A Little Christmas Cuppa - 6

A Little Christmas Cuppa – Day 6.

It’s the Independence Day of Finland today! Happy Birthday, Finland!

Our Design Team member Riikka of Paperiliitin has something for you today…

“December in Joensuu – an art journal page”

Hello there!

It’s Riikka here today to share a journal project with you. While here in the southern Finland we still can just dream about a white Christmas and December, the northern part has been covered with snow some time now. For this page I found inspiration not only from the lovely vintage goodies of Paper Garden but also from the picture of the little skier.

When I do a journal page, I usually have a theme or a mood in my mind I want to get across. This time my thought when I started was to create a pale, winter themed page or spread. After that I let the materials and process lead me. With this spread it was easy as the little skier fit to my original idea so well, so I just needed to create an interesting background for him.

I played with almost “white on white” in this spread as I toned the collaged vintage papers down using white gesso. It hides the bigger contrasts but still lets the patterns to show through. You can still see the text but it’s more in the background, taking a supporting role rather than being the star. On top of the collaged layer I then created a dimensional pattern using stencil and a pearly effect paste, Icing Paste.

The main composition is made out of a doily and the skier, but I wanted to break down the whiteness a little using washi tape. This creates a wonderful little backdrop for the skier without being too overwhelming. I also used the washi tape in the layer below the doily to kind of ground my composition to the page. If you want to see how the spread was made, please see the video below!

Thank you for stopping by today!

Wishing you a pleasant Holiday time and splendid start to the new year!

Xoxo Riikka