Inspired by | Lollipop Box Club

Inspired by: a monthly creative blog series by Riikka Kovasin and Marsha Valk

Soooo… April is (almost) over and I still owe you the second part of this month’s Inspired by!

Riikka and I teamed up with Lollipop Box Club this month!

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: Lollipop Box Club

Lollipop Box Club is a monthly subscription kit club for those who like all things crafty, papercrafts, fun stationery, pretty planners or you just simply love receiving happy mail.

And oh, do I love receiving happy mail!!!

I’m not a subscriber though. Riikka is, but for this Inspired by Lisa from Lollipop Box Club kindly sent us each a free kit to play with.

Here’s a quick look at the super cute contents of the April 2017 kit:

I received my box just before Easter and I had travel plans later in the week. This meant that I didn’t really have time to play with it until after my trip.

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: Lollipop Box Club

I did some faffing around with it though, filmed the unboxing and published a couple of Boomerangs in my Instagram Stories. I also took a couple of photos, but decided to think about a project later.

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: Lollipop Box Club

At least that’s what I thought I would do… But instead I kept thinking about how much fun I had just pushing the contents of the box around, creating little square flatlays! I also got obsessed with the little word strips in the ‘Treats’ package.

So in the end I decided to just give in and create more ‘vignettes’ (not sure if that’s the proper word for it…)!

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: Lollipop Box Club

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: Lollipop Box Club

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: Lollipop Box Club

I loved receiving the Lollipop Box Club April kit. It really is übercute and I can see myself using up all the little bits and bobs in my planner, on gifts and mail etc.

And as you can see, I’ve also discovered that the contents can be very useful and fun to use as photo props!

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: Lollipop Box Club

Riikka has already posted the gorgeous clustered cards she made with the kit on her blog Paperiliitin.

PS. Last time I checked there still were a few April kits available at the Lollipop Box Club website and Lisa is already taking orders for the May kit!

n*Studio | Say it like you Mean it

Marsha Valk | n*Studio: Say It Like You Mean It
It’s my turn on the n*Studio blog today! Which means that it’s time to share last month’s project with you here!

Say it like you Mean it

Last month the assignment was ‘Let your unique voice be heard and tell us what’s on your mind. Be bold. Be yourself. We all have something to say and sometimes we need to shout it!’, using Nat’s Stroll Through the Hood #1 Cling Rubber Stamp Set.

Uhm… yeah. There was a lot going on when I was working on this page.

I mean: there is always a lot going on, but we had our national election day on the exact day my page posted on Nathalie’s blog, so there seriously was a LOT on my mind.

And… current affairs in the US weren’t in the forefront.

Marsha Valk | n*Studio: Say It Like You Mean It

This caused a minor problem, because The Stroll Through the Hood #1 set (though I adore it!) wasn’t the most suitable stamp set for speaking my mind then and there!

So what was I going to do? I didn’t want to make another ‘I don’t want to’ spread. So I decided to turn off my mind and let the theme and the stamps do the talking.

Earworm

Each time I read the theme ‘Say it like you Mean it’, I had a bad case of ear worm: the song ‘Sewn’ by The Feeling instantly started playing in my head. And that made me think about songs that fitted the New York City feel of the stamps.

‘I can’t see New York’ by Tori Amos came to mind.

I wasn’t sure if either song was a good fit, but they certainly were on my mind, so I decided to go with both songs.

Marsha Valk | n*Studio: Say It Like You Mean It

You can read about my next steps in this post on Nathalie’s blog: Say It Like You Mean It – Marsha Valk.

And just in case you want to see what I have up my sleeve for the April n*Studio Creative Squad theme… Here’s a link to the new blog post too: Live Like it’s Spring – Marsha Valk!

Materials used
RubberMoon – n*Studio Stroll Through the Hood #1 Cling Rubber Stamp Set
RubberMoon – n*Studio Stroll Through the Hood #2 Cling Rubber Stamp Set

Watercolour paper (Canson Mix Media Imagine)
Black waterproof ink (Tsukineko StazOn Jet Black)
Waterproof fineliner 0.2 and 0.5 (Black)
Watercolour set (Winsor & Newton)
India Ink (Royal Talens)
Paint marker (uni Posca marker PC-5M black)
Sakura Koi Coloring Brush Pen (Black, Deep Yellow, Light Cool Gray)
Graphite pencil

Please note that though a couple of these materials were given to me, I will not benefit from sales generated by the links!

Birgit’s Mixed Media Art Crew

Birgit's Mixed Media Art Crew

I am super excited to share that I’m now part of my dear friend Birgit Koopsen’s Mixed Media Art Crew!

From May onwards, each Wednesday the crew will share inspiring projects on Birgit’s blog using the fabulous stamps and stencils she designs for Carabelle Studio.

My fellow crew members are amazing and so, so talented! Birgit is introducing them on her blog today, but I also recommend checking out their websites for a peek at their stunning work:

Hermien

Linda

Karin

Femke

And be sure to check out Birgit’s blog on May 3rd for the very first BMMAC post!

I can’t wait!!!

Inspired by | …

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: WIDN

Inspired by: a monthly creative blog series by Riikka Kovasin and Marsha Valk

Hi there! It’s the 10th! Which today for the first time in almost 5 years (!) unfortunately means that there is no Inspired by post…

The reason is that my friend Riikka and I have teamed up with someone special to create with something in particular. But the ‘something’ isn’t here just yet… So stay tuned for that post later this month!

In the meantime we’ve decided to share what’s going on/what we’re working on…

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: WIDN

WIDN
What I’m doing now is obvious… I’m writing to you!

It’s part of my admin day. On Mondays I’m usually tackling boring computer stuff, e-mail, invoices, receipts and such.

So it’s not the most creative workday of the week to share with you, but it is reality!

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: WIDN

I taught two super fun Gelli printing workshops yesterday at the Handlettering Academy organised by Creative Xperience.

I still had to unpack all of the workshop stuff this morning and clean the used Gelli plates, brayers and painty stencils.

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: WIDN

These brayers (now all clean!) were kindly lent out to me by the fab Esther of Artchicks Studio!

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: WIDN

I was hoping to have some time left to play… But I haven’t gotten around to that yet. So I’m going to leave you with some of the examples I had prepared for yesterday’s workshops instead:

Marsha Valk | Inspired by: WIDN

You can read about Riikka’s current goings-on at Paperiliitin. And remember that we’ll be back later this month with a real Inspired by project!

Enjoy your day!