Luck

Hi and welcome! Today has been mixed, weatherwise, with only a brief respite from the rain, but we are counting ourselves lucky in regards to the most recent 'low' that came our way Friday. This is what ended up as a temporary resident in the front yard,.... a large leopard tree from the verge across the street.  The resident had been wanting it removed for some time and he was lucky, that it didn't topple in the other direction, as his house would have been decimated.

Often, we have a car parked where the tree landed, but not Friday! It did take out a row of lillypillies, but with some judicious pruning ( almost to ground level with a couple) they may regrow,
The tree roots have entangled with the phone cable, but it didn't break. They're still sitting, waiting to be removed.

The rest of the tree was lopped, chopped and mulched on Saturday, re-opening the street to traffic. The damage in other towns in the region has been quite horrendous, with roofs lost, buildings damaged, flooding and on the coast, erosion caused by the rough seas.

So, back to LUCK!.
Today I'm showing my take on Challenge 13 at ABAC. Take a look at at what everyone else has done at  http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/

I started my layout with a cut-out photo of self, taken about 40 years ago! This was put onto a background of silver mirror board.

 Acetate, left over from craft packaging, was embossed with T.H's 'Crack" embossing folder, cut down to fit an oval frame, inked lightly with StazOn Metallic Silver and Midnight Blue and then placed over the photo to form.... my cracked mirror.
The frame is a chipboard piece from 'Dusty Attic', a company specialising in fine chipboard embellishments. This has been treated with Opals enamels in Banksia and Nut, to give an antique look. It was also smooched with a touch of metallic silver stazon for some extra patina.The frame was then glued to the acetate.

Various ' Good and Bad Luck ' superstitions were written on the layout. I used gel pens for this.
The titles were written using a T.H. embossing pen and heat embossed with white. When cool, I coloured over the embossing with watercolour pencils (Black magic technique, tho' a departure from the normal one, done with white ink,  coloured and outlined with white).

 I like the extra depth of texture, and the more vibrant colours this particular method gives (thank you Julie, timetocreate-handmadetreasure.blogspot.com.au for the tip).
Some of the drawn symbols were coated with glossy accents. On the number 13 I used the crackle glossy accents. This gave an unexpected result, changing the colour of the gel pen underneath, from gold to black.... interesting!

 

 

 

 

Random dotting for a framework completed the layout. This was done with Lumiere acrylics.

Thank you for visiting. Thank you also for your positive comments and feedback. They are most welcome and I enjoy reading them and visiting your blogs to see what you have  been doing. Cheers, Di

Antithesis and awards

Hi and Welcome! This photo of self and son was taken when on a holiday in Tasmania, June, 2011. This pretty little beach was deserted except for a number of ducks waddling around a pond on someones property on the beachfront. This photo represents the antithesis of typical beach scenes in summer, with scores of sun-seeking sun-bathers, swimmers and surfers, and is my take on the ARTastic challenge using Charles Meere's  'Australian Beach Pattern'  painting as an inspiration. Check this challenge out at: http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/

As a family we tend to avoid the busy, summer scene preferring the quiet, peace and solitude offered at other times and seasons. This gives us time to relax and enjoy our surroundings and to take photo of course!

 

An aperture was cut in cardstock and layered from the reverse with strips of folded paper  (Venetian Folding), which enabled the photo to be tucked in. Strips of contrasting cardstock and a punched edge, a little wave-like, were  added. Also, adding some extra contrast and texture, I've used one of

my string block stamps (see a previous post) to  stamp the cardstock base using Brilliance pearlescent  ink, and an embossed glossy cardstock, smooched with lumieres and inca gold. The net fibre was coloured with Distress Inks. 

 

 

The 'coral' feature was made by embossing cardstock using T.H.   'crack' folder, which was smooched with distress inks, metallic stains and lumieres. Black pearlised cardstock was also run through the folder. Both were then fussy cut and arranged to make the coral.

To complete the seaside theme, I added shells, coloured with a touch of Lumiere, mother of pearl discs and some die cuts.  

 

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Jenny for nominating me for a Liebster Award. This is the first time I've heard of this award, and what a beautiful surprise!   You can find Jenny's blog at .http://pushingtherightbuttons.blogspot.com.au/. I follow this blog regularly and have found it truly inspiring and awesome!

 

 

  





 

A bit about the award (I've snaffled this info. from Jenny's post). This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion. Once you've been nominated, you  award it to blogs that you like, that have fewer than 200 followers, to encourage  visitors to these new blogs.

 

Rules for Acceptance.

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Give the award to 5 bloggers who you appreciate, that have fewer than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know that you have given them this awesome award.

So, a huge thank you again Jenny.

 

Pay It Forward.

Here are 5 blogs I think you would enjoy checking out. I have found their artworks vibrant and inspiring. These artists use colour beautifully and always have wonderful textural elements and colour palettes.

Jennie Atkinson:http://jennie-livethedream.blogspot.com.au/ 

Helene Bogren: http://helenesscrapsida.blogspot.com.au/

Sarah Rogers: http://lawlessrose.blogspot.com.au/

Elaine Schoof: http://elainesjoy.blogspot.com.au/

Julia Stratford-Wright : http://julialsw.blogspot.com.au/

 

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are always welcome. Cheers, Di

 

 

 

Love Tag

Hi! and welcome. Today I'm showing a tag completed today as a second entry into ABAC Challenge 12: Share the Love.  http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/
The photo was taken during our early dating days, in one of those instant photo booths, you used to see at malls. I only rediscovered it by chance, when tidying up a stack of papers... it fell onto the floor, put aside, until my aha..  moment.

The heart was cut from cardstock and then dressed with various braids and ribbons. This was then taped to the tags, red and black.

Edges were smooched with Inca Gold, hearts on the black tag were stamped with versamark and then dusted with perfect pearls. A hinge for the 'Love' sign was made from ribbon. Glass hearts were coloured with alcohol inks. Stamping, ribbon roses, and bling hearts completed the tag.
Memories indeed!
Thank you for visiting. Your comments are truly appreciated. Cheers. Di

A Timely Point of View

Today's post has me looking back, wondering where the last 40 years went to so quickly. We celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary in September, so what better way  to "Share the Love" for Challenge 12 at http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca  than by reflecting on our lives together, so far.
This very tongue- in - cheek photo was taken at our wedding reception. It features Russ (husband, seated), best man Charles and groomsman, cousin Ron (looking quite raffish with the goatee). I think the photo speaks for itself, lending ideas for the imagination about what they were thinking!

The boys, sharing the love by giving support!!.... too late .... now, who's next!

The photo was distressed by sanding the edges and parts of the surface, then inked with 'vintage photo' distress ink. Papers from Graphic 45 'A Proper Gentleman'  and Kaisercraft 'Prairie Lane' have been used. These also received the distressed look. The lace effect was done by using lace on a teal blue cardstock and spraying generously weith Glimmermist. This was a piece left over from a previous layout and the colour matched well with some of the fine detailed patterns from the Prairie Lane collection.

Cogs were die cut from embossed card. Some were then inked with Brilliance pearlescent 'olive' and others were give a faux rusted metal finish (first time I've used this, so many thanks to all of you who have posted about this Tim Holtz method) and then brushed with perfect pearls. The slight shimmer on these hasn't shown up on the photo.

I've also used Washi Tape, featuring the theme of cogs and clocks.

As Russ and I  are now both retired, we're hoping to enjoy the journey, even more.

Thank you for visiting. I love to hear from you. Cheers, Di