The Queen of Night - an altered brush

Good evening! It's quite dark during the evenings and nights nowadays here in Finland. The brightest stars and planets can be seen even in where we live, quite near the city center. However, this project wasn't inspired by the current night sky, but actually from a memory of a movie.

I guess it was a school music lesson when I first saw Amadeus, an 80's film by Milos Forman. It captivated me so much, that I even read the manuscript the movie is based on. I was also fortunate enough to see a Finnish version of the piece in theatre back in the day and it still holds the no 1 spot of the most impressive piece of theatre I have seen. It was captivating to see how deep in character the actor of Salieri was! But back to the film, because it was not only the story that caught my imagination but the visual marvel as well. The movie actually won the "Best Costume Design" Academy Award. Even though I enjoyed all the costumes, what was imprinted on my mind was a really short scene, a snippet of the "Der Hölle Rache", the aria sung by the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. I read somewhere that the bit was inspired by 1815 stage design of the opera by Friedrich Schinkel. So, it's a kind of chain of inspiration here!

I used a Lynne Perrella stamp to make the Queen and then added some night style elements to the mix by adding the moth, some pearls and rhinestones and also a stylized moon. The process in this make is quite straight forward, but the coloring of the stamped image might be something new. If you want to see, how I made that, please follow the link (link) to my YouTube channel!

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a starry Friday and great weekend!

Materials:

PaperArtsy - LPC051 stamp set

Tsukineko - VersaFine Clair Nocturne

A.B.Studio - Mixmedia thick cardboard ID-307

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic paint Vintage Lace, Blue Moon, Captain Peacock, Baltic Blue

Ranger - Adirondack alcohol ink Stream, Citrus

Ranger - Distress collage medium Matte

Prima Marketing - Art Alchemy Metallique wax Old Silver

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic glaze Pearl Glaze

Posca PC-1M white, silver

Stabilo - All aquarelle white pen

paint brush, tissue paper, vellum, piece of cardstock

molded moth (Finnabair "Nocturnal Insects" mold)

white pearls, rhinestones

craft glue

brushes, scissors, sponge

Caramel cake - a transfer project

Oh it feels like ages since I last shared a transfer project! Well, the latest one was over a month ago (link). 

Like the previous ones I've shared, this one was made as a little technique sample for an online workshop that never saw the light of day. I may have mentioned it before, but the idea was to showcase different transfer techniques or mediums. The sample ones I used just one medium for each and then I created an art journal spread (link), too, where I then used several techniques in the same make.

In this particular project I used an acrylic paint to do the transfer. The image is a laser printed Kate Crafts printable and the little label says something equivalent to soothing "there, there" in Finnish.

Thank you for your visit today! Wishing you a lovely day!

Materials: PaperArtsy, Kate Crafts, Korttipaja, Sinelli, Posca

The merry year is born - PaperArtsy

Hello there! The weather forecast promises a flurry during this week even in the south here in Finland, so by the end of the week the scenery might resemble the one in this little project I made for PaperArtsy. You can see the blog post here (link) at PaperArtsy's blog.

This was made as a "With 3 Things" post. This feature on the PaperArtsy Blog is where 3 bloggers are sent 3 items in the post. We bloggers have no clue what PaperArtsy headquaters is going to send us, there might be a slight variation but generally 2 of the 3 things will be identical. This time I had an inkling which designer's stamp set would be sent as it's Alison Bomber highlight! Along with a Alison Bomber stamp set "Hawthorn Edition" I was sent two colors of Infusions and a piece of Grey Board.

I wanted to keep the materials list somewhat short on this project, so I tried to limit myself with them. I used the Grey Board as my base and used the stamps to pattern the background and make the big branch as well as add the little text strips. As colorants went, I mainly tried to use the Infusions I was sent only adding white gesso and black stamping ink to the mix. Well, to be honest I did add a green ink as well, tweaking the Infusions that way. Should you want to see how I made the project, please head over to PaperArtsy blog (link) as you can find a step by step there!

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a fantastic week! 

Materials: PaperArtsy, Tsukineko, Prima Marketing, Ranger

Sugar, spice and everything nice - an altered book cover

Deck the halls with boughs of holly! You may have noticed that I'm in full Christmas mood already! This time I crafted a little canvas-like piece for the Friday process video post. My thought was to use a book cover as the base and then go with my usual process of gessoing and painting, but when I noticed this beautiful mulled wine red cover on my stash, I knew it would be a different process!

The cover I used as my base had this beautiful lace-like pattern in the middle. I wanted to highlight that and chose to use a wreath chipboard to replicate the shape. I then made a cluster of elements on top, this time paying attention to the color of the elements, as I wasn't going to be painting them. Not with a heavy hand at least! To finish the project I added some snowy touches to the composition. Want to see how I crafted the project? If so, please follow this link (link) to my YouTube channel.

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a lovely Friday and hope to see you tomorrow during the YouTube live!

Materials:

A.B.Studio - Mixmedia thick cardboard ID-317

Tsukineko - VersaMark ink

Ranger - Gold embossing powder

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Photobooth #TH93799

Prima Marketing - Art Basics Heavy Body Gel

Prima Marketing - Darcelle flowers 644376

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Gauge Dials #TH94225

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Confections Candy Canes #TH94281

Ranger - Glossy Accents

Prima Marketing - Art Basics Heavy Gesso White

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic paint Snowflake

Prima Marketing - Art Ingredients glass beads Crystal 1,5mm

Ranger - Tim Holtz Distress Rock Candy clear glitter

old book cover, old spoon, metal candle holder

dried orange slices, cinnamon stick, nuts

crochet buttons, faux flowers, small golden snowflake decorations, jingle bells, red ribbon

craft glue

brushes, palette knife, scissors

No-brainer - YouTube live announcement

Moikka moi! This coming Saturday I'm keeping another YouTube live! It's going to be the last one this year, as I'm keeping a Holiday break during December. 

During the live I'm re-creating this art journal spread. The idea behind the page was just going with the flow, building layers and using easy access materials. Well, to be honest, as you can read from the materials list, the latter idea took a bit of a turn at some point, but mainly I'm using just paints and pens together with non-branded embellishments. I'm also doing an easy packaging tape transfer. 

Hope you can join me on Saturday! See you then!

Materials:

art journal

Fabriano - Accademia 160g cardstock

Ranger - Distress watercolor pencils Saltwater Taffy, Festive Berries, Carved Pumpkin, Victorian Velvet, Chipped Sapphire (set 4)

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic paint Cherry Blossom, Chalk

Stampers Anonymous - Labels stencil THS178

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Photobooth #TH93799

Sizzix - Thinlits die set Birds and Stars 662673

pencil, ball point pen

magazine material ("patterned paper" + typography)

a piece of baking paper or other non-stick paper, clear packaging tape

black buttons, pink sewing thread, star ribbon

double sided tape, foam tape, craft glue

paper cutter, brushes, scissors, stapler, sponge, water mister

Peppermint pairs - a pair of cards

Hello and merry Christmas! ...oh wait, not yet. But here's a couple of Holiday cards I made using Tim Holtz paper dolls and some trimmings from previous cards.

Back in October, I published these Lawn Fawn cards (link). I used inks and a stripy stencil to make a candy stripe style background for those. When then trimming the background pieces smaller, I got these left over striped pieces and I left them on my craft table for a while as I liked the look of them. My original idea was to use them together with Lawn Fawn stamps again, but this time making a different composition, a more minimalistic one. But instead, as you can see here, I ended up using them together with some kraft cardstock and vintage elements.

Both cards have similar elements, just the composition is mirrored and the card base in the other is white and in the other red. Both pairs are from a Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas paper doll set. The big seal-like stickers state "Merry Christmas" in Finnish. The other "Good Christmas"  and "Joyful Christmas" in the other, to be exact. 

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a merry Tuesday! 

Materials: PaperArtsy, Ranger, Tim Holtz Idea-ology, J.K.Primeco

Sweet Holidays - a pair of cards

Moikka moi! It's Friday again and today I'm sharing some Holiday cards that I made for today's process video. You can see how I made the pair in this process video (link) on my YouTube channel.

For this pair of cards I had a couple of sources of inspiration. I first picked some dies from my stash. I first grabbed those Holiday styled leaves, which in the end ended up being just on the background. I then chose the big PaperArtsy heart die and finally found the focal points - or so I thought. I used this set, which had both the deer and the birds. While they are quite central to the composition, something was missing and for that I chose the PaperArtsy berry stamp set. Funnily enough, I had used that in the previous video, too!

I guess it was the colorants I chose for the stamped image and the big heart that decided the whole color palette. Or it just could be my love for vintage tea tones! I chose to use PaperArtsy's Infusions dye crystals to color the branch and as they have walnut crystals in the mix, I knew I was in for a brown tone. To heighten that look I used brown inks to color the background, too. Talking about the background, do you see a little mistake on the bird card version? If you did immediately, then my point gets lost, but I bet that wasn't the first thing you noticed, so maybe if a similar thing happens, you can just let it be and continue creating! (If you don't knoe what I'm talking about, there's an ink smudge on the top right corner of the card.)

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a sweet Friday and peaceful weekend!

Materials:

Fabriano - Accademia 160g cardstock

PaperArtsy - EAB27 stamp set

PaperArtsy - Tall Heart die

Sizzix - Thinlits Christmas Elements die set 663413

Sizzix - Thinlits Winter Foliage die set 662571

Tsukineko - VersaFine Clair Nocturne

PaperArtsy - Infusions dye stains The Sage, Sunset Beach

Ranger - Distress Ink Scorched Timber, Hickory Smoke

Posca PC-1M white, black

baker's twine,

craft glue, foam tape

brushes, scissors, paper cutter, inking tools