ONE PERSON's TRASH .... My Treasure

How are we all this week ?

Im Great having spent the weekend mostly with my soul sister Nique and my little munchkin kidlet nieces and nephew.

I've been busy revamping some fabulous treasures from Garage sales ( yard sales for my American friends ), these crochet cushion covers below I picked up for $1.00 and a great little tired timber bookcase for $4.00 (photos of the bookcase re-vamp will be posted by friday) as well as a collection of lace and crocheted doiles for under a few dollars.

I love re-vamping and renewing old odd's and ends, seeing in them the potential for a new life, it brings me great joy to reuse redo revamp and renovate especially when I've picked them up for free or next to nothing.

I will endeavour to show you more of what I do and how I do it, or maybe even why for those of you who think junk is junk and should be left to rot on a scrap heap somewhere, :) oh boy the treasures I've found though along the way just by using a bit of creative thhinking or elbow grease on somebodys discarded once loved belongings.

So how many of you have old flat waaaay past it pillows that no longer offer any support let alone comfort

I know I do but couldnt thrown them out because I knew they'd be re used somehow and boy am I glad because I've found a great way to upcycle them into stuffing for my fabulous new bargain vintage cushion covers..sweet :)

Simply tear or cut open the old pillows and remove the stuffing, I like to do this outside so I can sun the stuffing for an hour or so to get rid of any impurities and because I pull the stuffing apart to re fluff i, I then like to spray each handful of now fluffy stuffing with a lovely linen spray( I use both Verbena and Lavender from the store Dusk) you can quite easily make up your own essential oil spray

 

How To: Make Your Own Linen Spray

Linen spray is a bit of an indulgence but I love it especially lavender scented sprays for sheets and laundry

:

Use an empty spray bottle or rinse out an old bottle with hot water. In a small bowl, mix lavender oil and vodka together. The alcohol works as an emulsifier, allowing the oil and water to mix evenly. Ingredients

1/4 cup unflavored vodka

3 1/2 cups filtered water

1 tsp. lavender essential oil

Pour the lavender-vodka mix into the spray bottle, add the 3 1/2 cups filtered water, and shake. Make sure to shake well before each use.

More Tips:

For an alcohol-free mixture omit the vodka, but make sure to shake rigorously before spraying, since the oil and water will separate.

Put a few drops of lavender into ironing water to make clothes smell great.

For more recipes using essential oils, check out aromaweb they have some great ideas and recipes.

Here is the Dusk Brand Linen spray I love

 

My funky $1.00 vintage cushion covers all fluffy and smelling great. Simple easy and funky recycling.

I've also fallen in Love all over again with the funky little zine BESPOKE ..go check them out and enter your email address to get their wonderful weekly and daily crafty updates and inspiration straight to your inbox. They feature all sorts of great talent from blogs and sites all over the world but also have a heavy Australian content yay.Below is the link to todays crafty article...how to make your own customized stamp

http://bespokezine.com

http://www.theprettyblog.com/2012/07/make-your-own-stamp-diy/

sorry for some reason I cant make these HYPERLINKS :(

 

Ok well thats it from me for today but I shall catch up with you all on WED afternoon, until then keep smiling and be good to each other,much arty love and happiness Gypsy Mel x ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Art Journalling and vintage nudes

Loving working in my Journal of late, creating backgrounds and prepping pages for future sketches and artworks. Esp with my antique vintage arty nude postcards like the one above, back when women were curvy, sensual and voluptuous rather than concerned with being skinny.

I've been layering old book pages from a tarot paperback I picked up at a garage sale recently for .50cents. ( yard sale for my American readers ). I stick them down with Gel Medium and once that's dry I start to add layers of Distress Ink from my collection of Tim Holtz inks and stamp pad range, then intuitively add other paints or dyes building up a grungy worn texture.

I used to be so afraid of layering, always worried that I would ruin what I lay down underneath and that the final result wouldn't be as good as the original layer of papers and ephemera,somehow disrespecting those old papers and vintage finds. I've challenged myself to overcome that now but it is always there nagging in the far dusty reaches of my mind, if I really like the original background before I grunge it up I will then take a good quality photo of it for use in photoshop later on at some stage ( read: when I buy it and learn how to use it ) ;) lol

If I think I'll be using charcoal on the final background surface I tend to go over the background with some transparent gesso to give it more tooth for the charcoal to grab onto, or alternately I'll mix white gesso and transparent in a 3/4 mix to get some more coverage but not completely cover the background I've built up.

I'm slowly learning to let go more with my art and not be too precious because after all there are no mistakes only happy accidents to play around with.

 

With this particular background I even played around with nail polish splats and splashes.

So very happy to have the latest copy of one of my all time favourite mixed media magazines. "Cloth Paper Scissors" and take time out at my local Coffee Club Redcliffe with my art Journaling supplies and peruse the latest edition ( trying hard not to drool and the artwork and new supplies they show) over a lovely pot of Chai Tea.

This is a little illustration I did recently on an old perfume test paper ...I've called her Princess Poppet. What do you think of her ? Do you know I used to be so terribly afraid of ruining art supplies and being wasteful because I wasn't good enough that I only used to paint sketch and draw on scraps, seriously I used to only paint on the inside of the cardboard from wheetbix boxes or other breakfast cereal boxes or scraps of paper I found laying around. If I had anew journal I would get utter art stage fright and not be able to do anything in it ... Except stick in art I did on rubbish and scraps...I still struggle today but at least I can put pen or paint to paper a little more now in my journals ...the upside of this is I have a great supply of old blank journals to now use ;)

Now for those wondering how my "3 Months Without Sugar Challenge" Is going I'm happy to tell you my body has happily adjusted and I'm doing fine, there has been some trimming and toning happening as I continue with my regular gym sessions and the lack of sugary treats or toxins in my diet. I was even able to withstand my nieces and nephew eating ice cream and mini pancakes in front of me without the slightest temptation or desire to distract them while i pinched a few lol.. So I'd say that's a great sign of success :)

Not the highest quality resolution photo I'm afraid but its a start... I'm getting better at downloading pics to my iPad dudad ;) Ok so this guy I just drew again on scrap paper the other day whilst sitting on the couch reading and researching blogs so I can improve and personalize mine a lot more, with the weird scratchy pen/ pointer thingy that came with my iPad cover ( Gekko brand ) so not a fine art pen my any means but I just had the overwhelming feeling to start drawing and this is what came out. I've not had that creative rush for some time now so when the urge hit I just let go and went with it, it's funny just relaxing the judgement and planning parts of your mind and drawing intuitively like this and seeing the end result.

He's kind of sad and solemn but also resolute, though the rain clouds are all but drowning him he is still able to protect his heart and keep her from the torrents of rain washing away her Spirit and shine. I like that the cloud is blue rather than the traditional dark black clouds of the black dog of Depression, I hope that's a sign of healing,I will endeavor to upload another shot of him finding solace in the rain that's a bit clearer.

There's so much for me to learn yet... Adding hyperlinks to other pages I love and admire from fellow bloggers, artisans and friends... Video content ?...and then sheesh how do I tag ... What is tagging?labels ? Is that what is discussed in my blog ..where does that go .. Does that make it easier for strangers to find my blog out there in the big void of technomologimacal ether ( yes I make up weird words and am ware this is not a real word or correct spelling... Yet another of my weird quirks :) )

Hmm still not the same quality as on my iPhone ....I swear I'll get techno geeked soon and be all shiny sparkly and new but with still the same weirdness and quirks ;)

Well that's me done for today ..I'm off to get ready for another gym session woo hoo .. Much love abundance and juicy happiness to you all.

GYPSY XXX

 

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