Starting out on my journey of mixed media

One of my best friends celebrated another birthday of hers and I wanted to make her something special. I started out on my first job in The Netherlands and prayed for a colleague friend not knowing how to find one and where to start. The Lord very soon after connected me with a German colleague that started the same month as me and she turned out to be a christian, spoke fluent English, also married a Dutch guy like me and will be a friend for life.

I've used podge, pearl liner, Acrylic with and without glitter and words from a calender I've bought in South Africa on a visit to my parents a couple of years ago. I is painted on a canvas board.

The heart is very special (like in all relationships), I found it between my memoires and it was drawn by my 8 year old when she was age 4 or 5.

Percheron and polka dots

I've painted the partial face of a Percheron with oil on Canvas (80x30cm).

I've cropped the photo a bit.

This was my first try out of making myself a skirt. I've sewn it according to an Onion Pattern number 3021. It is ok. Don't want to talk about it. I wish my mom was near(she's 10 000km's away) to help me rather than me trying to discover the wheel all over again regarding sewing. The delightfull babyrib fabric was (I think) from Stenzo (or somekind of a known European brand)

Herero Woman

Well at least she has sun to enjoy ;-) and doesn't she ;-)

She is nearly finished,

oil painting on canvas

40x50x2cm

Supprised..myself

Last week I've placed some orders to restock on fabric paint and some VERY cute Japanese fabrics.
This morning started really bad: headache and nausea...ugh migraine on its way.

I took the children too school, walked the dog and fell back into bed. Luckily I could manage to sleep and the alarm clock woke me up:
it is the singing of a blackbird. Wonderful way to wake up.
Anyway I had to run to help at school for an hour and a half, walked the dog and went to another appointment, feeling a bit numb but surely better.

When I came home....aaaaah
two packages were delivered!
Here are the fabric paint, liner, a butterfly stencil and a rubber stamp. I've ordered this from a shop in Belgium. Oooh la laaah, creativity here I come.

The Japanese fabric I ordered via Etsy.

Oh I can't wait to make something with this!

Isn't it adorable? Little mushrooms, moles, deer, flowers, acorns and hedgehogs

August Competition at Crafty Mama's

I love pumpkins.

I like how they look,

I like their leaves and ranks,

I love to paint them,

I love to eat them and

I love their uniqueness and variety.

For the August Competition the theme was Halloween. I'm no fan of darkness and spookiness but I love pumpkins and I love to be creative. I finished this one in the nick of time:31st of August!

So I painted these pumpkins on a tea towel and added a recipe for tasty caramel pumpkin cookies mmmmjammie!
As it is not ordinary to eat pumpkins here in the Netherlands (ahw you may get pumpkin soup at a gourmet restaurant) they're used for accessories or Halloween.
Once every blue moon I buy one at cook it, as I'm a great fan of cinnamon and brown sugar, pumpkins are a very good excuse to use these ingredients!
My mom used to make these caramel pumpkin cookies and we would fight over it lol they're absolutely delicious. In South African pumpkins are a common table vegetable and as hot a topic there as Brussel's sprouts here in The Netherlands.
I've painted with textile paint and added a finishing touch with golden liner. The butterflies are stamped using turqoise mettalic paint. This tea towl is heat set and washable.

Tuesday's child

Is full of grace...

I had to decide what I was going to paint on my 40x50x2cm white canvas.

I've agreed with me, myself and I to paint a Waterbuck.

They are beautiful.

This is the left eye

I've painted with
oil paint and brush

The Waterbuck is an antelope found in Central to Southern Africa. Their height: 100-130cm at the shoulder and they are heavy: weighing 160-240kgs. Their jackets are reddish brown and turns darker as they age. They have white markings near their eyes, under their throats and a white circle round their tails. (For those of you being able to understand Dutch; we call them in Afrikaans: kringatte.) They are found near water but not in water as their name suggests. Their meat have an unpleasant taste so they will only fall to prey if the lions are verrrry hungry and there is no "vicdonalds" (as my youngest calls it), around. The girls don't have horns so it is up to their perfume and size to stay out of harm's way.