The Murder of Misty and other gruesome tales

Until I sat down to write this update I had been thinking that I have been incredibly slack these last few weeks as I felt I had not done much more than read and sleep. How wrong I have been! Firstly I quit my job ... yay for me! I am sooooo much happier although paying the bills will be a little harder we survive these challenges. Dear Heart and the Princess have been happier too.

To say I'm a bit messy would be an understatement ... I just seem to have better things to do than cleaning a house. Now that I don't have to haul myself into work each day I have vowed to get this place clean ... I started on the kitchen last week and it is now beautiful and sparkling clean ... sent heaps of stuff to the op shop ... cleaned out every cupboard ... wiped down shelves etc ... now I just have to spread that out to the rest of the house ... hahahahaha ... the laundry is next as the most amazing amount of crap gets shoved in there.

And in amongst being the domestic goddess I am I have actually been making ATC's and trying my hand at inchies and a pendant ... the pendant was a dismal failure so that can be relegated to the rubbish bin with no hard feelings. Inchies are stupidly small ... 1" x 1" squares ... and I haven't finished so no pictures yet. However I will show you some of my ATC's.

The yahoo group arttechniquesatcs runs an Artist of the Month (AOM) swap. This month the artist is Misty Mawn whom I admire very much and must apologise to her profusely for "murdering" her style. Here are my attempts for this swap:







The yahoo group ATCOZ is running a bear swap. This will be my first swap with this group and I am a little nervous ... I hope they like these bears. I have been carrying around this bear magazine for about 15+ years because it is just so odd ... like a VOGUE but for bears .. with fashion tips, horoscopes, Dear Abby, etc ... very cute. I transfered the images using Opals and I'm really happy with how they turned out.








I broke my needle felting needles last week so haven't been able to play with those ... boo hoo ... and looking for something else to try I was inspired by Ruby & Lay Hoon to try Zentangles. Here are some of my efforts.









So that is it for now ... I have to go be Mum and wife now ... ciao

Soul Journal - Misfits and Finger painting

Well the main part of our journey with Sarah on our Soul Journal is coming to a close. The last of our formal prompts have been given and my results are below. Sarah is letting us soar free to continue our journey in our own way ... my knees a knocking! Actually it is funny that at the start of our journey I would fly through the prompts and eagerly await the next step and loved the homework teasers as they built up the excitement as I wondered what was to come next. However, these last three pages have taken me days to complete ... I've taken my time, not hurried things along by using my heat gun etc. I'd like to think I was savouring the journey but no ... I was actually just trying to delay reaching the end! I feel a sense of loss BUT I also feel really pleased with what i have achieved throughout this journey. I have learnt so much and am thankful to Sarah for her enthusiasm, creativity and support. I intend to keep working in my Soul Journal and look forward to where the journey takes me.

So here are the last 3 pages.

In this first page we had to make a collage from photocopies of Soul Journal pages we had already made ... it was interesting to look at sections of one page and see how they could be used to create something new. I enjoyed doing this page.

This second page of MISFITS is one of my favourites and a technique I will use over and over again.

And finally a finger painted self portrait. I don't like it! It was hard to do the details ... I don't think I really look like that ... I felt uncomfortable creating this page ... I can't do faces! ... I'm crap at painting ... arrrggghhhh. However the wonderful thing I have learnt on this journey is that I can change this page - so I plan to come back to it one day when I feel more confident and reassess it ... decide then whether I will accept it and move on OR change it in some way ... it is my art and my choice! Thank you Sarah for teaching me this.

Needle Felting 101

I have tried my hand at needle felting lately and really enjoy it. Hopefully if I keep practising I'll improve and learn a more subtle way to blend things together. So here are my first attempts and they are being sent off for a swap ... except the fish ... that one went to Mary as her Lady of the Month pressie. Mary makes great needle felting ATC's!

Soul Journal - Collage Potpourri

This week I have been catching up on Soul Journal playing and trying to finish off other odd jobs as well. This week I clearly see what a mess I live in ... hmmm some decluttering is required and I'm not just talking about my house!

So here are my Collage Potpourri pages ...

When reading catalogues and magazines I have now started looking for interesting shapes because I like this magazine silhouette technique ... thanks Sarah.

My Dear Heart thinks this one reflects exactly what my last few weeks have been like! I really enjoyed painting with a plastic fork ... great for texture.

Now this page I am happy with and feel it is complete. I'll be heading back to the Collage Potpourri lists again to do other projects.

And finally we had to go back to our taped pages and alter them. I really liked my taped page and wish I had ignored this bit of homework. This is what I have done so far and I am not happy with it and will come back to it at a later stage.

Over the weekend I am going to try and catch up with my fellow Soul Journallers blogs as it has been a while since I popped in on them.

Shattered & Lost

Firstly I want to say thank you to everyone for their kind thoughts and words during this sad time for my family ... I appreciate the warmth more than you could possibly imagine.

I feel shattered and lost and an overwhelming sense of sadness. Last week I wanted to take care of everyone else. This week I just want to be alone to curl up with my sorrow, to cry the flood of tears that threatens to drown me. I realise I don't see my family enough ... don't tell them how much I love them or how wonderful they are.

I feel frustrated by aspects of my life that don't fulfill me eg my job but I don't know what to do to change these things and my brain feels too fuzzy to work it all out.

Thanks again everyone