The Sketchbook Project 2013

I jumped into this project as soon as I found about it, back in September that was. I got hooked up on the idea and I just HAD to participate. What to draw in it came quickly too and I was really happy that I decided to participate. After that I was plotting about the pages in my mind and anxiously awaiting the little book to arrive. After quite the wait I finally got my hands on it and I must confess I was a little disappointed. The pages were so thin there was no way I could use watercolors in it and I really wanted to. So this was my first set back. The second one was when I realized I can’t really make it the way I envisioned it in my mind. And I got anxious and time passing by as quickly as it does these days did not help either. 

What to do? Do I have another idea? What are others doing? Better not look too much as seeing those gorgeous works puts me off from mine as my work can never be that good. Oh yes, all the usual things one feels and sees when put in front of a project that looks too big to accomplish. But wasn’t this supposed to be fun?

After all the fears of messing up and not even wanting to draw a single line in it I’m still struggling but I did manage to fill up 3 pages by now and I decided I’ll take it slowly. I’ll try to fill it in step by step even if it won’t look the way I wanted it. Because I want to relax a bit and have fun with it. Because I know I’ll be sooooo happy when I’ll reach its last page.

 

Here is one of the pages, not quite finished yet as I need to come up with text and background but I’m really glad I’m at least going somewhere :) 

Crafting and Baking

I've been crafting a lot lately, working on a diorama for a contest over at dA and I loved every minute of it. I've never made one but I was always intrigued by them so this contest was a perfect excuse. I have yet to finish it but the majority is done. I'll be taking photos tomorrow and I'll post them once the voting is done.

And since it started to rain and temperatures dropped I felt like baking. I had to give this bread recipe  a try. I pinned it quite some time ago and it's been on my mind ever since. It really is that simple and it tastes wonderful. I'll experiment with different types of flour and when I'll find the perfect one, I'll give those fillings a go as well.



There is another thing cooling off just as I write this. It's a sweet thing we call "London Slices" and it's absolutely delicious. It's made of pie type of dough on the bottom, apricot jam over it followed by whipped egg whites combined with sugar and ground roasted hazelnuts and just because some people want to have chocolate over every sweet on this planet I added that as well :) 

ACEOs

I've been toying with ACEO cards lately.




I had this idea about recycling food boxes for ages and after seeing june85's little card I just had to start with it. I collected all sorts of stiffer cardboard from cereal boxes, tea boxes, chocolates, you name it and cut them up in these little cards. I'll be trying to use them all for little drawings because there is no fear of messing up good quality paper. If it won't look good I'll just toss it away guilt free.

Little birdie from the photo above shall fly to june85 just because she is always there for me :) I hope she'll like it.

Lavlav

It's been a while since I got this wonderful package in my real mailbox, a huge treat of excitement and surprises sent to me all the way from Argentina by my dear friend Toi (yes, she is the one I made my first Mrs Fox for).

Anyways... this beautiful parcel (gorgeous envelope, I shall keep it forever) contained so many treats I was shocked. It was like Christmas opening and discovering all of them. I am not going to talk about all of them only about the tiny and extremely special one.

It is Lavlav, cute little bunny she made just for me. His name comes from having lavender inside his tummy and because of which I can smell him all the way from the pocket I carry him around with me. He is one truly courageous little bunny, so brave in fact, that the first thing he did was jump in my very own cup of tea. I guess the scent of vanilla and caramel loured him in :)  He loves exploring and that's why I'm taking him with me on my journeys.



This is Lavlav admiring our mountains on my recent mountaineering trip where he was also very surprised to see snow in the middle of September.



We've been to other places too but I can't really talk that much, right? :)

Awsome Giveaway

No, not mine (yet) but Andrea Scher's from Superhero Journal. Check it out, it's so much more than a giveaway.

And while I have your attention, enjoy my lovely photo too ;)

September

September has been around for quite a while but I'm eagerly waiting for Autumn to begin. For real. Not only at the evening and during the night.



I love changes that are occurring outside when nature gets new colors and sun gets this beautiful warm light in late afternoons. I snapped this sunflower last Thursday and I love how it looks. I know it's all worn out and not exactly pretty to look at but I find it extremely beautiful. I think that despite the drought it experienced and all the sun it received it looks kind of happy, kind of grateful for being here.


I'm working on another needle felted project these days and I'm sharing this sneak peek with you:



How are you my friends? What is going in your lives lately?

Card Swap Update

I got all my cards from the Liberate Your Art Card Swap and I'm really happy I participated. I will definitely do it next year too!

Here are the rest of them:

 

The card with drawn recipe on it comes from Sheila Marie Delgado. She wrote two nice very quotes o the back: "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." by Pablo Picasso and "Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt." by William Shakespeare.

The one with drawn flowers was made by Rene Jantzi and she wrote "Embrace imperfection and smile at possibility!".... which I find extremely relevant at the moment.

Collection of photographed flowers was sent by Larissa  and she chose this quote:"You don't take photographs, you make it." by Ansel Adams.



This is my bonus card from Leanne which came all the way from Australia (and in less than a week .... imagine my surprise). I sent her one of my cards because she liked them. I love the photo she chose for me and her blog is full of gorgeous shots.

Kat's beautiful card came too and it's just oh so appropriate for me as Hydrangeas are one of my favourite flowers! Thank you Kat! ♥

Also, check out this post to see my first two arriving cards.

Oh, and I'm eagerly awaiting for TWO more cards! They will be sent by Tara who has this beautiful blog - Nowhere to go but Crazy and takes gorgeous photos. I can't wait to see what I get :)

♥ ♥ ♥

This is one amazing video that Kat made in which she shows a card from each and every one of us who participated.  Do have a look, it's really inspiring to see all the lovely cards:

Illustration Friday - Identical

It's been really too long since my last drawing. My Project 52 is absolutely a failure and I guess I just can't keep up with my own goals :( Or maybe the problem lies in the setting of the goal per se. I mean, if I could take it as lightly as children can, I'd probably be able to do it, to keep up with it because I'd enjoy it immensely. I honestly wish I'd be able to do it like that.

Here is a little something that was going through my mind ever since guys from Illustration Friday posted this week's theme - Identical. Well, to be honest, I did have more ideas but this one stuck with me for the longest time:



What do you think?

First Cards Are Here

I received two cards from the postcard swap already. The first one was from Catherine Thomas and on it, there is a photo of this beautiful painting:



The other postcard is from Stacie and it features this extraordinary beaded mask:



Stacie says this mask is her first real "miss it" piece and I can certainly see why. It is magnificent and I hope it raised a lot of money since it was donated for an auction to Beading For Cure.

I also really like what Stacie wrote: "Remember the wonderful bits and pieces of life!".
She is absolutely right and we should live by this saying a lot more.


It's fun getting slow mail, don't you think? :)

The Forest

I love being in the forest, looking for the fairies and dwarfs and animals and all those little magical things that you can only spot there, when you are alone and your heart is open.

Mama

She finally managed to move forward and I'm really glad she did, but a piece of my heart went with her. I loved you mama and I still do.

 

19.11.1919 - 10.08.2012

Golden Frame

I finished my sort of commissioned project and here it is in all it's glory:



and a full view:



It's a frame I made from old newspapers, rope, old cardboard, glue and acrylics paint. It's really hard to photograph as it's painted with gold color which shimmers and shines and thus creates quite a challenge to work with. It's quite a large one too, a bit over 1m on one side and a bit less on the other one.

It was fun to work on and I can't wait to see it mounted.

Back From Vacations

Indeed, I've been away for a week but it doesn't feel that way at all. Time flies fast even when you are on holidays :/



Just before we took off, I took my cards for the card swap to the post office. They should reach Kat in a few days I think. Hopefully. The most difficult part was getting the printer to work decently. I'm so annoyed with our HP, it doesn't have a clue what size is, it's extremely inaccurate and to top it all, it loads paper slightly off to one side. But after too much printed cards on my desk I decided I'll stop being so exact and just mail them out. Wanna get one of the left-at-home-ones? Let me know, I'll gladly send you one with a happy thought attached to it ;)

Miss Lilly the Fox

I made my second little felted fox and I love her oh so much. I made a couple of improvements on her pose-ability so she can move her head and also her tail. We had a lovely photo shoot in our back yard right after the pouring rain and just before the sunset but hey, I needed the photos right away :)

Hard Working

I actually have wonderful news to share. Mrs Fox was found via Flickr and I was asked if I could do another one. I'm currently in crafting heaven as I have another "commission" in the works. Here, have a little peek:



I'll post pictures of Mrs Fox II and this other thingie as soon as I'll be done with them.

Fond Memories

 

It's so nice to have fond memories of visited places and people you were there with.

This photo is from Helsinki's island Suomenlinna, where I spent an exploring day with my lovely friend Aerika. It was so nice. I'd do it all again right now if I could.

Nature's Little Wonders

I love the game over at the Shutter Sister's One Word Project. You should totally join in too!

Liberate Your Art - 2012 Postcard Swap

I saw this postcard swap thingie called Liberate Your Art and immediately decided to enter. It'll be so cool to get 6 different postcards from artists all over the world. All I need to do now, is decide which images to print out :)

From Yesterday's Walk

It's quite magical out there...

Poppies Are Here

One of my favourite flowers... so delicate, papery, meant to be left in the nature.

Mrs. Fox

I wanted to make something special for my special friend Toi and after some consideration I decided to make her a little jointed fox doll because I love her beautiful embroidery of a fox drinking tea. And because she likes foxes, owls and deers.



I made my little fox as poseable as I could because I wanted to take a photo of her holding a cup in her hands (just like on the embroidery). It was my first time making a doll with so many materials and I must say I loved the result. Sadly, I didn't have the time to make any clothes for her or take better photos but I hope Toi will take some for me, especially since she takes gorgeous photographs with the old fashioned film.

Work in Progress

After months and months of thinking about it and researching and watching others do it I pulled myself together and plunged myself into the unknown - the world of customizing doll's faces.




On my desk currently lies this sweet little face that used to be Dal Fiori. It's really strange how things don't go as planned and I might end up doing a wig too. Which is totally cool with me as I need one for my Monster High Ghoulia. Why only do one, if you can practice on two? :D

Outside

 

It can be really beautiful outside these days.

Fairies?

I think there are fairies living in our garden  ❤

OMG

Click.

I am so happy! :)

Shutter Sisters

I discovered Shutter Sisters in my Creative Courage e-course today. And I just have to join in the fun.

Photography has been one of my hobbies for the longest of times and even though I'm not shooting at all that often it still gives me a great pleasure when I do.

My first upload to their One Word Project will be:



You can check out great photograps other participants are submitting over here.

14/52

I finished this one on Saturday but I'm counting it as my 14th one.



Let's see what will land in my head this week :)

15/52

I know I missed number 14 but I wasn't feeling very well (weird sort of cold was going around).
But I did have an image in my mind for quite some time.
And because the paper was so small I had to adjust it a bit :)



And my e-course started! Yay! I truly hope it'll bring me what I need.

Quilt Routes' Giweaway

You have a chance to win a copy of Seaside Home.

How? Read about it HERE. Good luck!

Competition Time

I decided to enter in Winsor & Newton Ink Competition as soon as I saw it (which was only last week). Initially I wanted to submit the painted version but since it didn't came out at all as I wanted I submitted the digital one:



But since there are no limits in how many entries one submits I decided to show them my poor hand drawn attempt too



I sure hope they like at least one of them :)

12/52

"cautiously, the merchant picked the flower that his youngest daughter wanted so badly. upon picking the scarlet flower he was confronted by a hideous beast, who demanded that in return for picking the flower the merchant must send one of his daughters deep into the enchanted forest, to live with the beast forever."

Egg Houses

I was working on egg holders. Yup, I've been meaning to make something out of empty egg box for ages and finally the opportunity presented itself and I made these houses.



I also made a tutorial on how I went about it. It's the same thing as my Shabby Chic Shelf papier mache one but still. Why not make another one since the design is different :)

View the tutorial here.

Working On...

I got this idea and I just had to try it. I'll let you know more pretty soon (when I get some more time). So.... stay tuned ;)

New Drawing

I've been working on this drawing from Sunday I think. On and off of course. And I like it. This photo is a bit weak since it's hard to take pictures of drawings and it's too big for the scanner but it will have to do.



I think I'll do another one and if I manage to get the third idea I'll have me some series :D Yay!

Fan Art

I never did a fan art piece before but when I stumbled upon Gennine's blog filled with gorgeously painted birds and moths and butterflies and painted stones I was hooked. Even more so, when I found her “Watch Me Paint” posts which make you want to start painting straight away.

So I decided to change her Free Embroidery Pattern a bit and gave her style a try:



I must confess - it is definitely not as easy as it looks on the video. I’m glad I gave it a try because I learned these two major things:
- use quality paper (I actually used a bottom of a box of chocolates because it was stiffer than the papers I have at home and because the papers I have wear out immediately (in spite the fact they are watercolor papers))… but… using this resulted in nice chocolaty smells and the paper didn’t fray at all… kinda good in the end though
- use BIG paper because you will draw a bigger picture and you will (probably) have less problems with painting those white lines in the end

If you haven’t seen Gennine’s art before have a look at her Art Blog. It’s inspiring beyond words.

11th week already?

I'm way behind my drawing project so I decided to number my today's submission as 10th one, even though there are a few missing in between and even though it should officially be No.11.

Gosh, are we really in 11th week of 2012?

Anyways... springy themes are obviously in my mind:

February

Looks like it's been almost a month since my last update which means I have a lot to tell :)

Let me start with a little gem from our Saturday's sunny day out when we had a lovely day hiking and climbing around in our Vipava valley.



Besides doing all kinds of sporty things I've been busy, away and of course procrastinating a bit during my blog absence. On my little drawing project there is a colored sketch in my notebook for me to photograph and upload but there are at least three I have yet to make. I'm horrible, I know.

On a more positive note I attended an interesting workshop last week where we worked on old clothes that were not longer used (either because they were old, never worn before, torn somewhere, etc.) and we made them usable again. I came there with an old long skirt from H&M and I shortened it (quite a bit, I can make two more just from the frills I took off), made some sort of lace for the hem and used the lining to peep from below. I also managed to sew a little bird on it.



The most interesting part of this workshop or the others that they have is the fact, they try to recycle stuff they get from other people or factories which would otherwise be thrown away. Check the group of enthusiast and their projects out here.

Aaaaand, there is another thing I simply must share. I decided to participate in this e-course the moment I first saw it - Creative Courage. I'm so excited about it I can't wait for April to start :D I'll definitely be sharing my progress here. It should be so cool!

I'm looking forward to your feedback, really. Write away, I don't bite ;)