Art journal: Women and cats




Hi!
The starting point for this spread was a page on which the colors had bled through from the previous side. To hide the unwanted marks I covered the entire page with white heavy gesso.

The background pattern is die-cut; I repeated the same pattern a few times and tried to position the die so that the pattern would continue. Worked nicely even if the die wasn't designed for that kind of use (Sizzix Thinlits 'Mixed Media' set by Tim Holtz).

The contrast between the cream white background and the pink die-cut grid was too strong, so to soften the look I dabbed a thin layer of pink acrylic paint on the background, under the grid. Much better!


For coloring the digi images by Vera Lane I used alcohol markers (Promarkers and Copics).



And I love the quote; truer words were never spoken! No need to ask my hubby for a second opinion :D

(Quote written by Robert A. Heinlein who was an American science-fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and retired Naval officer)

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you a wonderful day!


Art journal: Two princesses




Hi!
Sharing with you an art journal spread I made in my Moleskine book, using all my favorite techniques:

Background: First inked with Distress inks, then splashed with water and with thin white acrylic paint. Additional patterns with stencils and stamps.

Main images: Digital stamps, printed on white paper and colored with alcohol markers (both Promarkers and Copics in use). Highlights added using a white charcoal pencil



All the used lovely images (princesses, flowers, bird, clouds) are designs by Vera Lane.


Isn't this the perfect page for brightening a rainy summer day? A little princess sparkle does the trick! 😊

Thanks for stopping by, so happy to have you here! 💖




Art journal: Rewriting stories


Hi!
A few years back I faced a crafting dilemma: I loved to color stamped images and to build collages and sceneries, but I had used those elements and techniques only for cards. Creating cards was of course a lot of fun, but my stash of ready-made cards kept growing. It was obvious that I did not need a constant flow of new cards and I had to find another way to keep my creative mojo flowing.

In the past, I had made a few art journal pages in my Moleskine book, but I never really got started with art journaling. My inner critic voice kept telling me that art journals are creative playgrounds for 'true artists' i.e. for people who fill the book pages with pretty drawings, gorgeous paintings or clever texts. I wasn't sure if I would meet those requirements.


It took me a while to realized that my art journal pages are really MY art journal pages. They are made by me, for me. The pages' main purpose is to bring me joy, and therefore I needed to use only those techniques and themes that made me happy.

I started to create pages that gave me true pleasure throughtout the creative process: I colored stamped images and created layered backgrounds with and without mixed media elements. I build colorful collages and included both fuzzy-cut and die-cut images on my pages. I stamped, stencilled, inked, colored, and doodled, and loved every page I made. So much for strict rules in art and art journaling!


This art journal spread with Vera Lane digital images is one of the very last pages in my first complete Moleskine art journal book. I loved these images from 'Little Red Riding Hood'. And the quote says it all: Rewrite your own story. Just go for it! :)


Thanks for stopping by ❤!



Scrapbooking: Lucky is a state of mind


Hi!
Today I'm sharing with you a 12"x12" layout I made a short while back:

On Creative World 2020 in Frankfurt I grabbed an A5 sized booklet by "Urban Art Lab: Education". I love street art but I also found their educating concept quite interesting: It was all about how to introduce graffiti and street art tools, materials, and techniques to retailers so that they then feel confident to share the information with their customers. I'm guessing that even if street art looks super cool it may not be the easiest form of art: If I wanted to give it a try I wouldn't even know where to start!

 
The booklet was also visually appealing, and when I decided to use this specific photo for a layout I remembered the pictures I had seen on the small brochure. So I chose a simple grey background by 7 Dots Studio and built my collage of fuzzy-cut street art tool pictures on a strip of yellow patterned paper. I love how well it all came together!

I had two identical copies of the photo, so I cut out part of the photo and layered it with foam stickers on top of the background photo. This technique is one of my favorites (thanks Olga Heldwein for sharing it!), and I tend to use it quite often on my layouts. I'm not a big fan of high scrapbooking pages, but with this types of elements you can build layers and dimendion without increasing the height too much. I want that my pages fit into standard page protectors without issues :).


Hope this page inspires you to consider using images from magazines as your project embellishments.
Thanks for stopping by!

Looking back on Okka Treff 2018


In October 2018 I had the great pleasure to join a group of friends on a creative weekend in Egersund, Norway. Linda and Brit, our wonderful hosts, had managed to invite Louise Nelson from Australia to teach at Okka Treff.  I booked my spot immediately after the classes were available; I could not miss that rare opportunity!


Unfortunately my weekend had a rocky start. I was supposed to take the early morning flight via Oslo to Stavanger but due to technical reasons the plane left Helsinki only late in the afternoon. After a horrible customer experience by the airline company (waiting for hours standing in the queue, no proper information of anything, no food nor drinks etc.) we finally took off six hours later. I was booked on a very tight connecting flight to Stavanger, so naturally my luggage was left behind somewhere in Oslo.
Had that been a 'regular' holiday trip without the family I probably would have managed one evening quite ok even without my baggage. The problem was that I was joining art classes, and ALL my supplies were in the luggage. Paints, scissors, pens, papers, ... Everything!
My wonderful crafty friends came to help. People lended me tools to work with, and generously provided me plenty of supplies and materials so that I could participate in the workshops fully.
Without them my weekend would have been quite miseable as the luggage only arrived late on Saturday. So once again thank you everyone (and special extra thanks to Riikka and Linda for really making my weekend )



However, the additional hazzle with the luggage did not manage to dim the weekend sparkle. Louise is an amazing artist, a very good teacher and also the sweetest person. The workshops were packed with inspiration as we were introduced to many different techniques: During the weekend I painted portraits, created lots of mono printed patterned pages, experimented in mark making, tried stamp carving for the first time, and managed to finish five (!!) scrapbooking layouts. And enjoyed every minute!

When going through pictures of that weekend I realized how much I miss my crafty friends. I'm so much hoping life will get back to normal and I will get so see you all soon again!






ATCs with Vera Lane digi stamps



Hi!
Coloring stamped images is one of my favorite ways to unwind. It's facinating to see how the colors change the look of the B&W drawings completely; I like to think that colors bring the stamped images to life. Very often I stamp the same image more than once and color each replica with a different set of colors. It's fun to see how the choice of colors impacts the entire appearance!



Vera Lane images are one of my favorites for coloring. The images are fun and interesting to look at, but at the same there are not too many tiny details which my bit old Promarkers could not manage anymore. The images are easy to fuzzy cut (with or without a border around), and as they are digital images the size can be set just right for the purpose.


Vera Lane images can be purchased in Etsy. If you prefer regular stamps check out the Veral Lane collections by AALL&Create.


This time I printed the images in a bit smaller size and created a collection of ATC cards (size 2.5" x 3.5"). The background papers I first stamped with acrylic paints and then inked with Distress inks. A simple and fun technique that worked well for this purpose.


In addition, I created another pair of cards using images from the 'Peekaboo' set. These lovely girls I have also used for several birthday cards, but I was happy to see how nice the images fit on smaller cards, too.


This set of cards make me smile. Hope they bring a smile to your face, too! :)

Wishing you a nice day. Thanks for stopping by!



Purrfect birthday cards


Birthday cards with cute cats

A while back I made a set of two birthday cards and two ATC's using a fun cat stamp 'Purrfect Gift #121' by AALL&Create. The image is designed by super talented Olga Heldwein (who I've been very happy to call my friend for several years already).

This one stamp set and especially the large main image provides lots of possibilities for using: Depending on which part of the image you decide to include on your project you can create different versions of the same card:

Birthday cards with cute cats

This large cat stamp works well for ATC's in size 2.5" x 3.5", too:

Birthday cards with cute cats

Birthday cards with cute cats


As usual, for coloring I used my Promarkers.

Wishing you a purrfect day! Thanks for stopping by!

Stamped collage in miniature size


Cardmaking fun: ATC card with stamped collage background


Hi!
A few weeks back I discovered a fun program in which the participants commit to doing something creative every day for 100 days. Participating in #The100DayProject is free, and everyone can decide themselves what kind of projects they want to make in order to explore their creativity. The idea is to spread out the inspiration and share the projects in Instragram with a common hashtag #the100dayproject. Interesting, isn't it! (Read more about the program *here*)



I don't have a good track record of doing something every single day, as allocating time on regular basis for this hobby is sometimes quite challenging (thinking back on some poor attempts on Project Life that have always ended after a month or two, lol). Nevertheless I liked the program idea and decided to play along; if there were days without a card I would just continue the following day. To make the journey simple I chose one simple project type to carry out and to replicate every day: I will create ATC cards using various stamping, die-cutting, and collaging techniques. This would also provide me an opportunity to use my stash of stamped, colored and fuzzy cut images and my a pile of ready made backgrounds. So that was my idea for this creative journey!

This spring the program started already early April, but encouraged by the program prompt stating that "Any day is a good day to start your own #The100DayProject" I made my first card on day 56/100. The card size is a bit larger than a standard ATC; my #the100dayproject cards are of size 3"x5" (some call this card size "skinny ATC's"). Once my pile of ready-made cards has gained some height I will share the pictures with you here in my blog. Until then please hop over to my instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/elinas_arts/) to view my daily card posts

Today I shared already my eleventh card: It's a stamped collage for which I took out my old Doodle Factory stamps (my love for those cute images still goes strong). I stamped the background scenery several times on green and brown leftover papers, cut the parts out, and layered them on my card background. Love the fun and playful look!


Very often I stamp and color two versions of the main image; sometimes the two characters become identical and sometimes I try out different colour versions to see which ones work best for the project. Often I use the second versions for an ATC, and this time was no exception:



I hope these cards brought a smile to your face; they are created with happiness and I hope it shows in the end result!

Wishing you a nice day. Thanks for stopping by!


Art journal page: Lot of happiness



Hi and welcome to my blog!

1.5 years have passed since I wrote my last post. No specific reason for the silence; work life has just been quite hectic including a lot of travelling, and during the evenings and weekends at home I was not able to allocate enough time for staying online. When time was short, I chose to spend the 'me time moments' at my crafting table creating new projects instead of blogging about them. So that's why you haven't heard from me in a while.

This exceptional spring has cut down the business travels and during the weeks at home I started thinking that it was time to wake up my blog again. Before the offline period I gave the blog a new look and feel, and now I'm excited to continue working on that transition in the coming weeks. And with great exitement I'm sharing with you this new post!

For this art journal page I used a patterned paper I had made a long time ago: In October 2018 Louise Nelson was teaching in Egersund, Norway, and I had the pleasure to participate in the creative weekend and take her workshops. The background page is a simple mark making scribble, but it worked well with the cute girly digi stamp image by Vera Lane!


"You can never have too much happy". I could not agree more!

Thanks for stopping by. How wonderful to see you here!