Fathers day and crafting

We had a lovely afternoon yesterday with James and Emma and a couple of James' friends, Josh and Jamie. Roast for dinner and some special cupcakes I made. My fancy icing attempt; I know, bad isn't it. Just can't keep a straight line lol. Still tasted good. I used my banana cake mixture and put in individual cups instead of in the big baking tin. Turned out great. Yum!!

Gardening - made a new garden the other day with a cute dangly banner thing to keep the birds away hopefully. It has broccoli, lettuce and silverbeet at this stage and herbs that were already there. And the markers I made from old spoons. Idea from Pinterest.

Been making molds for resin. What do you think this is, there's a hint at the top right of the photo. I'll show you tomorrow when I unmold it :)

Resin crazy

Been making some things for SENZ. Playing with the resin and colouring it. Just generally having fun!
Come to SENZ to find out how!! Nic Howards shop.
Resin Flower brooch

Resin flower necklace

Resin flower and heart canvas

Resin heart necklaces

Resin flower canvas

See you there maybe. Come and say hi!!

Lately

I got a couple of tattoos

Rob started paddleboarding

We went fishing off the river

I created my first Petite Doll

 and a canvas

Emma actually let me photograph her

There was a scary fire at the end of the Holiday Park

Rio got a new bed - Cute!!!

And Autumn Escape came and went, but there is a Spring Edition in October - yay!!

New art supplies

I forgot yesterdays post. I have been so tired with work being busy. Anyway, I was going to post about my latest art supply purchases.
While doing Christi Tomlinsons She Art Workshop I learnt more about different art mediums to use in your art journals and on canvases.
I've been collecting the Neocolor II Water soluble pastels, the Faber Castell Pitt Pens and the Bombay India inks. This time I thought I would buy the stamp carving set to have a try and a dip pen. FUN!! Can't wait to dip that pen in those lovely inks and write something. Haha! What, I don't know, as I do have trouble with knowing what to write, but maybe this will inspire me.

Birthday Month Day 21

It gets closer and closer to Xmas. Time is flying by.
Todays treat is a sweet dish from Bed, Bath and Table. They have beautiful things, I especially love the linen. Not cheap though, but gorgeous.

I made this cute Xmas tree canvas inspired by Christy Tomlinson. I love to go against the grain and use non traditional colours for Xmas.

Close ups of my Wall Rosettes.

'Dream' Canvas

Been meaning to post this I did awhile ago. It was inspired by this beautiful canvas made by Vinnie Pearce.

Vase of Flowers - Mixed Media canvas

A canvas I've been putting together over the last couple of weeks when I've had a moment to spare. Lots of layers of papers, paint, sprays and stamps. Lots of fun. Using product from Scottie Crafts. Quite like how it turned out.

Memory Box Garden

This was a fun project to do. When I received the pack from Scotties to make a project and instructions to  be sold as a kit, I wondered how I could do it and still make it my own style. Something I would love and want to keep myself. It was all beautiful stuff but sometimes you just don't know how you can put it together and still be true to you. But I did it and was very happy with what I came up with. This will definitely find a place on my wall somewhere.
There are still kits available at Scotties if you would like one. If you love masks and sprays and scrunching paper you will love this. Just give them a call.

SENZ Class and what to bring etc

It's getting close now. I'm rather excited to go to a scrapbooking expo again, it's been awhile. I always love the atmosphere and catching up with friends and meeting new people. LOVE IT!!

If you are coming to my class or thinking about it, here it is and what you need to bring.

Glue e.g. Glossy accents or Dimensional magic

Scissors

Trimmer

2 or 3 medium sized Paint brushes

Heat gun (if they have one to save time waiting)

Black Stazon ink pad

Brayer if you have one (will save time waiting to use one)

It really is a fun class with lots of technique covered.

I've been enjoying doing some online classes myself lately. I did this fantastic class of Christy Tomlinson's.

The She Art Workshop

It is so amazing, I learnt so much. I love learning to use different products and new ideas. And Christy is awesome, so much fun! I will post what I've done when I take a photo. I have been using the techniques I learnt in my own art and I'm just loving it.

Through Christy I discovered Pan Pastels. Then, thinking I would never be able to get them here in NZ, to my extreme excitement I discovered them at Takapuna Art Supplies, plus a lot of other products she uses. Can you imagine how excited I was!

So then I wanted to learn more about Pan Pastels. And guess what? Donna Downey is doing an online workshop.

Pan Pastel 101

Oh my goodness I say to myself, this is meant to be. So I can't wait to play with the 2 pan pastel colours I have so far, lol. I see a new collection coming up.

We had a late start to our day last Sunday. With all the rain we had over the weekend I think this poor tree couldn't hold on any longer. It just fell right down there over the road, blocking the way in and out of Port Waikato all morning till it was finally cleared away by midday. Glad we weren't going to the airport. The girl in front of us was.

What I've been up to

First up, some creations with my DT kit from Scotties. I had some cool Studio Calico papers, rub ons, wood veneer shapes and the awesome spray inks. I love the coverage they give. Here is a small 6x6 canvas I made using the gorgeous plastic doilies Scotties stocks. I used them as texture with gesso for the base of the background, then I cut the middle out of another one and made the 2 larger flowers. I sprayed the blue one with the SC spray ink and painted the pink one. The wood veneer shapes for the small flower are sprayed with the Bluegrass Spray ink and painted. They are so versatile. I esp love the butterfly shapes in the LO below.

This LO also features the new Cherry Lynn Designs Kiwi Enchantment Doily Die. How cool are these dies!! These are sprayed with the Studio Calico spray inks. Plastic doilies again and the wood veneer button shapes, one covered in patterned paper and the other embossed with glittery orange embossing powder.
Now, here is a doily basket. I read about doing this via a link on Pinterest. I bought some Plaid 'Stiffy' from Spotlight. Its so easy, just soak the doily in Stiffy, squeeze it out and lay it over the base of a plastic bowl covered in gladwrap to dry overnight. I then put it the hot water cupboard for a couple of days. I was rapt with how it turned out being such a dainty doily to start with.
Introducing my 'erosion bundle' which is and will be buried in my vege garden for 3 months. Somehow I came across this blog, The Erosion Bundle Project, and I was so fascinated. I wanted to do this too. I had planned on burying my bundle on April 1st but that came and went. I eventually buried it this Tues 3rd may. I love the bundles the participants on the blog have been unraveling and I can't wait to unravel mine in August. Check out the site if you interested, I'd love someone to play along with me.
Here are the contents of my bundle. Paper bags, old wage envelopes, fabric, coffee grounds, tea leaves, rusty roof iron, pins, a stick, fern leaf, seeds, tissue, old book pages, metal washers, paper flowers and more. There is so much you can add. You want things that will rust and colour as mother nature takes her course, so you get a lovely vintagey, distressed, eroded coloured result. I'm thinking of doing another one too.

Lastly, another Pinterest inspired project. Here is the inspiration for this cute birdcage.
The base is a jar lid which I inked with black Stazon and covered the inside with Sassafras Lass pp. I made the cage with wire. Fun! I love working with wire. Then I rubbed Stazon ink over the wire to give it an aged look. And the little bird was an old key ring charm I had. Perfect!
Hope you've been inspired. And if you want to join me in the erosion bundle project leave a comment and we can do this together.