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!

Little House Mixed Media Cards

Hello! Here are a couple of Christmas cards that are very easy to do even in the last minute.



I wanted to experiment with white finger paint, because I might want to use it for teaching workshops where also children can participate. I was happy to see that it looks fairly opaque, which means it covers even a dark background easily. Some other brands of finger paint I've tried before have been too watery or transparent.

Squeeze Punches by Fiskars are easy for kids to use and they usually love them! Here I've used the Scalloped Heart one.



These cards were made with the following challenges in mind:

In Berry71bleu's Winter Chill Mood Board, I was inspired by the colour palette of white with some blues, browns and a pop of red, and also the Fair Isle knits.



At Paperdvizhnik, the theme is My New Year or Christmas Time. Note that you can join until January the 12th!



And last but not least, the Mixed Media Card Challenge had the theme of Home this month, with Lace as an optional element.



There's still time to join all of these challenges. That or any other craft that inspires you. Enjoy your weekend!

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!

Vintage Winter Wonderland Arches

Hello to you all, and happy Monday! I love the Gothic Arch shape and I also think it's fun to make cards in a different format every now and then. Today and tomorrow I'm posting two different sets of wintery Gothic Arches.

The images are from napkins decoupaged on mixed media background. I added some almost invisible vellum snowflakes and structure paste for snow effect on the borders, and gave the finishing touch with red Stickles and some tartan patterned ribbon. The size of these is 4x6 inches, as in postcards, but with the arch shape.





I'm linking to the following challenges:
Take a Word (Winter)
The Three Muses (Vintage Gothic Arch) and
P*skarteluhaaste #257 (Vellum) *en osallistu arvontaan!



Last weekend I got to enjoy the most beautiful snowy scenery, visiting my cousin just two hours north of metropolitan Helsinki, where I live. Here by the sea it's plain ugly, dark, wet and windy at the moment, but I'm confident there'll be a turn to better winter weather once we have passed Christmas. Or the sooner the better, of course!

Ja tässä valmiit mehiläisvahakortit! / This is what the beeswax cards look like!

Hei taas! Jatkona eiliseen postaukseen, tänään laitan ihailtavaksi viime kuun joulukorttikursseillani olleiden luomuksia, heidän luvallaan tietysti. Ensimmäisen kuvan kaksi korttia ovat minun tekemiäni.

Hello! Today I'm posting Christmas cards made at my Beeswax Collage workshop last month. With the permission from those who made them, of course. Except the two cards in the first picture - those were made by me. See more about the workshop in yesterday's post!





Oli niin jännittävää nähdä, miten monenlaisia tyylejä kurssilaiset saivat aikaan! Servettivalikoimaa ja taustana olevan korttipohjan väriä vaihtelemalla syntyi jokaiselle oman näköiset kortit. Moni toi omia servettejään sen ison pinon lisäksi, jonka olin Servettipuodista etukäteen tilannut.

It is exciting to see how many different styles the participants came up with, depending on the selection of napkins and the colour palette of the background cards they used. From graphic to more traditionally Christmasy, and all so lovely!













Kuten jo aiemmin olen hehkuttanut, olen iloinen, että olen löytänyt tämän vähemmän tunnetun tekniikan ja hurjan kiitollinen, että olen päässyt pitämään kursseja siitä! Paperikerrosten silittäminen tuoksuvalla mehiläisvahalla on rauhoittavaa, mutta myös mukaansatempaavaa puuhaa, ja oli mahtavaa huomata, että kurssilta ei olisi maltettu lähteä päivän loppuessa pois. Suuret kiitokset vielä kaikille mukana olleille ihanista kurssipäivistä!

Kevään kursseille voi nyt ilmoittautua - tervetuloa kaikki sopivan matkan päässä Espoosta asuvat, vanhat ja uudet mehiläisvahakortteilijat!

I'm really happy to have heard of and learned this less well known, but not at all difficult technique. And super grateful for the chance to teach workshops on it! Everyone who does not live too far away is heartily welcome to the following ones in March. Have a nice weekend!

Joulukortteja mehiläisvahan tuoksussa / My Beeswax Workshop

Heippa! Jo mennään kovaa vauhtia kohti joulua, ja vasta nyt ehdin postaamaan kuvia viime kuun kursseilta. Opetin ensimmäistä kertaa korttikurssin yhdellä viime aikojen lempitekniikallani, joka on mehiläisvahakollaasi. Kokoonnuimme Espoon työväenopiston tiloissa Ruusutorpan koululla, ja pidin saman kurssin eri porukoille lauantaina ja sunnuntaina.

Aloin opetella tekniikkaa pari vuotta sitten itsekseni amerikkalaisten ATC-vaihtokavereideni ohjeilla, ja ihastuin siihen ensi yrittämällä. Serveteistä ja silkkipapereista tehdään sulan mehiläisvahan avulla herkät, läpinäkyvän kerrokselliset kortit. Tekniikasta kerrotaan enemmän aiemmissa postauksissani, esimerkiksi täällä. Lisää tällä tekniikalla tekemiäni kortteja löytyy myös oikean sivupalkin tunnistelistasta valitsemalla Beeswax!



Kollaasitekniikassa pääsee helposti vauhtiin ja saa kauniita kortteja aikaan myös ilman, että on harrastanut paperiaskartelua juurikaan aiemmin. Toisaalta jos perustekniikkaan kaipaa lisää elementtejä, voi lisäillä mukaan esimerkiksi leimailua tai värillisiä vahoja. Oli ilo huomata, että sekä enemmän että vähemmän harrastaneet askartelijat tykkäsivät tästä kurssista! Tätä on luvassa jälleen maaliskuussa - kevään kurssitiedot löytyvät täältä!

This post is mostly in Finnish and it's about beeswax collage workshops I'm giving in my home town Espoo, Finland. I've written more about this technique in my blog earlier, see for example here, and in all Beeswax themed posts in the tag list. This is truly a lovely technique and easy to get started with!



Tältä tarvikepöytä näytti lähtötilanteessa: rutkasti erilaisia servettejä, kirjansivuja, silkkipapereita ja silkkipapereille leimattuja kuvia.

This is what the supplies table looked like before we got started: lots of different napkins, bookpages and images stamped on tissue paper.



Lisätään mehiläisvahaa ja aletaan silittää... minun kursseillani tosiaan käytetään silitysrautaa vahan sulattamiseen ja kerrosten toisiinsa kiinnittämiseen! On olemassa sulatuspatoja varta vasten tähän, mutta sellaista en ole itse päässyt kokeilemaan. Silloin vaha levitetään siveltimellä, jonka pitää olla luonnonkuitua, jotta se kestää kuuman vahan.

Add some beeswax and begin to iron... and leave the cards to dry a short while!



Tervetuloa huomenissa uudestaan kurkkaamaan, miltä valmiit kortit näyttävät!

In tomorrow's post you can see what the finished cards look like, so you're most welcome to pop in again!

Play with Words: Found Poetry ATCs

Hi! Here are some ATCs I made for a Found Poetry themed swap. Found poetry means small poems or poetic sentiments made of phrases and words that you cut from books, magazines or any printed text.

I really enjoyed making these cards - now I just need to get more books I can cut! Playing with words and sentences, I got to use a slightly different side of creativity than I do most of the time, when I process mainly visual things.



I do write scrapbook journaling and this blog, of course, but in those activities I don't often use words as creatively as I'd like to. Found poetry on the other hand - I really enjoyed how the bits and pieces of books sparked my imagination, and I was free to play with the words and could skip the coherent story part this time!



I started these cards around Halloween and though they are not exactly Halloween themed, there is a sort of eerie and quirky feeling that may have been inspired by the closeness of October the 31st...



I'm linking to the Three Muses Challenge where the week's theme was Freestyle. Have a nice week!

Altered Playing Cards with Beeswax

Hello everyone, and happy Sunday! Here are some altered playing cards, also called APCs, that I made for a swap last week. It was an open themed one, but I made several with birds. It was hard to part from these and I think I might start collecting a bird themed deck next. See an old post of mine here if you want to know more about collecting APCs and the theme of my first deck!



These cards are all made using beeswax as the medium. Again, I'm linking to posts from a year and a half ago when I first started experimenting with beeswax: see here and here! I'll be teaching two Christmas card workshops with beeswax next weekend so I hope to post some examples during the week.



I hope to see you again soon!

Peace!

To honour the United Nations Day, here are some previously unposted ATCs I made for a Mixed Media Peace Signs swap. All I am saying today, is Give Peace a Chance! (And let's hope the decision makers around the world agree, as I'm sure all of us other citizens of our beloved planet do!)

Skyline Chunky Pages

Hello! Today I'm posting a few Chunky 4x4 pages I made for a Cityscapes & Skylines themed swap at my dear ATCs for All site earlier this year. I'm really happy with the special look that I achieved by using hand decorated papers only. Well, there's sheet music and book pages but they too are hand painted. I've collected marbled, stamped and painted papers for a while but this was a first time I made a whole project with that stash!





I think I need to make a few more of these for myself to keep, too - though making them is a sure way to catch a travel fever! Can you guess which cities I was thinking of?



They are Venice, Istanbul and Barcelona. And hey, if you want to try making a skyline collage of your own cities of inspiration, just google city skylines and plenty of images can be found to help as a reference for drawing your template.

Have a nice week!

Skräppäyskursseja Espoossa!

Moikka! Skräppäyskursseja on viime syksyn tapaan taas tarjolla Espoon työväenopistossa. Kurssini ovat marraskuussa neljänä perättäisenä torstai-iltana opiston Olarin toimipisteessä, osoitteessa Kuunkehrä 2.




Illat jakautuvat kahteen kahden illan kurssiin, joista ensimmäisenä ohjelmassa on Tutustu skräppäykseen. Kurssi kokoontuu 6.11. ja 13.11. ja sopii nimensä mukaisesti etenkin aloittelijoille. Luvassa on silti toivon mukaan jotain uutta myös pidempään harrastaneille - etenkin mixed mediaan ja kierrätysmateriaalin käyttöön painottuen! Kurssille voi tulla aloittamaan uuden projektin tai jatkamaan entisiä, ja skräppäyksen lisäksi voi toki tulla tekemään kortteja tai muutakin, ja nauttimaan yhdessä askartelun iloista. (kurssitunnus E143252.)

Seuraavan kahden torstain aiheena on Skräppää minialbumi! Päivämäärät ovat siis 20.11. ja 27.11. ja kurssilla tehdään minialbumi suodatinpusseista - tätä oli tosi hauska tehdä! Lisää kuvia löytyy edellisestä postauksestani täältä.

Vielä minimpää haluavalle on vaihtoehtona wc-paperirullaan pohjautuva malli. Laitan siitäkin kuvia pikapuoliin!(kurssitunnus E143252.)

Kursseille ilmoittaudutaan suoraan työväenopistoon joko www.ilmonet.fi (laita hakusanaksi kurssitunnus!) tai puhelimitse 020 692 444. Kummankin hinta on 27 €. Tilaa on molemmilla kursseilla vielä reilusti, mutta varmimmin ilmoittaudut viimeistään kaksi viikkoa ennen kurssien alkua, jotteivät ne peruunnu liian vähäisen osallistujamäärän takia. Tiedot löytyvät kootusti myös täältä.

Tervetuloa!

Fall is in the Air

Hello, and happy October! Today I'd like to share an autumnal mini album with the fun shape from coffee filter bags. I got the idea from a book by Norwegian authors Catherine Rein Carlson & Turid Eide. I have not found an English translation but if you live in one of the Nordic countries, you might find it in your local library or bookstore! (original title: Idebok for scrapbooking. Minialbum og dekorering, Cappelen Damm 2008/Finnish translation Talleta tähtihetket, Tammi 2009).

My inspiration was the autumnal mood board challenge at Berry71Bleu and particularly the colour palette, which I like a lot, plus the flowers and leaves.

I also made it with my next month's workshop in mind. We'll be making mini albums either from coffee filters, like this one, or you can also choose the toilet roll model. The two evening class will be in my home town Espoo, Finland, on November 20th and 27th, so I'll make a separate post with more info in Finnish!



The photos are from an autumnal day trip to the national park of Nuuksio that we are lucky to have within the borders of my home town, the second largest city of Finland. I have a cousin with whose family we've made a tradition of doing a day trip & hike to a nature destination at least once a year, often in the fall season. It's so much fun for kids and grow-ups alike. This one was in 2012 and we had a lovely weather, though not yet the brightest foliage.



The outlines of the tree are stamped with Distress Inks and a mask from the Glimmer Screens series: Vintage Seasons, Halloween. I added the hand drawn doodles and stamped the leaves with one of my favourite stamps from 3rd Eye.









What is your favourite way to enjoy an autumn weekend? I hope you're spending a nice one right now!