Happy Christmas! With Yarns!

My new website has been published and the blog has moved to the new address.

Check it out: www.peonyandparakeet.com

The location of the new blog: www.peonyandparakeet.com/blog

And a new blog post is up! Go to the new blog to see it:

Happy Christmas! With Yarns!

Photo Album Art Journaling

I have tried to find easy ways to do art journal pages when I only have little time for it. I had a couple of small empty photo albums so I thought why not! People already scrapbook by inserting photos and journal cards to photo pockets so there's not much difference to that!

These are all 4 by 6 inches pages!I do still art journal in bigger size too. Here's a new page for my "pretty art journal". I think it goes fairly well with the page I made earlier.

And here are some greeting cards that I have made recently. The world really is full of color and that inspires me every day!

Handmade Collections

I like to keep things organized. Art and crafting supplies included. I like neat compartments and piles and putting everything into its own place. This summer has been really rainy and cold in Finland. So I have got a lot of time for organizing!

I browsed the photos that I have taken the past couple of months and I see grids and piles in most of them. Even the cards that I have made are showing the strict order. Another things that I see there are collections, all handmade. I have grown the flowers from the seeds, picked the berries and potatoes from my garden, dyed the yarn, carded the wool ... The pictures from summer are like well organized shelves in my house.

There was a time when I was desperately avoiding grid patterns in my art. The free and flowing line surely is the sign of creative spirit. I wanted nothing to do with symmetry or squares.

Now that I have found some of the freedom I was seeking for, I get the permission from myself to space the small circles evenly instead of throwing them to the background. It is like in knitting I tried not to knit simple patterns to learn the complicated ones. Nowadays after tens of years of knitting I enjoy simple projects the most. Sometimes it's laziness but most often it's being able to do something more from the less of stuff. 

The last picture is a simple neckwarmer that I made. I started with the carded roving, handspun the yarn, then dyed it, and finally knitted the piece using a simple pattern. It's not like the most ingenous knitwear ever but it has a story unlike many store-bought items do.

Make Art, Reuse, Simplify!

When I made this handmade card I did not think of fabric. But the way I create art leads often to design. I love to reuse my illustrations and make new products from them.

I am so pleased with this fabric, made from the doodling. I thought this would not work as a repeatable pattern but it does! If you have followed my blog for some time you know how I hate simplified stuff. But I recently I have begun to turn more to simple things. And I have started to look my own work differently. These two designs don't really look complicated.I find it both funny and bittersweet to to be so excited about simple designs and simplifying! You will see some projects with a new twist in the near future! 

New Postcards

See my shop Peony and Parakeet for some new glossy postcards! 

I have more than 20 different designs already!

Nature's Symmetry

I wanted to make an ornament that could be used as a starting point of fabric design. I usually begin to make an ornament by defining it's structure. The idea I had in mind this time was to create a long ornament where various elements are lined symmetrically. Symmetrically! I am not a big fan of symmetry, most of the times I find it a bit too conventional and boring.

Here's my end result. It is symmetrical but still not quite. I think it goes well with the plant theme. Even if the plants grow symmetrically, there's still some variation.

I made this card few days ago (available at Etsy) and its also a good example of rough symmetry. I especially like the black random plots on blue petals.

Adding Dimension

Here are some cards that I made recently for my Etsy store. Instead of using only thin papers, I added some dimension for them. The ones with squares are made from memory play cards. I covered them with tiny scraps of paper, all my own designs. The one with the star has a handmade polymer clay button on it. Remember, when I made these? (Some are available at Etsy too)

Here's a close-up where you can see the dimensional blocks better.

And here's a closer look at the star card. The polymer clay button is the same style as the illustrations. I think there's some steampunk and art nouveau going on here. I personally like the star to be a bit asymmetrical, freely drawn. It makes it look more interesting.

Elegant Christmas Cards

My first video ever! See how I make elegant but simple Christmas cards. In the end of the video you'll see variations of the basic design.

Using Hand Decorated Papers

A greeting card, available at Etsy

One of the most popular posts in my blog is How To Make Your Own Patterned Paper. If you have made some, I want to encourage to use those!

Or buy some that I have printed from my artwork, available at Etsy!

In one of the previous posts, I gave a glimpse of an art journal that I made recently. I want to show better pictures this time! In this journal I have combined my artsy photos with the papers, some printed, some originals.

I hope you enjoyed the art journal!

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.

Burning Heart

I got inspired by Pave Maijanen's song "Palava sydän" (burning heart). I used sewing machine and handmade papers for this. This is also available as print in DeviantArt, I've added few of my photos and collages there too.

This was the first time I used my sewing machine after moving to the new home in December. I think that even if I sewed paper I am heading towards textiles. I have some new ideas and they relate to fabric.

Burning heart - that's what I really have nowadays. My heart is burning for creativity, it is so wonderful to see art and make art. It makes my life worth living. I hope that you feel the same way too!

Sales Table

I am going to a small crafts event tomorrow and here's the most of my sales table. Fabrics, cards and decorated papers. It has been fun to gather them all together and it will be fun to attend the event, sales or no sales!

Winners!

Using random number generator I have randomly picked the recipients for the card surprise package. They are:

1) Martina

2) Holly Eva

3) Monika

Martina, Holly Eva and Monika, please contact me by sending your mailing address to peonyandparakeet(at)kolumbus.fi!

Thank you all for commenting! I really enjoyed reading your comments!

Giveaway!

To celebrate the coming holiday season I am giving away 3 surprise packages of my cards, some glossy postcards, some folded greeting cards.

To participate the giveaway:

Tell me what you would like to read or see in Peony And Parakeet blog in 2011.

Pictures of folk bags? Instructions for craft projects? Articles on art journaling? More sock knitting? What inspires you?

Leave your comment on 3rd December at the latest.

I will randomly pick the winners before 7th December.

Handmade Business Cards

As a participant of Discovering Y.O.U art marketing course I was encourage to try to make my own business card. I was a bit pessimistic first, but making these was so much fun!


It all started with the stamp I had ordered from Vistaprint.

The stamped text box is nothing artistic but the it hit me. I am going to paint and draw the image on the other side. I took an old sheet of blank business cards and started painting. As I also make textiles, especially knits, I wanted to have some of them in the card too. I took few balls of handdyed yarns and made some samples of them. What do you think about the result?

My art journal has got a couple of new pages. These are inspired by interior decoration and gardening magazines.

Colorful Illustrations and Gray Yarn

Here are more pages of my first art journal that I am making at Traci Bautista's Discovering Y.O.U. course. I am getting there: undestanding how fun and fascinating it is to have journal. I have always dreamed about having an extra room for library and now I dream also about the whole bookshelf with books that I have made myself.


I am also more and more into illustration. I have been listening Thomas James's podcast Escape from Illustration Island for some time. It is worth listening if you want to go deep with the professional illustration world. I quite like to find stuff way above my own skills, it really makes me practice more and more.


Here's a journal page with some illustration:
Few spreads of the journal:




Besides making journal, knitting and other regular crafts, I have been making yarn from the wool I got from my friend. I have carded the wool myself and now some of it has been spun to the yarn. Now so colorful than my journal pages but I think it is so cool to be able to make yarn from the wool collected from the area where I spent my childhood.




I want to finish with colors though. Here's a card that I made some time ago with stamps and markers. Stamps are great for creating illustrated feel too!

New Postcards and Enjoying Summer

I have a couple of new cards for sale in my Etsy store Kukkilintu. The first one is called Always Together and I was thinking about summer weddings, true friendships and everything so positive! The second one is called Sit Here and was inspired by interior magazines. I love to read them and imagine myself having like 8 different houses for suiting different occasions and moods!

Even if I have been crafting like mad, I have had also some time to enjoy the summer which has been particularly hot in Finland this year. I love to see my pets enjoying it too, here's my guinea pig Pepe. He thinks our small garden is like a huge superstore filled with snacks!

Jewelry Inspired

In my imaginative world I can be as rich as I want!

Mielikuvitus ei tunne rajoja rikkaudelle!

I really enjoyed making these cards, thinking about jewelry and adding stamped images all over the place. This first card has strong colors and that makes it look a bit asian to me.

Näitä kortteja oli kiva tehdä, haaveilla koruista ja lisäillä leimasimella kuvia kerros kerrokselta. Ekassa kortissa on aika voimakkaat värit ja siinä näyttää ehkä siksi olevan aasialaisvaikutteita.

The second card is not only about jewelry but also about buttons. I love buttons, both stamped and real ones! I made this one to look like a charm bracelet.

Tämä toinen kortti on paitsi korujen, myös nappien ystäville. Olen itse ihan nappifani ja tässä olen yhdistellyt sekä nappileimoja, että oikeita nappeja tarkoituksenani kuvata rannekorua, jossa roikkuu riipuksia.

Summer Stamping

We have a great hot weather in Finland. Almost too hot to do anything but simple stamping.

Kuumalla säällä ei oikein voi tehdä paljoa, mutta leimailla aina voi!

I made this card using a collection of stamps and butterfly stickers. Somehow I find stamping almost as relaxing as knitting and spinning!

Tein tämän kortin erilaisia leimasimia ja perhostarroja käyttäen. Leimailu on uskomattoman rentouttavaa, melkein yhtä rentouttavaa kuin neulominen tai kehrääminen!