I'VE GOT TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Visual Chronicles - Prompt Tags

A while ago I bought the book "Visual Chronicles" (you can see it in the sidebar).
Since I have the flu, I have installed myself in bed with my laptop and some books.
And I was flipping through Visual Chronicles..not really able to read because my head, ears and throat are hurting big time, until I came upon this chapter about prompt tags.
In this chapter the writers explain how to use tags with your own chosen prompts to help you with your journaling.

Not being able to sleep because somebody outside was cutting down all the trees in the neighbourhood (at least it sounded like this) I decided to bring into my bed some tags, walnut Ink and Distress Ink to create my own prompt tags.
First I inked them all, waited for them to dry and then I added some cool stamping to the back.
Will add the prompts later.

Also, because being sick at home makes me feel quite useless I worked on a new banner for Emine's blog. A few days ago I saw her cry for help on her blog; she needed help with a banner.
Today I made one for her and also installed it on her blog. Check it out HERE.
And while you are visiting her blog, don't forget to have a look at her wonderful Hambly album :)!

CPS #4 & Deck of Me #9

A new Dutch Dare is online; CLICK HERE to see all the new creations for this weeks dare!


This is the card I made for this weeks CPS sketch.
Used some Basic Grey, KI, paintdabber and 2 of my new stamps:
The stitched frame is from Hero Arts.
The dancing hula chick is from Inkadinkado.
I coloured her bikini and body with some cool pens I got from Charlotte last Friday :))).
"Celebrate" is a Brenda Walton clearstamp.
The wooden fence is made from wooden ice sticks, broken in half






The prompt for this weeks Art Journal from Emily Falconbridge was "Inspiration". Where do you find it? For me the answer to that question must be the internet. I always find things that inspire me on the web... no matter the subject.
The web is like an endless bucket of inspiration and new things to discover every day!
Love surfing. Love "communicating" and sharing with other people through blogs and messageboards. The last year the internet has also brought me many new friendships.....
which is great!

I already prepared the backsides of my 4 Deck of Me cards for March. As you might have noticed I have more or less the same design on the back for one month.
For March I stamped my favorite floral Hero Arts stamps with Rusty Brown Stazon on the card. Added some scraps of Cherry Arte. Stamped a Purple Onion frame & "Observation".
The date stamp is a Heidi Swapp rolling stamp :(..... not my favourite -LOL

Sneak Peeks Dutch Dare # 9

Ingredients for this weeks Dare:

Hambly rub ons
Ranger Distress Ink
Ranger Perfect Pearls
Ecoline
Glossy Paper
Purple Onion Stamps
Journaling Stamp Provocraft
A quote
2 photos

Check out the Dutch Dare blog tomorrow for a new dare!

Lots and Lots to share.....

....starting last Friday....

Charlotte came to visit me...or actually she just wanted to go to the Posthumuswinkel and I live nearby ;).

We didn't have much time because we stayed in the stampshop toooooo long but at my place we played around a little with our new stamps, Ranger Distress Inks (which totally rule!) and Shrink Plastic (which also rules!).

Saturday was.... well.... Saturday.. quite boring; cleaning the house, doing some grocery shopping and visit my inlaws where we had dinner.

And then it was Sunday: WACKY WORKSHOP WEEKEND.

I went to 2 workshops from Celine Navarro, which were great. Just love the way she teaches ; she first takes her time to explain step by step what you can do with certain products... she doesn't just tell you what to do, she really shows it you in a patient and relaxing way. Love this!

The first class i took from her was "Mixed Media Art Journal" (not finished yet, will show it later..if I ever finish it - LOL)

The second was a "Collage Class" where she taught us how to use gesso to create texture on your paper / canvas. You can see the result above :).

That really smart literature lover who can tell me the title of the book from which I used the quote "I just noticed what a stupid haircut somebody gave her" on my collage :) will receive a big RAK from me

I will give a hint... a famous murderer had this book in his hand while shooting someone...

Actually the murderer became famous because he killed someone famous......

I need the title and the writer of the book and that RAK will be yours!

This RAK will include 1 of my Marbled Frida ATC's....

And no girls...if you took one of Celines classes at the WWW... you cannot play - LOL!

CPS blog - #1, #2 & #3

I recently discovered a new blog for cardmakers.
It is called Card Positioning Systems and you can find a new sketch there every week.
Since making cards is an excellent way to get rid of your stash of little scraps I decided to join these challenges.

STUDIO DAPHNAT # 1 - THE RESULTS - Marbled Frida

A few weeks ago Nat and I tried the Marbling technique with shaving foam and here is what I made with it:
My first ATC... which I definitely will not trade because I love them tooo much!

For the top line I just used the marbled paper as a background to stamp on and I inked the edges with gold ink.
The cards on the bottom are a little bit different. I stamped Frida on the marbled background, cut her out and heatembossed her twice with UTEE. I stamped a background with my Hero Arts flower stamp.. which I love... and glued Frida on top of it! The UTEE effect is really cool!

The photo edge I used for this collage is downloaded from 2peas; flourish edges digital set by Rhonna Farrer.

Deck of Me # 7 & # 8

Studio DaphNat #2 - Rinse Aid Resist

It's raining.
It's weekend.
It's the perfect time for another experiment from Studio DaphNat!

The ingredients for this week:
- canvas / canvas paper
- acrylic paint; 2 or 3 colours
- water
- brushes
- Dishwasher Rinse Aid
- Paper towels
- Heat Gun

With these products we tried the RINSE AID RESIST technique, as explained in the 2nd book of Claudine Hellmuth.

What to do?
1) Add a layer of really thinned paint to your canvas(paper).
I sprayed my canvas with the spray I use for my plants so that is was very wet so the paint was really thin when you brush it on the canvas.
Then hold up your canvas and drop the rinse aid right out from the bottle onto the background.
It will run down and create some nice looking streakes.
2) WAIT until this layer is completely dry (I write it capitals because it is important and I made a mistake here LOL, which was to be expected if you are as impatient as I am ;).
3) Get a damp paper towel and rub over your canvas. At this moment you SHOULD be able to see the space where the surface resisted the paint because of the rinse aid.

4) When you are done rubbing off all of the excess paint, add a second colour by repeating step 1-3.

In the end this is the result:







Both Nat and I were a bit dissapointed about our results, which speaking for me only had to do with:
1)impatience
2)the colours I chose
3)expectations: I expected more contrast between the colours I used.

If you want to try this technique as well please keep the following in mind:

- Take your time. And work on some other project on the same time as well; this means leavind enough space open on your worktable instead of having to move wet papers.
- Choose 2 good contrasting colours; keep in mind that colours are a lot lighter when they are thinned with water.
- Try different brands of Rinse Aid; I didn't do this but it wouldn't surprise if one brand is better for this technique than the other one.
- Do not try this technique with Ecoline (liquid watercolours): it just doesn't work.
- Wear an apron.
- If you plan to use this technique over an existing collage, make sure you seal the papers with (Golden) gel medium.
- You can add a third colour as well.. at least I did :)

For the rest... GO AND EXPERIMENT!
Don't forget to stop by at Nat's blog as well to have a look at her results :)

Love Life :)

Except for the cardstock, the paint & the ribbon, this LO is entirely made of products that are now for sale at Memory Lane Scrapbooking.
I used 4 different papers, black snaps and paperjoy weave words.
The weave words (bottom left) are really cool I think, I painted it with paintdabber and then put some versamark on it and heat embossed with UTEE...which gives a really cool effect.

The picture was taken on a cemetery in Curacao, while I was visiting my dad who was still in the hospital at that time ( 2 months before he died) and when I saw it again yesterday I thought:

You have 1 life. Live it as if it were your last.

Journalers Junction # 7

For this weeks Journalers Junction you had to use a list of verbs for your journaling... so I checked out this website to find some synonyms for the word LOVE...and I came up with these words.









The paper is the new Basic Grey Line Stella Ruby.
For this lo I used 3 tags and the matching alpha stickers.

The DT meeting last Sunday was great.....we didn't even unpack our scrap goodies... all we did was talk talk talk. Please have a look HERE & HERE, to see some pictures from this day.

A new Dutch Dare tomorrow morning... no sneak peeks this time...my dare is too tiny......... a sneak peek would give it away.... Just check out the Dutch Dare blog tomorrow to find out what the new dare (nr 8 already!) is all about.

Deck of Me # 6 - Love

The quote I used is from the following song:

MLS Circle Journal

Tomorrow is the 2nd DT meeting of the Memory Lane Designteam and I finally finished the last pages of the 8" x 8" circlejournal we all agreed to make.
For each of the DT members you had to make a page about yourself, answering some questions.

Journalers Junction # 5 & # 6

I finally found the time to scan and post my last 2 lo's for the Journalers Junction.
For the 5th challenge you had journal about something / things that make you cry.
I guess for me a better question is: "What does NOT make you cry?".
Seriously....I can cry about everything... on this lo you see only a few keywords....

The 6th layout had to contain journaling in 3 places on the page.

Deck of Me # 4 & # 5

For the 4th deck of me card you had to choose a symbol that you love.
I chose this CLADDAGH symbol:
It is an old Irish symbol and there are some different interpretations on the meaning but I love this one the best:



the heart stands for love
the crown stands for loyalty
the hands symbolize friendship.

Click on the claddagh link above to find out more about the history of this symbol.

For Card # 5 you had to use some ephemera from that week; I used my boarding pass from the flight back home from London after spending 5 on a trade fair, working.

Meet....

my secret love....

Keep your eye on the Monthly Challenge on the Memory Lane website to see him completely :)

Happy Valentines Day

Studio DaphNat 1 - Marbling Techniques

Nat and I are very proud to present the first technique we tried together:
Marbling with Shaving Cream.

Products I used:
- Shaving Cream (the foam...not the gel)
- Acrylic Paints
- Alcohol Inks (Ranger)
- Liquid Watercolour ( Ecoline )
- Watercolour paper or any other thick paper, I guess Bazill will do the trick too.
- Fork
- Glass bowl I normally use to make a Quiche Lorraine
- Thick piece of cardboard or a putty knife
- Toothpicks

To start: fill your glass bowl or whatever you decide to use (just make sure it is big enough for the paper you want to marble) with a thick layer of shaving foam and straight it with the putty knife. Then add 2 or 3 colours acrylic paint, alcohol ink or watercolours on the top of the shaving cream. Do NOT touch it yet.
When you are done adding colours, you can start stirring the colours with a toothpick, a fork or whatever into a nice design that you like.
Softly layer your piece of paper on top of the foam. Do NOT press it in really deep, just rub it slowly, there is no need to hurry...When you think that all parts off your paper are covered gently pick it up and lay it on a flat surface.
With your thick piece of cardboard scrape / putty knife of the remains of the shaving cream and.... TAD DAH!
It dries really fast. And you can use the foam again..
I made up to 4 cards with 1 bowl of shaving foam before the colours started to get too mixed up. One advice: try this technique in the kitchen because it can turn out to be very messy.
Also be sure to buy some nice smelling shaving foam...I now have a stack of cards that smell really awful - LOL!
What worked best for me were the liquid watercolours; they are easy to mix and the colours are really bright! You can also use the shaving foam longer than with the acrylic paints; they tend to get messy really soon.
Maybe liquid acrylic paints work better for this technique.
The Alcohol Inks are really beautiful too and also easy to mix.

Have fun trying this technique and make sure to check out Nat's blog as well and to share your try with us. On her blog you can also see step by step photo's and she used some different materials than me :).
Enjoy!

Something German, Something Dutch, Something Creative....

Businesspeople and politicians have online meetings, so why shouldn't we, creative girls, use the internet to work together on our creative skills?
The idea of a joint venture between Germany and Holland was born from this idea:

I hereby proudly announce the birth of

STUDIO DAPHNAT

Studio DaphNat is a cooperation between myself and Nathalie and we will present a new technique every now and then with detailed instructions and pics... so if you are interested in learning some cool techniques that you can use with scrapping, cardmaking or whatever it is you do with paper, paint, inks, glue and scissors stay tuned on our websites!

I'm back...

......and ready to start scrapping again after more than a week of not being near to glue, paper and scissors :)

I've got nothing new to share yet so I thought I'd explain a little more about the canvas I made for the latest Dutch Dare.
On the Dutch Dare blog it isn't really clear that it is actually a canvas so I post it here again so you can see all the details. I stamped the title "Great Catch" with Stazon on the sides of the canvas and with Versamark I also stamped fishes which I colored with Perfect Pearls (not visible here).

I started by painting the canvas, then glueing some pages from the Yellow Pages to it; the pages with the addresses of the shops for musical instruments :)
I covered them with gel medium en when it dried I added vaseline on some places and painted over it again. When the paint dries you can wipe away the parts where the vaseline is and you will have a peeled paint look.

The reviews were first scanned, and then printed on thin photopaper which I distressed with Ranger distress ink and water. After ironing the paper you can easily print on it, just make sure they are really dry before you start printing :S.
The big photo was scanned from from an interview in a newspaper and then printed onto a transparency.


As a resource to make this canvas I used Claudine Hellmuts collage books...must haves!!

Early Sneak Peek Dutch Dare # 7

Lots and lots of Hambly on this one..... just wait and see for yourself on the Dutch Dare blog this coming Wednesday.
I'm off to London for a few days.......working :(.

And in case you're wondering... the next dare is NOT about music ;).