Aspired to be an ARTIST

Kuba is 21 now!!!

2012-01-28T11:20:00.004+10:00

Oh my Goodness, how the time flies. My gorgeous nephew and God Son turned 21 on 17 January. I still remember when he was born and his mother called him a little turtle because he had a wrinkly neck, lol.

Below is the card I made for him, Claudine Hellmuth style.

Gaye's birthday and birthday art

2012-01-03T21:27:00.013+10:00

Today is my friend Gaye's birthday and yesterday Marlene and I caught up with her for a morning tea. It was a fun celebration with lovely company, food, art and presents.

The Birthday Girl with her presents:

This is a house I made for Gaye. I used a marble stand which I bought at my favourite shop - the Reverse Garbage. I also used the charms I bought at Michael's in New York (I love that shop too and I wish we had it in Australia) to hang off the house.

OMG - I won a piece of art by Beth Billups

2012-01-02T15:13:00.002+10:00

I entered a draw on Beth's blog tangled sky studio and I won, I can't believe this as I never win anything in numerous blog giveaway entries I participate in all the time.

Here is my name drawn:

And this is the most beautiful piece of encaustic art which I won and which will be coming my way from US shortly (it is a 3.5"x5" block painting):

I am so lucky, what a great start to 2012. Beth is an amazing artist who I admire greatly. More stuff can be seen on her website. Thank you Beth, you made my day and the year!

Beautiful and special Christmas presents

2011-12-27T12:12:00.004+10:00

I received this beautiful canvas with painted poppies as my Christmas present from my friends Ala and Lloyd and their children Martyna, Karolina and our God son Max. The canvas was painted by Martyna who is nearly 15 years old. It is absolutely stunning in every aspect - the colours, composition and attention to details.

This little Christmas stocking was hand stitched for us by our God son Max who is 5 years old. A very special gift indeed.

Thank you very much to Martyna and Max and their family.

Crafty Christmas presents

2011-12-12T12:43:00.005+10:00

It's the time of gift giving and what's better than hand made paper gifts. The below cards are part of two packs made to give away:

This is a sewing journal I fully made for Wendy from my Monday night patchwork group. I have been neglecting my patchwork/ quilt making but my friends don't mind getting paper gifts. The journal was made with coptic binding and I decorated and stamped the inside pages. The journal is tied with a ribbon and there are some stitched tabs inside. Here it is:

Christmas card for Margaret

2011-12-12T12:33:00.005+10:00

Every year Paper Princesses draw a person to make a Christmas card for. This year I made a card for Margaret which is below:

Sewn envelope (front):

Back of the envelope:

Picture for my sister

2011-12-03T15:15:00.004+10:00

I made this picture for my sister, she received it yesterday so now I can publish it here. It was done with the same technique as the picture I featured a couple posts before.

Nie ma bloga mojego kolegi Kuby

2011-11-25T20:29:00.003+10:00

Niestety dowiedzialam sie dzisiaj, ze blog Kuby, o ktorym pisalam ponizej, zostal usuniety przez administratora po tym jak ktos anonimowy doniosl, ze Kuba ma tylko 9 lat i nie moze miec bloga. Niestety, reguly mowia, ze bloga mozna miec dopiero od 13 lat ale nie wiem jak dorosle osoby moga byc tak wredne i zawistne, zeby donosic na 9-cio letnie dziecko, ktore dzieli sie swoim talentem i kreatywnoscia z innymi blogowiczami. Szczegolnie, ze blog powstawal pod okiem i nadzorem Jego Mamy, ktora trzymala reke na pulsie. Kuba mial niesamowita rzesze wielbicieli i teraz na pewno bedzie tez im bardzo przykro, tak jak mnie. Mam nadzieje, za Mama Kuby zalozy bloga i bedzie cytowala zapiski Kuby o tym co on tworzy. Ja osobiscie chce ogladac wiecej prac artystycznych Kuby i czytac te wspaniale napisane przez niego relacje artystyczne i troche osobiste.

PS zwyciezyl rozsadek i blog Kuby zostal przywrocony, hurrrraa.

Exchange with Kuba from Poland

2011-11-19T18:05:00.011+10:00

Through blogging I recently got to know Kuba, an amazing 9 year old Polish boy whose creativity is astonishing. Here is a link to his blog so you can check it out for yourself.

Kuba is on a good way to follow in the footsteps of Tim Holtz, who said the following about Kuba when I wrote to Tim about him: "thanks for sharing this link kasha - i know about cuba and have sent him an email in the past. a very creative little guy. thanks. tim"

Kuba has agreed to do an exchange with me and I posted the package to him today. It is a surprise what we prepared for this exchange so now we have to wait. Kuba - the package (below) it's on its way.

Polish translation:

Wymiana z Kuba z Polski.

Kube poznalam przez Jego bloga. Jest on niesamowitym 9-cio letnim chlopcem, ktorego kreatywnosc jest zaskakujaca. Tu jest linka do jego bloga, zebyscie mogli przekonac sie sami.

Kuba jest na dobrej drodze, zeby zostac Timem Holtzem, ktory po tym jak do niego napisalam powiedzial o Kubie: "Dziekuje Kasia za podzielenie sie ta linka, znam Kube i wyslalem mu maila w przeszlosci. Jest on bardzo kreatywnym chlopcem. Dziekuje. Tim"

Kuba zgodzil sie na wymiane ze mna i dzisiaj wyslalam mu pakiet. Jest to niespodzianka co przygotowalismy na wymiane wiec teraz pozostaje nam tylko czekanie. Kuba - pakiet (powyzej) jest juz w drodze.

Carved stamps

2011-11-15T15:01:00.003+10:00

Finally I had a go at stamp carving, I wanted to do this for ages but never got around to it. Below are my efforts; I searched for inspiration on the net and some ideas were from my friend Margaret (sadly she doesn't have a blog). I also used some art books for ideas. This is soooo much fun, the only reason I stopped was that I ran out of rubber but more is on its way, lol.

It is fun using every little piece of rubber to create small pieces which can be joined as a border, squares and little houses, the possibilities are endless.

Some pencils:

Painted picture

2011-11-15T14:09:00.008+10:00

This is a picture I did recently, a friend who took an online class shared this technique with me. It took a lot of steps to achieve the final result.

This is how it started:

After some painting:

More painting and stenciling:

Some stamping added:

Covered with medium:

Final result after applying matt varnish:

Journal for Gaye

2011-11-15T14:02:00.003+10:00

I made this small journal recently for my friend Gaye. I experimented with the inside pages and used dies to cut out images or words for more interest. Here are the results:

Projekt Zeszyt - Journal Project

2011-11-15T13:55:00.005+10:00

Recently I took part in my first Polish exchange organised by Michelle, it was called "Projekt Zeszyt" which loosely translated means "Journal Project". It had 50 participants who all send 50 journal pages (undecorated) to Michelle and she bound it into a journal ready for your journaling.

This is how it was wrapped:

Journal with some inside pages:

It was fun, thank you Michelle and all participants.

Birthday pages for Princess Judy and Princess Marilena

2011-11-15T12:46:00.006+10:00

The Paper Princesses celebrated Princess Judy and Princess Marilena's birthdays recently. For an art present I decided to alter a desk calendar so that they can have a rotating piece of art to display. I made two pages for each Princess.

These are my two pages for Marilena:

And these are the two pages for Judy:

Two quick cards

2011-09-18T16:45:00.005+10:00

These two cards were made from various left overs. I also used a self sticking paper I bought in my favourite shop - "Reverse Garbage" for the bird cages and the hearts.

Two books for friends

2011-09-18T15:57:00.007+10:00

I recently made two books for two friends. The following one is a doodling book with images and words inside to provoke some doodling/ journaling. I covered a commercially made book:

These are some pages inside:

This is book is a watercolour journal, I hand stitched it using coptic binding technique:

A hanging house for my sister

2011-09-18T15:42:00.002+10:00

I made this hanging house for my sister's nameday which she celebrated on 6 September.

New cards

2011-09-03T11:03:00.002+10:00

I have decided to start using 50 million paper napkins I collected over time but never used that much, the two next cards are made with napkins:

These cards were made with Tim Holtz embossing folders:

I looove my my Memory Box tree dies, these cards were used using them:

Hanging house swap

2011-09-03T10:56:00.003+10:00

Debbi Baker is hosting a hanging house swap on the Australian Art Sisters group. Here are my houses (front and backs) and envelopes to package them. I had fun creating them and can't wait to receive the 10 houses created by other participants. Thank you Debbi for hosting, what a great idea.

Teaching at a stamp camp

2011-08-21T11:42:00.012+10:00

I have been invited to teach at a stamp camp which was a great honour. I had my class yesterday and it was loads of fun.

This is the picture I created for the class. The background is made using National Geographic pages and Citra Solv type solvent. Citra Solve is a US brand and as far I know, not available in Australia, however I was finally able to find an Australian substitute. All ladies were very creative and most put different spins on the design which you can below.

These are some of the creations by the participants:

This is a fantastic creation in a different colour scheme by Theresa, it was wonderful to see a different and such creative spin on my design:

Another finish:

This is the back of the picture by Amanda Cordingly:

Another back by Eve Poole:

Another back by Jay:

And this is a wonderful present I received in appreciation, a small chest of draws:

All about Celeste

2011-08-21T11:29:00.006+10:00

My dear friend Celeste visited me recently and stayed overnight. We had lots of fun catching up and creating, in between the talking.

We made some painted journal pages with gesso and various sprays:

Then I issued a challenge to Celeste. I gave her a folder of stamps:

and a basket of scraps:

And these are cards wonderful created by her:

Thank you for coming up Celeste and hopefully we can repeat it some time soon.

Another encaustic picture

2011-08-21T11:08:00.003+10:00

Just before going away overseas I caught up with Gaye and we played with encaustics. This is the result, I love that stuff and will have to find time to play with it again soon.

My birthday continues

2011-08-21T10:30:00.010+10:00

This year I am so lucky to be celebrating my birthday many times. The real birthday I spent with my family (close and extended) and friends in Poland and now I am catching up with my Australian friends. A week ago we had the Paper Princesses get together to celebrate Marlene's birthday back from June and mine. It was such a lovely day full of chatter, great food, show and tell and some demos - what else can you wish for. And to top that, I got fantastic pressies and fabulous art from the PPs.

These are my presents:

Card from Judy:

Gorgeous flowers by Judy which were used by her to wrap the presents:

Papier-mâché pear by Judy, an absolute masterpiece:

Inside of Judy's pear:

Card and envelope by Marilena:

Gift wrap decoration by Gaye:

Gift box by Margaret:

Tag by Margaret (LOL, I love Margaret's sense of humour):

Hanging Babooshkas by Margaret:

Fabric gift bag by Celeste:

Three-dimensional picture by Celeste:

The back of the picture, also stunning:

Picture by Marlene:

Matching envelope for Marelene's picture:

Thank you PPs, you made my day and I will treasure the time we spent, the gifts and the art.

Final pictures for my sister

2011-07-30T21:12:00.006+10:00

It is my last day with my family, I am off to Warsaw tomorrow and flying out to NYC on Monday morning. Here are the last pictures I made for my sister.

This was made out of a large circular calendar. My sister like the poem which was printed inside so I covered the calendar part to make this picture:This is a shadow picture made out of a canvas box:

Cows and fresh milk

2011-07-27T01:42:00.002+10:00

My sister's friend has a farm with milking cows. We visited her on the weekend and bought some fresh milk straight from the cow which was delicious. I was a bit scared of the big cows but got to pat little calves who were so cute and who sucked my hand thinking they would get some milk this way, LOL.

More pictures made

2011-07-27T01:37:00.003+10:00

My sister dedicated a wall in her place to small pictures therefore I continue to make more for her in spare time. Below are the recent creations.

Craft Class in Poland (Warsztaty)

2011-07-27T01:27:00.004+10:00

I organised a craft class for my sister and two friends (Beata and Marysia) in Poland. They did one of the pictures I designed a while a ago. We had lots of fun and creating and exchanging ideas.

The pictures created by the girls:

Participants, from the left - my sister, Marysia and Beata:Beata, at whose place we met, prepared a feast including this beautiful watermelon:

A trip to Turkey

2011-07-16T03:32:00.032+10:00

I went to Turkey with my sister for one week. We flew to Antalya, a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey and from there traveled to a little coastal town of Side. We had a magical time and I am now in love with this country and its people who are always happy, charming and ready to please. They speak many languages so it wasn't a problem to communicate in either Polish, Russian or English - amazing really. The food was also great (not so great for my waste lol).

The view of the beach:

An olive tree, on the street:

A real Turkish kebab:Me with a statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk - an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey who is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Apparently even nowadays you cN get put in jail if you say something negative or offensive about him:My sister in a spice shop:Beautiful Turkish coffee:

Hibiscus:
Our hotel which was a great choice as big hotels are very noisy with parties every night until early hours of the morning:

Beach which was 100 m away from our hotel:

Turkish wedding (red is a lucky colour):

We went on a trip to Pamukkale which was located 4 hours drive from Side. Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. The city contains hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water.

This is Cleopatra's pool which is filled with thermal water. It was great and relaxing in there:

Below are numerous photos of travertine. Travertine is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. In this area, there are 17 hot water springs in which the temperature ranges from 35 °C to 100 °C . The water that emerges from the spring is transported 320 metres to the head of the travertine terraces and deposits calcium carbonate. When the water, supersaturated with calcium carbonate, reaches the surface, carbon dioxide degasses from it, and calcium carbonate is deposited. The depositing continues until the carbon dioxide in the water balances the carbon dioxide in the air. Calcium carbonate is deposited by the water as a soft jelly but this eventually hardens into travertine.

People have bathed in its pools for thousands of years. As recently as the mid-20th century, hotels were built there causing considerable damage. An approach road was built from the valley over the terraces, and motor bikes were allowed to go up and down the slopes. When the area was declared a World Heritage Site, the hotels were demolished and the road removed. Wearing shoes in the water is prohibited to protect the deposits.

I am taking an advantage of the mineral water:In Pamukkalewe also saw Hierapolis, an ancient Greco-Roman city which now is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Great baths were constructed there with huge stone blocks without the use of cement, and consisted of various closed or open sections linked together. There are deep niches in the inner section of the bath, library, gymnasium and other closed or open locations there. The complex was constructed in the 2nd century BCE.

It was extremely hot while we were walking through the ruins and I was getting burnt. The huge towel has saved me:

We went to an open air theatere to see a performance by the Fire of Anatolia - a Turkish dance group consisting of 120 dancers. The group has performed in more than 85 countries from the USA to China and Japan, in front of an audience of approximately 20 million people altogether. Fire of Anatolia holds two Guinness records, one for fastest dance performance with 241 steps per minute and another for largest audience, 400 000 people in Ereğli, in the Black Sea Region of the country. The head of the group is Mustafa Erdoğan.

Drinking Turkish tea in a traditional tulip shaped glass. By the way - tulips were first grown in Turkey. During the Ottoman Empire, the tulip became very popular in Ottoman territories and was seen as a symbol of abundance and indulgence. In fact, the era during which the Ottoman Empire was wealthiest is often called the Tulip era or Lale Devri in Turkish. It was some time in the 16th century that tulip bulbs were taken to Holland where they started to grow them there.

We visited a Mosque in Manavgat, a town and district of the Antalya Province.

You cannot enter a Mosque wearing shoes:

Tiles inside the Mosque:

My sister and I. Women must wear scarves in a Mosque:

Children are receiving religion lessons inside the Mosque:A place in front of the Mosque with water tabs, people must clean themselves before they enter a Mosque to pray:Children in front of the Mosque:My sister ready to enter the Mosque:

More art work

2011-07-16T02:37:00.006+10:00

In between enjoying my holidays and catching up with my family, I have been making stuff at my sister's place. Below are some pictures and a book I made.

Rainy day in Poland

2011-07-02T00:16:00.002+10:00

I arrived in Poland about a week ago, I am visiting my family. Today is a cold and rainy day and I have been creating at my sister's place. I just finished this small picture made on a book cover:

Craft fun with my young friends Martyna and Karolina

2011-07-02T00:01:00.004+10:00

Every now and then I invite the daughters of my Polish friend, Martyna and Karolina, for card making at my place. For the last session I prepared the five below cards for the girls to make. It was a fun day.

Birthday creation for Marlene

2011-07-01T23:53:00.004+10:00

My friend Marlene has celebrated recently her birthday. Her gifts wrapped:

The birthday art piece:

Art of the Month for Lucy

2011-07-01T23:47:00.003+10:00

This coptic journal was the May Art of the Month, for Lucy, the Art Sister.

Bird swap

2011-06-11T08:07:00.004+10:00

I have just hosted the hanging bird swap with the Australian Art Sisters, the below are photos of all birds made by the participants. It was a wonderful swap and I am thrilled with the returns.

By Gaye Todd

By Sue Smith

By Ness Henry

By Debbi Baker

By Marlene Lynne-Truman

By Margaret Cullen-Erickson

By Lucy Latham

By Celeste Santin

By me.

Encaustic picture

2011-05-09T14:57:00.003+10:00

After Margaret's birthday celebrations, Princess Gaye showed us how to make encaustic pictures, she has been experimenting with encaustics recently and has created some lovely art pieces. I created the below piece, it was fun and I am definitely will be making more soon.

Cards and evelopes

2011-05-09T14:40:00.004+10:00

I am still having fun making envelopes for cards of various sizes which are hard to match with conventional envelopes. I use various recycled paper and my sewing machine.

This card is based on a design by my friend Celeste, we have been "playing" on Sunday:

Inside of the card:

I made this card from various scraps I found in my basket:

Some more cards:

Insides of the above balloon cards:

Princess Margaret's birthday

2011-05-09T14:33:00.005+10:00

On Saturday our Paper Princesses group celebrated Princess Margaret's 50th Birthday. Below is Margaret in her tiara:

This is my piece of art for Margaret to add to her CD collection:

This is the banner I made to decorate the table for this special occasion:

Playing with folk images

2011-05-09T14:30:00.001+10:00

My sister has recently sent me these lovely folk images. I created 3 cards with them which can be seen below.

Stampin Up fun with Jane

2011-05-09T13:08:00.002+10:00

Just after Easter I traveled to the Gold Coast to do a card class with Jane Norrish who is a Stampin Up Demostrator. It was fun and we made 4 "man" cards.

Birthday creations for Michelle

2011-04-02T14:29:00.005+10:00

This is a birthday card for my Broncos-mad friend Michelle (for those who don't know, Broncos is a Brisbane based football team):

Back of the card:
Envelope:

Present wrapped:

Card top

2011-04-02T14:26:00.002+10:00

I am still enjoyin playing with my embossing folders, this is another of my recent creations:

Plant-Dyeing Workshop with Anne Leon

2011-04-02T13:53:00.005+10:00

Last weekend I did a two day plant-dyeing workshop with the very talented textile artist Anne Leon who travelled to the Qld Spinners and Weavers from Byron Bay. I had two wonderful days full of discovery and surprises. We used eucalyptus, lemon myrtle, brown and red onion skins, purple cabbage and cinerea which gave us wonderful and unexpected colours. What fun and I think now I am addicted, LOL.

Me (in grubby and stained cloths) with Anne: Our cook up and unwrapping area:

Some lovely results of workshop participants drying on the line:

These are my creations on silk:

These were experimental pieces on cotton which does not take the colour as well as silk:

Today's creations

2011-03-22T17:44:00.003+10:00

I stayed home today with an ear infection and managed to finish two card tops. I have been playing with my new embossing folders. The below card is a night version of Celeste's creation which I featured a couple posts ago:

Chairs and birds are my new favourites:

AOTM from Lucy

2011-03-22T14:21:00.002+10:00

Today I received this gorgeous ice resin bezel necklace, it is absolutely stunning and much better looking in real life. Thank you Lucy, I will wear it with pride.

Cards

2011-03-20T14:32:00.007+10:00

I have been playing in my craft room yesterday and today. I made this card trying to use some of my stamps I never inked. I made the background with blue pain, gesso and glimmer mist.

I made this card a while ago while experimenting with my movers and shapers dies and embossing folders:

This card went to Poland for a nameday of my aunt Krystyna, the verse says "Nameday wishes":

This card has been fully designed by my friend Celeste who visited me a couple weeks ago from NSW. As usual, we had a ball. I just love this card. We used some of my new stamps - the girl with the umbrella from the Art Journey (the website is in Dutch but apparently they will have an English version soon. But if you want to order, email your order through and the owner will send you an invoice to be paid via Paypal - wonderful service I couldn't fault) and the houses from Crafty Individuals. The verse was by Hero Arts.

This was a joint design by Celeste and me, images again from the Art Journey. This ended up being a birthday card for my good Polish friend Marek (I think he liked it):

I made this card doing double embossing - first I embossed the little squares which is a folder by Tim Holtz and then the flowers by Cuttlebug. This is not my technique, I saw it somewhere on the internet but can't remember now where. The embossing is smugged with purple distress ink by Ranger:

Picture for Celeste's birthday

2011-03-20T14:27:00.002+10:00

I made this small picture for Celeste's birthday.

AOTM for Barb

2011-03-20T14:25:00.000+10:00

I created this small picture for Barb Thomas, an Art Sister. I am yet to post it to Barb and I hope she likes it when she receives it.

Fun with creating envelopes

2011-03-20T14:16:00.004+10:00

I have been creating envelopes from old magazines to match the cards I created for various people. It is fun using my sewing machine. I have learnt this from my friend Margaret who creates the most beautiful envelopes and folders, thank you Margaret.

More cards

2011-01-26T16:41:00.023+10:00

I have been playing with my new toys - stamps, dies including favourite movers and shapers, and embossing folders. So much fun!

This card is made using the Paperbag Studios houses (this is a joint design of my friend Celeste and I):

Here I used the houses again, the movers and shapers square (where the flower is), cuttlebug flower maker and Martha Stewart punch:

This is the inside of the card:

I made this box for the card since it is 3D (with the flower), I used my favourite Martha Stewart score board to do this:

I used movers and shapers again on this card, Tim Holtz's 'wish' and embossing folder:

Another 2 cards using movers and shapers, embossing folder and distressing ink over the embossing:

Inside of the card:

Get well card for my friend Kerry:

Machine sewn envelope for the card:

A card for a friend who has been affected by the recent Brisbane floods. I made the flowers and the felt heart is machine stitched to the background:

The inside of the card:

The following 3 cards were designed by my friend Celeste and made by me:

Happy Birthday Kuba

2011-01-17T14:38:00.013+10:00

Today, 17 January, my gorgeous nephew Kuba is turning 20! I can't believe that the time flew so fast, I can still remember when he was born during a freezing Polish winter and my sister nicknamed him a little turtle as he had a long and wrinkly neck, LOL. He now is over 6 feet tall, has a shoe size of 49 (14 Australian) and studies Philosophy in Gdansk, a coastal city in Poland. I am so proud of him, he is such a fine young man.

I have made this "birthday card" for Kuba on an old record which I will be posting to him soon, it got delayed with the floods around us and the mail not functioning.

Kuba - "kartke" wysle jutro. Powiedz mamie, zeby Ci dala $50 w prezencie od nas, ja dopisze do Jej konta. Wszystkiego najlepszego Maly!

Creating with Celeste

2011-01-08T15:00:00.005+10:00

My friend Celeste visted me late last year and we had fun creating. We made some easle cards and below are the ones I created:

Inside of the cards:

Fronts of both cards:

We also experimented with the Paperbag Studios plate which I got recently, this is my creation:

This is Celeste's creation:

Fun with packing presents

2011-01-08T14:50:00.004+10:00

Ailsa and Stan's 50th Wedding Anniversary

2011-01-08T14:41:00.004+10:00

Ross's parents and my dear parents in law had their 50th Wedding Anniversary on the New Year's Eve. We celebrated it with a family dinner. Below is the creation I made for them to mark the occassion:

Ailsa and Stan now:

Gaye's Birthday creation

2011-01-08T14:35:00.003+10:00

I created this for my friend Gaye for her birthday. It was done on a cover of an old book.

This is the back of the creation:

And this is how I packed a small gift I gave her:

New cards

2011-01-08T14:17:00.002+10:00

A creation for Karen's 50th

2011-01-08T14:15:00.003+10:00

This was made on a piece of wood.

Christmas present for Elizabeth

2011-01-08T12:59:00.009+10:00

We had our present exchange within my patchwork craft group. This year I was creating for Elizabeth. I decided to make her "a paper" gift, rather than "a fabric" one. She received her gift in the below bag made out of a box, it is a nice way to create something special and to recycle.

I made a sewing journal for her

Paper Princesses Christmas exchange

2011-01-08T12:47:00.005+10:00

This year I drew Princess Marlene (from the Paper Princesses group) to make a Christmas card/ decoration for. The below is what I made for her.

I received a lovely card from Princess Celeste. The decoration can be removed and hung on the Christmas tree.

Below, is the back of the ornament.

Journals for Australian Art Sisters

2011-01-08T12:39:00.004+10:00

This journal was made for Debbi as Art of the Month

This journal was made as Art of the Month for Julie.

Coptic binding

Happy New Year

2011-01-08T12:37:00.002+10:00

Picture I made recently

2010-10-23T17:20:00.002+10:00

Crazy about flowers

2010-10-23T17:10:00.002+10:00

Hand made paper or fabric flowers seem to be the latest craze. Below are some flowers I made recently.

These 2 flowers were made in a felting class. I love felting, I already signed up for another class in November, felted bag this time.

Birthday art presents for Paper Princesses Judy and Marilena

2010-10-23T16:33:00.007+10:00

This book with watercolour paper pages was made for Princess Judy for her birthday.

This is the spine of the book done with coptic binding

Inside of the book

This gardening journal was made for Princess Marilena for her birthday

This is the spine of the book done with tape/ ribbon binding

One of the inside pages with a pocket and a tag

I packed the pressies for them in these corn-flakes boxes, oh rather what they were before I decorated them. I got this idea from the newest Memories mags by Stampington.

Art received

2010-10-23T16:18:00.005+10:00

I got this little fabric collage from Karin as Art of the Month (AOTM) a while ago but finally I put it onto a canvas so that I could hang it on the wall. I loved Karin's creation so much that had to come up with something to be able to hang it.

This gorgeous vintage tree piece is from Ness Henry as another AOTM. I love it.

This bird canvas is from Paper Princess Margaret and I received it for my birthday.

This lovely AOTM piece is from my "drinking buddy" Debbie Baker . It is gorgeous and it is already on my wall.

This gorgeous piece is from the Paper Princess Marlene and it was my birthday gift. I looove it so much and it is on the same wall as the above piece.

Arty exchange with Celeste

2010-10-23T16:05:00.003+10:00

We recently had a little arty exchange with my dear friend Celeste, the agreed theme was "chairs" which we both seem to be into at the moment (LOL).

This is my picture from Celeste

This is what I made for Celeste

2 pictures ala Kelly Rae

2010-07-17T13:28:00.004+10:00

I recently made these 2 pictures based on Kelly Rae's technique from her book Taking Flight. It is my "Fly High" series. Kelly's book is wonderful and full of interesting techniques, highly recommended if you don't already own one.

Magical Monotypes Workshop

2010-07-11T14:01:00.004+10:00

I have recently done a printmaking workshop with Sandra Pearce who is a very talented artist. We had fun printing leaves, grass and some dollies, as you can see from the below photos.

A group photo of workshop participants with their creations, Sandra is the third from the right.

Cards

2010-07-11T12:36:00.003+10:00

Below are 2 cards made with a technique which I have learnt from my friend Celeste. It involved using water soluble pastels on a shiny photo paper as well as some Tim Holtz's distressed ink.

This was for my sister's birthday, I used her photo when she was a little girl

A card for my Polish aunt

The McGregor Winter School

2010-07-11T12:17:00.005+10:00

I just spent 5 wonderful days at the McGregor Winter School in Toowoomba expanding my skills in silversmithing and jewellery making. Maurice Maunsell was our tutor (in a white T-shirt below) and he was very skilled and patient with us too. People in the class were fun and very talented, it was so lovely to see different creations and be exposed to new ideas.

Picture of my class

There are collective creations by the class members

I have learnt how to make some nice copper leaves

These are my silver creations - birdie earrings, zirconia ring and a pendant with a fossilised Indonesian coral.

Learning to Paint

2010-07-11T12:09:00.005+10:00

I started learning how to paint on canvas at the Lilly Lee Gallery in Sherwood, just around the corner from my place (how lucky is that!).

These are some fish in acrylics and ink with some gold leafing. It was such fun to create, particularly the very messy and free flowing background. The fish were a little harder to draw but overall I was happy with the final result.

Here is a black and white auto portrait, I got this class as a Christmas present from my friend Ala. It now hangs in our study room and I joke that it is there to watch over Ross when I am not home, he says he feels like "the big brother" is watching, LOL.

Catching up

2010-07-11T11:50:00.004+10:00

I haven't been blogging for sooo long, trying to catch up today. Below are some of my latest creations.

Piece of artwork for Marlene's birthday

A quick birthday card for a friend

A little canvas for Amy's 30th birthday, she loved it (who wouldn't want to be a Queen and 30, LOL)

These are 2 pages I made for an Australian-American small group of 6, Page Dwellers. It is such fun project.

Another 2 pages made for the Page Dwellers

Art work

2010-04-12T20:17:00.003+10:00

Below is the stunning collage on a wooden block made by my friend Gaye as AOTM. It is proudly displayed in my living room. Thank you Gaye.

I have recently been playing with old cutlery and here are some pendants I have made.

This is a small canvas I made from my friend who just turned 30 (the young chick, lol).

I made this little note book for Margaret as AOTM. It is such a nice way to recycle vintage children's books.

Inside I used some recycled paper.

Polish tragedy

2010-04-11T21:04:00.002+10:00

My heart goes to the families of the Polish president and his wife, as well as other 95 Polish people who died in the plane crash on the way to Katyn in Russia. This is a very sad time for all Polish people and I unite in pain with my nation.

AOTM for Gaye

2010-02-10T13:03:00.003+10:00

This month I was to create an Art of the Month piece for Gaye through our little group Australian Art Sisters. I made her this small picture out of a photo frame (picked up at a second hand shop), put some rub-ons on the outside of the silver border and also on the glass (between the wood and metal) which can't be seen in this picture. The picture was done using a metal embossing stencil and brown ink, the girl and the butterflies were collaged. It was all finished with a silver chain with leaf beads and some metal embellishments attached to the frame.

My recent cards

2010-02-10T12:54:00.004+10:00

I haven't been creating much lately - it has been busy with a new job, private contracts and some overseas visitors. However, my New Year's resolution is to keep making cards when I can which is a nice way to build up a stash to be used later, when you need them. Below are some of the creations. I have been experimenting with embossing with metal stencils and ink (2 last cards) and also with nestabilities die cuts (1st card).

My sister starts creating

2010-02-10T12:47:00.005+10:00

My sister Beata who lives in Poland caught the creation bug and she started making her own cards. It must be contagious (lol). Here are some of her recent creations for Valentine's Day.

Precious Little - McGregor Summer School

2010-02-10T10:45:00.028+10:00

Wow, I don't even know where to start. I was so fortunate to take the class with the fantastically talented Keith Lo Bue at the McGregor Summer School in Toowoomba and I met such wonderful and talented people who made the whole experience just magical. We all had such a fantastic time and learnt so much, it was so, so hard to say good bye and part after 10 days of this experience. If you ever get a chance to do a class with Keith, don't even think about it and jump at the opportunity. Also, I highly recommend his DVD "Within and Without" - after you see this you will be even more motivated to meet this wonderful artist and to do a workshop with him. You can order the DVD here.

Me with Keith

Keith using his beloved Fifi (a gorgeous vintage watchmakers hammer) and he has to speak to her in French to keep her happy.... lol.

Keith demonstrates and explains

A very technical piece by Owen, the engineer

Lovely wire work by Estelle

Estelle's family represented in this wire necklace

Necklace on the stand by Rod

Necklace by Warren

Elegant piece by Catrin

Billy's eye by Hildy

Wiggling worm by Andrew

Andrew explains his creation

Rod talks about his art piece

Work space

Andrew, a very talented artist from Toowoomba, organised an old piano for us which we jointly took apart one night and then shared the pieces of various piano parts. The story even made to the local newspaper.

Owen and Warren working out how to take the piano apart

Some piano pieces

Keith is ready to "destroy" so we can create

We had lots of fun in the process

Warren with some piano wire - very valuable for us "junkies"

The girls did lighter work

Concentrating hard

Lovely Helen showing off her creation

Andrew with his creations

Display of our work at the school exhibition on the last day

Rhonda's little bird

Necklace from piano pieces by Owen, he was challenged by Keith to create something not mechanical and he has done very well, this necklace is stunning when worn by Helen, Owen's wife

Necklace by Helen made from little medical bottles, wire and clock pieces

Another necklace by Helen from natural materials

Two guys in hats

Precious little workers preparing a sign for the exhibition

With gorgeous Liddy

With Rod

With Lynn

With Estelle and Warren

With Andrew, Owen and Helen

With Catrin, Hildy and Sue

With Rhonda

We created this "card" for Keith

Keith guessing who created which piece on the card

My authobiographical picture

Close up with the open door of the little house

Necklaces and rings created by me

I was so fortunate to be staying with my friends Judy and Kurt who live in Toowoomba (pictured above with Keith and I). Judy and Kurt spoilt me and my stay with them was unforgetable, they are wonderful hosts.

Kurt took a watercolour class at the McGregor school, he is pictured above with some of his creations.

Birthday cards for Martyna and Karolina

2010-01-05T12:09:00.004+10:00

I made these two cards for my young friends Martyna (13) and Karolina (12). The bodies and accessories are from Lisa's Altered Art and they are the Zetti style paper dolls which can be found in this section.

Update on the UFO

2009-12-24T15:51:00.004+10:00

Remember the post about the quilt UFO from January this year? Well, it progressed slightly but it is not finished yet. However, I got really stuck into this and I should finish it within the next couple of months (still have some squares to embroider). I will then have it professionally quilted as the king size would make it impossible to quilt myself.

This photo shows the progress, I am trying to measure it to see how it would fit on the bed. What's in the middle you ask?

Well, it's Kimba who happened to sleep on the bed at that time.

She obviously likes the quilt, it put her into sleep, lol.

Days 11 and 12 of 12 days of Christmas

2009-12-24T15:36:00.004+10:00

Sadly the great fun of 12 days of Christmas came to the end today. I was very lucky to be part of such wonderful swap, all creations were of such high quality. Thank you girls!

Day 11 from Lucy Latham.

Lucy made this gorgeous picture with transparency in the middle. It will shortly be hanging somewhere at my place, as soon as I find a free piece of wall, lol.

Day 12 brought me a great present from Margaret

Who created this lovely pouch which can be used for credit or business cards. So much work went into this stitched creation.

Days 9 and 10 of 12 days of Christmas

2009-12-22T20:49:00.004+10:00

Day 9 brought me the gorgeous Marie Antoinette puzzle magnet made by Bevlea, it is a big butterfly with transparent wings and charms hanging of it. It is now proudly displayed on my fridge.

Day 10 brought me this lovely package made by Karin.

Inside was this lovely embroidered and decorated cone, it will be a great addition to my Christmas tree.

Days 5 - 8 of 12 days of Christmas

2009-12-20T14:50:00.009+10:00

What great fun this swap is, here are the last 4 days.

Day 3 - lovely heart from Nic Hohn

Day 4 - Star decoration by Samm Menzies

Day 5 - Stunning altered light switch by Celeste

Day 6 - the very delicate Christmas tree by Sue Smith

Day 7 - the beautiful domino altered necklace by Julie H.

Day 8 - the beautiful wax star decoration by Diana

Christmas card from my Polish Friend

2009-12-14T20:19:00.006+10:00

I received this gorgeous Christmas card from my Polish friend, Beata. It is made like a booklet and it unfolds to reveal more pages.

Front:

Outside (unfolded):

Inside (unfolded):

Patchwork group Christmas exchange

2009-12-14T19:56:00.009+10:00

Tomorrow night is our last get together for this year with my Tuesday night patchwork Ladies. We will be having a Christmas dinner at a local pub and we will be exchanging handmade gifts. This year I drew:

This is the packaged gift, I like keeping shoe boxes as they are so nice to wrap.

These are 2 crochet cloths I made while I was in Poland. Ann will also be getting a box of handmade cards.

Day 2 of 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-14T19:53:00.002+10:00

Today was time to open the present made by me so it wasn't much fun, I can't wait to see what day 3 brings tomorrow. Below is the necklace I made.

Day 1 of 12 Days of Christmas

2009-12-13T16:29:00.004+10:00

The fun of opening the pressies for the 12 days of Christmas began today and first present was made by Gaye, a stunning calendar. So much work went into this and I truely love it. I will enjoy looking at it throughout the year. Thank you Gaye.

This is going to be fun, tomorrow is my pressie so no suprise but after that there will be 10 more, I can't wait!

The packaged present

The calendar

Christmas cards

2009-12-13T16:21:00.004+10:00

This year I only made 3 Christmas cards for crafty friends and here they are. I used images from Lisa's Altered Art which is my favourite place for digital collage sheets.

AOTM from Julie

2009-12-13T15:50:00.002+10:00

This is the beautiful necklace I received from Julie as my Art of the Month. It is stunning, such an intricate work. Thank you Julie.

12 days of Christmas

2009-11-27T09:22:00.005+10:00

This year I am again taking part in this fun swap organised through one of the Aussie online groups. My 12 days of Christmas pressies have been packed up and posted. It will be fun to be opening a pressie a day leading up to Christmas. Last year, being overseas, I got to open them all at once in the New Year.

Received my first Christmas card

2009-11-27T09:18:00.003+10:00

This is the wonderful Christmas card I received from the Paper Princess Celeste, she was super organised and I don't know how she managed all her chores before heading off for a wonderful trip to Italy for 6 weeks, lucky thing. Thank you Celeste.

Wooden block for Marilena

2009-11-27T09:12:00.003+10:00

I made this little wooden block for a present for Marilena's birthday. It has little "feet" made out of wooden beads. I also used an antique key hole from my stash.

More cards

2009-11-27T09:07:00.003+10:00

I have been making more cards, some personalised, as Christmas presents for family and friends. I am using a lot of supplies from my stash which is a good feeling, lol.

AOTM for Julie H.

2009-11-10T21:23:00.004+10:00

This month only Julie and I wanted to participate in the Art of the Month exchange on our little internet based art group so we are making things for each other.

I made a recycled journal for Julie, I got this idea from attending the recent Finders and Keepers Market day in Brisbane. I used the covers from a children's story book and incorporated some of the drawings from the book into the journal. It was fun to create and I hope Julie likes it when it gets to her in WA.

Birthday Art

2009-11-08T19:51:00.003+10:00

These are two creations I recently made for two Paper Princesses - Marlene and Judy.

This one was for Judy and I used the personal images Judy gave to all Paper Princesses to include in her birthday art. The top photo is the house of Judy's grandfather and the bottom photo is of Judy at the age of 2 with her father. Judy was very touched by her birthday creations, mine was one of six by the Paper Princesses.

This one was for Marlene, created back in July.

Personalised cards

2009-11-04T21:15:00.005+10:00

I haven't been actively blogging since getting back from my holidays at the beginning of September, I will try to improve on this soon.

Here is the card I made for my father-in-law in his 80th birthday, the photo is of him when he was a little boy.

The next card was made for:
for their wedding day.

Art Journaling Online Workshops with Julie Prichard

2009-08-25T23:32:00.001+10:00

Julie has 2 new classes coming up, they look great. You can check them out on her blog.

Storks

2009-08-11T22:02:00.004+10:00

I had this photo on my blog in December and Debbi asked about the nest in the background, on the top of the building.

Here is the same building at this time of the year with some storks who returned from Africa to breed in Poland. Shortly they will return with their young ones to Africa for winter and will return again in spring to breed again.

Close up

Art "class"

2009-08-11T21:52:00.006+10:00

My sister's friends wanted me to teach them some new techniques. I chose one of the techniques by Kelly Rae Roberts from her book "Taking Flight". We had lots of fun and the girls enjoyed learning something new.

"class" participants

creating

End results

Primary school reunion

2009-08-11T21:38:00.003+10:00

While in Poland I was lucky to attend a primary school reunion, there were not too many of us who attended but it was nice to catch up with people from my childhood with whom I spent 8 years from the age of 7 till 15. It was fun to exchange stories we remembered and to laugh about many situations from the past. Our teacher also attended which was great. Most of us have not seen each other for the past 28 years, after we finished the primary school.

This was our class in 1978

Some of us now with our teacher in the middle

Two of my friends, one is a policeman in Chicago (left) , the other one (right) is a talented dancer who now teachers others how to dance

My two girlfriends from school, we share many memories together

Holidaying in Poland

2009-08-11T20:19:00.011+10:00

I arrived here at the end of July, in the middle of summer. Luckily the weather has been good - warm but not too hot - which allows me to do things and to really have a good time.

Walking in the old town in Olsztyn, my home town

Another old building

Having a rest in nature

Big bone fire we had one night with some friends

My friend caught this fish especially for me, it didn't take him long. He then cooked it and it was delicious!

My sister with a grand-daughter of our friend

My uncle collected these mushrooms for me in the forest, such mushrooms are delicious either stewed or marinated in vinegar, yum.

I also collected some mushrooms, not as many as my uncle though

My sister with my parents

My sister and I swimming in the lake which is very relaxing and much easier than ocean swimming

My parents and I

My gorgeous nephew Kuba, the photo taken by himself, I don't have many photos with him as being 18 1/2 he doesn't want to spend much time with his family. He currently is sailing the lakes with his friends.