Simply Neutrals #36

Hello dears, a warm welcome to Simply Neutrals #36!

We went to the Utrechtse Heuvelrug again this weekend, but a different part than last time. We now chose only the woodland part for wandering, collecting, and taking photos.

Inspired by this beautiful land I created a little woodlandish collage. I used wallpaper samplers, music sheet paper, pieces of two antique French postcards that I scanned (one of which you can find as a freebie HERE - the other one I will share another time), a piece of old packaging tape that was torn of a box (the brown paperish thingie), a small piece of a little digital scrapbook paper I created some years ago (the green text on green - which you can find as a freebie HERE), vintage images of an owl and a nest that I found on pinterest, some distress inks, and a bit of machine stitching.

Of course I couldn't help myself and took pieces of the woods back home with me. Little things that spoke to me. I think I'm a Magpie.

On my worktable a collection of things I found in the woods this time:

pine cones
moss
branches
fern (I think it is?)
holly
stones
leaves
pottery...

... Yes, pottery!
Well, pieces of tiles mostly.
On some of the bigger lanes you can find them :)

*****


Features of last week

This week I was in the mood for sharing the many beautiful photos and pieces of art you all shared in the party last week. So here are two photo collages with descriptions of which photo/creation belongs to who.

Thank you so much dear friends for gathering here and joining the party with your beautiful photos and art work! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this and the love that is shared.

Simply Neutrals #31

Hello dear friends, it's time again for our Simply Neutrals party, where we gather to share our love for neutral coloured beauty, which can bring us such beautiful peace and serenity.

Today I'm sharing with you a photo I took recently on a walk. I'm sharing this because first of all I love the neutral tones in winter, and I'm always in awe of the beauty of nature and her rebirth we see every year after the cold and dark days of winter. But this holds meaning to me at a deeper level at this stage of my life.

And the feature of last week that I'd like to share with you, I chose because it too holds this meaning to me. Dear Marie of Lost Bird Studio shared two gorgeous journals she is working on.

The second one, on the right page it says:

"I saw an angle in the stone and carved to set it free."

At the moment I'm on a spiritual journey, trying to be set free from certain dogma's that kind of hold me stuck in stone. And by focusing on the Lord, I feel like I'm being set free from that stone. And I'm feeling such peace and serenity in my heart.

So, to me both the path in that rebirth of mother nature from winter into spring, and the angle being set free from the stone, it just resonated with me this week on a deep spiritual level.

A walk in the woods

Hello sweet people,

Last weekend we went to my favourite woods here in the area. It's huge (for the Netherlands that is, we are only a tiny country). This time we went to an area of it which we hadn't visited before. And we were in for a beautiful surprise at the very end of the walk, a field of gorgeous wildflowers.

Here's a short film I made, come enjoy this walk with me:

Does anyone know which flowers those are? I googled it and couldn't find it, but would love to know.

Of course I brought back some little treasures from the woods like nuts and sticks. But I left this beauty below where I found it.

The woods inspired me for the art book - or journal or whatever you'd like to call it - I am making. The foundation of the book itself is finished, but I will add more and more later on. I'm going to use it as my nature journal, adding little paintings, journaling, embroidery snippets, found objects like leafs, and so on.

The pages all have something on it, so I will not have to start with a blank canvas. I added snippets of fabric and lace, found papers, I added some paint strokes here and there. The pages are of a variety of papers. Watercolour papers, book pages, fabric pages, wrapping papers, printer paper, scrapbook papers. And the cover is made out of cardboard.

 

Gosh, I really want to know which flowers these are. They're so gorgeous! A whole field of them, blooming somewhere in the middle of the woods.

On the back I added a snippet of fabric on which I did some embroidery. To my book I will also add inspiring quotes that I find. And photos I took myself of all things nature.

These gorgeous wildflowers gave me the inspiration for my next art book, for which I started with making the front cover painting:

Book of Bloom

Which, of course, will be about wildflowers, blossoms and other flowers, but also about blooming as a person.

I make these books with the help of a bookmaking workshop by Nellie Wortman. Unfortunately she retired this class, so it will no longer be available, but you can find other awesome classes by Nellie (and other art teachers) at Creative Workshops.

Now put on your hiking boots and have a stroll outdoors, my friend. I know we spend way too much time indoors and also behind our computers. I know I do.

Big hugs and happy day wishes,

xx Wen

Linking this to Nature Notes

Simply Neutrals #013 ;)

Hello sweet friends,

First of all a big thank you for all of you who made the Simply Neutrals parties such a happy gathering, filled with beauty and love!

This week's Simply Neutrals will be the last for the year 2015.

The next one will be on Tuesday the 5th of January.

From a weekly party it will change to a twice-a-month party. Every month there will be two parties: on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. I will add a calendar on my sidebar so we'll easily see when's the next party.

*

For this week I chose some photos I took on a Christmas Fair two years ago.

If you visited my other blog, you might have seen this gorgeous castle and its beautiful gardens which is close to our home and where I love visiting.

If you haven't seen my post on this fairy tale castle yet, you can see it HERE.

Every year there is a Christmas Fair, country living style.

They sell all kind of goods,

but of course the focus is on Christmas.

*

Features of last week

Here are some of the photos that caught my eye in the party last week.

IF YOU LIKE TO PIN SOME OF THESE FEATURED PHOTOS

THEN PLEASE DO SO FROM THE ORIGINAL BLOGS

OF WHICH YOU CAN FIND THE LINKS BELOW.

(Just click on the name of the blogs mentioned.)

Everyone has made a great effort in creating, photographing and writing blog posts

and I want all credit to go to the owners of these photos.

So please pin these photos from their blogs and not mine.

First I'd like to share with you the stunning journal

Suzy of suziqusthreadworks shared with us.

This particular journal is one of my all time favourites.

It is a journal in which she's experimenting with mixed media

after a workshop of Nellie Wortman.

I love the whole feel of it. It's so peaceful.

Suzy's journal "Through Winter's Door" brings me to another door...

which is photographed by Mascha of Maschas Buch.

A beautiful door with iron work...

And she also shared this great photo of a beautiful stone ornament.

Speaking of ornaments...

Marie of Lost Bird Studios (and also HERE) shared these gorgeous soldered ornaments.

Her soldering work is just stunning.

And I love how she makes these gorgeous vignettes with them.

She also shared this beautiful Christmas tree bottle.

Which makes the circle of this week complete,

bringing us back to where we started,

it being Christmas in only a few weeks!

A castle and a winner

In southern hills, surrounded by woods and fields,

stands a beautiful and grand white house.

It's been called a castle, but I find it more like a manor.

Either way, it's beautiful inside and out.

My loved one deserved to be spoilt,

so I surprised him with a weekend stay in this romantic place.

Once in a while we're allowed to go crazy, aren't we?

It was Valentine's Day after all.

We strolled through the beautiful English style garden or parc and wandered through the woods and fields. Breathing in the fresh air and enjoying some sunshine.

Hence the perfectly good reason why I totally forgot to announce my giveaway winner yesterday. But I'm sure you'll forgive me :)

I'm linking up these photos with Mosaic Monday hosted by Judith of Lavender Cottage.

GIVEAWAY WINNER

The winner of my handmade little notebook, drawn by the random.org random number generator,

is my sweet blog friend Alice from Crealice!!

Congratulations Alice!! I've already sent you an email and hope to hear from you soon :)

Wishing you all a sweet week, filled with love and laughter!

xx Wen

Ps: no, I still haven't found time to do some creative work apart from taking photos in the woods and fields. Of which more to come in future posts.

Children of the forest

In a forest not far from here
children are captured in stone.
Their heads and arms
green with moss.

One plays a little drum
another one the flute.
Whenever I return to this place
they capture me with their playfulness.

I'm sure they come alive each night
when human beings are gone.
Forest creatures come and dance
to their sweet music.

Wouldn't you love to have a glimpse of such magic?


Green

is the word this week at
Our Beautiful World
chosen for you by dear Ros.


Though it's Sunday already and not Thursday
I'd do like to add these photos to
Grey Dey Thursdey
nevertheless.


Wishing you a magical Sunday and week.

xx Wen

It's a Grey Dey

It surely is grey here at the moment.

A very grey day at the beach.

Have you ever heard of Jeanne d'Arc Living?

I stumbled upon it when searching for chalk paint.

My blogfriend Daphne had been painting some furniture in a beautiful dark grey "krijtverf" (which is something like chalk paint) and I immediately fell in love with it.

So, on I went for a pinterest hunt.

A whole new world opened up to me

with beautiful greys and whites and vintage relics.

"Hang on" I thought

I do have some beautiful old pieces

gifts from my grandmother

Like this I don't know what it is on the left

and a earhanger on the middle of this photo above.

And another family treasure

the old silver powder-box my great-grandma used (photo below).

Then I stumbled upon another feast

the so called Grey Dey Thursdeys by Petite Michelle Louise.

Found it via Suziqu's Threadworks

and Ozma of Odds.

Now those are beautiful blogs I highly recommend visiting.

***

Happy Grey Dey Thursdey

and bye bye for now!

Sharing this with Grey Dey Thursdey.

xx Wen

Autumn in The Netherlands

NOVEMBER

Only two more months of 2013.

In the Netherlands it's definitely autumn.

Golden leave trees

until the storms cause the leaves to dance on the ground.

The best of autumn is here to be seen in October/November.

One down, many more to go...

Three days later, on the isle of Ameland, two trees in this very same street of the leave-photo above had been blown down by a fierce storm, only just missing a beautiful old building from the 17th century (1625 to be precise).

That's what November is like here.

November is misty mornings.

Just above the ground most of the times.

Everything then looks like it's missing legs, pillars, trunks.

Friesland, on our way to Ameland

November is golden sunsets

like here above the dunes of Ameland

up north of the Netherlands in the world heritage area called the Wadden Sea,

where land and sea mingle.

We were on a bike ride that day and made it home

just in time before it became pitch dark in the dunes of Ameland.

You don't want to get stuck in the dark there.

Trust me. You don't.

Spooky.

There are no street lights in the dunes...

We saw beautiful star filled skies though.

November is pumpkins.

***

What does November look like in your country?

Come share it with us at Our Beautiful World blog.

No need to be a brilliant photographer or storyteller.

We just heart to see and read from folks

and their home/area/travels around the world.

xx Wen