So i took a plunge and went for the creative jumpstart at Nat Kalbach’s blog  (go to http://nathaliesstudio.com/tutorials/). Not that i am  a regular on have artist’s block’s. But i like to see how others works and think.

I love the creative jumpstart series, and some posts immediatly made me try out the technique. Dina Wakley (see her blog http://dinastamps.typepad.com/) mentioned the painting with paper technique. As a lover of paper, i had to try it out and i will do it more often. It’s relaxing and gives maximum output with minimum effort (well: at least to me).

Next journalpage is about Andre Kuipers, a Dutch astronaut who is in space for a couple of months. This picture appealed to me because it seems outdated (his helmet!) and yet intriguing that he really is in space right now.

Are you ever in a creative rut? I always try to keep going. Maybe not always on the same level of creativity (making color swatches, making samples of mediums) but going, flowing. Even if feeling not creative, you can try out. That is what i had in mind making this artjournal yesterday evening.

[text says: If you do not feel creative (fool yourself &) Try out new supplies, old supplies, how they work out together etc
Knowing your materials wil make you a better artist ANYWAY].

How about you?

Above journal page is what i made after seeing Dina Wakley ‘s contribution to Creative Jumpstart series (for Dina see http://dinastamps.typepad.com/ for Creative Jumpstart go to Nat Kalbach’s blog and request a password if you don’t have it already http://nathaliesstudio.com/tutorials/ ).

I want to add more drawings to my journals; this is a plant that stands in my window. (I will put it on my resulotions for 2012 list along with blogging more often).

This (not so sharp) picture is of a journal page on my recent studio remodeling. Shows my love for paint, paper and a not-so-tidy crafter hehe.

Last months we have been busy remodeling our house: we have a new kitchen and we have rebuilt our attic. Which means i now have a real studio, in stead of a hobby corner.

Here are some pictures of my old hobbycorner which means a table and very little space to store (click on the picture to see a bigger version).

And… tata…. These are pictures of my new studio. Much more space to store materials, much more room to create!

Ikea has done good bussiness on me. I have their Besta shelf units and Expedit bookcase (eeh….. and many other stuff). And though it is still a small studio, just because it is small everything is on my fingertips. I love, love it!

PS: Pffew, this was my first blog in many, many month, even had to reset my pass word and had some trouble finding the most simple things, but after a while it came back to me… Hope to post more often in the near future!

What i could not share fully share on the page, other than a piece of the lyric, is the beautiful song of Anouk. She is a Dutch singer and performer. I like to sing her songs, while Richard my husband plays the guitar (don’t misunderstand: she does a better job!). This song is one of my favorites. When i made the page, i knew i wanted to share the song in a post, so here it comes:

(Michelle: hope you like the song! i know you have a passion for music and LOST and roses are meant to be red seemed so *Winky* that i could not resist working the lyric in the page. Now you know the complete song. By the way, did you see the tattoos on her arm?).

If you want to read the post Michelle wrote after recieving the book, you will find it here. The pics of all the participants are to be found here. Special thanks for this project go to Julie Prichard, Lisa Hoffman and JeriAn Geller. LADIES thanks for taking such great initiative AND collect, gather and work hard to make it the beautifull book it is now!

These days i am into fabric, and less into painting. But in fabric there are lots of possibilities to make portion control. With lace for example, or with see through fabric.

I stamped with bubble plastic, after years of searching, the big ones arrived with something i bought on the internet. If all the circles would have been crisply stamped, it would have given a nice, but uninteresting picture, is my guess. Now it looks grungy, interesting and i haven’t done a thing yet with it. Take a look.

To me it already looks so great, that i am still thinking how i am going to use it in my journal! If you are interested in more portion controll i suggest you go to Michelle Street Team blog and look what she and the other crusader’s did with this. They did some marvelous things, so of you go!!

If you read my last post you can see why it fits so well. This is Richard and me on our wedding day, almost 11 years ago. At the pond near our home. Romantic isn’t it? (if you think i look a little bit tired: YES i am tired. Six weeks before the wedding i gave birth to our oldest daughter, and she had lot of stomach cramps and cried a lot, so i was tired. Now she is almost 11….)

okay, here is the beautifull baby girl that escorted us to the ceremony.Don’t you think she looks so adorable in that dress?

Okay, now all you readers, feel TAGGED and go search for the sixth photo in the sixth map. WHAT IS YOURS?????

And something can be put on my TADA list, because this is for Michelle Ward’s 28th crusade Portion Control.

And the month is NOT even half way… I intend to do some shaping up and controlling later this month!

The pages have been made in my journal for ages, do not know what happened that i still haven’t uploaded them (yeah, christmas things, cards, kids… LOL).

I am fond of scents and as i wrote to one of the other crusaders, it can bring back memories from far, far away (like kindergarten). I am not the type to change every season from parfum… Think i am little bit conservative on that one. For summer my favorite is Clarins, Eau Dynamisante and it smells like soft sweet lemons and when it is getting hotter, you smell it better. On oil base (important so it can not cause sun burn, i have a very sensitive skin…).

And some strange thing: i like to work with the stick of Tombow. Not because it is such a great adhesive (i admit i have had better ones) but because i love the soapy smell. A friend of mine told me she likes to stamp with stazon, for the smell (which is not healthy by the way).

My candles have a lovely scent, and are of a wonderfull color purple, but I do not know which scent it has, only that i bought them with Trendhopper. Which is a Dutch shop, so of absolutely no use for most of you crusaders….

My winter time parfum is Jill Sander. I wanted to make a page of it, but that got in between things, so you get that later.

As i wrote before, i am into fabric these days. I made a fabric book for a partner in crafting, Yvonne. Now that she recieved the booklet, i can show you all the pages, although i just forgot a few pages…. (so me, i do that all the time, annoying, must be on my list for 2009: DO NOT FORGET TO MAKE PICTURES OF WHAT I CREATE BEFORE I SEND THEM AWAY!!!)

Let me end this post with wishing you all the best for 2009, with a lot of flowing creativity, good health, genuine love and lack of any financial troubles! (my card says: a beautifull, sparkling 2009)

Like i told you a few posts before, i am into fabric at this moment. And Yitte is always very creative with fabric (as you can see in her blog here). So it was going to be something with fabric…. More i will not say, because it is going to be sent to Yitte on monday, and i still want it to be a surprise. Edited: because Yitte and i alway tend to the same colors (blue and brown, which are beautifull, but always is just TOO much) i decided that brown and blue were forbidden colors. A colorfull book, it is called All the colors…

So here a sneak peak!!!!

The front of the banner. It is made from fabric i dyed and embossed myself.

And the back… Spray painted paper, ooh i love the glimmer mist. This is green gold. Glimmer mist is one of those products that i really finish and buy new ones of. (Or don’t you have tons of products that you use once a year??? I admit: I do have those!)

Elly: congrats on this great, creative and warm group. If you want to see more of the banners made for Elly, you can find it in the post of Dymphie .