Handmade dream catcher - unisieppari

I made a dream catcher as a x-mas present to a little boy. I don't know if the story of it is familiar to you but through dream catcher there should be only sweet dreams for him and the bad ones won't come through it. If you want to know more about dream catcher go here.

Tein joululahjaksi unisiepparin pienelle pojalle. En tiedä onko tarina tuttu mitä unisieppari pitää sisällään mutta täältä löydät lisää tietoa siitä tosin hieman yksinkertaistetusti.

My dream catcher isn't traditional one, I gave myself artistic freedom and connected it also to our own nature by adding birch bark. I love the texture of it. And I think it went well together with feathers.

Tekemäni unisieppari ei ole aivan tradition mukainen. Otin itselleni taiteellista vapautta ja lisäsin yhdeksi elementiksi Suomen luonnosta koivun kaarnaa. Sen tekstuuri on hieno ja se sopi yllättäin höyhentenkin kanssa loistavasti.

sweet dreams - kauniita unia

Handmade presents - one coming up - Käsintehdyt lahjat valmistuvat

You might have the same phase at the moment as I. You might feel happy that you've made present for your beloved one that you also really like! You can't wait to hear does she/he like it! I guess giving presents is more exciting than getting one. I'm already counting the days.

Omat lahjat eivät jännitä ollenkaan niin paljon kuin ne lahjat, jotka olet itse tehnyt ja odotat innolla tai kauhulla mitä saaja niistä tykkää! Hitaasti mutta varmasti ovat lahjat melkein kaikki jo paketissa...ja siitähän sitten se varsinainen jännitys alkaakin.

I got inspiration of course from Pinterest. Ideas comes and goes and we are recycling the most of them again and again. But everytime the idea gets something new with different maker.

Ideat kiertävät ja polkupyörää ei keksitä uudelleen mutta toteutetaan kyllä monella eri tapaa. Inspiraation tähän kangaskassiin löysin Pinterestistä. 

So this is X-mas and what have you done?

I have done these

I love the song Happy X-mas written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It's one of those songs that you can't survive without singing too high. And we all know it doesn't sound very good...competing with children's choir isn't the greatest idea. And I have to admit it has a quite powerful video in YouTube. If you survive with no tears at all - that is almost impossible...I think. But there you can also find this longer video which is about John Lennon and Yoko Ono speaking about the way of the world, people and violence. You can find it here. In the end of this video there's also the music video of the song Happy X-mas. Why I'm writing about Lennon's song, I'm not quite sure but when I began writing my post I was going to write about what I have done and that sentence reminded me about this great X-mas song and what it represents...without going too deep and hopefully without sounding too shallow let me tell you now about what I have done - my handmade presents.

I made a wrapping paper out of an old writing paper and decorated it with polka dots made by woodblock printing. And I used also sewing machine to make a one single line going through the paper. And also if you remember I had a x-mas gift card project in process few weeks ago and now as you can see - cards have come from printing house.  Yey!

This is hard to write about these two so different matters in same post. But that is reality.  Even though you can spend your time with doing nice things like presents to your beloved ones it doesn't mean that everybody can. So let's keep that in mind when we are making our perfect X-mas.

New magazines makes me wowww - uudet lehdet ihastuttavat

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" by Eleanor Roosevelt is written on the cover of the new Flow magazine.

I was so happy and surprised when I went to book store and found these two new interesting magazines. Flow magazine is kind of familiar but now we have English edition available. So I CAN read it...it's a Dutch magazine originally.

If you like paper, design, creativity, illustration, making things by your hands, slowing down and enjoying your life the answer in Flow. It gets very close to what I'm interested at the moment. I'm still in the middle of reading it but I can already tell you that it's lovely! You can go and visit their website.

The other one is totally different or is it...Popshot Magazine. It's an illustrated literary magazine.

 
Yes, I bought a literary magazine that is so not me. But when I saw it I had to open it and when I opened it I had to read it. But I haven't read it through yet. Have to admit that I have felt uncomfortable with poems because I feel I don't understand or they just leave me with too many questions and bothered. But now that problem has solved. In Popshot Magazine they tell also what about the poem, short story, flash fiction is. Great. And I think it's perfect to connect two art forms: literary and illustration. They can reach even people like me. Haha. I noticed Popshot Magazine because of the great cover and smaller size. They have also website. Go and have a look!


Well, now I take a cup of coffee and open my flow. Hope you can do the same.

Have a lovely week!

 Ja kerran vielä suomeksi...
Lehtiä tulee ja menee mutta onneksi tulee välillä hyviäkin. Löysin Akateemisesta kaksi loistavan mielenkiintoista minulle uutta lehteä. Flow on hollantilainen lifestyle-lehti ihmisille, jotka tykkäävät paperista, luovuudesta, kuvituksista, luovista ihmisistä ja kenties hieman hitaammasta elämästä. Flow on aikaisemmin julkaistu hollanniksi mutta nyt on kauppoihin saapunut myös englanninkielinen versio. Jee, sitähän mekin jo ymmärretään. Popshot Magazine on sitten taas kirjallisuuslehti. Runot ovat olleet minulle hankalasti lähestyttäviä että ymmärrettäviä mutta kun ne ja muut tarinat yhdistetään hienoon kuvitukseen - jo minäkin tartun syöttiin. Varsinkin kun lopussa kerrotaan vielä mistä runo tai tarina oikeasti kertoi. Käy vilkaisemassa lehtien nettisivuilla: Flow magazine ja Popshot Magazine. Innostu ja ihastu. Loistavaa viikkoa!

Fabric Printing

Day 2.

If you want to carve wood - do have proper tools. I didn't have and it took time. Printing quality is also more difficult to keep with wood stamp. If you want to buy a wood block stamp - there's plenty for example in Etsy. If you want to DIY you should go to shop and buy wood carving tools. I'm like that kind of person who doesn't mind to read manuals and who doesn't obey rules necessarily. So sometimes it's not easy...but it's rewarding when you manage to make something without proper tools...and you don't have to be too serious.

Now I have already 5 different kind of printed fabric. Actually I have six. Yesterday I also went back in history and made one wood block with foam. I just love dots so I made big dot. And I'm sure my printing quality is better with foam combined my concentration. But of course foam isn't so environment friendly as wood is so that is something to think about. And when you are cleaning up remember not to flush paint straight to the water supply. Wipe as much ink as possible off the printing tools. We do want to take care of our planet, don't we. Yes, I know...I'll have to work on with wood carving so I can forget foam.  

Dot.
 

Three days of fabric printing - kankaanpainantaa kolmessa päivässä

In spring I bought great book about fabric printing. I have waited a good moment to start and now it will happen. Tomorrow I'll start by block printing. I'll share my journey to the world of hand printing with you. No matter how I manage to do it. Wish me luck!

Korvakoruja - Earrings From Old Pearls And Buttons

I love to make something new from old and used. I made these funny earrings from old pearls and buttons. I also used a little bit glitter and a little bit old doilies too. These are quite sweet and unique done by love and with recycling in mind…with a vintage feel.

Tykkään tehdä kauniista, vanhoista ja kuluneistakin asioista jotain uutta. Tällä kertaa korvakoruja vanhoista napeista ja helmistä. Iloittelua glitterillä ja vanhoilla kakkupapereilla. Minusta aika suloisia ja uniikkeja. Ne on tehty rakkaudella, kierrätysajatusta kunnioittaen ja matkaevääksi on pakattu ripaus vintagea.