Tervetuloa kurssille: Kangas, sakset, paperi!

Hello! Today's post will be in Finnish, about my coming workshops.

Moi! Opetan taas tänä keväänä mixed media -askarteluja Vantaan aikuisopistossa. Kurssiohjelma on uudistunut ja ajattelin siksi tehdä pienen esittelypostauksen kustakin kurssista erikseen.

Kevätkauden ensimmäinen kurssi on nimeltään Kangas, sakset, paperi! Tämä kurssi on toista kertaa ohjelmassa ja se sopii sekä sekatekniikka-askartelun aloittajalle että pidempään harrastaneelle. Mixed median perusasioista mm. leimailu sekä sabluunoiden ja akryylimaalien käyttö tulevat viimeistään nyt tutuiksi, jos et ole tehnyt niitä aiemmin!

Kurssipaikka on Vantaan opistotalo Tikkurilassa, Lummetie 5, ja kurssi-illat ovat maanantaisin 21.1.−11.2.2019 klo 17−21.



Kurssilla tutustumme eri tapoihin käyttää lankaa ja kangasta oman askartelutyylin lisämausteena. Kerroksellisuuden rakentamista ja yksityiskohtien lisäämistä voi tehdä oman mieltymyksen mukaan ompelukoneella, käsin kirjoen tai helposti ja nopeasti liimaamalla.





Alla muutama kuva kurssilaisten töistä!

Tässä syntyy minialbumi päällystämällä suodatinpusseja itse koristelluilla papereilla. Pussin ympäri siksakkaus ompelukoneella tekee saumasta kestävämmän ja aukko muodostaa kivan taskun, johon voi tallentaa lisää pieniä muistoja.



Tällä kurssilaisella oli upea vanha puutarha-aiheinen kirja, johon hän päätti valmistaa taskuja vanhojen kukkapostikorttien kokoelmaansa varten.





Tässä on käsin kirjoen koristeltu tasku journaling tägille ja muita yksityiskohtia, tyylikkäästi vintage-kuvan kanssa yhteen sopien!



P.S. Villin lännen tytön kuva on The Graphics Fairyn sivustolta, josta löytyy valtava valikoima ilmaiseksi käyttöön ladattavia vintage-kuvia!



Seuraavan kurssikuvauksen julkaisen maanantaina 14.1. ja se kertoo kurssista Ystävänpäivän ja kevään kortit mehiläisvahatekniikalla. Sitä ennen voit tutustua kaikkien kurssien tietoihin myös täällä blogissa Workshops-välilehdellä! Lämpimästi tervetuloa kursseille!

Secretive: An Art Journal Page with Image Transfer

Hi everyone, and happy Friday! Happy November, too, since this is my first post this month. The darkest time of the year is falling upon us but I have a pretty bright journal spread here to cheer it up.



Inspired by the October Challenge at Wanderlust Class 2017, I tried image transfer with acrylic medium for the first time. I have previously tried packing tape transfer and found it fun. Here, I was excited to see the image lifting directly onto the page, whereas in the tape method the tape remains visible and you need to glue it down.

The images I have used here are inkjet printed and my medium was Liquitex acrylic matte medium.



You can see I have used two different sized transfers of the same vintage image, showing a mysterious woman with daisies and a veil.



I had prepared a background on my square Dylusions Creative Journal collaging bits of gelli printed and die cut book pages, and then added acrylic paint.

What happened with the transfer was that it seemed easy at first but then I did rub too hard and lost quite a few pieces. This was my first try, directly onto the journal background. Luckily, I had printed a smaller version of the same image and tried it on a separate painted paper, and it worked better!



I didn't want to give up my background and taking a second look at it, I came to think that the smaller image on the orange piece of paper might look cool mounted on the side of the more broken image, so this is what I did.



At the same time I was trying to learn from a recent lesson by Kasia Avery at Wanderlust 2017, about the use of Black and White as Contrasts, and how they can work to calm down or unify a page with many colors. I think the final spread is still slightly too busy/colorful for my mood at the moment, but I didn't have time to work it any longer, wanting to make the challenge deadline.



I also used some lace and machine stitching as effects. The (originally white) lace had been used as a stencil in Gelli printing, so it already had those cool darker and lighter areas. Then some Gelatos around the edges, plus some black stamping, marker and white paint pen. I love the image, she reminds me of a good fairy with a secret that makes her smile!



The image, by the way, is printed from The Graphics Fairy, who offers thousands of good quality copyright-free vintage images for free. (There is also a paid Premium membership option, but I haven't felt the need for it so far. It would especially benefit someone working digitally, since it offers a lot of special effects for editing programs).

This site is a great resource for finding images for transfer techniques, and its search engine helps to find images in the theme that you want.



I am also linking my project to this week's challenge at Take a Word. The theme is Family Albums, meaning the use of old photos to create some altered art. Photos from other sources are ok, if you don't have family photos, says the challenge guideline.

Happy weekend everyone and thanks for taking a look!

Fearless Graffiti Art Journal Spread

Hello! Here's my art journal spread inspired by the September challenge at More than Words.



I am constantly inspired by the GRUNGY look of graffiti and the way the bright colours pop out in an asphalt and concrete landscape. But graffiti is not just a style, it's also a way to spread out a political message + a voice of rebellion, and that's the kind of graffiti I was particularly thinking of when I created this mixed media collage. I admire the FEARLESS work of graffiti artists, many of whom have had to work in circumstances where the authorities are very hostile towards street art. I've been happy to see in the past few years that many towns and cities have began to value street art in a totally new way!



This spread is a part of a new junk journal I'm working on. I'll post more about it later!



I'm also joining the challenges at:

Sandee and Amelie's Steampunk: Anything Goes with Steampunk or Industrial, and

Art Journal Journey: Colour In My World



Thank you so much for your visit and comments, as always!

Syksyn kurssien ilmoittautuminen alkaa!

Hello! Today's post will be in Finnish, about my coming workshops.

Hei kaikki! Minulla on tulevana syksynä ilo ja kunnia opettaa jälleen mixed media -askarteluja Espoon työväenopistossa ja lisäksi uutena opetuspaikkana Vantaan aikuisopistossa.

Kaikille kursseille ilmoittaudutaan Ilmonet-järjestelmän kautta joko netissä tai puhelimitse. Ilmoittautuminen Espoon kursseille alkaa tänään 15.8. klo 12 ja Vantaan kursseille klo 13!



Art Journal- luovuutta arkeen
Vantaa (Tikkurila) 28.9.−26.10.2017

Maalit, musteet, leimailu, painaminen, värittäminen, sekatekniikka... lumoudu värien ja kuvioiden maailmasta!

Teemme oman Art Journalin (englanniksi taidepäiväkirja), valintasi mukaan joko vanhaan kirjaan tai helpolla sidonnalla erilaisista papereista. Art Journalin pariin uppoutuu helposti koko päiväksi, mutta opit myös nopeita tekniikoita, joita ehtii tehdä silloinkin, kun aikaa on vain vartti. Mixed media -askartelu on eri tekniikoiden yhdistelyä ja kokeilemisen iloa ja siihen sopivat hyvin kierrätysmateriaalit.


Mixed media - jouluaskartelu
Espoo (Tapiola) 7.11.-19.11.2017

Mixed media on eri tekniikoiden yhdistelyä ja kokeilemisen iloa. Viikonlopun aikana opimme useita helppoja tekniikoita, joilla saa aikaan persoonalliset joulukortit, lahjapaperit tai pienet lahjat. Käytämme mm. sabluunoita ja leimasimia, akryylimaaleja ja leimasinmusteita, ja kierrätysmateriaalia kuten kirjansivuja. Samoilla tekniikoilla voit tehdä monenlaista, kuten kortteja, jouluisen minialbumin muistoille tai ruokaohjeille, tai tuunata valmiin esineen kuten pienen peilinkehyksen. Voit tulla myös kokeilemaan tekniikoita, oppimaan ja ihastumaan!



Joulukortit mehiläisvahatekniikalla
(Yhden päivän kurssi, kolme eri ajankohtaa)

Espoo (Tapiola) 25.11.2017
Vantaa (Myyrmäki) 26.11.2017
Vantaa (Tikkurila) 2.12.2017

Tule oppimaan mielenkiintoinen tekniikka, jolla serveteistä ja silkkipapereista tehdään sulan mehiläisvahan avulla herkät, läpinäkyvän kerrokselliset kortit. Käytämme silitysrautaa mehiläisvahan sulattamiseen ja kuvien kerroksittain kiinnittämiseen. Tällä tekniikalla loihtii nopeasti kauniita kortteja ja lisäksi saa nauttia ihanan jouluisesta mehiläisvahan tuoksusta!

Lisätiedot löytyvät ilmoittautumislinkeistä ja päivittyvät tuotapikaa myös blogini Workshops-välilehdelle. Vastaan mieluusti kysymyksiin myös sähköpostitse, salla.porra (at) saunalahti.fi.

Kurssit soveltuvat niin uusille kuin kokeneemmillekin askartelijoille. Lämpimästi tervetuloa!

Nature Prints Journal Spread

Hello, and happy new week to everyone!

My biggest inspiration of this year has been the year-long Wanderlust 2017 online class. I've started more projects than finished but at this point, this doesn't feel like a failure at all but instead one of the main teachings of the whole class so far.

When I feel good making art, the important thing is to do it as often as I can, and not count the finished projects. This goes at least for the kind of period as I have in my life right now - my to-do-list seems very full also without art deadlines and blog posts. The main thing I'm sorry for is that this has also meant neglecting my blog.

Anyway, today I have a Wanderlust inspired project to share!



A while ago the class theme was Nature Prints. Kasia Avery, the sweet and super talented main teacher of Wanderlust 2017, inspired us with a video of Gelli printing with objects from the nature.



I've used household items for Gelli printing before but hadn't thought of trying something like flowers or leaves. I got really hooked on it right away so I was lucky to have picked plenty of different leaves with the help of our three-year-old! It was a good idea to let them straighten overnight between a newspaper, under a weight of books or something.



I still have some of those leaves from a week ago but I suspect they may get too dry at some point, becoming more fragile, so I may want to gather new ones for my next prints.



The photo above is of the spread before adding the photo and the final touches.



I am also joining the challenges at Eclectic Ellapu: Everything Goes and Art-Piaskownica: Plant/Floral Motifs.



The last few photos are detail shots where you can get a better idea of the see-through beeswax technique!



I made my prints on tissue paper, wanting to try them for the beeswax collage technique I've done a lot lately. Beeswax technique is so special in how it leaves the different layers quite transparent, and I thought this might be the perfect way work with my nature prints!



I just realized I only have photos of the finished project and none of the individual prints. I have gotten the memory of my phone nearly full so I'm afraid I have to spend the rest of the afternoon organizing my photos. I'll post pics of the prints as soon as I have time!



Thank you so much for your visit!

Quick Travel Journal Spread

Happy Monday, and Happy May! I promised in my last post to show a super quick journal spread made with only the products I included in my Travel Journal Kit, so here it goes! Oh, one thing that I don't have in my kit is the gesso, but I typically prepare the pages a bit in advance so that was not necessary to have on the road.



I'm not a very confident drawer or watercolourist, and it's not always easy to think up things to draw or paint. So I quite like the idea I did here: clipped a magazine image I liked and tried to repeat it in painting. I'm really happy how it turned out!

Like the Travel Journal Kit post, this spread was originally made for Allt om Scrap DT and is from last year already. So if you wondered if we're still not having spring in Finland - oh yes, we do! It came unusually early this year, too.

I hope to post the covers of my journal in the next couple of days, so you're most welcome back to check them out! Have a nice week!

Travel News & A Travel Journal Kit!

Hello! To those of you who pop in regularly, I owe huge apologies for disappearing for three whole months. This totally unplanned break was luckily not due to any tragic event. On the contrary, a long time travel dream of ours is about to happen and since we made the decision to do it this spring, the plans and preparations and general excitement have taken all my free time and thinking capacity!

Myself, husband and our boys aged 7 and 1 are heading for the USA and Canada for a whole month, starting next week. We’d saved and hoped for this trip for several years and still, since we finally got the flights in the end of January, time has truly flown by. I still can’t really believe it’s happening until, probably, the night before our departure!

Meanwhile, now that our plans are nearly settled, I hope to post a few previously unposted projects before we leave. While we are away, I don’t think I’ll be posting at all – unless I’m inspired to do something very quick and improvised on the way. I decided early on that scheduled posts are out of question, for the simple reason that I’ve had less crafting time this year and I wouldn’t have enough projects, nor the time to do the posts. Instead, I hope to return from our trip with a lot of inspiration and new ideas!

And you bet, some new materials as well!

Do you like to keep an art journal or do other sorts of crafts when you’re travelling?

I’m planning a small Travel Kit to carry with me, to entertain the kids as well as myself on the long journeys and rainy days. Before it’s ready, though, I realized I have another Travel Journal Kit of mine from last year that I have not yet shown here! Here you can see my original DT post at the Swedish Allt om Scrap site.

When I take art supplies with me, I usually pack way too much, so it’s always a challenge to make it small. How good that I came to think of my previous kit, before I pack a new one! I think taking a look at what I included last year will help me remember what may have been missing, and what may not have been needed at all.



This Travel Journal Kit includes:

• small journal (choose paper that suits your media: stronger paper for wet media and heavy collage)
• pencil, sharpener and eraser black pen(s); mine is a Pitt Artist Pen Set
• other favourite pens
• watercolour pencils or travel watercolour box
• water brush
• ink pads; I have Black Staz-On for stamping on any surface and a few small coloured ones from Versafine and Versacraft
• glue and scissors
• a few favourite stamps and acrylic block
• small bag of collage images, paper scraps and ephemera
• double sided tape
• a few favourite washi tapes
• Stickles or Liquid Pearls
• minitubes of acrylic paint and a piece of foam for applying it
• baby wipes for cleaning the stamps 

I hope to see you soon again with a quick journal spread I created with the abovementioned products, and when my new kit is packed, I hope I have time to post that too before embarking on the journey!

I suppose it goes without saying that I would love, love, love to see your Travel Journal Kits, too, and hear what everyone's favourite products are. Have a nice week!

Fiskarettes DT: Altered Notebook - Tuunattu muistikirja

Here in Finland, the school year is getting very near the end, and if you have children, you might want to make a little gift to the teacher. As for me, I think there can never be too many simple gift ideas, nor too many pretty notebooks! So I thought of this altered notebook for my DT post at Fiskarettes this week.



Moi! Koulujen loppu lähenee, ja keksin tehdä tällaisen tuunatun muistikirjan miettiessäni jotain pientä muistamista opettajalle tai päiväkotiin. Yhtä lailla lahja passaa ystävälle näin kesän korvalla, vaikkapa lomamatkalle mukaan otettavaksi. Katso Fiskarettes-sivuston DT-työni ohjeet täältä!

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!

Travel Journal for a Friend

A new blank notebook is something I'm always excited to have, and it makes a really nice gift especially if you decorate the covers yourself. Collaged journal covers are fun and easy to make. You can use anything, from scrapbooking paper to real life ephemera!

Glue it well and seal with acrylic medium to protect that the pieces stay put. Acrylic medium makes the colours in some papers bleed, though, so you may want to test first. Inkjet printer colours, for example, are prone to that.

You could choose the colours from the recipient's favourites or pick a theme that suits her/his interests and the occasion. This journal from last winter was my gift for a friend who was leaving for a road trip.



Kirjankannet kollaasitekniikalla

Muistikirja on kiva lahjaidea, etenkin jos koristelee kannet itse. Tämän tein ystävälle, joka oli lähdössä pidemmälle matkalle.

Papereina voi käyttää mitä laatikoista löytyy. Näihin kansiin käytin skräppäyspapereita, lahjapaperia, serviettiä, lehdistä leikattuja kuvia ja muutaman tarran ja siirtokuvan. Värit ja aiheen voi valita saajalle mieluisiksi ja tilanteen mukaan. Jos taas tekee muistoalbumin jo menneestä matkasta tai tapahtumasta, siihen voi käyttää myös kaikki muistoiksi kertyneet pikku lippuset.

Käytä hyvää liimaa, kuten Erikeeperiä. Itse tykkään suojata kollaasityöt akryylimediumilla. Tämä liimamainen aine kuivuu värittömäksi ja suojaa työtä lakan tavoin. Sitä saa taiteilijatarvikeliikkeistä, esimerkiksi Temperasta Helsingissä. Akryylimedium kuitenkin irrottaa väriä joistain papereista. Testaa varoen esimerkiksi kodin valokuvaprintterillä tulostettuja kuvia, sillä laitteesi on todennäköisesti mustesuihkukirjoitin!