Hello Friend − Layout for Scrap Africa Sketch Challenge 78

Hi! Happy Friday, and happy September! It's monthly challenge time again at Scrap Africa!

I felt like making a light and neutral coloured layout with some mixed media elements on the background. I'm still using my Krafty Travel Kit I joined the Counterfeit Kit Challenge with last month.



This month we have an elegant simple sketch with a circle around the focal cluster.



I'm also sharing a couple of photos of how I got the layout started. For the background, a cardstock colour called Straw was suitable for my idea, light but not completely white. I had spread a very light layer of gesso on it previously. The journaling card, the gold and white striped straw and the paper with the crosses or plus signs are from my Counterfeit kit as well as the cardstock.



Due to having a toddler at home, I quite often start my projects at night, choosing materials and trying different layouts. If it's already late at that point, I don't necessarily do anything else but just "sleep on it", and next day I have a better idea of how to go on.

The photo with my messy table below is about a trick I have learned at patchwork quilting.



That is, for checking if the layout still looks mainly white when I add the plus sign paper and the blue journaling card.

Sometimes it's hard to compare the lightness value of different elements from up close, so it helps to look from a distance. Blurring your eyes a bit or taking a blurry photo, like I did here, confirms that the other elements are fairly close to the background in lightness value. I wanted it to be this way so that it's just the photos that pop out from the background, not the whole cluster of elements.



At the point of taking the photo above, my 2-year-old had been drawing beside me, and I wanted have the mark of his pen on my background, too. He and his brother are also the stars of the layout, so it felt like a nice way to keep a memory of his first drawings!



In addition to the doodling, I used mists, white and gold structure pastes, yellow Paint Pen and turquoise Stickles for the circular frame.





The chipboard rocking horse is from Wycinanka. I used blue acrylic paint on it first, let it dry and embossed around the edges with Midnight Teal from Lindy's Stamp Gang. Last layer is clear embossing powder. The separate stars that came with the horse just have the blue paint and the clear powder layers.



Apart from the thin washi tape strip in the top left corner, I felt like no more embellishments were needed this time!





Thank you so much for looking. I hope to see you at Scrap Africa!

Kevään askartelukurssit Espoossa

Heippa! Päivitin juuri tuonne Kevään kurssit -välilehdelle tulevien kurssieni tiedot. Ensimmäisenä on tarjolla askartelua yhdessä lasten kanssa, ja se onkin jo ihan kohta eli lauantaina 7.2.2015. Ehtii tehdä vaikka ystävänpäiväkortteja!

Kursseilla on vielä reilusti tilaa ja vähän liikaakin - ilmoittauduthan viimeistään viikkoa ennen kurssipäivää, jotta opetus ei peruunnu liian vähäisen osallistujamäärän vuoksi.

Kurssit soveltuvat uusille askartelijoille ja aiemmin harrastaneille, joten tervetuloa kaikki!

Hello! I posted in Finnish this time, because what I wrote here is about the workshops I'll be teaching in my home town Espoo this spring. This altered wooden ornament says "Our room" and it's for one of the workshops where you are welcome to craft together with a child, combining scrapbooking and cardmaking and mixed media to create small memories or gifts.

Have a nice week!

Little House Mixed Media Cards

Hello! Here are a couple of Christmas cards that are very easy to do even in the last minute.



I wanted to experiment with white finger paint, because I might want to use it for teaching workshops where also children can participate. I was happy to see that it looks fairly opaque, which means it covers even a dark background easily. Some other brands of finger paint I've tried before have been too watery or transparent.

Squeeze Punches by Fiskars are easy for kids to use and they usually love them! Here I've used the Scalloped Heart one.



These cards were made with the following challenges in mind:

In Berry71bleu's Winter Chill Mood Board, I was inspired by the colour palette of white with some blues, browns and a pop of red, and also the Fair Isle knits.



At Paperdvizhnik, the theme is My New Year or Christmas Time. Note that you can join until January the 12th!



And last but not least, the Mixed Media Card Challenge had the theme of Home this month, with Lace as an optional element.



There's still time to join all of these challenges. That or any other craft that inspires you. Enjoy your weekend!

Easy and Fun Robot with Kids for WOW! Embossing Powder Challenge

Hi again! I hope everyone's had a lovely Christmas. Here's an easy and fun project to make with kids while waiting for New Year's celebrations. I was inspired by the WOW Embossing Powder's Family challenge, and particularly their designer Bianca's work. I interpreted the theme similarly as she, deciding on a project that can be done together with the young ones of the family.



This idea started from an accident, like many of the good ones do! My 5-year-old wanted to learn to use embossing powders, but unfortunaly one of the jars fell onto the table. It was impossible to collect all of it back. However, I saved it by taking some 2 inches wide double sided tape, pasted that onto a piece of cardboard and collected the powders from the table with the sticky side.

After heating, my son cut pieces for the robot's body, using a square cutter for the eyes and feet. Its hands and legs were made from kitchen foil, so that I didn't have to use all my remaining embossing powders! The robots look best if there's a mix of different coloured powders, so this is a clever way to use remains of your powder jars!



Hei taas! Näin uuden vuoden alla sopii puuhailla jotain kimaltelevaa, ja tämä idea on helppo ja hauska toteuttaa lasten kanssa. Robotti sai alkunsa vahingosta – kuten niin monet muutkin hyvät ideat!

5-vuotias oli ensi kertaa kokeilemassa kohojauheita ja purkki kaatui vahingossa pöydälle. Sen, mitä en muuten saanut talteen, keksin kerätä kartonginpalaseen, johon olin ensin liimannut Bilteman leveää kaksipuolista teippiä. Sitten vain sulatus kuumailmapuhaltimella tavalliseen tapaan! Embossausjauheella koristeltu kartonki ei riittänyt raajoihin, joten niitä varten liimasimme kartongille tavallista keittiöfoliota, kaksipuolisella teipillä niin ikään.

Lapsi sai itse leikata robotin vartalon ja raajat, jotka kiinnitettiin nitomalla. Koristeluapuna oli Fiskarsin neliöleikkuri. Olioista tulee erityisen hienoja jos seassa on enemmän kuin yhtä väriä, joten purkkien jämät sopivat hyvin tähän projektiin!

Osallistun tällä WOW Embossing Powderin kuukausihaasteeseen, jonka aiheena oli perhe. Lähestyin teemaa siitä näkökulmasta, mitä kohojauheilla voi tehdä perheen nuorimpien kanssa. Näin oli tehnyt myös yksi WOW:n tiimiläisistä , nimeltään Bianca, jonka hieno vale-Tiffanylasityö löytyy täältä!

Englantilaisia WOW:n kohojauheita myy Suomessa ainakin Askartelu Amalia.

Easy Gift Idea to Craft with Kids: Photo Frame for Father

Here in Finland, we celebrate Father's Day on the second Sunday of November, that is, the day after tomorrow. I'm posting a quick and fun gift idea that we did last year when my little one was four.

We had a ready made photo frame that has some space on the side. My son got to pick the colours and this time I didn't mind them being black and grey, because there were going to be some colourful alphabet decorations! To keep the paint away from the glass, it's best to attach a piece of paper on it with masking tape before you paint.

This is a present to my father, and the three letters we made from Hama beads are the initials of his three grandchildren. You can make the letters while the paint dries, so this is a very quick project!

Have a nice weekend!

Helppo isänpäiväaskartelu lasten kanssa: valokuvakehys

Meillä tehtiin tällainen viime vuonna nelivuotiaan kanssa, ja projekti sopiikin hyvin jo sen ikäiselle. Se on myös nopea, joten hyvin ehtii vielä tänä viikonloppunakin!

Lapsi sai valita värin ja maalata kehyksen, johon kannattaa teipata paperinpala lasin suojaksi. Musta ja harmaan sävyt sopivat tällä kertaa hyvin, koska tulossa oli värikkäitä koristeita! Hamahelmien aakkospohja ja valokuvakehys ovat Tukholman Pandurosta, jonka verkkokauppa näyttää kyllä toimittavan Suomeenkin.

Tästä tuli lahja isälleni, ja kuvassa ovat tämän kolme lastenlasta. Hamahelmistä tehtiin lasten nimien alkukirjaimet sillä aikaa kun maali kuivui, eli lahja valmistui tosi pienessä ajassa. Hyvää viikonloppua ja isänpäivää kaikille!

 

Here's how I did to keep the glass safe from paint. // Näin suojasin lasin maalituhruilta.

Second Hand Finds // Kirppislöytöjä

I love making flea market finds and using recycled material in my crafts. In May there was a little flea market at a school next to our home, and I was really excited to finds these two papercraft books. It was actually a crafting friend from the neighbourhood who was selling them, so I have her to thank!

Kirppiksillä kiertely on yksi lempipuuhani, ja niiltä löytyy usein myös kaikenlaista askarteluun. Nämä löydöt ovat helatorstain kirppikseltä naapurikoululla. Myyjä oli itse asiassa yksi askartelututtavani näiltä kulmilta - kiitos kaupoista!

The first book is called Paper: Making, Decorating, Designing. Thackeray, Beata (text) and Hurst, Jacqui (special photography). Conran Octopus, 1997.



This book has both a technique part and galleries part, where Thackeray presents the works of different paper artists. // Kirja jakautuu tekniikkaosioon ja galleriaan, jossa esitellään paperitaiteilijoita eri maista.



Tie dying // Solmuvärjäys



Collage // Kollaasi



Gallery: Paper pulp artwork // Galleria: Taidetta paperimassasta
Mildred Fischer, USA



Gallery: Metallic finishes //Galleria: Metallikoristeltu paperi
Merete Zacho, Denmark



The next book is // Seuraava kirja on 30 Paper Creations. Fantastic Papercraft Projects to Make. Ed. by Fiona Eaton. Anness & Ultimate Editions, 1996. First shops I find who sell it are Amazon Canada and Amazon UK.

Cutting paper: circles mobile, place names... // Mobile ja paikkakortit paperista leikaten





Wrapping a round object beautifully // Miten pakataan kauniisti pyöreä paketti



And antique marbling technique, among others. // Ja tekniikoita kuten marmorointi.



The third book is from our equivalent of Ebay (huuto.net) and it cost a tad more than the others. It's a book on fabric printing and though it dates from xxxx, the contents don't seem outdated at all. The patterns actually look quite fashionable again today!

Kolmas löytöni on ajaton kankaanpainanta-aiheinen kirja Huutonetistä. Kuvat ja kuosit kertovat omasta ajastaan, mutta mukana on ihan nykypäivän makuunkin sopivaa! Kirjaa löytyy ainakin täältä, ja usein sitä on kaupan myös Huutonetissä.

Kankaanpainanta ja batiikki. Oerngreen, Jutta (text) and Achim Deimling-Ostrensky (photo). Otava, 1981. Translated from the German original (Brigitte Batik und Stoffdruck, 1979) to Finnish by Pirjo-Riitta Laajava.



Fashion for women // Muotia naisille



Timeless 1970's patterns for the home // Ajatonta 1970-lukua kotiin





And fun prints for the little ones! // Ja hauskoja printtejä perheen pienimmille!

Silvery Scales

This kind of collage is fun and easy to do with kids. I had the idea for this collage when my little artist was excited to learn to use the scissors but got unhappy if he did not manage to follow the drawn line. With the scales of the fish, I convinced him that they don't have to all precise, for they are all different shapes in real life, too.

When we started this, we saved all blue and silvery shades of paper scraps, from Christmas chocolates and whatnot for a few weeks. Then we had plenty to start cutting! A few pieces are in red and other warm colours to make it more lively.

Cut a fish shape and do the fins and tails first. Paint with silver colour or cover with paper of your choice. Then glue on the scales starting from the tail!

This is my participation in this week's Collage Obsession Challenge where the theme was Fish.







Kala hopeakylki

Keksin idean tähän kalaan, kun lapseni alkoi opetella saksien käyttöä, mutta turhautui, kun se ei vielä mennyt ihan viivoja pitkin. Kerroin, että kalan suomut ovat oikeastikin erilaisia jokainen, jolloin hän malttoi jatkaa.

Keräsimme sini- ja hopeasävyisiä papereita jokusen viikon ja aloimme leikellä suomuja vähän kerrallaan. Mukaan pääsi suklaapapereita ja vaikka mitä, ja tapani mukaan lisäsin myös vähän kontrastisia sävyjä.
Piirrä ja leikkaa kalan muoto paksusta pahvista ja tee ensin evät ja pyrstö maalaten tai paperilla päällystäen. Liimaa suomut pyrstöstä eteenpäin rivi kerrallaan.

Osallistun tällä viikon Collage Obsession -haasteeseen, aiheena tietysti Kalat.