Lots and lots to do

Canvases and hand made journals in progress.



Class kits being assembled.




Jewellery bits to be made into necklaces.




Decorated papers for kits and turning into journals.


Busy, busy. I don't know where the time goes. I had a lovely friend Patsy come and visit me and we spent the day decorating papers. It was great fun, we produced so much. It makes a big difference having a like minded friend working with you, the ideas bounce of each other.

I'm also creating some canvases to sell at the retreat. They are in various stages of progress, none finished as yet.

I have a pile of jewellery drops all waiting to be matched and combined with complimentary pieces and then moulded into necklaces, it's quite a complex process and very time consuming, but I love seeing the end results.

I'd better get back to it before I slack off too much.

Stamps

I had a great decorated papers and journal workshop on Sunday. The students all went home with fabulous journals that they had created. The class was go, go, go. We were so busy I didn't get to take any photos, which was very disappointing as there were some lovely papers produced.

I've also been making stamps. I managed to find the blue blocks at Paperific when it was in Melbourne. I made some of the images from Indian wood blocks that I have. The wood blocks are great for using with paint but are not very successful with stamp pads, so I decided to imprint them into the blue blocks. Now I can print them with stamp pads. To create the stamps you heat the block with a heat gun then press an image into it. I would suggest you do this outside and I even use a mask, I'm very conscious of what damage the fumes can do to your body. The black stamps are a material that I got from the reverse garbage Art Truck in Ringwood. It looked the same and I had brought home quite a lot of it. As usual I'd forgotten I had it until Joy, in my altered book class, mentioned she had some and wondered if it would work. I gave it a try and these are the results. The cogs are the cardboard ones that you buy in a packet. I spread them out on a brick then heated the foam and voila, they worked.





This is a page from my journal. I loved the expression on the woman's face.

More sneak peaks

These are the sneak peaks from Timona's book in our ABRR. Timona's subject is 'Do your thing and I shall know you'. I was really able to let my colour muse go wild. These books are amazing, the quality of art is astounding. It has been a most successful swap with all books being passed on like clock work, all under the guidance of the very efficient and talented Ursula. Thanks so much Ursula for your wonderful organizing of this great event.

I now have more Dremel power. My dear husband bought me a Dremel blow torch, soldering iron and heating tool all in one.
It uses butane gas. I'd never seen one before. I also received an anvil, clamps, perfume and roses all for my special day. How spoilt am I. The guys I work with have given up on me, nothing surprises them anymore, they said I'm the only female they know who would request a blow torch and anvil for her birthday.

I've also received the Arte y Pico award again, this time from the very talented Margaret. Thanks so much Margaret. I'll pass it on to all you lovely people who I didn't mention the first time.

Awards and bling

What a lovely surprise to receive the Arte y pico award from Sharon

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.
4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico' blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. To show these rules

I have so many blogs that I visit and they're all so inspiring. Having to choose just 5 is very difficult. Here goes Judy and Jen my Aussie buddies. Judy Wise, Karen Cole, and Sharon at Norahs
This is so hard as I could add so many other people to this list, Julie H, Linda and Opie, Monica Magness, Nina, Katie K, Marie O, the list would be endless. Thanks to all of you bloggers out there who take the time to drop by and visit, you're all a great inspiration to me and I thank you all so much.






This is a necklace that's now on my Etsy store. It's a bit of bling with lots of vintage finds and rhinestones. It's not quite like my usual style, but then again I like many styles and am always keen to try them all.

I mentioned Monica Magness earlier, you should take a wander over to her site and see the wonderful completed art doll that is going to be auctioned to raise money for cancer. Monica is one amazing lady, the doll looks fabulous, she has loads of photos and shows the development of the doll from start to finish.

Finally for the people who've asked what I use to make my stamps. I use a product called Ezy carve, it's a square block 80mm x 80mm. I sometimes cut it into four. I also use plastic erasers from the newsagents or art stores

Finally, finally, thanks to lovely Linda Lynch for nominating me to reveal another seven things about me, I'll have to think over this as it's late and I have to go to bed now or I'll be late for work in the morning.

Tools and journals

A girl can never have too many screw drivers. My husband finally rebelled against me borrowing his screw drivers and not returning them to his tool box. This was the answer. He saw them on special and thought there was probably enough there to last me a lifetime. So girls that's what you do when you need new tools.



While he was there he also saw these tools kits with bits suitable for my trusty dremel. What a lovely man he is.





These are some small journals I'm making to sell at the Artistic Journey retreat here in May, I'll also be making some for my Etsy store. The stamps are my hand carved ones that are going in the kits of the students who are doing my Altered book workshop at the retreat.
I'm also teaching a decorated paper and journal making workshop, similar to the journals above, at Hann Made Studio on April 20th, there are still places available if you can make it. The phone number for Hann Made is in my side bar.

Finally thanks once again to Seth from The Altered Page for allowing so many of us to show off our art on his blog. Seth has covered some wonderful topics and the art is fabulous, it's well worth dropping by.