My scrappin' life

Crew member Wednesday With Marsha Valk

Hello and welcome to Crew Member Wednesday! Today is Marsha's turn with her first post for the team. Marsha created a beautiful art journal page and shares her process with you in a video and photo tutorial. I just love how she turned my scribbled leafs stamps into cute little birds!

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Hi there! It’s Marsha here today, with my very first Crew Member Wednesday post!

This is me? ‘What’ is me?! Is this me?!!

A prompt like this always causes me to go into a slight panic. I don’t exactly know what ‘me’ is! ‘Me’ today could be a very different ‘me’ tomorrow… It just depends on the materials I use and the (creative) task at hand.

I’ve created a page for Birgit before in which I used her ‘Leafs’ stamp set to create fish. (Check it out HERE).

So when I looked at the new ‘Scribbled leafs &Textured circles’ stamp set, I wasn’t surprised in the slightest to ‘see’ little birdies in the leaf stamps.

 

 

The page with the fish is still one of my all-time-favourites, so I decided to just start creating with the birdies in mind. Watch my video to see the process!

 

 

Here are the steps I took:

 

 

Take a sheet of watercolour paper. Randomly stamp with a dye inkpad directly onto the paper. Now take a spray bottle of water and/or a watercolour brush and let the ink spread all over the paper. Leave to dry.

 

 

Use a waterproof ink in the same colour range to stamp on top of the watercolour background. Use a stencil to spray some patterns with spray ink.

 

 

Build a landscape: I started stamping a row with the long tall branch from the "Scribbled leafs & Textured circles" in a teal colour first and then I stamped another row of the "All you need is love" tall heart branch in black on top.

 

 

Then I took the branch from the "Leafs" stamp set to built a tree. I used a dip pen and ink to connect the loose branches together and to add more leaves and branches. Colour the leaves green with a felt-tip.

 

 

Stamp the loose leaves from the "Scribbled leafs & Textured circles" stamp set onto a scrap of watercolour paper with waterproof ink. Cut them out. 

Also stamp the long tall branche of the "The earth has music" set onto a scrap of watercolour paper with waterproof ink. Cut six or seven of the leaves out. These will become the wings of the birds.

 

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Now colour the birds with a watercolour medium. I’m using Aladine Izink Dye Felt brushes. Leave to dry.

 Adhere the wings to the birds, adhere the birds to the paper. Add eyes and any other details you like.

 

 

At this point I added more details to the background using fluid pigment inks and a brush.

 

 

Once the ink was dry, I added my text with black ink and a brush. This didn’t go as smooth as I would have liked, because I hadn’t taken into account that my watercolour paper has a texture.

 

 

That’s why I later on decided to trace the words with a white gel pen. I also messed up a bit and had to re-write ‘Florence + The Machine’ onto a strip of paper that I adhered to hide my mishap.

 

 

Add spatter, scribbles and more details until you’re happy!

 

 

Stamps and mask used to create this project:

      

 

Happy Wednesday!

Marsha Valk

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Thank you so much for stopping by!!

Today is the last post for May, which means that all the crew Members had there first posts up! I hope you enjoyed all and that you got inspired by them! Make sure to drop by every Wednesday for ongoing inspiration by my fabulous Crew!

We would love to see your creations on Birgit's Mixed Media Art Crew Facebook page!

 

Crew Member Wednesday With Linda Brun

Hello there! It's Crew Member Wednesday again and today it's Linda's turn with her very first post for the team. Linda made an awesome mixed media art journal collage and shares her process in a video. Enjoy!

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Hi there, my first project done as member of Birgits MixedMedia Art Crew and I have to say being part of this crew is a big thing for me and I feel grateful for the big opportunity Birgit has given me in trusting me to show of her products in the best way. The way I can do that is to be genuine to my own style (that for me sometimes can vary from day to day) and I’m so happy that Birgit encourages us to stay true to our own way of creating.  

For ‘This is me’ I’ve made an art journal page. I work in handmade art journals and I do make most of them myself, but this one is actually made for me by my good friend Sandi. I just added an extra brown bag for this page so I have a pocket for a tag. It also gave me an extra folder to make the page even more interesting.    

The video shows how I prepare the background with collage and acrylic paint. The collage paper with Gelli prints and acrylic was made ahead but specific for this project.  I love using animal heads on my images, that impersonates them and it makes me free when creating my pages and collages. Hope you like it and any feedback on the video is appreciated.  

 

 

The text had some illustrations in bright red and blue. I painted small pink dots and used a black and white marker to draw the flowers. 

The inside of the folder was suitable for this thinking bird and had to give her some good advice on the way. 

The page with the folder closed and fastened with two TH clips. Her you can see the tag placed in the pocket 

Guess I’m ready then :-) 

 Tag: 

The tag is first painted with clear gesso and when dry I had drops of ink on it and used a brayer to spread the ink, I also sprayed some water on it to spread the ink even more. When the tag then was dry I stamped with Versa Mark and added gold embossing. At the end I blended the ink with some white acrylic and painted the edges of the tag.  

 

Stamps and mask used for this project 

       

Linda Brun

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Thank you for stopping by!

We hope you enjoyed the post and that you got inspired! We would love to see your creations on Birgit's Mixed Media Art Crew Facebook page!

Artful Adventures In Mixed Media - An Awesome Book By Nathalie Kalbach (and my little part in it)

Maybe you heard that my sweet friend Nathalie Kalbach wrote a book. A really cool book about Mixed Media, techniques and inspiration.

This is what Nathalie says about it:

"It’s an invitation to YOU to go on an Artful Adventure with me. I wrote it to reach everyone I can’t meet in person with my classes, to share the methods that make mixed media accessible to all, no matter their skill level. It’s about the process from inception to realization, how observations and experiences can be turned into works of art. I give practical guidelines and oodles of examples of how I find inspiration, how I gather and keep my ideas in sketchbooks, journals and photos, and what materials go on the journey with me in an Art-on- the-Go kit.

In each chapter there are techniques and step-by- step instructions for projects – stencils, layering, collage, textured painting, mono-printing, photo manipulation, and more, to ensure that the reader can go on their own Artful Adventures and create their own meaningful mixed media artwork!"

Sounds pretty cool, right?!

What is also cool is that she invited some artist friends to create something for her book as well. And I am very honoured to be one of them!

I don't have the book yet, it's on it's way, and I can't wait to get it in my hands :)

But Nathalie has send me a picture of my art work in the book and said I could share it with you :)

Something very different from what I usually make. Inspired by the country side where I live and the dried baby wipes I happened to have on hand at the time.

 

In the last couple of weeks Nathalie did a some fun things to help promote her book like a photo/inspiration challenge and interviews with the people who created something for the book, talking about inspiration, where to find it and so on.

Here you can watch the interview she did with me:

The challenge that is going on is called #strollchallenge. You can not only play along in the photo challenge but you can also participate in a free class room were other participants share their photo's and art work based on them and there are also free videos from the artists in the book showing where the inspiration came from and how it was used. Fun, fun, fun!

The challenge started May 10 but you can still join in and catch up if you like, or just join for the last 2 weeks. The idea is to go out in your hood and take pictures based on a list of prompts and then let the pictures inspire you to create something.

Just go to Nathalie's blog, sign up for the free workshop here and have fun!

Today is my turn to share my process with you and I made a project based on the word "pattern". The photo where my inspiration came from is one I took while strolling through NYC with Nathalie in March when I visited her. It's a manhole and it caught my eye when I walked over it. I thought the pattern was neat so I took a picture of it.

In my project I used the actual photo. Here's a little sneak peek:

Want to see the whole project and how made it? Then sign up now and be inspired!

And last but not least, now you of course NEED that book too! :)

So hop on over to Amazon and order your copy today!!

Happy strolling!

 

Love,

 

Crew Member Wednesday With Hermien Ritsema

Hello and welcome to Crew member Wednesday! Today is the first post for Hermien. As the theme for this forst month is "This is me", Hermien is sharing a very touching story about her personal life and explains why she used this particular stamp set to create these beautiful cards!

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The first post this month had to say something about myself. That was a small struggle for what do you tell on the www? Cozy married to Henk, living in the high north, employee of the cat .. some hassle with health, which causes that I can not work anymore, but never bored.. etcetc (you already read my introduction post)  People who know me well also know Fleur, our daughter who was stillborn, a devastating event in our life..she would have been 15  in December....

Every time I see/hear the name or the word Fleur, my heart makes a little jump, the reason I wanted this beautiful stamp set, by Birgit's hand, in French language Tu sais je connais une Fleur unique au monde (You know I know a unique Fleur (flower) in the world)! 

BEAUTIFUL and therefore a beautiful flower on these two cards, one with that beautiful text and in the background some butterflies ...

The other one with the rainbow text from Birgit's stamp set "Leafs".

 

Together in one pic:

How to....?

I took a sheet of 300grs watercolour paper (30x40cm) and randomly applied some blue and turkois paint. I used a brayer to spread the paint

I leave a lot of white space, so I can play with more colors, stencils or stamps later! I took the first stencil (Triangle Mesh) and applied blue and turkois paint with a small sponge. Than I used the beautiful flower stencils (2 Flowers) and white gesso to finish my background. Now the background is ready to cut into 12 pieces (10x10cm).

 

And than I chose one and started painting, stamping, doodling, the first card was not covered, I liked the background as it was, so I only stamped and added some doodling (I stamped the tulip on a seperated painted paper, cut it and glued it onto the card).

The second card was stamped with the same tulip stamp, you can see the background shining trough, than I covered the whole card with three different colors and stamped and doodled over it. 

Hope you enjoy!

Hermien Ritsema

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Stamps and stencils used in these projects:


         

Thank you for stopping by!

We hope you enjoyed the post and that you got inspired! We would love to see your creations on Birgit's Mixed Media Art Crew Facebook page!

Using Spray Inks On The Gelli® Plate

It's almost the 3rd Thursday of the month again, which means I will have a new video up on the Gelli® Arts blog soon!

It's going to be a fun, if I may say so myself ;) But you'll have to be patient a couple more days.

Meanwhile I thought I'd share last months video, in case you missed it.

In this video I'm giving some tips and tricks on how to use spray inks on the Gelli® plate.

I'm sharing here some samples and the video. If you'd like a written step-by-step explanation with photos then hop over to the Gelli Arts blog and find the blog post HERE!  

 

Thank you for stopping by and happy printing!!

Crew Member Wednesday With Karin Van Den Broek

Welcome to Crew Member Wednesday! Today is the first post made by Karin and she has 2 beautiful mixed media cards for you using my very first stamp design for Carabelle Studio. I was so excited and so nervous when my first collection came out in September 2014! This one - French Lily Background - is still one of my personal favourites and I think Karin did an awesome job with it!

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This is me...

I love color, therefor I made you some colourful cards.

 

First I made a background using Izink products from Aladine, I just love the color intensity!

 

 

I removed some ink by using a baby wipe and a stencil because I like the subtle effect that it creates. Then I stamped one of Birgit's stamps, French Lily, on the background.

 

And last but not least... I made some pink accents with texture paste.

 

 

Materials used:

Carabelle Studio stamp: French Lily Background by Birgit Koopsen

Carabelle Studio stencil: Triangle Mesh by Birgit Koopsen

(Other: Aladine Izink; Stazon Jet Black)

 

Karin Van Den Broek

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Thank you for stopping by!

We hope you enjoyed the post and that you got inspired! We would love to see your creations on Birgit's Mixed Media Art Crew Facebook page!

 

Crew Member Wednesday With Femke Kokke

Welcome to the very first Crew Member Wednesday blog post! Here is Femke with a beautiful layout and an inspiring step-by-step video in which she shows some fun techniques!

Have fun!

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My First Project For Birgit’s Mixed Media Art Crew 

As you’ve problably heard, Birgit started a new designteam to promote her own product designs for Carabelle Studio. I am one of the Crew Members :)

I am also the very first to have made a project for the designteam. And I am very proud! 

So here it is:

 

I made this Mixed Media Scrapbooking layout using the following products:  

Carabelle Studio Stamps: “Mini textures” by Birgit Koopsen

Carabelle Studio Masks: “2 Flowers” by Birgit Koopsen  

Gelli Arts: small round Gelli Plate  

(Other: Aladine Pigment IZINK; Ranger Distress Ink; White acrylic paint; Watercolor cardstock) 

 

Here are some details of my project: 

 

I also made this process video where you can see how I made this project:  

 

 

Femke Kokke

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Thank you for stopping by today!

We hope you enjoyed the post and the video and that you got inspired! We would love to see your creations on Birgit's Mixed Media Art Crew Facebook page!

 

 

Workshops in Wijchen (Gelderland) The Netherlands, June 17-18

For my dutch readers:

Het weekend van 17-18 juni geef ik 2 leuke dag-workshops in Wijchen, Gelderland.

Zaterdag 17 juni:

Hot & Sticky!

Tijdens deze workshop ga je aan de slag met embossingpoeders, transfer foil, bonding powder, verschillende lijmproducten, 3D foam, embossingfolders, stempels, dies en meer om prachtige textures in je art journal te creëren. Ontdek hoe lijm de hoofdrol kan spelen in je mixed media projecten in plaats van de ondergeschikte rol van “plaksel” en laat je verrassen door de ongekende mogelijkheden!

Prijs: € 70,= inclusief lunch, snacks en drankjes

Tijd: 10.00-16.00 uur

Voor opgave mail je naar: [email protected]

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Zondag 18 juni:

Awesome Transfers!

 

 

 

 Deze workshop begint met het maken van een aantal kleurrijke achtergronden met o.a. een gelli plate. Vervolgens leer je om op verschillende manieren mooie image transfers te maken in je art journal. Je gaat o.a. aan de slag met zwart-wit foto’s, krantenpapier, gel medium, acrylverf en meer. Let op! Het is verslavend! Als je éénmaal de technieken onder de knie hebt zul je niet meer willen stoppen met het maken van image transfers :)

Prijs: € 70,= inclusief lunch, snacks en drankjes

Tijd: 10.00 – 16.00 uur

Voor opgave mail je naar: [email protected]