WCW: Micro Art Journaling with Mini Traveler's Notebook

The state of my desk this morning - after finishing day 1 of the new challenge I am taking part in, which is #30dayswithminiTN hosted by Cafe Analog and Akay Writes on Instagram :) There is a list of prompts which you may or may not use. It just really tickled me to practice my watercoloring routine on a very small scale. The size of the 10th anniversary traveler's notebook mini journal is under 1 inch, 4,6x3.7cm . So you see here one of the Tins that I kept with Watercolors, I am using now for this challenge. The watercolor dots by Daniel Smith are just fantastic to use for this project! Everything fits in a pocket or a small purse so I'll be going on field trips with this as well :) 

 I also made the water color notebook inserts myself. Crazy, right? But super fun and I'm so curious to see where this challenge will take me artistically :)

I've shared the fist page on my instagram

And the tutorial of the spread you can see below

My goal is to keep posting these mini daily watercolor tutorials/process videos on my Facebook page for 30 days of august... and if this inspired you to join the challenge, please do join in the fun :) 

Sharing the desk shot over at my friends at WOYWW478 (Julia's awesome blog) this week. And let me know what you think of this whole concept of micro journaling :) 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have an awesome day!

WIP: no crying over spilled ink!

It's wednesday and bit of a hump day indeed, but pushing through the work today so I can enjoy a long bank holiday weekend. Looking forward to enjoy the sunshine and finish some works in progress. This is what my desk looked like this morning - left it like this as I was in a hurry to get out the door. Yesterday I started to work on the above art journal tip in page, did a bit collage and stencil work, some gesso over it and wanted to use my DecoArt Media Spray - got the turquoise shimmer spray and twisted the spray nozzle off to apply a little bit on the edges and as I put the bottle down, was not looking where, it tipped all over my card and the glass matt!!

I learned a couple of things here: don't open bottles right over your work, always look where you are putting your bottle away, having a glass matt is super duper handy (clean up was easy and managed to save some spilled ink with a pipette) and baby wipes and gesso are life savers for sure!

So after the clean up, I dried the piece thoroughly, gesso over it until desired muted effect and started again. No crying over spilled ink or "mistakes" because you can just always start over! 

By the way, stamps are from AALL and CREATE  (very popular new brand of clear stamps and stencils) actually it is one LARGE A4 size stamp which I cut in two - the imagery was not hurt because they can actually be used separately. This is #57 and designed by Olga Heldwein - I actually met her and Autour at Art Specially earlier this April and they are just delightful!

Another piece I am working on is the following:

I finally used the Elegance writer pen by speedball over a stencil and watercolor paper. I just wet the outlines with a water brush to create this effect. And I am not sure to add more color or just a little color or just leave it like this with a quote... well, it has been on my desk for a while (thankfully no blue spillage on there!) so I hope to finish it this weekend. 

This stencil I used is from StencilGirl® and is called Thanks a Lotus designed by Andrea Matus deMeng. It's new in my stash and I absolutely LOVE it! By the way, if you missed the news, I am super thrilled to be on the design team for SG this term! So you'll be seeing me using their stencils a lot more frequently in my coming work :) 

Sharing the desk shots over at Julia's WOYWW #466 this week. Hope you all have been doing well and looking forward to catch up with you! 

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

WOYWW 463: the aftermath of Art Specially 2018

This past weekend was one of the favorites I had of the year (so far ;) as it was time for the yearly ART Specially mixed media event. This time we (yes my husband likes to accompany me for these crafty events, when he is able to) only went on Saturday, but what a day it was! So many wonderful people (got to meet some of my wonderful Stampotique DT mates Yvonne & Arwen!), doing workshops and getting all the supplies you've always wanted for a really good deal. So this week's desk shot for WOYWW 463 is mostly showing off my new stuff haha ;) On top of the glass mat the projects made; learned a new stitch for book binding in a workshop provided by Art Specially and cards we made at the AALL and Create booth. Autour and Olga were there doing some demo's and their stamps are just amazing! I also got to see some sneak peaks of their new stamp designs coming up later this month :) The glass mat is something I've always wanted and so happy to finally have it! And by all the mess around it, you can see I have been happily using it already :)

And this is the full haul shot and I can't wait to play with all of them! I already played with the elegant writer, paper collage people and some of the AALL and Create stamps. Results will be at some point for sure. But I can show you this: 

The art journal I made during the bookbinding workshop. We didn't have time to make the cover on the event, but I completed it last Monday. Used gelli prints made with Stencil Girl Stencils/masks, Katzelkraft stamps and vintage magazine clippings. 

It was definitely a great day and also a wonderful distraction from all the events that happened over the last few weeks. My dad passed away on the 6th of April and we had the funeral on the 12th. I talk a bit about it on my Present and Connected instagram account if you're interested in reading more about it. But all I can say that it was as peaceful as it could be and he's now lying next to my mom at eternal rest. I also wanted to say thanks to everyone whom commented on my post a few weeks ago, about the situation with my dad then. It was heartwarming to read them and feeling support from miles away. Thank you wholeheartedly. 

Hope all you deskers' out there are having a wonderful wednesday.  (For people who don't know who the desker's are, check out Julia's blog to see more about it.)

Thanks you for stopping by. It's a beautiful spring day here and hope you all are enjoying it :)

Art Journal: There is a universe inside you

It's been a little quiet on my blog, due to some things happening on the personal front. My dad has been in the hospital for a week and the fact is he's not going to recover, this time, from the heart attack he had. He's getting palliative nursing care at his home so he's being well taken care of until that moment arises that he is no longer with us. Acceptance is the only way to move forward, things are settling down and there is some peace and calm again, within and around me.

So last weekend I finally sat down in my art room and started to create again. It felt SOOOO GOOD! What a relief it was for me to pour it all out on blank pages. Creation is definitely good for the soul. There is like this whole universe inside you that wants to be seen and heard and can be awakened if you let yourself be immersed in it. I finished the journal pages over the last few days.

This is the end result of the art journal pages and creating this page really was very soothing and freeing. I used some of my fave products from my fave companies:

Liquitex gesso, paints and gel medium  specimen stencil from TCW, Succulents stencil from StencilGirl, Alice (by Janet Klein) stamp from Stampotique Originals, The large rose stamp from Octopode Factory and several mixed media stamps from VLVS! as well as "dreamer's only" and "there is a universe inside you" stamps by Cat Kerr. I also used paint over pens, wink of luna metallic brushes, distress crayons and pearl rubs. 

Let us all find that universe inside us and pour it out on blank pages. 

Sharing the above desk shot with WOYWW #460 at Julia's wonderful blog. Sorry I've been a bit out of touch, now you know why, but hope to connect with you all again this week. 

I also would like to add this journal page to the following challenges: 

Try it on Tuesday: Call for Spring

The mood board was wonderful and I am absolutely longing for spring to arrive. 

The sky blue, magenta/pink colors and flowers inspired me with this page.

Spring theme at Art Journal Journey 

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #46

I used a couple of stencils, liquitex paints, gesso and gel medium as well as alcohol markers, staz on ink, paint over markers, distress crayons and more. 

Ans lastly Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with "Inside the box" theme.

I interpreted this as I myself being the "box" in which there is a whole other universe inside to discover. As we all do, I believe :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

WIP: Left Over Art Collage clean up session

Today I wanted to share a little bit what happens behind the scenes at my creative station. Usually when I create something the left over scraps bits, trims and pieces gets piled up to the left hand side. And when it gets a little out of control (like migrating to the middle of the desk) I take my Junk Mail Art Journal and have what I like to call a "Left-Over Art Collage clean up session" and take my jar of Modge Podge, a brush and use my scraps to create some fun collage style journal pages. And yes, mostly they are supervised by my kitty Meesha :)

Usually I just continue to fill pages until I feel like the left over pile is manageable again, like so. And when I'm done with a session like this, I'm always glad that I just didn't chuck all the scraps into the bin like I am always tempted to do when that mess just gets out of control. It's a peaceful and meditative process and oh yeah, I totally get distracted by looking at the utter adorableness sleeping in that basket :) 

Close up of a spread from this session. Just randomly slapped together pages, but I do try to look for composition and color. Not sure if they are "done" I might just come back to a page, gesso all over it and completely transform the look of it. I have dome that with a few which I will share at a later time. 

What do you do with your left over scraps? Bin them right away or are you also hoarding them to use later? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Sharing this post with the fellow deskers at Julia's WOYWW454 - glad to be playing along again, hope you all are doing well and will say hi to you all shortly :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

WIP: Nightly watercolor practice still going strong

Working in my moleskine pocket book at night ...

As you might have read on how Exhaustipated I get during winters (esp. when you're home sick with a strange type of flue which is going around it would seem!) I also wanted to share what helps me through these dark days. And that is color therapy in the form of doing water color practices at night. By now I have a little collection of different water colors tins filled with paint handmade by lovely artisans and the familiar brands like sennelier and schmincke. In the Black Friday Sale from a few weeks ago I've also purchased a few tins from Prima marketing series: Shimmering Lights and Decadent Pies.

Prima marketing Shimmering Lights color swabs

The Shimmering lights are beautiful golden/orangey tones with a slight shimmer. They also are quite strongly pigmented so they can be used for glazing over colors as well as being used on their own. They are labeld as artist grade paints and I'm very excited about this set. The Decadent Pies however, not as much...

Stamp by Stampotique Originals, first layer of color with Prima Marketing Decadent Pies

There are some fun colors in the decadent pie set, but even though it says "artist grade" on the wrapping labels (not on the tin like on the shimmering lights!) it behaves more like student grade watercolors. Like the KOI Water Color set I had before I ripped those out of the plastic pans and filled with sennelier colors. OK, to be fair these do behave better and are more saturated in color than those KOI ones but still did not like the set as much as all the other sets I have. The set also have 4 shimmering colored pans, but no doubles from Shimmering lights. Didn't mean for this post to turn out like a mini water color review, but there you have it.

Stamps by Carabelle Studio's, DaVinci detailler brush size "2/0"

At any rate, I'm really enjoying the self-created "water color Therapy at night" routine (next to my writing meditations) which help me through these days where I am in much of need of sunshine. It's like I said to a friend "Color is like Vitamin C and works like an energy boost in dark times" and wouldn't you agree?

Sharing these watercolory desk shots over at my desky friends at Julia's blog for WOW 444 (such a magic number!) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely week!

Back to work, but first... coffee!

Stickers illustrated by Nikki Smits

It's been a little quiet on my blog, as you might have noticed. That is because I took a much needed break from the virtual world and was on vacation in beautiful Sweden to visit my in-laws. I could have left some scheduled posts, but decided not to because I didn't want to worry about it... and it felt sooooo good not to worry about it :) I would highly recommend that to everyone, just to take a (little) online break. So I am getting back into the groove of things, taking it slow and steady with stuff to share on the blog. And I'm starting off by telling you a little about my time away.

This was my view and we walked in the forest almost daily... and I didn't want to leave it! See HERE for more pictures. Leaving was hard but it was good to come home to my Meesha cat, as she really missed us (and we her!)

While I was away, I did make some things with a huge stash of postage stamps found in a thrift store.

Made this journal for my MIL with French postage stamps.

The back has different portraits on it. 

My in laws have the most loveliest wooden desk, but I forgot to photograph it in its entirety. It was great to have a desk to work at while away. 

This is a small Muji notebook and made for the neighbor there. It's the size of a traveler's notebook.

The postage stamp art is inspired by my good friend Sue of TangleCrafts. She sells her gorgeous collage works HERE. BONUS her books are also fountain pen ink friendly :)

Fall came to greet us while we are there and in two more days, fall will arrive here too... according to the calendar. Cozy jumpers, scarves and beautiful autumn colored (falling) leaves... I feel like I am ready for it!

Sharing this over at Julia, for WOYWW this week - hope you all are doing well and are looking forward to embrace fall as well :) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

WIP: More watercolor play

Last night I had a bit of a play with my now complete travel kit watercolor palette! It's filled with some traditional new old stock Schminke, Pfeiffer Arts Watercolors (gifted to me by a lovely friend) and Cloves and Honey Shimmering watercolors and I am loving this palette. It is a joy to use them and I do love the Princeton brush to work with so I might just tuck it in my pen pouch as an add on to my traveling kuretake water brush which is also coming with me.

The bee I colored in is part of a contest organized by Tori Weyers at Drawriot and she shared her lovely bee drawing with us and if you color it in and repost in Instagram, you´re in the running to win a 1/2 pan of Portland Pink Shimmering watercolor by Cloves and Honey. They are partnering up for this amazing City and Sea class and if I didn't have so much else going on, I would have signed up. But I do desire the Portland pink color so much, and this little bee is so cute I decided to have a go and join the fun contest. 

But gosh it was a pain to have it printed on watercolor paper though! My printer just wouldn't have it but in the end, it did work out! Also I am pleased to see that my inkjet printer ink seemed to be water and smudge proof! Hurrah for that test coming through well!

Talking about giveaways, if you haven't seen it, I am also hosting a giveaway and added a lot of my fave goodies to share, including one of the watercolor pans from Cloves and Honey, which was an exclusive in one of her sets. This giveaway package is an accumulation of stuff I have set aside over the year and it turned out it was nearly a 1,5 kg box full of stuff! Time to actually give it away to someone!! I have met so many wonderful creative people in my creative journey and this is just a small way to say thank you to everyone whom have been so supportive an encouraging. So hop on over to that post if you are interested in entering it. 

Sharing this desk shot with my friends over at Julia's Blog for WOYWW this week. Finally another artsy desk shot to share. Share yours if you would like to join in the conversation and fun with other wonderful creative people. 

Thank you for stopping by and have an awesome day!

WIP: Water Col-O-Ring testing

A few weeks ago I received a set of amazing shimmering watercolors I purchased from Cloves and Honey and finally got around playing with them. The Cup of Roses is a stamp I have received from my challenge winnings from STAMPlorations a few months ago and used an embossing resist technique to test the water colors. They are so vibrant and wonderful! The paper I used here is Van Gogh cold pressed 25% cotton water color paper which I purchased at TOWI in Leiden. Such a wonderful local art supply store I frequent and they have hidden gems! I also bought a bunch of old stock Schmincke water colors which I integrated in the palette above. 

I was pleasantly surprised how the paper held up! Minimum buckling/warping, great flow of water and workable time is great as well! By the way, that tin is a DIY watercolor palette. And the tin was given away with a female hygine product! I think I am making so much better use of it now ;) I filled it with different brand watercolors. This size can fit 20 half pans to fill up the tin or 16 half pan and your travel water brush. THIS FITS IN YOUR BACK POCKET OR A SMALL PURSE! I'm trying to find a minimalist way of traveling with art supplies but still with enough colors on hand for our up coming vacation and I think I have found it :)  Super excited to bring it with me on vacay!

Also another paper test I was looking forward to, is this Col-O-Ring by Ana  from the Well Appointed Desk. Initially this booklet is made to use for your ink tests, mainly for fountain pen ink swabs to see how the properties of each ink behave. There are all sorts of great reviews out there and I esp. love this video from my friend Azizah (Gourmet Pens) which shows you how you can make ink swabs and how to use this little booklet for that. Because I have stocked up on Maruman Word Cards when they announced the discontinuation, I thought I could test and try different things with this beautiful hand cut and letter pressed booklet. So I did a watercolor and mixed media test over on my Instagram stories, showed the work in progress of the above little mixed media piece, which I called the 'SS Regina braving the storm'. Made the little boat from vintage postage stamps and I loved that the word Regina was used to indicate our queen back then. The paper holds up to mixed media quite well, I was very impressed to see! So you can try this booklet for different things also, little water color or Mixed Media work and even embroidery (I have used some black embroidery thread between the sails and the paper doesn't rip what I poked it with an embroidery needle!) 

I absolutely LOVED playing around and testing these new products and am happy to support these small business owners whom are providing stellar quality products! 

I'm also happy that the Col-O-Ring is now also accessibly available in the EU at Fontoplumo and thanks again Frank for providing this booklet for review :) 

Sharing these desk shots over at Julia's Stamping Ground for WOYWW#427 - have a look and see more shared desk stories and maybe even share your own work in progress/desk shot to fellow deskers :) Missed you gals and I'll be over for a visit shortly!

Thank you for stopping by and have an awesome day!

WIP: the ongoing struggle of an inkophile

Yes friends, take a good look at my desk in all its messy glory. To some this might be a nightmare, but for me it's a victory. First let me explain what you see here, though for fountain pen people visiting my blog, this is a familiar sight. These are test tube vials filled with fountain pen ink. Samples of ink which were either bought at various pen sites (the main one being Goulet Pens Co.) or swapped/given to me by friends. Yes, there are thousands different ink colors of there by hundreds of different brands. It can get overwhelming, to choose a color to buy a full bottle in. Where to begin and where to stop? Having a sample of an ink you are interested in does help. You can swatch them out, see if it is the shade of color you like, if it has sheen or if it's waterproof... but even a small vial of 2-3 ml of ink (times 50 per tray) has proven to be hard to fully use up. And for a hoarder like me, it's a tough challenge. But I am slowly getting there, with the help of Konmari this year.  From 6 full trays a few years ago and to now 3 is a victory! Let me tell you, it felt soooo goood to decommission that ink tray, I had to photograph and share this momentous occasion with my fellow deskers at WOYWW this week :) So plan is to keep using up those ink vials either in my art work or in my fountain pens, of course. For instance the ink below was sent to me years ago by a dear friend.

Last week I made an art journal with this quote from a stamp and I had to write it down in my Stalogy B6 which I use for quotes. I hardly ever buy pink inks, but they are fun to enjoy once in a while. This Rose rage is a super powerful shade of pink and fun to use in my new pen from Herbert Pen Company. I know I won't be buying a full bottle of this ink but it's an on going struggle of an inkophile, not to continuously buy more and not use what you have. I am trying to be better at that. 

By the way, the work aria of my desk now is cleared of the trays 

What are you struggling to use up in your stash?

Thanks for stopping by and check out more desk stories at Julia's blog this week and play along if you want :) 

Have a great day!  

WIP: Words with meaning!

After getting my cuttlebug out a few weeks ago and giving it some love, I came completely besotted with die cuts and got myself a few new ones to play with. Like these handwrtiiten celebration words set from Tim Holtz. I just love that font! So my desk was littered with all these die cuts.

They are so fun to cut out from gelli printed pages and that fun whimsical script will be great for on cards. The only thing is, in my enthusiasm I forgot to back the paper with doublesided adhesive, so it's going to be a pain to glue them on... well thankfully I have a trusty ZIG 2 way glue pen that really is useful for this. Anyone has other tips to glue down delicate die cuts? Please do share :)

Linking up to Julia's WOYWW #423 - and glad to hop off to see what's on everyone's desk this week. Last week I missed it because of this special announcement, and it was my week to share inspiration for the Stampotique Challenge Celebration (which is still going on this week) so while I do hope to participate and visit everyone's desk (well try to anyway) I won't be able to do it every week... but I am sure not everyone can participate every week, right?

I also wanted to say a heartfelt THANKS! to everyone taking the time to visit my blog and post a comment on my work or just to say hi :) It's so appreciated and warms my heart everytime, thank you!! I have a giveaway in the works sometime later this month with all sorts of craft stuff I have been keeping but never use. It's time to give them a new home! So if you haven't yet, please follow my blog so you'll get an update on that giveaway :) 

Have a wonderful "hump day", thanks for stopping by and catch you all later.