ATCs -The Nativity

 It's beginning to look a little bit like Christmas, but only a teeny, tiny bit.

After my Bush Christmas ATCs I thought about creating a series of cards that celebrate the "real" reason for the season - the birth of Jesus.

I've been going blind fussy cutting for my paper piecing, but am very happy with the outcome. The backgrounds are watercoloured.

The ATCs are proving popular in the swap groups. I've made sure that I made a card to keep for myself in my collection, something that I often overlook.

Comments always welcome, thanks for looking x

ACTs - An Aussie Christmas

Following from the fun I had making my Christmas inchies, I thought I'd make some ATCs for trade.

ROOdolph was traded before being listed for swap, and I decided to keep Hoppy Christmas for myself.

I think there will be another edition of this series, it was so much fun to make & there aren't too many "Summer" Christmas ATCs around. I'm hoping they will be popular among the trades 🤞

Comments always welcome, thanks for looking x

Inchies - An Aussie Christmas

 Another trade with Inchies Twinchies Swap Group - this time a set of 10 inchies in a Christmas theme.

My little art squares have been covered in patterned paper, I've hand drawn a gum tree and landscape, then collaged Australian animals into the scene. 

I thought it would be nice to include my inspiration for this piece, one of the few Australian Christmas carols - Christmas where the gum trees grow.

I hope my swap partner in The Netherlands enjoys a little taste of an Aussie Christmas! I wish I could send some fresh prawns, juicy watermelon and a strawberry topped pavlova for a genuine taste of our Christmas.

Comments always welcome, thanks for looking x

ATCs Miss Vintage Rose

ATCs swaps Australia has the theme "Vintage Rose" for the current swap, so I practiced my watercolour & pen technique to make these blooming beauties.

These are not for the themed swap, but extras for general trading.

Each Miss is painted in different colours, and I've used a variety of simple doodled roses. Obviously a lot more practice is required to improve both techniques, but these small canvases are quite forgiving - thank goodness 😉

Hopefully my partners in the themed swap will be happy, and I can trade these extras to build on my little ATC collection.

As always, comments welcome and thanks for looking x

Patchwork Theme Swap - Australian ATC Themed Swap Group

My first themed group swap! 

Here are the set of 4 patchwork themed ATCS I made, 3 for trading and one to keep.

"A paper patchwork quilt "

Poor lighting, worse background 😆

More cathedral window paper piecing, machine stitching and a quick raid of the sewing box.

1/4

2/4

3/4

4/4 

Ridiculously excited to get these into the post box and can't hardly wait to see what trades I receive in return!

Comments always welcome, thanks for looking x

ATCs - Harvest, Gather, Yield

Harvest, Gather, Yield

Definition of harvest noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

 
harvest
 noun
/ˈhɑrvəst/
 
 
1. [countable, uncountable] the time of year when the crops are gathered in on a farm, etc.; the act of cutting and gathering cropsharvest timeFarmers are extremely busy during the harvest.

I have flirted with the idea of trying watercolour painting, so gave it a go with some "rustic" looking pumpkins.

Please, no feedback is required on my technique, I KNOW I will need a lot more practice 🤣

Harvest

Gather

Yield

Lots of texture was added with cardboard, paper ribbon, a chipboard butterfly and small Kaisercraft alphas for the titles.

Comments always welcome, thanks for looking x

ATCs - Hive Rules

I have definitely fallen in love with the teensy, tiny canvas that an ATC provides. "Hive Rules" celebrates bees. 

We have a bee hive in our backyard, and get to witness their outstanding contribution to nature on a daily basis, and occasionally their honey on our toast 😉

*Update - these have all been traded (yay me, first time showing my art), stay tuned for Edition 2

Hive Rules

1/4 Bee positive

2/4 Bee kind

3/4 Work hard

4/4 Stay bumble

It may be difficult to see - except in the series of 4 cards together - but the mixed media background was created as one piece; with patterned paper, torn book pages, paint, recycled cardboard, glimmermist, a little lace & hand cut hexagons.

Comments always welcome 🙂

As always, thanks for looking

First ATC swap - eek!

I have joined a Facebook group - Artist Trading Cards (ATC) Share and Swap and found my first trade partner!

We decided on a blind swap, and since she's in the US we opted for a 4 card trade to make the postage costs worthwhile. I just hope she's not disappointed with my first attempt at ATCs for about 10 years 😆

Here's what she'll be getting in the mail:

Bee Happy

1/2 who knew hexagons were so hard to draw freehand? Fortunately I made a stencil that could be reused - phew!

2/2 some doodling & re-purposed buttons completed these happy little cards

Lots of paper scraps were rescued for this project, and my old Glimmermist came out to play. I couldn't get the pump to work since it's been sitting neglected for too many years, so splatters were called for and did the job splendidly.

Cathedral Window Quilt

1/2 machine stitching is my go-to since I can't paint or draw, so perfect for this little project

2/2 raided the sewing box for pins, a timber button & safety pin cute for accents

I have had this technique Pinned for a million years and wanted to try it since first seeing Leanne Pearce use it here. Is it fiddly? YES but it's not difficult. Go ahead & give it a go, all it takes is to cut out some circles, fold the edges and voila!

Happy with my little cuties off I go to Australia Post to send them halfway around the world.

Thanks for looking xx

Finding my mojo... ATCs, inches, twinchies

 

Follow your path

I am using a Kikki K A5 lined notebook for my anit-scrapbook - somewhat fortuitously the book is titled Follow your Path, which made me very happy! 

Some of my pages so far...

Inside cover - 2015 Journal...Write...List

Listening

To Taylor Swift "Shake it Off" - guilty

To Ed Sheeran "X" - a christmas gift from the kids

To Hilltop Hoods "Cosby Sweater" - something about it reminds me of the past, its familiar

For my son's 13th Birthday I asked him to complete the Birthday Interview. His answers are honest, some took a lot of thought and others just made us laugh out loud! 

Who is your favorite person in the whole world?
 Mum, Dad and Grant Birchall (AFL football player for Hawthorn, no.14)

What do you want to be when you grow up? 

Footy player/ Basketball player/ electrical engineer

What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday? 

Dunk

Seriously?

 I've learnt that if I'm going to get mushy I need to keep it private. I'm regularly advised that I'm a bit cheesy and show way too many PDA's for his liking - so I wrote a little love note and made sure it was behind the photo out of public view!

I'm going to try hard not to buy any new supplies this year. I may have to make one exception...washi tape! I'm finding that its a go-to for just about every page I finish, but to date I have made no purchases. My stash of bits and pieces is hardy diminishing since the smaller page size needs less goodies. Maybe I can go 2 years without hitting the stores? In truth, I have enough to last a lifetime, but don't tell my husband!

Thanks for looking xx

Comments always welcome

Anti-Scrapbooking?

Time is short, we all know that. Fitting everything into my day doesn't leave a lot of time for creative pursuits.That's why this year I've started a journal/list/grateful book, in the style of smash books. I can quickly put a page together with whatever I have on hand, in quicker time and without the usual paper shuffling or pursuit of perfection. 

I call it anti-scrapbooking. Just stuff that's important to me and my family. Milestones, lists, thoughts, odd pictures and photos, bullet points, letters, notes, bits and pieces from the junk drawer - our life.

Here's the latest: 

Be Brave and Shave

It reads:You have an inner beauty, a generous heart and are always thinking of others. Taking up the challenge to color your hair was brave, raising funds for charity was challenging and watching you do it all is inspiring! 

Photo 11/3/2015

Journal 23/3/2015

My plan is to complete 52 spreads during the year. This feat would be impossible for me if creating 12x12" layouts - I know, I've tried before - but is perfectly achievable in this format. 

Thanks for looking xx

Bedroom transformation

My children are getting a little older (my son starts Secondary school next year, eek!) and wanted their bedrooms to reflect a little more personality. So, while we are painting the house we put a little effort into tween-ing up the kids' spaces.

CJ loves orange, and we were concerned when he said he wanted an orange feature wall. After dawdling through the color chips at the paint store, steering him toward terracotta oranges or cinnamon neutrals he decided he loved Taubmans Orange Relish.

The results speak for themselves. A splash of orange feature wall: 

After: 

Now, I am no interior decorator but I think the results are exceptional. Knowing how long it took to fill every nail hole on his walls, or removing the greasy mark left by blu-tack before painting, I wasn't going to have to repeat that task any time soon. Instead, I purchased a sheet of reo (concrete reinforcing) from Bunnings Warehouse, sanded it down with a wire brush and used methylated spirits to wipe away the grease and grime. A couple of cans of black spray paint later and the reo was transformed from grungy metal to modern industrial. 

Painting and screwing some timber supports the same color as the wall eliminates ugly fixings and the reo looks suspended and like it belongs on the wall. Using hooks he can change his wall display as he likes - skateboard, photos, medals, games, caps.... add a couple of simple black shelves above to proudly display his trophies. An ebay bargain couch - serious bargain $100 brand new, folds out to a bed -  rug and cushion from Ikea complete the look.

Opposite his cool chill out zone is another ebay bargain, his loft bed. Plenty of storage for books and stationary, again hooks are used to hang his bags and there's even space for homework!

My daughters space was a little harder to complete, and is still a little work in progress (her taste changes weekly!) Again we hit ebay looking for a bargain or two and stumbled upon a tubular bunk bed. After removing the bottom bed supports and spraying a fresh coat of white paint the bunk was transformed into a funky loft bed. Further ebay-ing netted us a comfy couch, Ikea provided the handy table and shaggy rugs (2 lined up next to each other) and the paper lanterns and artwork were 11th birthday presents.

Painting the bunk bed: 

Now its a loft bed: 

 Comfy hang out, complete with paper lanterns and fluffy rug underfoot!

Kids rooms complete, now onto the rest of the house.