We Wish You...

Hi there my dear friends!
Than you again for visiting our place in the web, we love to see you here any time!

It is just a moment before the very special time of the year, days filled with love, joy and happiness and no matter how crazy our life is now, no matter how many unexpected twists and turns our plans and routines had to endure, we are here with you to tell you how special you are to us, how much we appreciate your support and presence and to wish you all the best for this wonderful Holiday time! I hope your life will be filled with all that you need, and we wish you love and peace, tons of positive energy, courage to create whatever your heart will tell you and great people around you who will give you support when you need it the most.  I hope you will find time to play, to enjoy whatever you like to do and the sparkle of inspiration will shine brightly for you! Warmest hugs from us all!

I guess I own you a long story of moving houses and studio just before Christmas, story of last minute redecorations and repainting, lost hope and hope restored, story of living in boxes and creating on the boxes, long days without internet access and pulling out my hair because all the unexpected things going on around me... add to it the joy of living in a very old house for the first time in my life, (almost 300 years old, yeah!), 2 overexcited dogs and 1 stressed cat, 1 car broken on the motorway on the way to the airport (to pick up my husband's parents) and the Grand Rescue made in great style by my dear friends, bleeding fingers, sore back and the priest who lives next door and  happened to be an angel who literally saved our family Christmas celebrations today giving us a Christmas tree as a gift (as we didn't have a chance to buy our own yet and it seems to be to late to get one...) ... take all that and more and you will have a story of our life after I got back from Australia and NZ! I think a sneak peek of my Christmas inspired Steampunk Reindeer project above gives you the impression of how unusual or even weird our Christmas is going to be this year... but hey, there is certainly a lot of  beauty in this weirdness too!

But this is not the end... you will see more of the Steampunk Reindeer on the weekend, as a treat after the Holiday time, and now, we all got something very special: the whole Finnabair Creative Team created their personal artistic Christmas wishes for all of you...

Each project coming straight from the Artist's heart and as unique as each of these amazing, talented Ladies who have been inspiring us all and making us want to spread our wings..

We hope all these wishes will come true for you. Enjoy and feel inspired!

We wish you:

Wishes from Denisa:

Wishes from Gayle:

Wishes from Irina:

Wishes from Kasia:

Wishes from Linda:

Wishes from Marta:

Wishes from Olga:

Did we manage to make you smile? :)
We have a special surprise for you today - a Christmas reunion of six super talented Artists who used to be part of Finn Team and now are coming back for this special Holiday post to wish you:

Wishes from Lena:

Wishes from Elena:

Wishes from Monika:

Wishes from Rebecca:

Wishes from Riikka:

Again, I'd like to say huge thank you: first of all to my wonderful, supportive Creative Team whose projects continued to blow my mind in the last months... I feel so proud and grateful I can work with you! Next - let me say thanks to YOU ALL - for continuous support of not only this place but also coming my classes, my FB page and our Finnabair and Friends Open Studio group. You made it all happen, you give it the reason to exist, thanks to you dreams of many of us do come true... Thank you.
Sending warmest hugs for the Christmas Time

Sweet Winter Memories

Hello, Friends!

There are some changes in the air - we are going to say goodbye to two of my Creative Team members and welcome two new artists...

Today we are parting with wonderful Elena. It was a great privilege to be sharing her huge talent on my blog - she created many special projects here for us and I will always be grateful that she agreed to take part in our common art journey!

I hope that all of you (just like me!) will keep cheering Elena and following her stunning creations on her blog, follow her on pinterest and check all her latest news on her facebook.

Hello, dear friends!

Today is my last project for team Finnabair. I'd like to thank Ania for the unique opportunity to work in this team and create with the best supplies, for all the warmth, support and friendship. For me it is a huge honor to be in Finnabair's first Creative Team!

The project I'd like to show you today is a very special book that takes me back to February 1984.

The little girl in these photos is me when I was 1,5 year old. :)

My family used to live in my homeland Solar Fergana at the time and at that time a lot of snow fell which hardly ever happened in that region!

So let me take you on my sentimental journey...

And this is how I created my special album.
First, I prepared the cover - I took two pieces of cardboard and added a spine.

To create a base for my rich texture, I simply glued some crumpled paper. I wanted to change the color so I covered my covers with Heavy Black Gesso and then added a little of White Gesso.

To add a little bit of depth and color, I sprayed my covers with Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays and added some Golden Monarch Silk paint for some shine and glimmer.

I didn't want everything to look too bright so I used a little bit of White Gesso again to "muffle" the tones a little bit.

I decorated the cover with a chipboard frame that I also painted with Black and White Gesso and Golden Monarch Silk to make it go with the rest of the book.

I added a butterfly that I placed in one of Mechanicals Pendants that I filled with Copper Crackle Texture Paste.

I covered everything with a layer of Soft Gloss Gel, let it dry completely and it was ready.

As for my inside pages, I used Sunrise Sunset papers as substrates for my photos, arranged in no particular order.

I applied some White Gesso here and there, a little bit of lace, torn resist canvas and thread to make the pages look more interesting and layered.

Then, some stamping as final touches and spraying to create a beautiful color palette.

My book filled with sweet memories...

I wanted to thank you all, dear Readers, for all your wonderful comments, your warmth and support!
I hope you liked my projects and that we will keep meeting online.

Always yours
Lena

Materials used: