With all my heart.

Hello everyone.

Today I'm going to show you what I've been doing lately. My Moster is turning 75 years today so I'm going to pay her a visit later on. Anyone who knows what a Moster is? Well, it's the same as an Aunt but at the same time it tells that this Aunt is the sister of my mother. Not many people uses this word any more but I learnt it as a child and for me she has no other name. Her real name is Elise but for me and my siblings she is Moster. Elderly people always react when they hear us calling her Moster, I think it brings back many good memories for them. At least that's what I've heard said.

I've been making hearts lately. For the last 3 years I've been baking gingerbread hearts, for Christmas, to hang as decoration in some of our windows. But, I actually don't like to bake and it's so irritating to throw them away when Christmas is over so this year I'm going to sew them.



The two upper ones are front and back, so they looks the same. The left one is half done and the lower one is for my Moster. I'm going to hang it on a gift for her today. At the back of that heart I've "written" Moster 75. She has access to my blog but she doesn't read any English so I hope I'm safe. These are also nice to give as small handmade gifts.

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My giveaway.

Not that many that took part so it is easy for me to pick the winner. I wrote the names on paper patches and threw them in my blue bowle.



Then I picked one out and the lucky winner is:

Gratulerer Anne Lise, boken er din!

My art studying friend was the lucky winner.
I want to thank everyone that took part and hope for you to have better luck in another occation.
Now I'm off to prepare the gift for Moster.
Have a nice day and take care!

Paint Blob challenge #3

Hello everyone.

Have you tried to do this? It's fun and very exciting to see what other people can do with the same blob. Enter Carla Sonheim's blog and take part you too.

I'm sooooo frustrated because I've been trying to share my (this) result on the 3rd blob and I can't figure out how to do it. Rrrrrrrr!!!

All I could see was the hunting guys and the great spirit. It could have been an angle too but I felt the most for the hunting guys.
Did you remember to enter my giveaway yet? If not please do!

Today my husband and I visited an antique fair, but there was nothing that wanted to follow me back home. My husband found something though, he is collecting old coins and papermoney. He was all smiles when driving back home.
That's all for today, I am on to something super cute. I'll show you in a post next week.
Enjoy your weekend and take care.

# 200. Yaaay!!

I'm sooooo exited today, this is my post # 200, and I'm going to celebrate that by holding a GIVEAWAY.

Anyone who remember my Strategic Planner and the post I wrote about it? Well, I'm going to give away that planner. I assume that most of you know how it's done but for those who don't, this is how it works: Leave me a comment on this post and you will be part of the giveaway.
I want to add that I could need more followers so if anyone can feel my prayers.........................but a comment is all it takes.

When I first started bloging I would never have thought that I should be able to write this many posts, but then again what did I expect? I really don't know!

You remember the little angle at the back cover, she is a visual example of strategic planning. Her goal is to get a bigger overview, her strategy is to fly and her tactics are to use her wings and the balloon. The size of the book is very close to A-5 and the number of pages is 12.


Inside the front cover there is a pocket containing calendar sheets for 54 weeks. All the paper used inside the book are writing/crafting paper.



In the middle of the book there is another pocket for cards, extra papers or whatever you want. As you see in the photo below I used linen yarn to bind the book with a simple knot, that way it will be easy to add more pages. You simply cut the thread add your pages and bind it again.


Inside the back cover there is the pocket holding your planning cards. (4 cards) I didn't decorate the inside of the book too much so you can do it yourself.

I really, REALLY hope many of you will take part, and I would be so greatful if you would help spread the word.
The giveaway will be closed Monday Sep.26th at 00.00 hours. ( Norwegian time) The winner will be announced on Tuesday Sep.27th.
I'll ask my husband to pick a number, but he won't know before it's time to pick.

New cover for my journal.

Hello!

Today I've been making a cover for my art journal. I was so inspired after last night in the club. We always have such a good time and usually get inspired from one another. When I sat down with the machine today I was not thinking of doing this cover, but at a certain point I saw that this could do as a cover and my mind was set.

All the fabric was chosen quite randomly, as a matter of fact I used what catched my eyes and they are all leftovers. It's all done using the sewingmachine except the last seam which was hand sewn. It's visible at the second photo. The photo below shows the front cover.


The back cover holds the hand sewn seam. It was quick done and my journal feels good to touch and suddenly became more personal. This was really fun to do and the leftovers came to good use.


I'm very surprised what my journal mean to me, how it influences me. I would never have thought that when I first started. But at the same time it has become clear to me that I have to do different things, a bit of this and that. That's what it takes to do my best, or perhaps to feel the most inspired. I'm so greatful that Hanna inspired me to give it a try.

How did you get started?

Wish you all the best!

A very fast sketch.

Hello again.

This is my version of a challenge I took part in this evening. It's a very quick sketch and not at all my best work. The problem is that I don't fix all the transfer work from one adress to another. Well I could manage in some way but I really don't know what I did.

What I saw was two men quarreling about a cave. They both claim to own it. If I'd used some more time on this I would probably have drawn a man standing far away judging it all. (the figure on top of the left man)

It's bedtime for me now so good night to you all.

Finally done.

Hello everyone.

I have finally finished the handbag for my friend. I ended up making more beads, and as I expected they look quite different. It doesen't show that much in the photo and I trust it won't when in use either. But for me looking at them, they are way to different. I'll give her the things tomorrow and I'll ask her then what she think. Hopefully she will like it as it is.

Tomorrow evening I'm going to meet my crafty friends in our club. First time this season. I'm really looking forward to meet with them again. There are a lot of so called sewing clubs and the one thing they don't do is to sew. We actually do, and it's so inspiring to see what the others do and which tecnique they use. Some are knitting, some embroider, some are crocheting and some are finishing their stuff. And we can help advice each other.


I've just started a new project so I'll probably do that. I'll write more about it and show you in another post. Not much baking today, but tomorrow I will.

Take care and have a nice evening.

A bit of this and that.

Hello!

I have been doing a bit different things lately. The journalsppread below was made some days ago. At this point I was thinking of what words that appeal to me. Have you ever thought of that? Once you start thinking all kinds of words are popping in your mind. But what are the ones you are coming back to? The one word that always get me to think is reaction. Ever since I learned what it ment it has been my favorite word.
The word ROSE mean the flower but also means to give credit or praise. (in Norwegian that is.)
Once I start to think of some words they lead to other and a kind of "movie" starts rolling. That's really facinating.


As I wrote earlier on, the knitting season is here and I've knitted my first pair of socks this weekend. (first pair for the season) I've had this yarn in my stash for a long time and wanted to use it. It's not the best choice to these patterned socks but I wanted to knit a pattern and I wanted to use this yarn. In any case they will warm my feet and that's the main issue. The colours is not at all that blue, I don't know what happened with my photo.



Today I have made cakes. Applecakes.
I did start with the usual one, and then I tried to make cupcakes and that went well. Easier to freeze them as cupcakes, or at least easier to handle. Tomorrow I'll probably make a lot more. I forgot to add the almonds at the last cupcakes and that is so irritating. They taste and looks a lot better with the allmonds.


What have you been up to lately?
Wish you all the best and thanks for visiting.

A day for health care.

Our National Healthcare System has a program to help discover breast cancer at an early stage, and today I'm going to hospital for my check. Once one pass 50 years one automatically get invited to take part of that program. It's OK to do it even if I feel a bit "squeezed" during the process. So, that's my main task today.

When I wrote my last post I started to think what was good about Fall. In fact I don't like Fall at all, but there must be something good about it. I thought of making a list of 5 good things about Fall but it wasn't easy. My journalspread shows what I came up with.

I'm so exited at the moment because my very first journal is about to be filled. Just 4 more spreads and it's done. I have a new one waiting and I was thinking of doing that one using words to guide my work. That means I have to think/plan a bit before I'm doing my work. So now I'm gathering words that appeals to me in a jar. That way it will be some exitement to pick a word to start with. I'm not saying that the whole journal will be worked that way, but I will try it to see how difficult/different it will be. And, I'm a bit inspired by my art-student friend too. It's very exiting to follow her process in school and I'm lucky enough to do that.

I haven't done the handbag yet, but probably will coming weekend. I'll show you when it's done.



The abowe spread shows my Fall list. The photo of the polarbear was so nice that I had to add it. The right page almost made itself. I'm pleased with it and didn't want to add anything else to it. Do you see the square design? That was something I found in a homedecor shop. Originally it's a table mat (plastic) so it's useful and easy to clean after use.

Well, I'm on my way to hospital so this is all for now.
Take care and thanks for visiting.

Fall is a fact.

The fall has shown up. A lot of wind and rain and the daylight appears at shorter terms every day. I don't like it but in some way it's a bit cosy too. The nature shows off all its beautiful colours and that is really a nice sight.

I'm still working with the final touch at my friends handbag. She prefered to use her own bag so that left me a nut to crack. (and that's what I really like.)
Today I finally got hold of stencil-film so now I'm going to make my own stencils. I never find what I want when I look for it so to make my own seem to be a good way. It remains to see if I actually can do it.

Todays journalpage shows something you've seen before. It's the cutout from my owls.

I snapped a photo of this and sent it on facebook to a friend. I did that a year ago too but then I used a dove holding a letter with my written message on. That's a bit more personal than just a facebook message.

That's all, take care and thanks for visiting.

Yes, I think this will be good.

Remember my paperbeads?

I've finished the necklace I was making for my friend which she is going to use in her sons wedding. I'm not sure the photos shows how special it really is, but my friend loved it at once.
I was hopeing for a special lock, but I couldn't get hold of anything else than an ordinary one.

When the necklace was done I had 13 more beads and they are going to decorate her clutch. The photo below shows the necklace hanging as it will on her.

Below you can see it lying flat. When I look at it each bead seem like a little piece of art and the colours are stunning. In a distance it doesen't "shout", it's important that the rest of the party register my friend and not only her necklace.

This necklace is made of the smallest beads, and they are absolutely the most suitable for this purpose.
I showed my friend the necklace last night and I can't nothing but smile when I think of her reaction to it. She was all smiles.
Her dress is black so she felt for adding some colour, and colour it will be.

I've made the small decor-piece but as I see it there is a minor problem. The photo below shows one of my clutches and the piece on top. I feel this would work well, the sizes are well adjusted.
What do you think? I would love some feedback on this issue, please.

This is the handbag my friend intends to use, it's a really nice piece of work and suits her well but this one is a bit too big to my decor-piece, don't you think?
Of course I'm going to ask her opinion, and if she like she can use my clutch.
I could have made some more beads, but it's very difficult to get them right. The colours would never be of the same "soul" as the ones already made.




That was all for today, have a nice day everyone!

Sandra and I have been painting.

Hello.

This weekend Sandra & I have been painting stones.

Sandra was determined to paint her dog's face and I wanted to try a fish. It was fun but not as easy as I'd thought. The rough surface made it a bit more difficult.
It would probably be easier to start with one complete layer of paint before making any pattern. We didn't do that.
You can see that my stone had an uneven surface while Sandras was more even. When the paint was dry I gave the stones a layer of laquer. Sandra liked my fish that good, so I think she have to bring it home as a gift.


Last night when Sandra was asleep I sat down for some doodling. I had this idea I wanted to try. First of all I wanted to make a ribbon, and I did. Then I saw that a bow would be nice and I made that too.
The pattern nearest to the bow is quite complicated to make, but easier than it looks. There are five squares in the middle of it that I've filled with a tangle called Paradox and the crossing frame is filled with lines. Without these patterns it looks much easier.

The other square was something that followed and just happened. I think it's too easy to have been discovered yet. I really don't know if anyone have done it before.
Well, it's not easy to know what the rest of the world are doing so perhaps I'm the last one to discover this pattern. :-)

The last photo showes more of the same idea. It's not that easy to make the hearts but I assume it all depends on practice.




Just a short post before Sandrs is awakening.
Otherwise my thoughts goes to all Americans today, I really hope you can approach this day with peace in your hearts.

Wish you all the best!

Have you ever done this?

Good morning out there.

One day I had painted some papers for use in my artjournal, the colours reminded me of something I did (or was trying to do) as a child. I wanted to make paper-beads back then, but I had nothing to use doing it. Just a newspaper, and my glue was made of flour and water. No wonder it went wrong.

As I saw my papers the other day I thought of this childhood try and the idea started to roll. Now I've made quite a few beads, and now they look like what I had in my dreams as a child.
It's not a new idea, and I'm sure many of you have been doing this but it's fun anyway.

The real reason for doing this was that a friend of mine is going to have her son married in a few months, and she needed something colourful to match her dress. That's what made me think of these beads.
Now I've made a few different sizes and and I clearly see that the smallest one are the best if I'm going to make some "jewelery". The largest are the nicest to look at but they are difficult to use because of the size, at least for my purpose.

The photo below shows the different beads and sizes. The largest one is 3 cm across (1.2 inch) and the lenght of the paper used is the shortest lenght of an A-4 sheet.
The next two beads are 2 cm across (0.8 inch) I was very exited when I tried to make the black and white one. I was not sure I could do it but as you see I could.
The last two beads are 1.5 cm across (0.6 inch) These are the ones I think will work the best for my purpose.
I'm looking for the right material to combine with the beads, and it has to look great as well.

The last photo shows some small items I've made just as tries to see if it's possible at all. It was when I did these things I learnt that the largest beads is not that useful for this purpose.



Today I'm going to experiment using the smallest ones. I might come up with something smart at the end.

Take care everyone.

An owl and what inspired it.

Hello!

Today I'll show you my last owl and what inspired it. I was looking for something in my craft magazines and came over this photo of a carved item . I saw an owl immediately.

I,ve skipped my owls for a while because I started to make some beads and that was so exciting that I couldnt stop. More about that in a later post.

Now I'm really looking forward to the weekend, Sandra is coming and it's been a while since she was here. She called me the other day and told me she was so looking forward to come this weekend. She had missed her journal a lot.

Last time she was here she wouldn't bring her journal back home, and now she regretted that.

The picture below shows my inspiration for todays owl. Do you see the owl too?

That seem to be all for today, I'm going to have a friend visiting, and I have to prepeare something for us.

Have a nice day.

Last tour through old NY.

These are the last three cards from old New York.

Good morning everyone.

First today is New Cunard Building. This card has no printed text so I don't know anything about it. Looks like a nice building though. And so it is,I read in this article. Wow, I think I'd like to visit that building.



Next image shows: Hotel Pennsylvania.
The old buildings looks so great, look at the ground level. Nothing like this is built today. That doesen't mean I don't like todays buildings, it's just that the details were much more focused back then. Today it's concrete and glass all over.
Listen to the printed text:" Hotel Pennsylvania at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue, opposite the Pennsylvania Railroad depot, with which it will be connected by an underground passageway. The first section on 7th Avenue, 20 stories high will contain 1.000 bedrooms with bath and shower."
Bath and shower back then, it's amazing. 40 years later we had our shower installed too.



Last card shows: Flat iron building Broadway and fifth Avenue.
This is not an unfamiliare way of building houses. I believe each city that have some of the old quarters left have at least one building of this kind, but the size may differ.
The printed text says:"Fuller Building, generally known as the Flat Iron building stands at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue facing 23rd Street. Was the first steel frame sky scraper built in the world. It is 300 feet high and contains 120,000 square feet of floor space above ground and 13,340 square feet under the sidewalk.
You can see a lot more photos and read about this building in this article.




I,ve had a lot to learn from this writing and I've enjoyed it. I hope you have learnt something too.
Have a nice day everyone and take care.

Apple harvest time.

Need an extra item for Thanksgiving? I have not tried this myself, but it sure looks fun. Perhaps I should try it now that the apples are ready for harvesting. It seems easy to do and the outcome is rather special. I don't know if anyone remember that I promised to write this post, but I did back in June. In this post you can see a larger photo of a finished face. This whole idea came from a Norwegian craft magazine and the article says that the origin of this idea is American. The newly cut apple should hang in the kitchen window (or wherever you prefer) for three weeks. Each day one should gently squeeze the apple to help form the face. After three weeks, give it a couple of days in drying sand. One could dry it in the oven too, but then one will miss the chance to help forming it. Remember to use a pair of beads to the eyes. The body could be made of wire or whatever one prefers. It really doesn't matter, it's the face and dress (clothing) that matters.

There are a lot going on at the moment and I'll show you later on if I succeed. Tomorrow it,s time for the last tour in Old New York. Wish you all the best.

Two more owls.

Hello.

Todays owls are different ones. The first one was made of a paper I'd paint earlier on. I was trying a tecnique to achieve a desing by using a creditcard and paint on top of something patterned. As you see it worked and since then I've looked for patterned surfaces all over the house. Next thing to try is tissue paper.

The owl looks a bit raw or something. Not like what I usually do. Even so I'm pleased. I've chosen to show you two photos today. The first one is how it really looks like. The second one is how I like them, without the extra light. The colours differ quite much but I like it better with that "warmth" in it. Reality is too hard. He, he.




The second owl, was made while we had a warm and "foggy" day without any sunlight. It reminded me on coming season and that's why I chose to colourwash with black at the end. The white colour you see is in fact a shiny silver one.
Not much colours used in this one but I think it works.

Have a nice day, and enjoy your oval weekend to every American.

Unfortunate love.

Good morning.

Today I'm going to show you a very cool project I finished yesterday. It is the one I spoke about in my former post.
First of all I want to say that I saw this on a blog which I didn't register the name on, so if anyone of my readers have seen that blog and know the adress I would love to get it. Normally I like to give credit to the person that shows me something the first time, but this time I can't.
In the post I saw she was making a slim flowery pattern. I hope someone know the blog and let me know the adress.

My project is not the most suitable for this tecnique. My pattern (owl) is far too big so I almost ruined the middle page. The whole project involves 2 spreads in my journal. (3 sheets) What I did was this: I drew an owl like I would have it and cut it out. Placed it on the middle sheet to see if it was OK. Then I chose to glue papers on each side of that sheet, just to keep it solid and strong enough. I transfered my owl onto the page and cut it out.
The first photo shows the outlines of my owl. As you can see there is a very week point, so for safety I used some tape to strengthen it.



Next thing to do is to draw the owl on each side through the hole in the middle page. It's important to get them to fit exactly otherwise it's just rubbish. And then the fun starts. Since my owl is that big I did not have any space to differ the pages. That's why I chose to use different papers, just to make each spread look different but the owls are the same though. I hope this made sense. Look at the photos perhaps it's easier to understand it that way.

Now that I can see the result in my journal it looks a bit impressive, and it's exciting too. This tecnique can be used in many ways and the lady with the unknown blogname had cut out her shape in three following pages. That way she had the opportunety to test out her pattern in several different ways.

The text on the photo below says: Morning Miss, would you care to go for a walk in the Park? She replys, No thanks, I'd rather stay here to read this book.




I'm sorry for the quality of the photos.

Have a splended weekend everyone.

My fairyland.

Good morning everyone.

This was a fun page to make.

The owls came so quick that I had no time to think. The landscape and surroundings did too. Some days are just magic.

I call this my fairyland because I feel it contains a lot of different storys. The house could be a school and the flying owl the teacher who is calling for the students.
When this page was done, it gave me the idea for the next one, or reminded me of something I had been thinking of doing. I started it last evening, but it wasn't a good idea.
Well, the idea was good but the way I chose to resolve it wasn't. I'll show you later on.
Clare asked me what it is about owls that capture our imagination. Not easy to give an answer to that question but for me it's a nice bird with a simple shape and no hard details to draw. In general the owls are thought of as wise birds and in fairytales they often hold a central possition, are surrounded by mysticism
and very often the owls are messengers. Remember Harry Potter and the "owl mail"?
I've always been attracted to fairytales and I have, during my adult years, collected all the well known collections of fairytales.
There are a lot knowlege hidden in every fairytale if one are digging a bit.

Clare suggested to me that I might know a bit more after 14 days experiment with owls. Yes, she could be right. At least I've had 14 fun days.



Do you have a favorite fairytale, and if so which one?

Wish you all a wonderful day.

Playing with my friend.

We had a joyful day.

Hello.

My friend and I had a joyful day yesterday.
The spread below was made on Tuesday but I did some small finishing touches yesterday and therefor it's dated 31th.
I made a decision to make an Owl a day the next 14 days. It's always exciting to see how much the results can differ using the same image. An Owl is ok to use because of its shape. It's easy to draw and not that timeconsuming, and 14 days are not that long.
My first Owl is made upon a background I made a long time ago. It wasn't the easiest thing I've done (using an old background for a new idea) but I think it came out well. I'm trying to integrate the papers used on my pages and sometimes it works and other times it don't. All in all I'm pleased with this spread.



Here you can see my friend, Margit, fully consentrated to find an image to use on her page. She had not been doing this before but she liked it and felt for starting on her own.
We had some fingerfood to eat during our artmaking and we had lots of good laughs too. The photo shows a tiny corner of my Owl too.



This is how my Owl finally came out. It's a bit fun and I'm not too happy over it's legs but I drew and painted them before thinking. The maths I don't understand but my darling husband do and he told me how to write it down. I needed some "smarty" stuff and for me maths are just that.



It was a really joyful day and we agreed to repeat it, perhaps together with yet another friend.
Have a nice day everyone and thanks for visiting.