Etegami, new to me.

Some days ago I read this blog post and my curiosity were lit.

Have you ever heard of Etegami? I hadn't until I red Susan's post.  I had to google it and found quite a lot to read.  This blog is very helpful to understand the "rules", and Debbie makes pretty etegami as well.
I don't have all the right supplies but it's fun doing it and I can see it might turn out huge if I take interest in it and develop my own expression. Here are some of my tries so far.

Notice, I even made my own stamp (chop) containing my initials. That is a must have in etegami and it has to be stamped in this red color.  This particular postcard( above) is already mailed out to a friend. Every etegami should be mailed out due to tradition.

I can see that my cards are made of a newbie, they don't look as balanced as I wish but I think it's a matter of practice.

Etegami is meant to be clumsy, it should be made on a paper that is bleeding so that the lines will have blobs.
In this blog you can see lots of examples on different topics. They're fun doing and I'm sure I will do more of them, actually I'll try to make one each day. They're quick done, not more than half an hour.

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday, have a wonderful weekend everyone and thanks for all your lovely comments.

Closer to Spring

I think we have a build in sense for spring.

At least my whole body is shouting spring to me.  The frost is still here, but the light and length of the days has increased a lot. And the garden comes alive. The Eranthis flowers are nearly done with their job and now the Snowdrops are in bloom, all over the lawn.

What does spring do to you?
I can tell you what it does to me, I get "crazy" in  a good way and it get worse each year. So filled with energy and the need to get things done. Humm.... almost like a tulip bulb. Hence me washing the kitchen, and now it's an all over clean up of the house that's on my list.

It's such a joy to listen to the birds this time of year, they're busy too. I wake up to the lovely sound of birds singing in our garden. When it gets warmer, we have more of an out door life as well. Can't wait for it to happen.

 In general, I'm a sun person and love it when the temperatures rises. I'm quite sure I lived closer to equator in an earlier life, if there ever was such a thing.

Anyone who remember the film My Africa, at least I think that was what it was called. White people living in Africa back in the 1920/ 1930.
I have a silk dress from Africa and that period of time, and I came across it while I did some tidying. That actually inspired my next piece. Do you get the feel when looking at the photo below?

Crispy cooling fabrics, silks, linen and cotton. It doesn't take much for me to find inspiration when the spring is right around the corner.
Happy spring everyone!

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

Still keeping it up.

I've kept my health decisions so far.

Finally I've stopped smoking and I also do my Monday workouts each week. Today I even went out for an extra workout. I really feel this will work well for me and I'm so happy for it. The only thing I need to watch out for, is to not gain extra weight during this process.
I know from earlier that stop smoking has a tendency to end in gaining weight.

I made this piece to illustrate the addiction. I was told that a center in our brains ( addiction center) has a spot that can be compared with a nest filled with nestlings constantly craving food. My piece is more or less illustrating my situation for the time being. I am stubborn though, and know I have to win over my own cravings and that gets easier for each day now.
So, my focus has changed to be aware of what I put in my mouth instead. I know I can do it and everything is pointing towards my victory. Yay for me!

This piece is made using the technique  I learned in Magazine to Masterpiece class, thought by Roberta Laliberte. I'm very happy with the result, and of course, it has a special meaning for me.
Coming Friday I'll show you another one I did, it seems now that you all are done with your face month, I've started mine.
Well, just wanted to make things official and let you know what I've been working to overcome.

An interesting week

This week I finally did something I have thought of doing for a long time.

I made myself a gelliplate. It was easy to make and it works fine.  In the photo it's covered in plastic wrap.

I have made some prints and now I just need to plan a bit before doing more of them. It's fun and very addictive. Well I guess you all know this, I'm just a bit late in trying it.

I also had a good helper, little Lucas was allowed to pick which colors to use, and he loved touching the plate, without the paint on it. It feels cold and sticky. He even wanted to stand on it to feel it's surface against his feet. Later on we had some tower building to do, as you see in the photo.

Lucas is such a good and fun boy. He has been sick this week, and he stops eating, so we had to come up with some interesting new ways to eat. He loves fruits, so I cut then in small pieces and let him have a stick (close to a toothpick) to eat with. That was what it took to make him eat, and he even asked for more.

Now, last week I had a giveaway here, and boy was I surprised to see how many people who actually had room for one more piece of art. Thank you all for participating in this fun event. I'm very happy to give these three pieces away, and I ask the winners to e-mail me or leave a comment with their mail addresses. The comment with the address  will of course not be published.

The winners are:
#1 cozydoodle and she chose  #1 - the stack of cups.

#2 Nicole Beadwright Campancella she went for #6 - sunflower and insect.

#3 EAGHL (granny annie) #9 - the face.

Now I'm off to do some washing in my kitchen, tedious work but it needs to be done. I'm linking to Paint Party Friday. Happy PPF to all of you.