long time no blog

I know, I know... It's been way too long since I blogged. Let's just say I was busy doing other stuff. ;)
But me not blogging doesn't mean I haven't been creative. I did make some stuff since my last blog. And you know what, I'm going to share all of this at once with you. So, this blog post is going to be filled with a lot of photo's. :)
I looked through my photo's and selected all I didn't upload here yet. Let's start with all the cards I made.



The first one is a set of two cards. One for my father & mother and one for my sister & her husband. I made this quite a while ago, but I forgot to share it. These people have helped me in so many ways that I wanted to thank them.
The second card is a birthday card for my mother. It is quite simple and was inspired by a card I pinned on Pinterest.
On the next card I wrote 'zwanger' which means 'pregnant' in Dutch. I made it for a friend of mine that told me she was pregnant! Because I couldn't see her anytime soon, I decided to make her a card.
The next card is one of the Christmas cards I made this year. I made several of these for my closest friends and family.
The last one is a card for my father who became 60 a week ago. A special occasion for which we went away for the weekend. We had a great time!

Next up are some photo's of my living room. I realized I wrote about the changes I made, but never showed the result. So, I've made some photo's during Christmas time.


Next up are some gifts I made. Apparently I didn't photograph everything... :( I found two. One creative gift wrap and three oncies for a friend who is expecting a triplet.


And last but not least, three tags I've made. The first I made for a competition which I never entered. :P But I like it anyway.
The other two I made just recently. The first when my friend Kim came over for a day full of creativity. I'm in love with my new butterfly stamp!!


The last thing I want to share with you is that one of my favourite mixed media artists is coming to Holland: Donna Downey. Her workshops are unfortunately too expensive for me, but I do have a chance at winning one! I would love to win the "Mixed media academy" workshop (http://www.creabest.blogspot.nl/2014/01/win-een-donna-downey-workshop.html). I would love to learn book binding and I love making art journals! Please keep your fingers crossed for me. :D

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and remember: Never regret anything that made you smile!

Love,
Marjan

Beauty

My friend Kim send me an e-mail asking about the updates on my blog. Thank you for reminding me, Kim! I'm awfully sorry I didn't update for such a long time. This doesn't mean that I haven't been creative for this long time though. I'v just been busy with other things too. Things that make me happy. :)
But, I do want to show you what I have been creating. First up is my last art journal page. I decided to paint the entire page black(ish) with some watercolour paint to make it look like a kind of chalkboard. It took two layers to make it look like this. Then I used white watercolour paint to write most of the words. For the smaller words I used a white gel pen. The quote is one I found on Pinterest and I think a lot of women can relate to. Everybody who loves you will see your beauty.



The same night I made this art journal page, I made another. This one was even more simple. But I really needed to get it off my chest. ;) All I used was some acrylic paint, watercolour paint, three punched butterflies and a pen. Life can be so simple sometimes. ;)



A few weeks ago one of my friends gave birth to a very beautiful girl named Tessa. As a gift I pimped an infant bodysuit with some flock foil. One of my friends taught me how to do this. I really loved it and I wanted to buy some of this stuff myself, but I haven't done that yet. I should though, 'cause it's really fun to work with.



Of course I also made them a card to celebrate this special occasion. It was based on a card I pinned. I cut a few hearts out of some grungeboard and painted them with acrylic paint. Together with some string and and a few letter stickers to spell the name the card was finished.



When I went through my photo's, I just realised that I didn't show you the birthday card I made for my sister a couple of months ago. It was a quite simple one, but I do want to share it too. Did I already mention that i love my lattice mask by Prima? ;)



Well, I think that was all for now. Do remember to see the beauty in everyone around you!

Love,
Marjan

if it is meant to be, it will be

My next art journal page has been finished as well. I had a clear image of this one in my mind, so it was finished quite quickly. The only thing slowing me down was the drying time needed for the modeling paste. ;)
The quote I saw on Pinterest and it really inspired me. It's my motto for now. :)



For this page I started smearing modeling paste through a Prima mask. Next, I watered down some acrylic paint and made a heart shaped blot in the middle of the page. I sprayed some water on it to let it spray out.
I stamped some butterflies with Stazon ink and coloured them in with water colour pencils. I glued them on the page and also used some dimensional tape for the big butterfly.
I stamped some random text stamps all of the page to give some more texture to it all. Then, I printed the words and cut them in strips. I drew a line around them to make them pop. I did the same thing to the edge of the page.
Then I still thought something was missing. I've put many things onto the page, but it just didn't complement the page. After a million tries, I grabbed some 'drops'. That was it! I glued them down and felt it was done.
I might transfer this page onto canvas, 'cause I really like it. If I do, I'll show you of course.

I wish you all an inspiring Sunday. And remember: if it's meant to be, it will be. :D

Love,
Marjan

shattered pieces

I've got some new things to share with you all. I'm going to start off with a page in my art journal that I started quite a while ago, but never finished. I have finished it now and I like it. It's a look back at a period of time in my life. In retrospect, it is easier to see what has happened.



For this page I sprayed some Tattered Angels mist for the base. I also used a chevron mask by Mister Huey's. I put some gesso on a foam dragonfly stamp and stamped it twice. To give it more definition I ripped some dictionary paper to fit the shape of the outer line of the dragonflies. In between the dragonflies I stamped a quote I saw on Pinterest which expresses my feelings.
I cut a heart out of some cardstock and then cut it into pieces, matching the quote. Then, I painted it metallic pink. I used that same paint to give some definition to the edges of the page as well. After the heart had dried, I put a thick layer of distress crackle paint on i. Then I reassembled it and glued it on together with some other pieces.

I'll be back this week to show you more! Have a good week and if you're having a few days/weeks off, just like me: Enjoy!

Love,
Marjan

tags with dylusions

I recently bought Dylusions spray inks. I saw such wonderful creations with these spray inks, so I had to have them. ;) I decided to buy three colors: vibrant turquoise, cherry pie and pure sunshine. That turned out to be a great choice, 'cause they mix very well and I can create so many colors with them.
I love these inks, 'cause they react well with water, which creates a nice tone on tone effect. This enables me to use my masks in a new way. So, I'm in love. :)



On this tag I used Dylusions ink, a chevron mask, a hexagon mask, my handcarved stamp, a Kaisercraft stamp, liquid pearls, perfect pearls mist, mini alpha stickers, embossing powder and wood veneer butterflies.



On this one I also used the Dylsions ink as a basis. Sprayed water through a hexagon mask, smeared structure paste throught a mask with dots, used some stamps and put on some stickers and wood veneer stars.

And the quote for this week is: Do small things with great love!

Love,
Marjan

one year

My sister has been married for a year now. Since I made the wedding cake last year and we unfortunately had to use the upper tier (instead of deepfreezing it so they could eat it now), I had to make a new cake to celebrate their one year anniversary. It became a simple cake in the colors of the original cake.



And of course I also made a card for them. It's not my favourite, but I like that I could use a page from a dictionary with the word 'gelukkig' (happy) on it.



I'm reorganizing and redecorating my scrapbook room. It's not done yet... I just can't decide what should go where and which new things I should buy... Life is difficult. ;)
Have good week and don't stress out!

Love,
Marjan

never stop dreaming

I've bought some kind of puffy paint about a year ago and I realised I never used it. So, I thought it was time to do so.
To create some texture on this page, I started off with putting on some masking tape. Just the regular type you use for painting. Next I smeared some pearlescent paint on top of it to give it some shimmer.
Then I grabbed a mask and sprayed some teal glimmer mist through it. I got another mask and smeared some structure paste through that one to give the edges some interest. I love how that turned out.
After that I got some of my stamps out (mostly Prima stamps) and stamped in random spots without reinking. Then I took the puffy paint and wrote the word 'dreaming' with it. The last thing I did was putting some mini alphabet stickers down to spell 'never stop'.



My tulips looked very nice in front of it. ;)
I have more to share with you soon. But this is all for now, because I'm off to a festival (bevrijdingsfestival for the Dutch readers). Have a great day!

Love,
Marjan