Some of my latest ATCs

I was once again one of the lucky ones invited to take part in Marion Bockelmann's annual ATC swap.

This year the theme was "Mona and Friends". I am looking forward to getting the returns.

We were asked to use images from the same era as Mona, and alter them....not just use Mona as the main image.

This is my entry

Art with Friends

Back in late January, two of my friends came up from Melbourne to stay with me for a few days.
We had a wonderful time arting and just enjoying each others company in general.

We decided to create a canvas each in the style of a Pam Carriker's workshop, "An Angel's Anthology".

Here are the two of them doing their best to look like they are working hard on their projects....LOL

This is my attempt ...I think it could have been a bit more blue in tone but I like the textures that we incorporated.The crackling was a bonus of using Gesso that was old and dried out....quite a bonus really!

This is a closeup of the crackling...would be good if it happened more often on other work.

This is the cover I made for everyone's PaperArts group "Night Before Christmas" book swap.

Hand made/painted paper background.

A Zetti piece of work

I have been  purchasing and downloading images from "Crowabout" for quite a while so I thought it about time I did something with some of them.

I usually prefer to make up weird images from various other images for my collages, but I gotta admit that using PNG images to make digital art sure saves a lot of time!

Anyway, if nothing else, it makes me smile...vbg.

A few more pieces of me....vbg

  This ATC swap theme was "Out Of The Mouths Of Babes" in January 2011. She looks like I feel whenever I have to deprive myself of all the good tastes in life!

February 2011 ATC theme was "Queen Of Broken Hearts". I think she has to be almost at the top of the list even tho' she married one husband twice! ( does that mean she actually broke HIS heart TWICE????)....vbg.February 2011

Marchs' ATC swap theme was "Bird In A Cage". This is a very rare bird indeed!

Some Mixed Media Art Dolls

Recently I was in a swap  to make a mixed media art doll from recycled jewelery.

 I enjoyed this project so much that I made a few more and I WILL be making more of them in the near future.

I have been scrounging thru' my stash of old jewelery and on the look-out for more treasures to pull to pieces at our local op shops but am finding it hard to get any there these days. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did making them.

I have tried to keep them all around 6 inches long...some are a little shorter than that tho'.




This little pretty was my first. She was the one made for the swap.

 This one now lives with my dear friend Bevlea in Melbourne.

This one has a vintage mother of pearl butterfly brooch as her "crown". She looks like she is ready to "spring into action" at any given moment....LOL.










This one reminds me of an Amazon woman...don't know why cos she doesn't really look like one ....LOL

This one isn't all jewelery (obviously...vbg). Her body is of a sheet of tin that already had the all over pattern pressed into it and in it's original shape...goodness knows what it was originally but I have 4 pieces of it. It is coloured with Alcohol Inks. 

 This bright little Sprite is made using a large jigsaw    piece that I textured and then coloured with paints. She has a bottle cap head and printed wings.

I am off to bed again now so I will add more  tomorrow. 

And so I continue...

 So let's see if blogland treats me more kindly today...vbg.

(surely it couldn't have anything to do with me forgetting how to do things on it...could it???...vbg)

OK..where did I leave off??..Oh yes....the one eyed Mermaid,(which for her, is better than two because it has a built in torch for travelling through the water at night.)

This next ATC is my attempt at Zetti art.
September- 2010

Another Zetti style for a "Marie-Antoinette" theme.

November-2010

  And another...December 2010, using an image of the well endowed 1950s movie star, Jane Mansfield for the theme of "Queen of....."

This is a soldered pendant I made back in August 2010. I used an actual Tintype photo, added a copper German Scrap wing and some rub-ons. I cut the outer wings from copper scrim. The death notice in the back of it is from a 1909 newspaper.

And yet another "zetti" styled ATC...I think I have fallen into the Zetti conclave and can't get out! Good thing I LURV IT!!...vbg. This is a transparency of a vintage woman over alcohol inked BG with a printed head and nest added. The blue bird is 3D mounted.

This ATC was quickly created from bits I had on my desk. The BG music manuscript has a tranferred image on it but I added a printed headover the original one.

 Even though this poor fellow... and his seven brothers... didn't make it to the Macabre Corpse book swap due to having been ruined by my leaking ceiling whilst we were away over seas, I wanted to include him here. It took me all day to compile him in PhotoShop ( and I have a witness that can verify that...vbg) so you can imagine how disappointed and peed-off I was to find nearly all of them stuck together and had to make up another lot!

THE TIME HAS COME.....!!!!

WOW!!! Can you believe this????....I am FINALLY adding something to my blog!When I first decided to do this...only a few minutes ago, I was tossing up as to whether I should just "dump" this blog and start again but I realised that as it has taken me sooooo long to get back to THIS one, creating a new one could be too daunting and may NEVER happen.

At the risk of sounding both egotistical and im-modest, some of you may have been wondering where I have been, and why I have not been keeping up with blogging here.  I WAS going to go into detail as to why, however, I have decided not to bore you with my excuses.....even tho' they were legit... and just get on with adding images of what "arting" I HAVE managed to get done in-between "life  events".

I would also like to thank those of you that have continued to "check in" on me, I feel honoured but very guilty...vbg.So....where do I start???...I guess I will have to go back to where I left off...November 2009!....LOL

This ATCs theme is  "Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend"

November-2009

"Something Fishy" -December 2009

"Gypsy"-January 2010 

"Beach Babe"- February 2010



Medieval ATC- May 2010

Altered Sardine Tin- May 2010

Black & Silver Gothic ATC-June 2010

Twinchie- Paper Napkin BG,Frinkles & Rusted Metal Dragonfly
July-2010

 

"Steampunk" with moving parts
July-2010

This is another Zetti style ATC

August - 2010

OK!...I give up! I don't know what has happened to Bloggerland since I last posted but it is driving me crazy trying to set out the pics!!! It has exhausted all my good intentions for tonight...I am off to bed to refresh the nervous system and the grey matter....not to mention my aching foot.

But, like that famous saying...I shall be back, hopefully tomorrow, to add more of my creations.

MY SANITY HAS BEEN TESTED!

I have been feeling emotionally stressed
this past month....and probably a little
jet-lagged from our trip to Egypt,
and actually felt like tossing out
my stash and giving paper art away!

My muse had taken flight and I just
felt miserable all day.

Having to do the November tute on
our 2cre8art blog  really seemed such
a chore when I thought about it, but,
depressed or not, I knew I HAD to
do it or I would not be able to "face" 
our followers ...or for that matter,
LIKE myself, so at the 11th hour,
I forced myself to do it and found
that by the time I had finished, I
was back into the "zone"...almost!

Because of the tute and the images
I used for it, (which I ALWAYS print
too many of ), I decided that I  needed
time to regain some sanity in my life! 

So, I would get all the normal (well...
not much is really "normal" for me here
at present, but that's another story...vbg)
household chores done of a morning,
then head off into my cluttered
creative space to see if my muse
really had come back!

After the first half dozen ATCs
came together, I found I couldn't
stop! I even had to go print out
some MORE images...LOL.
Fortunately, as I have
mentioned before, I always
have a stack of  ATC backs ready
 to play with, so I kept creating
until I had used all the appropriate
coloured ones.

So, now I have 15 new ATCs , of the same theme, added to the 3 tute ones!  I am sure each one of them contains a part of  my emotional being and I am also sure they will show the state of my mind at the time of making..nutters!!...LOL.

And here they all are.... I would love to see your cawments on them.

THIS MONTH'S ATC for GROUP SWAP

This month our theme was "Fractured Fairy Tales"....
and me being me, got it wrong and came up with a
"Fractured Nursery Rhyme" ATC.

However, after running it past the boss lady, Bevlea,
I was granted permission to use it!

I sourced a 1950's Pin-up girl from the inter-net then went surfing for three suitable fellows to take a bath with her...I think they are just the right ones, don't you? She has brains, culture and last but not least....swashbuckling good looks!

The BG is of my hand dyed paper and the 3 is a Cuttlebug die cut, using silver cardstock. The edges are distressed with Ranger ink.

Mr. Einstein is 3D mounted, both at the head and the
left arm and I coloured in the bath bubbles with a white marker. 

SPOOKY ANCESTORS UPDATE

This is my FINISHED 6 x 4 inch book page for our PaperArts Sept Swap,which, due to a change of themes, is late in being finalised.

We all had to use collage sheet images from Itkupilli , so our completed book will have a great uniform look to it.

There are 13 participants which is just the right amount for the theme...don't you agree?

All the images on my page are 3D mounted onto the background. I used medical gauze for the "grass" and painted over it with a yucky mix of acrylic paints.

Here we have the Bonehead family in a family portrait.

Mother, altho' a little shaky on her old bones, is dressed in her best old gown and is sporting a beautiful black rose hat which I think really enhances her wonderful high cheekbones!

The children were on their best behavior as they were promised that they could watch the DVD "How Frankenstein Met his Death" after the photo shoot if they stood still and put on a startled face!

Little Hedra was always Daddy's favourite so she was given the privilege of holding what was left of him so he would be included. You can see by the smile on his face that he was thrilled to be there.

  Hannibal took along his pet, "Blackie" who was kept on a short rein so as not to creep off out of the camera's range. It also ensured that the nasty black crow that was eying him off would not swoop down and take him for his supper!

Hannibal's twin sister, Lucretia found the whole time boring as...she just wanted to get it over with so she could go back home and pull off some more doll's heads!

DOWN on the FARM

This was last month's Mixed Media swap, altho' I used mainly paper.

It measure 3 inches x 11/2 inches and is ,obviously, an accordian book.

Both Bevlea and I played a part in making this...she found some of the images and printed them out and I placed them onto the backgounds.

The "reins" on the stubborn mule on the front allows the book to be tied closed...unfortunately I don't have a pic of that tho'.

These pics were taken before I added my signature to it...a black crow flying above the ducks...maybe the recipient of the book will send me an image of it if I ask nicely...vbg.

POST SCRIPT:
Debbie has sent me a pic of the crow on the page...and it has a mind of it's own as to where it wants to be positioned  here on this page so I apologise for it being out of order.

RUSTY "STEAM-PUNK"

September's ATC Theme is RUST so I used some of my rusted paper as the back ground for this little Punk style courier of love.


He has rusted metal Dragonfly wings on his back and on the rusted cog wheels, and a rusted tin heart to carry.
 
He also has a wee rusty (cog) monacle to cheekily peek out thru'.

QUEEN BEE

This is August's bulk swap ATC. The theme was Bees.

I compiled the image in Photoshop and added eyes cut from a magazine. It is on a painted watercolour paper background, stamped, using Brilliance Copper ink to represent honeycomb.

Her wings have a thin coat of Stickles and her crown and ear-ring have red Kindy Glitz dots. Her back wing is 3D raised on mount tape.

There were not as many in the swap as expected so I have three of these available to trade if anyone is interested.

Zetti Returns

My Zetti returns have finally arrived from Marion and I am lovin' them all!
Thanks once again to Marion for taking the time to run this humongous annual swap....I look forward to NEXT year's with great excitement!

Click on image to see them in all their glory!

I received ATCs from the following artists...
Marion Bockelman
Marsha Jorgensen
Angelika Tugal
Ute Krauss
Angela Sturm
Deirdre Roberts
Ulrike Kauffmann
Kate Crane
Mandy

Thank you all.

I recently received this new award given to me by Donna Dixon . You MUST check out her site...it has fantastic eye-candy and wonderful free images!
Thank you Donna..I appreciate the fact that you felt me worthy of this award.

I have to list 5 things that I love, then choose 10 of my favourite blogs to give this award too.
Let me tell you that choosing ten will not be an easy task but I will give it a try.

Firstly, five things that I love....other than my hubby and my home...vbg

1. Watching my grand children grow.
2. Clean sheets on my bed.
3. The scent of Freesias.
4. The colour chartreuse...makes my mouth water...LOL
5. Listening to the rain on an iron roof, especially after a long dry.

And I send this award to the people below...

1. Kirsi..where you will find gorgeous eye-candy AND links to beautiful collage sheets.
2. Kris - the name says it all !
3. Diana - beautiful eye-candy.
4. Rachel - more lovely eye-candy.
5. Kathy - a very talented collage artist.
6. Jo James -FABULOUS whimsical art dolls!
7. Amy Flowe - she has a wonderful slide show of her art .
8. Kelsey - wonderful dark art...very lovely lady.
9. Robyn Gordon - FANTASTIC wooden carved art.
10. Nancy Baumiller - AWESOME Collage artist.

So, you wonderful artistes...if you don't wish to accept the award I will understand, but at least you will know that I love visiting your sites and adore and covet your art!

RAVEN AGAIN!

I made this one up for a CROW/RAVEN swap on a UK Yahoo group.

The only criteria was that we were to hand draw the crow/raven.

He is painted with Golden's Carbon Black onto a painted background,using watercolour paper.

I printed out the black and white paper borders, and also the yellow spotted hat, which began life as a picture of a paper cup.

The eye was cut out of a magazine.

Seems I couldn't help myself....he turned out Zetti-ish!

Fantastic Blog...Fabulous Give-away!

I have just spent way too much time ogling and drooling over images of fantastic art dolls...yes...they really are ART DOLLS!!....and one of them is going to be given away to a lucky visitor to the blog!
And yet another Yes....I will 'fess up that I still have a soft spot for cloth dolls, especially the whimsical, naive, arty ones.
The GIVE-AWAY is in honour of Jo James celebrating her 200th blog post! Wow!...what a milestone!
I have every part of me crossed that is possible to do, in hope that I will be the lucky winner!...LOL

So...take a walk on the whimsy side and check out this blog.
This is the little sweetie-pie that is up for winning.
But...be quick...the offer ends October 1st.

ANOTHER FABRIC PAGE

I have finally completed my commitment of fabric pages for several people on a Yahoo Group.

We all selected our own theme and each participant made a 5 inch X 7 inch page up for everyone, which the recipient then makes into a book.

This one's theme is "Nature".(Yeah..I know...it's a bit "fishy" but that's nature isn't it?)

Using silver thread and a wavy stitch, I attached some sheer, shiny fabric to the base fabric, which is cotton with a fleck of silver thru' it, I attached the fish, which are cut from a piece of fabric that I have had stashed away for yonks...(NEVER, NEVER throw anything away...you never know when you are going to want it!!...vbg)...and then stuffed them with Dacron filling to make them raised from the base fabric. They have glass beads for eyes and pearls and glass beads for the water bubbles.
I used yarns for seaweed and floral fabric for coral. I attached some Cinamay strips to the bottom of each side, then added some of those wonderful silicone beads that I used on the mermaid ATCs to represent sand.

I've been challenged..

I was checking out Moriah's blog today....sorry Moriah, I'm a little behind in doing so... where I discovered I was up for a Blog challenge! I was instructed to go to the 4th folder in "My Photos" and then post the 4th photo in that folder here and tell a little bit about it.
So, here it is...pretty boring old stuff really but I must do as I'm told...vbg.

This is a mixed media paper doll (bird) that was made for a swap. She was to go to a participant over in America, but some how she flew off course and never arrived at her destination!
She was about 6 inches tall, self supported on her wire legs, with a tiny woven vine nest which has three REAL candy coated chocolate eggs in it. I painted them with acrylic and then sealed them with a lacquer, adding tiny diamantes to them at that time.
There is a garland of lead crystals surrounding the nest and some also on the wire hanger. Unfortunately they don't show up in all their glory here. There are also tiny copper stars attached to the garland
Her wings are feathers off a vintage 1950's lady's hat and she has a brass crown, surrounded by Christmas icicle-garland spikes.
So now it is my turn to pass this challenge on to 4 other Bloggers....I do hope they take it up...and no cheating ladies...vbg.

Bevlea Ross http://soularts.typepad.com

Marion Bockelmann http://bockel24.blogspot.com

Diana O'Cobhthaigh http://docobhthaigh.blogspot.com

Lucy Leatham http://artitudebylucy.blogspot.com