Creature Features in a book!

Well, it's not a book yet, but that diary with all the excellent animal illustrations is going to good use. I made up a set of A5 sized pages, and did a starter collage on each one (punched or torn bits of old text pages, then gesso and paint).

Then I started adding creatures, and whatever else the pages seem to need. Haven't finished any yet, but here's some interesting progress.

The edge of a foam block (one of those ones you can heat form and make a stamp - we get them from Reverse Art Truck, and now from Resource Rescue) makes a great paint smearer. I was really liking it there. And also just right as a "stamp pad" for when you want to stamp with paint. Which of course you must wash up right after!

Creature Features

The other find at the Trash and Treasure sale (this was the one at the local scout hall) was this old diary. What awesome pictures! It's from Taschen, who are famous for their arty diaries.

What fabulous collage material on every page!

Handyman Tips

Our screen door started slamming, instead of sighing shut like it's supposed to. Hmm, probably that tube-thingy connected to it. Honey, can you go to the hardware shop and get another tube-thingy?

Nope. Didn't see anything like it - it's probably too old to still be made.

So, at a local Trash and Treasure sale, I rummaged through a box of hoarded hardware that somebody's wife MADE him give away. Wow, a Warlan No. 1a Pneumatic Door Closer, exactly what I wanted. It had instructions and all the screws in a sealed envelope. $5 please, including all that other stuff you are buying.

And today Jeff and I installed the new door closer. Sigh!

Penguins getting up to mischief

That was the theme of the birthday cards I made for Thomas and Jonathan's birthday!

We have "Who says we're flightless?", which I rather liked. Got to use a wings die that I really should not have bought, but it was so pretty... I did the clouds with a stencil, which I got from Krafty Lady.

That cloud stencil - I spent some hours demonstrating it at a craft show years ago. By the third hour I got tired, and the demonstration got a bit more brusque. "So, you take the damned stencil, and you sponge the bloody paint on it - see???". Kristine told me I could knock off any time.


Then we have the penguin playing guitar - actually playing Guitar Hero. Thomas was very excited to see this card, and shouted "OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY", but I think that was mainly because he'd worked out what was in one of the parcels.

I cut the guitar out freehand. Thankyou. Oh, and the penguin did the lettering.












And here's our new house band. I tried to get a photo with them both wearing pants, but that wasn't going to happen.

Look at my tomatoes!

I've been growing three kinds of tomatoes this year, and here are the results ( although I have eaten a few already).