Monday, 28 January 2008

Judith



TMTA had a geometry theme this week. So I made Judith, with a very round hat.
She also has a sister, Gertrud. You can se her here.

Sunday, 27 January 2008

Waxy and chic




Today I made some atc's with fashion theme. I cut pictures from my old Vogues, and then started playing with watersoluble wax pastels (Neocolor II). It was really fun and they worked very nicely on magazine-paper. I bought them some time ago, but haven't tried them until now.
Anyway, I think these two atc's became more scary-looking than fashionable. But fashion can be quite scary sometimes, right?


Tuesday, 22 January 2008

Winter


This week's challenge in TMTA was winter. I took a snowball approach to the theme. Although there hasn't been much snow to play with, but I'm very hopefull that the real winter will arrive soon..


Some knittings

These dark winter days have driven me to knitting again. There's something cosy about it... knitting socks while it's sleeting outside. I found this great quotation somewhere, don't remember where anymore, but anyway, it's a good one:

"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either. When I say properly practiced, I mean executed in a relaxed manner, without anxiety, strain or tension, but with confidence, inventiveness, pleasure, and ultimate pride."

-Elizabeth Zimmermann, "Knitting without tears"

I'm sometimes too lazy to read the instructions before I start knitting something. And it easily leads to tension and stress and unraveling the whole thing. Now I should know better and try practicing knitting properly!


A properly knitted sock. Well, at least I'm taking some good tips from the book.


A beret, which wasn't knitted that properly. I didn't measure it, and because I didn't use the same kind of yarns that was recommended, it is now too small for my head. But I like the pattern so maybe I'll try to knit a new one.

The pale model here is a plaster head I've found from a litter bin. She had splatters of red paint all over, and even after several washes and scrubbings, she still has some marks left. In case you were wondering...


Tuesday, 15 January 2008

Schoolbook inspiration

I got a lovely old English schoolbook from the 1960's. The illustrations are just lovely, and the simple frases like "What's your name? My name is...". Here are three atc's I made using texts and pictures from the book. Cheerio!








Red birdie


For this week's Skinny Saturday challenge...

Wednesday, 9 January 2008

With love, Julie



Think Monday - Think ATC had a postage stamps theme this week, and I wanted to take the challenge. I used to collect stamps when I was a little girl. I also had many penpals all over the world and therefore a whole lot of all kinds of exotic and pretty envelopes. It's such a shame that people don't write real letters anymore.


Sunday, 6 January 2008

Aquarius



This week's challenge in Saturday Surprise was "your horoscope".
Here's something about my (difficult?) character according to this:

"Aquarians are a mixed bag. You can be totally "far out" - immersed in metaphysics or an astronaut in space. Then, too, you can be too cerebral and above it all, and, to your way of mind, have logical explanations why all this metaphysical 'nonsense' your brother Aquarians dabble in has no scientific basis at all."


First of 2008



New calendar is still empty. The first week of 2008 is soon over and it's time to go to work. I didn't make any new year's resolutions, but I promised myself to TRY to do more art, TRY to be happier about little things and try not to be too hard on myself for not always succeeding in these trials.



It's so lovely to have a sunny day for a long time. I even found some new potential from my old camera... did some macro shooting and it worked like never before.

Wednesday, 26 December 2007

Frosty trees and bird voices

I'm sitting at home, relaxing, eating chocolate and enjoying the presents Santa gave me.. Christmas wasn't very white, but we had lovely time with the family anyway.

These pictures are from the day of winter solstice. There were some snow still left and the trees were beautifully covered with hoarfrost. I made a little picnic in the nature with some hot juice in thermos bottle.






Squirrel's tracks in the snow. I've never seen ones that are so clear with nails and all..


Afterwards we amused ourselves with listening some bird voices with Sami the dog. I found my father's old series of cassettes "The birds in Finland". I only recognized a few of them by voice, but Sami seemed to be more kowledgeable.