Fun weekend .......

I had a very fun weekend..... lots of creativity. I finished off my WIP from the previous post. I am much happier with this page now. It was a cold and rainy weekend here... perfect to sit and stitch by the fire. This page just need binding off now.

I also finished the stitching/embellishing of two other pages for this fabric book.

One of the best parts of my weekend though was a Vintage journal class I took with Ro Bruhn . Now vintage is not really my thing, but I knew this would not be a problem with Ro. I learnt a new book binding technique (which I love!!!) and I dabbled with my form of vintage.

Classes at Ro's home must be experienced to feel the warmth and welcome you receive from Ro and Steve. Ro is a wonderful tutor and Steve a wonderful host/chef ... I know we've said it before but the food!!! Thank you both for sharing your talents with us. As always, a lovely group of girls in the class to, lovely to catch up with many of them again. See Ro's blog for a slide show and to see the gorgeous journals the other girls made in class.

Three lovely ladies... Dot, Eva and Deb taking a break on Ro's verandah.

Front of my Vintage journal (still a WIP so excuse my unfinished binding).

inside page of journal

another inside page.

Note I havent added any photos in my Journal as yet, the above pages may still not be finished. I'm not sure that my journal will actually have photos.... maybe just some vintage text, papers, poetry, fabric.... time will tell.

I am on a roll with the workshops. Next Saturday my friend Dot and I will be doing a felting workshop with Elizabeth Armstrong....soooo looking forward to that. No doubt some photos next week (or I hope so!)

Take care all .....

Jacky xox

WIP and Klimt...

This weekend I have been working on a piece for a new fabric book Round Robin that I am taking place in. Below is one of my pages, as a work in progress. I have since added more stitching to the background and will show you the photo of the finished page in another post. I also finished off a Klimt doll for a friend. I am still really enjoying making these dolls, so I hope you're not getting bored with them (have a few more I have to make for friends). WIP & Klimt Doll.

Close up of fabric page in progress.

Page in my journal which I created over Easter titled "Capturing Love".

The lovely Belinda of Metallic Dreams sent me the above art goodies in a surprise package which arrived this week. Soooo lovely to receive surprises in the mail and I do love art mail! The little blue face is a magnet which is now adorning my fridge and I will find somewhere special to hang her funky bird and little art doll.

Next weekend I am doing a Vintage Journal class with Ro Bruhn with my art friend Dot. .. sure to have some pictures for my next post. Always such a fun day doing a class with Ro!

Enjoy your week, hope its a colourful one!

Jacky xox

Made with love....

Well my sister Lee didnt get Easter Eggs from me this year.... instead I made her one of my Klimt dolls. Lots of minute stitching, all stitched with love. It is so nice that Lee likes my art dolls, so I wanted her to have one made especially for her. This close up one shows some of the stitching and little flower sequins she has for cheeks. Below, the full view.
I recently took a trip to Sydney with my dear friend Jenni. As an early birthday present we went to the Sydney Opera House to see "Madama Butterfly". Lovely to experience my first visit to the opera at the Sydney Opera House. Always on the look out for art I noticed this street art/graffiti on our taxi ride from the airport.... thought you might like to see it too, I thought it was fabulous!!! Click for a closer look (sorry, took the photo through the window).

My sister and her family visited me for Easter (lucky me.... my brother-in-law is renovating my ensuite for me!!!). While they were visiting we took a trip down to Yarragon Village and I found this beautiful little wooden trivet below, which I was told was once a printing block. I loved it, so bought it for myself for Easter. I love the hint of green paint..... maybe I will have a play around with it myself and try some printing?

These gorgeous fabrics, threads and wools were gifted to me in a package from Keron Lee

Dont you just love the beautiful colours? Keron is hand dyeing lots of textiles in scrummy colours. She has opened an etsy store urbandriftwood.etsy.com if you want to take a look.

Well that was my Easter.... Lovely time with family and friends, just as it should be.

Jacky xox

Easter .......

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter break, I know I am really looking forward to mine! I intend to spend some of my time sitting in my favourite chair (which as you can see below I often have share with one of my cats, Phoebe).... I want to do lots of stitching during the break. The weather has cooled down, so perfect stitching weather. This is a close up of some of the stitching on a Klimt doll I have worked on this week for a friend in the USA.... she has been waiting a while for her doll, but will be pleased to know she is on her way.
This is the finished doll. I have it on good advice that pink and orange are two of my friends favourite colours. As usual I have used a Kaffe Fassett fabric for this girl.... KF fabrics lend themselves so well to these art dolls I think.

I hope the Easter Bunny brings you much love and peace (and of course lots of yummy Easter Eggs).

Jacky xox

I've been stitching .....

It seems ages since I've picked up needle and thread, and I've missed it! I needed to finish this Monet/Klimt doll and a little owl for a swap with an online friend (they are currently winging their way to Germany). Its very therapeutic stitching..... I have a couple more Klimt dolls and another owl to make in the next few weeks for a couple of other friends too...lucky I am in a stitching mood. This is the little owl below, I really enjoyed stitching this quirky little fellow. I used one of my favourite Kaffe Fassett fabrics.... millefiore . They are only tiny, but lots of stitching.

I also made the ATC below for our swap.... my friend wanted one of my ATC's (I was a bit daunted by this request) ....I havent made one for ages, so I played around on the weekend and came up with this little fellow. Hope she likes it, she loves the birdies too!

As promised, my face painting from DJ's class. What fun to do a class with DJ Pettit, she is one of the most beautiful and generous souls. Thoroughly enjoyed the class and loved learning her techniques.... must practice, practice, practice. DJ was so patient and caring with each of her students, made one on one time for all of us to help with the techniques. We all started with the same face, but once we'd painted them they all took on personalities of their own. Sorry I dont have a close up photo (personally, I think mine looks better from a distance).

And today this gorgeous little felt fairy arrived in the mail from my dear friend Shirl in Western Australia. After the retreat Shirl and I spent a couple of days shopping in Melbourne (and boy are we power shoppers!!!!!). Soooo cute, thank you Shirl. Sorry the picture is a bit over exposed.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week.... look forward to visiting your blogs.

Jacky xox

Home again.....

The Creative Soul Art Retreat was just wonderful !!!!! I did two classes with the wonderful Stephanie Lee, some of the results below. Thoroughly enjoyed my experience with soldering, butane torches, etching, casting. I was a bit daunted at the thought of taking this class as I have little (really..... no) experience in this area. What a blast! I looove that little butane torch!
The picture above is of the pendant I made in the first day of class and the journal we made on the last day. Both were made using a copper base and solder flooding technique. I have soldered part of an antique indian silver bracelet to the front cover of the journal.

The journal measures 6" x 3" and has gorgeous plaster pages..... not sure what I will put on these yet. To finish it off I will be making a binding using fabric and either beads or pearls (will post pics of that later). This is a close up of my pendant and also the plaster pages. Really enjoyed making these pages, getting all messy and smushy. If you ever get the chance to do one of Stephanies classes... jump at it. Such fun and you come away with some wonderful creations and so much knowledge and confidence.

And for you button enthusiasts..... my friend Jo and I (in our travels before the retreat) found this fabulous Button Shop in Glenferrie Road, Armadale. A real treasure trove... we were in there for an hour before we took a breath! The buttons, lace and wools were amazing.

Well the retreat is over and I had the best time. I had a couple of days with my art buddy from Queensland, Jo Wholohan before the retreat and a few days after the retreat with my art friend from Western Australia, Shirl. We found lots of wonderful shops and art goodies before and after the retreat.

I have to thank my gorgeous sister for Lee for making my friends and myself so welcome into her home over the retreat and helping up find our way around Melbourne. She spoilt us all rotten...talk about the hostess with the mostest! Thank you !

The retreat itself was such FUN. Lots of concentration in our classes but lots of fun out of the classes. Bevlea and her Creative Soul team did a fantastic job!!! They had everything covered so we were able just relax and make art. Lots of wonderful trade stands too!

Got to catch up with a lot of my online friends and it was so lovely to meet some of the girls whose blogs I visit too. Hopefully will catch up with some of them again next year as Bevlea already has next years retreat planned and ready for action.

Next post I will share my face painting from my class with DJ Pettitt with you all.

Take care.

Jacky xox

Been quiet ......

I recently finished these fabric pages for my friend Dot's Round Robin book. We have been working in these books for the past year and Dot's was my last in the Round Robin...quite sad that its finished as I loved working in these books. Dot kindly sent me these photos (as I forgot to take some before I sent her book off). Loved working on Dots pages as she loves bright and vibrant colours, stitching and embellishing...so I used her favourite Kaffe Fassett fabric for her from page.

This is the back of the page - again using some of her favourite KF fabrics. I have been making a lot of little owls recently so couldnt resist putting a little owlet in the pocket of the heart.

I've been a bit quiet lately.... with the fires and family visiting there hasnt been much time for my artistic pursuits. BUT, thats about to change as I am off to the Creative Soul Art Retreat at the end of next week...Yaayyyyyy. So looking forward to catching up with lots of friends and learning lots of new techniques/art forms. Will keep you posted.

Take care all and will be back again soon.

Jacky xox