Happy Holidays!

I always dream about preparing for Christmas well ahead and usually never will. This year of all the years I have done more Christmas preparations than many times before. Even if I am about to move to a new home within a week and I am living with a small chaos at the moment!

Here's the cover of a mini album I have made as a present. I think mini scrapbooking albums make great presents. I picked some memorable photos for my sisters, like this gingerbread house which we made together when I was a small child.

Hopefully new memorable photos will be taken this Christmas for future scrapbook pages! Happy holidays!

Playing With Decos

Here's a couple of recent pages I have made for decos. Decos are handmade booklets that circle from one person to another and everyone decorates one page. When all the pages have been decorated the deco is sent to the person it is made for. Think about tens, even hundreds of decos with different themes waiting for you to decorate a page and send it forward. How crazy is that?!

Pretty crazy, with very little purpose, but I still love that hobby! Would I never make a collage of vintage boat trip or strange nature phenomenon? Without decos, probably not. Decos stretch imagination and help finding personal style. It is also interesting to see what other signers have created with the theme. Deco swappers appreciate the solitude spent with decos but at the same time they appreciate the network among similar people.

When I make decos I enter the imaginary world where anything is possible. Can't think a better way to relax!

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.

The Last Page

Here's the last page of my first ever art journal. I am little worried about the lack of text in the last journal pages. Also, should I use more realistic illustrations? I guess there are no rules in art journaling but I still want to question and seek my way in it!

How To Make Your Own Patterned Paper

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-your-own-patterned-paper/ 

While preparing moving to a new house I have tried to avoid big projects. So I have done quite a lot of paper crafting recently. One of the easiest and quickest things to do is to make patterned papers. I use Canson sketch paper (90 g in thickness) and whatever paints and pens I possibly have.

I think that sometimes more really is more, so I call these "More Is More" papers! I am going to use these for my art journal pages. Before cutting them I scan them so that I can use the same paper digitally or print a copy of it. That way I have always some papers available.

Now I am going to show you one of the easiest way I know to make really rich and colorful paper. Besides the paper, you will need watercolors, marker pens, gel pens and colored pencils, correction pen and relaxed mind. Don't worry about the mess you make, it will look lovely in the end!

1) Paint the background with watercolors.

Use circular strokes. Don't think.

Dry the excess water with tissue paper here and there to create some lighter areas.

2) Make doodles with markers.

I love to use PITT artist pens here. Any medium marker will do.

I like circles and swirls but you can doodle what ever comes to your mind. Relax your hand and keep the pressure light.

3) Continue doodling with gel pens.

Now change to gel pens and make detailed doodles. I use Sakura gel pens.

Some might think that this is the last step but no way! More is more, remember!

4) Color areas with colored pencils.

If you look closely there might be areas where colors are grayish or not so prefect. Take your colored pencils and work the problem areas. Do not worry overlapping the doodling. The layered look is just what we aim here.

It looks like this now. Finished? Oh no!

5) Doodle with correction pen.

One of the best pens you can buy is a fine point correction pen. After you have colored all the white areas, you can make the white to come back with the correction pen! Now doodle over the paper, here and there...

6) Add contrast and shine.

Take your black marker and make pretty dots near the white areas.

Optional: If you have a gold metallic pen you can doodle mindlessly over everything to add some extra shine.

Isn't more really more? You can stop in any step, of course, I couldn't!

New Elements in Life

My art journal has only one page left. These two pages repeat the idea that I have been trying to catch for a long time: have something light and flowing on the heavy background. I am intrigued by the fact that even if something can be easily understood conceptually, it can still be very hard to express it.

I am probably in urge to paint light, evaporating elements because my life is about to change. Me and my husband have bought a house with a big garden and we are moving to the new home within few months. I will get more room for all the creative activities and so does my husband. But our first creative project will be renovating the house and, when the summer comes, planning the garden. It will be hard work, but we are very excited!