Babette Blanket Progress

This project is actuall going faster than I expected,it is soooo easy to crochet a few of these blocks every evening...almost addictive! It is soo great to try out colourcombinations, and the good thing is that with crochet (as opposed to knitting) it is no problem at all to take away a row or two and start over with another colour.. when I have to do this when making a mistake with knitting, cold sweat appears on my forehead!
Sooo... I am enjoying this a lot now, especially with this warm weather... some white wine hehe....
However...I am not looking forward to weaving in all the ends, but I don't have to worry about that now just yet!

ATC - Skull

I love alcohol inks, but I hardly ever use them. So I still had some pieces of transparency lying around with from the "testing fase" when I just bought alcohol ink.
This ATC was made by stamping the skull with black Stazon on a transparency scrap. I attached it to some cardstock, also a scrap, that I covered with some Ecoline.



Do you dare to trade or is this one a bit too scary for you?
Of course when you want to trade you got to offer me something equally scary :-).

Sunday Postcard Art - Trees

This weeks theme at Sunday Postcard Art is trees!
My instant reflex was to create something happy and green but the creative process is unpredictable and this is how it turned out:
a depressed woman, behind a castle window.
Maybe she is depressed because it is winter....the tree is completely without leaves. She can't play outside in the haystack with the gardener because it is too cold outside and has to wait for Spring until she can finally meet her forbidden love again. Or maybe...well.. you can make something up yourself

Although the card looks a bit depressing did however start out with the happy tree paper from KI Memories..you can still see some of it shining through the background that was coloured with gesso and Ecoline.
The window is a stamp that I ordered at Stampfrancisco and I just cut out the empty space. This really is the BEST online stamping shop I have ever seen! Whatever you are looking for..they have it!



You might want to see more trees... then check out the Sunday Postcard Art blog or their new Flickr group...to see the complete collection.
Enjoy your sunday and come back later this week to see an update on my Babette Blanket, a scary ATC, and a cool sewing project in progress!

Very long term project :-)

I had seen them before on Flickr and have been wanting to make my own Babette Blanket , but knowing myself I will start with great enthusiasm.... to never finish the project, or it will take too long and I will lose interest, only to start something new again.

Well.. remember that layout that I made in 2007 using the word Patience as my word for that same year?
I am doing a lot better now on the patience part, but I also realize that practicing patience is an ongoing exercise...
This is why I decided to stick another year with this word instead of choosing a new one. First I have to master the art of being patient a little bit more.

Anyway...I just ordered the pattern online here
a few days ago and have started right away..very patiently ;-)


If you want to see why I fell in love with this blanket, check out these links and enjoy:
1. Photo 081,
2. IMG_3277,
3. babette border,
4. the squares laid out.

Studio DaphNat Modeling Paste Results

Do I need to say anything about this page (besides that it is the very first photoswap I ever participated in)?
I don't think so...she kicks ass and I love her for it!

Sunday Postcard Art - Dogs

It is Sunday and time for another Postcard Challenge!
The topic this week is Dogs. Those of you who know me and have been to my house know that I am a cat person.... BUT...I love dogs too and if I ever win the lottery so that I can by my dreamhouse I'll definitely buy a dog..or two.
Actually, the dog on the card was my own dog. When I was young I had a Dalmatian Dog. He was just too cute with all the spots.

To make the card I sanded the picture(you might have noticed that sanding pictures is a new hobby of mine), and outlined the dogs features wiht a black Posca Pen. I "coloured" the dog with some gesso. Easy technique, great result! The tree (el arbol) is a tiny card of a set of Mexican Loteria cards...
I added it because dogs and trees go hand in hand.

Check out the other dogs HERE

4x4 Friday - Fish

My recent love for creating on small surfaces has led me to finally participate in one of the challenges on 4x4 Friday.
I have been visiting this blog for a while now and I love the different interpretations of the topics that are posted each friday.
This weeks challenge was to create a 4x4 card, with fish!



I have some cool fish stamps but when I saw this picture that I made 3 years ago in the Curacao Sea Aquarium I knew I had to use it!
First I cut out the fish, then I sprayed some water on it... what's a fish without water, right?
Then I sanded it with coarse sandpaper, brushed some blue Ecoline on to it, sanded it some more, rubbed it with a babywipe and added some details with Posca Pens. Oh..and sanded it some more :-)

If you are interested in working with Ecoline, check out Stamping Mathilda's blog for tutorials on this product.
The paper on the background is from Love Elsie.





Wanna see more fish? Lookie here

Sunday Postcard Art- Cake

Hey it's monday, but I wish it was still Sunday...pfff...
but somehow I managed to make this card :-).
The cake? It was delicious... I instantly burst out of my weddingdress and all my teeth fell out when eating just one piece :-)!



What's a postcard without text? I used the lyrics from Connie Francis to inspire me



If you want more cake...hop on over to the Sunday Postcard Blog by clicking here

Enjoy the week everyone!

Studio DaphNat - Modeling Paste & Chalk

I know you have got a box of chalk lying around, just like me, not knowing what to do with it anymore. Thinking of throwing it away, because every time you see it you are reminded about the fact that you bought something (again!) without actually using it ;-), and you hate to think about that!



Well.. after reading this post you might want to reconsider throwing away your chalk because Nat and I tried a cool technique which involves the use of chalk. The only thing is...you might need to go out again(!) and buy something you probably don't have in your craft stash yet: Modeling Paste! If you are interested in what you can do with this product, check out this link

Back to business now. This time Nat chose the technique and she send me a photocopy of the technique, taken from "Scraptastic" by Ashley Calder.

What you need for the technique is the following:

Cardboard
Gesso
Modeling Paste (I used "Molding Paste" from Golden)
Chalk

The point of the technique is make a textured background on cardboard and Ashley Calder shows 2 ways to do this, but first you have to cover your cardboard with a layer of gesso, let dry and then apply some modeling paste. This has to be a smooth layer (I didn't listen and applied the modeling past with a paintbrush...)

The first way that is showed in the instructions is to wait until they modeling paste is dry and then sketch a design in it with a fine point metal stylus. Check out Nat's blog to see how she did this.
I chose to make the texture with stamps, by stamping in wet! modeling paste. Make sure to immediately! clean your stamp in water.

When everything has dried you can start to add some colour with your chalks! Finally! You are using them!

Visual aid for this technique:






Enjoy your Sunday and have fun trying this technique.. be sure to also check out Nat's blog; she has tried the stylus to make the texture!

Book review - Journal Revolution

More than a year ago I bought the book "Visual Chronicles" from Karen Dinino & Linda Woods. You can read my blogposts about this book here.

I now also bought their 2nd book "Journal Revolution". Apart from their great sense of humor, this book also has some great easy to do techniques and ideas to offer to try to get you to start your own art journal. Their message? RISE UP AND CREATE.... HAVE NO FEAR :-).

Although I haven't shown anything yet on my blog that was directly inspired by this book, don't think I don't like it.... It is just that at the moment I am sort of overinspired...having purchased more cool new books and magazines. I just don't know where to begin! Technique overdose :-).

If you would ask me which one of the 2 books you should buy, I would say both!
They share the same kind of humor, the same approach to get you over your fear of starting a journal; the 2nd one is just more of the same good thing! More ideas, more inspiration and more eye candy!

More info? Check out these links
http://visualchronicles.typepad.com/
http://www.visualchronicles.com/
http://flickr.com/groups/artarmy/
...lots and lots of eye candy here!

Remember.. you can be a part of this too!

ATC - Parrot

Sometimes blogging is sooo dissapointing because the picture you show on your blog is by far not as good as the real thing! This is certainly the case with this ATC... I know they are meant for trading...but I cannot part from it. At least not now. I love the colours and the simplicity of it and must look it all day!

I've been making a lot of ATC's lately...and I love it! Ever since I got Bernie Berlins ATC book (see my review here)I finally took the time to make some of these little cards. Especially now that I don't have a lot of time...I love being creative on such a small surface... quick results too :-)

Skull Stencil - Bye Bye Mr Danger

On all the scrap related blogs I read I miss a topic that hardly anybody scraps about: politics! We can't escape it, so why not scrap about it?


For a while now I had this photo lying around which was taken in Madame Tussauds when we were visiting the White House last year.
Well..do I need to say someting more to "explain" this layout?



The title is actually a quote from my favorite dictator Hugo Chavez. The guy's got a a great sense of humor :-).



For now.... I am in doubt whether I will post this one on 2peas or not... hehe!

Sunday Postcard Art - Bird

While surfing on the web I recently found a new challenge blog: Sunday Postcard Art. I totally loved the idea of this small size art (small equals fast creating for me nowadays) and totally loved what I saw there, from the bloghosts AND the participants!

So when I saw an update in bloglines I checked out the new challenge and decided to play: here's my first take on the Sunday Postcard Art challenge.
Go check them out and have fun making your own postcard!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel...

... a new addiction coming up :-)