Steampunk Adjustable Rings And A Card

I had my second shoulder operation this year a week and a half ago. Post op I struggled a bit for the first few days due to some swelling that was hindering my ability to do the Physio exercises. Once the swelling went down I have dedicated myself to the Physio exercises with in pain limits. I still can't get full range of movement yet but I think its slowly improving. Before this last operation I did allot of house work and also made a few things. My daughter Melissa comes home for a week on Saturday so yesterday I tidied the spare room which is also my art space and found a few things to share with you. First is a steam punkish birthday card for eldest daughter Carlia's boyfriend Cory.

Then I found two almost completed adjustable brass rings. They only needed a rivet to attach the top part to the ring which I did easily with my handy rivet/eyelet tool I got from Jen Crossley's shop. The left ring has a vintage typewriter key and the right a lovely metal rose embedded in Ice Resin.

I've also uncovered an almost complete 3D etched, metal, house necklace, my 3D metal house (etched but not put together) and three puffy hearts awaiting transformation...all a great inspiration to go do more Physio  exercises so I can get the strength back in my arm to get them done!!
hugs
Annette In Oz

Creative Cards

My jewellery making is taking a forced break. I have 10 friends and relos birthdays over August and September so while I await stash to arrive to make more puffy hearts I've been paper crafting. Both cards have Dylusions colour sprays and then Perfect Pearls Mists on top and are VERY shimmery IRL. Below is my daughter Melissa's 21st birthday card. That's her as a baby. First image is taken with flash on so you can see a bit of how it shimmers in certain light

 Now with flash off

 Its in the details baby LOL

 There is even a tiny wooden peg in there

 Next is a card I made for Teresa Crouch. I love vintage images and this is one of my favs. There is a rather BIG mistake on this but I didn't pick it up till I had completed it. Can you guess what it is?





There is one more card to show you but I wont load that one till the person gets it. Just loving all the cool chipboard that you can get. Tonight I'll take a break from cards and try to get some non puffy heart jewellery completed that I have had partly done on my desk for a few weeks. Hope I have got sprays all over it LOL.

hugs

Annette In Oz

Thinking Big and Sneak Peak-Creative Wings To Fly

Week 2 post op and the pain has settled to a steady gnawing ache in my left shoulder. Its not unbearable, though I curse to the heavens doing the Physio exercises LOL. I've been keeping myself busy doing nothing :o) and the days are creeping by. I got the doctors sick certificate for work in the mail yesterday...6 weeks off...man I thought I would be back in 3-4 weeks! Then to top off my woes a trip to the Optometrist has resulted in me now needing/getting bifocal glasses that I have to wear at all times when I am awake....who knew my feet would like Hobbits feet as I peer at them thru the lower lens part ROFL. As a nurse you would think I am as patient with myself as those I care for but NO...I am hard on myself and being hyper naturally, slowing down is like putting cement wings on my back...I'll still struggle to try to fly *grin*....scoots off out to the clothesline where clothes are hung by throwing with good arm and no pegs used...sling is now back on and back to the computer I go.
I am digressing though. I've been reading and Internet surfing allot. I keep coming across mixed media suppliers that only deal to wholesale people. I order allot of stuff from all over the World as I can't get it here or its just plain cheaper that way. Finding these wholesale only sites has my thoughts racing...should I dare to dream a little dream....maybe think big?....thinking I just may register a business name and start a small mixed media on line shop...stocking art/craft items and some unique things for mixed media and general creative pursuits. Stuff I make I could sell as kits with instructions etc from the site too maybe....thinking thinking.
Its taken me along time to come to realize I am a mixed media artist...I do use artist lightly as I do not have an arts degree but I use mediums for artists and mix them up...so maybe more of an Art Alchemist I suppose. HHHmm Art Alchemy or Alchemy Arts shop maybe??....all just thoughts....heck I don't even know how to make or know someone who makes a website...I shall have to have a chin wag with some friends who do this already and sus it all out. If any off you have some helpful hints regarding my big thoughts jump right on in OK :o)
As I have stated its my Mum's 80th birthday on Friday....me and my slinged armed took all day yesterday to slowly make her a card...well actually my right arm and the "third hand" tool on my desk made the card LOL. My Mum looks in here at times so I wont put the whole card up till she gets it herself but I thought I would show a sneak peak....the base of the card is rust treated card stock so I kept to the rustic colour scheme for my palette. The main image is a photo of my Mum as a teen...around 16yrs old I think holding my cousin. This is a photo taken last week with my Mum Nancye and my daughter Carlia...Mum is in Adelaide were my daughters live escaping her 80th birthday.



This is the photo of Mum I have used on her card...it was blurred and faded so I have cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop. I printed it onto sticky backed fabric..



 A peak at the top left of the card...oh man I so love Gilders Paste...esp the Patina colour

 A rustic gate maybe

 Rustic looking lock and key.

 and some of the words inside...

As I am not allowed to drive at the moment so I'll get Tim (still can't believe my baby boy is driving!!!) to drive me to the Post Office when he gets home from school. I hope Mum likes her card and I shall show you all soon. Back to scanning more old photos in preparation for Mum's book I am yet to make. I have an ink stained hand from yesterdays fun...my hand is happy...I am happy :o)

hugs Annette In Oz...dreaming a little dream...

Its Time To Fly-CSR Here I Come!!

My busy streak at work continues and I have only had one day a week off for a month now.I'm off for a week though to go to The Creative Soul Retreat in Victoria.I'll leave home in half an hour and I'm ssooo excited and scared LOL.I'm looking forward to meeting some new ladies and catching up with ones I know as well.the lovely Elizabeth Harms will be picking me up at the airport...it was one of my fears...getting into Melbourne after midnight, finding a taxi stand and a good cabbie had me petrified so Elizabeth saved me!!!
I'll let you all know how it went when I get back as I'll have one day off before I go back to work afterwards.I'm doing a waxy layers class with Jan(aaahhh forgot her last name),a jewelery class with Susan Lenart Kazmer and a clay doll class with Jan.These two cards I made last month but I didn't get them loaded up then so here they are now.The first one has polished pigments on the bg and its very shimmery....gosh she doesn't look happy LOL.She is a vintage image water transfer to calico.

This one is a vintage lady iron on transfer to white material.

I'll be back next Thursday.Melbourne here I come.

hugs

Annette In Oz

The Fairy Collage Card

Sorry I meant to put her up last night but got side tracked in Photoshop.Since I got Photoshop elements for my birthday in November I hadn't really had a go at it and don't really know how to use it.Gaby you have any hints LOL?.I did a search on line for Photoshop how too's and the first one I got to was about the brushes...oh my goshie...how addictive they are and there are so many to download and play with...but time sure did fly by and I was in bed last pm before I knew it.Anyway here is the fairy collage I made and then added part of my childhood poem too.

You know I was thinking about that poem from the post below and I also remember Mum had a large Friendship and Poems book and maybe she got it from there...I'll ask her next time I call.I'd really like to know who the author is.Tomorrow I get to do some etching again...I'm looking forward to it...think I'll try to make a bezel and maybe some brass cuffs etc.
hugs
Annette in Oz

Mellow Yellow

I've finally been able to get creative again.My back and neck still ache but I'm finding I can alternate sitting and standing and get some work done in patches.I've got several pieces of stamped metal ready to etch when I have days off and I've made a collage card just for the heck of it LOL.The background has sprays pf Polished pigments in yellow,oranges and deep copper so its quite shimmery in real life.It was over stamped,vintage image transfer added and lastly a white flourish rub on added.
Grant gave me a Spotlight gift voucher for Christmas so I stocked up on Vilene,Vliesofix(Pellon or Wonder Under...fusible webbing) and got some more of the gorgeous floral trim I love which I have stained and added to the card at the bottom over some gauze.

The second Low weather system of the wet season is over Darwin and has brought some relief from the heat and humidity.All the plants are so green now and there has been a growth in fungus's growing in the bush on our block.I counted 12 different types just walking around the gardens edge in one trip.They are fascinating to me for some reason.Some lived a day and one has been steadily growing bigger for a week and is about 15cm in diameter.I'd take some photos but the mozzies are thick in the bush and seem to love me...maybe I'll get hairy legs Grant to go and take some LOL.We have seen more Frilled Neck Lizards this year then last too which is great.Grant got two good shots of one a few days ago and I'll upload them when I can get time to crop them a bit.

hugs

Annette in Oz

And Four More

I've just got another four cards made using the raisin and eggplant coloured card stock I sprayed from the post below...four more to go.This first one is "trust is the key" and has a vintage image of a child,some stained gorgeous German scrap circular floral disks,stained lace,sewn on roses and lots of free stitching.This is for a Friend overseas.

The next two I have used two of my drawings.They were coloured using watercolour pencils.Then I scanned them and printed them on cheap gloss photo paper.After that I did the inkjet water transfer tech and transferred them onto white cotton.The boat is for my nephews birthday and the parrot :fly soar", for my Father In Law's birthday.

and lastly another Mother's Day card for my Mother In Law.It's similar to the one I made my Mum but has "true love "on it.

I'm off to Queensland late on Saturday night for a week.I'll be some classes with Jen Crossley and also seeing y Mum of course.Happy Mother's Day everyone and I'll show you all what I create when I come home :o)

hugs

Annette

UUUMMM I am Suppossed To Be Making Christmas cards

But I got side tracked when I was looking in my pre made backgrounds draw and ended up making six collage cards using the nappy liner rubbings I had made earlier in the year.It does not show well in my photos but the background has a textural effect from the nappy liner rubbings.I then added stamped areas using pearlescent white paint by Plaid.Over the stamped parts I rubbed on Shiva iridescent colours similar to the background colours.
I also used the negative left over from cutting a piece of card stock with the Cuttlebug floral scroll die cut and pressed some texture paste thru that onto an the edge on the bg (ala Kelsey).Once dry this was then dry brushed over with Jo Sonja pale gold paint and then gold foil ironed onto parts.The vintage images are printed onto Lazertran water slide decal paper,trimmed to size and then the backing is soaked off and they are stuck where needed

The quote on the ones below was used by a friend Rhonda in her page in the recent Collab book swap post from last month...I love it.Original source unknown

here is view from bottom so you can see the texture

In this one you can see the rubbings better as it was ironed onto the gloss coloured bg part using Vliesofix and stuck better then the ones above

On the next few I also added coloured gauze and bits of text printed scrap papers

Oh my I now HAVE to get back to making Chrissy cards and then I shall play with some things from Pipedream ink and The Thread Studio!!!

Playing with Palette Stamp and Stick

OH my I have had a busy week and a half.I do 8 shifts close together for work and then get three days off.Work is terribly busy at the moment and then the family life is too.I was feeling stressed and was so glad my days off arrived at last...time to get inky and de-stress(or for me it should be distress LOL).SSSooo yesterday was day one of my days off and I got three cards made for familiy birthdays and then last evening I had a play with the Stewart Superior Palette Stamp and Stick black Gluepad.I'm loving this pad.You just stamp an image with it,activate the adhessive by hitting it with the heat gun and then dust over Pearl-ex,Polished Pigments,foils etc.I like it best stamped on dark card as when you dust over it it really makes the colour pop.
Anywho I made the collage above last evening and got some lovely effects on the German scrap trim at the bottom by tapping the glupad directly onto it.Activated the adhesive with my heat gun and then rubbed on some Antique bronze Pearl-ex with my finger.I also swiped it across the Cuttlebug texture paste bit at the top and added the bronze Pearl-ex again...it gives a gorgeous old shimmery bronze look that the photos do not do justice too.I used a Vilene and tissue base that I painted over with Jo Sonja's pale gold paint with.Then I did a wash with the Golden Quinacridone Nikel Azo gold.This combo creates an antique gold effect.The vintage image is an inkjet water transfer onto calico.The words read left to right down the card on this one and reads "being a woman is a terribly difficult task,since it consists principally in dealing with men!"

On my desk I have several textured Cuttlebug frames I have made ready to turn into cards as I need them.This one is not finished yet but while I had the gluepad out I tried it on one of these pieces.I aagin tapped the pad firmly all over the textured area,activated the adhesive with the heat gun and used a soft brush in a swirling motion to apply Luminarte Primary Elements Polished Pigment powders..OH LA LA this is so pretty and shimmery...again the photos do not do it justice.I'm off to play some more today :o)

A Good Man Or A Hard Man

Yeh I only have a few more tissue and vilene backgrounds left now...thing is I love how it takes layers of colour and is sturdy enough to bend as well.I really think I'll be making more things from it but will go for some bright colours in my next batch.My inherited sense of humour got to me again here with the Good man card above until I stopped myself that is.I made this for a visiting stamper Nola Muirdock.Her and I were in a chunky book swap last year.I had never met her in person but her and her hubby are currently in Darwin and Nola wanted to meet me.Like many of us paper crafters we can't meet another paper crafter without making them something if we have the time.....so hence the card above I made to give to her.
I so wanted to be a bit cheeky as I love hiding elements in pieces but I had no idea if Nola was conservative or anything like that.What I had wanted to do was put the words for "good" and "hard" onto a thin magnet or Velcro so they could be removed and their position changed LOL.Anyway I decided to just leave it the way it was so as to not offend her just in case.As it turns out she is a gorgeous person with a warm and funny manner about her and I doubt she would have minded at all.She laughed when I told her what I was going to do with the words and loves the card which I am glad for.The card was very hard to get a good image of as the gel medium,shaky hands and my flash were not complying with each other so Nola eventualy got the picture above for me.I've since replicated the card and did the magnet thing for my Father-in-laws birthday last week...and he loved it *grin*...still waiting to hear from Mun :o)

Sweet Thang Collage

Mother's day is this Sunday here in Oz(Australia).I'm still using up my pre made Vilene and tissue colour wash spray stained backgrounds and decided to use one to make my Mum a card.My Mum has a really funny sense of humour even though she is quite religious.I was browsing my vintage images and just loved this one.She looks just like she accidently did something wrong...like uuummm broke wind LOL.As she had a posy of flowers I came up with the caption "one should carry sweet smelling flowers the day after eating baked beans".Did some stamping with white gesso,added some Cuttlebug texture paste elements at right,painted gauze,Golden acrylic paint washes,painted German scrap and added some lovely decorative corners and the "sweet thang" was done.Hope Mum thinks it is funny or I am in deep trouble LOL. Happy Mother's Day.

Fairy Of The Secret Garden

Well here is another collage and oh my gosh she was a difficult one.The background took me ages as I stuffed it up.See I stamped with white gesso onto my green coloured Vilene and tissue base and then I did a wash of Golden Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold.Then without thinking I grabbed the Golden Dioxazine Paurple and did a wash...now these colours on a green base do NOT work LOL.Anyway I blotted off a lot but the stamping sort of got quite lost....sssooo I stamped again.Then I did washes of Golden Nikel Azo Gold,Golden Phthalo Green and Green Gold.

I rubbed in some Crayola Portfolio series water soluble oil pastel colours here and there,section of Cuttlebug texture paste at the right,painted gauze and German scrap at the bottom.I was happy with all of that but then got stumped again .The fairy was gazing up and to the left and I just couldn't find something that I wanted to put where she was looking.After looking and trying all sorts of things and several hours later I gave up and went to bed.Within minutes of waking this AM I remember the "Le Jardin" page pebble I had in my stash and used that.At last it all came together.

Asian Collage Card

This is a card made for a friend using collaged stamped images and Cuttlebug texture paste elements as per how I did the other in the post below.I used After Midnight Art stamp images and a quote I found on the web.I sent it to her over three weeks ago so sure hope it found it's way to her in America before she sees it here

Collage cards

I have a heap of backgrounds made using Vilene,Vliesofix,tissue and Adirondack colourwash sprays.Most are cut to around 15cmx18cm.Awhile ago at Kelsey's blog she let us know how she makes collages with texture paste elements and did a little tutorial.It's much like the way I create too.I printed her instructions and just imagined I was doing a class with her and did each step as she did.The first collage I even used the same ear-ring embellishments and quote she did and my fav vintage image.I had to take the photo of them on an angle as I used Krylon gold for the gold highlights and it's reflecting too much.The only thing I alterd to her insructions was the background used(I used one of my Vilene and tissue ones I just spoke of) and the images on the background I stamped with white gesso rather then ink.I used one of my fav vintage images printed using a black and white Lasar printer