Exciting news- Published + Design team update

Hi friends, I've got some exciting news to share! First off, did you know that the latest issue of MixedUp Magazine is out already? Well it is and it had a bunch of wonderful tutorials including a video tutorial of yours truly :) I've altered my Traveler's notebook midori cover and show you how you can do that yourself as well! Below a little sneak peek of how it looks now

It's got a wonderful galaxy swirl now to it and I have used all sorts of DecoArts Media products to achieve this look. So head out an buy the latest copy to see this tutorial among 100 pages of other inspirational projects and galleries!

And another fun thing I would like to share on the Design Team front; I'm super happy to announce that I'm part of the Craft Stamper Magazine Take it Make it Blog Design team :) 

So very excited about this because I always love to join their challenges and see the wonderful inspirational posts the DT makes. Now it's such an honor to be a part of it :) 

Next year I'll be sharing some projects for the monthly challenges to hopefully provide you with inspiration to join in :) 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you all are having a wonderful day!

It's ok to just breathe

Today I am sharing the make of a card of which a similar one was published earlier this year in the in May. It's a bit of a personal story why I made this card and this is what I shared with the Craft Stamper's New Beginnings section of the magazine back in May:

What triggered me with this theme is the fact that to me every day is a new

beginning. With every day you can start a new and it's okay if you did "No Thing" and

just breathe. This card is designed to send someone comfort in difficult times, Like

when someone is suffering from a Burn-Out. The traditional "get well soon card" just

isn't what someone needs in that position and I am speaking from experience. The

sentiment "Just breathe, you are here" is so much kinder. It helps one to re-frame

one’s mind and begin again.

When you have suffered from a Burn-Out (like I have now 2 1/2 years ago) it is not in your healing process to receive cards like "hope you'll be your old-self soon" and "get well soon" because it actually works counter productive. Every one of us takes their own time to heal.  So I am sharing the make of this card so that in case you wanted to make something similar to someone who needs to hear this message.

I started off with covering a gelli printed ghost print with disstress inks and blended them with a blending tool. The colors I chose were pickled raspberry, wild honey and shabby shutters. I thought they made a nice blend together.

Then I did some stamping with Indigo Blue Ledger & splats, coffee rings from Tim Holtz and spatter drops by Marianne Crafts stamps with Staz-On Royal Purple.

As my focal point I chose Marsha from Stampotique Originals because I like her and she will be pointing towards the sentiment. She is stamped in black so that when I cut her out and adhere her, the details like shoe laces will be there.

I colored her in with letraset promarkers (alcohol markers) on sticker paper.

Fussy cut her out and adhered to the page.

Grounded her with washi tape and the "you are here" is also a washi tape.

I added a few more Tim Holtz texture stamps in blue and green colors in the background for more interest and then added the beautiful sentiment from Viva Las VegaStamps!

"sometimes it's okay if the only thing you did today was breathe"

As a final touch I added some color with distress crayons in the similar colors as the inks I used. 

It was a pleasure to combine stamps as focal point by my 2 fave companies I have the honor to work with, Stampotique Originals and Viva las VegaStamps! 

I really loved making this card design, it was such a calming and healing process. I hope this will also be the case for you and that you can send a card like this to someone whom needs to hear just this message. 

Have a wonderful day and thank you so much for stopping by!

MailART Monday: May Showers - VLVS! (+published in MixedUP Mag!)

Hey everyone! A little something special for this weeks Mail Art Monday! I'm over at Viva las VegaStamps! blog with a tutorial on these mail art envies I made.

And it's not just a tutorial, it's a video tutorial where you can see exactly how I created these envies :) So hop on over my VLVS! blogpost to check it out and to read which lush VLVS! rubber stamps I used.

In other good news, I've got a 4 page article in the new "musings" section on my Mail Art published in the June/July issue of MixedUpMag, which I am super excited about! It's a digital magazine and available for you to read on any multimedia format via pocketmags. I've showcased some work, talked about how i got started and also listed some tips on how you van get started in Mail Art as well, so be sure to check that out :) Here's a little sneaky for you what is in issue 7:

If you've read my article/seen the video, let me know what you think :) 

Thanks again for stopping by and your support means a lot to me!

Have a wonderful day!

MailART Monday: Venturing Out

Freidrich of Stampotique Originals is fast becoming a fave stamp to use in my works. Last week I used him on the text background postcard and this week I'm sharing this MailART envelope I made. Because you can place him in various ways it's a really fun stamp. I like to place him on objects he precariously balances on.

The envelope I used this time is an A5 size and it was already somewhat decorated, but I eventually didn't like the look of it in the end. So I covered it with opaque paints from Deco Arts in the Traditions line, Red Violet, Phthalo green blue and light green. I used mostly my fingers to apply the paints from light to dark (letting the bottom layer of light green dry completely) and then spritzed some water to get some movement going and dabbing some paint away for texture. The envelope already had some texture on it, from a stencil and heavy matte gel medium. The texture showed through the paints nicely while being covered with color. I then added some more texture with Kate Crane's texture cube and coordinating staz-on inks. Lastly I stamped Freidrich on with staz-on jet black where I wanted him on the envelope.

I adhered an address label before I stuck on the colored (with promarkers) and fuzzy cut image of Freidrich. I wanted him to balance on something and I found the perfect stamp in VLVS! the Writing Triangles which stamped flipped on the side look like arrow heads. I love how he looks so very concentrated balancing on that particular point!

Lastly I spattered some liquitex inks! in silver over some spots, swiped some around the edges and adhered some vintage stamps. It's now ready to mailed off :)

This envelope contained the card I sent for publishing in Crafter's Magazine May 2017 issue. And I'm excited to announce that I have a card published in it :) Look out for a card I designed for the New beginnings theme in ready set stamp section in the magazine below:

And a close up of the card that is published :)

I'll post a tutorial on how to make this card on my blog sometime later this month :)

I would like to enter the mail art envelope in the following challenge:
Art Journal Journey - Magical Mystery Tour
It's not a journal page, but I still thing it fits the theme ;)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Published in Mixed up Magazine!

My creative goal of this year was to get myself "out there" and take a courageous leap to have my work published. It was a big step for me to show my work outside my own creative comfort bubble, which is this blog, but I'm glad I did :) And I'm happy to announce that in the coming issue of MixedUp Mag (an online magazine about all things mixed media) I'll have a work of mine published. This issue is all about Art Journaling and it's a whopping 100 pages with tips, techniques and inspiration on the subject. As you might know Art Journaling has been a fairly new journey for me, been doing it since last year and I'm absolutely enjoying it! Happy to be sharing a page from my pocket journal and a little story on how I got started. 

A little sneak peak at my published image :) 

The issue will be on sale April 1st this saturday via PocketMags and it's an ONLINE magazine! So it's with you wherever you go, on your phone, tablet, whatever mobile or digital device you please. Awesome for waiting times at the doc's or dentist or hairdresser... who wants to read those stale old mags on their counter anyway ;) If you want to know more about the magazine before you buy it, you can try issue 1 for free. 

Thanks for stopping by today!