Värihaaste

Paskikseen vaihtui haaste, ja vuorossa olevat värit tuntuivat kuiskaavan "gorjuss", joten ei muuta kuin tuumasta toimeen. Kortista ei tullut sellainen kuin aluksi suunnittelin, mutta ei haittaa, koska tämä on tosi kiva. Tekisi mieli kokeilla samaa muillakin väriyhdistelmillä! Voisin vaikka vannoa, että tämä ensimmäinenkin kuva oli ihan tarkka otettaessa...

Tyttö on leimattu tussilehtiöön ja väritetty Promarkereilla. En oikein tunne oloani kotoisaksi niiden kanssa, mutta tulipa harjoiteltua.Tausta on tehty TH sapluunan ja musteenlevittimen avulla.  Päädyin onnitteluteemaan ja kirjaimet on väritetty mekon väreillä. Lopputulos oli vähän valju, mutta parani huomattavasti pienillä yksityiskohdilla: leimasin hahmon myös vanhalle kirjansivulle ja leikkasin pelkän ukkelinauhan irti ja liimasin paikoilleen. Lisäksi käytin valkoista geelikynää tytön mekon ja silmien yksityiskohtiin sekä kirjaimiin... ja taustan kuviopalluroihinkin. Tyttö ja kirjaimet on kiinnitetty nalleteipin avulla hieman koholle. Siitä on helppo leikata kapeitakin suikaleita pikku yksityiskohtien alle.

Gorjuss tytön olen ostanut joskus Sinellin poistohyllystä, kirjaimet ovat puolestaan tästä Rubber Dancen uudesta setistä (jos innostut shoppailemaan heidän verkkokaupassaan, saat 15% alennusta käyttämällä koodia kristiina2016). Gorjuss leimasettiin kuuluu myös erillinen, vähän suurempi ukkelinauha, leimailin sen kirjekuoreen ja väritin Distress tusseilla.

Hyvää uutta vuotta itse kullekin, miksei vaikka vähän onneakin :)

Mixed Media

The Scrappiness challenge is asking for mixed media. I started with that in mind, and am also linkig this to the Rubber Dance challenge (white, blue and "festive" red that turned out kind of purplish) and the Designs By Ryn customer creations challenge.

The background is my go-to mixed media layer: scrap paper glued onto scrap card. A layer of gesso, embossing through the stencil, sprays, stamping... That's it, always works for me :) The stamps I used are from Rubber Dance.

The sentiment was heat embossed onto vellum and sewed over the card. I sewed all the way around a couple of times, after which I realized the piece was too big for an A6 card and too small (on it's own) for 5x7. I mounted it on purple (or perhaps burgundy) smooth card from DCVW.

Everything is Possible!

The challenge at De Stempelwinkel is asking for animals. I'm joining in the fun with this card that features a hummingbird. Also posting for the Designs By Ryn customer creations challenge. Lucky for me, De Stempelwinkel stocks stamps and stencils by Ryn.

I made this gold/brown background some time ago using acrylic paints and some sprays. The leaves in the corners have been made with Ryns Maidenhair Fern stencil and Gloss Gel. I stamped some background elements (far eastern text) and the sentiment. These are both from Rubber Dance art stamps. Keeping to the brown colours, I used Mixed Media Inks Honey embossing powder on the sentiment and added highlights with a white Sharpie.  The hummingbird (also by Ryn) was stamped on a separate piece of paper, coloured with Inktense pencils and water, fussy cut and adhered with low foam tape.

Build Christmas in Your Heart

I couldn't have Christmas without Christmas Carols. Last Sunday I visited the Pyhtää medieval church for a Christmas Carol singing event. The church was full and singing along was lovely. I wanted to preserve something of the feeling in my art journal and decided on a quote from a newer Finnish Christmas Song.

I build Christmas in my heart

and into a quiet mind

the baby Jesus is born again

Not calling myself a translator, but you can get the idea :) I'm posting this spread for the Country View challenge (Create a Scene), the Our Creative Corner challenge (Wish Upon a Star), the Show Your Face -linkup and Paint Party Friday.

I sketched the image and text into my art journal, glued text from the pamflet we received when we were singing, added a mixture of clear and white gesso. I love the way watercolours work on the gesso! My painting skills go just so far, and I added detail with Rubber Dance stamps and dots and detail with a Sharpie pen. I'm not happy with the baby's face, but otherwise this turned out better than I thought at some point! Here are some pictures of the process. Sorry the light shifts :)

Just a sketch, using Dina Wakleys principals for building a face.
Couldn't find the link to her tutorial, sorry.

Paper collage. I like the stars showing on her face.

Clear gesso and some white too. Didn't think that the gesso seals my sketch
so I couldn't erase the lines between the text anymore...

Used water colours to add colour. 

Stamps to add texture and detail. Also more colour with Inktense pencils and water.

More stamping and detail with acrylic paints and pens.
Got carried away and forgot to take process pictures :)

I have used the music background stamp and stamps from Weed Love, ATC backgrounds 1, sew Sweet and Winter Wishes. All were stamped using Stazon inks, they dry so fast that they don't disperse into the structure of the gesso (which I have found Archival to do). I also used the Star Crescent and Lily stencils from Imagination Crafts. The text and the stencilling have been done with white acrylic paints and shaded with a golden Zig pen. I especially love what the snowy swirl did to Mary's cape. Here are some closeups.

In the Meadow

Posting my last calendar for the Craft Barn Calendar challenge (prompt words gold/silver and trees).

Also posting for the Chocolate Baroque challenge (red, black, white), the Country View challenge (Create a Scene) and the Our Creative Corner challenge (Wish Upon a Star).

My personal choice of theme for this calendar has been mixed media and pages from an old book with sermons from 1850. I happened to spot a Christmas Sermon with a Bible quote of the shepards watching their herd, and the scene evolved around it. The shepards have been fussy cut and mounted on low foam tape next to their story.

I didn't really like the colours of the previous Chocolate Baroque challenge, so I waited for it to change -- and the new colours were even further from what I had wished! Decided to go with them anyway, though the old paper required an add of tan. The tree line (of which only a small part is visible on both edges) and the shepards are both CB stamps. I just got some gold star confetti from my DT boss Bibi, and used it to bling the sky. Love how they caught the light in the picture below!

The calendar grid has been hand drawn according to Finnish style with the week running from Monday to Sunday and names marked for each day. The previous pages of this calendar can be found here:

January
February
March
April
May

June

July

August

September
October

November

Red and White Christmas

Posting this Christmas card for the VivaLasVegaStamps challenge. I was inspired by their beautiful moodboard (red, white, stripes, glitter, mail art, Santa, black-and-white...), actually the thought of red didn't even feel as intimidating as usual! Besides VLVS I'm posting for the SimonSaysStamp Monday challenge (Just a Pinch...of glitter), the Craft Stamper challenge (Sharing the Season) and the WOW challenge (winter... well Christmas is supposed to be winter even though it doesn't look like winter here). All the used stamps are from VLVS.

I started by stamping the lovely bird tree onto Crafty Individuals Satin card with Distress inks (Festive Berries, Barn Door and Aged Mahogany) and heat embossing with clear embossing powder. I matted it on an inky red piece of watercolour paper and sewed around it. I originally planned to place something red under the torn linen, but it gave the fabric a pink glare so I cut white paper, drew around it with an embossing pen and heat embossed with Strawberry Crush embossing glitter from WOW. I wanted the matting to give some extra stripes besides the tree itself, so I sewed over the fabric with the same red thread used on the previous layer.

As for mail art... I wanted to try the black-and-white colour combination with the Santa theme, so I stamped Vintage Santa with black ink, masked him with washi tape and stamped over with the ledger stamp and Barn Door DI. I also wanted something in common with the card, so I went around the edges with the Barn Door inkpad and added more Strawberry Crush. Some red smudges, but I don't think anyone who receives this will mind. Besides my cards for this year are already done and sent, this might well end up waiting until next December!

Luonnoksen mukaan...

Meneillään olevassa Paskiksessa on neliskanttinen luonnos. Päädyin aika yksinkertaiseen mustavalkoiseen väriskaalaan, piristykseksi vähän keltaista. Tänään sattuikin niin, että päivä paistaa täällä Kymenlaaksossakin. On vähintään viikko siitä kun olen viimeksi nähnyt vilauksen auringonsäteestä! Mukavaa pitkästä aikaa ottaa kortista kuva ilman keinovaloa :)

Pensselit ja teksti on leimattu mustalla ja embossattu kirkkaalla jauheella. Lisäsin vielä Crackle Accents -lakkaa pensseleiden päälle. Pensselileima on upouudesta Rubber Dance leimasetistä, teksti viime syksyltä. Lisäksi ripottelin värikkäitä kohojauheita (kuumensin paperin alapuolelta, sillä jauhetta ei ollut kiinnitetty mitenkään, muuten se olisi puhalluksesta lentänyt taivaan tuuliin). Musta dominopaperi on jostakin DCVW lehtiöstä.

Jos huvittaa käydä Rubber Dancella leimaostoksilla, saat 15% alennuksen koodilla kristiina2015 (vuodenvaihteen jälkeen vaihtuu tuo vuosiluku :)

Happiness

The Stampinback challenge is asking for 50 shades of green. Playing along with this simple card.

The canvas background is from a masterboard I made about a month ago, check here if you want to. I actually tried heat embossing the sentiment straight on the background, but felt there wasn't enough contrast. Besides canvas has texture, so the stamped image loses some detail. I stamped on a piece of card with Versamark and heat embossed again, I like this a lot more :) The embossing powder is Verdigris from WOW. A lovely patina green, that really looks good with this grungy font.

Congrats

The Stampotique Designers Challenge #225 is asking for alphabets. I just got a new alphabet sheet from Rubber Dance Art Stamps, and simply had to get some ink on them! I love alphabet stamps. Especially since I speak a "small" language and the range of ready built quotes and dies with words in Finnish is extremely limited.

I chose an inky underpaper (a text sheet from a chemistry test) and stamped Daniels Hearts with Versamark, heat embossing with WOW Primary Azure. The text was equally embossed onto vellum. I was lucky to be able to stamp everything at once, because the u and n are the same. I used the grid on my craft mat to align the unmounted stamps onto a block with TacknPeel.

I finished the card by mounting the paper on a card blank, sewing everything in place and watercolour stamping the envelope.

More Frosty Scenes

Really this is me dreaming of a white Christmas... school holidays are now upon us, and all we get is rain! North Finland has -30 centigrade. I wouldn't like it to be that cold, but -5 would be enough to bring the moisture down as snow instead of rain :)

I have been taking part in the Craft Barn Calendar Challenge this year: one page every month, and now I have a full calendar, whoopie! Actually I've been working on three calendars, and this is the second finished one. Besides the calendar challenge (Gold/Silver and Trees) I'm posting for the Craft Barn weekly challenge (trees), the Country View challenge (Create a Scene), the Our Creative Corner challenge (Wish Upon a Star) and the SimonSaysStamp Monday challenge (Just a Pinch... =gold)

This whole (January-December) calendar has been made by collaging underpapers. It is certainly my favourite of the ones I've been working on, always breaking a smile on me.  I stitched around the collage pieces with my sewing machine, and picked a gold yarn to add some bling. I sewed it on with a narrow zigzag stitch.  Love the glimmer and texture on this paper! My kids demanded that this isn't given away, it will be the one we have on our own wall :)

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

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

Woyww #341

Wednesday morning, and woyww is upon us again. Here is my work desk today. Not bad, plenty of space, a couple of projects on the go... If you don't know what this is all about, head to the Stamping Ground blog, and our hostess Julia will explain everything :) This is in some ways a lovely moment: Christmas cards have been sent on Monday, tests have been marked... just a few lessons, and we'll be on holiday. I really don't mind!

The blue thing on the left is a mouse mat. I grabbed it from work, after realizing I have three in my classroom and never use any. I'm going to try if I get better images from stamping. Just got some new stamps from Rubber Dance, tried them out on a calendar background and a card. Alphabet stamps placed on my TacknPeel block, a pile waiting to be cleaned further back. A couple of pieces on the left are waiting to be heated (embossing powder already in place...) My heat gun shut itself down on Saturday, so I've been embossing over the toaster in the kitchen. A new heat tool has been ordered... if I'm lucky, the old one can be fixed and I'll end up with two. The yellow folder holds my calendar pages, still two to go and Christmas is next week! Behind it is a glimpse of my tenor recorder. This time of the year means C-music in a few places and that is there because I don't need it (playing descant and treble).

December calendar

The Craft Barn calendar challenge has reached December, and I have one 2016 calendar done :) ... still two to go! The December calendar prompts are silver/gold and trees. I decided on a lovely bird tree stamp that hasn't been used before, it's from VivaLasVegaStamps last years Christmas plate.

After heat embossing the stamp I started trying it out on different backgrounds, and to my surprise found I could use one from an 8x8 pad that rarely finds it place (DCWV Mariposa). I love how the imagery suits the little birds on the branches. I had to draw two calendar grids : the November one behind this and the December one behind the January page. This way the whole calendar will be flippable all year round.

After the first pages I imagined this would become terribly thick and bought large book rings to eventually bind this together. As the calendar has grown, my amount of embellishments has become less and less, so it didn't become as thick as I thought and the rings are about twice as big as necessary. So even though this is theoretically finished, I might do some shopping and change those rings before giving this forward :)

The previous pages of this calendar can be found through the following links. I might also get around to doing a post with pics of each page gathered in one place.

January 

February

March

April 

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

Frosty scenes

Posting for the Lavinia challenge (let it snow) with these cards that I made from a small masterboard. The background has acrylic paints and heat embossing. And snowflakes of course, even though the other colours might not be the most traditional ones :)

More about the background here, I used Lavinia stamps and stamped with Versamagic inks, mostly embossed with glittery kaleidoskope powder. The snowflakes have been done with a stencil, an embossing dabber and white embossing powder. I also sprinkled some Stampendous Chunky White around. I stamped the plants on vellum with Versamark, heat embossed with WOW Sparkling Snow, fussy cut and adhered with small strips cut from low foam tape.

Woyww #340

It's Wednesday again, and that means a chance to join in the woyww fun and hop around crafty desks all over the world! Here's mine this morning. A mess. There is an almost finished 2016 calendar somewhere underneath the pile, but I got some shopping yesterday in the mail and dumped the new stash on top of everything :)

To the left my box of sequins under a stamp that should be cleaned and put away. A tub of gesso being used to hold a roll of washi tape and a stamped little card. The card with sequins has tumbled over and is partly hidden by the gesso. My calendar, used it to add name days on my December page for next year. Some half finished cards, piles of paper, tubs of embossing powder (I won those six from WOW and bought some more after realizing what awesome possibilities they offer...). Papers left over from marking tests and at the far right my Christmas calendar. A scout calendar that I bought last year well before December and lost so I didn't open it last year :)

Here's how I'm sitting writing this: my knees up so the dog can comfortably sleep in my lap...

I needed to buy Stazon cleaner, I had a 25% discount code to my favourite online store: not a bad combination. I started shopping, but found that the cleaner was out... finished my shopping anyhow, and there's another package coming from another store (hopefully) by the end of the week with the cleaner. And a bit of something else too, I guess.

Oliskin lunta tulvillaan...

Meneillään olevassa Paskiksessa pyydetään lunta. Mietin, jos se lumi vaikka tällaisella "manauksella" sattuisi löytämään reittinsä tännekin päin. Olisi kaikki viime päivien vedet saaneet mielellään tulla lumena!

Pohjimmaisena on kortti johon on liimattu paperisuikaleita ja maalattu gessolla. Näitä minulla on aina pöytälaatikossa. Päälle on sapluunan avulla embossattu lumihiutaleita, minkä jälkeen lisäsin valkoista ja sinistä suihkeväriä. Rubberdancen teksti on leimattu kuultopaperille Versamarkilla ja embossattu samalla kimaltavalla valkoisella kuin lumihiutaleet. Voitin WOW kohojauhefirmalta 6 purkkia kohojauheita. Tähän asti minulla on ollut vain kirkasta, valkoista, mustaa ja kultaa. Nyt löytyy ties mitä muutakin, enkä tiedä miten olenkaan ilma pärjännyt :)