It's Christmas time

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Christmas.

On Christmas Eve my sons came to me asking "who's been eating the cookies and drinking the milk on Christmas Eve" and "who's teeth marks were left on the carrot stalk"

Oh dear, I couldn't believe what I was hearing-my guys are now 16 and 18yrs old. If they thought I was going to fess up, forget it!

All I could say was "if you don't believe, you won't receive".

We had a wonderful time over the Christmas period. Ate way too much and we caught up with our loved ones. I'm now the proud owner of a new camera-hopefully some great pictures will be on there way.

Our friends loved the handmade quilt. My girlfriend cried. Ah, all that hard work was worth it.

Wishing you all a healthy, safe and happy year in 2010

Thank you for visiting and leaving comments.

Just a quicky

Hello my blogging buddies,
I've just hopped on the computer for a quick look at what everyone is up to and came across Val Zdero's blogspot.
This blogging buddy of mine makes fantastic jewellery pieces. Pop on over and check out Val's blog. You won't be disappointed.
I'll be back shortly to tell you about our Christmas.
Hugs,
Anna

Finished just in time

Ah, Finished just in time to put under the Christmas tree for a special gift to friends of ours.
This quilt has been appliqued and hand stitched in each block. Its taken me nearly twelve months to achieve (part time).
I hope you're all going well with your gift making and shopping for Christmas presents. I still need to hit the shops for some last minute gifts and my teenage guys. Hm, what to buy for my guys???
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy, Healthy, Fun year for 2010
Hugs,
Anna

Honest Award

I'm honoured to have received this award from Audrey at Magicmiraclesjoy.blogspot.com

I'm to mention and add the linky thing to Audrey, Thank you Audrey.

I have recently received two awards but I'll start with this one because I received it first.
I'm suppose to tell you ten things about myself-

1. I'm the oldest of Five girls and I always wanted an older sibling

2. I love sharing my knowledge of painting, sewing, whatever you need help with

3. I met my Dad for the first time at the age of 37 years, hey- it wasn't that long ago

4. I broke my ankle in the main street(on the service road) of our town and now I have plates and screws, yukky

5. I've been to Italy and can't wait to go back again-hoping next year

6. I've been with my husband for more than quarter century, that makes me sound very old but we were young

7. My favourite dessert is Lemon Meringue Pie-especially when I share it with my Mum and sisters

8. I have six nephews, two nieces and three God children

9. I despise Lies and copyright thief's

10. My favourite alcoholic drink is Moscato or Scotch on the Rocks-less carbs

PHEW, that was hard.

Now, I'm to pass this onto ten bloggers that I feel have honest blogs (I'm sure you all have)

Kerryanne http://www.shabbyartboutique.blogspot.com/

Sue http://sue-niven.blogspot.com/

Val http://valzderoart.blogspot.com/

Vikki http://sewusefuldesigns.blogspot.com/

Karen http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/

Serena http://artbyserena.blogspot.com/

Gail http://www.gailmccormack.blogspot.com/

Sharon http://purplepaletteartists.blogspot.com/

Jenny http://elefantz.blogspot.com/

Andrea http://thepink-poodle.blogspot.com/

There are a few others I would have passed this onto (Anne, Julie,) but I'm a bit late, they've received this award already.

Christmas Giveaway

I'd like to give everyone that visits my blog spot a gift for Christmas, however that could be a hard task, so I'm offering one giveaway.

Here are the gifts- 5x7" wide canvas with my design of a painted Christmas tree with some added multi media decorations, and rhinestones, A necklace with Peace Symbol and a nice smelly lavender bag. All these pieces are handmade by me!

All you need to do is leave a comment, sign so I know who you are and if you don't have a blog spot now maybe the time to join in.

I'll draw the winner on 5th December. That should be enough time to post this Christmas Giveaway so the recipient will recieve my gift just in time for Christmas. Hugs, * Anna

Thank you, Val

Remember my last post (scroll down the page) I am the lucky gal who won Val's beautiful pendant. What service our postage is, I received it this afternoon.
It's even more beautiful in real life. It has come at a good time, I needed a pick me up today.
I put it on straight away and can feel the good vibes.
It's just the perfect colour to be wearing over the Christmas period as well.
Thank you Val from Valzdero Art.
Hugs,
Anna

Val's giveaway

Val Zdero Art makes beautiful jewellery and she's having a giveaway.
Go check out her blogspot. You'll be impressed with her artistic ways.
Hugs,
Anna

Holiday in Vanuatu

At the last minute I decided to paint this good luck charm for the bride.
Arriving at Port Vila, Vanuatu airport. Warm, Balmy, friendly place.

The chief was waiting out the front to greet us at Le Meridian Resort, blowing his large shell.

While we were waiting for the celebrant to arrive the Groom was looking a bit nervous and agitated. I suggested I go back to the Resort and fetch him a drink. Just as we arrive at the bar, we got a call to say the Celebrant has finally arrived one and half hours late, so off we high tail it back to the wedding on the beach in this golf buggy.

When we got back to the beach there were two policemen with the city mayor.

Apparently they couldn't find the celebrant and the Mayor of Port Vila was found by the police walking down the main street, so they picked him up and he came and preformed the ceremony. I hope its all legitimate!

The chief of the village is calling to the bride letting her know the groom, celebrant and guests are awaiting her.

The happy couple-Naomi and Mark saying their wedding vowels on the beach. Such a beautiful, peaceful setting to get married.

This photo was taken of all the wedding party and guests. All of us flew to Vanuatu for this special occasion. Lucky we had plenty of warning to plan our holiday.

If you don't know where the restaurant is for breakfast-just follow the music. These musicians are here every morning in the open air restaurant playing their sweet music while you eat breakfast.

This guy is here to make whatever you'd like in your omelette's every morning. He was a bit concerned that I wanted to take his photo.

I took over 300 photos but I won't bore you with all of them. I would be sitting here for hours trying to publish them on my post.

We saw some wonderful and sad sites and heard some funny and weird traditions.

One of the traditions that really bothered me was-the young guys had to buy their wives, it cost at least 80,000 Vat converted to Australian dollars that's over 11,000 Oh, he does get to dance and celebrate after buying her, then the new wife has her two front teeth knocked out or taken out to say she is married-hands off!

Woodberry Designs giveaway

Hey, do you want a chance to win this great piece of art by Kerryanne at Woodberry Designs?

Click on the link, and see her new range of patterns, paintings and faux cakes.

Kerryanne is a great mate, creative and artistic artist and a wonderful wife and mother.

Hugs, Anna

Roses for you

These roses are for my followers and the lovely visitors to my blogspot.

I've called this piece "Rose through my window"

Since painting the piece and looking at it for a few days I decided to apply two part "Craft Smart, Liquid Gloss" to the insert of the frame. It has a real shine and glow to it now, It does look like glass.

I've also been working on this piece. I can only give you a sneak peak. I can't tell you what it is at the moment because its for my sisters birthday present and she just may pop in here to see what I've been up to.

I'll fill you in and show you more photo's after her birthday.Hugs, Anna

Published again

The latest Handmade magazine has some very talented artists published. I noticed there are a few blogger names that I recognise. Well done ladies.

This piece was painted using Chroma, Jo Sonja's Artists' Colours and Mediums.

The editor has written "Anna Martin knows how much boys love trucks" oh, if she only knew how much trucks are involved in our lives.
Short post this time.
Thank you for popping over to my blogspot and leaving your comments.
Cheers, Anna

Latest workshop & Kinder Quilt

Yesterday I attended a workshop run by True Blue Decorative Artists. The lovely, talented teacher was Tracey Sims who came down from Queensland to teach a couple of workshops this weekend.
This piece (Boy with Chickens) was painted using Atelier, Interactive Artists' Acrylics.

Tracey is teaching a Still Life piece today, however we are off to celebrate a Great Aunties 80th Birthday. Happy Birthday Aunty Lil.

I have a dear friend-Michelle who recently made this Scrappy Little Fingers quilt for her daughters Kindergarten. The Kindergarten is having a Trivia night to help raise funds to improve the Kinder. All the parents were asked to contribute in some way.

Michelle came up with the idea to make this gorgeous quilt to be auctioned.

With the help from the teachers and children at the Kinder they used paints to apply their hand prints and free hand drawings.

Michelle also added some pizazz and sparkle with Stars, Gemstones and buttons. A lot of fun and effort was put into this quilt to make it one of kind. It took Michelle approximately one month with lots of hours to achieve this quilt.
Well done Michelle.

Thank you for taking the time to pop over to my blogspot and leaving your comments.

Craft Expo-2

You Hoo, I'm back to show you the apron.

Ah, I told you nothing exciting!

Oh, If you think I've grown maybe its because I'm wearing two shirts and two aprons. You can't see all of the design, the paint brush is hiding on the other side.The other winner was the young lady on the far left of this photo. She whipped up this very creative design in one hour.

Over the four days of the show, there were nearly 600 men, woman and children that helped to paint this canvas and over $2400 raised for the "Humour Foundation".


Thanks for popping in and leaving your lovely comments.
Anna

Craft Expo

Hello blogging friends,


On Friday I went to the Craft Expo-Craft fest and assisted the FDAA and SFDAV paint a Hugh canvas(25 metres long by 10 metres high) for the "Humour Foundation" for the Clown Doctors.


The public donated a gold coin to paint a piece of the canvas. We had all ages join in from a one year old to a 90 something year old.


The donations will go to the Clown Doctors, the canvas will be donated to a Children's hospital. There was approximately $500 raised each day.

I did have a lunch hour and went shopping. Oh, not enough time to see all the stalls. I popped in to see Sonja from Giggle Buttons and yes I did buy a couple of buttons and stitchery. I also bought a rhinestone applicator with a few rhinestones and some bits of lace and motifs to add to my next scrappy quilt for embellishments. It's amazing how much money you can spend in one hour. Now I just need more hours per day to achieve all the things I want to make.

As the school pick up hour came the stalls became quiet. I heard over the speaker the first five participants to the Bernina stand could enter the competition for free. As this was just across the way i was encouraged by my painting friends to join in. I approached the lady running the show and asked if I could paint the apron that was part of the competition. "No, you have to sew" was her answer. Oh dear, what could I sew in one hour on an apron? I rummaged through the pieces of material, bits and pieces and sat down and started designing in a big hurry.

I sewed a palette with coloured fabric for paint and a paint brush. I turned this into a pocket. There were some very talented ladies in this bunch.

After the hour we paraded down the cat walk in our decorated aprons.The winner was chosen by the loudest applaud.

A lovely young, creative lady from Williamstown and I both won first. Of course I had my own cheer squad because the catwalk was very close to the painting stand. I decided this wasn't really fair to the young talented lady, so I pulled out.

The winning apron was going onto Sydney to be judged to win a Bernina sewing machine. Good luck young lady, I hope you win.

Thank you for popping over to my blog and leaving comments. Hugs, Anna

I had a wonderful birthday and I was very spoilt. Thank you ladies for my birthday wishes.

I recently participated in a workshop run by True Blue Decorative Artists. The lovely teacher was Karen Brouwer who taught a Zhostovo Rooster design. Karen did a few workshops with one of the Zhostovo masters (Slava Letkov) a few years ago and is very talented when teaching Zhostovo style.

I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop and thought I'd have a go using the same technique but with oils. I designed this simple rose piece and painted it using Chroma, Archival Oils. If you like this piece, I'm happy to share my design with you.

I'm off to Craft Fest this Friday. I'll be helping to man the stall of the Giant Paint by Numbers Canvas for Humour Foundation for the "Clown Doctors".
Pop on by, pick up a paint brush and say Hello. I'd love to meet some bloggers.

Hugs, Anna

Birthday giveaway

Hi,
I've had a few comments about my "Sunset Ship" design, however as all comments come (non-reply) and I can't see your email address,
Could you please send me a private email if you would like a copy of my design.
My email address is on my side bar.
Oh, I do appreciate all your lovely comments, Thank you.
Hugs,
Anna

My Birthday Giveaway

Hey, Its my birthday this week (we have a birthday week in our house, Aren't we lucky)
My gift to you is a free painting pattern!



Now I did try and add a button with the pattern and instructions to my blogspot, I even had some advice from Vikki at Sew Useful Designs, however I'm no computer guru and found the whole thing way too hard so-

If you would like full written instructions, line drawing and step by step painted sheet-Please leave a comment and send me an email and I'll email you with the pattern as soon as possible, free of charge.

I'd be happy to send this to your friends as well, spread the word, grab my "Sunset Ship" button and add it to your blogspot.
Happy Painting.
Hugs,
Anna

Forest Girl

Hi, Here is my latest painting. I've called her "Forest Girl"
Doesn't she look Innocent and lost in the forest?

For the embossed pieces on her dress I used a stencil a Texture Paste to create a more dimensional look.

Thank you for visiting and leaving comments!

Happy Painting,

Hugs,

Anna

Quilt for a wedding present

A very dear friend's daughter is getting married in Vanuatu in November. Yes, we're going to the wedding!
I made this quilt with the help of Cherrie, who did all the hard work of embroidering the hearts for Naomi & Mark's wedding gift. Please go check out Cherrie's work, she is one very talented lady.
Maybe I should have ironed it before taking a photo and bragging about it, excuse me.

I have sorted out my problem of hiding on other's blog spots. Yippee.
Have a great weekend. Thanks for popping in and leaving your comments.
Hugs,
Anna

Where have I gone?

I've just noticed my picture is not on any of the blog spots I follow under followers!
I am signed in as Public-What have I done?
I still have learner plates on when it comes to blogging.
Can someone please help find me?
Hugs,
Anna

"Gum Tree Designers"

Have you heard the latest news? There are nine generous, caring, sharing, talented ladies that have started a new blogspot. They are called "Gum Tree Designers"
http://gumtreedesigners.blogspot.com/
Please go check them out, you won't be dissapointed.
Hugs,
Anna

Latest painting

Hello my blogging buddies,

Do you remember me telling you I was painting another calico bag with in a different style? Well here it is-

What do you think? Would you carry your local shopping in this bag?

Happy Crafting,

Have a good weekend.

PS: Could someone please tell me how to attach a pattern to my blogspot.

Hugs,

Anna

Sunset over Resort

Hi ladies, I thought I'd pop back and answer a few questions.
A few ladies have asked how I achieved the water effect. Here is how it was painted.

I masked off the Horizon line using Magic Tape(Sea water). Use a palette knife to apply Artelier, Impasto Gel, then pat the Impasto Gel in an up and down motion to achieve texture.

Impasto Gel dries clear, then paint over in using Jo Sonja's Artists' colour-Paynes Grey. When dry I used a dry brush technique and a light blue mix so the highlights on the water would show through.

I also applied Impasto Gel with a palette knife for the pool water, however I used a smooth motion like icing a cake. Let dry.
I then used Jo Sonja's Artists' Colours Sapphire and Titanium White picking up more Titanium White on the brush as I painted towards the lighter areas. I then dry brushed using more Titanium White over the brighter water.
Please feel free to drop me an email if you require information regarding anything paint related or to say G'day!
I belong to two Melbourne based art groups. True Blue Decorative Artists and The Society of Folk & Decorative of Victoria.

Both of these groups hold workshops either monthly or bi-monthly. You don't have to be a member to attend these workshops. Click on the name and follow the link to check out their websites and upcoming workshops.

Hugs,
Anna

Latest designs

This piece is painted using Jo Sonja's Artists Colours on Canvas.
My sister took this photo of the sunset over the pool, while staying at a resort. I just had to paint it.

With all the recycled bags lately, I thought I'd get in on the act as well and paint a few calico bags.

This bag was painted using Jo Sonja's Artists Colours with Textile Medium added to the paint before painting.

Here is a close up photo. Can you see the rhinestones?

I'm already working on the next one.

Thank you for dropping by and leaving a comment.

Hugs,

Anna

Published again

Hello, I'd like to Thank everyone for visiting my blogspot and leaving such kind comments.

It seems like ages since I've visited blogland.

I have some exciting news. Today I received my "Fine Art & Decorative Painting magazine" (Volume 16 No. 11) as always I open up to the contents page to see the latest projects and artists and there in print is my name.

OK, another reason why I've been quiet besides some personal family issues. We (my family, friends and I) have been on a short holiday to Tasmania. We visited Hobart, Launceston, Port Arthur, Richmond, Mt Wellington, Salamanca market, Galleries and shopping. Apparently they have just had the worst winter in fifty years. Oh, I can vouch for that! It rained and was freezing most of the time we were there.

This photo was taken from Hobart looking towards Mount Wellington.

One of the highlights for my guys was visiting the Cadbury factory.

Here is a picture of the Cadbury Chocolate shop.

Back into the swing of things today, catching up on washing, bookwork and dreaming about our next holiday.

Take care, Hugs, Anna

Casual Student

My cousin had a lovely young lady-Svenni, come over as an exchange student from Germany nearly two years ago. We all got to know Svenni very well, going on holidays together and keeping in touch with her.
Svenni was the one that had to tell me "My son has broken his leg at the playground" and she did it in an ever sooo sweet way-if that's possible!
She has come back to visit us for six weeks and wanted to come and paint with me.
When Svenni came back, she gave me a great present-A German Painting book. While Svenni was here painting yesterday, I took this photo when she painted this piece out of the book.

Svenni also painted this calico bag from one of my magazines. The original artist is Tracey Sims.

Ah, I think I've got her hooked and she is very artistic and talented.

I gave her some paints, brushes and homework to play with while here. The sad news "Time Flys" and Svenni will be going home in two weeks.

It has been a pleasure getting to know Svenni and I'm grateful she has come into our lives.

Hey Svenni, When are you coming back?????

Hugs,

Anna

Multi Media Art

I've been playing around with Multi Media Art. This is the book before being decorated.
This is the book after adding lace, motifs, rhinestones and fabric puff paint.

This is a piece of MDF cut out. I've added lace to the bottom, then painted over the top.

The top of the cake has Texture Paste in small blobs then dry brushed with pastel colours.

I've added Opal Dust then fine pink glitter over the top for added sparkle.

I just want to add Thank you to the ladies who follow my blog, make comments and cheer me on.

Hugs, Anna

Christmas Painting

I was inspired to start my Christmas painting when the talented Kerryanne published her "Whimsical Doodle Booklet" recently. These designs are from Kerryanne's book.
I painted the designs onto Calico, then used Heat N Bond to adhere the painted piece to Christmas fabric, stitched around the Calico and for added strength and neatness I used Heat N Bond and attached another piece of fabric to the back.

I also want to touch up my skills on portraiture, so decided to do a couple of small pieces on Christmas decorations. These portraits are painted on 4 inch pieces of MDF. I can't decide if small or large portraits are easier to achieve!

What's new

This is my latest scrappy, raggy quilt. Sew easy and so much fun.

I also managed to get this little stitchery done. It's already been posted to New Zealand for a special person that's just had major surgery.

This is a Giggle button design that I picked up at the Craft show last week.

Oh, but I couldn't find which button was suppose to go on here.

Ciao for now.

Hugs,

Anna