Farewell to April

I know i said i was a bit over "pink"........but i couldnt resist these lillies. they were given to me for easter & only one bloom was open.....now there are two.......

........can you spot the fish? i do have a few fishy, beachy, watery things around my place......i am noticing them since Simonne made a comment about them on my " fish on friday" post.

Thank you Claire for the lovely blogger award, it is much appreciated, & we will do our best to keep up with the loveliness!! (raylee).

Branching Out....Out on a Limb

Portfolio Aqua Sketch-2b, to begin.....Artline 210 medium 0.6 blue, sprayed with water bottle, then , when dry, Hybrid Gel Grip pens...bronze & gold. (raylee).

Winds of Change

"Arrange whatever pieces come your way" - Virginia Woolf.......this is one of my favourite quotes. nature arranges pieces to make pleasing, attractive pictures for all to see if we just take the time to notice them. the weather has cooled down a few degrees & a cool wind is blowing.......i feel the need to do some rearranging of my own, usually just the furniture......but i think i need to work on my head sometimes......ok..... lots of times......it gets cluttered with too many ideas, too many new things to try....so i am going to start with my collection of found things, decide what to do with them .....organise my work space & prioritise my creative endeavours. that should get me a bit more organised...... i could ask myself why do i need to be organised?.........to clear my head! so that the right side of my brain is less strained! (raylee).

Birthday Surprise Gift

Thank you all for participating , we do appreciate all your input.......hope you like this one.

Congratulations to Lindy!!!........you all come back now..... ......(raylee).

Birthday Giveaway

Well the time has come to draw the winner....

and as Raylee is madly finishing the surprise gift...in between family and school holidays...

she's taken to sewing at night trying to get it done...

the honour falls to me again to draw the name....

such a technological drama...I wrote your names onto a piece of paper...then I cut them out.....then I put them into a box....then I asked The Man to draw one name out who will be the winner of our First Birthday Gift...

Congatulations.....Lindy....

thank you for taking the time to check out our blog and give us lots of encouragement over the last year with you comments...

Raylee will be in touch to organise sending the gift...

Thank you everyone who participated...your comments are appreciated.....

Happy Easter

Are you all enjoying Easter?...... having a break......eating chocolate eggs......& hot cross buns.......i hope you are! (raylee).

Back to crochet

I have been playing with the crochet hook and younger bro had a birthday recently so I decided to make him a knee warmer for the coming cooler weather....

and knee warmer it is...

ran out of these colours......

so thats all he gets...

must be into this colour range at the moment....

so changed the blog to suit....

Iris Watercolour

This is the beginning of a small watercolour painting...... i was sort of happy with, as i havent been painting with watercolour for a long time, just trying to get back into it.....

....& the finished painting.......i think it is over worked in some places, some bits are passable, so i will keep trying. (raylee.

Fish on Friday

Are you all prepared for the Easter holiday?....... hope so..... wishing everyone a safe & happy time. Dont forget to make a comment to go into our "First Birthday Surprise Giveaway Draw", which closes sunday 24th April,2011. midnight AEST. (raylee).

Gesso Printing Over Acrylic

Sometimes i try things to see what happens........ after the acrylic paint had dried on these journal pages (from "Flights of Fancy"), i had some gesso leftover from another project so used it to print on the acrylic.......very subtle.....on the yellow page..... ....more visible on the orange/purple paper.

The "Wonders" stitched collage is now in this journal , if you look closely you will see there are birds & a dragonfly in the picture, it fits the theme of "winged things".

School holidays are here, so we have been doing some crafty things, Easter is almost here too , so will post some of these activities soon....... what are you up to today? (raylee).

First Birthday Gift For You!

I am busy cutting & stitching a "First Birthday Surprise Gift"....... i cant show you yet as it is a surprise! so here is a photo i took one morning recently, when i had one of my other hats on .....the work one, yes i do that sometimes when i can fit it in to my creative time. i have my priorities worked out, dont you know? So if you would like to be in the draw for the "Birthday Gift" please leave a comment , we will draw one name. the draw closes next sunday- 24th. April, 2011. good luck!!. (raylee).

Happy Birthday to us!!!

Well...we've been here for 1 year already....who would have thought....so many things have happened in the last 12 months...a big thank you to the southern girls for their support and efforts to help get our creations out into the market scene....

Cheers to Raylee with all her creativity and her ability to get things done....we have lots of lovely people checking out our blog and giving positive feedback and encouragement in their comments...it has been an amazing experience learning about everyone elses talents...and we're still finding new places to see these amazing creations... Some of my favourites includes the lovely Eloise (Dec 17 2011)....who went to The Mirabel Foundation who collect soft toys to distribute to worthy causes....I hope she found a lovely new home....thanks to Pip at MeetMeAtMikes who is a champion with community involvement.... I have also enjoyed watching Raylee's journaling...in particular the Wee Jasper Journal which will be a treasure for the family in time to come....many beautiful pages have also been created in the Nudge series...check them out too.... After the dramas with floods and earthquakes we got involved with Crochet a Rainbow organised by the lovely Sarah London.....and sent some granny squares to be made into rugs for needy people.....and she helped with a contact in Japan for more woolies to be sent on...I hope our little bit helped in some small way....if everyone did a little bit for someone else, we'd all be better off..... Miss Henrietta (June 14 2010) was probably my star...she was photographed in all her splendor by the lovely Jenni....and she was a hit in my small world for a while.....although her elephant mates were a close second....trailing around the garden... I think we've come a long way...and I hope we grow even more in the time to come...thanks for watching....come back and say hello sometime....

to celebrate we would like to give you a present

all you have to do is make a comment

between now and next Sunday

the comment will be chosen at random

and the winner will receive a surprise from us

Red & Green

How sad would our lives be without such beautiful creations as this? just look around to see them! (raylee).

Pretty in Pink Bag

How pretty & spring like this bag turned out..... this one was commissioned, the request was for something pink. ... ... i posted the beginnings of this bag on the 3rd. & 19th. of march........ it has a long strap for over the shoulder. the strap can be tucked inside the bag if you just want to carry it by the two handles.

It is made from a cotton sheet that i have block printed, i like to vary the colour as i am not a perfect kind of person, i want the handmade look ...... because it is......there are threads still hanging too!......3 crochet flowers with "op shop" buttons stitched on the back.....

....doilies & fabric stitched on the front with extra running stitches ........ the shoes are upholstery velvet with some embroidery & same buttons as the back , it is fully lined with a cotton fabric which makes the bag much neater & stronger & very useful.

I like making these bags occasionly as they are one-offs, so dont become repetitive, .... hope someone else likes it too. (raylee).

paper play

my creative bits are taken up with entertaining Miss5 who absolutely loves paper, pens, textas, glue and scissors....

watching her absorb a new idea is just priceless...

I folded a catalogue page and just started cutting...

her eyes widened when I opened it up to show her...

and then she fell on the bits and started madly gluing them into her picture...

stars and hearts being her favourites....

the green being is her self portrait that she made out of bits of cardboard...

and glued together into a person....

I will have to gather these treasures for storage....

I wont be able to throw many of these creations out...

Flights of Fancy Journal update

All these pages have been stuck together, two pages at a time to strengthen them, with the glue that gets left behind in the glue stick. just thought you might like to know ........ .......this much glue is usually wasted.......the blob next to the nail file, that i used to retrieve the leftover glue.

Three pages from the journal..... the last one i made a while back has now found its place. ....as it has progressed, the journal has developed a theme - "things with wings" , eg. angels, birds , butterflies etc. the word bird appears in the text on the pages with flowers, & there is an angel on the "live" page, & the front cover has an angel too......a couple of posts back, if you would like to see it. (raylee).

Nudge 26 - Do One Thing

For this nudge i used some of the old envelopes i have collected, i usually write notes, or shopping lists on them. They have different patterns & colours on the inside, usually my favourite ......blue, so i started sticking pieces onto a page that had some blue watercolour splashes on it........ then turned it the other way......added more paper.....

.......painted some birds with titanium white acrylic......

....... a few more paper strips near the watercolour splashes at the top of the page. Nudges by Diana Trout at Hub Bub. (raylee).

Bouganvillea

"You may have a fresh start any moment you choose" - Mary Pickford. (raylee).

Flights of Fancy

What have you been doing , making, creating?.......i am still tearing paper & gluing....... decorating the cover of an atlas that will become a journal eventually. the crochet flowers have been cut from a doily that i came across on the weekend (op shopping again). have added some more stitching to the pink shoes, hope to get the bag finished this week. not sure what is going on...... pink keeps happening....... time for a change i think! (raylee).

New Work

Lots of torn paper pieces from magazines & impasto gel on my canvas from the "tip shop" to create this abstract collage art work. as it progressed i found lots of images emerging. .......a work of discovery in a sense......as it neared completion i found the fish, who in turn found his home . (raylee).