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

I think I need another holiday ...

I have just had the most hectic few weeks with my Princess due to the school holidays. During the first week we stayed at home and had lots of play dates with her friends. I had an art date with Holly, Julianne and Megan that was a lot of fun ... gossip, paint and a wonderful butter banana cake ... yum! During this date I finished some Jumbo Playing Cards for a swap. This one is called "6 Degrees of Seperation"

I have also been trying to do dry needle felting and failing due to the lack of having wool felt only the crappy synthetic stuff. After discussing my frustrations with those wiser than me I have taken the plunge and ordered some 100% wool felt off ebay so that I can give it another try.

Another swap I am playing in at the moment has been a Mini Album and I have been trying out a variety of techniques ... some more successfully than others and again those wiser than me have helped me to learn where I may have gone wrong. Here are the pictures of my front cover and one of the pages I have created to swap out.

During the second week the Princess and I travelled down to Melbourne to visit family (which was ace!) and also to spend some time at The Castle creating with My Queen, Princess Moo and the fabulous Lucy. I enjoyed meeting Lucy in person for the first time! They taught me a Misty Mawn technique. I found this interesting even though I'm not 100% happy with the outcome which means I'll just have to keep practicing (hahahaha). Here is my first effort ...

Princess Moo taught me how to create a background (above) using paints and Windex ... now that was fun. Lastly I had a try at using beeswax ... smells wonderful and I like the translucent quality it gives the images. These two ATC's are called "Be Original" and "Visitors Permit".

And finally the ATC below is called "Lizzie Loves to Bowl" and was created for a Postage Stamp People swap. Her legs slide back up inside the ATC. I had a lot of fun making her. Princess Ruby enjoyed making her dance.

Now I think I need another holiday