Secretive: An Art Journal Page with Image Transfer

Hi everyone, and happy Friday! Happy November, too, since this is my first post this month. The darkest time of the year is falling upon us but I have a pretty bright journal spread here to cheer it up.



Inspired by the October Challenge at Wanderlust Class 2017, I tried image transfer with acrylic medium for the first time. I have previously tried packing tape transfer and found it fun. Here, I was excited to see the image lifting directly onto the page, whereas in the tape method the tape remains visible and you need to glue it down.

The images I have used here are inkjet printed and my medium was Liquitex acrylic matte medium.



You can see I have used two different sized transfers of the same vintage image, showing a mysterious woman with daisies and a veil.



I had prepared a background on my square Dylusions Creative Journal collaging bits of gelli printed and die cut book pages, and then added acrylic paint.

What happened with the transfer was that it seemed easy at first but then I did rub too hard and lost quite a few pieces. This was my first try, directly onto the journal background. Luckily, I had printed a smaller version of the same image and tried it on a separate painted paper, and it worked better!



I didn't want to give up my background and taking a second look at it, I came to think that the smaller image on the orange piece of paper might look cool mounted on the side of the more broken image, so this is what I did.



At the same time I was trying to learn from a recent lesson by Kasia Avery at Wanderlust 2017, about the use of Black and White as Contrasts, and how they can work to calm down or unify a page with many colors. I think the final spread is still slightly too busy/colorful for my mood at the moment, but I didn't have time to work it any longer, wanting to make the challenge deadline.



I also used some lace and machine stitching as effects. The (originally white) lace had been used as a stencil in Gelli printing, so it already had those cool darker and lighter areas. Then some Gelatos around the edges, plus some black stamping, marker and white paint pen. I love the image, she reminds me of a good fairy with a secret that makes her smile!



The image, by the way, is printed from The Graphics Fairy, who offers thousands of good quality copyright-free vintage images for free. (There is also a paid Premium membership option, but I haven't felt the need for it so far. It would especially benefit someone working digitally, since it offers a lot of special effects for editing programs).

This site is a great resource for finding images for transfer techniques, and its search engine helps to find images in the theme that you want.



I am also linking my project to this week's challenge at Take a Word. The theme is Family Albums, meaning the use of old photos to create some altered art. Photos from other sources are ok, if you don't have family photos, says the challenge guideline.

Happy weekend everyone and thanks for taking a look!

Red Shades and Hexagons: Another Mixed Media Fall Colours Tag

Hello! Here in Finland the winter has come early and the earth is already covered in snow. It came so early indeed that I'm still finishing my last pieces with fall colours!

Today I'm posting a tag similar to the one I made last week as the DT for this month's Scrap Africa Sketch Challenge.





A couple of process photos, the first depicting how I used Glossy Accents in some of the hexagons and the second trying all the elements in place.





I am entering my tag in the following challenges: Bumaga-Maraka: It's All in the Details. I chose Bright/Shiny Accents, Circles and Hexagons. And Crafty Life: Anything Goes.













Thank you for your visit, and especially all the comments, as always!

Hellos and Bows − Forgeries on the Fourth for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge

Hi again!

I am honoured to be Guest Designing for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month, and at CKC, the Fourth of each month is for Forgeries!

In other words, we look for DIY solutions to replace some of the items included in the original inspiration kit. This month, it is the May Kit from Hip Kit Club. The image is from their website and it is their Embellishment Kit, more precisely.



And here's what I made!



I had just learned an easy way to make a tiny bow, so I decided to make paper clips with bows! I learned it from a Finnish crafting friend/teacher/shopkeeper Mira Ekonen, whose tutorial can be found here! There are images, but if you need guidelines in your own language, just Google "fork bow" and plenty of tutorials will come up.

I didn't have ribbons in matching solid colours, but I'm really delighted with these polka dot organza ones that I found.





Other items that I love in the Hip Kit Club Embellishment Kit are the handwritten-looking word stickers and chipboards. I had just bought the Sizzix die set called Warm Winter Wishes, where one of the dies is the word Hello.



I made the words into stickers, backing my paper scraps with 50 mm wide double sided tape before I die cut it. Rather than in craft stores, in Finland and Sweden you can find a wide tape like this in Biltema, a car supplies store of all places! It is also very economical and good quality.

Thank you for coming, and don't forget to pop into the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see what handmade embellishments or other items the regular DT members did!

Moon Faces − ATCs for Scrap Africa Sketch 74

It's a new month and a new sketch challenge at Scrap Africa! I made a dreamy set of ATCs with a focus on these lovely vintage bottlecap images, or round inchies as they are also called. I think they are also moon faces, so that's how I named the set.



This is our sketch at Scrap Africa - you're most welcome to pop in and see what the other DT members did, and even better if you join yourself!



This month, we also have some very exciting news for all friends of Scrap Africa challenge. As of this month, the challenges will run for an entire month, so you will have lots of time to play along and prepare your entries. Double the time and double the fun!



I was also inspired by the space themed On the Milky Way challenge at ART-Bazarchik.



The background is made with stamping, mists and layered strips of leftover papers.



The Photo Faces collage sheet was bought from an Etsy shop called TinTeddy and it has altogether 48 different faces. I think I'll be using these a lot! I'm lucky to have a round inchie punch just the size, and I gave them a polished finishing with Glossy Accents glue.


1 (available for trade) and 2 (I'll keep this one that's gone scarfaced with the bubbles!)
Edit: These are all traded now, but I have other ideas for using these faces, so there will be more ATCs soon!


3 and 4 (both available) Edit: traded.

Thanks for taking a look and happy weekend everyone!

Easter − Layout for Scrap Africa Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone, and happy April! The sketch at the new Scrap Africa Challenge inspired me to scrap a photo of our Easter decorations.



Here's the lovely sketch by Scrap Africa owner Denise van Deventer.



I am also joining the challenge at Scrapcraft.ru themed Wood and Decorative Tape.

I used wood in the embellishments − firstly, the heart that was silver coloured in the beginning but I sanded it to let the woodgrain show a bit more and inked the sides to suit my colour palette.



The bird I glued on the photo is also of wood veneer.



I'm not sure if it counts for the wood theme, but the challenge also inspired me to use birch bark! You can see it as a strip on the right side of the photo and in the die cut flower on the left side of the photo.













Here below is the photo I used in the layout so you can see it from a bit closer!

In Finland, willow twigs with decorations are a typical Easter thing to do. Feathers and flowers made of colourful tissue papers are the traditional ways to decorate the twigs, but I was using washi tape and eggs covered with foam clay. Those were super easy and fun to do with kids, by the way. Even pretty young ones, like our 2-year-old, was fine doing it with just a little help!



Thank you for looking in and Happy Springtime to each and everyone who's reading this!

Vintage Style Layout for Scrap Africa Mood Board No. 69

Hi there! It's time to wish you warmly welcome to the Scrap Africa Challenge again. This time we have an atmospheric vintagey mood board that could inspire an old times page, a travel page, or anything you feel up to creating!



You have until February 29th to join!



I used this sketch from Memuaris for my layout.



I am also joining the following challenges:

The Craft Stamper Take a Technique Challenge: Text me! The prompt was to use text or script background stamps or text paper in the projects. I stamped with an old fashioned script stamp through a cross shaped stencil. I also used the same stencil to cut shapes from two papers, one with the same script stamp and another where I had previously put gold paint through a weekday stencil.



For the C'est Magnifique Mixed Media Technique Challenge, I was to add texture to the background in three different ways. I used gesso, mists, and the cross stencil in the two ways I mentioned already. I don't know if this counts as background, but I also painted crackle texture onto one of the papers that I used for matting my photo.



At the Retro Kraft Shop Challenge, it was Anything Goes this month, as long as it is with a visible hint of the old-fashioned.



You're welcome to combine the Scrap Africa Challenges with as many other challenges as you like! Just make sure that you do not combine similar challenges together, i.e. mood board with another mood board or sketch with another sketch.



The top and bottom layers of the tag are re-used kraft tags from bought clothes, and even the twine was already there. I stamped the script on the top one and embossed it to bring in a pop of white, and added the middle layer from an old Basic Grey paper with a stained glass mosaic pattern. Onto the bottom one I glued a scrap piece of a previously made ATC background, also with some text stamping!







Thank you so much for your visit, and I wish you a very nice weekend!