Pisces

This is what my jewellery table top looks like most of the time. The jumble is a necklace in progress.



The usual chaos of my studio, so many projects all at different stages.



The finished product. Another necklace to go on my Etsy . The lovely pearl fish, hence the name Pisces, were given to me by Judy . I actually made the wire rings, soldered them, then flattened them, I really enjoyed making this piece.




This is the one that started it all, this is mine, it's made from lots of old beads I've collected over the years, my own hand made beads, found objects, old earrings, even a picture of my grandchildren. I think it's become my mascot, people regularly say, 'I don't remember your face, but I remember your necklace'. It's not the lightest piece I've made but I'm used to it.




These are some of my hand carved stamps and stencils, photographed on some of my papers that I've used them on. This is for Michelle Ward's Street team crusade No 18 . This time Michelle is asking people to show their hand made stamps and stencils, so here's mine. I still have quite a few more, probably on one of my table tops somewhere.



Thanks also to Marie and Penny for tagging me re seven more questions about myself, I'll really have to think over this one.

Altered book workshop

Here are some photos of the students from my last altered book workshop. They were very enthusiastic as you can see from their faces. A lot of work was created by everyone.



This is the lovely June who tried to tell us at the beginning of class that she had no artistic talent whatsoever. I think we managed to change her mind. June created some wonderful pages and saw napkins and paint in a whole new light.



Kerri was very keen, she had even started a book before she arrived to class, I've never seen such a prolific student, she churned out some beautiful pages, so full of colour and interest.



Darling Marty's a regular at the workshops, she has a wonderful altered book she's created, but she wanted to decorate some papers ready for the hand made journal class coming up in April, she almost has enough papers now to make a journal, she was so productive.



Margaret has also been to the workshop before and her book is looking really lovely. Margaret puts a lot of thought into her pages and has created some wonderful pieces.



I think this was Sue's third class, unfortunately she had to leave early, so she wasn't able to create as much as she would have liked. Raelene has also been to the workshop before, she now works at the studio where the class is held.

The next workshop is a decorated papers and hand made journal class on the 20th April. We also have a class making a vintage book on the 22nd June. I'm making a sample so will have photos on my blog as it progresses.

Shades of green

Another week, another necklace, I can't believe it's seven days since I lasted posted, I'll have to try and catch up. The necklace above is the latest one on my Etsy

I've been tagged by Linda and Opie and Toni to answer six things about myself, I've done this once before so I'm racking my brains trying to think, here goes

1 I was a lucky survivor of the Ash Wednesday bush fires here, twenty five years ago, I can't believe it was so long ago, it still makes me shiver to think about it. Our house was surrounded by fire, but we were one of the lucky ones.

2 I was obsessed with owning a box of Derwent coloured pencils when I was young and promised to marry a boy in grade four at primary school when he gave me a box for my birthday. I wonder if he's forgotten.

3 I met my best friend when I came out from England fifty years ago and we're still best friends and I still send a card each year to my best friend, in England, prior to coming to Australia.

4 My favourite TV shows are the English murder mysteries, Midsummer murders, Miss Marple, Silent Witness.

5 Daffodils are my favourite flower

6 I'm an avid collector of stuff, beads, art materials, old junk. I might be able to use it one day. Mean while my husband tells me he won't visit my studio unless he's wearing a hard hat.

The rules say I have to select six more people to tag, but I'll tag whoever hasn't been tagged before and wishes to do so.



I've also received a You Make My Day award from Sharon . Thanks Sharon you've helped make my day. You all make my day, so thanks everyone.

A visitor to my studio

This darling little frog visited my studio last night along with three, not so welcome, huntsman spiders. We have had some rain just recently and the spiders come in to keep dry. I'm not sure how the frog got in, maybe when the door was open after the heat. He's now back outside in our pond.



This is my current jewellery project or should I say projects. I have a few pieces on the go at present.



These are some of the pages in my journal I'm making for my etsy store, it will have all decorated papers of different weights and sizes, as well as some of my altered art type pages. It's taking longer than I thought but I hope to have it finished soon.



These are some new papers I've been working on this weekend, they are now available on my Etsy




My drawer fetish continues. I found these again at The Warehouse, they are so useful as they open down, like the old hardware store drawers.

I'll be teaching another altered book workshop this coming Sunday, March 2nd at Hann Made Studio in Mentone, there are still places available if anyone is interested. The phone number is in my side bar.

Thanks to everyone who drops by my blog and to those who leave comments too, I really appreciate knowing there are people out there who take the time to check out what I'm up to. I try to reply either by email or visiting your blogs, but there are some people I'm unable to answer as there is no link, to those I say a collective thank you. Thanks also to those who visit my Etsy and especially to those who have purchased from me, you are all so very kind.

Great new Photoshop frames

I can't believe a whole week has passed since my last post. Where does the time go?
I suppose on working and making jewellery, if I stop and think about it. Below is my latest necklace, this is another of my favourites, I love the colours. It amazes me how different this piece looks on a coloured background as you can see in the second photo, it takes on the colours around it. It has lots of crystals and rhinestones which pick up the colour. This piece is on my Etsy store





Now to the photoshop findings. I had an email from Gillian Allen who runs Art-e-zine. Gillian has added a new tutorial with all sorts of links here . These are some of the effects you can achieve, with your photos, very easily. Gillian runs a fabulous site with all manner of tutorials and lots of fabulous inspirational pages.





We're back to summer again with temperatures in the 30'sC. This is the view from our front door and up the garden path.



We have a saying in Australia 'true blue' which means real or real Aussie. This flower definitely fits the bill, it's a miniature agapanthus, which I think originates from Africa, but this little beauty was developed here in the hills by a local nursery. It's a true blue and gives such a wow factor to the garden



This ginger flower is one of my favourite perfumed plants, the whole garden has this beautiful heady perfume, especially towards evening. The bees love it too as this little chap shows, he was so intoxicated on nectar he didn't even notice me.



Finally I have to let you know about this fabulous artist Michelle Moode, she does wonderful things with pen, ink and fabric. This is a piece I purchased from her etsy . The image is only small but so much detail and work, I love what she does which is amazing as she doesn't use a lot of colour, it must be my other side showing through.

Creative weekend

This post is a bit of a jumble. I've had a busy weekend making jewellery and decorating paper, as well as baby sitting one of my delightful grand daughters. The weekend goes way too fast, it's almost over here in Oz.




The necklace above has gone to Touchstone gallery in Olinda today. It has a vintage look to it. I love the colour and apparently it's very popular at present. I'm making a similar one to add to my Etsy site later in the week.



The decorated papers are for a journal I'm making to sell on my Etsy site. It will have all decorated pages and some of my artwork scattered through out. There will be no blank white paper in this one, it will be all ready to go to add images, words, artwork, whatever. I hope to have that finished by next weekend.



This is a page in my journal that I worked on, driving to and from work, while sitting in traffic, waiting for the lights to change. It's amazing how much you can do just doodling and there's no road rage, I arrive at my destination much calmer and relaxed,
quite often covered in marker ink, but hey who cares, that's art.



Finally, when I was rummaging around in one of my drawers of trims, I noticed all of these colour combinations and textures and took shots, I love the eclectic mix.

Judy came to play

I had a fabulous time with Judy when she came to Melbourne with Michael who was teaching classes here. Judy came to play in my studio on Saturday and then we went to Camberwell market on Sunday. Judy was like a kid in a toy shop, she'd never seen a market quite like it. They sell just about everything, including lots of old stuff reasonably cheap, we tend to take it for granted assuming they have similar in other states, but apparently not. I bought some nice old jewellery that I can take apart and re-use. It was quite a warm day so by the end we were wilting, but we still managed to find the strength to visit an old book store, that has some magnificent old books, papers, journals and very old document, needless to say, we didn't come away empty handed.



On the Saturday night we went out to dinner with Judy and Michael and some of the students from Michael's class, including the very entertaining Jen Crossley . All I can say is Jen kept us very entertained (and we have it on video Jen) with some colourful language when Judy gave her a lovely surprise, which I'll leave Jen to show on her blog.
Judy made me this beautiful journal, I can't wait to work in it, it's divine. All the colour in my studio was quite a shock to her, she was working on a project and had to compromise as I don't have very many dark products, she did very well with what I had.





Finally this is another pair of earrings that are for sale on my Etsy store