Lyrics travelling journal

Liz made a beautiful journal to travel the world,

 collecting lyrics and art from countries near and far.

This is the page I made for Liz

 it is based on the song 'Great Spirit' by Medicine for the People.

I played with bright silk dyes and inks and textures and tried to make a beautiful page and also to capture a little of the beautiful energy of the song. Adding in an Owl Spirit as I have such a connection with owls.

Liz signed up to an art journal round robin with 16 other artists all dedicated to a smooth and regular exchange but sadly that is not how it worked out. From the start we had troubles with the lady who started the swap pulling out, the others rallied around and we got ourselves organised to continue and then we had quite a few journals go missing over the course of our swap so four lovely ladies including Liz will not be getting their beautiful handmade with so much love and energy art journals back. We have all done lose pages for them though and even replaced pages already done in the lost journals. 

It is a sad thing to lose your journal and I really do hope that where ever they are someone sends them home one day. I have also lost on of my journals in another swap the International Art Journal Swap  begun in 2010 and there are many lovely women still waiting on their journals from that swap besides me as well. 

Soul Painting

This is a page I have done for Rhelda.
For her travelling art journal - Soul Painting.

Sadly Rhelda's journal has gone missing so the wonderful girls in the 15 Artists, 15 Journals, 15 Months  travelling art journal round robin have continued on and made lose pages for her to receive and then she can either bind them or do anything she likes with them really.

It has been a long journey with this particular swap, but I think that is how these things turn out, its a huge undertaking to start an international swap and send a precious hand made journal off into the world . It takes a lot of trust and there is a huge element of risk.  Life happens to the participants who in the beginning are determined and eager and sure they will be able to fulfill their personal commitment to the swap. Journals are lost in transit and never seen again and it is a real shame because a collaboration like this is a really beautiful thing and to lose your journal, that you have put so much time and energy into creating is heart breaking.

(Back of page)

Unfortunately Rhelda is not the only artist in this swap to have her journal lost somewhere out in the world. We are nearing the end of this swap and I am hoping to get my Totem Animal Journal home soon and I hoping all of my fellow artists also get their journals or their pages home. 

Hand Made Stamps using kids craft foam

I love to use my own home made tools in my art work

I am inspired by many artists and by nature and I have various themes that come up regularly in my own works, and with these influences I have been making stamps to use in various mixed media applications.

I enjoy the different looking pieces I can create with the recurring themes.

This one uses simple triangles repeated

and has quickly become a favorite and inspired me to do the same with diamonds, circles and squares

I think I need to trim away the sides more to avoid the "frame" affect but in a way I like how it adds to the page anyway.

Birds and plants are perennial favorites with me 

I use them with paint or an ink pad and I also use them on my gelli plate. I think I will keep finding other ways to use them though and because they are flexible they work well over changing layers or around corners.

I made these stamps using kids craft foam, simply drawing into it with a pen or a pencil and adding as much or as little detain as I wanted.Then it is simply backed with a second sheet of foam using double sided sticky tape. If you feel inspired and make some as well I would love to see what you do please leave a link in the comments so we can all share.

"Nature Study" A travelling Art Journal

 One of the things I really love about the modern internet connected world is forming communities online that span great distances and finding friends with similar interests and outlooks all over the world.

One way I love to join in with my online tribe is to share in travelling art journals and there is nothing like the thrill of finding a package like this covered in foreign stamps waiting in your mail box-

 So much fun opening it up and discovering all of the grace and beauty snuggled in the pages.

Then adding your own work.

This journal swap was put together by the amazing Palma Rea on Milliande's online art community for women.

I had 2 super talented partners and we each sent our journals around a few times

This and other pages here are by the most gorgeous Helen Lindton

And this one is a sample from lovely Karen Musgrave

you can see more of her gorgeous work at Connections by Karen 

Purple Owl Tree

Sadly the 17 Journals, 17 Artists, 17 Months journal swap
  I began with 16 other ladies has fallen apart
 and now we are going ahead in a different space
 with many of the original artists at 15 Artists, 15 Journals, 15 Months

I have finished my work in Rachel's cute little journal and I loved her theme- Purple Owl Tree.

I chose to do 2 pages 

 For the one above I used mainly my favourite pen of all time 

a uni pin fine line in various sizes

 and a little bit of caran d'ache neocolor 11

In this page my fabulous little boy Mr8 

played with me

 and we used Derwent  Inktense pencils, some gesso 

 and Mr8's fun contribution of some little brads to be the owls.

Mother Earth ATC swap - part 9

Two more beautiful sets of Mother Earth ATCs
have arrived here.
I am really enjoying every one's
different versions of the same theme

These beautiful cards
have come from
Marie Austen in Canada

So pretty and delicate they are Marie.


These awesome drawn and stitched cards
are from Lidija
and have traveled all the way from Slovenia

I love Lidija's story book style of drawing

and her stitch work is amazing.

One of these days I might be able to drive my sewing machine but in the mean time I will just admire talented craftspeople who can do magic like this.

Thank you so much Marie and Lidija
for your lovely cards.

ATC swap- Dreams

This months ATC challenge
over at Willowing
is on the theme of DREAMS.


I have found this theme rather challenging and have started quite a few cards, so I was delighted when my gorgeous prize pack arrived from Artchix studio just bursting with inspiration. I adore seahorses and once I had a seahorse in my dream I was off on a piratical adventure.


My swap partner this month is the very talented
Laurie Sikorowski
and you can visit her Illustration site to see her lovely work.


And these are my 2 greatest creations :-)
doing a spot of research for our next oceanic adventure.

Summer Song ATC swap @ Willowing

I recently spent 9 wonderful weeks on a road trip with my 2 home-schooled sons, just the 3 of us on the road and we had a fabulous time traveling through 3 states in Australia, but I missed my art so was very keen to get back into it when we came home.


The wonderful Tam at Willowing
was hosting an Artist Trading Card swap
with the theme of "Summer Song"


So I signed up and got started on these cards.
I made all 4 in one piece and then I cut them to size.

Materials used were aged book papers from a book about opera
with music and words on the pages. I drew on a happy sun and used some rubber stamps and coloured them with Caran d'Ache Neocolours, gel pens and Zig Vellum Writers.

I was partnered with Kyles for this swap
and you can see the gorgeous ATCs
she made for me over at her blog - Blissful Pumpkins
so I have sent 2 of these cards down to her in Victoria,
and it is Winter in Australia
so we need these little rays of sunshine
even more than our fellow ATC swappers
in the northern hemishpere.