Sweet fluff

ArtGrupaATC had a very broad theme this time: Badges. The theme could be anything really, as long as there is a badge included. Luckily my order from A Flair for Buttons had just come in. I ordered several designs, but Marie Antoinette'esque ladies just jumped at me and begged to be used.

I started building the cards with some rather romantic tissue papers I had been saving for too long. I
added some baby blue texture paste (Marabou) through a stencil.

Next I built up layers with scrap papers at one spot, added some thread and the badge.

Some decorative crystals rounded up the design. I had most fun finding the words for each of them.

linking to:
ArtGrupaATC: Badges
Take a Word: Old-fashioned

November rain

It was a pleasure to participate again in Scrapper.sk - exchange and challenge. The theme was lovely, November Rain. Here is my interpretation:

The light caught on one of the cards reveals that I used iridescent raindrops and some mica spray.

I built this up on  pizza box backgrounds (the ham and pineapple variety if you must know). They were lightly sanded to give texture, and very lightly gessoed. Not all the way, though, I deliberately left the yellows and oranges of the original print to show along the edges.

 Then I applied Distress paint (weathered wood), some splashes of Distress stain (Hickory smoke ). The stamp is Tree poetry by Stampendous.

 On top came some more splashes in Distress ink (Aged Mahogany) and  Dylusions Mica Spray (Vibrant Turquoise). All that didn't seem enough so I sprinkled a bit of Infusions (Violet Storm) on the still wet inks and added a few strokes with a charcoal pencil.

All this shine and glitter is there to remind that rain, after all,  can be nice too. And fun. (At least our ladies seem to think so.)

linking this to :
Scrapper.sk: November Rain

Other people's letters

Sometimes I would like to read other people's correspondence - what are they writing about? Trivialities, children, pets, or are they exchanging recepies? Or do people write about themselves, of things they've seen? Of their innermost thoughts? Of fears and concerns?
Friends used to write letters to each other, I wonder if they still do?

Today letters have been all but replaced by text messages, emails or facebook messages... but here I offer a few glimpses into letters, into a slow life and not so instant correspondence.

For me, monochrome is an excuse to use a neutral color - even though I do know any color can be treated tone-in-tone. But I do love my neutrals, especially after heavy doses of high colors as in my recent works.
Here I started with my absolute most favorite neutral ever, Hickory Smoke by Distress Inks.

Hickory Smoke is a complex color. Its value strongly depends on your surface and other materials. That makes working with it so exiting. Sometimes it is pure grey. At times it veers towards purple, at other times towards blue. Did I say how much I love it? Love it!

I stamped the writing hand onto a piece of vellum. I cut a small slit into the picture and inserted the feather.

The feathers were found one afternoon on our yard. We live close to a wood. A hazel grouse (link to awesome photos) had been snatched by a bigger bird which must have dropped it into our yard for some obscure reason. It had been a veritable death fight, feathers flying around.
But such perfect beautiful feathers! Grey, fluffy with peaks of elegant brow and rust. For this I selected the more tonal feathers.

With all this bla-bla about making it, have you been paying attention to the letters at all?  These friends have quite a lot to say to each other. Go now, and be inspired to write a letter to someone!

entering into:
The Artistic Stamper: Monochrome
Scrapper.sk: Monochrome
Anything but Cute: #17 Friendship

We have Dreams

The Wings of Dreams is the new theme at this month's ArtGrupaATC. They ask to show hat inspires you?
I didn't go very literal, I am not showing any wings.

Words inspire me - for this I collected random words from a 'cheap' novel and made them into - hopefully - something deep and philosophical...

Each day is like a recurrence of a dream   //    A year is like a candle in a wind.

I chose Amelie as a picture, I find her dream world bizarre but inspiring.

Imagination is like a paradise.

Life is a curious dream.

I link these to: ArtGrupaATC challenge Na skrzydłach marzeń / The wings of dreams

Inspirational

Ansku järjesti kivan vaihdon, jossa jokainen lähetti 14 skinny-kokoista kaksipuolista korttia jotka Ansku sitten jakoi jokaiselle osanottajalle.
Tällaiset sain:

I took part in a mixed media group swap and received these fantastic inspirational skinny-sized cards. I have yet to figure out how to bind them - probably a ring through one corner.

And this is what I made for the swap: (front and back)

 Tällaiset kortit tein itse vaihtoon - samat kortit, mutta taka- ja etupuoli erilaiset.

LIVE Tampereella

Suuri ATC live-vaihto TAMPEREELLA!

Tervetuloa live-vaihtoon Tampereelle! Koko vuoden muhinut idea on nyt toteutumassa. Mukana tällä hetkellä alice k., Silpputehtaan Sisko, Kristallihelmi,Manumiina, Piiku, Sanna Saksija, RaijaAnnikki (... ja muutama blogiton).

Pääset siis vaihtamaan monen tekijän kanssa nokatusten ja hyvinkin erityylisiä kortteja. Moni tulee pitkänkin matkan takaa vaihtamaan, joten varaathan jokaista osanottajaa kohti vähintään yhden kortin.

Pyydämme, että tekisit vaihtoa varten niin paljon uusia kortteja kun ehdit, mutta myös vanhat varastot saa tuoda mukaan täydennykseksi. Osallistujia on tällä hetkellä ilmoittautunut mukaan jo 9, toiset 9 paikkaa vielä vapaana.

aika: la 20.8. alk. klo 10.30. (Tilavaraus on klo 14 saakka)

Paikka: Tampere, Vapriikin kahvila-ravintola Valssi. http://vapriikki.fi/vieraile/#aukioloajat-ja-paasymaksut

Vapriikki eli vanhat Tampellan tehtaat  sijaitsee keskellä kaupunkia sopivan kävelymatkan päässä rautatie- ja linja-autoasemalta. Valssiin pääsee ilman pääsymaksua.

Osallistujamäärä on rajattu 18:aan, ilmoittaudu alice k:lle (toute_bleu  ät  hotmail piste com). Saat lisäohjeita sähköpostissa.

Voit myös jakaa tämän tiedotuksen omassa blogissasi.

(In Finnish only - live swap info)

Darkness

The thing about darkness that strikes me most is how different everyday objects and surroundings are when there is no light. In the absence of light we see differently - not with eyes but with our skin, perhaps with the sense of smell, the sense of touch. It can be beautiful, it can be scary.

Darkness is the absence of light.

For technique I chose to do magazine transfer on a patterned paper. The transferred image is paler than the original  and the patterned paper added to the distortion. (You can see eyes behind the trees.)

Once the image was there I surrounded it with trees stamped with black ink, after that I added transparent gesso through a tree branch stencil. Finally I inked everything but the face with dark blue and brown inks and highlighted the faces with white acrylic wash.

I am entering this into:
ArtGrupa ATC: Darkness
Vintage Journey: Monochromatic
Eclectic Ellapu: Anything goes

Step into a Fairytale / Astu satuun

Wouldn't it be nice to step into a fairytale?
I am participating in a swap. The inspiration mood board was lovely and magical and I really enjoyed using the atmosphere as a starting point.

Olisiko kiva astua satuun? Jotkut lapset samaistuvat nopeasti tarinoihin ja näkevät itsensä jo sadun henkilöinä. Nämä on tehty erääseen vaihtoon, mutta aion jatkaa sarjaa muilla korteilla. Muhimassa on jo muutamia uusia satuhahmoja... 
Minulla on ollut arkillinen tällaisia automaattikuvia jo jokun aikaa, mutten ole koskaan tykännyt käyttää niitä kokonaisina. Ovat jotenkin olleet kovin arkisia, ja niinpä olen yleensä leikannut reunat pois. Nyt sitten hiljattain Sisko teki tällaisista kuvista ihania kortteja ja silloin vasta tajusin, että niitähän voi käyttää kokonaisinakin! Hoh hoijaa, joskus on aivot hieman kohmeessa. Kiitos Sisko inspiraatiosta. Tällaisia niistä nyt sitten tuli:

These boys are told the tale of Two Brothers by Grimm and immediately they want to fight the Dragon. They can see and hear the dragon already, just look at them! The magic wand with pixie dust will certainly help them to step into the fairytale.

Pojat heilauttavat taikasauvaa ja hyppäävät satuun, jossa taistellaan lohikäärmettä vastaan.

'I am Princess Goldhair ' says this girl.  Why not, just take the magic wand and step into your story! (This is not Goldilocks and the three bears, but a Czech fairytale of a Princess that had to serve under a frightful old haggard and was helped by a prince to escape.)

 Tämä on prinsessa Kultatukka. Topeliushan kirjoitti sellaisen sadun ja siinä ei ole kolmesta karhusta puhetta lainkaan, sen sijaan komea prinssi josta tämäkin neitonen unelmoi.

Does anyone volunteer for an Evil Queen? Apparently so. This lady is ready to step into the tale by Grimm Brothers and the boy is going to be one of the Dwarfs.

Paha kuningatar ja yksi kääpiöistä:

 This little girl wants to fly a butterfly. She will flick the magic wand and become tiny. This is a lovely tale by Andersen, but if I remember right the end is sad.

Pikku tyttönen haluaa olla Andersenin sadun Peukaloinen, joka lensi perhosen selässä:

I hope you have enjoyed some magic. What would be your fairytale of choice? 

Mihin satuun sinä haluaisit sukeltaa?

All Things Alice swap

I participated at All Things Alice swap organized by lovely Marion. The swap was international, and I got cards from participants from the US, Great Britain and Germany.  Amazing cards, they are full of detail which sadly doesn't show in the photos.
Thank you Marion for organizing this, I'll definitely play along next year.

We are all mad here

- are we not?
I am a sucker for swapping atc's, so 'of course' I had to take part in Marion's Alice in Wonderland-themed atc swap.
Although I have a confession to make..., I do not like the usual Alice imagery, neither the book nor the usual Walt Disney variety... (Sorry if this is a letdown for you, I don't want to hurt anyone. )
In this swap I concentrated on doing something different.

I picked some scenes from the book and interpreted them my way.

"Drink me", of course, the starting line of the mad adventure.

"We are all mad here" says the Cheshire cat.

"Always speak the truth" is the moral teaching of the Red Queen. Let's leave it at that.

I am looking forward to my swap cards of course. But before that, there are lots of cards to be admired on the Pinterest board Marion has created for us.

OKTK 11 / Kukkia kerroksittain

Osallistuin taas Koukussa kortteihin OKTK-haasteeseen. Ja olihan siinä haastetta kerrakseen! Kirjaimet ovat lyhenne lauseesta "oletko koskaan tehnyt korttia", ja tässä haasteessa se jatkui: ..."joka olisi täynnä kukkia ja pitsiä?"
En toden totta ole. Hyvin harvoin (lue: en koskaan) tee onnittelukortteja. Puhumattakaan pitsistä ja kukista ja runsaista kerroksista.

Tämä on tehty syystunnelmissa, runsaasti maatunutta ruskeaa ja sen vastapainoksia sammaleen ja kultaisen keltaisen sävyjä.

Pohja on maalattu pitsisapluunan läpi. Päälle on liimattu ruskealla vesivärillä suihkutettua pitsiä, paljon paperikukkia, vanhoja silkkikukkia ja helmiäisnappeja. Vaihtoparini oli Kati.

Itse sain näin kauniin ja herkän Siskolta:

Kiitokset!

Winter Magic

Haastan Sinut challenge #18 - had to use this photo of a little girl. Tonight it's well below zero, and this is my take on it:

Winter magic

I am also taking part in Anne's atc swap *atc-vaihto 8*. This card is going to an unknown recipient - whoever Anne matches me up with - as is this second card I made today:

A Question.

Pics click for bigger. Thanks for looking.

Oh mercy me!

Hallowe'en, oh mercy me!
All challenge blogs are full of Halloween, and I'm not a huge fan. The evening is altogether too noisy, people are going wild on the streets. I usually have a Halloween party "just for us girls", nice food, wine, good music, the obligatory pumpkins as decoration. Well, used to have. That was in the big city, thousands of miles away. Now I live in a very rural life, secluded, even, where lighting just one candle will make a big difference.
I made these inchies for Joanne's inchie swap. Halloween, if you will.


The picture clicks bigger.
tech stuff:
Note the festively sparkly background. I used a wild concoction of ink, dye, glitter glue and puffy fabric paint. Squirted everything onto the surface and blended it then and there with a thick brush. Different type mediums didn't exactly blend, some colors stayed mostly where I had put them, others could be manouvred around. There is coverage, though it is deliciously uneven. The background was school grade (100g) watercolor pad. I flattened it out with hot iron after drying as it had started to buckle.

3 cards and 5 facts

Here are the three cards I received in Sandy's atc-swap. The theme was time. (Scroll down for my entries. At the last moment I felt like I couldn't part with tic-toc says the clock, so I sent in just three.)And they are from - ? Oops, sorry... I know I brought the cards upstairs after taking their picture, but now I can't find them anywhere (in my glorious mess) - but I promise to tell and link as soon as I find the cards!

Sheri from Blended Colors asked me to reveal five facts about myself that you didn't know. Well, there are bound to be several thousand facts but I will only bore you with five.

1. stuff
I love stuff! I am forever scouring the flea-markets and carrying home odd road-side junk. But I also love my clean and uncluttered space and hate owning too much, because it makes me feel weighted. It's a dilemma, to put it mildly.
I have resolved it by using the waning and waxing method. I let my possessions accumulate to a certain point, at which they start taking overhand. Then it is time to let them go. I do this happily, knowing if I make space in my closet/drawer/life, something better will turn up. Life is not a take, it's a give and take.

2. clean
I need it clean. I am forever picking up sweaters, newspapers, scissors, books, magazines and bringing them to their place. I like when everything has their place. It makes me happy to know that any given hour of any given day I can walk into my kitchen and grab the scissors - no frantic looking and no swearing. (And what a time-saver!)

3. journals, notebooks
That said, I seem to be very cluttered when it comes to my journals and notebooks. Noticed the plural? Yes, I have several. There's the day-to-day planner, two big spiral-bound notebooks, a journal, and several (four?) small notebooks.
All my life is divided between these...(gasp)...eight books. It makes me very confused as I can never find the information/idea/phone # I am looking for and end up loosing so much time searching for the missing information and phoning other people to get the needed phone numbers.
(I will pay attention to all your suggestions, I promise! Tell me how you manage your notes?)

4. Victorian
I grew up reading books like Gold-Else (German bloggers will be familiar with these), Anne of Green Gables and other literature infused by Victorian values. Add to that an elderly papa doting his young wife -type family situation - keeping with the theme, at least - and you may realize I am not very 21st century. I grew up thinking leaving your calling card between 10 and 11 am was proper behavior.
We had tons of books at home, and I would read everything. My favorites were Victorian housewife-books (Frauenratgeber), and I was especially prone to imagining my future having a cook with whom I would discuss the daily menus... needless to say I had to wake up and smell the coffee (and make my own, tee-hee)

5. peanut butter
So simple and yet so complex! My favorite is the classic peanut butter with strawberry jam. No, it doesn't have to be Smuckers (rather prefer Bonne Maman...), and no, I do not like grape jelly. It is too thin, no consistency at all.
Have you ever tried this: peanut butter, lettuce and crisp bacon? Seriously yummy, a perfect lunch on a hot day. Enjoy!

(Have to shove in a sixth: I grew up in four different languages in as many countries - I float between the worlds. Where ever I live, that's my home, but I can imagine other homes as well. Don't envy me. It is hard keeping up with my family. The person you need is likely not being around in your part of the world.)

time atc's

Over at DCM they have a time-challenge. And it happens to coincide with an atc swap of the same theme hosted by Sandy.
I made the atc's today. These are actually my first ever! I instantly fell in love with the format. It's small, smaller than I would do a greeting card, but still substantial.

So this is what I came up with. I started thinking of the various times of the year. Yes, there are the seasons, but I don't mean those. I mean the time when berries get ripe and you make jams and compotes (it is a big deal in Austria, it's called Einmachzeit). The card tells you: boil them up, puree them, it is time already.In Finland, on the other hand, they love wild mushrooms, so there is a name for the time when mushrooms get ripe. (sieniaika)
By the way, some are cropping up already, but if the weather continues half sunny, half rainy, there will be a bumper crop in a few weeks!
And of course, the clock says tic-toc.

And time flows. (No, here in the North it doesn't fly, it just meanders along like a lazy river.)


clickety-click, click pics for big - as always!

jewelry, etc.

Thanks for all the good wishes for my birthday! The best present is yet to come: on the weekend I am going to sit down and order some books from amazon.com. Can anyone recommend a book on collage/altered art that is simply a must-have? I have been contemplating Visual Chronicles by Linda Woods, or else Collage Discovery Workshop by Claudine Hellmuth, or it's sequel Beyond the Unexpected - or both, or all of them? (being greedy now...) Or is there some other book I don't know about?
(I am big on doing my own backgrounds - whenever I can - , but also I have the feeling there is so much going on right now in paper crafts that I know little or nothing about - all these tags, brads, eyelets that keep popping up all over the place... I never have used them, and probably would not know how to! I think I might need help.)

I am taking part in Friendship Swap this month. (Toverikuu for all Finnish-speaking readers.) Every week you send a little something to your friend. Me and Nesse are being friends this month. This is what I received from her: a little something that made me happy today. Heart buttons, glue-on beach-y shapes, chipboard strawberry tags and some Victorian style flower basket pics. Thanks, Nesse!

Have I been productive today? click click!
Sure I have. I made a gold and garnet bracelet with 14K gold heishi I had "swimming around" (hey, it happens...). I used pearl silk for knotting. My birthday gift to myself. (I must have been good!)