my followers

hi, i promised i would draw a name from my followers as thanks for following my blog.

i put the names in the hat even anonymous nr one and two and my little boy pulled out...

CHARLOT!!!

so Charlot when you read this please mail me your details so i can send you a litle something for you as thanks for following my blog!

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what am i up to? nothing much, lazy out in the garden enjoying the nice weather, resting my ankle cos it really is playing up again. so feet up, drawing pad and pencils at hand, ipod on...

playing with some new faces, just relaxing

hope you all have a wonderful day

xox t

lemonade stand

hi!!! a couple of days ago i recieved this great award from Sheri but also from Evelien, i really like this one girls! so sweet thank you both xox!!!

The rules of the award (To pick up the Lemonade Stand Award):- Comment on this blog.- Save the award logo to your own computer and use it in your own blog.- Nominate 5 to 10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.- Link to your nominees within your blog post.- Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.- Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

i will gladly send this on to Sue, Barb, Kate & Michelle. i know that is only four, but they are the ones i want to pass it on to :-)

told you i got my hair cut last week! here is my new short hair! so easy!!!!

that's it for this post, got loads of things to do today! hope you all have good one!!! i plan on having a brilliant day! not a crappy brilliant day! hihi! just a brilliant brilliant day! xox

needed some time

hi, well... i needed some time to recuperate from my most crappy perfect day evvaaaaa! it did not go well with my dad! i do not feel like explaining it all but believe me it took me many hours to stop crying and feeling angry, lost, upset and sad. still sad about it all but i realize my father does not feel like having some peace and love in his life, even now. nothing i can do about it. i now can only inform how he is through the nurses even though he forbids them to give me any info now!!! thet said he has been acting agressive to everyone and that i should not take it personally! very difficult. but one of life's lessons is to not take anything personal. His state of mind has nothing to do with me, he is only taking it out on me.
and the thing is i knwe it was all going to happen, i did say it would be a day for some home truths! and it was! i did tell him my mind.

anyway, i am calmer now, once again i just need to breathe and move on with my own life.






i helped my brother paint his livingroom, made new curtains for him, made some sipmle art to place on the big bare wall, we bbq'd, we went to see Star Trek which was brilliant! we loved it!!! my son did not understand how we were so excited about it hihi! too young! we were making vulcan signs all night long ( drinks might have had something to do with that!) i nearly got picked up while shopping for a guitar piece for my friend J, such a cute man at the counter! damn!!! my age, goodlooking hihi! he heard me talking to my brother in out english dialect and thought i was dead cute haha! he was so funny tring to imitate me, i had to say "tarrah" to him cos he thought it was so sweet hihi! damn, i should of told him it was my brother with me!!!!! dammmmmmmn! tanya!!!!! a well who knows... i might need to go back some day (two hours drive though!, used to be right around my corner !!!!) sigh................... dream on ! it was funny though and my brother said i should have asked his number hihi! he is trying to get me off the street before i expire!!! what a cheek! a well as you see there was some fun to my weekend, not all pain and loss.


right! off to the shops, fridge is pretty empty!!!

have a great day!!!! xox t

it's such a perfect day

it's such a perfect day! why? because i think everyday is a perfect day, no matter what might try to be going on in my head, my life, my past trying to creep up on me to make me feel unhappy and unloved all over again. no! it's a perfect day because i say so!

where is this coming from?

well, firstly my dad's operation has been postponed due to other minor health issues so he is still not in the clear there and still he is being such a pain towards my brother, God only knows why he is doing this, i can't get my head around it really, you would think he would choose to have peace and love in his life at times like these ... but no! he chooses to play these games right up to the end. it is hurting my brother. i don't like this. have loads more to say on this but i will not, not now, not today. i will go see him in a few hours and i am taking my brother with me and if he plays games i will stay cool but tell him what i think! it is a perfect day to do so! i have decided.

then, my mother, i call her my mother cos that is what she is technically, not who she has ever been, i learned to live with that, i'm 41 now, i'm over it all. i went to visit her yesterday. she is gone, she is not here anymore! 59 years old and she sits there, no expression on her face what so ever, blank, empty even, so sad, i feel so sad for her no matter what she has done in the past. i thought i still resented her but it has gone, she has gone. it might sound strange but i have found peace with her now she is gone. the woman sitting in the hospital chair rubbing her chin constantly is a stranger to me, i am even more a stranger to her. she realized it was me after a while, it didn't move her though, fine. after ten minutes and me telling her a couple of times that my son bart was there it finally reached her and then she cried. i cried. it is so sad to see her like that. i have loads of thoughts on this matter but i am goingto let them go, it doesn't mattert anymore. peace.

it is a perfect day today! i'm going to let go of all the emotions thet might be bubbling up inside me and am going off to enjoy my day! going into the city, help my son buy clothes, he still wants my help, hihi! love it! then do some shopping for my friend J he needs a little piece for his guitar so i'm off to find that for him and then post it off to the Uk. going to visit dad, he better be good! cos it is a perfect day for some home truths if he isn't.

so, i wish you all a perfect day today, every day!

xox t

another clearbook

due to mail problems this beautiful clearbook by dorien did not reach me! what a shame because it is a really beautiful piece of art!

so i am showing it to you now and i will sent dorien a little something because it was really unlucky i didn't get this!

you will agree with me that dorien did a good job here! i have talented students in my classes.

I got some questions on how i did the metal embossing so i would like to invite you to go vistit these two crazy chicks at Ten Seconds Studio!!! this link is straight ot their videos on how to embos metal, some cool projects, alot of wacky remarks and funny situations!

well, the weekend has started, hoping for some nice weather so the kids can pay outside

and we can eat out in the garden!

have a wonderful weekend

hope you find time to play and to have fun

or to rest

or meet friends

whatever rocks your boats!

xox tanya

passing on this blog award

“The Renee award was created by Bella and Ces in honour of their friend Renee. In Bella's own words "this is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed, watching it grow. I hope it finds it's way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns…” See Renee's blog: Circling My Head

i recieved this award from Kate, an artist i myself admire loads, she makes the most beautiful atc's with great sewing and collages to die for if i'm ever up north of the UK i want to go play with her, for sure KATE!

i would like to pass it on to Six of the many artist i am lucky to know and truly appreciate!

i could pass it on to alot more artists but here are the ones i chose this time around

i hope you take time to visit their sites, they are all worth your time!

i can't send it back to Kate cos i would if i could!

Sheri

i wish she lived aound my corner! she feels my vibes!

Lisa cole

beautiful dolls!

Mike

he and his wife should live around my corner aswell, we would make art!!!!

and drink cheap red wine doing ithope they come to belgium in the near future!!

listening mike????

Patti

okay it is getting boring but i wouldn't mind her living closer either!!

Lynda

cos she is beautifully chaotic and brave!!

Kimmie O

again beautiful dolls!

so there you have the six artists i would like you to visit.
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i've been playing with metal embossing! i'm getting the hang of it and am really loving the new possibilities for my altered art projects, i'm een thinking of giving my dolls metal dresses hihi! yep, my creative brain has twists! but i think it will look pretty neat!

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i bought some more Paulo Coelho books, people!! you should really read these, he is a wonderful writer and well... look him up on interne

, give it a bit of your time and find out about him!

i have to thank J for getting to know him. (xox)

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oh and did you hear the first song on my playlist, did you turn it off!? listen to it! it is the most beautiful lovesong of all times as far as i am concered! not that i am in love unless with life itself!

but don't you think it is a wonderful song? i love Crowded house.

J is learning some of the songs on his guitar! thanks J!

can't wait to hear you play! few more months huh!

i love Crowded house, oh i already said that... :-)

what else? well my dad is having his operation next week so i'll be away from home for a few days to be colse to him, i hope that all goes well. for one thing it is bringing us closer, we are having talks we have never had before. i still think he is really impossible and childish and will never grow up but you know what?

he is my dad and i love him and hope he sticks around for a long long time!

i would give him all the time in the world if it were up to me,

he can bug me for as long as he wants!

my daughter sent me an e-card for Mother's Day.

of course i'm not over it all yet!!!!! how can i be huh!?

but i'm letting go and dealing with it slowly.

an e-card is better than no communication isn't it?

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and remember, and i am reminding myself at the same time...

!!!!!!LOVE IS LIFE!!!!!!

xox tanya

a little book

okay, so here is the little present i made for J!

it's a little hand-sewn book. he writes.

the covers are chipboard covered with sticky back canvas from Claudine Hellmuth, painted with the studio paints and embellished with Tim's Idea-ology things. the pages are all cut from a large sheet of beautiful paper from the art store, coloured with the Ranger distress inks and spritzed and flicked, then stamped with distress inks, some tages added with stamped texts or handwritten and some personal (not on show hihi!).

i am certainly going to make this kind of little book again, must say that the sticky canvas is so easy to use for covering! piece of cake! and i am still very much in love with the studio paints, i got al the colours now! what a luxury!!!

i will pass the blog award on tomorrow!

today i am going to draw! i have started to try men's faces, here is one i did last night, the shading is a bit rough, i was working in bad lighting so i'll smooth that out later, and i need to work on the hair more but i think you can see it's a man, heavier chin, wider face, eyebrows and nose are different... not easy to do when i've only done girls up to now! i think he turned out pretty okay really hihi!

have a great day, the Sun is nowhere to be seen here today so i'm just going to make myself a nice hot cup of tea, put some music on and pretend it's beautiful weather.

xox tanya

Evelien is the winner

the winner was chosen by my art pals from abroad, it is nice that some people are voting here but only the votes from the people i actually asked to vote count, please understand this;
i did this because then i know all the votes are valid and objective and they are genuine votes from people who do not know the contestants in any way.

Evelien is the lucky winner, you can see in the comments that she had the most votes, Marie-Anne got a vote too and so did Martine. Angelique got votes but not from my chosen jury so they don't actually count but of course it is nice for her.

I will make something special for Evelien and try and get it posted this week
along with Inge's present that should have bene posted last week but didn't!

thanks to my art pals who all took the trouble in voting when i asked them whithout warning hihi! and thanks to al my chickies who sent their work in! they were all fab!!!!! proud of you all!

clearbooks of my students

a while ago i gave a workshop on clearbooks and to get my chickies to finish their books i asked them to send them in before May 1st to win a little present from me. it has taken me a little longer to get them on due to not being home much and family issues but here they are now.

the way i want to vote is: i will mail some of my foreign readers and ask them to vote.

i aslo recieved a lovely blog award from Kate but i wil post that later this week!!! so come back because i will be passing it on to some cool artists! in the meanbtime you can go visit Kate's blog and see who she passed it on to! it is worth your time!

so! here are the clearbooks from my wonderful craft chickies! I think they all did a brilliant job. not everyone sent in their pictures but here are the ones who did!

i can't put all the pics on that i recieved so i will choose my two favourite pics of each person's clearbook.

their name is above their clearbook

Angelique

Evelien

Marie-Anne

Martine

Sandra

so Angelique, Evelien, Marie-Anne, Martine and Sandra ( i put you in alphabetical order) thanks for sending in your work, voting will be this week and by Friday i will post the winner! good luck to all of you!!!

i promised to post pics of my little present to J but seeing this is already a long post i'll do that later this week along with the blog award :-)

have a nice day!

mine started in loads of grrrrr and F**** i had probably not closed the freezer door properly when i shoved something in at the last minute! so the f****** freezer defrosted over the weekend while i wasn't home and my home had such nasty cat pee kinda smell when i came home, i don't have a cat so i kinda freaked but could not find the reason till this morning! so at 7 am i had to throw out a full bin bag of food! all smelly fish, scampi, steak, veg, soup, azrggghhhh! loads of money in the bin and what a job for a monday morning before my coffee!

anyway! no use in getting upset! it is done, i will now make myself a nice cuppa and move on with my day;

first i'll mail some of my readers to kindly ask them to vote for me!

Next week i will randomly choose one of my blog followers as a lucky winner for a little something from me! so if you are not yet a follower you still have time to become one!! ( see little box on the left, go up to top of blog hihi!)

xox tanya

checking in

just quickly checking in because i had promised to upload some of my students clearbooks so my blog readers can vote on them but i just have not had time, i've been away from home for my dad, but i'll be able to upload them tomorrow, i hope because blogspot has a maintanance planned some time tomorrow so it might be the next day so come back to check them out.

to make the process a quick one i'll mail some of my foreign blog readers and ask them to vote so that way i will have a winner by the end of the week and they will be totally objective cos they don't know you all anyway :-) i'll be able to send something off to the lucky person soon!

J got his present so i can post pics tomorrow.

okay i'm off again, got some things to do before i can head off home

speak to you all tomorrow

xox tanya

just checking in

hiya, no, i haven't dropped off the planet
i just seem to be in a periode of thinking and reading, a have been working on a little something for J but i still need to send it off in the post so i'll wait to post pics here till he has recieved it, wouldn't want to spoil the suprise! will say that i used sticky canvas, studio paints, tim's masks, needle and thread, distress inks and tim's wonderful stamps, tokens, chain,...

as i said, i'm reading alot, i am totally into Paulo Coelho!!! J recommended a couple of books and i must say i am really grateful for this!!! lovely books to read, stories that tell you something, some reflections and inspiration for life. thanks J!!! x
it's making me think loads though and that is as good as it is bad, i tend to think too much once i start off. but i'm not getting stressed or anything, maybe a tad melancholic, i admit that much, but nothing i can't handle or get rid of by doing some art journaling or poetry or just breathing and deciding to let it go. i wil soon jump into action again.

okay, off to my physical therapist again, my body is still full of painful protest, it does not agree with the changes they are trying to make in my posture even ifit is probably for the best! i kinda have stuborn muscles :-)

i'll be back soon with a bit of art to show, i'll send it off to J first.

have a great day!
xox t