The Queen of Night - an altered brush

Good evening! It's quite dark during the evenings and nights nowadays here in Finland. The brightest stars and planets can be seen even in where we live, quite near the city center. However, this project wasn't inspired by the current night sky, but actually from a memory of a movie.

I guess it was a school music lesson when I first saw Amadeus, an 80's film by Milos Forman. It captivated me so much, that I even read the manuscript the movie is based on. I was also fortunate enough to see a Finnish version of the piece in theatre back in the day and it still holds the no 1 spot of the most impressive piece of theatre I have seen. It was captivating to see how deep in character the actor of Salieri was! But back to the film, because it was not only the story that caught my imagination but the visual marvel as well. The movie actually won the "Best Costume Design" Academy Award. Even though I enjoyed all the costumes, what was imprinted on my mind was a really short scene, a snippet of the "Der Hölle Rache", the aria sung by the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. I read somewhere that the bit was inspired by 1815 stage design of the opera by Friedrich Schinkel. So, it's a kind of chain of inspiration here!

I used a Lynne Perrella stamp to make the Queen and then added some night style elements to the mix by adding the moth, some pearls and rhinestones and also a stylized moon. The process in this make is quite straight forward, but the coloring of the stamped image might be something new. If you want to see, how I made that, please follow the link (link) to my YouTube channel!

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a starry Friday and great weekend!

Materials:

PaperArtsy - LPC051 stamp set

Tsukineko - VersaFine Clair Nocturne

A.B.Studio - Mixmedia thick cardboard ID-307

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic paint Vintage Lace, Blue Moon, Captain Peacock, Baltic Blue

Ranger - Adirondack alcohol ink Stream, Citrus

Ranger - Distress collage medium Matte

Prima Marketing - Art Alchemy Metallique wax Old Silver

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic glaze Pearl Glaze

Posca PC-1M white, silver

Stabilo - All aquarelle white pen

paint brush, tissue paper, vellum, piece of cardstock

molded moth (Finnabair "Nocturnal Insects" mold)

white pearls, rhinestones

craft glue

brushes, scissors, sponge

Sugar, spice and everything nice - an altered book cover

Deck the halls with boughs of holly! You may have noticed that I'm in full Christmas mood already! This time I crafted a little canvas-like piece for the Friday process video post. My thought was to use a book cover as the base and then go with my usual process of gessoing and painting, but when I noticed this beautiful mulled wine red cover on my stash, I knew it would be a different process!

The cover I used as my base had this beautiful lace-like pattern in the middle. I wanted to highlight that and chose to use a wreath chipboard to replicate the shape. I then made a cluster of elements on top, this time paying attention to the color of the elements, as I wasn't going to be painting them. Not with a heavy hand at least! To finish the project I added some snowy touches to the composition. Want to see how I crafted the project? If so, please follow this link (link) to my YouTube channel.

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a lovely Friday and hope to see you tomorrow during the YouTube live!

Materials:

A.B.Studio - Mixmedia thick cardboard ID-317

Tsukineko - VersaMark ink

Ranger - Gold embossing powder

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Photobooth #TH93799

Prima Marketing - Art Basics Heavy Body Gel

Prima Marketing - Darcelle flowers 644376

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Gauge Dials #TH94225

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Confections Candy Canes #TH94281

Ranger - Glossy Accents

Prima Marketing - Art Basics Heavy Gesso White

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic paint Snowflake

Prima Marketing - Art Ingredients glass beads Crystal 1,5mm

Ranger - Tim Holtz Distress Rock Candy clear glitter

old book cover, old spoon, metal candle holder

dried orange slices, cinnamon stick, nuts

crochet buttons, faux flowers, small golden snowflake decorations, jingle bells, red ribbon

craft glue

brushes, palette knife, scissors

Secret Inside - an altered wooden box

Oh gosh, can you believe it's almost mid-month already?! Where does the time fly! The second Friday of the month means the second video of the month and like I mentioned last Friday, the Halloween theme continues! This time I'm altering a wooden casket shape box. Or maybe altering is a bit overstating it, maybe decorating would be better! 

As you can see from the process video, I start by painting the shape black using black gesso and then add texture on top using a stencil and black modeling paste. Yes, black! Like I say in the video, I first thought I'd need to first make the texture and then paint the project black, before remembering I have black paste! So handy in a project like this! You can watch the process video here (link) on my YouTube channel.

To add some sweetness to the project, I then added some flowers on top, used a pink color scheme against the black and even added sweets inside! If you want the project to be a bit more on the scary side, you can add something more gloomy and drastic inside, but I opted for chocolates. Although I have to say that I did ponder upon making a small accordion folded booklet inside... But this time I wanted this one to be a gift so sweets it was! Maybe I should get another one of these boxes before they run out and do that journal style thing to it! 

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a lovely Friday and great weekend, too! Underneath you can again see the used materials, should you wish to recreate something similar.

Materials:

wooden chest (CCHobby)

Prima Marketing - Art Basics Heavy Gesso Black

Ranger - Distress Texture Paste Black Opaque

Stampers Anonymous - Berry Leaves THS174 stencil

A.B.Studio - Mixmedia cardboard ID-281

Ranger - Distress Oxide Saltwater Taffy, Fired Brick

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic paint Chalk, Cherry Blossom

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Entomology TH94079

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Skulls and Pumpkins TH94169

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Skulls and Spiders TH94161

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Number Tokens TH93244

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Halloween 2024 sticker book

moulded bones and bottle 

(made using Finnabair moulds "Apothecary Bottles" and "Wings and Bones")

paper and faux flowers

cheese cloth, twine

craft glue

brushes, scissors, sponge, palette knife

Danse Macabre - an altered record

Hello! It's again Friday and time for a new process video! As with the previous Friday videos, you can watch the process video here (link) on my YouTube channel.

As you can see from the photos, this time I'm making an altered record. I was going to call it LP record, but my husband educated me that it's not a "long play" but instead a 7" vinyl. Like I tell in the video, it's something he brought home as a gift as it has Danse Macabre on it. We've been watching and re-watching Jonathan Creek episodes lately. It's a British mystery drama series, with a magicians assistant as a crime solver. A lot of locked room mysteries! 

Because of the record, I still call the piece Danse Macabre, even though, to be honest, if I would depict "Dance of Death", it would be a bit different. This altered record has some elements that I would include, but others are missing from the "memento mori" representation - like a skull to depict the personification of death. Instead I went with my favorite color palette and continued with the theme I started in the last video - using up my stash and not just saving and hoarding stuff! In this case, it was those beautiful flowers I haven't had the heart to use before.  

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a wonderful weekend and hopefully some nice craft time, too. Don't forget the YouTube live tonight!

Materials:

PaperArtsy - Grunge Paste

Prima Marketing - Art Basics Heavy Body Gel

Prima Marketing - Art Basics Heavy Gesso Black

Prima Marketing - Finnabair Gothic stencil

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic paint Aqua Duck Egg, Captain Peacock

Prima Marketing Art - Alchemy metallique wax Peacock, Vintage Gold

A.B.Studio - chipboards like ID_308 and ID-74

Prima Marketing - Finnabair Mechanicals like Bottle Caps, Old Plaques, Gears

Ranger - Distress Rock Candy clear glitter

Prima Marketing - Memory Hardware Pearls V Gilded

Prima Marketing - Flower bouquet (Pri-590000)

a vinyl record

a molded moth (using mold Mecha Moth)

metal shavings, baker's twine, old buttons and snap fasteners

craft glue

brushes, palette knife

Hot glue wands

Heippa hei! Something completely different today - some magic wands. The title tells the main material in these, but if you didn't read it, I bet that wouldn't be the first thing you guessed! These wands are made using hot glue on top of a chopstick. No clay, no pastes, just hot glue. 

When I had the shapes done, they were looking really weird, but luckily I have been working with hot glue embellishments before so I trusted the process. They became much easier to look at and see as a wooden wand after the first layers on paint! I first added a layer of black and dark brown to each one and then started using dry brushing to heighten the textured surface. 

These were so fun to make! I made these actual for a window display at work, but liked them so much that I wanted to share them with you, too. They also gave me an idea how to add an element to an art doll I'm currently brewing in my head! 

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a pleasant Tuesday!

Mildred, the ornithologist - an altered tin

Moikka moi! It's the first Friday of June and that means the first June video! I had planned for a canvas in this slot, but as you can it's something else. But it was actually inspired by a canvas... 

Back in May I did a tag shaped canvas with a professor (link). I whipped a story of him being an entomologist as the project has several bugs on it. So, come and meet his daughter, Mildred, who's an ornithologist! It seems that interest in biology runs in the family. 

If you want to know how I made this little secret garden in a tin, you can find the process video for it here (link) on my YouTube channel. 

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a lovely day and weekend! 

PS. If you are up for it, I'm keeping a live tonight! Come and join me on YouTube!

Materials:

Fabriano - Accademia 160g cardstock

Sizzix - Texture Fades embossing folder Industrial 665754

Ranger - Distress Paint Tarnished Brass

Ranger - Distress Oxide Peeled Paint, Peacock Feathers

Ranger - Distress Ink Scorched Timber

A.B.Studio - Mixmedia thick cardboard ID-307

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic paint Chalk

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Photobooth TH93799

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Organic layers TH94316

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Collage Strips TH94328

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Gauge Dials TH94225

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Halloween Tokens TH94064

Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Number Strips ephemera pack TH94222

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas 2023 sticker book TH94350

Ranger - Glossy Accents

a mint tin

vintage fabric ribbon, paperclip, twine

foam tape, craft glue

die cutting machine, scissors, inking tool, brushes, stapler

...out of these my heart's own song I'll make - a mixed media canvas

Hello hello, it's Friday again! Today I'm sharing a textured canvas piece with you with a process video. 

I've been telling you how each year, when the spring comes, I start to have an urge for yellow. That was the case this year, too, but this time it lasted a shorter while than usual only to be replaced by a craving for green! I feel like I've been using more green during this spring that before! So, when thinking about what color to use for this piece, it ended up being green. 

What the green then caused, was to provoke the story. I went for this brown green tone and it started to look like mossy forest floor. Then the heart and the combo of the flowers and color started suddenly make sense and I named the piece "Out of these my heart's own song I'll make". That's a line from Eino Leino's, a Finnish poet's very known poem called "Nocturne". I can recite the first part of the poem by heart in Finnish. The poem talks about Finnish nature and how the speaker connects to it. He's stating items like "darkness of the woods", "scent of linnea borealis", and "shadows of the waters" to make his heart's song. 

If you want to see, how I made my own heart's song, please see the process video below.

As you could see from the video, I first left the heart "open" and didn't include anything inside. But in the end it looked too bare and like something was missing. I tried different things in it, but everything looked strange. Until I tried a gear; it looked OK, but even better when I broke a piece out of it. I assume it's the way the arch echoes the shape of the heart and also how there's more tension now that the circle is broken that made it work. What do you think? 

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a pleasant weekend! Oh, and I hope to see you tomorrow on the YouTube live! Ta ta for now! 

Materials:

Ranger - Distress Collage medium Matte

Prima Marketing - Art Basics Modeling paste

PaperArtsy - Fresco Finish acrylic paint Sand, Butter, Chalk, Magic Moss, Little Black Dress

A.B.Studio - ID-285 stencil

Prima Marketing - Finnabair stencil Gothic

Prima Marketing - Art Basics Heavy Body Gel

PaperArtsy - Infusions colored stains Olive Tree, Just Walnut

Prima Marketing - Art Alchemy fluid acrylic paint Avocado Green

wooden base

Finnabair Mechanicals metal embellishments

moulded elements using Finnabair silicone moulds

old spoon

old crocheted doily

old buttons, washers and other nick knacks

linen thread

white pearls

craft glue

palette knife, brush, scissors, water mister