Happy Valentine’s Day! Or, as my dear friend Vanja chooses to call it: Friendship Day! I like her take on it much, much more. It’s more including, and of course you can celebrate your friendships! I don’t usually do handmade valentine cards for this particular day, but this year I decided to make a few for my closest family and one for Vanja and her daughter Nikki, to celebrate our friendship and the fact that whenever we hang out we have a great time, and always leave me happy and energized.We haven’t had a chance to hang out much for a few years, but are now a bit more back on track, which makes me incredibly happy.
Go check the series out and definitely watch the video where she makes the cards. She has such a great teaching style! (And makes a lot of her projects upside down for her videos. Serious skills, ya’all!)
Hope you all are having a great day, be it with your valentine or your family and friends. Stay safe!
Ok, so here’s a silly thing: I like sketches, but I’ve hardly ever done a layout based one. It’s a bit like when I’m cooking; I LOVE inspiring recipes but I hardly ever use them when cooking. I just wing it. But I felt like trying it out some more, and found this sketch challenge on a new Swedish sketch blog, lillblommanskissar.se. Fun! Perfect timing, too! The rules were quite lenient, I could twist and turn the sketch and add or withdraw element, as long as it shows that the layout is based on the sketch.
As I dug through my box of printed photos (I have a stash of photos I love, just waiting for the right moment) this photo of my friends Sara and Cecilia jumped out at me. It was a wonderful summer, many years ago, when the three of us spent a week together at Sara’s summer cabin. It was the three of us, hanging out in the sun, going to the beach, cooking good food, drinking some wine, having a little summer vacation together. You know that feeling when summer is so intense and perfect that you can just close your eyes and smell it and feel it on your skin? That was what it was like. This is my friends on the steps to the main house, having ice cream:
On the same steps we also had some perfectly chilled Russian champagne and smoked shrimps. It leads up to a small nook of the house that is called a “Punch Veranda” in Swedish, which could be translated as a Punch Porch, or a Toddy Porch (ha, I love that!). Anyways, it was a very happy time, and I just live the photo with it’s sharp sunshine, the old steps, the bare feet, the roses growing wild.
I wanted the layout to feel fun and carefree, like that week, so I played around with some paper tape, colour wash and some watercolour splatter.
Here are some details:
Thank you for coming by and reading my blog *s*. Hope you had a great weekend. Tomorrow is MONDAY! Onwards and upwards, my friends!
I remember watching a scrapbooking video about 6-7 years ago here this woman was raving over using tape on her projects. At that point it wasn’t washi tape, but shiny, colourful plastic tape, some with metallic patterns. I remember my reaction, how I couldn’t understand it at all, why use tape? So, fast-forward to present day and the washi tape craze. I’m stuck in the middle of it. The trend has completely exploded and so many brands have their own take on this product; so many different pretty colours, patterns and textures. I’ve read in some forums how some people wonder how they will ever use it all, and I wonder: Did I Overbuy?
But then I think: How could I? You can use it on EVERYTHING. Layouts, mini albums, cards, tags, altered items like books, frames and boxes, on embellishments, or make it INTO an embellishment itself. Use it to decorate your phone or diary or calender, use it to tape something on the fridge and make the world a brighter place. So, lot’s of uses out of those yards of tape, huh?
Why not use it to embellish a shape for a card or a layout? I made this card to day with a hot air balloon as a theme, really easy peasy and great fun to make. Just draw a shape, turn the paper over, tape the back side, flip it back and cut out your motif. Done! On this card used both store bought paper tape, and some handmade tape I made myself with masking tape, tissue paper and stamps.
No, I didn’t have time to post anything yesterday, but I still did something creative, so, yay me, that was 14 days of that project! I prepared some journalling for a layout I wanted to do today, and also I took some photos of two dear friends, Hanna and Janne, photos that no doubt will end up in my 2012 book. Me, Jed, Hanna and Janne geeked out yesterday and spent the better part of the day and evening playing a board game I love, “Arkham Horror“. Awesome! We beat the big beastie in the end, but it got darned close! I had such a great time. There’s something about playing a good ol’ board game, everyone sitting around a table cursing and laughing.
So, today is day 15 of the project to do something creative everyday for 365 days. This weekend I took a small pause from the prompts and just went freestyle *wink*. Today I sat down and created a layout with a photo I’ve been wanting to use for years. I actually have a sketch in an old notebook using this photo, and I am sort of glad I never had a chance to make it back then, it would have been horrible! (Seriously, think total scrapbook newbie like 5 years ago). I like how it turned out today.
I’ve noticed that often when I sit down to start on a layout I dig through my stash and pick out a pile of embellishments I like. But then in the end I often don’t stick them on. But it takes some time to NOT stick them on, because sometimes I feel like I should, if you know what I mean? I’ve come to a point now thought where it feels ok to just stop and say “You know what, this is enough for me. Glue stick down.” Because I’ve come to a point where it’s more important what the layout is about.
This is a photo of our cat Sixxten, from when he was about 1 years old. He has this habit of finding new places to sleep all the time, and he never moves or makes a sound when you can’t find him and go around the apartment looking for him, no matter how much you call. He is like a nap ninja!
Many years ago my grandmother knitted me this wonderful, super-warm jumper in a grey, Swedish wool (much needed during our winters). I had left it on the bed one day, and for some reason I noticed that the cat had been uncannily quiet for several hours (he’s normally very talkative). So I started looking for him, but couldn’t find him anywhere. I looked in cupboards and bags and closets, under the bed, under the couch, well, everywhere. I called and coaxed, but no sound or movement.
It was just by chance that I went into the bedroom one last time before completely panicking, and there he was, all bundled up in my wool jumper.The jumper was almost exactly the same grey colour as the cat. He’d been sleeping in it for hours, al snuggled up, and he was radiating an enormous amount of heat. He hardly woke up as I went to stroke him, he was in such a warm snooze-coma.
So, that’s what I created today. Overall a nice, lazy Sunday, but tomorrow is the start of another week! Stay safe, have a good one!
Vanja Utne is a Norwegian illustrator and artist that I love. She makes wonderful art, and her illustrations are so charming and just looking at them makes me smile. She’s also the creator of one of my favourite comics on the web.
Go visit her site and check out her wonderful stuff at CheesePirate.com:
So, this Christmas she sent out some Frostfell cardswith her own illustrations on it, and she sent one to me! It was totally one of the highlights during the holidays, and certainly one of the nicest cards I’ve gotten. I wanted to send her a card back, but also, I couldn’t help but make these Cheese Pirate earrings. Handmade, custom made and limited edition *wink*, these are the only ones, and only for Vanja!
This character is Lunch, the rodent bard:
I love this little rattie so he got some dangly hearts to hang out with him. And this is the cheese pirate, with some shiny loot (because he’s a pirate. So he needs some treasure. But I didn’t add any cheese):
I’m looking forward to seeing more art from Vanja, and I hear rumours of the possible publishing of a book soon. I’ll pre-order mine!
Day 8! One I’ve been looking forward too. The prompt for day 8 could not have been more perfect: Make an old book into something new.
I’ve been wanting to alter a book for a long time, but I haven’t gotten around to it. I grew up loving books with all my heart, cherishing them, taking good care of them… to alter and change a book has felt a bit big and scary, you know, like I’m crossing a line. But no more! This beautiful old thing, that is sadly falling apart anyway, will get a new life as an album documenting this year (The title is “The Conquest of the World”, which of course I feel is very fitting):
I’ve been researching for a while on how to do this thing, so today’s prompt really… prompted me get started! One resource I’ve been looking at is Noel Hyman’s vids at Paperclipping . Noel (and her husband Izzie) makes really high quality vids, and Noel has a lot of good ideas and is very pedagogical. I highly recommend having a look! I feel much more confident now, having seen a few examples. Other than that I try to find examples on Youtube from mixed media artists.
The book plate is filled with little cogs and pebbles and beads, and I’ll fill it in with some glaze to encase it all, but I wanted to take these photos first, since it takes ages for it to dry properly. The word in the book plate is “Create”, which is my One Little Word for 2012. I’m so excited about this book, and hope to fill it with lot’s of stories, memories and photos from this year. Onwards and Upwards!
Hope you liked the photos! Thank you for stopping by. Keep creating!
It doesn’t have to be the most fantastic photo that makes you remember, and it doesn’t have to be from the most special occasion. Of course even the every day things can be just as memorable as the big events.
Going through my photo stash I came upon this photograph; it is ten years old, a friend of mine took it, and it’s a photo of me in my early twenties. What struck me about this picture were two things: It was a picture of me just being myself, and it was a photo of me in my first apartment.
Seeing it made me remember a thousand things in a matter of seconds. It reminded me of what I used to wear, of my favourite necklace, of my nose piercing, of my first SLR. It reminded me of moving away from home, of my small one-room studio and all my favourite things in it.
I lived for almost eight years in that small place and a lot of things happened there. It was a place where I wrote stories and made up new recipes, and a place to invite my friends to.
So that is what I wrote in my journalling:
I couldn’t find a paper I thought went with the photo and the sentiment, so I painted this pattern by hand on a piece of recycled paper. There are some better photos of the details in my last post. I also embossed the clock and filled in some of the details with some acrylic paints.
Overall it feels great to have gotten this photo out of the dusty box it used to be in. I sort of represent that whole time in my life. Yes, this layout took quite some time to finish, but it was a happy project to complete.
I started on a new 12×12 layout the other night, and I sat for quite some time going through my stash trying to fins something I thought went with the photo. I couldn’t find one.
The photo is one of myself, about10-11 years ago. A good friend took that photo of me, sadly though we lost touch many years ago. I think that photo of me is one of the few from that time I really like. I was in my early 20′s, an sure, when one is young and pretty (harr harr) of course there are a couple of nice looking pics of you, but at that age it’s not often one poses on a picture as oneself. This photo though, is just me in my messy room in my first apartment, holding a camera. The colours are sort of murky (so was my apartment) and there’s a lot of clutter (MY clutter) and I look rather scruffy. But it’s me, at that time.
I felt that none of my patterned paper really matched. So I started to paint one of my own, on a piece of 12×12 recycled, unbleached paper. I’m not quite done with the layout yet, but thought I’d show a few pictures. Hope to share the whole thing with you soon!
Summer is over in Sweden, but were having some warm days still with sunshine and beautiful foliage. Here and there you can still see some stubborn flowers peaking out, which reminded me that I completely forgot to post the flower brooches I made this summer! (I had a little sneak peak in this post) So here they are, a bit late, like those late blossoms in our autumnal gardens.
They were made especially for a combined hen night/bachelor party. I wanted to make something special for the couple, and on top of making them a distressed and vintage looking treasure map for the day I also made these paper corsages for the entire party.
I cut out a whole bunch of flowers from green, orange and red paper, crunched and curled them and glued them together. I punched out some hearts in black, to pose as pistils, and attached them in the middle with some black stickles.
It really was a lot of fun to make them, and I’m rather impressed with myself that I finished them in time! Most of all it felt great to be able to bring a gift to that special day that was hand made.
I’ve managed to take a lot of photos of Tricks this summer, and some of my favourites is from the weekend when she visited my parent s and me at the summer cabin. We had a lot of sunshine and spent some time relaxing down by the water, talking about life and love and plans. As she tried out the water I took a few shots, this is one of them.
The spot where she’s standing was my favourite spot when I was little, because it’s full of soft, green, luscious sea grass, and it isn’t too deep, so you can just stand there and let it tickle your toes. Somewhere deep in my stash I found this old patterned paper from Basic Grey, which I think originally is a Christmas paper, and from one of their retired collections (Figgy Pudding). It’s been one of those papers I’ve loved so much that I haven’t used it. But I just thought it fitted well as sea grass and sea weed.
This is what the journalling says:
“I remember how wonderful it felt when I first got the opportunity to invite my best friend to the summer cabin for the first time, and get to show her the place I think is the best on earth, to show her the place that filled my childhood with so many adventures. It became an instant tradition, and now it’s not even a proper summer if Sara doesn’t visit.”
I’m really glad I took the time to scrapbook this photo. I have so many great ones from all the years we’ve been friends, it’s really time to make them more accessible.
