PATIENCE

Hi and welcome.
Sometimes patience is all it takes and so it was, when these shots were taken of a white-faced heron meandering its way through the shallow waters at the edge of the Severn River. This river, running through Stanthorpe, forms part of the vast wetlands area that have been established in the township, attracting a wide variety of bird life.

This layout for: http://kcclayoutchallenges.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/lm-210-natures-glory.html
features the use of  die-cut film strips and stamping. I've  used the film strip sections for my journalling.
I'm sure we weren't the only ones being patient this particular morning. The heron outdid all of us, standing still for up to 5 minutes at a time before taking another cautious step. When it spotted something appetising it would stand on one foot with its whole body quivering, until it quickly plunged forward with its head and long beak, before moving on to another section of the river.
We were able to watch it, and some ducks swimming nearby,  for 15 - 20 minutes before it flew off further down stream.
A peaceful start to a very pleasant day.
Thanks for stopping by.
Catch you again soon.
Cheers, Di

YIN-YANG OF SEASONS AT ANYTHING BUT A CARD

Hi and welcome. At Anything But A Card this month we are celebrating either autumn or spring or a combination of both, as I have done. For the challenge this month I decided to do a reverse canvas (40cm x 40cm) and a yin-yang stylised design celebrating autumn and spring.

I started with the canvas, painting it with acrylic paints ad adding mists of Perfect Pearls and Dylusions to give some extra colour and depth. At this stage I wasn't too concerned that the colours weren't exactly in half, since a good proportion was going to be covered up anyway.

The yin-yang design was drawn onto white card stock. Flowers and leaves were hand drawn and then coloured using combinations of watercolour crayons, Distress Inks ( inks pressed onto plastic sheeting and the colour picked up with a fine brush) and Mementoluxe inks (applied the same way). The background was painted on using a combination of Inca  Golds (applied with a water brush) and 3D Texture Paint (applied the same way).

 
After I  had put this piece onto the canvas I added some more Inca Gold to sections.
At this stage, I decided the frame needed some additional colour applied, so I daubed on Distress Stains  before gluing on the additional leaves and flowers.

Leaves were diecut using Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die. These were made from a combination of patterned papers and cream card stock smooshed with Distress Inks and spritzed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays (I'm loving the richness of these). While these were still damp I scrunched them up and let them dry before opening them out and tweaking them a bit more.
Different cones and dried seed pods were added., as well as a ceramic gecko.

Flowers were made using the Tattered Florals dies. These were made from smooshed and sprayed card stock and again scrunched while damp and left to dry. Some were formed into rose shapes
while others were just layered.

Acetate packaging was stamped with butterflies, cut out and coloured with alcohol inks.
The canvas and yin-yang design was finished with Collage Pauge to seal it.
When the whole piece was finished (or so I thought), I decided it needed some extra glam, so I used a combination of Perfect Pearls, Liquid Pearls and Viva Pearl pens to outline flowers, add some detail to the leaves and to also go around the outer edge of the circle.

It's now ready to find a spot to hang it.

Thank you for stopping by. Do pop on over to:http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.ca/ and have a look at what the rest of the design team has done with the Autumn Magic/ Spring Wonder Challenge. We'd love to see your art here.
Cheers for now,
Di

MAISIE VICTORIA DAVISON

This month at ARTastic, the inspiration photo was a beautiful heritage styled painting depicting a fabulous jacaranda tree in full bloom.  To see this painting, pop  on over to the ARTastic blog at:
http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/  and also have a peep at what the rest of the team has done for this month's challenge.
Jacaranda trees are out in all of their gorgeous blooms throughout this area and particularly in the not- so- far- away city of Grafton, where they hold a Jacaranda Festival each year in October. Although not native to Australia, they have become an icon in many streets and gardens. Personally I love these planted next to an Australian native, the Illawarra Flame Tree, also in brilliant bloom at this time of the year. This tree has a gorgeous coral/red flower which looks stunning next to the vivid blue/purple of the jacaranda.
 But enough of these musings and onto my layout!

The photo I' ve used is of my mum, taken in 1929 when she was 18.  This particular photo is a reproduction of the original, made about 40 years ago and given to family members at a reunion in 1974. Mum loved roses, blues, mauves and laces, so I have incorporated these into the layout.  She was also a fabulous crocheter and I've also used some snippets of crocheted doilies.

I've chosen to reflect the hues of the jacarandas in the papers I've made the roses from and in the laces I tinted with Distress Inks. (Milled Lavender, Shaded Lilac). The same Distress Inks were also smooshed onto the papers.

Some of the papers for the roses and flowers were made from smooshing the colours onto a white cardstock and also giving them a light spray of Glimmer mist. Other papers are from cardstock I've had for ages. The roses and some of the other flowers were diecuts using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die. Others were punched.

To go with the heritage style of the painting I have given my layout a shabby chic/ distressed look with distressed and punched edges and inserts of laces and different papers. These have torn and rolled edges which were also inked with the 2 lilac colours as well as Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
The chipboard flourish has been daubed with distress stains and sprayed with glimmer mist.

I've used a material vine to complete the piece and hidden journalling tags (also edged with lace).

Thank you for popping by and for your comments.
Cheers, for now,
Di

FRIENDS

 

 

Hi and welcome. The first of October and a new challenge at Pixels and Paper where the inspiration photo could well have you thinking of your favourite cuppa , flowers or pastel colours. Pop on over to:-http://pixelsandpaperchallengeblog.blogspot.com.au/  and have a look at the image as well as what the team has come up with.



  

 

 

 I've left my background paper as it came. This was a fabulous collection from Fabscraps and the images and colours were perfect for this challenge. I've added some punched paper 'lace' strips, using pale blue and pale green, a great sentiment card which has also doubled as a journalling tag, diecut trellis (Fabscraps again), diecut flowers from vellum, pearls and a store-bought butterfly.

 

 

All edges were smooshed with one of my new purchases from "Time To Create Handmade Treasures"... the gorgeous MementoLuxe inks. I used Angel Pink and Pear Tart. (green) .. both gorgeous, fresh colours. The vellum was sprayed lightly with Perfect Pearls and finished  with a touch of the the MementoLuxe as well.

The photo is of a good friend and self  having a quick interlude at 'http://timetocreate-handmadetreasure.blogspot.com.au/.
I hope you feel inspired to have a go at our challenge this month.
Cheers, for now.
Di

Designed for Pixels and Paper Challenges

Challenges Entered:
Lasting memories Scrapbook Layout Challenges  Friends) at:
http://kcclayoutchallenges.blogspot.ca/2014/10/lm-211-beautiful-friendship.html