Moleskin Journal - Expression

I recently purchased some 'Moleskin Journals' I thought they'd be fun to alter, if you are not familiar with Moleskins, they are blank Journals with a lovely soft 'kraft' cover. So I decided it was time to make my first :)

Using some of my New stamps from

The Stamping Queen

I set to work!

I started with this little butterfly, and then the house, Lot's of layering of Printed Paper, stamping glueing and stitching...
I just love stamping over printed text, but for a change it was over this lovely collections printed paper, I love the 'hidden dimension' this technique gives this piece, at first you don't really see whats underneath, Your eyes go straight to the 'top layer' of the design but soon you find yourself trying to see past the stamped image to see the 'partially hidden' background. Once my little House was Stamped, Sewn and finished, I adhered it to the Moleskin.

Supplies used are - Moleskin Journal, Collections Elements Houses & Dainty Butterflies, Vintage Wallpapers Printed Paper & Words, Queens Dresser Drawers - Pensive Phillip Stamp, Clearly Impressed Home Elements Stamps, Darkroom door Stamp DDRS009 little Dreams (for the script on the butterfly) German Scrap scallop border.

Well Excitement is Growing in our household as each day brings us closer to Christmas

Such a wonderful time :)

A Necklace.....

I was quite chuffed when I spotted these cool Faux Vintage Optical lenses at

The Stamping Queen

I knew they'd be fun to play with!

Their just the neatest little things, you see that top part where it is connected with the jump-ring onto the chain, it screws off and the outside opens up, it comes with a little domed glass lens, so easy to use, and I think they look Fabby!

other bits I used are- Collections Image, Brass Chain, Brass Charm, Cultured Pearl, sterling silver head pin (for the pearl), & brass Jump-rings :)

Trust you are all having a lovely week,

the time seems to be flying by at the moment!

Joyeux Noel

Well it's that time of the year again :)

Christmas Card time,

I must say even tho I love to make Handmade cards,
I'm not one for making many Christmas Cards,
But this is the first out of the 'few' I will make :)

My Lovely New Design Team Pack arrived this week from

The Stamping Queen

and used some of my supplies to make this card.

I do love this sweet little Angel singing Praises.

Lot's of lovely TSQ bits used in the making of this card I used The Queens Dresser Draws Joyeux Noel, Clearly Impressed M4745, Darkroom Door Little Dreams, Kaisercraft Wooden Flourishes, Collections Bracket Shapes (C0462),Vintage Wallpaper (C0457),and from my stash lots of versa color ink pads, some vintage lace & my sewing machine :)

oooohhh lookie what the Beautiful SAM

Presented me with on her blog

Thank You so much Sam ~ Hugs to you my friend xxx

Please give yourself an Artistic Treat and go and Visit Sam's Blog

You wont be able to leave without feeling Inspired :)

Well I'm away this weekend,

I'm going to catch up with my Mum and Dad for my Dad's 65th Birthday :)

Some of you may remember if you are a regular reader of my blog

that we almost lost my dad 8months ago,

How that time has flown...

Dad is Doing Extremely well!

and I am so Thrilled that this weekend I am able to go and Celebrate with him :)

Remember to Hug the ones you Love

Gillian x

My Special Stuff.....

It's often hard to come up with something hand made for a boy,

but we must not forget they love to receive handmade things too...

I made this for my nephew as a little extra gift for Christmas,

I am going to fill it with chocolate coins :)This cute little box was in my

The Stamping Queen

Design Team Pack, and I just couldn't resist stamping again with these fabulous stamps :)

I used my Stampotique Originals Head & Mr Stripes, The Box is by Collections Chipboard Box & frame set and it was super easy to use, I really enjoyed making this little box.I used my glue stick to adhere old maths text book pages to the box, and PVA glue to glue the corners, then attached little brads through the circles that come with the box, then inked up the corners

other bits I used were Grungeboard Crown, brads, button, acme label I made here

Have a Wonderful weekend everyone :)

Ickie liddle Boy and his pet spider....

heee heee....this liddle boy and his pet spider do make me giggle...

I just love these two!

They are my newest stamps from

The Stamping Queen

I had so much fun making this little piece, it's been ages since I've played with paper and gotten ink all over my fingers and my desk, Recently I went 'op shopping' and found some great vintage Mathematical textbooks.

I love stamping over Text as you may know, well there is something even more appealing stamping over algebra and calculus....

perhaps it's something to do with the fact I never really got maths as a kid at school...

I'm sure Mr Montague, my year 10 maths teacher would love to see I've finally found a use for Algebra....... lol!!!!

How wonderful to find that my Cats life press stamp worked perfectly as a sentiment for this Ickie Pair.... I really must have been in a silly mood when I created this piece...

"Can you see me?" she asked, "Oh, my sweet," he smiled,

"I see you even in my dreams"

I just love the fibre sewn down on my little arch, it reminds me of hairy spider legs....ooohhh did you just get a shiver down your spine?

so here's what I used - Stampotique Originals Head 6033R & Mr Stripes 6007H, Catslife Press 229D Can You see me, Paper Artsy At home Plate no.3, Collections Chipboards House C0389, Collections Vintage Wallpaper, Round Antique Brass Plaque H56, Basic Grey Fibre, vintage paper and ticket and a Gears Stamp but I can't remember which brand it is ;)

Well now, I hope you are all having a most delightful week

thanks for dropping by

~ Gill x

oh and hi mum, see I finally updated my blog :)

Flight 32

Flight 32

is

My latest Art Doll

she was a 'hoot' to make, if you've not made an Art Doll yet,

I would really encourage you to make one, they are sooooooo much fun :)

I really love Assemblage art, I love taking the things that have been long discarded like this 50 year old pen nib, or the old worn builders ruler that has knocked about in a tool box for many years long since replaced by a new retractable metal one, the Vintage Optical Testing lens that was used for testing Eyes, Brass Military Wings that never saw service but were packed away with other Army Surplus for years, and there is an WW2 Badge that has been kept for years in a button jar.....

They each mean nothing to the other separately, but together look what they have made, a little piece of Art from my Heart

The face on 'flight 32' is a hand carved bone bead

and the crown is a Brass Stamping that I embossed with Embossing powder.

Hope you have a Delightful Week :)

Chapter 13.........

Well I'm now the mother of a Teenager!

My eldest turned 13 this week

I make my children a little piece of art just for them each birthday, they love their collections and look forward now to receiving a new piece to add to it on their birthdays.

Look at this Cheeky Pair, they make me smile every time I look at them,

a bit like my two boys really!

Now Jacob is a Very Committed Reader, and just loves Maths

so this ATC reflects his two of his passions

the little Arrow and the numbers represents him growing up (Way too Quickly!!!)

I just love Stamping over the top of Old Text Paper,

But particularly love this look, Using a Number Stamp over the top of other Numbers going the opposite direction.

This Fabulous Queens Dresser Draws Stamp was in my last

The Stamping Queen

Design Team pack, I combined it with my Favourite Paper Artsy Numbers stamp, Pages torn from old maths text books, Collections Arrow, Number Stamps, Computer Generated words & my sewing machine.

and my Jacob loved it :)

Her Fathers Eyes

This is the first in a New Series of Collage Pieces I have decided to work on.
The collage pieces themselves may vary in size and shape,
but they will all be sewn onto a 12 x 12" sheet of card stock.
The idea of course is that they become easy to store in a Scrapbook album.
This first piece is Titled
Her Fathers Eyes

If only she could see herself through her Fathers Eyes

Most of the lovely supplies I've used for this piece come from
The Stamping Queen

I have used some Beautiful Collections Vintage Wallpaper Printed Paper, Collections Chipboard Frame, Bracket, and word, Elegance Rub-ons- SB537, pages torn from an old Maths book, rusty old pen nib,number stamps, Versa Ink pads, vintage 1/2 stamp, and my sewing machine :)

You are a Masterpiece!

Australian Cardmaking Stamping & Papercraft

I was really excited to have this set of Postcards I made published in

Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercrafts

Vol14:3

Two of the images are Andrew's Great Grandma

Both of the Standing up Images,

the Sitting down image is from a postcard I bought at the markets

and the Image of the lady with the baby is from

Lady Cherie's Blog

And the lovely Sarah from

Incurable Stampers

presented me with this award, thank you Sarah xxx

Well Our school holidays are almost over, that two weeks just seems to fly!

There hasn't been much stamping done,

but there has been a lot of Picnics and Games of Badminton :)

Stay Happy everyone :)

In my Fathers House......

This is my second page in my Art Journal

Twas most enjoyable to create too :)

I used some of my new & older DT supplies from

The Stamping Queen

isn't this little birdy cute it's actually cut from a Collections Transparency
Supplies used are

Paperbag Studio Home - PBS063, Paper Artsy At Home Plate 3, Paper Artsy Kids Plate 5, Paper Artsy Dolls Plate 1, Darkroom Door Little Dreams, Collections 0474 Ephemera Transparency, Deja Views Wonderful Words Stickers, Rubons Elegance- SB537,My Main Stamped piece is stamped onto a making memories Note Worthy page, also used is a page torn from a 1914 Hymnal, Alpha stamps, Month Stamp, versa black ink

Inspiration for this page comes from John 14:2

*************************************************************

Brenda Jones asked me in my comments for the post below

I would like to know how you get the great smooth edge when you adhered the old music to the chipboard bird, if you share your secrets.

Sure I'll share with you and everyone who wants to know Brenda

I'm sure many people use this technique,

I use a UHU Glue Stick (the kind that is coloured and then goes clear when dry)

I completely cover the side of the chipboard I want to cover with paper with my glue stick, then place glue side down onto the back of the Printed Paper.

I then take my Brayer (hard rubber roller/ or rolling pin) cover the chipboard with a piece of paper to protect it, then brayer it, this helps seal the paper beautifully to the chipboard.

Next I trim closely with scissors and then I take an Nail File, and 'sand' around the edges. to give it that soft look I then ink the edges lightly with a shade or two darker than the original paper.

I hope that makes sense, It probably sounds more fiddly than it really is....

Have a happy day everyone :)

Fabulously Forty

I Made this card for my Lovely Husband's birthday :)
Using some of my Gorgeous supplies from

The Stamping Queen

some of the lovely supplies I used include Collections Elements Printed Paper, Chipboard Shapes also from Collections, Foam Stamps (i haven't used them for ages) white paint, Versa Ink, Embossing Powder, my sewing machine of course, vintage sheet music, and computer generated wording.
I love this shot of the embossing powder on the wing of the bird, amazing how it just finishes off the chipboard shape, and adds a little bit of contrast of sheen, to the flat vintage music paper.

Have a happy day everyone :)

Father

I've had the most scrumptious supplies arrive this week from

The Stamping Queen

I love this little chaps face, on this Paper Artsy Stamp, so proud of his enormous fish, ofcouse it appeals to me because the Stamp Plate has lots of text and graphs on it also. I added some 'extra' text & a star using some rub-ons I had floating around ;)

my Background is a Collections Transparancy, which give the card a wonderful feel, and adds heaps of Shine and dimension without the bulk but it makes it a little hard to photograph ;)

To make this card I used - Paper Artsy Kids Plate 5, Paper Artsy Dolls Plate 1, Collections 0474 Ephemera Transparancy, Collections Branch, Collections words, Computer generated words, & Rub-ons

now, incase you are wondering why I am posting this

Fathers Day card a week after fathers day....

it's because we are catching up with my FIL this weekend :)

Then sings my soul.....

I've been thinking about creating an Art Journal for the longest time
and that's all I've done....

is think about it..

Until today!

When I started this page, using this Gorgeous Paperbag Studios Stamp

How Great thou Art

just popped into my head, and I sang that old hymn the whole time I created this page.

Thus the journaling is the Hymn itself

Almost all of the pieces I have used on this journal page

come from my Design Team packs both new and past

from The Stamping Queen

they are Paperbag Studio Grace, Collections Elements Bohemian Transparency, Branches Chipboard,Collections words,Kaiser Rub-ons, Photo Clip, and ATC Collection Pad