do one of these Jig Saw Art pieces, and this is my finished piece. We all loved them so much that we are doing another one. I have chosen purple this time, I already have several pieces sent back to me completed and I'm sure that when the purple one is finished, it will look equally as nice as my Cream and Gold one.

It's a lot of fun.

MY ART ENABLER

This lamp has been a wonderful tool for me lately. My DH bought it for me about six months ago and I wasn't sure that I was going to have a lot of use for it. However, since then, I have developed a serious sight problem for which I am having surgery next week, and this lamp has allowed me to continue doing lots of things that I wouldn't have been able to do including my art and also being able to read in short bursts. Thanks DH, I think that you must have ESP. It has saved me from feeling too down about what is happening with my eyes.

ADDICTIVE INCHIES

I just had to try making some Inchies, little 1" x 1" collages, which seem to be happening everywhere. So after making some for a trial, I entered the CC Inchie Swap and have completed my entry for that as well. I have also been very busy doing 39 pages for a Chunky Collaborative Book and was happy to post that away to the swap hostess yesterday. The finished product should be wonderful, there are very talented artists taking part in this from all over the world.

So now I am off today to make some cards for friends whose birthdays are coming up, and looking forward to it after the challenge of making 39 pages all the same.

AUTUMN LEAVES

Well it's Autumn here, the mornings are getting a little chilly, but the days are perfect, so clear and colourful. This is a photo of one of my trees, a Rhus with it's beautiful heart shaped leaves changing to all colours from yellow to rich red. I am going to have coffee this morning with a friend who I haven't seen in a couple of months, due to the fact that we have both had some challenges lately. It will be good to catch up with her.

Here is another background that I tried from Arttechniques, it is Zorana's technique. I really enjoyed doing this. Is is done with silk flowers and leaves, embossing powder and beeswax. I will do some more of these when I get some time. It is just waiting to be artied up, but it seems a shame to cover it up with anything.

LOOK WHO COMES FOR BREAKFAST.

Every morning, we have some guests for breakfast. It is hard not to keep taking photographs of them, they are so very beautiful. They are bringing their young with them now and feeding them on our deck, the young ones get themselves into a position so that the parents can feed them as in the first picture.

LASSIANDRA EXPERIMENTS

Here are some pictures of my experiments with Lassiandra flowers, which I pounced between two layers of water colour paper, the softest impressions are the top sheet, and the heavier, clearer impressions are from the bottom sheet. I pounced them with a hard rubber mallet on a concrete floor. I love the result from these, I have sprayed two of them with some sprays that I have made myself from re-inkers.