Art Cupboard

I Have Missed You!

2011-04-22T11:26:00.001+10:00

Yes, I am a terrible blogger! However, I do have a good reason.

For those of you who know me and read my blog often, you will know that I care for my disabled Mum full time and that she lives with me and my two girls. For the most of last year, she has been slowly losing the ability to walk. Just walking through the house or standing up for a few minutes was beginning to cause her extreme pain. So after numerous appointments and tests over the last few months, the specialist informed us that Mum's legs were dying partly due to her diabetes.
After more testing with the vascular specialist {who visit's our country/rural town once a month} on Mum's legs and stomach, they found major blockages in her arteries in her lower stomach which was stopping the blood flow, down to her legs. His first suggestion was to have a few stents inserted into her arteries at a cost of around $10,000 - $12,000 a stent which we would have to pay as the specialist only operates in a private hospital an hour away. So that was pretty much out of the question for us. Our second option was to have balloons inserted to widen the arteries to help the blood flow down to her legs. The balloons are around $900 each. We would only have to pay $300 each and the rest would be covered by medicare.
The procedure took place in February and everything went well until last month when we noticed that one of her legs would swell up so much it looked like her skin would split open. If Mum keeps her legs elevated, the swelling seems to go down. We are due to see the specialist on the 7th of May to get some more tests done to see if the balloons are doing their job.

So, that's where we are at right now.... ♥

Mustache Monday

2010-12-06T20:00:00.014+11:00

♥

iPhone | iPhone 4 Wallpaper

Peskimo

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

Mustache Monday

2010-11-29T20:00:00.000+11:00

♥

Old Thomas

Pavel Sidorenko

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

A Call for Recipes

2010-11-28T18:30:00.000+11:00

Tamar, the owner of Tarisota, is asking for contributors for the recipe book for 2010. So if you would like to contribute a recipe, be sure to check out the details on her blog and email her at tarisota@optusnet.com.au

From Tamar's blog:

Each year through December we create a fun and very popular downloadable recipe book.

This year not only will the downloads be available daily but at the end of the month the recipes will also be collated into an E book for sharing on Issuu. I have just created the 2008 and 2009 versions.

http://issuu.com/tarisota/docs/christmas-2009
http://issuu.com/tarisota/docs/a_compilation_of_christmas_recipes

Free Florabella Holiday Card Templates

2010-11-28T13:24:00.001+11:00

Florabella has a freebie and a GIVEAWAY… Also, be sure to help spread the word about the Free Florabella Cards & have a chance to win a $100 gift certificate toward Florabella Photoshop Actions, Textures, Vintage Frames, etc. (3 winners)! Just post about the free cards on your blog, Facebook wall, forums, etc. and leave a comment ON HER BLOG each time you share. Make sure your post includes a link to her original post… Three winners ($100 each) will be randomly chosen from the comments and announced on Wednesday, Dec 1st!

Mustache Monday

2010-11-22T20:00:00.000+11:00

♥

Mustache Tote

The Bold Banana

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

Mustache Monday

2010-11-15T20:00:00.000+11:00

♥

Sarge Plush 'Stache

Kidrobot

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

Mustache Monday

2010-11-08T20:00:00.000+11:00

♥

Robot Pouch w/ Mustache

Good Egg Industries

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #76 & #77

2010-11-07T14:57:00.000+11:00

The last 2 weeks have been busy, busy around here! I didn't get a chance last week to post my fix for FIF so I will post both of them today.
Both of the photos were stunning, I especially loved the tones of last weeks photo by Susan Keller's of her son at the beach. Here is the original:

I hardly did anything to this photo but here is what I did do:

I ran Flora Bella's Milk & Honey II action from the Color & Haze set
Over that I ran Flora Bella's Vignette and lowered the opacity to 15%, from her Extra Action set
After flattening the image I added a free texture called Warm Grunge by Kim Klassen and changed the layer style to soft light and left the opacity at 100%. Usually I would erase some of the texture from skin and hair but I loved the soft gritty look of the texture and thought it really suited the whole beach scene {you need to sign up for her texture lovin' list on her blog}
Lastly, I gave the photo a slight crop by cutting out the shadow of the photographer in the lower left corner

On to the this weeks photo taken by Michelle Johnson, of her daughter during a quiet moment. Here is what the original looks like:

Here is the basic rundown of how I edited the photo:

The first action I ran over the photo is from My Four Hens Photography called Back Lit Pop from A Very M4H Tool Box set. I adjusted a few of the layers but I forgot to take note of what I did. I know I changed a few of the opacities I turned one layer off altogether.......
Once I was happy with the look of the photo, I ran Flora Bella's Sweet Sunshine from the Luxe set over the flattened layer
I wanted to warm the photo a little more so I ran Flora Bella's Sunlight action from the Extra Actions set
After flattening the image once more, I ran Flora Bella's Sweet Color from the Color & Haze set to add a pretty haze to the photo
I still felt that the photo needed a little more so I added a busy texture called Celine from Kim Klassen over the top and changed the layer style to overlay and left the opacity at 100%. {you need to sign up for her texture lovin' list on her blog}
Lastly, I erased a small amount of the texture from her face and a little from the hair and shirt

That's all for today, hope everyone is having a creative weekend!!

Mustache Monday

2010-11-01T20:00:00.000+11:00

♥

Batstachio Necklace

Mustache & Friends

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

From the Mermaid + the Pirate

2010-10-31T20:09:00.000+11:00

Mustache Monday

2010-10-25T20:00:00.000+11:00

♥

Typestache Poster

Old Tom Foolery

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #75

2010-10-23T17:31:00.000+11:00

Today's photo is one of Angie's, here's a look at the unedited version:

{+}

I had fun playing around with this photo, here's what I did to it:

I ran the action Mademoiselle from the Flora Bella Luxe set with no further editing
I used a stained paper texture from here and changed the layer style to Soft Light
Over the top of that I added this texture layer and changed the layer style to Overlay and lowered the opacity to 70%
I erased some of the texture layers from his face and hair as well as some from his shirt

{+}

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend! I am gathering my goodies together for December Daily as I am taking part this year. I am really excited to start and finish this project so I am organizing everything ahead of time to hopefully save time.......lol!! We'll see how we go shall we?

To the Point

2010-10-23T15:25:00.000+11:00

{+}

listening: to the kids from the neighborhood trashing my house
eating: home made sweet potato chips
drinking: lemonade
wearing: shorts and singlet
feeling: slightly annoyed {see listening}
weather: warm with a few welcoming spring showers
wanting: something really yummy like cake
needing: some peace and quiet
thinking: I may just pull my own hair out today
enjoying: nothing right now
wondering: where I can escape to tomorrow

Mustache Monday

2010-10-18T20:00:00.001+11:00

♥

Humunga Stache

Moody Pet

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

Fix-It Friday #74 | On a Monday | Plus A Coupon

2010-10-18T12:14:00.003+11:00

With Miss J's 5th Birthday on the weekend, I ran out of time getting my Fix-It Friday post done so here it is on a Monday!!

This weeks photo is from Dana Suggs. Here is the original photo:

I was going to crop the photo but I love all the pumpkins scattered around. Here is a run down of what I did to the photo:

Firstly, I ranstarlet from the Luxe Collection by Flora Bella and flattered the image
Then over the top I ran Sweet Vintage from Vintage Collection by Flora Bella and flattered the image once again
I ran Sweet Sunshine from the Extra Actions in the Luxe Collection and lowered the opacity to 30%
Lastly, I added this texture from Shadow House Creations and changed the layer style to Soft Light and lowered the opacity to 80%.
I erased the texture from the little black dog {who looks like toto from the wizard of oz.....too cute} and from the face, arms, shirt and shoes.

I would love to get my girls in a field of pumpkins like this. Such a sweet photo too!! Speaking of sweet, check out this deal especially for my blog readers:

BLUE BAZAAR www.bluebazaar.com.au is offering readers of my blog a 10% discount on your next order over $40.00. To receive the discount include the following code in the coupon field of your order: BB-BLOGDM. Note: discounts do not apply to items already discounted, on sale or subscriptions. The code is valid for this month until the 15th November 2010.

That's it from me today. I just wanted to thank all those wonderful people who left sweet comments here on the blog {Amanda, Miss J wants to know if you have ever had a curly fries that long before......lol ;) } and on facebook. As well as the phone calls, e-card {finally got it this morning Judy ;) } and private messages as well as text messages for Miss J's 5th birthday. She was so excited!!! So thank you one and all!!

Happy Birthday Jada

2010-10-17T12:54:00.000+11:00

I would like to wish my sweet little girl a very happy 5th birthday!!

You make my heart swell with love little girl.

Love you to the moon & back, always!!

Love Mum

Mustache Monday

2010-10-11T20:00:00.000+11:00

♥

Plushtache

Shannon Gerard

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

4 Stories | Vintage

2010-10-10T00:24:00.000+11:00

I have decided to participate in this weeks group blog series hosted on LA's blog {Freckled Nest} as this weeks word is Vintage!! {If you want to read up on how it works, go here for more information} I'm not sure I will participate every week but we will see how it goes. We all know how easily I get bored and distracted with routine when it comes to this blog. Hey, I do what I can.......lol!! Ok, let's give this a go......

One | The Clock

When I was in 4th grade at school I was living with my mother's friend at the time and we were sitting around the dinning room table talking about an old antique clock that her mother had handed down to her. I remember everything about the clock, the shape, the color and even the texture of the old curved wood. It sat on her shelf as a center piece for all to see. She explained to me that it had never worked in all the time she had had it. I remember her looking at it fondly and muttering to herself "I should take it to someone and see if it can be fixed". Just after she had finished talking there was a loud ticking that could be heard coming from that very clock! We both looked over towards the clock and witnessed at the same time, that the second hand had begun to move in time with the loud ticking. It only lasted for about 10-15 seconds until it came to an abrupt stop but neither of us could take our eyes off that clock and neither of us could come up with a plausible explanation that would explain what had just taken place and why! I'll never forget that night.

Two | St Vinnies

Not long after leaving home, one of my very favorite jobs I have ever had was working at a St Vincent de Paul store in Waverly in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. I loved the idea of working for a company that gave back to the community and helped those who needed it. Every day working at the store was an adventure. Some days you had to sell out the front of the store, other days you were able to sell at the back of the store where all the amazing goodies were kept just waiting to be discovered. The gorgeous antique items and furniture used fly out the doors as fast as it was coming in. This place was massive as it catered to the whole of the eastern suburbs including all the very rich area's. Other days I got to work upstairs where the huge bales used to be pushed around on massive pulley systems hanging down from the roof and little cranes so they could be lifted from the lower level to the upper levels. Inside these bales were items that had been collected from deceased estates and this is where I discovered my love for all things vintage. In just one bale sometimes two {these bales are about the same size as the round bails of hay you see in fields} you could see the whole life of one person. Love letters, photos, war medals, fine china, jewelry, journals, the list goes on and on. Items that had been passed down from generation to generation. It was our job to go through these dear peoples lives and save what we felt was important and that others would hold as a valued, cherished item. You really needed to have a heart to do this job and if you discovered anything that you felt was of great importance but no one would ever buy, then we could take it to our amazing boss and it would be saved and taken to a storage facility to be examined and cataloged for future reference. Working at this place really taught me how to appreciate and respect the little things that others hold dear to their hearts. It also gave me the curiosity to look at any given vintagey item and wonder who, where and what it had seen!

Three | A Steinway Pianola

The last house we lived in was full of charm and history. It still retained most of it's original features as well as an old piano. To be exact it was a Steinway Pianola Piano which dates back to the 1900's. We tried to trace this piano's history and find out just how long it had lived in the house. We were quite close with the owners of the house we were renting and they gave us the information we needed to track down the owner before them who still lived in town. He was able to tell us that he was born in our house and that the piano had been there ever since he could remember and that the house had been passed down through family over it's many, many years. My two girls loved playing with that piano even though it had been neglected over the years. Some of the keys no longer worked but it did bring lots of joy to the dinning room after and sometimes during meals. Since leaving that wonderful house, we do have an electric organ but it's no match for that ole pianola.

Four | Mother of Pearl

My mother saved her First Communion Prayer Book that was given to her by her mother in the early 1950's and she in turn handed it down to when my first child was born. I have kept this precious book in a safe place and hope to one day have the inside cover mended which is missing the mother of pearl crucifix. The outside cover is still in pretty good condition and is covered in mother of pearl. I love the fact that this little book is now 60 years old and considered to be a vintage item so by the time I hand it down to Miss O, it will be an heirloom. Before I do pass it down and before Mum takes to that staircase, I want her to tell the story of how she received it and what fond memories she has to share about it. Then before I pass it down to Miss O, I will tell a similar story and ask that the next owner do the same. Just imagine in a few generations time what they will think. Will we still have book I wonder???

***

Ok, that was fun!! Now if you would like to write your 4 stories why not join in and group blog with us. I look forward to reading other peoples 4 stories. A wonderful way to exercise those brain cells I say!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend ;)

Meet Rosepetal

2010-10-09T13:46:00.000+11:00

This little young lady goes by the name of Rosepetal or Rosie for short.

She came into our lives via the pet store a month ago.

Her favorite foods are carrots, cucumber and broccoli and many different types of grasses and weeds,

but she flat out refuses to add cauliflower to her diet! {tsk, tsk}

Most days she relaxes outdoors in her day bed made up of cool, soft clover.

When she isn't lazing her days away on her soft bed of clover,

she can be seen peeking out from a handbag being carried by the fabulous Miss J.

Rosie also loves to spend her nights cozied up on the lounge

snuggled into one of the many pieces of strewn clothing scattered around the lounge chairs.

She loves to dig imaginary holes in or on any surface she comes in contact with,

and shivers all over when you scratch her back.

Welcome to the family Rosie!!

To the Point

2010-10-08T21:56:00.000+11:00

listening: to the radio {online}
eating: nothing
drinking: a can of coke
wearing: sportswear trackies and matching singlet with a billabong hoodie
feeling: productive
weather: coolish
wanting: the spring holidays to last for another week
needing: to do some stretching {sore legs}
thinking: about exciting upcoming projects
enjoying: the funky beats on 2 Day FM tonight
wondering: if I will be pulling my hair out with stress this time next week {Miss O's horrid school}

You Have Mail

2010-10-07T14:44:00.000+11:00

NOTE: you can find the above photo in my flickr stream here ;)

Don't you just love when snail mail arrives and you didn't expect it to arrive so soon!! I could hardly wait to rip open both of my packages today to find inside pretty, pretty eye candy!!

First off the bat was my do-not-bend package containing a gorgeous photo that I won in a giveaway from Liz over at Paislee Press blog. I was able to choose an 8 x 10 print of my choice from the gorgeous etsy store Life Through the Lens. I adore her photos! It was so hard to choose just one.....lol! I eventually chose this one that caught my eye because of the little red paper heart inside of the jar...........there's one person out there who knows what that little red paper heart means and everyone else will know soon enough {wink : wink}

Look at the sweet thank you note Kristi added to the gorgeous package:

Thank you so much Kristi and to Liz for hosting the giveaway!! xox

My second package was from Frankie Magazine!!! I order one of their Daily Journal's for next year. I couldn't believe my eyes when I skimmed through the pages quickly to see the gorgeous illustrations through out the journal. I love it so much and can't wait for next year to come so I can start using it. Here's a quick look at one of my favorite illustrations inside the journal:

I love the feeling of the cloth bound book and the whimsical illustrations, makes me want doodle in some of the entries! I love that it has two pages for the full month view or two pages for a full week view. The two page full view of the year in the birthday section is perfect and the notes to self section is so freakin' cool!!! I love that it has all of the aussie holidays too, this is a must have for any aussie or illustration lover! Great Christmas gift too ;)

We are starting to wind down from school holiday mode, well I am, not sure about the kids though......lol!! I actually slept in till 10am this morning, how lazy is that! Even the girls slept in {shock : horror} but I did find Miss O awake in bed playing her DS. At least she didn't come in and wake me up like she normally would.

Off to do the dreaded house work........a woman's work is never done!

Fun Holiday Fun | Quick Link ♥

2010-10-06T18:56:00.001+11:00

NOTE: you can find the above photo in my flickr stream here :)

We are nearly at the end of our Spring school holidays and boy have we had some fun and relaxing times!!

The week before school holidays began, some friends of ours who we lost contact with nearly 20 years ago, found us via facebook! Can you believe that? We were so over the moon to hear from them and we decided to meet up again to chat and find out what we had done with our lives. It was amazing to catch up and have our daughters meet for the first time.

Within minutes the girls where hugging and professing their friendship to one another, it was so sweet to see them get along so well. Lisa and I are around the same age and we used to get along like a house on fire. To see the friendship mirrored in our own children gave us such happiness!!

The next weekend Lisa was back for an overnight stay with her sweet daughter Jess. The girls were over the moon happy and so was Lisa and I.

During the first week of the holidays we managed to go up the coast to Kiama and visit the blow hole to have a look and to grab a yummy ice-cream.

We took a few photos around the place before going further up the coast to do some shopping. We stopped at one of the girls' favorite parks on the way home to have a climb and a play. usual the girls meet some kids to play with and proceeded to chase each other all over the park. Loads of fun!!

NOTE: you can find the above photo in my flickr stream here :)

♥♥♥

I did manage to scrap a digital page the week before the holidays began but I didn't get a chance to post it. With the weather starting to heat up a little, I wanted to spend most of the school holidays outdoors with the girls. Mind you little Miss J has had a cold the whole of the school holidays.

I used one of the last kits I purchased recently called Wishing Jar by Paislee Press @ Oscraps. I spotted a freebie template on Liz's blog that I loved and decided to put it to good use:

{♥}

It is coming up to Little Miss J's 5th birthday on the 17th of this month and I found this photo of her in my folder that was taken last year on her 4th birthday in the backyard. I realized I hadn't used any of her last birthday photo's at all so I thought I would whip this one up super quick ;) Any who.....click on the little heart above to see full credits for the page and links to the products I used including the freebie template by Paislee Press!

♥♥♥

♥ Love this October desktop wallpaper from Smashing Magazine

♥ These are cool for Halloween projects found via Celeste

♥ For the new digi girls out there........this is a must have for all your shadow work done for you on your digital pages and if you want to get creative why not try THE best drop shadow tutorial out there

♥ How cool are these little flowers by the super talented Katrina

♥ Totally loving these frames {used in this blog post}

♥ This coffee cup album looks so much fun

♥ I adore looking at the photos on this blog

♥ Super fun texture/photo tutorial here and seriously thinking about buying the e-book

♥ Seriously thinking about making this as my second-sent camera strap still hasn't arrived from Shey-b....I am so, so peeved with the mail man, down nearly $70.00AUD

Hope everyone is healthy and happy!!

Just a quick note to let you all know that the Mustache Monday blog posts were all scheduled to be posted at 8am Monday mornings but for the US readers, you see it on a Sunday so I have changed the time to 8pm Monday nights now.

Mustache Monday

2010-10-04T08:00:00.002+11:00

♥

Fingerstache

Urban Outfitters

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

Mustache Monday

2010-09-27T08:00:00.004+10:00

♥

Party Mustache

Urban Outfitters

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

Mustache Monday

2010-09-20T08:00:00.002+10:00

♥

Miniature Mighty Mustache Magnet

The Small Object

♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #71

2010-09-19T17:38:00.000+10:00

A little late with this weeks FIF as the weather here this weekend is oh so nice!!
This weeks awesome photo is by Angie Arthur and you can choose from the jpeg or the raw file to work with. The photo was exposed for this handsome young man’s face which left the sky completely underexposed. The object this weeks challenge is to bring color back to the sky.Here is the original photo:

For my first edit I added sky but gave both of my edits the same editing. Here are my two:

Here is the run down on my editing:

I ran the Allure action from Flora Bella's Luxe set and delete the Allure layer leaving the color pop layer
For the photo {top photo above} with the added clouds/sky, I used this texture by Abby Lanes and erased the clouds from the rest of the photo
I applied this texture from Shadowhouse Creations and changed the layer style to multiply and lowered the opacity down to 28%
From the Extra Actions from Flora Bella, I applied the vignette action followed by the Sweet Sunshine and lastly the Vignette once again and lowered the layer to 15%

Hope you like the edits, I think I like the first one better with the clouds and the blue sky.
Enjoy what's left of your weekend!!

Dog Days | To The Point

2010-09-17T20:34:00.000+10:00

listening: florence + the machine
eating: fruit
drinking: h2o
wearing: trackies & singlet
feeling: slightly annoyed
weather: almost warm
wanting: some peace & quiet
needing: panadol
thinking: about cutting my hair short {like just below my ears short}
enjoying: the sweet smell of sweet pea's on the table
wondering: if the girls will ever stop fighting

All Things New...even a Layout!

2010-09-15T15:57:00.001+10:00

A new bunch of ranunculus for my desk this week in pale oranges, peaches and light yellows. I adore these pretty flowers, they make me smile every time I look at them and the best thing about them is that they always last for a full week! Gotta love that!

We had an appointment with Miss O's pediatrician yesterday to update her asthma medication as she has had 64 days off school just this year. As soon as she catches a cold {which is like every few weeks with the weather we have been having} or a virus, her asthma seems to flare up. Late last month I had to sit up most of the nights watching her breath and listening to her chest as she coughed in her sleep every 30-40 seconds. I had to wake her up every 20-30 minutes to give her some ventolin. {If you know quite a bit about asthma then you know I was totally pushing the boundaries with 20-30 minute intervals and she should have been in hospital} I just hate the way the nurses scold you and look at you when you bring your child in for asthma related problems, they are always nit picking and judging you even when you produce a slip of paper with meticulous records of how much ventolin has been administered and at what times. {I find it easier to write every thing down so I am ready for any question the doctors or nurses ask}

This year I have noticed that her asthma has worsened and thought it was time to head back to her pediatrician for an asthma plan update. Miss O's pediatrician has been treating her since she was transferred from hospital in Sydney, down to Shoalhaven Hospital here in Nowra, {Miss O was born premi at 24 weeks and 1 day, read more about that here} so he has watched her grow since she was a wee little baby.
He has added prednisolone and replaced her qvar with a new preventer flixotide to her plan. I am very hopefull this this will be a change for the better! Fingers crossed!

Had some extra time today as things start to settle down with doctor appointments, teacher, school counselor and AEO meetings, and opened up photoshop and some gorgeous designs from Vinnie Pearce's Journey Back Collection.

This collection is massive as well as being such an inspirational kit to work with. I look forward to creating something more with it in the next week or two but here are two digital pages I have created for now...

{♥}

I love the photo I used on the above page, I found it by accident when I was looking for a different photo and as soon as I saw this one I knew it was perfect. I love the way Miss O is lowering her head down to meet Miss J and the cheeking looks they have on their faces.

{♥}

I found this photo in an old folder transferred from my old pc. I had to laugh when I saw it because it is so like Miss J to be chewing on a bit of wood at this age! She would chew, suck or eat anything just to see what it tasted like, even dirt! Miss J was only 2 when this photo was taken, gosh time flies doesn't it. She starts kindergarten next year {sniff sniff}

I hear the bus rounding the corner.....time for Miss O to arrive home so I had better get off the puter and get snacks and cut up the vegies for a baked pork dinner with loads of apple sauce....mmmmmm!!

Mustache Monday

2010-09-13T17:43:00.001+10:00

♥
Mr Mustache & Headhunters
Studio Violet
♥

photo overlay | pugly pixel

Some Link Love ♥

2010-09-12T19:39:00.000+10:00

♥ via Handmade Charlotte: I am totally diggin' these utensils for the little ones

♥ via Bella Dia: I must make one of these little pocket stitch books, very handy to have

♥ via Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone: love this tutorial making a sunburst mirror project

♥ via Giveaway @ Heidi Swapp: how cool are these camera bags

♥ via Pugly Pixel: check out the new freebie Katrina has on her blog {photo overlay used above}

♥ via One Lucky Day: Paula and Deb are two awesome ladies who create the most amazing creations using 7 Gypsies products and this years {2010} junk drawer advent calendar kit looks AMAZING!

♥ via Designboom: what an amazing creation these leaf shaped post-it notes are

♥ via Smashing Magazine: this is my chosen desktop background for this month

♥ via The Gilded Bee: love this handmade paper/foil flower

♥ via Oh, Hello Friend: thinking about making these for Christmas this year

♥ via Decor 8: I find these little hearts so inspirational

That's it for today! Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday ;)

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #70

2010-09-11T12:05:00.000+10:00

Time for another Fix-It Friday and this photo is so sweet! This week's photo is supplied by Amy Locurto, the co-owner of I Heart Faces and the publisher of Living Locurto.

{♥}

Here is how I edited the photo:

First up I used the Sharpen/Defog action from Flora Bella's Extra Actions and erased some of the layer from her eyes
I ran Flora Bella's Soft Urban action from Color & Haze
Over that I ran Flora Bella's Pastel Tints & Hazes from Color & Haze and used the Lemon Tint
I added a texture layer from Shadowhouse Creations changing the layer style to Screen and the opacity to 50% and erased any of the texture from her face and body
I added some Sunlight from Flora Bella's Extra actions followed by the Vignette action

Here is the finished photo:

Off to enjoy some of the sun before it vanishes again! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend ;)

Fun With Paper

2010-09-07T08:30:00.001+10:00

Being an iphone owner, I am always on the look out for new fun apps and this one is simply amazing!! I can't believe that all these little animals and their clothes are made with paper, how cool is that!

There is a choice of six little characters to choose from including a kitty, a frog, a monkey, a baby, a duck and a dinosaur.

Can you imagine sitting there and cutting out piece by piece, I am so glad she had the patience to do it as my girls love playing with this app!

Mix and match over 180 different items of clothing, shoes and accessories on your chosen character and save it to show it off to your friends. You can even save it as your screen saver for your iphone or print it out from your computer for so many different idea's. Why not print out a whole bunch of them for a unique game of snap! Guaranteed to keep the little one's busy for at least half an hour....lol!

The oh so creative Robin Rosenthal, who is a graphic designer and illustrator who specializes in designing and developing products for babies and children, is the artist behind this super fun application.

app site | design | buy app US | buy app AUS | blog

Pretty Rain

2010-09-06T10:15:00.000+10:00

{♥}

This makes me sigh

Pretty needlefelted cloud with six shinning glass drops of rain!

♥

{tapes from Pugly Pixel}

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #69 on a Sunday

2010-09-05T11:22:00.000+10:00

I haven't done a fix it Friday photo for quite some time so I thought I would have a go!
This weeks photo is by Rachel Durik from Savor Photography. Let's have a look at the original photo:

{♥}

Here is what I did to edit the photo:

Firstly, I ran Ambrosia from the Luxe Action Set by Flora Bella
I added a texture layer called Papyrus from Pareeerica set to Soft Light at 100%
Duplicated the texture and changed this layer to Multiply at 10%
I took my eraser tool and erased the texture from their clothes on both texture layers
I cropped the photo
Lastly, I added a Vignette at 100% from Flora Bella's Extra Actions

Here is my edited photo:

Wishing all the Dads out there a Happy Father's Day ;) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Some Link Love ♥

2010-09-05T11:00:00.000+10:00

{text brushes on photo | vinnie pearce design here}

I finally upgraded my Canon 400d for a 50d a few weeks ago so I managed to find some time to grab a few shots of a bunch of ranunculus I purchased for myself to cheer my mood, it worked too! I sold my old camera and its kit lenses so I could purchase a few lenses I actually wanted like this one and this one which is due on my doorstep next week. Still waiting on that camera strap to arrive as well!
Ok, on with some goodies I am loving right now:

♥ via The Curious Pug: Alycia interviews Anna and Naomi from The House of Mouse; these little mice are so cute and full of attitude!

♥ via Whatever Dee Dee Wants: these oh-so cute mini houses on wheels!

♥ via Our.City.Lights: anything vintage camera related is a must have for me, these are fun and funky!

♥ speaking of vintage: how trendy are these flapper girls Eloise and Ramona. I especially love this and these two for sure!

♥ via Kasia Designs: I am loving the style of the digi kits that Kasia designs especially this new one for bookworms!

♥ via Paislee Press: as always Liz has released a gorgeous kit at the Digi Chick this month where she is a guest designer.

♥ via Frankie Magazine: each year I always buy or create a calendar/journal and this one will be mine for 2011.

♥ via Eat Drink Chic: pretty, pretty 'hanky' love letter freebie.

♥ via Heart Handmade: Claire is one crafty girl and her latest memo board is a must-make!

♥ via Pugly Pixel: Katrina has a new freebie, vintage fabric deco tape, can't get enough of this stuff!

♥ via Vinnie Pearce Design: Vinnie has some gorgeous wood grain labels {see photo in last post} for download on her blog.

♥ via Eclectic Me: I am loving this cute crochet pattern that Gillian followed from here, I must give this a try!

That's it for today! Have fun link clickin'!!

A Complicated Life

2010-09-04T15:15:00.000+10:00

{free cute wood grain labels | vinnie pearce design here}

Complicated.......that's the best word that comes to mind when I look back over the past few weeks. Just when you think you are on top of everything, it all comes crashing down around you and you are left to pick up all the pieces and put them back together like a jigsaw. Some of the pieces just don't seem to fit together like they used to. That leaves me wondering why?

That's how I feel right now, out of sorts, finding it hard to put the pieces back together.

I am usually good at this, really, I promise!

I just roll with the punches, take each step as I need to to move forward. Get the job done. Succeed!

Not fall to pieces in front of an audience, shake with anger and tears when they don't see the bigger picture.

"Children with special needs don't have an illness, so there is no cure and it's not contagious. They want what we all want, to be accepted"

I WILL make this work.
I WILL not hold back.
I WILL fight for her.
I WILL stick up for her.
I WILL speak for her.
And I WILL cry for her.

Time to make some changes, good ones, ones that make us smile again. Forget about the negative and look for the positive. Laugh in the face of the non believers, the ones who want to cut us down.

Look out as we have LOVE & UNDERSTANDING on our side!

Fake TTV Love Tutorial

2010-08-04T14:42:00.000+10:00

You may have noticed on my layouts I created for Tarisota this month {scroll down to an earlier post if you didn't}, I used a few ttv frames as well as some overlays/textures on my photos. Everything I used on my photos I found mainly in various flickr groups. I love experimenting with textures, overlays and ttv frames in photoshop, the results can turn out amazing and give any every day photo just what it needs to SHINE ♡.

{looking for more info about TTV, check HERE}

The photo above was taken by accident when my family and I were on holidays in Coffs Harbour at a carnival just as the sun was about to set. I loved the silhouettes at the bottom of the photo and the look of the sky scattered with clouds as the sun was going down. I love photos that have large quantities of sky in them....with balloons.....and with water....and with birds......and carnivals...lol!! What was an average photo, is now dreamy! I went through loads of my photos looking for average looking ones that I thought could do with a little LOVE ♡, here are some of the results....

In all of these photos, I used the same ttv frame and the same overlays/textures so that the photos all had a similar look and hue. There are loads of photos circulating at the moment with soft hues which use gorgeous textures and photoshop actions. HERE is an example. {I recently purchased the Luxe, Vintage, B&W and Color & Haze.....AMAZING!} However......we can make soft ttv photos using what is available {without spending any money} from around the net. Have a look at how I constructed my little ttv photos...

Here is the list of what I used, in reverse order from photo {bottom} to ttv frame {top} and what settings I used in photoshop:

natural stock bokeh by stock-feele HERE > Layer Style: overlay Opacity: 100%
heart bokeh by mifti-stock found HERE > Layer Style: screen Opacity: 78%
autumn gold bokeh by virtually supine HERE > Layer Style: overlay Opacity 51%
ttv frame by DLSDesigns found HERE > Layer Style: multiply Opacity 100%

Depending on the photo you use, you shouldn't need to edit it at all before you place the overlays/textures over the top of it. The overlays/textures should lighten any poorly lit or under-exposed photos. Have a play with the layer styles and the opacities to suit your own needs and likes! Even add some more layers such as a layer of texture to turn the above PRETTY ♡ flower photo to a slightly grungy one like this:

Here is a link to the texture I used in the above photo. I placed the texture in between the ttv frame and the autumn gold bokeh:

autumn gold bokeh by virtually supine HERE > Layer Style: overlay Opacity 51%
INSERT TEXTURE HERE WITH THESE SETTINGS: > Layer Style: multiply Opacity 48% <<<<<<<<<<<<
ttv frame by DLSDesigns found HERE > Layer Style: multiply Opacity 100%

I have put together a little list of some of my favorite flickr groups that have wonderful textures and overlays that you can use to experiment with. The possibilities are truly endless and so much fun to play around with. There are no wrong or rights with the amount of layers you use or how little, just as long as YOU like the end result! ENJOY ♡!!

SophieG: HERE & HERE
Nasos3: HERE
Valerie Everrett: HERE
Quality Textures & TTV's: HERE
Textures by Cosima: HERE
Bumblebee: HERE
Birgit Engelhardt: HERE
Brenda Star: HERE

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment or send me an email! I'd be happy to help ;) Happy hump day ♡!!

I Can't Wait......

2010-07-30T07:51:00.000+10:00

Look at this gorgeousness I purchased yesterday!!

{♥}

I can't wait to have this loveliness around my neck!! I purchased the little lens cap pocket as well, hurry up snail mail. All I need now is Lola Black or pretty Ginger and I am set ♥♥

{♥}

Some Link Love ♥

2010-07-29T07:00:00.018+10:00

After being offline for nearly 2 months, the amount of feeds I have had to go through has been staggering!! So far I have managed to get them down to 810. Still a little way to go but I wanted to share some linkage with you all that I thought was worth mentioning AND that caught my eye AND so I don't forget about them just yet.....

They are in no particular order either:

♥ via The Creative Mama: they are on blogcation {cute word} at the moment but they are posting some oldies but goodies from the last year and I found this one on A Daily Routine printout to come in handy.

♥ via Life Through the Lens: Kristi posted this one in her annual blog hunt post of photographer Mandy Lynne. I just fell in love with one of her prints in her etsy store called Shades of Yellow.....so dreamy!

♥ via 74 Lime Lane: Kellie posted some how to links and I found this one really interesting!!

♥ via Frankie Magazine: loving these wallpapers right now, makes me feel like the weather is about to warm up here......bbbrrrrrrr

♥ via vol.25: how sweet are these little cupcakes! And you can download them and make your own little sweetnesses, just don't eat them!

♥ via Kenner Road: the last sale for kenner road {sniff} 28th July 2010 @ 10am pacific on etsy. So sad :(

♥ via My Four Hens Photography: M4H's is about to have it's first birthday party and there's always something awesome going on over at Sarah's.

♥ via Art as Life: I am so excited about getting my kit and taking this class hosted by the amazingly talented Debee! If there's no kits left at least you can still take her class.

♥ via the Art House Co-op: I am seriously thinking about this.....

♥ via A Thing For: I have a thing for this blog.

Enjoy the weekend!!

the days just fly by...

2010-07-28T11:43:00.000+10:00

I can't believe we have hit mid year already!! Christmas pressies have been discussed, put on layby and some already purchased. Yes, I had loads of time on my hands whilst I had no internet so what better time to organize Christmas presents 6 months ahead of time...lol. I left everything till the last minute, last year, so I thought I would get a head start.
Mind you I also read a few books, then a few more books, and finished off with another 4 books just for the fun of it. It's strange when you have too much time on your hands then all of a sudden you can barely put a book down to get anything done. Go figure....

{READING LIST: Blood Canticle; The Tale of the Body Thief; Merrick; New Moon*; Twilight*; Breaking Dawn*; Eclipse*; The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner; The Host; Blackwood Farm}

{* = YES....again....lol}

I managed to step back into my creative space last week for the first time since I've been offline! Can you imagine that? It was wonderful to to sit down and start creating in a spotless room. Boy, I had some fun!!

I was invited by sweet Tamar from the awesome kit club Tarisota, to be a guest designer for the month and of course I said YES!! They just released a new kit called 'Paper Treasures', the colors combination's are simply gorgeous and I just love all the little embellishments that Tamar hand picks that go so well together with the rest of the kit. Be sure to check out what else they have in the store at the moment as Tarisota also stocks fabric packs {as well as other goodies that take's Tamar's fancy} that co-ordinates perfectly with this month's collection as well as the August Style Studio {find out more about that HERE} Check out these projects I created with this month's kit:

{frames by Kitschy Digitals}

Be sure to check out the gallery for close up's and to see what the other designer's created using this month's kit!! Thanks Tamar for inviting me over for the month ;)

That's it for today.....I am surfing around the net checking the latest releases for CHA.....I am head over heals for new 7 Gypsies and Pink Paislee/House of 3!! What are you loving right now and can you share a link please? Happy Days!!

Testing.....testing......

2010-07-23T13:12:00.000+10:00

......is this thing on??

YES.....I am back online, finally!! So much to catch up on, new blog post coming soon!!

No Internet!!

2010-06-17T11:35:00.000+10:00

Hello sweet people!!
Just a quick post to let you know I am having huge internet problems right now! I am hoping this problem will be resolved in the next two weeks. Thank you for the emails you have sent, I am able to read them once a week from a friends PC so if you do need to contact me in the next two weeks, email me here please: dideemartin(at)gmail(dot)com my personal email address is not working!

Big hugs, miss you loads!!
Didee xxoxoxo

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #54

2010-05-15T10:12:00.000+10:00

Friday again.....wow this week has flown by. Today's photo is by Christina of 3 Sweet P's.......here is the before shot:

Here is a run down on how I edited the photo:

Firstly, I ran Basic Editing from The Photographer's Tool Box by My Four Hens to lighten the photo
To brighten the eyes I used Eye Pop from The Photographer's Tool Box
I then ran All For One from Random Rocks - the newest freebie by My Four Hens over at Shabby Princess's blog feature. I fiddled with some of the layers to get the effect I liked best
Lastly, I added a texture layer {see below for free texture} and changed the layer to overlay in the layer palette in Photoshop. I erased most of the texture from the little boys face and hair and lowered the opacity to 81%

Here is my edit:

Feel free to use my texture for your Fix-It Friday photo!! Have a wonderful weekend......I will be moving the girls into one room over the weekend, fun, fun, fun!

{click on image to open in a new window and save to your pc for your personal use}

Altered Tote Bag Giveaway!!

2010-05-14T09:49:00.001+10:00

We all love a good giveaway and I am totally loving the tote bag giveaway by Roben-Marie Smith!!

Here's a little snippet about Roben-Marie from her website:

" Roben-Marie Smith might still be plugging away as a public relations consultant, had the charm of mixed-media collage not lured her away a decade ago. Instead, she spends sun-filled days enjoying the panoramic view from her Port Orange, Florida, studio, surrounded by paint, glazes, papers, ephemera, and rubber stamps from her own artsy line, Paperbag Studios. A third grade blue ribbon in art ignited the initial creative spark, leading to diverse childhood crafting endeavors, including making stuffed animals and Christmas ornaments.
Roben-Marie draws much of her inspiration from the art materials themselves, creating her own markings with lids, sticks, and other serendipitous tools. She thrives on making and working in art journals, which she considers individual collages, and she keeps a tape recorder on her nightstand for those pre-slumber muse visits. "

Digital Art | Rubber Stamps | Paper Bag Studio Blog | Personal Blog | Etsy Store

Roben-Marie is giving away this gorgeous tote bag she created for Stampington on her blog:

Be sure to check out her video on how she created the tote! For more details on how you can win this beautiful tote, check out her blog post HERE. The giveaway runs ends on Sunday May 16 @ 5:00pm EST.....good luck!!

I ♥ Sunday

2010-05-09T12:09:00.000+10:00

Firstly........Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful Mothers of the world.....without you, we wouldn't be here today......lol!!

{feel free to use the image for your blog!!}

On with a few ♥'s for today.....

First ♥ goes to Maile of Epiphanie Camera bags!! I know these gorgeous bags have been around for some time now but since they opened up shop I have had one of these bags on my wish list and it still remains there to this day.....oh please can I have one!!

{♥}

A ♥ goes to this fun fabric flower garland tutorial written by Ashley from Dolci Odille via Once Wed:

{♥}

A ♥ goes to Kristen of Domestifluff for this oh so cute tutorial on making a felt rosette wreath:

{♥}

A ♥ goes to Promise Tangeman.....her whole blog is full of inspiration, great reading and gorgeous photography!! Have a look at these funky glass she sells at RVA....I so need these!!!

{♥}

Well, that's it for today lovely people....off to enjoy the day!!

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #53

2010-05-08T11:18:00.000+10:00

Woohooo....another weekend is here!! Big plans today...

Wash the car by hand
Create something....anything
Don't clean the house
Don't pick up the toys on the ground....the girls can do that!
Unpack more kr past kits
Drink yummy cappuccinos made on my awesome coffee machine
Maybe hang some washing on the line....well it is sunny!
Take the car to the car wash

Today's photo comes from Leticia from Blessed with Five Boys....here is the photo:

I used My Four Hens Photography actions today.....{shock | horror}

Photographer's Tool Box: Basic Editing
Freshly Vintage: Eggshell
Lightened the eyes a little
Photographer's Tool Box 2: Warm Me Up
Added a texture layer, changed the layer style to soft light
Erased the texture from the face and body with a soft brush

Here is the texture I created, feel free to save it to your own pc and use it on your Fix-It Friday photo {simply right click on the texture and open in a new tab and save it for your personal use}:

Lastly, here is my photo:

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Day Dreaming

2010-05-06T17:14:00.001+10:00

With the weather getting cooler here I am loving sitting in the sun and soaking up some rays to help wash away the icky sick feeling I have at the moment. The girls are still home from school and little Miss J's spreading her germs all over me. You can't NOT snuggle with your little one's when they are sick so now I have a cold.....woopy!!

I finally got around to posting a new digital page using some of Vinnie Pearce's gorgeous goodies.......wanna see...

{♥}

Here is a little link list of the items I used on this page:

The photo was taken just after Christmas when we went up to Dorrigo Mountain where one of my 5 uncles live......such a beautiful place, remember this post about the clouds coming in the door....lol!! So very pretty. The photo was taken as we were driving down the mountain....the views were amazing! Here is the full photo:

I edited the photo using one of my favorite Photoshop action Urban Acid.......if any of my photos have blue sky in them I almost always use this action! The vintagey frame is by Rhonna Farrer @ 2 Pea's and the tape on 3 sides of the photo is the NEW Clip Art Tape Strips: The Solid Sequel freebie from PUGLY PIXEL! After I applied the tapes strips to the frame I added a small shadow to them and change the layer mode to MULTIPLY in Photoshop so they became a little transparent.....how cute are they....thanks Katrina!!

{♥}

Well, that's all for today......off to heat some of Mum's pea & ham soup up and make the girls some scrambled eggies, grab our lounge blankets and snuggle on the lounge with my sweet girls! Who or what are you snuggling up with tonight?

Hop on over.....

2010-05-04T16:45:00.000+10:00

......to the Kenner Road blog and snag yourself a desktop/iphone wallpaper for May!! Here's a preview of what it looks like:

Here is a page I created that I used for inspiration to make the wallpapers:

{♥}

No I ♥ Sunday or Much Love Monday this week as I have had a killer of a sore throat.....my throat swelled up so much I could hardly get anything down!! I was in bed for two days sleeping I was so ill and that doesn't happen very often at all {staying in bed whilst sick I mean...lol} now the two girls are home with sore throats, Little Miss J is actually quite worse than Miss O. I had to take her to the doctor's as I couldn't keep her temperature down....she is feeling a bit better today thank goodness. We slept on the lounge together last night as it was easier to monitor her temp and give her some medicine but I hardly got any sleep at all. You know when you start thinking your little one is about to go into convulsions because their temp is way too high. Crazy things start to form in your head until you are too scared to go to sleep. I hate that feeling!!

Off to get dinner ready, girls bathed and pj's on......then early to bed tonight.......zzzzzzzzzzzz

HOT iNSD Freebies

2010-05-01T21:51:00.002+10:00

Just wanted to list my favorite freebies I found in celebration of {inter}National Scrapbooking Day!!

{click on image to have a closer look at the previews}

Here is the list of my favorite freebies that I have discovered today:

a. Catherine Designs - Quickpage Template on her blog HERE

b. Createwings Designs - Mini Kit available HERE

c. Lily Designs - Mini Kit available on her blog HERE

d. FruitLoop Sally - Alpha available HERE {I used it for the abc's in the preview}

e. Kasia Designs - Wall of Inspiration template available HERE

f. Kasia Designs - Alpha available HERE {only if you subscribe to her newsletter}

g. Kasia Designs - Photoshop Action Set available HERE

h. Amy Martin - Button Bingo available HERE

i. Kate Hadfield - Tropi-Blooms available HERE

Hope you find something you love this weekend whether it was free or purchased! There's loads of sales, challenges, games and giveaways happening all over the www.....ENJOY!!

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #52

2010-05-01T16:11:00.000+10:00

Time for another cool photo fix!! I have been in bed for the last few days with a really bad sore throat {once again} My throat swelled up so much that you could barely see the opening in my throat!! I didn't want to miss this week's fix so I dragged myself out of bed, rugged myself up, took a few panadol and made myself a cup of tea. Here is today's gorgeous photo of Angie's daughter {you can even download the RAW file to play with...see HERE for details}

Here's my edit:

Here's how I edited my photo:

I used the clone stamp tool in CS3 and removed the little pink thingy on the left of the photo as well as the creamy colored stick thing on the right side {real technical terms here folks}
I used Soft Pop from The Photographer's Tool Box from My Four Hens Photography Actions
I erased some of the Soft Pop action on her jumper, hand and boots so that the follow actions didn't blow out the color before flattening the image
I then ran action 127 - #6 from Night Fate Free Actions using the default settings for the 2 o'clock shadow then flattening the layers
At the bottom of action 127 there is an extra option for lighting effects - I ran this as well using the default settings
Lastly, I added some texture {love texture in photos} using THIS texture from Flickr changing the layer to Multiply and erasing any texture from the road surface, the girl and a little from the grass on the right using a soft brush and lowering the opacity to 61% ..... that's it!!

I'm going back to bed for some more rest....hope everyone is getting ready for a huge iNSD!! Have fun & don't break the bank...lol xo

Much Love Monday

2010-04-27T13:47:00.000+10:00

Hello one and all, hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!I just got back from traveling around in a tow truck....lol!! Too much fun in one day! Our car broke down in the middle of a round about, we lost all power steering so I had to get out and push the car around the corner. A lovely police woman stopped traffic for us and yelled out the window "sorry I can't help you push but I have a broken toe"....just what I needed to hear whilst nearly peeing my pants from pushing the monster of a car......well it felt like a monster! The tow truck driver asked Mum and I if we would like a lift home so we took him up on his offer. As we were climbing up into the cabin he got a call through to go pick a trailer up so we went along for the ride.....he was such a lovely man, real chatty. Told us about his travels around Australia in his caravan, what days he works, who owns the tow truck.....you know, secret men's business....lol! At least we had fun......

Here is my entry into Much Love Monday....

I ♥ pretty little art doll faces!!

I ♥ Sunday

2010-04-25T17:33:00.000+10:00

Some happy link lovin' on a rainy/overcast Sunday afternoon with my yummy hot latte, my fluffy slippers { yes it's getting cool here in Australia so just go with me } listening to Kyle and Jackie O { fav. radio hosts 2dayfm }

I want to start today's ♥ links off with an awesome store I recently discovered thru my mindless blog hoppin' called Emersonmade. The flowers that Emerson make are so beautiful and delicately made I could hardly believe my eyes when I was browsing thru the store. Here are just a few of my fav's:

{♥}

Make sure you check out Emerson's blog which is filled with the most beautiful photos of her stunningly, sweet, soft and oh so pretty flowers. I want to cover my whole house with these pretty, pretties!! I think they deserve two little ♥ ♥'s today!!

- A ♥ goes to Ann from Ann Wood Handmade for her wonderful tutorial on making these paper mache boats:

{♥}

- A ♥ goes to the two talented ladies from Kitty Robot HERE and HERE. They make the cutest little clay goodies and the sweetest little buttons you will ever see! Find out more about them on their blog HERE. Have a look at this cute little ring:

{♥}

- A ♥ goes to this stunning room! Imagine having these pretty flowers as your wallpaper:

{♥} via {♥}

- A ♥ goes to Cute Tape for these wee little alpha stamps:

{♥}

NOTE: Cute Tape also have a wonderful collection of Tapes and Katrina over at Pugly Pixel is giving away 12 rolls of washi tape!! See HERE for giveaway details....good luck!!

- A ♥ goes to Daisy Barn Arts for their oh-so cute vintage inspired art pieces:

{♥}

- A ♥ goes to this awesome card made by Jody from Confessions of a Ribbon Addict! She has even put together a tutorial so you can make your own:

{♥}

- A ♥ goes to this super funny crafty blog called Geek Crafts! It's so geeky that it's cool...lol!! Here's one of the many tutorial links the blog has to offer - Apple Pie:

{♥} tutorial {♥}

- The last ♥ goes to this gorgeous tutorial by Pascale from Between the Lines on how to make your own messenger bag. I seriously want to make/own one of these:

{♥}

Hope you find something creative to do this lazy Sunday afternoon!!

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #51

2010-04-25T11:39:00.001+10:00

Yes I am a little late but with good reason.....I went over my 25gig quota for the month with my internet so it slowed down to 64kbps....very painful to sit and wait to see if a page loads or not. In the end I just gave up!! I had to wait a long 3 days for it to click over into the next month....gggrrrrr......

So, let's take a look at this weeks photo by Allie who wrote "bring out her eyes more and brighten the colors just a bit"

I used actions from My Four Hens Photography in this order:

- Photographer's Tool Box: basic editing
- Color Play: slightly golden
- Photographer's Tool Box: soft pop
- Photographer's Tool Box: eye pop

I added a free texture {can't remember which one, sorry} from one of the many texture flickr group's, over the top and changed the layer to hard light and erased most of the texture from the little girls face, hair, scarf and jacket. That's it!

I will post my "I ♥ Sunday" later this afternoon! Hope you are all having a relaxing weekend full of creativeness!!

Creative Therapy Guest Artist!!

2010-04-22T14:11:00.000+10:00

Firstly, I would like to welcome any new comers to my blog coming from Creative Therapy!!

I can finally share my news with you!!!

When Karen contacted me a few months ago to be a guest artist for Creative Therapy, I was over the moon excited!! My catalyst question was "How would you describe yourself as a child" I knew straight away that I wanted to create another canvas similar to the one I created for my niece for Christmas:

NOTE: Want to see how I made the above canvas? See the 7 part series here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Looking back on my childhood brought back so many memories, good and bad. It made me think about what I do now, the art I create the memories I record. I wish my Mother had been creative in some way when I was little. I can just imagine all the memories recorded of my childhood, all the little mementos, the milestones, the funny, the sad, those kodak moments, makes me smile just thinking about it.

I love to share my creative ventures with my two girls and involve them in what I create whenever possible. Little Miss J {my youngest} has found her creative side and wants to create something on a daily basis but my eldest Miss O hasn't shown an interest in any crafts or art. I hope this will change as she gets older.

Here is the canvas I created for Creative Therapy called Dreamer. Click on the images to see larger previews:

Here's a what I wrote about the canvas piece over at Creative Therapy:

" As a child we moved around quite often so I was a very shy girl and found it hard to make friends as I knew I would have to change schools and start over again. My imagination became something I cherished and I spent most afternoons and weekends in a day dream, dreaming up stories I would write down in my journals {story teller}; making little cubby houses out of anything I could find {collector}; sketching what I saw around me and adding color with pencils using techniques that were self taught {artistic}; running away from home quite often, even if it was just around the corner, up a really tall tree or just to the back smoke house on the roof so I could watch my Mother drive up and down the street looking for me {adventurer}. Looking back on my childhood, my life was filled with many dreams and some wonderful self-made experiences. I lived with my head in the clouds, my heart on my sleeve and a great story in my hand! "

To read more about the process of creative this canvas and how the design team answered this week's catalyst question, keep reading here....

Hope you like it!!

Giveaway Spotlight

2010-04-21T12:10:00.000+10:00

Found this awesome vintage goodies giveaway over on Natalie's blog Scrap Doctor. Look at the yummy goody bag she is giving away:

To see the full list of goodies up for grabs and how to win them, check Natalie's blog post here.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Tape strips on photos above are from Katrina over at Pugly Pixel! Grab her new freebie whilst your there:

{♥}

Hope your having a wonderful day!!

Be Still My Vintage ♥

2010-04-20T14:17:00.000+10:00

On my travels today I discovered this ever-so pretty Vintage Paper Love kit from With a Twist by Tara Anderson. Have a look at this swoon-worthy prettiness:

{♥}

I am loving all the other goodies in her store, I want to buy everything!! Three of my favorite items are the Pretty Packaging Kit, Vintage Saturday + Sweet Heart Stickers + Vintage Button Cards below:

{♥} {♥} {♥}

The one thing about Tara's store that really caught my eye is her photography skills and the way she present's her products. Each photo has perfect lighting conditions, eye-catching color combination's and beautiful attention to details in her product previews. To me, this is a winning combination and sure-fire way to get those sales!! You may want to check out Tara's blog The Pink Couch for more beautiful product photos recipes, giveaways and loads of inspiration!!

I wanted to make a special mention about a newly found blog crush I have on Pugly Pixel {mentioned here} and the gorgeous Clipart Tape Strips freebie Katrina has on her blog:

{♥}

Katrina is offering them for personal and business use! How cool is that?? I am totally lovin' them!! Hop on over to her blog and check them out as well as the rest of her blog and don't forget to leave her some love!! Thanks a bunch Katrina xo

I ♥ Sunday

2010-04-18T11:47:00.000+10:00

Sunday is my favorite day of the week as I sit at my PC surfing the net, scoping out inspiration and sipping way too much coffee. I want to share with you some of my favorite things I ♥ this week:

- A ♥ goes to this little sweetie {gotta ♥ the name}:

{♥}

- A ♥ goes to this little giggle-worthy piece of art by Marc Johns:

{♥}

{ mustaches on strings are the finest of things }

- A ♥ goes to these awesome acrylic stamps from {kr}:

{♥}

- A ♥ goes to these AMAZING cupcake kits from Meri Meri:

{♥}

- A ♥ goes to this fun album kit by Evalicious:

{♥}

- A ♥ goes to the pretty, pretty paper kit Sweet Lily by Belladrummer {sweet Debee Campos}:

{♥}

- A ♥ goes to Katrina of Pugly Pixel for her fun tutorial on Scalloped Edges on photos:

{♥}

- The last ♥ goes to Roben-Marie's video tutorial on making these shabby-yummy fabric flowers:

{♥}

Time to get out of my PJ's now.....lol! { Happy Days ! }

I ♥ Faces - Fix-It Friday #50

2010-04-17T16:30:00.000+10:00

I am a frequent reader of I ♥ Faces and I love looking at everyone's photo fixes on Friday's. So today I decided to play along using this photo from Debbie:

I played with the curves in CS3, brightened up the eyes and fixed some blemishes, ran my favorite action Eggshell from Freshly Vintage at My Four Hens Photography and added a layer of texture. That's it, here's my version:

Had loads of fun doing this, I think I may have to do this every Friday now......lol!!

That's it for today.......more goodies to show you in the next week....fun, fun, fun!!

Petit Jardin + A Digital Walk Through

2010-04-06T12:46:00.000+10:00

A gorgeous new mini kit Petit Jardin by Catherine Designs from After 5 Designs was released yesterday and I wanted to share a digital page I created using the April Shot as well as using some of Catherine's part of the After 5 Collaboration kit Little Garden:

{♥}

Can you believe that this mini kit {below} is only $2.00!! Here's what is in Catherine's April Shot:

(most elements include one or two shadowed versions)
4 beautifully textured papers ( 12" papers, 300 dpi, .jpg )
1 bird
1 basket
1 herb pot (with one stacked version)
1 bucket
1 duck
3 butterfly (green, blue, orange)
1 wheel ( with a frame version)
1 snail
1 raffia bows
3 garden tools (green, white, orange) 2 'petit jardin' WA

several embellished clusters (including some elements from the store collab 'Little Garden')

PURCHASE | HERE

Each month the After 5 Designs store designers create a collaborative kit that coordinates with the designer's individual shots, here is Catherine's part of the collaboration:

The collaborative kit Little Garden has some of the best digital scrapbooking designer's in the industry including:

The April Guest Bren Boone, Bisontine, Catherine Designs, Cinnamon Designs, Createwings Designs, K Studio, Kimla Designs, Jazzmin Designs and Lily Designs.

The Little Garden kit is only $5.00 for 5 days, how awesome is that!! All those goodies for 5 bucks! Be sure to check out some of the other pages created using this gorgeous kit. You will find some in the gallery here & here, and on the kit page in the store.

I just love brown's and green's, makes me think of dirt and grass and the smell of freshly cut lawn....lol!

A sweet friend asked if that was my garden on my layout and no it's not. I simply created the scene using all of Catherine's goodies from her shot and her part of the collab.

QUICK NOTE: Catherine has posted a tutorial towards the end of her blog post on how to create a natural looking scene on your digital pages.

Once this was created I flattened the image and ran a photo action from My Four Hens Photography called Eggshell from the Freshly Vintage Action collection. I took this paper:

And used the Polygonal Lasso Tool in Photoshop to cut the center circle from the page and promoted it to it's own layer. I used this circle as a mask and clipped my layout to this circle.

I changed the layer to Multiply in the layer palette so that the inner shadow of the original paper would show through:

The scene is looking a little washed out so I duplicated the layer and changed this layer to Soft Light to brighten it up a little:

Now we are left with this:

I really want this page to POP so I changed the outside paper to this:

I simply clipped the paper over the outer side of the circle cut out, duplicated the layer and changed this layer to Multiply:

Now once I turn all the layers back on, added a few more embellishments and a cute title using Catherine's Alpha called Aqua-Lime Alpha {which coordinates with one of Catherine's gorgeous kit called Guy Things} Here is the end result:

{♥}

Hope you enjoyed the little walk through on how I created this page. As always, any questions, shoot me an email or leave me a comment....I love comments......lol!! Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter! xo

Biscuits

2010-04-02T21:32:00.001+11:00

So, so, pretty, pretty, sweet....

Digi Overload

2010-04-01T12:24:00.000+11:00

When it rains it pours! We have all been quite ill once again in our house, sick kids running around with their heads cut off, having coughing fits and me with a huge ulcer at the back of my throat for 2 weeks now. I am taking a large dose of antibiotics at the moment so I am hoping they will help clear my throat up. I seem to be getting a sore throat once a month now and the doctor is getting a little worried. Last time the ulcer turned into what looked like an open wound at the back of my throat and that wasn't the first time. Enough about sick talk, I am totally over it right now!!

I have still made time to create which has been wonderful. Other wise I think I would go a little batty!! I also joined a new creative team last month. The super talented Vinnie Pearce! As you may know already she is now selling over at 2 Pea's which is awesome I tell you. The girl's over there are so talented and inspiring. The challenge's are loads of fun too! I recently played along with the Lift This! challenge, such a fun challenge lifting a paper layout and doing it digital! This page was for last weeks challenge, pop over their to see the new challenge! Here is my entry:

{♥}

Here's two more pages I did using more Vinnie Pearce goodies:

{♥}

In other news, my second blog post for Kenner Road went live this morning if you want to pop on over and have a look-see! Just a simple digital walk through on lifting a paper layout by the gorgeous Debee Campos. Here's a look at my page:

{♥}

Lastly, I will finish with one more digital page I created using more kr goodness, I hope everyone is well and having a wonderful long weekend/Easter break. If your driving, take it easy on the roads!

{♥}

P.S A quick update on the up and coming news I have been dangling in front of you.......all will be revealed on the 22nd of April.....finally......lol!! xo

One of Those Weeks!!

2010-03-08T17:42:00.002+11:00

Having both of the girls home from school and preschool the last two weeks sick as well as giving me their germs really took it's toll on me this last week. I hardly got anything done that I had planned to do but I did manage to have a cooking day with the girls on Saturday. After cleaning the house in the morning we gathered our supplies ready to make chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and shaved white chocolate on top.

Frame | Texture

Little Miss J proceeded to lick the icing off two of the cupcakes whilst I wasn't looking. She had washed all of the evidence of chocolate icing off her face when I ran to get the camera. She had me in stitches. Miss O wasn't too keen on the shaved white chocolate on top of the chocolate icing. She loves both types of chocolate but not mixed together at the same time.....crazy child!

Speaking of Miss O, when I picked her up from school on Thursday 18th of February, she looked terrible so I felt her head and I could tell right away she had a temperature. She told me that she had told the teacher at lunch time that she felt sick and the teacher replied "You will be fine". I could feel my face burning with anger!! Let's rewind almost 9 years ago......

For those of you who don't know me so well, Miss O is now 8yrs old, turning 9 this year. She was born prematurely at 24 weeks gestation so she was born just over 3 months early. Here is a photo of her 13 days after she was born and if you look closely the regular hospital scales say she is 0.555kg. She could fit in the palm of your hand and your fingers would fold over her like a blanket.

Due to Miss O's lungs not being fully developed, she was given large quantities of oxygen until she was able to breath on her own. She spent the first 3 1/2 months of her life in hospital before I could bring her home. I lived 3 1/2 hours away from the hospital so I stayed at the hospital for one week, went home for one week and so on. I was able to express milk for her for nearly 3 months before it ran out. I would freeze the milk in little sterile jars, pack it up in a special ice box and take it up to the hospital every second week. We called it the milk run...lol! The weeks I was at home expressing milk every 3 hours for her day and night (yes I set my alarm clock to wake me so I could plug my breast into an electric pump which totally made me feel like a cow) made me feel so strange. With no baby to feed or cuddle. They were the longest 3 1/2 months I have ever had. There were numerous operations, lung drains, blood transfusions, xrays, scans....the list go on.

One of the complications of being born so early is that Miss O has chronic lung disease or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) as well as being an asthmatic. Ever since Miss O could understand, she was told that if she feels sick at all she must either tell her family members or her teachers. Every school she has been to know Miss O's complete history. Her first school was an early intervention school, then preschool with an aid worker, then onto mainstream school until she turned 8yrs of age. Then the education department stepped in to assess her ('bout bloody time I say!!) as she has a severe developmental delay and finally took her out of mainstream school and put her in a special ed class with other children who have difficulties too. But she had to change school's at the beginning of this year which was really hard on her. She is a very shy girl and needs constant reminders of the little every day things you or I would take for granted.

So the numerous people such as the principle, vice-principle, teachers and aid's who will be teaching Miss O throughout the year had been informed all about Miss O and her needs. We started the meetings a few months before school broke up last year. So that leads us back to Miss O letting the teacher know that she was sick and me picking her up from school and taking her home to find out that she had a temperature as well as wheezing from her asthma! For goodness sake, some people have no idea how fast asthma can knock you off your feet. And with Miss O, it happens really fast. For the first week and a half she stayed on the lounge and hardly moved as the congestion in her chest, the constant coughing as well as asthma take up so much of her energy and she is hardly able to move. So I marched right up there last week and demanded to have a meeting so I could explain to them once again that if Miss O tells any teacher she is sick, I am to be contacted immediately. There were a few other choice words that were said (nothing rude or no swearing, just a little bit of an irate mother coming out) so I hope they have got the message now! She went back today so I hope she has a good day today.

Phew......that turned into a little bit of a long story didn't it....lol! From cupcakes to babies so I might as well finish with some inspiration! Most of you know by now that I was asked to join the Kenner Road design team using their digital goodies over at 2P's, thank you so much to everyone who left me a congrats comment and email, you are all so very sweet!! Well I had my first blog post over on their blog about how to create a basic background using digital papers in Photoshop. I was so very excited and nervous I mean look at all the other amazing ladies on the design team, talk about major talent!! If your not a digi girl at all, go check it out when you get a chance, it's very basic but informative. There will be loads more info and digital inspiration over on the blog so make sure you check it out regularly. Here's a hybrid layout I created using the basic background tutorial over on the blog:

{♥}

The rest of the goodies are from KR paper kits Madeleine and Milk & Honey. The only other goodies I have had time to create is for Catherine Designs over at After 5 Designs. She just released this gorgeous mini kit called Feelin' Springy for only $2!! Now that's a bargain:

Here's an Easter card I created (yes it's a little bit early...lol) as well as a digital page using the above kit and the A5D March Collab:

{♥}

Look at that little crocheted heart.....

....loving these big time right now. I got a little carried away making them when I was watching over Miss O whilst she was sick. I even have some flowers too....but you will have to wait till I create something so I can stick them on it!

{♥}

Before I go I just wanted to let you know that the news I was supposed to tell you on the 1st of March is still coming......lol, I just haven't been given a release date as yet but as soon as I find out I will post about it. I can't wait to show you guys, I had soooooo much fun with it! Well that's it for me, off to get some dinner ready. Feeling lazy this afternoon, I really don't feel like cooking......wish the kids were old enough to make me something. Oh wait, Miss J makes a mean vegimite sandwich!!! Yes, I ♥ vegimite. I'm an aussie after all.....lol!!

EDIT:
After dinner tonight (yes I ended up cooking.....lol) we were outside on the porch having a cup of tea about to come come inside and watch MKR (my kitchen rules) and little Miss J was inside watching the beginning of the show when she runs outside and says "Mumma, there is absolutely no woom (room) for ewwa (error)" These quick little moments in life are to be remembered, documented and shared. How I love my dear little munchkins!!! Makes my heart melt, it does xox

{♥ kr does digi ♥}

2010-02-22T16:47:00.000+11:00

As many of you know by reading my blog, I am a huge fan of KR {shock : horror} so I was over the moon when KR released digital scrapbooking goodies! And for those of you who are NOT digital scrappers, the best news is that it is so easy to print these goodies out and use them on your projects. As you can see I went over board on decorating my blog {snicker} as well as creating a digital page:

Schoolbox Alpha + Honey Church Kit + Odds & Ends: Vintage Bingo & Lotto Cards + Flashcard Photo Frames

{♥♥♥}

As you can see I chopped up papers, bingo cards, the flashcard frames and even pieces from the kit honey church. So imagine how easy it would be to print out these items and chop them up yourselves. Sky's the limit! I have to say I am loving the schoolbox alpha, look how cute they look on the page, so much fun!

What will you create today?

The House of Ill

2010-02-18T16:22:00.000+11:00

Yes....I am the worst sick person in our family. I get irritable, cranky and complain the whole time I am sick. Both of the girls are home sick too so we are bundled up in the lounge room watching the Olympics, passing the box of tissues around. Little Miss J is quite upset that she misses her two days of preschool this week and has been permanently glued to my lap....even whilst I type this post with one hand. Mind you I am loving the cuddle time we have clocked up...lol!

I have been able to do some work on a little something-something that I am loving right now...

....11 days til deadline, having so much fun with this! Just wish I didn't feel so ill. It started off with my wisdom tooth coming through on Saturday, talk about painful. I hate needles and I hate dentists even more so I suffered in sort of silence...lol. Now I have a really bad head cold and I feel awful!

Ok, starting to feel all headachey now, off to watch some more halfpipe....

I ♥ Vintage Goodies

2010-02-07T20:48:00.001+11:00

Look at this gorgeous little mini album kit I just purchased from Tarisota:

(♥)

Check the Tarisota flickr group for a few more photos here, read more about it here and purchase it here if there are any left!! Pretty, pretty, pretty!

EDIT: Kits sold out in just 3 hours.....wow!!!

Let's get Digital!

2010-02-05T21:41:00.000+11:00

It was wonderful to sit down at the computer with Photoshop open and create some digital pages. My first digital for the year as a matter of fact! As much as I love getting my hands (and art room) dirty, it was quite relaxing to listen to some music and play with an awesome digital kit! I am talking about this one:

The kit is called Re-Creation23 and it's a collaboration between Catherine Designs and Createwings Designs available HERE. It has so, so many beautiful embellishments included in this kit and the papers are stunning! Here are three pages I created yesterday using the kit.

(♥)

If that isn't enough eye-candy for you, you can always go to Catherine's blog HERE and to Dawn's blog HERE. They have both compiled a huge gallery with all the amazing pages their creative teams have designed. It's astonishing to see the diverse array of artistic styles that make up a creative or design team. Each artist brings their own to the table each time to showcase such amazingly designed kits such as Re-Creation23. It's always a pleasure to create when we have so many amazing designers out there pouring out their heart and soul into something that is just simply inspirational!

I'm off to paint and get messy!! Got that deadline fast approaching....lol! All will be revealed March 1st!

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY one and all!!!

2010-01-26T15:07:00.002+11:00

We love Australia Day here in Australia. We spend the public holiday celebrating in so many different ways. Today we will be having a barbie (BBQ) with a few snags (sausages) and a tinny or two (a can of beer...lol)! We fly our flags high with Aussie pride, even on our cars!

Some fake TTV ♥ from leahleaf

On to some creative goodness..... I actually made this last year at the beginning of December but it was sitting against the wall until I was able to find some trim or ribbon I like to go around the edges. It is finally up on the wall now and I just love looking at it when we come and go through the front door.

As you can sort of see I have a hall stand at the front door. I found it at a furniture store very cheap as the mirror had been smashed so they took a large chunk of money off it. I was planning on putting a mirror back in but never got around to it (so glad I didn't now). I thought it would be the perfect place for the magnet board. I use the House of 3 digital project kit for the months and the dates. I used my House of 3 House Warming kit to print the frame out and add some mirror paper to the inside of the frame. Similar to the one I made for my house warming album here.

I simply purchased a cheap magnetic board from my local office supply store with some plain brown wrapping paper to cover the board with. I went with the brown wrapping paper is it's really thin, perfect thickness for the magnets to still stick to the board. I used a bunch of stamps from my Kenner Road kits and some from one of Tim Holtz's collections here. I also used Tim Holtz's distressing inks to stamp them onto the brown paper and used a blending tool to ink the edges of the paper.

I was inspired by Heidi Swapps notepad she made for her magnet board so I made a similar little notepad. I used a gorgeous teal Prima flower and added a gorgeous crystal Christmas decoration to it and stuck a magnet on the back of it.

I cut a piece of muslin, inked and frayed the edges, added a Kenner Road stamp and a vintage photo from Old School (August '09), added some hand embroidery with pearls, leaves and glass hearts, and added a hand drawn bird on canvas stuck onto some chipboard and added some vintage trim from my stash as well as some teal trim from We R Memory Keepers. I then attached all this to a vintage paper bag that I received with some free goodies from Blue Bazzar. I inked the edges of the paper bag as well to give it a more aged appearance.

I printed out the Hof3 months and dates and inked all the edges, attached some beads and wire to some of the dates and hung them from a magnetic clip with an album ring to hold the dates.
I took another vintage photo from KR kit Old School '09 and hand sewed around the edges, added some vintage trim from the same KR kit and threaded the trim with some teal embroidery thread with wooden beads in every second loop. I simply added a Prima butterfly with a magnet on the back to hand it from the board.

Lastly I took an small old frame I found in my stash and covered it with the brown paper with more TH and KR stamps and added some little teal pearls from Kaisercraft. I inserted a photo of the girls inside and added a little word bit I made in Photoshop, "You are loved". I found a gorgeous teal 'Paris' broach and added a magnet on the back of it and added it to the board.

Well that's pretty much the basics of how I put my magnet board together. The things that I constantly look for are all in the same place now. A writing pad, the bills that need paying, what the date is...lol and a cute little photo of my two girls that I can smile at every day!

In the first photo you can see another creation in the bottom right hand corner that is ALL Kenner Road goodness that was a project kit in November '09. I seriously had so much fun making this Tannenbaum tree. I even added some of my own creations to the tree. It got so many comments from friends and family that came over. Mind you I still have it on the hall stand. I think I am going to leave it there for now as I have an idea of how I can re-use the little tree hanging thingys........when I get a chance that is......I have a deadline for a very exciting project coming up on March 1st. Can't wait to tell you more...lol!

Happy, creative Australia Day!!!

Some Long Over due Layouts...

2010-01-22T00:43:00.001+11:00

....and yes I have been playing catch up since I returned from our vacation but I did find some time for a little scrap therapy.......aaahhhhh......just what a girl needed after such a busy holiday season. For two full days I spent in my art room playing with my Kenner Road December goodies and I have to say (yes I know I say this all the time but seriously I find it so easy to scrap with the collections kl puts together) the December collection (I usually purchase every kit KR brings out each month) has to be my new favorite collection. As I was creating each page, a new idea to use the goodies would pop into my head! Enough chit chat, here are some pages.

Secret Garden + Ramble

The photo was taken at the beach up at Coffs Harbour as the sun was setting. As I was about to take the photo Miss J reached over to her sister and said to her "let me fix your hair" hence the title....lol! It was such a sweet moment!

Gorgeous star background stamp on canvas is from Darkroom Door.....so gorgeous!!! Thanks again Rachel & Jill xo

Seven Gables + Secret Garden + Ramble + Old School (August '09) + Windy Corners (October '09)

Love this old photo taken on our last vacation, so much fun! I had a ball making the bottle cap (from KR Windy Corners October '09) thingy using clear UTEE and heating it with my heat gun. Love how everything is frozen inside the melted UTEE!!!

Seven Gables + Ramble

In December's KR kit I received a little card that thanked me for supporting KR and on one side it says 'you are lovely'. I loved it and thought it was perfect for my title so I covered up the 'you are' with a little sequin flower, hence the title 'Lovely Hands'.

Ramble + Seven Gables - I also used one of my ATC's I made from this post!

We came across a fair just across the road from one of the beaches we visited whilst in Coffs Harbour, the girls loved it. So many awesome rides too.

Pretty little ribbon from Light Up the Night Collab (A5D) by Catherine Designs

I actually have some creations to show but I might save it for tomorrow. Still need to take some photos as it's too dark now. That's it for me, I'm off to bed. I have a raging headache and it doesn't want to budge. One week left till school goes back and little Miss J starts preschool.....there's gonna be tears and yes they will only be mine I'm afraid!

xoxoxo

Belated Christmas Gifts: All Wrapped Up

2010-01-16T14:08:00.000+11:00

I heart this photo I took in a store window at my favorite vintage styled town of Berry.

As promised I finally found some time to edit the Christmas gift photos. This year I had so much fun creating some of the Christmas presents for friends and family. I plan to keep the tradition going each Christmas. I loved the look on my family's faces as they unwrapped their handmade gifts. My sister especially. It took several hours to convince her to just open the gift. She said it was wrapped so beautifully she didn't want to open the gift. I had to threaten her saying that I would go home now if she didn't open it. My niece Miss C loved her gift, she has it sitting on her dresser and to my surprise, the colors in her room go perfectly with the canvas. Ok, on with some photos!

I made my 3 nephews gift card holders for their gift cards. Nothing fancy as they just tore them open as I suspected....lol. I simply stapled a bit of ribbon the the bottom of the gift card to use it to pull the gift card from the handmade envelope. Stamped them with Pink Paislee's Mistletoe and Co Impressions clear stamps and also used Fiskars a to z clear stamps that I got in one of my Teckni Colour kits from Tarisota. I used a sewing machine to seal the edges of the envelopes and stuck a Making Memories glitter foam sticker on the back to seal the envelope.

My brother has a terrible memory (either that or he just couldn't be bothered....lol) and he always forgets our birthdays so I made him a magnetic birthday reminder calendar so he can put it on his fridge. I got the idea and the printable perpetual calendar from the Pebbles Inc blog that Celeste Smith made. A perfect and fitting gift for my lazy bones brother! I used all Kenner Road goodies from Windy Corner (October '09 Add on kit) and Handmaiden (October '09 Main kit).

source

I would show you a photo of the gorgeous Christmas cards I made this year but I simply forgot to take any....lol!!! Well,I can show you how I wrapped the cards. I wrapped the cards in simple brown wrapping paper, tied them with some jute cord and added some holly spray and cherries. I hand cut some little tags and attacked them with some ribbon.

Each Christmas I change the colors I use for wrapping the presents and this year I chose gold, red, green and beige/tan/brown. Wrapping presents would have to be my favorite part of gift giving.

I was inspired by a Christmas tutorial that Kendra McCracken (this woman has such amazing talent) did for Fiskars called Cardinals and Tags Tree so I made similar ones as my gift tags for my family's presents and added American Crafts Thickers for the first letter of their names.

Well, that's my Christmas Gifts for 2009. Hope you are inspired to have a handmade Christmas next year. I know I am!!

Peace, Hope & Joy xo

Closer to God

2010-01-15T18:22:00.000+11:00

I have to say Dorrigo Mountain is one amazing place! Even though we were there because my Aunt May had passed away, we could really understand why my Aunt and Uncle live here. Dorrigo is nestled in the eastern regions of the Great Dividing Range, on a plateau that rises 760m above sea level in New South Wales, Australia. It's about an hours drive from Coffs Harbour up the mountain. We passed one of two waterfalls called Newell Falls on the drive up.

It is so much bigger than this photo shows, it's just so beautiful. When there's a lot of rainfall this waterfall falls onto the road and down below. They usually close the road when it gets too bad. Check out this photo taken last year during a heavy rainfall.

source (I just edited the photo, I didn't take this one)

A photo of the girls at the lookout across the road from Newell Falls. It's quite dark as it was really overcast and ever now and then a cloud would drift straight past us.

Here's the next mountain range you can see from the look out.

The drive up the mountain was amazing and so green. Beautiful ferns and ivy climbing all over the tree's. The tree's are so high it's amazing. Once we reached the top of the mountain, we arrived at the resort where my Uncle Maurice lives and we checked into the cutest little cabins I have sen in a long time. They weren't 5 star or anything but they were clean and had loads of character to them. The cabin we stayed in was called Doctors Holiday.

Everything was so rustic, green and the air was so fresh! On our first day there we were unpacking the car and bringing the suitcases in and I sat on the bed for a minute waiting for mum to lock the car up. I looked at the door to see what was keeping mum and all this fog was coming inside the door. My uncle walked in and I said to him "look at all the fog" he replied to me "that's not fog, that's the clouds".

The girls thought it was amazing to run around outside amongst the clouds. Mum said to me "isn't it beautiful up here" and I replied to her "yes, and closer to God". Mum just stared at me as that isn't the type of thing I would say, but then again, it really is a beautiful place!

Please Excuse the Dust...

2010-01-10T11:46:00.000+11:00

Well, firstly, Happy New Year to you all!!!! There is something about 2010 that just fills me with loads of hope. There are so many things I have planned for this year and I will try my hardest to make it all happen!

It feels like months since my last post when it has only been a few weeks. On Christmas day at 3pm my Aunt passed away from complications of cancer. She had been feeling ill for the last 6 months but refused to go to the doctor's until it was too late. Her poor little heart gave up with the stress that the cancer put on her frail body. I had to explain to the girls why Aunt May passed away and all I could say is that she died with a broken heart.

On Boxing day we traveled up to Sydney to were my sister lives and stayed there for 5 days whilst we waited for news of my Aunt's funeral which came on our last day. We packed up and headed for home to pack for the trip and meet with my very best friend in the world, Daren and his partner, to spend New Year's Eve together. An amazing night filled with cocktails, great food and tantalizing conversation. Thank goodness for wonderful friends to get you through the hard days! (Made me think about a dear person who was once in my life but not any more.) The next day we packed up and left for our long car trip to Dorrigo Mountain roughly 9 hours away. More on that later....

We arrived home Thursday night exhausted and glad to be home. Loads of washing to do and lots to catch up on. I found a few packages on my front door step which was a lovely surprise, one from Tricia at Cocoa Daisy, thank you so much for this awesome gift and the coupon, I can't wait to get a chance to play with it. And the other from Prima Marketing, so many gorgeous goodies to play with too!!! And last but not least.......some AMAZING stamps from Darkroom Door! I am in awe of these stamps, they are huge! You must check them out and what their design team do with them, simply amazing!!! A huge thank you to Rachel and Jill, I can't wait to dream up a creation to use these stunning stamps!

Well I think I managed to shake a little dust off the blog for a few days till I get myself in the nook again. Lots of emails to reply to (one in particular that I am so over the moon happy about and I can't wait to share but for now it;s hush, hush) loads of photos to sort out and post so I will be back in a few days once I get sorted. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. xo

Merry Christmas To All!!

2009-12-25T10:32:00.000+11:00

Where did the last few weeks go, talk about busy! I had planned to share with you the rest of the Christmas pressies I made for my family but time just flew by in a blink of an eye. I shall have to post them in the new year as we leave tomorrow for a family trip.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas spent with dear friends and family. Merry Christmas from the Martin family xoxo

Christmas Gifts - Art Quilt

2009-12-09T21:56:00.000+11:00

I wanted to make my sister an art quilt similar to this one but with a neutral color theme so she could hang it in any room she wished. I had so much fun with this doing all of the sewing by hand. Time consuming but loads of fun to play around with different stitches. I really can't sew to save my life so I just googled a few videos on different types of stitches and away I went...lol! Here are the materials I chose:

I didn't end up using all of the materials, just a few patterns I thought went really well together. I have loads left for future ideas, I think I may make a few more of these as I loved the way it turned out. I went with the flow and didn't worry about making any mistakes (one you can see quite plainly......lol) I wanted it to look like I had made it, not purchased it. So some of the stitches aren't straight, I love that it isn't perfect it just adds charm! Here is what the finished quilt looks like:

The material squares have all been hand sewn onto canvas and I framed the inside with this gorgeous sequined trim I found in my ribbon stash. The material and the frame are the only items I went out and purchased, the rest of the products I found in my art cupboards. Oh I did go out into the yard to find a twig......lol! Here are some close ups of the individual squares, hope you like them!

Square 1

Square 2

Square 3

Square 4

Square 5

Square 6

Square 7

Square 8

Square 9

Square 10

Square 11

Square 12

As always, if you have any questions leave me a comment or send me an email. You can find the email link on the right towards the top of my blog. Hope you're having a creative week!

HAPPY HUMP DAY!! xoxo

Inspirational ATC's

2009-12-01T14:16:00.000+11:00

I was so inspired to make some inspirational ATC's by Ronda Palazzari. She has a link to the tutorial on her blog called Loads of Layers v2.

I pulled out all of my Kenner Road kits (9 months worth) and went through them using loads of papers and embellishments. I mixed spray inks, paints, all my KR stamps, patterned papers, embellishments and embroidery floss and here are the results:

Of course some of them I love and will even use them on other projects as they are. I used many different styles that I wouldn't normally use on a page but it was fun putting them all together not worrying if I was going to ruin them. I loved that I went out of my comfort zone and try different things. Ronda gives you so many inspirational idea's to help build those layers up and I LOVE layers especially in digital scrapping. It can be a little hard to layer 20 flowers onto of each other on a traditional page not that I have tried mind you, I just can't picture that in my head...lol! Here are some of my favorite one's:

This one, I used some punchanella from Roben-Marie Smith's store. She sells a gorgeous little pack with loads of different sizes and colors for $4.49 USD! HEART this stuff!!

I am in love with the chair stamp!

I used some glimmer mist on this one but you have to move it around to see the glimmer. I only have the one color of the mist as I wanted to be sure I liked the effect before I got loads of them in different colors. Loving them now.

Love this stamp as well!

Love embroidering things at the moment.

You can't beat bubble wrap as a stamp!

I LOVE the way this last one turned out, the mesh mist, the JB chipboard button, the vintage ribbon and the KR stamp on a gorgeous yellow paterned paper! DIVINE

I could keep going with loads more photos but I suggest you give this a go. I have mine hanging on the wall next to my PC so I can see them all the time and play with them. None of the ATC's were planned out, I just gathered all the supplies I wanted to use, surrounded myself with them and went to town on each card. I will definitely be doing this again in the near future. It's a great way to inspire yourself as well as using up any bits and pieces you have laying around which we all know you do, right!

GO MAKE SOME NOW

xxoo

Christmas Gifts - Mixed Media Canvas Part 7: Final

2009-11-29T17:02:00.000+11:00

Continuing on from the last post.... A canvas for my niece Miss C. This is the final part of the Mixed Media Canvas, hope you liked it!

Preparing To Wax: This stage is so much fun, I love playing with wax! There are quite a few types of waxes you can used and many ways to melt it but I just grabbed a packet of white (bleached) beeswax from my local art store. That's all I could find so I made do. You can purchase different types of beeswax and in different forms. I was on the hunt for a block of natural beeswax but I didn't want to wait for it to come via snail mail.

Melting The Wax: I have an old cake tin that I use for melting my wax with my heat gun. Quick and easy! You could also used an old slow cooker to melt your wax or a melting pot™. I use a flat wide brush to apply the melted wax, it spreads the wax out better.

Applying The Wax: Once my wax was melted I applied short strokes over the entire canvas. As it was beginning to dry I could see where more wax was needed and I applied more. Don't worry about any brush marks in the wax as the heat gun will take care of that next.

Heat & Move: Once the wax had started to dry, I noticed a few places where the wax had pooled so I took my heat gun and remelted these parts. Using my brush I pushed the puddles around the canvas till I was happy with the thickness of the layer of wax. I had to do this a few times to get an even coat of wax over my canvas. I used the heat gun to slightly melt other sections of the canvas to get rid of the brush strokes that showed up in the wax. No need to completely melt the wax, just a few blows with the heat gun is enough to give the wax a lovely sheen.

Waxed Views: Sorry about the photos above, it was hard to get a good photo of the finished layer of wax. As you can see the wax has softened the edges and given the canvas a very slight dreamy effect. The layer of wax also seals, protects and holds onto any embellishments (like the key) that are attached to the canvas.

You can take this step further by scratching or cutting into the wax and rubbing ink or a diluted paint mixture into them to add yet another layer of goodness. I have tried this with Tim's Walnut Stain and a little of raw umber acrylic paint mixed with a little glossy gel medium. The results are gorgeous. I chose not to on this canvas as I was happy with the overall result and thought this would be more of what my niece would like. I can always introduce her to some dirty art later on.

Well, that brings me to the end of this tutorial, I do hope you enjoyed it and found some inspiration along the way. Maybe even discovered something new....lol! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate in leaving me a comment or even sending me an email. I would love to hear from you! You can find my email below my profile.

Lastly, here is the finished canvas:

GET CREATIVE, LEARN NEW THINGS!!! xoxo

Christmas Gifts - Mixed Media Canvas Part 6

2009-11-28T09:00:00.002+11:00

Continuing on from the last post.... A canvas for my niece Miss C.

For this post I want to concentrate on adding highlights to the canvas and touching up any area's that I thought needed that little bit extra.

I just want to jump in here and talk about the differences in the two photos above.

Adding Highlights: There are quite a few products out there such as iridescent paints like Jo Sonja's Iridescent Colors that you can use for highlights on your canvas. I did find another one called FW Pearlescent but I haven't tried this one yet. I chose to use an Iridescent Gel by a French company called Pébéo. You can mix this gel with almost any acrylic color to give it a pearlized or iridescent effect or it can be used alone which is what I did. It goes onto the canvas as an off white color but when it's dry it becomes more iridescent.

In the top photo you can see that the gel is quite gold and add's real depth in the cracks but compare it to the next photo from a different angle and the appearance changes. I chose to use some brush strokes (you can really notice this in the second photo) to apply the gel in some places as well as using my finger to blend out the edges in other sections of the canvas.

Here is an excellent example of the difference between adding highlights and leaving them out.

Notice how much depth the top photo has compared to the bottom photo which has no highlights. Amazing isn't it!

More Highlights: I used my brush and my finger to add more highlights and depth to various parts of my canvas paying close attention to the raised up area's left by using texture paste and gesso. Most of the time I choose to use gesso instead of white paint as most of the time I like to add another layer. With gesso being a primer it's perfect for me to add layers over it and build them up if I want to.

Shimmer & Shine: In the last photo you can just see the area's that have highlight's as they shimmer and shine from different angles. You can see that I have added the iridescent gel to the bottom of the tree's canopy, around the bottom of the cloud, underneath the word bits and a little in the grooves of the gauze.

The Sides: I only added light touches to the sides of my canvas such as adding more dark blue slightly watered down and blended it in well with my fingers. A few raw umber accents on the tree trunk and along the edges of the green spotted paper.

Guess what.....we are about to go onto the last stage of how I completed this canvas and this part is loads of fun! See you back here tomorrow for the last part of my mixed media canvas for my sweet niece Miss C.

CREATIVE MESS = ART xxoo

Christmas Gifts - Mixed Media Canvas Part 5

2009-11-27T09:00:00.003+11:00

Continuing on from the last post.... A canvas for my niece Miss C.

Stain Around the Doll: Now that the canvas is completely dry after adding the doll, I made up another mixture of a small amount of raw umber and loads of gel medium and added a stain around the doll making sure I didn't get any on the dolls face.

More Painting and Blending: Seeing that the canvas dried for a full 24 hours, I noticed some area's needed a little more definition so I added some more undiluted acrylic paint to the texture paste circles I created in a previous step (part 3). Remember to blend your colors so they flow seamlessly from one color to the next. I added some of the stain I used for around the doll, into the inside of the circles using my finger to blend it in to create even more shadow and depth. Notice in the above photo how the top of the circles look much higher than the rest of the circle.

Inspirational Words: I wanted to make sure that the words or phrase I used tied the whole canvas together and I definitely wanted something that a teenager would/could relate to hence the words 'FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS'. I adhered the printed words onto a thick layer of chipboard, inked the edges with my favorite color ink Pinecone then adhered them to another layer of chipboard and inked again. I added some distress ink Antique Linen over the top of the words to dull the white of the photo paper the words were printed on.

Add Embellishments: Time to break out some of my favorite scrapbooking supplies. I always find somewhere to add a little 7 Gypsies key. I HEART keys! A key says to me "You hold the key to unlock...." (insert so many different words and phrases that the key can represent to you). I also added some ribbon trim to the dress to make her look even prettier and a tiny little jeweled heart on her chest. I really had an urge to add a bookplate, another one of my favorite embellishments but as they say 'less is more' even though that only works some of the time in my opinion...lol! So I left the bookplate off, it really had no place on this canvas, maybe if I had used a single word I could have used a bookplate. I am happy with the result any way.

We are finally nearing the end now and I am starting to get excited to see the finished product. More photos and guides tomorrow.

CREATE OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE... You won't regret it! xxoo