paper torn, layered and glued....

It has been a little while since I have played with paper,

I've missed it!

not the mess, mind you...

I had forgotten how much mess I can make when I collage!

.........................

I decided we needed a something for the wall in our lounge room

so I gathered some old textbooks, paper, vintage dictionaries & atlas, mod podge, washi tape,

 my brushes, spray graphite a couple of cog masks, a little chipboard birdie a 24" stretched canvas and started playing!

.........................

this is what I came up with

a piece that represents all of the members of my family.

God, maths, science, music, craft, space, nature, gardening, physics, sewing, craft, our surname, it is all there....things that represent each of the members of our family!

there is even a little lego tribute  ;)

There is a tree for each member as well -

standing tall and together.



I love this verse

 

The heavens declare the glory of God

the skies proclaim

the work of his hands

Psalm 19:1

 

 

It seemed to work perfectly over the top of the

Southern Sky star chart from a vintage atlas.

........................................

If you click on the photographs

they will probably be a little larger

if you would like to read anything on the collage.

 

Hope you find time today to be creative,

~ Gillian ♥

pages from art journal.....

how does one keep calm and carry on

when all you feel like doing is screaming?

in the past three weeks since my father passed away

I have felt every emotion and cried more tears than I thought were possible

I have times were I have felt strong and then weak once more.

Prayer has at times flowed and at times felt impossible

knowing that God knows my heart has been a huge comfort

and the love of my dear family has been such a blessing.

I have started a new art journal for 2012

no great art works in there just doodles and collage and thoughts from my heart

but I thought I would share this collage of some of the pages I have made.

I have really found working on it has helped with all the muddle that seems to clog your brain when you lose someone you love.   Somehow working on it has helped me 'Carry on'.

a dear friend of mine wrote out these verses

 in a card she gave me and I wanted to share it here for you all....

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV

~ Gillian ♥

party fun.....

It's not every day your little girl turns 10....

So I made some sweet little brooches for the girls attending the party that looked super cute on the party boxes....
and the little girls who attended all enjoyed wearing them at the party.
Georgia and I also made these lovely tissue paper flowers together
for the centre of the table.
They were very simple to make & looked so pretty :)

all the girls got to take one home with them when they left the party.

.................................................................

the crochet flower brooches are very simple too.

I used 5ply cotton/acrylic blend.

the pattern is from this Beret pattern

(the instructions are at the very bottom of the pattern)

on the lincraft website

for the paper flowers

I found this youtube video with easy instructions

click here

.....................................................................

back hopefully tomorrow with my block of the week ;)

have a wonderful weekend

~ Gillian ♥

I ♥ making cards......

We have a church family camp this month and the card above is for the lovely couple who run the children's activities and the card below is for our guest speaker.
It feels like it has been ages since I have sat at my card making desk
and created anything with paper......
I must say it did feel good!
but I had forgotten how messy I can make a my desk!

So happy my favourite season Autumn has arrived :)
have a lovely day
~ Gillian ♥

Places to Go......

It's been a little while since I shared some of my cards...
This set of Three Travel Cards
were recently published in
Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft
Vol 16 No 5

I love the way they photographed the cards,
so have included a scan of the magazine above.
and some close ups for you :)May Your day be Blessed
~ Gillian ♥

Paper and Yarn....

My Eldest is turning 15 - gasp!

can't believe it

anyway, I needed to make a card for him

~ teenage boys...hmmmmmm

anyone who makes, cards knows cards for teenage boys can be as difficult

as sympathy cards to get your head around.

But it had to be done ;) lol!

So, here it is ~ Simple Clean Lines.

I was quite pleased to get a new phone a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to protect my new toy.

So finally plucked up the courage to have a go at making a cosy for it.
I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, it even matches my little coin pouch :)
I found a pattern on Yarn Pixies Blog
for an MP3 Pouch,
My phone was a little larger so I added a couple of extra rows
and a little 'pinkie finger loop' instead of the drawstring top on the original pattern.
You can find the pattern on
Yarn Pixies Blog
& on Ravelry

****************************
Have a Creative weekend Everyone :)
and thanks so much for visiting me ♥

it's been a busy weekend....

It's been a little while since I made an ATC

and as it is Georgia's and my special weekend

I thought I'd make her one for her collection.

It's a dark & overcast this afternoon so it's hard to capture

the colour and the texture,

but it has lots of layers of Stitching, Ink, paint & rub-on's

and is a little more pink and pearly than it appears in this photo and she loves it :)

Of course a Girly weekend wouldn't be complete without a trip to the markets,

now would it!

We both fell in love with these butterfly brooches we found at our local market

and we had to have a 'mummy & me' pair :)

I've been following the very talented Katia Donohoe for a little while now through her blog Plushka's craft blog she makes the most gorgeous items, I was really quite chuffed to find that she had been featured in Septembers issue of Notebook Magazine. Along with her feature there was instructions for making one of her sweet little 'owl babies' when I showed this to Georgia she immediately wanted it on the list for our girly weekend.

Georgia only needed a little help with stitching some of the smaller pieces but apart from that she did everything else and is already hooked on making softies!

Thank you so much Katia it was fun to watch Georgia create with so much excitement as her little owl baby came together :)

If you'd like to be inspired by Katia

Here is her Blog Plushka's craft blog

Her madeit store Plushka

and the Baby Owl Tutorial & template pdf

Thanks for visiting and sharing our Girly weekend!
♥ Gillian & Georgia :)

17th September

Today is my lovely husbands birthday

and of course I had to make him a card

I pulled an index page out of a large vintage atlas

folded it in half and then in half again for the foundation of this card.

I pulled another page from the same atlas but this time a map page

which I cut into strips to form the side edges of the openings of the card

I zig zagged on my machine down the edge

then set to work making my collage.

His Monogram needed to be applied, sanded, gesso'd & stitched

some stamping, a few rub-on's

and a spray of glimmermist

some ink and then you wouldn't believe it

I noticed our former home town (the place of his and my birth)

was on the front of the card,

When I pulled the index page out I pulled out one of the Australian pages but

I kid you not I did not plan for Inverell to be on the front

it just happened to be there

- how cool is that!
I had to circle it :)

Happy Birthday to my lovely husband

and to anyone else who is having a birthday today :)