Diego & Frida - Art Inspiration Challenge How Dare You # 9

When I saw the latest challenge on the Aussie Challenge Blog How dare you I immediately ran to my bookshelf to grab one of the several FRIDA KAHLO books I have collected in the last few years.

My love for her art started during my time at the university (I studied Latin American history, culture & literature for 5 years) and has only grown since.
Last year I saw her work in London in TATE MODERN in real life and by standing in front of some of the painting my eyes just filled with tears. Not only because of the beauty and the craftsmanship of the paintings, but also because you just "feel" her paintings and experience all her suffering.....
Difficult to explain.... Just LOVE her work
Follow the links to find out more about her life and work.

The painting that I used for the Art Inspiration Challenge is only 13 x 8 centimeters big. It is definitely not my favorite Kahlo painting but it immediately gave me inspiration for the LO I made of me and my husband.
The text accompanying this painting in the exhibition catalogue reads as follows:
"In Diego and Frida Kahlo paints half of her own face and half of Rivera's joined together, suggesting that neither one is whole without the other. Yet, although they are portrayed as two halves of the same being, the parts are uncomfortably matched and therefore remain distinct from one another."
(ed. Emma Dexter & Tanya Barson;2005; Frida Kahlo; page 64.)

In my LO I added words that express dualism; like day vs night; male vs female. So the journaling says what Frida wanted to say with her painting.
The title I used is from an old Eurythmics album..

Elsie Challenge #10

Fase 1 was fun... but nothing happened.. so now we move on the fase 2 and hopefully fase 3!

UPDATE 10/27/06:I think I should have given some extra information.... we are not yet making the baby... for me that would be "fase 3". For now we are both being checked if everything "works" the way it should work..LOL!
And the container you see on the picture is for my husband.. do I need to explain further?

A busy week

Last week was one of the busiest weeks of the year at work. We had to pack and ship all the orders that we received on the London Edge Trade Show.

Anyway, I still managed to do some scrapping.
You can see my first challenge for the
MLS Design Team posted here. The challenge was to let a cd cover inspire you for a LO. I more or less just lifted it....

On the LO you see me and Michiel looking towards a Cenote. If you want an experience you will never forget... book a holiday to Mexico and do a snorkeling tour in these cenotes. We have been swimming and snorkeling in cenotes on private land from old Maya families. This was soooo cool (actually.. the water was freezing!) and I can recommend it to everybody. Just have a look at the Cenote link for more info.

I made a LO for Francine (one of the DT members of MLS), who was celebrating her birthday last tuesday. I thought it was kind of difficult to make a LO for somebody you've never met but I'm pleased with the result.




Yesterday I went to a "goodbye party" of an ex colleague of mine. We have worked at the same company for a few years and yesterday it was her turn to say goodbye and to enjoy her new job.
I made this LO for her



A lot of other people from the company had made a LO for her.. and it was fun to see that there is scrapper in everybody; some of them had done a wonderful job cutting, pasting and journaling. So she left a big book full of memories!

Also some dissapointing news to share... I just bought Heidi Swapps new rolling stamps (date and year version).... and to be honest... it looks great but it is hard to use!
The rolling mechanism to switch the dates is soo hard to move that my thumb is numb now. I also have a rolling letter stamp from Making Memories and I have no problem whatsoever with the rolling mechanism... it turns without forcing it too much. I just hate when this happens. You unpack it, want to use, are feeling all happy... and then.. dissapointment because it is not working the way it should be working.

And apparently I should have read
this thread before I bought them...

HERO!!!

It has been beautiful weather all week ... and just today it was absolutely freezing... Only 12 degrees or so. For the runners this was ok although there was also a very cold wind. My fingers almost froze off while I was waiting for Dave to pass so I could shoot the picture at the right time.

OMG... How can you still be smiling after having runned 35 kilometers already?
Dave is definitely the hero of the day.. and maybe for the rest of the week.

For more marathon pictures; check out my dutch blog Daffie Online

Marathon Day!

Today my good friend Dave; creator of Oscar & Amber, will run the 42 kilometers of the Amsterdam Marathon!
(Be sure to check out the Oscar en Amber website and turn up the volume...)

I soooo hope he makes it. Will try to post a photo later... If I manage to take one from him

Check out all the details on this website.
Just press the english flag for the translated version.
For everybody outside of Holland, if you are interested you can also see the marathon via a live webcast! Maybe you recognize Dave; he is bald, tall and wears black.

Have a great sunday everybody!

I went..

... shopping today and found a lot of nice goodies!

They look real cute...

... but they smell awfull. The worst rubbersmell you can imagine? Yes that is what they smell like. The stamps I mean....
They are not Elsie's design (boehoe). And the text on some of the stamps is in French so...

I have only used this stamps on 1 LO until now.. and that is the LO I made for the
October Challenge from Memory Lane Scrapbooking.
Check out the site regularly to see if it already has been placed, because I will not show it here on my blog.

On this LO you do not see the stamping really good, so I will make a new one soon.

Enjoy your day!
It is Friday the 13th!

Stamps I won...

..... at the Elsie workshop last week.

The "winning"LO's

As promised earlier I'll now show the LO's and an altered item that got me in the Memory Lane Design Team. In the sidebar you will find all the blogs of the other DT members and of course a link to the shop! I am really excited to be a part of this team, altough all my life I have been avoiding being a teammember of anything. Don't know why... I just looove to do things on my own. But I must admit... being all alone at the Elsie workshop last week, was a really strange experience since everyone there seemed to know eachother.
What I discovered afterwards was that 2 other MLS DT members were also there at the same time.... weird!


Before this workshop I had never scrapped in the presence of other people before... always on my own... with my paper and my scissors... and having a good time! Am I the only "lonely" scrapper?

About the workshop, I was a bit dissapointed. Of course it was fun to meet Elsie in real life but what I did there... I could easily have done it at home... would not have had to spend time and money and take a day off from work to go this workshop.
But... I won a set of stamps which got me featured on Elsies blog . Actually I won the book, but since I already had that she gave me stamps!
(Thank you FAUVE!)

Anyway... I am looking forward to meeting the new DT team, sharing ideas, inspiring eachother... and just having fun with a group of woman of more or less the same age!

And before I forget...:


I decorated this 3D wooden box from Ikea with Daisy D's paper in- and outside.
On the pictures; my mother and my sisters the day I was born and on my weddingday.


Here you see me on my weddingday... it looks like i am yelling to somebody... I have no idea what I was saying at this moment....


don't know why... but blogger won't upload the rest of my LO's. Maybe later.

I just heard.....

that I was chosen to be a Design Team Member of

Memory Lane Scrapbooking!

Great news! I was sooooooo ready for some good and happy things coming my way again!

I will later show you the LO's and an altered item that got me in the team!!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY..........