Project 365

(Yes, I know that at the start of the year I was very happy to be doing this, and I know I could have quit if I had really wanted to, but now I'm proud I stuck with it and most of all.. Happy it is OVER and DONE WITH!)

(You can see the whole set here.)

My video on Paper Beads!

As I like sharing my obsessions, I decided to do a video on how to make Paper Beads. Enjoy!



Please show me your paper bead projects. A video response would be awesome, but I'd also like to see blogs, Flickr pages or other pictures. Would love to see this paper bead obsession spread!

(Oh, and the link I referred to is one you've probably already checked out: Paper Beads.)

Bookbinding

For some time now, I watched with envy how others bound book after beautiful book. I knew that it was 'the next step' for me when it came to Art Journals, but I never got any further than hinged rings and a ringbinder.

Until....



So last night, I made this:

It's a booklet that came in one of the many Dutch magazines my sister brought over when we went on holiday together. Instead of waxed thread, or even waxing thread, I used dental floss, and it worked really well. Oh, and I've left two longer tails at the back, so I can hang some paper beads from it when I'm done. (Oh come on! You knew I would!)

Now if you like this, and are interested in learning more, you should follow Leslie on Twitter. Or even better yet... Join her (and me and many others) on Art Journaling Ning, where she's got a whole series on this Junk Journal, and there will be more workshops to come!

Round beads!!

Look! Look! I did it!
The lovely Janice from Paperbeads explained to me that I needed to cut long strips, about two magazine pages long (or longer) and only 1/4 of an inch wide. If you go to this post, you will see pictures of how she does it!
Or better yet, watch this video:


I tried to see what they would look like combined with some other beads I had made.

I like. Think this will make a nice bracelet.

Obsession is....

.... looking at shredded paper used by Lululalaland as wrapping material for a spool of elastic cord I bought there, and thinking 'Ohh cool, straight paper beads I don't have to cut myself!'

Turns out that newspaper isn't the best material (at least not such narrow strips) to turn into paper beads, but there were a few glossy strips in there that had Chinese writing on them. Have to wait and see how the actual beads will come out once glossed.

Oh.. and... I made this:
With the length it is I don't like it as a necklace, but love it as a bracelet. Wore it today and got tons of comliments, some people refused to believe it's 'just rolled up paper'. How amazing is that! And then I was told that I could start selling these, but I'm not sure if I want to go down that route. I need to get much much better.. And figure out the secret to making marble-round beads like they sell here. Until then, I will just continue making bracelets and necklaces for myself, and saving up the left over ones until I have enough to make this amazingly long necklace.

Like I needed a new obsession...

Don't tell her, but we got Tye's niece (9) this paper bead kit for Christmas. And because it was cheaper to buy them online, even with shipping, than it was buying the kit in the store, I got one too. Because I really needed a new obsession, right?

I decided not to touch the strips of paper that come with the kit, not wanting to spoil them. So I used a page from a book I thought I was going to use as an art journal, but it turned out not sewn but glued, so I can't use it. I had already put some blue, white and a tiny bit of green acrylics on this page to see if it would hold paint, thinking I would then use the paper for a book binding project. So then I thought, why not use that page to try this paper beading thing...


I'm so happy with the result! After giving them two coats of the 'glaze' (it smells like glue to me!) that came with the kit, they were ready to be turned into two little bracelets. I love them!

Since then, I haven't been able to stop making paper beads. These are tiny ones:


I'm totally obsessed now. I keep searching the many magazines I've got for colourful pages I can cut up into strips, and I've got paper cuts on my fingers from rolling the paper... But I'm loving it! And I'm not even a beader... (but feel I could easily turn into one if I'm not careful.)

Want to give it a try yourself? Have a look at this blog Paper Beads or the YouTube videos. Have fun!

I won!

I've done it! I've won Nanowrimo! And let me tell you, this year was tough!

Last weekend we were at a party, so no writing at all. Then I got ill, got a nasty cold that I couldn't shake. It's difficult to write when you're feeling like crap. So I didn't. Had two more days of writing absolutely nothing and a few days or writing just a few words. It was bad. I felt bad.

Tonight I had to finish it. I'd had enough. I only needed 2000 more words anyway. (Thanks to that 4000+ words on Day One and a few more days where I wrote far more than I needed to). And that's when I hit the 50K mark. I know for validation it's best to go a little beyond that, just in case the verifier eats some of your words, so I ended at 50270 words!

Yayyyy!!!

I could not have done it without the distraction of Twitter, and all the lovely people there, the Nanowrimo forums and the rewards such as Dutch telly on my laptop and YouTube.

Oh, and that 'Fake Journal' I said I was going to do, pretending I was my Main Character doing an (art) Journal? That will have to wait until International Fake Journal Month. I'm beat!

(Now if only it was Jan. 1st and I could say I've finished Project 365..... ;) )

Shopping makes you feel better

For the last couple of days, I've had a terrible cold. I blame my Love's 1.5 yr old niece. We had to babysit her and she had a constant runny nose and a nasty cough but of course that did not stop me from cuddling her and playing with her. And now I'm paying for it big time. I've been in bed with my laptop, but I haven't written all that much in the last couple of days. Only 760 words yesterday. And I sooo want to finish this story now, but it's difficult to think with a head full of snot and a throat that feels like sandpaper..

Soooooo..... In order to make me feel better, I decided to buy myself a little something something. I had my eye on Comfortable Shoes, on Art Fire for a while now, and today was the day I made my purchase. A new journal and a jotter (see picture above)! Yayy!

I think Leslie is a great girl, she has some beautiful books in her shop, and her videos on Youtube> are awesome. And if you have a peek at her blog, you will see that she's currently having a BlackFriday sale!

So go on and have a look at Comfortable Shoes on ArtFire, and get yourself or a loved one something special!

My new video!

Will be posting pictures of these pages as I go along, but might not be until after Nanowrimo... As they say: watch this space!!

Nanowrimo second half: Play Dirty!

Yesterday was the 15th day of Nanowrimo. The half way point. If you have kept up with the daily target of 1667 words a day, you hit 25K yesterday. Twenty-five-thousand words. That's an awful lot! Hope you took the time to celebrate, and give yourself a reward for all the hard work you've put in.

Now... We're at the second half. And this is where you get to play dirty.

The middle, as I'm sure many Nanowrimo-writers will tell you, is a tough part. Usually you know exactly what will happen in the beginning, you have your ending figured out, but that middle bit is where it gets difficult. Things don't always work out the way you had planned, characters end up not behaving like you wanted them to, like they have a mind of their own.

As frustrating as that may seem, keep in mind that you must not (NOT!!) edit anything. Don't read back what you wrote, don't edit. Instead, keep a notebook next to you and write down things that you should have a look at in your edit. For example, I started my story off by calling one of my characters Joe. Ten chapters in, suddenly he was Jim, which suits him much better. So I wrote down: 'From Chapter 1: Joey = Jim'. So when (if) I edit this story, I know that the first few chapters I have to change that name.
Another example; my character just killed off a poor innocent woman, while wearing a suit. This morning when I took a shower, I suddenly thought, hang on, if the blood was splattered all over the wall, surely his suit would get dirty too. How will my character deal with this? Does he either not care, or does he need a change of clothes in my rewrite? In which case, he will need a bag or a briefcase of some kind in which he carries a fresh set of clothes. So I wrote that down in my notes, but I may even start my writing session tonight as if he had that bag with him the whole time, and make sure that in my rewrite I mention it as he walks towards this poor lady's house.

As far as playing dirty goes, word count means everything in this second half. The first half was difficult enough, and now you have to do the same amount of words again. So take your character shopping and have them decide what to have for dinner. Let your character dream or daydream, even if it has nothing to do with your story. Write flash backs, let your characters explain their story to other people.

My story, about a man killing people like the Big Bad Wolf does in fairy tales, I thought called for a scene in a classroom where the teacher reads out the Little Red Ridinghood story. And as we all know, children's stories are very repetitive. I think I must have written out 'Little Red Ridinghood' at least ten times in that scene. That's 20 words more than if I had used a name or 'she'.

As far as my Nanowrimo goes, I'm slightly ahead of schedule. I will start my writing session today at 32550. But, there have been 3 days where I wrote less than 1667 words, and one day where I wrote absolutely nothing. It can be done! It just means that on other days you have to write more than 1667 words a day.

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the challenge. Keep up the great work!

Surviving Nanowrimo

In just a few short hours it will start getting dark and the first Trick or Treaters will come knocking on my door. It's always fun to see those little ones dressed up, some too shy to even say anything, others doing a full act meant to make you run away and hide under the covers.

But tonight isn't all about Halloween. It's about being nervous about and preparing for Nanowrimo, the crazy writing adventure I've been telling you about.

Here are my tips to survive this huge challenge:

* Write a LOT on Day One. You never know what might happen along the way. You may not be able to write every single day, so being a bit ahead of schedule early on will help you.

* Write in bits. You may not have the time to sit down and write those 1667 words a day in one go, and that's OK. Write a paragraph in the morning, send yourself a few sentences through email while at work (oops, did I say that out loud??), speed write during the ad breaks of your favourite show. This way, it will not feel like such a huge task every day, and.. you may write more than those 1667 words a day without even knowing it.

* Do NOT edit. At all. Ever. I know, I know, your inner critic is persistant and it will take a lot to shut him/her up, but please, don't edit. Editing is for later. December, March, whenever. Just keep writing. It does not matter if it's crap, you will also write some truly wonderful stuff to balance that. Just keep going. Your word count will thank you for it.

* Make sure you save your work. The laptop I'm using for my Nanowrimo has a tendency to just quit on me. It's extremely annoying when online, but I simply can't have that during Nanowrimo. So I've set up my writing software to save my work every 2 minutes. This way, if the laptop does die on me, I'll only have lost less than 2 minutes of typing, and not my all of writing for the day.

* Don't panic during Week Two. Week Two is known for its dark clouds and deep feelings of 'WTF was I thinking signing up for this?' It's alright. You're not alone. In Week One everyone is so geared up to go, all excited to get this thing going, and then by Week Two, when it's getting more and more difficult to get those words on your screen or in your notebook, it seems like it was the worst idea ever to try and do this. But don't give up. Don't throw away your hard work. Talk to others (the Nanowrimo site has a great forum section), go for a walk, maybe even take a day off (see, told you it would be a good idea to write LOTS on Day One?), and then come back and write. You can do it.

* Take care of yourself. To those who never write it may seem like you're just sitting in your chair and typing a bit, but those of us who do write know it takes a lot of energy. So make sure your body gets what it needs. Keep yourself hydrated. Have bite-size snacks next to you while you write. But also: go out for some fresh air every now and then. Stretch. Blink. Step away from the computer every now and again, even if it is just for a toilet break and to check and see if your loved ones are still alive and doing OK while you are in Nanowrimo-land. And make sure you put a pillow under your bum while you write, because you'll be doing a lot of sitting down and typing away this month. No need to get sore.


* Reward yourself. You are doing something that most people say they will do some day, but more than likely never will. You are writing a book, in just one month! So reward yourself every now and again. When you get those first 10K out, or got passed a difficult dialogue or scene, you deserve a treat. Chocolate, a new lipgloss, a cuddle with your puppy, anything you can think of. You deserve it!

* And most importantly: Have fun! I know, you nearly forgot, right? This is about having fun. You're doing something amazing, and you're not on your own either. Connect with people, take part in challenges posted in the Nanowrimo forums, try and work something completely random into your story, let your characters go and explore the world even if it does not fit in with what you've had in mind. Have a great time, because before you know it, it's December 1st and this is all behind us.

Have a great Nanowrimo! And please come back to check on my progress, I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Be my LAST Etsy buyer!

It's time to say enough's enough. I haven't had a sale since March, and six sales this year in total. After all these years, I have to admit that Etsy isn't working for me. That is without all the stuff going on behind the scenes(check out Etsy Bitch for more information) which made it more and more difficult to be enthusiastic about Etsy.

In short: it's time for me to quit. To give up on the Etsy dream. So.....

Be my LAST Etsy buyer, and I will throw in a few freebies! It was fun (well, not always) while it lasted, and hopefully my listing and the freebies will make someone happy.

Please go visit my Etsy shop and be my very last Etsy buyer.

Thanks!

Link love

As Nanowrimo is approaching, writing and thinking about writing consumes my time. I keep my notebook on me at all times (even in bed) so I can write down anything I can think of. Oh, and of course I changed my mind. Yes, the story will still be 'about Little Red Ridinghood', but I'm going to use more fairy tales, and the MC (Main Character) is not going to be 'Red' but the biiiig bad wolf. Or someone who thinks he is, anyway. And the art journal? It's his.

And then there's blogs on writing. I'm currently in love with the wonderful Alexandra Sokoloff, who explains what structure your story should have and how to get there. I'm thinking of using the index card/PostIt notes technique that she explains in this post.

Mur Laferty has been keeping a blog called I Should Be Writing for years now. She combines a regular blog with a wonderful podcast, which is beyond cool. Not only does she have an 'easy voice' to listen to, she's got a great down to earth sense of humour that I love. Great stuff for procratination, but in the end... You should be writing!

Tye thinks I've got a special talent

Three into one

Right. Bear with me, this will be a long post on how three projects will turn into one huge project as of Nov. 1st.

First of all: Nanowrimo. Nanowhatoh? Nanowrimo; (inter-)National Novel Writing Month. It starts on Nov. 1st, and it's all about writing that book that you always said you wanted to write, in one month. Yes, you heard that right, writing a book in one month. Or well, writing a 50,000 word novel in one month. I've been doing this for a few years now, this year will be my 6th time, and I absolutely love it. Last year, I actually finished the story at the end of the 50,000 which had not happened to me before, and I was quite pleased with myself. I can't wait to get started again this year and not only get those 50k down, but also finish the story I want to tell.

Ok, now hold that thought...

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across this blog, telling me about Fake Journal Month. FJM is in April, and the idea is to keep an art journal, but not your own. You keep one for 'someone else', living or dead, or maybe even fictional. You might want to use materials you normally don't use, or techniques you normally would not use in your own work. Try something different, but as if you were someone else.
Sounds cool, right? But April is so far away...

Now, hold that thought too...

The other day, I was going through another 'I don't know what to take a picture of today' sort of mood. I'm still loving my Project 365, but sometimes there is simply 'nothing to take a picture of' and then it's hard. As I was looking around at my stuff and things to see what I could use for my daily picture, I saw my old Little Red Ridinghood doll. It can change into the Grandmother and the Wolf, but I only took a picture of Little Red Ridinghood. Here it is:


Nowwwwww... Put all those three together and you've got: a Nanowrimo novel about Little Red Ridinghood (but different, I promise) and a Fake Journal I will of course take pictures of to go with it! Ha! Because after 5 years, I know I can do the writing, and this would make it a bigger challenge. Besides, I love art journals and I can't wait until April to try a Fake Journal.

I'm already doing backgrounds in a Pokemon magazine that we got for the 3D glasses so we could watch a 3D episode of Chuck (it did not work... wrong colours I guess) so come Nov. 1st I can let Red pour her heart out in her new art journal! Can't wait!

Spill it!

You know how the other day I was saying that I want to embrace being a messy journaler, and that neat and tidy just isn't my thing? Guess what I stumbled across the other day:

Straight Talk with Carmen from Carmen Torbus on Vimeo.

How coooool does that sound? And her enthousiasm is killing me, it's great to see!
So hurry on over to the Spill It workshop page to sign up, and have a peek at Carmen's blog too!

All I want for Christmas...

Almost every week we drive by this sign, and today was the day to finally take a picture of it.
Oohhh yes, vintage is hip, baby! And just in case you did not understand what vintage horse shit means, this is what is says on the other side:

Also note the Please return bag, thank you' on the sign. Not only are you getting horse shit that is already rotting away, you need to take the bag back so it can be used again.

Vintage and recycling. Who said farmers can't be cool?

Had enough of neat and tidy

I don't think I could ever be a traditional scrapbooker. All these bright colours, everything exactly half an inch from the side, or an inch from the other.. The precut materials and layouts copied from books and websites, I don't know.. It just isn't for me.

Lately, I've been bloghopping a lot. I tend to do that when I'm bored. I check out who replied to blogs I read, and then go to their favourites or the blogs they follow etc. etc. Keeps me busy for ages. And on one of these bloghopping afternoons I found Steph McAtee's blog. Now she takes scrapbooking to a whole different level.

Yes, she still uses pictures and blocks of text like the more traditional scrappers do, but her pages are grungy and dark and layered and I love them! I think this is more the way I want to start Art Journaling. Not that my life is grungry and dark and horrible, but there is just something about getting all messy that makes me very happy.

Even before I found Steph's blog, I did this page below. I first added gaffer tape to my cardboard, and then layered paint on top of it. The text is done in permanent maker (not Sharpie because it died a fairly horrible death when I tried to use it on the page) and then dots on the letters in white Posca, my new favourite white pen.

Enjoy!

About that Travel Art Journal...

I had great plans. I had a little suitcase full of materials. DIY paper, collage paper, tags, more pens than I knew what to do with, my trusty gluestick, tape, and four pages a day in my Art Journal.

I would journal every single day after Tye, my family and me came back from whatever it was we went to see. After our shopping trip in Birmingham, after our days out in Stratford-upon-Avon, after going to see Warwick Castle. I would write and add anything that I would find along the way. Brochures, receipts, leafs, little notes.

And I did journal. I wrote about how we got to the campsite, set up our tent, and what we did in Birmingham when me and Tye and my sister went for a shopping trip there. And when we went to Stratford-upon-Avon I picked up some amazing Shakespeare tape, with the titles of all his plays.

And then, that was it... I did not touch my Art Journal until after we got back. No time, not enough space, and it felt a bit strange to get the journal-suitcase out when we were enjoying a drink and some nibbles after spending a long day walking around seeing the sights.

But hey, it's finished now, and I love it! I covered it all in Shakespeare tape and hopefully in years to come I will still remember what we went to see, the meals we had and how I teased my parents and sister by singing the song about Henry VIII.

Getting back into the swing of things...

Coming back from holiday with tons of laundry to do it's sometimes difficult to get back into the swing of things. I know it took me a good few days before I was used to hectic life again, with phones ringing and schedules and getting back to healthy food. ;) Yes, we're still on the 'No More Crap' diet, but it's proven more difficult this time then when it was when we first started.. Oh well....

And then there's my new Art Journal. I'm still not completely sure if I like doing the backgrounds first, adding bits here and there until it's 'finished', and then adding the journaling. I loooove the background work.
Getting messy. Not really thinking about things, just adding paint and magazine clippings and DIY paper and scraps. It makes time fly! But to then flip through to another page, and another, and another, without finishing what I started... hmm... not so sure....




I know I felt better after adding some journaling, complaining about this very thing..

Maybe I should just give it a bit longer, to see if I might end up liking it after all....

First pages in my Art Journal

I know, I know, it's been a while (again), and after posting this I'm packing my suitcase to go on holiday for a week, so I won't be posting for another while either.... but I wanted to show off the progress I've made so far in my new Art Journal.

I decided to just slap on some colour and already start working on backgrounds, going back and forth through the pages. It's amazing how time flies when you do that!


This one is almost ready for journaling. Maybe I'll add some more bits here and there, but I think I will just put down some lines and then journal my heart out.

Using up old DIY paper I made ages ago. Sticking it on there, and then I'll get back to it when the mood strikes me.

And this is my first finished page in my new Art Journal:


(OK, OK, I might add some borders or something....)

For now: see you soon! I'll be taking a prepped Art Journal with me to play with while away, I'll probably end up having to do loads on that when back, but I'll show you when it's done.

Bye oma!

Today it's eight years since my nan (or gran or 'oma' in Dutch) passed away. It's hard to believe it's been that long.

She was a great knitter, and she enjoyed sewing too, so it was not that strange that she started to collect thimbles. Whenever we went on holiday, or on a daytrip or even schooltrip, we would try and find her a thimble.

When she passed away, my aunt took over her impressive collection, but not before I took out the couple I knew for sure I gave her. One from Eindhoven, the first place I lived when I moved out of my parent's house, one from Dierenpark Emmen, a wonderful zoo in Holland (sorry, link is only in Dutch and German), and one from Lourdes....

I was hoping to take a picture of the sky today, as she loved cloud formations and would always tell us 'Oohh, look at those clouds!', but it's grey and raining again today, so this was the next best thing for this sad anniversary.

Dag oma!

Five good things

As you may or may not know, years ago I suffered from an eating disorder called binge eating disorder, or emotional overeating. When in therapy trying to sort this out, my phsycologist asked me to list five good things that happened to me during the day, and to do this every single day. What a daunting task! Five good things! 5! My life was one big depressing mess, I never had even one good thing happen to me during the day, let alone five...

Or did I?

When I first started keeping this list, it was very difficult. I would list things like 'The cat jumped on my lap' or 'The sun was shining today', trying to make it to five. But then, I started to pay more attention during the day, knowing I had to fill out the list at night. And after two or three weeks, I also started listing things I had an active part in, not just stuff that 'happened to me'. So I would list that I had enjoyed a nice cup of tea in that same sunshine, or that I had given the cat a good brush and then had a nice cuddle with him.

This family lists five good things every evening at the dinner table, for a completely different reason: to share how their day has been. And they even developed a nice little booklet, to make it easier to keep track of things.

Try it out! You'll be amazed at how many 'good things' happen during your day!

New Art Journal!

Yes, yes, I know I still need to upload the picture of the Art Journal I finished, and I will, but I'm too proud of the new Art Journal or alterered notebook/ringbinder to not show it off now.


Started off with gesso-ing the covers. Not my favourite part, because it always seems to take forever to dry, and I just want to move on!


Then I painted the cover, added some hand painted paper strips, but I wasn't feeling it. I added the 5 in buttons, and 5 buttons on the back, but it still wasn't 'right'. And then I knew what to do...


I covered it all with slightly wrinkled tin foil. Yes, that was much better!


I painted it all in bright colours, but it wasn't finished just yet...


I added some black paint (water with black paint mixed into it, instead of the other way around...) which made that the colour was still shining through.


Then I finished the inside cover... Helloooo new Art Journal!


I already put cardboard boxes and old folders in it for the pages and have started with a little button on the first 'page'. I can't wait to really get started!

Has it really been that long?

Wow, I had no idea it has been this long since I last wrote a blogpost here. And I still don't have all that much to say, really. So here are a few pictures from the last month or so:


We decided to take our health more serious, and start swimming once a week. I started off with 20 laps, which I thought was pretty good for someone who hasn't seen the inside of a swimming pool in at least 15 years. The next time I managed 26 laps, and last week 30. I think 30 is a comfortable amount of laps, will try and keep doing that for a while.


Where were you when...? I was watching TV, like billions of others...


Sold out, but we managed to get a seat anyway! Yay!

My Art Journal is nearly finished, will be posting pictures very soon! Oh, and I'm working on a loose leaf ring binder that I will start using for my Art Journal. Makes more sense, it's more sturdy and easier to add pages to without it falling apart. Watch this space!

Lightening strikes

Yesterday we had a massive thunderstorm. At one point we thought it had hit something, at first I thought it was the school around the corner. This morning however, while walking the dog in the park, we saw this tree... Thankfully it had rained heavily before lightening hit it, so there was no fire, but the damage is severe.

Pet peeve

Warning: this will be a rant...

About an hour ago I wrote this on Twitter ('I tweeted'? 'I Twittered'?) :

'Pet peeve: Please please please make it so I can have the option of listening to the music on your blog!'

Don't get me wrong, I love music. I do! But I want to pick the music I listen to. So if you put something on your blog and say 'Hey, listen to this band, they are fantastic and I would love for you to hear this song' I will more than likely click on the link and listen. (with headphones on, but I'll get to that in a minute) I would. But for music to just start playing when I visit your blog... Ugghhh...

I like visiting new blogs. I sometimes go through all the links people have up in their sidebars to see if there is something I like. I tend to open a few of those links at the same time, so I don't have to go back to the blog I get the links from and keep going back and forth. (Does that make any sense? I hope so.) And if music then starts to play and I have to go through all of them to figure out which one it is and even worse: find where the damn player is, because they are never at the same place... ughhhh again!

What makes it even worse is that 9 times out of 10 my sweetie, who works nights, is fast asleep next to me when I'm doing all this. At night, when he's away, I watch Dutch tv online, and I sometimes forget to turn the sound off the next day...

So.. Please please please make your music player thingy optional, so I can click it if I want, when I want. It would make me so much happier!

Eurovision Songcontest

Tonight was the 2nd semi-final for the Eurovision Songcontest and Holland had to qualify to be in the final on Saturday.

Holland sent De Toppers, a group of singers who have been doing really well in Holland for the last couple of years, doing stadium shows that are always completely sold out. They were supposed to have suits that would light up, which went really well with their song Shine. Yesterday, during rehearsals, the suits didn't work, so they had to go with these shiny suits...

I was all ready to vote only to find out that the UK wasn't voting tonight...

Unfortunately, only Eastern European countries went through, as well as Norway, Denmark and Greece...

Guess now I will just have to cheer on Jade, who's the UK entry this year. Yay UK!

Oohhh, white out!

Sometimes a page can look... not done.... and you can't figure out what to do with it.
I got a white gel pen a few weeks ago (why are they so hard to find?) and that has really changed the look of my journal pages.

The background is done in Pearlescents, and I added another National Geographic photo. I also used the Pearlescents with my dip pen, to see how that would work, and I found it not strong enough, so I traced some of the words with my white pen.


Here the background is done in Pearlescents, the girl in acrylics, black ink and Pearlescents, and I then added journaling (in Dutch, it's almost like a secret language...) in white pen. The border was done with left over ink on my brush.