First post back in 2 years! Mixed Media Monday!

For the last two years I've found it difficult to get creative and be inspired. I packed my craft stuff away and got on with life, mainly focusing on photography and self improvement. I always felt something missing though.

I guess you could say I had quite a depressive slump. In January I had enough of myself (and had a few health scares) so I decided to join a gym, to get healthy and lose weight. So far I have lost 20 Kilograms (44 Pounds). It has done wonders for my health, but also my confidence and self-esteem, as well as my motivation. It also helped me feel ready to craft again.

So I've set up an interim craft desk in my bedroom until I can get a better system sorted out.

I did my first mixed media art journal page last night:

 I'm a little Rusty, but I hope it's not terrible! My Inspiration for this piece was from a Mood Board over at Our Mixed Media Moods and their group on facebook, it had a great beachy theme which really spoke to me, since I live near the ocean!

Here's a couple of close ups of my page:

I hope you liked my page after a long absence, here's to more Mixed Media Monday's coming out more regularly!

Lily Birthday Card

Hi Friends, sorry for the lack of posting this week and deviation from the schedule, but I've been helping Mum out with doing a big Spring Clean about the house.

 The major item that took the longest, and was the dirtiest, was the Air Conditioners... We often clean and vacuum the filters and vent screens in them. However, in turning them on for the first time since last year when we had the first of our hot days, bits of black fluff was coming out of one! When we shone a torch up into the part where the air blows we noticed LOTS of dirt and muck up there. We were shocked!
 So a day was spent carefully taking the front off the Air-Cons and removing the louvers, so we could get up in there to clean them out. We got stuck in with a bottlebrush, an old toothbrush some rags, etc, and even the vacuum cleaner to get all the yucky muck out from up in there! It was really disgusting! and quite embarrassing, too! We just never thought that section of the air-con could or would get so filthy!!! Figured that is what all those filters and lint traps were for, but apparently not. Had anyone else noticed this? But now we know about it, we can keep on top of it, so it will never get that bad again! There would have been 5+ years of muck up there, and I must say the Air-Cons sure did run a lot better after the big cleanouts!!! LOL!!!

Anyway, a Birthday week in our house, with my Mothers  sixty *cough cough cough* birthday! lol... She keeps saying she wants to forget them and stop counting, and maybe make them reverse... I told her that is not how it works! hehee

Of Course I made her a card for the occasion, she loves Flowers, and I had this lily image already coloured up in my coloured up image tray and made a simple card, semi inspired by the floral fantasies of my blog pal Brenda...

 

I decided to keep it reasonably simple, and just use layers of coloured paper to make the flower the focal point, and so the papers just resembled the colours in the flower. The paper is from a couple of My Minds Eye paper pads.

 

The flower would have been coloured with Spectrum Noir Markers, and all edges and layers were inked with some distress ink to help them shadow and stand out, etc.

I hope you liked seeing this card, and hope to have some more to share soon!

Thanks for stopping by, My Friends!  

❤

Merry Mirthful Monday...

Hi Friends! I hope this Monday finds you all well after a great weekend!

Usually Mondays theme is Mixed Media, but since I haven't done a mixed media project this week - but have done some Christmas Cards - I decided to name this Monday; Merry Mirthful Monday, for the occasion! Try saying that five times fast! and Check out my Christmas Cards:

 

Four simple cards I made using a Silhouette Tree Stamp and the Stamp sentiment "Joy" both  from a Recollections stamp set, which I heat embossed in gold onto watercolour paper which I had already diecut with nestabilities dies. Then coloured each with different variants of Distress Ink. 

 

For the left the colours used were Mustard and Crushed Olive I think it was... and on the right I used Dusty Concord and Tumbled Glass... I grabbed out these simple vintage papers and sponged ink around each of those to coordinate with the images...

 

Left I used Festive Berries and Rusty Hinge, and for the right Peeled Paint and Evergreen Bow.

Just some simple vintage effect cards, which I hope you enjoyed seeing!

Thanks for stopping by, and all your lovely comments.