You Are Enough

Hello Dear Friends!

Last weekend we had the chance to admire Riikka creating her breathtaking journal cover (remember there's a fantastic giveaway on Riikka's blog!).

Today we meet with our lovely Denisa whose Denim Journal is pure delight! And the message behind her journal entry is something we all need to keep in mind... You'll love it!

What is your art journal wearing today? A weird question? Not at all. Well, mine is all in denim. :) Looking so glamorous and cool.

You know I love art journaling and what I tend to do is journal on separate sheets of paper most of the time. Although I do have several journals. :)

Here comes my denim journal that is the right thing for storing my mixed media thoughts. Tied with ribbons and  ready to go anywhere with me. Simply, love it.

Today I´d like to share one of my denim pages with you.

I started off by applying a thin layer of Clear Sculpture Medium on the paper covered with canvas.

I let it dry (used my heat gun) and then added a bit of Heavy White Gesso here and there. When dry I began to build up my cluster.

I grabbed a piece of gauze, put it in a bowl and poured a little of the Sculpture Medium on it (having the plastic gloves on to protect my hands). Just to make it a bit wet.

Then I put  the wet gauze on the canvas (several layers), formed a circle-like shape and hid several pearls underneath it. When I was happy with the shape I used my heat gun to dry it.

Just about 10 minutes and the cluster was stiff and sturdy as a stone. Amazing effect.

Note: when using a heavy cloth you may need to wait until the next day to air dry completely.

I painted the gauze with white acrylic and let it dry. Next I used my fave sprays, pigment powders and Art Alchemy acrylics to add some colors and to  paint the edges of the canvas.

I did some random stamping using stone grey archival ink and made some splashes in black, white and dark violet.

Next I attached Mechanicals Mini Stars, some stones, stickers, washi tape, pearls, a purple wire and an old metal clock part.

As the focal point I chose a vintage pic of a young man that I cut out and glued on the cluster. I added the quote saying: 'you are enough'.

You Are Enough. Just three words expressing a lot. Never underestimate nor undervalue yourself. You have to believe in you, leave your weaknesses behind and love yourself. If not you, who else will? Just keep that in mind when things may not be turning the way you planned.

Finally I punched three holes, put eyelets in and placed my aj spread into my brand new denim journal.

Happy summer time full of crafting ideas, my friends!
xx
Denisa

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Create Denim Magic

Are you having a creative weekend?

We have a special treat for you today! :)

My super talented friend Riikka Kovasin agreed to guest post on my blog again and this time she is going to inspire us all to open our art journals and create some magic.

You will love the video showing how she created her beautiful journal cover. But that's not all - Riikka's also hosting a giveaway on her blog so there's a chance you too can play with my Denim at home. Good luck all! :)

Hi there! I’m honored to be guesting here at Finnabair’s blog again. She’s always such an inspiration but boy, do I love her products as well! For this post I created a cover for the Denim Art Journal and played with some of the newer mediums as well – like the Sculpture Medium and the Art Stones. 

The great thing about Finnabair's Denim Journal in my opinion is the material and the way you can add and remove the pages from the journal. The denim material is sturdy but also allows you to treat the surface with various techniques and make the journal really your own.
And as the journal is put together with ribbons you can always add and remove pages with ease. Great if you are for example journaling on the go and then want to make the pages into a mini album or store them in another way.

As my idea for this journal was a traveling sort of thing – easy to take out with you to travel the world, far and wide, the cover also needed to fit the idea. And this time I’m not talking about the design and colors but more from a practical point of view. So that’s where Sculpture Medium comes handy.
As you can use it on any porous surface and turn that into rigid and sturdy I chose to cover the whole cover with the medium and also turn those flowers into leather-like or even a bit harder. So even if your journal is having a rough time traveling at the bottom of a suitcase in the middle of jungle, the cover will stay fresh looking! :)

What the medium does, is that it absorbs into the material and when drying turns the material rigid. What this also means is, that the surface of the piece is then coated with a plastic-like, a little bit shiny coat. Such a non-porous surface then needs own kind of paint medium to work. Like acrylic paints, which I used here. If you’d like to color the project with mists or watercolors for example, you’d then need a coat of gesso first to little bit help the coloring part. Another way is of course to color the elements beforehand and then adding the Sculpture Medium. (If you happen to be living in Finland, there’s a tutorial on the latest Ihana magazine about this with the cover shot as well)

I created a video to show you my process with the cover and also share a sneak of the inside of the journal and how it’s made. This is my second voice-over video and I do hope you like it and find it inspiring! 

Thank you for your time! Now if I could ask you to visit my own blog as there’s a raffle there.
I’m giving this journal away so please stop by, leave a comment and be in for the draw!

Xoxo
Riikka

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Marta's Tiny Art

Hello, Lovely Readers!
We have something small but sweet for you today.:)
Marta created some truly adorable assemblages using a very simple technique. Maybe you' ll feel tempted to create your own little mixed media cuties.

Hello everyone,

It's Marta Lapkowska here.

Small forms are my favoutire. Why is that? Probably the main reason is that I don't feel overwhelmed by the size of canvas. Sometimes it is easier to create some nice composition when we have less creative space. But... I said sometimes as I do believe that for some it could be actually opposite. Such a tiny space could also be very challenging.

Today I am back with five small art pieces.

I must say I absolutely love those and I truly enjoyed my creative time.

Those are simple but cool little things.

I started by gathering some recycled items on simple pieces of wood that served as the base for my tiny assemblages.

My next step was to arrange them into compositions and glue everything together using 3D Gel Medium.

Once everything was dry I covered all with Black Gesso. When the gesso was dry, I simply played with many different colors of Art Alchemy acrylic paints.

Look around your house for random objects that can be painted over, altered and turned into elements of a piece of art. Inspiration truly is everywhere...

I hope you will find these pieces inspirational and that you will try to create some small art on your own.
Hugs, Marta xx

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