The world is round...

The world is round 

and the place which may seem like the end 

may also be the beginning.

Ivy Baker Priest

A last minute take on the VivaLasVegaStamps October challenge. I've chosen the warm orange- browns, polkadots and trees from the moodboard. I was planning to use the above sentiment too, but don't have space for it, so I'm leaving this as it is. I'm also posting for the Simon Says Stamp challenges Wednesday (Anything goes) and Monday (Throwback, I chose the 'Love this technique' from September. 

The background was simply brayered with acrylic paints in light brown and a yellow orange on a cream cardblank. Spreading paint with a brayer is my "Love this Technique" part. Haven't done much of it, but is a new favourite. I used sequin waste and chalk paint for the dots, stamped the Ledger background first, and the Tree Circle background on top. Had I checked the colour of the inks, I might have chosen a darker colour for the trees, Versafine Vintage Sepia was surprisingly pale! The tree stamp was heat embossed with VLVS clear embossing powder. I placed it off centre, because my plan was to add the sentiment... better this way with air and space, then all cramped up :)

P.S all my unmouted stamps are completely unmounted, I have an acrylic block with "TacknPeel" that I usually use for stamping. The tree circle is too big for that, but I had my gelli plate out (I like to roll the paint on that before going on the paper, got a gelliprint, too) and realized that the unmounted stamp stuck nicely to the gelli plate that sits firmly on a large acrylic block. 

Life is what happens

The Lavinia October challenge is asking for glitter and gems. I decided to do a spread in my art journal. Besides the Lavinia challenge, I'm posting for the Designs by Ryn customer creations challenge (I've used my favourite stencils: maidenhair and anemone), the WOW challenge (embossing on anything but a card) and the Stamplorations mixed media challenge.

Lots of pictures here, I'm prepared to show everything this page holds :) It doesn't cease to surprise me how badly gesso mutes the brusho and spray colours. They look vibrant, while wet, and become pastels, when dry! The texture paste ended up being the part that seeped most colour.

I tore some scrap paper and glued it on my spread. Old book paper, some bills and a math test...

Added gesso and crackle paste, gel medium and texture paste

Brushos and Dylusions sprays. Especially since the Brusho doesn't have a proper pink.

Sentiment and flowers stamped with a pinkish ink (Encore metallic)

More texture paste and a glittery embossing powder that ended up fastening on everything,
especially the gloss gel flowers. (It was meant to fasten on the wet texture paste)

Some more stamping, the lily stamp heat embossed with white,
sprinkles of chunky white embossing enamel. And diamond Stickles.

I love the words and wonky font on the Angelic words- stamp. I wrote my sentiment by colouring in letters on the stamp with a Distress marker, using a baby wipe to clean the stamp inbetween every letter. Because the font is so fun, it's no problem lining up the letters, and those words on the stamp are matters of life that are easily forgotten (while being busy with the other plans), so they made a perfect match for the sentiment... the only thing I'd change in this would be to write the quote with something else than Black Soot! I wrote it before doing the page and it ended up being the only black thing on the whole spread.

Lots of photo's here, because this should be touched, not just looked at! Thanks for stopping by, looking forward to a crafty November!

Gazing at the sun

My last take on the Craft Barn calendar challenge demanded a bit of a nudge from somewhere. Luckily the Paperartsy challenge introduced triptychs, and I thought that would perhaps be the solution. Also posting for the WOW challenge (anything but a card).

This is a scrappy layout calendar, and I have been at loss for layout ideas... but haven't gotten aroung to searching for sketches. I started by preparing my "photo": I sprayed Lindy's Orange and Dylusions yellow, after which I stamped the bird and branches, heat embossing with clear embossing powder. The Craft Barn challenge prompts are Orange and Pumpkin/Fruit... I had been planning to do some pears, because I have a pear stamp. The "photo" was looking great, and not at all like it had anything to do with pears (I found myself humming 'a partridge in a pear tree'), so I had to think of something else. I ended up going through my stash, and found a winter bird stamp with rowan berries - I'm claiming them to be fruit.

The berries look as if I miss-stamped them, but actually the double lines are probably supposed to be a layer of snow. I stamped them by colouring the berries with a Distress Marker (black soot) and had some trouble placing them where I wanted, but as I coloured them in to create the silhouette effect, I also drew some branches, where missing. In the above picture, the coloured bunch and the branch I drew for them look grey, because they have unheated embossing powder on them. I chose a dark background to mat the "photo" on, and heat embossed a large music stamp before adhering the triptyche.

This calendar page has no grid yet, because that will be behind the November page. I have updated my September page with a photo of the grid that I drew behind this one. 

Update: here is the inished calendar spread: (Oh how desperate it is to take photos under this light...)

You can find the previous pages of this scrappy calendar here:

January 

February

March

April 

May

June

July

August

September

Painting on "glass"

The Stampinback card challenge is asking for stained glass projects. It can obviously mean lots of things, I decided to use a Christmas stamp from Chocolate Baroque, because it is a glass painting in itself. To do two challenges at once, I chose to use the pastels from the ongoing CB colour challenge.

I stamped the image on acetate with Stazon ink, turned it around and coloured the areas with Promarkers. The alcohol markers stick to the plastic, but do slide around on it at first, giving an interesting marble effect, that I felt was as close to stained glass as I could get. I especially like the way the green tiles turned out. The result has a glasslike radiance to it, though I just plainly mounted it on a cardblank. As can maybe be seen, I managed to get a scratch on the halo, when the card fell on the floor and ended up under a cupboard... but had it been real glass, it might have been shattered :)

Woyww #334

Hello fellow deskers and anyone else that happens to drop by! I'm sharing my workdesk for woyww (check the site for an abundance of crafty desks, all available for you to snoop around!) I am late posting this, but at least it's still Wednesday! The gloomy morning light is really not the best time to take photos... My space has been enlarged a bit, as I moved the old, unused computer away from the corner.

My desk was cleared up just last night, and then I (of course) started a new project. Last minute panic: I still have one calendar page left, one other challenge that I have a good idea about and one project under progress waiting for some shopping to arrive, the Madonna card waiting for me to decide if it's ready or not... and not many days of October left :) After cleaning my desk, I started the calendar page. The yellow folder holds all my calendar pages, this is a "scrappy layout" calendar, so I made my faux photo last night, here it is... I think it's so gorgeous, I'm going to have to do some cards like this too! The bird and branches are from the new PA Christmas sets, the background just sprays and the berries a small detail from a Rubber Dance stamp. I liked it better without the berries, but the calendar challenge is demanding "fruit", so had to think of something :)

Black and White

The Art Journey challenge is asking for black and white projects. I love colour, so this has felt quite difficult! Anyway, looking for inspiration, I took an altered book from the shelf... haven't been adding anything for a while, but I found a page with text already written, and realized I could add some stamping and finish the spread. I am also posting for the Paperilla challenge (Letters).

The text says "our inner self is renewed day by day", and I feel butterflies are a good symbol of growth and new beginnings. I have added white Sharpie to the text and images to block out the background text, and used colour pencils in grey and black to add shadows that create depth and make the images pop from the background. The stamps are from the lovely Tulip set from Art Journey.

Best wishes :)

Posting for the Craft Barn challenge (Good Luck) and the Lavinia challenge (glitter and gems) with this little card.

I just love the words on this stamp, all those things one is really wishing when saying a simple "Good luck!". The background is Tattered Angels mists, and I heat embossed the lily. Glitter is in the shimmer of the background and the Wink of Stella that I used on the flowers. The flower heads themselves were turned into small gems by filling them with Crackle Accents. Thanks for stopping by!

A blue pumpkin

The Craft Barn calendar challenge is asking for range and either pumpkins or fruit this month. For my collage calendar I chose to go with the pumpkin:

The background has been stamped with some new PaperArtsy stamps fresh from the mail. I painted over the stamping in orange and used a stencil to help cut out the leaves from green underpaper. I've been trying to use weird colour combinations for this calendar, so the pumpkin ended up blue. I guess I should have cut the leaves from purple paper, they would have stood out more, but this is the way it ended up. Some sewing and doodling... and I'm calling it done!

The calendar grid has been drawn by hand in Finnish style with weeks running from Monday to Sunday and specific names noted for each day.

The previous pages of this collage calendar can be found here:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

Make things possible

My third take on the Paperartsy Faces-challenge. Thanks to PA for getting me started on faces, two weeks ago I would have said I can't do anything of the like! I am also posting this page for the "Show your face" linkup, the De Stempelwinkel challenge (autumn theme) and the Designs By Ryn challenge.

And here is the whole spread. I'm ready to say that I do like the childish dreaminess of my first portrait more than the cold blue hues... And it looks to me I had more courage with light experiments when I did the first one. But in a way they could be the same person woth a few years in between! The blue lady looks very determined, and I decided to pick out some single words from a couple of sentiments to build my own : make things possible. I like it, but had trouble placing it on the image (should have skipped background stamping in a suitable area, but didn't think that far!)

I started with a sketch done about a week ago when I dared myself to try (after watching the Dina Wakley video linked to the challenge post). The left side of this spread was painted then, this side has been waiting for me to have time. The left side is like an autumn day, and I thought I could try making this an autumn night. I used Paynes Grey (more like a dark blue), FF Buff and Raw Sienna for the face. Probably some Raw Umber too. Here are the phases:

A sketch...

Strong shadows, as Dina recommends

Added buff and more Paynes Grey. I really like this one

Added Raw Sienna for warmth

Stamped with stamps from Designs by Ryn and a Les Oiseux text
from De Stempelwinkel. Coloured with green acrylics.

I coloured the white parts with watercolours and the moths
with colour pencils. Finished of the eyes with a bit more detail
and added small white dots to the water droplets.

I added Interference Gold (from Golden) to the face and moths, after which it became rather difficult to take photos under the electric light on my workdesk. The colours in the daylight photo underneath are quite different (and I did add a touch of paint around the chin and brows when I got up in the morning and took a second look. Don't know if they made her any better, I'm calling her done :)

Three pears for October

The Craft Barn calendar challenge is asking for Orange and Pumpkins/Fruit this month. I had to do an inventory in my stash, and found that I don't have any pumpkin stamps... and the only fruit stamps I have are pears from Rubber Dance. Actually two different sizes of pears, this is the larger one.

The background is sprays in brown and orange over some Gloss Gel. I think it is quite cool.

The pears were stamped on the old book paper I have been using for all the pages in this mixed media calendar. I coloured the pears with colour pencils, giving each a touch of orange on at least opne cheek. The calendar grid has been drawn by hand according to the Finnish system, where the week runs from Monday to Sunday and each day is devoted to specific names.

The previous pages of this calendar can be found here:

January
February
March
April
May

June

July

August

September 

WOYWW #333

I've been in such a hurry that I missed a couple of woywws (and almost forgot this one!) But we have a whole week of autumn break from school, so today I do have time for some hopping around desks. Here is my mess, and if someone happens to come by without knowing what this is all about, check out the Stamping Ground blog, where everything will be explained.

I am having a slight panic (once again) over my calendar pages. I went and started three calendars last spring, and right now it's feeling tough getting them done every month... The one at the right is from September, I took it out to measure the grid part. And as can be seen, this October one will be rather similar. But at least it is getting done, still two and a half to go :)

All the more faces

My second post for the Paperartsy "faces" challenge. Actually these faces are the ones I did before my previous post, doodling on underpaper, because I wouldn't have dared to try on anything worthwhile. I'm also posting for the "Show Your Face" linkup.

Last week, a couple of hours after watching Dina's video on the Paperartsy blog post, I took a pen (red, that's what teachers always have at hand!) and doodled a face on underpaper. I didn't like it, so I drew another one that turned out so much better that I decided to take a black pen... and drew a whole lot more. The next day I continued drawing, some with red, some with black. I didn't want to throw the doodles away, as they mark a step into the unknown. I decided to combine the faces with a sentiment that someone shared over FB last week.

Doodles on underpapers

I tore them apart and adhered to a spread in my art journal

Added the sentiment by E.G.White

and coloured with colour pencils

The first faces were each very different from each other, but as I continued, I found that the faces started to resemble each other. I think that's fine, perhaps I'll learn to control the expressions and looks gradually... and I really don't know what to do about hair! Lots to learn here :) I tried to find silly colour combo's for the faces, and I really like the way some of the weirder images turned out.

That's the very first guy on the right. Quite soon I started skipping the nose shadows,
too difficult for me!