Wednesday Stamper - Flowers

I couldn't manage to make anything for last weeks WS, so thought I'd share a couple of extra pieces of work for this weeks theme - flowers. I love using flowers in my art, so I have bundles and bundles of work that I could share, but here are just a few.



and this



And this



And like I say I could show so much more, but finally I wanted to share what I made tonight, specifically for this challenge.....



Lots of different stamps used on this background and then a peeling paint technique used over the top of the stamps. Then I have smooshed with different inks to darken the peeling paint colours down a little bit. Main image is PBS and I just love this image so much.

Thanks for looking :-)

Fat Book Page - Forensics

Here is my page for the upcoming theme Forensics with the ABC group.

GPP Street Team - Crusade No. 8 - Cheap Tricks

The theme on Michelle Wards GPP Street Team is Cheap Tricks. This is my first time entering, so not really 100% sure what I should be writing about, but here goes anyway.

My first cheap trick is to pick up FREE oriental newspapers that are normally sitting outside (well here in Perth anyway) Oriental grocery stores. I love them and use them all the time as backgrounds. You can paint over them, stamp directly on to them, they just give the 'best' funky look.

Here is an example of something I've made using an oriental newspaper -



Next one is to keep the elastic that often comes when you purchase a new pair of shoes (often sneakers). It's that thin white stretchy elastic, that can also be coloured. I have used permanent marker and stazon to colour. This tip I was actually given by a fellow blooger friend France Chevalier, so I can't take all the credit for this clever cheap trick.

Here is something I've made using the elastic, coloured in black with permanent texta -



Back to newspapers, I also use the free local newspapers as backgrounds. Telphone books are another resource for great backgrounds, but I'm pretty sure most artists would know about these 'cheap tricks'.

Op shops again as most would know, are another great resource for cheap goodies for art.

Husbands sheds (LOL) have lots of cheap goodies hiding in there (bits of wire, nuts, bolts, tape and anything else he doesn't know of or didn't know he had!!)

And last but not least, rusty old bottle caps that are often left lying around (ie in car parks etc) and are beautifully flattened and rusted already.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers
Natalie Briney

Wednesday Stamper - Games

This weeks theme for Wednesday Stamper is Games. The above card is my interpretation of that theme. The little girl is standing in front of a hoola hoop that is leaning against a wall. I know it's very hard to see that in my stamped image, but I kind of liked the way the OI stamp, came out a little dark. By her feet are some kittens and a toy elephant. Very cute image and it's the first time I've used it.

Fat Book Page - Nudes

The next theme for the ABC group's fat book pages is Nudes. So here is the front above and the back below

I've been tagged......

by Miss Dawn P..... As part of the tag we have to share a pic of our craft desk/space. Many would probably not believe, that I actually did a bit of a tidy up last night before I went to bed, as I wanted to lay out the current fat book pages I'm working on to dry, without them getting all squished/ruined. So this is a 'clean' version of my desk. Normally it's covered in bits of paper, glue, pens, just general rubbish.... but oh so important rubbish!!

So here it is -




Now I think I have to tag 4 other people, so join in the fun Jaimie, Dotee, Kelsey and last but not least France. Looking forward to seeing your creative spaces.

More Soccer Photo's to Share

Here's my 4 yr old boy, looking very professional before his game today. But have to admit, he's more interested in talking to his mates and pretending to be Ninja Turtle, than the game. *big giggle* but gosh they are cute at this age!!




Emma was goalie today and did a fantastic job. Shame but they only had 4 players on their team today, so it was quite tiring for the team who weren't able to come off at any time during the game. They did really well, but lost to the other team.

So that's been our Sunday so far. John and I play this arvo, although I have a cold, so I dont know if I'll end up playing. We're becoming a weenie, teenie, bit addicted to Soccer!! Watched the FA cup last night with a group of friends and it was so much fun. Lots of shouting at the tv going on, but Manchester United (who we were barricking for, simply because that's my hubby's grandfathers team) lost.

Have a great weekend all.

Wednesday Stamper - Fleur De Lis

This weeks theme at Wednesday Stamper is Fleur De Lis. I have only a couple of FDL stamps, so for this canvas I used a GPP large FDL. Other stamps used are 2 lots of Hero arts stamps.

Ok so while making this I was having a stern talking to myself about my use of wings/crowns/butterflies/houses in just about everything I do lately. I started making this on Wednesday night and it took me two days of trying 'not' to use these things and finally I gave up last night and went with what I love using and haven't quite got 'out of my system' yet (if ever). So this is the end result, maybe a little bit busy for me, but I do like using the red and orange paint combination, which I haven't done before.

It's also great to see so many new people joining WS, so much eye candy to view each week. Normally they get up to 80 odd entries per week, which just blows me away. LOVE participating in these challenges whenever I can.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Happy Mothers Day and

Just a bit of a giggle for you all.

Wednesday Stamper - Turquoise

This weeks theme for Wednesday Stamper is the colour Turquoise. I dont actually have that colour paint, so I mixed Aqua with some dark green. Hopefully I got the mix pretty close to Turquoise, although there are lots of varied depths to this colour. It will be interesting to see the different work that comes from this colour. What I've seen already on WS, is stunning!!

There is some stamping (in white so very faint) on the arch background and I made this is a card for a friend.

An Amazing Gift that took my breath away!

I wish that I was more poetic with my writing, as I feel as if words fail me so often, especially when describing something beautiful. Today is one of those days. I received this absolutely amazing gift from my friend Julie Hetherington and feel at a loss to describe it's beauty. The love Julie has put into making this is obvious from the picture, but in the 'flesh' it is so intricately put together and all my favourite elements are included, it is just beautiful. And like I say, I wish I could describe it more poetically (sorry Julie) but believe me when I say, that this piece of amazing jewellery, has just blown me away!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!! Please visit Julie's blog if you haven't before, as her work is outstanding and so varied and I must admit that I wish I was able to turn my hand to as many art forms as Julie is able to. THANK YOU so much Julie for thinking of me and sending me this wonderful gift because you knew I was sad about not being able to go to camp. :-) Big hugs to you..... Natxx

First Game of Soccer - Warning Proud Soccer Mum

Soccer is very big up here in Tom Price and my kids both decided they wanted to jump on board that wagon. Their first training was last week and their first 'official' game was today. Unfort I didn't get a pic of Luc in his uniform as we forgot to take camera this morning and we gave back his shirt to his coach. So next week I'll take a photo and put it up here.

Emma for some reason was able to take her uniform home, so we took this photo just now when we got home. My girl kicked the only 2 goals for her team today!! Whopeeeeeeee, proud soccer MUM here...

Have a great sunday.

Nat

It's a Zetti Kind of Egypt

This is my entry for this weeks Wednesday Stamper
theme - Egypt. I went for a Zetti kind of look. Bit crazy, but I dont have many Egyptian images. It's a bit hard to see in the background, but I did an image transfer with some hieroglyphics.

Hope everyone has a wonderful and creative weekend.

Beautiful Canvas from Debbi Baker

This stunning piece of art is from the very talented Debbi Baker. Debbi does the most amazing work and is featured in US publications regularly and is on the Oxford Impressions Design Team. Her work blows me away (and always has) and I have been a big fan for a long time (since I first started stamping 2 and a bit years ago). Recently she started a blog and I was over the moon, as now I can drool over her work more regularly.

I love love love beeswax (although dont play with it often enough) and Debbi has coated the top of this lovely collage with it. Love the smell, love the texture, just love it all Deb!! Thanks so much.

Recent Entry into a Puzzle Piece Comp

Now that the winners have been announced (check this blog out to see the fabulous entries that won!!), I'll post up my entry. It's a pretty simple design, but I must admit that I did it up and posted it off before finding out all the rules. After I'd posted it, I found out you could actually have gone over the puzzle piece, so I probably would have embellished it a bit more, if I'd not been in such a rush to get it off!! Anyway will teach me to be so impatient.

Are the winners just stunning!!

Using up the last of my hand made flourish background

Wanted to use up the last of the background paper I'd made for a previous card (Wed Stamper - Frame). I have stamped 2 different flourish's randomly onto brown card stock and then used my new PB Studio stamp which has such a lovely saying on it - " May you love.... all the days of your life...."

Hope everyone is enjoying their week.

Framed No.2

Another entry for this weeks Wednesday Stamper. As with my first entry, I've a chipboard piece to 'frame' the card.

Card has been personalised for our friend who turns 40 this month.

Wednesday Stamper - Framed

Here's my very simple entry for this week's Wednesday Stamper theme - Framed. I've been playing with my oil pastels again and unfortunately the photo I've taken of this does not do the colour justice. I say simple because I just wandered over to the WS site and had a look at the entries so far and they are awesome!! If you have a spare couple of minutes, do take the time to go over and have a look.

Hugs to all
Natalie

Mothers Day Cards

Have been working on cards again tonight and here's what I've had a play with.

Stamped Image is coloured with oil pastels and the background is made with strips of masking tape ripped and randomly placed onto cardstock and then coloured over with oil pastels again. Then finished off by swiping the tape with black stazon ink.

I've made variations on this card, but I like these colours the best.

Hope you're all having a wonderful week.

Natalie

Fat Book Page - Circus

I'm a little ahead of myself with these pages, but if I have an idea in my head, I like to get it down on paper (cardstock) and when I looked at the ABC groups next theme for the fat book pages, which is Circus, I knew I wanted to go with a Teesha Moore feel. I like being taken out of my comfort zone and being 'challenged' and with Teesha's stuff I do feel that way.

So my page has got the bright colours and maybe the zany clown figure (that Teesha is famous for), but I'd like to think it's got a touch of Natalie Briney in it also. It's a pretty simple page, compared to my last few efforts, but I thihk with the bright colours/images, you can go too over board, and then it just screams as being a big mess. Well Teesha can work it, but not me anyway. I forgot to mention previously that we have been decorating the front & back of these pages, but again I've been keeping them pretty simple, so haven't really bothered sharing them at this stage.

I also think with my next 9 pages (we have to do 10 in total), I will shift the wording "damn everything but the circus" over a little more to the right.

Anyhow, hope the West Aussie mums are enjoying the school holidays. Me personally, I love the occassional sleep in I get on holiday's and the non regimented feel to them.

:-)

Last One for a While Now......

This is my last Post It Note book holder for this weekend I think. Need to move on to other work now. But I've enjoyed playing and experimenting with different themes for the covers. This last one is using a Kraft Lady mould and a napkin as the background paper. I've finally figured out (with the help of my techno capable friend France) that it's not completely my fault that I can't take a decent photo of my work close up. It's actually partly my camera also. time for a new one I think, as ours is donkey years old and just not capable of doing the (important) things we would like it to do (you know take photo's of my art work - LOL!).

Can't stop making these Post It Note Holders

After seeing how fabulous my friend France's Post It Note book holders looked, I asked her if she could share how she made them with me. Being the absolutely wonderful wealth of knowledge she is, she decided to type up some instructions to share with everyone. So please feel free to click on her link either on the right hand side of my blog, or on her name above if you would like to be able to make these too. As France has mentioned, they make great presents for teachers, professional friends, anyone basically.

This is my second effort. I've stamped the Imagine girl on to a domino and then basically just layered all the bits and pieces on to some scrapbooking paper.

I'm addicted and in the process of making another one. I hope I'll get a chance to finish it tomorrow. Then I really must start working on some other projects I have due.

Hope you are all having a wonderfully creative weekend.

Nat

Wed Stamper - Autos

This weeks theme at Wednesday Stamper is Autos. I do wish I was capable of taking a better photo/scan of things, but alas I'm just totally a techno nong (is that a word??) and can't/aren't able to take a good scan/photo of anything with lumps in it. Anyway, this is my piece for this theme, a Post It Note holder/book. I'm not sure if Post It Note's are universal, but I hope so... If not, they are basically a small note pad (vary in size) but mine is 10cm long x 7.5cm high and have a sticky bit up the top of the note pad, so you can pull one sheet of paper off and stick it wherever it needs to be stuck. That's not a very good description, so if you need more info click on here. If you're interested at all in making one of these, you can find some brilliant instructions here at a very good friend of mine - France Chevalier - tutuorial, which is where I got mine from.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Not much time for ArT of late but.........

needed to make a bday card for my sister in a relative hurry. Where have the months gone?? April already and another busy month for birthdays oh and May also. So gotta get cracking on some more in the next week or so.... hmmm where are those extra hours I need in a day to do all the things I want to do ??? Does every woman feel this way... anyway I digress.....

So whipped out the water soluble oil pastels (thanks to Dawn who introduced them to me and also bought a packet for me :-)) and made this quick bday card.




Gotta love those Stampington stamps. They are def one of my fav stamp companies.

And the winner is..........

For my stamp plate giveaway - see this post.... picked by my beautiful girl just now.... Congrats Debbi B, I'll be in touch to find out your postal addy and will get this plate off to you asap.

***********Edited*************** Sorry forgot to thank everyone for dropping by and leaving a comment or a joke. Loved them all and so did the family!!

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone :-)

Natxx

Happy Easter one and all!

No art from me at the moment. Have my mum coming to stay with us for a week, so have been busily trying to clean and get things organised for her visit.

On a completely different note, does anyone know where I can get some nests? I mean embellishment type (small) of nests. Not really clipart... any help appreciated.

Have a wonderful break one and all.

2 x RAK thanks

Wow an early Easter pressie for me today, got some yummy goodies in the mail via my SIL Ann Gerlach. In that parcel was also this lovely RAK from Michelle Smith, who as far as I know does not have a blog.... I know she visits (lurks here LOL :-)) so thanks Michelle for this fabo gorgeously coloured ATC -




and an envelope from the supremely talented Julie Hetherington (loving your
jewellery work Julie!!)



Have a wonderful day/week/Easter long weekend everyone :-)

Stamp Plate Giveaway

A while back there were some fantastic girls on various blogs sharing their Art. I believe it was called Art From the Heart and it certainly started a beautiful craze of sharing. At the time, I didn't have any spare Art to share and to be honest, I always feel a little self conscious of my Art anyway and "will it be good enough" etc etc. So I didn't participate.

But going through some of my stamps tonight and considering selling some on ebay (so that I can justify the purchase of new ones), I thought I'd offer this plate above as my sort of Art from the Heart. Although it's not my Art, I would like it to go to a good home, as unfortunately it is being totally neglected in this one.

Some details on the plate -

It is a Clearly Impressed Stampers Sampler plate by Stampington & Company and yes I got it as part of a subscription to one of their mags.

The stamps are pretty small (12 in total), but perfect for those that love to create ATC's.

I have used 2 of the stamps. The word "love" and teh Christine Adolph Heart up the top right hand side of the pic. And the bad news is - I used Stazon black ink on them. So they are permanently stained, as you cannot use Stazon remover on clear stamps (or polymer as they are more widely known).

But I am offering them up to those that leave a message on my blog. I'll put all the names in a hat and get my beautiful girl to draw a name out on Easter Sunday. So perhaps a nice surprise Easter Pressie for some of my blog readers (whoever you are).

So if you're dropping by, please leave me a message, even better, leave me a joke, I love to read them.

Have a creative and wonderful week.

Wednesday Stamper - Coloured

This weeks theme at WS is coloured. Belinda asks us what is our favourite medium for colouring our work. My first and foremost choice is paints. I love the colours/look you can create with them, I love the mess, I love experimenting, I love the textures, I love looking at what others create with paint. I just love them!

Ok so I'm having a hard time moving away from wings, houses, blue and orange paint at the moment. Dont think I've quite worked that out of my system yet, might take a few more canvas's to do that. Anyway for this piece there is a layer of texture paste on the intitial canvas, which has then been stamped into. Then layers of blue, black and white paints added onto the background. I think the rest is pretty self explanatory, but if anyone has any questions, fire away!

**Note*** My camera does not like Dimensional Magic which is on her lips and the butterfly over her eye.

Have a wonderful day.
Nat

Day of the Dead

I have had this background sitting on my desk for what seems like weeks. This theme for the ABC Group I belong to, has been really really hard. It's not normally a theme I work in, hence the reason I struggled. I do really like the challenge of going outside of my comfort zone though, so this is not meant to sound like a whinge. Each month the ABC group pick a theme to work in for our combined fat book, and as mentioned in the title, this month's theme is "Day of the Dead".

Have you seen my banner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it way cool or is it way cool?? Wanna know who did it for me?? My very good friend Dawny P's No.1 son Aiden (15 yrs and a computer whizz, or should I say genius!) did it for me. Check out Dawn's blog for her banner too if you want to see more of his work. If you need a banner that leaps off the screen at you, contact Dawn for more details.

Thanks so much Aiden!! Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a complete computer nong, so this just impresses the absolute dickens out of me...

Big hugs
Nat

Negative of Natures Song Canvas

Was just playing around with Ifranview and did a negative of the canvas I did recently called "natures song". I really liked the spooky look of how it came out, so thought I'd share.

Here is the original piece

WS - The Eyes Have It!!

This is my entry for this weeks Wednesday Stamper, which has the theme of Eyes. I think it has something to do with the extra work hours, because I really struggled with this one. I feel a bit mojoless at the moment. Normally I would jump at the chance of such a great theme, but yeah, what can I say. Tiredness plays a big part in me coming up with something new and what I feel to be exciting. Anyway, this is a 5'x 7' canvas, with lots of different paints used as the background and one of my fav script stamps stamped over the top in both white and black. Clipart added and chipboard tiles to finish it off.

Have a great week everyone. Let's hope next week brings me more mojo!!

Natalie

Photo's of my not so littlies anymore!!

A recent pic of my beanies (my nick name for them) who grow like topsy!! In the background is the view from our front yard and yes there is lots of red dirt, but it is a little picturesque too!!

To all my friends and family who read this blog, I miss you so much! and hope to see a lot of you in May when we come down to Perth.

big hugs
Nat

Things are going to be a little quiet around here art wise

Today I started my new job, which involves 2 days per week at the town's local mine. I am doing administration and it looks as if this could progress to maybe even 3. I also currently work from home doing book work, so things are going to ramp up for me work wise, and quieten down art wise. This makes me a little sad, but hopefully I'll still get a little bit of time to play especially as I have a few committments to keep plodding along with, whcih should keep me motivated to produce some work. I am also very keen to still participate in Wednesday Stamper, as I love this challenge each week to use my stamps and come up with a different theme/style each week.

I have been working on a present for a friend of mine who's birthday is rapidly approaching. I can't share it with you, as although they are not 'arty' friends, they do occassionally visit my blog and I would hate to spoil the surprise.

Ok hope all of you (whoever you are) are well. If you do drop by, please feel free to leave a comment, as I love to read them.

Nat

Very lucky to have such talented friends

WOW!! I am so lucky to have such a talented bunch of friends, that want to share their talent with me on my bday.... Today I received another beauty of a bday gift this time from my very good friend Carmel Trigwell who just blows me away with her talent. Not only can this girl paint, actually draw a figure then paint it - something I would love to be able to do, seeing as all I can draw are stick figures and they still look dodgy! She can do the most amazing paintings that look like real life animals. I wish she would post a pic of her giraffe on her blog... you know the one I'm talking about Carmel... IT's just the most AMAZING pic that looks like a photograph of a giraffe, it's that realistic.. Carmel can also do amazing collages and all types of mixed media and now she's turned her hand to soldering!! Again another thing I cannot do to save my life, so it's faux soldering for me..

So here we go, some wonderful art to share with you from my buddy Carmel...


Here is Carmel's bday card -



and her pendant -





and








Big hugs
Nat

More beautiful bday Gifts!!

Is this stunning or is this stunning! Just blows me away the talent of Sulea Lee!! This girl is not only talented, but she is also EXTREMELY generous with her art, her skills and her know how!! WOW, it is no wonder Sulea's art pops up everywhere you look, as it just needs to be shared with so many.

I have been blessed, with not one, but two gifts from Sulea, here's the other -





This is the front of the arch book.





This is the middle of the book




and lastly the back page.

I was admiring this book on Sulea's blog and wow how lucky to get it as my bday pressie!!

Sulea has put this book together using a chipboard frame coated in texture paste. Once that's left to dry, she has used a verdigris and rust base to give it the green and brown look. Sorry Sulea, but I'm going to have to try this one out!! I've never thought of aging the texture paste like that before. She's then added these beautiful collage elements to compliment the colours.

The painting at the top Sulea, I'd love to know more detail on the colours you used for the background and I would love in my wildest dreams to be able to hand paint like you do. I have always been greatful for stamps, because there's not one part of me that can hand draw anything other than stick images!!LOL Also the way you highlight parts of images to give it depth, just completely blows me away.

Thanks so much again my friend!!

Big hugs to you
Natxx

Wednesday Stamper - At the Movies

A very simple entry for this weeks Wednesday Stamper. What can you say about Charlie Chaplin. The greatest comedian of his time. Legend of the silent screen. I guess you could say somebody like Rowan Atkinson (especially as Mr Bean) is an equivalent modern day version of Charlie. What do you think?

Gothic Arch Book Update

Sign ups are now closed for this swap. Thanks for the response ladies!

Some Birthday Card RAK's

And aren't they fabulous!! As always Dawnie, you have such a way with colours.. Love what you have done with the stamps/masking etc. Dawnie also included with her card a gift of some yummy Golden Fluid Acrylic Paint in Micaceous Iron Oxide colour which I had been eyeing off and drooling some of the work she did using this product. You are the bestest Dawnie P, just the bestest...


This next card is from my SIL - Ann Gerlach.. Sorry she doesn't have a blog, so can't include a link... As usual my scanning abilities leave a lot to be desired...lumpy bits just dont do well in my scanner. Love the colours also Ann.



Ann has such a way with tearing paper and colour...

Thanks so much my friends, I'm feeling a little less blah today!