Elina Stromberg

Hi!
Hope your weekend has started well.
I wanted to share with you a page I made in my new art journal book:

The page is a fun collage with inked and stamped background. My favourite techniques, and my favourite stamps. True art journal pleasure!


I made a simple picture tutorial for this project; it can be read in the Viva Las VegaStamps! blog. More info on the stamps I used is at the end of the post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hi and greetings from Finland!
Welcome to our Blog Hop, organized by Precious Remembrance Shop and Imagine!


Starting yesterday the design team members of both companies have been sharing with you lots of amazing projects and tons of inspiration - enjoy and have fun!

The blog hop comes with a cool giveaway: Hop along and leave us some comments on each blog you've visited. Please also show us some love!:) Like and Follow both companies on Facebook and Instagram:

Precious Remembrance Shop: Facebook , Instagram
Imagine Crafts: Facebook , Instagram

There are two amazing prizes for lucky winners:
One winner will get 'School Days' and 'Totally' stamp sets by Precious Remembrance Shop. Those are the stamps I have used in my projects; I love them!
And another lucky winner will get a $30 Gift Certificate from Imagine Crafts.
How cool is that! 

Here's a list of design team members and their blog posts for Blog Hop day 2:
For the card front I chose a piece of plain kraft cardstock. I stamped the pattern with yellow ink as I did not want the ink to show too much under the stitches. Once the yellow Memento was dry the lines could be seen only very gently which was just the result I wanted to gain.
I used only one stamp, but rotated it by 180 degrees after each line.


Using three strings of the pink and embroidery yarns I stitched the stamped pattern.





I like how the card background looks like. Hope it inspires you, too!
If you missed the blog hop posts from yesterday (blog hop day 1), please have a look at my ATC card post yesterday. Blog hop ends on May 19, so there's still plenty of time to participate.

Thanks for participating in our blog hop and for visiting my blog.
Wishing you a wonderful day!

Hi and greetings from Finland!
Welcome to our Blog Hop, organized by Precious Remembrance Shop and Imagine!


Today and tomorrow design team members of both companies are sharing with you lots of cool projects and tons of inspiration - enjoy and have fun!

The blog hop comes with a cool giveaway: Hop along and leave us some comments on each blog you've visited. Please also show us some love!:) Like & Follow both companies on Facebook & Instagram:

Precious Remembrance Shop: Facebook , Instagram
Imagine Crafts: Facebook , Instagram

There are two amazing prizes for lucky winners:
One winner will get 'School Days' and 'Totally' stamp sets by Precious Remembrance Shop. Those are the stamps I have used in my projects; I love them!
And another lucky winner will get a $30 Gift Certificate from Imagine Crafts.
How cool is that!

Here's a list of design team members and their blog posts for Blog Hop day 1:

Hi,
I love stencils. There are so many cool designs out there, and one can never have too many of them! Usually I use stencils for creating cool background patterns and textures, but some stencil images are perfect for collaging, too!


Before creating the face image, I prepared the background. The first layer of color was misted, using the vivid ‘Lilac Posies’ color from Imagine Fireworks! series. Once the color was dry I added texture: I mixed pink Fireworks! spray ink with white texture paste and stenciled random patterns on the pages. Once the paste was dry I started stamping; first using magenta acrylic paint and a piece of bubble wrap as my stamp, and then continued with regular stamps. For the triangles I used a Cocoa Daisy stamp set, and the black dots I stamped with the end of a plywood pencil. As finishing touch I added a hint of white by stamping white acrylic paint on the page using a plastic roll.




For the face I wanted to try a fun collage technique fun technique; I placed the face image on black cardstock, traced the face parts with a thin pen, and cut out. The larger pieces I cut with scissors, but for cutting the smaller parts I used a craft knife. For assembling the face on my art journal page I used the stencil as my guidance. It made the assembly job so much easier!



The quote was picked up from Pinterest, and for cutting the letters I used my die-cutting machine and Sizzix alpha dies. I’m happy with how the page turned out!

Wishing you a wonderful day!
Hugs,

 

Hi!
Happy Mothers Day!
Earlier this year I shared in Imagine blog a project I made as a gift for my son's godparents. Actually I made two projects using the same technique; for the first portrait I used Imagine Walnut inks, and for the second one I used Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils. I think they both looked very nice!

Whenever I come across an inspiring technique tutorial or a project idea, I save it to one of my Pinterest boards. Those pins become handy when there’s a need for getting the creative juices flowing, but even if the creative mojo is not lost I love to browse through the idea boards for getting fresh innovative ideas.

Some of the pinned projects have been on my to-do list for a while already, waiting for the right time slot to be explored. Like a watercolor portrait tutorial by Elise Engh in her Grow Creative blog that I pinned years ago: I loved the project idea and I had planned to make these cool monotone portraits of my kids, but I was not sure if I had the patience for following all the tutorial steps of editing, printing, tracing, and painting. So, when I finally decided to give it a try, I altered the steps, cut some corners, and finished in no time at all! I used a photo editing program for creating my painting template, and instead of making the painting completely monotonous I used two matching Walnut ink colors for painting. And I loved how the portrait turned out!

Creating the painting template requires some photo editing skills, but you don’t need to be an expert for making the template. You can use whichever software you wish, but as photo editing software vary, I did not include detailed instructions of the photo editing steps. However, please do leave a comment if more guidance is needed.

Walnut inks come in several natural earth tones, and they give a beautiful antique finish to photos, papers, and wooden embellishments. They come in handy spray bottles, but the strong pigment inks can also be used as liquid watercolors; they were the perfect choice for this portrait project!

How to do it:

Step 1:

Choose a well-lit portrait photo and open it in a photo editing program (e.g. Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Gimp, PicMonkey). Adjust colors and lightning, and if needed, add contrast. Convert the photo to black and white, and remove the background. Edit the photo using ‘Posterize’ adjustment tool. Set levels to 2, i.e. use only two colors on the posterized photo. Once done, lighten the black to a light grey so that when you print it is just a light shadow.

Step 2

Step 2:

Pour a small amount of Walnut Ink in Brown and Eucalyptus (an earthy green) on a watercolor palette. Taping the paper on the surface is not needed as the Walnut ink will not curl the paper.

Step 3

Paint the portrait using a small brush, covering all printed light grey areas. Let the colors mix, and add water for gaining lighter tints. Work rather quickly, using a rich amount of ink. Walnut Ink will dry quite fast on a porous watercolor paper. When finished, trim the portrait to the desired size and frame.

Thank you for stopping by the Imagine blog and if you enjoyed this tutorial then please comment below or share on social media! 

Here's how the second project looked like. I used dark brown as my main colour, and added some highlights with a lighter brown.

Original blog post published in Imagine blog (link *here*). Please visit Imagine blog for more inspirational project ideas!

 Wishing you a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

While making the ATC's, I took step-by-step photos, and wrote a tutorial, too. You can read it (with info about the stamps I used) in VLVS! blog *here*.



Wishing you a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by in my blog!

Hope your week has started well.
Last Friday a new monthly challenge was started at Craft Stamper blog. As always, 'anything goes', so entering could not be easier! Just remember to use stamping somewhere on your project.
Our lovely sponsor this month is Skull And Cross Buns ; an UK based manufacturer of fun and quirky stamps :) One lucky winner will get these two stamp sets:

Please read the challenge rules here before linking your project; and visit the CS May challenge site for all details!

My May project is a 12" scrapbooking layout:


The lovely birds are stamped and die-cut using the 'Give a Hoot' set by Elizabeth Craft Designs. I just love this set! For stamping I used the 'Tuxedo Black' Memento ink, and for colouring my Promarkers.


 Papers and embellishments are from Studio Calico August and September kits.


Hope you get inspired and play along our challenge! There's plenty of time to enter; just link a picture of your project on the challenge site by May 23.

Have a great day! Thaks for stopping by :)