{ kass } an artistic journey

patterned papers available

ETA: Boy some of you girls are QUICK! IT'S ALL GONE!! Thanks girls for the interest!!

OK I am not going to list each paper individually coz there is literally several hundred sheets. If you are looking for a particular one email me and I can check if I have it. Some of these papers are less than a year old.

The paper is free to a good home but you will need to pay for postage.

Some brands I have are:

• Chatterbox
• Stamp It
• Cherry Arte
• Foof-a-la
• Cosmo Cricket
• Fontwerks
• 7 Gypsies
• Rusty Pickle
• My Minds Eye (including Bohemia and Wild Asparagus)
• Urban Lily
• Hambly
• Lil Davis
• KI Memories

plus some random ones without names.

You've got a week, after which they are going to my nephew's creche.

return of the bad blogger

that'd be me.

Things have been SO busy the past few weeks.

I had a shocking head cold and was laid up for a few days. I had to get myself up and about though, because catching up would have been so hard and so stressful, and probably would have impeded any chance of getting better.

So I got up and soldiered on, but I had so much Uni work. Add to that I got some extra hours at work - great money wise but timing wasn't great. So it's only been the past couple of days I have got totally caught up. Now I am trying to catch up on sleep!!

So tonight I want to clean up my desk coz there are literally PILES of stuff on it and that does not inspire creativity!!

Today, I got a parcel from A Million Little Things. Let me tell you, in terms of service, they are fantastic - in terms of timing of postage, price, everything. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

I got all the new Basic Grey papers - the Mellow, Recess, Periphery and Obscure lines. They are gorgeous. Almost too gorgeous to use. That's the problem with Basic Grey - they are my favourite papers by a mile. I also got some of the new Heidi Swapp mini-masks and some cherry bling. Cute AS!

I'm actually planning on getting rid of a lot of my patterned papers. The fact is, I dont use them enough and I have HEAPS which I dont need. I have heaps of Chatterbox plus other brands. I am keeping my Basic Grey and a few individual papers. What I might do is list them and if you want them they are yours - no cost, if you can just cover postage. When I post the list, email me if you want anything.

Hugs going out to Stacy J, whose been under some major fire recently on 2Peas and elsewhere. Mistakes get made. People stuff up. But life moves on and you know what? There are bigger things than scrapbooking in life.... so move on people.

And I am planning on adding some photos from seeing Bon Jovi in New York - not the best photos but wanna blog about it. Stay tuned for that.

buried

under a pile of uni work, working, photographing, belmere stuff and life....

i'm here....dont forget about me!

*tap tap* is this thing on?

yes, and we are LIVE.

Belmere Creative, that is.

The website still has some work to happen but it's up, it's live and I would love some feedback.

In other news, I have a shocking head cold and feel like total CRAP. Not only that but with this virus, it of course sets off the urticaria, which is the fancy word for the skin condition I have been battling since returning from Canada. Turns out it is a viral condition, meaning there's no cure. It will just "go away" (I was so pleased to pay the dermatologist $140 for THAT gem). I come up in red spots, varying in size and redness. They tend to just come from nowhere, make me itch then go away just as quick. Not right now. When he said I had chronic urticaria, he wasn't kidding. Right now, the spots are HUGE and RED and RAISED and ITCHY as hell. It's rather unpleasant, on top of the head cold. I sooooo hate being sick!

On that note, I am going inside to blow my nose.

Amazon happiness

well I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat and rather tired. I didn't get much sleep last night due to the urticaria playing up, so I stayed home from Uni to get some sleep.

My day was brightened, first by a call from Jess in PEI, then an Amazon delivery.

It's well established how much I love art, journals and all things closely related. So with my first Riot pay, I bought 3 books...kind of.

First, I have Wide Open: Inspiration & Techniques for Art Journalling on the Edge, by Randi Feuerhelm-Watts. It's a card and creativity notebook and it's cool. I can't wait to use some of the ideas - the colour and ideas are awesome. I highly recommend it!!

Then, from the ever fabulous Keri Smith, whose work I just luv - The Guerilla Art Kit and Wreck This Journal. Keri is awesome, I just love the way she thinks and the things she tries - it's so inspiring. I think anyone who is into experimenting in their art or scrapbooking would totally get something from Keri Smith's books.

So now, feeling kinda crappy (but alive), I am heading to work.

drawing for fun

last night, I went to a life drawing class in Smith Street, Fitzroy. For fun.

Now those of you who've been reading these musings for a few years now will remember the hilarity of my first life drawing efforts, when I began uni last year.

Last night I realised, I am still no master at the life drawing. But they aren't AS bad as the first set...and I enjoyed the evening. It's kind of relaxing, although the short poses (2 and 5 minutes) are not long enough for me...I like the longer poses!!

This is all for my visual diary to build up work for my final project for Studio Theory, which will be the Madonna piece.

Today I am at home, writing and trying to finish assignments.

the guggenheim...in melbourne

Michael and I went in today to see the Guggenheim exhibition which is on at the National Gallery of Victoria. It features work from the various locations across the world.

I was really looking forward to this as I absolutely LOVED the Guggenheim in New York when I was there in June.

I came out a tad disappointed.

I felt that maybe I was looking at the Guggenheim 'B Team' - certainly not the best of what this collection offers. I know that we cant have all the good stuff, but I didn't see a LOT that really impressed me. Further, I am not sure I was happy with the curation of the exhibit - it got better as it went but in the first section it looked very "thrown together" - I couldn't grasp where the consistency was meant to be.

Overall - maybe it wasn't worth the $20 entry and it drives me INSANE that galleries dont put together a short, free pamphlet about it - the guide to accompany the exhibition was $50-odd and I just refuse to pay that kind of money (and thankfully the American galleries offer far better books for far less).

We also called into the Victorian Small Business Expo but there was very little there for me - it was mostly IT orientated.

Work is going well and so is Uni. I am planning on doing some life drawing sessions (as an artist, not a model!!) this week in practice for my project later this semester, which will look at the female figure - and more specifically the nude work of Madonna in her 1992 book Sex.
Busy times but loving it.

thursday

...and I dont really have anything to say. Just at uni, killing time. Almost time to head to the doctors, then home before going to work. I just PRAY I can get my pants dry in time to get to work.

some tuesday randomness

some commentary....

uni is back in full swing. loving that but, combined with the work to get Belmere established (at least getting the paperwork organised and getting things in place), it's not leaving time for much else. I wont be entering the FK Awards for Excellence - I wanted to but it just wont happen. It's already August 7. I have been home almost 5 weeks from the US and Canada. Where the hell is my time going??

The allergy I came home with is still lingering and giving me some serious grief. I woke up at 2.30am this morning itching and I woke up this morning covered in red spots. I almost had to beg the GP to get me an urgent referral to a dermatologist.

Why would the member of one scrapbook site design team be a featured scrapper on the website of another, high profile scrapbook website? I mean, the stores are in competition. Why work for one and then have your work feature prominently on another? I am not talking messageboards, I mean on portals. Sorry - don't flame me - but I think it's wrong and disloyal to the person who employs you on your home design team.

I am addicted to FaceBook. I check it almost more often than my email. Is there a FaceBook support group? I might need it.

oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGE!!!! xo

it's 8.30am on Friday

and I am at uni, wondering why my class isn't here for our 8am start.

I mean, if I can make ithere at this unholy hour, they sure as heck should too.

I had a late night last night - after work I went to visit my friend Brad and we sat talking (read: crapping on) until 11pm. By the time I went home and got to bed, it was midnight. So I am paying this morning!

If they're not here by 9am I am going home to bed!