love your fate

i was reading swirly's '5 things' post yesterday and was immediatley interested in the love your fate link. i'd never thought of life in that way. it seems a bit negative - my fate - but this post really interested me, probably because it's content was very close to home. anyway, i had a half finished canvas and knew this one should bear that title as a reminder to me (i need lots of these all around me atm) to be positive, look forward and love my life (or my fate, whichever you'd prefer). this was the outcome. thanks for stopping by and have a great long weekend (if you're in oz that is) X Me

gotta get messy

well finally it's done! my very first art journal and i must say, it feels really good to finally be able to hold it in my hands. there's something very wonderful about a new book with clean empty pages, just beckoning to be painted, stamped, written on and whispered sectrets to...

now as for the binding... if you are a book binder or book maker - look away! you will find it's a very shabby job indeed, but i still like it. i initially wanted to bind it with the folded papers in signatures (i think that's what they're called) but accidentally ended up tearing them all into squares! so i had to think of another way to attach them into the journal and remembered that i had scrapped a small chipboard book a couple of years ago in this format and thought it would work for this journal too...

now all i need to do is get messy! hope you like it, and thanks for taking a peep.

before you go, you must check out this man... Kaffe knows colour...Kaffe knows design, you'll love it!

have a great day wherever you are, X Me

Jen Gray Wisdom

Well, I've finally finished the front and back covers to my new handbound art journal. It's been a while in the making - but I suppose I'm coming to accept that with a three year-old and a two-year old, things don't always happen at the rate you'd like them to. Now all I have to do is put it all together! I've also been reading a great book called The Creative License by Danny Gregory - so I hope to really do more drawings and quick sketches in this journal to keep the mind creatively active. And just to keep drawing and painting all the time. Hopefully it wont take too long to complete!

Read a wonderful quote by the very inspiring Jen Gray today...

"even though others may not support you,
even though the world doubts you,
even though you feel like you havent made much progress,
even though that person over there seems to be running down her path with total ease,
even though it seems no one sees you,
even though you are unsure,
you just keep on...
follow that map imprinted on your soul...."

This seemed to ring so true in my soul. (NB: I actually do feel very supported by my friends and family) - but i think its more the part that says 'even though that person over there seems to be running down her path with total ease' that really touched a chord.
'even though i am unsure... just keep on.'
these are simple yet powerful words. wise and easy and difficult but none-the-less true.
just keep on
X me

Lovelies...

Here's a few interesting cyber spaces I've stumbled across lately which you may be interested in..

Still have a few projects awaiting the final touches - so will post photos soon. But for now -here's a few lovelies for you to enjoy...

Check out these adorable fairy houses...


And if you enjoy cycling or photogrpahy, or both then check this cool site out

And some absolutely beautiful interior designs. Love the kid's bedroom...

Just gorgeous prints and patterns here.

And for those of you have always dreamed of having a milk bottle lamp chandelier, then you can get one here.

Have a great hump day tomorrow,

X Me

Threads of Wisdom from May...

I scrapped last night! I mean - I didn't just gas-bag - or read a scrapping magazine - or eat chocolate and watch everyone else scrap - I actually got these two layouts done and I really like them too. I think it's the Basic Grey Marakech Papers which I'm actually in love with - see the red background? Isn't it gorgeous - go and buy the set - you wont regret it!

This gorgeous photo was taken at a little friend of Miss M's Princess Tea Party. The girls had 'tea' (hot chocolate) from actual real tea cups and made their own princess tiaras. I just love the way Miss M is standing here - tummy out. Tooooooo cute!

sidenote: these two layouts were scraplifted/inspired by Stephanie Howell - check out her blog on my blog roll

And a few photos from the past month for you all...

Take time to stop every now and then and have a think...

Or step back and survey the big picture...

Look up every now and then too - see what the heavens are telling you...

Spend some quality time with a best buddy...






Laugh heartily...





Do something daring!





And always take time out to spend with the people you love...



Have a great day wherever you are, X Me.

Calling All Bloggers...

I was just wondering... Can any of you give me some advice/help or just point me in the right direction? I have wanted to change my blog header for a while now - I want to get a few of my own photos and merge them together using Photoshop. I've looked at many many MANY on-line tutorials and it seems that something I thought would be so so easy, looks like it's actually lot harder than I first thought. I haven't found a tutorial that makes sense to me! I've found that all the tutorials assume that you know so much already before you start - their starting points seem so beyond me! I'm sure it would be easy enough - I just need a step by step type thingo...

Anyway - if you can offer any help - it would be greatly appreciated and then I can finally give this ole blog a bit of a much deserved re-vamp.

Have a great day , love Me x

Why Scrap?

Whay do I scrapbook? I was browsing through the very talented Ali Edwards' blog and found this post which truly sums it up perfectly. Take a look...

I think I need to take more photos of the everyday stuff too. The toys, the clothes, the mess, bath times, tea pots and cups of tea left untouched. Washing folded in the basket but never making it to the cupboard, you know, the sorts of images I think that in the future will help bring back a sense of how life really was. It's so easy to forget, I know I will. But I dont want to! Hmm - I think I need to get some serious catching up done with my scrap albums.

But I love her style - I think perhaps I may start to try that clean line approach - it always turns my eye and seems so...what's the word - just plain old nice!

Have a few things on the boil atm, so hopefully I'll have something creative to post up in the next week.

The weather here is perfectly glorious - hope you're enjoying your neck of the woods too,

X Me.

Before and After...

Firstly, a very happy mothers day to all you mummies out there. What a wonderful job you all do at nurturing those souls, young and old under you care - if I had a medal for you all today then I would definitely give you one!

The troups arrived yesterday - yipee! Two rays of sunshine in the forms of my mum and dad popped in and will be here for a week. I had two of the best mothers day presents today (apart from my beautiful cards from M and T)... My dad washed my car for me - thankyou thankyou thankyou! AND - then he took the kids to the beach for nearly two hours and I completely overlooked all the jobs that needed doing and painted! I've never had the chance to paint in the daytime before - to paint without fighting fatigue and it was such a treat!

So here's the outcome of today's effort titled "Shine" I've also posted the photos of the canvasses before I morphed them into their final pieces just to see how different they are from the originals. Have I mentioned how beautiful those Luminarte paints are? I think so - but I begs rehashing. Hunt some down if you can - they leave a beautiful texture on the surface not unlike traditional ochres. So lumpy and sandy looking - but shiny and glimmery at the same time.

So what do you think? I like em!

Thanks for stopping by my little part of the world,

X Me

Beauty From Brokenness...

Instead of gessoing over the wierd face - I turned her into this... Once I started I just couldn't stop - and I'm really happy with her. I also love these new Primary Elements paints from Luminarte. It was so nice to lift the dark gloomy original image by using the shiny purples and pinks. She reminds me of one of those Hollywood Boulevarde over-suntanned skinny smoking 50-something women. Like the one on 'Something About Mary' (I can't remember her name!) IRL they are so shiny and glimmery - just stunning. I think the company is folding - so there was a great sale on. I didn't quite know what I was purchasing - so I bought a few things - but wish now I'd bought another of the primary elements kit rather than the twinkling H2o's.

The words around her head say "It was then she realsied that beauty could come from brokenness" I came up with those words as I was enjoying the transformation of this painting from a really ugly one ( that I hated and wanted to gesso over) into something completely different and beautiful. It got me thinking that even the broken and battered things in life can always be rescued and with a little love and tenderness, be turned into something beautiful and worthwhile...

Have a great day!

Birthday Scraps

This is a double layout I finished last night for Toby's recent 2nd birthday. They're supposed to be side by side - you get the idea though! It's been ages since I've scrapped. I'm rusty! There's so many funky and creative ideas out there but I just feel as though when it comes down to it - there's not the time to invest on creating these works of art, so innevitably I end up throwing things together. I'm usually partly happy, but never feel as though I've truly done the photo/s justice. I've lammented over this before, and so far nothing has changed! So here they are - set forever on paper in the album - to be seen for generations! Will I ever be happy with my creations, truly happy? I hope so! But for now I'll keep plodding along and doing what I can with my time. What creations are you working on at the moment?
Thanks for stopping by, X Me

ps: the background is actually a lovely royal blue - it looks blackish here.

Want To Buy Handmade Goodness?

Browsing a few sites today and came across this little beauty! So easy to shop by categories - hold onto your credit cards girls, this one's a rippa! And this little shop has some lovely vintage finds. There's not too much here, but a good one to call back in on I think.

Have a great day. It's blue skies and perfect days here - oh such bliss...

X Me

MUM - CAUTION Abstract Art to Follow...

Hello everyone! Yes, I'm here and haven't actually fallen off the face of the planet. Just had a few visits out of town, a birthday, Easter and life getting a bit busy. But I'm here now - have finally unpacked and washed and put away all items of clothing and even managed a teensy bit of painting too. Yes it's been a very busy time for us all here...

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and the days are , well, perfect. On sunday we went to the local park where the mini steam train enthusiasts let you ride around in their trains for a very small fee. It was so much fun and if you only understood the importance of trains in our day-to-day life, you would realise what a mammoth occasion it was for the peeps to ride in one! There was also a sausage sizzle too, and the playground... We then high-tailed it to the foreshore and walked about a km to another park - Miss Moo rode her bike all the way and I pushed HJ in the pram. Miss M decided that she couldn't possibly make the 1 km ride back to the car - so with lots of cajoling, encouraging and bribery, she finally did make it back, but I had to honour my promise for a 50cent cone at the golden arches. Needless to say it was a long and wonderful day and we'll definitely do it all again next month...

Onto arty things... Our local community art gallery ACDC has had a local artist in residence this past week. I popped in to have a look-see and a chat with Steve and it was really interesting. I've not had much opportunity to talk with other artists (they all seem to play their cards close to their chests around here) or to see work in progress so it was great. He showed me some of his sketches from his moleskine journal too and I was amazed at the life and movement he could capture and create simply with a ball point pen and a few lines. This free use of line to quickly get down a thought onto paper got me thinking and wondering what it would be like to draw and paint like that.

So last night I had a go at a couple of faces. Now I must say that I actually don't like these at all. I'm going to gesso over them - but it was FUN! I didn't think or plan anything. My main motivation was just to try and be free with no expectations at all as to what the finished product would/should look like. I've never even done abstract before, but hey, what the heck! I just let my brush make marks on the canvas and then experimented with ink to apply colour. Here's the results...

They're not even finished, and I'm not going to bother. It doesn't even bother me that I put all that time and effort ( about 2 hours and I got to bed much later than I'd hoped to)) to do them and I'm now going to gesso over them (it would have last year!) I just really enjoyed the experiment - I even learnt more about my skills and abilitites, that is, I don't have many - but at least there's only one way to go from here, and that's up. I've only scratched the surface of my jouney into painting. The more I see and read and explore, the more I realise I know anything at all! But in a way I think that's a good thing, because more than anything, I want to find my authentic and unique creative voice. I want to make art which is uniquely me, and not a melting pot of other people's talents and ideas. That's a long way off, but I'm really enjoying the journey, and that's the main thing isn't it?!

We also had our first Farmer's Market here on saturday morning. It was a bit of an anticlimax for me - as I was hoping for rows of fresh fruit and vegies on tressle tables. If you were in the market for preserved goods, olive oil and honey, you would have been happy! I did get this beautiful bunch of native plants/flower. When I was driving home from Perth these were absolutley everywhere along the side of the road, but it's actually illegal to pick wildflowers in this state. So when I saw them for sale (I'm sure they had a license?) I had to get a bunch. Just looking at them in my kitchen makes me calm and happy.



Hope you're happy today. I'll let you know soon what becomes of the wierd faces...

X Me