Congratulations Cadel - You Deserve It

Wow, I am just so excited. Cadel Evans has won the World Championship Men's Road Race in Switzerland.

Cycling doesn't get much coverage in Australia and I am one of those mad people that sits up all hours in the middle of our winter to watch Le Tour de France for 3 weeks.

Cadel said “The world has been telling me for years I can't win big races, can't win one day races, because my job is to win stage races, and then today I come out and win the world championship. “I don't quite believe it.”

Well Cadel, I believe and it couldn't go to a more deserving rider. Your courage and true Australian grit and determination is inspirational. And long distance cyclists are the fittest, most underated sportsmen in the world. Now I love all sports - tennis, swimming, AFL, soccer, NRL, cricket and many more .... but cyclists are just amazing athletes.

Now all we need is a professional Australian cycling stage race team so you can leave Silence Lotto, and we can show the world how good Aussies are at cycling.

So this is my "Yell for Cadel". Way to go!

Now, how to get to Geelong next year for the world championships in 2010. Mmmmmm .....

Jo's New Tag Book

Well here is my 2nd attempt for Jo's art doll chipboard tag book. If you read post http://paperjourney.blogspot.com/2009/08/pictures-found-joannes-tag-book.html

you will hear the saga of the missing first book and see my 1st attempt.

Anyway I am much, much happier with the 2nd one. Thanks to JVO for the inspiration from her display at the ACTSA Canberra Stamp Camp.

The first 2 photos are close ups of each page and the bottom 2 photos are the entire pages.

Enjoy your new book Jo. I'm glad I could be part of you receiving some actual art work for all your efforts in everyone else's books and especially in mine

Collections Tiles for Jo

Surprise Jo!

Gail organised this wonderful surprise for our friend, Jo's 50th Birthday. A group of us made collection tiles. Then Gail put the huge canvas together with individual tiles. Here are my tiles and the final canvas. Doesn't it look fantastic!

Sunset Photo

I wanted to show you all this beautiful sunset photo I took at the end of June. It was just south of Springsure (Central Qld) looking north, north west. The colours are just beautiful and I intend to try and paint it!

The top photo is of a sunrise between Capella and Clermont, early one March morning in 2008, on our way to a swimming carnival.

Don't we live in a beautiful country.

Giveaway ATC's

Anyone else for an ATC left over from the ACTSA Stamp Camp.

Please read the post below and leave a comment with your name and then email me your address to receive an atc. My email address is debramurray@bigpond.com

First in, first served :)

My Scrapbook Page

A few of you may know I was lucky enough to win the Grand Champion Scrapbook Prize at our local show in June. I won a few prizes with various pages and was absolutely surprised and honoured to win. There were quite a lot of entries for a small town - probably at least 100 total in the various categories. Well here is the page. I'm really happy with the blend of colours. I am really monochromatic when it comes to stamping and crafting. In other words, I don't use a huge selection of colours, but stick to one colour way.

The top picture is of a card I entered. The entries had to be in by 3pm and I started the card at 2.30pm. Nothing like the last minute. Anyway, it won 2nd prize!

2nd Watercolour Painting

Now this one took a few art sessions, mucking around trying to get it a bit realistic. I enjoyed the process but still found it a challenge for someone who likes to get something finished and done. One picture is in the process of doing it and then the final picture

First Watercolour Painting

Here is my first watercolour painting I did a few weeks ago now. I finished it in one art session, and am happy with the result for a first go.

Ebay

Hi

A few of you may not know but I operate an ebay store by the same name as the blog "Paper Journey" or my username is debmuraus.

I've been a bit quite lately but there is still a heap of stamps up at the moment. There is also a special going on ribbon. Keep checking back as I have a load of stuff to list. Here is some examples of some of things I have.

ACTSA Camp ATC's

Here are some of the ATC's I made for Canberra Stamp Camp. The theme was "Nostalgia". I really challenged myself and hand drew the 40 images for them. What an idiot I am. They are not all as nice as these two - my drawing still needs a lot of practice. And drawing 2 inches square is not easy. But if you are one of my stamping buddies in Australia, leave a comment and I will send you one of the 5 or 6 I have left over.

Collections Shadow Boxes

I loved making these boxes at the ACTSA Canberra Stamp Camp with Julie Van Oosten. I had to throw a few little extra embellishments on them, but we basically all made the same. They will be displayed on a book holder or similar once I can find the right one. For someone that has been stamping for 12 years, I don't have much finished art of my own. That's the beauty of this craft - sending off your agonised over pieces to a perfect stranger or internet friend.

Collections Journal - inside pages

Here are some of the pages from inside the journal book.

Collections Journal Book Project

Here is another great project we did last week at the ACTSA Stamp Camp. Thanks Julie, I really enjoyed this one and have made a few books/journals before off my own bat. You have now given me new skills to make more books in the future. Loved the chipboard - it's got to be one of my favourite products. These photos are off the front cover and the tiles.

ACTSA Canberra Stamp Camp

I had the most wonderful relaxing time last weekend in Canberra. It wasn't even cold. Thanks so much to my very special friends Grace, Michelle and Cheryll for inviting me to attend, for organising me and putting me up (or is that putting up with me?). I also want to thank the lovely Helen Brown for rooming with us at camp. You are such a wonderful person and it was great to get to know you a little bit. Thanks to my buddy Dianne, Lorelle and Lorraine for making me feel welcome at your table at camp.

To all the other friends that visited and took time out to catch up with me, thankyou. I value your friendship Kaeren, Bron and Raewyn. It was also great to catch up with Jacki, Raewyn's family, Lana Murray, Lorraine Fletcher and so many others and to get to know Nola.

Thank you to the ACTSA Committee for such a well organised and inspiring weekend. Last but certainly not least thank you to the wonderful Julie Van Oosten. You have encouraged me to create once again. Your down to earth attitude, your generosity and creativity is truly inspiring.

The class kits that you organised were right up my alley and allowed be to really enjoy just creating. In this post are the three cards we created.

Pictures Found - Joanne's Tag Book

As you have seen I have been in a round robin tag book swap last year into this year (don't ask). Anyway, one of my friend's (Joanne) book has gone missing. I found the pictures of what I did just yesterday. Because I took them on my camera and didn't scan them like I normally do the pictures were filed differently on the computer. So Joanne, here is a bit of a look what I did in your book.

Images

Here's some images that I have collected over the years. As far as I know they are copyright free.

Last Tag Book - finished in Feb

Here is the pics of the last tag book from the round robin swap. This is Teresa's book and her theme was Vintage Children. I decided to go with the seaside theme.

Blog Comments

I love blog comments - as do other bloggers. It let's us know first that people are looking at our blog and secondly what you like to see. So please leave a comment on blogs!

Art Lessons - Simple Pastel Drawings

I didn't even like pastels but managed to get 2 decent 5 minute pictures shown below. Then I tried my friends expensive Rembrandt pastels and what a difference. I bought a pack from the use for 1/3 of the price of here in Australia and now can't find time to really play with them.

Art Lessons

I used to draw when I was a teenager (25 years ago!!). I missed it and got so out of practice I couldn't even draw decent stick figures. Anyway, some friends and I are going to art class. I love it and it is my sane time every week. We use all different mediums and our teacher Mary is fantastic letting us explore our own styles. Here are some charcoal drawings I did earlier in the year. I will post some more thing soon. We are currently doing watercolours - something I didn't even think I would enjoy or be able to do. Am loving it - thanks Mary!