Spring cards

Today I created some cards from some co-ordinating paper packs I got free with a magazine. I have now got this same pack twice from two different magazines so I thought I'd better start using it!

From Avid Crafter'...

Here's the first one - my daffodils card. It's very simple, with the various papers cut to size and stuck on with double sided tape. I used foam tape to give the raised up effect. The plain papers and blank card came from the stash but the others papers came from the pack.

From Avid Crafter'...

This is the second, well actually I made it third but it's second in my Picasa album so it's second here too. This one is made the same way as the last with the word 'FRIENDSHIP' coming from the pack too. The yellow strip down the side wasn't intended to be there at first but the orange striped paper wasn't quite wide enough to cover the card. This yellow paper matched so on it went and it covers the gap quite nicely.

From Avid Crafter'...

This is the last one, which shows the other colour scheme in the pack. The purple/green colour scheme is very Mother's Day orientated in its embellishments and tags - these three are the least motherish.

Looking at them now, these cards all seem very 'Spring-ish' which probably isn't surprising as down here in Australia, Spring is just around the corner.

I also made another card but I wont show it until after fathers day, so no surprises are spoiled. It may be quite a while after fathers day though, as we are going to Queensland in two days. It's so exciting, I've never been before! We get a few days sight-seeing and shopping as well as two days watching the Robocup Junior Nationals Competition. My brother's team won their state heat so are competing in the nationals, which are in Queensland this year. Instead of just him going, we are having a family holiday. It should be fun, but it does mean that the crafting and blogging will get put on hold!

More ArtRage play

From ArtRage Butte...

I have had great fun with ArtRage 2.5. The background for this one was created following the instruction in this ArtRage forum discussion. The wording was done by creating a stencil from a png file created in Paintshop Pro and the butterfly stencil was created in a similar way. The stencils were airbrushed with metallic paint. Love that option to change the look of the paint.

More Washcloths

Two washcloths completed and one more half done. When I get back from our little trip to Queensland I might just treat myself to some more Organic Cotton. It is just one of those yarns that is nice to work with and feels good to touch. I particularly like the cream (vanilla) colourway.

Our trip is just around the corner now! Yippee!! Never been to Queensland and this will only be a short look around in one small area.

Knitting whoops that should be - Crocheting with Cotton

Having explored Ravelry a little and then reading a few blogs that mentioned an online store called Ecoyarns I bought myself some Pakucho Organic Cotton and tried my hand at crocheting some washcloths with this pattern. What a very nice simple design - just right for whipping up in front of the television. I like the finished texture and the cotton feels very soft.

Digital Creations

I am having great fun exploring ArtRage 2.5. My latest experiment was to scan a pressed leaf and use that image to create a stencil. I then used the airbrush to create my own leaves.

From ArtRage Butte...

I scanned the leaf and then edited it in Paintshop Pro to create a greyscale image. I saved this as a png file which can be used in ArtRage as a stencil. I just used lots of different colours with the airbrush tool to get the final leaves.

I used ArtRage to create the background for this mini-poster.The text was added in Paintshop Pro.

From ArtRage Butte...

On the knitting front I have finished the bag I started last week and this is now waiting to be lined. I also received my invitation to Ravelry last week. A little overwhelming to a newbie but oh so many patterns to browse and yarns to drool over. A great resource of patterns, knowledge and images!

Nice Places to Visit

Crafting has taken one of those slow dives down as the rest of life intervenes. We have had lots of other exciting things happening and I know more crafting will come later. My son and his friends have been involved with the Robocup Junior competition for three years and this year they designed and built their own robots to play soccer. They have just finished competing in the state competition and they WON!! This means they have the opportunity to compete at the National level. The competition is being held on the Gold Coast this year so we decided that the whole family would go - a short holiday and the robotics combined into one. My first ever trip to Queensland!!!! We only get three days of sightseeing so we are trying to plan carefully and then there is the two days of robot soccer to watch along with a little shopping excursion for the girls!

On another tangent altogether I recently stumbled across this site:


It is great to see a site specifically for Aussie creators to advertise their wares. It is specifically for Aussie sellers and lists all items for sale in Aussie dollars. Of course purchasers can come from anywhere!

Another little web cruise led me to this book. I will have to put it on the wishlist for Christmas.

Art Rage 2.5

Oh boy! Am I having fun exploring the new ArtRage drawing program. Ambient Design have just released version 2.5. I am overwhelmed by their generosity as it was available as a free upgrade for owners of version 2. Even without this it only costs $25 US to purchase - incredibly cheap for what it does. There is a great review at Cartoon Monkey.

Today I stumbled across this blog after reading the Ambient Design forums and liked the style of these illustrations very much. Pity my son is too old for pirates!

Here is one of my scribbles using ArtRage's ability to create a stencil from a layer and the new layer transformation tools.