No one is too old for fairytales

It's been exactly 2 years since my last (and only) post, but it's not like I have been doing nothing all this time...
Thought it's about time to get my hands on here, oh well, i'll try.
It's been over a year since when I started keeping an art-journal, and I have spent most of my creative time in there. Mostly practicing techniques and trying to express with pictures favorite sayings (music lyrics, quotes or personal thoughts) that keep me going.

I got interested in art journaling by watching this video by the amazing Vicky Papaioannou who has been a big inspiration ever since. After watching a few or her art journal pages, I went out and bought a Pantone Notebook in Flame Orange, some glue and some gesso and got to work. I will make posts of some of my entries in time (we'll see how it goes).

At this point, I have to admit that Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carol has been my inspiration since when I was a kid. This story amazes me every time I read, watch or think about it. It is filled with learnings, makes me think and realize things. I am pretty certain that this story will always be a part of me till the day I die.

So, I made the page bellow (though i am pretty sure it will not be the only page around Alice). I love this conversation between Alice and the doorknob:

Alice: I simply must get through!
Doorknob: Sorry, you're much too big. Simply impassible.
Alice: You mean impossible?
Doorknob: No, impassible. Nothing's impossible.

I used stencils and mists that I created myself by watering down acrylics, also droplets of ink that i blew through a straw to create these blue creature spots on the background. I sketched my doorknob based on the Disney one and used a metallic keyhole that i painted with Picket Fence Distress Paint , and to make Alice I used a technique that I haven't seen before, I can't say I invented it but I honestly haven't seen it yet. Here's how it goes: I have the stamp set of Alice tea-party that shows bellow,  which I bought last year on my birthday . To ink the stamp I used the Faber Castell Pitt artist big brush pens. Basically I ink-colored the stamp, before stamping i.e. put yellow ink on the hair, blue on the dress, black on the socks, peach for the hand and face and I stamped in on heavy paper. So when I stamped it, it was already colored.

I inked some lace and doilies and made a frame in black and white to match Alices' socks. I also added a paper key which I cut form a patterned paper and used some Tim Holtz word tickets.

 

Now I am ready to submit this for March challenge on Scraps n Pieces a Greek blog that i follow. This will be the first time I participate on a challenge and I am very happy i do it with a creation about Alice and for this BlogSpot, which has also been an inspiration for me.

 

And I couldn't agree more..... "No one is too old for fairytales" !!

 

What it means and up-to-now summary

"Oti na'nai" stands for "whatever",  "anything goes", "all shorts of random things" and that is exactly what this blog will be about.

 

It's a corner to post all the random things that i make (oh i love making things!).

I have to warn you though,  I don't tend to stick to the same craft for too long...there are so many crafts to try out and it seems i want to try them all (or I give up once i realise that I cannot be perfect at it x-). Oh well, it's true, I'm not perfect at anything. I do a little bit of everything (or a little bit of many different things), but nowhere near perfection. I don't really mind. I like imperfections. Imperfections make things (and people) unique... 

 

So, recently i got engaged with the craft of scrapbooking. Even though i gathered all the necessary tools to get me going, i realised all i ever made up to now is cards! It's been 6 months i am doing it and all I've made is cards. Anyway, I am pleased with what I've done so far and i will share with you in a while. Once i gather here all my creations, then i will start taking up challenges from other blogs. At least his is my plan right now. Let's see if i stick to that...lol

 

 

Let's see what I've done up to now...

This concept was totally inspired by this picture

I have to go for now, wake up my boys (the baby and the big one) and go celebrate our National Revolution for Independence day with the rest of the family. :-)

a few hours later....

one of my favourites is the one on the left, and i am proud to say it was all my idea :-) the inspiration came from the beautiful cherry background paper. In Greece we celebrate name-days as well as birthdays, and this one was made for my friend Stella on her name-day.

Same goes for the one just bellow, that i made for my brother-in-law Andreas on his name day. Being a male, i tried to hold back in bright colours but the colour is still there.

I have also made some birthday cards with candles. Really easy to make but do make an impression. Easy to suit for boys or girls, men or women. The paper-straw candles were inspired by a picture i came across on Pinterest which comes originally from this lovely blogspot .

 

And now the cards i made for my beautiful baby niece who came to the world a couple of months ago.

For the baby-girl-dress card i used a template from this site. The card on the right is just mine :-) I just wanted to use the metal baby onesie embellishment that i had ordered once i knew my sister is pregnant , which i dressed with a piece of the mushroom paper that i love but never got the chance to use. I also just wanted to place some buttons and used my little butterfly punch to create butterflies that fly around the flowers, as i used the punch, i realised that the paper strip i was left with is also perfect to use. Apparently this is a commonly used technique with pouches but i didn't know yet back then x-).

 

The rounding-corner punch is one of the first tools i got my hands on when i decided to craft paper, but i didn't use it as much in the beginning. After this card, i used it more and more...

 

I now realised i have made just as many cards that i didn't take pictures of ... i made a pretty owl card for my owl-loving friend Eubie that i am very proud of and a twin-baby card for my cousin's twins (i just gave this card yesterday), a three-fold birthdays card for my mum  and a couple of male cards (these are the ones i find most challenging as i have to hold back on my purple loving nature and all the lovely-too-girly embellishments).

 

Nevermind.... next is a flower pot card for mothers' day and after that i will start taking on the challenges!!! Let's see....

I'll back soon. Until then..Take Care :-)