time to take it easy

hiya friends, i have been so busy these last few weeks,

hardly time to breathe it seems and i do actually feel pretty tired yet happy!!

don't get me wrong, i have been having a blast! always time to have a few laughs!

My friend Sue came to visit, it was a shame is was so busy, i feel like i should have more free time to share but it was a bit hectic making samples with Tim's new stamps for a promotion magazine, getting ready for demos and life in general with the kids.

Next time she comes we will plan it in a more peaceful week lol!

(it took Sue about 3 shots to get this crazy pic of me! geeee thanks Sue! lol)

I got to work side by side with Tim Holtz, need i say that kinda made me happy? owww i admit i was over the moon! i got to chat with him off and on all day, shared my heattool lol, got to get my hands on some of his cool new embellishments and paper and even went home with all his demo products, i'm talking the new Distress Inks, all 12!!! the new colours perfect pearls and all other powders and paints he had his hands on in Germany and The Netherlands lol! i am happy happy, noooo i am not a Tim grouppie, where did you get that idea??

(I love this cool pic of Tim, myself and mario!!)

(mario at my side! kind looks like i have a fan! lol he is so sweet!

oww and notice how Sue managed to get a cool effect on my face? lol) ( me, pouring UTEE like a pro! see the concentration on my face? ahhh!)

some of my sample pieces for the promotion magazine for Tim's newest stamps! i love them!

and the new Distress Inks are all FAB FAB FAB colours!!! believe me when i say you won't be able to choose! you will want them all, they are the best yet, my opinion that is :)

anyyway! this week is more peaceful, the kiddies are at their dad for the week so i will sleep in tomorrow morning! yay!!!! and i'll do some painting this week, i haven't painted in a month or so, except for my livingroom but that is really not the same!!! no no! i want to paint a pretty angel and just chill out with some music and enjoy the free time i am treating myself too.

hope you are all doing well, i have been reading your blogs!

ow and today i noticed i have 48 followers! kinda coooool! lol

take care xxx

still no tag 11 & 12

i know i promised the last two tags, truth is: i am shattered, i feel every single little muscle in my body, think i am getting ill.

i did work on the tiny art pieces for the 5 goodiebags, no they have not yet left the building but thet will by the end of the week for sure! even tiny tag artwork takes time! here's a sneak peek, not yet finished but you get the idea

my five blue hair angels, backgrounds are bare but as i said, unfinished.

i had already told you all that i had a friend here for the weekend, she wanted to help make some things to remember her father by.

as soon as we were going through the photo's i picked these two out, her father with herself as a baby and with her daughter as a baby, they are almost identical, the way he is looking, holding the baby, it just felt like the right match for this canvas.

her dad didn't like too many frills and things so i kept it simple,

painted the Prima paintable with distress inks.

stamped the letters on grungeboard (tim's stamps) cut out and embossed with distress powder to give them a rough look.

then i did a book, my friend helped with this, keeping in mind she is not a crafter lol! she did well on distressing the edges of the pages and the photo's.

again, i kept it simple, gessoed the cover and painted with cranberry dabber and dry brushed with pearl and gold, on top of eachother they give a more platinum look, i like that.

i glued pages together with CH matte medium because the pages were very thin, i stamped backgrounds with vintage photo and aged maghony, using lots of my Tim's stamps.

we added tags that she will write on at home.

it was an emotinal weekend for both of us, heavy to be honest

but i am glad i could help her and she is happy.

i am a little drained though, suppose it's normal.

on a lighter note (and i am getting tired of sitting up, really feeling ukky!)

here is the finished advents houses i made for Hobbyfarm.

the roofs can be taken of by undoing the ribbon.

i inked and stickled the roofs, they look so adorable in real life.

there you have it!

i'm shattered so end of blog post

i will not promise the tags for tomorrow, no idea how i will be feeling, but you never know, they might be here so come back and look just to make sure you don't miss them

have a good evening, mine will be a short one, off to bed early i think.

xxxx

Tag 10 quick quick

first of all, i love Ti'ms colourful tag!!!i only have one fillable pen with cranberry in it so i went for the one colour on my tag which makes it totally diffferent than with the colour blocks. i did go back in the end with some wild plum on a felt but it isn't so easy cos of he thickness of the grungeboard letters so i got a real random look which is actually pretty but does not show on pic at all. i went with an espresso dabber instead of the black, just felt a little too harsh with my one colour. i wanted to add some stickles somewhere... hummm might still rub some on.

i have been playing with Ten Second Studio metals for a while now but i didn't have the metal foil so i had to use cheapy narrow metal and put down strokes of it! and it was way too thin and ripped so i needed to put down a second layer, you see, a tag with issues lol but still fun even with my limitations of materials. we did something like this at Ranger U and i loved it then too! In 2010 it will be turning up on some of the classes so watch out. there is something relaxing about embossing metal... aaaahhh

well, anyway, my tag much prettier in real, pic is not doing it any justice at all but i am not going to take a new pic lol i am in painting mode!!! painting ANGELS!!! maybe that is why the tag is a quick quick version. i want to paint!!!! what can i say? i'm having fun with the big wings and the soft faces and the light coming from all around... ok you get the picture, you know what kind of mood i'm in lol

oh and angel in the ba&ck is nowhere near finished so don't judge her apperiances just yet :)

off to my physical therapist for some pain and suffering no doubt! thne back to painting

hope your day is a supercool one! xxx

tag 8 four more to go

voila! tag 8, my version of it that is!

i don't have the holly stamp, nor the bells, so i improvised a bit.

i drew the holly leaves onto grungeboard freehand,

painted them green and dabbered the edges gold.

i dabbered the 25 in gold too and toned down with a bit of black distress ink.

the music stamp i don't have either so i used a diff one on the vellum.

i actually stuck the vellum on with gold paintdabber, i had it at hand and it works perfect as adhesive!! (did you not know that??? haha then you didn't do my Ragerized I workshop :))

i rubbed a bit of mustard seed distress ink where the light shud be, just to give it a glow :)

the berries at the bottom are little blobs of cranberry dimensional pearls, Ranger of course!

well, i like tim's tag and i like mine too.

short post because i'm now off to the doc with my little boy, he has flu i am guessing.

hope you are all still having fun with the tags!

i got Tim's permission to translate for my Belgian/Dutch readers!!!

so if you want a flemish/dutch version of tim's tags let me know and i will get it to you by mail asap

bye for now! have a good one xxx

(don't forget to become a follower, my birthday is coming up soon and i am giving one of my followers a presssie!!!)

Tag 5 and 6 and 7!!!

look who has been busy;;;

tag 5

i used a 7Gypsies metal border, really easy, it's adhesive and cutable with tim's scissors!

i didn't have the charm fragments so i used the normal oval ones, that proved a bit of a challenge, i had to make up some kind of charm like thing so i wrapped a bit of the wire around first and then covered with foil, not quite the same but it still looks cool.

the white rub-on was replaced by some white embossing and the distress embossing powder by verdigris from the antiquities range from Ranger it works well!

tag 6

again some improvisation going on! i had no black embossing powder at hand while i was working on this yesterday so i stamped with pitch black pigment and embossed with clear, well actually, a little story... during a workshop ome time ago, i had both clear and frosted crystal open and while explaining something i picked up the wrong jar, you guessed it! i poured frosted into clear!! and yes that is what i had in my hands yesterday so my embossing as a cool mixture! and i mean cool! it is pretty neat. the fluffy white stuff that tim used as snow looks so cool but again no where to be found here in belgium so i used Aleene's glitter snow and it is nice, i had never used this before but it does the trick. i love the idea of the tree on the car! so tim! don't you think??

tag 7

the mask sheets were not available to me for this one so i made my own but i do really love tim for making these sheets! i am getting a load once they are here!

i like this tag, the white paint coming through is so vintage, along with the distress stickles and the vintage Santa really gets me into a Christmas mood.

oh because of the colours i had chosen to ink my tag (fired brick, broken china) the Merry Christmas stamp didn't show up too well so i embossed it with clear and now it really pops, it's all about making quick decisions and trusting your crazy ideas as Tim once put on a stamp!

tag 8 tomorrow!

mine will be late in the day as i am away most of the day

so many people are enjoying the tags, it is a wonderful thing that we are all sharing, it is the spirit of Xmas really!

now i am off to draw angels, i can't wait to start painting on one, i bouht the most beautiful paints today at the art store, a small fortune, oh my god they are expensive but lush lush lush!

now let me go play! i'll be back tomorrow!

and am i a good blogger or what?? two post in one day i might add!!!

and winners!!! don't forget to send me your address via mail, onlt that way can i get your goodiebag out the door, this will be Wednesday if i have all the addresses!!!

love and peace! xxx t

2nd Tag of Christmas

Here i am again! my second tag is done! addict??? yeah yeah maybe! lol but i have a pretty long to-do-list for today so i wanted to do this first of all cause i knew i would not have time otherwise! priorities! lol

mine of course is different to Tim's, i changed the colours, i used vintage photo on the tag instead of the suggested pine needles, my ornate stamp was the mini version, i don't own the larger one so i addes on a ticket to fill up the space. the perfect pearl splats are everywhere! i did read Tim's advice on covering anything you don't want the splats on but ummmmm.... well haha

i was over the moooooon that i had enough of the metal flowers in my treasure box! this metal rose turned out to be a fiddly event but i am not one for giving up and i made my rose and i LOVE it! OMG!!! this is so cool! I think TIM is totally generous showing us this one! you have to agree!!!

for those who are seeing me tonight or the coming weekend, i will bring my tags with me!!

I love this tag, i think it turned out just as i wanted it to! this chick is totally recharged;

and! i enroled in another Suzi Blu's class! ANGELS! i can't wait for it to start! She is such a push in my back when it comes to me expanding my drawing and painting talents! yes! i do have talent! lol! i finally admit to that.

ok! off to do some more crafty, arty stuff! and don't forget to comment to get the chance to win a goodiebag! 13 entries so far! ( lol i am not tim holtz! he got 3000 comments yesterday!!!)

1st of 12 tags of Christmas

I'm going to try and do all 12 tags of Christmas over on Tim's blog!

This is my first one, of course i didn't have the wonderful rock candy stickles or paint so i reallllllly had to improvise on this one! i inked as he suggested, stampedpretty much as he did but then, the rock cand paint!! i covered the whole tag with Crackle accents instead, totally not the same effect but pretty neat actualy, i got some cool cracks evne though i got impatient and tried to speed up with the heattool, don't do that!!!

as you will see my snowman is totally diff but i think it does the trick,

he seems a little pink in this pic but that is my lighting cause he is in no way pink lol.

well, i can't wait to see tomorrows tag, they appear at 9am Belgian time, jsut so you know!

i bought my Xmas tree today so i will be decorating it tonight, fun!!!

and don't forget this:

with alll this generosity going around in blog land could not stay behind!
with Sinterklaas (Belgian kind of santa claus, don't ask more info, i don't know lol), my birthday and Xmas coming up in December i thought it might be time to make a few goodiebags!
goodiebag: all bits and bobs, craft stuff, a little art piece, little!!, just some fun things really!
how can you get your hands on one of these goodiebags?
by commenting on this post!! (the previous post actually)
as easy as that, ok you could start following my blog aswell, wouldn't give you more chance but it would be nice to have more followers, only if you want to of course! haha!
so just leave a comment on this post!
i have five goodiebags, or at least i will when i start making them!
i will randomly pick 5 names next monday
who knows, if there are many names to choose from i might do it all over again next week,
i'll see how it goes

have a good one!
xox tanya ( i actually can spell my name haha)

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

winner blog give away!

and the winner is.......... DOLLS123!!! i don't know her real name, i know she lives in California! i've already mailed her to find out more about her so my gift will suit her!



thanks everyone for commenting on the give away post, many of you are reading but not commenting



i like having a give away! i like making a present for someone once in a while so i'll be doing these give aways more often, and for no special reasons hihi! just when i feel like it! when i'm in a giving mood haha!



i'm thinking of starting a blog challenge too, just thinking! i have so much on my plate at the moment so... that is for an other day.



here is my journal page from yesterday... i'm still on my red, orange and yellow colours which a really good thing!

you can click on the pic to see the details if you like! ( i think?!)

we were talking about Paris Hilton yesterday! about her entering the Scap world! bling and all!

Good for her!

so i had to use some really blingy Glitz stickles from Ranger ! i had to!! hihi!

It's a kind statement!

Be yourself and let them be theirselves!

xox tanya

another checking in before...

another checking in before the madness of a new week begins!

some time ago my little boy accidentally poured a cup of coffee over my precious laptop and those things do not take coffee you know! so bye bye laptop and bye bye over 500 pics of Ranger, New Jersey and New York, so sad!

i got sad news that 'llprobably never be able to get my pics off the laptop so for that i am still sad really but i kind of already had figured that and had nearly come to terms with it!

not that i am giving up,

i might still find some wizkid who knows how to reach them on my harddrive.

anyway! as a single mam with four to feed and crisis all over the world my common sense kind of wouldn't allow me buy a new laptop soooooo i decided to buy a mini version!

a cute little ACER ONE ASPIRE A150
it doesn't do everything my old laptop or my desktop does but it does let me go to internet, skype, facebook, msn, my blog, emails, it has Windows XP on it! yahoo for that! i can still upload pics onto it, so it does pretty much everything i want to do when on the road and away from home! so i'm realllllly happy with it! it weighs 800gr, really light! it fits into my handbag! it really does, so cute! and it is CORAL PINK!!!! so haha! i'm pleased with it!

and i got my hands on all the books following Twilight! i bought them all so i have some fun hours of reading ahead of me when i'm travelling and staying in hotels!

my ankle is less swollen, i fit into my hushpuppie boots once again! i am SOOOOO pleased with that!!! means i can wear a skirt! yes! my Timberlands do not rule my life any longer hihi! I will still wear them most of the time cos they do give more support to my ankle but hey! i can wear a skirt once in a while :-)

and i recieved this award from Nadia

and i recieved this Marie-Antoinette award twice! from Nadia and from Evelien

the idea is to pass them onto others of course!!

I'll have to come back on that when i have more time, at the moment 'm swamped with work!!

a page from my art journal

speak to you all soon!!!

see some of you very soon hihi!

creative journaling

just a quick pic of the page i did in my art journal today , letting off some steam...

my way of taking a deep breath of fresh air

click on the pic to get a closer look if you like

xox

sticky-back canvas book

ohhh it's such a dull day, a day to stay inside and drink hot drinks and create or play! howereven this morning i had to go to the doc for a check-up on my ankle. It's a really slow healing process but i'm getting there, i'm off work now till the end of January 2009 and i got another 20 visits from the pysichal therapist, i am soooo looking forward to that! (read with plenty of sarcasme!)

but no complaining from this end! at least it is getting better, slowly but surely!

i went Xmas shopping on Saturday and am pleased to announce that i did well! all the gifts for the kids are under the tree! and i bought myself 2 books for Xmas! yes i ahve to buy my own gifts, comes with being alone! i got myself the TWILIGHT book the whole world is on about! and i got the book following "the pillars of the earth" i didn't even know there was a second book so i was like a littke kid in the bookstore! i had the mgiftwrapped so i can't read before Xmas! aren't i good?!

this weekend i finished my littke canvas book i made with Claudine Hellmuth's sticky-back canvas! great stuff!

i'm pleased with my little book, happy even, it's a bit of a healing journal kind of thing, well i don't know what to call it, i did make it pretty personal, random thoughts, things that i relate to at this time in my life kind of thing. does it have to have a name? :-)

my daughter thinks the cover is a bit "nude" haha! but one needs to feel a little nude once in a while to get to the bottom of the matter... or am i just strange? :-)

i used Claudine's paints and matte Multi medium! i sooo love this medium! i even used it to adhere the goldleaf, it worked like a charm! i mixed the paints with Perfect Pearls and watered them down, i monoprinted with them, i splashed and brushed on, i dabbed them on with Cut 'n Dry foam! do i love these paints? they mix, they hold their colour! they are semi-gloss!
translucent!! which is wonderful for collage art
i used Ranger Distress Inks, Distress Embossingpowder, Goldleaf, Ranger Stickles, Paper Artsy stamps!(thanks Leandra!) i love them! ohh and i painted the flowers! they were all different colours to start wirth, all left-overs. Yes with Claudine's paints, watered down and mixed with perfect pearls and dryed with the heattool, they turned out great! i added little charms i bought in NJ, i know the flowers look a little out of place in my book, they are bright! but that is who i am! pink one day and dark the other! it's my book! i collaged with stamped tissuepaper, book pages, Grungeboard, wrapper of my fav Cadbury's chocolate! Tim Holtz' tickets,... i loved working on this book!





ohh you should see the shimmer on this red page! it is magnificant! really it is!

I never thought i would love Claudine's line so much and i never thought it would fit into my style bit it has and i am soooo pleased with her joining the Ranger Crew!!! aren't they all great!?!!! and then you all only know the designers! there are some pretty great insiders there at Ranger! Merry Christmas to you all!!! you all really made my year 2008 a happy one! especially in October hihi!

what will i do next? i think i'm going to get my Utee and Melting pot out and play!!!

hope you all have a wonderful day!

what a weekend!!!

what a weekend i had!

first of all i had a great "Be Rangerized"workshop at Hobbyfarm, it went really well!

it was fun to see everyone getting their hands dirty and getting into distress inks, paint dabbers, perfect pearls, Grungeboard...

it was a fun workshop and i am happy to say that i received very nice comments and thank you's afterwards, a very rewarding day and i thank everyone for joining me!

On Saturday evening i stayed in Ghent to take my two eldest out to dinner for their birthday's, Inez is 21 and Bart 19! time flies!!!!

my brother joined us with his girlfriend and we had a fun evening out with nice italian food! Sunday started off a peaceful relaxing day, still in ghent, we were going to the cinema but then decided to stay in a watch a dvd instead, hot chocolate and sweets at hand, i fell asleep during the film as usual and when i woke up an hour later i found it had snowed sooooo hard that it was impossible for me to drive to go pick up my other three kids ! they were about 20km away! looking out the window i saw cars skidding all over the road, people pushing their cars, at least trying to! it was a circus!!! and dangerous!!! i had to stay in ghent another night ! so i just got home a few hours ago to find it was snowing hard here in limburg so i head off to the shops to get enough food in for the next week! LET IT SNOW!!!!

what else? yes! i recieved an award from eveline, a belgian scrapstore owner and a scrapper herself! thank you eveline! hihi !she used to stalk me :-) but that is a different story haha!

The rules:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award
3. Nominate 5 blogs for the award.

okay so i'm going to give it to:

Michelle

Ranger girl! altered artist! we connect! i really wish i lived closer!

Sue

my soulmate in spain!!

i simply love this woman! what more can i say?

Patty

a wonderful!! eclectic artist!

wish we had the chance to play together.

Lisa

ohh fairy lisa! sparkles everywhere!

ooohhh i could spend a few weeks with her!

Micheal

my favourite beeswax artist ever!!! he is really good!!!

a super great guy! really!

i'd love to meet his wife!

why is Arizona soooo damn far away?

there! i passed this award on and hope you check out their blogs! it is more than worth it! get yourself a cup of tea or coffee or a glass of wine, what ever works for you and take some time to

visit these friends of mine!

i'm off to get myself a well earned cup of tea!

hope you all have the most wonderful day, evening, ...

workshops

first this!! >>>if you like collage images then maybe you can go and give jack & cat a visit!
some really nice images to use in your altered arts! New images added yesterday!
i met micheal ( jack ) at Ranger U, he was the only guy in the group! he is a really highly talented beeswax artist! honestly if you haven't checked this blog you really should!
if it wasn't for Arizona being soooooo far from Belgium i would be sure to go and take some classes!

BE RANGERIZED WORKSHOP

this Saturday i have a great workshop planned at Hobbyfarm, eeklo, belgium

"be Rangerized" a workshop filled with 12 techniques using Ranger Distress Inks, Perfect pearls, Adirondack Dabbers and more! a fun packed workshop really worth taking!

Sadly two people had to cancel so 2 spots have become available so if you are quick you can still get in, just give Hobbyfarm a ring.



also at Hobbyfarm! 29 & 30 November there are Xmas days!!! Demo's on Saturday and Sunday, you can see me demoing on the Saturday and on the Sunday i have a great workshop plannedn if you are qiuck you will still find a couple of spots are still free but be quick because i'm sure that they will be gone by next week! we'll be doing a 6x6 inch chipboard book filled with techniques such as background stamping, painting, colour blending, distressing, Stickles, Perfcet Pearls, Cuttlebug embossing...! we'll be working with wonderful Black Magic ColorCore paper! If i wasn't giving the workshop i would want to follow it myself haha! honestly! it's a beautiful little book



well, that was that for now, i'm really tired, my ankle is hurting, one day i think it'll get better very soon and the next day i'm in more pain than ever! Nature's way of saying:" don't overdo it Tanya!" but if you know me... i"m pretty impatient...


but anyhow, i'm off to read in bed with a Cadbury's hot chocolate....


night night! don't let the bedbugs bite!

xx tanya