quiliting and my own little gallery

yeah I know I can't sew but I had fun.

This nifty little gadget you see here is my Album Portable Digital Photo Gallery...it can store up to 40,000 images, so now when I go to business meetings I can take this and just a couple of pieces of art. The quality of the images is crisp and brilliant and I think I will put it on the table in front of me when I'm teaching so my students can see some of my past projects...I like to call it my brag book.

I did some looking around and found that Aussies can get the best price HERE

Suprise!!!

I got an email a week or so ago to say I had won a prize through EK Success and Jolee's Jewells...as I've never won anything before I was thrilled to get a delivery from FedEx this afternoon...and this was all of my goodies! The photos are taken in very poor light, so you can't see how beautiful the Swarovski crytals are.

The tools you see are an bejewelling tool, an engraver and some flush cutters...check out the bling on the cutters! I hadn't seen the mini EK punches, so that was cool to get them

flowers, fab finds and what you can create with me next month

my boy JD is stuggling at school, he's in grade one and is having the hardest time learning to read, he sees a kiddy shrink at the moment who is testing him for ADHD and dislexia, that's all good...expensive but atleast we are getting some help. I have to say that I am really disappointed in the education system over here as he went through preschool and kindy and at the end of both years his reports all said he was doing well. It was only this year when he was beginning to get home work that we pick up on the massiveness of his "problem". Now I do volunteer work once a week in his class to observe how much help he gets...I don't blame the teacher at all...I totally blame the over crowding of the classes because there are so many kids missing out on the help they need. SHAME ON YOU EDUCATION DEPARTMENT!!! Our kids are our future...and for some...the future is not bright.

ok enough of my ranting...yesterday when we were at the kiddy shrink office JD (6) decided that he would like to buy me some flowers because I am a "beautiful mummy" and I make him happy. So after the appointment we went to the florist down stairs and they had baskets and baskets of old stock silk flowers for $1 for a grocery bag full!!! Anyhoo I spent a whole $7...which included some stuff that JD just "had to have for art".

My bunch of flowers had a few sprigs of Geraldton Wax...made me think of my home state and my family over there.

The divine dragonfly is the make and take you can make with me next month at the Penrith show, come see me at stand #50 Creative Era are puting up with me :)

silkworms and art

as we aren't really allowed to have pets at the house we are renting I opted for something small, quiet and productive...Silkworms! What you see in the container is actually my second (current) season of silkies. I began with just three grubs early last year. These constantly eat and grow, in a few weeks they will make silk cocoon and when they emerge from them they are fat little flightless white moths...the moths don't eat...all they do is bonk and lay eggs...then they die...no love, no romance, no wining or dining...nope it's just wham bam thank you maam and then they cark it! The eggs take quite a time to hatch, I like to leave an adult (bonked and departed) in the hatchery so the silkies hatch and are impressed by the awesome future they have before them. I have to feed these every day...yay to the crazy neighbour for having a mulberry tree hanging over our fence :)

The horse you see is a new project...I'm just taking my time with it.

oh the silkworm cocoons can be pulled apart and used in what ever form takes a persons' fancy

ATC Club

On the second Friday of every month I get to run the ATC club at Scraploot, I love that the girls are really getting into playing with techniques. Last night we created ATC keeper boxes and most of the ladies used my faux rust technique...it was amazing that although it was the same technique they all turned out so very different from one another. The keeper in this post is my own and the ATCs are our next class "Acetate & Alchohol Inks"...the pics don't show that they are actually transparent in some areas.

Art Doll Give Away

as a thank you to all my friends, fans and followers I have decided to have a give away...in fact three prizes are up for grabs but you need to follow the rule...yes just one simple rule...
Go to Facebook and "like" Words Or Whatever
*If by the last day of this month (October) there are 600 followers I will create and give away one art doll
*If by the last day of this month (October) there are 800 followers I will create and give away two art dolls.

*If by the last day of this month (October) there are 1000 followers I will give away three art dolls...one of which will be...

camp, dragonflies and sneak peeks

if you follow my blog you will know that I went to a camp last weekend...in fact it was a scrapbooking camp! Yes I know you are scratching your head and saying "but you aren't a scrapper"...I have to tell you that I think it is the best thing I have ever done! The camp was not huge but it was wonderful, the ladies were all so lovely and very welcoming, they were willing students to my ideas and by the last day they had all adopted something I had shown them and used it in their pages. I was so proud of them all for daring to try something different. I strongly suggest to anybody who is running a scrapbooking camp or retreat to invite a mixed media or technique artist to be a part of it because it is the little things that we overlook that seem to be all we need to finish what we begin.

now you are wanting to know what the pictures are in this post eh? well the frame is a Twiddleybits piece I created at the camp...the art it frames is possibly going in for publication...if I can decide between that and another piece.

The dragonflies...the black and blue piece is my faux enamel one, created with Plaid's dimensional paints, the other dragonfly is the make and take you can come to the Penrith Papercrafts Festival to create...I will be there from start to finish at the Creative Era stand #50

Faux Rust...and Alchemy Designs

yes I have been a busy girl with lots of things, here you can see some of my "Alchemy" designs available through Words or Whatever...they have really been taking great care of my ideas and I hope that everybody else loves them as much as me...and yes there are plenty more to come. My ideas are that things should be able to be worn or used by anybody for anything...too often I see products that are nice enough but are not suitable for my ideas...WOW is making my dreams a reality, they are creating the missing link...the stuff I want and need. I totally adore the leaves and will be wearing them proudly. The flourishes totally beg to be rusty and grungy...and so they are!

And for those who want to know my secret rusty recipe...check out my tutorial

Faux Rust Technique

oh...the cogs aren't my design but I think they rock!