HAPPY ALMOST SPRING FRIDAY

You can feel it in the air, it's nearly here. The bulbs are flowering the veges are happy for some sunshine and we actually get to turn of the heater when we are at home.

Now to what I've been up to (this update is for you Donna!) I have an awful lot of little pots, pigments and sprays to look through whenever I'm searching for a colour etc, so I made this little book with all of my different colours in it.

Be warned, there are quite a few photos and sorry for the marks on the photos, I really should clean my lense a little more often!

If you make the images bigger by clicking on them, you can see the shimmer and shine of these beautiful products.













The book is put together using file cards and rings and my trusty old typewriter (I really love my typewriter), very simple.

This is definately a work in progress that's why it's bound with rings to add more pages. I still would like to include my watercolour paints, pastels, embossing powders, alcohol inks and I'm sure there is more.

The gorgeous cat, bird and little girl images are from lisa's altered art she has some awesome stuff over there and she has a sale on at the moment.

A COUPLE OF THINGS HAPPENED TODAY

Firstly Daniel decided to go a bit too high up our tree and of course couldn't get down, so out came the ladder and Dad to the rescue.

Then, I got to scrapbook a layout!!!

Here are the techniques I used:

*I pieced the background from scraps
*sprayed patina glimmermist over it
*stamped a diamond stamp onto background
*sprayed gold moonshadow mist over top
*mod podged on napkins
*embossed edges with black powder
*added photo
*used patina glimmermist on vintage dictionary page
*stamped words on top
*added embossed grungeboard skull

Daniel and his cousin Kyle are 11 going on 15! I just wish they wouldn't be in such a hurry to grow up.

HERITAGE WALL HANGING

I started this wall hanging of my grandparents a couple of weeks ago. They both passed away when I was a little baby, I wish I could have got to know them and their story. They raised my dad and his 12 brothers and sisters in The Netherlands in a small farmhouse and shipped the whole family out to Australia with nothing to their names in 1954 in search of a better life.

Close ups of stitching, embellishments and beading:




I pieced the background from various vintage style fabrics onto calico, then free- motion stitched flowers onto the bottom half.
I copied the photo onto transfer paper then transferred onto white fabric and cut around the image.
I stitched the image onto the background and added the vintage doily and lace.
The borders were put on next then the quilting was added.
The metal words, buttons and beads were then handstitched into place.
With binding stitched on the wall hanging is 19" x 21" and I will give it to my dad for father's day next month.

Thanks for looking and thank you to those special people that take the time to leave comments on my blog, I love reading them and I appreciate each and every one.
xxxSue

I'M EXCITED

Check out the Basic Grey Urban Couture fabric range. Yes that's right BASIC GREY in FABRIC!!! I just had to pre-order this range, how could I not? I have an addiction to Basic Grey and an addiction to fabric so I'm one happy chicky. Hopefully more ranges to come fingers crossed.

ART JOURNAL PAGES

Last night I decided to get out my long forgotten art journal. A place where I do whatever comes into my mind, these pages have meaning to me and allow me to express myself and my feelings in a small format. I try out different techniques and new bits and pieces in this journal, I find it very freeing.
Here are last night's pages.

SOMETHING ABOUT ME

I want to share another passion of mine with you, gardening. I love my ornamental garden it's mainly natives local to my area but what I want to share with you is my productive garden. I don't take nearly enough photos of my garden but I do keep a gardening journal that has all sorts of information in it from propergating seed dates to planting and harvesting and all sorts of information that I pick up about pests, companion planting and crop rotations etc.

Our yard is quite large compared to the newer homes and blocks in our town, I once had a huge hot-house right up the back but the plastic slowly wrecked and was far to expensive to replace at the time.

We've had chickens for years but as our lovely ladies slowly died of old age, I haven't replaced them, but will be doing so in the near future. They provide our family and friends with fresh eggs that the kids just love to collect and their poo is just heaven on our garden. Oh and we throw all the snails in to them and watch them go for it, they just love those juicy little buggers.

I have always had a compost bin to put all of our kitchen scraps, weeds, shredded paper etc into and have had a worm farm for a few years that provides us with the most beautiful worm poo tea to dilute and add to our soil.

We don't use chemicals on our garden, we pick off caterpillars and bugs and use natural products that don't harm other insects or the soil.

I know that in a small way we are reducing our carbon footprint on this earth and have the luxury of eating fresh, organic produce that has not been in cold storage for months or sprayed with poisonous chemicals and the kids love to care for and eat the produce we grow. They have a real input in what we grow, down to the planting, care, harvesting and cooking of this produce.

So, whether you have a large garden or a few pots on a windowsill, you too can get the simple pleasure out of connecting with the earth and growing a little something to harvest. Believe me, if you have never tried fresh organic fruit and veg you don't know what you are missing and when you do try it, you will realise how tasteless and bland the supermarket varieties really are.

LOOK, LOOK, LOOK

I'm so excited to finally have these gorgeous books in my hot little hands. I have been saving for them for quite some time, and finally they arrived. Well I know what I'll be doing in what little spare time I have over the next few weeks. Now I just have to be patient and only read one at a time and really absorb everything not try and read all four and not remember what I've read.

HAPPY SATURDAY

What a happy, lazy Saturday it has been today. A bit of scrapbooking, milkshake and shopping with a good friend and playing with the kids. Perfect.


A close-up of a mod podge transfer made with a page from a 1978 Jinty Annual, thank you so much Pam.

Close-up of misted grunge board and crown, also a Hello Kitty tattoo transfered onto a trans- parency.

ANOTHER BUSY DAY

I have just spent all day today cleaning out my fabrics and tidying up. What a job!!!! All of the fabrics I decided not to keep I put into lovely little stacks tied with jute all ready for my big spring sale here at home.
The quilt below was supposed to be for this sale, but I'm thinking I really like it and, well we'll see.


I hope everyone had a lovely, peaceful weekend.