PS. The $40 early bird deal for Creative JumpStart 2018 ends tonight Nov 29 at 11.59 pm EST! Sign up here: CJS 2018 if you haven’t already! (affiliate link)
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:
It’s the 10th! That can only mean one thing: I’ve got a new instalment of Inspired by to share!
Inspired by is a blog series by my friend Riikka and I. We decide on a theme (and that theme can be anything from a film, a book, a painting, to an item, colour scheme or material) and then we create something with that theme or thing in mind.
We keep what we’re making a secret until reveal day on the 10th, when we show you and each other our creations.
If you have been following us for a while, this month’s theme should not come as a surprise… It’s a film, it’s directed by Tim Burton… It’s…
The film is based on a trilogy by Ransom Riggs, though from what I understand, there are a few differences. I haven’t read the books, but now that I’ve seen the film, they’re at the top of my reading list!
I very much enjoyed the film. When I look at the trailer now, I can see that I was focused on understanding and following the story. I’m usually all about the visuals, but not this time. There was just too much to wrap my head around!
I always think it’s funny to see the same items and themes re-appearing in each theme Riikka and I choose for Inspired by.
This time it was ‘time’, which also was a big theme in Alice Through the Looking Glass and it seems that no Inspired by is complete without a ship this year! We’ve also seen birds before and photos and maps…
Whilst browsing the website of the film, I found out that Miss Peregrine’s house is not a set, but an actual castle in Brasschaat, Belgium.
My dad used to live in that town and because the castle is located off the main road through the town, it’s likely that we drove past it many times. I don’t believe it’s visible from the street though, but it’s still cool to know that I’ve been that close to it!
It was also fun to learn that Peregrine refers to a peregrine falcon. My surname is Valk, which is Dutch for falcon.
Peculiar photographs
I had no idea what it all meant. Did I want to do something with the bird? Did I want to do something with transformation? The peculiarities as superpowers? With the bird’s eye view… the photos, the maps, the vintage…
I wished I had old photos that I could use. You know: peculiar ones. I also thought about WOII and that time period or if I could think of anything with a house like that.
I went through a basket of ephemera to look for an old map and I think that made me think of my art journals.
I must have mentioned them here a million times before: I started my first art journal in an old book that I found at the local thrift store. It’s a 1930ies book with photos.
In that first book they’ve all disappeared behind a layer of gesso. Luckily I hunted down a second copy of the same vintage book (because I loved the paper so much) and there are still some photos left in that one.
The photos are silly. I haven’t read the book, but it’s a young adult book about a group of girls and boys that are making a film and they dress up in costumes for it.
The project
I found two photos that were usable. I decided I wanted to place them behind squares of plexiglass and then I went from there: I added alcohol inks, marked with Posca markers and stamped with StazOn ink, inspired by what I learned from Azoline at a workshop last April.
I used this piece to try stuff and then I repeated what worked on the other two.
You can’t really see them, but I’ve also added some small round stickers because I remembered that Jake’s grandfather had used them to mark the location of the time loops on his maps.
Conclusion
There is so much more to this film that I could have explored. I could have gone in deeper, I could have made it more personal by exploring some of my own peculiarities. But the timing was off and all I really wanted to do is to get out of my head and just make ‘something’.
Somehow we always choose the most complex themes when there is too little time to really explore them… The result is fun nonetheless.
The outcome does remind me of the collages I did in September. Maybe I was unconsciously continuing where I had left off, maybe it’s the format (size is also about the same) or maybe this is just my style, right now. Who knows!
The piece with the red alcohol ink is my favourite. I was hesitant to use red because I was afraid it would turn out looking like blood. I really like the look of the plexiglass. This is something that I want to explore further.
But let’s not keep you any longer! Riikka wants to show us what she’s created too. You can visit her on her blog Paperiliitin. I can’t wait to see what she’s come up with!
I don’t know about you, but I always feel the need to mix in some non-seasonal crafting during these last weeks of the year.
This scrapbook page that I’m sharing on the Elizabeth Craft Designs blog today, features Els’s awesome Silk Microfine Glitter and lace technique, that you can apply to both seasonal and non-seasonal projects!
1 | Take a scrap of cardstock, slightly larger than you think you’ll need for your die-cuts. Adhere some Transparent Double Sided Adhesive Sheet to one side of the scrap.
2 | Remove the backing and cover the sticky with one or more pieces of fine lace. The technique works best with finer types of lace.
3 | Choose two different colours of Silk Microfine Glitter. Take two contrasting colours for the best results: a dark and a light tone or for instance two colours on opposite sides of the colour-wheel.
4 | Cover the lace with the darkest of the two glitters. Tap off the excess glitter and burnish the remaining glitter into the sticky adhesive sheet.
The Silk Microfine Glitter will change its sheen while burnishing, so you’ll be able to tell which parts are done and which parts still need further burnishing.
5 | Remove the lace and repeat the process with the second colour of glitter.
6 | Die-cut the glittered cardstock with any die 0f choice. I chose the Jewelry Set 1-Sea Glass die set because it’s still one of my all time favourites!
7 | Add the lace/glitter-embellishments to your scrapbook page or any other project that could benefit from some subtle sparkle!
The base for this page was originally a 12 x 12 patterned scrapbook paper that I monoprinted on using a Gelli Plate, acrylic paints, stamps and stencils!
Hello September! It’s the 10th already, so I’ve got a new instalment of Inspired by for you!
Inspired by is a monthly challenge that my friend Riikka and I started 3 years ago. We decide on a theme (and that theme can be anything from a film, a book, a painting, to an item, colour scheme or material) and then we create something with that theme or thing in mind.
We keep what we’re making a secret until reveal day on the 10th, when we show you and each other our creations.
This month’s theme is all about our sweet friends, amazing teachers and huge inspirations Nathalie Kalbach and Birgit Koopsen!
I think this month’s theme emerged in June, right after Riikka and I each individually took classes from Birgit and Nathalie. Riikka went to their joined retreat in Finland and I went to the same retreat held right here in the Netherlands.
Both ladies not only teach classes and create stunning art work, but they also have their own product lines.
Birgit products are produced by Carabelle Studio and she’s getting ready to release a set of brand new designs as we speak!
During the retreats, there was one class they taught together and in that class all of their products were available for us to use. So for this Inspired by, the briefing was to use Birgit and Nat’s stamps on one (or more) project(s), just like we did in class.
I started out by rummaging through the gelli prints I did during the retreat. I worked on some of them to warm up, but in the end I decided to create this page in one of my art journals:
The background is created with modelling paste and one of Nathalie’s stamps. On top of that there are layers upon layers upon layers of spray ink, stamped images, black Stabilo All pencil, Liquitex paint and markers, Derwent Graphik Line Painters, some green Neocolor II and a white Sharpie.
I should also add that the page wasn’t blank when I started. There already were some remnants there of a glitter paste I made from gel medium and Elizabeth Craft Designs Silk Microfine Glitter.
The hearts and leaves images are Birgit’s stamps, stamped on one of the gelli prints from the retreat, cut out and adhered to the page.
I’m pretty sure I was taught all techniques used on this page by either Nathalie or Birgit at some point in my crafty career and I love that the page (at least to me) even looks like a Birgalie or a Nathit!
Thank you so much Birgit and Nat!
And now please visit equally awesome Riikka to check out her Nathalie and Birgit inspired project!