Autumn

Hello sweet friends,

It's definitely Autumn here, nature changes its colours to beautiful warm tones. There are still some gorgeous flowers showing, like these soft pink roses.

I love the warm reds and pinks of Autumn and wanted to do some embroidery to add to my Book Of Bloom. So I started with a flower and some leaves and I will see where this will bring me. I do not have a design to work from, I just love to embroider like I'm drawing with thread.

I do not have much time for embroidery though, because whatever time I have available for creating, I use for painting.

Like this little painting of a Cardinal bird that I did on a dried and pressed autumn leaf.

But I'd love to do more embroidery, so I will definitely make sure to take some time for that as well! I find the slow pace soothing and relaxing.

Did you have some time to create lately?

Wishing you a beautiful day!

xx Wen

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 #20 - fabric wrap with pockets

Hello hello dears,

How was your Easter weekend?

I hope it was filled with love, peace, and joy.

It's time for another Simply Neutrals party!

Here are my neutral things for this week.

A fabric wrap with pockets inside, still in the making.

Weeks ago, a sneak peek of the inside I already shared HERE.

I will add a little thing or two to this wrappie thing.

And the cover has already received some extra thingies added to it,
which I will show you later, when wrappie is finished.

And yes oh yes, it is Spring again dear friends!

(At least here in the northern hemisphere...)

So I'm happily photographing flowers again.

Honestly, every year Winter I'm so much looking forward to them!

So, this was my neutral input this week.

Let's go on with some of the beauties shared by you last party!

***

FEATURES OF LAST PARTY

** PLEASE PIN FROM THE ORIGINAL BLOG SOURCES **

Links can be found with the photos.

My oh my, so many gorgeousness was shared once more.

You really make it hard to decide...

First of all, a gorgeous nature inspired journal by Karen of Roosterhead Designs.

I had particularly asked Karen to link up this journal at Simply Neutrals,

because I so much wanted to share it here with you!

Here are a few of the pages inside.

But you have to hop over to her blog to see the rest of them.

Gorgeous work, Karen!

*

Next features are both to be found on the blog of LuluLiz of Lalaland.

Liz shared the gifts she received of two dear friends.

First she shared a fabric case for crochet hooks, made by Suzy of SuziQu's Threadworks.

Now, where would the crochet hooks go, you might wonder?

Tadaaa!

So clever!

Suzy also sent Liz a gorgeous fabric collage.

Everything so beautifully photographed by Liz.

*

Liz also shared the gifts of Dorthe of Den Lille Lade.

Gorgeous medaillons!

And a beautiful nature inspired card.

*

Last but not least, I have an extra photo to share with you.

Because naturally I just HAD to share the gorgeous works above,

but there was one other photo that immediately caught my eye when I first saw it.

It's a stunning old wooden house,

photographed so beautifully by Mascha of Maschas Buch.

Mascha told me this beautiful house is in the historic town of Osterwieck, Germany.

I googled this town and found it to be such a gorgeous old town.

Absolutely worth a visit.

Simply Neutrals Tuesday #7

Hello sweet friends,

Here is...

Simply Neutrals number seven!!!

Thank you so much for making this weekly party such a wonderful experience!

I hear such positive remarks as to how the party helps to inspire and motivate, how it gives us a regular pace in our blogging schemes, how we find other bloggers with similar interests and form new friendships, and how everyone is enjoying one-selves! For me it's really wonderful to hear of such happiness and I love visiting you and reading your neutrals posts, admiring your work and photos.

Thank you dear friends!

This week I'm sharing some soft autumnal whites from our garden.

I love how the white flower petals get these brown spots on them

and how beautiful it looks when they are fallen to the ground.

I think it's looking so romantic!

Peaceful and serene.

Adding light and softness to the autumn colours.

***

Features of last week's party

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.

*

Be prepared for some more romantic beauty!

My first feature from last week's party is by Liz of Lululiz in Lalaland.

She shared this beautiful night cap, looking so soft and sweet.

With the beautiful white on white embroidery.

And a gorgeous lady's bed jacket with romantic ruches.

I think one would feel like a lady in it,

adorned in beautiful white lace and embroidery.

But I have to admit I prefer my comfy tees and pj's!

Manu of Vintage Savonette made two sweet cloth doll brides.

I particularly loved these two photos.

The sweet bride with the flower garland in her hair.

And the beautiful lace and buttons dress of the other bride doll.

Shane of Roses Lace and Brocante shared with us some beautiful photos of Paris.

Just look at this stunning photo of Pont Alexandre!

Beautiful Paris, city of romance...

How I long to visit you again!

I have no idea if you have noticed,

but I love to put photos and art works together in one post

(if possible) that share a similar "feel" to it.

This week the common thread is romance :)

Clutches, work in progress, flowers and a freebie

On my worktable are two of my (many) UFO's which are patiently waiting to be finished. I just can't work on one project, I have too many ideas that come at the same time. I don't have time to finish them, lol.

The first project is the fabric and lace book that I have posted photos of before HERE and HERE. I'm busy with the spine at the moment. Then I'm going to finish the front and back and then the last embellishments on the pages. I think.

Next is a fabric and lace heart that I'm making.

(Update: you can see the finished heart HERE.)

I will add a beautiful vintage tassel. It will hang from the bottom of the heart.

And then there are so many other UFO projects... Plus things I really ought to be doing :)

Another UFO is finally finished though!

Ages ago I started with this little clutchy like thingie below:

I didn't know what to do with it, so it ended up sleeping in the UFO box. After stitching it I tea dyed the little clutch which gave it a more aged look. Then I had fun making another one, which luckily didn't end up in the UFO box.

Some funny white fabric I bought and never used ended up being a flower.

For the base I used an old crocheted rectangle thingie. For embellishing I used old lace appliques and a piece of a doily, some vintage buttons and another of the beautiful tassels that came from the wonderful shop

La Croix Rosion from Liz

Make sure to check out her shop, she buys the most wonderful vintage pieces all the way from beautiful France where she has a cottage. I have a whole string of these tassels, so they'll pop up once in a while I'm sure.

I think the clutches are cute and I declare them finished.

Me was thinking that my blog lacks flowers lately. And I don't mean the fabric ones here. So here are some bright sunny flowers.

It's also been a while since I last posted a freebie.

So here you go, a freebie image taken from one of my antique French postcards. A sweet little girl with a basket of fresh flowers.

Wishing you a beautiful sunny day and many joyful moments!

xx Wen

Signs of Spring

A beautiful ginger cat passing by on a cobble street nearby.
Stopping to pose for a picture. Uh, probably not.

When January heads into February,
I'm always on the look out for little signs of Spring.

Snowdrops!!

Whenever I see Snowdrops peeking out of the ground, it brings me great joy.
To me they are the first sign that we're heading towards Spring.

Happy!

Here you see a spot on my messy worktable of this moment, where there's Rooibos tea, some poetry and a little needlework project. It will be a cross stitched rose and it will be incorporated in a... well
I don't know yet. Something with fabrics and laces no doubt.

Oh, and there are reading glasses too... My first. Can't thread the needle without them anymore, lol.

I'm sharing this longing-for-Spring-blog-post with my sweet blog friends at

Our Beautiful World

Where the prompt this week is (was, it's almost time for a new one) Signs of Spring. If you love taking photos of the beauty around you, then we'd be happy if you join us!

Wishing you all a beautiful and peaceful day.

xx Wen

Grow Your Blog 2015 plus giveaway (now closed!)

*** GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED ***

Hello hello and welcome to the Grow Your Blog Party of 2015!!

Well, my spot in the party anyway :)

Dear Vicki of 2 Bags Full has generously offered to host this wonderful party again this year. Thank you Vicki!!! It's a huge party with lots of beautiful blogs participating. And it's all about sharing and exploring, having lots of fun and making new friends in the world of blogs.

So here I welcome you in my little nook, where I share with you what my blog is all about. And be sure to check out my little giveaway too! Enjoy your stay and thank you so much for visiting me!

***

My name is Wen.

When you visit me, you'll find different kinds of hand crafts. I love making books and collages.

Be it made from fabrics, laces, paper or whatever.

And of course there must be cards.

For that's what we love to send each other, don't we?

I love making little presents for friends and family.

And wrapping them carefully in sweet packages.

Making fabric hearts.

And hand made books.

Glue books too. And ATCs.

Flowers are essential to me in both my work and life.

So you will find lots of those too.

For example in my embroidery pieces, which are mostly incorporated in collages or books. I plan to make more projects with embroidery, like this brooch I made.

And hand made fabric flowers.

An example of a fabric collage:

I love to work with laces, old and new.

You'll also find here some faith inspired projects,

like this fabric embroidered tag.

Or a collage on bark and an altered jar.

Sometimes I add a little tutorial or "making of"

like here of the collage below: 

Sometimes I share my thrifty finds here too.

***


GIVEAWAY


*** THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED ***

 Well, this is a lot of photos already, so I better hurry to my giveaway now.

My giveaway to you is this little roses notebook that I made.

There are watercolour paper pages in it where you can add your thoughts

or memories or quotes or whatever you'd like to pen down.

I wish you all a wonderful party time!

Thank you so much for visiting me, it's very much appreciated.

Sending you big hugs and happy smiles.

xx Wen