Free Stamp carving book with love from Kristal Norton

YEY! Incredible news for all art journalists out there looking to work using stamps in their journals! Now you can create your own custom stamps with the help of this incredible book written by a lovely artist, Kristal Norton. As a Christmas gift, she offers her book STAMP CARVING for FREE! Yes! Go grab your own copy from Amazon.com, the offer won't last too much! 

This offer is available between Dec 24-26, 2013, so hurry up and get a free copy now!

Who is Kristal Norton? 

Let the Christmas vibe be with you

We are getting very close to Christmas and I'm so excited as I slow down with work and let myself pampered with Christmas decorations, fine delicious food and maybe some red boiled wine (with no brandy added), why not?

As I work with my soul to embrace the peace of the moment, I've drawn some Christmas globes in my art journal. Here's the result I got:

At first I wanted to glow them with some glitter and make them pop, which I did...until I get to play with some white acrylic on the right globe above, which turned to be very much like snow. This is when I've decided to add snow to my page. 

The golden touch couldn't look better on the globes, and so I've added more and more on the red and yellow ones.

And here is the final result, with the snow flakes flying all over the page:

This page has a watercolor background made with sprays and simple dripping play. Then I drew the globes with watercolor pencils and filled in with acrylics, changing the colors tones and reflection. I've added the snow ans show flakes accidentally, while I was painting the right white globe. It's that beautiful? 

How are you getting ready for Christmas? 

Merry Christmas to all of you and have a creative time with the family!

Watercolor flowers in my art journal

Just posted some on my latest flower illustrations on Facebook! See below

una publicación de Cristỉña Gàbriella Pärüś.

Journaling my life

It is true that I have been journaling and not posting a thing in here. I did wrote many articles, but not necessary about my art journaling creations. And totally left this place with no interesting posts to read.

Recently I've created this cute face on my A5 Canson Journal I bought from Barcelona this summer. I wanted to create something simple and still beautiful, and as I didn't had too much time to work on her face, I've choose to use watercolors and oil pastels.

I did her face free-hand without worrying about the result. The result came out pretty interesting and I decided to try another girl with the same technique. 

 First I've started with some stamping, one flower stamp that belongs to a 3D stamp set, used all over again changing direction of use. Then I went and filled in some color with the oil pastels. I have covered the whole flower petals, but next time I'm going to leave some petals blank and run with watercolors over it. This was the next step, water-coloring the pages with different colors, with lots of water and sprays. Once you get the desired result, let it dry. Or use a heat gun if you can't wait that long ;)
After applying the background, you'll need to draw the face and hair and also fill in some shadows and highlights for the face and neck.

Et voila! The finish product with some text added and the pages are ready to be loved and appreciated.

Happy National Day of Romania!

Happy birthday, Romania!

Today it's a special day for all born Romanians living all over the world. So where ever you are, dear Romanian sisters and brothers, wave the Romanian flag and be proud of being Romanian.

Happy National Day of Romania!

What do you do when other people harm your goods {without any reason}?

I have arrived home today just to find my car dye scratched probably with a key by someone that wasjust passing the street and haven’t got something better to do than to ‘enjoy’scratching cars on his way. Why do peo...

Christmas rehearsal

Cooking some Romanian traditional food today. These are meant to be meat rolls in cabbage leaves, called sarmalute, but they are without meat because we only eat fish, no meat. These are vegan, with mushrooms, rice and soy +other vegan goodies replacing the meat, but they are absolutely delicious if you know how to combine the ingredients and use proper spices!  Hint: they are better served and cooked homemade in a guest house, rather than served in a fancy restaurant!  

So today we've made a rehearsal for Christmas. I can't wait to decorate our home and make up the Christmas tree!

+food +romanianfood +romaniantraditional +sarmalute +sarmale +veganfood

Another week begins

It's 11.11.2013 and it's the first day of November when there is actually cloudy outside. We got used very quick with high temperatures for November and the shining sun feeling like 27 degree in the air! No more of that now! We'll have to bear with this till Christmas. Or maybe not. Maybe the sun is planing otherwise. Either way, I have prepared myself for winter: have been taking lots of sun for Vit. D and lots of happy from the kids running and laughing around me when I was out for a walk.

With all of that said, I cannot help feeling dreamy. If it's the monotone November or the waiting for Christmas, I cannot tell. I think is a little bit from both of them. Knowing that another year is close to an ending and that Christmas is so close that I can even hear the carols. Maybe that's why we have Christmas at the end of the year, after November, so everybody can chill and sing to the joy of life. 

Carissa Paige: Whimsy + Inspiration = Tamara Laporte

Stencils giveaway! Leave a comment to enter this giveaway! +Tamara Laporte



Carissa Paige: Whimsy + Inspiration = Tamara Laporte:  Trick-or-Treat... Friends and Blog Hoppers, My stencil hoard is growing! In all honesty I used to avoid using stencils in my work, but ...

Learning a foreign language

Learning a foreign language could lead to infinite professional possibilities and well paid jobs. Knowing a foreign language at a fluent level can even change your life at some point when you may even consider moving to another country, earning more money and being happier fulfilled with your life. It can boost your self confidence and increase your ability to relate to other people. And speaking a language at more than just a conversational level can bring you satisfaction. I know that for a fact: employers always ask you if you know other languages besides your native language. This article was originally posted here:  Continue reading...

Barcelona City Love

una publicación de Cristỉña Gàbriella Pärüś.

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me! 

No candles allowed at the coffee shop (no smoking cafeteria) 

Days go by, months go by, years go by and life goes on. Another year begins for me. With a magic number. 

This tart was actually mine, the cheese cake was my husband's. But we've shared both anyway. 

I am so thankful for everything in my life and I want to thank my husband for being so wonderful every day.

YES.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Peachy-pink...thinking of spring

Peachy-pink...thinking of spring by cristinalove11 on polyvore.com

Painting pink-purple Barcelona Flowers

The other day I've uploaded a video in YouTube with my latest flower painting after a photo taken this summer in Barcelona. If you follow me on Facebook, you've already saw the photo taken from the video I want to share with you below:

I've started to draw and paint after the photos taken this summer in Barcelona. The photo was taken at the Palau Reial in Barcelona. 

This is now finished just yet, I want to add some shine on it and I think golden paint will go very well over that vivid purple.

Journal girl - Messy face

Haven't been posting about my girls lately, but I've created a lot...and I've been doing some illustrations, too! Here is a girl a little bit different that what I was into until now, just trying different styles and techniques. Love ones more than others, but they are all fun to draw and color!

This face has a messy look 

I've started by adding some background. Painted red over some notebook leftovers I had and then cut them into pieces and created two hearts and some squares that I placed randomly onto the page.

Than started to actually paint the face with acrylics, free-handed and without too much care! Don't let yourself fooled, the acrylic used is not black, but a purple mixed with some leaf green, resulting a dark purple. I don't use black too much, it's too bold to me. 

I have to stop and remember myself to take more photos in the process instead of 'jumping' into the almost finished result. Next time!

A close-up

And the finished result. I should have played more with the background and add more colors, texture, stamps, etc., but for now I'm happy with her!

And here goes Romania

I don'y usually write about politics and all that "crap", but I've found that many young people "woke-up" to a not so good reality that we live in - one that has to change - and that that "crap" called politics concerns all of us. And that the laws they vote concerns us, our country, our land, our wealth. And what is even more upsetting is that young people died on December 1989 so that the governants that came after could steal our country and sell it piece by piece. 

The protests against Rosia Montana Project are far from an end. People are getting out of their homes and   fill the streets and boulevards of main cities of Romania.Here is a picture with the Unirii boulevard at night, filled with thousands of people protesting against gold mining using cyanide. Is this going to transform into a protest against the Romanian government, too? The people are also angry about the HUGE stray dogs number in Bucharest and other major cities, dogs that eaten alive a four-year-old boy in Bucharest. 

It's incredible what's happening in Romania. It's incredible how our Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, turned his position 180 degrees regarding to Rosia Montana Mining Project a few days ago. Despite the fact that, when in opposition, Victor Ponta said "no" to the project, on August 27 he declared his official support for the Rosia Montana. He now turned again and sent the project to the Parliament, so that he won't have to assume the responsability for the project! 

Foto: Cristian Vasile

Foto credit: Casa    Jurnalistului

If you don't know what's happening in Romanian right now and what has been happening for more than 2 weeks now, please follow this link, this one, and THIS link, or simply google "about rosia montana romania". 

Imagines of Rosia Montana

Colors of the autumn (Rosia Montana, Romania)

Panoramio

Heritage in Peril in Rosia Montana, ROMANIA

EcoMAGAZIN

More photos

Back home

I just returned from a loooong well deserved vacation and I'm craving to create some art! I had some supplies with me, but lack of time and tiredness had an important say in this equation. So now that I'm back, want to share with you a bit of preview of the girl I'm working on tonight. This is one among others I did before leaving and didn't had the time to post any of them. But luckly there are smart phones out there able to post on blogger! ;)) So here we go! Excited about the fall coming? I know I am! See you soon!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

We have good days, and we have bad days. This is one of those you feel like it will never end. I think I should learn some stress management lessons in order to calm down and relax in every given situation. And most of all, to learn how NOT to worry even when others next to you do. Luckily, I have my positive thoughts with me and I´m playing positive affirmations, too.
Meanwhile, I did some faces just to forget all about it and I want to share them with you. If you already follow my Instagram, Pinterest, Fashiolista or Facebook, you probably saw these posted in there.
I did the red hair today, but as you can see I like to work with many different girls at the same time and then come back and finish them. Some of them have to wait longer than the others, but in the end I manage somehow to finish them all. I guess it's because I don't have too many. ;)

This one is from early today, she on a small paper card, measuring 8,5cmX14,3cm Still needs a lot of work.

Just a sketch, but I'm pretty happy with the result

This one is just sketch with color pencils, but I love how it turned after all. 

I'll leave you with this whimsy girl I just love, with that purple hair with golden accents, looking straight at you. 

What do you think of them all? 

Hugs,

Cristinaღ

Happy independence day!

Happy independence day to all Americans out there! I have to tell you I have many American friends and I'm always celebrating along this beautiful special day!
Also today, it is my great pleasure to announce that starting today you can buy my art prints from Fine Art America web page.

You can find all my work following this link. I will add more and more work at least once a week, so you  can choose from a variety of prints and dimensions. If you don't want to miss any of my art, please subscribe to my mailing list.

Federico Aubele - Su Melodia

A silent evening. A silent night. I've just discovered my fav playlist and I've selected this song as the night 'theme'. I'm pretty sure that it's one of my fav because of the Spanish language and the rhythm makes you dream away... enjoy it!

Give 'pause'

“You see, my friends, when you give ‘pause’, you ‘allow’ the Indwelling Spirit a chance to help you through suggestions and options on how to think and feel about a particular situation, event, or circumstance. By allowing this space, you are in essence saying, ‘Father, let your Will be done.’ When you do this, your spiritual vibration is elevated to allow the Father’s Will to pass through you and into the world. Many of you do this unknowingly and this is how love and light is transmuted from the Parent to the child. - The 11:11 progress group messages

 Believe it or not, this is a matter of how you perceive the world. It is how you see it and how I see it. You may believe in such things as prompts or not, I guess they exist for those who can see them. For those who are open enough to 'read' them. I don't always seem to know what they are 'saying', but they kinda offer me some kind of mind peace. Or maybe it is me who want to associate them with the calm, with the peace, with positive situations. I keep seeing 12:34 or 1:23 or 11:23 and that to me means that things are going to be more than just fine and that I have to continue doing whatever I am doing at the moment.
If you ever feel you don't know what to do next, just sit back and relax. "Pause" yourself. Things will settle down one way or another. I believe for every situation there is a solution, and even when writing this right now I don't have some clear situation in mind, just the feeling and the certitude that for every "problem" {like to call it "situation" rather then 'problem'}there is a waiting answer, staying still undiscovered. If you haven't read it by now, I kindly recommend you to get your hands on Angels Number 101: the meaning of 111, 123, 444, and other number sequences, by Doreen Virtue. (Hay House, 2008, USA), along with other books she wrote.I also like to visit angel 11:11 message board, where you can read about the 11:11 phenomena and other related.

In the end I'll leave you with a short story:

/...The other day I was out to pay some bills when I saw a woman craving for some food goodies. She was looking at the food-windows and then looking at her hand holding a few coins. Looking back at the window, and back to her hand. Near by there was a bus station and she was more likely waiting for the buss. I approached her and kindly ask if she wants some of that food she was craving for. She looked at me kinda surprised and speechless, being unable to understand what I am saying. I told her I saw her earlier looking into the show-windows and handle her 5 rons (about 1 dollar and a half). She looked back to be even more surprised than before. Some people feel offended and they don't want pitty money, some are just happy, but most of them don't think through this aspect and take the money in a blink. I left her decide whether it is going to be spend on that food she was craving for or on something else. This happened in Romania. This can happen anywhere around the globe. Be there and help if you can. The smile you'll receive in return is priceless. I just can't help doing this almost every time I get out, and most of the time I just help them with directions and that counts enormous when highly needed.

Mini-Journal page "I trust my intuition" - happy face ;)

Do you remember the mini-journal cover from the other post? The mini journal has glossy paper and it's kinda tricky to work with it, but I've managed to create this read-purple-headed girl who seems very content, she's happy. :-) She's smiling. This is painted on a regular mini-diary I had at hand, so I think it's pretty neat. Maybe I'm going to try to paint a boy next time.

I have to tell you from the beginning that I haven't used the clear stamps for this page. They are too big for the page size anyway. I just grabbed my Fabel Castell grip pencil and begun to do a free sketch.
I came up with this little cute face, which transformed little by little into a more colorful one.

I don't have too many step by step photos, as I was too under the process of painting it, so I totally forgot to take photos. But even so, here is another draft:

Then I added some contour...

I am pretty happy with the final result, although there's always place for a better one.

I've tried to create journal pages before, but none of them turned so beautiful ;-)

She even has some eye makeup! And as I'm a purple fan and I'm using and prefer it when I choose my make-up colors, I had to use it on my girl, too!

I've used aquatone sticks mainly, but also a bit of INKtense pencils for the eyes. INKtense pencils are vivid and vibrant and I love to use them for small details. I've also used some felt cariocas and Uni-ball Signo Angelic (white) Gel Ink Pen (0.7mm) for highlights and dots. When I bought the aquatone sticks I thoought they are more like neocolors II, soft and creamy, but they are waxy and hard to blend when not using water. They say you can use them dry, but I love the creamy feel they have when you add water to them and brush directly from the stick!