Lets Get Shabby...New Challenge

                                   

Lets Get Shabby's challenge #33 is up.

Hop on over to their blog and be inspired by the beautiful photo and get the challenge details  with a Spring and or Easter theme.

I have recycled another one of my little boxes, added a hand made flower and a tag.

Head on over to the Lets Get Shabby blog for all the details and inspiration from the other DT girls. I'd love you to have a go with this challenge; Spring lends itself to so many beautiful ideas and it could be a page, a card, or an OTP project. 

Oh, and I have to thank zeus and zoe for the cute little chicken and rabbit free down load image.

To Tell or Not To Tell.......?

It's always a great feeling when you have some of your work acknowledged.....it's NOT the reason we do it, but having people publicly show their appreciation for it, gives you confidence that you are doing something right and that the creative path you're  on at the moment is the right one. I never know whether to share these little successes or not on my blog....it's only a little thing, it's not like I have found a cure for cancer or an event which is life changing for me or for any one else...it's just a little bright spark in my day and has put a smile on my face, so I guess it's a good thing to share personal happiness...or is it ?

Featured at CSI

The Swing By Gayle Price

Gayle's background is amazing ! At first glance, it looks like patterned paper, but we found out she created the background with texture paste and gesso over a stencil. We love how she intertwined the kite strings among the branches and thought it was so cute how she silhouette-cut her photo and made her swing from the tree. Once we looked from the marvelous design, we noticed her journaling. We loved how she used the kite and swing as metaphors for her thought-provoking story.

Meg's Garden "Style" and CSI Challenge...

It's good to be back. Two projects today that I absolutely loved creating, but both very different.

The first done for Meg's Garden using products from her online shop. Pretty much every thing on this page was supplied by Meg....all the papers, ribbons and flowers, pins and paper lace. You can find a detailed list of all the different papers and other pretties used, here on Meg's blog.

The page has a Victorian theme with a twist. I love the opulence of this era,ruffles, bows, flowers, chintz and velvet and have put these with a photo of my daughter from 2 years ago when she was a hair model for a national competition; I love the contrast of the extravagant old and the very slick new, but both so elegant.

"Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new"  Henry David Thoreau.

Beautiful Organza Lace Flower with Diamante

"Fashion is made to be unfashionable". Coco Chanel 

Beautiful silver and pearl Emperor Pin

This second project was done for the CSI Challenge. These are so much fun. There are basically 3 things you need to think about when creating your page......using all 5 colours, incorporating some of the evidence asked for and including the journalling in 1 of the styles suggested.

This is a photo of me aged about 4. I had a wonderful childhood, I can not recall one sad moment,but I'm sure there were some,but I feel very fortunate that I was loved and given lots of opportunities and am very thankful for that.

Now,having children of my own I think about the things I didn't do as a child and now regret; like learning an instrument, a language or how to sail a boat. The point I make is controversial................how much should we push our children to become involved in different activities and experience new things? maybe the word "push" could be replaced with "encourage". I do know tho, that ultimately our children make their own choices whether we like them or not. 

My journalling is a reflective thought on my childhood. It reads:

I have begun to wonder, that, just like kites and swings, how high we fly in life often depends on who's pushing us and how many obstacles get in our way.

I've used a mix of paint and gesso over a mask for my background.

Incorporated string and kite elements.

MIA for a while...........

I have not had time to scratch myself, let alone put gesso, ink and glue to paper, so have just left you with some images that have inspired me today, hope they go some way to doing it for you too. If you love movement, colour, texture and creative genius, I hope you like this. It came to me via my daughter's FB. She is studying dance , her boyfriend is studying animation, I guess it inspired them too.

My favourite band and some great moves.

A little culture and family time in Melbourne, be back soon. xx 

CSI #9.....Color, Stories, Inspiration.

Joining in at CSI again this week. I love the prompts given out....they really spark off my imagination and get ideas flowing.There is lots of symbolism used in this page about my youngest daughter. During the past 12 months she has travelled a long way emotionally. She has made mistakes, suffered serious consequences, experienced loss and found strength. But through all this I really hope she never gives up on her dreams.

My evidence details include a bird accent, hot-air balloon, mesh, definition tape and I have used a six word memoir as my journalling.....

"Dream with your eyes wide open".

Thanks for dropping by. We have a long weekend here in South Australia so we're heading to beautiful Robe for a few days via the Coonawarra so there is the bonus of picking up some wine on the way. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend what ever you may be doing. xx

Summers End.........and a thank you.

This summer we have enjoyed some of the best tomatoes, chillies and peaches from our garden, but sadly they have just about finished. But that's ok. because Autumn is here, my favourite season. Bring on damp evenings, golden and scarlet leaves, and naked trees.

Thank you Maggie. A Liebster Blog Award came my way via. Maggie Armstrong from New Zealand

http://www.maggiesdoodads.blogspot.com.nz/liebster-blog-award-html

I know bloggers are divided on the subject of award giving and accepting.............

To be honest, I was surprised and delighted; who doesn't like to receive a compliment ? And as my nanna used to say," compliments must always be readily accepted, but always with the right balance of pride, grace, and humility." So I am gratefully accepting and paying it forward.

 The idea behind the award is to spread the love, interest and knowledge from one small blog ( under 200 followers ) to other small blogs.

To accept the award you must;

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you & thank them.

2.Post the award to your blog.

3. Give the award to 5 people ( blogs less than 200 followers ) that you enjoy visiting and who inspire you.

4. Leave a comment for these people to let them know how much you appreciate them.

I think these 5 people are amazing, for different reasons, but I love visiting their blogs and I find them inspirational.

1. Louise Nelson

 2. Melinda Thompson

3.Alberto Juarez

4. Michelle Grant

5. Eila Sandburg.

Being Challenged...........

Sorry, todays post is long, and I hope not too boring, but I have lots to ' show and tell '.

We all love a challenge, and the challenges at CSI...Color, Stories, Inspiration have really been that....challenging. It's not just the color scheme you have to stick to but several other specific elements must be included on your page and the journalling must also be done in a specific way. This really appeals to me as it creates great prompts for you, so you have to think out of 'the square'.My page from last week must have passed all the set criteria and it made my day to read the comments left by the DT who really 'got' what I was trying to express with this page.

This is the latest challenge at CSI...

Use of liquid medium needed to be in evidence.

Glass or transparent elements had to be used.

Another great challenge has been that set by Meg from the online store Meg's Garden. Using the theme " Vintage Gentleman ", and the beautiful papers that she supplies, I made a gift box and a page. You would give the box probably to an 'older ' gentleman, and of course you could fill it with chocolates, but my extravagant heart wants to put a new iphone in it or airplane tickets for 2 to Paris.

This page is about my dad...a dapper young man in 1946 with his pipe. Also an airforce gunner in the second World War, a prisoner of war in Rangoon Burma, a champion golfer, wonderful husband and very kind and loving father. Ironic that this photo has him smoking.  He continued to do so until his death, caused by lung cancer.

It can be a challenge to make things made yesterday appear to look 'ancient' or at least 'vintage'. The tag used here has been distressed, crinkled and stamped, but the ledger paper with 1946 written on it is actually from 1946. Sheets of this old ledger paper were used as gift wrapping for a gift sent to me by a very kind friend. The metal embellishments used are from Vintaj Brass and are available from Meg's Garden.

Aren't these Garnet Velvet Forget Me Nots just beautiful and this paper is called "Suitcases For Travelling"....both available from Meg's Garden.

A big thank you for visiting me today, have a great end to the week and a fun weekend coming up. xx