Gold Coast Show Entries

I have admired all the handicraft works entered into the Melbourne show since I started going when I was little. Since moving to the Gold Coast we have checked out the Show here both years and to be honest I like the smaller scale, makes it feel more like a proper country show. The Gold Coast also has a scapbooking section for its handicrafts and this year I decided to take the plunge and enter! You can see my 9 entries below, displayed just before I dropped them off earlier today.

Ben says that the important thing isn't winner or losing but that I actually went ahead and entered after wanting to for so many years. I think he's right, because I do feel a sense of accomplishment especially since I created 4 of these LO's especially for the show in the past 2 months. To be honest though, I would really like to come home with something to show for my efforts, even if it's just an honourable mention certificate. :) I'm not sure when judging is but the show opens on Friday so I think it's before then. Wish me luck!

Blends of Jazz Festival

Ben and I have made it an annual thing to check out the Blues in Broadbeach festival since moving to the Gold Coast. Last year the Broadbeach commerce organisation also arrange a Blends of Jazz festive but we didn't manage to attend. It was held last weekend this year and Benny and I caught two acts on Saturday night. I very much enjoyed Renae Suttie & The Swing Collective while Ben liked The Rat Pack - Supported by Oz Horns. The main street of Broadbeach is closed off for the festival with a stage set up at one end. It's a great way of getting people to come down and see all the restaurants and cafes on the main strip. I liked the way the palm trees were lit up for the night so I took a photo on my phone.

Byron Bay Layout

I finally finished the scrapbook LO of my recent holiday in Byron Bay. It was a bit of an effort to get the painting and digital photos to come together cohesively, but I think I finally pulled it off. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and there are things I learned from it too. I'm tossing up whether to add some hidden journalling behind the photos or not. Probably just an itinery on the left side and a description of the photos on the right. What do you think?

Byron Bay Landscape

This is my latest piece, a landscape in acrylic paints. Size is roughly 30cm x 60cm because I'm thinking of using it as a background to a scrapbooking layout (hence the ugly bit in the middle where I got lazy and couldn't be bothered painting in the sun rays). Now that I've got this far with it though I think its too good to be used as a background but not good enough to be used as an actual picture. :(

Edit: I received some helpful comments from the wonderful ladies over at ATCsforAll.com and spent some more time today working on this piece. It's still a lot more blue than the reference picture I worked from, but I think I like it more now. Definately more happy with the grass/plants.

Pet LO and Engagement Party Invite

I have had this LO partially done for about a week now and only just got around to finishing it. It's of my family cat, Artemis. We bought her a few years ago from the Greensborough Cat Shelter and I talked the rest of the family into choosing her because she sneezed when we were looking at them all. I thought it was so cute, especially since I was sneezing too by that stage being surrounded by so much cat hair. I thought she was going to be a fierce little kitty, so I called her Artemis after the goddess of the hunt. She's actually the scardiest cat EVER and runs away from everything and everyone. The patterned paper for this LO came from a kit I bought for $2 from Spotlight. It will be another entry into the Gold Coast Show.

In other crafty news I spent a few days last week making up invites to my engagement party with Ben to be held in September. They took a fair while, with the ribbon being the most frustrating part as it kept wanting to curl up into the roll shape it had been stores in. I'm happy with the finished design though. You can see a sample below, with certain details blurred out.

Alice in Wonderland PAT

I was very excited to see a Pick-A-Theme swap for Alice in Wonderland characters over at ATCsforAll.com a while ago. I'm not a massive Alice fan but the book has such a range of fantastic characters that I was looking forward to getting to draw. Unfortunately, what I ended up with was a bit dissapointing in terms of the lack of variety. I'm looking forward to seeing people's interpretations of my two requests: the mock turtle and the dodo.

Group One: 2 caterpillars, cheshire cat and artist's choice (mad hatter)

Group Two: gothic Alice, gothic Queen of Hearts, cheshire cat, caterpillar.

Scrapbooking Layouts

It's been a while since I've created some layouts to show (I've done a few pages in my friends engagement album, but I'm keeping them secret until the whole thing is done). Anyway, the Gold Coast Show is coming up at the end of the month and I thought I might enter some LO's. Most will probably be old ones I've created during the past year, but I didn't have anything that suited the Heritage or Children categories.

Endless Summer is my entry for the children/babies/christening category. This was hard for me since I don't actually have any kids/nieces/nephews of my own, so I went with my brother and our cousins. Really happy with the way this one ended up, even if it is a relatively simple LO.

Dad is the first heritage LO I've ever done. I think my favourite part is the journalling which is a transcript of dad's recollections of life when he was 8. I really like this one.

Next project is making my engagement party invites. All the pieces are cut out now, I just need to get the details confirmed so I can print them out and then assemble them. I'm hoping to get the in the post today or tomorrow.

Dark Fairytales

The latest swap I'm taking part in is for dark fairytales. While most fairytales are pretty dark anyway in terms of storyline they are generally illustrated in a very bright and colourful way. This swap specifically required the images to be darker. I went with Snow White, the Pied Piper of Hamlin and Little Red Riding Hood. I'm hoping the returns will be a nice addition to the collection of fairy tale cards I already have.

Red and Ribbon ATCs

I had my monthly live trade with the Addicted To Scrap group today. It was a bit sad as the store is closing down on the 8th of August. The girls have decided we will continue to meet at a coffee shop though, which is good news. The theme for this month was "red & ribbon" which had me a bit stuck. I'm pretty happy with the design I ended up with, except for the flowerpots.

Currently working on some trades over at ATCsforAll.com and some layouts that I'm hoping to enter into the Gold Coast show. Also stressing over arranging an engagement party. It's damn hard to do when we live in a different state to where the party will be held! Please wish me luck. :)

Inchies and ATCs

This post has a lot of pictures since I've done a lot of work recently. First up is a set of Pick-A-Theme Inchies I recently completed for a swap. The themes were sunflowers, coffee, flowers and oriental. It's been quite a while since I've done inchies, but I'm happy with the way they turned out. I will be receiving 24 ladybug inchies in return. :)

I offered to make a custom ATC for a lady I had requested a trade with and her chosen theme was mother and son. You can see the card below, done in watercolour pencils.

Finally, while I was once again trying to tidy up my craft desk I decided to try to turn some of those stamping technique samples into ATCs. You can see the results below. The teddy card was a combination of playing with stamps and playing with coffee for the inchies.