DeMeng class

Yipee! I'm all paid up for my class with Michael DeMeng in February. This guy is a master of oddity. Check out his blog. He will be teaching a couple of classes here in little old Melbourne the first weekend in February, the first is Soda Pop Icons and the second is Transparency Collage Assemblage. A little bird tells me there may be a couple of spots left if anyone is interested. Contact Kathy by email kathyata@yahoo.com.au. I cannot wait!

The Baptism and the yellow dress

On the 14th of October, we baptised our beautiful little niece Isabel. This is a photo of Isabel above, and one of all of us below. She's pulling Jake's hair the cheeky little monkey! It's also how we would look if we became insane and had another child. We already have too too many!

A few of my friends have asked to see a photo of me in the yellow dress - this is it, the only photo! It shows me in all my voluptuous glory, before I had to take the girdle off because it was constricting my breathing. Notice Sammy went out and bought himself a matching shirt and tie so that we would look like a couple. Even though you can always tell that we are a couple because of the arguing and filthy looks.

Another altered book page

This is the page I finished in Gail's book. Her theme was vintage children. I've used some Tim Holtz papers, and some others that kept with the school theme. At the bottom right hand corner is a bookplate with someone's handwritten name I found in a book I bought at an op shop. I wonder who Nell Smith was.............

using up some left overs

I couldn't bear to throw out the left over paper from my previous post, so I whipped up a birthday card with it using some justjohanna stamps. This card was almost too easy to make!

Jo's altered book

.........or really just another chance to add a nude! The theme for Jo's book is Paris (not green or nudes ;-D). I used some gorgeous Basic Grey paper, some beautiful ribbon, a stamp from Stamp It and a couple of other little embellishments. The paper already had some aqua highlights, but I thought I'd add some more. For this I used some embossing powder and some rub ons. On the bottom right hand corner is a number - not the astrological symbol for pisces! It's a bit cheeky, but the French invented it, didn't they? If they didn't invent it, the certainly perfected it!

Adding a flourish

It feels like ages since I was in a plain old, not a book but an ATC swap. This is one hosted by the marvelous Ness, and it's theme was Autumn Leaves flourishes or swirls. It was soooo difficult for me to use a flourish *NOT*! All I had to do was pull out one stamp out of the three sets that I own (and that's just Autumn Leaves sets).

I recently received Sally Jean's book as a gift from my sister, and I wanted to incorporate glass and soldering and printed text. However, I'm scared to use glass (I cut myself with paper - imagine what I'd do to myself with glass!), and I've never used a soldering iron, so I had to improvise. It kind of lost it's Sally Jeanness along the way, but I'm still happy with it! What do you think?

More Lime Tart

Here's a wee peek at the stack of cards I made using this month's A la Tarte. They are 4x4 in size - just right for a quick thanks or birthday. Check them all out at Zest, the Lime Tart blog. The gallery has been updated too - pop on over and have a look.

Paperific 2007

I'm in recovery after this huge event. This is touted as Australia's premier papercraft event, and boy was it busy!

The venue had its issues (small, poor lighting etc etc), and I feel there were fewer vendors than past years. A lot of scrapbooking and hardly any stamping, but I guess the vendors are just following market trends. Having said that, Little Bits where I was working did a roaring trade in stamps, especially Chistmas themed ones. We also sold out of a few items half way through the first day! Busy as we were, I still managed to get a little bit of shopping done - and blow the budget!

The absolute highlight for me was the ArtyOz dinner on the Friday night. I had a fabulous time meeting some interstate members (hello to you Ness, Julian, Kaeren), catching up with other friends, and to top it all off, I received my Collections House book swap from Julian. It is now my most prized objet d'art. Greta said I didn't deserve it, but I have resolved to become a better person and be worthy of such work. Here's a pic:

All of that activity, and my guts a-bubbling with the after-effects of gastro! Not a bad effort, even if I do say so myself.

Lime Tart October A la Tarte kit

I had this kit for about a week before I could play with it. Aaaaah the frustrations of having a life outside of art......

Here are a couple of sneak peeks - you can find some more detail at the Lime Tart gallery. While you're there, check out the Zest blog for all the latest.

World Card Making Day Winners Announced

The winners have just been announced on Johanna's blog. Here they are:

25% Off Coupon Code:
1) Vanessa
2) Thanh
3) Suzann
4) Zarah
5) Elaine

$50.00 Shopping Spree: Rein

$250.00 Shopping Spree: Jacqueline

Congratulations everyone!

.....and the winner is...........

The winner of my World Card Making Day Printed Text Challenge is.............

Zarah!!

Here is Zarah's amazing card:

Zarah, please contact me via email (spotty@bigpond.net.au), with your address details so that your prize can be sent out to you. Congratulations!!

Thanks to everyone who tried out my challenge. I hope you found the challenge inspiring. I would love to see more of your samples. I will pass your names along to Johanna - you will all be entered into a draw to win $250 of justjohanna stamps. The winner of this prize will be announced very shortly, so keep checking in to my blog.

Wedding photos

These are a couple of photos I took yesterday at the wedding of our niece Amanda to Steve our new nephew-in-law (if there is such a thing). Our daughter Rachel was the flowergirl. We had a beautiful day, the weather really behaved itself.

I told you Amanda and Steve were beautiful - I never, ever, ever exaggerate! Here's the stunning bridal party:

That's our very handsome nephew Mark (Amanda's brother) on the very right. He and Amanda fight like cat and dog, but not yesterday!

I'll post more photos later (including a family shot maybe) once we get them scanned, swapped traded with everyone else who was at the wedding.

WCMD Paint Challenge

This challenge hosted by Julie would have to be a favourite. Quite simply, you have to use paint on a card.

I've used some bright acrylics (aqua and magenta) to make my background, and then I've embossed a justjohanna stamp in gold over the top. I added some gold cord to embellish. This was so much fun!

Don't forget to pop over to the justjohanna forum for a plethora of other challenges and your chance to win a selection of prizes.

WCMD Monochromatic Challenge

This is my take on Godelieve's challenge. All pink!

Don't forget to go to the WCMD section of the justjohanna forum and participate in some challenges. There are some prizes up for grabs!

WCMD Lime Tart Challenge

The challenge on the Lime Tart blog was to use the colour Lime. I'd forgotten how much I love this colour!


The background is tissue paper I received wrapped around my October A la Tarte kit. Waste not, want not eh?

World Card Making Day 2007

It's time for my challenge!

What you need to do is make a card using some printed text on it somewhere. EASY! Here are some samples I've made to kick-start your imagination.

Once you've made something (and you have until midnight of Sunday 7th October US time, or 5pm Monday Melbourne Australia time), post a photo of it on your blog. Then make a comment under this entry in my blog, linking back to the entry on your blog.

If you don't have a blog, post a photo in the new forum and then put the link into the comments here in this entry of my blog.

We'll draw the winner, and let everyone know here on my blog once all the challenges finish.

Good luck. Now get into your craft space and have some fun!!

Going to the chapel......

Well, one more sleep to go and it's the big day for our niece Amanda. I remember the night before my wedding perfectly. Aaahh.......to be young and foolish again.

Anyway, enough reminiscing. I've still got a lot to do before I can get some shut eye.

This is the card I made the beautiful couple. I hope they realise forever can be a mighty long time - it came as a complete shock to me!

And this is a second (very simple) card I made on behalf of Rachel, our daugher who gets to be flowergirl tomorrow. If there's someone as excited as Amanda about tomorrow it would have to be Rachel! We bought a coffee perculator and some espresso cups so Rachel can give Amanda and Steve a present that is just from her.

Are you feeling lucky?

As part of Lime Tart's second birthday celebrations, one lucky person will receive a $200 prize pack consisting of justjohanna stamps!

Every person who purchases an A la Tarte kit from Lime Tart will be automatically entered into the draw. Another way to enter is to purchase just $45 in justjohanna stamps from the Lime Tart site.

So.....are you feeling lucky? Go ahead.........

Design team call

justjohanna is having a design team call. You can catch all the details in the newsletter (sign up here), or on Johanna's blog.

More on World Card Making Day

Here are some more details about this special event:

You need to register on the justjohanna Forum, you can do that by clicking on this little button:





Check back on the justjohanna Forum on Saturday, October 6, 2007 (that's from 11pm for us in Australia).
Go to the contests and challenges area and click on WCMD 6th October.
I will be posting a challenge there at 11am Sunday, and all you have to do is link a photo of your creation in a comment. You don't need to use justjohanna stamps to enter.
You can post your comment from 11pm Saturday, October 6, 2007 until 5pm Monday 8th October, 2007 (Melbourne Time).
After the festivities are over, I will randomly select a winner. The winner will be announced on the justjohanna Forum and here on my blog.

I look forward to seeing everyone's work!

Thank you cards

These are some thank you cards I've made using primary colours (mostly). I've been inspired by the colourful work of Marieke - you'd be hard pressed to see white on any of her work! It's brilliant!!

A Collaborative effort

Wow - what a weekend. I put together the collaborative book I'm hosting on ArtyOz on Saturday - with little help from my friends. Are you kidding - I couldn't have done it without them! Greta, Debbie and Kathy - you guys are brilliant, talented, hard working and soooo much fun!

This photo is a little peek at the cover - actually a pretty good peek, there's not much more to it.

The girls worked out that we worked solidly for 6 hours, so 4x6 = 24 man (or glamourous lady) hours.

I hope everyone appreciates what they are getting in this swap - there is some truly brilliant work in this masterpiece.