Ink Love

I have written about inks and how I love them. This time I want analyze why I am so into using them. The reason is my love for glassware.

I just adore colorful glass. In Finland we have, and have had many great designers for glassware. Nanny Still, for example. And they are not all that expensive! Even everyday glass in Finland is just wonderful, I think.

If inks could turn into some material, they would be either silk or glass. I use two kinds of inks at the moment. The first is Windsor & Newton drawing ink and the second is Tim Holtz's alcohol ink. They are a bit different, the first one not being so high in intensity but I love them both. Windsor & Newton are better than watercolors. They blend nicely and they maintain their intensity even when mixing some water. The alcohol inks are more like power drops, thicker glass!

Last time when shopping inks I was following the other customers. They were looking at papers, paints, whatever, but nobody else was near the ink shelf. I felt like they were in the flea market missing the real find! "These inks are the best you can buy here", I was almost about to whisper to them! But did not, of course. It would have been crazy act, at least in Finland were everybody is so calm, cool and collected, even when shopping at the art department!

Royal Wedding

I took the afternoon off from work to watch the royal wedding. The beautiful dresses, the glory of Westminster Abbey and both the joyful and formal elements of the ceremony just fled into this collage.

You can see that I was pretty serious with the wedding. I was making tea and having cake that had "W & K" on the top!

Super Doodling

Here's a deco page where I doodled over doodles. This is how it happened.

I found a photocopied background of my doodling, tiny tiny stuff! I then doodled some flower and leaf motifs on white paper. I also cut some small pieces of hand decorated paper. Finally attached them to the background paper and used markers and color pens for coloring. I think this could be called super doodling!

Happy Easter!

Last night when I was staying up late and playing with papers I wanted to make the easter greeting for the blog. I had this urge to make something showing where my roots are, in the eastern Finland. This year I have been watching easter eggs at the shops. In the south, where I live now, everything is so pastel, so blend, even the easter decoration.

Sometimes I get so fed up with the white country style or the contemporary stuff, you know those square shape white sofas combined with lightweight white curtains. Not me, never.

So here's my easter greeting for you, plenty of colorful eggs, jewelry and fabrics!

The day before I was playing with Tim Holtz alcohol inks and soft color pens. I love inks. I also have black writing ink that is really great for deep black. If you have not tried the alcohol inks, have a go, you wont be disappointed! I just blob them straight from the bottle and try not to think too much. I love the way they layer with the color pens. The soft pens are like velvet and the ink is like silk.

More than colors and shapes, I think of materials when I make the collages. I try to imitate all kinds of fabrics, glass, porcelain, they never cease to inspire me. I love to make cards with all these materials in mind. Here are few of the latest, imitating glass and porcelain.

Scrap Picture Inspiration

I love scrap pictures. They have the exact nostalgia that really touches me. In these cards I combined them with my doodling and the result is overly romantic, I think, but I actually like it that way. There are people who want to express their deepest pains and the state of the society with their art. I respect that and believe that's what art really should do.

In a way, I want to express high emotions too, only in a different way. I love fashion and esthetics, the old time beauty and how it's based on ornaments. I do not think the beauty is the opposite of pain. Generations after generations people have made they way to lift spirits and touch deep by making beautiful things. I believe you can go deep whatever your style is. That's my goal anyway.

That Little Push from ScrapHappy.org

Here's a scrapbooking layout that's my entry to ScrapHappy.org's sketch challenge in April. It's about making circles and why I love it. I have used my hand decorated papers for the layout and I quite like it how they work with the photo and with the peaceful background. (I try to keep hand decorated papers available in my Etsy shop from now on so if you like to try them, see Peony And Parakeet at Etsy).

Now you might wonder what is ScrapHappy.org. It's a community hosted by Lain Ehmann, a famous scrapbooker. It has a monthly fee and each month you get blog posts that have challenges, videos, audios and other fun and inspiring things for scrapbooking. I like the way Lain brings her personality online. You also get to participate her Layout a Day challenges where you scrapbook layout a day for the whole month. Those repeat three times a year.

What I really like with Lain is that she really tries to make scrapbooking easy. The sketches are very simple and her tips about taking time for scrapbooking are practical. Sometimes I need that little push to get the page done!

How to Make Paper Flowers

This is the old blog from Peony and Parakeet. 
Welcome to follow the new blog at www.peonyandparakeet.com/blog
This post is also found in the new blog, go to: 
http://www.peonyandparakeet.com/how-to-make-paper-flowers/

Once you have made your own patterned paper, why not turn them into adorable paper flowers!

I just love the way they go along with the papers. Once you have developed your own style, anything you do can be combined together. As I have said, the best shop for papers and embellishments is the one you can set up for yourself!

So take out your hand decorated papers (I have quite a pile of them) and start making flowers! In addition to papers, you will only need correction pen, black marker (I love PITT artist pens), some embroidery floss, glue (Tombow is my favorite) and scissors.

Pick three papers that work well together. Remember to ensure there's enough contrast between them.

Cut three circles, a small one, a medium one and a large one. My largest one is about 3 inches (7,5 cm) but you can make them in various sizes. Just be sure the smallest circle is big enough to add details like button holes.

If you have made your papers drawing layered circles, you have your circles ready to be cut. I cut the circles free hand as I am not so fussy about making them accurate.

After cutting the circles, take the biggest one and draw the shape of the flower with the black marker. I like my flowers to be asymmetrical. I think they look more artsy that way!

Cut by following the marker line so that the black marker line remains visible. The line frames your flower and make it look more dimensional.

You can also change the shape of the second circle if it feels right. I often find myself adjusting the shapes of the circles during the process.

Make the smallest circle to look like a button by drawing circles with the marker and the correction pen. Then add holes with the marker. Big holes look better than small ones.

Now you have the three parts of the flower ready to be attached. Glue the parts together. Then take your needle and sew the buttonhole. After this phase I often add details with the marker. Here I have added little dots around the button and circled the second circle. As I love adding layers to my work, I finally glued the flower to another paper (blue one in the picture) and cut it out.

Here's the finished piece. Have fun with your papers!