VIVID Sydney 2012

The VIVID light festival in Sydney has just finished for another year. 

Although it was on every night for a couple of weeks, we left it until the final Saturday before taking a look. Seems like the rest of Sydney had the same idea, as it was packed around Circular Quay.

There were lighting installations from Customs House down to Dawes Point under the Harbour Bridge, but we mainly hung around the Quay area.

 This is the facade of the original Museum of Contemporary Art building.

This is the front of the new MCA wing, with lighting of handprints:

  For a daytime view of the MCA, click here

 

The Opera House 3D projections by Urbanscreen:

Giant chandelier and light art sculpture at Campbell's Cove:

And finally, the Harbour Bridge doesn't need special lights to make it picture-perfect:

MCA Sydney - arty

The new extension to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney opened in late March, and it's a wonderful addition to the harbour foreshore. This is a quick visit, in pictures.

First, though, we took the ferry from Balmain, past Luna Park and under the Harbour Bridge to Circular Quay.

The new wing is all white and stark and modern, very different to the Art Deco original building next door.

The MCA Cafe occupies a prime spot next to the Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace.

The menu and dishes look fab.

Here are some of the exhibits.

More on these on the MCA website

Worth a visit? Definitely!

Art and About 2011, Sydney

Art and About Sydney is about 'transforming the city into a canvas'.

Part of the project is a series of laneway installations.

We spent a morning trying to find them

(Sydney's laneways are not as well known as Melbourne's).

speak-easy cool

A lovely food issue of the 'speak-easy' zine is available now
(from here, be quick).

So even with all my going on about cutting down on magazine and book purchases and e-reader envy, this is a really great little issue and a keeper.

One of the best things is the food-related articles, written by well-known foodies and bloggers including @lemonpi and @leetranlam (who is also the creator of the zine).

And the other thing is the delightful hand-made touches, such as the photos stuck onto the page with washi tape, a diecut doily, and the cute stamped images of forks and spoons.

This is what I want to do with my recipes and craft stash one day...

Gorgeousness.

The old 'Butterflies in a Frame' trick

If you're a visitor to markets and craft shows, you may have noticed how popular are paper butterflies stuck into a wooden box frame.  There are so many different designs around these days, and they've always appealed to me because of their simple, clean style.  In fact, part of the appeal of the butterflies (or birds, or whatever design is chosen) is that they are sometimes handcut from vintage papers - very delicate yet bold.

So of course I think to myself "I could do that!".  This type of decoration has been around for years, and I first thought of making my own about 2 years ago.  However, with one thing and another (aka 'procrastination'), I've only just completed the project.  As it was, both pictures took less than an hour to make.

The box frames are from IKEA (bought, er, 2 years ago).  The butterflies were cut from various scrapbooking papers and from an old crappy novel I was about to throw out (Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, if you're interested).  To save time, I used a Cuttlebug machine with a butterfly die cut - so much quicker than handcutting, and less prone to error and frustration.
The butterflies are attached with 1/2" quilting pins on foam core board.

The final effect looks pretty good, I think.  The feeling of relief at finally getting them out of the way is... priceless!

Butterflies cut from an old yellowing novel, attached to black foam core board.

Butterflies cut from scrapbooking paper, on white foam core board.

Getting a bit of a craft display going on the upstairs landing.

A Mother's Day page!

As usual, I was struggling to find a gift for Mother’s Day. Fortunately, my mother and I had attended a wedding on the previous weekend, which produced some lovely photos. I was inspired by this page by the talented Tiffany, and produced my own version as a result.

I put the finished page in a white box frame, which allowed the die-cut butterflies to remain ‘wing up’. Hope mum likes it.

Supplies: Patterned paper: Bella Blvd. Cardstock: Bazzill. Die-cuts: Amy Butler. Chandelier stamp: Heidi Swapp.

Rub-ons: American Crafts. Other: Cuttlebug embossing, Fiskars Apron punch, Stampin' Up! scallop punch

Detail of page inside the frame

Tabitha cat straightening up the frame (or there was a cat treat caught underneath)

Some more spring-inspired craft

It's been a productive weekend craftwise, because I finished these 2 pictures and also put them into frames (the finishing touch). They are chipboard trees and birds (Maya Road) and a strip of flowers (Buzz and Bloom) that I painted with chalk ink and acrylic paint or covered with patterned paper or stamped. They are mounted onto black cardstock and are hung, I like to think, so they add an air of 'class' to the upstairs landing.

Not religious icons

Have you seen those $2 bookshops? They are just like normal $2 shops but sell books and art supplies instead. That’s where I pick up a couple of canvases, ‘just in case’. Just in case of what, I don’t know, as I’ve had two 50 cm canvases sitting on the floor of my living room for the past 18 months, and I still don’t know what to do with them.

Anyhoo, for some weird reason, I got a few more smaller ones recently. And this is the result. They remind me of those pre-renaissance icons with the Madonna on them. You just won’t find mine in the Louvre, though.

The heart and felt birds are from Maya Road, and the chipboard scrolls are from Buzz and Bloom. The paint is just gold acrylic (sorry, I know you were expecting gold leaf...).

Kids of the world - all coming together

Here is another take on the international kiddies, this time with a far eastern feel. I used these clips because the picture will be a present for my mother, who has a few oriental-themed things in her house, so this frame will look good amongst it all.


I had a lot of fun deciding on the colours and backgrounds for this piece, not to mention the embellishments, because the frame is 12 x 12, so lots of room for bits and pieces.

I tried to match the girls’ nationality to the boys, but as you can see, they are a bit of a multicultural mix. The Japanese dude with the cup of tea seems to be chillin’ in his yukata, while his compatriot is ready to take on the Last Samurai! The girls are taking it all in their elegant stride…

The clip art (thanks again to Stampinwhenican) was coloured using Tombow markers. The lace cardstock is from KI Memories, and the metallic bronze paper (Lincraft) was embossed using a Cuttlebug (Bloom Dots design) - doesn't it look like pressed metal?. Felt flowers from Maya Road, brads from Kaisercraft and Queen and Co, rub-ons by Cloud 9. Crane stamp (on China girl’s dress) from Hero Arts. The ‘sword’ is a toothpick covered in aluminium foil (making do with limited supplies!).

Gentleman callers

To complement the adorable girls of the world, Allison from Stampinwhenican has provided some more clip art images, including boys of the world and also some delightful ‘everyday’ children (the little vampire boy is real cute).

So, I made some matching partners for the girls.

Crafty Girl Power!

As soon as I came across these super cute clip art pics I knew I had to do something with them. The pictures are from Allison at stampinwhenican and they are just begging to be made into something vibrant and lovely.

I coloured the girls using Tombow markers, added some glittery rub-ons and mounted them on cardboard over some scrap paper. They are set into shadow box frames that will eventually be placed up my staircase (when I get around to putting some hooks in the wall).

Here is a closer look...

...being artistic pays off

I'll admit I didn't think of this on my own - it is 'scraplifted' from an idea by Polly Maly in Scrapbooks etc. magazine Feb 2008. But I hope you'll agree that the effect of the lace cardstock set into a shadow box frame, with red accents, is pretty special. It didn't take long to do, either.

Just the thing to brighten up a rainy day (of which we have had lots of lately).