SanARTyDesigns

Project 52

2012-03-05T12:20:00.000+01:00

Since I'm working on a slightly bigger project this week than I normally do..a canvas sized 50x50cm...I don't have much to show you, so I thought I'd share with you an update of my Project 52.
I started my Project 52 on the first of January this year. Last year I noticed that a lot of the pictures I had taken throughout the year ended up in a file on my computer. No prints, no scrapbooklayouts, nothing! In 2010 I did a Project 52 also, One Word Each Week and I still love to go through this album once in a while. Although I loved to do this project, I also remember the pressure to make a page each week and I often had to force myself to create time to keep on track by scrapping several weeks in a row. I don't have my own studio and always have to work on the dining table. So I always have to get my things on the table and afterwards clean the place again. This doesn't work when I have half an hour in between two things. 'People with a studio' sit down and create in these few minutes, walk away and continue later on...I mostly sit down and do some bloghopping or some chatting because my computer is always there!
So for Project 52 I decided to go digital! No mess and always there to create for a few minutes!
No need to print photo's or edit them in the right size either.
My Project 52 costs me half an hour each week, mostly on Sundays. I choose which pictures I want on my layout. Than I choose the template. Next step is adding the pictures to the template, add some text and embellishments..et voilà! Althoug there are so many ways to create digital layouts and so many digital kits available, I decided to keep it simple...After all, I don't want to feel that pressure again to create complicated digital layouts each week.
Here are a few of my layouts so far:

Hopefully, at the end of 2012 I have 52 layouts (or more). I plan to create an album with these and have it printed by a photo printservice.

TFL!

Sandra

More whimsical letterlove!

2012-02-28T15:33:00.000+01:00

Two more pages, both inspired by Joanne Sharpe's Letterlove 101 workshop anf Tamara Laporte's World of Whimsy workshop:

A practice in cursive writing.

The background is colored with watercolor paint. I designed the WOW-girl on a separate piece of paper, just like the moon (and stars) and glued these on the page in my LetterLove journal. Her dress is made of scrapbookpaper.

Inspired by lesson 28 of Joanne's workshop, where you had to use this quote.

This time I colored the background with PanPastel. Here too, the WOW-girl was designed on a piece of paper and glued on this page.

TFL!

Sandra

Whimsical Letterlove?

2012-02-26T13:08:00.000+01:00

How many online workshops can I do at the same time? (lol)....A question I've asked myself a lot lately!
Right now I'm doing Tamara Laporte's Lifebook, Fabulous Faces and Ultimate World of Whimsy and Joanne Sharpe's Letterlove 101 at the same time. I've signed up for Christy Tomlinson's 'She had three hearts' workshop too but I will dive into that one after I have finished Letterlove 101.
So many inspiration to find in these classes! And why not combine the things I've learned?

First I will show you the cover of the journal we are making in the Letterlove workshop:

Instead of sewing or stitching we taped the pages together with decorative tape. I found some 'highway' tape and, together with some other black and white tapes I had, I created my journal.

The doodles are colored with my Peerless watercolors.

I love the effect and the colors of the doodling but I'm missing a character, each time when I create a doodled page. So I decided to use one of my WOW-girls on a new page. I designed her a few weeks ago and she was still living on my table....From now on she is living here:

This time I colored the background mainly with Neocolor II. The background is inspired by this work of Joanne Sharpe. The WOW-girl is made with acrylic paint and Neocolor II. Her pj's is a cute piece of fabric!

I love her new home...do you?

TFL!

Sandra

Lifebook: Playfull layering

2012-02-22T23:10:00.000+01:00

This week Lifebook continued with a great, inspiring lesson by Mystele. First she showed us how to create a background with a lot of layers. Ok, that wasn't new to me, but the next step was so inspiring: she created a portrait based on the shapes she found in her background. I love this technique!!! The fun thing is that there are no rules while creating this portrait, so the eyes don't have to be exact halfway the head and the nose can be completely out of proportion.
I thought it would be fun to show you the different layers, before showing you the final result.
The first layer, scribbling/writing words and/or doodles:

Next, a layer of gesso and a layer of colorwash with some stencils:

Next, a layer of some collaged pieces of scrapbookpaper and a layer of acrylic paint:

Next, time to sketch a portrait (or any figure) based on the shapes in the background that appeal to me:

Hm...I suppose this is the visualisation of my little devilish inner voice, which is always telling me to do things the other way instead of following the rules....
I didn't feel like going on with this creep so I erased him....(lol)..and then this woman appeared:

I love her much more, so I grabbed my paint....
Almost finished:

After adding a final layer with rubons, stamps, distressink and some more acrylic paint, this is the final result:

I think she is both ugly and sweet...I'm not completely satisfied about her eyes but I love how the shading of her face turned out...It took me lots of layers to get that right!

TFL!

Sandra

Never believe in never

2012-02-19T21:18:00.000+01:00

Today I wanted to do some doodling and practiced some of the excercises in Joanne's class Letterlove 101:

Colored with Peerless watercolors and a green Sharpie.

I also made another WOW girl this week:

I love the fact that this piece is a real mixed media piece of art. I used graphite pencils, acrylic paint, Neocolors II, Inktense pencils, bookpaper, rubons, stamps and ink, watercolor, paintmarkers and a pitt pen.

Still, I'm not completely satisfied. There is something missing...I can't figure out what exactly but I think it has something to do with depth and layers. Maybe I will work on it some more...

TFL!

Sandra

World of Whimsy

2012-02-14T10:51:00.000+01:00

When I started Tamara's Lifebook workshops I could chose to do one more of her workshops and I chose to do Ultimate World of Whimsy...and I love it! Every minute of it!
Here is my first WOW-girl....

I designed her on a separate piece of mixed media paper and glued her on the collaged background later, just like the bird with the heart balloon.

I added some embellishments too:

Her purse is made of red felt, the handles are tiny piece of a plastic ball chain. I added some lace to the top and bottom of her dress too. The ballon is cut out of red craft foam. So fun to dig into my stash of scrapbooksupplies again and find all these little treasures to embellish my girl!

I can't wait to start my next WOW-girl...

TFL!

Sandra

I love color!

2012-02-10T16:22:00.000+01:00

But I think you already new that...The brighter, the better! All colors of the rainbow!
So, together with some girls of the dutch art journal forum we bought some sets of Peerless Watercolors and divided the sheets in parts to share the costs. Peerless Watercolors aren't available yet in the Netherlands so we had to order these in the USA.
Can you believe this: watercolor on a sheet, a little piece of paper, instead of a tube or a cup ? And so extremely beautiful and bright? And in 55 different colors?
I made my own palet with all the colors, inspired by Jane Davenport's video:

Yummie, huh?

I had to try these immediately so I chose to do my 'homework' for today's lesson of Letter Love 101 with the Peerless and decorated the front of my palet:

I've also finished the latest lesson for Lifebook, painting over a collage and celebrating your personal achievements in life at the same time!

This is my collage, before the paint, colorwash, Neocolors, etc.:

And this is the final result:

It makes me very happy!

TFL!

Sandra

Still here...

2012-02-08T12:58:00.000+01:00

...don't worry!
I'm creating, I'm painting, I'm sketching, I'm drawing. I'm doodling...but not much to show you...
Holland is going through a cold wintertime right now, with freezing temperatures and snow. I spend some time skating with my kids:

Timo experienced his first snow and ice and he loved it:

I finished two lessons of the Lifebook workshop:

Lesson two was about drawing full body goddesses, representing your dark and inner light.

I sketched the goddesses first, than traced the drawing with a Micron and colored them with Neocolors II. The background is done with PanPastels (red, yellow and blue).

Lesson three was about making a selfportrait. Either by imagetransfer or by painting over a photo. I chose the second option, printed out a picture of me, cut out the face and painted over it with acrylic paint and Neocolors.

The assignment was to make a whimsical goddess of your selfportrait, so I gave myself long black hair and a crown. Since I'm doing Joanne Sharpe's workshop Letter Love 101 too, I combined the practice in lettering on the background of my selfportrait.

Hope to be back sooner than last time!

TFL!

Sandra

Lifebook, sketching and faces...

2012-01-30T09:57:00.000+01:00

Wow, is it already more than a week ago since I wrote on my blog?!
Than it is time to show you some projects I've been working on!
I have signed up for Lifebook, a year long lessons all about celebrating and self exploring myself. Two lessons a month: one from Tamara Laporte and one from a guest teacher. I've done two lessons so far and I love it!!! In between these lessons I've been following the first three lessons of Tamara's online class Fabulous Faces. She is such a great teacher.
So, I got a whole new virus in me...it started a few weeks agon with drawing some portraits, inspired by the girls of the dutch art journal forum and because of Tamara's lessons now this virus grew only more and more. It's unstoppable!
I started with his portrait in graphite, after lesson one of Fabulous Faces:

It is ok...but not perfect yet....

Lesson two of Fabulous Faces was all about a front facing portrait, in colour:

I like it but because it looks too much on the example Tamara made during the lesson, I'm not satisfied. Still, it was a very good practice in mixed media: Neocolors II, graphite pencil, acrylic paint and Inktense pencils! So next time, I want more 'me' in the portrait...

Lesson three of Fabulous Faces was about a 3/4 portrait. I combined this lesson with the first lesson of Lifebook: my goddess superpowers! (Which was also about drawing and painting a 3/4 portrait.)
I consider this Lifebook-thing as something I do only for me, myself and I...so I'm not going to share all of this on my blog. Of course, I'm gonna show you parts of it...like this page:

The whole page measures 40cm wide and 30cm high. I folded a part of it to create a flap.

On the inside of the flap I wrote my goddess super powers: the qualities which I think are my good qualities! When the flap is unfolded you can see the rest of the goddess too, which is partly representing me. The back of the page is collaged with old bookpaper. The white letters are traced and painted with acrylic paint. I'm very happy about this page!

And last but not least...I spend the weekend with my family in a holiday park. A short break from art journaling and internet! I left all my art supplies at home so I could spend all my time with my family, instead of in my journal...I only took a sketchbook, a 2B pencil and an eraser with me, to fill some spare minutes while sitting in front of the TV etc.

These are the results:

I practiced my drawing skills some more....I admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the faces that came out of my pencil!

Now I'm working on lesson two of Lifebook, about drawing some full body goddesses, which have to represent my inner dark and light. It's a tough one but I'm on my way!!
To be continued!

TFL!
Sandra

Happy Birthday, mom!

2012-01-20T14:37:00.000+01:00

My mom turned 70 today! Happy birthday, mom!
Here is the card she will get from me today:

No..it is not my mom in the picture! Just a picture I found in a magazine!

TFL!

Sandra

Finished!

2012-01-15T13:05:00.002+01:00

I finished my Inspired by Nature journal!
Here are the last pages..the flaps:

This last page consists of two flaps. These are on the inside of these flaps, hiding the page behind it.:

Of course, I made a new art journal flip, so you can see the complete journal:

If you want to see all the detailed pictures of each page, I recommend you to go to my photostream on Flickr: here .

I already started a new journal: Random Collage! More about that later this week when I finish the first pages.

TFL!

Sandra

Drawing portraits...

2012-01-10T11:34:00.000+01:00

I love this new virus in me...it makes me want to draw portraits! Why? I don't know! Just doing what I like, experimenting with materials and practicing my drawing skills...
This is my 4 y.o. daughter Laura. I drew her yesterday evening with only a 4B pencil, some watercolorpaper and a picture of her. It took me one and a half hour and I'm so happy with the results!! My hubby told me I had red cheeks of excitement! (lol)

(size 16x17cm)

TFL!

Sandra

Something different...

2012-01-08T10:44:00.000+01:00

After doing a lot of collaged pages lately..which I love...I felt like doing something completely different yesterday. I wanted to 'something with paint'..splash some paint on paper and make something out of it...
Because I had nothing specific in mind I followed the advice of Creative Jump Starter Karen Grunberg to just sit behind your desk, put all your things on the table and just start to create.
This is the page that I made:

I created a lot of layers, like I had learned in Julie's workshop at the Mixed Media Circus in Hamburg, working with stencils and adding handpainted details. Funny detail: the picture comes from a magazine I got in the plane to Hamburg! The title is from a song of Adèle. I love what happened!

I had a lot of ME-time yesterday (yeah!) so I made another page in the evening. I was inspired by the work of Ilse and Alda, who are following the Life Book workshops right now. They painted some beautiful goddesses! I wanted to draw a portrait too!

No paint this time, no glue, no collaged elements...just a picture, a pencil, some watercolor paper and...pastels. It was a cheap brand of pastels, which I had bought a few weeks ago, just because I loved the colors so much...I didn't know how to work with pastels so I just sat down, sketched the face (with a picture from a magazine as an example!) and started coloring the face with the pastels.

This was my example:

And this is my page:

It is not perfect but I'm very happy with the result, after working with pastels for the first time.

I love it that I succeeded in creating shadows in the right places. I had only one pastel in skin tone, so I had to add very soft touches of red, pink, brown and the white pastel did the rest.

I'm not completely satisfied about the eyes..too big and too close to eachother.

I don't know if I will work with these pastels again...after a few strokes I immediately noticed the bad quality because of some hard pieces in the pastels itself. It felt like I was working with a 4H pencil instead of a 4B. I had to turn the pastel over and over to find some soft edges to work with...

Maybe next time I try drawing a portrait with color pencils or aquarel paint, because I loved the drawing part!

TFL!

Sandra

More pages...

2012-01-06T14:05:00.000+01:00

...in my Inspired by Nature journal.
I love filling the pages in this journal, especially now it is almost full. But at the same time I noticed that I feel a little hurry also to finish all the pages. My mind is already working on a new journal and I really want to finish this Inspired journal first! (I know myself..if I don't finish it now, it will never be finished..). Ok, I'll be honest...I've already started this new journal, called Random Collage and I can't wait to work in that one...
So, in case you think that my pages show that I was in a hurry and that I forgot little details...I'm sorry..and you're right!

(Tao of Pooh)

(I try to translate this journaling but I'm not sure if it is a good translation.

I'm sure you understand what it says though..:

If you always have headwind, you must change your direction.)

(You never get a second chance to make a first impression.)

This last page is in fact two pages/flaps. When you open these flaps you see the page with the snake appear.

Only four more flaps to go! To be continued!

TFL!

Sandra

New pages 'Inspired by Nature'

2012-01-03T15:09:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year to all of my blogreaders!

I start this new year with two new pages in my Inspired by Nature journal:

TFL!

Sandra

TOP2000 blogparty

2011-12-31T00:18:00.001+01:00

Last week I was inspired by Marit's blogparty, based on the event of the year here in Holland, the Top 2000. (From the first day of Christmas till the end of 2011 the best two thousand hits ever...NON STOP!)
You can read all about in on her blog.
She invited everyone to join the party and send in their artwork based on the hits from this Top 2000.
I felt like I needed to journal about my all time favorite song, not even for this blogparty but also to capture the memory. So I started with this page:

Bon Jovi-Bed of Roses

And than I got the Top 2000 virus...I was browsing the list with all those hits and I immediately knew which favorite hit would be next.

Golden Earring-Radar Love

I cut out a radar and embossed it with gold embossing powder. (I would have used green if I had it...)

The heart and the zipper are magazine cut outs, glued on a background which I painted black.

I love this page! Probably it turned out so well because I had the song playing on my computer at that time. My daughter wanted to know which song I meant...and I think my neighbors heard it too...(lol).

So...my brained screamed for more pages based on hits! Of course, I had to journal about the number one of the Top 2000...one of my favorites too:

Queen-Bohemian Rhapsody

The eye is from a big add in a magazine. I added a little picture of Queen in the pupil. The background comes from a magazine too. No paint involved this time! Just a black marker...

And to compensate for the missing paint...for the fourth page I took a magazine cut out, glued it on a painted background and painted over the picture of the woman.

Van Dik Hout-Stil in mij

I love, love, love this page!!!! It started as an experiment, trying to paint in all those different skin tones. But I love how it turned out!! Even the highlights in the hair are so much more than I had expected. I will definitely try this again!

And this is the last page...number five of this week.

Adele-Make you feel my love

I had to make a page with a song of Adele. I didn't have much time left to art journal so it is quite a simple page...but to be honest...that is much harder for me!

Today is the last day of the Top 2000..which means the best 272 hits ever till 24.00h tonight. My husband and I will be busy making 'oliebollen en appelflappen' this morning. Because of the smell that comes with the frying of these 'oil balls and apple flaps' (lol) we have the door and the windows wide open and the music of the Top 2000 playing loud...so cold but so much fun! I hope the neighborhood is a fan of the Top 2000 too...

This will be my last post for 2011. Looking back on all the art I made this year I think I can be very satisfied. I switched from scrapbooking to art journaling completely, which is a good thing. I managed to develop an own recognizable style of art journaling, something I couldn't do with scrapbooking.

I don't have any big New Year's resolutions. I just hope to be able to create as much as I want. I have plans to do a project 52 and create a digital layout each week about our family life. I have plans to create my own set of collage sheets, make some art to sell and maybe more. I will take it one step at a time and see how things go!

I wish all my blogreaders a good, healthy and inspirational 2012 !

See you next year...

TFL!

Sandra

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T19:00:00.000+01:00

Here is the card I made for Christmas. I had it printed as an official card at an online printservice.
Just for fun...I numbered each card and added the text 'limited edition'! (lol)

For those of you who haven't received a card (yet)...I hope you enjoy the digital version!

TFL!

Sandra

Cover of my journal

2011-12-21T21:50:00.000+01:00

Here is the front page...which I call the cover...of my Inspired by Nature journal:

(Size 20x25cm)

No, the journal isn't completed yet! Still five pages and four 'flaps' to go...to be continued!

TFL!

Sandra

Another page!

2011-12-19T19:48:00.000+01:00

Yep, I'm really 'suffering' from a very creative flow...and I love it! Although it is hard sometimes to put down my markers, cutouts and glue and make sure my kids and my household get some attention...(lol)
Here is another page in my Inspired by Nature journal:

(Size 20x25cm)

The journaling says something like: you don't have to see the whole road ahead. Just put the first step!

As you can probably see, the background picture with lava streaming down a vulcano made it hard to create some peace this page. Now it is overloaded with color, letters and images.

Still, I love the result...and I have learned something for next time, when I create my backgrounds with magazine cutouts. What do you think?

TFL!

Sandra

The things you dream of...

2011-12-18T10:20:00.000+01:00

...can't keep you awake.
I hope this is the right translation of the dutch journaling on my newest page in my Inspired by Nature art journal. Anyway, here it is:

(Size: 20x25cm)

I also got a lot of very nice comments on my lettering, which make me very happy of course. But often the comment is followed by the remark that 'she wishes she could make those letters too'...

So, to make clear that the lettering is much easier than it looks, I made a quick video about how I make my letters:

TFL!

Sandra

Happiness consists of three things...

2011-12-16T18:34:00.000+01:00

...something to love, something to do and something to hope for.
A new page in my Inspired by Nature journal.
This time I made a picture of Before-The-Big-Paintmarkers-Attack, just the plain collage:

And..of course...the finished page:

(Size: 30x25cm)

TFL!

Sandra

You only know...

2011-12-15T11:41:00.000+01:00

..how hard life can be if you put your teeth in it.
A new page in my Inspired by Nature journal:

(Size 20x25cm)

TFL!

Sandra

True silence...

2011-12-13T12:41:00.000+01:00

isn't without sounds, but without thoughts.
A new page in my Inspired by Nature journal:

(Size 20x25 cm)

TFL!

Sandra

Circle journals..update

2011-12-07T21:54:00.000+01:00

While I was busy preparing for the Mixed Media Circus and actually making art in Hamburg, the deadlines for our Circle Journals at the dutch forum for art journaling were also there...
Here are the pages I received since my last blogpost about the circle journals.
My theme is grids.
This is the page I got from Ilse:

Talking about art, huh?! And she told me she had a hard time with my theme! Well Ilse, 'I love this piece of art' is an understatement!!
But...I got more pieces of art. Always so good to receive this sort of Happy Mail.
Here is the page I got from Ellie:

So beautiful! And the text made me smile! (Translation: I couldn't see the grid any more because of all the blocks...)

I made some pages for others too.
This is the one I made for Ilse:

Her theme is wings. I collaged the parrot with pieces of magazines. I used a drawing I found on the internet as a base.

I tried some lettering in the shape of a bird on the back:

This is a page I made for Ellie:

Her theme is human/animal combinations.

And this is the page I made for Elvy:

Her theme is quotes.

That's all I have to show you for now.

I'm working on the last two pages for the circle journals at the moment. I also made a christmascard this week. I scanned it and used it to create a digital card, which I ordered at a photoprint service. But I can't show you now of course...You will have to wait untill Christmas!

TFL!

Sandra

My projects from the Mixed Media Circus...part one

2011-11-30T23:25:00.000+01:00

Five workshops during the Mixed Media Circus means also five projects to show!
I didn't finish all the projects during the workshops. Sometimes because of a lack of time, sometimes because I wasn't sure about what to do next. I decided to think about next steps later when I got home.

The first workshop was about image transfers to a pillowcase. A new technique for me...my fingertips are still suffering from rubbing of the paper.

Step one:

Transferring the image of a Graphic 45 paper onto the pillowcase with gel medium.

Step two:

Add layers of stamps, paint and glimmermist.

Step three:

Stamping with glimmermist as an adhesive for the UTEE powder.

Step four:

Add a piece of cord. I decided to make the word 'Grow' with it.

The second workshop of day one was all about layers.

We got a big piece of paper (forgot the name..sorry..), gesso-ed it on both sides and added several layers of paint with stencils, handdrawn details and finished with a black and white layer.

I painted both sides only I didn't finish the other side with black and white details...and I forgot to take a picture...

Julie showed us how to fold the paper into a booklet. I decided to leave it this way. My first intention was to use the paper to create a cover for my altered A4-sized journal. But I did something else with it...so keep reading and you will find out at the end of this post!

Day two started with the so-called 'Entrance of the gladiators': two workshops, two teachers with in each workshop the same materials! We got a canvas, bookpaper, scrapbookpaper, grungeboard and metal embellishments.

In both workshops we created a layer of bookpaper first and than added a layer of acrylic paint. In Nat's workshop we created this layer with a stencil. In Julie's workshop we had to paint our own designs.

This is my canvas after Nat's workshop:

I was a little bit pigheaded here. I collage a piece of the paperbag of the metal embellishments too..In the meantime I was eating one of those unforgetable magnificent cupcakes and decided to collage a piece of the papernapkin with the beautiful flowerdesign too...Talking about mixed media, huh?!

I didn't add the grungeboard die cuts, nor a picture and the metal embellishments. No time.

This is my canvas, halfway Julie's class:

And the result at the end of the class:

I learned some more about NOT painting in between the lines...which was way out of my comfort zone! But I loved how it turned out!

No embellishments here either...wanted to think some more about a next step.

In the afternoon we had the grand final: a workshop by both teachers, all about techniques to create backgrounds. We painted, gesso-ed, put layers of gel medium and tin foil on scrapbookpaper. We added glimmermist, chalkboard, pan pastels, more paint etc. We were challenged to use all the techniques we learned during the workshops before. We glued pieces of these backgrounds in a manila folder book, handmade by Julie, to create a great reference book for future projects.

One of the techniques was to paint your own embellishments on a piece of paper. I put some of these on the cover of my book and added some doodled letters:

Julie and Nat left a personal message on each book too:

And than I got home, looked at all my projects and wondered what to do with them...I wanted to create a memory of this great weekend and combine all the pieces together.

This is what I did:

The pillowcase became a cover, just by folding it in half.

I used the opening on the other side (now inside) of the pillowcase as pockets for my reference book and the journal I created with the other projects:

I cut the canvases from their wooden frames and folded these in half too, to create a pocket.

The big painted piece of paper from Julie's first workshop was cut into pieces in the same size as the canvases and folded too.

So I got four pockets! I binded these with my Bind It All.

I created some big tags of leftover scrapbookpapers from the workshop to put inside the pockets. I added little tabs with the scraps of the big painted paper.

I kept all my receipts, boarding passes, traintickets, cards and more of this trip to Hamburg to fill the album, together with a lot of pictures!

I'm waiting now for my printed pictures to arrive and hopefully I can finish the album soon.

Of course I will show you these results in part two!

TFL!

Sandra

Back from Hamburg!

2011-11-28T22:33:00.000+01:00

I'm feeling completely exhausted but so extremely happy! I just had one of the best weekends ever! The Mixed Media Circus with Julie and Nathalie was awesome!!!!!! I could never have imagined that it would be this great. I met such wonderful people. People which I only knew from blogging or Facebook and new people. We had such an amazing group and so much fun.
Of course, I learned a lot too!
For now, I will leave you with some pictures to give you an impression. Later this week I will come back to you in more detail.

The start of the first day with a workshop by Nathalie...image transfers.

The second workshop with Julie...all about layers.

The results...

We had cupcakes and candy!
Do you want to know the similarity between these cupcakes and Cuchy? Both so sweet and unforgetable!!! Cuchy gave me a beautiful handmade necklace. (I will show you later, have to make a picture by daylight first...) Cuchy, you're the best! And I loved meeting you IRL!

But also our lunches were worth remembering:

Salad buffet on Sunday

Pumpkin soup for Marlies on Saturday...It looked much better in real life...

We met Sara, another amazing artist, coming from the USA and living in Amsterdam. Sara, I loved meeting you and hope to see you again in Utrecht in March next year!!!

At the end of day two: the 'official' photoshoots with both teachers!

Julie and Nat, you were amazing!!!!!

And day three....time to go home...but first: breakfast at Starbucks!

With Caramel Macchiato and carrotcake!!!!!

Yes, the rest of the year I will be on a low calorie diet....

I will be showing you more of all my projects the next days. I didn't finish all of them and I don't like to show unfinished work...To be continued!

TFL!

Sandra

New art journal 'Inspired by Nature'.

2011-11-23T14:40:00.000+01:00

Now my 'Inspired by Teesha' art journal is finished I needed a new journal. Well, needed isn't the right word perhaps....I'm working in several journals but I really liked the size of this last journal, including the flaps. So I started binding and painting the pages. I used a cheaper brand of paper which was just a little bit too thin. Somehow I wasn't satisfied with the way the pages looked like after painting them. I threw the journal in a corner...To get rid of the frustration I decided to refill my stash with magazine cutouts and went through all the magazines I still had laying around. I even bought a new pile of second hand magazines. These 'new' old magazines were dutch magazines about nature, called Grasduinen and I found some beautiful page sized pictures. (The magazine is called Roots since recently.) I kept staring at these pictures and really wanted to use them...but how? Than lightning struck (in my mind...) and the idea of using these pictures to create backgrounds in my art journal was born!

Did I make you curious? Here is the preview of my new art journal:

My intention is to fill each page with more collages and journaling.

Of course, I couldn't wait to start in my new journal. Here is the first page:

(size: 25x30cm)

I will try to translate the journaling as good as I can...:

Vicious Circle

If you look the way you've always looked, you will keep seeing what you've always seen.

If you see what you've always seen, you will keep thinking what you've always thought.

If you think what you've always thought, you will keep doing what you've always done.

If you do what you have always done, things will keep happening to you which always happens.

I hope my poor translation is enough to show the meaning of this short poem....or is it a long quote?

I have had my doubts about this page though. The black letters are sometimes hard to read on the dark background. On the other hand, I didn't want the journaling to be on the foreground either...so I left it like this.

I would love to hear your comments on this page..and the preview of course!

TFL!

Sandra

A new art journal page...with my first video!

2011-11-17T14:31:00.000+01:00

I wanted to make a video about the proces of making my collages on my journal pages for some time now. Well, this week I did my first attempt!
Here is the final page:

(size: 30x30cm)

And here you can see how it all happened:

I would love to hear what you think of it and please...I welcome positive feedback!!!

Let me know if there are parts that are too fast or too dark. Maybe there are parts in the video that need some more explanation...anything...Let me know!

TFL!

Sandra

Dear blogreaders...

2011-11-14T09:19:00.000+01:00

I've had a couple of emails the last few months from blogreaders who couldn't comment on my blogposts. Somehow Blogger didn't open the window for typing comments. I'm so glad these bloggers sent me these emails to let me know about it...and of course, I loved it even more when they wrote how they loved my work!
But....now it seems like I have finally fixed the problem. I have searched Blogger's Helpdesk for a long time, trying different settings and it looks like I found it...
So for all of you who haven't been able to comment on my blog...please try again!! And please tell me if it still doesn't work...

I also have another page to show you.
This was the background with only acrylic paint:

The dots were made by pressing a big stamp with dots into the wet paint. Thanks to Marlies, who loved the colors while I was painting and desperately wanted to press her texture stamp in it!

This is the finished page, after adding images, rubons, journaling and perlen pens:

For the journaling I used Nikki Sivils Willie-Bee's Font stamps. I traced these with a white marker after stamping. The flowers have an outline made with perlen pens. The rubons on the borders are from Basic Grey. I outlined these too, but now with a black Faber Castell Pitt pen. The image of the frog is a magazine cut out.

TFL!

Sandra

Bad...busy!...blogger...

2011-11-13T10:14:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know...I have been a bad blogger! I didn't post anything for more than a week! But you know, it is even worse...I hardly created anything this week...I had some busy weeks and today is the first day that there is not a single appointment in my agenda. Of course, I always make time to journal every day but the results simply aren't 100% satisfying. And yes, I know...not every piece can be a masterpiece...It is all about the journey...blablabla...Still, it feels so much better to create a page that you like than a page that is 'just ok'!
For now, I have to do with 'just ok'...

Last week I had a 'get messy'-date with Marlies. We will be going to the Mixed Media Circus of Nathalie Kalbach and Julie Fei-Fan Balzer together. It is in two weeks from now!! We did get messy but I only finished two backgrounds. Here is the first:

I used acrylic paint and foam stamps.

And yesterday I finished the page by adding a magazine cut out and doodling with black and white markers:

As I said...not a masterpiece but 'just ok'.

I really have to get back in the right mood to journal so hopefully more next time!

TFL!

Sandra

Go as far as you can go...

2011-11-04T16:49:00.000+01:00

...From there you can see farther.
A completely new way of making a collage, inspired by Michelle Remy's 'Ornithological Oddities'.
No magazines this time for me, but only old books with different fonts.
Michelle has made a whole series of canvases for a show, as you can read on her blog. I love each and every one of them. Well, the ones she showed on her blog...I wish I could have seen the show IRL.
So I had to try to make a collage like this myself. Not on a canvas but on a piece of watercolorpaper(I'll glue it in my AJ later!) to try.
Here it is:

Size: 17x25cm

I love it and I'm especially very happy about the colors. I love working with all the colors of the rainbow and adding black and white details.

(I got the peacock here.)

I'm now thinking of making a new 'Inspired by..' art journal...not inspired by Teesha Moore this time but by Michelle Remy! To be continued..I hope...

TFL!

Sandra

Last page and first AJ flip!

2011-11-02T07:50:00.000+01:00

I finished my 'Inspired by Teesha' art journal! Yeah..my first art journal without any left over white pages!
Here is the last page. This time I made a picture before and after 'the big paintmarker attack'.
This is only the collage on a painted background:

And this is the finished page, after using paintmarkers, FC pitt pens, Sakura glaze pens, Sharpies and 'perlen pens':

This 'Inspired by Teesha' journal was made during September and October. Because I got a lot of requests to show the complete journal when I finished it, I made my first art journal flip. (I even had to buy a new webcam for this...lol...)

Here it is:

TFL!

Sandra

Metal art and a new page

2011-10-27T13:36:00.000+02:00

In my previous blogpost I wrote about the fact that I had a great idea for the cover of my Grids circle journal.
Well, here it is:

Inspired by this YouTube video:

I bought some metal tape in the hardware store and created the cover on a piece of a cereal box.

I didn't have all those great tools unfortunately but I used the corner of an old creditcard, the back of a small paintbrush and my eyelet setter instead.

It was fun doing this and I really want to make some more metal art. How about some ATC's?

I also received another page..a double sided artwork!...for my grid CJ:

From Elvy:

Love it! Thanks, Elvy!

And last but not least, a new page in my Inspired by Teesha journal:

(Journaling: Some people ask for the truth while they can't even handle the lie.)

TFL!

Sandra

Circle journals

2011-10-23T10:33:00.000+02:00

At the dutch forum for art journalers we started a round of circle journals. We decided to work with separate pages on A5 size, so we could save on postage and we didn't risk to lose complete journals in the mail. We set the deadline for each page on the 1st and 15th of every month.
The theme for my CJ is 'grids', inspired by Marit's grid album. The possibilities with grids are almost endless, I think. I love it when I receive artwork in the mail and especially to see what everybody has done with 'their grids'.
Here are the pages I received so far:

from Marieke:

(backside)

From Margot:

Of course I had lots of inspiration to make my own pages to add to my CJ...only not enough time yet...

But yesterday I managed to make my first grid page:

I was inspired by the work of Lori Vliegen. She makes great artwork with watercolor and some Micron pens. Her letters are always so beautiful!

For this page I drew my grid first (with pencil!) and filled the grid with leafs and letters. Than I traced the lines with a fine Micron pen and colored it all with my Inktense pencils. I tried to make the same letters as she always does but I definitely need some more practice and a better pen for that...

Still, I'm very, very happy with the results. Especially because I tried something completely different than my usual collages.

By the way, speaking of collages. I made some pages for other CJ's as well:

For Bonita:

(theme: Quotes)

For Alda:

(theme: Hearts)

For Astrid:

(theme: Flowers)

(The border of flowers on the left is colored with fluorescent Sharpies in pink, orange, red en blue but somehow my scanner can't handle these colours and makes the flowers look pale...)

I have big plans for the cover of my grid CJ and I will to start with it today.

I hope I can show you the results soon!

TFL!

Sandra

Luck is what happens...

2011-10-18T10:37:00.000+02:00

...when preparation meets opportunity!
It is a quote I read on ThinkExist on the same day that I heard the coach of the dutch national baseballteam say the same to his team, right before the worldchampionship finals against Cuba. And they won! I'm not a basebal fan at all but I like it when I realize that a new historical event has taken place. It was the first time in history that our national baseball team became worldchampion. It must have had something to do with that quote....
So here is my newest page in my Inspired by Teesha journal:

Size: 20x25cm

Only two more pages to go and than I filled the complete journal!

By the way, that would be historical too...all the journals I've started so far still have a lot of blanc pages....

TFL!

Sandra

Life would be happier...

2011-10-13T22:31:00.000+02:00

...if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.
How true is that, huh? On the other hand, if I knew all the things that I know right now, I probably wouldn't have done a whole lot of things when I was younger...things that I made me who I am and which I couldn't do without! So I guess it works in both ways. Still, I loved the quote because it made me think and it fitted perfectly on my journal page...another one in my Inspired by Teesha journal:

(Size: 27x25cm)

TFL!

Sandra

More pages...

2011-10-12T13:27:00.000+02:00

At the dutch forum for art journaling is this month challenge: Halloween.
I don't have much with Halloween but I remembered having a digital scrapkit in a Halloween theme, called Welcome to my Nightmare, so I decided to give this challenge a try.
My Spiderwick journal seemed to be the perfect background for a Halloween page.
It is a big size journal, 12x12 inch and I even decided to do a spread..so my page was 24x12 inch (60x30cm).
This is what my pages looked like, before I started with the gesso and paint:

Some details:

(sorry for the reflection of the flashlight...)

And this is what my pages looked like after painting and collaging:

Some details:

I tried to use the pictures that were already on the pages and added some more printed pictures from my digital scrapkit.

The spider in the little brown envelope was already there. I added the bats, looking if they came out of the envelop.

For the journaling I downloaded a free font, printed the letters and cut them out.

I painted the blooddrips and drew a spiderweb with my markers.

And do you remember this:

The cover of my Inspired by Teesha journal.
I kept looking at it after I finished it but I couldn't find what was missing. When I published it on the forum for dutch art journalers I heard it was 'something with the eye'. So I grabbed my markers and even collaged a bit more and now it looks like this:

I feel more satisfied about it now. What do you think?

TFL!

Sandra

Inspired by Teesha: cover and new page

2011-10-06T14:12:00.000+02:00

I finished the cover of my Inspired by Teesha journal:

Size: 27x25cm

And I finished another page in the journal itself:

Size: 35x25

For this page I used two quotes to fill my page. I'm bad journaler so I stick to quotes...but to me these quotes are a brief summary of my thoughts.

TFL!

Sandra

Birthday card...art

2011-10-02T13:02:00.000+02:00

Today Marit is celebrating her birthday, so I send her some birthday art...an A4 size 'card':

If you're wondering why I choose to write this text, look here (list #27 lesson learned) and here, two blogposts at Marit's blog. Happy birthday, Marit!

And..while you're visiting Marit's blog to send her a birthday wish..you will see that she has some great news to share with all of us: she will be launching a new printed magazine in the spring of 2012, loaded with art journaling, mixed media and more. It is called Featuring! Go check it out!

TFL!

Sandra

Creativity is not restricted to art

2011-09-28T16:57:00.000+02:00

Another page in my Inspired by Teesha journal:

Size: 15x25cm

TFL!

Sandra

Happiness never decreases by being shared.

2011-09-26T09:12:00.000+02:00

I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. I just had nothing to show you...I haven't done as much art journaling as I use to do every week and I had to wait for my Faber Castell Pitt pens! I love these pens, I use them all the time so I really had to order some new ones on eBay.
But now I finished my new collage in my Inspired by Teesha journal, which was waiting for the Big Paintmarker Attack the whole week:

Size: 35x25cm

Background: acrylic paint and Inktense pencil

Image: magazine cut outs

I love how this collage came together. I found a picture of a big eye in a magazine and build the creature around the eye. The orange thing on top of the head is from a jewelry magazine. I believe it was an earring or something like that. The yellow thing around the neck is a flower.

The letters are my own handwriting.

TFL!

Sandra

Art is not a thing...it's a way!

2011-09-14T09:07:00.000+02:00

A new page in my Inspired by Teesha art journal:

Size: 27,5x25cm

I made this page also for a challenge on a new dutch forum for art journaling. The challenge wasn't very difficult: use the colors of fall on your page. Although I had some trouble with the fact that I couldn't use any blue or purple...I love to use all the colors of the rainbow on my pages if possible.

I have to give some credit to the photographer of the image I used on this page. I don't know his/her name because it was an image that was in my stash for a while and I never wrote the name down. The part of the face with the butterfly wing was already on the picture. I added the left eye and all the feathers. And of course...the Big Paintmarker Attack!

TFL!

Sandra

Two pages

2011-09-11T20:02:00.001+02:00

I finished two more pages in my Inspired by Teesha journal:

I love working in this journal. So I can't wait to start the next page!

TFL!

Sandra

A hundred years from now...

2011-09-08T12:25:00.000+02:00

A new page in my 'Inspired by Teesha' art journal:

Size: 20x25cm

Background: acrylic paint and Inktense pencil

Image: magazine cut outs

TFL!

Sandra

New journals, new pages!

2011-09-06T13:53:00.001+02:00

Last week I bought this book:

Not because I love 'The Chronicles of Spiderwick'...in fact, I had never heard of this movie or book. I loved the book because it was cheap (lol), it is big (12x12 inch at least!) and because of all the pages inside:

Some pages have little flaps with hidden messages, other pages have nice envelopes sticked to the page. In fact, the book looks like a smashbook, but in a printed version! Every page has lots of different fonts, images, funny details, etc. So I decided to alter it and make an art journal out of it...
I planned to use all the text and images for backgrounds....I wanted it to shine through all the layers....But I used too many layers! And now my first page is just a big sized art journal page. No sign of all those fonts, images...

I don't think I have to tell most of you who inspired me, when I created this page...

I love Teesha Moores's artwork!!!

And I started a second art journal this week...

I bought this a few weeks ago. Not because I needed the course itself but I loved the idea and the fact that she was selling this to help the people in Africa. The art journal turned out to be a Teesha Moore-style bounded journal of watercolor paper. I painted all the pages in a different color:

And since I'm feeling so inspired by Teesha I decided to make it a 'Teesha Moore Inspired Journal'.
Here is the first page:

The images are all magazine cut outs, except for the feather dresses, the claws and the little hats. I got these from Astrid in a RAK.

For my international readers, the journaling says: What are you waiting for? The future will come for sure. You can even still make something out of it!

This quote is again from Loesje.

TFL!

Sandra

Painting faces

2011-08-29T17:36:00.000+02:00

I felt like painting another face, completely inspired by Megan. This time I painted it in my art journal:

Journaling: Speak your mind or shut your mouth

I also added my previous painted face to my journal:

I glued her on a background and added the quote. I got the quote from Ilse's Art Journal Guide (for Dutch art journalers). I love the combination of red and green!

TFL!

Sandra

Sometimes...

2011-08-27T16:31:00.001+02:00

..it is hard to walk up right when you have to much on your head...
I always wonder how my subconscious works. I had a lot on my mind the last few weeks, things that I was thinking over and over again, figuring out what to do and trying to keep myself together. I grabbed my art journal to stop worrying, hoping to give my brain some time to relax. I love making collages..you all must know that by now (lol) so I just started cutting and shoving pictures and than this happened:

I had no intention at all to journal about all the thoughts and worries that made my head feel heavy..but somehow my subconscious did the work for me. It felt weird when I saw all the parts of the image coming together! This time I didn't have any problems with the text I wanted to write next to the picture...

I cut out the head from a map of Paris. My son and my hubby went to Paris two weeks ago. (Lucky guys!). On the map she was 'wearing' the Eiffel Tower, binded on her head with the ribbon. I cut away the tower and replaced it with a pile of rocks, gave her a body and a pair of legs.

Recently I bought a couple of Perlen Pens. I added some green dots in the uppercorner. Love the effect!

Yesterday while I was bloghopping I bumped into Megan's blog: Make Art & Live Happy! I loved all the faces she paints and felt the urge to make one myself. So I sort of copied one of her paintings:

Not bad for a first attempt, huh? I don't like copying artwork from others without giving it a touch of my own but this time I simply couldn't resist. And because I have no intention of selling it or pretending I designed it, I think I can publish it here on my blog. By the way, I learned a lot while I was painting because I haven't mixed skin colors before, nor have I worked with shadows to make a face look more realistic. I had fun. I felt relaxed when I was painting and I learned more about my paint (for example: it was too thick, so next time I have to water it down..) and about my Inktense pencils.

By the way, I used the back of a cereal box as a background instead of working in my art journal. So now I have to think of a way to incorporate it in my journal. Just glueing it on a page is too easy!

To be continued...;-)

TFL!

Sandra

Out of the Journal Challenge week 3, part two

2011-08-21T21:03:00.000+02:00

A little bit later than I had planned but here is canvas number six in my series Fairytale Diva's:

Again, I love my background. It was done in only a short time. And again...my image is a bit boring...It seems I'm running out of great pictures in my stash. The inspiration was there but I just couldn't find the right images. For example..I wanted to give her a bigger head, a little bit more out of proportion.

I now noticed that working with a theme is..of course!...less freedom.

I'm now thinking if I will continue with this series or just do something completely different for week four in Dina's and Samantha's Out of the Journal challenge.

You will find out later this week, I guess!

TFL!

Sandra

Out of the Journal Challenge week 3, part one

2011-08-16T10:48:00.000+02:00

The first canvas of this week for the Out of the Journal challenge:

I love the background but I think there's too much journaling and the image is fun but a little bit boring....

TFL!

Sandra

Out of the Journal Challenge week 2, part two

2011-08-13T11:53:00.000+02:00

Did I already tell you I love this Out of the Journal challenge?!
I have so much fun creating my 'Fairytale Diva's'!!
Here is my second one for this week:

Size: 24x30cm

Background: acrylic paint, TCW stencil Sunburst, Perlen Pen and TH stamp

Image: magazine cut outs

Journaling: alfabet stamps (Kars and Studio G)

I love it when everything works out at once and comes together like I had in mind. Yesterday evening I collaged the image with magazine cut outs. I found 'her head' in a magazine for 55+ people which I got from my mom's neighbor. The body comes from a big glossy magazine about fashion which I found at the sale of my local bookstore for only 1 euro. As soon as I combined the head and the body I knew what journaling to add...and of course I had to glue that little dwarf to her bag...(lol).

This morning I did the Big Paintmarker Attack and stamped the text.

TFL!

Sandra

Out of the Journal Challenge week 2, part one

2011-08-10T08:19:00.000+02:00

My third canvas for the Out of the Journal Challenge of Dina Wakley and Samantha Kira.

Background: sewing pattern paper, yellow tissuepaper and acrylic paint.

Images: magazine cut outs.

Journaling: alfabet stamps.

I'm not completely satisfied this time. Again, I can't say exactly what is is...It is more a feeling...I think it is something about the background that I don't like, but you know what: 95% will do for me too!

While I was working on this third canvas I challenged myself some more. Because the challenge is about creating two canvases a week during the month of August, I will end up with at least eight canvases. They are all going to be the same size (portrait 8,5x11 inch).

So I decided to work with a theme to make a series of these canvases instead of eight individual pieces. You have probably noticed the 'fairytale-ish' theme already...this wasn't planned but somehow it happened by coincidence...so, what do do think about 'Fairytale diva's' ? I would love to hear some suggestions from you!!

TFL!

Sandra

Out of the Journal Challenge week 1, part two

2011-08-06T22:36:00.000+02:00

I finished my second canvas for this week for Dina Wakley's and Samantha Kira's challenge Out of the Journal. I had a great creative day today and I managed to make the canvas from start to end on one day! (Long live the heatgun!! Lol!). I was up and dressed at 7am...yes, it's still school holiday here...walked the dog at 7.30am and started my canvas right after that, while all the kids were still asleep. So I had done most of my messy background by the time my youngest came downstairs...which was my goal because as soon as she sees my paint, brushes and ink she yells: 'Me too! Me too!' and I'm not always in the mood for that...sigh...Now I was just finishing my background with some black and white paint!
My collage, the journaling and the Big Paintmarker Attack was done during the afternoon, in between doing the daily shopping, having lunch, walking the dog again, taking care of the kids, get the birthday cake for Laura and more...
But I'm more than happy with the results!
Here is my canvas, size 8,5x11 inch:

The background is done with Adirondack colorwash (lettuce, sailboat blue and butterscotch).

I used a Kaisercraft wooden flourish to create the swirls in the background. I used it in two ways: as a mask and I used it for the 'ghosting' technique. (I sprayed the swirl with water and stamped on my layer of colorwash. After blothing it with a papertowel the swirl ends up lighter.) I loved the effects! Unfortunately the wooden flourish was too delicate to handle all the inkspray and water...it sort of fell a part, so I had to throw it away after I was done...

I added accents with black, white and golden acrylic paint.

The base of my collage was an add for a perfume of Thierry Mugler (Alien), which I found in a magazine. Again, I had a lot of fun collaging this image!

I finished with the journaling. For the big letters I traced some chipboard letters and colored with white paintmarker. The smaller letters are clearstamps (brand unknown...).

Some details:

I love the effect of the glasses and the eyes!

A close up of the layers, with the masked flourish and the ghosted flourish.

Because the tail of the original picture of the mermaid was covered with letters I put her 'feet' in a teacup and added the fish.

Tomorrow will be a day without crafting. My youngest daughter is turning four tomorrow!!! Time flies!!! A lots of friends and family are coming and I have to do some cleaning and bake an apple pie before they come....Probably my punishment for not doing any of this today...

TFL!

Sandra

Out of the Journal Challenge week 1

2011-08-05T21:39:00.000+02:00

Dina Wakley and Samantha Kira started a great challenge this month: Out of the Journal. They challenged their selves and their blogreaders to get out of our art journal and make two canvases per week in the month of August. I love a great challenge and I love working on canvas so I decided to give it a try! And the best part is that they will draw a winner at the end of the month for a free spot in one of their classes!
Here is my first canvas, size 8,5x11 inch:

Background: acrylic paint, Adirondack Colorwash and TCW stencils.

Image: collage of magazine cut outs

Letters: Kars alfabet stamps.

I finished the canvas with paintmarkers.

Here are some details:

The key was in my stash for some time. It was attached to a jeans designers label.

I added some rhinestones with my Hotfix...which was catching dust for some time now....

On to my next canvas for this week!

TFL!

Sandra

Some people feel the rain...

2011-08-03T07:24:00.000+02:00

...others just get wet.
A new page in my art journal. I'm not completely satisfied about this one. I love the collaged images but still, there's missing something...I would love to hear what you think of it!

TFL!

Sandra

An art journal page...and some fun...

2011-08-01T10:53:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I made this page in my art journal:

The quote is from Loesje.

For my international blogreaders: the people behind 'Loesje' just want to make the world a more beautiful and better place. They do this by spreading their quotes (posters, adds, billboards, etc,). Quotes that make you think twice...and I love that!!!!

It is hard to translate the quote above but I'll give it a try...a very literally translation:

If bad luck is in a little corner, will luck be in the rest?

The background is (again) inspired by Kate Crane. After seeing her DVD's I made a few backgrounds on an inky, painty and messy afternoon. The image is a collage of magazine cut outs. I love to puzzle with my stash of cut outs and I had a lot of fun making this one...It felt like all the pieces of my puzzle fit at once. When I started I had no intention of making a woman, who 'fell' in a bucket...It just happened! I would love to show you the process behind creating this collage, but I was in a sort of creative flow. The parts of my image were already cut out and glued down at the moment I realised that I should have made some in-between-pictures. Hopefully I can do that next time!

Talking about 'in between'...We had a fun family hike yesterday, in between my creative me-time.

We decided to take our sweetest puppy Timo for a hike in nature instead of his normal round in the boring village we live in. Because Timo is only four months old we can't walk long distances with him yet. He is growing so fast, we have to give him all the rest he needs, especially with a giant breed like his. So we walked about half an hour but had a lot of fun..a great day for some pictures:

My most recent and good looking picture of the two of us was more than a year ago, so it was time for a new one! (Things like that happen when you are always behind the camera..)

And look what we found, hidden in the woods???

(I couldn't resist some Photoshop fun..)

And a big 'Smurf'-icecream afterwards!

TFL!

Sandra

More cards...

2011-07-30T09:32:00.000+02:00

Remember this art journal page, with my colorful hummingbirds? (Read more about it here.)

I turned my birdies into a stamp...

...and made three cards with it:

I stamped my birdie on some waterclor paper and colored them with my Inktense pencils. I love these pencils although I have to practice some more for better results in blending the colors.

I created another birthdaycard last week. I can't show you yet because the lucky girl who will get it is reading my blog too...and it is long before her birthday...But I just couldn't resist playing with my images after I found some 'red socks'! (Hint!!!)

So I'll give you a sneek peak...

TFL!

Sandra

Happy Birthday, dad!

2011-07-29T07:00:00.001+02:00

Today is my dad's birthday. He is turning 70 !! I'm glad he is still around, healthy and enjoying life together with my mom.
I made him a birthday card, size 8,5x11 inch:

Background: acrylic paint

Image: the body is a magazine cut out, the head is my own picture!

Quote: inspired by Dyan Reaveley. I don't know if it is her quote..

Of course, I will deliver the card myself ! I already framed it for him...I know how he is...

So let's eat cake!!! Even better, my mom's 'appeltaart' (apple pie) !!!

TFL!

Sandra

Happy mail

2011-07-26T16:15:00.000+02:00

Today I received a beautiful card from Marit!...It was for my birthday and (as she says herself) because she is waaaaaayyyy older than I am she forgot my birthday was on the 20th instead of 26th! Of course, I don't mind that she forgot because now I feel like celebrating again, a sort of second birthday without getting older!
And you know what??! As an act of revenge I punched a series of holes in it!!!!
No!!....
Yes, I did!!!!...
No, that is awful! You don't punch holes in artwork from others, artwork must always be appreciated!!!...
Well, I'm sorry, I still punched holes in it...!
Why??? Didn't you like the card?...
Yes, I loved it...very much...
So why did you ruin her card?...
Because it became the cover of my smashbook!!!!

Thank you so much, Marit!

TFL!

Sandra

Turning 40 and my own smashbook...

2011-07-23T15:14:00.000+02:00

Last Wednesyday I reached a new milestone: my fortieth birthday!
Exactly at the first second of my birthday my hubby surprised me with a big bouquet of 40 big red roses:

The mail brought a lot of cards, most of them home-made cards thanks to the swap-girls from Scrapfever and my mother (lol):

The rest of my birthday was a normal day as always. I didn't plan a big party, my hubby had to go to work, my kids argued all the time as always and there were some household chores to do as well. I went to puppy training with Timo in the evening and I had invited friends to have a cup of coffee later that evening.

But turning 40 is also a great startingpoint for new intentions: I decided to be more active on my Facebook account. Facebook is all over the internet nowadays and I have tried to ignore it for a long time. It is a great way to stay in touch with friends after all!

And I made my own smashbook! I saw this Youtube video about K&Company's Smashbook a while ago:

And I thought: Fun! But why on earth should you buy a smashbook if it is so much more fun to create your own?? So I collected all my scraps of scrapbookpaper, cut these into smaller pieces and used my BindItAll to bind the pages. I added some journaling tags, created pockets, added plastic cardholders and more. I glued down some words from magazine to use as prompts.

Here are some pictures:

(the front...still to be decorated...)

(I already filled one page!)

My intention with this smashbook is to jot down thoughts, memories, quotes, etc. the next 365 days. It must be fun to read this book again when I'm sixty or even older and to see how I looked upon life when I was forty! I plan to write something every day. Someday this will only be one word or a ticket or a picture glued down, other days I will write a whole story. I can add pages, tags, envelopes...anything so just let see what happens!

I have been carving a lot of stamps this week. Can't show you yet...but I can ensure you....I had a lot of fun!!!! To be continued!

TFL!

Sandra

New guide for (dutch) art journalers!

2011-07-18T22:49:00.002+02:00

Have you always wanted to start an art journal but never knew how or where to start?
Do you wonder what supplies you need? Are you looking for techniques and inspirational ideas?
If you are a dutch girl (or boy!) stop looking, wondering, hesitating. Your art journal journey starts here:

Ilse Hobbelen has started this guide for art journaling and I think she did a great job! Everything you need to know is in this guide and there is coming more....this is only the beginning!!
Go check it out!!!!

TFL!

Sandra

A week captured...

2011-07-17T14:59:00.002+02:00

Yes, I'm still here! Just haven't found the time to write a blogpost...
So here is my week captured in one big post!
My hubby had some days off last week which means that all the structure and regularity in our normal daily life is gone for a while...lol. We spent time together of course and we painted the house...half! Father and son worked together on painting part of the house. (Sorry, no pictures...) Halfway they must have disturbed some nasty wasps living under our roof, because both got stung in a short time. Now we have to wait till the wasp's nest has been removed by some professional before they can finish their painting job. To be continued!
Unfortunately the weather was pretty lousy this week, lots of rain, so our plan to go to Toverland (a themepark with rollercoasters and lots of other fun stuff for kids..) had to change. We spent our day in Sportiom (a big tropical themed swimming pool) instead and afterwards I got a chance to visit the artsupply store De Kwast too.
My son started his weekly newspaper route this Thursday...exactly on the day that it just didn't stop raining! When I was a 13 year old girl I also had a paperroute like that so I had told him earlier that he had to learn it from a pro...me! So I spent about two hours in the rain, together with my son, to bring the weekly newspaper here in our neighbourhood....It was a trip down memory lane, I can tell you! Including the feeling of being soaked from head to toes...
Of course, I made sure to make some time to create in my art journal, although it mostly were short periods of time with lots of interruptions.
Here is a page which I created in my 20x14cm watercolor journal:

I was inspired by this image in my big A4 sized art journal:

I traced the part with the entrance on a piece of white tissuepaper and Mod Podged it in my watercolor journal. The little boy is a stamp from Stampotique.

I colored the page with my Neocolors II. I wasn't happy with the result because of the layer of Mod Podge underneath but I really wanted to finish my page...

So much inspiration was bubbling inside my head that I wanted to go on to a new page...This was the reason:

I have been waiting for my order with Derwent Inktense pencils to arrive for weeks and finally they arrived on Friday! And while we were in Den Bosch on Wednesday I bought a carving set to make my own stamps. I was so anxious to try these new goodies!!!

Thanks to Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's tutorial on how to carve this stamp, I made my own:

And I used it on this page:

I made the background for this page while I was with Marlies. We met at the forum of Scrappers Anonymous and we decided to go to the Mixed Media Circus in Hamburg together. Of course, we wanted to meet in real life too before November, so that happened last Friday. Of course, when art journalers come together to create...most of the time it is more chatting and laughing than creating...which happened to us too!

I finished the page at home...

By the way, the heart and the green border on the right is made of the remains of a kitchen towel, which we used to wipe our hands and all the paint and inks on our pages. The text on the bottom and the pink dots on the left are printed transparent tapes from Prima.

And finally I could finish my page with the Stampotique mermaids, completely inspired by this page from Kate Crane, thanks to the arrival of my new Inktense pencils.

I made the background with Adirondack Colorwash, a few weeks ago. (Even before I saw the DVD's of Kate!!) I sprayed the top of my pages with blue ink and lots of water and let it drip down.

Then I turned my journal 180 degrees and did the same with the green ink. After this layer dried I sprayed blue ink over a stencil with circles (TCW of course!). I sprayed some yellow ink on top and added some golden, black and white accents with acrylic paint. The seaweed is stamped with two colors of green chalk ink (Colorbox) and a Heidi Swapp foamstamp.

I enlarged the mermaids and printed these on watercolor paper. I colored the girls with my new Inktense pencils...and what a great pencils these are! It was worth waiting for!!!

I cut the girls out and glued them on my pages. I grounded the images by shading with my charcoal pencil.

And the quote? It says:

Of course it is happening inside your head, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

If you are a fan of Harry Potter you must have recognized this line! It is a line from the last book and movie. I went to see part two of The Deathly Hallows together with my son yesterday...in the IMAX 3D in Amsterdam! I wish all the Harry Potter movies had been made in 3D...Really, I felt like I was there, standing next to Harry and Voldemort! I forgot about the rest of the world for two and a half hours...which was also obvious when we left the cinema: I ate some nacho's with guacamole dipsauce during the movie...and my sweater sort of looked like one of my backgrounds in my art journal...

I was a little bit sad that this last movie is the end of an episode of more than 10 years in my life. I have loved Harry Potter's adventures from day one. I have read the complete series of his books in Dutch, English and Swedish, all at least twice...(except for the Swedish ones...I finished the first three books...the other parts are waiting for the moment when I have 48 hours in one day!) I have bought all the DVD's as soon as they were released. Yes, I'm a fan! And that is the reason why I wanted to use a quote from the movie on my mermaids page.

And now it is Sunday...'Our normal daily life' starts again tomorrow, although the kids are still free from school of course. Tomorrow I really need to do all those neglected household chores...so I think I will enjoy the rest of my day by doing nothing!

TFL!

Sandra

Breaking the rules...

2011-07-09T10:36:00.000+02:00

OMG...the great Dutch artist Anton Pieck must be turning around in his grave when he sees my next page...I completely wrecked his artwork and I enjoyed it!

For those who know who Anton Pieck is, you know that his drawings are mostly nostalgic and fairylike and with lots of detail. I sort of transformed this drawing of the Begijnhof in Brugge (1979) to a more twentyfirst century look.

My art journal is an A4-size book about him and his artwork and this drawing was a full page in the book. Normally all his drawings are covered with gesso and paint. Now I was playing with the picture of the girl (which is a Stampotique stamp that I first enlarged on my computer) thinking what to do with it. The girl wasn't meant for this page at all, but it didn't end up where I meant it to be either...So, while I was going through my journal searching for a background I bumped into this drawing and than it happened!

I broke the rules by wrecking a great artwork which wasn't mine...

Suddenly the old lady in the back wasn't there any longer to fill her bucket with water but to clean the graffiti on the wall! The waterpump turned into a Coca Cola machine...And that freaky Stampotique girl does look sweet, pretending she is just playing but those pencils and paint in the background makes you think, huh?

I added my journaling on an empty space on the side. My scanner is a bit smaller than my art journal so I couldn't get it all on the picture but it is about me, how I'm a good girl most of the times but that I love to break the rules now and than...Just to shake things up!

TFL!

Sandra

Take me as I am...

2011-07-08T09:14:00.000+02:00

...or watch me as I go.
As I promissed you in my previous post I added a little bit more 'Me' in the mix, for my newest journalpage.

My background is (again) inspired by Kate Crane, but this time I collaged the image from my own stash of magazine cut outs to add the 'Me'-factor. The flowers on the woman's head are inspired by Terri Kahrs. And the letters come from my own collage sheet..so even more 'Me'!

TFL!

Sandra

Believe in yourself...

2011-07-07T09:02:00.000+02:00

...before somebody else does!
It is a quote I saw on Julie Balzer's blog a while ago and I loved it...so I wrote it in my notebook immediately. And now, on today's page it fits very well, don't you think?
As some of you can probably see my page is completely inspired by Kate Crane's work (The Katryn Wheel). I bought her newest DVD's about art journaling on which she explains and shows a lot about the techniques she uses.

Mushroom: Lisa's Altered Art

Rest of the images and borders: Tumblefish Studio

Although I love how my page turned out, I still feel a bit like a copycat. Yes, I know, it were my hands that got dirty, my words are on the page, etc. but still...

I loved the background techniques and everything she told about grounding an image. So I promiss, for my next page I want to add a little bit more 'me' to the mix!

TFL!

Sandra

Life is art, paint your dreams!

2011-07-05T16:01:00.000+02:00

Another page inspired by Thomas Sabo! This time I drew octopusses...

I colored my 'creatures' with Adirondack colorwash on watercolor paper and cut them out. The background is a 'mop up'-page from my little screen I created last week. (I used a page in my journal to whipe off the ink from my stencils and not to waste any paint I painted the rest of my paint on the page too.)
I love it when things like this come together!

TFL!

Sandra

Frogs

2011-07-04T13:59:00.000+02:00

A new page inspired by Thomas Sabo. This time I used a frog from his collection of charms.

Sometimes you have to take the leap and build

your wings on the way down!

I sketched the frogs first, just like I did with the hummingbird in my earlier blogpost. I watercolored the frogs in all colors of the rainbow...why only green, huh? Paint your dreams!

The green background is made by painting colorwash with a brush. For the journaling I used a black Sharpie and a white Uniball Signo pen.

TFL!

Sandra

Hummingbirds

2011-07-03T14:21:00.000+02:00

For this page I was inspired by a brochure of Thomas Sabo, which my hubby brought home for me. I love it when people think of me and my art when they see inspirational brochures and think: Hey, let's give this one to Sandra...maybe she can do 'something with it'! This brochure is loaded with colorful inspiration!!!
The first thing in this brochure which immediately started bubbling in my creative mind were the 'Tropic Attack' hummingbirds. (You will see them flying by in the promotional video if you follow the link above..)

I sketched the birdies and colored them with watercolor paint. I cut them out an glued them on my background. The background is painted black with acrylicpaint and I wrote a poem in white.
The poem isn't completely visible any more so here it is:

With wings spun of silver and hearts of gold,

these tiny creatures our hearts behold.

With angelic features and colors so bright,

make even the heaviest heart seem light.

The magical way they flit through the sky,

they appear, than vanish in the blink of an eye.

They're sending a message for us to retrieve.

Anything's possible for those who believe!

(I found this poem on the internet. It is written by Christophe Griffiths.)

You will be seeing more of these birds in the future. That's for sure...I have so many ideas to create with this little birdie!

TFL!

Sandra

Mixed Media project

2011-06-29T21:37:00.001+02:00

I spent my ME-time last week on a mixed media project. I made this little screen, my second after I followed Linda Elbourne's workshop in May earlier this year.
The screen is about 14cm high and 28cm width. The base is chipboard.
I decorated it on both sides with lots of layers.
This is one side:

Images: Cemerony collage sheets

Borders: my own artwork

Journaling: Life is a carnival, live it for all your worth

(from a song of Elvis Presly)

And this is the other side:

Butterflies: Lisa's Altered Art collage sheets

Journaling: Butterflies danced on invisible strings, showing wings they borrowed from a rainbow

(from a song of Clif Richard)

I decorated the chipboard with several layers. The first layer is collagede with pages of an old swedish book. Loved the font that was used in this book and Sweden still has a special place in my heart, so I loved to put that extra little bit of me in this project.

I covered the bookpaper with layers of colorwash and used some great TCW stencils.

The last layer is acrylic paint which I dabbed through punchinella and magic mesh to create some texture and I added some doodles with my Micron pen.

On one side I added a lot of butterflies which I had printed from a collagesheet. I cut the butterflies, traced some lines with my Micron pen and added some white dots. Than I embossed them with Ranger holografic embossing powder to give them a lot of sparkle.

Do you like it as much as I do?

I would love to hear it!

TFL!

Sandra

Angry!

2011-06-23T09:36:00.000+02:00

Here is a page I finished yesterday...
The journaling says: Sometimes I get so angry that it doesn't help to count to 10 any more...
I was inspired by the soap that is now going on here at home regarding my sunscreen. A long story (I won't bore you with it) about a man that is f**king up the work I am supposed to pay him for: attaching my sunscreen to my house again. He has had eight weeks now to do the job. It cost me lots of patience, phonecalls and emails. Since I told him that I will search for someone else to do it he has become a very unpleasant man...
People like him make me very, very angry!
The good thing about all this is my art journal page, inspired by this soap:

I love how it turned out! The background and the image are all magazine cut outs. The head is some kind of heart shaped flower, the body is a water lily. The red balls on the bottom is an add about cranberries! I put my new 6x6 TCW stencil 'Numbers' on top, traced the lines and colored these with a green Sharpie. The rest of the page is finished with blue, black and white Sharpies.

TFL!

Sandra

Change is the process...

2011-06-20T13:13:00.000+02:00

...by which the future invades our lives.
I thought this quote would fit very well on my page.
For this page I was inspired by Kate Crane. I sprayed my background with colorwash and added details with acrylic paint. The image is a stamp from Stampotique, which I enlarged, printed and traced around the contours with my Microns pens. I filled in the detailed lines myself. I colored the image with distress ink, made a hole in my page and glued the image behind the page. I finished it with Sharpies.

TFL!

Sandra

If flowers could talk...

2011-06-19T08:36:00.000+02:00

I felt like doing another SheArt girl the last two days. It has been a while since I made some girls and I made them all on canvas. (Better: I sold them all too!!!) This time I made one, completely for myself, in my big art journal.

The background with the blue sky is a paper napkin, the second layer with the flowers too.

The girl, especially her pose, is inspired by Julie Nutting. You should really take a look at her blog. She makes beautiful girls, even more beautiful than the SheArt girls from Christy Tomlinson ! (Sorry, Christy..). I used a piece of old scrapbookpaper to create her skirt and shirt.

I'm not very happy about how her legs turned out but I'm ok with that.

TFL!

Sandra

Two pages in one day!

2011-06-17T19:24:00.000+02:00

It turned out I was in a creative mood yesterday...I finished two pages! Ok, in my small 20x14cm journal and with no difficult techniques, just collaged elements and paintmarkers, but I'm very happy with the results. Simple but effective!

Especially this second page has become one of my favorites. The background is just one image I cut out of a magazine. I loved how it looks like the bird is walking on water. I only added the quote, which I wrote in my most elegant handwriting...directly with my marker! Am I brave or what?! (lol)

TFL!

Sandra

Everybody should believe in something...

2011-06-16T12:04:00.000+02:00

My first entry for the challenge over at the Stampotique blog. The theme: Clean & Simple.
I stamped with my Cat's Eye inkpads through a TCW stencil to create the background. My background is only one layer..can you believe it?! I stamped my 'Linda' on a piece of bookpaper and gave her a cup of coffee. I wrote the journaling with the help of some alfabet stencils (Yep, TCW too!).
So here it is:

I'm very happy about this page (20x14cm). It was a real challenge for me because I have a lot of troubles with 'white space'...My pages are mostly loaded with layers or a lot of collaged elements and letters.

Like this spread (40x14cm)...

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

I collaged a lot of elements from Crowabout Studio's collage sheets. It was in my journal for quite some time now and still waiting to be finished, which I did yesterday.

TFL!

Sandra

Drawing portraits

2011-06-12T15:38:00.001+02:00

Inspired by some How to draw-tutorials on YouTube I sketched my first portrait.
I had this picture from a glossy magazine to base my portrait on:

And this is the result after two evenings of sketching:

I sketched it on a big piece of sketchbook paper because my art journal is an altered book...which isn't a very good background to start a first sketch. Still I wanted it to end up in my art journal so I decided to glue it down. I had some drawings of my 3 y.o. daughter Laura lying on my table and that is when I decided to create this spread:

Laura drew a picture of her daddy, one of me and her holding hands and one where we put out our tongue (..lol). I think she can draw very well for a three year old. (She can write her name too!) I loved the drawings so much that I glued them in my journal, wondering if she will still be this creative when she is an adult. Yes, I know what you all will be saying: Of course, with a mom who is creating every day....! ;-)

TFL!

Sandra

It's not what you look at...

2011-06-10T16:30:00.002+02:00

...that matters...It's what you SEE !

Lately, I have been inspired by a lot of portrait-drawing-artists. I have never had the courage to draw a portrait, simply because I was afraid the result would be too disappointing...Sometimes it looks so easy but when I try it myself it often is much more complicated!
Yesterday I was searching on YouTube for some tutorials on how to draw portraits and than I bumped into a great tutorial from Mark Crilley on how to draw a realistic eye.
I tried to draw an eye, just like he did and I was so happy about the result! I drew a big eye on one of the pages in my 20x14cm journal. ( I love this journal because a spread is sized 40x14 cm!!..always a challenge...) This morning I looked at 'my eye' again..still happy!...and I saw that the other page 'needed' an eye too. I didn't manage to make the other eye at the same size, but I'm ok with that.
This afternoon I added the quote...et voilà...here it is:

It isn't a portrait but I loved to do some sketching in my journal, with only a pencil and an eraser. No paint, Sharpies, Mod Podge or other messy things this time, which is a good thing with a puppy in the house...Timo is doing great but he is still a baby of course, who needs a lot of attention. He is very sweet, not extremely naughty...although he loved to 'play' with my curtains, which now have a tear thanks to some doggy teeth...He is even a bit lazy and he loves to hug..if possible all day long!

I call him 'my teddybear in training'...lol.

I have been working in Timo's art journal the past week too. By the way, should I call it an art journal ? Or is it a scrapbook? I'm using art journaling techniques but adding pictures and journaling makes it a scrapbook too, right? Maybe I will show you some pages later. He is growing so fast...I feel like I literally SEE him grow.

TFL!

Sandra

Welcome home, Timo!

2011-06-05T18:22:00.000+02:00

Today is the day! Today we got Timo! Now it is all up to us to make him a happy, healthy dog.

TFL!

Sandra

Two new pages in my new art journal

2011-05-31T22:55:00.000+02:00

Last week I managed to finish the two pages I made in my new art journal. I got a big A4 sized book from the neighbor of my parents. She thought maybe I could use the drawings in the book for my collages...but I loved the size of the book and it was perfect for a new art journal. The drawings in it were great too so you will probably see these again in my pages backgrounds.
Although...the first two pages are covered with thick layers of paper and paint so no sign of beautiful drawings so far...
I started this art journal with a collage, a spread! I don't know how it happened but it did..and I loved it.
Last week I wrote the text on the page.

All images and the complete background are magazine cut outs. The quote and doodling are done with Sharpies.

The second page was also doing nothing for a few days...waiting for the right quote.

I sponged acrylic paint through a Crafters Workshop template to create the wall. The white corner on the right was done with modeling paste, although it didn't quite turn out the way I planned.

(Inspired by Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesday, here )

The poppies are paper napkins, glued down with Mod Podge.

The label on the right, with the date on it, is also inspired by Donna Downey.

I tried to paint the text with acrylic paint, watered down to make it more fluid. Unfortunately I'm left handed and it is hard to make a fluid handwriting that way with a paintbrush...maybe next time I should try writing backwards...

TFL!

Sandra

May I introduce to you...

2011-05-29T14:11:00.001+02:00

Only seven nights sleep from today and he will be staying in our family for the rest of his life:
our Bernese Mountain Dog...

TIMO

We can hardly wait but for now we have to do with the pictures...

Here he is:

TFL!

Sandra

Restless...

2011-05-26T09:48:00.000+02:00

Nothing creative is coming out of my hands right now...Partly because I'm busy with other things, like three year old girls almost getting four....sigh...(Laura was cutting her own hair this morning. Luckily I found out in time so no much damage was done..) But mostly because I'm feeling restless. I know why because the rest of the family is suffering from the same 'disease': tired of waiting and so looking forward to our new familymember, the puppy. This Saturday we will be going to see the puppies again and than we will know which one will be ours! Another eight nights sleep after that and our home will be his home! In the meantime I'm making our house and garden 'puppy proof'...

Last sunday I started a new art journal, with the intention to write daily or weekly about the things that are going on in my life. I'm not a journaler at all so I thought this would force me to step out of that well known comfort zone...Nope! The first thing that happened was a collage, just like I did in my other journals. I loved the collage but it wasn't what I had planned...so it is still waiting for the 'big paintmarker attack'...I flipped to another page, grabbed my paint and started on a new page. No, too dull...So I flipped again to another page...stamping, painting, glueing things down...no, still not satisfied...
Yesterday I bought a big bucket of gesso so I think I'm gonna start these pages all over again...with a fresh layer of gesso!
Ok, I finished one project last week: decorating the cradle for the dolls at the playgroup of my youngest!

TFL!

Sandra

If nothing ever changed...

2011-05-20T21:13:00.000+02:00

...there would be no butterflies. How true is that? Change is good! At least...most of the times...

Today was a perfect day to create for me! My youngest always goes to 'school' on Friday morning. For her, school means a playgroup for kids from 2,5 years till 4 years. (At four they go to a primary school here in the Netherlands...every day!) After school she went home with one of her friends to play there all afternoon. My oldest two kids were in school till three so today was a day for me, me and me!!!
First I went jogging for 40 minutes. Than I did some bloghopping while I was enjoying a cup of coffee.
Unfortunately I had to do some shopping but after that it was time to create...for four hours in a row, with no kids around...only me, me and me!!! That was pure luxury for me. If I get to spend so much time on creating it is after nine in the evening and I have to go on till midnight....hardly ever does this happen during daylight... So I didn't think about the big pile of laundry waiting for me...I covered my dining table with plastic, got all my paints, sprays and masks and started on a new canvas.
I had nothing specific in mind, I just started playing with layers of paper, colorwash, paint and ink.
This time I made a picture after each layer:

Layer 1: paper

Layer 2: colorwash and masks

Layer 3: I didn't like the effect of the masks, so I added more colorwash and did a lot of 'drippage'! I also stamped some texture with black Stazon ink.

Layer 4: acrylic paint on the sides.

Layer 5: I painted a big lasercut chipboard butterfly (Buzz & Bloom) and embossed it with Ranger holographic embossingpowder. I did some pink dots too.

Layer 6: I added the quote and wrote some white dots with a paintmarker.

At this point I thought it was finished so I cleaned my table. I put my canvas on a display and went on with my normal day. 'Me-time' was over!

But each time I passed by the display I stopped, looked at it and I knew something was missing.

So I got my things back on the table and added some more buterflies and some more white dots. I also doodled some more with my black Copic Multiliner.

Et voilà !

Of course I painted the sides of the canvas too:

TFL!

Sandra

Flying blind

2011-05-19T23:41:00.000+02:00

A new page in my art journal:

I was just playing..again..with some magazine cut outs and created this collage. I didn't have some journaling in mind but when I heard this song of Ilse de Lange I knew I had the title of my page. Although I can sing a lot of her songs by heart, including this one, because I'm a big fan of hers, I looked up the lyrics and added parts of it to the rest of the page.
Unfortunately my scanner doesn't recognize the fluorescent colors somehow. Her dress is orange and her shirt is pink in real life!

TFL!

Sandra

Chill out, mom!

2011-05-16T23:49:00.000+02:00

My Sharpies arrived today!!! (Sharpies are not available in the Netherlands so I had to order them in the States...) And of course, I couldn't wait to play with these! (...and now I want to have more...lol..)
My page is inspired by my kids again. This time it is all about my daughter Danique.
When I saw the image of this girl in an add of Steve Madden Shoes I had to use it in my art journal. No collage of different body parts this time, just the complete picture.
I had glued it in my art journal a while ago, just like I had made the background. For the background I sponged several colors of acrylic paint on one of my favorite The Crafter Workshop template ('Houndstooth'). So I just had to add the doodling and journaling today!
Because the image reminded me of Danique so I wanted to add some story about her, which fits the look on the girl's face.

(click on the picture to make it larger if you want to read the journaling..)

The journaling is in Dutch so I will translate it:

Just a conversation with Danique:

Me: Niek, will you please stop playing on the computer? Your time is up.

Danique: ... (silence)

Me (little bit harder): Niek, will you please stop playing on the computer??

Danique: Huh?...

Me: Stop playing. Your time is up!

Danique: Oh, come on...right now?!..X just got online!

Me: Too bad. Tomorrow is another day. Quit! now!

Danique: ... (mutters)

A few minutes later...

Me: Niek, I told you to stop playing!

Danique: Yeah...I heard you, mom!

Me: So why don't you quit than?! Close the program or I will clic the red and white cross for you!

Danique: Chill out, mom!..You don't have to get angry right away!!!!

I'm sure there will be mothers among you that recognize this! (lol)

TFL!

Sandra

The parents of a teenager....

2011-05-14T17:20:00.000+02:00

I just finished a new journal page...completely inspired by my teenagers....which I love so much but really, there are days....like yesterday....that I can 'glue them behind the wallpaper'...with all my love!
My 13 y.o. son 'If it is not about me it is not interesting..' sometimes lacks complete respect for me and is someone who wants to have the last word...always!...My 10 y.o. daughter is doing the same and together they try to irritate one another as much as they can....Than there is my youngest of three copying what she sees...'Hey, if they scream, I can too!..But harder!'...sigh....
I was so glad when they were up in their rooms and I had some peace and quietness in the house!
Now I've finished my page I realize that my subconsciousness must have created this page. I had no intention to create a page about this subject. I was just going through my stash of magazine cut outs, creating the collage. I glued it in my journal and went to bed. This afternoon I added the doodling and when I bumped upon this quote I knew this would have to end up on my page! Funny, isn't it?

TFL!

Sandra

Workshop with Linda Elbourne

2011-05-12T09:23:00.000+02:00

Last weekend I went to a workshop with Linda Elbourne in De Craftorij. She was doing a Stampotique Screen workshop, making a little chipboard screen decorated with Stampotique stamps.
Of course I took my camera with me..but with an empty battery...so I couldn't make my own pictures.
We worked with products like Colorwash, Distress Stain, Perfect Pearls and great stamps of Tim Holtz to create the background on the screen. The Stampotique girls and boys were colored with Distress Ink too, cut out and attached to the screen. We created little embellishments with shrink plastic.
Here is my result of the workshop:

(the front)

(the embellishments of shrink plastic)

(the back)

In the workshop was a Stampotique stamp included. So hard to choose...I love them all!..., but this one will be popping up in my art journal soon!

TFL!

Sandra

Meeting our new family member!

2011-05-07T10:12:00.000+02:00

I think I wanted to have a dog all my life and soon it is going to happen! We decided to welcome a new family member, a Bernese Mountain Dog. Because of practical and financial reasons (and a waiting list..) our new baby will be entering his new home in the beginning of June.
Two weeks ago we met our baby for the first time. He was two weeks old back then and has 4 little brothers and 6 little sisters! We hugged them all because we are not allowed to chose OUR baby before he is six weeks old. I could have stayed all week between these puppies....soooooo sweet!
This was two weeks ago:

Unfortunately the rest of the pictures were too dark....

And we had another 'situation' that needed our attention immediately: Danique was so scared for the big dogs, walking around the garden, that the only thing she wanted was to go back in the car. She was really panicking and crying and didn't want to do another step forward. The owner of the dogs decided to put the dogs inside the house, so Danique could see the puppies first. Danique was hesitating but she did go to the puppies. After we insisted that she should sit between the puppies and hug them, she did. But we realized we had a problem now: it isn't a wise thing to take a dog in our house when we have a daughter who is afraid of dogs...By the way, we knew that she was afraid of dogs but that this fear was so deep...no, we really underestimated that! She has never had a traumatic experience with dogs. I think that she was afraid because she wasn't used to having dogs around and didn't know what to expect. We asked her several times before we even made the final decision if she wanted to have a dog too. She was really looking forward to the day we would see the puppies...only the big ones were much bigger than she had expected and she just wasn't prepared for that.

So we left with mixed feelings that day. Could it be that we were taking the wrong decision by having a dog? We couldn't risk to have the dog and bring it back later when Danique doesn't get used to the dog. That wouldn't be right for the dog, for Danique and for the rest of our family.

I decided to ask the local school for dogs here, tell them my problem and ask for advice. And the owner of the school did such a great job!!! She asked one of the trainers, who works a lot with kids too, to help us. This woman invited us to come to the school, made sure there were no dogs in the room where we sat and talked to Danique first. Than she brought in a big, dark German Shepherd Dog...after Danique had given her permission of course. Danique was just a second away from climbing in the curtains when she saw this dog. The dog was very sweet by the way. He was very impressive with his big black head but very calm and sooo sweet. Step by step the owner persuaded Danique to come closer and in about 15 minutes Danique was stroking the dog's back. Another 15 minutes Danique was walking outside with only the owner between her and the dog...and at the end the dog was sitting next to Danique and she wasn't afraid!

We did another training with Danique at this school last week. This time she met a Boerboel dog, like this one (even bigger!):

The dog was really big, almost as big as a Shetland pony! He was very well trained and even a bit of a softy. His trainer told him to ly down and was feeding him treats while Danique narrowed the distance to the dog step by step. Within 5 minutes she stroked his back and another 5 minutes later she dared to feed him some treats, together with the trainer. I think she loathed the drooling of the dog more than that she was afraid of him!

We all were so proud of her. She really had overcome a lot of her fear.

Still, with mixed feelings we left to visit the puppies yesterday. How would Danique react now when she sees the big dogs? Would she still be afraid? This was the moment. This meeting would decide whether we would go on with this or cancel the whole 'dog thing'.

Well, the next pictures say it all:

This was yesterday:

Danique showed no fear at all! She only hesitated a little bit when we entered the garden and saw a big dog coming towards her. Like she had learned she ignored the dog, stood still, allowed him to sniff her trousers and walked further. One minute later she met the mother of the puppies and almost immediately stroked the head of the dog! The dog was pushing his snout against her hand, asking for her attention and you know what she told me later the evening? "Mom, I wanted to wrap my arms around this dog and hug him!!!!"

She loved the puppies...we all did of course..and she even wanted to have one on her lap.

I think I couldn't be more proud of her!!!! She did great !!

In about two weeks were going to meet the puppies again and than it will be the moment that we can chose which one will be ours! I can't wait!!!

TFL!

Sandra

In the middle of a dream...

2011-05-03T23:24:00.000+02:00

Here is my page for the newest prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal:

Prompt: Busy!

Song: Manic Monday by The Bangles

Product/technique: lace/trim

The first thing about the prompt 'Busy' that came to my mind was my mind itself! I don't experience much stress in my daily life. My agenda is not overloaded with appointments, I'm a stay-at-home-mom so I don't have to run to work. Of course, being a mom of three (four if I include my hubby...lol) with all of them having their own agenda, it takes some planning and organizing but hey..that's part of the job, right?

So, from the first second I'm awake my mind starts working: planning, organizing, thinking, making lists, etc. No stress, just making sure I have everything under control...

I glued down a page sized picture in my art journal. The picture was in my stash for some time already. I had torn it out of a magazine just because it spoke to me. After reading Marit's blogpost, about her way of working in her art journal by just glueing images in her journal because she liked them and work on the pages later..(still following me?..), I was inspired. So I glued down several images in my art journal...this was one of them! When I read about the new prompt I knew I had to use this image.

I sponged acrylic paint (watered down) around her head to create the 'sleepy' mist. I drew some thick black and white lines to created a scattered look...or better: a scattered dream...

I didn't follow the third part about the lace exactly. I simply couldn't think of a way to incorporate lace into my page. I used some bakery twine instead, which I stitched on the page.

The perfectionist in me is not completely happy about the journaling. A tiny inner voice is saying: "You should have used a template or something for your letters. You should have thought about where to write your words."

But since I'm trying so hard to play more in my journal and not make everything balanced and perfect, the other inner voice was much bigger: "It is your journal page! It doesn't have to be perfect! It is your own handwriting, written down straight from the heart! "

So Í'm happy about my page!

...Is anyone else having little gearing wheels and voices in her head too, working overtime??!!...

TFL!

Sandra

Time for family!

2011-05-03T09:49:00.001+02:00

Last Sunday we went to Apenheul. Thanks to a great discount we got, it is fun to go on a trip when you are a family of five...The weather was great, we got to see a lot of 'the rest of our family' and we took a lot of pictures. I bought a new camera last week (Canon Powershot SX210 IS) and of course I was anxious to try it! We also took my Canon SLR (EOS450D) and even the youngest of our family (3 years old..) knows how to use both camera's! So both camera's switched between all five of us, all the time, which means we got a lot of 'different' pictures...:

Laura loved to eternalize her rice cracker....

Mitchell thought this was fun...(lol)

And this....

Is he trying to tell me something???

The kids gave her the name Kiki...Unfortunately my little monster Laura

stepped on it a few moments later, so R.I.P. Kiki....

My all time favorite animal, the silverback gorilla!!

Trying the maximum zoom on my new camera!

Look what flew over our heads and landed in the tree right above my head?

Luckily I was smart enough to step aside immediately...I was apparently sitting under his toilet branch!

Two of my own monkeys!

My own silverback...with his little monkey girl!

Again....with my crazy monkey girl!

Monkey training...

Little monkeys LOOOOVE icecream!

And some inspiration...

We had a great day!

TFL!

Sandra

Royal inspiration...

2011-04-29T21:30:00.001+02:00

I'm not a royalty fan at all...so I wasn't looking forward to this day like the rest of the world seemed to do!
Being a stay-at-home-mom has its advantages, so I was able to watch the royal wedding on TV, simply so I could join in all the conversations that would follow afterwards....After all, this is a wedding with historical importance.
I'm more a fan of the way the Dutch celebrate their 'Queens Day', the birthday of our previous queen: with lots and lots of flea markets all day long! I love to saunter along the streets, filled with people selling their second hand stuff. I will start tomorrow at 7am and I will probably stop when everyone has gone home...It's my favorite day of the year!
All this royal happiness inspired me to write the journaling on my next pages, a spread in my 'Inspired by...' art journal:

I had a lot of creating the creatures on these pages, earlier this week.

To show you I didn't use expensive, fancy glossy magazines but just some advertising brochures for perfumes and jewelry for example:

How fun is this?

TFL!

Sandra

A new head...and a new page!

2011-04-28T20:38:00.002+02:00

Remember me saying I didn't like her head in my previous blogpost? I mean this one:

Well, I decided to give her a new head! Simple as that! I wish I could change my own head like that now and then, don't you? (lol)
And now she looks like this:

I love her so much more! Isn't she cute? Now I'm very happy with her and she will stay this way!
My MIL is selling some of my artwork in her giftshop. I'm very proud to say that she already sold three pieces of my work!!! And this will be for sale too, so if you're interested just send me an email.

I made a new page in my 8,5x11 inch art journal too.
I played with my new Crafters Workshop templates some time ago, to create some backgrounds. This background is made with the 'houndsteeth' template. I just sponged black acrylic paint on the yellow background through the template. Earlier this week I was playing with my magazine cut outs and well, this is what happened:

I love this quote and I have used it before. It is a reminder to myself!
There is another reason why I'm very happy with this page, because 'the page sort of happened to me'...I was able to play and be creative, without thinking of how it would look like in the end or 'is it good enough to show on my blog'..I just glued the image down, grabbed my markers and let it happen..and it did!

TFL!

Sandra

A page and a canvas

2011-04-26T08:29:00.000+02:00

Here's a little canvas I made:

(size: 18x24cm)

I love all the colors on this one, but I'm not happy with her head. For now, it is what it is and I will leave it this way...Maybe later, I will gesso over it and correct it or glue another head on top of this one...(lol)

I also love the fact that this piece has a lot of layers. From canvas to top:

-old book papers

-paper napkin (pink/red shades)

-stamps (script and TH clock, with black Stazon))

-acrylic paint (yellow and white)

-chalk ink (blue)

-collage (magazine cut outs, both flowers and image)

-quote (printed)

-paintmarkers and glaze pens

-rub ons

-more paintmarkers...

And a lot of Mod Podge to keep it all together!

Remember this journal I made a few weeks ago, thanks to Ilse's tutorial:

I'm still working on the fabric cover, inspired by Teesha Moore...

The pages inside the journal have some extra smaller ones in between, inspired by Donna Downey:

And yesterday I finished a page in this journal, inspired by..again..Teesha Moore:

Background: watercolor paint

Images and borders: magazine cut outs

So I decided to call this journal 'Inspired by...'

TFL!

Sandra

Tell me something...

2011-04-21T15:32:00.000+02:00

A new prompt on A Year in the Life of an Art Journal:

THE PROMPT: Really?!
THE SONG: Tell Me Something I Don't Know by Selena Gomez
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Speech bubbles

Background: acrylic paint.
Images and borders: magazine cut outs
Top border with numbers: Tumble Fish Studio

TFL!

Sandra

Welcome...

2011-04-21T15:19:00.000+02:00

...to my new blog! I hope you like the first look of it!
I designed the complete blog layout myself, with my own art work and a lot of help from Photoshop...

A new blog means a new name: SanARTy Designs.
Of course I hope you get the double meaning behind this name immediately but for all of you that have questionmarks circling around their heads right now, I will explain:
* San = the first three letters of my name
*ART= I had to cross a certain (mental) border to call my creations 'Art' from now on, but I did...
*by adding the 'y' the word SanARTy sounded like 'Sanity' which means mental health...and that is the double meaning because creating my art keeps me mentally healthy!

I hope to provide you lots of inspiration by showing my designs here!
For all of you that are new here: click here to go to my old blog.
To see my Flickr photostream, please click here (or follow the link in the side bar.)

TFL!

Sandra