I promised to show you some more of the books I made the last days.

The one that follows is a recipe book - hard to understand huh?- and is a commission. All the inside pages were decorated with kitchen-related stamps, painted with inktense pencils, but I did not shoot them. Instead I have sampled some flourishes because I like their vivid colors - I do not have kitchen related stamps for a 30 pages book, at least not yet. But do not despair -I always have a pending order for stamps!

Now this one is my favorite journal for 2011. Believe it or not , it was supposed to be the recipe book when I cut the chipboard covers. But I was a bit tired of the all these commissions with their bright papers and flowers and such, so I stepped a bit out of the path and I came up with this. It is a book that I really like - with blank pages ready to be filled, and a "strong" , meaningfull cover.

Don't mistake me - I love making merry books with fancy paper covers, with every other page stamped and colored. I love even more that they inspire people to write to them, journal etc, but I wouldn't know what to do with them myself. Never been really good in diary keeping. I prefer art journaling and this needs empty space.

AS it is my favorite book, I will submit it to the Stampman 3rd annual awards and SSS.

I think that the last fortnight I make nothing but books. And as soon as I finish the last, someone calls and needs " urgently" another book. Journals, notebooks, sketchbooks,recipe books - name it and I am sure I have one in my portfolio! I don' t complain cause I love making books, but Christmas is almost around the corner and I haven't even started Shimmelle's journal , no art journaling, nothing!

So, what am I going to show you today? Books!

These are 6 x 8 inches and are ment for everyday use. Their covers are somehow "flat" (not many 3D decorations) in order to be thrown in a woman's handbag without special handling. The inside pages are stamped and heat embossed as usual.

In the first one I embossed a metal plate with a Tim Holtz die and used alcohol inks to color it.

For the next two I had a free reign, and you know what happens when you give a free reign to the bookmaker... The covers are a mixed media project by themselves. Sprays, inks, pastes, embossing, collage and a touch of Inka-gold. Laquer and fixative to stabilise the color and that's it - two books I really enjoyed!



That's it for now, I will come back with more books in my next post (you thought you will get away-Ha!)

Today I want to show you a mini that my DD made at Zeffy's children crop. She was a bit scared of the whole concept - of new aquaintances, if she could follow the tutorial without messing up etc. But she came up with something that she can be proud of.

I will seize the chance to thank Zeffy again for her patience and for her good orgnisation skills that made a crop with 4 kids a happy experience!

And a card for two twin little girls that turned 1. Since I used the sketch from SSS I will submit it there.


See you soon with some last- minute gifts!

This is my table center piece. It is super easy to make and very very festive. It already sits over my sitting room table as you can see.

All you need is a florists' sponge, a bit of grenery (natural is better if you can find - smells better too!), a candle and several bits and pieces like cones, nuts, flowers and decorative balls. Stickles or any other glitter is highly appreciated.

You dig a shallow hole in the centre of the sponge and you "bury" your candle. You "nail" the grenery all around and when there is no empty space you place your embellies with bit of hot glue. Spread a lot of glitter and Voila- you are ready!

And one more 6x6 journal. It is a commission and I was informed that the recipient was very happy with it, so I can now present it . The inside pages are hand stamped and heat-embossed, but you have seen enough of my journal interiors already, to be worth posting photos.

Merry Christmas to all!

And something not for Christmas. It is a mixed media project with which I am rather pleased. I like its vintage style and depth. In fact I like it so much that I hanged it above my desk! For a person that loves bare walls and empty white surfaces it means volumes!

I will submit it to SSS&S that asks for something with depth and is my favorite challenge blog!

The Christmas lab is working overtime.

Today I have some altered IKEA frames and boxes. They are gessoed, stamped, painted with mists and stains and sealed with UTEE. A fun process with good results. I am not sure, however, that I will give all these empty. Perhaps I have to make their fillers also.

This frame is stamped with a favorite stamp of musical notes, so I will play at Crop-stop, for your inspiration challenge bacause I loved their picture.

This one is my favorite, so I play at SSS, Charisma Cards, Crimbo Crackers, The pixie Cottage

And this one- for my sister- wil play at SSS&S

The scrapbooking world' s heart is beating with Tim' s tags these days.

No, I will not show you another version of his tags - I am sure that you are fed up with Tims-to-be by now.

However my project today is on a tag. I challenged myself instead of cleaning my desk after making my last christmas cards(phew I finished them all), to use the leftovers to make something else. I managed to make a non-christmas tag with christmas leftovers. Don't ask....

And this is a tag that my little artist made for a scrapbooking friend - Natalia- of the same age that organised a swap. Details are here. She made her background using watercolor crayons, heat-embossed the sentiment and the space around with gold embossing powder and cut the ornaments with the Big-shot. She is evolving - don't you think?

To tell you the truth I was surprised by the color combo she made, as it is totally untraditional for a Christmas tag, but she justified her choice saying that everybody else will use green, red and blue and she wants her own to stand out!

So, I will submit it in SSS , Come and get it challenges , Gingerloft challenge, 2 sisters, Sugar Creek Hollow , Incy Wincy Design and cross my fingers for her.

And some Christmas charms I made for gift decoration for a shop. They look very festive when attached to the kraft bag they have.



Have a warm and happy evening!

And a little bit of art journaling. I have two pages: one bright and festive and one dark and pessimistic. Let's start with the bright one that marks the first day of Christmas festivities. I wish you everything happy and bright.

The second one has to do with the current situation in Greece and in Europe in general. It shows our Big Boss depicted as the scissor-hands. It is a cartoon from my favorite cartoonist E. Ksenou, published in a newspsaper.

If you like it please vote for me at the Memory Trends forum on Sunday the 4rth. (I hope I got it right as the vote is not open yet, but I will update my link...)

Thanks for watching!

I have already told you that I will make all of this year's presents by myself. The gift season is open now as we are approching December (In Greece we have some major saint-days this month)

I have made several journals and this is what I will show you today. They are not of my usual "grungy" style as they are intended for other people. The one I will show you today is for a friend that has some health "adventures" and has to stay at home all alone for three weeks. She likes writing and drawing so I embellished only the half pages and left the rest blank to accomodate her sketches.

I promised Christmas projects, so here we are.

These are a few post-it pads I made, as a part of an order from a client. She decided to offer handmade gifts to her friends and I was trusted to make them. Thanks - I hope they like them!

Ήταν να μην πιάσω τις κάρτες. Τα κορίτσια φταίνε που με ξεσήκωσαν και κάποιες φίλες που μου ζήτησαν να τους φτιάξω κάρτες, οπότε πάλι καρτούλες θα σας δείξω.

Δεν έχω ξανά ασχοληθεί ιδιαίτερα με κάρτες, οπότε έκανα μια βόλτα από το blog της Hero Arts, όπου βρήκα πολλές ιδέες. Έφτιαξα, λοιπόν, τις παρακάτω

I made the next one using a digital stamp by Hero Arts, following the recipe they gave:

Με την ευκαιρία θέλω να ευχαριστήσω πολύ τη Μελένια, που όχι μόνο διάλεξε την κάρτα μου ως νικήτρια στον διαγωνισμό του Get Creative, αλλά την ανάρτησε και στο blog της.

Many many thanks to Melenia, not only because she has given my card the first place at Get Creative Challenge, she presented it also in her blog.

Next time expect some christmas staff. We decided with my daughter to make this Cristmas a "Crafty Christmas". It means that we will make all the gifts and decorations by ourselves and we will try not to buy anything. We will do our best anyway! So keep in touch and wait for our projects!

Two cards and a LO for equal (on second thoughts not equal!!!!) challenges.

The first is for Passion for Promarkers. The stamp is from Stampendous (last year's but I used it this year as it was an after-christmas bargain). The snowman is colored with Promarkers - my favorite markers- . I will also play at Christmas stamping

The following is a scraplift (hmm ) of one of Vicky's cards which I liked very much - I hope her child is getting better!-. She is a constant inspiration and very creative. I will also play with 2 sisters, Rogue designs, Totally Gorjuss

And finally the LO - made for a friend- I will submit it in the Scrap for Help challenge. In this LO, I challenged myself to use neglected scraps and pieces from my stash. I never make boys LOs, so I almost lacked corresponing elements. I am very happy ,however, because I recycled several pieces. The backing paper is from a 7Gypsies packaging, the flower tops are taken from an old doll of my DD, and the doily was found in a cookies' box.

When I am tired and cannot think properly (usually after a bad work day and innumerous chores), I cannot create anything complicated. But I CAN create something- and this something is journals, notepads, sketchbooks etc. It is a standard process and I love making them.

Last month I had a terrible week at work, so I made a bunch of small journal books intended for christmas presents. Alas, I have not decorated them, but there is still time. You can wait for my relating post- I hope before Christmas.

Today I will show you a small journal I made, but with a different technique. I decided to make a totally recycled book and I thought - you will not believe it- to recycle bandages.

So, I made a book out of bandages using a lot of glue, my mists, craft wire and UTEE on top, to harden the cover.

I will submit it at SSS&S

We are already in the middle of the second week of November, and the crop Saturday is over. I will not post any pictures of 30 scrapbookers working like crazies, but I want to tell you that it was fab!

Thanks Zeffy and Eirini for all the hard work you did before and during the crop- it showed! I hope that you will make it again soon!

Eirini's lesson was - what else? A layout page based on Nadia's sketch for the November challenge of OUAS. Although I am not good following sketches (I feel caged and the good ideas fly away from me), I will submit it. Girls, if you feel that the implementation of the sketch is far too stretched , it is OK. I will also submit to Stampman as they always have interesting challenges.

Here it is

I almost forgot to tell you that I made the black flower myself!!!!!, using a technique that Zeffi, showed us in her lesson.

The journaling says: " I started scrapbooking,
in order to remember you always as you were"

It is my first LO since I do not know when, but I could not resist using art journaling techniques even here.

Hello bloggers.

A quick post to present my journey journal from my last trip to Mani. We stayed for 5 days in a "tower-house" (the unique houses of Mani).

We had a wonderful time and I wanted to record it somehow. For those who read my blog, is common knowledge that I never complete my vacation journals when I try to compile them when I get back. During summer vacations, I used an art journal, but I wanted something more descriptive of the actual trip. So, I made a "smash" style journal before I left and had it ready to fill it with details during the trip.

It worked fine, I "journalled" easily, with minimum stuff (only one bag to my hubby's relief), and I returned with a detailed journey book.

Υπομονή γιατί ακολουθεί ανάρτηση -μαμούθ. Θα σας δείξω τη συνέχεια των καρτών που φτιάχνουμε με την κόρη μου αυτές τις μέρες. Φέτος θα είμαστε πανέτοιμες για τα Χριστούγεννα!

Αποφάσισα να τα βάλω όλα μαζί, γιατί θα παίξουμε στις προκλήσεις της Ειρήνης από το Get Creative και της Βούλας από το Heart 2 craft -Κοριτσάκια μόλις τις είδα-πάντα ενημερωμένη :)

Λοιπόν, η πρώτη κάρτα αριστερά είναι για την πρόκληση της Ελίνας που θέλει πολλά layers. Όταν είδα την πρόκληση είχα φτιάξει ήδη την δεξιά, αλλά είχε μόνο 3 layers, οπότε έφτιαξα και άλλη μια.

Συνεχίζοντας, η αριστερή ξεκίνησε από την πρόκληση της Ειρήνης (ίσως δεν φαίνεται αλλά η σφραγίδα με τα αστεράκια, έχει ακριβώς το σχήμα που ζητούσε η Ειρήνη). Στην πορεία, όμως, ταιριάζει και με την πρόκληση της Ελένης ( mists) και της Μελένιας (colour combo), της οποίας ο συνδυασμός μου άρεσε τρελά. Οπότε θα παίξω στη Μελένια και στη Βούλα αφού είναι γεμάτη glitter, sparkle embossing, glossy accents και τουλάχιστον 6 glimmer mists, φυλακισμένα μέσα στην UTEE που μου έστειλε.

Η δεξιά είναι για την πρόκληση της Αλεξάνδρας που ήθελε ένα layer. Δεν μου πολυαρέσει αλλά ο άντρας μου ξετρελάθηκε, οπότε αποφάσισα να την βάλω (Περί ορέξεως.......)





Από αυτές τις κάρτες η δεξιά είναι της Ήριννας και σας την παρουσιάζω με πολύ περηφάνια γιατί έχει κάνει το πιο τέλειο paper piercing που έχει καταφέρει ποτέ. Είναι φτιαγμένη με τα καινούρια της χαρτιά της eco park που πήρε από την Λένα στη Χειροτέχνικα. Θα παίξει λοιπόν στην πρόκληση της Ευδοκίας που ζητούσε 2 elelments( designer paper και χιονάνθρωπος)Επίσης είναι γεμάτο glitter γι αυτό θα παίξει και στην πρόκληση της Βούλας.




Αυτές οι δύο, είναι φτιαγμένες από το tutorial της Βίκυς στη Χειροτέχνικα που εντυπωσίασε πολύ την Ήριννα. Αριστερά είναι η δική μου και δεξιά η δική της (μήπως φαίνεται ότι είναι αριστερόχειρας!- η κάρτα είναι διπλωμένη προς τα αριστερά)

Και αυτή είναι η πιο αμφιλεγόμενη απ' όσες έφτιαξα.Είναι μια χριστουγεννιάτικη shaker card, αλλά μου φαίνεται πολύ σκληρός ο συνδυασμός στα χρώματα τελικά. Τες πα είναι για την πρόκληση της Channa.

Ελένη και Ειρήνη δεν έπαιξα στις προκλήσεις σας, αλλά όλες μου οι κάρτες έχουν mists (άλλες λιγότερο ,άλλες περισσότερο) και χρησιμοποίησα και το sketch σε μια. Άρα δεν σας άφησα παραπονεμένες - άσε που δεν τέλειωσε ο μήνας ακόμα!

Μπορείτε να ανασάνετε πάλι αφού η ανάρτηση τελείωσε! Σας ευχόμαστε καλημέρα και να είστε πάντα καλά.

Μυρτώ - Ήριννα

And some cards for a change!

Two cards for two parties:

And some early Christmas inspiration. As December is always full of several Christmas projects, I decided to start early , in order to have a chance to send some cards this year!

I will play in Pollycraft Monday Challenge, Christmas Card Challenge, Christmas Inspirations, Stamptacular Sunday Challenge, Crazy 4 challenges, Squiggle Stamps