Friday Friends, Dusty Diva's - Maddabling

Welcome to a new edition of Friday Friends and Dusty Diva's. This week, due to popular demand (?) yours truly, Maddabling is being featured. I hope you enjoy learning a little more about me and my inspirations.......



Hi, my name is Samara and this is my story. I live in a country city on the Southern Coast of Western Australia with my wonderful husband and fur kids.

our family portrait lovingly drawn by Little Mo and Friends


I am very lucky that I married a particularly creative man who writes and plays his own music, which you can check out Maddo and his music here if you fancy ! We "share" a 4m x 5m craft/music room which is fab, plenty of room for everyone.



I find inspiration in many things, beauty is something I see everywhere - the way the light falls in contrasting shadows or raindrops on a spiders web or cloud formations or sunsets or shiny sparkly craft supplies or a blank canvas or a new camera to play with !



I have a step-daughter who turned 21 earlier this year and I love her dearly. I have numerous nieces and nephews that light up my life. Whenever possible, I give the gift of handmade for Birthdays and Christmas, to try and nurture an appreciation of the handmade craft amongst the younger generation in my family.



I work full time and being creative is a great way to reduce stress and to express yourself, I find. I originally wanted to pursue a career in media or graphic design, but sadly it wasn't to be.



Maddabling came about from being encouraged to open an ETSY store by my dear friend Del over at DELicious Designz and my first craft market that a very creative friend Judy encouraged me to do a few years ago.



I thought "people like my stuff so that's a good start" - I am completely self taught and still learn new things every day. Which is good, because when one stops learning, the mind becomes stagnant and creativity is lost.



As a child, I used to cut up lots of paper into tiny pieces (so my Mother tells me) and she used to dread it when I would pick up a pair of scissors. I also used to draw quite a bit but that pursuit has fallen by the wayside.



One of my earliest crafting memories was making things out of papier mache at Primary School, I think I may have also created the mandatory dried pasta pictures and dried pasta necklaces at some point in my early artistic career also.



I make, I create, delving into a world of paper, gemstones, beads, canvas, digital film and print and of course Blogging - I LOVE promoting the craft of others each week .......... here are some examples of things I make ........

gift tags

cards

jewellery

collage

photography.

I am happiest when I am making, there is something about putting your visions, ideas and dreams all together to create a finished product. I am a proud member of the DUST team but am sad that I don't get to spend more time on the forums - note to self, MUST MAKE TIME. The ladies there are very welcoming and supportive - the Down Under Street Team does ROCK !



I love experimenting with different mediums, I have some silk beading thread, some steampunk components, and wire lace to play with soon, obviously not all together though ! Hoping to create some lovely new pieces, like this wire lace & gemstone necklace that I made a while back.....



In 2008 I entered the Fire Mountain Beads and Gems annual beading contest with a necklace I made called "Ancient Ocean".



I was so thrilled when I received a letter by snail mail to let me know that I had been shortlisted and I had to send the necklace I made and all it's specifications off to America for photographing and judging. I didn't win that particular competition, but felt like a winner, as my creation was considered as a shortlisted entry in a world wide contest !

A competition piece I made called "Southern Summer" was inspired by the amazing place in which I live



you can see the the colours correlate with the sand, water and coastal landforms.

I felt blessed to be included in the Southern Minnesota "Venus Magazine". When I got an email asking if I would consider my wine charms being included, I thought they must have made a mistake, with me being on the other side of the globe. However, as ETSY is a worldwide marketplace, it wasn't an error and here it is in print !



My signature line is Kilt Pin Brooches. I can't count how many I have made over the years. Each one is different and I love to work with people to create a custom piece just for them.



I recently acquired a new mobile phone and have become completely enamoured with the camera & Lomo photo effect that it has. So much so that I have just made my first book through Blurb - this was a whole new creative process that I LOVE ! There was something incredibly satisfying about knowing I had made a book from photos I had taken, with words I had chosen, that will arrive in my mailbox all printed and bound :)



I think I have found a new addiction in publishing -if you haven't tried it I can highly recommend the process. This book however is just for me, not for general distribution as there are some family photo's included but these are some of the pages from the book that I will share with you now.







What's next for Maddabling ? I will slowly start prep over the next few months for the Summerstreet Fair to be held in November, for those quirky gorgeous handmade gifts and need to update my ETSY store as I haven't done so for ages.



I also need to put my thinking cap on - at the recent Mothers Day Market, I was approached by a lovely lady from the local library to ask if I would consider putting a display of my work on in the library ! I saw Del's display last year and must admit I have big boots to fill :)



I recently acquired the Artful Bird Book and hope to branch out creatively and experiment with these sculpture techniques to create some little birdies ........I am also thinking of making some more books...........amongst other things like eventually learning my Bass guitar and learning how to use my sewing machine !



Anyway, here are some links for you to browse if you like or you can connect with Maddabling here :

buy online at Etsy :

http://www.etsy.com/shop/maddo

connect through my blog :

http://maddabling.blogspot.com/

or facebook :

http://www.facebook.com/Maddabling