…last week, I took some of my old scrapbook albums with me when I visited my parent, so they could flip through all the layouts. I have a lot of albums and before I put them in a bag I flipped through them myself… OH MY, that was fun! I got inspired right away to dabble into that way of creating again…

There are still some challenge blogs to be find online so I went to find Challenge YOUrself – one of my faves hosted by Sharon Fritchman. I loved the challenge that was up there right now but I also learned that the blog will be closing in june… so I took the opportunity to play along right away and create a layout for this month’s challenge.

Challenge YOUrself #147 – Celebrating friendship

The theme for this month’s challenge is “Celebrating Friendship!” Feel free to interpret the theme however you like, as long as it clearly conveys the message of friendship. Additionally, please remember to include a photo of YOU on your project.

I had this silly photo – edited with a photo filter – of me and my co-worker who became a good friend over the years, and I just HAD to use that…

I had so much fun creating this layout’; I’d forgotten how relaxing and cheerful this playing without pretension is so I might create more of these.
Thanks for stopping by my blog,
enjoy your day,
do something nice,
visit a friend,
act silly,
laugh.

Last Sunday I spend the afternoon making gelli prints and recording the session for my online workshop. My workdesks became pretty messy… I usually clean up after creating but not this time. It was late, I was tired and there was a cycling race on tv that I wanted to see so I left the tables as they were, thinking I could play with the gelli plate again on my free day. So here it is: my desk(s) as I left them on Sunday.

WOYWW #773

It had been ages since I created a scrapbook layout but the challenge over at Challenge YOUrself caught my eye. It showed a color palette that made me think of some photo’s that were made in Antwerp last january…

So I decided to play along and create a layout BUT… being rusty and all it took me FOUR DAYS (with some pauses in between) to get it done. How come I have no problem whatsoever to start creating in an art journal, no matter what size, but paralize as soon as I grab a 12 x 12 scrapbook? It became quite an obsession to get it done but hey… I finished it!

Here’s some random art journal spreads that I created earlier this year (I have several art journals in different sizes that I create in)

“There’s a morning to come…” (Grandes Chaleurs journal, spread  30 x 48 cm)

“Who are those people?” (Bauhaus journal, spread 29,7 x 21 cm)

My gelli plate is calling me and my fingers itch so I will put on an old shirt and start dipping my hands in the paint. I hope to visit your desks later today and/or in the days to come. Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Happy Easter (don’t eat too much chocolate!)

Friday haiku

The photo was taken by Lena Schreijenberg

I submit this haiku to Recuerda Mi Corazon where our lovely hostess Rebecca brings us all together to share a haiku on Friday: Haiku my Heart

Dutch Dares scrapbook challenge

I decided to stay a member of the DD design team for now – although I have less time I think I can handle the one challenge a month – Dutch Dares presents a theme and a sketch and one can choose to use the theme, the sketch or combine the both.

It was my turn to come up with this month’s challenge and I choose as a theme: “A Special Place”  and a sketch

And here’s my take on it.

I combined the theme with the sketch and OH how I enjoyed creating this layout … via a ‘region group’ on facebook (and my uncle, who used to own the nightlife venue where my friends and I went out on friday nights when we were teenagers) I managed to lay my hand on an old photo of ‘café Royal’. Years later I took the second picture that may look as a ‘meaningless photo’ but to me, that parking basement is also a special place… Together the photos and journaling depict a part of my teenage years complete with first kisses and ‘fussing in the dark’…

And here’s an art journal spread I created a few weeks ago

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 33

Thanks for visiting my blog today, have a nice weekend.

Je t’embrasse

WOYWW #580

There’s some creativity on my desk but I cannot show much as it’s meant to be sent to a friend who reads this blog… you can see a little ‘peek’ on the far left though…

As a guest designer, I made a scrapbooking layout for the new Dutch Dares Challenge. If you’re a little rusty and need a challenge to start creating, the latest Dutch Dares challenge, a sketch, might get you into the mood.

The sketch inspired me to finally scrap some photos from years ago… I didn’t feel like scrapping them for a long time ’cause they remind me of dark times – but I can now look back on it and smile, it wasn’t all bad back then you know.

Here’s a detail

Journaling says: “Meanderflat 2014-2018. Life in that gray, concrete apartment-block became more bearable when the Penny Waffle House opened its doors. Coffee, a chat and a creative studio made me forget the daily worries. Good work from Marlou Pluymaekers and Anda van Riet.”

Art journaling

Another spread in my Zeeuwse Ziel (‘Soul from Zeeland’) journal. Some of the pages in this hand-bound journal are extra large and can be fold. This is one of those pages… the right side is folded (and will therefor also be part of the next spread/image)

Here’s the complete, unfolded, spread.

I’m in love with this page and plan on doing more ‘diary-like’ writing and creating in my journals. I feel a change in my way of journaling coming… let’s see if it will last.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a lovely day. Stay safe, and when you’re a little down: cheer up, better times lay ahead! I have a scrapbook layout to prove it!

I mentioned it already: there’s an unfinished art journal spread on my desk – and a bit more ‘stuff’ too.

WOYWW #578

See those small photos on the page? Yes, that’s me. I went to the hairdresser and got a complete new look! LOOK!

Djeez…. the last time I painted my hair must have been in the eighties, when I did all kinds of weird things with my hair. After that, I never-ever had it paint or bleach anymore – and now this! I am so very happy with this look – thanks to the lovely stylist Demi who works at hairdresser’s Wolter Vos.)

There’s another challenge up in the scrapbooking challenge group where I am a guest-designer: Dutch Dares The theme for this month is: scraplift a layout that one of the team members made this year and use an old holiday photo. Here’s my take on it.

Detail/journaling: “On holiday in France, dad always wanted to go up some Tour de France mountain. We, Mommy, my brother and I, trusted blindly that our old car would make it and that Dad, as a former car mechanic, knew what he was doing but still it was pretty scary, to drive up and down those steep slopes.”

And here are my latest Chronicles spreads

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 24

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 25

I leave you with this, I have some more art pieces waiting in line but will save those for another day… when I look out of my window I see the sun began to shine, it’s lunchtime and I will get me a sandwich on the balcony and spend the afternoon creating. Thanks for your visit, have a wonderful day. Stay safe, go create!

WOYWW #576
This was on my working table Tuesday afternoon. (Who said I couldn’t make a mess… 😉 )

Gelli-printing on my ‘big desk’…

… and the smaller surface to the left, used to lay the paper to dry (on top of my stencil-folder) and there’s my mobile phone underneath of it all (the ‘green thingie’ peeping out)

DUTCH DARES

A new dare at the scrapbooking challenge group where I am a (guest) designer. The challenge is to use this sketch:

The layout I created with this sketch
(the French sentence is from a Jacques Brel song: Ay Marieke, Marieke, Il y a longtemps. Entre les tours De Bruges et Gand.)

Notes from the land of the screaming seagulls

A few years ago (September 2017) I started working on a new series of ‘small collage-mixed-media’ pieces. It was a sequel to my earlier series Letters from the Wasteland. I created two pieces back then, but the project got ‘lost and forgotten’ at the bottom of a drawer after that… until I found it last week and picked it up again.

Notes from the land of the screaming seagulls III

Notes from the land of the screaming seagulls IV

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 22

Week 22 was a week the world will remember…

Thanks for staying with me ’till the end of this blogpost! Have a great week y’all – go do something fun: make a (creative) mess!

in stead of swapping ATCs with my fellow deskers – a thing we usually do to celebrate – Julia came up with a new, ‘coronaproof’ plan for this year’s anniversary so we would not overload the Post Offices with extra work: “drag out a UFO (any craft, any age) or a kit, or ‘thing’ that you’ve promised to do ‘at some point’ and actually do it. Take the challenge and show us on WOYWW 572.”

WOYWW #572

I took the challenge and dragged out an old harmonica-book (see last week’s post) that I had laying around for almost two years, and never finished… I worked on it for several days and it’s ‘going some-where’ but I don’t think it’s finished yet.

Booklet front 1

Booklet open 1

Booklet front 2

Booklet open 2

I think it’s too pale still… it needs some more contrast. Maybe some Indian ink? (Splatter? Text?)

Dutch Dares Scrapbook Challenge

Today, a new challenge was posted in the Dutch Dares challenge group. It’s a sketch…

… and as a guest-designer, I created this layout.

Yes, that’s me on my scooter (is that the right translation? In Dutch it’s called “a step”.) Journaling says that my dad always laughs when he sees this photo: “You loved that scooter, to SIT on. You never actually rode it!”

It’s almost afternoon already… I’m late posting but I had a tough night (insomnia can be a burden) so I took some extra time in bed this morning.

Thanks for dropping by my blog, I hope to make a start with my ‘desk round’ today and finish visiting everyone that’s on the list later this week, so see ya!

WOYWW #569

Yep, I started making facemasks (recognize that fabric Jan?) for myself and my family. We are told that we don’t need to wear masks in the Netherlands, keeping social distance to protect yourself is enough. Wearing a mask could give you the idea that you are safe, but it really isn’t. Keeping your distance is.

OK, I understand, but still I think when society opens up a little more, the people will be asked to wear a facemask to protect the others. So I thought it’s never a bad thing to sew a few – and if we don’t have to use them after all, it still is a fun project to work on and keeps me off the street 😀

I found the free pattern via a friend on Facebook, this mask is really snug (with wire over the bridge of the nose) and has a pocket for a filter (apparently you can use chopped up hoover bags or dried baby wipes….) The pattern is HERE for anyone else who fancies a go (and the video tutorial with the pattern is really clear and helpful!)

And that’s it for now dear ones. After all the sewing I feel the urge to dip my hands in ink and paint today. Have a nice day y’all, do something nice AT HOME and stay safe!

Friday haiku

The photo was taken by my friend Lena Schreijenberg

I submit this haiku to Recuerda Mi Corazon where our lovely hostess Rebecca brings us all together to share a haiku on Friday: Haiku my Heart

Samo

Next is a spread that I created a while ago. If you know anything about the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat you could’ve known by seeing the title ‘Samo‘ that this spread was inspired by his art. (And if you dabble your hands in art journaling or mixed media and never heard of this artist, look up his art! His work is especially interesting for people like you!)

This week I finished another scrapbook layout – again I used two challenges to create with. It’s relaxing and fun to make a scrapbook layout using the inspiration that challenges provide and above all, it’s a way to use my photos and keep the ‘memory album’ going.

So what was it all about this time?

Dutch Dares challenge: “Scrap a large or THE biggest change in your life!”
Challenge YOUrself: “We would like to see polka dots on your layout somewhere, it doesn’t matter how many or how few you use and as always, don’t forget to include a photo with YOU on your layout.”

What changed my life

Journaling is in Dutch: “Of course: study, falling in love, living together, finding a job, giving birth to my son and many, many house-movings: it’s all live changing. But what really changed my life was that moment in 2009 that I learned about Art Journaling. In the (more than) ten years after, I bound many, many journals in which I create daily. I published an art magazine, my art got published in various books and mags, I exhibited my art journals in an art galery and I teach art journal workshop. I became an artist!”

Thanks for your visit.
I’m glad we can still do that without risk: visit each other online.
I will spend the upcoming days in my atelier and surround myself with paint and brushes.
The creating bug may bite me, and that’s a non-dangerous virus to catch…
Have a lovely weekend y’all, stay safe!

Je t’embrasse

Today is such a day, so this blogpost has little words – but some more art instead. Enjoy!

Friday haiku

The photo was taken by my friend Lena Schreijenberg

I submit this haiku to Recuerda Mi Corazon where our lovely hostess Rebecca brings us all together to share a haiku on Friday: Haiku my Heart.

It’s been a while since I created an ‘old fashioned’ scrapbook layout but a week ago, I found two scrapbooking challenges online that I combined and I had fun playing with an old photo.

First challenge was this Dutch Dares February sketch

The second challenge came from Challenge YOUrself:

This month, we would like you to create a layout showing us how you are inspired by the song “Hero” by Mariah Carey. (…) as always, please remember to include a photo with YOU on your layout.

I found this old photo taken in 1966. That’s me as a three-year old, pushing the pram in which my little brother lies and I found it fitting for this ‘hero’ challenge. I did, however, used lyrics from another song as a title, that I found more fitting.

He ain’t heavy

And some art journal spreads that I created in the passed weeks

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 5

I received a postcard in week 5 that I wanted to preserve, so I taped an extra piece of paper to my page. Here’s the spread with the piece/card fold out.

And one more week spread…

The Chronicles of Marit 2020 – Week 6

And now, I will put some paint on my pallette and go wild.
I wish you a lovely day, go do something that makes you happy.