mini art journal | last pages

Hello dear friends!

Today I'm featuring two lovely artists in my last pages of my mini journal.

I'm so sad that this cute little happy journal has come to it's end and so happy at the same time that I managed to fill all the pages :)

In this particular quarantine period of our life, I spend more time on Pinterest than I did before and I get very excited when I find new -at least for me- artists! Sometimes I like so much their work that I try to make something similar in my journals and that makes me really happy!

For this spread I got inspired by Magaly Ohika and her amazing faces she draws with the cute house on the nose. Her style is unique and I tried to incorporate it in my style.

...

I call the last page of my mini journal 'happy end' and it really is!

I got inspired by Mary 'The Turquoise Paintbrush' and her colorful artworks.

She uses all the colors I love to use in my projects.

I created this page by not having on my mind her work but when I finished and looked at it my mind went on her. I think my page looks like her style, don't you think?

I'm off to find -or make?- a new mini journal to start.

Stay safe and creative!

xxx

Athanasia

mini art journal |flying houses |new video

 I'm back today with another page in my mini art journal

with a VIDEO on how I made it.

I hope you like it and enjoy the process as much as I did.

Don't forget to subscribe on my You Tube channel!

Stay Home
stay safe
stay healthy

xxx
Athanasia

Color your world - mixed media canvases

Hello dear friends!

Today I'm sharing a BIG project, the biggest I ever created lol

The whole project measures 1 meter (5 canvases 20x60cm each), it took me many many days to finish it and now I'm very proud it's hanging on my wall :)

I used lots of amazing Finnabair products to create it
- scroll down on Finnabair's blog post here to find the supplies list with links.

I was keeping for a long time two amazing resist canvases, designed by Finnabair, to make something special. 

The time came when I found incidentally on Pinterest some ideas with world map art like wallpapers, digital collages and art pieces. I was very excited, so I decided to make my own piece of art in my own way. 

Here is how I started

1. First I secured the 5 canvases together with masking tape. This made my work much easier in the next steps.

2. Then I cut very carefully with scissors the land pieces of a map that was the same size as my canvases and this way I created a large stencil. I didn't throw away the cut pieces...

3. I used them as masks to create the land for my project. I placed all the pieces one by one on the resist canvases and I draw the outline with a pencil. Then I cut them with scissors and put them aside.

4. When I was done with cutting the land, I placed my handmade stencil on the canvases and put each one of the cut resist canvas pieces in the right place. This was a little tricky as there were too many small pieces especially for the islands, but it helped me to learn some geography lol :)

5. Before I glued down the lands,  I used the Silicon Brush to give  the whole surface a thick layer of Heavy White Gesso  and let it dry. To glue the resist canvas pieces I used the Clear Sculpture Medium - it was really the perfect glue for this work! I let it dry outside for a couple of hours.

6. After it was dry I started working with the sea sections. I used the Clear Sculpture Medium again with napkins. I glued them randomly and wrinkled to create texture. This gave also depth and interest in the finished project. I left it overnight to dry...

((Unfortunately, from this point onward I haven't any more photos of the process to share as I was so captivated with the painting part that I didn't think to take some)

7. The painting part was so fun, it was really worth waiting for... 

I made custom paints with the Soft Matte Gell and Mica Powders and started painting all over the canvaces, here and there, without much thinking. I used mostly the Rust Mica Powder (I love this color), as well as Gold and blue shades of  Frozen Lake and Deep Waters. I also used some similar shades of Primary Elements.

When the first layer of paints was dry, I used a couple of warm colors of Art Alchemy Paints, Pure Sunshine and the Fresh Orange, as well some white acrylic paint to lighten the project.

 I love how all these colors blend together, highlight the texture of paper napkins and contrast the beautiful lands of the resist canvas pieces!

I hope you got inspired from my project.

Thank you for visiting,

have a lovely crafty day!

xxx

Athanasia

Wreath ~ στεφάνι

Καλή χρονιά σε όλους!

Εύχομαι το νέο έτος να είναι γεμάτο υγεία, ευτυχία και δημιουργία για όλους μας!

Έτσι λοιπόν ξεκινώ και εγώ τη χρονιά μου με δημιουργικό πνεύμα και όρεξη για αλλαγές: επειδή περνάω πολλές ώρες στο σπίτι αυτό τον καιρό με τον μπέμπη, σε μια προσπάθεια αλλαγής παραστάσεων και αποφυγής οξείας βαρεμάρας, αλλάζω συνέχεια την διακόσμηση στο σπίτι - αν μπορούσα να μετακινήσω και τα έπιπλα θα το έκανα, αλλά δυστηχώς ο χώρος δεν το επιτρέπει. 

Το στεφάνι αυτό το έφτιαξα για το τζάκι, το οποίο έχει πολύ στενή επιφάνεια για διακοσμητικά 

(μόνο 10εκ) και πολύ με δυσκολεύει γενικότερα να το γεμίσω, οπότε μου ήρθε η ιδέα για το στεφάνι.

Happy new year everybody!

I hope the new year will be full of health , happiness and creativity for all of us !

So, this year has started full of creativity and appetite for changes : Now that I spend many hours at home taking care of my baby boy , in an effort to change the daily routine and avoid acute boredom , I constantly change the house decoration - if I could move and furniture I would , but unfortunately the house space and layout does not allow me to.

This wreath is for the fireplace , which has a very narrow horizontal surface for decorative stuff

(only 10cm ) and generally is quite hard to fill , so I got the idea of a wreath .

Τα υφασμάτινα στοιχεία τα έφτιαξα εγώ (πουλί, σπιτάκι, καρδιές), τα κόκκινα πλεκτά που βλέπετε στο πουλάκι, στο σπίτι και τα λουλούδια τα έπλεξα με την πλεκτομηχανή της κόρης μου (που της έφερε ο Αη Βασίλης - χιχι), τις κουβαρίστρες, το κλειδί και τις καρδιές γιρλάντα τις αγόρασα από ένα τοπικό μαγαζάκι εδώ και καιρό και το δεντράκι είναι από πηλό χαρτοπολτού. Επίσης αν προσέξατε έχω κάνει και μερικές στάμπες - η πρώτη σκραμπουκική απόπειρα εδώ και σχεδόν ένα χρόνο. Ευτυχώς τα μελάνια μου δεν στέγνωσαν, ουφ!

Μέσα στην εβδομάδα θα τακτοποιήσω/ξαραχνιάσω και το γραφείο μου, οπότε ελπίζω το επόμενο post να αφορά scrapbooking - κάτι έχω στο μυαλό μου :)

Αυτά για σήμερα, φιλιά!

The fabric elements are made by me ( bird, house , hearts ), the red knitted you see in birdie, the little house and the knitted flowers were made by a knitting machine my daughter got for Christmas , the spools, the key and hearts garland were bought from a local shop, the tree is made of clay pulp. Also if you notice I've done some stamps - the first scrapbooking attempt since a year ago. Luckily enough, my inks did not dry!

Within the week I will rearrange my working bench, so hopefully the next post will be about scrapbooking - I've already have something in my mind :)

That's all for today!