MAIL RECEIVED AND MAIL TO SEND

It's been such a long, long time!!!

A Phil update....... Well, at long last he's off his crutches and can now drive. Whoopee!!! We (me, me, me) are all so happy!! Phil is happy as now he's not so dependent on me, and I am even "more" happy - MORE TIME FOR ME!!!!! Yeah!! The boys are happy, as they aren't hearing Phil yelling out "Boys, can you get me? Boys can you help me????" So all in all life is going back to normal. Thankyou everyone SO MUCH for your thoughts and best wishes. They were very much appreciated.

Jackie, thanks so much for your comments on my last blog post. Hopefully I'll catch you again soon on FlickR. Now if this is the Jackie I think it is - in my next post I will post a link of her FlickR photos - she is just sooooo talented!!!!!

MAIL RECEIVED

This gorgeous ATC is from Ebony. She is only 10 (??), and such a talent already. Of course she takes after her Grandma, Doreen....... Thanks Ebony!!!

Another gorgeous ATC!!! From Domito in France..... It is so Spring like - flowers, colour and fun - I love it! Thanks Domito!!!

It's always a pleasure to receive mail from Annica in Sweden. The first photo is an ATC, the second a postcard. Such a gorgeous lime colour for the ATC, and just look at that magenta coloured postcard. Love them!!! The fabric on the ATC and the postcard below are hand made by Annica, with added stitching and beading. Wonderful!!!! Thanks Annica.....

MAIL TO SEND (SOON, I HOPE!)

All ATC's, apart from the bottom one, a postcard.... All made by various mediums and techniques. A bit of this and a bit of that!! (Yes, I know - I love that expression!!).

Painted and stamped pellon.....

Fabric paper, painted, layered with organza, zapped, rubbed with treasure gold.....
Fabric sandwich, zapped, painted and hand stitched.....
Fabric paper, painted, layered with organza, machine sewing and beading.....
Fabric paper, painted, machine appliqued and FME.....

VOILA!!~!! That's it for now...... ta tah!!~!!!!!

MARCH CALENDAR GIRLS POSTCARD

This is my March Calendar Girls postcard. Firstly I needle felted the flower image onto hand-dyed felt, which I was quite happy with, but then when I tried to add some spiral stamp images to the background - they didn't take too well on the felt - so my card was ruined. So, I rescued the felted flower, and added some glitzy yarn around the edges..... I then used caran d'ache neocolour 11 water colour crayons, painted the blue vase onto water colour paper, and attached the felted flower. The edges of the card are painted with liquid gold. Hope CarolM likes it!!

ONLINE CLASS

I've joined an online class with Doll Street Dreamers, making a Sampler Book with Janet Clark. This is my front and back cover, which is made with crumpled tissue paper layered over felt and painted.

These are the inside of the front and back pages. The stamped letters on the inside front cover read "Open the Door".

JACK OF ALL TRADES

Now with Phil incapacitated, I am also the man of the house. Here I am on the roof (help!!), blowing the leaves from the gutters. You should've seen me on our little tractor too -Phil was having fits - but I was having such fun!!!! Who needs men - we can do it all!!!!!!!!!

A bit of this, a bit of that!!

It's been a while since I've posted, and not sure when my next post will be - but I'm going to sneak this one in.

Thanks to the lovely ladies who have nominated me for the "Make My Day Award"- I'm rapt - and with spare time at a minimum at the moment I would just like to pass this award onto everyone whose blogs I read routinely as they all make my day!!!

Phil is doing well and doing just what the Doctor ordered - not much, and wanting to do much more. Nurse Dianne is also coping, but very tired!!!! Lots of driving, cooking, nursing, cleaning, working, etc, etc....... and not much creating. BUT - there is a light at the end of the tunnel, so I can't complain - Phil will heal and life will go back to normal.

I received some more lovely mail. An ATC from Anne (who doesn't have a blog). Thanks so much Anne, it's wonderful - I especially like the frayed and beaded edging.

My March Calendar Girl postcard was from Joanna. Joanna is so sweet!! She knows how much I love faeries, so her postcard to me is a "Flower Fairy" postcard. It's beautiful - I love it. Thanks Joanna!!!

Okay, I haven't been completely uncreative. I joined a Laurel Burch tile swap which is on the Surface Design Yahoo Group. We each make 9 tiles each - which should make up a lovely wall hanging consisiting of different parts of a Laurel Burch design.

Also, for the Take it Further Challenge for February I chose to portray something that I remember. My Mum knitting!! She was always knitting for her family - click, clack of the knitting needles - great memories!!!! I decided my challenge was to finish the rug I started knitting, and now I only have 2 blocks left to knit, plus putting it all together.......

Calendar Girls - February Postcards

Calendar Girls - February Postcard

Received
This beautiful postcard is from Jenny from Calendar Girls. I really love it!! They are very much my colours, and all of the different fibres she has used look gorgeous together. Thanks Jenny!!

To Send

This is my Calendar Girls postcard for the month of February. I have used fabric which showed blurred images of flowers. I made this fabric by blotting the excess paint from the fabric collage in my previous post. The images of the lace flowers came out in a kind of blurry water colour effect, and I also added a few simple stamps to the background. The vase is appliqued and the rest is freemotion embroidery. This card is for Carol T!

Tome No. 4

Tome No. 4

Further to the Patti Culea Tome workshops, here is Tome No. 4. I really loved creating this page - front and back. The front page (the mermaid) was to learn the technique of painting on fabric and the second page incorporated painting and fabric collage. These are my pages. I'll take a photo of the pages from the ladies in the workshop at our next monthly Tome group. They all did a wonderful job!!!!!

Thankyou!!!

I just want to thank EVERYONE for your very kind wishes regarding Phil - I've passed them onto him and he said "thanks". He comes home from the hospital today or tomorrow, so that's when Nurse Dianne and Patient Phil will kick in. Let's hope it is a smooth "working relationship!" (LOL)

TIF Challenge/Lovely Post/Cyber Fyber/Dramas at Home

TAKE IT FURTHER CHALLENGE

January Journal Quilt

(The Disorder of a Spring Garden)

Well, here's my finished journal quilt for the TIF challenge. I'm really happy with the end result, even though I really didn't do much more with it than mentioned in the last post. I added some artificial silk flowers, a golden spider's web in the corner, and zapped the organza back. For the binding I just zig zagged on some lovely yarn. This is also going to be my January journal quilt for the ANZ Art Quilters Group - "The Disorder of a Spring Garden".

LOVELY POST

I received this gorgeous Garden Fairy as a lovely surprise post from Elizabeth! I admire Elizabeth's work so much, and visit her blog regularly. Now I'm the lucky owner of this little fairy...... She certainly came at a time when I needed her most!! Thanks Elizabeth!!!!

CYBER FYBER

I swapped an ATC and Postcard with Susan who has started up a wonderful site CYBER FYBER, where you can swap an ATC or Postcard with Susan, and then receive the same back. Now, what an opportunity to be the lucky owner of some of Susan's wonderful art. She is a very talented artist!!!!! Thanks Susan...... Make sure you go and take a look at the blog where this is all happening - what a fantastic idea. (Sorry about the ATC photo! The ATC is just gorgeous, with beautiful hand stitching.)

DRAMAS AT HOME

Had some drama here at home, which explains why I haven't been around much. I also may not be able to post too much either - or visit many blogs - but I will certainly do my best!!!

My husband, Phil, was hit by a car whilst riding his push bike. He's in hopsital with lots of cuts and bruises (some worse than others), and a broken hip. The surgeons are happy with the hip operation and say Phil should get full use of his leg. So we're very happy!!! But now, I have my DH home and not able to put any weight on his leg for 12 weeks. 12 WEEKS!!!!!!!!! So, doing any creating will depend on how "Nurse Dianne" copes with Phil. Plus work, kids and all the other stuff...... Hopefully we'll catch up again soon!

Take It Further Challenge/January Journal Quilt

It's about time I started with TIFC. I was soooo bad with Sharon's last challenge TAST, that this time, I'm determined to keep up. I decided to stick with the colour way option of the challenge. I started out with a piece of painted vilene, layered with painted organza strips, and then did lots of free motion embroidery to depict grass and flowers in a field. This first photo is up to that step.
The photo below has hand embroidery added, plus bits of roving couched on to look like a flower (don't ask me what flower!!) I haven't finished yet - lots more hand embroidery to be added, and then I need to decide if I'll zap back the organza. I do like to zap - so I probably will succumb!!
I think I will also make this into my January journal quilt for "seasons" and call it "The Disorder of a Spring Garden". Australia/New Zealand Art Quilters Group have a monthly journal quilt project happening, which I also have my name down to do. Don't know if it will be feasible to incorporate both of these challenges/projects each month, but I think it works well for this month.

Play Day

I made this piece on the weekend. It's Christmas tinsel, and yarn between two layers of blue plastic, which I painted with red acrylic paint. I put it under the embellisher, then zapped with the heat gun. I did some FME on it and a little bit of hand embroidery.

Then I cut it up and now it's a postcard and an ATC.

These 2 postcards were made from a piece I made a while back. I have used the embellisher on a purple wool block I had knitted. I layered pieces of synthetic yarn and bits of wool roving over the knitting and needle punched them. Then I did some FME and zapped with the heat gun.

Lastly I made a couple of bookmarks out of some painted paper towel I had lying around. I really love the feel of the paper towels and have been using these a lot lately. They are great to sew and have a lovely soft feel to them.

Post from Doreen/Dinner tonight

I received a lovely post from Doreen. This wonderful January postcard for our group Calendar Girls. It really is gorgeous, and one word I would describe for it is very "elegant". I love it - thanks Doreen!!

Also I was the lucky winner of 2 wonderful ATC's from Doreen. Thankyou Stephen (Doreen's hubby who picked my name out of the hat)...... They are both fantastic, and my photo of them doesn't do the colours justice.
And, to top it all off - a lovely handmade card also from Doreen. She is such a clever lady!!!!
THANKS DOREEN!!!!

This is what we're having for tea tonight! My lovely hubby (cough, cough) - made some big, beautiful vegetable pasties, and also made some tomato sauce from our very own tomatoes. Yum! Yum!! Don't they look delicious!!!!

Tome No. 2

Today I had my 3rd workshop for Patti's Tome series at Textile Artistry. This week we started on Tome No. 2, and the technnique for this page was inkjet transfers and photo collage. I've posted the photos for my page (front and back) - but you will have to wait for photos of the class participants until next time - as they weren't completed enough for a photo. This series of workshops started out a bit scary, but the ladies coming each week are all so lovely, that now I'm feeling very at ease with the "teacher" bit.

*I made my Tome page a "Sea World" theme - where I worked in my early 20's *

* The little doll fits inside the pocket ***

Little book in Patti Culea style

I made this little book in the style of Patti Culea's Tome series. It's a much smaller version, and I've added painted and stamped paper signatures. There is also a surprise here and there on some of the pages. Hanging on the flower on the inside cover is one of the little birds which I had previously made (blogged a while back)..... I made this for one of my "cyberspace buddies".

Postcards/Calendar Girls 2008

I have received 3 x beautiful postcards recently - here they are:

This one is from Angela ( a late birthday postcard - but definitely worth the wait). I love the cutouts - it's really effective. Thanks Angela! Sorry Angela, but I can't find your blog - I know I had it.....duh, old age is creeping in........

Such a beautiful ethereal look to this one from Jacqueline. The leaves look like they're buried in the snow. I love it - thanks Jacqueline.

A lovely Christmas card from Waltraud!! It really is special - I think the gold heart in the middle is made from Tyvek. It's very festive and was a wonderful surprise in my letter box. Thanks so much Waltraud!! (Sorry, it's posted sideways .....)

CALENDAR GIRLS 2008

January

This last one I made for the Calendar Girls 2008 postcard swap. This is my interpretation of the January calendar image, which you can see on the Calendar Girls blog, and is going to Debbi. Hope you like it Debbi!!!. It's mainly been made with the embellisher - with the addition of hand and machine embroidery.