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Thanks to everyone who emailed and left comments after my last post. My depression is cyclical and linked to my menstrual cycle. Right now I am feeling okay again - it’s the constant ups and downs that get to me. I am going to go back to my doctor to see what else I can be doing. I know I can work on my diet and exercise so I am going to behave better there! I am going to try hard to update this blog more too - both for you and for me. I have always liked borders on photos but I get a bit lazy. See how long this lasts!

Anyway here are some bags that I recently made for an order:

Here are some more bags, WIP - love the getas fabric. It looks so good with the pink:

I have been tidying up again - it never ends! Creative mind - messy desk or something like that I suppose! I am determined to keep my papercrafting on one desk and my sewing on the other so that I don’t have to keep moving WIPs all around the place.

Notice the little area of green mat in the front of the photo? That is my total work area - the rest of the desk is taken up with STUFF. Oh and the little kraft (Maya Road) binders are going to be photo presents for someone special for Christmas. If you have very sharp eyes and notice the stack of matchboxes - hopefully they will end up as a Christmas Countdown calendar within the next week:

I have been waiting for these to come out in Australia for ages and I found a US eBay seller who had them last week - brand new Doodle Genies from Chatterbox. I got the Whimsical, Breezy and Twitterpated and they arrived this morning.

Do I have the very first ones in the country???

And finally, Paul bashed a hole in the wall yesterday. No, he wasn’t being a crazy person:

I can’t wait! It’s gonna be another long hot summer.

I have had the MOST frustrating and annoying time this last week. I stupidly downloaded something from the seedier side of town and landed myself some trojans and various malware. These little buggers must have claws or something - they dig in and are so hard to get rid of. A thousand times I thought it was all sorted and then… more stupid popups and crap. It didn’t help matters that one of the programs I downloaded to try to help was itself a malware program, masquerading as a malware eradicator. Anyway, all seems good now - not 100% but very nearly.

This clipboard now sits on my kitchen counter and nags me to get things done. I bought the clipboard itself for just $2.50 and then covered it with scrapbooking papers and some letter stickers.

I printed the “to do” list itself from www.organizedhome.com which has some great ideas and lots of printables. I have also been checking out www.flylady.net for tips.

I have been having so much fun making art these last few days. Those artists really know what they are on about. It does make your heart sing to create a little something on canvas. I have been doing more of the easy acrylic background technique that is profiled at Try It Tuesdays.

Colours used here were yellow then orange - straight, not a wash. This pic shows how the canvas looked towards the beginning of the process, before I added the brown paint, water and wiped it off a little (full instructions here).

And here is that same canvas after I completed the next steps, which are to wipe a wash of colour (I used brown) over the whole canvas, spritz with water, wait a few minutes then wiped most of the brown off - this step is the “magic” that creates a beautiful mix of colour and texture. As it happened, the layers of paint weren’t entirely dry so I probably took off a little too much in some areas but it still worked out fine. I also used gesso to stamp here and there over the top of it all:

I wasn’t sure about the gesso (white) stamping so I had another go at wiping and smooshing with a tissue to tone the white down a little - again wiping too much off by mistake:

Next I collaged some paper elements and also glued some printed transparencies over the completed background to create my finished piece. I’m still not sure what to call it - suggestions taken:

If that’s not enough, I did another one! I think I could do many more in this style. In this one I used orange and then brown over the top, spritz with water and wipe off:

Then I collaged over the top again - I must admit it did seem a shame to cover up so much of that lovely background but hey, I can just do another one! Here is the finished collage:

Some great links to check out for inspiration and information:

Inkjet Transparency Film Transfers and The Art of Transfer (I have been trying this technique but I haven’t gotten it right so far) also see Transferring Family Photos

DJ Pettit Transformations - see the transfer techniques in some great artwork

Cobaltika - art and collage

The Altered Diva - Karyn Gartel, who so generously provided the technique tutorial for use by the Try It Tuesdays participants.

And of course, the Try It Tuesdays Flickr group which is filling up with some amazing and inspiring work. Try It Today!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums out there.  I had a great day - a big sleep-in, some handmade presents and lollies from the kids, a visit to my own special mum, a lie down with a magazine in the afternoon (which then turned into a nap), dinner cooked by my son Sam and housework done around me while I had a bit of a read.  What could be better?  

Here is the Mother’s Day card and envelope I made for my mum:

 

Mum has been hooked on quilting since she started recently.  She is very nearly finished her first quilt - after two little quilted cushions.  Isn’t she clever?

 

Now she wants to make a cot quilt for my gorgeous niece who turns one next month.   She has been buying up all the quilting magazines and going to the library to check out the books and mags there.  Sounds like I might have gotten that from my mum? 

Nothing like a good obsession to keep you going!