Friendship begins in the Heart Mixed Media Art Retreat

Hi there lovelies,

As promised, a little post on the winter Art Retreat we are hosting in July 2014.

The venue that we chose is situated just outside Pretoria at the Farm Inn Country Hotel & Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a lovely place that we visit frequently. Quiet atmosphere in nature but still close enough to the city so we do not have to drive too far to reach it. The animals are a lovely treat for city girls like us who didn’t grow up in the great outdoors.

We had a lovely birthday celebration there the other day with some friends and decided to organise an art retreat there. The first of many I hope.

We will be spending the day relaxing together as friends, new and old, young and not so young. In the company of each other, we will be inspired to create something that will release even more creativity. The idea is to de-stress from the noise of everyday life in surroundings that will help accomplish this.

What are we going to create, you may ask? My partner in art, Surita Brink, has designed a special artwork just for this event, that we will duplicate each in our own style.

We are also designing our own paper for this event to be used in the artwork. Using a few mixed media techniques, this artwork is also a must for any scrapbooker. We are keeping the process simple to keep the focus on engaging with each other, our surroundings and to relax.

The theme of this event is Friendship, the meaning of it in our lives and where it begins. I believe it starts in the heart.

I know of many of my friends who have been going through some heavy stress, worries, challenges and even health issues. Life takes its toll. I also have my own story to tell, but I have discovered that through the love of the people closest to me, I have been able to survive and begin to thrive again. It is love that gets you through and we want to encourage friendship among fellow Christian women and artists. We want to share the inspiration that we find from fellow Christian artists and writers and encourage you to be part of a circle of friends that you can love and support.

A song by Jars of Clay, lyrics by Brandon Heath, touched me this week. It just stressed upon my heart how important friendship is, that it is God’s idea, His way of looking out for us. We are sheltered in each other when we realize that our strength is in unity, in loving each other honestly without fear or doubt. When we realize our personal role and responsibility and take it seriously, we will be strong in our relationships. When we do not act out of fear or hide in fear from each other, purposefully cherish the gift of each other and not selfishly looking out just for ourselves, we will grow and we will find a place of rest and hope within our relationships.

Please contact us to book your seats. Invite a friend if you know of someone that needs your love, support and care and would also benefit from such a lovely experience.



Hope to see you all there!

Anniversary multi level box card

Hi there lovelies,

Winter has finally come to stay now. We are all hiding under blankets and trying not to use the heater too much, drinking loads of vitamins and soup to keep out the cold. Funny how the cold makes you want to snack all the time and anytime. Especially having a husband around the house always opening the fridge. We have been on a gluten-free and sugar-free lifestyle plan for months now. It is working. We have both lost some weight and feel motivated to keep it up. It is a bit of a challenge being on the Paleo diet as we can’t have any comfy foods like bread or pasta and fast foods are out altogether.

It is only when you cut these artificial foods out totally and stick to it, that you realise what a powerful hold it had on your body and mind. It’s scary. The whole society around us is oblivious to why we choose to stick it out and go cold turkey. It makes it really hard when people randomly offer you cakes and goodies. So proud of hubby today that he once again said no to a slice of freshly baked apple pie.

I am very excited to announce that I also use Windows Live Writer now to create my blogs. Have been looking for a solution for a while now to be able to control the design of my posts and fonts and out of the blue my husband decided that he wants to blog more and found Windows Live Writer. Yesterday he shared his excitement over it with me and I realised that I already had it installed on my laptop all along. Strange how you can have the solution to a problem under your nose and not know it.
Well, I am trying to improve my blogging and writing as I go along. I have come a long way already. Hoping to bring you better and more exciting posts about my art and what inspires me.

49th Wedding anniversary multi-level 
box card:

As promised here is the card that I made for my parents anniversary.

First I had to decide on all the elements I wanted to put into this card. I am a detail girl, so I always have to control my natural urge to put in too much. Less is more, but in this case, 49 years of sticking it out in marriage deserve detail.

It was more like I wanted to give my parents a medal or some kind of trophy. So this card represents that. They loved it.

I chose some vintage images of their wedding in 1965 in Bloemfontein’s Twin tour church. I changed all the images to Sepia and included some text. Then I printed it in the sizes I could use on the card.

What made it easy for me was the fact that my cousin and fellow artist, Jowilna Nolte, blessed me with some new embellishments I could choose from. Loved it! Thanks again Jowilna!  She is truly an inspiration.

According to some online design templates for this card, you can have two to tree or even more levels inside the card. I chose only the outer layer and one layer inside. Then I used both sides of the inside layer and only the one side of the outer layer to embellish and cover. Apart from the lid, I kept the outside simple.

Because I don’t own many distress inks or pads at the moment, I used my gold COLOR PALETTE PIGMENT STAMP PAD to distress this card and just loved it. This pad has served me well over many many years. I’m not sure how old it is but its more than 6 or 7 years old. Pigment is still perfect. What a great versatile and economical product! I can really recommend it.

I also used the Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter to cut two little people from cardstock. I just love to use these in my paper artworks and layouts. No matter what you want to call them, (some people call them potty-people or toilet signs), they are fit for any “project life” themed project. Add some embellishments and a photo or two and you have a retro layout.

I love that I have so many artistic and creative people in my life. My sister and best friend assisted me to make this two-tiered wedding cake for the middle of the card….the surprise when you open the box. The only reason why I didn’t make it myself is that I ran out of time. It was fun to work together on this. I gave the vision and idea of placing a mini cake inside and typical for her, she doesn’t disappoint. You can give her a paperclip and glue stick and she builds you a shopping mall! She builds me a hot air balloon in a teacup as a card for my 40th birthday. Maybe I’ll blog about that too.

What do you think about this little cake? Cute, right?

Finally, I just had to assemble everything and close the lid. 

Here is a look at the embellished sides of the inside layer.

I added some elements I designed myself, 

printed them and added to a layer of cardstock, distressed with my stamp pad and kept it simple.

I love how the wedding photos came out after embellishing them.

Here is the final product. I added the 49 to the outside lid.

The final product:

I am really proud of this card. My best thus far. I was able to add my details without it feeling too much but that's just my opinion. 

Look at the response I got from the oldies. 

Oooooh and aaaah. 

Special Moments! So blessed to have them both in my life at this age.

What's New?

I have now registered on Redbubble.com so some of my artworks can be ordered directly from them in the form of prints, phone covers, tote bags and other products. Please go take a look. Just click on Redbubble.com above to go to my page.

• In my next posts, I will be showcasing my mother's day card and my latest project life photobook project.
• I am also planning to add more art and designs to my store. So keep a lookout for it.
• 
  
• For all you art buffs we are planning an ART RETREAT for July 2014. I will be writing a separate post on this. It will be at a venue in Pretoria, a mixed media project and the theme is “the meaning of friendship”.
  
  
  Till the next time!

Silhouettes and birds inspired these cards on commission!

Hi friends,

Just completed two more commissioned cards. After receiving a sponsored Silhouette cutting machine from cousin and fellow artist, Jowilna Nolte, I have been inspired to search for designs I would like to cut and use in my art and paper designs. Just love the process. Still learning the how-to and what-not-to about the machine as it is an older model, but lots of fun anyway.

I have found some lovely little things at our local art shop like these helpful cuties:

Have been struggling to keep my glue tip clean and open. Always needing a pin or paperclip to open it up again. What a brilliant idea to keep it permanently open with a pin. Also very easy to squeeze the glue out because these bottles are made of a softer plastic.

So here are my commissioned cards. These were done for the birthdays of two older ladies. The feedback I got from my mother-in-law who commissioned me, was very positive. The one lady loved her card so much, she wants to frame her card. I really enjoy making cards. It is zero stress, doesn't use up much product and I have the freedom to design whatever I feel is in my heart and hands at that moment.

I was instructed to make a book on the card because the lady loves reading. I decided to use a silhouette of a lady reading instead but then made a little miniature book as well. I cut out her name and made it fall out of the book..it turned out perfect! I used a stamp and gold ink to distress the silhouette and added some flowers and golden pearls to embellish. I also made a box envelope to protect the card. 

For the second card, I was inspired by birds. I have been collecting images of handmade cards with small birds and they are so sweet.

Now that I have the cutting machine I can try these cards at last. I think this one came out pretty good for a first try.

I am on a roll know with these handmade cards. It has been my hobby since childhood, but I really feel like I am finding my own style and I enjoy making them so much. I hope the people who own one of my handmade beauties enjoy them just as much. It is meant to bring joy and love to the one who receives it.

I design these cards according to personalized requests for special occasions like an 80th birthday. I put loads of detail in them. I design according to the client's theme and colour scheme. They cost a little more but can be a gift in itself.

The cards I made for my mom has permanent placing in the dining room. She loves them so much that she cannot bare to put them away. In the next post I will be showing off the ones I made for mother's day and for my parent's 49th wedding anniversary.

Hope you have a blessed week.

Our first Happy Go Artsy workshop

Hi there lovelies,

Finally, we decided to do our first mixed media and portrait study workshop. We have learned a lot from the process. What to do and what not to do when organizing something like this. We compromised a little and instead of cancelling the workshop for not reaching the minimum number of participants we wanted, we did it anyway with just two attendees. I am glad we did. Sometimes you just need to push through to see if it is something you are able to do or even want to do. So, again...we learned so much.

The students finished their artworks: So proud of their efforts!

 The two art teachers side by side. Loving every moment!

 So if this looks fun to you, let us know and we will bring the mixed media workshops, art parties and creative retreats to your doorstep.

Have a great April 2014!!