Don't forget your shield!

Narnia
till 26 August 2012
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/narnia/

Yesterday I helped out at the Powerhouse Museum on the Narnia Shields which is a part of their school holiday program which is related to the Narnia exhibiton.

For $5 you are provided with a silver shield as well as some lovely decorations such as coloured stripes and symbols. Each of the colours and symbols have means e.g. the lion means warrior (I'll try to get a copy of the info later as I forgot to yesterday).

You can also visit play.powerhouse.com to download a template for the sword and helmet as displayed by this lovely umm... mannequin thing.

I made a sword myself which is being displayed by my friend!

And here's my own shield!

I also went as a visitor on the weekend to check out some of the other exhibitions... :)

Faith Fashion Fusion - an exhibition on the style of Muslim Women in Australia
till February 2013
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/faithfashion/

If you are able to catch the Boulton and Watt on a steam day, it's such a fun experience seeing it in action and one of the earliest and largest examples in the world which still runs!
Permanent feature

Lego Brickworks - ten amazing instalments by various artists including Adriano Zumbo (pâtissier and macaron extraordinaire) and Benja Harney (self taught paper engineer - I love seeing his works!)
till 30 July 2012
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/exhibitions/lego_brickworks.php 

Zumbo

Craig

Harney

Wiggles Exhibition - here's a sample of the paper rose making station; I would have a shown a photo but my rose failed dismally... :/
The Wiggles exhibit will be in for at least another year, maybe longer?
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/wiggles/

Here's a view from the Member's Lounge - it's actually the first time I've been to it (I've been to the one that used to be on level 4)

An afternoon city view on the way back to the station

Paper Petals #2

Came home today from the second Paper Petals meet where we exhanged our first set of cards. There are currently six people so I received 5 pretty new designs.

I ended up making my card till the last minute huhu T.T (in between chores here and there!) I wanted to incorporate a technique so I scoured through my books and magazines taking notes... I finally came up with an idea involving acetate (similar to overhead projector sheets) but couldn't get the creative juice to flow -_- So I thought about it over dinner and decided that I would use my idea for a Christmas card :)

***which meant back to the drawing board***

I decided to make something similar to a design that caught my eye before, really liked the pale colour coordination. I cut out the right scraps and things (the blue paper I used had a matching ink, but luckily the pink I had around the house worked together well).

I had a few issues with the layout and how the elements worked together as I made one big change which was the strip down the middle was cut with a border punch so many other elements had to change.

I worked something out (although my "no two cards are the same" policy got in the way) and set to writing out the instructions, despaired when I had to write it out eight times, so typed it up and went to look at the OfficeWorks website about document printing... their website was down... -_-

(An aside, I did go to Office works and I even bought a copy card - free to purchase but have to insert $1 or $2 coin... then couldn't figure out how to print so went to the counter and it's all done from there... goodbye $2 coin...)

Anyway, I'm generally happy with the card and I did write that alternatively it could be made as a gatefold card (i.e. it opens like saloon doors lol), but after making it, I think I should have made the actual card to be a gatefold card because the paper is layered and just looks like it will open lol

Instructions I used for the swap

Stamps

• Swirl: “Baroque Motifs” (Stampin’ Up)
• Sentiment: “Baroque Motifs” (Stampin’ Up)
  OR “French Phrases” #45797 (Sullivans)
• Script: “Secret Bird Society” (kaisercraft clear stamps)

Colours

• Blue; “Pool Party” (Stampin’ Up)
• Pink; N/A

Other

• Pink ribbon; rhinestones (if applicable); white embossing powder; Versamark; border punch (fiskars “spreading water”)

Method

1. Cut blue cardstock approx. 5cm by 14cm (Or an A4 cut into 8 pieces)
2. Stamp the script stamp 2/3s of the way down the card
3. Place pink ribbon on the blue card (in the empty space); jazz it up with knots, bows, rhinestones, layering, criss-cross effects
4. Cut pink cardstock approx. 10cm by 14cm (Or an A4 cut into 4 pieces)
5. Use an edge punch on one long edge
6. Stamp the script stamp 1/3 of the way up the card
7. Stamp the swirl with Versamark and emboss with white embossing powder
8. Cut a strip of the blue paper and emboss a sentiment onto the paper
9. Place the sentiment onto the pink card over the script stamp
10. Glue the pieces side-by-side onto a folded card

Alternatives

• Create it as a gatefold card
• At step 1., trim the card about 2cm shorter and use that piece for the sentiment
• Switch the colours/layout of the elements
• Add glitter to the holes (border punch)

I also learnt how to make rosettes and was given a plain tag to decorate, if only I could make something as beautiful as this!

A close-up of some other swaps!

Newsprint Nails

Decided to make newsprint nails! I was looking up something and came across the world of youtube nail tutorials! This is relatively simple to do!

1. Base coat and colour
2. Cut little strips of newsprint
3. Apply to nails with some form of alcohol, You can just dab it on the paper, use a paintbrush, dip the paper in the alcohol.
4. Add a topcoat!


Just check it out on youtube, there are a few tutorials :)

The colours I used are from faceshop Blue: BL603 and Lavender PP401. Just look out for the plain nail polish bottle with light colours!

And there in the background I'm watching the 2011 version of Hunter X Hunter =D!!!

Origami books!

Origami books. I made them from a tutorial on http://www.paperkawaii.com/ ^^

Cruise Highlights

I went on a P&O Cruise in early December with some friends and it was quite fun. Here are some of the highlights and cool stuff from the trip. It was about a week long with 3 island stops in New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

Towel animals made by staff and passengers, the oens with the blue lines were from the cabin.

Fruit carving demo

 Cake decorating and baked goodies

 

Pretty paintintg in the hallway

Butter, lol!

 Shuffleboard

Cool design on the coke can :P

Cocktail bartender show

Island scenes!