Cardboard box / Pahvilaatikko

Yes, such an intriguing title, isn't it...? Well, after all this post is all and only about a cardboard box! You know what, this isn't a shoebox. I have seen many crafts and tutorials with old shoeboxes, but this is a box that came with frozen "Carelian pies" (traditional Finnish pastry made of rye-mix dough and rice pudding) and when I had baked all the pies and got left with an empty box I decided to make it useful. It's a sturdy box and very handy one too because the lid can be closed firmly. The box itself was quite ugly so to make it visually easier to look at (my poor sore eyes can't take anything ugly) I had to cover it.

I think we all agree that this PaPaYa! gift wrap by Anahata Katkin can't ever be called ugly so it's a perfect camouflage for my box. The box was really nice wearing nothing but the wrap itself, but then I got a bit carried away and continued the work on process with some "acessories" like bird stamps, metallic paper doily, Cavallini stickers, lace and glitter glue...

Yes, I do know that I could have designed my own print and my own stickers but since I happened to have all these stored in a closet I had to use them too, right? Besides I really like PaPaYa! and Cavallini products. It must be quite obvious that they are part of the sources of my inspiration. Now the box is serving a task in our wardrobe as a swim suit box! And if you were wondering about the doily, it's a label. So if it ever happened that I would forget what's inside, I can write it on top of the box. ;-)

Eikös ollutkin erikoisen jännittävä otsikko? No mutta, tämähän ei todellakaan käsittele mitään muuta kuin vain ja ainoastaan pahvilaatikkoa. Ja niin, tämäpä ei olekaan kenkälaatikko! Olen tottunut katselemaan muiden tekemiä kenkälaatikkoehostuksia, joten nyt pitää kehua, että tämäpä onkin karjalanpiirakkalaatikko! Kun piirakat oli paistettu ja syöty, ajattelin että hyvän ja tukevan laatikon voisi jotenkin hyödyntääkin. Laatikko itsessään oli kuitenkin sen verran ruma, etteivät rakkaat verkkokalvoni toki olisi kestäneet sellaista näkyä pakastimen ulkopuolella. Siksipä laatikko vaati pientä ulkoverhoilua.

Kukaan ei kai voi pahalla tahdollakaan sanoa tätä PaPaYa!-lahjapaperia rumaksi, joten se oli oikein hyvä maastotakki laatikolleni. Laatikosta sukeutuikin tosi salonkikelpoinen uudessa puvussaan, mutta sitten sain päähäni vielä vähän asustaakin sitä lintupostimerkeillä, metallikakkupaperilla, Cavallinin lintutarroilla, pitsillä ja kimalleliimalla. Eikä se ulkonäkö kai niillä kauheasti pahentunut. Pitsi ei ollut alunperin vaaleanpunaista, vaan se on väritetty akryylimaalilla.

Niin-niin, olisinhan minä voinut suunnitella ja tulostaa omankin kuvion, tarrat ja muut, mutta kun minulla kerran oli näitä kaapissa jemmassa (lahjapaperikin jo yli vuoden!) niin ehkäpä oli aika jo käyttääkin niitä. Ja sitä paitsi, Cavallinin ja Anahata Katkinin PaPaYa -tuotteet ovat minusta hyvin inspiroivia. Nyt laatikko palvelee tehtävässään uimapukulaatikkona vaatekaapissamme. Ja se kakkupaperi tuossa laatikon päällä... niin, se toimii etikettinä. En tosin usko, että koskaan voisin unohtaa näinkin helposti muistettavan laatikon sisällön, mutta joka tapauksessa tuohon olin ajatellut kirjoittaa tarvittaessa senkin.

Blogpartying at / Linkkikemuissa täällä:

Blogging about crafts (other than paper and freebies) / Uusi käsityöblogi

I have been waiting for comments for a good while over here and I'm now pretty convinced that no-one at all is interested in seeing the rest of the items in my digikit and that I'll actually never get to post the OTHER freebies I've intended sharing with you, so I've made myself busy crafting some real crafts outside the digital world. ;-) You are still more than welcome to take part to my comments game, all of you, and I will be posting as many freebies as I get comments!

Now that I actually have some space for crafting too, I have been sewing, knitting and crocheting. But don't you worry, I have been doing some paper crafts as well. Of course, I'm feeling afwully lonely crafting by myself, so I wanted to share the other crafts with my old friends and those new to-become-friends of you. :-)
Since this blog is reserved for my freebies, digital goodies and paper crafts, I will be talking about my other crafty project on my other blog Susie goes on crafting.

You are most welcome to have a look and craft with me. :-)


Nyt kun alkaa näyttää siltä, ettei kukaan todellakaan rohekene jättää kommentteja, enkä siis pääse postaamaan mitään ilmaista tänne sen enempää digiskräppäys-pakkauksestani kuin muistakaan aikomistani materiaaleista, olen pitänyt itseni kiireisenä tekemällä ihan oikeita käsitöitä. Muuton myötä viimeinkin sain hiukan lisää tilaa, joten olen päässyt ompelemaan, neulomaan ja virkkaamaan. Rohkaisen kuitenkin yhä kommentoimaan tätä blogia, palaan heti postaamaan ilmaisia materiaaleja, kuvia ja skräppisivuja, kun vain joku kommenttia laittaa. ;-)

Tunnen tietenkin itseni kauhean yksinäiseksi, kun väkerrän käsitöitäni itsekseni, joten olen sitten päättänyt höpistä hiukan niistäkin puuhista. Tämä blogi on kuitenkin varttu ilmaismatskuille ja paperiaskartelulle, joten muihin käsitöihin liittyvät jutut löytyvät tästä eteenpäin uudesta osoitteesta! Tervetuloaa kyläilemään Susie goes on crafting -blogissani! Myös viestejä ja linkkejä omiin blogeihin saa jättää, jospa saisin pari uutta blogituttavuutta?

La vie en rose - 5th piece of the digikit

Thank you for commenting again Theresa! As you can see, I can use some comments over here! ;-) Since not all parts of the kit are equal, I'm sure not all the pieces are pleasing to everyone. Today's release is a piece of embellishment or a label. Let me know which you think it is: ;-) This is a png image as well. Just click on the image to open the larger one for downloading.  Once again, this is only for personal use, not to be sold nor distributed in any way.

Giveaway at Adori Graphics

So, I headed today to check out my firend's (France) new blogwear and it was really cool! Of course I had to see who had done it all and so I ended up at Adori Graphics site. Wow, really nice work indeed. Then I spotted a giveaway! You know what, you have a chance to win a custom made vector graphic for your blog header (or other use if you can't use a blog header)! And that if anything is awesome! It's a realistic cartoon style graphic and looking really nice by the examples I've seen. All you need to do in order to enter the contest is to list as a follower and leave a comment telling how you found the place. Go fast, this chance closes on Saturday 21st of August!

Adori Graphics giveaway

Don't forget to look at Adori Graphic's free blog templates and other freebies!

Thank you France!

France just made my day by leaving a comment so I'll post one piece more for the honour. :-) This is part of my blog comments game which means that I'll post one item belonging to the digikit called "La vie en rose" for each comment I receive. And no, those comments don't need to be praises! They can be suggestions os wishes or critics as well. Just as long as they make some sense... ;-)

I hope you will find some use for this semi-transparent label! I do appreciate a link back if you decide to use it so that we can all enjoy! :-) I'm very curious about the artwork made by others! I wish you all a great day today and please, leave a comment...

This label is in png format so that it's easy to integrate into digital design. Only for personal use, not for to be sold or distributed in any way. Click on the image to open the bigger image for download.

One million giraffes and a give-away pink giraffe

Here's a challenge for everyone and anyone, and you can do it by any medium except digital. So computer is not allowed for anything else but scanning or sending the final image.

There's a Norwegian guy who is trying to collect 1 million giraffes by the year 2011 and as his web page states today: "I've gotten 974 152 giraffes so far, so I only need 25 848 more and I have 137 days left to get. Please help me!" Let's help him! I first heard about this last night at ATCs for all forum where skyjules had posted the invitation to join.

I just uploaded mine. I already feel guilty for makin only ONE giraffe (yes, I manage to feel guilty just about anything...) so I may have to make some more giraffes in the near future. ;-) Anyone seeing this image can immediately spot that I have hit my glitter stash before starting with the long neck fellow.

I didn't plan my image at all as I just started to make whatever kind of giraffe to be uploaded to the giraffe gallery. So I didn't use any pens or pencils that require a steady hand, I just took my scissors and cut a free form giraffe out of a cardstock of some product package I found, there's ripped paper strips, some acrylic and crackle paint, some cake paper, some stamping and lots of glitter and some plastic beads. Oh, those butterfly wings I happened to find where I keep my papers and cut them out for the giraffe. Just because it's obvious that a giraffe needs to fly too... (isn't it?)

One Million Giraffes

p.s. If anyone happens to want this curled piece of paper with a pink giraffe, just leave a comment to claim it and send your address to me by e-mail (can be found on the left side bar). I would like to get rid of this. Other option would be to throw it away.

Thank you Theresa :-)

Only for personal use, not to be sold or distributed in any way.

Here's an other piece from the digital design kit. It's obviously a tag and in png format with transparent background so that it can be integrated in digital designs. If you prefer jpg images for printing, I can transform some items of the kit into print sheets later on. I hope you will be able to use this for something!

We are going slowly but then again I'm in no hurry. Just a bit impatient! ;-)  Anyone reading this should be informed about how to participate so I wrote an introduction on the right side bar. I will release an item belonging to the "La vie en rose" digikit for each comment. It doesn't need to be on any particular post, you can leave the comment on the post you prefer to comment.

I would love to see what people decide to use these for, so I do appreciate a link back or a comment including your site address! I can then add your link on my side bar for others to be able to have a look as well. Take care all of you and have a nice Sunday.

Thank you Shay!

Thanks to Shay for leaving a comment on my previous post! :-) I almost got worried that no-one would comment and I would never get to post more pics! Yes, I must be a very simple person for getting so exited waiting for comments! :-D Anyway, here's one piece for Shay and for the rest of you to use as well!

Just to make sure everyone knows what to do: Leave a comment and I will post an item belonging to the digikit below!

All images are for personal use and not to be sold or distributed by any way. I will also add a piece of the package image for you to see what kind of items there are included in this package. If you'd like to see a particular item uploaded, just ask for it!

You just need to left click on the image to open the printable size for downloading. This is a png image so the background is transparent.

And here's a SMALL preview image of the kit itself.

And finally to reply Shay; this kit is made with completely free software so I don't expect it to be as perfect as products made with professional software. ;-) Still, I wish they will bring joy to people and that they will inspire some great art! I'm really curious to see what people can make with these, so please do link back so that I can have a peak! :-)

Dare to leave a comment for a freebie?

I have stated out in my header pic that I will give out freebies for COMMENTS. Yet very few people have courage enough to leave one! Or maybe the rest of the people downloading stuff are just too lazy, I know... ;-) So let's start a game to encourage the rest of you. I'm a person who likes to interact with others and I do welcome any comments and suggestions. Also, if you have some finished pieces containing material that you have downloaded from this blog, I would LOVE to see it. This means, if you have a blog or a web gallery and you want to show your work, just link it back to the post containing the original download or just simply leave a comment with your own link! I do moderate my comments, but so far there has never been any that I would have needed to delete, so unless you're extremely rude I'm sure your comment will be published. :-)

This is the deal: I have made a digital design kit of some material I made earlier this year with a theme "La vie en rose" that was suggested by my dear friend France. I will release each piece for a comment. So the more comments the more content! After all the items have been published, I will then make the digikit downloadable at some place so that it can be downloaded all at once (or as multiple zip files as it is quite large as a single file...). The more people commenting each post the faster the items will be published. Anyone interested? 

The starter piece is for Kalyber who was the only person commenting my previous post. Please remember that everything is only for personal use, not to be harvested for collections, not to be sold or distributed by anyone but myself. You are welcome to link to this post (not hotlinks though). And please, don't spam. :-D One comment from each one per post. ;-)

This is a 12"x12" scrapbook paper for your personal projects.

Click on the image to open the downloadable size.

Flickr pool for FREE Collage Images

Figure 86 Madame de Stael original upload by Kalyber
One of the images found on the Collage Images

I have no idea how come I haven't seen this before, but there is an excellent Flickr pool for artists to share free public domain images to use in collage art. You have to be a Flickr member and join the group too in order to be able to view and download images, but I guess those are pretty little steps to take as the pool has amazing count of 31,326 items and that number is naturally growing as people add more images. Also the good point is that the recommendation for the images added is high 300 dpi resolution which is great for artistic work.

TheCollage Images

Free and colourful envelope

I haven't been much for anything lately. I finally got all the furniture I need and I have been lucky (or just extremely patient) looking for them as the most expensive one cost only 15 €. That was a cupboard with glass doors, but I will have to cover the doors from inside (with some art maybe?) as I'm using it for storing the toys and it's not a pleasant sight... There's still work to be done on some of the articles, but for now on I'm just happy for not needing to go after more. I'm now well familiarized with every second hand store and flea market in my area.

So last weekend I finally got my hands on the task that has been waiting to be done, and that was framing some ATCs. I happened to have some frames ready at hand, and I used them. You can see them at my Flickr stream if you're interested (just scroll down the right side bar over here -> and click on the Flickr widget). When I got tired with framing more ATCs, I made a collage with real butterflies. I still have more butterflies to go and plans are ready, but I need to find some good frameing material for them as they would actually require an insect box or some kind of box meant for framing mementos or souvenirs.

Framing butterflies required some work as I didn't want to use glue, and the insect pins were too long for the frame I used. This collage contains an old map, some nice postal stamps, paper butterflies cut from a postcard and a bird and a red passion flower that I printed for this purpose. Originally I had thought I would frame all my butterflies in the same box with scientific names beneath them but then I got an urge to use them for various artistic projects. And here's the first of them. Let's see if I'll ever finish with the remaining projects!

Shay and Susie have been really kind leaving comments on my previous post, so I'm posting a freebie that required awfully lot of work, mainly because I didn't have a template ready made and it's just time consuming to build this kind of templates with free software. Also, editing the images wasn't quickly done as it contains quite (= too) many images! I have spent quite many nights with individual images and I wasn't able to finish it during one day, but it came out more or less as I had planned. :-D It's a crazy mix-match envie with no style at all, but I personally like it. Then again, my taste isn't necessary good taste, so you may be the judges of that. :-) It has been in my hard disk for quite a while already so maybe it's time to release it and let it live its own life.

This has been made for A4 size (200 ppi) but it could be scaled for smaller size. You could probably make it printable in letter size as well. This envelope with geisha, hot air balloon, roses and butterflies is for personal use alone and shouldn't be sold or distributed. You're welcome to print it for mailing your own letters, invitations, mail art and so on. And I do appreciate a link back if you have a blog or if you publish images of printed and folded envies somewhere. ;-)

Let me know if you find it useful! Just click on the image below to open the larger image for downloading.