Sunday 24 February 2008

Friday 22 February 2008

Bird post

One of the lovely mixed media artists I've found in internet is Renee Thompson. She makes fabulous bird collages, among other things. And as it happens, her mother has an online shop providing the prettiest digital collage sheets. So I just couldn' resist purchasing these bird images..



I printed them on satin photopaper with my regular inkjet, and the result was fantastic! Once you've bought a digital collage sheet, you can print it as many times as you want. The only thing that makes me wonder, is that normal inkjet inks probably fade away during a few years. Well do they, I don't know. And my printer claims to be a PHOTO printer, so what would be the sense in photographs that won't last even ten years?

I'm constantly thinking about these archivality things with collages, which material is acid-free and which isn't. That is a bit limiting. Anyway, after a lot of thinking and stress, I treated myself with some candy that goes along with the theme: chocolate bird eggs.

Thursday 21 February 2008

Miniature houses


Here's a set of three new atc's. The face peeking from the windows is one of my new stamps.

Tuesday 19 February 2008

Deserted house


There is this mysterious deserted old house nearby where I used to live as a little girl. Last weekend I took a trip to see if it's still there. It certainly has decayed during the years, but not as badly as I thought. To me, abandoned houses are very enchanting. There is a certain melancholic soul in them. I love the delicate beauty of decay. This house has no doors or windows, and you can see tracks of animals on the snowy floors. Maybe the foxes and rabbits and birds have their meetings there.

I've been planning for many years, to take good photos of this mystery house. But the pictures never come out the way I want. I just can't capture the magical feeling that way. This time I didn't even bring my camera, so I took the photo with my cellphone. The other two b/w pictures are from inside the house. I took them six years ago for a school assignment and developed them myself back then. Here you can see the poor tones and lacking composition skills. That's kind of what the teacher told me. Phew.

Friday 15 February 2008

Little friends


Here is my latest project: I've been learning to crochet little amigurumis. This grey bunny was the first I made, so it looks kind of weird. I'm more satisfied with the second, the white one. It's practise that makes perfect, right? In the picture, you can also see the beginning of the third, brown bunny. Or maybe it's going to be some other animal, a bear maybe.. I'm not that good at improvising with the patterns, but we'll see how it goes. I found the free pattern here.

Saturday 9 February 2008

Friendship


I'm taking part in Vallaton Valentin -challenge in Nappikappa blog. There's also a little drawing involved and a chance to win crafting supplies. Yey!!


Friday 8 February 2008

Stamping without tears



Today I tested my new stamps from Crafty Secrets. It really takes some practise to get perfectly clear images with stamps, and the paper you stamp on has a very important role too, as well as does the way you apply the ink. First I thought this would be a piece of cake, but now I know better, phew!
I started with regular printer paper... not good. Anyway, I finally managed to stamp some images that I'm totally satisfied with! And I achieved the best results with Brilliance black ink, Canson CA Grain paper (the smoother side) and padding
a "just right amount" of ink to the stamp using the corner of the pad. I bet there are other right ways too, but this worked for me now. You live, you learn.

I really love these cute birdies!

Tuesday 5 February 2008

Three handsome men


I made these altered cabinet cards some time ago. It took me a while before I dared to touch them at all, because surely they were beautiful and vintagy as they were. But I like the idea of using authentic objects in artwork, it's more meaningful that way (and a bit risky too, but you have to take risks in creative process). Luckily I've found some more vintage cabinet cards from flea markets. I'm not gonna alter them all though.


Sunday 3 February 2008

Reading hands


Hands was the theme in Saturday Surprise. I continued the Life Line in this hand and made it a whole circle. Maybe this person is going to reincarnate...


Thrifting treasures


Here are some flea-market finds from last week. Old photos, a folder with prints of Lazienki park in Warsaw, Poland and a beautifully illustrated children's book from George Sand. Such an interesting set of stuff!

Friday 1 February 2008

Want to win a book?



I would LOVE to have this beautiful book by Catherine Matthews-Scanlon. If you are interested in it too, just check out her blog! (a little hint: do that before February 4th)