Long Time No See........

hello all, how are you?......well & happy i hope  ......i have a bit of catching up to do, will post my progress in the 365 challenge ......yes i have been doing something creative every day.......my altered book is growing as i try different ways to fill the pages.

 these are the pages i was trying to post when my computer decided to pack it in.......hopefully it is all better now.

these pages are mostly collage with some acrylic painted papers, for the ninth, tenth, eleventh & twelfth of january 2013. see you soon with some more.......thank you to every one who visits our blog.........we love having you!

(raylee)..

frog visitor

 

hello again...

not much creativity happening here...

just a wildlife visitor...

this fellow lives out the back...

and occasionally gives me a fright at night...

when he thumps around catching his dinner...

he even comes in and sits on my back step...

recently he decided to get into the blow up pool....

and then had trouble getting out again...

we had to deflate one rung of the pool to give him a chance...

 

 

 

Raylee has been having a few technological difficulties...

she broke her computer...

so she's been offline for a while...

she tells me she is still working hard...

and will catch us up when she gets the computer sorted...

 

hope you get back to us soon Raylee...

we miss you...

More Blues

 

Happy Australia Day to you all...

we are having a lot of rain dumped on us at the moment...

an ex-cyclone is the cause...

so inside activities are the go...

 

I had a few days off recently so I dragged out my blue bits...

cutting old shirts and blouses...

have been hoarding them for a while...

 

 

I found enough big bits to make a centre patch quite symetrical..

but then I had to add patches to the sides to make it big enough...

 



 

then I found an old embroidered cotton sheet...

was handed down from someones stash...

which became the back..

a nice light cover for our normally hot summer nights...

I'm quite pleased with how this one came out...

and how quickly it came together once I'd done all the cutting...

so I might keep it for a while...

Lets eat Cake!!!...500th Post

yay to us...500 posts...

lets eat cake...

 

my creative attempts for the little girls...

thank goodness for the original Womens Weekly Birthday Cake book...

which has been used now for nearly 30 years...

 

 

it's so much fun trying to use butter icing in 30+ degree heat...

and cook cakes in the oven...

and having little misses wanting to help...

and pleading to eat the batter and icing...

before the job is done...

and licking spoons and fingers along the way...

 

 

we're nearly done....

10 festive events in 6 weeks...

fruit cake...Christmas cake...triffle...caramel tart...butter cake...pavlova...apple cake...

guess what?...I'm sooo over cake....

till next year...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bird of Paradise

 

just another fill in during this creative lull...

had this lovely 'bird of paradise' flower...

appear in my garden a while ago...

 

 

hiding behind it...

is a pot of leaves that produced a flower bulb...

you may be able to pick it out just above...

to my surprise it became an agapanthus flower...

I had no idea what it was...

just some bulb hand-me-down....

that need a new home...

lovely!!...

 

Better late than never!!

 

Just a quick catch up to let you all know I'm still here...

Raylee did a post in December...

to highlight Daniel Morcombe Day...

encouraging us to display something red...

and to remind us to watch our kids...

 

this was my red contribution...

a pretty scarf found in a bag headed for the op-shop...

I knew I'd need it one day...

its been added to the countless others that cover this cushion...

each one sewn on top of the old one...

all my babies have loved this cushion...

the silky scarves are so soft and cool...

 

 

I actually have a bit of red in my house...

so this now graces one of the lounges waiting for its next use...

I covered the cushion the day of Raylee's post...

just forgot the photo...

I have been watching the kids too!!...

Letterbox Mail

i love getting real mail......the kind that gets delivered to your letterbox by a post person, sometimes ours is male, sometimes female.
this package arrived today , it included a cd , the album is called "parts of you, parts of me", some hand made badges & magnets & a card from mezz. thank you !!
mezz is a very talented girl, she does lots of crafty arty stuff, sews & cooks ,writes & sings beautifully.......i bet she can dance too!!
(raylee).

Altered Book pages 7 & 8

found a watercolour collage painting that i put together a long time ago.......just the thing to cut up & reuse for page number 7 of the 365 in 2013 Challenge......".two men running ".

 the original painting was a horse in the centre with men running around the border. this is the horse from the painting.

 page number 8 began with a stencil design of a flower from cardboard packaging with holes in it.
some watercolour.......

 watersoluble crayons.......more pitt pen in black.....

then i traced some of the design onto tissue paper ......

 

 more watercolour, & glued it onto the page while still wet........& then......

added more crayon  & blended some with my fingers.
i have worked on these pages every day since the challenge began, i may not post every day, depends on what else is happening, but intend to keep up the  daily creativity
.ihanna instigated this craziness........but i am finding it good crazy ........as i want to be more disciplined.
(raylee).

365 in 2013 Challenge pages 5 & 6

two more pages in keeping withihanna's 365 in 2013 challenge......

page 5 of my altered book.....highlight a word & a number, paint the page straight from the tube of atelier vermilion acrylic, glue on some torn tissue paper drawings & add a little watery permanent sap green.

these drawing exercises are from a life drawing class i did a few years ago tutored by  "Eden Scott" . he suggested tracing figures for home work to get to know what you were actually learning to draw when the real life model was in front of you.

page 6.......this page came together after one of my sort through the bits & pieces episodes. i often find things to use for different things when i am looking for other things. this part of a green coat was on the cut edge of some fabric, later i was flicking through an art magazine & found the image of the girl, just the right size for the coat.
cut out the image & stick it to a page, tack the coat to a piece of sewing pattern tissue paper with red thread, glue onto the image add a bit more pattern paper with text.
(raylee).

Altered Book Pages 3 & 4

 as i am still in holiday mode i have been able to put a bit more time into these pages, no doubt at the end of the holidays  i will have to do something a bit less involved. time will tell.
 i used a similar process as the first two pages but omitted the final watery acrylic wash. (see the previous post for more detail).
the collaged pictures also came from different parts of the book, the similar colours tied them together.
each page could be separate but i think the double page spread works. what do you think?

 notes for my own reference on pages with a coat of gesso.

 a closer look at each page, if you click onto the photo you will get more detail.

in the background is a plaited mat made by a cousin of mine from old sheets.
if you would like to join the "365 in 2013 Challenge" please go to ihanna's blog

a very BIG thank you to the" savvy simonne" for changing our background colour, hope you like it!
(raylee).