Book title haiku for Haiku My Heart Friday

Haiku my Heart is hosted by the lovely Rebecca.
Find the list with participants on Recuerda Mi Corazon.

Link love

Tammy Garcia at “Daisy Yellow” is on a mission to share the love for bloggers. I think it is such a great idea to share links to fellow bloggers and/or blogposts that got our attention or had us in awe and aah. We all love it when visitors find our blog, read our posts and leave a comment isn’t it – so why not pay it forward?

[By the way: Tammy’s “Index-Card-A-Day” event starts tomorrow!]

And now for the links: I wasn’t online much last week but on Wednesday, I participated in WOYWW (see former post) and visited quite some fellow-desk-lovers… here are some things/blogs I came across and enjoyed.

The clean and tidy closet from Alison at Oh I hope this one is better

Colorful crocheting and lovely fabrics at Lunch Lady Jan

Neat effects with filters: the ATC’s at Bluebeard and Elizabeth

Dianne Marcoux played with gesso.

The desk from the whimsical Annette always amazes me!

Oh, and sweeties, don’t forget the ONLINE Summer camp will open its doors tomorrow!

The online Summer camp Community bursts with challenges, tips, sketches, techniques and inspiration. Over 30 prompts lie waiting for you from which you can choose randomly. The Summer camp will be open all Summer (June-July-August.)  There are no fixed ‘course times’ – just look around whenever you feel like, and choose what seems nice to you. It’s fun and it’s cheap.

Click on the logo to find out all about Summer Camp or sign in HERE
to join the creative happy online campers this Summer!

Another week, another Wednesday – and although it does not feel like Summer in the Netherlands (the weather is cold, grey and rainy, blah!) I DO have SUNNY NEWS for YOU!!

The news is that, due to popular demand,  the ONLINE Summer camp will open its doors for the second time.

[edit] After some comments about the camp ‘being so far’ I add this extra sentence… sweeties, this is an ONLINE ‘workshop’ that will open in the workshop community via my WEBSITE
No matter where you live, you can all join!!

This {virtual} Summer camp is the best you’ve ever seen!
Why the best, you say?

* You do not have to sleep in a tent.
* You will not be awakened at dawn.
* There are no creepy insects crawling around.
* You won’t be forced to sing songs together (but you are allowed if you want to!)
* You can walk in and out whenever it suits you.
* The sun always shines in Summer camp!

Creative Summer camp is a creative place for scrapbookers, card makers, art journalers… it doesn’t matter how you call yourself, the campground is a fun place for everyone! It is a big playground, with various ‘play areas’ and there is plenty of choice! Over 30 prompts, challenges and sketches are waiting for you! You can choose randomly and there are no fixed ‘course times’ – just look around whenever you feel like, and choose what seems nice to you.

Price and registration:
Access to the Summer camp community costs 15 Euros.
The Creative Summercamp opens its doors on June 1 and it won’t close until August 31.

Find more info in the shop on my website where you can BUY your entrance ticket now!

And now on to my golden oldie layout – 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 in via my facebook page where Belinda de Snoo asked me to open album 3 and show layout #3…. OOPS!!!

I am sorry Belinda, but I cannot show the third layout… that layout contains photos that would be inappropriate to put online. For that reason, I flipped on to the next page, so here’s the fourth layout in album 3.

In the Summer of 1997, I visited places in Wales where the famous poet Dylan Thomas had worked and lived. The photos on this spread were taken in Laugharne (or “Talacharn” in Welsh) and they show the boathouse he lived and the small studio he worked in (a wooden shed where you can peek through the window and see his worktable with stuff…) I also visited his grave. On the left of this spread is the long poem “Prologue” with the phrase “…In my seashaken house on a breakneck of rocks…” You only have to look at the photo of his house to feel it!

Eeck… this is becoming quite a long blogpost.. I will speed it up a little and use less words 😉

An index card for Glue it Tuesday

WOYWW #207

WOYWW stands for What’s On Your Work Desk and this is the 207th edition hosted by the lovely Julia Dunnit. WOYWW is fabulous. You take a picture of your desk. You link at Julia’s site and take off for a trip around the world via work desks – funfunfun!

Here’s my desk this week

and that will be enough for today… I’m off to visit some of your desks now!
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your week.

HUH??? Tents???

No, ofcourse not!

You all know
by now that
the Creative
Summer Camp
is an online event!!!

But this is a
nice way to start
my Friday blogpost,
isn’t it?!

The ‘online camping site’ is large enough to accommodate large groups,
so if you want to make this a creative Summer: click the link and join the fun!

..

Are you confused by now?
With ‘building op the Summer Camp’ I mean that I am busy producing
the challenge-documents and placing them into the community.
I also am not done with creating examples (where necessary) etc.

So I AM very creative these days, but nothing I can show you…
besides this little thingie…

ATC: Busy

2.5 x 3.5 inch

I have a little box in one of the drawers of my ‘creative closet’ – and I throw
all kinds of little things and left overs there… The background was a piece of
paper on which I wiped of my paint brush last week. (When I create, I like to
use the ‘left overs’ for ATC’s or backgrounds. That way, you don’t spill a thing!)

So I had that background, and I looked in my little ‘left overs’ box to see
what more was in there… Haaa… see that small piece of twill tape (fabric)???
Maybe you recognize it from this page!

I also found small pieces of transparent, plastic ribbon (with the black flowers)
The silver, elastic band with beads was wrapped around a present, but I
honestly do not know who gave it to me. (Mom? Lena?)
I hand stitched the twill tape and elastic band onto the ATC, and that’s it.
All in all it took me maybe 10 minutes to make… (which I spend the most
by looking in my closet drawer to see what I could use!)

When I visited Phinner’s blog last week, she had a link to a video in her post
and she said that she laughed sooo hard when she saw this video…

I became curious (ofcourse!) and clicked the link…. OHMY!
This was not ‘giggle worthy’ – I really was laughing hard!!!!
(Imagine me, all by myself at the computer – laughing out loud!
Not just ‘LOL’ – which we type easily – no… LAUGHING OUT LOUD.
Like: HAAAHAHAHA

So at night, sitting on the couch to watch ‘Criminal Minds’ with my son,
I thought about it again and I told him that I laughed so hard.
I didn’t tell him what it was about (that would spoil the fun) but I said
I would show him the video as soon as the commercial breaks would be on.

After a while (watching TV) he suddenly said:
“Mom, was it about XXXXXXXX ?”

…???… How could he know???!!!!

It turned out that this YouTube video is so popular, that it was showed
in a Dutch talk show (“DWDD”) last week! Aaarghhhh… surprise ruined!

We watched it again anyway. And yes, we both laughed!

So now YOU are curious, aren’t you?
Maybe you saw it, maybe not, but here’s the link.

I wish you all a nice weekend!!!

(Oh, and for those who noticed the new ‘life workshop’ logo in the side menu
– more info really is coming soon! Look for the newsletter or keep an eye on
the website and my blog!)

But of course there’s not a day that goes by without creating something –
anything!

(Remember you can click on the images to enlarge, for a better view)

You already expected to see my ‘week-page’, didn’t ya?

The Chronicles of Marit 2011 – Week 16

On Monday, my beloved and I drove home from Zeeland (where we visited my
friend Lena) The sun was shining and my ‘hometown’ landscape was beautiful!
Green fields, flowering orchards and lambs in the meadows… I started my
weekly page with painting the background in that fresh ‘Spring-green’ colour
and added images from Zeeland (cut a map in circles, and used an image from
a brochure)

There are plans cooking in my head… my mind ran over last week and I
jotted it all down. The ideas are still in an early stage (but steadily growing!)
so I blurred the texts. Sorry, but it’s too early to tell you anything!

While working on my journal page, I used the left over paint and
scraps of paper to make two ATC’s for Songs in my heART

The song: I am a Rock by Paul Simon

The circle/stone – idea was inspired by my journal page I was working on
ánd by Teesha Moore, who makes ‘stacks of rocks’ (cairns) in real life as well
as on her journal pages. Read her post about it here.

A few weeks ago, I was flipping through a magazine looking for a certain image,
when I came across a beautiful photo – if I remember correctly it was taken at
some sort of Hindu-festival in India, where the people throw coloured powder
at each other. I couldn’t use the image at that moment, but tore it out and glued
it onto a new page. I recommend this way of working! Just glue down images
that speak to you, and work on the page later. If it so happens, that you don’t
like it anymore when you look back at it, add gesso to the page and start over.
You can’t go wrong here!

You can see I am ‘into greens’ lately 😀
Blame it on the weather!

“The highest prize we receive for creative work
is the joy of being creative”

~Marianne Williamson~

I love that quote!
It is also an important one that some people tend to forget sometime…
if you’re a blogger, you might recognize the idea of: ‘I have to make something
to show on my blog’. Don’t fall for it!!! Keep on enjoying and loving the process
instead of becoming a ‘creating machine’. I, myself, try to keep that in mind
and I used this quote in combination with the smiling, coloured ladies to
emphasize it as a reminder to myself.

I’m looking forward to a busy week.

Since I opened registration
for Creative Summer Camp,
participants keep on coming
in to register.

I don’t want to let them all down,
so I work hard to get everything
done in time. It’s going to be a fun,
fun, FUN and creative Summer!!!

..

You can join until August 15th.

Marit’s Creative Summer Camp is in the shop!
Find all the info about this crafting event here.

Sign up, and join the fun this summer!

And I have some other ‘goodness’ to share…

I told you last Tuesday, that ‘major housecleaning’ was on my to-do list.
This morning, I started with the top floor.
All the way upstairs, just under the rooftop, is my son’s room.
I sent him with a bucket of lather and some instructions to his room – after all,
he’s old enough (18) to do some housekeeping!
I myself started with our bedroom.
It needed some radical cleaning, not the usual ‘just vacuum and dusting’.
It may sound silly, but I had fun!!!

In the bedroom, there are these two closets.
The green one with the drawers is just a simple Ikea drawer (I had it for years!)
but it does an excellent job; holding our socks, stockings and underwear.

The display case has a long history.
I got it from my parents when I was twenty, and it moved along
with me all these years. It saw many different student rooms and houses!
In most houses, the case stood in the living room holding all kind of ‘treasures’.

In 1986 the top and side glass were broken by burglars – destructive types!
They took all our music (the stereo and all our albums and tapes) and they
destroyed my show case. One of the first things I did, was to take it to
a specialist to repair it!

For years, this showcase always was a crime to clean! Because it stood in
the living room (and we smoke a lot!) it got all dirty and brown.
I used to dismantle the whole thing to get it clean! Not anymore though…
When we moved into this house, I put it in the bedroom and it doesn’t get
as dirty as before.  I also don’t look at it as much as before, so it was nice
to take al the things out, spend some time cleaning everything and think
about the memories that come with each item.

I’m going to share them with you!

1. A painting that Lena made of my son (She’s very talented!
   You can find this painting, along with others, in the gallery on her blog!)
2. The box I made for my workshop ‘A Creative Art Journey’.
3. Cute little books, bind together with wire and beads.
   It was a present from my mum.
4. Years ago, my parents went to Czechoslovakia (or was it Poland?)
   Anyway, they bought me this wonderful, blue glass bowl.
5. A drawing my brother made for me in 1985.
   He was zentangling back then while no-one heard of that word!!!
6. Decanter from France. I got it from my parents for my 43 (?) birthday.
   I sometimes use it as a vase. It’s beautiful with one (blossom) branch.

And my showcase – holding my ‘treasures’.

1. The top shelf shows a great deal of the mini-albums I made
   over the years.
2. ‘Big’ mini-album I made of my son.
3. This is special! This ‘poesie-album’ belonged to my grandmother!
   (Most young girls have a poesie-album. Family and friends write
   verses in it, to stay in memory. It’s an old, Dutch custom – Dutchies
   will know what I mean)
4. Antique vase, got it from my dad. It belonged to his mother (my
   grandmother) and she got it on her wedding day. Now that’s special
   too, isn’t it?!! I love the orange ‘highlights’ on it!
5. My ‘crystal ball’. (It’s not really crystal, and I can’t see the future in it.
   That’s a good thing I guess… who would want to know the future?)
6. Wooden and painted box from Thailand. It contains small shells.
7. Clay sculptures my son made when he was little.
8. Haaa.. this is fun! After Nout’s dad and I split up, my son began to
   buy me something small whenever he went on vacation with his dad.
   As a little kid, he didn’t have much money ofcourse, and the first time
   he bought me a teaspoon with the name of the city on it. You know,
   one of those awful commercial souvenirs that only tourists purchase.
   I thought it was fun, and as he grew older, it became our ‘personal joke’.
   Whenever he is on vacation without me, he brings me a teaspoon!!!

I hope you liked this glimpse into my life!

And here’s a card (and envelope) I made for a friend on her birthday.
(Happy birthday Karin!!!!)

Pfew, yet another long post…
I could make it a lot longer by telling you what plans I am hatching… but ‘it’
is only in an early stage and this post is long enough as it is. But believe me,
I have BIG PLANS cooking! If everything turns out right, I will soon have
GREAT NEWS to share which especially the Dutchies will like (hint-hint)

I wish you all a happy Easter!!!!