New idea

A postcrosser mentioned in her profile that she preferred handmade cards. I rather send a handmade card and I choose an image I coloured a while ago. The image is from Sweet pea stamps. It is coloured with Copic markers (sketch and ciao). To alter it on the card did not satisfied me, so I had an idea. Why not cut the cardstock with the same die cut I used for the image. Then I would lay the image in the opening of the card. I hope I make any sense?? So the image is not on top of the card, but lays in it. All went well and very satisfied I will send this card tomorrow to the United Kingdom. I coloured the cardstock with acrylic paints (Van Eyck acrylic paint viridian green, blue lake and FolkArt evergreen). A bit of glimmer mist (Tattered Angels cosmos) was sprayed on top of the card. With the help of a rubber stamp, an acrylic stamp and a stencil I finished the card. I am so satisfied with the finished product☺

Hosted swaps on art journal pages and handmade cards

Hello all of you, having a great time? Well, I enjoy these days in January. I slowed down on swaps for several reasons, but I still have some going on. It is a lot of fun joining swaps and I thought I would host some for this year. I will be hosting on swap-bot. So I started an art journal swap for every month of this year. Unfortunately I was late to start in January. That's why the first pages will be started in February. The swap for March is ready, so swappers are able to join. There are prompts to give participants a subject to work on. I learned these kind of pages on milliande and I still enjoy it. These pages will be collected and bound in an art journal book. This will be a very lifely book full of pages of different people around the world.

The prompts for February are:
Prompt 1: Describe in one word how you entered/started this year 2012. Express this word on your art journal page.

Prompt 2: Something I did in 2011that I certainly will do/have to do again in 2012.

Hmmm, that gives us something to think about, doesn't it? Well, it is positive thinking and here are my pages.

The end of 2011 brought some difficulties for me. It seems as if everything around me broke. The front doorknob, the bicycles, the washing machine and so on ... Instead of going crazy, I thought of solving my problems and I did. At the end of 2011 I had this feeling of relief, satisfaction. And knowing I am not done yet, I still am satisfied of every solved problem. YES, I CAN!!

In 2011 I had frequently contact with my sister. And that is one thing I would like to continue, because I miss my family a LOT. Thus expressed on the second page. On the labels: keep frequently in touch with my sister who lives in Surinam.

Then I hosted handmade cards swaps at swap-bot with the following themes: First month of 2012 challenge and A bit distressed handmade card swap. I made two cards in each swap, because I am hosting the swaps with the same themes for the Handmade cards group and one for everyone who wish to participate. 

My cards:

I used the first card as an example for the swap.

My cards for the "A bit distressed" theme:

The first card is used as example for the swap. The little heart on the second card is a wooden heart. That is really cute.

Another swap, an ATC

Hello everyone, I haven't made ATC's for a while. But then someone approached me for a swap. This lady (USA), very sweet in her communications, likes Alice in Wonderland. Not into ATC's now, but could I draw Alice? Should I try? She told me I could make whatever I want. Challenges, challenges ......
I wondered if I could draw Alice, maybe not a look-a-like, but a bit close. Hmmmm, I wondered, got paper and started. I knew I would colour her with Copic markers, so I drew her on large Copic marker paper - size A3-, had to minimize her .... it should be the size for an ATC (2,5x3,5 inch)! As you can imagine: the journey started already !

Ever imagined Alice in Wonderland with big dolls eyes? Well, here she is. She has no eyelashes, because as small as she is on the ATC, the eyelashes may predominate her face. Satisfied with her body or pose, yes!, well her face ..... at least I have my own Alice in Wonderland:-) And I love the cat, so cute. 

The original will be coloured and will conquer a place in a large art journal, once .....

Black & white Madness chunky pages

Chunky pages are fun to make. These are 4x4 inch pages and as the name says, I chunk or embellish the pages with ribbon, charms or cute chains. At the moment I like projects that do not take a lot of time. I made six pages. For the Black & white Madness 4x4 chunky page swap I created four pages to exchange. Two pages are for myself. After this swap I'll sort all chunky pages to see if I have enough for a nice chunky book to bind. If I have enough pages I will stop making these pages for a while and concentrate on art journals and paintings. After all, I wanted to try these pages out and collect some pages for one chunky book. And I am not a collector of all kinds of things...

It was fun to make, so I made two pages to keep.

Good news, good news!! My daughter just came in with the mail of today. I received two beautiful art journal pages from Mary@milliande (UK):-) The prompts for the month December are:
* Tis the season to be...
* My wish/dream/goal for the new year is...

Thanks a lot, Mary!

Creations in Round Robin

These pages are my entries in another art journals in 2011. For some reason I did not post the pictures. No reason not to post, so here are they.

Lucine for Rachel: second page

My second page for Rachel. It was so much fun and I am happy with the joy on these pages.

Lucine for Rachel: second page

My second page for Rachel. It was so much fun and I am happy with the joy on these pages.

Purple Owl Tree, doodle flower

That is the theme of Rachel's art journal. She started very nice and I wondered what kind of page I could create. Of course my hands were itching to draw a dolly, but then I changed my mind. It can't be seen on the picture, but the girl has some cute gold curls in her hair. On different places there are nice glitters added with atyouSpica. I will not type a lot; see for yourself. I like the page very, very much. It is so what whimsical and that is in one line with my feelings right now. Nothing too serious, because life already is:-3 I am entering two pages in Rachel's journal. The second page is almost finished and a photo will be uploaded.

A doodle flower I draw and coloured last year. Quite awake one night and it was hard to fall asleep. I just grabbed my Moleskine and draw/coloured this flower. Not to see on the picture but it has nice glitters added with atyouSpica.

Purple Owl Tree, doodle flower

That is the theme of Rachel's art journal. She started very nice and I wondered what kind of page I could create. Of course my hands were itching to draw a dolly, but then I changed my mind. It can't be seen on the picture, but the girl has some cute gold curls in her hair. On different places there are nice glitters added with atyouSpica. I will not type a lot; see for yourself. I like the page very, very much. It is so what whimsical and that is in one line with my feelings right now. Nothing too serious, because life already is:-3 I am entering two pages in Rachel's journal. The second page is almost finished and a photo will be uploaded.

A doodle flower I draw and coloured last year. Quite awake one night and it was hard to fall asleep. I just grabbed my Moleskine and draw/coloured this flower. Not to see on the picture but it has nice glitters added with atyouSpica.

A creative day

I just hope that this year had a good start for you. I enjoyed the first day of this year and I hope I can continue to do so. Today was a creative day for me. I had to create two art journal pages with the prompts: Tis the season to be and My wish/dream/goal for the new year is ... Well, I did some thinking, and thinking .... it was hard to decide what I would do. Today was very good to me, because I created these pages and am very satisfied. Enjoy with me, please.

Material used: acrylic paints, inkpads, embossing powder, acrylic stamps, modelling paste, napkin, template, motivation and a lot of fun!!

2012

                                    AND WISHING YOU ALL A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!

More chunky pages

Nothing much to say. I'll just post some work done for trades and some pages I kept for myself:-) These pages have titles. I am experimenting on titles.

These two pages are made for a 1-1 swap.

                                           Wink

                                           Thinking...

The pages that I made to keep. I love how these five pages turned out. It is amazing how each creation turns out different with the beautiful colours.

                                           I´m not sure ...

                                           African woman

                                             Wink

25th December projects

Spending precious time with my daughters and we have lots of laughs. I enjoy this first Christmas day. The peking duck is in the oven, and there is still greens to cook. In the meanwhile I finished a canvas painting I made for my daughter, Michelle. I started this painting two months ago and I did not want to end this year without finishing it. The painting was nearly finished and there were just some little things to do, such as painting the shirt, the guitar and the finishing touch. Relief, that is how I feel right now!

I also made two birthday postcards for two ladies who will have their birthday in January. The cards are a mixed media product and are made with matt acrylic paints, modelling paste, markers, ink, rubber and acrylic stamps. I always make my postcards sturdy enough. One pc has one gem in the middle of the flower and the other pc has three gems. The back of my postcards is pretty much as a normal postcard with or without lines to write. These pc will be sent naked.

Merry Christmas

We all have our wishes. Wishes we would like to come true. It is known that most people have the same wish. The one wish only we, as human, can make real. This one, shared and biggest wish is the wish for peace. Peace is something we as human make by loving, caring, sharing, giving. So my wish for everyone is peace. Peace in whatever you do, peace to each other. Share your love every day and let us have peace.

Merry Christmas everyone, merry Christmas ....

Handmade cards I created lately

I have been art journaling quite a lot, but I also made some handmade (post) cards. I made a post card which I like so much that I decided to keep it and create another one for my swap partner, lol, I can't keep doing this! But I also liked the second post card a lot. But .... I had to sent it. My swap partner likes the card a lot. So we're both satisfied, lol.

We had to make an altered page postcard. In fact, an easy project, but I did not want to just glue a page on a  piece of cardstock, slap some paint or sticker on it. The page I used is from a very, very old German book. The butterfly is distressed with distress inks and then layered with UTEE embossing powder. It has quite some layers of UTEE on it!. The image is a kennyk digital stamp.

Another handmade card which I drew and is painted with acrylic paint. I sent this pc to my swap partner who lives in the USA. I love how she looks. I think she has a friendly and soft look on her face. What do you think?

Living and keeping a blog ....

Life is beautiful! And sometimes life wants to rule human. But we humans have to withstand, don't we? So here I am again, after some busy days and much more busy days to come. I enjoyed those days, each with its own difficulties. Those difficult moments are hard to imagine, but I embrace them every time I survive. With a smile and new experiences I continue living my life:-)

I joined a second Round Robin at milliande.ning.com. This RR is already making its big world tour. From The Netherlands to the United Kingdom to the United States of America (muliple times and multiple times) and to Australia. Can you imagine? Of course I like to share some pictures with you. Any questions about techniques and other questions are welcome. I will be a pleasure to answer (if possible) and it will be a pleasure to talk to you. We have a wonderful blog, where you can read about the journeys of the 16 art journals in this Round Robin and also read the messages of the 16 artist. Each of these artist are wonderful, supportive and lovely ladies. Just click the links and you'll find out more!

The cover

My art journal has a double cover. The picture, above, is the extended backcover. So the pic here under is in fact the front cover. As you see in the picture above, the front cover is covered by the backcover. Did I explained it clear enough?

The first page >> welcome word

The second page >> for the artists to enter their name, brief message or whatever they feel to express.
We are a group of 16 artist (yes, yes, was 17, but life showed us that 16 artist can be marvelous!). So there are labels for each artist to express themselves on this pages. I love to read what each artist expressed after my RR is back in my possession.

Third page

My fourth entry in this art journal.

The fifth page
An invitation to the artist to express themselves once again. This pages gives the artist more space to express themselves in messages or whatever they feel like.

The last page in my art journal saying it was a long journey, but smiling when thinking of the next journey to come. Life is beautiful, isn't it?

The inside of my back cover. So this is the inside of the extended backcover (see picture 1 a.k.a. the cover). When closed you'll see the cover (picture 1).

This post was also a journey. I enjoyed it! Now it is time to go to work. As all of you, I have a long day ahead. I will be back today with one or two post. There is so much to show you; projects I have worked on.
So see you later ♥

Living and keeping a blog ....

Life is beautiful! And sometimes life wants to rule human. But we humans have to withstand, don't we? So here I am again, after some busy days and much more busy days to come. I enjoyed those days, each with its own difficulties. Those difficult moments are hard to imagine, but I embrace them every time I survive. With a smile and new experiences I continue living my life:-)

I joined a second Round Robin at milliande.ning.com. This RR is already making its big world tour. From The Netherlands to the United Kingdom to the United States of America (muliple times and multiple times) and to Australia. Can you imagine? Of course I like to share some pictures with you. Any questions about techniques and other questions are welcome. I will be a pleasure to answer (if possible) and it will be a pleasure to talk to you. We have a wonderful blog, where you can read about the journeys of the 16 art journals in this Round Robin and also read the messages of the 16 artist. Each of these artist are wonderful, supportive and lovely ladies. Just click the links and you'll find out more!

The cover

My art journal has a double cover. The picture, above, is the extended backcover. So the pic here under is in fact the front cover. As you see in the picture above, the front cover is covered by the backcover. Did I explained it clear enough?

The first page >> welcome word

The second page >> for the artists to enter their name, brief message or whatever they feel to express.
We are a group of 16 artist (yes, yes, was 17, but life showed us that 16 artist can be marvelous!). So there are labels for each artist to express themselves on this pages. I love to read what each artist expressed after my RR is back in my possession.

Third page

My fourth entry in this art journal.

The fifth page
An invitation to the artist to express themselves once again. This pages gives the artist more space to express themselves in messages or whatever they feel like.

The last page in my art journal saying it was a long journey, but smiling when thinking of the next journey to come. Life is beautiful, isn't it?

The inside of my back cover. So this is the inside of the extended backcover (see picture 1 a.k.a. the cover). When closed you'll see the cover (picture 1).

This post was also a journey. I enjoyed it! Now it is time to go to work. As all of you, I have a long day ahead. I will be back today with one or two post. There is so much to show you; projects I have worked on.
So see you later ♥