Hi there,

I'm back with a major update. I'm currently participating in a fun scrap competition by Creabest. We get an assignment every day for 25 days in a row. It started on June 1th (which was my birthday) and we have to have everything completed by June 30th.
I'm already behind on schedule because of my birthday, but I'm on my way. For now, I want to share with you my first few projects.

The assignment here was: Create a layout with 'ombre' (varying shades of a tone) in it. You can see this in the background paper and in the butterflies (although this isn't as obvious due to the photo.



The next assignment was: Create a gift bag or box with at least three flowers and two papers on it.



The following thing we had to do was create a layout with at least five doilies on it. I used this paper by Pink Paislee for that one. It has resist doilies on it and that was perfect for this assignment.



The last one I am going to share with you today is a layout with embossing on it. For this assignment I made another page to go in my Rome mini album, which now is finally almost done. ;)



I'll share more with you soon. Now I'm going to work on my favorite assignment so far: use paint! ;)

Love,
Marjan

A walk in the woods

Hello to all of you,

I'm back with a new layout. I always like layouts on which two small photo's are included which look alike. So, when I saw I had two photo's which are almost the same, I decided to make a layout with these.

It is quite a simple layout. I used a patterned paper by Basic Grey as a basis which I misted with Tattered Angels Chalkboard mist Apricot. Then I put my matted photo's on it and slided some tags and piece of paper underneath. I also put a pink felt border underneath it all.
On top of all that, I've put some resisted canvas leaves by Prima. I misted these with TA Key Lime Pie. That way they kind of matched the felt thickers I used for the title. On the smallest leaf, I placed a homemade flower which I misted with TA glimmer mist Turquoise Blue.
The journaling was just written on the base paper. Finally I added a tag with the date on it and then I thought it was done.
Please leave your comment below. I could really use some suggestions.

Love,
Marjan

mini album: my favorite things

Good afternoon everybody (or good morning, or good evening),

I'm back with a lot of photo's. :D I always love to share new projects with all of you. I myself always get inspired by the projects other people make. So, I hope I can inspire some of you as well.

A few weeks ago I shared my unfinished mini album with you. I made the base of this album during a workshop by Birgit Koopsen. It was so much fun and a lot of work. Now, I decided to finish it. First, I had to decide which theme I wanted for my mini. I decided to put in all my favorite things right now. I like it this much, that I am planning on making a mini with the same theme every year or so. Then I can keep track of the things that I liked to do during several periods in my life.
So, every spread got one big picture (as it was intended by Birgit). Some things were hard to capture in a photo (like hanging out with my friends and family). But I think it is okay like this.
Then I decided to put my journaling on small strips, just to keep things cohesive. I added titles and embellishments (most of which we made during the workshop as well). And this is the result:

I'm also working on a new layout. I'll share this one with you soon. And my Rome mini album is getting filled more and more as well. So, please come back to see the results of that.

Have a good day!

Love,
Marjan

heart of strings

Hi everyone,

I'm back after a busy period. My sister married the love of her life last Friday. And I was the master of ceremonies, which meant that I had quite some things to arrange. Fortunately everything went well and it was a lovely day. :D The bride and groom looked amazing and the weather was great too.

The day before the wedding I created the wedding cake. It was my first tiered cake ever and I was quite tensed. But it turned out okay eventually.
I wanted to upload the picture of it, but then I realised it is not on my computer yet. So, I'll add that one later.

I also wanted to share with you the gift I made for them. I got the idea from Pinterest. It is a wooden board which I painted white. Then I drew a huge heart on a piece of paper. Then I traced this line with hammering in nails every inch or so. Once that was done, I pulled off the paper. After that I put the red string around all the nails randomly. Once I thought I had enough strings, I created an outline so the heart would pop even more.
And then it was time to decorate. You can put anything between the strings. Here I used pictures and an envelop to hold the gift. I will also show you a option without the strings. Then you can hang things from the nails. That also looks cute I think.

That's all for today. I'll show you more next time, but now I really have to go to bed.

I still believe that all you need is love...

love, Marjan

workshops

Hello everyone,

In the last couple of weeks I took some workshops. A few weeks ago I went to Creabest in Ommen. Here I did three lovely mini workshops. A friend of mine went with me and I guess she's really into stamping now too. ;)
The first label I made was created with the use of the new distress markers. It was fun to use these to stamp. And I used a color I rarely use: yellow. And to be honest: I love it! ;)



The next thing I made was this little card. We used a lot of tattered angels products. This time I used my regular color: pink. :D



And the last thing I made was another label. I've put this into my art journal already, so here is a picture of my art journal. Love this page despite the lack of color. :D



I've also created another page in my art journal. It's not one of my favourites, but it is okay. I think I'll redo it some day...



Yesterday, I was at Birgit Koopsen's studio for a full day workshop. It was so much fun. We really created a lot. And I love every bit of it. I'm still in awe when I think of all the bottles of glimmer mist and every color Stazon and Distress ink. It was like heaven. ;p
The best tip she gave was about the new use of black and white paper. When you mist it, you'll only see the mist on the white parts. Duh, I know. But I never really realised that. So, I'm totally gonna pull out all of my black and white paper now to mist it. ;) I'll show you some pictures of the album we created. It is not done yet, but I will finish it soon. Then I'll show you everything.
On the left pages there will be pictures. And I still have to put text and embellishments on the pages. But you'll get an idea of all the techniques we used.







That's all for now. I hope I'll be back soon to show some more. Take care!

Love,
Marjan

art journaling

Hey everyone,

I'm back with a kind of new hobby. ;) I recently discovered art journaling and I'm already in love. I foud out about it via Nathalie Kalbach's Creative Jumpstart.
My problem with scrapbooking is that I always think too much about what's the best way to put something. That's why it always takes me ages to finish one page...
But the cool thing about art journaling is that you can just do ANYTHING. And if it turns out awful, you just flip the page. ;)
So, I've created two pages so far. Not the best of art work, but it makes my creativity flow. It also gives me ideas for new pages in my Rome mini. :D I've finished one page of that as well.
So, first of all here are my two first pages in my art journal. Check the image transfer of the Collosseum of Rome on the second one (the first time I used gel medium).







Of course I've watched some videos on art journal on You Tube. But my very favourite blog is this one by Donna Downey. She is soooo creative and updates regularly. Love it!

I also wanted to show you another birthday card I've made. I just love my new brick template by TCW!



Well, that's all for today. I'm planning to do some more art journaling. Hopefully I can show you soon! Take care.

Love,
Marjan

A huge update

Wow! It has been such a long time. I am so sorry about that!
But on the other hand, I have created a lot in the last few weeks, which means a HUGE update with lots of pictures. ;)

First of all are some birthday cards.








Next up is an altered project. One of my collegues sadly decided to leave us. So, I baked her some cookies. Of course they had to go in a nice box. I didn't really like the plain white box, so I altered it. This is how it turned out.






I also worked on my Rome mini album. Yes, I know, it is still not finished... *sigh*. It will be soon though (although I still have to make a lot of cards...). Anyway, I created a new page and I really liked the background I created. I actually felt sorry to put something over it. ;) *lol* Of course I had to, 'cause it would realy look weird to have an empty page in my album. But I did make a picture of it first. ;) I would like to show that with you already. I think I'm in love with masks. ;)




At the moment I'm also really into art journaling. I love it! You can express your feelings and still keep them to yourself. And the best thing is: you can do whatever you want! Usually I'm thinking way too much about a layout. Now, I'm just doing whatever feels good. It's great! I don't have a picture of that yet, but I'll show you next time.

That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully my next post won't take so long. Have a nice weekend!

Love,
Marjan