Riikka Kovasin - Paperiliitin: A process of surrender

How do you craft? Do you always clean your table after a project, or does it come more and more cluttered with each one? As I craft in our living room, I tend to clean after every project but sometimes I have “creative days” when stuff just piles to the table. My idea to this journal page came from such a day as I had little bits and pieces on the table.

The elements that were on the table were small, more or less such things that would end up in the paper recycling or waste basket at the end of the day. When I started as a crafter, I stored everything. Even the tiniest paper piece as I could use it later. After I couldn’t find anything from those stored pieces anymore, I decided to have some kind of rule to the madness and radically started getting rid of some of the stuff. At least once a year I go through my whole stash and give supplies away to my kids’ school, to friends and those teeny tiny paper pieces I still find myself sometimes storing, I throw away. I still feel bad for throwing them out, so this kind of a project, where I use them immediately feels good!

I chose the beautiful Golden Coast A4 paper pad as my bigger paper piece and then used different mediums on top. The layers behind the photo sticker, though, are completely from things I had on the table. A piece of chipboard, a tag from a purchased item and watercolor paper I colored and cut for another project. Using the stuff you already have on the table really makes sense to the phrase “Creativity feeds creativity”! So, feel inspired by the “left-overs” from another project and turn them into a new one!

I hope you find this project inspiring! Thank you for stopping by today!