Back in 1994 I thought that this is what I would be doing. Taking the world by storm creating photo illustrative pieces using alternative photographic processes. Now some 16 years later Polaroid film is no more, and my beautiful 5×4 studio camera would be considered an antique! I remember the rush when I lifted the paper back to reveal this image. Such a high. I miss it.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I should be doing. What I want to be doing. Thinking of ways I can free myself up, shake off the cobwebs and get my hands dirty. Watch this space…

Set those Butterfly Rocket* fireworks alight, this is my 30th post in 30 days! I have successfully completed the Nablopomo challenge for November! To celebrate I am going to giveaway one of my ‘Cut.Paste’ zines. To enter, leave a comment below. I will leave the comments open for 7 days (I will happily post it internationally).

Now this could be rather embarrassing as I have only had several comments in thirty days (Mum you’re in with a shot LOL!). The comments thing doesn’t really bug me as I do receive lovely emails, verbal validation and the site stats reveal a little of what’s going on. I really do blog mostly for my own enjoyment and to share the things I love hoping that someone out there loves them too!

The zine is small, but like the blog full of goodies that I adore including 6 removable mini postcards and a tiny ‘Clown Fairy’ print….

…and three Butterflyrocket badges! I really do love my badgemaker. Love it!

So go ahead, leave a comment below and you might get it by Christmas!

*a butterfly rocket really is a fire cracker!
** The Cut.Paste edition is a variation of a zine I made in this swap conducted a while ago by Nikki-shell. So if you have one of these already it is pretty similar, but a tiny bit different and it was sold during an exhibition earlier in the year.

———————————————————————————-

COMMENTS CLOSED!
I’ll get Eloise to draw the winner out of a ‘hat’ tomorrow. Thanks for the lovely comments ladies! I have more posts coming very soon, I’ve been a bit caught up with December festivities over the past few days and have a huge week ahead with a certain little birthday girl turning 5 next Sunday!

Last week I treated myself and flew up to Canberra for the opening of an exhibition called cut.paste at the ANCA Gallery. I’ve got two A3 digital collage fine art prints on display, and it was exciting to be included alongside such a talented bunch of collage artists. I also reworked my zine concept and have a few ‘cut.paste’ limited editions available at the gallery for purchase. It was lots of fun! If anyone wants to go along and see the exhibition, it’s on for another week. The programme/catalogue (above) is also in the style of a zine and was compiled by the lovely and talented Narelle Phillips (who really should have her own blog!).

Above is one of my collages, ‘Tiny Town’. I had it printed on some lovely Hahnemuhle Torchon paper and I am so pleased with how it turned out. Look below! There are my two prints on the left, hanging next to some gorgeous pieces by Rebecca Hanrahan and Elizabeth Faul.

It was an absolute treat to escape from the little ones for a brief stint (Yes, an entire night of uninterrupted sleep, late checkout and a scrummy breakfast! Whoooop!) . After the opening, Narelle and I headed off to the ‘Parlour Wine Room‘ for the most delicious tapas style feast! The day after, I managed to do the touristy thing and do some of the major galleries. Unfortunately the soft sculpture show had ended the week prior at the National Gallery, but there was a great little exhibition called ‘Reinventions: Sculpture and Assemblage’ which is on until mid September and features work by artists such as Rosalie Gascoigne and Robert Klippel. I followed that up by my first visit to The National Portrait Gallery to see the Vanity Fair  Portraits show. It was fabulous!

.

I then decided I was on a roll (ignoring my tired feet!) and visited the National Museum of Australia for the first time, where I thoroughly enjoyed the revolving ‘Circa‘, seeing so many treasures from our past first hand and reading so many fascinating and intriguing individual stories.

Ahhhh what fun. I was so inspired by the time I flew home!

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a book launch for ‘The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif’, the compelling story of Najaf Mazari, who fled Afghanistan in 2000. He is now settled in Melbourne, where he owns a rug shop selling beautiful traditional Afghan rugs.

I had the honour of working on the cover and text for this project, and it was lovely to finally meet those involved face to face including Najaf himself, Robert Hillman and the publishers from Insight Publications (hello Iris and Cathi!).

It is such an emotional and beautifully told true story. One of the things that struck close to my heart is that Najaf is around my age, and I could not imagine having lived through what he has been through. The thought alone of him being separated from his wife and daughter for 6 years is incomprehensible. It certainly puts things in perspective.

From the cover blurb: ‘A poignant and powerful, yet often humorous, story of suffering, injustice and survival that explores the resilience of the human spirit. Najaf’s memoir gives a rare insight into what compels people to leave their homes, families and histories behind in search of peace and security for themselves and their children.’

An extract from the book was published in the Weekend Australian Magazine, March 29. You can read it —> here. You can also hear Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillman on ABC radio —> here.

For more information please visit:
Insight Publications
Afghan Traditional Rugs – Melbourne
Mazar Development Fund
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

Friday night was the great Blogetogethertwo organised again by the lovely Nichola and Justine and held at Amite (thanks Jenny!). I had my packages wrapped and ready just in time. It was a fantastic evening with good company — 12 crafty blogging gals. Conversation flowed freely and it was quite a relaxed atmosphere (after the anxiety of sharing gifts subsided that is!). I can’t wait to do it again. It would be fantastic to meet up on a more regular basis. So nice to talk in ‘real life’ with people who understand the blogging community (or even know it exists!) and so inspiring to see what everyone is working on.

Below is a peek at the bounty! I will cheat again and add a link to Nichola’s Flickr set. Have a look to see more details of each gorgeous gift. Such an amazing array of talent and variety of gifts. It was so much fun!

Please check out their blogs: One Girl Designwrks (gorgeous soft cosy woolen mittens and one of her beautiful cards that I have been eyeing off on Etsy!); Melly and Me (stunning lino print cards and lovely cat softie who has mysteriously vanished from my studio already! Hmmm!); Assemblage (Beautiful Gocco printed cards. Very inspiring Kirsten…the first I had seen in ‘real life’ and I am yet to try mine!!); Jelly Baby Blog (Scrummy hand felted journal cover with gorgeous stitching on the inside covers.); Acoustich (super soft beautiful hot water bottle cover with matching yellow bottle! I love it!); One Red Robin (Stunning scarf and cute baby Chibi pattern!); Theoretic Gal (Lovely soft stitched journal cover. Armani offcuts so I am told!); Michelle Giacobello (Lovely pin cushion complete with beautiful little pins made from clever shrinky stuff!); Little Mysteries (sweet little owl made with beautiful vintage fabric); Nikki-Shell (Amazing keyring. Beautiful combination of textures and colours.); 62Cherry (Gorgeous needlebook and matching giftcard). PHEW! How lucky am I?

My gift was a ‘Winter Journal’ made using various paper stocks. I also added a few envelopes, filing cards and shipping tags to the mix, inspired by my lovely friends at Journaux (Anne and Coralee are you reading this?!). Every few pages included some winter inspired imagery. I am really enjoying my image collecting addiction at the moment and wanted some way of incorporating it into my gift. I get really passionate about collecting to a theme so I had fun gathering wintery images — vintage photos and illustrations, old postcards, ephemera and line art. I especially loved the front cover image of the 1920s ski girls. Somehow it seemed just perfect for our Blog meet.

I sourced most of the paper at Pedigree Paper, the K.W.Doggett retail showroom in Preston where I was seduced by rows of shimmery ‘winter wonderland’ appropriate papers. This place is amazing. I love it. In the same way a sewer loves fabric shops this is a paper hoarders dream. Shelf after shelf of delicious top quality paper and card stock. Great value pick-n-mix boxes, $5 offcut bags and piles of matching envelopes.

I also made a set of three pin back buttons with my new badge maker machine! I used shimmery paper stock in subtle pastel pink, blue and white. This is sooooo addictive and fun. I think it’s my childhood dream realised!!

Note: I am chasing a rather nasty deadline this week and I owe a few emails from the past few days…hang in there I will reply…I am procrastinating because I want to answer your emails properly!