The impossible makes love possible

It's almost Valentine's day and I have been inspired to create some works in the theme of love this weekend. A while back I bought a bunch of mini ATC size canvases and finally used one of them for the above mixed media piece. I used a lot of layers of wonderful paints, modeling paste, pieces of vintage lace and vintage images.

The hearts and letters are die cut and the stamped text is from Dina Wakley "Love Rocks"  stamp set. It was challenging to create a mixed media piece on this smaller scale but definitely loved the process.

A close up of the yummy texture and layers paint. I've used a shattered heart stencil and modeling paste to create the background. DecoArt Media Shimmer sprays for the glittery effects.

Entering this piece in the following challenges:

Moo Mania - Love/Valentines 

Try it on Tuesdays - Love is in the air 

HLS - ATC challenge february 2018 hearts

The MMMC#45 February

Stamplorations February challenge - Paint it Red 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day. 

ATC: Focus your Imagination

Something fun happening every weekend over at Stampotique Originals facebook group is Word Up Weekend, in which the designers emphasize the wonderful words and phrases stamps of which there are many. And they are very versatile in use as well. I have used a part of the Mark Twain quote on this ATC. It's more of an inspiration card and I made it say "focus your imagination" - sometimes that is very needed when you have so many idea's running through your head! It's my fave phrase stamp to pair up with Topher! So you don't even have to use the full sentence/phrase if that is not what you want!

Another fun way to use text stamps is to press them in modeling paste for added texture. I love to do that with small text like Dictionery Definition stamps, you get some fun letter print in the paste. You see that in the background of the ATC here. By the way I also used Kate Crane's Texture Cube to add more texture in the background. It's a stamp I almost ALWAYS use, so fun!!

So how do you focus your imagination? If you make something with Stampotique phrases/words share your creations in our FB group, we would love to see it :) 

TGIF and hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Reduce, reuse, recycle - clean up ATC's!

A few weeks ago I showed you a corner of my messy desk where I was busy using up scraps from left over projects on ATC's. Today I am showing you the results.

These were made for a swap on Swap-Bot (clean up ATC's) which was hosted by Trinette and the objective was to create some artfully designed ATC's using scraps only. And yes, I have used scraps only to make these 6 cards, but instead of cleaning up my desk, the craps looked to multiply, LOL!

I tried to make a triptych of each set, with a motivational saying/sentence on each card. Some of them kinda resulted in "Engrish fortune cookie wishes", ha, but it was fun to put them all together.

Like I said, I used scraps from various projects, the Frida image is a mask I used for this project for example and I am pleasantly surprised the composition of each individual card came together like this. I also found that I like rounding off my cards with a corner punch, so it looks more like a collectible playing card.

So hanging on to your little craps can definitely be of some use! Trinette is also hosting the swap over at her instagram (though it's on summer break for now) and on Swap-Bot so check it out over in the fall if you are interested :)

I would like to enter these in the following challenges:
Try it on Tuesday - Letters, numbers or both


Happy Little Stampers ATC challenge June - Flowers
 (3 of the ATC's here have partial flowers in them)
Also super exciting HLS is hosting an ATC challenge!
Not many of them are out there!

ATC around the world challenge #30 - Flowers

Mix It Up - anything goes plus option stamping

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

WIP: what's on my desk?

Hey friends, ome exciting things have been going on recently (something I can't share yet, but will soon :) and my desk has been in full work in progress mess mode these past couple of weeks. Thought it might be fun to show you what I have been working on.

The picture above is showing a fun swap/challenge Trinette is hosting on Instagram and Swap-Bot.  It's called the "clean up ATC swaps" where you create ATC's (around 6 monthly) using only scraps and you focus on design. I REALLY enoyed this swap but it seems like the "clean up" didn't help much as I kept creating more and more scraps, haha! The end result I'll show you sometime later, but above you have a sneek peak at one of them.

And this past weekend I finished up some of my scrap collage cards which was so fun to do! I used some supplies I received in my ArtSnack subscription boxes and messed around with some new stencils and other mixed media products. Also in the back the stencils you can see are the winnings I received from the Mixed Media challenge at STAMPlorations in April. I am also super excited to be the winner of last Month at the Mixed media challenge WOO HOO :)  Also I have an order coming in soon ofmore STAMPlorations items and my very long awaited Jane Davenport items... Can't wait to play with all those products when they get here :) 

So, what's on your desk/what are you working on right now? I've discovered this fun blog on where people where their desk spaces on Wednesday (WOYWW) and you can join the fun as well :) 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

ATC: Be True

 

This is an ATC I made inspired by one of the many wonderful and inspiring process video's Jenn Engle has on her You Tube. In this video she uses letter stickers on her art journal background for extra texture and serendipitous design. I loved the idea so much I created an ATC using some number letters stickers of which I have so many and almost never use!

I've used one of my fave butterfly stencils and next to it I added the numbers in a cascading flow over the stencil design. Then gessoed the piece with white gesso and then around the edges with black gesso. In the white parts I dripped some Roher and Klinger calligraphy ink in Alt Goldgrün and Cyan Blau. The calligraphy ink is thicker and has a shellac base so it clung to the gesso pretty well. I did spritz some water over it to get it to dilute and flow better over the raised edges. The sentiment Bue True (from VLVS!) was well as the butterfly was stamped on a left over piece of water color paper, and before I adhered it with pop up dots I spattered some white and magenta ink over the card. I added some threads in the same colors around the popped up aria's, edged the card with white ink and matted it onto black card stock. 

I really loved using the stickers this way and with definitely use this technique again :) Thanks again for the inspiration Jenn :)

I am entering this in the following challenges:
Stamps and stencils fabric and fibers
Stamping sensations May Butterflies, fairies and fantasy

STAMPlorations Mixed Media Challenge May 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

ATC: Poppy Fields

April showers and May brings flowers... at least that is the theory, because it still showers in this part of the world! Well, there are a lot of flower ATC's going on on Swap-Bot and this is the one I sent to my partner for a Mixed Media flower swap. I sorta cheated... or well, made creative use of what I had, because.... doesn't the above image look familiar to you?

Maybe now it does... It's a piece from my processing poppies experiment I did a while back. A part of it became this journal page and I still had a piece left over. I ran in through my cuttle bug with an ATC die, some white splatters over it and matted on black card stock and it's done. Creating ATC's from left over Art Journal pages like that is great way to use up your left overs, isn't it?

I'd like to enter this ATC in the following challenges:

Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge #26 - Anything goes
Time out Challenge #82- Flowers with optional kissing technique
Mixed Media World #24 - Anything Mixed Media goes with optional watercolors
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Hint of Pink
Make My Monday #45 - May Flowers

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

The Cat's Meow! - Meesha appreciation post :)

It's a kitty cat special today on my blog and I wanted to share these pieces I made recently with this great cat stamp from Lost Coast Designs (at least I think it was, but I can't seem to find it on the site anymore....) The background is made with various paper scraps and I used a white, black and a copper paint marker to create some interest and outlines. The sentiment "oh what a day, what a lovely day" is from VLVS! and it's a lovely day indeed!

The ATC is made with similar technique as the postcard, but placed the scraps horizontally instead of vertically. The cat is stamped on black paper and then embossed with white. I could not resist adding "meow" with letter stickers on it :)

So today is a special day indeed, my little fur baby Meesha has turned 3 today! She is still ever so cute and I am so happy the little critter is on our lives. She shares her birthday with the King (it's king's day today in NL!) and she definitely behaves like the queen of the house :) Here are some pictures of her for you to enjoy!

Throwback thrusday- this was taken the first few days she was with us. A very curious and open hearted kitty we instantly fell in love with

Likes to try out all sorts of different sleeping positions in super small arias :)

She definitely likes to sit on my chair in my art room while I am working.... so difficult to move her off my chair when she is looking like that!

Little purrfull snuggles on the couch in the evening are the best!

And she is definitely the queen of the house... luxuriously living!

Now I'm off to give some well deserved treats to this little birthday girl!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

ATC: Freaky little thing - VLVS!

Today I'm sharing an ATC I have made with wonderful Viva Las VegaStamps! over at the inspiration blog. It's based on this month's challenge inspiration board. 

 

The gorgeous blue green colors of the mood board inspired me! We'd also like to inspire you with words like SPRING! flowers, doodles, buds, whimsical, patterns, checkerboard, stars, wings, Mary Vogel Lozinak, banners, green, teal, white, black... and whatever else you may be inspired from by seeing the mood board.

I've used a fun and easy resist technique for the background with heavy matte medium and ecoline. I find that the bold complimentary colors make the image on the foreground pop. If you have a look at my blog post over at VLVS! you can see more pictures and info on how I made this piece. Hopefully this will inspire you to play along with this month's challenge as well. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

ATC: Your Heart Speaks - with process video!

It's been on my mind for a while, recording process video's and sharing them with you. Well this past weekend I have decided, I would do a trail run, see how it would go with filming and how I would get on with editing etc. It was a steep learning curve, I need to adjust my zoom and placing better for one. But Windows Movie Maker definitely makes editing a lot workable. I recorded the process of these ATC's with Stampotique Originals Stamps which I made for the April swap "use your words" over at their facebook groups page.

 

So here it is, my first process video! I hope you liked it! It's my first video EVER so be gentle, LOL! 

I have been inspired by so many talented people sharing there work on youtube! I'm ever so grateful for their inspirational posts, tips, tricks and techniques. I decided to join in the fun and jump in the deep ;)  Please give a thumbs up if you like it and subscribe to my channel if you want to updated on more videos I post:) I'm ever grateful for your support!

Materials used: 

Stampotique Originals: Dragonfly, When heart speaks, Daniel's Hearts

The Crafter's Workshop light and fluffy modeling paste, 

Perfect Pearl glimmer mist in Kiwi, 

ecoline ink in magenta, 

wink of stella brush pens, 

Script stencil by Panduro hobby, 

gelli printed deli paper and card stock, 

Paper Artsy paint (on the cardstock), 

distress paints (on the deli paper), 

Alcohol markers. Zig 2-way glue pen. 

ATC dies by Marianne Designs. 

I would like to enter this work in the following challenges: 

Stampotique Originals - Bling it on SDC271 

STAMPlorations - things with wings 

Crafty Cardmakers - Things with wings 

MixedMedia World - Anything goes with twist watercolors

Simon Says Stamp monday challenge Splash it On

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

It's okay, breathe today.

Lately, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed. Maybe also because another birthday has come and gone (with a great trip to sunny Valencia in Spain, on which a report will be blogged at some point ;)  and faced with this perception of growing older I'm thinking "There so little time and so much I'd like to do!" But I need to keep in perspective that doing, doesn't affect the quality of BEING. I made this ATC/inspiration card to remind me of that. I took the butterfly base of one of my Cascading Butterflies sessions and played with paper Artsy Fresco paints, Liquitex INKS and Golden Fluid Acrylics in fluorescent yellow, which I received in the Artsnacks January Box this year. I love how that the spatters just pops up the whole image. The sentiment is re-mixed from this VLVS! text stamp. "It's Okay, breathe today" is something I say to myself when I feel like I am "wasting time" by not being "productive enough" and need a reminder that every breath has the same value, in doing or being. 

I would like to enter this artwork in the Moo-Mania challenge In Triplicate (so poetic that I made this ATC with this theme without even realizing!) and I love the fact that there is a challenge site that inspires to make some smaller works like Moo and ATC size :)

I also would like to enter this in the following challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Things with Wings

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day. 

Enjoy it, even though all you did was breathe today :)

  

Twinkling Chief Agatha

A little while ago I made these two little cuties for an ATC swap over at the Stampotique Originals group on facebook. The challenge was a color theme this time around so we had to use all the colors of this color scheme.

I knew right away I wanted to use Agatha for this because of her lovely feathers. Also a wonderful excuse to use my new Twinkling H2O's for this project as well.

They have such a nice sparkle to them :) To color her in I used Orange peel, Vavoom red, Poppy Red, Wild blueberry and Rich cobalt.

The background is made with distress inks mustard seed and ripe persimmon. Dylusions Mixed Media palette inks are used to stamp on the Texture Cube motives by Kate Crane to give the background more interest. Edges were rounded with a paper punch and then blackened with distress crayon. 

It's hard to show a good picture of how she twinkles, but she definitely does shine! Oh a tip for you: I have colored the whole image of Agatha and then just het face on separate pieced of sticker paper (the face is colored with alcohol markers). The I cut it out to place the face over the water colored image. That is how the face is unaffected by the Twinkles. Masking won't help much as water just seeps everywhere, really. I also drew in her hair and made the eyes blacker with my trusty faber castell pitt artist marker. 

Thanks for stopping by and wishing you a colorful and twinkling weekend :)