A Fantastic 'Aussie' Post Day!

I received two parcels from 'the land of down under' this morning,

one was a matchbox swap and the other a OWOH prize.

I'll start with the matchbox

This beautiful box was made by Lynne from Queensland

for the Flickr Matchbox Monthly Group

where the March theme was 'Birds'.

I love the funky, retro feel to the box.  The bird on the branch

feels like it's made from wood and the little nest is gorgeous.

Even the draw pull is another chunky bird!

Here's what was inside

Lynne had crammed the box full of wonderful goodies.

I love all the different birdy embellishments, the large buttons,

the music ribbon, the green glass butterfly - and everything else too!

I don't think Lynne has a blog but if I discover she has

I'll add a link here.

Many thanks Lynne!!

I was over the moon with my first parcel, but then I opened the second one!

It was from Linda Baldock of NSW who I know does have a blog as I'm one

of her many followers!

Eclectic Visions of An Altered Journey

I was lucky enough to win one of Linda's One World One Heart Prizes

It's a 6" x 8" altered canvas which Linda calls

'Baby Night Owl'

On her blog post Linda wrote

"Originally I was going to make him as a wearable necklace but decided I wanted to add textures that could be touched and explored."

Well, I've touched and explored all that fantastic detail -

I love his chain mail chest and big beautiful beady eyes!

Fear not Linda, I'll take very good care of the

Baby Night Owl x

As Linda was a little late in sending me her prize

she "added a little sorry gifty to make up for the delay"

I think I would have waited a year for the prize without

the need of an apology yet alone another gift - well another

two gifts to be precise!

Firstly, a beautiful butterfly

It looks to me as if the butterfly is wooden with a UTEE base,

then the over wings have been covered with fusible film.

It really is quite stunning.

I've been scouring Linda's blog and found this which

shows part of the making process.

My photo really doesn't do it justice as the wings

actually lift away from the base, but I was afraid they'd break so

kept them flat. 

The second extra gift Linda enclosed was one of her

Art Doll Kits!

Did Linda know art dolls are one of my most favourite things!

I was just a little bit pleased with this gift!!!!!

The kit contains items to make one full sized and

one petite sized doll.

Thank you Linda, you have no idea how pleased I am

(well, if you've read this post, you may have a bit of an inkling!)

As I said, a fantastic post day!

Feminine and Masculine Cards

A few weeks ago I made a Father's Day card following the 'Design Details'

technique in Tim Holtz' book Compendium of Curiosities.

My blog post for the masculine card is here.

With Mother's Day coming up I decided to use the same technique

to make a feminine card.

Of course it had to be pretty in pink!

Again I used various scraps of paper and some pink brads,

pink wire and lilac embroidery thread.

The stamp is the gorgeous 'Moth Fab' by Stampotique.

She is stamped onto white card, cut out

and attached to the background with 3D pads.

Thanks for looking and I hope the sun shines on you

this weekend whatever you're doing xx

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday, Week 94

Another Wednesday, another workdesk!

Well, it's actually the same desk as last week but today it has on it -

A card I've just started, which will become a feminine version

of the masculine one I created using the last technique in the Tim Holtz book 'Compendium of Curiosities'.

Also on the desk is another pair of jeans which when I tried on

this morning had a rather unattractive hole in an un-mentionable place!

They'll be added to my fabric stash I think.

Finally, on the middle of the desk is what I call

my poor man's configuration box!

When I saw this in a charity shop last week for only £2

I really couldn't pass it by could I?

It's new and from Ikea and called a 'Knick Knack Shelf'.

I don't know how much it would have cost from Ikea as they're

usually very reasonable, but some things you just have to buy!

All the parts are fixed so don't move and I haven't decided yet

whether to decorate it and place small decorative items in each hole, or

just to use it as little shelving unit - the Distress Ink pads do fit,

although with a little bit of over-hang.

On my desk last Wednesday was a domino I'd just started to alter,

it looked like this. 

I did prise the wooden stick off so I could position it higher to make a neck, but in doing so, it broke in half - doh!

However, a little more glue and it was almost as good as before!

I've finished the doll, but won't post the finished photos as the swap doesn't close until the end of next month.

I'm useless at holding back photos though, so here's a little peek at the back of the finished doll!

I'll be linking this post up to Julia's blog

Stamping Ground

where there are well over one hundred other blogs

who'll have done the same!

Happy Snooping x

Kingfisher Fabric Collage

Last week while Charity Shop shopping I found a small framed woven

picture of a Kingfisher which I decided to rescue and dress up a bit!

Here's what it looked like when taken out of the frame.

The information label was on the back of the mountboard.

(I left the wooden frame and glass in the shop)

I then had fun trawling through my stash to find various pieces

of lace, fabric and fibres to complement the picture.

I thought these fibres made a good nest!

The buttons at the top are mother of pearl and the one on the left

had the perfect blue colouring for the piece.

.... and finally a peek at the back!

Thanks for looking -  and can't you tell Spring is finally here with all the

lovely bird song - unfortunately no kingfishers near where I live (too urban!), but plenty of pigeons, magpies, blackbirds, sparrows and blue tits.

Edit:  Thanks to Viv for providing a link to the website of
the manufacturer of the Kingfisher woven picture
 Cash's

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday, Week 93

I'm getting later and later in showing what's on my workdesk -

at least it is still Wednesday, albeit evening now!

Jeans - mine, but with the leg all cut up!

They were my old faithfuls, but unfortunately I had worn them out

(I won't share whereabouts!)

I've been cutting circle shapes from them to make some boobs -

yes, boobs!  If you're intrigued have a look at my earlier post here.

I've been laughing at the first few comments I received.

What else is on my desk?

Here's a close up look.

Some buttons I bought today from the Oxfam shop.

Look at the size of the two at the bottom,

they must be the biggest buttons I've ever seen!

I shall enjoy sorting them all into colours and placing with others

in my button box  (oh yes, little things, please little minds -

mine must be tiny - lol)

What else is on the desk?

Admittedly it doesn't look much now, but it will transform

into an altered domino art doll (yes, really).

The wooden part is from a little bottle of lavender essence

and I'm kicking myself for not glueing it higher up to make a neck!

I may try to prise it off and re-attach.

It will be for a Spring Domino swap on Flickr which closes

on 30th April so there's still plenty of time to sign up

if you're interested in joining.

That's about it really - if you looked at my desk last week, you'd

have seen a canvas I'd started with some of my doodling from the

OWOH event - well, it's finished now and if you're interested you can

see it here.

I'm linking this up to over 150 other desks on Julia's blog

Stamping Ground

and this week I'm going to try to get around to looking

at as many others desk as I can!

Thanks for looking at mine!