Five Fabulous Friday Finds from my Faves

Hey! How has your week been?

Are you having an extra long weekend due to Anzac Day being on Thursday?
Or is it business as usual in your part of the world?

Whatever, here are some gorgeous creations that have caught my eye recently.

Most of then are works on paper - but that Ok, isn't it?
And actually what caught my eye in this first one is the beautiful photograph of the necklace and it's styling.
It's a work of art in itself!

Long beaded necklace by GentleDecisions

I have a very soft spot for calligraphy, and even did some myself. (Here in this post)
I love the overwritten style here and the aged look of it - like some antiquarian manuscript.

Voici mon secret by suziscribbles

Maybe it is the altered art look that I'm drawn to.
I love the way this looks like something that has been folded - and kept, maybe in a secret place?
I know there is a lot of *bird art* around, but I think this is more than just a photos of birds - it tells a story too.

Bird Photograph by TriciaMcKellerPhoto

Yes - and cats!
But I like cats.
And I like minimalist watercolours.
This japanese influenced painting is by my friend Mark - but that's OK!

Cat Inc by MarkusMay

Jillian of Billy and Scarlet is a new find!
I love her style - so simple, but so warm and inviting.

Moustache art by BillyandScarlet

Have a great weekend.

Making my own Christmas cards? And other stuff - My creative space

Every year I say the same thing "this year I will make my own christmas cards"!

And do I?
um, no!
Except for the year I was learning calligraphy and I wrote in beautiful green and red lettering on my cards.

But this year will be different!
Oh, yes it will - because I found these cute stamps at the Museum of Contemporary Art the other day.
I did "um" and "ah" a bit, because they were a bit spendy, but they have such a nice handmade look to them, nice and simple and I think I'll be inspired to actually use them.

Do you make your own Christmas cards?

I also got into a frenzy of necklace making because I have a market this weekend.

I'm joining in with My Creative Space on Kidspot.
If you don't join in already you should go and have a look because it's full of lovely inspiration, it's so nice to see what other crafty peeps have been up to.

3 things I learned from calligaphy

Many years ago I did a calligraphy class, over a couple of years, just at the local adult education community college.
We had a wonderful teacher, one of those special people who can teach a class of mixed experience and ability and make everyone feel like they had done something great, but also suggested ways to extend yourself.
She also had a whole grab bag of projects on which to apply our calligraphy - not just plain old boring white paper, we made boxes and envelopes and little books. We used different paper, pens, inks, paint...in fact it was hard to keep up with the list of materials we had to buy.

But she also imparted lots of design tips and here are 3 that I remember -

1. Space is important. In fact the space around things is more important then the thing itself.
So we learned about the spaces between and around letters, words, clumps of text and the whole design itself.
This is as much true for your blog page as for other designs.
Have a look at your blog - is it all cramped and crowded?
Is it too sprawly and hard to follow?
Or is it pleasing to the eye? Easy to read and follow?

2. That you should only use the maximum of 2 different fonts per design.
For those of us that love fonts, this can be so hard to do - because we want to include as many of our loves in our work as possible. Using too many different fonts can make your work look like a dog's breakfast!
However a couple of appropriate, well-chosen fonts can really make your page *pop*.

3. An odd number is more pleasing to the eye than an even number.
Sometimes this doesn't fit in with the symmetry of your design, and sometimes you have to break this rule.

I also learned that calligraphy is NOT handwriting and that it is a very precise art.
You have to rule up your pages and use the right pen angle and heaps of stuff that I can't remember.

But if you'd like to learn more about calligraphy - give it a try.
Or you could just go to Dafont and download some free fonts.

Here are some other practise works that I did -

Come back later when I will draw the winner of this week's planettreasures necklace and announce the next giveaway.
You can find more blogtoberfest participants on I saw you dancing's blog.
And you can find more giveaways over at Ms Curly Pop's page.

Treasuries on a Monday

It's been a busy week!
I have spent a lot of time promoting the Ozbushfireappeal shop.
It has been tremendously successful with $10,000 raised as at Monday morning.
Full credit to feliciafairy for starting it and all the Australian etsy sellers who have supported her as well as the many generous contributors and the amazing buyers.

Thankyou all!!!

Here is a treasury that I curated today with the bushfires in mind.
Thinking of all the beautiful bush that was burnt and the estimated one million native creatures who died.

Please visit my treasury and give it some love (click on every picture and leave a comment)
LOST - the flora and fauna of Oz.
It will be visible until Wednesday 7.14pm US East coast time.

Now to recap a little - I didnt post the treasuries from the week before last as last week I just posted the bushfire ones.
But they are so gorgeous I just had to mention them.

First - a woman after my own heart, Faeriemajikk found some wonderful oriental inspired pieces. I love japanese designs, fabric and calligraphy.

I thank Linz, of Faeriemajikk for including mine and amy's Japanese Summer tshirt in such a beautiful treasury.

Linz is an amazingly talented artist - maybe it's because she is self-taught!
she draws, paints, makes fantasy sculptures and such pretty jewellery.
Please take a look at her full shop.
I have just chosen this Steampunk Lady because it combines two genres - steampunk and fantasy and I think that is so original and creative. It appeals to the unconventional side of me.


Coincidentally the next treasury was inspired by one of Faerimajikk's works - Seductive Selkie.
It was curated by Vanillapixie and she continued the cool blue ocean theme.



I was thrilled to see she had included my Winter Ocean bracelet amongst her aquatic delights.


Carley of vanillapixie makes the most delightful hair accessories.
They are all very sweet, but I was attracted to these rather punk ones, maybe following on from the steampunk lady.

But you can chose for yourself when you visit vanillapixies shop.


Lastly another one from me - this time to promote the Australian sellers February sale.
The theme is 'Heart's Desire' but in the excitement of nabbing a treasury I typed in 'heart's delight' by mistake!
I made it all romantic red and pink -


My treasury shows 16 boxes, although the four on the right hand side are fainter.
That is because there are 4 spares in case some of the original ones sell.
The alternates are only visible to the curator of the treasury.