Cozy analog time crafting and painting

 

Hello lovelies,

Hope this June finds you well. It's been almost exactly a year since I last posted here. I'm not very active online. The analog life I find soothing and enjoyable. Not to say I don't enjoy the online life. There are many beautiful and interesting things to be found. Lots of inspiration for the creative soul.

Reflecting

 

Hello everyone,

 

Or should I say: anyone? Is anyone still interested in the good old crafty arty blogposts? I have to admit, I don't visit them anymore. Then why would you write a blogpost yourself, you could ask. I don't know, I just felt like reflecting on the years I spent here and the art journey I went on because of starting this blog.

 

Merry Christmas!

Dear friends,

I wish you a

merry Christmas!

May your home be filled with joy, peace, and love.

And if you're in distress because of illness, sadness, or something else, may your pain be softened and your heart filled with peace. I'm sending you my warmest love and best wishes.

Big hugs,

xx Wen

(PS: this is a page from a fabric book, one of my w.i.p.'s that I never came to finishing and I doubt I ever will, but hey, who knows?)

Simply Neutrals 49 - bird illustrations and mixed media journal

Hello dear friends, a very warm welcome to Simply Neutrals for October 2018!

Thank you so much for your beautiful and heart warming link ups last month, I really feel this is a beautiful group of kind souls, encouraging each other and sharing our stories. Although I'm very busy with my illustration journey, I would not want to miss you sweeties! So I'm dedicated to keep this Simply Neutrals going for as long as possible.

The monthly Simply Neutrals gathering is a good motivator for me to keep on working on my Forest mixed media journal, which is mostly neutrals with green here and there.

For one of the projects for the illustration year course that I'm doing (and I will probably do another year in 2019!) I had to draw birds. If you know me, you know that I LOVE birds! So I don't mind drawing them, at all.

And one of them ended up in my mixed media journal :)

Above you see my journal surrounded by some of the other birds I drew.

In the (near) future I'd also love to embroider birds (and more flowers) in my journals, because besides drawing and painting and photography, embroidery is one of the things I'm passionate about. And besides illustration projects I'd love to go on with my exploring journey in textile and mixed media arts.

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FEATURE OF LAST MONTH

Last month we welcomed Alison of alisonbomber.blogspot.com to our gathering. A very warm welcome to you, Alison! I was enchanted by the gorgeous nature themed tags she created. There is so much texture and layering going on on these small canvases. I love that she added dried flowers too.

Simply Neutrals 48 - working in my mixed media journal

Hello sweet friends!

Summer holidays are over, the kids are back to school, so I am back in Blogland! I hope you don't mind that I kept quiet during the summer holidays?

At the moment I'm really busy with an illustration/art course by the wonderful art agent Lilla Rogers, called Make Art That Sells. And besides the course my main focus at the moment is drawing a whole lot of all kinds of objects and living creatures, including human beings :) To practice practice practice.

I hadn't been working in the little mixed media books that I created (and which you can see some of HERE, HERE and HERE) and thought it was about time and wanted to draw a little tree in my forest book. I also added some lace that was gifted to me by SuziQ and Odetta, and a a clover four that I found and pressed. Not sure if these pages are finished yet. The whole book is a work in progress to which I keep adding bits and pieces here and there.

I'm wondering about the health of our trees lately, because we had such a dry summer here. It's been said that some of the trees really suffer and most likely some will not make it through autumn and winter...

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FEATURE OF LAST MONTH

Thank you for joining in the fun again last month!

For the feature I chose this month a most gorgeous card created by dear Karen of Roosterhead Designs.

I chose this gorgeous work by Karen because I so much loved the romantic beauty of it - the layering, the aging, the textures, the beautiful image.

As you can see in the work of both Karen and me, I really don't mind some hints of colour here and there in the work you share with Simply Neutrals. As long as the overall feel of it is in neutral tones. If you know what I mean :)

Simply Neutrals #32

Hello dear Simply Neutrals friends!

It makes me so happy to see what this gathering together in our mutual love for neutral colours means to you. The sweet messages you send me, the gratitude and happiness, it's heart warming.

And I notice it can help us feel inspired to get back to blogging and/or crafting, which is so so wonderful to see! And this is so true for me as well. Because otherwise, well, you know, life tends to get in the way :) So here's a page spread I'm working on in my woods inspired journal, a work in progress still. Just like I am a work in progress still :)

Feature of last week

Dear Jesse of Lace Age Girl posted on her blog a story that really touched my heart.

She made a couple of gorgeous collages in honor of the woman who's old baby photo she used. Please go to Jesse's blog to read the touching story if you haven't done so yet.

Her story was another witness and reminder to me of how important it is to really stop and listen to each other. Listen to each other's stories and sorrows and joys.
And to gather and share with each other.
I feel blessed to have met here some wonderful, generous, and caring women, through blogging. We are each on our own computer, most of the times were literally miles apart from each other. But it is heart warming to see us gathering and sharing as if we lived next door.

So thank you, dear Jesse, for sharing your gorgeous collages and a beautiful bittersweet story!

Book of Bloom

Hello sweet friends, remember the book inspired by the woods I made, and the beginnings of the Book of Bloom I shared with you there? Well, here's what the Book of Bloom looks like so far.

I bound all the pages and started to collage and paint on some of them.

Here and there I added some photos of earlier works too. And some laces and fabric snippets. In this book, like in the book of woods, there are pages of different kind of papers. Like mixed media or watercolour papers, book pages, scrapbook papers, and wrapping papers. And I added some fabric pages to which I will add little collages or embroidery pieces.

I haven't finished the back of the binding yet. I'm not sure what I will add to the fabric there. Probably some embroidery on fabric snippets. Or may be buttons?

But flowers... there will always be flowers wherever I go!

They're just a must have in my life, they make me so happy!

I'm very sure there will be dried and pressed wildflowers in my book added here. And painted flowers. Photos I take of flowers. Sketched flowers. Poems about flowers. Flowers everywhere!

Wishing you a happy blooming day!

xx Wen

Art in neutrals

Hello hello friends,

A little while ago I shared with you the beautiful nature inspired book that I received, created by dear Dorthe of Den Lille Lade. I said she had sent some other beautiful handmade goodness. Here is one of them: a gorgeous fabric and lace collage.

I love how she makes her collages hanging from a piece of driftwood, which she found on her local beach. And I also love the little snippets of embroidery in yellow, complementing the beautiful honey coloured piece on the left. Her way with texture and colour is just sublime.

Thank you so much sweet Dorthe for this gorgeous piece of art!

Another time I'll share the card she made in a coastal theme.

This time I wanted to keep this blog post in neutral colours. Apart from the Book Of Bloom that I'm making (and which is almost finished), I had some fun making my own stencils for my art journal. I used them on a art journal spread in neutral colours that I'm currently working on.

Although rather delicate to work with, my favourite one is the one with the branches with little leaves. It's so much fun to create your own stencils, I'm sure I will make many more!

Did you try making your own stencils and/or stamps?

In my previous post I forgot to mention that for the background work of my woods journal I was inspired by this lovely tutorial by Sandy Babb of Quill Cottage.

Wishing you a beautiful day,

xx Wen

A walk in the woods

Hello sweet people,

Last weekend we went to my favourite woods here in the area. It's huge (for the Netherlands that is, we are only a tiny country). This time we went to an area of it which we hadn't visited before. And we were in for a beautiful surprise at the very end of the walk, a field of gorgeous wildflowers.

Here's a short film I made, come enjoy this walk with me:

Does anyone know which flowers those are? I googled it and couldn't find it, but would love to know.

Of course I brought back some little treasures from the woods like nuts and sticks. But I left this beauty below where I found it.

The woods inspired me for the art book - or journal or whatever you'd like to call it - I am making. The foundation of the book itself is finished, but I will add more and more later on. I'm going to use it as my nature journal, adding little paintings, journaling, embroidery snippets, found objects like leafs, and so on.

The pages all have something on it, so I will not have to start with a blank canvas. I added snippets of fabric and lace, found papers, I added some paint strokes here and there. The pages are of a variety of papers. Watercolour papers, book pages, fabric pages, wrapping papers, printer paper, scrapbook papers. And the cover is made out of cardboard.

 

Gosh, I really want to know which flowers these are. They're so gorgeous! A whole field of them, blooming somewhere in the middle of the woods.

On the back I added a snippet of fabric on which I did some embroidery. To my book I will also add inspiring quotes that I find. And photos I took myself of all things nature.

These gorgeous wildflowers gave me the inspiration for my next art book, for which I started with making the front cover painting:

Book of Bloom

Which, of course, will be about wildflowers, blossoms and other flowers, but also about blooming as a person.

I make these books with the help of a bookmaking workshop by Nellie Wortman. Unfortunately she retired this class, so it will no longer be available, but you can find other awesome classes by Nellie (and other art teachers) at Creative Workshops.

Now put on your hiking boots and have a stroll outdoors, my friend. I know we spend way too much time indoors and also behind our computers. I know I do.

Big hugs and happy day wishes,

xx Wen

Linking this to Nature Notes

Trying some new things

Hello hello, summer holiday is almost over and we're back to normal. How has your summer been? Just before we went on a few weeks trip I had sent out a little package to dear Dorthe. I had been trying new things, expanding my horizon. Like macrame, knitting, and crocheting in thread size mini.

Like the tiny crochet flower above (see the difference with the white flower in a thread size that is commonly used in our days), with an old crochet hook in size mini. My goodness, that's hard! I'm in awe of the ladies of old that made tons of amazingly beautiful projects with hooks like this one...

I finished a fabric and lace booklet that I had been working on some time ago. It has little pockets to hold sweet messages and a tiny notebook.

On pinterest I had found a tutorial by Lia Griffith for macrame, something I had been wanting to try my hands on for a while now. The result is below. It's a tiny macrame, which can be used as a necklace hanger for example, like Lia does in her tutorial.

Also, I tried knitting, with some cotton yarn I had for crocheting. And from my first little test swatch I made a tiny pocket message booklet with an embroidered uplifting message on the inside. This little message can be carried with you in your pocket, or even used as a wrist cuff. The knitting feels so soft, so cuddly. I added a crocheted heart and an embroidered button on the outside.

You are loved. A good reminder I think. It's something we tend to forget, isn't it?

Well, this is it for today, dear friends.

Wishing you a wonderful new week ahead.

xx Wen

Fabric and lace book vintage children

Last Tuesday I shared a little sneak peek of the fabric book I made for the swap for Odetta. Here's how the complete little book looks. I kept it quite simple this time, not too much laces and layers.

I used fabrics and laces old and new.
Dyed some of them myself with tea and paint.

I used pieces of tattered pillow cases and blouses.
Buttons old and new.

Vintage doilies I received from my dear blog friends
and also some purchased online.

And here's the back.

The little butterflies I gave embroidered bodies to keep them in place.

Next week I'll share more of the swap I made for Odetta.
You can see HERE what she made me.


Wishing you a beautiful day!

xx Wen

Sneak peek fabric book vintage children - Simply Neutrals #24

A dear facebook friend of mine, Odetta, asked me to do a swap with her.

You can see the gorgeous package I received HERE.

I made her a little fabric book, among other things.

Today I only share a little sneak peek.

And I will share more of it in another post later this week.

FEATURES OF LAST PARTY

Pam of Nest in The Attic made this sweet and beautiful wire birds nest with pearl eggs.

Oh my, I'm in love...

Nancy of Sugar Lump Studios shared this beautiful and oh so sweet little vintage baby dress,

which she altered and embellished and made even sweeter.

Mimi of A Tray of Bliss shared with us her wonderful tutorial

on how she made some beautiful pillow cases.

Simply Neutrals #20 - fabric wrap with pockets

Hello hello dears,

How was your Easter weekend?

I hope it was filled with love, peace, and joy.

It's time for another Simply Neutrals party!

Here are my neutral things for this week.

A fabric wrap with pockets inside, still in the making.

Weeks ago, a sneak peek of the inside I already shared HERE.

I will add a little thing or two to this wrappie thing.

And the cover has already received some extra thingies added to it,
which I will show you later, when wrappie is finished.

And yes oh yes, it is Spring again dear friends!

(At least here in the northern hemisphere...)

So I'm happily photographing flowers again.

Honestly, every year Winter I'm so much looking forward to them!

So, this was my neutral input this week.

Let's go on with some of the beauties shared by you last party!

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FEATURES OF LAST PARTY

** PLEASE PIN FROM THE ORIGINAL BLOG SOURCES **

Links can be found with the photos.

My oh my, so many gorgeousness was shared once more.

You really make it hard to decide...

First of all, a gorgeous nature inspired journal by Karen of Roosterhead Designs.

I had particularly asked Karen to link up this journal at Simply Neutrals,

because I so much wanted to share it here with you!

Here are a few of the pages inside.

But you have to hop over to her blog to see the rest of them.

Gorgeous work, Karen!

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Next features are both to be found on the blog of LuluLiz of Lalaland.

Liz shared the gifts she received of two dear friends.

First she shared a fabric case for crochet hooks, made by Suzy of SuziQu's Threadworks.

Now, where would the crochet hooks go, you might wonder?

Tadaaa!

So clever!

Suzy also sent Liz a gorgeous fabric collage.

Everything so beautifully photographed by Liz.

*

Liz also shared the gifts of Dorthe of Den Lille Lade.

Gorgeous medaillons!

And a beautiful nature inspired card.

*

Last but not least, I have an extra photo to share with you.

Because naturally I just HAD to share the gorgeous works above,

but there was one other photo that immediately caught my eye when I first saw it.

It's a stunning old wooden house,

photographed so beautifully by Mascha of Maschas Buch.

Mascha told me this beautiful house is in the historic town of Osterwieck, Germany.

I googled this town and found it to be such a gorgeous old town.

Absolutely worth a visit.