Catch Up

Have been a bit quiet on blog lately, I have been so busy trying to rebuild our website. I know I told you I wanted to clean it up, but I didn't want it wiped out completely! Aaarrrggghhh!
We visited the craft fair at the convention centre and I must say I was very disappointed. All I bought was Traci Bautistas book (which i LOVE!!!!), and that I bought from a Thread Studio which is 5 minutes up the road from us?! I am sure there are many wonderful, exciting new craft businesses out there, but they are obviously not attending the craft fairs! The beads were disappointing, all cheap and boring.
Tried to upload some clip art images for you but Blogger is playing up again.
Will try again later.
Jo

La Guardarropa - Wardrobe Shrine

As promised pictures of the wardrobe shrine, made up by Jacky from one of the shrine kits we got in last week. This first pic is of the shrine with the paint finish only. Colours used were Golden Heavy Body Acrylics in; Van Dyke Brown Hue, Burnt Sienna, Quin Nickel Azo Gold, Irrid. Gold Fine and Irrid. Copper Fine. At the top of the shrine Jacky used the vaseline technique with Titan Buff to get the peeled paint look.next picture is with the shrine doors closed.The picture below is of the shrine finished and doors closed.And finally, the shrine doors open. Inside is an old latch and an altered altoid tin, the image has mica over the top. The stamps used were from a vintage typography set called 'The Silent Salesman' that we picked up from a antique and craft fair. The washer over the eye on the image on the door, also has mica in it.We have several other kits that we would like to get made up, including 2 necklace shrines!
Good news, my darling husband bought me a Dremel last night. Can't wait to have a play with it. Ro Bruhn made an amazing necklace for a friend and used a dremel to cut the metal covers for it. Check out her blog to see the pictures... Love it!!
Now, I need to find out what has gone wrong with our website!!
Have a great weekend.

Uh Oh I messed up

Whhooops couldnt find the image upload button. So my posts are just a bit out of order.


This is the same shrine with the door opened. Very old tassle I found at a flea market in Sydney it is falling apart but that is how I like it. Bit like me! Lovely card of pearl buttons and underneath an old mauve colour glass bottle. In the centre is the altered book if you look closer you will see the lovely old chain tassle holding the book shut, my lovely Jo gave met that, in the niches underneath sewing memorabilia, also the drawers below which also open, how neat is that. Oh no got another photo in but in the wrong sequence. Oh well I guess I will get the hang of it soon. This is the book inside the shrine opened out. I used a lovely old black book, covered the inside with some 7gypsy paper I have always loved. The inside pages are edged with aged copper mesh and eyelets, pages joined together with painted fabric tape. The front page has a mica heart a la Nina.
What do you think? I enjoyed making it.
Well I dont know about you, but I always try doing these things while cooking tea and usually burn the potatoes, you can see my passion doesnt lie with my cooking skills.
Ha fixed it!!!!

Making shrines

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Please excuse my inexperience in blogging. Thought I would join Jo on her blog, there is a lot I would like to share with you also.

We have been making shrines in the class at the shop the last couple of months. We started making them from the book by Carol Owen on Making Shrines. Unfortunately found the measurements not very accurate. Robyn our shrine making architect nutted them out for us and she is such an angel, cutting all our shrines for us from foamcore. Making the shrine itself is not so much fun, but when it has been built the fun begins.

This one I made in memory of my wonderful friend Nina, a little bit of Judi Reisch who I also admire. Painted with Golden heavy body paints, if anyone is interested I can give you the colours. As you can see I have used vintage images to collage, all the metal objects added have been aged and verdigre'd. In the top under the roof is a wired twig. Below this on the opening door is a lovely peice of very old moulding I bought in Italy at the antique market in Arizza. I did declare it and it had to be fumigated, but didnt like to risk the fine.

Changing Seasons

Autumn, what a beautiful time of year! After the long, heavy days of Summer, there is a sense of settling down, nesting for the winter.
I am in the mood to organise my home, my studio, my life. I NEED to start creating again, playing with paper and paint, wire and beads....
So girlfriend, get off this computer and get organised!

Reflection

This morning as I sat outside and drank my morning coffee, I was reflecting on the past couple of weeks. It has been a bit rough, first the car accident, then our poor cat and then learning 2 family friends had died in an accident.

It was a week of emotional battering and I came out the other side weary and exhausted. The funeral was yesterday, but it still feels too surreal...

But, I was also reflecting on the many blessings I have in my life. An incredibly supportive husband, 5 amazing daughters, my wonderful parents who are ALWAYS there for me, my big sister who I can tell absolutely anything to, my big brother who still sticks up for me, my friends, thankyou so much. The thoughtful gifts, kind words and phonecalss mean more than I can say.

And then there is my passion, my art which has brought so much to my life. The people I have met since I began this adventure have affected my life in such a positive way, I am overwhelmed! Through the shop and the retreats my life has expanded in ways I never could have imagined.

So even though it has been a rough couple of weeks, I have soooo much to be grateful for.

Oscar and Sammi

I tried to post a couple of my favourite photos for this post but Blogger played up??? Will try again later....
Okay so now it is working. Top photo is our beautiful Oscar, I miss him so much. He was an unaffectionate, snooty bundle of fur, but we loved him all the more because of that.
The next photo is a 'Sammi self-portrait'. I was recently told that Sammi has a gypsy look to her, I can really see it in these photos. That beautiful olive skin and 'dark, moody' eyes!

Another lot of shrines

Here are a few more shrines that we have been creating at the shop.

This one is Jackys latest, done in a pale cream vintagey style, inspired by Sally Jean. This one is the finished pic from the last class we did. Nina Bagley/Judy Reisch inspired.
One of Jackys that she completed a couple of years ago.
And this one is my latest and as you can see, it is not finished yet!! Hoping to get that done today?? If I do I will post the photo.

And finally a little picture of our Mothers Day shop display

Bye, bye baby

Our sweet little Oscar, though we only add 7 months with you, you were a big part of our family. We loved you and will miss you so much. Our hearts are broken....

Just a quick note, as I may have caused a little confusion... Oscar is my daughter Samaras beautiful British Shorthair cat. Unfortunately Oscar was hit by a car on Thursday night. On top of the accident this was sort of 'the hair that broke the camels back'. I was meaning to post a photo when I got home.

New beginnings and an unhappy ending

Allow me to introduce two new arrivals. The first is our little burmese baby, Milo, we are happy to say she has settled in wee. The 2nd is our gorgeous nephew, Kai, born 2 weeks ago. Isn't he the most beautiful baby??

Then we have an unhappy ending. On Saturday night I was hit by another car as I was going through a set of lights. She turned right as I was going straight through. Needless to say it was a very unpleasant situation and I now have whiplash which is quite painful. Also two of my girls were in the car and they have whiplash and bruising too. My poor car is a mess and I am a bit emotional today, just typing this is difficult, but we are all alive and our injuries are not serious. Fortunately we were only going about 20kms, I dont want to think what damage could of been done had we been going faster! But there is a rainbow to remind us that there is hope and I am extremely grateful my daughters are still with me today! We are here!!