Mini Journaling with Moodiversary and Art Marks Summer Challenges

Hi! Today I'd like to share with you couple of fun summer challenges that I can recommend for anyone who feels inspired to art/journal but maybe has just a few minutes for it daily, which was often the case for me this summer!



DeeDee Catron and Jenn Engle's Moodiversary uses the same mood board for the whole month, but there is a new link-up for prizes every week. My link is to Week 3, which will expire within a day, but you'll find Week 4 in DeeDee's blog when the time comes.

The delicious Moodiversary Board is here and the reason for the challenge is to celebrate the first year of DeeDee and Jenn's monthly inspiration posts called Mixed Media Moods. So the inspiration will continue after this month, on their blogs and YouTube channels.



I was inspired by the organic forms of the skeleton leaves and the tree on the bottom row, and the door one row up. Plus all the colours of the challenge, but particularly the yellow paint shade, Pollen, and Royal Fuchsia and Desert Turquoise.



Rae Missigman's Art Marks - A 30 Day Summer Challenge has a prompt word for each day, and the challenge encourages you to only use a set time, say 5-10 minutes, to "make your marks" each day. You can find the prompts list at Rae's blog.

I've been catching up with the prompts in no particular order - maybe some prompts felt more ready than others to emerge from the different backgrounds of each side in my mini book, actually!

Here's Day 9, Free Form:



Day 20, Scratched:



Day 16, Mirrored. This is not in the same 3 1/2x3 1/2 inches mini album as the others. I wanted to experiment with a slightly larger format so this is another junk journal, about 6x8 in size.



What could suit the Mirrored prompt better than this good old way of printing on both sides of a spread/folded paper, that many have surely have done as kids! I added some pencil and carbon on the one side of the spread to make my butterfly not completely mirrored, to reflect the idea that a mirror does not show everything there is.

Day 17 prompt of Dripped is the last for today!



I made my mini album specifically with these quick challenges in mind. It is an accordion book and the page size is 3 1/2 inches. I'll be back another day to show more of how it looked in the beginning, what different papers I used for backgrounds, and so on!

On the pages next to Free Form, you can see that some background papers are more finished than others, and I may want to keep them as they are. But more about that later.



And the covers, oh, they are such a fun idea even if I say so myself. The size of 3 1/2 inches might ring a bell to folks around my age or older, that is, those of us who already used a computer before the year 2000. Let's see if anyone can guess what I used.

Thank you for popping in and commenting, as always!

CSI 193: Dear Messy Home

Long time no see − I'm so happy to be joining the CSI Challenge again after a long break!

And of course very happy to see all of you readers again. Warm thanks to everyone who has visited or commented! I haven't been as productive as I would like to this winter, but now I feel energetic and inspired to catch up.



For my Testimony, I chose a theme from 365 Questions: On a scale of 1 to 10, how clean is your house? (I shall tell you more about this in a minute).

I'm really happy with the background, by the way! It was something I had started previously and found when I was looking for papers in this week's CSI colours. It's mixed media on an old Basic Grey paper, using stencils, modeling paste and acrylic paint, crayons and what else. I like how the pattern still shows through a bit.

This is what the CSI Major Case File #193 looks like:


For Evidence, I'm using String, and Frames, which are of Something transparent. I found an unused Halloween themed transparency and took it to mat two of the photos. I like the effect I got combining its black doodles with the string.

From Evidence, I was also inspired by Labels, and from Testimony, the Frame Your Story one. I was thinking of those themes when I decided to make my journaling in strips and frame some words, but I'm not sure if these would count.



And the one spider - our home is not quite that dusty but at our country cottage we do spot spiderwebs here and there! I left the middle photo without the transparent frame since I wanted some empty space between the two.



The cleanliness of our home was actually a good theme to think about! I asked the opinion of my 8-year-old as well, and we had the same sort of idea of where in the scale we'd be. Between 6 and 8. My journaling says: Our home is quite messy. There is a lot of stuff, and so much more important and fun things to do in life than cleaning! I enjoy putting things in their places, but those things that don't really have a place at all, that's the trouble!

The journaling continues on the back of the layout and it's about how we gave the grade 7. On someone else's scale we might get a 5 or even worse, but I didn't want to compare with someone who has very different expectations than we ourselves. Our mess does not bother us terribly, we all have quite similar ideas about how it should be and hardly argue about cleaning at all. So it's 7 is compared to 10 as in our own ideal cleanliness, not a general one!



I used this fun sketch from Memuaris, but was late to join the link-up.



I hope to join CSI soon again and hope to see you joining, too! It's really fun for a change to combine colour palette, theme and techniques in the same challenge.

They are also having a DT Call open right now, until April 9. I'm thinking of applying and if you do as well, check it out here!

Thanks for popping in, and see you in a couple of days for the April Scrap Africa Challenge, if not before then!

First Time Joining Illustration Friday!

Hi again!

In my previous post I was showing backgrounds made with some of my favourite techniques, Gelli printing and stenciling. One of them turned out just perfect for what I had in mind: I'm joining the Illustration Friday challenge for the first time. You probably couldn't guess at the theme, which is...



SHARP!

The themes at Illustration are often quite abstract, understandably, since this challenge is targeted for professional illustrators or folks who are aiming at that. I've thought of joining a few times before but the challenges are always on for just a week, so my other ideas have been too time-consuming!

I'm happy to have tried something out of my comfort zone now and I'll keep an eye at their coming themes definitely! Illustration is such a fascinating profession in my eyes. I guess it's the stories I'm drawn to, and being able to make the picture support and broaden the scape of the story.

My large pair of sewing scissors is hand drawn on a book page, the antique looking pair is a free printable courtesy of the Graphics Fairy and the smallest black pair is a Unity stamp, done with black embossing powder. The red hearts are made with a Dina Wakley for TCW stencil called Grunge Hearts.

I'm also entering this for A Sprinkle of Imagination challenge, with a "Create Whatever You Like" theme.

Have a nice weekend!

Things with Wings

Hi again! One of my ATC trading friends collects an altered postcard (APC) deck themed Things with Wings. Owing her some cards, I was inspired to create characters that don't have wings normally, so please meet my Cat King and Vintage Miss Teacup!

I made them inspired by the style called Zetti - see yesterday's post with some more about it! I've also written about APCs before. Check these posts, if you're interested!



Both APCs have beeswax collage backgrounds, using napkins and book pages among other scraps. In the Cat card I also used metallic acrylic paint and added some more napkins for texture.

With the first card, I'm participating in the Creative Gym challenge at the Mixed Media Place blog. This month's theme is Wings and you can join until January the 19th!



The butterfly wings are free downloads from the Graphics Fairy, and so are the teacups actually!

Here's another flying kitty wishing you a happy, fun and creative New Year!

What a Zetti Christmas!

Hello to you all! I'm the kind of Christmas person who likes to linger in the Christmas mood until it's New Year's Day - and more so if I'm on holiday and don't need to work in the days between. So here's still some Christmas themed crafts being posted - I hope you don't mind!



This set of ATCs was inspired by a swap titled Zetti Christmas. Zetti is a quirky, whimsical art style named by artist Teesha Moore, where some of the typical elements are: mismatched heads, eyes and limbs, funny hats and other circus/party gear, plus colourfulness combined with black and white, especially stripes and polka dots, and so on.



I've only tried to work in zetti style a few times and am not always happy with how it turns out, but I think it's a very fun exercise for a collagist nevertheless! It helps me to think of paper scraps in terms of forms, instead of what the scrap is intended to depict.

I'm not sure if I can explain it very well, but I'll try: For a collage character's -dress, for example, the easy choice would be to look for an image of a dress to cut and paste, but if I think like Zetti, I would have to pick a totally different item instead, and make it the dress. Or a body, or a head, or any part. It's quite liberating for the mind, I think, and a lot of fun!



I'm linking to Collage Obsession, theme Winter/Christmas, and Take a Word, theme Red/Green. Tomorrow I'll be posting the rest of my Zetti cards, so remember to pop in again if you'd like to see them!

Snowy Scenes with Structure Paste

Hello! Today I'm posting some more winter themed cards. The first one is an ATC and the two arches are postcard size, but I made the images the same size for better viewing.



The snowy reindeer and tree figures are made with structure paste, using remnants from die cut cardboard as stencils. There is stenciling in the background, too, which was done with tube watercolours through a doily. The sun in the first card is hand drawn with watercolour pencils and the tree in the second one, with Promarkers.



The quotes are parts of longer poems, by Lewis Carroll (I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields -) and Percy Bysshe Shelley (If winter comes, can spring be far behind?)

I'm entering these in two challenges, both of which had an "Anything Goes" theme this time: Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and
Thatscrafty *not eligible for the prize draw, as I'm not an UK resident.

Thanks for popping in!

Summer of Color, Week 2: Coral, Teal and White

Hello again, and happy Sunday! I hope everyone’s enjoyed their Midsummer and Summer Solstice. Here’s my last day participation to Summer of Color, week 2: Coral, Teal and a Splash, Smudge or Pop of White. I thought of crabs the minute I saw the colour palette, and am super glad I had time to finish my piece. I’m also glad to have tried watercolour painting, which is a fairly uncommon medium to me. I’m more of a scrapbooker and mixed media collage maker usually! Getting to try something new is one of the best things in joining online challenges, I think.



Hei kaikki, ja hyvää sateista sunnuntaita! Juhannuksen vietolta en ehtinyt aiemmin maalailemaan, mutta onneksi ehdin näin viime hetkessä mukaan Summer of Color -haasteen toiseen viikkotehtävään, jossa väripalettina on korallinpunainen, tumma turkoosi ja ripaus valkoista. Ajattelin heti rapuja, kun näin väriyhdistelmän, ja onneksi ehdin tänään tarttua toimeen! Olen iloinen, kun maalasin pitkästä aikaa vesiväreillä. Tavallisesti olen enemmän skräppääjä ja mixed media -kollaasien tekijä. Haasteissa onkin parasta juuri se, jos ne innostavat kokeilemaan jotain uutta!

Drawing on Mixed Media Background - Design Memory Craft May Challenge

Hi! Here's a little project I made for Faber-Castell's monthly Design Memory Craft challenge. The theme was free so you could create any memory project. But this month, exceptionally, you had to be using at least two different Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft products.



Moi! Tässä pieni projekti Faber-Castellin Design Memory Craft -haasteeseen. Aihe oli vapaa, mutta tässä kuussa piti poikkeuksellisesti käyttää juuri Faber-Castellin tuotteita ja ainakin kahta eri lajia. Kannattaa kurkata tuo sivusto, siellä on kivoja ideoita ja haasteessa usein aika hyviä palkintojakin!

I just got a few Faber-Castell Gelatos last week and had been waiting to give them a try. This was the first time I used them with stencils. I love to draw on backgrounds with some colour, so I decided this would make a perfect background for Zentangle styled drawing, where it would just show through a little behind the other layers!

But before I drew the tangles, I drew and cut a template of the vase for masking, meaning I only stamped the background behind the vase. This I did with Stamper's Big Brush Pen.

For drawings like this, I really like the PITT Artist pens. I have the Manga set and drew with the Small sized first, and then coloured in with the Brush one. I have unfortunately lost the Medium sized one!



Faber-Castellin askartelutuotteita en ole vielä paljon Suomessa nähnyt, mutta joihinkin kotimaisiin verkkokauppoihin on jo rantautunut ainakin Gelatos-liituja. Niissä on runsaat, kauniisti sekoittuvat värit, joita voi levittää myös vedellä. Tässä olen ensin töpöttänyt Gelatosta sabluunan läpi taustaksi, ja sitten tein vaasin muotoisen maskin leimatakseni vain taustalle.

Big Brush -kynät puolestaan ovat paksuja, vedenkestäviä tusseja, joiden väriaine on hassua kyllä englanniksi intianmuste ja suomeksi (useimmiten) kiinanmuste! Väriaineista kiinnostuneelle suosittelen Päivi Hintsasen Coloria-sivustoa, josta löytyy paljon kiinnostavaa tietoa!

Here are the products I used.

P.S. If you're interested in Zentangle inspired drawing, you can find lots of patterns here. All patterns have names and are in alphabetical order. The one I used here is called Buttercup!



Tässä kuvassa on käyttämäni tuotteet. Kaikenlaisten kiekuroiden piirtämiseen ja tekstaamiseen sopivat hyvin nämä PITT Artist Pens -kynät. Omani on ostettu vuosi, pari sitten ja silloin niitä ei vielä löytynyt mistään askartelualan liikkeesta, mutta sen sijaan Verkkokauppa.comista.

P.S. Jos olet kiinnostunut Zentangle-tyyppisten kuvioiden piirtämisestä, niihin on valtavasti malleja täällä!

Monthly Design Challenge at Allt om Scrap: Doodling

Hi again! I hope you've all had a good start for the new year. Here in Finland, the sun and snow have finally appeared after many weeks of cloudy, rainy weather, so that definitely cheers us up! And today, there's a really fun new challenge up at Allt om Scrap, with the theme of Doodling! The challenge is open for participation until February 19, 2014.

When I started my layout, I knew right away which photos I was going to choose. The patterns of the swing, the climber and their shadows on the ground reminded me of doodle patterns and inspired me to try my own. For the lettering, I found examples in artist Martha Lever's blog. The doodle around the photo is inspired by Zentangle® patterns Arc Flower and Bunzo, to which you can find step-by-step guides here.



Doodling is a lot of fun, and if you think it's difficult or find it hard to start, remember that the style originates in what almost everyone has done sometimes: thoughtless drawings you make when speaking on the phone, in class or during a meeting! There are tons of examples to be found on the internet, but I'd also really like to find a good guidebook on doodling, especially the lettering part. Here is one that I found, with Martha Lever as one of the contributors: Creative Lettering: Techniques & Tips from Top Artists, written by Jenny Doh and published by Lark Crafts, 2013. If you can recommend one, I'd really like to know!

Hei taas! Toivottavasti uusi vuosi on alkanut hyvin. Aurinko ja luminen maisema antavat ainakin hurjasti iloa ja energiaa monen sateisen, pimeän viikon jälkeen!

Tänään on Allt om Scrapissa uusi kuukausihaaste ja teemana doodlailu. Jos sana ei vielä ole jollekin tuttu, niin itse asia varmaan on! Kyseessä on siis piirtelytyyli, jonka lähtökohtana on kaikenlainen rento muissa mietteissä raapustelu esimerkiksi puhelimessa, luennolla tai kokouksissa. Doodlailut itsessään eivät yleensä ole esittäviä, mutta niitä voi käyttää myös esittävien piirrosten "täyttämiseen" tai värittämiseen.

Kuvat tähän leiskaan oli helppo valita, sillä keinu ja kiipeilyteline sekä niiden varjot toivat mieleeni piirrellyt kuviot ja innostivat kokeilemaan itse. Kirjaimiin katsoin mallia Martha Lever -nimisen taiteilijan blogista. Tältä Zentangle® -piirustuksen kootulta ohjesivustolta löytyy puolestaan runsaasti kuviomalleja ohjeineen. Valokuvia kehystävät koukerot ovat yhdistelmä malleista nimeltä Arc Flower ja Bunzo.

Hakusanalla "doodling" löytyy valtavasti esimerkkejä netistä, mutta minun tekisi mieli hankkia aiheesta myös jokin kirja. Erityisesti minua kiinnostaisi oppia noita kirjaintyylejä lisää. Martha Leverin blogin kautta löytyi esimerkiksi yksi äskettäin ilmestynyt kirja, jossa on hänen töitään mukana: Lark Craftsin kustantama ja Jenny Doh'n kirjoittama Creative Lettering: Techniques & Tips from Top Artists (2013). Jos tiedät suositella jotain kirjaa aiheesta, olisin tosi iloinen jos jättäisit tiedon kommenttikenttään!

Allt om Scrapin haasteeseen voi osallistua 19.2. asti, tervetuloa mukaan!

Pink & Orange Whimsical Chicken // Kirjavaiset kanaset

Hello all, and Happy Midsummer to you!

Here in Finland, Midsummer Eve is one of the most important celebrations of the year. Traditionally, it's a holiday we want to spend near the nature and by the water, with a sauna, good food, decorations of flowers and birch branches, maybe going to a barn dance and watching bonfires by the water. My family does not have one settled tradition, but this year we actually did go to a countryside dance in a barn, by the sea, with a bonfire later on, when the dusk began to fall!

Today I got myself some crafting time again and made these quick and easy 4x4 inches chunky pages. I had the colour combo Hot Pink & Orange in mind from the Summer of Color: Week Two Challenge.



These chunky 4x4 pages, or one of them, will also go to a Pick-a-Theme (PAT) Swap at ATCs for All. The recipient asked for Whimsical Birds, and though I don't know this style so well yet, I recently learned that drawing a bit out of proportion is an easy way to create a whimsical look.

So I gave these chickies those super long legs, and I'm quite happy with how they look! And no, I was not thinking of Easter yet... I just somehow thought of chickens when I was to do birds with pink and orange colours. See, I really love those heritage chicken sorts that have a very orangish colour, wonder what's the right name for this shade of brown!



Juhannustanssit on tanssittu tältä vuodelta, ja tänään ehdin jo pikkaisen askarrellakin. Mukavaa juhannusviikonlopun jatkoa kaikille!

Nämä ovat taas ns. chunky-sivuja, mitoiltaan sen 10x10 cm. Pinkki ja oranssi olivat viikon värit Summer of Color -sivustolla ja hassunkurisia lintuja oli puolestaan toivonyt yksi ATCs for All -vaihtokumppani.

Tykkään kovasti perinnekanaroduista, niistä punaruskeista, joten kun ajattelin oranssia lintua, ajattelin kanaa. En siis ollut tekemässä vielä pääsiäiskortteja, vaikka perheelle tuli se mieleen kun näkivät valmiit kanakortit!

Dare to Set Goals: An Art Journal Page

This journal page is inspired by the Design Memory Craft challenge with the following question: "What one important lesson have you learnt this year so far or what one theme has stood out for you?" I decided on the theme of daring and particularly, daring to set concrete goals.

Daring to dream is really important, but at some point one needs to think out ways to make those dreams come true, too! And figure out which dreams I wish to fulfill in the next year or three, and which ones can happily wait till later on. Not all dreams need to come true, I think. It's better to have too many than too few!



Unelmista tavoitteiksi

Tämän art journal -aukeaman lähtökohtana oli Design Memory Craft -haasteen esittämä kysymys, minkä tärkeän viisauden on oppinut kuluneen vuoden aikana. Itse halusin tässä pukea sanoiksi sen, miten on tärkeää uskaltaa muodostaa unelmista myös konkreettisia tavoitteita.

Kaikkien unelmien ei minusta tarvitse toteutua ikinä ja niitä on parempi olla liikaa kuin liian vähän. Mutta ne, joiden haluaa toteutuvan lähitulevaisuudessa, on hyvä muotoilla selkeiksi pyrkimyksiksi.

My favourite journal at the moment is this little 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches Hahnemühle Travel Booklet, which I carry about everywhere. The paper is thick and good, but the only lack I now noticed was that it does not take watercolours very well. I did not have the gesso with me, else I could have started with giving it a coat.

I drew an ornamental circle with watercolour pencils. I found at our cottage an old yellowed plastic doily ugliness that made a great stencil. But when I added water, the paper started to break. When dry, I collaged some stamped paper onto to the most worn out parts of the spread.

When I got home, I gessoed it before applying acrylic paints. The stencil I used here is Honeycomb from The Crafters' Workshop. The ornament stamp came with a magazine, I think, and the one with the leaves is from an unknown origin, while the chevron one is made by me. I added some washi tape, postage stamps and ephemera for the finishing touch and did the lettering with a Promarker.



Tämä pieni (9x14 cm) Hahnemühlen matkakirjanen kulkee minulla melkein kaikkialle, joten siihen tulee myös tehtyä enemmän kuin suurempiin. Ostin noita Temperasta kahden pakkauksissa. Linkki on Helsingin Uudenmaankadun myymälään, sillä heidän verkkokaupastaan en tätä tuotetta löytänyt.

Mökiltä löytynyt rumilus, muovinen pitsiliina, oli hyvä piirustussabluuna vesivärikynille. Paperi on paksua ja hyvän tuntuista, mutta vesiväri olisi vaatinut gessokerroksen alleen. Vesi alkoi kuluttaa paperia rikki, joten lisäsin niihin kohtiin leimattua paperia. Gessoa levitin tähän väliin ennen akryylimaaleja.

Akryyleilla sabluunana oli The Crafters' Workshopin Honeycomb. Lehtileimasimen valmistajaa en tiedä, ja nuolileimasin on itse tehty. Kirjoitin viisaudet Promarker-tussilla ja viimeistelin aukeaman washiteipillä ja muutamalla postimerkillä.



I am also submitting this to the following challenges:
Osallistun tällä työllä myös näihin haasteisiin:

The Summer of Color 2013, Week One: Citron Green and Turquoise
Let's Get Trendy Now 3, Day 5: Textured Layers
Take a Word: Cool Colours

See you, I hope to post again soon!
Tervetuloa uudestaan, seuraava työ tulee toivon mukaan pian!

Purple Kimono & Green Turtle ATCs

Hi all! These ATCs are for a swap of monochromatic cards. The folks I made them for chose the colours and the themes. The kimono and the turtle were nice, easy to draw subjects which I then cut and pasted on another paper. I did the outlines with a Promarker (purple) and a slightly finer Adirondack marker (green).

The background of the Kimono is painted with watercolours and that of the Turtle with acrylics.

This is a super fast way to make cards that are cool nevertheless. I think they turn out best if at least some of your papers are hand painted or decorated. A good way to use to last scraps of previous projects!

Last but not least, I just heard of a free workshop for everyone who loves colours. Summer of Color 2013 is a free blog event to celebrate all the colours of the rainbow, and lasts for six weeks starting Monday, June 3rd. Right now there's a vote going on about the first colour combo. There's a new challenge and new prizes every week, so it's really worth taking a look!



ATC-vaihto yhden värin sävyillä

Nämä ATC-kortit tein vaihtoon, jonka aiheena oli monokromaattiset kortit. Saaja sai toivoa värin ja aiheen. Kimono ja kilpikonna olivat mukavan helppoja piirtää ja leikata paperista ja liimata taustalle. Ääriviivat vahvistin tusseilla.

Kimonokortin tausta on maalattu vesiväreillä ja kilpikonnan akryyliväreillä.

Tämä on tosi helppo ja nopea tekniikka, jolla syntyy silti tyylikkäät kortit. Parhaiten niistä saa persoonallisen näköisiä, jos ainakin osaksi käyttää käsin maalattuja papereita. Sopii silppulaatikon aarteita rakastaville!

Lopuksi suosittelen kaikille värien ja värihaasteiden ystäville ilmaista workshoppia nimeltä Summer of Color 2013. Se on juuri alkanut ja parhaillaan on äänestys ensimmäisen haasteen väriyhdistelmästä. Uusi värihaaste palkintoineen on tarjolla viikottain, joten kannattaa kurkata!

The Mask of Zorro: Southwest Inspired ATCs

Here's a couple of ATCs from earlier this spring, all inspired by the themes of the American Southwest. I've never been there but the images are familiar enough, thanks to movies and all: ochre coloured earth, red sunsets with silhouettes of cacti and Joshua trees. And the traditional pueblos of the Natives.

All three stamps I used are from Viva Las VegaStamps: Pueblos, Cow Skull and Joshua Tree.

The background of the hand drawn Zorro I painted with tube watercolours and in the two other sceneries, I used acrylics. All the stamping was done with Versamark embossing ink and black embossing powder.

Have a nice week!







Näiden ATC-korttien inspiraationa oli mielikuvani Lounais-Yhdysvaltojen autiomaaseuduista kaktuksineen ja punaisine auringonlaskuineen. Käytin kolmea Viva Las VegaStamps! -merkin leimasinta: Pueblos, Cow Skull ja Joshua Tree.

Kaikissa leimailuissa käytin mustaa kohojauhetta. Zorron piirsin itse ja sen tausta on maalattu tuubivesiväreillä. Muiden korttien taustat tein akryyleilla.

Kyläleimasimen nimeä tutkiessani opin, että tämän tyyppiset kylät ovat alkuperäisasukkaiden perinteisiä asumuksia, ja niitä kutsutaan yhä espanjankielisellä nimellä pueblo. Nämä seudut olivat aikoinaan Espanjan siirtomaita, kuten Zorro-fanit tietävätkin!

Hyvää uutta viikkoa, ja kesälomaakin jo joillekin!

More ATCs with Punchinella

Here's more cards using punchinella as a stencil, made in the style of my earlier post Quirky Torn Paper Faces. Have a nice crafty Sunday!



Lisää punchinellaprinttiä ja hullunkurisia kasvoja

Tässä taas pari ATC-korttia, joissa on käytetty punchinellaa painosabluunana. Lisää hassuja kasvoja löytyy aiemmasta postauksestani. Aurinkoista sunnuntaita kaikille, tai tunnelmallista sadepäivää askartelun parissa!

Garden Time: An Art Journal Spread

Hello again! If you enjoy gardening like I do, you know how exciting and busy time spring can be. Garden was also the theme of the month at Faber-Castell's Design Memory Craft Challenge. With this art journal spread, I'm participating in another challenge as well. It's called Paper Lovers Studio and I just came across it the other day.

The prompt was to combine cut paper, paint and drawing. I started with acrylics, stencilling the paint with punchinella.

The tulips are made from old scraps where I had stamped these ladybirds or bugs. I'm always happy if I can think of using a stamp for something else than the subject that it actually depicts!

The watering can and the outlines for the flowers were drawn with Promarkers. For the clouds, I used Faber-Castell's Big Brush Markers with a lot of water and really like how it turned out. The paper has to be quite wet when you draw on it, if you want this fading effect to happen. I think the clouds are my favourite part of this spread!



Puutarhan aika

Moni puutarhuri jo varmaan kuopsuttaa pihoilla innoissaan. Minulla on puutarha vain mökillä, ja odotan jo kovasti ensi viikonloppua, jolloin pääsen hommiin! Ja ehkä jo ihailemaan tulppaanejakin.

Osallistun tällä Art Journal -aukeamalla kahteen haasteeseen: Design Memory Craft, jossa aiheena oli puutarha, ja Paper Lovers Studio, jossa piti ensin leikata ja liimata, ja sitten maalata ja piirtää!

Pilvet ovat ehkä suosikkikohtani tällä aukeamalla. Piirsin ne Big Brush -kynällä, joka leviää jännästi runsaan veden kanssa käytettynä.

Leikkaamisen ja liimaamisen osuus puolestaan toteutui noissa tulppaaneissa. Talteen oli jäänyt paperia, johon olin leimaillut leppäkerttuja. Niistä syntyi ylösalaisin keikauttamalla kivat kukat. Se on aina ilon aihe, jos keksin käyttää leimasinta johonkin muuhun kuin mitä se varsinaisesti esittää!

ATCs from Paint Chips

Once again, I owe a fun and creative idea to my trading pals at ATCs for All! Theses cards are for a swap where you were supposed to use paint chips as the background for ATC cards. The theme of each card is inspired by the name of the paint. This was so much fun, I'll have to go back to the hardware store to get some more!

ATC-kortit maalien värimalleista

Olipa taas kiva ATC-vaihdon aihe ATCs for All -yhteisössä − tätä en olisi keksinyt itse: Taustana tuli käyttää maalien sävymallikortteja, ja kortin aiheen piti liittyä maalin nimeen. Kokeilin vähän eri tekniikoita kussakin. Ei kun rautakauppaan lisää värimalleja hakemaan!

Rooibos: Woman's face stamped on a piece of map, elements from a teabag, sticky ornament ribbon from Panduro, Stockholm.

Naisen kasvot leimattu kartalle, kuva ja mietelause teepussista, tarrapintainen koristenauha Tukholman Pandurosta.



Barbie: Image from a toy catalogue, bag hand drawn on magazine clip, tulle ribbon and found poetry.

Lelukuvastosta leikattu Barbie, laukku piirretty itse, tyllinauharusetti ja kirjasta leikattuja pätkiä.



Bonsai: Tree stamped with Stazon ink (the safest bet when stamping on a glossy background), die cut tree embossed with Ranger Embossing Antiquities powder in colour Verdigris, used postage stamp, and washi tape.

Stazon-musteella leimattu puu (Stazon on turvallisin valinta, kun leimataan kiiltävälle pinnalle), kuvioleikattu ja kohojauheella koristeltu puu, käytetty postimerkki, washi-teippi Teippitarhasta.



Henna: hand drawn with Promarkers.

Käsin piirretty Promarker-kynillä.

Collage Obsession: Quirky Torn Paper Faces

Here's my take on this week's challenge, Faces, at Collage Obsession. The idea of Quirky Torn Paper Faces is from a fellow trader at ATCs for All, where she is hosting a swap on this theme. The faces are torn from book pages, maps etc. and the backgrounds are from my various experiments with mixed media.



Kummia kasvoja kirjansivuista

Hassunkuriset kasvot revityistä papereista ovat aiheena ATC-vaihdossa, johon osallistun ATCs for All -sivustolla. Taustoihin käytin erilaisia aiempia sekatekniikan kokeilujani. Kortit sopivat myös viikon Collage Obsession -haasteeseen, jonka aiheena oli Kasvot.