"Art and Soul" - Virginia Beach,VA

I spent the morning making these fun promo banners to share on FaceBook. ... really wish I had done it sooner, but I have been so crazy busy, (and loving every minute of it!) that there has been no time.  I just got home from Dallas a few days ago and will be off again to Virginia Beach in a few days.

While I was in Dallas, I made a new friend that introduced me to a new editing program that I am over the top thrilled about.  I have been using an antiquated version of Adobe Photoshop for a few years now.  I have had a love/hate relationship with it from the beginning.  As a result of using this older version, (as I can not make head or tales of the newer versions, nor do I want to spent every waking moment of the rest of may life trying to.) I have to run it on an ancient computer.

I now have a new computer on it's way and am very happy.  Many thanks Linda! In the mean time, I am off to unpack from Dallas and repack for Virginia Beach!  Phew! ... lots of work, but SOOO much fun!  Hope you'll join us in Virginia!

THRIVE workshop

Last night we had a small, but wonderful group at THRIVE for the Hand Book workshop.  THRIVE is a new venue in Waterford, Michigan.  I love the idea of having a (somewhat) local place to teach classes. Tammy (owner of THRIVE) and I are working out details for many of my other workshops to be offered in the future, which I am so looking forward to.

THRIVE offers a very comfortable, friendly, non-judgemental and nurturing environment to work in.  Great for both the beginner and experienced student alike. 

Last night we made the Hand Book at THRIVE, which is a 3 hour workshop.  A great time was had by all!

As with several of my workshops, I have only so many "parts" available. Rather than go into production to make more, I feel the time and energy should be spent on developing new classes. I am offering this workshop 2 more times and it will be removed from my workshop listings.

The workshop will still be available at Create - Dallas Texas on Saturday, September 29th and at Art and Soul - Virginia Beach on Wednesday, October 1st, 2014 for the last time.

Art and Soul - Virginia Beach

Are you signed up yet?  There are still openings.  Don't miss out on a few of my most popular workshops! Sign up here at Art and Soul Retreats.

Collage by Erin Keck

Last chance for "The HandBook"!

Being offered at THRIVE on Friday August 29, 2014, 3:00 - 6:00 PM, located at

7633 Highland Road in Waterford, Michigan, 48327.

This is the last time that "The Hand Book" will be offered in Michigan this year, so don't miss the sign up.  Deadline for sign ups is August 24th.  Contact me at Ingrid@IngridDijkers.com to register. 

"The Hand Book" Workshop

For the first time ever, I will be teaching this workshop locally ... local for me anyways. "The Hand Book" is being offered at a new art studio, THRIVE in Waterford, Michigan. It'll be held on May 17th, 2014 from noon to 3:00. Please contact me at Ingrid@IngridDijkers.com for sign up info.

In this 3 hour workshop you will leave with a fully bound journal ready for all your journaling needs.  You'll receive collage sheets with enough imagery to complete the book as shown, minus the handwritten journaling and quotes, of course.  I've added beading to mine.  You can do the same or leave it plain as the photo below shows.

This is a flip through video as I have completed the book using the provided imagery, painting the pages and adding my own journaling.

Upcoming workshops

Just a reminder that Create in California is coming up in a few short weeks.  I'll be teaching the following classes -

"Through the Rabbit Hole" - An Alice inspired tunnel book.

"The Ambrosia Journals" - A fun and easy binding!

"The Hand Book" - A Mehndi inspired Hand shaped book (See flip through video on the right hand side bar of this blog).

"The Bee Book" - A Bee shaped book.

AND ... I'll be teaching a private workshop "Under the Sea" - A Jules Vern inspired tunnel book on June 3rd in Fullerton, California.  There are a few seats left.  If you are interested please contact me directly.

A Mehndi Inspired Hand Book

This video is a flip through of one of my favorite journals (awe heck, I don't know why I say one of my favorites ... they are all my favorites), the Hand Book.  It's inspired by the art of Mehndi. I will be teaching this Workshop at several retreats in 2013 and beyond.  Please check the right hand side-bar of my blog for dates and locations.

Now that I am learning the basics of making videos, I have been working on an on-line tutorial for converting vinyl binders into usable box-board notebooks for journaling. Unfortunately, it won't be available for several weeks as I have to set it aside for a bit. This will be a two part 25 minute video walking you through the entire process, start to finish.

Shaped Journals are now available!

I have 6 different shaped Journals available on my ETSY site now.  

Phew ... that was a lot of work!  

They are not available on my website yet, but hopefully soon.

They are all individually packaged as shown below.

Workshop Preparation

I am working very hard at preparing for my upcoming workshops.  I am always surprised by how much work it is.  Above is a small portion of the 300 sets of "The Bee Book" and "The Hand Book" that my husband sawed out.  These are only the wooden covers.  This doesn't include the provided boxboard pages and the collage sheet packets that go along with the kits.

This photo is of the 495 paper mache boxes sitting in my foyer that need to be unpacked, sorted, resized and altered to work for upcoming workshops.

This is the stack of 500 large sheets of paper that need to be cut down to size and repacked for kits.  Of course, those are just the highlights.  While I love what I do, it does involve an awful lot of prep work and planning and certainly explains why I haven't been posting pictures of new work.  It's coming, it just takes time ....

A Completed Journal!

I so rarely am able to complete a journal these days.  Actually, it's probably been a few years since I have.  However, just the other day I completed the beading on the spine and finished the last page in this Hand Book.

Today I took the time to photograph each and every page.  My intention is to post them all on my website for students to reference.  I am so often ask to post more photos of the books that I teach.

The Hand Book and the Bee Book are proving to be rather popular workshops.  As of now I am scheduled to teach them each 8 times in 2013. I'm quite excited about that.

I am feeling quite accomplished right now.  The Hand Book is done and photographed.  A big project is completed, this years workshop schedule has come to a close and I'll now have the time to pursue a few new ideas that have been floating around in my head.