paper torn, layered and glued....

It has been a little while since I have played with paper,

I've missed it!

not the mess, mind you...

I had forgotten how much mess I can make when I collage!

.........................

I decided we needed a something for the wall in our lounge room

so I gathered some old textbooks, paper, vintage dictionaries & atlas, mod podge, washi tape,

 my brushes, spray graphite a couple of cog masks, a little chipboard birdie a 24" stretched canvas and started playing!

.........................

this is what I came up with

a piece that represents all of the members of my family.

God, maths, science, music, craft, space, nature, gardening, physics, sewing, craft, our surname, it is all there....things that represent each of the members of our family!

there is even a little lego tribute  ;)

There is a tree for each member as well -

standing tall and together.



I love this verse

 

The heavens declare the glory of God

the skies proclaim

the work of his hands

Psalm 19:1

 

 

It seemed to work perfectly over the top of the

Southern Sky star chart from a vintage atlas.

........................................

If you click on the photographs

they will probably be a little larger

if you would like to read anything on the collage.

 

Hope you find time today to be creative,

~ Gillian ♥

pages from art journal.....

how does one keep calm and carry on

when all you feel like doing is screaming?

in the past three weeks since my father passed away

I have felt every emotion and cried more tears than I thought were possible

I have times were I have felt strong and then weak once more.

Prayer has at times flowed and at times felt impossible

knowing that God knows my heart has been a huge comfort

and the love of my dear family has been such a blessing.

I have started a new art journal for 2012

no great art works in there just doodles and collage and thoughts from my heart

but I thought I would share this collage of some of the pages I have made.

I have really found working on it has helped with all the muddle that seems to clog your brain when you lose someone you love.   Somehow working on it has helped me 'Carry on'.

a dear friend of mine wrote out these verses

 in a card she gave me and I wanted to share it here for you all....

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV

~ Gillian ♥

party fun.....

It's not every day your little girl turns 10....

So I made some sweet little brooches for the girls attending the party that looked super cute on the party boxes....
and the little girls who attended all enjoyed wearing them at the party.
Georgia and I also made these lovely tissue paper flowers together
for the centre of the table.
They were very simple to make & looked so pretty :)

all the girls got to take one home with them when they left the party.

.................................................................

the crochet flower brooches are very simple too.

I used 5ply cotton/acrylic blend.

the pattern is from this Beret pattern

(the instructions are at the very bottom of the pattern)

on the lincraft website

for the paper flowers

I found this youtube video with easy instructions

click here

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back hopefully tomorrow with my block of the week ;)

have a wonderful weekend

~ Gillian ♥

I ♥ making cards......

We have a church family camp this month and the card above is for the lovely couple who run the children's activities and the card below is for our guest speaker.
It feels like it has been ages since I have sat at my card making desk
and created anything with paper......
I must say it did feel good!
but I had forgotten how messy I can make a my desk!

So happy my favourite season Autumn has arrived :)
have a lovely day
~ Gillian ♥

Places to Go......

It's been a little while since I shared some of my cards...
This set of Three Travel Cards
were recently published in
Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft
Vol 16 No 5

I love the way they photographed the cards,
so have included a scan of the magazine above.
and some close ups for you :)May Your day be Blessed
~ Gillian ♥

Paper and Yarn....

My Eldest is turning 15 - gasp!

can't believe it

anyway, I needed to make a card for him

~ teenage boys...hmmmmmm

anyone who makes, cards knows cards for teenage boys can be as difficult

as sympathy cards to get your head around.

But it had to be done ;) lol!

So, here it is ~ Simple Clean Lines.

I was quite pleased to get a new phone a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to protect my new toy.

So finally plucked up the courage to have a go at making a cosy for it.
I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, it even matches my little coin pouch :)
I found a pattern on Yarn Pixies Blog
for an MP3 Pouch,
My phone was a little larger so I added a couple of extra rows
and a little 'pinkie finger loop' instead of the drawstring top on the original pattern.
You can find the pattern on
Yarn Pixies Blog
& on Ravelry

****************************
Have a Creative weekend Everyone :)
and thanks so much for visiting me ♥

it's been a busy weekend....

It's been a little while since I made an ATC

and as it is Georgia's and my special weekend

I thought I'd make her one for her collection.

It's a dark & overcast this afternoon so it's hard to capture

the colour and the texture,

but it has lots of layers of Stitching, Ink, paint & rub-on's

and is a little more pink and pearly than it appears in this photo and she loves it :)

Of course a Girly weekend wouldn't be complete without a trip to the markets,

now would it!

We both fell in love with these butterfly brooches we found at our local market

and we had to have a 'mummy & me' pair :)

I've been following the very talented Katia Donohoe for a little while now through her blog Plushka's craft blog she makes the most gorgeous items, I was really quite chuffed to find that she had been featured in Septembers issue of Notebook Magazine. Along with her feature there was instructions for making one of her sweet little 'owl babies' when I showed this to Georgia she immediately wanted it on the list for our girly weekend.

Georgia only needed a little help with stitching some of the smaller pieces but apart from that she did everything else and is already hooked on making softies!

Thank you so much Katia it was fun to watch Georgia create with so much excitement as her little owl baby came together :)

If you'd like to be inspired by Katia

Here is her Blog Plushka's craft blog

Her madeit store Plushka

and the Baby Owl Tutorial & template pdf

Thanks for visiting and sharing our Girly weekend!
♥ Gillian & Georgia :)

17th September

Today is my lovely husbands birthday

and of course I had to make him a card

I pulled an index page out of a large vintage atlas

folded it in half and then in half again for the foundation of this card.

I pulled another page from the same atlas but this time a map page

which I cut into strips to form the side edges of the openings of the card

I zig zagged on my machine down the edge

then set to work making my collage.

His Monogram needed to be applied, sanded, gesso'd & stitched

some stamping, a few rub-on's

and a spray of glimmermist

some ink and then you wouldn't believe it

I noticed our former home town (the place of his and my birth)

was on the front of the card,

When I pulled the index page out I pulled out one of the Australian pages but

I kid you not I did not plan for Inverell to be on the front

it just happened to be there

- how cool is that!
I had to circle it :)

Happy Birthday to my lovely husband

and to anyone else who is having a birthday today :)

Lino Block Printing....

As I mentioned in an earlier post

I have been learning lino block printing, thanks to my friend Catherine.

This is a print from one of my first lino blocks

(a nice simple design for a beginner, getting used to the feel of the carving tools in my hand)

I have had this print it sitting on my desk since June waiting for some finishing touches to make feel a little more like 'my style'. I completed this piece for my son, Jacob yesterday.

His middle initial is T, so I placed a T in the middle of the A :)

Jacob is turning 15 shortly

so the thought of direction is on my mind for him,

I guess this is where the arrows come from

and he is an incredible mathematician so I printed this piece onto one of my favourite Basic Grey Papers - perfect to reflect his love for Maths.

Under the vintage optical lens is a definition of 'believe' from an antique dictionary.

This is my carved lino tile,

~ everyone has to start somewhere ;)
already my carving has improved, thanks to some lovely new tools and a little practice.
and here is Jacob's print framed in a lovely deep box frame.
ooohhh....while I've got you here, can you see that tall vase,
it's actually a vintage preserving bottle
with a page from an old atlas lining the inside of it, cool hey!



Have a great week ♥

Here is another two cards that I have recently had published - yay :)

Published in

Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft

Vol 16 No 4

as part of the Stampers Challenge using these sweet Wings Stamps by Kaszazz.

and once again Sephi and in the same challenge,

this always makes me smile because I love her work so much :)

..................................................................

Also I have had the pleasure of being featured on Thea & Sami

as part of her Friday Followers Section ~ Thank you so much Thea ♥

Thea & Sami hand screen-print organic and natural fabrics

to create beauty for your home & body.

if you have not already found Thea & Sami I highly recommend you taking a little time to enjoy both the Thea & Sami Blog and Website

Curiouser and Curiouser!

some more published pieces to share

These Two cards were published a few months ago

in Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft

Vol 16 No 1

in the Stampers Challenge

using Tweety Jill's Down the Rabbit Hole Stamps

what fun these cards were to make!!!

I loved seeing them in the mag alongside some of my fav Aussie Stampers Sephi Kemp, Jane Clark & Sue Smith, it always amazes me when paper artists are given the same stamps how different and unique the finished pieces turn out.

.......................................................

Trust you are all having a lovely week,
Here’s a little of what I have been up to -
I made my very first Apple & Rhubarb Crumble
This was topped with cream and devoured by my family rather quickly! :)
so I'm sure it won’t be the last one baked in our home!
I'm also working on my second crochet rug - this one is blue & cream.
Carving a lino block for a print I'm working on,
This is a new passion of mine, thanks to a dear friend who has been teaching me Lino Block Printing, so I look forward to showing you some of my prints soon.
Wishing you all a creative week ♥

To everything there is a season....

I was really pleased to have this published a little while ago in

Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft

Vol 16 no 2

To every thing there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1

Hope you are having a lovely day!

Published in

Australian Scrapbook Creations

No.74 (Vol 8 No 11)

as part of the 20, 40, 60 minute challenge.

I created this set of 3 ATC in 60 minutes.

Using Products from the Prague Collection

by Darkroom Door

Just doing some catch up on my blogging....

while I was having my little 'holiday' from blogging I was happy to have had a few pieces published in some lovely Australian Magazines.

This was a super fun challenge 3 paper artists were given a beautiful and generous collection of Darkroom Door and we were also given a time limit that we had to adhere too.

Sarah Schwerin was given 20mins, Michelle Loffler was given 40 mins

and I was given 60 minutes.

I was very pleased I was given the 60 minutes time slot ;)

the other girls made such gorgeous ATC in their time limits and I was so thrilled to have been included in the same challenge as them both as I admire their work so much!

Back soon with more to share,

have a happy day!

a little while ago I was sent some Gorgeous Cosmo Cricket paper from Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft and asked to make some cards....What Fun!

These Papers, Ribbons and Embellishments are a dream to work with and oooohhh so pretty :)

I made these two cards, both with lots of sewing and layering. These papers reminded me of Patchwork fabric and all of the quilts I have made and those hidden away in my cupboard unfinished (oh the shame....lol!) They appeared in

Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft

Vol 15 No 4

I know it's been ages since I last blogged, our September was our so busy with 2 School Musicals, A Singing Concert, A Drama Festival, A Trip to Sydney for State Tournament of the Minds, a Weekend Trip to our old home town of Inverell to see my parents, A Craft Fair at which I had a stall with my jewellery, and so on......

Now it's October we are coming up to Breath... :)
and we start our School holidays on Friday afternoon
and my Husband starts 4weeks annual leave - Yay!!!


A Big Happy Birthday to
Nathan, MJ, Grandma, Bradley & Jacob
I love you all!!!!

May your October be a Truly Fun one!