dinsdag 24 december 2013

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2014

Hi Guys,

Very busy around here. I'm planning on posting more often in 2014. Just wanna wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy and Joyfull 2014!

Love Susan

dinsdag 18 juni 2013

Still a live and creating

Hi Guys,


I'm sorry I haven't posted in such a long long time. There are a lot of reasons,
First of al I've had an sinus/nasal cavity operations because my mucous membrane where in a constant state of irritation, that's why every cold ended up with a cavity inflammation which made my right cheek look puffy and blue. I always had to take a course of antibiotics to get rid of it.
The operations itself doesn't take long, the healing process does. I did get some complications so it took even longer for me. Every thing is well now and it's a bigger releave than I would have thought.
Second reason I'm preparing for our emigrations to Scotland and
3th I'm still planning on graduating.

There for blogging will be infrequently till I'm in Scotland.

For now some flowers and a butterfly I created with my new Big Brush pens from Faber-Castell




 
 
 
 
 
Have a nice week,
 
Love Susan

zondag 14 april 2013

Super fun video about the Nachtwacht.

Hi guys,
I found this video on the internet about the reopening of the Rijksmuseum and one of their most famous pieces. It's shot in the shoppingcentre in the middle of the shopping area in "old" Breda, the city centre. The city in which I life. I'm there on a monthly basis (give or take) :)
Have fun watching!!

I haven't been there yet. But I'm definitely planning on going!

Love Susan

donderdag 11 april 2013

chaotic times

Hi guys,

Sooo I've got a lot to tell you all. The biggest news is that we are going to move. My love has found a job in Aberdeen, Scotland. If all goes well the next 6 weeks (he has to pass the retraining tests) I'll be following him there in 6 months!
Emigrating from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom.
It's a lot to take in, to organize and so on. But I'm quite exited.

My love has started his training the 8th of April, which was my Birthday so booohooo for me, I had too spend the day without him. Luckily a lot of friends and family stopped by. (I made some yummie blueberry muffins and at the end of the day they were all gone :))
Yesterday was the day that marked our 10 years together and I haven't even spoken to my love because he's so busy. I did get a wattsapp message, so I'm not really complaining but there are moments that its hard. Soo to chear myself up I've brought myself some washi-tape. I've read that they aren't hot/trending anymore but I still love, love, love them.



  Now I have to think about a place to store them, my old one is full (of washi-tape).

Last time I told you all about projects I saw on Youtube with alcohol and spray ink or acrylic paint.
I've tried a few pages with spay ink and its amazing. Really beautifull background pages with al kinds off shapes.
Here are my pages. I've used different "undergrounds", some pages have none, others have gesso or aquarell ground (schmincke)


First layer: Aquarell-ground. Second layer color wash, multipule times alcohol drops. Third layer:home made glittermist on alcohol basis.
sprayed the paper with water before using the color wash and alcohol.
backsite of the previous paper. I like this side better !
 





First layer: Gesso, second layer Color wash with alcohol.


Gesso and Aqua-ground with color wash
Dylusions and colorwash on dry paper with alcohol drops.



Backside of the paper in the previous picture. Again I like this side better!

Sooo next time I will tell you what I recieved for my birthday and show some project I made with it.

Thanks for reading!

Love Susan

woensdag 27 maart 2013

Cheerfull display

Hello hello,

Spring has arrived, I hope. We have beautiful clear blue skies with a happy sun. Its still cold outside (around 1 Celsius). I'm really enjoying my study in the attic. The two windows allow me to enjoy the sun the whole day!
I'm alway interested in other peoples interiors, creative rooms, cheerfull displays. So I've decided to update mine and share it with you:


What your seeing is what I'm seeing when I'm working on my desk. It really is a mixture of new and old things I adore. The cups are a gift from my grandmother. De white frame with the paiting with polarbeers I've won in a giveaway from Veronique. The card with the "apple tree" is a lovely note from Su-pyo which came with some beautifull writingpaper I've won in a giveaway on her blog.
I've grown up with the dog in the picture. He's not with us anymore (for a long long time now). Further more some things I've made of found.
I think it will stay up for a few month before I will re-arange it.

Love Susan

dinsdag 26 maart 2013

Creative JumpStart 2013 Last post.

Hi Guys,

I'm sooooo sorry I haven't posted earlier. There's a lot going on at the moment. It's a bit too early for me to blog about that yet, I will when I feel I've sorted it all out (in my head at least :))
First I'll show you all my progress on the last tutorials in Creative Jumpstart 2013. The video's are still available on Natalie's blog.

Number 32 is a tutorial from Nathalie about PanPastels:

The stamps are from Hero Arts

Number 33 is a tutorial from Dina Wakley. She shows a few techniques, one is how to use stamps on tissuepaper. I really loved this and my result is quite "grungie" and will make a perfect background.
most of the stamps are made by Paperartsy from the hotpick series. The background rainbow color is made with Neocolor II from Caran d'Ache)

After I had lot's of fun with that page I recieved a parcel with some sticky back canvas I needed for CJS number 22 with Claudine Hellmuth. I've used some of her techniques and with the last one I just played around.
All four a soo different.. I love it.

Lesson 35 was made by Nathalie also and soooooooo much fun. She called it Gesso fun and that's just what it is!

Festina Lente = Hurry slowly
I've used Gesso (duh) dylusions blue and Neocolor II from Caran d'Ache. They are one of my favourites, I only have 15 colors but the possibilities are endless. ( still I'm saving for a bigger box, Í'll just use this box for traveling)
 
Then there were some give aways and tutorials with materials I don't have or techniques I already knew.
So the next one I made was number 41 made by Nathalie, again :)
In this tutorial she used different kinds of tape, the result is stunning. I've used tissue tape from two different brands and some homemade tissue tape, some sticky back canvas cuts and some papertape from Leukopor. It's used for bandages (I'm allergic to all other kinds of sticky tapes and bandages). Leukopos is the official brand here but there are cheaper ones. (I've found, in my eyes, the same material by Kruidvat (dutch drug store).
The best part of the papertape is 1. that you can remove it afterwards and 2 that you can winkle it up and gives you great texture.
I've use my other favourite coloring suply for this one: Inktense blocks from Derwent.

So the last CJS tutorial I've made is number 42 by Ronda Palazzari. A tutorial with templates and watersolubles. I've used my trusted Neocolor II again.


Soooo my sketchbook isn't full yet...so I will be roaming Youtube to find some great other techniques. I've set my eyes on some technique with alcohol, I will be playing with that one this week and show you guys the result next week.

Oh last but not least I've made a fun index for the Creative Jumpstart:


Soo that's it. I've still some fun items to show from last month. I will post again soon I promise.

Love Susan

vrijdag 15 maart 2013

Buttons - Knoopjes

Hi Guys,

How are you all doing? I'm recovered from the flu, I'm still a bit weary but I'm sure that will be over when spring begins. (or the sun comes out) We've had a couple of lovely sunny days but now its snowing again.
I've been a bit creative, even when I was ill but the first thing I want to show is my new button collection. I've received these buttons from my lovers aunt. :)

 
 
 
 
 

Quite a large nummer and huge variety!! I love looking at them and I'm pondering on projects to use them!

Love Susan

zaterdag 9 februari 2013

spring days

Hi Guys,

A very short note from me, I've got the flu, or actually the flu has gotten me.
I've been really sick and am only slowly recovering.
I hate it!! It's been a long time that I've been this sick. Even now I'm only up for a couple of hours.
I hope to have something fun and creative to show next week.

Love Susan

zondag 27 januari 2013

Creative JumpStart 16 to 30

Goeie middag, good afternoon,

I've had an evening out yesterday. I had a delicious dinner and a good time with my friend Wanda. After dinner we went to the bar we used to go to a lot when we were younger. At the bar were a couple of friends and we had a blast. So now I'm a bit hoarse and very tired, but it was totally worth it!

Back to Creative JumpStart 2013, reaching the end of January means that Creative JumpStart is almost over... boehoe. I really enjoy the daily mails with fun techniques.
The last video was number 37 but I'm not that up to date :)
So here is what I've made:

Number 16 with Anna, she uses tiny tiny seed beads. I love what she made but it's not really my style.
Nummer 18 with Nathalie: Watersplash and Acrylic paint:




Very fun technique. I'm definitively going to use it more!! In the last one I used some kitchentowel to dab the water off, I think I pressed too hard because the texture is still visable!! Which is a good thing, I love texture :)


CJS 19 was shown by Rachel an oilpastel resist technique, among 2 others, with photostamps. I loved the result and tried my best, but I think I don't have the right photostamp. I love the DarkroomDoor stamps a lot, but they are quite expensive for me (student, with a low paid parttime job.)

Here's my result:


CJS 20 is presented by Janna. 3 ways too make splatters with spray inks. A very lovely video with techniques I knew, but a superb refresh video :) And I had a lot of fun making this:


CJS video nummer 22 is made by Claudine and she shows us three ways too use sticky back canvas. I loved it, but I don't have sticky back canvas. I put in on my supply list and when I have money to spend I'm gona buy myself a packet.

CJS technique video 24 is made by Nathalie: A very fun and fast technique to make colorfull backgrounds with a few blobs of paint and a brayer.

On the first one you can still see the texture the brayer made. The second one was quite messy so I sprayed with water and use a kitchentowel to dab dry and it left the beautiful texture. The last one was also messy, so I sprayed with water but used a babywhipe to remove the remnant paint. No texture there.

After I made these fun pages I wanted to make something else and I carved 4 stamps. I really love to make my own stamps if its possible:


CJS 26 is a video made by Carmen; she shows 3 different ways to use napkins. Lovely to see but not really my kind of style. But visit her blog because the things she makes and shows there are awesome!
CJS 28 is presented by Vicky; she shows her new die(cut) but I don't have a die cutting machine.

CJS nummer 29 is another fun video from Nathalie. She uses acrylic ink on (old) black and white pictures. I love it! I don't think I would have tried that. Too use ink on pictures opens a lot of possibilities!! I made this composition photo:


And this is how it looked after I used the acrylic inks:



So and now the last CJS in this post number 30 by Revlie; She shows a couple of different ways to use felt and fabric in your art(journals). Really inspiring and I'm defenitly going to use some of her ideas after I've bought some Felt.

I hope you all have/had a lovely weekend.

Love Susan




zaterdag 26 januari 2013

Conversations with my pet

Hi there,

I'm sure I'm not the only one having conversations with my pet, Tina from Tinajo posted some of her hilarious conversations with her pets, and I've one for you too:

House (the cat):
You've been working on your holiday smash book for soooo long today, I feel alone and under appreciated. I want to be the focus of your attention for a while.

Me: Oh House, I would love to give you lots of attentions and pet you for hours but you don't like that at all. You always walk away....

House: Well yes, but I wanna be close too you now.

Me: I like that a lot but I wanna finish this book today, so I will clean a piece of workspace for you.

House: leave some paper, you know I love to rest my buttocks on paper.


Me: Will this work?
House: Let me try it out.... No I like that red piece and the picture your working on right now.


Me: Oh no no no. That won't do at all! I'll put some books down for you to lay on, and you can have a view on what I'm working on:


House: Well if you insist, this will work.

And I did finish my smash book, I will make a litte video of it to show you all, next month.

I hope you'll have a lot of nice conversations with your pets and a nice weekend

Love Susan

Update CJS 15

Hi Guys,

Here is the clay piece I've made after it dried:

I do like it a lot, but have no idea of what to make with it. One day I will :)

Love Susan

woensdag 23 januari 2013

Creative JumpStart 13 and 15

Hi Guys,

So here are some pictures of what I've been making using the techniques provided by Creative Jumpstart video 13 and 15. You might think where are 12 and 14; well I love technique 12 but I think it will take time, so I'm gona do the techniques in that video when I feel relaxed and have the time too really dive into it. 14 is a give away so no technique there.

Creative JumpStart 13 is a video made by Nathalie herself. And here she uses gesso with her stamps.
I really liked the idea and tried the technique with a few stamps. Conclusion: don't use stamps with fine details, like my pencil stamp, that won't work.


The flowers are from Heroarts, the pencilstamp I got as a gift and there was no name on it.
I made this one with a background stamp from Darkroom Door. They have amazing stamps I would like to have them all :) Too bad they are a bit expensive and I'm still a student with a job that pays me a crapy salary. :)


Creative JumpStart 15 is a video by Christine. She uses a spray coating named: Krylon Crystal Clear to make transfers on fabric and clay. I was sooooo excited to try that one because the results in the video are fabulous.
Krylon is not for sale in The Netherlands so I used a coating I had from Winsor and Newton.
Lets just say the results are totaly different :)
I'm not even going to show you the result I had on fabric becauce its just a blob of color, barely visable. Okay maybe I should have used denim, but it was light blue and I had a project in mind.
I also tried it on clay, I've used DAS, modeling material. It's a bit grey when its wet but dries up white. I only have a picture when it was still wet. I tried to make a picture just jet but it's already too dark so that picture will have to wait for my next blogpost.




So that's it for now.
See you next week!

Love Susan







maandag 14 januari 2013

Creative JumpStart 9 & 10

 
Hi there,

I'm still being amazed by the techniques in Creative JumpStart by Nathalie.
I've tried some and here are the result of video 9 with Karen :
 
 
I allways clear my desk, set up the supplies I need and go for a cup of tea or coffee, the picture below is how I found my desk after getting tea:
 



So after putting House in his basket (its a he and his name is House M.D.(yeah after the brilliant televisionserie :)), or House for short. After getting rid of his hair, which is very fluffy and goes everywhere, I was ready to start.
Karen uses a Gelli Plate for her background. I don't have one and use a sheet of plastic, its workable:


I don't have the beautifull coloured molding paste Karen used so I made my own with:


It worked quite well although I wouldn't put any perfect peals in a second batch.
The sparks became visible after drying.



 
 

Lesson 10

Lesson 10 was made by Nathalie herself and consist a resist technique with gel medium.
For the first page I used colorwash, gesso, gel medium (golden) and a stencil:
 
 
 
 
I didn't like the color, its a bit dull. So I tried a second time but didn't gesso the page and used dylusions:
 
 
The colours are a lot brigher which I like but it looks like the color has run under the dried gelmedium, which I don't like. So maybe I should use a primer especially for watercolor. I might give it a try later.
 
I've got a very busy week ahead so I hope I will have time to try some other techniques and show the results here next monday but I won't promise anything.
 
I hope you'll have a great week,
 
Love Susan