More spray - stencil - stitch fun

Continuing to do more pages inspired by Roben-Marie's class

Still enjoying how the layers build up....

The above spread created on the back of this one

Loving how that stitching can create loveliness on both sides

Really inspired by last night's Rose City Quilter's meeting. Lorna Newsome was our speaker - she is one of our very talented members and showed us loads of her quilts. Her work is beautiful and makes me want to get back to creating quilts....watch this space.
Check out these blog posts :
Although I haven't received my Quilting Arts mag yet, a comment by Dale led me to discover Susan Lenz' blog.
Beautiful story cuffs by Ruth Rae.
Cute idea and visual tutorial from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer to make a coin envelope mini book.
Only just had time to properly look at the blog for The Sketchbook Challenge - if you haven't checked it out it's worth a look - includes some useful tutorials. Also some lovely guest profiles from some of my fav artists like Cas Holmes and Beryl Taylor and...just go look already!
Be inspired this week

Hearts for Christchurch

In March I posted about Hearts for Christchurch.

Go here for the exhibition of the total of over 4,000 hearts - amazingly presented. So proud to have been a part of this.

The End!!

After what seemed like the longest week in my working history, I have finished my 3 month working contract - {happy dance}

Thanks for the postcard, P :-)

While I love the library, the wonderful staff, and (most of) the challenges, I am looking forward to reconnecting with the friends I've been missing  - 3 coffee and lunch dates booked already for next week!- more creative time, some spring cleaning and a tidy up in the garden. Starting this weekend by spending time with the kids that isn't interrupted with having to do chores - all of that can wait until Monday :-)
Started off on the right creative note this evening by visiting the ALT.SHIFT.CRAFT fair. Lots of crafty goodness. Didn't purchase much this time around, but I took a friend and can show you what we purchased between us....
First stop was Carole's stall - lots of lovelies. Visit her Etsy store if you want to check her out some more.
Our purchases were wrapped in lovely stamped brown paper bags

Lovely hand-dyed ribbon for me (couldn't resist my 2 current fav colours)

Lavender bag for Rhonda - wish you could smell it! Mmmmmmmm

Then onto Deb's stall where Rhonda purchased a ring

Lots of lovely fun.
Check out these blog loves for your weekend :
Beautiful post about transparency by Sweetpea Path
Stackoholics at The Altered Page - who doesn't love stacks of papery goodness, and you can find a whole lot more new blogs to love!
OMG - endless beauty here
Mysterious paper sculptures in libraries
Enjoy - and have yourselves a wonderful creative weekend.

ALT.SHIFT.CRAFT fair

Might see you on Friday night if you're in Palmy and interested in lovely craftiness to purchase.

Remind yourself of the lovelies I got last time. Well worth a visit, and say hi to Debs and Carole while you're there :-)

More art journalling

Hey there - one more week of work and then you should see a bit more creativity from me.
In the meantime I thought I'd share a couple more base pages from my Be Present art journal :

The flower on the above page is made by stitching organza over a book page - have used this Ruth Rae technique a few times now - on a card, and after a little experiment, on my July Calendar challenge.

On from there, here are some journal and hand-made book blog loves to investigate :
Daisy Yellow's stitched journals - lovely
and Caatje has been doing some tutorials about how she makes art journal pages - go here for Part 1 : backgrounds and here for Part 2 : decorating pages. Her atlas journal is very very cool.
Ingrid Dijkers has been making a new tunnel book called "Under the Sea"
Explore Sarah Haslam's blog - love her journal and calendar pages - she is great with colour and layers in her backgrounds. Inspired, like me, by Kate Crane
Until next time....

Bus Trip

I got up early on Sunday (early for me anyway) and made my way to catch a bus with other members of Rose City Quilters for a day trip to Waipukurau.
First we went to "The Festival" held at Pukeora.There were some lovely fabricy creations - clothes - brooches - woollens - but I really can't bring myself to purchase things I could create for myself. So no purchases but lots of ideas generated, and I was very tempted by the beautiful jewellery made by Shelley Von Sturm 
Then we were off to "A new spin on Wool" - this year's exhibition by Wine Country Quilts.
Not a large exhibition, but with some lovely quilts and other wool items. These are a selection of my favourites (credited with the labels that were hanging with them - if you  are the creator of one of these and have a blog, just let me know and I will link to you) :
This first one was created with wet felting and needlefelting. Don't you just love the colours?

"The Colour of Truth is Grey" by Leanne Rogerson of Auckland

"Oppose" by Marion Manson of Hamilton

Love this blue-brown colour combo.


"Rose Wreaths" by Jean Wilson of Blenheim

"Seen Better Days" by Julie Lumsden of Wellsford

"A Blooming Bag" by Lyn Stoddart of Waipukurau

And finally, this quilt by Katherine Morrison (a well-known NZ quilter).

"Turangawaewae" by Katherine Morrison of Upper Hutt

Check out the quilting from the back!
All in all a lovely day out spent with a lovely friend :-)

Yay for weekends

Time to relax - on the agenda for me : a night out with a girlfriend, a catch-up with some extended family, and a day out at a quilt and craft show on Sunday. Yay.

Hopefully more time to spray

and stitch

Hoping you have a lovely creative weekend.

New loves

New scarf - perfect for those chilly mornings

New pendant to match my lovely new skirt :-)

New sprays - great service from Scrapbook Dreams

New Oliver Twist threads

New blog love :
Carolyn has done another gorgeous post - check our her beautiful cottages.
Butterfly heaven from Margaret at Alice & Camilla : blue and brown
Inspiring photo mosaics from Catharina
Dina's smashbook - looks like a great summer project.
New stencils from Michelle Ward - very cool...very tempting ;-)

Hope you find something new to love this week.

Calendar challenge : August/September

1st of September means Spring in New Zealand - one of my favourite times of year. My new calendar pages have a spring theme, but first my pages from August. Pretty papers - a bit of stitch - tags to journal on. Click on any of these photos to get a bigger version.

The pages don't look a lot different from what I originally posted here, except I have written on the tags for my daily record.

It was nice to focus on some particular goals for the month although I didn't achieve as much as I would have liked. I have made some progress with my work/life balance, and have started reading a good book about parenting strategies so hopefully will feel like I am making more progress into the next month too.

My new pages are inspired by Spring colours - new greenery and the yellow of daffodils. I am so inspired by the work I am doing in Roben-Marie's Mixed Media Mayhem class that I have used sprays and stencils again.

These are the base pages - love that flowery Crafters Workshop stencil and the lovely glittery effect of the starburst sprays. But I've been taught to add lots more layers....
Left page (shown above) became this:

And the original right page

became this:

Then I had to decide how I wanted to journal for this month

I have decided that I will just pick one or two words per day this time.

Still to decide how I will label this as September. Little bit messy, but that means you'll see a change by the time it's finished! :-)

If you want to see more calendars for this month, go to this post at The Kathryn Wheel, and check out the flickr group.
Also Geninne has produced another beautiful calendar for your computer desktop. Go here and scroll  to her post for 1st September.
Looking forward to more creativity this month - my 3 month contract at the library finishes 23rd September - bring it on!