Cute birdies!!

I discovered a black birds nest in an elder in my back yard a couple of weeks ago and today I quickly snapped some photos of the young when the parents were away looking for food. 

I just hope that my Misty cat won't eat them once they are leaving the nest. She also discovered the nest and is often looking in that direction!

Gypsy Caravan

Yesterday and today we started with painting the inside of the caravan with a primer. It looks totally different now. So much lighter and not so depressing like before. 
So here are some before and after photos of the Gypsy Caravan:

Before

Halfway

After

Now we have to decide on a nice color for the walls and the benches. I'm thinking of a bright color, like a pinkish red, but my sweetheart wants a light color like lilac.

If you have a suggestion, please let me know! It has to sort of match with the curtains of course!

We're also going to replace the vinyl on the floor. Maybe it will be this one:

I love doing this make-over!!

To be continued!

New ICAD cards

Here's my next set of seven index cards for the ICAD challenge.
The prompts I used are: perfume, colored pencils on black gesso, swirl, chandelier, fringe, your name and make a pocket/secret message.

 This is a transparency I made with clear packing tape.

  Here I used my prisma colored pencils on black gesso.

 Another transparency using packing tape with an embroidered swirl, flowers and a brad.

 A piece of packing paper, chandelier stamp with Stazon and one with embossing powder, letter stamps.

 Origami paper with on top blue aluminum tape, fibers, printed out words.

 Scrapbookpaper, letters, embroidering thread, rub ons.

Music paper sheet (vintage), scrapbookpaper, letter stamps, fiber, image.

Curtains Gypsy Caravan

I'm very busy with making new curtains for my Gypsy Caravan! 

The blue ones will be for the sleeping area and the green ones for the dining area. Because I'm on a budget for redecorating the caravan, I've used the blue and green curtain fabric which I had in stash and added the new striped fabric as a border to compensate for the lack of old fabric. 
Only 2 more blue curtains to go!

ICAD 2

Here's my second set of 7 index cards for the ICAD challenge! I have been experimenting a lot with transferring images from books and magazines using matte medium.
The prompts I used are: B+W, Stripes, Colors of Winter, Faux Quilt (2), Alphabet stamps and decorate the corners.

Image transfer from a Dutch children's book (Het boek van Ot en Sien) by Jan Ligthart and H. Scheepstra, images made by C. Jetses.

These are painted (acrylics) strips of tape.

 Background is a page from a dictionary. I added a lot of water to soften down the watercolors and glimmer mists I used. The haiku is from Matso Basho, a Japanese poet (1644-1694). 

 Another transfer with matte medium using music paper. 

 Small pieces of paper from subscription cards.

 For this background I used an image (transfer) from a magazine, it's hard to see but it's a sun/moon.

And finally I used some images (transfer) from another magazine (add campaign for Citroen) on a background with gesso and watercolor.

ICAD challenge

Last week I started with the Index Card A Day Challenge which you can find at the Daisy Yellow blog. This challenge is for only 61 days, so it's doable. 
I'm a week behind but I don't care and I'm just continuing this challenge at my own pace.
Here is my first set of 7 index cards (7.5x10.5 cm)
The prompts I used are: Doodle your name, Grid, Fish, Map, Dictionary, Dragonfly and Yellow.

Gesso, acrylics, template, black DVD writer.

Black DVD writer, colored pencils.

Gesso, glimmer mist, image from magazine, black DVD writer, white uni posca.

Map, gesso, acrylics, template, stamps, glimmer mist, image from an advertisement leaflet, white uni posca, black DVD writer.

Dictionary page, gesso, handmade paper, acrylics, heart tag, letter stamps, words from a book, template, black DVD writer.

Book page I used to put on excess paints from other projects, stamps, thread, foam dragonfly, white uni posca.

Washi tape, scrapbook paper, letter stickers, smiley template used for sprinkling powder sugar on top of a cup of coffee, black permanent ink pen.

Finally!!

Yippee, finally finished the large (60x80 cm or 23.6x31.5 inches) mermaid painting!!! It's already hanging on the wall in the hallway.
Maybe I will be working on it for just a little bit more in the future, but for now it feels okay for me. 
So here it is!

I haven't used beeswax on this painting (yet). I did use some glass bead gel for the sea, beach and the hair of the mermaids.
Some details:

The story is that both mermaids are in love with the prince, but only one can have him of course. Guess, which one won his heart?! Because I like happy ending stories, there's another cute prince hidden in this painting. The only thing he needs, to turn into a real prince, is a kiss! :D


My next project will be a painting of a fairy, maybe not as large as this one though.