Prince Charming...

Prince Charming, as i see him... not that i am in any way waiting on a Prince Charming lol, i just thought it would be cool to give him a go since i am doing another Suzi class :)) and need to practice side view faces! so here is my first ever, i 'm not drawn to side views so much because i get less eye to play with and for me it's all about the eyes in my faces but having tried this i probably will do a few more and then practice some 3/4 views too, always something new to learn and that is what i love about drawing and painting!and then there i this painting 'Passion' commisioned by my friend Esther, a beautiful redhead herself so she loves my girls & angels

this one is no angel, seeing the text she wanted put on was a touch sassy lol i figured it was best to make her a goddess instead :))

ok, short post, the weather is way too nice to be sitting in and the sun too bright to take the laptop out lol

so have a brilliant day & whatever you are up too, i hope you are having fun!!

talk soon!

love & peace

tanya xx

Love Yourself Today

(Saturday morning 7am)

we have been having the most glorious weather out here, the blossom is coming to full force and so are the number of tourists , almost enough for me to escape it all! omg!!! the amount of bikers! yeah bikers Harleys i mean... all tough dudes coming to see the blossom lol how cute!!! bikers, cyclists, cars, bussssssessss even, all through our tiny little village, a bit of a pain when you are out in the garden having what you thought was going to be a quiet sit down lol!!!

yesterday i went to my beautiful friend in Aalst to have a nice quiet sit down and lunch out in the garden : ) a super de luxe salade, wine and the best strawberries evvvva!! fresh from our countryside. i even got a bit of a tan, well don't expect too much of my tans lol, this British skin of mine does not tan all that well... but it was a good good day...

one day that felt like two weeks holiday.

Saturday i had the honour to "Rangerize" a bunch of nice ladies, they were rockstars, they inked and stamped and combined techniques like pros! so so proud of them! i never took pics but i'm sure i will get my hands on some to share later!

days like these make me happy, make the never ending pain bearable... eventhough i have to pay for it 10 times over today i don't care!

Love Yourself Today, this is the name of my lastest Mixed Media Painting

she proved to be a bit of a pain in the butt lol! oh so many things went wrong on this one, i have no idea why! i think she was meant to be and exercise in patience and i had to learn to love her the way she turned out and i do! she maybe a bit of a dark spirited lady but she has the right message and her energy feels more than okay.
she is a 15X30cm painting on wood

i used lots ofGolden Fluid Acrylics, glass bead paste, modeling paste, gold mica flakes, Steward Gill paints, Tim Holtz stamps, Ranger inks, Distress powder.

This week... i plan on finishing off a few class samples, i have a scrap class and i'm due in hospital again for my last nasty, hateful stupid,

paintful, not-doing- much-for-me injection!!!

soooo not looking forward to that!

anyway beautiful people!! i wish you all a great week filled with all nice things

love & peace!!!!

tanya x

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

the winners are...

so happy people, the winners of the five goodiebags are...

i put all 17 names in my trust hat

i had no other innocent hand around but my own,

but you all know i am honest and would not peek while grabbing!!

so here goes:

all in the hat

Shana and Brenda

yay for them! Shana came to see me yestersday even though she is in the middle of her exams so mum let her on to the computer for five minutes just so she could comment on my blog to have a chance at winning and she even phoned me cos she couldn't find how to do it lol! all that trouble has payed off!!! see i told you to take a chance!!!

the Kathrynwheel!

a northern lass like me!!! ohhh glad you won to cos you had just missed out on the 100th blog draw just because you thought shopping was more fun lol!

happy for you too!!

the Scrapbookdoll
way to go M.A. ( my nickname for Marie Ann)
happy you won!! you struggled so much with the Grungepaper flower and still had the spirit to fix it when you got home! your goodiebag is on it's way haha!

Hilda!!

Hilda is one of my trusty scrap class chicks!!! she had NOOOOOO idea how to comment on my blog, she complains to me about it every time she sees me lol! i told her to get help! and she did! and her very first comment... she wins a prize! gosh some people have all the luck!!!

happy for you Hildake!

and last but nott least!!

Jennie!!

i only got to know Jennie after starting up the Ranger U grad group on facebook, Jennie joined and we became FB friends and started reading eachothers blogs due to the tags i think lol!

so Jennie! from one Ranger Educator to an other: Happy you won too!

and oowwwww to the people who didn't win anything, better luck next time!

thank you for all the wonderful comments

i am so grateful for you all taking the time!

the &é tags are not finished, i am behind on the weekend ones because i was busy but today they will be posted along with today's tag

i got so much feedback on my version of the tags, it is amazing really! thank you!

i have promised some of my Belgians that is will make a translation of Tim's tags for them just so they can fully understand what the guy is saying lol! it is in nooooo way to be used other than personal use and never ever to be published or passed on, please please take this into account

now in flemish so they really do get it lol:

ik zal de tim's tags vertalen in het vlaams, nederlands voor wie ze wil maar aub!!! ik druk er heel sterk op dat het echt enkel voor persoonlijk gebruik is en nooit ergens gepubliceerd kan of mag worden en ook niet doorgegeven worden aan anderen, okido, mercikes!

wie ze wil moet me maar een mailtje sturen

I am actually going to ask Tim for permission

first just so I am sure it is okay for him.

okay, so now i have done this draw, i will make the goodiebags today, make some tiny artworks to go with them

you need to mail me your addresses privatly to

wattstanya@skynet.be

also SANDRA!!! i need your address because you won the 100th blog post prize!

i am now off o the art store to go but paint!! i need some more colours to paint my angels in suzi's class, ahhhhh relaxation for me!

then i need to order some Steward Gill's paints, all the way up in Scotland! brillll paint, can't wait to get them!

so my relaxing day will be a busy one i think!

hope you all have a wonderful happy day!

love!!

oh and one more thing!!!

it's my birthday soon... no i'm not saying that to get cards or pressies! duh!!!! lol

i am going send a pressie to one of my followers! i will choose a winner, randomly of course!)

on my birthday!!!

so if you are not yet a follower, well you might want to become one before the 21st

bye my shiny happy people. xx

Tim's 12 tags of Christmas

if you haven't been to Tim's blog yet, here is his post!!! join in on the fun and spirit of the 12 tags of Christmas! i'm joining in and i would love all of you to do so too, Tim will love it!!!!
love xxx

that's right, i am moving on and giving back and doing the "12 Tags of Christmas" for 2009 - crazy i know, but i love sharing with all of you to let you know how much i appreciate you. the "12 Tags of Christmas" will start on December 1st and go through December 12th. if you're new to the "12 Tags of Christmas", well it's a festivity of creative goodness, a time to deck the halls, and let your artistic whimsy get you in the holiday spirit. each day i will post a holiday tag with complete step by step instructions for you to follow along. the tags stay up all month and then are archived on the bottom left column of the blog - the past 2 years of the "12 Tags" for 2007 & 2008 are already there so check them out! now let's not forget about all of the prizes, one of my favorite things about the "12 Tags" is the "12 Days of Giveaways" that go along with them! each day i will pick random winners from the daily comments you post on the blog! this year i am kicking it up a notch though so be ready: if you're a daily winner and your name is posted on the blog, you must claim your prize by the end of the day you're name is selected because if you don't, the prizes will roll over to the next days winners! also, in true "12 Tags" style, the more comments on the blog each day, the more prizes i'll be giving away. so be sure to take EACH DAY and post a comment on the blog and join the festive fun! hey you just might win more than once - it's happened before...
now i know that many of you create a tag each day along with me and let me tell you - i love that! in fact at the end of this year's 12 days i'll be holding a contest for those that have completed all "12 Tags of Christmas" for 2009, and i have some AMAZING prizes to give away for that! so of course as you can imagine i have TONS of things to do to still finish up the book and get everything ready if i'm going to pull this thing off. i'll be launching the first tag at 12:01am on December 1st so i am leaving this post up until then - fair enough? so you'll have time to gather your favorite holiday stamps, inks, and anything else you want to play with. tell your friends, post it on your blogs, facebook, and twitter because the more people who get involved in the holiday cheer and post comments during the "12 Tags of Christmas" the more gifts and goodies i'll be sharing with all of you! okay, so i hope you're as excited as i am about the 2009 "12 Tags of Christmas" then please post a comment - i would love for you to share your excitement with me, not to mention, it will give you practice for the coming weeks. see all of you on December 1st, 2009 let the holidays begin - i can't wait...t!m

talking in pictures

blinged my laptop! silver Paintdabber, uhu Ranger of course! used the hammered metal effect which is so easy, you just take the dabber and gently "hammer" it onto the surface, you get this really neat pattern that resembles hammered metal, once dry i rubbed platinum Stickles over it using my trusty finger! i think it is really neat! some think i am a little crazy! ahhhh who cares!

this heart-shaped bread bun kind of reminded me love can be found in places least expected

made a canvas as a birth gift for my son's boss at work

i love making these Wendy Vecci type grungepaper flowers, i make my own version of them but the idea is Wendy's, they are so cool!

Emiel welcome to this crazy wonderful world

been beeswaxing, i love it! very relaxing... i need relaxing

Barcelona! i am soooooooo impressed by Gaudi! it will be noticable in my art soon i'm sure

LOVE, made as a birthday pressie for my wonderful friend J!

passed all his pilot exams! now looking for a job... anyone got a plane to be flown??

i love these letters, about 5 inch big if my eyeballing is correct, these i gessoed, painted with Claudine's paints, added Grungeboard and Tim's embellishments.

this pic was taken on my bookshelf, not the best shot...

they looked really good in there new home! xxx

Bart and me in Spain, he has just turned 20 my son! he's a stunner i think, but of course i am his mum... but he is, isn't he? :)

Lisa Mitchell and me and a really great but scarey street artist on the Rambla in barcelona!

there were a lot more wonderful street artists! really cool to see.

it was a good day!

Sue and me in one of our more normal pics...haha

we had such a good week!!

Sue is coming to Belgium in Februari! bring a good coat sue, the temps are nowhere near as good as in your part of the world!!!

thanks again for having us!xxx

oh and this!!

sneak peek for you Evelien!

and OLIVIA! Evelien's newborn little girl!

Welcome to this beautiful crazy world too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

not in the mood for many words, the painmeds are giving me loads of side effects but the painrelief seems to have worn off! so i'm kind of pretty much back to being always in pain!

to give you an idea of the pain: i burned my inner fore arm with my hot glue gun! it's hot! , skin went straight off, third degree burn! no pain, none what so ever, the morfine is good! yet my foot i still feel like hell. imagine? trying not to whine on though.

i have come to the conclusion once again that i am not superwoman and even if it means dissapointing people, i have decided to take more time off for myself.

hope to blog soon but i'm not promising to :)

have a good weekend xxx

checking in

oh dear i haven't really taken time to blog! and i recieved a lovely award from Sanda but still need to put it on here and choose some wonderful blogs to pass it on to, but not today, i am so tired :)

The kids are home for the holidays so i'm spending lots of time with them, making art at night most of the time but missing out on a bit of sleep lol

i painted this Queen yesterday and sat up till late embossing her dress and crown from Ten seconds Studio metal, i love that stuff, i used Claudine Hellmuth paints and Tim's stamps for the background and then added Grungeboard wings.

voila! my shortest post ever! and now i might take a little cat nap ... lol

have a great week!!!! do some fun things!!! ( you now know i probably won't be blogging till next week haha!)

xox

playing with canvas

i told you that i was working on a sticky back canvas art project and that i would post if i decided i liked it, well i do... so here you have it!
i altered this Ikea mirror frame with Ranger's sticky back canvas by Claudine Hellmuth.

i did transfers with the studio line paints and gloss medium, stamped with Ranger's archival jet black ink, i did a resist with gesso, of course studioline! and i added a few bits and bobs, some from Tim's collection ,some from my little finds jar. i sealed the canvas with gloss medium before adding the embellishments, this will make it easier to wipe down once i hang it!

not all my transfers are brilliantly done but that is because i was a little impatient lol! i still think they are so cool though! :)

i like the way it has turned out and i am extremely happy with the colours i chose, the yellows, oranges and reds are my colours at the moment, have been for a while actually! they make me happy or maybe i use them because i'm happy?!

have a wonderful weekend!

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