Are you ready for a last round of pictures of my journey this July? NO? Well….LOL- sorry…I can’t hear you ;)

From Chicago I flew to New Jersey to vist my family and attend the CREATE event.  At Newark airport I was greated with this sign, which always makes me laugh but this time the more, since United let me check in an empty suitcase – as the full suitcase in the empty suitcase was 3 pounds too heavy. I was asked to pay 120 Dollars extra- so I just opened the bigger suitcase and took out my smaller suitcase and checked in the extra empty one for 35 Dollars. No need to voice my opinion- as always… a pleasure flying with you, United Airlines!

I had an amazing time with my family and friends- I miss them so much- family dinners, days playing with the kids, having fun times with my sis in law heading to antique stores, some fun time with my parents in law, an afternoon with my friend Joe, a lunch with my friends Bill and Karen – it was wonderful and I hope I see them soon again.

The classes at Create started with an amazing inspiring sight- at our hotel took also an Indian Wedding with four hundred guests place. The clothing and colors, the music, the smell of yummie spices – AMAZING!

My first class with Michelle Ward. I so love her work for many many years- and it was awesome to finally meet her and take a class in person. I had lot’s of fun.

I wrote about why I think it is good as a workshop teacher to step once in a while into the shoes of a student in my July newsletter. I absolutely loved the time in those shoes :) I will show you my finished book later- I need to finally get some studio time.

Next I took a class on colored transfers

and then I had a lovely evening with my friend Julie Fei Fan Balzer and Cheryl. Here is a photo Julie taking a photo of her food ;)

And here is a photo by Cheryl taking a photo of me taking a photo of Julie taking a photo of food- hehehehe

and here is the three of us :)

The next day I took a class with Jenn Mason – Monoprinting with the Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plates– lots of fun- and can’t wait to play more!

It was a whirlwind visit in NJ – but I loved going on a little motorcycle ride with my brother in law- he so rocks :) right before heading out to the airport.

So much fun

That’s it , you made it through gazillions of posts about my travels. Thanks for letting me share!

What was the last Workshop topic you have taken a class for?

Have a gorgeous day

Huge hugs

Nat

Nat

There I am…back from what feels like several months and not 3 weeks of traveling- LOL. I did so many different things in different places that the feeling makes sense ;) First on the list was Canada Toronto – Sightseeing, Meeting Friends, Teaching Workshops, then off to the U.S. for CHA, Meeting Friends and then to New Jersey for Family, Friends and Taking Workshops :)

And you know I love to share my photos, thoughts and experiences from my travels- so I will dedicate several posts to this past journey ;)

so my frist stop was Toronto – where I was picked up by my wonderful friend Bettina who also owns myStamp Box . We had lot’s of fun- and she and her family made my stay so sweet and wonderful! Thank you!!! Here is Bettina showing off that she was driving around the whole time during the European Soccer Championship with the German flag (she is German too)…oh brother- LOL

We did some fun sightseeing – and I have to say I love Toronto. I had no real picture in my head, although I heard before that it is a beautiful city- and I loved it a lot. It had a European but still huge North American City flair, lot’s of green, cute houses and very clean (I know it is strange to think that…but yes…that was my impression ;) )

We went to this really cool area called Distillery District. I loved the brick buildings- I want to own one :)

I love old cars- this one was standing around

Lot’s of fun stores there too

Marilyn was made out of bobbins and Bob out of Rubik’s Cubes.

We took the ferry to Center Island- wonderful there and spent a couple of hours walking on the island enjoying the weather and coolness on the lake.

Loved those on the wall of a fun cafe in Bettina’s neighborhood

On Friday Barb, the wonderful owner of  Bizzy B’s took me to the CN-Tower.

Barb and Toni are the coolest and warm-hearted store owners ever …but that I will talk about in a different post about Canada :)

The view from the CN Tower was amazing and worth the wait.

I was also introduced to the Canadian dish Poutine. Very yummy and very unhealthy- LOL. Somehow it is always that way, right?

We did walk a lot and it was HOT – and I mean HOT with a huge humidity…wow…and I liked it ;) I am a summer person- I do miss real summers in Hamburg.

I will show the pictures of the workshops and talk more about the trip soon.

What was your latest trip and which kind of food did you get to know there?

Have a gorgeous day

Nat

Nat

It was such a short but amazing trip. Thursday I flew to Madrid, Spain for Cuchy and my Art Mesa 2012 event.

We still had some preparation to do – not much as Cuchy rocked the house with her organization – but we had decided I would come a day earlier to have some sightseeing this time in Madrid.

Our first stop was the Reina Sofia – AMAZING collection of 20th Century Art.

Here is the metronome called Object of Destruction (1932)  by Man Ray (the original was destroyed ;) )

Wonderful work to see by Pablo Picasso – The Guernica – no photo allowed – BREATHTAKING! Salvador Dali, Joan Miro and many many many more…

Next we took a nice stroll to the Prado

Wow- you need to go there several times- it is HUGE and the collection is unbelievable. We went to a special exhibition of Raphael – his way of painting light has always stunned me! But of course we saw also some permanent paintings – like The Three Graces by Rubens

or the Las Meninas by Velázquez. There is a nice video for the google earth project  where you can see a little more details of the museum and on google earth some close-ups of the paintings. But seeing them in real life is the real deal of course ;)

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1EOJr11bvo]

Cuchy took me to Casa Lucio an awesome restaurant in Madrid which is famous for   Huevos Estrellados – Eggs with potatoes- soooo good. Speaking of food…oh my goodness…I ate so much…I just put it out here- LOL

We then had to set up the room for ArtMesa, then watch the rest of the Greece vs. Germany Soccer European Championship game – wheeee ;) (sorry my greek friends!):

and then finally the day of our workshop event arrived :)

It was such a fun day- it was hot hot hot too

We started with my Mixed Media Pillow. The students were so sweet and fun – I had so much fun with them! Thank you Cuchy for all your translations!

I especially liked the creative extras added by my students to the drying line …bwwahahaha- you girls are so funny ;) Thanks for my Malaga students who made me laugh extra :)

Loved the different results as always – here are a couple finished ones

then it was Cuchy’s turn. She did a beautiful class- with lots of techniques and media ! Loved the results and process

Thank you so much for this amazing day to our students- you were awesome! It was so amazing to see some of you for the second time and it was wonderful how much some of you traveled and thank you all for keeping up with my non existing spanish ;) You rock!

A special thank you also to Cuchy- for organizing all this and her gorgeous way to make me feel more than home (I almost moved in ;) ) – love you girl . And to Alicia – you are the sweetest- thank you for all your help and the awesome aprons you made- you ROCK! And to Marta our beautiful photographer and helper!

BTW- those pictures were all taken with my phone, I was too lazy to take the big camera with me as I usually do not take a lot of pictures anyway during events.

Sunday before the flight we headed out to surprise Lisa Mitchell at an art book fair in the library – it was so good to see her!

Her Books were amazing- loved her exhibition. I hope I see you soon again, Lisa!

Now this is what I call the coolest university library in the world- The ruins of the Escuela Pias, now converted to a university library.

The exhibition was also so cool and inspiring

And then it was unfortunately time to head back and say goodbye to Cuchy and her family :( I wish they lived closer!

Thank you all for this wonderful experience and all I can say is me encanta España

Besos :)

Nat

Nat

hej! (hello!) – back from Sweden- where I had an amazing time teaching at the Scrapbooking med Hjärta Event. This time I promised myself to take more photos – and my new phone helped ;)

The event took place at an AMAZING school in Järfälla near to Stockholm – seriously- I have never seen a more beautiful school – first sight outside are benches with amazing quotes.

And then….See the name of my classroom- ohhhhhhh – loved it so much :)

I had a blast with my students- they were so fun and open to try new things and it was also lovely to meet some old friends I knew for some while in person for the first time and again :) )

“my” Eeva, who lived many years in Hamburg and her sweet sister Eve

Anna Björklund who I know for so many years and finally got to meet- such a Sweetie!!!!

Marja- another Cocoa Daisy Girl- she so rocks!

and here is Ulrika W.

and finally meeting Jenny – yeah!

And here are Jenny and Helene – who I called Twins because they both chose the same colors- LOL – but the canvases look different! (thank you Helene for sending me those pictures)

and this one made me laugh so hard!

We spent our Fika (Coffee break) with the best cake EVER baked by Ulrika B.-  and other breaks in the teacher’s lounge. My attempts to convince everyone that the baking goods were not that yummie, so that I could sneak in leftovers into my suitcase didn’t work….I should have put Ulrika in – for endless yummie baked good supply.

Seriously- have you ever seen a break room for teachers at a school being so wonderful?

Ingvild and I were laughing a lot

and it was so fun to finally meet Christy – she is lovely

Getting a photo of all of us was almost impossible- snigger- we either looked all in different directions….or we just cracked up!

but wait- here we go —almost ;) – Teachers and the amazing organizers from Scrap-Perra, Scrapgalen and Annelies & Mians Scrap & Pyssel

Tack !!! (Thank you!) so much for this amazing event to my students and the organizers- it was awesome!

I definitely have to come back to Sweden!

Huge hugs to you all

Nat

Nat

What a fun 36 hour short trip that was. This Friday I went to Munich to Scrappies to teach 3 workshops Friday and Saturday. I left the house at 7 am in the morning to get to the airport and started teaching in the afternoon for two workshops.

I had so much fun with the students that were really enjoying getting their hands messy with all kinds of paint media. I loved again how different all the projects looked like in the end!

I had also an amazing “personal assistent” – little insider ;) Birgit was always there for me to give a helping hand – such a Sweetie!

And Sandra and Gaby, the store owners are so sweet and have a wonderful store full of yummie goodies…even the Eco Green Crafts Acrylic Paints that a lot of Germans ask me where to get are available at the Scrappies :)

We were all treated with an amazing yummie Bavarian “Brotzeit” for dinner – yum yum

Yep – we Germans like lunch meat and the Bavarians make the best ….(sshhhh – don’t quote me on that one because we Hamburgers actually would never say so in public…hahahaha- there is a little teasing involved between the Northern Hamburgers and the Southern Bavarians ;) )

I slept at the most awesome old remodeled bavarian farm house- I so wanted to take this stove home with me…but I think a) Sandra would have noticed…b) the airline would have noticed too ;)

Saturday morning we had some more inky fingers :) The girls rocked it!

And even though a couple students had left already- we managed to take a quick little group photo

Thank you so much girls- you were wondeful and I loved spending time with you.

Ich hoffe wir sehen uns bald wieder- ah jo scho ;) Schee wars …(wahrscheinlich ist das total falsch geschrieben– LOL)

Then we packed all together real quick and went to the airport  – beautiful sunny day in Munich.

Where I spoiled myself…ahem…I really really really couldn’t leave the shop without it…it was yelling “Buy me, buy me”. I think they thought I was shop lifting as I went in and out the store four times, stoping each time at the bag and petting it, then going out again…just to turn around in a brisk motion the last time, grabbing it and almost ran to the cashier to get over the “negotiating time” – LOL

my new art journal travel bag with some goodies in there already :)

And 36 hours I was home again in RAINY Hamburg :) FUN bumpy landing …NOT ;)

Thank you Scrappies and Students- you rocked!

——

My new Über*Media Online Workshop is here – Learn the whole Shebang about Acrylic Paints

Huge hugs

Nat

Nat

I am back from the Creativa, Europe’s biggest Craft and Hobby Show where I worked at the PanPastel Booth. What can I say…I mean….playing five days with one of my favorite paint media ? HEAVEN :)

Just looking every day at those yummy colors first thing made me happy…color – you know how much I love color – LOL.

It was a really interesting – and I mean it in a good way ;) – convention.

First of all we had a section where people could just try to the products and play – and it was just mind-blowing what they sometimes would come up with. Usually at conventions you either have a demo at the booth or/and Make and Takes. I like those too, but the try out area, actually helped people to either loose the fear to use the PanPastels at all, released an amazing push of creativity or let them just be lost in playing.

Another thing I enjoyed was the fact that there wasn’t just Scrapbookers or Mixed Media people drawn to the booth. Not because that would have been to boring, lol – no, no…. My favorite thing to explore was to talk to the people and figure out what they did in a creative way and how they visioned using those PanPastels.

It was sooo much fun and it opened my own horizon a lot too again. Sometimes you are so tight to the paper craft industry that you forget that there is a whole other world out there…There were Quilters and Patchworkers, Decoupage Lovers, Pastel Painters, Plaster Artists, Acrylic Painters, Graphite Painters, People that did Pottery, Wood Artists and so much more! The most exotic to me and funniest was the introduction on using PanPastels for Taxidermy. One later-to-become-a-customer was actually just strolling by accompanying his wife and he happened to be a taxidermist – someone who stuffs out and preserves animals. He saw me demoing, and at this moment I was stippling something. He stopped and the first thing to say was “I am not a crafter, I am not an artist, but I need to get an intro here” – LOL. So ..sure he go the whole introduction and he told me how he was struggling on mimicking the red area of the Pheasant. We were mixing colors like crazy and brainstorming on how to fixate it the best and there was one happy men going out of the booth with the right colors to mix. 

Here is Johannes, who was working with me at the booth all the days- such a fun guy, awesome and gentleman-like colleague and a hard worker – so happy to have spent time with him, I giggled a lot too . Johannes actually told me the first day that he is not really creative – at the end of the show he was explaining with lot’s of enthusiasm all the colors and how they work to the costumers (look at him going!) and he actually painted ! HA – but I didn’t take pictures! Isn’t that the coolest? Someone who thinks he is not creative starts just playing and enjoys the process. Seriously what is up with all of us thinking we are not creative? We all are- we just need to let it go and just do it :) I was once again confirmed!

Another highlight was meeting a lot of people – here is Silvia. Fun to see her again.  I spent a lovely lunch break with Alexia – who I only see once a year and I so enjoyed it :)

Dani from Creavil came by for a bit :) and in the background you see the booth of Karten-Kunst – so love the two running the shop- they are such a sweet and fun couple!

Here are two JumpStarter Anna-Lena and Jaine who currently live in Luxembourg.

Sam wearing wings :)

Here is Rebecca at the Prima Booth – she had awesome Make and Takes and we had a lot of fun together after the show and went out two times to dinner. We also had a wonderful dinner with the Lisbeth and Betina – too bad my photos didn’t turn out at all. Thank you Lisbeth and Betina for an amazing evening – you rock so much!!!!

All in all the five days were pretty busy, but we had a good time and enjoyed it and I learned a lot more about one of my favorite paint media. It actually didn’t stop me at all to create a brand new PanPastel workshop today, which I will be teaching throughout the next couple months ;) Sneaks are coming soon.

Wishing you an amazing day…and don’t forget keep playing and get the creative juices flowing ;)

huge hugs

Nat

Nat

Last weekend I taught for several days at the Convention Pour l’Amour Du Scrap in Lille,  France. It was a lovely organized event – lot’s of small stores with yummy treats and the organizer did a gorgeous job in the set up of the designer show cases, classrooms and other displays- Loved it.

Excuse the grainy pictures – I didn’t take my big camera with me :) It was a lot of fun to spent time with Birgit Koopsen, Sharon Laakkonen, Rachel Greig and Irene Tan and her hubs Denny, as well as Sharons wonderful husband Bill.

Here is a quick shot of my students Birgit and Benedicte playing in the Free Your Creativity Class

Here are Rachel and Irene playing with spray paint- LOL

The wonderful Rachel having her students play :)

and here is Sharon playing with her students :)

And Birgit having a short chat with me ;)

The sweet France Papillon doing Make and Takes – gorgeous tags!

The wonderful Tanya Watts– I am always happy when I see her :)

a nice dinner on the last day

I wish I could have bought all of those at a booth at the convention – looovee!!!

I s

the hotel we were staying was the icing of the cake- soo beautiful! The hotel was former a hospice built in ….1462

You see below the bar – which was covered by a glass roof – so amazing

and then you sit in the bar at night…the former courtyard and this is your look – isn’t that amazing?

Thanks to the Organizers of the event, as well as to Evelien for having me! I had a great time.

Have an amazing day

Nat

Nat