Altered box tutorial by Tanyalee

Hi guys,

Experimenting with new products, new textures, new materials is an essential part of being an artist. I suppose we all love to discover the new. Today Tanyalee will show you her attempt at using Finnabair's new products. 

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Hi everyone, Tanyalee here with an altered box tutorial.

This month I have jumped into the altered product artwork scene and am upcycling a box I found in my drawers. And I am experimenting with Finnabair’s new products as well!

I had this box in my stash of ‘things I can’t throw away’ hoping the right project would come along to make something with it. And when the new rust effect pastes, and opal magic paints arrived I knew they would be perfect!

I started off by covering the box with a coat of heavy gesso and then started adding texture with gauze, pieces of vintage book paper and string. Then I added some of the beautiful pale blue and green rust effect pastes from the Northern Lights range, as well as some paper paste. My colour scheme of ended up being pink and blue tones, so I chose matching opal magic paints and watered them down with my water spritzer.

Next I chose an alterable flower and some paper ribbon and glued that down using 3D Matte Gel. I keep adding colour until I was happy with the tones and then decided on the new melange and adhered them, along with some glitter.

Here is my video tutorial:

This project was really quick to put together and I love the pastel colour scheme.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, and I look forward to sharing another tutorial with you again next month.

Yours in messiness

Tanyalee

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store

Other supplies:

Vintage Book Pages

Gauze

String

Box

Vintage art-journal by Marta

Hello friends,

New Finnabair products - Fantasy Texture Pastes, Opal Magic Paints and Art Pebbles - are extremely versatile and you can use them not only for altering objects and off the page projects. Marta shows us today fantastic sample of using Finnabair new products in art-journaling. 

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Hello Friends!

It's Marta here again! I'm back with my brand new art journal spread created especially for Finnabair Creative Team with the newest pretty babies from Finnabair. New colors of Rust Pastes - Enemone and Coral - surprised me and I felt intrigued, how do they look like mixed together?

I couldn't wait! I started by preparing my art journal's pages. I used an old book. Pages are just covered with a layer of white gesso and some washi and fabric tape. I used gesso only in a few places, just a few touches with a silicone brush, just a few smudges. It makes the letters at the background visible - I love this effect. 

I used Paper Texture Paste to create a bit of texture at the background. It's smooth and it has lovely edges. I love to use it with stencils to create just a hint of stencil's pattern. 

It's time to a bit of color! I used Opal Magic Acrylic Paint in a lovely Blue-Green shade. I mixed it with water just to create a sparkling cloud of color hanging between the layers of my composition. I build my composition with some paper scraps and fragments of old pages, which I covered with Rust Effect Pastes starting from the darkest one. When I applied the darkest paste, I highlighted it with a bit of orange and rose ones. I applied them with a brush and with a finger and mixed them with water. It created the effect of old wall. I love the Taupe Rose shade, that's why I used it in a few places as a paint. 

Chipboards were covered with Opal Magic Acrylic Paint, it created sparkling lovely details on my pages. I added some paper elements again and mixed it with chipboards and a piece of red thread. I added some brads, vintage picture of a girl and sentences cut out from an old book. In the end I added some lovely Vintage Melange Art Pebbles in golden and rose shades (they are really amazing!!!).

The newest Rust Pastes Anemone and Coral were quite intriguing to me,they had such amazing colors! I've never used shades of blue/green with orange and taupe rose before! But they turned out magical,  together they look like patina and rust - I'm in love with this effect. The newest Melange art pebbles in vintage shades of rose and amber are mesmerizing, they shine like precious stones. Blue and green shades of Opal Magic paint are perfect to create my background, but also to paint chipboard pieces. I love this color! Basically, I decided to experiment a bit with the color - and I mixed red and teal shades. I'm pretty satisfied with the effect and I'm sure the newest products of Finnabair will be my favorite ones soon! ♥

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store

Pressure, Balance and Short Stories - let's talk!

Hi my dear ones. How was your week?
I'd like to talk about something I was having on my mind for a longer while. In the moments like this I wish English was my first language because when it comes to talking about my emotions, feelings and all these complicated matters that happen in my head - (English) words simply fail me. It sounds much better when I have it all in my head, ready to put on the page - and when it comes to writing - I'm stuck! You can call me silly, but this lack of language flexibility is a real struggle sometimes!

I wanted to talk about an important matter I can see some of you are having a hard time with - pressure and lack of ideas for new projects or lost will to create at all.  Sounds familiar?
I have to tell you one big secret - we've all been there!
We are all struggling from time to time and it is absolutely normal, and there are so many reasons for this to happen: not enough inspiration, time to rest, usual life and family matters, too many responsibilities or projects we are involved in and finally - the most important for me today - pressure we are putting on ourselves. 
I've seen it so many times, with many beautiful, creative people. I have to admit I'm not free from this mistake myself, but to defend myself I can say in my case creativity is the matter of survival. I'm a full-time artist, teacher and product designer - and that sounds exciting until you have to perform and deliver no matter what the circumstances are. The pressure is real and it's really important you will take a step back from time to time and have a look at yourself from a distance and check if you are still ok with what you are doing, or maybe you are a bit too far?
I'm writing it all to give you some food for your thoughts and hoping it will take some of this weight off your shoulders. Let's talk about the creativity.

First of all - we all love to see people admiring our work. Asking questions, saying nice words and comments. These opinions matter to all of us and it really feels great to get them... but they shouldn't be the ultimate goal! For most of people crafts and arts are way to relax, unwind, creativity can be therapeutic and giving us the inner peace and joy. Don't let others spoil this... hunting for positive comments may be as harmful to your creative gear as much as negative opinions, but as loving comments are sweet and nice - we may not see them as a danger. 
Do you know what I mean? If you had this inner voice saying: "I have to make a beautiful, amazing project" or "I can't make something like this, it's not my style" or "People won't like it, so what's the point of doing it anyway" - you should be careful. Don't let this voice overtake your creative life.

I've heard from some people in the past, I shouldn't do this or that as it is not "me". In the first moment I was surprised (well - it has to be "me" as I made it with my own hands) but then I understood people love to put everything in the right slots and shelves. It makes them feel safe and in control. But is this control so good for you all the time? Is there space for fun, experiments, playing and enjoying new things? Learning? Developing new skills? If we let people categorize us, or we will do it to ourselves, it helps, for a short while. Then we may start to feel caged and simply unhappy.
Hunting for popularity is not surprising, we are all happy to see people enjoy our art. It is so rewarding. But there is the other side of this story too - the delicate balance between creating for "public" and for ourselves. It is so important not to forget about this second aspect - this is where the development, sublimation and real creative magic happen!
I love to watch people create. I love to see the emotions behind the process, the need,  the joy and the release that happens when the project is finally done. Not all that we create has to be beautiful, important, aesthetically pleasing - as long as it is meaningful for us, if it helps us process our emotions, develop new skills, seek for our voice or simply - play, it is good for us. And there should be room for this raw creativity in our life as well. Remember you don't have to share every project that you finish with others. You don't have to always be in the your best shape - there are good days and bad days and everybody will understand this for sure... so you also should!

Being creative should be relaxing, happy moment of your day - too much pressure on your shoulders may spoil this moment completely. If you feel stuck and uninspired the reason may be very simple - you may be tired, emotionally and mentally exhausted, dehydrated, hungry or in a bad mood. It is as simple as that - don't forget about your primary needs so you can feel the creative energy in your body! Rest. Work in the reasonable time frame. Do what makes you happy during your relaxing time and it will be so much easier to come with new ideas... and don't be afraid of the crazy ones, go where your heart and soul wants to take you. Don't be hard on yourself - we are always our worst critics!

I was intentionally using these journal pages in this post. They are an example of the projects I made in the last days - just for myself, for my own pleasure - just to relax.
There are no tutorials following them, no challenges, no plans.
They are very plain and simple - but I wanted them this way. They were my therapy, stretching for my fingers and brain, my happy creative moments. 2 of them I made during my trip to Santorini, where my supplies were really limited - and other ones I've made at home, just relaxing, late in the night. You can't even suspect how much I enjoyed this process. No expectations, no rush, just me, paper, old photos and short stories that wanted to be told. I wanted to capture the emotions I was feeling in the last days, memories from the vacation as well - they are represented by pressed flowers and leaves I collected during our stay in Oia. They are lyrical, delicate and nostalgic. They are my visual diary of emotions and they are important for me because as after a long time I could feel almost the same as in the old times when I was just starting my creative adventure. 
Should I share them with you? I think - yes. I hope I'm able to convince you that authenticity is as important in the creative process as the visual effect. Or maybe - even more?

I know this post is awfully long, but please let me know what you think.
I really hope could help... and if you'd like to ask some questions - I'm here (or on my Instagram account, where I can see your questions even faster.)
Sending you all warm hugs - happy creating!

Butterfly magic by Juliya

Hello lovelies,

There are times, when we have to leave our comfort zone or intentionally we push ourselves out of our comfort zone. This is the way we can try new things, gather new experiences and maybe find something fabulous, that we haven't thought about! Juliya stepped out of her comfort zone to create this project - take a look at the fabulous outcome!

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Hello there, lovely creative friends!
Today I'd like to share with you my new inspiration - a mixed media reversed canvas.

This month I made a canvas about fairies. Summer is the time of butterflies, and I like to watch their flutter. And how sorry they are in the evening, when they fly into the light of lamps and are burned. And I thought that in a fairy-tale world there must be fairies who protect butterflies from the light of lamps. They turn light into beautiful crystals, and people are just happy that the rainbow light comes into their garden in the evening))

For work, I used the new beautiful Rust Effect Paste -  set of Anemone and Coral.
Pastes are very beautifully toned with waxes, that exhibit their texture.

Butterflies from the new collection 7 Dots Studio - Garden Party. I just cut them out, and I think they are beautiful)).

And what beautiful crystals from the new release! And really like pieces of sugar))

Please enjoy my step by step video tutorial!

For me, red is always a way out of the comfort zone. And I really liked this experiment with color. The paste has bright, rich colors. It creates a beautiful texture! And I know that I will return to this set more than once))

I hope that my work will inspire you too, to leave your comfort zone. And try new combinations of color and texture for yourself. Try a new set of Rust Effect Paste Anemon and Coral in work!

Products I have used - all the images linked to Mixed Media Place online store