GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO WIN.......

Over at her blog, Catherine Matthews-Scanlon is giving away 2 copies of her new book "Art from the Heart". It looks like a wonderful book and will no doubt be on many wish lists, including mine. All you have to do is visit her site and leave a message to be eligible to win....... http://cmscanlon.blogspot.com/2008/01/giving-away-two-copies.html

ANOTHER ISMAKI CHALLENGE

I have found a little time to make another card for the challenge on Ismaki.

Here is the link:

http://ismaki.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/challenge-1/#comment-142

Thanks girls for the challenge.

Rob

ISMAKI CHALLENGE 1

There is a new challenge site called ISMAKI, which is being run by Isa, Kianel and Mag. Here is my entry for this first challenge which was timely because I wanted to make a card for a friend with a new baby, so I used this template to inspire the card.. This is the challenge addy:

http://ismaki.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/challenge-1/

A NEW TWIST ON BRAYERED BACKGROUNDS

Riviera Kaleidocolour

Melon Melody Kaleidocolour

Calypso Kaleidocolour

Berry Blaze Kaleidocolour

I spent yesterday afternoon playing with a new twist on brayered backgrounds called Shining Stones. It is one of the challenges on Trish Bees "Next Generation Stampers" group and has really got everyone keen to try it out. I want to try some more with different cardstock, to try to get the look of more "texture" on the pages. I am so happy to have some lovely new backgrounds to play with and have some swaps and projects that I have lined up for them.

MY FRIENDS CAME FOR A VISIT

Two of my very talented arty friends came for a holiday and we had a lovely time together being creative and having lots of laughs and good times. Here is a photo of them in my workshop where there were several inspired works of art produced while they were here. So good to have you here Bethel and Lucy, look forward to your next visit.

CHRISTMAS JIG SAW

This is a jig saw that I did along with another 11 girls for Christmas. We each did one piece for each other in a 12 piece jig saw and all ended up with a lovely keepsake that we can hang up each Christmas. Thanks girls for your gorgeous pieces.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year to all, and especially to all of the generous people who come to visit my little blog and leave such lovely and encouraging comments. May 2008 bring you and your families all much Joy and Happiness.

Rob

KYLIE'S COLLAGE

Here is the collage that I made for my daughter Kylie for Christmas. Each item on the collage has special signifcance to her and her lifestyle and the beautiful way that she nurtures her two children, Elias and Jamaica. I really enjoyed making this for her and she really loves it. And after seeing this, she has been very interested in starting to do some collages herself. She is very artistically talented and I'm sure that when she gets some time to get started, she will be soon turning out some lovely pieces. I have so many things to upload to my blog, but have been having problems with downloading from my camera, hopefully I will have it sorted in the next couple of days. Luckily this one was 10" x 8" so I was able to scan it.

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.