Art Journal: The perseverance of possibility

So I might have mentioned that last week I was pretty much ill with the flue and bronchitis infection the whole week. I was super tired and could not do anything but sleep the whole day, but in the evening when I felt a bit better I got to work in my pocket size art journal. So I worked on it for a couple of days and practiced my layering techniques and patience :) It was hard for me to work on things slowly, usually I work in a high pace producing 2-4 pieces when I have the whole day to create. But sometimes, when you can't work on a high pace, you just need to step back and let it be to come back at it at some other point. It all came together pretty gradually and I'm quite in love with the end result.

I started off with a spread which already had paint on it and I covered that up with a mixture of Paper Artsy fresco paints hint of mint, southern skies and a bit of Distress paint faded jeans. When the paint was still wet I mixed in a thin layer of CW Gold Gesso. When that dried I applied some Light and Fluffy Modeling paste with a palette knife and let that dry a bit.

In the modeling paste I pressed the  Effervescence by Ana Bondu Carabelle stamp in various places. First the paste wasn't dry enough so I had splotches of paste that came off. Started again and again until the consistency was just right so I could get some good imprints that didn't stick to the stamp. Trial and error and a fun technique I definitely want to explore more. When I was satisfied with the imprints I made I let it dry and cleaned my stamp thoroughly. Came back to the page and spritzed some fuchsia dylusions ink mixed with burgundy mixed media spray from the november artsnacks box. Spritzed some water over it to mix and let it run everywhere and wiped the excess away. Repeated process until I was satisfied with the color.

To get the structure back I took my pearl rub ons and highlighted some aria's with bronze, gold, pearl and black metallic shimmer. Also added shimmer to the outlines of the paste and the page. I considered leaving the page like this in my journal as it's super pretty to look at.

Detail shot of the structure.

But my gut said it still wasn't finished. So I went on to see which stamps I could use to this layout. Of course VLVS! has so many that spoke to my heart I went to check out those first.

I chose this cute little fairy girl by Cat Kerr which I colored with letraset promarkers and adhered with pop up squares. I remembered I had some rainbow thread somewhere and added that around her. The colors of the thread matched her outfit colors really well.

I love the quote stamps from Cat Kerr, and I believe in is one of my favorites. But I deconstructed the quote a little and left the armor bit away so it says "I believe in the perseverance of possibility. In hatching your dreams, getting to work and then seeing what comes of it." It was stamped on aquarelle paper on which I already had Sailor Jentle Yama dori fountain pen ink with pearl mint shimmer wash over it. It flowed out to such a beautiful teal blue! And I love the contrast of teal and pink. The quote stamp was embossed with black embossing powder. They were also adhered with pop up squares. On the edges I stamped a bit of text and nautical star from Artemio vintage travel collage with staz on teal. The spatters are from Wink of Luna light green diluted with water. I added some more black pearl rub on some edges and called it done.

I really enjoyed doing this page and it was a first for me in many ways: patience in layering, stamping in texture paste, adding thread ... I also learned a lot by doing all this and went to check out some you tube channels for some tips and tricks on what to do better next time. One thing I have learned is I definitely need to cover the creases of the pages next time, either with masking tape or gesso (or both..) because the ink stained some of the other pages through the cracks. not a lot, and thankfully most pages were glued in so didn't stain my other work too bad, but yeah, it won't hurt to secure it better next time. Also need to leave more allowance for folding, bits and pieces of the modeling paste in the middle broke off when I folded it and there is a crack running through it. So I have to plan and place my paste better next time. It's all about the love of process :) 

I hope you enjoyed reading along this process with me. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Art Journal: Prima Ballerina

Wanted to show you a quick page in my new black spiral art journal today. I prepped the page with my new paperartsy fresco finish paints, southeren skies mixed with a hint of mint. Stamped carabelle studio Effervescence by Ana Bondu stamp with a bronze metallic ink, spattered some blue and black paint and then stamped the ballerina with stars (from Lost Coast Designs) with versamark which I then embossed in black. The placing of the stamps are all done randomly, but I love it when coincidence come together like this. Both of the ballerina's hands are in excellent placing on the circle stamps. The one in an opening and the top even looks like she is holding a circle. Perhaps, she might be a circus performer ballerina using all these hoops :)

Detail shot of her holding the hoop. Creating art from the heart can bring wonderful coincidences like this together :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Mailart Monday: A simple Thank You

In the times we live in, we often take things for granted. Sometimes a simple gesture, like sending a thank you card to someone, can make a big impact. It will at least bring a smile to someone's face and show them that they are appreciated. For this mailart monday I made a thank you card using stamps from Carabelle Studio's, Katzelkraft and Studio light.

I used this stamp from carabelle studio's as focal point. I made a layered card because I wanted her hair blue and her face more pronounced in purple. With an exacto knife I cut out the shape of her face on the blue stamped card and I adhered it on top of the purple one. It gave a beautiful sharp focus on the woman's face.

The card is colored with blue and yellow promarkers. I then stamped the Les Ronds stamps from Katzelkraft. I stamped it with memento paris dusk and staz on opaque green on her hair as well. For the top and bottom I used one of the borders and colored that yellow. I cut out the edges of the border. This beautiful handlettered thank you stamp is from creative chalk/studio light which I stamped with Staz On black.

I gave her face subtle colors and highlighted her eyes and lips with promarkers. Then adhered her on a double sided card and rounded off the corners with a punch. She is now ready to be mailed and hopefully the receiver will be aware of the fact that they are appreciated.

Entering this for the november 2016 Craft Stamper Magazine "take it make it" challenge.

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

namasté

Roses are red, violets are blue...

A little while ago I received an newsletter from a web shop I frequently get stamps from Leuke Stempels notifying that they are having their 3rd anniversary this October! For this happy occasion they are asking people to make them a birthday card with stamps and materials they promarily sell. Since I had some time this afternoon, I have made a the above card for them. They are also giving away a 30€ shop credit for the most liked card on their facebook page. How awesome is that? Scroll down on the post HERE to see all the cards submitted so far and like the card you like best (if that is mine I'd be humbled and thankful!) You can also submit your own card until october 12th (this wednesday) to join in the fun :) Now let me show you how I made the above card.

The base of the card is Neenah Classic Crest and I used this rose stamp from Carabelle as focal point It's stamped 3 times (it being their 3rd anniversary) and I colored them in with Zig Clean Color Brush Marker Light Carmine and Tombow Dual Brush Carmine and blended them together with a water brush. I drew the stems out longer with a steadtler micron pen and colored them in with tombows in green hues. I love how the Zig and Tombow markers blend well together!

I masked the roses and used various blue distress ink pads and a blending tool to give the background a nice sky blue background. Then stamped the spatter stamp from Carabelle on the background with staz on cherry pink.

Then I took out my white distress crayon and blended the aria around the roses a bit so they would pop out from the back ground. I decided the spatters were too subtle for the background and got a different Carabelle stamp and masked the roses again.

The messy doodle circle stamps looked a lot more fun on the background. I stamped this also with Staz On Cherry pink. I also spattered some liquitex liquid gold, white and black inks while the roses were still masked.

Then I cut the roses piece to size and outlined the edges with my faber castell pitt marker. I chose to mat the card on lavender and purple card stock, the colors in Leuke Stempels' logo. I glued everything together with a tape runner.

On a separate piece of paper I stamped the "happy birthday" banner and adhered it to the card. And the color combo of the card reminded me of that rhyme, you know the one! Here is one dedicated to you Leuke Stempels:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

it's your 3rd anniversary

Happy Birthday to you :)

Have a great weekend you all and thanks for stopping by!

namasté

Craftorij Summer Challenge week 9 (the last batch)

I can honestly say that I really surprised myself and managed to finish the cards last weekend (even though I was pretty ill with a throat infection/flue type and could do much creative work at all last week!) The last prompts had a few tough ones for me because I couldn't come up with a lot of different stuff. But well I did my best and that is all you can do, right? So here they are, the last prompts of the CZC 2016:

CZC54-Use a selfmade stencil

The flower is a stencil I made with the MM Slice. Bakcground is made with various distress stains and designs by Rynn Texture stamps. The floral silhouette woman is from Lost coast Designs. I stamped her onto a separate paper and adhered her to the piece. Traced with a fineliner to make her more pronounced.

CZC55 - your hero/person you admire

for me that is Vincent Van Gogh.

You can read how I created this piece in my previous Mailart Monday (also do not forget the giveaway!!)

CZC56 use watercolor paint - version 1

CZC56 use watercolor paint

I used a large stamp and painted over with gouache/aqruarelle paint and stamped it on the card stock. Then I painted more/different colors to finish the piece. Version 2

CZC57 Hands

was not too inspired for this one, but LCD has some great images I wanted to use.

an ink spatted background on which I stamped carabelle and katzelkraft stamps. The hand images are from Lost Coast Designs and I stamped them on sticker paper, colored, cut and adhered them to the piece.

CZC58 Reflection

Another stencil I made with the MM Slice. The background is made with various purple distress stains and I spattered white acrylic paint over it. Then I used the stencil and dark purple memento ink and a distress tool to sponge the ink through the stencil. Looks like portraits of galaxies. This might be one of my fave pieces I have done in the challenge.

CZC59 - Use a transfer technique

I used two: the gel transfer of the image in the middle and the gelli plate packing tape transfer on the borders. I adhered it all to a marbled bookpage. stamps from VLVs and Studio Light.

CZC60

Stamps from joy crafts and katzetkraft

colored with tombows, distress stains, promarkers and distress crayons.

CZC61 - make something in 15 minutes

I created with ink wash with stencils, india ink and ecoline (magic ink tutorial on youtube!)

And it's indeed time to unwind as this is the last piece of the CZC 2016 challenge!

What a ride it has been! This is what the whole stack looks like in hand (minus a few which I already mailed out):

And you can flip through the album below to few all the cards I made

On to next year's challenge I say :)

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Namasté

Craftorij Summer Challenge week 8

Today is the actual LAST DAY of CZC 2016! Gosh what a what a fun and creative ride it has been! So far I should say because like I said in my last post, I still am behind with the prompts of week 9, but well, I will take my time with those and post when I can. It was at times impossible to make something each day, so I made them in batches when I had some time to play creatively. But it was such a fun journey and I'm glad I stuck with it so far.  I have the cards ready for week 8, I will share those with you now.

CZC 48 - Big, bigger, biggest

the heart

background done with distress stains and water. You can see I have been fun with my nexw stamps from from carabelle, keisercraft and viva las vegastamps

CZC 49 - depict an emotion

I chose sorrow

The background is a page where I rolled off extra paint from my brayer. On the left a leftover piece from an embossed altas page which is a bit of the ocean, stamp from Viva Las Vegastamps (I LOVE this half face stamp) and drops from Designs by Rynn. The quote is from the book Cloud Atlas written with fudenosuke brush pen. I also used a sakura gellyroll stardust pen for glitter highlights in tear drops and words.

CZC 50 - use washitape

The background is with a dylusions inks and waterspray, used a lot of masking tape and main image from VLVstamps (colored with promarkers) and rounds stamps from katzelkraft. Like so many of you, I have a collection of washi tape, but I really want, need, love it and can hardly can resist the urge to buy more.

CZC- 51 - use a text balloon

mixed media back ground on scrap book paper, first a layer of acrylic pant, gesso and oil pastels, then clear gesso through a stemcil which I colored with ecoline, Stamped over with stazon and various stamps. lady from a vintage fashion magazine.

CZC 52 - use a post-it

the strip on the bottom on the bookpage is a post it I masked something with. ink spatters done with fountain pen ink and syringe, lost coast designs and carabelle stamps. also used pearl rubs and distress crayons and a fineliner for depth.

CZC 53 - steampunk

Combination of stamper's anonymous brett weldele stamps and Viva Las vegastamps with nautical themed washitape. gears and cogs embossed black card stock which I distressed with bronze, gold and black metallic Liquitex INK. added bronze lines with an edding paintmarker.

A post on week 9 (CZC 54-61) will follow soon (hopefully next weekend) but it has been such an awesome ride so far! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Namasté

Craftorij Summer Challenge week 7

Gosh, the end date of July 31st for this challenge is in sight and I have been in perpetual catch up more. I am sure I won't be able to finish all the cards before the deadline, but well, I will give it my best shot! Sharing the cards I have done for week 7 with you today.

CZC 41 - insects

background is made with brush and bubblewrap

Stamps by joy crafts and artemio

CZC 42 - use aluminum foil

From my soda can of San Pellegrino limonata. used distress inks and my new acrylic INKS! from Liquitex in bronze and gold.

CZC 43 - movie

I have a pathe unlimited pass and go to the movies regularly. I always keep my ticket stubs and over the years I have some pretty bad movies. Thought this quote from hitchcock was pretty fitting. movie strip stamp from lost coast designs, hitchcock from carmen's veranda, spatters from katzelkraft, alphabet stamp from studio g/pear tree.

CZC 44 - Use one word

stamps by inkadinkadoo and eline's handlettering

dylusions sprays and tombow markers

CZC 45- your fave place

my art room pictures of really old izone polaroid of my art room in various states overlayed with stickers of my own work as well as a "craft brew beer" label which I thought was fitting.

CZC 46 - use a comic/cartoon

Stamp from Brett Weldele (a comic book artist) whom designs for stampers anonymous. Colored with distress stain Wild honey, adhered on a marbled book page and spattered acrylic bronze and gold ink over it.

CZC 47 - use a picture

used one from long ago, june 20015 in chicago. A trip which I actually WON through a contest at Boom Chicago Amsterdam. It was a magical time. Stamps from carabelle and kaisercraft.

That is it for week 7. Hope to be able to post an update on week 8 and 9 soon.

Have a great weekend and Thanks for stopping by!

namasté

Craftorij Summer Challenge week 6

It's nearly the end of July! and I'm falling behind with my CZC posts and also prompts. The weather has been pleasant so I've been outside a lot more enjoying the sunshine. But I have made the cards for week 6 already, so I'll share those here with you today.

CZC35- use circles

I used carabelle, dylusions, inkadinkadoo and Designs by Rynn texture stamps, stamped with Staz On and colored with Lamy violet and akkerman blauw Fountainpen inks. I like how this all pops out from the page!

CZC36 - the horizon

Art specially city skyline stamp stamped with Staz on. Colored with mont blanc blue hour, diamine teal, Lamy violet and pilot red fountain pen inks. Also used Derwent artist pencil sunset gold to outline the city sky line. I wrote the quote "the horizon is an imaginary line that recedes as you approach it" by Ginnifer Goodwin which I thought was fitting.

CZC 37 - umbrella

Used one of my fave VLVstamps, the umbrella ladies, in combination with designs by Rynn drops and eline brush stamps used as ground. Made water sdrop spatters with akkerman blauw and bezuidenwoud green fountain pen inks.

CZC38 - use a tea bag

I usually drink green tea and for this theme I set some dark earl grey tea and colored some papers with it. Used a couple of tea bags and matching stamps. The girl and other stamps are colored with tombow markers.

CZC39 - create a border

Made with stamps from de Stempelwinkel (non sequitur, roaring 20s)

Also entering this for the July "anything goes" from the stempelwinkel.

CZC40- use green and yellow

I used lost coast designs sungodess stamps (I left them white for the CZC 27 black and white challenge) and for this one I colored in with green and yellow toned tombows.

Still have some prompts to catch up on week 7, but hopefully this weekend can be filled with creative productivity :)

Have a great weekend all and thanks for stopping by!

namasté