Wed Stamp Children

Finally getting back on deck after hurting my back - gotta love the drugs - anyway Wed Stamp this week is Children and I recently got this PaperArtsy plate which has the most adorable vintage kids. Now the pics aren't great (not sure why) but I inked up some stampboard squares and stamped the images using versamark black. Drilled with the trusty dremel and strung it altogether with black elastic with black buttons in between. It feels quite comfy as a bracelet and I've finally used up some of the stampboard pack I'd bought LOL. Off to school now to pick up the little darlings and feeling quite happy that I made something today! Hope you all have a lovely week. Hugs, Carmel xxx

Blow me down (and my trumpet)

I was visiting Nat's blog the other day and followed her advice and went and had a look at a blog called How Dare You, they had a challenge called From the Garden (dare no. 31) you had to incorporate something from nature in your work, ie leaves/shells/sticks etc. I liked what I saw so I sent an email and attached the pic of the card I made recently (at the craft fair) which I thought fit the bill. And guess what......I won a prize! woohoo, I'm a little stunned to say the least but thrilled they picked my piece and I'm looking forward to receiving a pack of goodies from CherryArte . So you could push me over with a feather but it's a very nice pick-me-up after the usual week of kids/school/work.
I'm working this weekend and therefore miss out on the ATC Continumn and only get an hour at the school fair so bummer but a little play money is OK and I just might have to treat myself to something nice LOL. Have a lovely weekend, hugs, Carmel xxxx

WS Fish etc

Wednesday Stamper seems to come around real quick LOL this weeks theme is Fish. I like fish both to watch and eat and I'm trying to remember to take my fish oil liquid supposedly flavoured with vanilla, no flavour will detract from the oily texture shudder! My little piece is on black velvet using the painted embossing technique. I did a workshop last year at the Perth Craft & Quilt Fair with Jacinta Leishman and the technique was recently published in Cloth Paper Scissors. I'm involved in a tech book, hosted by the lovely Kylie and about 29 other women! I need to make said amount of ATC's using this tech!! should be a wonderful piece to behold. So the paint is Twinking H20's, the stamps are polymer - red rubber will not work as well as the paint doesn't come off properly. And I added some micro beads and a little metal fish embellishment.
I tried to scan/photograph this piece and it's not a great result. This type of embossing 'imprints' the images into the velvet, so it's sunken as opposed to normal embossing where the image is pushed out on top (did I make sense LOL). Hope you are all having a great week. Cheers, Carmel xx

WS Tryptich

Well, I am very flattered indeed that Wednesday Stamper (AKA Belinda) choose my ATC tryptich for their challange this week. When I made it at camp I had a trio of frames and we were making framed ATC's with transpariency. I did them all at once and thought I just wouldn't bother cutting them and ended up with said tryptich, a whimsy! Here is another one but not ATC size. I have had this on the go since my brother/sister-in-law celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary back on the 7th Aug (yes, I'm late) and as 25yrs is silver I went for black/white/silver but felt it needed some bit of colour. It hasn't scanned all that well as the pics on the top layer are on thick foam tape. I might frame it to make a more stylish present. I used the cuttlebug for the lettering and it was fun trying to heat the silver embossing powder LOL. Anyway 'here tis', hope you like it. Cheers, Carmel xxx

Mulberry Paper Wed Stamper

opps, didn't get anything made with mulberry paper this week for Wednesday Stamper, even though I bought some but I ran out of time....but....I did take some pics of the silkworms eating mulberry leaves at my sons kindy! they are getting pretty big and some are spinning cocoons.














It was Father's Day recently (here in Oz) and this is the tie that Lorcan made for Daddy at kindy - you can see it is anatomically correct LOL - gave the teachers a good giggle. Tim had to wear it to work and provide a pic.

WS Blue

This weeks WS is Blue...blue is so many things, happy/sad/summer/cold/romantic/evil - I like blue, it covers a multitude of emotion. I have a blue kitchen wall, blue checked curtains, blue cushions, blue sheets - wow it's only when I thought about it I realised how much blue! oh well here is my entry for WS. I made it at stamp camp, it was meant to be three ATC's frame style but when I was putting on the backing I decided not to cut it and it became a triptych (sort of). I dropped a little alcohol ink on the transpariency and added the images etc. So the frame is blue and the little stones in the crowns are blue. The old screen icons were very sultry. Hope you've all had a good week? It's Fathers Day on Sunday here in Australia, hope all the Dad's can cope with the 'soggy breakys' LOL. Cheers, Carmel xx

Wednesday Stamper Stitches

It's been a while since I participated in Wednesday Stamper and I just checked in to have a look and saw this challenge - 'stitches'. I don't use a lot of stitches in my work but recently did it twice! for a Mystery Muse and a swap. Here are my pieces with stitches in them, I hope you like them. Cheers, Carmel xx

Time has flown again

Oh dear another month has gone by! well it's been quite busy as I now work three evenings a week and I recently did some extra shifts as we were short a body. Also my youngest was sick in hospital for a few days (all well again) and it took a few days to recover from two nights without sleep of any significance. Hubby was also away and is off again next week so time just flits away and the poor old art room had been ignored. I did manage to complete and send my Mystery Muse, by all accounts Genevieve liked it (yay). Below are a couple of pics, my camera batteries needed recharging and I took these pics with the web cam and I'm not sure why but the words are reversed - web cams must take reversed pics??? anyway you can still see (sort of) what was achieved. Hoping to feel inspired this weekend to create, hope you are too!

Dropped off the edge of the world

Well it's been two months since I posted anything oops! anyone that used to visit probably thinks I have dropped off the edge of the world but no such luck. Can't really account for the time and I am racking my brains as I sit here but we have just had school holidays so that's two weeks LOL. Anyway I have being doing bits and pieces and here are two. The fabric hanging was for Kylie as her Mystery Muse last month and the canvas is for my very good friend Eileen who had a birthday on Sunday. I have also finished my gothic arch pages and will be posting hopefully tomorrow - not going to post here as I want to wait until I get them back. So it's good to be back! off to a card making session tonight with ten other women, now it can't get much better than that can it??? Hope you are all having a lovely week. Cheers, Carmel xxxx

got tagged

Well, the lovely Dawn tagged me to show a pic of my workspace without tidying up LOL - here tis! cleaning up is something I do in desperation only - had my stamps sorted and now look at them. I've heard it said that the state of your car is indicative of the state of your house, what does this table tell you??? thanks Dawn VERY MUCH! - will have to go forth and tag a few people of my own. Cheers, Carmel xxx

What a week!

Well, it full throttle this week. Started with Mother's Day, ah the little darlings were wonderful! breaky and newspaper in bed, mind you Lorcan and Taidgh 'shared' my scrambled eggs/toast!! Taidgh went mad at the Mum's Day stall at school so I have a collection of candles and a pewter fairy and a U2 DVD from Hubby.




Next cab off the rank was Tim's 50th birthday on Wed. He had to go to work as he had to put on morning tea, but he got a big surprise as he got a few pressies and there was even a speech! when he came home we had balloons and a cake and we went out for tea. A proper 'party' is in the planning stage! His big pressie was a new monitor, all 22 inches of it lol, widescreen panel - the big bonus is I get to use it too he he. I did make him a card but.

On the same day as Tim was a friends birthday, Penny. I painted this for Penny who had had a tough year dealing with a serious illness. She is currently in remission and living life to the full. Her coping abilities are amazing and she is doing everything she can to maintain her health. Penny is hugely into yoga and meditation and this painting is for her 'alter' - depicts the chakras but don't ask me to explain it to you



Hey, the week ain't over yet! another very good friend is having a birthday on Sat. Sue is one of my dearest friends, we can talk for hours! Sue is the best person to go partying with, laughing and dancing are big on her agenda and chuck in a few drinkies too! for support in a crisis, Sue's your woman, Suzie Wong, love ya babe xx - I painted this for Sue today, pity I didn't do it yesterday and I would have made Wed. Stamper lol - never mind. Sue loves the ocean/mermaids hence this pic. We went to an exhibition on Friday, Sue's friend Carol Clitheroe is an artist who lives in Rockingham (doesn't have a web sorry) she does amazing paintings and scultures of mermaids/ocean, landscapes - about 60% of the exhibition was sold in the first couple of hours! I can't afford to buy Sue one of Carol's and I certainly can't paint like Carol but hopefully she will like my 'version'. Happy Birthday Sue.

So, that's my week thus far! still have to make cards for the girls and go to work tonight (got a job at the local tavern) figured I need to start paying for my stamp habit lol - still Friday to go and if not working going to a friends house for dinner and have some girlie time. Hope you all have a lovely week whatever you are doing. Cheers, Carmel xxxx

More Musing

I did this piece about a month ago for Mystery Muse but I didn't get to catch up with it's recipient, Ms. Dawn until last Friday at Jan's. It was too bulky/fragile for the post. Just a little play, de Mengish colours? but I used a collections frame, acetate, krafty lady wings and a polymer lady which I took a mould of from a brooch of mine. The rest is old rusted bottle tops and an old pair of earrings, and a bird with a bottle top nest. It does have a little light show inside which is a set of led's from a flashing angle earring. So it's layers of paint, texture paste, stamps and perfect pearls. It was fun as it just evolved with the frame and an idea of a goddess. Anyway, Ms Dawn says she likes it and that is what matters. It's great when someone gets what you do. Thanks for the pics Dawn, I took some but yours have come out pretty clearly. It's Mother's Day here in Australia on Sunday, wishing all Mum's a lovely lie in and hopefully a breakky you can eat LOL. Hugs, Carmel xxx

Wednesday Stamper

Haven't done Wednesday Stamper for a couple of weeks and missed some really good themes. This week is 'framed' and whilst again short of time have chosen a piece I did a while ago. This was done at a camp and was heaps of fun. Hugs, Carmel xxx

Mothers Day is coming in Aust.

Our school is having a Mother's Day stall for the kids - great idea as maybe not all Dad's can take them to town to get Mum a gift or organise a make a gift at home session. The stall is stocked with stuff from about 20c to $2. Kids usually make cards in class so I decided to make bookmarks for the stall. Lots of cute stamping as they have to appeal to kids but I did enjoy the background. I used the 'waxed paper resist' technique - fold or crush wax paper to make a pattern - lay on gloss card - piece of paper on top, hot dry iron - heat transfers the pattern to the gloss card. Then use dye inks applied with a sponge for colour, I also used alcohol inks. This tech I got from the 'twisted chick' blog page as noted by Genevieve on her blog. I got an extra tip yesterday - when you lay the wax paper on the gloss card, place another piece of gloss face down and then a piece of paper and you get two waxed resist pieces at once!! The pic isn't a great one but here goes. Hopefully the kids will like them. I have also been making charms, one their way Julie!! so can't show them here. I now need to start on the charms for camp and a mystery muse and maybe a few ATC trades. Lots to do and I am getting excited about going. Cheers, Carmel xxxxx

Little bit of play

Well, first week of the school holidays down! hope you are all surviving it lol - have to be quick got to take the little darlings to the movies this morning. Had a play on Friday night with a few girlies and due to the copious amount of excellent conversation all I made was a couple of ATC's inspired by Kelsey's transparent ones, a framed acetate. The embossing was courtesey of Kylie's new cuttlebug beast! Saturday was spent yet again sorting through my stuff - got a new bag with containers in it and of course had to transfer stuff into it - will it ever be done? still looking for the ultimate way of storing my stamps with portability and ditto for my ink pads. Sunday, I had another lovely afternoon with Sulea. This time Sulea was doing Stampscape scenes which she is famous for! I have often been frustrated with trying to sponge on ink without leaving marks, you know that beautiful blending etc. Well, part of it is in the cutting of the sponge! tapering it so you don't have 'edges'. The rest is, you know 'skill' lol which requires patience patience patience, the ability to compose a scene with the stamps and an eye for shading/highlighting/colour combos etc etc - total mindblow. So the first thing to do is......COPY a scene previously done by the master lol - you do need that darn patience as you need to know when to be light fingered and one swipe of the sponge can ruin the whole piece, especially if it's black ink. Anyway here are my first efforts. It was a huge amount of fun and I would love to do it again, and those stamps are to die for. So a huge thank you to Kylie and the girls on Friday and to Sulea on Sunday for the wonderful playtime. Cheers, Carmel xxxx

Wednesday Stamper

This week's Wednesday Stamper challenge is 'coloured' how you like to use colour. I like alcohol inks very much as there is no 'right way' just go with the flow. This ATC was done with blended alcohol inks on gloss paper and if it looks dark that is because the soot technique was also applied. This tech was demonstrated by our wonderful Kelsey as SAJ some time ago. After applying the ink you hold the paper over a candle to 'soot' it up and then stamp into it. The stamp removes the soot and you are left with a 'resist image'. Lots of fun to do but you must seal it with a fixative or it will smudge. The chain is one I picked up via the Op shop and broke up. Yes, Dawnine this is the ATC you wanted and I've just added a few bits as you can see. On it's way to you shortly. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. And best wishes to PJ and John who are getting married 'in the morning'. Love, Carmel xx

Playdate with Sulea

Had a lovely afternoon yesterday - went for a painting playdate with Sulea. The peace and quiet was surreal as there was no 'mum mum where are you, I want' etc etc. Love my kids but I do remember TBK ahhhhh. Sulea and I talked painting and how we feel about it and I got to see her recent work in the flesh which is totally amazing, her expression blows me away. Another plus was the pumpkin/pecan cake BTW I need the receipe! so you can guess how much I wanted to come home to the end of the day routine LOL but when your child puts his little arms around your neck and says 'I love you Mummy'....and the bigger one to... well I suppose I'll keep them he he.


Anyway here is what I played with yesterday and last night and just a little bit this morning! it's called Heartfelt Release and I will be sending it to Ireland to a friend who visited last year. Margaret is a special needs teacher who chooses to work in a school in a poorer area as they need her help the most.

I was also thrilled yesterday when Sulea gave me one of her paintings. It's called 'The Loving Space' and words fail me to express how honoured I feel to have a piece of Sulea's work. Check out Sulea's blog shortly to see her what she was working on yesterday, be prepared to be amazed! So I think you will agree that I had a pretty good Sunday. Hope you all have a lovely week. Hugs, Carmel xxxxx

Diamond Eyes for Wed Stamper

This is a piece I did a while ago but I wanted to have a play on Wednesday Stamper it's called Diamond Eyes - a booklet made out of coreboard and covered with tissue/tape/guaze/alcohol inks/paints/stamped transpariency and a working printed circuit board when you pull the tape it flashes. Anyway it was a fun piece to make, the background was inspired by Trish Bayley's 'textured alcohol ink'.

Cheers, Carmel x

More Yummy Post

I just wanted to share another beautiful piece art which I received the other day. It's from my Mystery Muser, which I can now reveal as the lovely Julie H - a gorgeous hard cover journal. Julie lives in a beautiful place way down south called Albany, it had dramatic coastline which reminds me a lot of Ireland and it's hilly, rugged and a bit wild. The cover reminds me of birds on the beach foraging for food and each page inside had a stamped bird on it. I love it Julie, thank you for making it just for me. I love the Mystery Muser as you get to make something for someone each month and it's lovely to think about the person and make them something you know they will love or challenge them with something outside their interests. Hope you all have a lovely day - would someone please tell Perth that Summer is officially over! way tired of hot weather - sorry Nat I know it's hotter up your way lol. Cheers, Carmel xxx

I Love my Postie

Have you seen those Australia Post adverts about each day of the week and what usually happens on that day? quite clever - well Thursdays are my 'at home' day. Chuck on a bit of washing so we're not up to our eyes on the weekend and maybe even a little ironing, just a little lol - well this Thursday was pretty much following it's atypical pattern when there was a very masculine knock at the door and lo and behold there he was.....the new postie! I have to say it's a new younger model in his 'fitted' postal uniform lol and there I was with unwashed hair, daggy shorts and tee-shirt but I didn't give him a second to be able to recognise me in a line up as I grabbed the parcel and shut the door. A parcel usually can only mean one thing to me - ART GOODIES and oh yeah I was not to be disappointed! drum roll please.....see above the beautiful work of art which I received today. What a talented lady Ms Natalie B is!! this is Nat's 'Portrait of a Lady' canvas, it's got texture paste and the wax gives it a velvety feel and the overall composition if a serene lady in thoughtful repose. I also got Natty's 'Paris Night's' card which is also a stunning piece of work. So you see why I love my new Postie? and why I desire his return he he. Thank you Nat for this beautiful gift, fabulous work girlie.

Hugs to everyone I'm so happy.

Carmel xx

I was inspired...

At the last SAJ's I was watching the lovely Julie van O making some glass pendants with soldered edges. Got me thinking I have a soldering iron from when I indulged in a little lead lighting some years back. And so I decided to have a go as I wanted to give the teachers who looked after Taidgh when he as injured on school camp. All was going good except when I had to do some travelling to get the right solder! Byford to Cannington to Dick Smiths where I got silver solder (4%) and whilst there managed to pick up some of those glass fuses - 6 in a little box for $1.98! this was good as Bunnings wanted $5 for 2! Thanks Julie I did manage to get the fuses open by heating the top - only broke 2 but when I wanted to solder the jump rings on I realised I needed some liquid flux to make a 'key' for the solder to work even though the silver solder had a core of flux it was not enough to bind - another car trip into Armadale. So what started off as yeah, I'll have a go at that turned into a 80km trip just to get the stuff together - also thanks to Elaine who got me the ball chain which saved me driving on into Vic Park LOL phew - all for a little thank you present but now I have the gear and can keep making stuff. It's all good fun really and it feels so much better when you have made something as a present instead of buying. Wishing you all a happy week. Hugs, Carmel xx

Another day on the blog

Had a really good time catching up with girlies last night down in Freo (Fremantle). A number of the girls are attending the Art Retreat over the weekend so we had a dinner catch up notably Julie and Sally who have come from down South. More catching up tonight with girls at Stamping at Jan's so a really good finish to the week. Making the most of it as hubby is going to a two day tournament on Sun/Mon so it's me and the kids. Sitting here and the house is completely silent as Lorcan is at kindy for the whole day, it's weird not hearing 'mum'. I didn't have this experience with Taidgh as I was working fulltime back then.

Anyway here is another canvas, yes it's a bit similar to the other but this was started first. I liked the background to I did the birthday in the same vein so I didn't have to extend my brain re the colour combos. I took Nat's left/right brain quiz and it said I was 15% left brain and 85% right brain - now it's nice to be told you have creative tendencies but whoa what it really shows is that I can't walk in a straight line and why I'm tuned out alot lol and why I intend to plan but it doesn't happen (much) - I'm truly the 'last minute wonder' - oh well now I know.

Where does the time go

Phew, another couple of weeks gone by, quite frankly I don't know what I am doing with my time. Taidgh went off to school camp in Albany (400km from home) and I got that call on the first night - your son has had an accident and is currently being stitched at the hospital. We rang the hospital to see how he was and was told he was 'anxious' whilst being administered local anaesthetic, Taidgh's version was 'Mum, I screamed my head off'. Oh well so would you if you needed 7 stitches on your kneecap if it was split to the bone! it all ended well in that he stayed at camp and made the best of it, he still had a great time and spent all his money on presents for us (and a little something for himself).

We also had a wedding to go to on the weekend, a very good friend Becky who got hitched for the second time - had an appropriate song during the service, 'this time there will be love'. It was wonderful and it was the groom who was teary not the bride! Steve is a lovely man and they looked like love sick kittens! I also had to get Lorcan to a birthday party on the same day, a fairy/wizard do and he had a great time dressing up and playing games. The only art I achieved this week was a canvas for the birthday girl who turned five. This was done in 45 minutes and was barely dry upon handing it over. Feeling under the pump now as the past few kids cards I have done included photos and a few have been kept and framed which is a nice compliment but now everyone wants a photo/layout to keep for their child - what have I started? Hope you are all having a great week. Hugs, Carmel xxx

Art Post this time

Well, I've been told to post some art! well here tis but it's not exactly new lol. Ok, the canvas was/is for Sharynne for Mystery Muse - don't worry she has already seen it but left it with me so I could scan - mind you the scan isn't great due to it being lumpy and a photo was hard as it had shiny bits and with a flash was a disaster and without, too dark. Now that nice staining on the guys face was done very artistically and don't know if I should share said technique, but as you are friends, here goes!! pour dimensional magic on and when you come back to see if it's dry - voila - staining LOL - just bled through to the ink underneath - but I like it!!

Few weeks ago Nic and I played with Kelsey's soot tech - seeing that it was accompanied by drinkies we did AOK! here are a few samples - we tried different types of paper. Gloss was the best of course but cheap photographic paper was pretty good and I had a matt coated paper and this turned out pretty good too, obviously matt but had a very soft look/feel to it.

So, there you go, a little bit of art - have done and posted my canvas for the altered canvas round robin but we can't share them at this stage. And actually have a couple of things lined up to do! Hope you are all having a good week. We now have sniffles at our house, both boys. I am hoping that Taidgh will be right for camp next week in Albany - look out Julie the Byford boys are coming to town LOL. Cheers, Carmel xx

It's been a while or what LOL

Yes, it's been a while since I tapped on the keys - have I had anything to say??? not sure, the last few weeks have been a blur. Holidays, well the days drifted one into the other and towards the end hubby took some time off so we did house stuff like buying furniture for the study and moving the family room around. In this reorganisation I gained the filing cabinets in my room as they are metal and the study is now all 'wood' - still not sure how I got conned but there you are! anyway my room is once more a tip and desk space is at an all time low and getting creative has been very difficult. Never stop thinking about stuff but getting it down is a problem. Also the back to school thing has been huge this year as no. 1 son entered Year 7 (last yr. of primary) and no. 2 son started Kindy. Major excitement indeed! one wearing the uniform for the last year and one putting it on for the first time. We also managed to start swimming lessons for Lorcan which were a huge success as he passed stage 1. Lorcan used to have the grip of death on you in the water but now is keen to swim lengths, dive under and as of yesterday was floating without an aid and making good progress in using his arms to do the strokes - so it's an incredible turnaround and I'm still in awe that he has done so much in such a short time. Taidgh is very excited to be Yr. 7 and will be off to camp in a weeks time. He is also going to start keyboard lessons in the near future, is this wise I hear you ask, well at least it's not the trumpet! Anyway here a few pics of our new year start.