journey

We are at the letter J in the alpha/dictionary challenge over at The Craft Barn with the twist that we need to add a dragonfly.

J in the alphabet of happiness stands for Journey to new worlds, new possibilities by remaining open minded. Try to learn something new each day, and you'll grow.

I glued down a piece of a map and gave it a light wash with gesso.

Next I made a suitcase and added travel labels.

I typed out my definition and glued it to the back of the suitcase and added a dragonfly.

share

Now I'm really really late with my entery for the alpha/dictionary challenge where the letter is s with the twist to use shells. I have had this page in my head for a week already but just finding the time to sit down and executing it was something else. Today I had to as it is the last day to enter.

I've created this beachpage.

The s in the alphabet of happiness stands for share: 
Share your talent, skils, knowledge and time with others. 
Everything that you invest in others will return to you many times over.

ARTicles 3 - week 14

Hello and welcome,
It's sunday today, and what a sunny day it has been here, so I am here to share with you my spread in my ARTicles book.
I decided to split my page in blocks this week, each block being one day.

What fun, good, happy and quirky news do I have this week in my book:
Well on Easter monday they celebrated a 43 year old tradition in Bessières, France, where they prepare a massive omelet of 15.000 eggs for the 10.000 visitors. Supposedly Napoleon ate an omelette in Bessières when passing by with his troops, he enjoyed it so much he ordered an omelette for his entire army the next day.

Because the pan is an oval and on the pile of egg shells a rabbit is dancing of excitement, the 2 ingredients for this biweekly Craft Barn challenge, I will be taking part in this challenge.

The next story is an encouraging story about a Syrian refugee. During her trip oversea she and her sister saved the lives of her companions. When the boat started sinking they both jumped out and pushed the boat to shore for hours. She was training for the Olympic swimming team in her home country, luckily for her the IOC decided that refugees can form their own independent team and so she is now training for Rio.

The last story of March just had to be included in my book as it is about butterflies.
A new species has been identified, the Tanana arctic butterfly.
Although it has been in a museum in Florida for decades already, it is only until now that Andrew Marren  "the lord of the butterflies", noticed a mistake in cataloging this one while going through the collections.





Friday was the start of April, which is known for his frickle behavior with sun and showers.







The first story of April is about a human library where instead of checking out books you check out people for a 30 minute conversation. This initiative started in 2000 in Copenhagen and has been introduced in 70 countries since then. The purpose is to get to know other people, get rid of prejudice and understand one another better.

I'm really proud of how my stack of books turned out (thanks to Vicky Papaioannou's video reading)

And today it is international pillow fight  day. 

That's all from me for this week, see you back next week.

JAM 11 favorite place

My favorite place is by far my home.

Ok, I like to go on holiday, to the beach or on a daytrip, but I’m always very happy when I return home.

And when I wouldn’t have all those trips I still would be very happy just spending time home.

I have  everything I need their, a comfy bed, a garden, the people I love and don’t forget my craft studio.

The creative challenge we got from Tiara with this prompt is to use torn or ripped paper, I’ve created a scene with our house all in ripped paper, even the circle is ripped.

I added some stamping, lovely creatures in the sky, flowers in the garden and lost of hearts representing the love that fills our house.  

I addeds some magical dimension to the hearts as can be seen here on a close-up.

I'll also be linking this page to the biweekly Craft Barn challenge where the theme is circles in the background as the page is a circle.

masterboard to card

I promised on wednesday I would show you what this masterboard

would turn into.

Oops, the days have slipped by and it is already Saturday.

Well with the moto better late then never here is the card I made with the masterboard

I justed stamped this amazing image on it and cut it to size.

How did the masterboard come together?

I started with a large piece of watercolor paper and grabbed all of my circle stencils (because the biweekly theme over at The Craft Barn is to use circles in the background)

First I applied some texture paste through one of them.Then I went to town with my Dylusions spray inks.

Next I added some more stencilling and stamping with a stamp

 I made from anti-scratch selfadhesive felt from the hardware store, which in its turn is this month's Let's Play theme 

I still have plenty leftover from the masterboard ready for a next project in the nearby or not so nearby future, we'll see.

clean and simple 2

While rediscovering my alcohol inks the other week (full post can be found here) I created this 10x15

by applying AI on a gessod piece of cardstock, which I then ran through my embossing machine with a flower embossing folder. Used my Versamark ink pad to go over the raised flower, sprinkled on silver embossing powder and heat setting it.

For my card I only needed to add a sentiment and matt it on black cardstock before adhering it to a manila cardbase.

Although the base was messy to make, the card was easy, quick, simple and mess free to make (as the base was already done a few weeks back), so I hope this still qualifies for the biweekly Craft Barn challenge which is clean and simple.

love

Let love fill your heart instead of hate.

When hate is in your heart,

There’s room for nothing else.

But when love is in your heart

There’s room for endless happiness.

Our next letter in the alpha/dictionary challenge over at The Craft Barn is L, which stands for love in the alphabet of happiness 

I wanted to use a resist technique with crayons and Distress stain (a newly rediscovered art supply, thanks to Carolyne Dube, more details of me rediscovering distress stains see here) to color the background. But unfortunately it didn’t turn out as expected, as these heart shapes 

didn’t really appear once I went over it with crushed olive Distress stain.

Oh well, no time to linger about. 

I typed out the definition on my typewriter (several times I must add as there is no backspace on a typewriter arghh),

Fussy cut this cute doggy in 3D and added some washi tape with hearts. Because the page was still a bit bare I started stamping (stars, doodles, butterflies) and doodling some myself.

Now it’s starting to look like it’s finished.

simple and clean - WOYWW 352

I don’t mean my workdesk, simple and clean is the current challenge at The Craft Barn.

When I first read the challenge I didn’t have a clue as what to do because I usually don’t do simple and clean, especially the clean part J

After some browsing on pinterest found some ideas and set to work on some cards, usually don’t do cards either but coincidentally it turns out I am in need of some cards as there are some birthdays coming up. So how does my desk look like after creating a clean card, well not that clean I must say.

For those curious how the card turned out, here it is

We also needed to include a flower and a sentiment.

Now I still have some more ideas, but first I'm off seeing what everyone else is up to. Not familiar with WOYWW, hop on over to our wonderful host Julia at  the stamping ground.

spread love, not war

For this month’s Wanderlust challenge we needed to be inspired by a pattern and use markers and/or pens.

I found the pattern on these candlelight holders interesting and inspiring.

So I set to work and came up with this.

Because the pattern has an oriental feel to me, I used my mosque stencil, which is a handcut, very whimsy stencil (these were the days before my silhouette cameo).

Here is a step by step:

First I glued down some pieces with Arabic text on it and applied a layer of blue with the playcolor sticks.

I stencilled some bubblegum pink Dylusions paint through a floral stencil of which the pattern is similar as on the candlelight holders.(  I haven't used the paints in months, not since I moved back to my attick studio, although they are just next to me on display on the shelves so I guess this spread also qualifies for this months let's play theme of neglected supplies.
)  Next I applied black paint to the mosque stencil and I wanted to use it as a stamp, but failed, it just left some black marks as can be seen on this picture. 

Instead I just stencilled it, love the texture that came through the black from the layers underneath.

When everything was all dry I took my posca paint pens and started doodling.

All of a sudden a heart appeared in the tower. So I will be entering this in the Craft Barn challenge, hearts and no red. 

This heart lead to the title of the page: spread love, not war.

JAM 7 - your goals/stitching

This page is made up out of all new craft supplies which I purchased last week at a craft fair.

The background is painted with  playcolor paint sticks to form a football shape (goal). I used my sewstamper to add my stitching (maybe that should be one of my goals, learn to stitch?nah, don't think so, not this year anyway) 

The birds are a stamp set from Katzelkraft which I colored with my bright spectrum noirs set, they are so adorable, just couldn't resist buying them. They also have a similar set of cats and dogs. In the center is a steampunk bird stamp from stampendous which I heat embossed with joy wow embossing powder(WL05R). Sadly the details got a bit lost on the way. I added my goals for this year in scribble writing. The hearts are from my previous page but fit in color wise (and as they aren't red they qualify for The Craft barn challenge).

On to page 8 which is our favorite drink (that's a no brainer) and we need to use bubble wrap.

Forgive and forget

Still in the Valentine theme, my F for the Alpha/dictionary challenge at The Craft Barn stands for forgive and forget.

The background is build up by first stamping some hearts in Versamark and then spraying some red DI on top.

Then some more stamping: some red hearts and a black script heart.

Next I cut this cute little bird silhouette and covered it in purple glitter (needless to say that everything is now covered in purple glitter J)

Lastly I typed out my definition:

Grudges only weigh you down and inspire unhappiness and grief.

Soar above it, and remember that everyone makes mistakes.

JAM#6 hobbies/use inktense

Hello and happy Valentinesday everybody,

I worked on my 6th JAM page today, for which we needed to use Inktense and tell about our hobbies.

because it is Valentinesday and hobbies is something you love to do and are passionate about I started out by cutting different sizes of hearts out of booktext. I aslo added some texture paste through a dotted stencil.

Next I used three Inktense pencils which I rubbed with a wet paintbrush to color my page with.
I used tangerine around the hearts, sun yellow inside the hearts and sienna gold for the rest of the page.

Inside the hearts I did some stamping.

Next I fiddled a bit with my silhouette to cut the clock butterfly stencil, but am pleased how that turned out.
Typed the quote 
Time spent with family is worth every second.
and made 3 little tags with my hobbies on which are creating (of course), reading and family time.
I attached them to the page with these cute little heart shaped paper clips. 

I just read that this forthnightly challenge over at The Craft Barn is hearts and we are not suppose to use red on them, so this fits in perfectly.

hometown/corrugated cardboard

Hello there and welcome,

I'm running a little behind (already) with my JAM challenge.

We're already on our 5th prompt today and this is only my 3rd finished page.

My hometown is Tildonk, a small village (only 7.3 km²) near Leuven in Belgium.

For my page I used a magazine picture of an art deco hall in the sint-angela convent which is now a school, museum and restaurant.

I've created 3 flowers out of corrugated cardboard following this tutorial and the letters were cut with the Cameo.

I also will be entering this page in the weekly Craft Barn challenge, where the theme this week is triplets.

Life is like a new hat

The weekly chalenge at The Craft Barn is hat(s).
My initial thought was the mad hatter, after some research on the net I ended up  with steampunk and found a digital image that I colored using my Derwent pencils.
The color scheme fitted with a background I already had in my journal

1: the page had a green clean up from a stencil; I colored the page with neo II crayons and used a babywipe to blend them.
2: brayered a lightly coat of white acrylic paint
3: added some stamping (which totally failed, but it gives texture)
4: another coat of white acrylic paint brayered on top
Lastly I stamped a background stamp from kaisercraft with a net structure.

The other elements on the page are:
metal foil embossed with a clock embossing folder,
the steampunk angel which was stamped and embossed,
the quote 
Life is like a new hat
You don't know if it suits you
if you keep trying it on in front of your own mirror.
typed on my typewriter and colored with DI.
and some metal embellishments.

a little break

Hello,
Finally I managed to squeeze in some crafting time, the last week and a half I have been busy with installing my new craft room in the attic. I'm nowhere finished but it is progressing and was in need of a break so I made my calender page for December where the prompt is tree and the color to use silver and/or gold.(all details can be found here)

I cut a new stencil with the Cameo and sprayed it with green and turquoise Dylusions. Added some gold and silver words related to Christmas (naughty or nice; checking it twice; Santa Claus) and added the black stylish tree also cut with the Cameo, only need to figure out how to easily glue these intricate designs.

Coincidentally the last weekly challenge of 2015 asks for tree so I will be entering this page also for that.
I also will be linking up to let's play, because this was just the play I needed to get me going again with moving.

Christmas card #2

This week’s challenge over at The Craft Barn is paperfolding.

And as I really should get a crack on my Christmas cards I made this card using some rolled tubes of wrapping paper.

2 down, plenty to go J

Christmas card #1

I made this card in under 10 minutes.

How, you ask?
Well, I had left over from the 12x12 masterboard I made yesterday,
cut it to size,
added this cute little girl (which I already had stamped and colored probably a couple of years back) 
and stamped the border and sentiment.
Christmas card 1 (finally) done.

snowangel

I splashed out this week and bought me an early Christmas present, a Silhouette Cameo. Off course I've been testing it ever since. And I've managed to find the right settings to cut through my transparencies to create stencils, big hoera!! (and lucky as this was the main purpose for investing in it in the first place)
As this week challenge over at The Craft Barn is snowflakes I downloaded a snowflake background and let the machine do its work, the results are amazing, how it's able to cut even the most intricate designs.
I started out with a 12x12 piece of patterned paper and sprayed some Dylusions ink through my brand new stencil

Looking FAB!

I stamped different snowflake stamps all over in different shades of blue, black and white.

I cut a piece of this 12x12 to fit in my journal and punched a snowflake border top and bottom.

I used a picture of my son in the snow as a focal image. This picture is from last year, we don't often get snow here but we drove 1.5 hour south (to the ardens) and there you have some hills with snow, so you can go sledding, walking or cross country skiing.

My son loves to make angels, whether it being snow angels or sand angels J

The winter fun is also cut with the cameo.

You'll definitely see more projects in the future using the cameo because I just might have fallen in love with it (hopefully the love stays).

Guinness World Record: largest chocolate coin

Wen I read that the weekly challenge for week 47 was Guinness World Records I immediately knew which one I wanted to use, I had just read in the newspaper that Leuven ( which is only 20 minutes from where I live) was trying to beat the world record for largest chocolate coin. Now that is a record that should belong to Belgium, and they did it, yeah! 

So, now how to translate that into my journal, I searched my stash but have nothing to do with chocolate: no pattern paper, dies, embossing folder or stamps. Next I searched the net for some inspiration and found cute pictures of kids faces filled with chocolate and then it dawned upon me, I have such pictures of my son (from a couple of years back).
So I printed one out and created the page around this. 

I painted the background brown (color of milk chocolate), 
stamped the letter M all over (for mmmmm), 
found these pieces of gold metal in my scrap bin (which remind me of the gold packaging of the coins),
stamped a ruler across the page (because a lot of measuring will have been done to verify the record: 2.5m diameter; 22cm thick and 1 ton)
Finally added some chocolate looking hearts to the page, because I just love chocolate.

fireworks

This page for the weekly CraftBarn challenge actually started as another project I’m currently working on, more will follow in a later post.

I first did some collaging with gelli prints, then came some stamping  

and then suddenly I saw fireworks in the page, just needed to add a crowd watching.