Ugly Creatures II

I've got more....
(special request from Caatje)

Ugly Creatures

In one of the previous blogs I complained about not working in my journal enough, but I kinda forgot that I had been working on other stuff... oops;)
Sinterklaas gave me a nice Moleskine diary (12 actually, there's one for every month) and I've been using them for todo lists and grocery lists. After a month I cover all pages with paint and fill the pages with doodles. With all the marks in the paint, there's always an eye, nose or an ear in there. Before you know it, the most ugly creatures emerge;) 

Surprise!!!

What started as a weekend camping, relaxing and watching hanggliding,

ended in a big surprise: sleeping in a real castle!

Everything was so beautiful and luxurious, I was totally overwhelmed, unprepared and definitely underdressed in my old jeans and army boots (with the clay still on them;))

This was our room...(wow!)

A little copy and paste from their website:

The history of the castle:

According to historical records the Castle and its initial 1 606 acres were established as hunting grounds and layed out along the likings of Louis XIV, the Roi Soleil, who was attracted to the exquisite scenery and lush landscapes.

The park:

These delightfull lush green 136 acres were designed by an apprentice of le Nôtre.
Le Nôtre was the landscaping architect of Louis XIV, designer of -amongst others- the Versailles gardens and other historical landscapes.

The windows had big windowsills; we could easily sit in there together.

one of the many salons

definitely the best surprise ever;)

Le Château d'Hassonville

Journal update

I have been working in my journal very irreguraly and it doesn't feel good... but somehow I just can't start...
(suggestions are welcome;))

anyway, here's some stuff i did made:

Visited Art Rotterdam and used some of the free stuff in my journal.

Below: bought Bister. Untill recently I never heard of it (it's old and not so many people use it anymore I think) but it's fun to work with and I've been using it for a couple of journal pages.

Made some eraserstamps for friends. Above (on the right) for Caatje's birthday. I used her artwork as an example. (visit her blog for more!)  Below (left) a stamp for my friend Loes. It's made after the logo she has for her company (she made it herself, check out her site). And below (right) a stamp to say thank you to some nice people with very good ideas (GoudaBruist).

Carving a stamp is real easy and after making all these stamps for other people, I tried one for myself. And that was the first one that didn't work out... I had been using pink erasers, but the last one I bought had teethmarks in it. I guess somebody thought it was a piece of candy;) So I bought a different brand after that for my own stamp. These didn't carve so well. (The stamp with 'monkiesmooiste' on it, is no longer with us;) Back to buying the nice pink ones and checking it for teethmarks!

Vicks!!!

Vicks playing in the water today

(Blijdorp, Rotterdam)