My black journal |cover

Hello dear friends and Happy New Year!!!

My first post for this year is for Finnabair CT...

The dragonfly, in almost every part of the world symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization. It is that kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life.

So, what do I expect from 2017? Lots of changes and lots of dragonflies in my life.

I wish all of you dear friends to have this year lots and lots amazing artful moments to fulfill your life and why not: lots of dragonflies :)

My first project for this year is making the cover of my black journal and what would be more perfect to impress a dragonfly, so to remind me this year's expectations every time I hold it in my hands.

and psssst! I also have a little secret to share... after I was done with the cover I decided to get my first tattoo: a dragonfly on the side of the wrist of my right hand! 

So....let's get started with the project!

As my journal was already black, I started with a nice coat of  Heavy Black Gesso to prime the cover.

After it was dry, I glued the Mechanicals parts I used for the body of the dragonfly with Heavy Body Gel and covered them with Black Gesso.

Then I placed a sketch I made on a piece of paper on the cover to shape the dragonfly, but here is the trick: I used a pin to scratch the canvas cover, than a pencil to draw the lines. This way I created an interesting texture, a 'destroyed' base all mixed media artists would love to work on ;)

Next step was to choose my paints. Well, with no second thought I grabbed my Art Alchemy Opal Magic Paints, the perfect acrylics for any black surface. They dry permanent and I loooove the amazing two-tone iridescent effect they give on dark and light backgrounds. Ιn order to reinforce this effect, I painted some spots of the wings white with the  Heavy White Gesso. You will see the whole process in my video below.

After the Opal Magic Paints where dry, I used again the White Gesso to make lots of splashes.

To give even more interest on the background of the wings, I used the Clear Crackle Paste as my final touch. I let it dry overnight to get the best results.

For the tittle I wanted something simple and small, not to distract the attention from the dragonfly, so I wrote by hand the word ART with Heavy White Gesso and a black permanent pen.

Now it is time for my video. I hope you will enjoy it and get inspired. :)

*Scroll down on this post to find a full products list

Thank you for visiting

have a lovely crafty YEAR!

xxx

Athanasia

Summer snow

Hello dear friends!
Today I'm hosting the Finnabair blog with a Summer/Wintery layout.

 I'm not happy that Summer is coming soon in the end and I'm not champ at the bit for Winter.
The fact is that I love both Summer and snow and I'm happy that I managed to put them together.
Despite the fact that they are two completely different things and they never exist at the same time , I wanted to incorporate them together in one composition and give them the chance to be together, even for once :)

On my page you can find seashells and summer colors, snowflakes and wintery feeling...

All these are well combined together with beautiful mechanicals, Micro Beads and Glitter, flowers and chipboard pieces.

The Mechanical stars made the perfect link between summer and winter as they falling down from the snowing sky into the sea to become one with the starfish.  

The White Crackle Paste, as well the White Gesso constituted a beautiful base for the summer and winter colors and made all the different elements of the composition come together and incorporate in one piece.

This beautiful mechanical flower is one of my favorite elements of the project because it looks like a snowflake and a flower at the same time and so lovely  matches my theme. 

I glued inside with the 3D Gloss Gel a beautiful ring which was in the Mechanical set and inside a screw brand. 

I love how the Mechanical pieces complement each other and make new unique pieces. The combinations are endless! 

When I painted everything white for the Winter scene, I painted with different colors the Summer one. I used soft tones of Primary Elements in teal, brown and grey and the Silver Spoon Acrylic Paint to make splashes all over the page.

In the video I made especially for you, you can watch how I put together this page.

I hope you like it and get some Summery/Wintery inspiration.

*** Scroll down here to see a supplies list

*Chipboard pieces by 2 Crafty
*Colors by ColourArte
*Paper 'Summer snow' by 13arts

>>>

Thank you for visiting,

have a lovely crafty day!

xxx

Athanasia

Denim Journal introdution and my page for Prima

 Hello dear friends!

Today I want to introduce you to my new addiction, 

the DENIM JOURNAL designed by Finnabair!

I made the first page the very day I got it and as I was so excited about it, I couldn't kept myself to stop, so I decided to decorate it a little bit and fill all these cute pockets with my art supplies :)

Starting from the left to right: 

The pocket at the left side of the journal is big enough to fit the Silicone Brushes, as well many other supplies like thread, wire, scraps, envelopes, little bags with art ingredients and anything else you can think of!

The plastic pocket sheet has the same size (7x9") with the rest of the pages (I folded it in half to look better in the photo above) and is perfect to store all your scraps, photos, paper embellishments, stickers, chipboards and more. I currently filled it with Finnabair's Ephemera. 

The  big thick denim sheet (10x9") is the last page of the journal, and I love how it extends, as it' s wider than the rest of the pages. I stitched some buttons and mechanicals to have them in stand by and pinned a couple of needles. Of course I' ll fill the rest of the page over time :)

The five holes at the right side of the journal are perfect for keeping brushes, pens, pencils, scissors, etc.

So, that was all with my decorations and storing in my Denim journal :)

...

Let's focus on my art journal page I created for my Prima guest spot. 

My project is based at new Finnabair recipe...

Rust Pastes+ Resist Canvas + Crackle Pastes + Art Alchemy Paints = a spectacular Finnabair recipe! 

...and here it is...

"Winners are not those who never fail,

but those who never quite"

The project is based on this beautiful Mechanical Butterfly which I broke in two pieces by mistake.

I got upset but just for a while. 

Then I thought: let's make a page with this broken butterfly, it will be a challenge, but I like challenging myself ! 

And so I did :)

 I chose this inspiring quote because I think it fits perfectly with the broken wing.

You just have to keep going, even your wing is broken...

I cut this beautiful Resist Canvas 'Honeycomb' in the size of the journal's pages,

punched the holes and eyelets with the cropadile and started working.

I scratched with my nails the edges all around the canvas and with a paint brush I added some amount of Clear Sculpture Medium to seal these spots and make sure they will not fray in the future.

 Then I used the Black Gesso to create some circles as the focal point of the page.

I also applied the White Crackle Paste here and there with the Silicon Brush (I love this brush, it's perfect for this technique) and let it dry outside naturally. It took about an hour.

When it was dry I played with the Art Alchemy Acrylic Paints.

I painted here and there with a paintbrush and sprayed some water on them to create a watercolor effect. Then I glued all the metal embellishments with the Clear Sculpture Medium and while it was wet I spread some Bronze Micro Beads and Black Glass Glitter.

I used all three colors of the Rust Paste Set to paint all the metal embellishments and some other spots and as a final touch I made some splashes with the Black Gesso and stamped with a couple of stamps here and there.

I really enjoyed creating this page and that was only the start!

I'm going to fill this Journal like crazy :)

***for full supplies list and links on the Prima online store please visit this post.

Thank you for visiting,

have a lovely crafty day!

xxx

Athanasia

tiny canvas #2

Happy Sunday!

Today I’m sharing a tiny canvas I created for ColourArte. It’s really a quick and easy project to do, it only took a few minutes to paint it!

To create this project I used:

ColourArte products

• Primary Elements: Summer Breeze, Burnt Umber, Black Emerald
• Twinkling H2Os: Siam White
• Silks: Vintage Mint
• All Purpose Clear Glaze Medium

Other products:

• small canvas 8×7 cm
• Finnabair Black Gesso
• Finnabair white crackle paste
• Finnabair white sand paste
• Metal embellishments
• chipboard embellishment (for the roof)
• wire
• screws
• word sticker (7 Dots Studio - Domestic Goddess)
• package card stock
• craft glue

First I cut the package chipboard in a house shape and glued it on the back side of the canvas. Then I covered everything with Black Gesso. When it was dry I applied the two texture pastes (crackle and sand paste) here and there. I placed the chipboard and metal embellishments in the wet pastes (they work as a glue) and left it dry naturally for 5 hours.

After it was dry I spread with a dry paintbrush the three colors of the Primary Elements here and there. I sprayed with water and dried it with a heat gun. Then I applied a thin coat of Clear Glazewith a paintbrush to make the Primary Elements permanent.

Next step was to highlight some spots with the Vintage Mint. I applied it with a dry paintbrush here and there. I really love this color because it gives a vintage touch at the project.

Last step of the painting process was to make some splashes with the Siam White H2O. You have to spray some water in the jar to activate the color and wait for a couple of minutes. Then your color is ready to use.

At the end I added two screws and twisted the wire in order to create a hanger for the little canvas. I also glued a sticker with my tittle: ‘Unknown’.

Here are some more closeups…

This is the first tiny canvas I created,

you can see it in this post

Thank you for visiting,

Have a lovely crafty day!

xxx

Athanasia