UFO 2: Pixiedust journal

While redecorating my livingroom and therefor my art journaling supplies, I found another U.F.O...another journal, which I started somewhere in the beginning of this year.
This one:

I had already done a few pages in it:

and because of this image on the cover:

I decided to name this journal: My Pixiedust Journal !
I finished two more pages this week. The first one is OK but it is telling me also that I had a hard time getting in the right flow for making 'odd' collages again...

The second one felt much better...:

Working on a third page also...so I'll be back soon!

TFL!

Sandra

Random Collage Journal

A few months ago I started a new collage journal. This time not a handmade one, but an old brochure of the clothingbrand Only..the autumn-winter issue of 2010 to be exact.
I removed the staples and bound the pages again with a small ribbon. Each page in the brochure has a black background with a colored 'splash' and a sporty woman. Like this for example:

I themed this journal 'Random Collage' because I planned to collage all sorts of magazine cutouts, adding paint, rubons, Neocolors, markers and more... Hm, just like I always do...Oh well, it has to have a name, right?
The first page had a light blue background, a black splash and no sporty woman. So I added a woman...and more...

For this spread I changed the woman that was already in the picture and added a second woman...and more...:

I did the same with this spread and added some rubons too:

TFL!

Sandra

UFO: A4-zentangle

I'm still trying to get back in my creative flow...This will probably happen when life gets back to normal as soon as the kids are going to school again, in about a week.
In the meantime I have journaled a bit in my altered book from over 150 years old. I'm also finishing some UFO's (UnFinished Objects), like creating a photoalbum with the pictures of our holiday. It is printed now and on it's way to be delivered at my doorstep!
I also finished this mega zentangle (A4 size!). I started it in Sweden but I wasn't able to finish it there...it took me a lot of creative hours to make it....Today, I had the time to finish it...finally....

It was fun making a zentangle again, but I think I have to make a smaller one next time (lol)....so the fun of creating isn't spoiled by the pressure of finishing the project.

Hope to be back later this week with some pages in my Random Collage journal, which I started a few months ago but never showed you. I found it again this morning and felt new inspiration bubbling underneath the surface of my creative mind!

TFL!

Sandra

Blue...

Inspired by Lifebook's 'in between' lesson by Adriana Almanza:

Acrylic paint, Inktense pencils, Sakura glaze pens, Sharpie posterpaint pens

TFL!

Sandra

Done!

After two weeks of painting, reorganizing, cleaning and redecorating my new livingroom is finished.
The best part (and the reason why!) I did this redecorating thing is that I wanted to have my own workspace, instead of working on the diningtable and cleaning up my stuf every time we need the table.
No 'before' pictures, I'm sorry...
First, my new workspace:

Lots of places to 'hide' my supplies...after all my desk is still in the livingroom so it can't be a mess all the time, right?

As you can see, my space is in a corner of my new livingroom. I painted the walls in a milky chocolatebrown color, new covers on my couch and chairs. Two of the four bookcases found their way upstairs. All my books are for sale right now on a site for second hand goods...

The rest of my supplies are stored behind the doors in the bookcases and upstairs.

(My dog wanted to be in the picture too...lol..)

I'm very happy how it all turned out. The idea popped up in my mind during our holiday in Sweden so I was a little bit afraid that it wouldn't work out like that as soon as I got home. But it did! Yeah!

In between this redecorating I managed to do a little bit of painting in my art journal.

Work in progress:

I hope to show you the finished painting soon!

TFL!

Sandra

As promised...

...I love to show you what I bought in Sweden, at the 'loppis'. Loppis is big in Sweden!
Loppis is Swedish for second hand and can probably be compared with the American garage sale, I think. In Sweden lots of people sell second hand goods in an old shed at their house or outside in partytents. One of the loppis we visited looked like this:

I didn't think of making some more pictures of our visits to these Loppis. Each time we visited one I was so excited I jumped out of the car and started looking for 'treasures'.

I found some pictures on the internet of how Loppis looks like in Sweden.

A mix of goods:

A big Loppis, all goods sorted: 

Or Loppis that makes me want to leave a.s.a.p.... 

With a simple wooden sign with just the word 'Loppis' painted on it, you are directed to their 'shop'.

I'm glad I speak a little bit of Swedish, because a lot of the Loppis-shops were run by older people, who don't speak English (or pretend they don't...) But I think that is also a charming part of buying at a Loppis.

This is a picture of my new treasures:

 The two white bowls have the words 'Jordgubbar' and 'Grädde' on it, which means strawberries and cream. Very simple but I had to have them...
One real treasure is this old psalmbook. It is very small, only 7 by 9 cm and has a cute little metal lock. It has been made in 1884!

There is a handwritten message on the first page, from 1888:

So special to have over a 100 years of history in the palm of my hand!

I bought another (bigger) old psalmbook. This one is from 1851: 

I love the lettertype on the pages: 

I haven't decided yet if I just keep the book or use the pages for my backgrounds of my journalpages...

The third book I bought is this one. It has been made in 1887: 

It also has pages in it with a beautiful lettertype. 

This one will definitely be altered with lots of gesso and paint! I plan to make an art journal of it, with all my dreams and thoughts written down in it. Isn't it great to have an art journal of more than 100 years old? (lol)

To be continued!

TFL!

Sandra

New artwork...

As I told you in my previous blogpost I did 'some artjournaling' during my holiday in Sweden.
I have found some time to show you, now I took a day off from redecorating my living room. (lol)
Every day I tried to make a simple collaged page in a small journal, dedicated to my holiday. I collaged tickets, brochures, found objects, pieces of packaging, etc. On the back of the page I did some journaling about that specific day. No difficult techniques, nothing special, just something to remember my holiday.
Here are a few pages:

For my Dutch readers: yes, indeed, you will find lots of pieces of the latest issue of Flow!

I also used Swedish words, found 'everywhere':

Pieces of the packaging from some of our favorite Swedish food...:

I used a piece of the brochure from the moose-park we visited as a background and glued the ticket on top.

The blue and white striped piece on the bottom of the page is from a typical Swedish ribbon. These ribbons are tied in the trees to mark the territory of the moose hunters. I took off a small piece...

Before I went to Sweden I planned to make more pages with my alter ego 'Ikke'...I only did one....:

Somehow my inspiration for her was gone....

But I did make some other pages. I didn't bring my A4-journal with me, so I used a tourist brochure, made of heavy paper. I collaged pieces of the Dutch magazine Flow, pieces from Swedish magazines and some tape to cover the pictures and some text in the brochure. I didn't bring my gesso so I used a thin layer of white acrylic paint on top. I colored the next layer with the few Neocolors II I had with me. A layer of stamps, a collaged image and more black and white paint on top.

The text comes from the Dutch magazine too.
Another one, with a cute Dutch poem I loved. I stamped the text with tiny alfabet stamps:

This one is a bit out of my comfort zone. I cut out the image, which was a black and white sketch and colored it with acrylic paint. This time, I wrote down some personal thoughts...Yes, real art journaling! (Instead of quotes, poems or songlyrics, which I use most of the times.)

This page inspired me to use more personal thoughts in my art journaling. I always thought that I wasn't able to write something but when I started writing the words came very easily. I have never been a writer. Most of the time my thoughts are hidden in the quotes I use. Time to change that!

I promised you to show you the old books I bought in Sweden. Because this has become a blogpost with a lot of pictures, I'll show my treasures later! I hope you don't mind...

TFL!

Sandra