My first swap

A while back I took part in the altered playing card challenge over at Sandee and Amelie's steampunk challenge blog and I forgot to mention how happy I was when I found out that my altered playing cards were spotlighted at Sandee and Amelie's steampunk challenge blog. Such a lovely surprise =).

These cards brought yet another suprise because after I posted my APC's for the altered playing card challenge over at Sandee and Amelie's steampunk challenge blog, I received lots of sweet messages. Among which there was one message from a lovely, very talented, lady. Her name is Dagmar and you can find her wonderful blog here. Dagmar mentioned in her comment that she would love to add one of the cards to her ATC collection. I was delighted that she liked them so much, so I wrote her a message telling her that I would gladly sent one to her.  She wrote me a lovely message back in which she offered to sent me one of her ATC's in return.

I was over the moon as this was now my very first swap. I love sending gifts, I love surprises and I love getting mail, but...well there allways a but isn't there, I didn't know how to get the ATC to her in one piece. Nor what is common practice when doing a swap.

So I did some research and Dagmar sent me some tips. I found a nice free picture online for the back of the card and a bubble envelope, large enough for the ATC. I was however still afraid it might bend or break in the mail and after thinking a while, I figured I would make a little book to put the ATC in. And since I love making books and trying new things, I made her a little ATC booklet.

I even remembered to make some "making off" shots.

WOYWW 208

Today will be a very short WOYWW post, as my mother is keeping me company this week. Which means I won't be online as much as I would normally be. Still I didn't want to miss the big 4 year anniversary of WOYWW over at Julia's Stamping Ground.

I only found this blog a few months ago and this will be my 4th post. So far I have shown you my rather messy workdesk, the view from my workdesk and whats's behind my workdesk. Today however, as my mother is here, I will show you my dinner table.

The table has been converted to crafting workdesk for as long as she is here. I must confess, I do like working there, because there is a lot more room to play....less room to eat though...

As you can see, the ATC's for the WOYWW4 anniversary ATC swap are on the table. They are not yet entirely finished, but I think they look cute already.

The soul becomes dyed with the color of it's thoughts

Just a quick post today, because the sun is peeking out from behind the clouds every now and then, calling me to come out and play in the garden.

The quote "The soul becomes dyed with the color of it's thoughts" by Marcus Aurelius has been sitting in my little black book for quite some time now. Today I was looking for something to go with my new art journal page and I came across it again. I felt it was really appropriate for this page with all of it's colors.

I did make some progress shots while working on this page, though I forgot to make them during the first part. Still plenty of photo's to show you.

May 2013 Tag

I've not been a good girl in following along with the Tim Holtz Tags of 2013. I only did one up to now. Which is partly due to the fact that I only found the Tim Holtz blog in march this year, but also due to the fact that I don't like being told what to do. I'm also very bad at doing exactly what people tell me to do. Specially when it comes to doing things for fun. I do, however, like learning cool new techniques, so that is the reason I wanted to try and follow along.

I didn't have most of the things Tim uses for his tag and as I didn't want to go out and buy them, but still wanted to stay close to the tag Tim made, I made them myself, sort of.

So here's my tag for may 2013.

I made the embellishments myself from soda cans and plastic packaging (cool way to recycle). The metal bits were made using Sizzix die cuts.
The filmstrip was drawn onto an acetate strip with a permanent marker. After which I scratched it somewhat and used sepia archival ink to give it an older feel.

Some more close ups of the tag.

WOYWW 207

It's time again for another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday over at the stamping ground. So if you want to know what that's all about and take a little peak at everyone's workdesks, jus hop on over and take a look =).

My what's on your workdesk today is more like a what's behind your workdesk, because my husband put an old chest, we had standing in the attick, in the corner. So now I have even more room to make a mess.

I'm really happy with that. I like making a mess, but I also like having a place to find the stuff to make the mess with...

After I made my canvas painting last week, I first was really happy and then landed right on my behind when I came tumbling back to earth. So I have been taking it a bit slower, with not all to much going on, painting wise. I did do some journalling, doodling type journalling and some paper crafting. Which seems to be emotionaly less demanding in a way. Last night I finally grabbed some paints again and slapped those in my "destroy" journal.

I did "destroy" several other backgrounds last week. So I'll do a little run down of those, with first the original background followed by the resulting page.

Still in paper mode

Over at Sandee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge blog, the challenge for the month may is altered playing cards.
As I am still in paper mode and my prima engraver paper pad was still out on my desk, I thought I would try some altered playing cards with this.

I also had some fimo clay pieces that I made with my stamps left, so I thought I would just play around a bit.

A little card

Just a quick post for a little card made for the Simon says stamp and show challenge; A little paper. I made this card for my mother, as I'm going to invite her to come and join me again for a few days and I thought she would like to receive a nice card.

I made this card with the prima engraver 6"-6" paperpad, one of my favorites. I had the base card already so I just needed to embellish it.

I'm not much of a card maker, but I had a lot of fun making this one.

Finally a Canvas

I finally took the leap and took all that I learned in my art journals to a canvas. My first canvas without a pretty picture to guide me, but straight from the heart onto the cloth.

I could take it further, as I thought I would do last night, but I like how she looks. I like the suggestion of her and the transparancy of the painting. I like that she leaves room for imagination. I see many things when looking at this. I like that it's messy and grungy and clean and pure all at the same time. She looks sad and insecure to me while I see strength and confidence, all at once. I see a man in the darkness lurking behind her and a face staring down at her.

I guess I see me when I look at her. Dark and light all blended together. It makes me wonder what other people see when they look at this painting.

So yes, I think I will leave it as is, maybe some touch-ups and details here and there and my name and date off course when I feel I'm truly done with it.

It was fun making this painting. I used a lot of techniques and it has a ton of texture. It is also very interactive, because I used the input from my friends and family for the various steps. I loved reaching out this way and I loved the responces I got.
And because of this approach I have lots of progress pics to show you.

I may not have ended up where I intended to go - art journal page proces

I think the quote I used for this page "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be" by Douglas Adams, realy sums it all up for what happened to this page.

I did set out to do a heavy textural page, I don't think this is what I was going for in the beginning. But since this is where It took me, that's where I went.

I did take some pictures while working on the page, so you can see what it is I'm talking about. I do have to warn you, this is an extremely picture heavy post =).

WOYWW 206

Just a short post to join in with the "What's on your workdesk wednesday" over on the Stamping ground blog. No 206 this time. I'm afraid I skipped No 205, while my mother was here. Which is a pity, because the exploded dining room table was a real sight for sore eyes =).

This time I managed to clear my table before making a picture.

It's a lovely spot to sit, work, stare out the window and listen to the birds whistle, while the garden comes back to life. From this spot I can overview the entire livingroom and the garden, nicely tucked into my little corner.

And yes, should you wonder, that is a pirates flag there in the border among the plants.

As you can see I did clean up a little. There are two projects on my table. Some tags I wanted to do for the Tim Holtz tags of may challenge and a sneak preview of a new journal page I'm working on. But since these are not ready yet I cannot show them to you in this post... maybe later today.

I did however destroy another background, as I told you I challenged myself to do in my previous post.

Destroying some backgrounds...

In a previous post I described how I made my faux metal art journal. I then later proceded to make all sorts of backgrounds in it. Firstly, off course, because I loved doing it, but secondly out of a fear of white.

This actualy backfired on me. I liked several, if not all, of the backgrounds so much that, while I could see they were not finished, I was now afraid to do anything to them. So I set myself a task, to take a background every day and "destroy" it, to be able to take the page to completion.

This also fits in wonderfully with the Artists in blogland: color this quote - May challenge. With the quote "Every act of creation is first an act of destruction" by Pablo Picasso.

So here are 3 of the backgrounds taken to completion, with the original background.

 I'm afraid I didn't take pictures while working on them. Which, in hindsight, is a pity, because with the way I work, it can sometimes be difficult to see what I did to get to the end.

Hearts are often broken by words left unspoken

Last week was a pretty intense week and I haven't been on the internet much. I did however do some art journalling. As my mother was staying with me for the week and she also is learning to art journal, we confiscated the dining room table as a work space. So my house has been rather messy. We had a lot of fun though.

I finally started to alter the book I chose to be my new art journal. First I tore out 2 of every 3 pages, because I didn't want the book to become too thick in the end. I then started to decorate the cover. It isn't finished, but I will do that when I'm done with the book. This way it will be easier to work in and I won't have to be so carefull when working in it.

It's the little things - art jounal page

Just a quick post today, because the sun has been shining all day and I have been working in the garden. So I am now really sore and my arms are all scratched and bruised from the rozes I pruned. I'm also very tired, but a good tired for a change. I think I may even sleep well tonight.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a journal page with you today. Still practicing my faces, but I feel I'm now getting to a point where I can take it all to a canvas, we'll see.

It's a bit difficult to photograph this page, because I treated it with a glossy varnish. It looks great in person, but on a photo not so much. I took the photo's outside, so the lighting is somewhat better compared to taking them in the house.

Some booklets I made

As I started blogging on lifejournal, some posts about booklets were posted there. I finally figured out how to import those posts to blogger, so I posted them here today. I back dated them as not to fill your RSS stream.

• All diferent sizes...
• What to do with all them little books...
• Another little booklet...
• How one thing can lead to another...

Not a lot of posts, realy, so I don't know why it took me so long to get them over to blogger. Not all booklets I made were posted on lifejournal, so today I will post some of the other booklets I made.

Some of the books above can be found in the previous posts, while others have never been posted before.

All booklets are handbound and most are made from tea dyed paper.

Except the TP mini album, which, off course, is made from TP rolls. You can see the (considerable) size difference very well in this picture.

I also made some tiny pictures, 2"-2", so too large to be an inchie and too small to be and ATC...

WOYWW 204

I thought I'd join in on this funny wednesday workdesk share, what's on your workdesk wednesday, as I love watching other peoples workdesks. It makes me feel as though I am not the only one with a really messy workdesk and I get to see some workdesks to aspire to achieve, all nice and clean =)

My workdesk, which I share with my daughter, Chelsea, is always rather full, even though I clean up every evening. Well, almost every evening. I'm afraid I didn't clean up last night and the page I just finished is still on the table. As you can see I tend to confiscate my daughters workspace when she's off doing her homework.

I sit where the green silicone cookie sheet is and my daughter sits at the long end where all the paper is stacked. She has a pink cookie sheet, but it isn't even visible anymore...