….

…

..

.

YAAAYY!!

FEATURING reached its Thunderclap goal and just now the message and name was blasted out across Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Oh, and I hope you have seen this review that Nathalie Kalbach wrote on her blog? WOWZAH, thank you Nat!!!

FEATURING magazine sure captured people’s attention! A major campaign starts now – read all about it HERE.

..

Now for some “odds and ends”

My online art journal workshop LET IT LOOSE starts next week!

October 28 – December 5; 2013

This workshop will loosen you up and take you a step further in creating your own, unique art journal pages. You’ll learn some basic writing techniques to improve your journaling and you will get tips and techniques to use your own handwriting (You dislike your own handwriting? You might be surprised what you can do with it!) Furthermore, you will learn art techniques like working with collages, paint, colours, gesso and gel medium.

Curious yet? The public gallery on the website shows art that former students made in this workshop and for even more info about Let it Loose (and registration) click HERE

My latest art journal spread:

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 41

… and I fooled around with the small size again for a change… it’s nice to go from creating on a two-page sized spread (12.2 x 9.6 inch) to the size of an ATC (2 x 3 inch)

Shelter & Sanctuary

I’m off to work some more on the FEATURING campaign… there will be updates on the FEATURING Website and Facebook page every day for the next few weeks… I do hope you will follow us there as we have some interesting ‘little articles’ up our sleeves…!!!

I have been busy promoting the Thunderclap page of ‘my baby’ FEATURING magazine.
Next week, FEATURING will start a promotion Campaign that will run for at least three weeks and we want to start that campaign with a “Thundering clap”… but we need a lot of support to do that – 500 supporters, to be exactly.

At the moment,  our Thunderclap promo counts 155 supporters – so we are not even close to the goal…  Have you joined yet??? No??? Help me out here then!

Please support FEATURING magazine and donate a tweet or facebook status update here:

http://thndr.it/15OjQip

Not convinced that you should give your support yet?
Then maybe this blog post by Robin Walsh can give you just that last push to support us….

I did not have much time to be creative last week, but I do keep up with the Chronicles art journal. Come on in to view some older spreads from past weeks I had not published yet…

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 37

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 38

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 39

Hope your week started fine… enjoy!
See you Wednesday!

Time flies… yet another Wednesday, yet more tales from the studio then…

First, there is today’s golden oldie scrapbook layout

(I don’t create ‘traditional scrapbook layouts’ anymore but every Wednesday I dive into my albums and lift a ‘golden oldie.’ The layouts I pick are random, YOU – blog readers – name the number of the album and layout to show. Let me know in a comment which album you want me to open next week – to avoid that you name layouts that have already been requested, you can find a list showing the ‘free’ numbers to choose from on this page.

John W. asked me to open album 2 and lift layout #10 from it – so I flipped through the pages of that album and at the given page I found this really old scrapbook ‘spread’ (a double-paged layout) that I made in 2006 or so…

Zomer in Zeeland (“Summer in Zeeland”)

Zeeland is the province/district I grew up… and as the name suggests; this region lays near the sea. I combined all sorts of photos on this spread: old ones (me as a little girl and with my friends when we were teens) as well as more recent ones (my son at that same beach.)

If YOU want to request a ‘golden oldie’: you can find the list of layouts to choose from HERE. Let me know in a comment which album you want me to open up and which layout you want me to show next week…

Now that we are in the studio… let us take a look at my work desk ’cause it is “What’s On My Work desk? Wednesday,” Julia’s weekly Wednesday blog hop. WOYWW is THE event where crafty and artistic individuals around he world share pictures of their desks.

The small desk in front of the window, where I usually create, is kinda empty this morning. The big desk however shows all the more… I played with my stencils yesterday (I got some new ones for my birthday, yay!) I had major fun and soaked all kinds of paper backgrounds in ink… I left the last one on the table to dry yesterday evening and this morning I found my desk looking like this.

WOYWW #227

I have not shown you the pages I made in my Chronicles art journal for a long time… so let me catch up a little bit and show you some…

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 34

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 35

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 36

One more thing before I hit the ‘publish’ button… have you seen that widget in the side menu, counting down the days??? It says “12 days left” and “14% completed.”

You guessed it… that number has to go up to 100% and to do that
I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

You probably know that I am the founder of FEATURING magazine. The magazine has a big campaign in the make, starting with a THUNDERCLAP on October 21… but we have to reach the goal of 500 supporters on that date to make it happen. We have only 12 days left to reach that goal and therefore we can use every vote!

Now I could give you a long expanation about the what and how, but I won’t do that here… you can find an explanation HERE.

Read it? Wanna help? Then please  visit our Thunderclap page and donate a tweet or Facebook status update to help us reach our goal!!!

Thanks  – and enjoy your day dear ones.
Make some mess on your desk!

Hello Friday, Hello Friends – let me start with a warning.. this blogpost contains
an OVERLOAD on PICTURES and it even starts with a VIDEO.
Are you in for all that? Then welcome, come on in!

To begin with this

We did it again! FEATURING #4 is out and I am majorly proud!!!
As you know we ship the magazine all over the world, so no matter where you live:
if you buy it, we send it your way! Purchase your copy HERE

On to another Book title Haiku now.
[Yes, I found yet another haiku combining the titles of my books… ]

*English title: Scarlet Feather 

And of course I submit this haiku to Haiku my Heart Friday –  the weekly event where haiku-lovers gather around our lovely hostess Rebecca to find poetry, inspiration, wise words and a lot of kindness and love.

A week ago, I received this comment from Michelle LaPoint Rydell

I answered the first question ~ HOW MANY JOURNALS DO YOU HAVE GOING? ~ in last Wednesday-post, and today I’ll walk you through my creative process

~ WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS LIKE? ~

I documented the process of making my weekly “Chronicles” spread to show you how I work. I make these weekly spreads for the fourth year now. (I just counted the spreads, and the one created here is #165) During those four years, I build up a certain routine – that starts at the beginning of the week. Tammy asked about it in an interview once and here’s the answer I gave:

“My way of working on the spreads changed over the years. I started with making the spread on Monday (creating the background and add the first images and text) and added some more every day. Eventually, that didn’t work for me. The spreads looked disjointed by the end of the week. Also, unexpected events could happen during the week and when it did, there was no room left on the pages to write about it because of what I added already. Another ‘problem’ I bumped on to was that the ‘feel’ of a week could change when the days went by. For instance, I would start with creating a bright, green or yellow background on a sunny Monday and then it would rain from Tuesday ’til Sunday… things like that changed my mood and by the end of the week the spread had the wrong ‘feel’.”  [Read the complete interview here on the Daisy Yellow blog]

So now I have a sheet of paper laying in the house, where I jot down what I did each day. Just short notes, like ‘I went to the market’. I make my weekly spread in the weekend – I sometimes start on Saturday but usually I make it from scratch on Sundays. Reading the notes at the end of the week automatically bring back the memories. (Sometimes, there’s a longer story to tell and my notes are longer then…)

Also, when I come across an image that I think would fit on the weekly spread, I keep it with the notes.

Last week looked like this:

The ‘card’ is a gelatine monotype that I stitched on. I did not know what to do with it next, so I kept it to use on my Chronicles page.

On to making the spread then… when looking at the mono type, I noticed that little bit of ochre in the image and I decided to paint my pages in that colour… so I got out the paint and smeared ochre on the page using an old credit card.

… and now comes the fun part of my creative process… that’s how the brain works (well, my brain anyway…)

– I have paint and a plastic credit card on the table already.
– The Chronicles pages need to dry.
– I have a stack of index cards for grabs.
– My hands are dirty already…

So ‘in between’ I add paint to three index cards – no idea where that will lead me later – but I don’t have to think about it now.

And did I randomly choose these colours to smear on the index cards? It may seem like that, but if you looked closely to the former photos, you’ll see that the same colours were used on my ‘starting point’ – the monotype… apparantly I am in that particular ‘colour mood’ and therefore it is no wonder I chose these blues.

Back to the Chronicles page then…. let’s take a bigger step:

I added the monotype (using washi tape) and I put a bit of colour around the ochre shape to balance the colours. After that, I cut out paper strips to make a colourful frame. I outlined the paper scraps with a black sharpie to give it more contrast. (You can see the difference, as on the above picture there’s a part of the frame – on the right – outlined, while the left side is still without lines…)

Next, I think the spread needs yet another image – so I grab some old magazines and flip through the pages. The ‘jumping woman with the robe’ maybe???

Naah…. too big a picture…

This one’s better!

Next, I draw lines to put the journaling on.
(using black and white sharpies)

Last, I write the journaling using my notes as a guide/memory support.
I filled in the ‘holes’ of the letters with a red copic marker just for a fun finishing touch.
So here it is:

Chronicles of Marit 2013 – Week 25

Size: 31 x 24,5 cm - 12.2 x 9.6 inch

The index cards with the blue paint – shown above – are not finished yet, but I did make two other cards for the Box of Longing which I – of course – also submit to ICAD

This is another example of how my ‘creative process’ works [don’t worry, there’s not as many pictures as above 😉 ]

Flipping through magazine pages, I bumped onto this advertisement.

I cut out the text.

Seeing that red line, the map of the London underground came to mind

The red line was the inspiration for the stitching – and here’s the index card I ended up with.

Take a Different Road

and another card, collaged with scraps torn out of the book The Brewery Manual 1961 – 1962
that I bought on a flea market years ago.

Dig this… Real Cool Beer

“Real cool beer” would go perfectly with Summer temperatures but we experience cold, grey and rainy days here in the Netherlands. I even had to put on a cardigan to stay warm. Can you believe it? In June??!!

I do hope it will get better soon because tomorrow the Tour de France starts, and it is half the fun to have to close the curtains against the bright sun to be able to watch the race on TV. I really look forward to it!

And you? Is there something you look forward to?
Whatever you are planning, I wish you all a wonderful weekend!.

I want to start this Wednesday post with some shameless promotion and a little bit of cheating – but I’m sure I’ll be forgiven when you see what I laid on my work desk on purpose today…

btw: I DID take a ‘non faked’ photo of my work desk too 😉 see at the end of this post.

That’s right, the new FEATURING is OUT!!!! There is an interview with Julia Dunnit, founder and hostess of the blogseries What’s On Your Work desk, Wednesday (woyww) in this issue, illustrated by (as you can see) photos of work desks from participants**.

FEATURING is an international, printed magazine that is shipped all over the world.
You can purchase your copy HERE

**I want to thank all of you who helped promoting the magazine on your own blogs.
You’re the best, gals!!!

OK – on the the usual Into the Studio post then… although it is not that usual. Something changed in the room – come on in and I’ll show you..

First, as every Wednesday, here’s a golden oldie scrapbook layout for you – lifted from one of my old scrapbook albums.

(I don’t create ‘traditional scrapbook layouts’ anymore but every Wednesday I dive into my albums and lift a ‘golden oldie.’ The layouts I pick are random, YOU – blog readers – name the number of the album and layout to show. Let me know in a comment which album you want me to open next week and what layout I should show… )

This week’s request came from Lisa Richards – from Pen and Ink… and maybe some paint…  Lisa asked me to open album 6 and show layout #11. {click on the image to enlarge}

A straight-forward old-fashioned scrap layout. You know, the way they were done back in the days: a photo – a title – a little bit of journaling – embellish…. oh wait, I never was much of an ’embellishment girl… no embellies then. Just a coloured frame and some sand. Does that count as embellishment??? Anyway, the beach-theme is pretty appropriate this time of year. Well chosen, Lisa 😉

{This layout was made with a sketch, as you can see in this old blogpost from August 2009.}

Last week, I received this comment from Michelle LaPoint Rydell

I am happy to answer and I will do so by dividing my answer in two – answering one question now
and the other one in my Friday post.

~ HOW MANY JOURNALS DO YOU HAVE GOING? ~

At the moment I have seven journals on my shelf that I work in on a regular base.

As you can see, they all have a different size and shape.
Some have a theme and some are, what I call, ‘miscellaneous’ – meaning I feel free to do anything I want in there…

Some of the journals are a bit neglected… I don’t work much lately in the ones that are shown on the next photo. It sometimes happens that I suddenly feel like working big (hence journals 5 and 7) but that is not the case lately…

These are the three journals that I grab these days. Number #4 is my weekly Chronicles, that you probably know about. Numbers #3 and #6 are – what you can call – ‘miscellaneous (although I did give them a title.) These are favorite at the moment.. but the most favorite size that I work on these days are index cards. The ‘Box of Longing’ is not really an art journal maybe, but it’s what I like to work on right now.

So here are some Index cards I made last week.
I submit these also to ICAD and Glue it Tuesday.

Long Shadows

DETAIL: puffy paint and machine stitching

Wild Card

Urban Explosion

I told you at the beginning of this post, something changed in the studio.
I show you the before and after photo:

My beloved cleaned and re-arranged the office last week and – lucky me – after cleaning he had a table left over. I had been complaining about the bad (yellow) light I had to work with from the moment I moved into this studio – half the time that I spend there I stood in front of the window working on the window-sill – and I was on the look-out for a good, natural light lamp. That won’t be necessary now, ’cause that small table in front of the window makes it all work!

The window-sill on the left and the small, mobile cabinet on the right provide additional surface. I still make use of the bigger work desk too of course, but when it comes to choosing the exact right colors or creating something real delicate (meaning I need good light ánd my reading glasses) – this table is perfect!

So, here it is, today’s workdesk!
(If you have no idea what I’m talking about when I say woyww, hop on over to Julia and find out)

WOYWW #212
[Julia says on her blog that it is week 213, but to my count it really has to be 212…]

Well, that was quite some blogpost, wasn’t it? Did you read all the way top to bottom? You must really love me then {*kiss*}

I love you right back, dear ones,
see you again soon.

OH MAN… the path to FEATURING issue #4 was not a smooth one!
We faced illness, technical and personal difficulties and set-backs –
but the team helped each other out and we have achieved to finish
the fourth issue with success. So now… drumroll please….

I am happy to announce that issue #4

of FEATURING is COMING SOON!

And this issue is indeed as  inspirational, versatile and artsy as the former ones, if not more.

But hey, I am the editor-in-chief and the magazine is my baby so why should you believe me?
You better go and see for yourself.

Read the brief summary of the content

Flip through some of the pages in the preview

It will take a while for the actual paper magazine to get back from the printing office, but you may want to pre-order the magazine because when you do that, you have the chance to win a Mixed Media Paper Craft Kit from Gauche Alchemy!!

Yes, you heard it right: FEATURING cooperated with GAUCHE ALCHEMY for A GIVE AWAY.

We will give away 5 ACME Mixed Media Paper Craft kits to readers who pre-order issue #4 before June 23. The fourth issue of the magazine will be released soon after.

Now that is an extra reason to want to order the magazine, isn’t it? Why not go ahead then. PRE ORDER/BUY your copy now to have your name in the hat for our give away and to make sure the fourth issue of FEATURING will come your way as soon as it is released.

Done? YAY! Thanks!
On to the haiku and the rest of the post then.

*This has nothing to do with me - just saying, in case you start to worry.

As always, I submit my haiku to Haiku my Heart Friday

This Summer, I am participating in Tammy Garcia’s Index-Card-A-Day 2013

Tammy asked me to co-operate and I contributed a tutorial – which you can find here – and translated all the prompts and themes for her. Artists from different countries helped with translating, so besides the English texts, you can find the ICAD prompts in Dutch, French, Italian and Swedish now! Here are the prompts for week #1 and here’s week #2

The themes and prompts Tammy gives are all optional but I decided to try and work with the given challenges…  the overall theme for week #1 was ‘Color’ or ‘Rainbow colors’.
So far, I made (only) three index cards but I hope to catch up…

ICAD prompt #1 – Zebra

ICAD prompt #2 – Candyland

ICAD prompt #3 – “Faux Stitches”

Working on these cards is a good practice for me to ‘loosen up and let go’ – something I always tell my students in the workshops to do but have to be reminded of myself from time to time…

This was quite a long blogpost… did you read all the way and are you still with me?
WOW, then you’re the best!

The sun is shining overhere (finally Summer arrived this week!) and I am going to grab me a stack of index cards, some colored pens, a cool drink and a chair…. and spend the afternoon in the garden. I hope to visit the haiku circle later.

I wish you all sunshine and joy this weekend.
Go grab an index card and color a rainbow!

A lot to show, a lot to tell… and a busy day ahead so let’s get going…

I skipped the golden oldie last week because of the woyww-anniversary but today I show you a scrapbook layout again – lifted from one of my old scrapbook albums.

(I don’t create ‘traditional scrapbook layouts’ anymore but every Wednesday I dive into my albums and lift a ‘golden oldie.’ The layouts I pick are random, YOU – blog readers – name the number of the album and layout to show. Let me know in a comment which album you want me to open next week and what layout I should show… )

This week’s request came from Elizabeth Harms & Yoda – from Queenartoypia – who asked me to open album 3 and show layout #6. {click on the image to enlarge}

This spread is made in 2007. Because there are all sorts of photos on this spread I did not get the colors right photographing it – but you get the ‘feel’ of this page. Yes, that’s me at different ages. The title says “You’re getting older, Marit.”

And on a NOTE: both Jenneke and Kim asked me to open album 7 and show layout 7.
I was asked to show that before… the post/layout can be find HERE girls!

Are you participating in Tammy Garcia’s Index-Card-A-Day 2013???

I was honored when Tammy asked me to co-operate and contribute a tutorial
to her event. Today, she publishes the tutorial on her blog with which I made
these examples.

When I write this post, the ICAD post is not online yet (I am ahead in time here in Europe) but later today you should find it on the Daisy Yellow blog.

Edit: the tutorial is online. You can find it HERE

WOYWW #209

Last week, at the fourth anniversary of WOYWW, I wanted to visit the complete list of participants but I didn’t manage to get to them all… sorry gals/guys, you are with soooo many 😉

I did swap my ATCs except for one… yep, I have one ATC left.

Sooo – if you have one spare and like to swap it with me, email me your address (find the email-button in the side menu) and I send it to you.

I only have received one ATC from my swap yet (thank you Alipeeps!) and am waiting for some more to come in… when they all are here I will make photos to show to you.

On to what WOYWW and for which it is intended: showing your work desk.
Mine can be found here these days

Yesssss… finally, the sun showed and being in my studio just felt like a shame. So I grabbed a bunch of Index cards and some tools and headed for the garden. Here’s my improvised desk.

Now onto something really exciting concerning What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday ánd FEATURING magazine [I am the founder and editor-in–chief of the latter.]
For the ones who never heard of it:

“FEATURING is a printed publication – shipped worldwide – that showcases mixed media and more from amateurs – who make the most wonderful art pieces but don’t dare to call themselves ‘artists’ – as well as from ‘professionals’ who make a living from their passion. FEATURING offers artists from all over the world, handmade books, mixed media, scrap layouts, photos… you name it. Readers will also enjoy glimpses into studios, background stories and insightful interviews: Oh, and don’t forget inspiration. You will definitely find a lot of inspiration!”

As you know, WOYWW is hosted by Julia Dunnit, and we from FEATURING interviewed her for an article in the magazine. The magazine is heading for the printer’s office this week so we’re in the publication stage YAY!!

The article is of course illustrated by photo’s of desks – after all, that is what WOYWW is all about – and besides Julia’s desk you will see photos from WOYWW-participants Annette, Sara, Eliza, April, Maisie Moonshine and Gabriele. Awesome, isn’t it?

Wait, it gets even better!!

FEATURING & GAUCHE ALCHEMY became BFF’s

If you PRE-ORDER the newest issue, you’ll be entered for a chance
to win 1 of 5 Gauche Alchemy ACME kits!

Ooohhhh, don’t you just LOVE that company?
I DO!!! It is that I am the owner of FEATURING magazine and will get a copy for free 😉 otherwise I would order this issue immediately myself.

OK… enough for the shouting – if you wanna know more you better go to the FEATURING website or get the latest news via Facebook and Twitter.

I’m off to start the rest of my busy day… I am afraid I won’t see that improvised desk today but who knows, maybe tomorrow?
I wish you all a nice and sunny day.
Do something good with it.
Make an index card!

Good morning, good morning from my studio where today my desk is filled with a bunch of gorgeousness… I’ll show you that – and more – in this post. Come on in.

Let us start with a Golden Oldie from my albums

Brenda requested in a comment last week, that I’d open up album 6 and show layout #3.

I remember making this layout in the Summer of 2009 – I had just discovered working with spray ink and I still like how this turned out.

I looked up the old post HERE and to my surprise I also see the BCR pop up in that post… (if you know what I mean with BCR, then you must be around my age 😉 ) – is it a coincidence I just started re-reading Leslie’s biography this week?!

Do you like my ‘golden oldies’??? Then leave me a comment saying which album I should open next week and which layout you want me to show… numbers please!

In a minute, I will show you my desk but you won’t see my Chronicles spread laying half-finished among the other stuff… ’cause I finished last week’s art journal spread!

 The Chronicles – Week 10

So, what’s on my desk then?
Well, a lot of creativeness, but not mine… LOOK!

WOYWW #197

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday is hosted by Julia from the Stamping Ground. If you like to see other people’s creative spaces then pop on over to Julia’s blog to find the list of participants or, even better, join the weekly gathering and share a photo of your own work desk.

FEATURING magazine had a call for mail art and now that the deadline has finished, my desk is overflowing with all the art we received through the postal system! I gathered all mail art and information and am ready to start writing the article for the fourth issue.

Yes, that’s right: we’ve successfully published three issues of FEATURING already!

I’m still so proud of the fact that my beloved and I managed to give birth to this magazine and of my enthusiastic team that is writing interesting and marvelous articles. When readers let me know that they LOVE the magazine (and they do!) I feel truly blessed. Still, I notice that a lot of artists/crafters haven’t heard of it yet. We could use some promoting so if you love FEATURING please blog about it, tell your friends and spread the word. All issues are available in the FEATURING store.

Connect with FEATURING here:

Website:  www.featuringmagazine.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Featuringmagazine
Twitter:  @Featuring_Mag

All the mail art is spread over three stacks on my desk (it’s ‘safer’ that way 😉 ) but to show you how much we received, I made one big pile for a photo. LOOK AT THIS!

All will be photographed and some mail will end up as illustration with the article… so you see, a lot of work still has to be done.

Thanks so much if you have submitted to this project.

Well, enough with talking about this article – I better get working on it!

I hope you all have a wonderful, creative day.
(Make someone happy – send mail art!)

A publisher’s worst nightmares happened: when FEATURING was
delivered from the printing office, it turned out that one of the pages
in the issue showed a huge printing fault. Therefore, we decided we could
not send it off to the customers. FEATURING stands for a high quality
magazine, not only in content but also in how it looks – the finishing.
We refuse to send our customers a magazine that shows an artwork that
is mutilated because of wrong printing. So we demanded the printing office
to start over and print the magazine again. That means that there will be
a delay and, because of the holidays, it will take almost a Month before
issue 3 will (again) come out.

I’m sure you all will understand why I did not write a blogpost last Friday.
Beside the emotions I had to deal with, there were all kinds of things that
had to be taken care off… after the dust settled down a bit, I went to visit
my parents (it was my mom’s birthday) and it did me good.

breath in, breath out…

So now all customers are notified of what happened.
A huge THANK YOU goes out to all of you who send an email
with nice words and support. It is highly appreciated by me
and my beloved-partner-in-crime! We could use the support
and it strengthened us in the idea that we made the right decision!

I was not very creative either last week, but I can show you
the spread from the week before…

The Chronicles of Marit 2012 – Week 49

Last Sunday, the day when I usually start working on the Chronicles spread,
I used the journal to vent and put all my frustration on the page. Week 50 was
a week I hope not to experience ever again in my life!

The Chronicles of Marit 2012 – Week 50

I blurred a complete strip of angry words ’cause believe me, you don’t want
to read the words I jotted down there. I don’t want to disturb the image you
have of me being a nice and polite lady  😉

OK… now let’s put week 50 behind us… what’s new?

Well, there is the top 2000 blogparty starting a week from now!
Some of you are really on top of it and already submitted art pieces.
I finished the first piece myself too. I’m working on the next page/
song right now and as you know: this year I choose songs that
evoke fun memories. There will be stories to tell with my pages
but I will not do that during the top 2000 week. I plan to tell you
the ‘background story’ that goes with each piece in the first week
of January.

After we all have settled nicely into the New Year, the online
workshop Mixed Emotions will start in February.
There’s already a group of registered participants but since this
is an online workshop, there’s always room for YOU too! Click
the link to find out more about the workshop.

I have been thinking about a new ‘One Little Word’ for 2013
and I will reflect on the past year’s word and talk about the new one
in my next blogpost. That will also be the last ‘regular’ post of the
year, as on Christmasday the top 2000 party will start.

Hope to see you all on Friday ánd at the top 2000 party.
Have a nice week, go find a song on the list to create with!

Riikka’s ‘Creative Christmas Calendar’ is in full swing –
every day she opens a ‘window’ on her blog Paperiliitin.
Today is day eleven…

… and guess who was behind it?

Yep, that’s right, MOI!

I wrote a tutorial about personal writing and also show a fun way
to get the journaling in a nice, creative way on your art journal page.

Here’s a sneak

To read the full tutorial, hop on over to window 11 on Paperiliitin

Today is a special day ’cause
I expect FEATURING (issue 3)
to come from the printer’s office!
I cannot wait to hold a printed
copy in my hand! It might be
late in the afternoon before they
drop the boxes off – I will probably
be nervous all afternoon, hoping
nothing goes wrong (all kinds of
images on what CAN go wrong
come to mind now… eeeck…
I better not think about it!)

Anyway, the plan is to get
the first load of orders
shipped tomorrow – so if you
have not ordered your copy yet
and want to be in that first
shipping… ORDER IT NOW!

If the postal service isn’t too slow you might have the magazine delivered
at your place before Christmas!

You know what happens the week after
Christmas, don’t you? I would be delight-
ed if you played along with my Creative
and Musical top 2000 party! Have you
scrolled through the top 2000 list yet
to find your fave songs to create with?

I challenged myself this year to come up with a different approach: I pick songs that have a special or fun memory attached to it – the song itself does not have to be my fave. I came to the conclusion that when I pick songs this way, there are in fact a lot of dull songs that raise memories. I almost changed my mind when I saw that, it was quite a hurdle I had to take to go create with ‘weird’ or dull songs – but I challenged myself to get over it and already made the first piece. I have to giggle every time I see that page now… the song is so absurd and the memory is so nice! I’m glad I choose the songs this way after all.

Oh, and some other artists also submitted their pieces already.
I hope you will join us! See this post for all the details.

In the New Year, when everything is back to normal and you are settled into your daily routine, days may seem long, cold and grey. We all know how that is… Spring will not be there for another two Months or so and you could do with some energy and inspiration.

Well, Michelle LaPoint Rydell and I will take care of that! The online art journal workshop Mixed Emotions starts on February 4, 2013. Do yourself a favour and join us in the coldest, greyest Months of the year – we will warm us on creativity and inspiration in the workshop community then!

The morning is coming to an end in the Netherlands… the sun is shining, there’s no ice on the road (that means the truck bringing the printed FEATURING magazines will not likely slide from an icy road 😉 ) and I better start working on something creative right now to distract my mind and make time move faster. I hope you all have a lovely week!