Anna Finnabair & France Papillon

Hi everyone!

Shall we give this blog another update hu?! Jeez, I’m really a sucker when it comes to regular posts! But hey, I’m creating in the meantime, so it’s not that I’m lazy, lol.

Where should I start… September!! The 20^th  started veeeeeery early with a trip to De Craftorij in Holand to celebrate their 5^th anniversary! They had a lot of make&take’s going on (I did one with Marleen Van Meerendonk with Art Anthology products), yummy goodie-bags for the visitors and the cherry on the pie… a whole weekend filled with workshops from Finnabair! I took her “Rich and Textured” lay-out class on Sunday and boy, I had so much fun again! (I had my first classes from Finn in 2013 already, you can find a blogpost about that!) below this post you can find some pictures!

After September comes October :) Again a trip to De Craftorij for some classes with…France Papillon! Yes it crazy, going to Holland to take a workshop from a Belgian lady! Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of (good) hobby shops in Belgium, so that’s why I often go to Holland. I took 2 classes with France, the first day I made a tag-book (wishful chronicles). What an awesome way of teaching, we had like 10 minutes to stamp the whole thing, can you imagine?! But so much fun when you don’t have the time to overthink and just go with the flow! Really a technique that I will try again! The next day we made a mixed media handmade book (lost grimoire) with awesome techniques on the cover and some cool bookbinding as well! Totally love my projects I made that weekend, thanks France & Lia!

We’re in November already, and I spend the last couple of weeks on making cards for some colleagues of my mom. Some birthday cards, some random cards and yeah, my first Christmas and new year cards as well! I ‘ll continue this month with making cards, ‘cause the season is coming, lol.

And what about December? Well, then I’m heading off to De Scrapheap in Holland, to make a wonderful graphic 45 mini yearbook with Monique in 't Groen! Really looking forward to seeing Carla again, she’s such a nice lady (with such a nice store, haha)!

 

So hey, I have the intention to do one more post this year, stay tuned, lol!

See you then my lovely’s! Leave me a comment, I like reading them :-)

Finn inspired canvas

Hi bloggers!

The sunshine is slowly disapperaring and my creativity is coming back! I'm looking forward to the dark & cold nights, so I can hide myself in my craft room :-) So, it all started with the fact that I needed a gift for my cousin, who is going to live together with her boyfriend. I wasn't in a card making mood so I started thinking a bit bigger... What about a personalized canvas for their new home?! And that's what I made, inspired by the techniques from Finnabair I made them a "home" canvas. Here are some before and after pictures. I have to tell you, I was freakin" out when I had to paint it black, but I really love the endresult!! Think one day, I'll make myself one to, haha! What do you guys think??!! I love reading your comments! Untill next time!

De zon is langzaam aan het verdwijnen en mijn creativiteit komt terug! Ik kijk al uit naar de donkere en koude avonden, zodat ik mezelf lekker kan verstoppen in mijn hobbykamer :-) De realisatie van dit project begon met het feit dat ik een cadeau nodig had voor mijn nichtje, die is gaan samenwonen met haar vriend. Ik was niet in een kaart-maak stemming, dus ik begon te denken aan iets groter ... Misschien een gepersonaliseerde canvas voor hun nieuwe huis ?! En dat is wat ik heb gemaakt, geïnspireerd door de technieken van Finnabair maakte ik een "home" canvas. Hier zijn een aantal voor en na foto's. Ik moet wel eerlijk toegeven , ik "flipte" een beetje toen ik alles zwart verfde, maar ik ben gek van het eindresultaat !! Ooit komt er een dag dat ik er voor mezelf ook eentje maak, haha! Wat vinden jullie van het canvas? Ik lees graag jullie reacties & tot een volgende keer!!

Experiment and explore!

Hi Bloggers!

I already said it in my last post, I’m not productive at all this summer! So many project in my head, but nothing coming out of my hands…  I did take some time to experiment and explore, to make my current hobby even more interesting and self-made, Curious?! I just made my first batch of paper, whoo hoo!! I had so much fun, mixing the paper, putting my hands in the paper sludge, I just felt like a little child again, haha! 

I didn’t have a decent sized scoop window, so I made a tiny one with two little frames from Ikea and it worked very well, so I’m now on the lookout for some bigger frames and I have to figure out how I can give my paper a nice color although I like the grey!!
I also booked a couple of lessons in bookbinding so I can bind my home-made paper, really looking forward to that!! And… I have to prepare my very first Mixed- Media workshop in September. Yes, you read that correctly, I’m teaching a MM workshop! Really looking forward to that ass well! And if it turns out to be a success, I’ll be teaching more in the near future! So, if you’re interested, don’t hesitate to contact me!

 
Well, that’s it on this rainy Monday, until next time!! 

New demo coming up!

Hi Hi!It’s been a while again but hey, we’re having some sunshiny days here in Belgium so I have to enjoy these rare moments!! :-)

So… not much production going on, except for some preparation work for my next demonstration. Cindy is the owner of olleke bolleke candyshop and the craftshop Vele Groeten in Sluis (NL). She asked me if I would like to demonstrate the Tim Holtz Distress Inks on the night market. I love distress inks, I love demonstration, I love meeting people, I love sharing and teaching techniques so I didn’t have to think about my answer.. Of course I would like to demonstrate!!

For this demo, I made some different cards with the distress inks and I “dressed” my cards with stamps from Joy Crafts, Marianne design and Nellie Snellen, all Dutch brands! I really had fun going back to basics with my inks, I forgot how much fun it was playing with them!  I also prepared some cards for the make & take that I’ll be hosting that same evening, so I’m really looking forward to it!!

Here are the pics of my demo- boards, what do you think?! And look at that advertising flyer, so cool to see my name on there, think I’m going to frame it :-) See you Tuesday??!! 

Retreat with Nathalie & Birgit!!

Hi there bloggers!
I'm starting all my posts with the same sentence lately... it's been a while since I've been here, lol! Creating things and making pictures seems to be no problem, posting them on the blog is another story... But hey, I'm here to give it another try :-) I made a lot of cards, but I'm feeling the need to make a mini- album again. I also want to play with my gelli plate again, need to make some ATC's for my facebook group and there's a new demo coming up... More about that later ;-)

The most exciting, instructive and inspiring "project" I did lately was at the Retreat weekend, organised by De Craftorij (NL). I went with a creative friend and we spent 2 days workshopping with Nathalie Kalbach & Birgit Koopsen. It was a weekend jam packed with a lot of colorful fun !!! The first day we did some monoprinting and the 2nd day we art journaled with the girls. Thanks to Lia and her team it was a really nice weekend and I'm already looking forward to the next Retreat! Here are some pictures that represent the weekend... Until next time!!

Tim Tags 1 & 2

Hi Bloggers!

What a lovely sunshiny weekend we had, I just love the energy that comes with it! So, I’ve been busy the last couple of days, with all kinds of projects. I finished a mixed media canvas, I made some more ATC’s to exchange in my new Facebook group, I experimented with Bister and I decided to participate Tim’s tags of 2015. So, Enough projects to show you guys this week, starting off with… Well let’s start with Timmy boy! Because I had a lot of projects going on, I only made the first two tags, but I’ll definitely make the others as well, so not too far behind! (yet, haha!)

 

For the January tag, I got inspired by Corrie Herriman (http://madebychook.blogspot.be), I really liked the intensity of her colors. For the February tag, I got inspired by Trace Metcalfe (http://inkypinkycraft.blogspot.co.uk/) I really loved the clean look on her tag, instead of the flowers and all the red in Tim’s tag. Oh, and that white wash technique, so cool! I’ll definitely do that again! Let me hear ya, what do you think?! And are you participating the tag challange as well??

Greetings and untill next time!