Just Whisper... Dream Without Fear - 3D page

Hi again creative people!
Do you know what is good about moving, packing and unpacking?
You can find the stuff you had covered with tons of other interesting items and once you will find you may decide it is high time to finally use it properly.
This was exactly my feeling about my beloved "Cold Country" collection I've made for 7 Dots Studio. From all of my collections this one was in the top 3 on my favourite list (together with "Wonderland" and "9th Weave") - and somehow I never had a chance to REALLY use it. I've seen tons of beautiful inspirations posted by you online, I was happy you like my paper line, that you feel inspired - but hey, what about me?
I surely had to do something about that... so this week, between unpacking, supervising the Studio, choosing the MMP Team I just literally ran into my temporary studio and made this very 3D page. I'm not even sure if you can call it a scrapbook page as it is mounted on a thick chipboard and it is about 4cm thick. The only thing you can do with it is to display it on the wall or on the frame... perfect for the new studio, right?

All my projects - journal spreads, collages, even altered art and tags always reflect the mood I was when I was creating them. "Cold Country" collection is a very nostalgic one so it fits my current feeling of being a bit misplaced and not settled yet.

I started the whole project with some delicate, transparent 3D textures (done with stencil and Heavy Body Gel) but you can't really see them on the main photo - only the detail shots. Lovely detail to touch!
Building the layers is one of my favourite creative processes so it is not a surprise I simply couldn't stop... there is a bit of everything: paper, chipboard, resin frame, handmade doily, cheesecloth, paper leaves and some Mechanicals painted with White Heavy Body Gesso. On the top of that I added a lot of new Art Ingredients - Art Stones and Mini Art Stones and oh my... I love the effect!

I've decided to use some of the new Mechanicals - Rusty Gears - just as I took them out of the packaging. Their lovely rusty finish looked just great in the composition with golden-brown Tea Stain splatters.

My colour palette was really limited this time - only shades of grey, brown and purple and white - but this exactly what I needed now. Some Mechanicals Mini Stars were just a finishing touch - and as all the other elements they were glued down with Art Basics Heavy Body Gel. 


If you'd like to learn more about new Art Basics - Heavy Body Gel and have a closer look ar some of the new Mechanicals I've got a video for you! Below you will find "Latest and Greatest" made by me during CHA for Scrapbook Expo - I'm sure it will answer some of your questions!

Still curious?
You can always check Art Files - Art Basics section of my blog to learn more about all of the products from this line and find the ones which will work for you!

Here is the list of products I used - all from Mixed Media Place Store:

I hope I'm leaving you a bit inspired - make sure you will be back on Friday to see new project and tutorial by our Creative Team!
Sending warm hugs

Dreams do come true!

Hi again my dear friends!
Dreams do come true, it is a fact. You need to believe, wait, and work hard to make them happen, but in the end the reward is sweet.
I was a dreamer all my life - following our dream about quiet life in the beautiful place we've moved to Ireland, following a dream to see the big world I started teaching international classes and finally, following the dream to inspire people and have a chance to make a difference - I decided to be full time artist, teacher and product designer... it all happened because I decided to let go, be brave and work as much as I could to pursue my goal.

I was lucky to be surrounded by supportive, loving people - which helped a lot. I wouldn't make it without my Andrew, my friends, my family. They were having my back when I was unsure, tired or simple exhausted. They were ready to give me a hand or push me, if I really needed that.
... but if someone will tell you that living your dream is easy - don't trust in these words.There's always a price to pay. The question is - if you are ready to pay it?

Some of you already know that some of my big dreams came true already: I've got my own  product line which makes it easier for me to help people create, and inspire them to play. In December we could tick off one more thing off the list: we've moved to an old country house with a garden and enough space for me, my passion and my friends too :)

Here is a small peek at it - in a way I'm thrilled to have a house with a name (Innisfail - which may be translated as "Island of Destiny" - if this is wrong then I hope someone will correct me) and live in a very quiet neighbourhood, away from crowds and big cities.
If you'd like to see a bit more - we've decided to set up an Instagram account which will be much more private, home, family and countryside focused - you can find it here @innisfail_house. Enjoy!

One of my biggest dreams was to have a space I could call a Studio - real one, made to my taste, filled with my projects and inspiring supplies. With plenty of space to sit together with friends, chat, relax and create. This dream is also getting real now - some of you know that we've moved to the new house in mid-December and now, the moment I'm writing these words 3 guys are working on the conversion of our garage into Finn Studio - and I hope the final result will be exactly as I pictured it!

So far, we've got THAT far - keep your fingers crossed!

And talking about dreams... there is one more big dream I can tick off the list - a few months ago one of my projects was published on the cover of beautiful magazine - Somerset Studio. I was so happy and shocked in one that I couldn't believe my eyes... and now the story happened again, but this time it is not only the cover - check it out!

I have my Artist Profile coming in the March-April issue of Somerset Studio. I'm in heaven, this is all I can say... Thank you again guys for making that possible. It is all thanks to you. Always.

Sending warmest hugs to you all and see you soon!

Art Recipe: Out of Ordinary...

Hi again my dear friends, it's Art Recipe time!
I'm back on the blog with my simple and fun journal page which I was able to complete in the last  couple of days! As always I'm on the go - tomorrow I'm heading to Paris to attend my first ever Version Scrap Show - I'm looking forward to see all the people who signed up for the classes and I'm happy to confirm on Sunday I'll be doing demos at Prima stand, so if you are coming - please visit me to say hi!

So here is the journal spread I have for you: it is inspired by the theme of my friend's travelling journal - rhymes and quotes which are hard to pronounce and memorize in Polish - and it is a great collection of real tongue-twisters indeed!
My text was a not only hard to pronounce but also to understand - it is packed with unusual words and expressions and I hope the face of the gentleman I picked for this project says it all...

As the background of the pages was very plain I decided to put 2 layers of texture - and Art Basics Modeling Paste and 2 different stencils did the trick! I love the combination of harlequine and text pattern - just perfect for a masculine page about tongue-twisters!

Colors are a combination of shimmering sprays - Lindy's Stamp Gang and Gelatos. I didn't use these crayons a lot, but they have lovely intense colours and I like how nicely they react with water. They are great for rubbing into uneven surfaces - and my pages were very rich in texture!

These pages show that you don't really need a lot of different supplies to create interesting effects - sometimes going more simple may be a great artistic adventure and coming back to basics is a great exercise which will help you to stretch your creative mind a bit!
I had great time working on this project - and the expression of the gentleman's face was a real cherry on the top of the cake!

Speaking about cakes - here is my Art Recipe for today:

Here you can see everything explained - step-by-step:

1. As I was working in the journal where some of the pages were already made by my artistic friends I didn't want my paints or inks to bleed through it by accident or my gesso smear on it so I decided to work outside of the book on two vintage pages. I added some masking tape for texture and put  a generous coat of Art Basics Heavy White Gesso. In the meantime I was cutting out the gentleman from the vintage photo.

2. Next I was working on texture: I applied one layer of Art Basics Modeling Paste through the Harlequin stencil. I dried it with a heating tool and when it was dry enough to continue I added one more layer of Modeling Paste - this time using Text stencil. I also added some pieces of lace for extra interest and dried the pages.

3. When the layers of Modeling Paste were dry I was ready for spraying: I've used 3 colors of Lindy's Stamp Gang Sprays: Tibetan Poppy Teal, Hydrangea Blue and Mission Bless Brown. When the sprays were dry (I was using my heating tool again!) I started brushing Art Basics Heavy White Gesso in the background around the photo to create soft light effect and focus the attention in this area. After couple of layers I was happy with the result.

4. Next I took my very soft pencil (6B) and added a bit of shadow behind the photo - to create depth. I blended it a bit with the background using Water Brush - the surface was so unevent that it was hard to make it just with a pencil! I Printed the quote I was planning to use - sprayed it with the same Lindy's colors as the page and cut it in strips. I glued the strips in the selected places and finally focused on adding extra colour touches. I've picked Gelatos in metallic silver, mint and blue and also red and dark grey. I added some color in the selected places of the spread (mostly around the photo and on the opposite side for some balance) and blended it in simply rubbing with my finger or using the water brush.

After final drying I cut the spread in half and glued it in the journal. my project was ready!

Below is a list of product available in our Mixed Media Place Store - I hope it helps!

Wishing you all a wonderful week - and packing, seriously packing because tomorrow I'm in Paris - Version Scrap, here I come!
huge hugs