Christmas stamps / Kerst stempels

I made them a bit late, just today so I won't use them this year but next year I wanna make my own Christmas cards so then they will come in handy!
Ik heb ze vandaag pas gemaakt, dus een beetje aan de late kant. Dit jaar zal ik ze niet meer gebruiken maar als ik volgend jaar mijn eigen kerstkaarten maak zullen ze wel van pas komen!

Birthday Cards / Verjaardagskaarten



Card 1 / Kaart 1

With Darkroom door Wordstamp Birthday stamp. I used my Derwent Inktense blocks to color the stamp, and stamped it on wet paper. (I used  the mini mister from ranger to wet the paper) after the first print I moistened the stamp with the mini mister, 2 sprays and printed a second one on dry paper. That worked really wel.
I used some inchies I made before (also from Darkroom door) and used the vintage photo Distess ink to make the paper look older, a strip of left over paper which I ponsded with the ribbon pons from Fiskars. A bit of organza ribbon and Ready!
Gemaakt met de Bithday stempel van Darkroom door. Ik heb Derwent Inktense Blocks gebruikt om de kleuren op de stempel te zetten en deze heb ik afgedrukt op vochtig papier. (Ik gebruik de mini mister spray van Ranger om het papier vochtig te maken) na de eeste afdruk heb ik de stempel zelf vochtig maakt met 2 prays van de mini mister en heb de stempel op droog papier voor een tweede keer afgedrukt. Ging erg goed!
Verder heb ik een paar inchies gebruikt die ik eerder had gemaakt en vintage photo Distress inkt om het papier ouder te laten lijken. Een strookje overgebleven papier geponsd met de ribbon pons van Fiskars en daar wat gevlochten organzalint doorheen gewerkt en Klaar!



Detail

Card 2 / Kaart 2

This card is based on a Thank Your card made by StampingMathilda. To ink my stamp I used the Inktense Blocks from Derwent. Same technique I used for card 1. Only I made a print with the inchies stamp on top of the seconds print with the word stamp. So thats why you see the green letters in the inchies. I used the vintage photo distress ink  for the paper with the words and on the outline of the green paper from the inchies. So they would stand out more. The green papier from the inchies and the green paper with the little white flowers comes from the paper pad: out of print made by BasicGrey.
Deze kaart is gebaseerd op een Bedankt kaart gemaakt door StampingMathilda. Voor de afdruk heb ik gebruik gemaakt van de Inktense Blocks van Derwent. Ik heb dezelfde techniek gebruikt als bij kaart 1, alleen heb ik bovenop de 2e afdruk met de woordstempel een afdruk van de inchies gemaakt met Distress Vintage photo inkt. Daardoor zie je de groene letters op de achtergrond. Ook de randen heb ik met Distress Vintage photo inkt bewerkt. Bij de groene randen rondom de inchies heb ik vooral de zijkanten goed geinkt zodat ze beter zouden opvallen. De groene randen rondom de inchies en het groene papier met de witte bloemetjes komen uit de paperpad: out of print gemaakt door BasicGrey

Playing with inchies / Spelen met de inchies



Yes, I had some time to play with my new stamps from Darkroom door.

Eindelijk had ik wat tijd om m'n nieuwe stempels van Darkroom door uit te proberen!

Inchies on normal drawing paper, with vintage foto Distress ink and normal black ink.
Inchies op gewoon tekenpapier, met vintage foto inkt van Distress en gewone zwarte inkt.



Inchies on transparant paper. This paper doesn't let it withdraws the ink. So the Vintage photo Distress ink print is a bit blurry. The white print was made with StazOn opaque Cotton White. This ink has an oilly basis and was hard to remove from the stamp after using it. But the effect is great and the print was very detailed.
Inchies op transparant papier. De inkt kan niet in dit papier trekken waardoor de afdruk met de Vintage phote Distress inkt wat vaag is geworden, haast een aquarel effect heeft gekregen. De witte afdruk heb ik gemaakt met StazOn opaque Cotton White. Dit is inkt op oliebasis en heel lastig van de stempel te verwijderen. De afdruk is echter wel heel scherp en gedetailleerd. 


At the university we use the transparant paper a lot, well actually the thinner version. The one I used here is pretty thick (when you make a mistake you can scratch it with a little blade to delete it.) We normally color the back, so the inks won't blend and the outerlines will stay detailled.
Op de universiteit gebruiken we het transparante papier erg veel, nou eigenlijk de dunnere variant op rol. Schetspapier. Het papier waar ik de stempels op heb afgedrukt is vrij dik (als je een foutje in je tekening maakt kun je dit met een mesje wegkrabben). Wij kleuren meestal op de achterkant van de originele tekenening, zodat de inkt niet vermengd en de randen gedetailled blijven.

Inchies on transparant paper stamped with the StazOn opaque and collored with Bruynzeel Metallic.
Inchies op transparant papier gestempeld met de StazOn opaque en ingekleurd met Bruynzeel Metallic. 



This is how the back looks, not that nice.
Dit is hoe de achterkant eruit ziet, niet zo mooi.







Weekend goodness

For a little relax time we went to Chateau du Raay in Baarlo, we have been there before and it's a great hotel with goodsize beds (2.10 mtr) and delicious food!

Le chateau

view from the room

The dining and breakfast room. In Christmas style! Funfact: all the chandelier are different.

And than when we came home and there was a parcel for me with a lot of fun creative stuff:

There was more; beautifull paper and new knifes, I can't wait to try everything. Too bad my desk and study really need a cleaning session. So that's how I will be spending my sunday, a real clean up of my desk and clossets. Hopefully it won't take al day and I can go and "play" with my new stuff!

December agenda




sorry, the pictures aren't that good, made them in the evening with just a little ligt on.

 My new project for this year, making my own agenda! It's quit relaxing and fun to do :)

Poffertjes!!



Lekkerrrr, with a little bit butter, icing sucker and cinnamon



WinterEfteling

To stay in touch with each other after college my friends and I try to see each other around 4 times a year, birthdays not included. 1 of these days together we usually go to the Efteling. Our all time favourite attraction park. (It's the best I've been too, including Moviepark germany and Eurodisney. The Efteling does have super rollercoasters (Joris and the dragon is the best) but there are also more quiet and dreamy rides like Droomvlucht and my altime favourite FataMorgana) So there we went last sunday to the WinterEfteling. It's the same as the summer Efteling, only the whole park is decorated with wintertheme's. Huge 3d cards, lights in the trees, fake snow on some trees, an iceskating ring and so on. The best thing are the huge campfires, much needed too. We had a great day with "poffertjes"(miniture pancakes) and a lot of hot chocolade milk.

1st: Vogelrock; a rollercoaster in the dark. 2nd: One of the many houses in the "Land van Laaf" (country of the Laaf people)

Even though the campfires I was very cold on the end of the day, so we didn't make it till 8 pm but we did have a great day. But next time we go in a warmer month!

Have a nice week!

Love Susan

Busy week

Hi there,
I'm sorry I don't update this blog as much as I wish. But I'm very busy with my study which is finally comming to an end, not yet there but I can see the finish line!
Last friday I had a day off and went to my parents. There still are a lot of flowers in my moms garden, which I find suprising in November:

This "sunny" fower just made my day!

The is also a plant that makes lovely darkblue/purple seeds on red branches:

I really gona paint this ones, some time soon! (made with Instagram on my Iphone)

And of course; House had to climbe the only tree there was:

King of the garden!! ( the red line snapped today in my own garden, and he went on an adventure in the neighbourgardens, I was totally stressed out. My neighbour caught him and now he's not going out for a little while!)

 Of course he wanted to come down eventually, and needed a little help

Can you get me out, please!

He also managed to fall into the water, so I had to give him a bath. It was an eventfull day for him.

I'll try to blog some more the next weeks!

Have a nive week!

Susan

Creative weekend

Inkt, inktense blocks and  handmade stamps.

I've just been drawing a bit; using inkt, inktense blocks and stamps. I even made a new one; the tulip. Which I used to make the last card to send to my granny! :)

Boots for me, a playbox for House

I purchased some new boots and House really loved the box.

House didn't seem to be interested in the box anymore this morning, so before the big weekly clean-up I put in on the table, before I would throw it away. And yeah there he was totaly happy with it again, looking with pleading eyes; Please may I keep the box. And to make matters worse, he didn't just sit in it but played in it....

Sorry for the bad resolution, but it was still dark this morning and the big lamplight just didn't give enough light for my Iphone.

Lucky for me; he just played for half an hour. Afther that I did throw it away ;)
Wanna see more video's of House; visit youtube and search for SusanvdM

I hope you all will have a great weekend

How did he get up there?

House on the birdhouse!

I don't know how he got up there! He could not come down on his own, bit weird isn't it. He clearly is enjoying the last days of summer! This morning I found him halfway the hedge, with is vertical hmmmm. too bad I wasn't in time with my camera and he didn't want to do it again.

Park SpoorNoord, Antwerpen

Westside of the park

Eastside of the park

Some studie material, this park in Antwerpen is quite new. The park has a basic layout and is very well used! Even in de rain ;)

Amsterdam

I had to go to Amsterdam, to take some photo's of a park and I found this great little street. Don't you just love little alley between house so you can see the "hidden" world there is on the other side? I really do!

Such sad news after a great weekend

A little boy, M - 8 years, lost his life last week. He was on vacation with his parents, when they were taking a tour with the car, some idiot who couldn't control his right feet came ahead. His father was unable to elude that car and M died instantly.
So please, remember this the next time you think of speeding!
I wish his little brother, parents, grandparents and other family and people who loved him strength and my love.

Susan

I'll report about the fun weekend later, but I'm not in the mood right now

A few hours in the garden



Having a long lunchbreak in the garden. House and I are so happy it stopped raining :)



softpastels

I tried out my softpastels, with I didn't use for so long. I'm not that good with pastels. Than I saw what Su-Pyo made with softpastels and just had to give it a try.

Love Susan

Busy weekends

inktense block, watercolors and home made stamps

It's my little niece's birthday today! So I made her a card, with some surprices in the back.
The cadeau stamp on the card, was made by me too.
I also made some little clay figures,I'll post them when they're dried and painted.

Challenge by Debra

I "found" this blog this weekend and liked the challenge she had set, go big and/or use materials your not used to. So a very good moment for me to test my new inktense blocks and work a lot bigger than I'm used to. (20 by 10 Inch. 25 bij 50 cm)
Here is what I made:


Inktense blocks and watercolor

 I made the background first, with the inktense blocks and then draw the scene with pencil.

Then I colored everything with watercolor.
At last I made the background wet, so the inkblock colors would fill in the rest.


Things I would do different next time:
1. Take more time, I was a bit in a hurry because there was a lot more I had to make.
2. Wet the paper with the inkblock colors on it before painting in the drawing.
3. Use other paper, this was far to thin for watercoloring.


Have a lovely week.


xo Susan

Handmade Stamps - Zelfgemaakte stempels

A few of the stamps I made last month.

I made some real nice onces today, but they are presents. So I will publish them next week.

Love Susan

New art supply

Don't you just love new art supply? I DO!!

I purchased these this morning, after seeing this video.
Tried them out:

And a bit more; directly applied to wet paper and a little flower

These inktense blocks are great. Just a little bit of colour (and water) is enought to make a vibrant ink-like paint. And when the paint is dry, it's permanent and can be worked over. Ideal for a combination with aquarel. I just love it!
Oh and another great feature is that you can also use them with (homemade) stamps.

Love Susan

Illustration Friday, stay

Watercolor and acrylic ink

Your mind doesn't have to stay in the same place your body is.

Our cat House is my remedy, he always knows to make me smile

Hiding in the bath-tub, not that he's anywhere to be found when he has to take a bath

Watching the birds, or me

Feeling quite superior, a real kitty!

Illustration Friday; Midsummer night

Watercolor, drawing ink and acrylic ink

I tried out some new techniques, not quit happy with the result. However I like the overall end result.

A great day

Some days are just better than others. Today we started with a beautiful walk in het Mastbos. 

What a treat; a gostly figure in the tree!

The day ended with a trip down town to do some birthday shopping. And then ...there it was a Dille and Kamille store. Finally we have one!!! (a really nice store, they have everything for the kitchen, bathroom and lots more lovely stuff).

I could't resist this nice one. Made from bamboo! And the two lovely pencils, I love their colors :)

And of course I couldn't resist the temptation to pay a visit to the artsupply store. Did't buy that much do..;) I'm quite exited to try the texture medium.

Love Susan