CRAFT HAUL FROM LIDL!

Sunshine, yey! How absolutely wonderful! I hope it'll stay sunny all week. Please no more snowing, do you hear me WeatherGods (tie some garlic around my throat and bring me a crucifix, that might do the job!)!  😜 

Hope you had a great start this week, where ever you are out there.

(haul betyder förresten kap eller fångst, om det är någon som undrar).

I'm not at the German dollarstore Lidl that often, but after a chai coffee (yum yum, like drinking ginger bread cookies!) at a café on Saturday, husband & I dropped into one on our way home. Good decision as it turned out!

Oh yeah, happiness! Get so inspired for art journaling just looking at these. Just under 30 kronor, great price.

I bought similar soft pastels in an art store in Prague, also a good price, but they were 169 kronor for 24 pieces. These type of crayons are great when doing backgrounds.

Found a new notebook to do art journaling in. Blank pages.

The pages are not as thick as the note books from Netto, but I'm used to glueing two pages together to make the spread more sturdy (= stabil). 

For doodling these ones come in very handy. Up until now I've pinched pens from the husband when I need a pen with a very small tip.

My last bargain at Lidl is this punch set, for holes & eyelets.

Only had the manual punch 'pens' from Fiskars before, who makes a lot of noice when using them. Sushi (the beloved cat that died four months ago) used to hate the racket they made! In fact she left the room as soon as she understood that I would use them! I miss her so much.

There were more crafty things in Lidl, this is only the stuff I bought. They've got paint brushes, edgepunches, more color pens and more, so you might want to visit your nearest store, or check out their newsletter. 

Let's hope this will only be a memory; no more snow until Chrismas!

A decoupage art journal I did last week. White ordinary tissue paper on the left side, and Stamperia rice paper (from Prague) on the right.

Cut out the bird to the left from Daphne's Diary. The leafy branch under the bird is a die-cut from Rayher (bought in Riga).

I wish you all a brilliant week!

(if you click on the photos they will enlarge!)

GREAT MAG CUTOUTS FOR ART JOURNALS

Dear blogg readers,
Hope you're having a wonderful week. Middle of March, hopefully spring awaits around the corner. I've certainly had enough of this bleak, grey, boring weather.
We spent Thursday from Sunday in our cottage, quite a bit of snow out there in the woods.

If you're reading this blog on a smartphone or iPad you can click on the picture and it will enlarge.

The little lake was covered with snow

I spent quite some time in front of the fire, cutting out things! I've mentioned the magazine Daphne's Diary in other bloggs, and it certainly has beautiful stuff in it.

Love-love-love it!  😊 

Can't wait to use these in journal spreads!

Adorable, and such lovely colors. There're some bird dies around out there, but I haven't found any that I like at all yet. This is the perfect solution!
Also have to say it's quite meditative to sit and cut! 

 

I did my first art journal spread November 18th in 2016. Gone through a few books since!

Never had a "proper" journal, just used what I had. Just finished 'Chefens idébok' last night, that was part of the literature when I studied inner mental training!
Where will this go in about ten years time?! 😱 Might need an extra room in the house......

My latest piece, haven't decided what sentiment to use yet (if any). The fairy figure is of course from Daphne's! Pieces on the lefthand side from Stamperia (that I received in a happy mail).

All the books has 'grown'.....!

Finally got to use the beautiful wooden butterfly that I bought in Prague Dec -16.

Prague is one of the most beautiful cities I've been to (Old Town Dubrovnik also on top of the list). The whole city is like a piece of art in itself. They also have a FANTASTIC craft store. Check it out here
Heaven! Don't miss it for goodness' sake if you're visiting Prague!!

Just outside the cottage

Thank you so much for reading my blog, it means a lot. 💙 Wish I could blog more often, but my migraines are too frequent. Had them for 5 days last week, hope this week will be better.
Then there's also the 'little issue' of having something to write about!!! Because of my EDS I haven't worked for two years, and I don't want to bore you to death with uninteresting stuff! Also hope you like the pictures, I love to photograph.

Ni svenska läsare, tycker ni det är störigt att jag numera skriver på engelska??  

Have a creative lovely week!   🙋 

A bouquet from my thoughtful husband (I love pink!)

TUESDAY AFTERNOON IN SWEDEN

Hi there,

Already a new week! Did not start great, we had no water yesterday from early afternoon until just before midnight (but we do have some snow)! Thank god I made my 2nd tub of coffee just before it happened! ☕

Thanks also for babywipes - this fantastic invention! - so that I could clean my paint brushes!

How very spoilt we are in this part of the world.....

Do you feel creative this week? I do! Especially today when the sun is shining. Everything feels better when the sun is out!

Here's a few pieces I've done since the last time

I cut out the images from my favourite magazine, Daphne's Diary. I've mentioned this fabulous mag before in my blog.

Many has expressed the sentiment I've used on this spread, and I've no idea who said it first! Background is from ink pads.

(I've a phobia for owls, but I can manage this one!) 

Happiness!

Daphne's has got so many beautiful pictures in it. A new issue will be out today in the UK, but I guess it takes a few days for it to come to Sweden.

I've had this Panduro stamp forever. The girl only had 3 hairs, so I gave her a bit more! Stamp on the upper and lower edge is from Netto. Background colors are gelatos. 

I made the paper roses a few years back. Had some sort of craze at that time, and did loads in front of the tv.

Iridescent (regnbågsskrimrande) sprays from Italian brand Stamperia.

In case you don't feel inspired don't forget that there's loads of wonderful inspiration on Youtube. Many Youtubers also have facebook groups, where they do weekly or monthly challenges (utmaningar).

There's soooo much fun out there for You!  ❤  

Have a wonderful creative week! 💁     ...and dont forget:

ART JOURNALS AND A SMOOTHIE!

It's a very windy afternoon in the south of Sweden. The usual tub of vanilla coffe has been substituted for a smoothie this Tuesday. Just felt like mixing fruits together in a blender, 😜 and went to Netto. Nothing new crafty in there this week though.
There were still some of the lovely notes books left that I bought two of last week, perfect for art journaling (as seen in my blog last week).

Storage box also still in the store: 

I bought this a long time ago, but they're back! 

Quite handy!

All winter pictures taken by our cottage in the woodlands.

Been doing a few more art journal spreads.

I've been collecting sentiments in a Gorjuss note book for quite some time. 

Purple (and pink) are my all time favourite colors. Started this on Valentine's Day, hence all the hearts.
The big heart die is from American Memory Box.

Tried to do a little card yesterday. Out of my comfort zone with tiny 15 x 15 cm. I like to work on bigger surfaces.
Made an attempt to do flowers with inexpensive tulle from Netto. Would probably have been a good idea to have brown cardstock underneath the tulle though.
It certainly doesn't go smoothly all the time, it's a trial and error thing for sure!! 😳

Mmmm, love the smoothie! It was made from a banana, orange, pear, physalis, soy milk, broccoli (!), fresh ginger and some turmeric.

Broccoli is actually one of the few vegetables that has got more antioxidants raw. Several vegetables has to be cooked to make the antioxidants available (a known one is of course tomato).

Apart from vitamin C, folic acid (folsyra) and fibres there's hesperetin in oranges. That's an antioxidant that can protect against cardiovascular diseases.

I chose the ginger and turmeric for its antiinflammatory effect (I've EDS).

That was all for today, folks! Better stop with the nutrition in case you find it excruciatingly, utterly and mindblowingly boring!!  



I hope the rest of your week will be fabulous!


     Meja

HOORAY; NEW ART JOURNALS - AND MARKERS!

Hello out there,

Alright, got my mug of vanilla coffee in place, and I've lit the candle next to my computer. Here we go!

I hope you're all doing fine this week. If no protests I'll write in English instead of Swedish, since I've noticed there're readers outside of Sweden.

Today I finally made it to Netto, the Danish dollarstore that are all over the place in the south of Sweden. They get new products every Monday.

Monday we got back from our cottage, drove up there (1 hour and 45 min) on Friday. There were actually quite a bit of snow, haven't seen much of that 'down here'.

My beloved husband!

Saturday was fantastic with the snow and sunshine. We took a long walk in the woods. Revitalizing for body and mind!

The lake had frozen over 

(Sepia)

How nice if we could've done some ice skating!

Well, back to Netto! 😵 This week they once again have the same kind of markers that I wrote about in October 2017.

This time they're not divided into four color groups though...... 

.... but as you can tell in pastels, shadows, clear and basic colors. The white one is apparently a "colorless blender". Haven't tried it yet, but that'll be interesting!

They've all got a fine and a broad nib.

I've been looking for new books to do art journaling in. Have been using old text books for quite a while, and wanted something without text.

Well lo and behold, they've got great ones in Netto at the moment!

 

There're lines in these note books, but I don't mind. The pages are really thick - absolutely fabulous! 😋 There were also black and grey ones in my local store.

Love-love-love'em, and I can't wait to get started in a new one!

Even when I was much younger I loved stores that sold stationery, cards, colored pens, etc. Could spend forever in bookstores!

During the 80's I spent three years in England, and they'd many of these wonderful stores. Even love the smell of paper! 

There're several other types of colored pens at Netto, and also a couple of storage boxes with different levels (that they've had before).

Finally a couple art journal spreads I did last week.

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope" is a quote from "Lady Bird" (the wife of Lyndon B!).

Kept this decoupage spread simple, since I really like the napkin (which was actually sent to me from England, thank you very much!).

A crazy mix of all sort of things!

Love this cute little bridge outside the cottage, the path leading down to the lake

From our garden today!

Since winter solstice they day has become 3 hrs and 5 min longer here in the south of Sweden. YAY!

Will soon be dinner time, then I'll finish a yellow/purple art journal spread - so that I can dive into my new lovely note book!

Longing to create!

Ha en härlig pysslig onsdag kväll! 

All the best

from Meja