Goodbye 2013 - can you "Feel" 2014 already? - summary, collage and best wishes

2013 was an amazing year for me - and for my husband. New collections - including Prima - amazing travels and lots of great people I met on the way... and I'm lucky I can name some of them my friends. In the same time packing and unpacking: not only my suitcases - but my studio, my home, my life. Moving to another country - finally - opening Mixed Media Place and trying to settle down. This was a YEAR.

I was trying to make picture summary for you - but amount of photos on my Instagram made it almost impossible - so I uploaded the slideshow is smaller parts: here:
January to April
April to August
and August to December

Working on these videos was a great travel in time - it brought back so many beautiful memories!
Thank you so much for sharing this year with me and making it so special. I hope next year will be even better! Fingers crossed!

This collage is perfect for today's post: it tells so much about me and how much I believe in following the intuition and listening to your inner voice. I hope next year I will find more time for that...

I'd like to wish you all the best for the New Year. I hope it will be the best year ever for all of us!
Please, try to remember about what is good for you. Believe in yourself. Listen to yourself.
Let yourself play. You know what to do :)

Hugs to you all - thank you so much for all the support, love, help and friendship:)

People I won't know - back to art journal and some classes coming!

Hi again! Guess what...I'm buried in work again!
Now I'm trying to focus on some new class projects for 2014 and some nice CHA samples... but in the meantime - I've got a new journal page to share with you:)
As I mentioned in my Sizzix post, explaining my idea of "leftover basket" and using bits and pieces for perfect journal backgrounds (you can learn more here - including which dies exactly were used for this a bit mysterious composition) - I just love to find inspiration in the most surprising places and recycle all my bits and leftover pieces... so here is another result of my little addiction: page in my friend's art Journal and my answer to the question - what inspires you?

Supplies: Archival Inks, Prima - Vintage Vanity Stamps, Paper Artsy Stamps, Prima Elementals - 12x12 Resist Canvas - Checkered, Mechanicals - Bottle Cap, Sizzix Dies, white cardstock, Primary Elements - mixed with water, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, Glossy Accents, soft pencil, pieces of net.

And now time for announcing first classes in the coming year:) Just after ArtVenture Event in California and CHA, on 18-19th January I'm teaching classes in Absolutely Everything Store in Topsfield near Boston, Massachusetts. There are spaces still available, so if you are interested - call the shop and book your class:)

Next event is on 8-9th February 2014- it's Scrapbook Werkstatt Event in Germany!
Last time I was in this country in 2011 so I'm so very happy to come back! You can find all the info here and bookings are here! I hope to see you in the classroom:)

I'll be back soon with some more updates and news for you.
xoxo

Winter Steampunk House - and Happy Christmas to you all!

Hi again friends!
I was quiet again for a while - and it was all because of the whole pile of "super secret" projects I have on my table right now. Some of them will go live very soon - for example "Creative Jump Start 2014" which includes my mini-class I can't wait to go live:)  Other peeks you will find on 7 Dots Studio blog - yes, new collections are coming and I'm wondering if you can guess which one is mine? :)

Meanwhile I had a chance  to work on one entertaining project which you can see below :) I kept it waiting for my Christmas post as I think it matches the Holiday atmosphere perfectly...

Here on Sizzix.uk  blog I was sharing how I turned Country Cottage die by Brenda Walton into a bit more "me" Winter Steampunk Workshop - you will find all the information about this great die if you will follow the link.

As you can see the house is a marriage of my Prima "Mechanicals" and 7 Dots Studio - 9th Wave Collection - they work just perfectly together! I added a bit of Distress Ink and Light Modeling Paste  - it really looks like snow,  isn't it?

The project wouldn't be that nice without little help of my sweet students from France - who shared with me their collection of mini cogs and gears - they were perfect match for this little house! Thank you so much!

And now it is high time for Christmas wishes!

First of all - thank you for this amazing year together. 

It was in so many ways a year of changes for me - new collections, now classes, new home and finally - online store. All this I could do only with the help and support of my family, friends and many great people who work behind the scenes and make miracles happen! Thank you - my visitors, followers, students, friends for coming back to my blog, FB page, Instagram, twitter - I feel your support and presence which gives me that much of energy that I would never expect I can have! This year was quite a ride - but hey - it was the best ride possible! Thank you for that!

For this Christmas time I'd like to wish you all everything you need: joy, peace, happiness, time for your family, friends (and maybe for yourselves?) - and wonderful atmosphere.
I hope these days will be full of laughter and unforgettable, magical moments. 

I wish you all the things you can dream of - because I KNOW miracles happen!

Have the best Christmas ever. Love you all!

Art-journal intrusion...

...seriously - why not?
For those of you who have a bit too much of Christmas preparation madness. ;)
Page I've made in my friend's art journal - inspired by the color... and the moment.

Supplies: Ecoline - watercolour paint, acrylic paint, Indian Ink, soft pencil, Paper Artsy stamps, Archival Ink (Ranger). 

Thank you for visiting - I'll be beck soon with something more appropriate to the season :)

Oh deer... Winter is Coming!

Indeed :)
I've already said farewell to Autumn and I'm fully into winter mood now :) Last 3 weeks
I was creating some winter-inspired projects and it is high time for reveal! So, here it goes: I'm sharing them with you, bit-by-bit...

This little guy (nameless - so far) was found by me a year a go or maybe more during one of winter sales. I loved the shape  - but honestly - I hated the sparkly silver colour: far too festive and baroque even for me! I took poor thing home though - with good paints, a bit of time and good set of embellishments anything is possible! (Especially if you have to hide there is an important part of the body missing ;))

As you can see painting was just the first step - as always I went a bit crazy with embellishing, this time my main focus was on Sizzix cut - outs (Brenda Walton's collection - you can learn more about this line and project here, on Sizzix blog) and my favorite Prima Mechanicals - in great company of paper roses of different sizes. I sprayed them with a mixture of Primary Element Pigments and water.
I'm really happy about the metal tag with number on deer's neck. I glued the numbers with a bit of Glossy Accents - and voila!

This project was posted on Prima blog not so long ago - together with amazing, midblowing projects of Prima DT - inspired by products from my lines - Mechanicals, Elementals and Vintage Vanity. this is the COOLEST selection of decorations EVER! You have to see them! 

After decorating my deer I had plenty of leftovers - looks like I'll never learn how much elements I REALLY need to finish the project...but hey, why not creating a winter greeting card in the same color palette?

Here it is - perfect for my next Sizzix blogpost, right? :)

Most of the supplies including paints, Mechanicals, Junkyard Findings, Primary Elements from Luminarte, some card bases, patterned papers and Ranger products (and all other things you might need to you need to create these and similar projects) you will find in our European Mixedmedia Store - Mixed Media Place :) I hope you will visit us!

I wish you wonderful time preparing for Christmas and New Year!
See you very soon!

Creative Jump Start 2014 - here we go again! (Yeah!)

Hi again my friends, I'm happy to be back home and trying to focus on new projects and inspiration for you now! As always I'm putting a bit to much on my plate, so please:  keep fingers and toes crossed for me, ok?

And now: here is one of the things I was working on secretly: new edition of Creative Jump Start - great online event that helps you wake up your creativity for the coming year and find inspiration you may need to start!!!
I'm excited to be JumpStarter again, this time in  Creative JumpStart (CJS) 2014, run by an awesome personality - Nathalie Kalbach. Some of you know CJS already - and I don't really need to convince you it is pure fun and inspiration packed into artsy wrapping... but if you need a reminder you can find my 2 videos prom previous editions here and here :)
If you're not familiar with CJS - let me tell you  it's a one-of-a-kind community event to inspire your creativity. Need help getting your creative mojo going in 2014? CJS can help :)

Throughout January participants get 23 videos from 21 featured artists. I'm proud to be one of those artists - you can meet all of us in the video below:)
 It's an amazing event where you can learn new techniques, discover new materials, and connect with other Mixed Media Artists and Scrapbookers.

 Head on over to Nathalie's site to sign up and for more details. 

CJS costs just $20 for the 3.5 hours of video content. That's less than $1 per video - a great deal.

 Here's a short video for more details: 

So join me and 20 other artists this January for CJS 2014!

Four colours of Christmas

Hello, friends!
Magical December is here and I'd like to show you some Holiday inspirations today.





Together with three other artists I was invited by Sizzix to create projects in 4 different colour schemes.

If you'd like to receive a free project sheet download, just leave your email address on this Sizzix page and enjoy our Holiday creations in detail.



For this Noel decor I used the Sizzix die to cut out the chipboard letters and simply glued them together to make them more sturdy so that the decoration could stand on its own.



I played with my Sunrise Sunset and Vintage Vanity paper collections and some Mechanicals to contrast the delicate papers. I also used crackle paint and subtle touches of colour achieved with Primary Elements pigments that I love so much..

The thing is we are not bound to traditional Christmassy colours.
Think outside the box, look around for inspirations and play a little, surprise your near and dear and perhaps surprise yourself. ;)
Stay warm!

Do you know the feeling?

Hi, all!
I'm sure you know the feeling when life starts getting hectic and very tricky to control.
When your to-do list is endless, projects start whirling around your head and all sorts of deadlines start biting your...khm...ankles. ;)
What do you do then?
Hah! I bet I'll guess! You...procrastinate, don't you? ;)

So here's my story today. My life has been crazy busy recently - don't get me wrong, I LOVE it!
But everyone needs a tiny little break from time to time.

Today's project initially was supposed to be created for a totally different company, with a different topic and execution. But. Well...I started having so much fun in the making that somehow my brain decided to put off all the things I SHOULD be doing and just enjoy the process.



I loved creating this piece (and it turned out to be just perfect for 7 Dots Studio!) and allowing myself to forget about all the obligations for just a little while.



I played with this gorgeous Archival inks color combination that I simply adore and find very inspiring, I also used my 9th Wave papers, some Mechanicals and Sizzix cut out elements to create the layering to add some depth. 



You may call it procrastination as if it was a bad thing.
But it turns out that scientists might prove us all wrong. Just take a look:

"If you look at recent studies, managing delay is an important tool for human beings. People are more successful and happier when they manage delay. We will always have more things to do than we can possibly do, so we will always be imposing some sort of unwarranted delay on some tasks. The question is not whether we are procrastinating, it is whether we are procrastinating well."

So, no guilt trip this time! ;)
Procrastinate well, my friends! :)