Cut Paper and Papercuts

The End

2011-03-17T13:21:00.004+01:00

I've decided to close down this blog and start a new blog on either Wordpress or Cap&Design. I'm gonna focus more on my education and my learning process with graphic design and drawing. I'm still going to do different handicrafts but I'm probably not going to post any pictures and info about that. The handicrafts I will leave for my etsy page which I haven't activated yet.

Yes and the new blog will be in swedish.

This blog will be up for a few weeks more until I've decided what kind of blog I want.

The few of you who have followed me, Thank you!

Snowflakes

2011-02-22T17:03:00.003+01:00

I just love love love the lyrics of Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues!

Gocco

2011-02-17T17:27:00.006+01:00

I'm doing some research before I'm starting with the new school project. The assignment is to illustrate how to-instructions for a childs play and I've chosen dodgeball.
I really want to limit myself with few colors and simple shapes. I've found a japaneese art form called Gocco, which simply is screen printing, that I really like.

This picture I found on another blog, but that person linked the photo to another adress and I can't get to that page for some reason. But if you click on the picture you'll get sent to the blog where you can click further to the gocco print designers homepage.

Dusty

2011-02-14T00:52:00.007+01:00

I went through my arts and crafts-box and found old projects from the Linköping-time. I've shown you a few but I don't think I've shown you these. The assignment of this particular project was to create different patterns and apply them on products. I drew silhouettes of insects and made a sample for a wallpaper. I also put different geometrical shapes together, in Power Point actually, creating a feast of sweets.

This week we got some information about the new school projects and I'm so excited about it!
The first task is to make an instruction manual for a childs play. Illustrating how to do's in Illustrator. The second task I'm looking forward to the most. We have to recreate a movie poster from scratch. Taking photographs and arrange them to look like the original poster.

So I'll be busy for sure. Updating have to get better though.

Moth

2011-02-04T16:52:00.001+01:00

This is the therapy drawing I wrote about. Sorry about the crappy contrast of the picture. At least you see that it's hand drawn.
For the moment I've got an obsession for birds and bugs. Last year in Linköping I did a sketch sample for a wallpaper with bugs and I'd like to develope that idea.

Everybody's got a trouble

2011-01-26T23:24:00.003+01:00

My computer has been on service but I haven't been that creative anyways. The new school course is so much fun so all my time goes to sitting in the computer room going through Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials. I've also started with croquis and bought myself a model doll to draw when I'm at home. Of course that is being creative but I haven't any finished "products" to show on my blog. If I manage to get a good croquis drawing I'll put it upp here.

I was going to show you some of my "therapy" drawings. Really detailed drawings that needs all of my attention and makes my brain all blank. But blogger wont accept the format of the scanned pictures. I'll try again in a few days.

Return to Oz

2011-01-08T21:22:00.004+01:00

2010, the shitiest year ever is finaly over and a new year is knocking on the door.
I really didn't have any goals last year, no real new years resolutions, nothin to strive for. I just wanted to get through the year. And I did, with a few bruises but a lot more motivated for a better 2011. A friend of mine told me that it's much easier to live after a motto than a new years resolution, so I formulated one that I thought would fit me this year:

2011 - the year for improvment!

I want to be better. A better person, with a better health and a better self-image. I want to be better on Photoshop and Illustrator, drawing and crocheting. Updating the blog with new and exciting craft projects. Better on taking risks, explore new places, taking pictures, laugh with my friends. Better on not thinking before acting.

And I see great potential for me to live after this motto.

The first half of this year is filled with fun activites and projects. Unfortunately this isn't a blog about my everyday life but about my arts and crafts projects. Allthough I will post photos here if my activites and projects have inspired me. Hopefully they will inspire you.

I'm lost in the forest

2010-11-30T15:54:00.003+01:00

Wasting time surfing around on the internet is bad! Then you find lovely things like these; a budding maple twig necklace and a pine branch ring. Check out Elisabeth Scott's to-die-for botanical jewelry. I think I'm gonna buy one for myself as a christmas present.

Cutout

2010-11-08T23:43:00.004+01:00

I'm taking an online course in Photoshop so when it's time to do some Photoshop work in school I'm at the top of the game. The first course is really basic but for a newbe like me it's enough to make it fun without being to complicated. I've really only used photoshop to paint with, not to edit photos.
These are two pictures of flowers in my moms garden. I've only used the artistic filter Cutout but I loved the result of this simple modification so I had to share it with you.

Tulip

Lilies

Organic infusion

2010-11-01T17:33:00.006+01:00

Love love love the design of these tea boxes!

Found an organic shop here in Örebro which sells them. I'm not even that interested in tasting them, I just want to put them on my spice shelf as decorations.

My crocheting project is taking longer than I thought. Mainly because I've been busy drawing suggestions for a logotype. Im volunteering at one of the sections at the university, helping them with their PR. They needed a new logotype and I saw an oppurtunity to play with Photoshop and maybe get more inspiration, improving my drawing. My logotype suggestions may not be selected, but I learned a lot on Photoshop.

Fun on Photoshop! The section's called Corax (corvus corax - the latin word for raven). This is one of the suggestions, though it's not the finished one.

Paint the world with silver lining

2010-10-17T16:43:00.004+02:00

So I sat down in the school library with the latest issue of Cap&Design, taking a break from all the studying and it just came to me. Inspiration! So liberating, so needed, so energizing! So now I'm juggeling with three projects. I'm currently crocheting a tube scarf in grey and rasberry, after that I'm going to try to make one of these. For the third project I'm going back to my roots. I'm going to do a paper cut illustration inspired by time and swedish forest creatures. On top of that the fall is filled with great new music and new episodes of my favourite series. Don't miss the sweet tunes of Rebekka Karijord and the nailbiting excitement of The Event!

Clotting

2010-10-11T00:42:00.003+02:00

The header is there as I promised, but I think it needs color, some retusching on illustrator and... I don't know, something that doesn't make it feel so bare and empty. My hands are still swolen and acheing but I really feel the urge to start crocheting again. I'm going to try it to see if my joints can take it. Something easy lika a comfy scarf. It's been a while since I did something creative. I really want and need that creative flow because I think it will do my spinning little head some good but when I sit down to draw or look on the internet to get inspiration it's like a freakin owl howlin in my mind. It's frustrating but I cant force it to come to me.

Time

2010-09-24T22:00:00.002+02:00

I've got horrible pain in my joints so I'm taking a break for a while. Don't know for how long since the colder half of the year tends to make my hands more stif and swolen. I managed to draw a header for the blog so that will be up soon I hope.

Have a great fall!

Decor

2010-08-28T01:23:00.009+02:00

Now I've got three bracelets to put in my box of sellable items that later will be on the webpage etsy.com. While weaving the ribbons is really fun and therapeutic, making them into jewelry is hell! I'm a perfectionist and if something goes wrong or looks bad (that is my opinion though) I freak out and get really stressed. I've always admired those who just put pen on paper, doodle a little and get a perfect result (again in my opinion). I can't do that! I can't draw or paint without overthinking every stroke. I could never be a tattoo artist, which is a dream of mine, together with glasblowing and wallpaper designer. Three dreams out of my reach. Maybe thats why I've settled with small handicrafts like jewelry making and paper cut illustrations.

This week I've started a new hobby. Making charms out of miniature plastic beads. I got the inspiration from a girl I saw on the subway the other day. She had a foxtail in a long chain which I just adored. So simple, so cool. I bought myself a bag of beads and started making flowers, a violet and an orchid.

Retro Vintage / Candyfloss

Peachy

2010-08-18T01:38:00.004+02:00

Another bracelet.

I'm gonna do a few more before I get the courage to sell them on Etsy. I created an etsy accout ages ago when a co-worker of mine told me about the web page but I didn't have anyhing to sell so I started to make a box of sellable items. So far I've got two pairs of cloudberry and blackberry earrings, stamp earrings and this bracelet. At the moment I'm working on a black and white ribbon in rayon. I went to a pearl shop last sunday and found this beautyful swarowski charm in grey that I think will look really good with the silky rayon ribbons.
You will see the result at the end of this week. Now I'm going to fall asleep listening to the soothing tunes of Rasmus Kellerman.

Move me in slowmotion

2010-08-16T02:40:00.006+02:00

It was about time. I had the vision, I just didn't have the energy to make a finished product out of my weaved ribbons. There it is, at three a.m in the morning.

Cape Tribulation

2010-06-06T01:25:00.006+02:00

iIt's really late, I'm really tired, but I can't put down the pen. The bed can wait.
Im trying a new drawing technigue. You basically just take a photo and fix the hue and saturation, the contrast and the light in Photoshop and all the distinct features of a persons face comes out. I did this with a picture of Henrik and put the fixed photo on a lightbox and drew different variations of it in ink.

Highly Strung

2010-06-02T18:55:00.004+02:00

I haven't updated in a long time but that's because I haven't been all that creative lately. To much school and in ten days I have my last exam which I really want to get a high grade on. And soon I'm moving back home so I have some packing to deal with also.
But I found something that I can show you, just to show you something.
I got a request to draw a tattoo for my brothers wife, their childrens names, but not like all the other name tattoos. This was when I still studied the cut and paste program so I lacked inspiration of course. I found this awesome website 1001fonts.com and sat for about two hours in a trance state until I found this cool organic font. I took some bits and pieces and the result is this tattoo.
It's just a scetch, but enough to get me going and develop a tattoo that hopefully someone want to put on their body for eternity.

Fingers in the Factories

2010-05-12T14:41:00.005+02:00

I'll send you a postcard

2010-05-09T13:23:00.002+02:00

Poppy

2010-05-08T20:26:00.008+02:00

Instead of wayching TV during my study break I started to paint with watercolors (aquarelle). A lot more fun and productive, though a lot harder to quit when you need to get back to your homework. I've been reading about post-impressionism and divisionism and I love Georges Seurats paintings, so I thought that painting dots in different colors to make an illustration schouldn't be so hard. I was wrong! But thats the good thing about aquarelle, if it looks like crap just ad some more water.

The blue thingies are yellyfishes me and Henrik spotted on the beach when we were in Coolangatta, Australia. At least I think it was jellyfishes. Aah Australia!

Now I have to go and read about Art Neuveau.

Cherry Coloured Funk

2010-05-07T22:53:00.008+02:00

Bought some new sewing threads this week, rayon. Shiny as hell cause I wanted my bracelets to look a little bit more silky but they were a pain in the ass to work with and I can't see the difference between that one and the bracelet weaved with cotton threads. Can you?

Candy cane

2010-04-27T22:16:00.008+02:00

Another brick weaved ribbon which took me about an hour to weave (with all the preps). I really schould put a match or something next to it so that you can see han small and thin it actually is.

Freckles

2010-04-25T22:46:00.006+02:00

Study on the balcony in the blazing sun, a lot of talking with my room mate Isabell, fruit salad, travel memories and a little creative activety, that has been my sunday. A very relaxing and energy-giving one and I'm starting to feel slight positivety again after these horrible weeks of discomfort and anxiety. Allthough I'm very aware of the fact that it's going to take some time for me to get that enjoyable creative flow going againg, I'm still happy that it at least goes forward.
Today for example I found it very enjoyble to do some brick weaving. Last time I visited my grandfather I got som sewing thread that belonged to my late grandmother, and I wanted to do something useful with it so I figured I could do a cool bracelet with this weaving technique I learned at school. And this is the result.

I probably schould be studying

2010-04-23T20:44:00.001+02:00

Today I sorted and color-coordinated my pearls. This is a project I've had for about five years now. Will it help me find more creative inspiration? I don't know but I like when it's organized.

Hungry

2010-04-19T00:50:00.000+02:00

I'm planning a little mini-series of art to put on the walls in my future kitchen. I've had this idea to draw simple pictures of food in the forest for a long time. Blueberries and chantarelles is an obvious choice, but I want a third one but I can't figure out what. Escargot maybe? I also found this awesome font that I want to write something cool with, food related, and put in a frame.
Anyways, here is a rough copy of what I want the forest food pictures to look like.

Couldn't care less

2010-03-26T21:40:00.000+01:00

I don't think this is fun anymore! I'm sitting here working on my school project and I honestly hate doing this! It's scary how something can make you hate the things you used to love.
This project is not going to be my best work. In fact it's the ugliest thing I've ever done and I feel so torned between my feelings. On one hand I don't care since I've decided to quit the program, on the other hand I don't want to show a product that I'm not satisfied with. I guess I have to swallow my pride, go up there and present my work as an instalation. If some dude can steal a bench in Stockholm and put it in weird places to take pictures of it and make a huge success out of it I can stand in front of my class and show them my crappy crochetings. Now I'm going to do something that I'm good at. Listen to Clint Mansell and sulk.

I'm sorry I just had to get these feelings out.

Birdsnest

2010-02-23T00:02:00.001+01:00

Here is the end result of my school project Frame. Have you guessed which movie I've worked with yet? It didn't turn out exactly as I wanted to but it is supposed to represent one of the best movies of all time (number 8 on IMBD's top list); One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Originally I wanted to do a frame inspired by Donnie Darko, I'll show you my sketches sometime, but it would have been to much work with materials I have very little or no experiance at all working with. But this turned out pretty cool to. Now I have a new project to deal with and I'm not up for it at all, instead I'm going to focus on my art history lessons and my rag-a-pillow.

Louder than silence

2010-02-21T22:15:00.001+01:00

Cut paper earrings; ornament frames and silent movie stars. I'm going to leave you with that cause my cold is killing me.

These days have been good for me but you know I can´t stay

2010-02-14T16:33:00.000+01:00

A quick update on the process of making. It was dead, but now it's alive again. I've started doing some cut paper illustration type of jewelry which remembered me what I really like to do, also I have an idea of making a cool crocheted pillow case made out of torned fabric. A rag-a-pillow!
My current school project's called Frame. We have to do a frame inspired by a movie. My kind of project since I'm a movie freak. Here is a little piece of the frame, not quite done yet. Guess which movie.

All in good time

2010-01-20T20:40:00.001+01:00

The school project is over, but unfortunatly I forgot to take photos of the kimono before it was put out on display for an exhibition. I did take som pictures of some japaneese/swedish/aboriginal hair jewelry I did for fun.
The presentation of the kimono went well but now I'm exhausted and though I straightened some thoughts out at home I'm struggeling with some new thoughts, especially in this cold weather when I was in the tropical part of Australia this time last year. I'm beginning to get a bit bored but at the same time I'm excited for things to come.

Peak

2010-01-11T02:05:00.001+01:00

I've been home for a couple of weeks trying to figure some things out. And I certainly have, but I'm also returning to Linköping with new things spinning around in my head.
Fortunately my biggest problem hasn't been the latest school project which is to be presented next Tuesday. I had a really clear idea what I wanted to do from the beginning. The assignment was to create something innovative but at the same time traditional. Free interpretation! I wanted to do "modern" styled clogs with prints of old school tattoos, but since they practically want you to grow the tree, cut it down and carv the wooden part of the clogs yourself on this program I had to let that idea go. Instead I chose to take little pieses of different cultures from different countries and put them together making something innovating. Are you ready for the most complicated explanation of an idea ever? I wanted to do a traditional swedish print called kurbits looking like it was made like aboriginal dot art but with screen printing and then put it on a traditional japaneese kimono. And it's turning out pretty okay. It's not finished yet, but I can give you a little peak of the pattern.

At the movies

2009-12-23T01:20:00.001+01:00

Found some old playing cards with Hollywood movie stars and made a pair of ear rings.

First train home

2009-12-15T23:49:00.001+01:00

This is the result of the school project I was talking about. It's a wearable or portable chalk board to put words of wisdom on. To carry around. Kind of lame, kind of uninspired work since I wasn't passionate about the assignment.I'm just generally bored at the moment, but I'm going home for a month to sort some thoughts out and hopefully come back to school with more inspiration.

Brick by boring brick

2009-12-07T22:27:00.001+01:00

I'm doing everything but studying. It's a boring project but it has do be finished until next Tuesday. The assignement is to make something that carries, preserves or stores an object or something abstract. I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing yet because it's kind of weird and stupid. Im doing something with ribbons, that I can tell you. And I've weaved them all by hand with sewing thread (!).
Last week my program arranged a christmas market and I contributed with some of my cloudberry jewelry to hopefully make some money to put in my starving wallet, but it was a fiasko for me. I only sold four pairs out of nine. I wanted to sell them all since I sat two nights working on them putting everything else aside. Well well, better luck next year...or not.

Kitten Mittons

2009-11-19T01:57:00.001+01:00

You will only think the title of this post is funny if you've watched the actual Kitten Mittons- episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Brilliant!
Anyways... three pair of gloves for an embroidery school project. A pair of kitchen kitch potholder gloves, a pair of winter wedding gloves and my own crocheted rheumatism gloves with no thumb and the rheumatism association logo.
I'm also working on another quilling project which is turning out pretty good.

Folklore

2009-11-14T15:08:00.001+01:00

A friend of mine gave me this graphic design magazine where there was this russian girl who did typface art with paper. She rolled paper strips and glued them together to make mindblowing graphic art. Her talent and passion for paper really inspired me! I looked her up on the web and found out that her technique was quite common within arts and crafts. It's called qulling and I figured I ought to give it a try. I really need to practice qulling more because it was really fun, but hard! It's also really hard to take photos of the artwork and get the feeling and texture of it as it really looks. This picture does not give my hard work justice.

All my colors

2009-11-09T20:13:00.000+01:00

Dyed some wool yarn in school today.

Artefacts

2009-10-29T22:13:00.001+01:00

Some more products from my school project.

Insects

2009-10-28T18:22:00.001+01:00

I've just finished a huge project in school and I'm exhausted! I'm so tired I could go to sleep for a 100 years, wake up and still be tired. But I have to say I'm quite pleased with the results of my work.
The assignment was to make our own logotype or trademark of some sort. We also had to design different kind of patterns which we had to choose one to put on two products. Here are some of my things. I chose to consentrate on this one pattern, but I'm going to show you all of them when I've called my internet company and yelled at them a little for my slow internet. Telenor SUCKS for the record!

Cake

2009-09-26T01:08:00.001+02:00

A small crocheted pastry the size of a tennis ball. This was really fun and easy to do, allthough now I have the biggest craving for some princess cake.

Drawing 3

2009-09-15T20:22:00.001+02:00

Final picture up. Scroll down for som info about my bad updating.

Drawing 2

2009-09-15T20:12:00.001+02:00

Drawing 1

2009-09-15T19:56:00.001+02:00

Bookmarks

2009-09-15T19:35:00.001+02:00

We've got a long way to go

2009-09-14T22:11:00.001+02:00

I've tried and I've tried to upload more pictures of my rescent work but my friggin' internet is to slow. So I've lost hope. Tomorrow I'm calling the operator to complain a little. Here is the result of a school project. It's a childrens book bookmark, wich you unfortunatly can't se the rest of because my friggin' internet is to slow (!). I'm going to try to upload one picture at a time. Hopefully it works. I've got some drawings I need some feedback on too.

Coffee bread

2009-08-10T00:20:00.001+02:00

Both updating and handicrafts has been bad lately. I've been crocheting a little, drawing a little and sequin sewing a little but no finished results. One thing I have done a lot of is watching a ton of Dead Like Me and Twin Peaks, killer good TV-series. Also very addictive, wich is not good for the creativity. Anyways... here are some almost finished crocheted bakeries and a little rose wich is supposed to be on top of a piece of princess cake but I threw that away cause it looked like a piece of shit. It was my first crocheting project and I think I took water over my head (is that even an english saying?). I also have an almost finished crocheted collar, I just have to sew on some cute laces on it. The collar is in a beautyful plum colour and I got the inspiration to do it after spotting it in a book with 1920's accessories. Allthough mine looks more clownish.

Where the wild things are

2009-07-19T00:11:00.000+02:00

Inspiration from Maurice Sendak.
Great author, great artist.

Pimp my stamp

2009-06-08T21:12:00.001+02:00

Congratulations!

2009-06-08T16:16:00.001+02:00

My boydriend's little sister graduated last week. Congratz to Helena! This is what I gave her for graduation present. A candy bouquet, cherry blossom earrings and a framed paper cut picture. All handmade by moi. It's going to be my thing this year, handmade gifts. It was so much fun. The butterflies are the chinese styled paper cut thingies. Not as complexed but it took me two hours cutting out one little butterfly and I'm pleased with the result.

Culture!

2009-05-27T00:55:00.001+02:00

I've started a really fun paper cut project. It's also my hardest ever! I'm trying a chinese paper cut style. I don't know how these people have the patience to do this shit and what kind of tools they use. I have an excellent silhuette scissor and a rotating small silhuett knife put it still looks like crap. I don't want to show it to you yet but I can give you a little taste of what it's suppose to look like.
Mine isn't this complicated though.

Cinnamon Curls and Ginger Skins

2009-05-24T23:48:00.001+02:00

Bad with updates lately. Allthough I have millions of unfinished projects going on, I'm kind of stuck in a rut. Trying to get out of it but I lack the energy at the moment. The weather, my work and other stressful things are tireing me out so when my drawing and paper cuts get to hard I kind of put it aside and start with something else that's easier and when that gets hard I put that aside and so forth. Tomorrow I have a day off work and rutines. If the weather is good I'm going to sit outside in our little garden and drink refreshing eucalyptus tea with fresh herbal mint and finish all my unfinished projects for all my three blog visitors to enjoy.

This is some rose drawings for my distant and impossible tattoo artist career. Just some practice drawings that are numbered so that I could see if I developed. Number 5 looks like a friggin' cinnamon bun. Well I guess practice almost makes it acceptable.

Trails of spit

2009-04-04T02:19:00.001+02:00

Homecoming with new inspiration

2009-04-02T15:07:00.001+02:00

4 months has passed by quickly and now I'm home from my little adventure with lots and lots of inspiraton. The only problem is the lack of time and the money to buy all the arts and crafts stuff for. So I'm starting light with som drawings. A co-worker of mine gave me a tip about a page called illustrationfriday.com where they post topics every week for you to interpret and draw something of/about. This weeks topic was Poise, so I just scribbled an idea I had for a picture and this is the result. It was easy and fun and a good way to practice my drawing for school. If I get in...

Time is running out

2008-11-15T15:59:00.001+01:00

Leaving for Australia in 10 days and I'm a liiittle bit stressed out. I still have som polymer clay jewelery to do, that people have ordered, before I go, but the christmas presents for my friends will have to wait until I get back. Sorry guys!

So this will be my last update in this blog. I've created a swedish travel blog especially for the trip. If you're interested in following our journey please visit www.resedagboken.se and search for alias: TheGreatEscape.

Until then... have a great cold winter.
I sure will not.

Malicious pleasure is the only pleasure.

The Pie Hole

2008-10-28T22:41:00.001+01:00

Life is good again. Please listen to the background music about 37 seconds into the clip. Recognize it? Our dear friend Jack. Yes, I am a nerd.

Something to put on the walls

2008-10-20T00:47:00.001+02:00

Hiphopopotamus

2008-10-19T20:47:00.001+02:00

The second jungle picture. Until I realized that giraffes doesn't live in the jungle. Neither does lions. Their natural habitat is the african savannah. But hey let's pretend. Oo! Let's pretend that these are the animals that ran away from the New York Central Zoo and ended up in Madagascar. Because before I realized that the animals I did didn't belong in the jungle I wanted to do a hippo for the third picture. A jungle hippo.

Production secret

2008-10-15T19:16:00.000+02:00

Christmas is coming early this year. At least for some of my friends. I decided, since I'm travelling to Australia over christmas that I would do their christmas presents myself. I finished one today and it's so cute! I really want to show the result on my blog, but I can't. And since I'm only going to work on their presents there will be no pictures of my handicrafts for a while. Well I still have to finish Leo's jungle pictures before his 2nd birthday next weekend so they will be up in about a week.

Until then
Have a nice one.

Patience

2008-10-12T02:25:00.001+02:00

Haven't updated in a while. Same old story, work and study, just trying to make the days go by faster so I can leave Sweden soon. Getting really tired of this old grey country, allthough I have my friends to make it brighter. It's not getting any easier feeling happy and cheery since I'm currently listening to the most depressing music in world history. It's really good and addictive though.
Tomorrow I'm going to have my nephew Leo all by myself and I'm going to play with him so much he doesn't want to play anymore, if that's possible. My little sugarflake!
Anyways... here are some finished polymer clay earrings for sale and the most depressing music in history.

Equinox

2008-09-24T00:06:00.001+02:00

I read this really twisted short story by John Ajvide Lindqvist today. Equinox is about a working stay-at-home mom who gets obsessed with a dead body she founds in a house she has broken in to. She breaks in to this house everyday for about a week just to tell the corpse her deepest and darkest secrets and she shaves it and buts make up on it (note: this is a male corpse). One day the corpse's starting to talk and the mom is starting to doubt if he really was dead in the first place. Dumdumduum!
Ajvide is really good at making the ordinary everyday really creepy and I highly recomend his books.
For the record equinox is the term for when the day and night is equally as long. It's a beautiful word.

Well except from reading all day I've gotten my Twinrix vaccination for the trip and of course I made some more boxes. Here's 4 new ones.

I want to box you up!

2008-09-21T12:56:00.001+02:00

I'm in a creative period now even though I have much less time than before. Im doing polymer clay charms, paper cuts, gift boxes and I'm sketching a design for a eco friendly bag I want to sew, all at the same time. Plus, I also have to study for the university exam. Allthough it's really fun to have so many ideas in my head I kind of put other things aside. Like planning for our trip that's taking place in about two months. I can't wait!I have some ideas what I want to do, well mainly where I want to go but I don't want to plan to much either making the expectations way to high. We will take it as it comes. Here are som gift boxes I made yesterday.

Jungle fever

2008-09-15T23:23:00.001+02:00

1/3 jungle pictures for my nephew Leo. The cappuccino coloured paper is history and that makes me really sad.

I wasn't open but somehow you let yourself in

2008-09-15T23:03:00.001+02:00

This is not finished yet, but i haven't uploaded anything in a really long time so I thought that this would be good enough. I got some serious inspiration in London and from my new favourite artist Aqualung. More cut papers to come...

Skins

2008-09-01T02:43:00.000+02:00

I slept to long today so now I'm going to be awake half the night not being able to go to sleep. The advantages of that is that my creative vain is starting to pulsate at night and I made 6 new polymer clay charms and started on a new idea I have for a ecological shopping bag. I have so many ideas right now and it's so fun, the problem is that my ideas needs tools and I don't have the tools and I don't have the money to by the tools since a used stitching machine itself costs about 12 000 SEK. So I have to do it all by hand, and yes my friends I've taken up stitching.

I'm not going to post any pictures or scans of my art work today (if you can call it art), instead I'm going to share my three new inspirations. Enjoy! I certainly do.

Sunshine

2008-08-28T00:55:00.001+02:00

Sugar rush

2008-08-28T00:26:00.001+02:00

Just got home from Stavanger, Norway visiting my dear sweetheart Henrik. It was sooo good to see him again, allthough it made it even harder to come home to wait another two months for him. Like my mom said: "You never visit your kids on camp because then they just get homesick". And that's absolutely true!

I haven't created something in a really long time and that's making me depressed. It's all grey and blank in my head and I'm, really starting to doubt my ability to be creative and innovative since I decided not to study environmental science and start studying arts and crafts in woodwork, textile and forging instead (having environmental science as a second option of course).

Next week I'm going to London to visit Jessika. Hopefully I'll find some inspiration there.

Here are some old polymer clay charms and a picture of Henrik.

PS. My new addiction is brittish teen drama. Watch Skins and Sugar Rush. It's fabulous!

I want pie!

2008-08-18T18:59:00.001+02:00

I'm so angry! Today I went to the hobbyy store to buy some more polymer clay for my new jewelry project, and as I always do I checked out the paper shelfs and I saw that they had raised the price from 7,50 SEK per sheet to 29.90 SEK. Thats just outrageous! I'm never in hell gonna spend that much money on ONE piece of paper. Another thing that made me irritated was that I've been looking for a special sheet of paper with a cappucino type of brown and they don't make that one anymore so now I have to make som mayor changes with some jungle inspired pictures I'm doing for my nephew Leo.

Anyways...here are some of my clay charms. I'm still learning so please take that in consideration.

Ambigram

2008-08-05T01:14:00.001+02:00

I've been a little uninspired lately. I worked really hard with the picture I did for Henrik that all my creativity fire burned down. I took some time off to go see my dad in Västervik and there I did absolutely nothing (and I enyojed every minute of it). Now when I'm back to normal and working all night at the theatre I just don't have the energy to sit down and make cut paper illustrations at 1 o'clock in the morning. Allthough I bought 4 new sheets of paper in Västervik that's absolutely amazing so who knows...

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm fascinated with tattoos. I wanted to be a tattoo artist when I was younger but I definetly don't have the skills. I have the patience though but I also suffer from mild OCD and if I'm not satisfied with something I'd rather throw it in the trash then try to "make it work".
This weekend doing nothing I watched a lot of TV and one of my favourite shows Miami Ink. One thing that's getting very popular is ambigrams. It's kind of like a palindrome but more graphical. You make a word become another or the same by turning it upp side down. Does that make sense? Well I tried to make my own ambigram. It was hard as hell! I thought I could google Alphabet Ambigrams and get some suggestions on typefaces. But NOOO!! So I tried to draw it myself. Very amateurish, but it got it's own charm. Right?

Poison Ivy

2008-07-29T00:05:00.001+02:00

Here it is babe! Den här skriver jag på svenska för det känns så larvigt att skriva på engelska till dig. Hoppas att du gillar den. Säg till om du vill tillägga någon detalj eller om jag ska retushera bort något eller om du inte tycker om den alls.

Jag gjorde bilden till Henrik så han kan ha den som bakgrund på sin myspace. Jag kommer att göra mycket reklam för den sedan när den är färdig och alla hans fina låtar är upplagda.

Stockholm Ink

2008-07-21T16:23:00.001+02:00

Today I'm a licensed theater machinist. I got my certificate in the mail and I got so happy I didn't know what to do with myself. Maybe a little over enthusiastic but I've worked really hard and really long hours for this so I'm kinda proud of myself.

For my 18th birthday I got a tattoo from my brother. 3 years later I still don't know what I want to tattoo, so I drew some of my own ideas just for fun and to see if I could figure out what I wanted it to look like.
One thing I'm sure of. I want flowers and I want it to look kind of retro/70's style.

The dark passenger drinks juice for breakfast

2008-07-19T21:53:00.001+02:00

The new cut paper illustration is finally done! It may not look much but it took me 6 days to cut out all the letters and I'm quite satisfied with the way it turned out. It's not hard to figure out where the inspiration to make this picture came from. Yes I'm addicted. I have a serious addiction! This quote is actually from the third book that I'm reading right now but I'll probably never gonna do a picture like this anymore. It's to much work!

I'm happy to say that the trip to Australia is booked and we're leaving on November 25th. 31 flight hours...yikes!

Dramatize and traumatize

2008-07-12T01:55:00.001+02:00

I hate people! Just wanted to make that clear. Well I don't hate my friends and my family, and I don't hate my favourite artists. But I hate people! You get very hostile when you work at the place that I do. People are evil and egoistic and ruthless! They think you're stupid because you're new, young and blonde. And that makes me furious! Yes I have a lot of aggressions, so in the near future there's going to be some pretty dark pictures on the blog. But here's one that I'm pretty pleased with. It's inpired by a song and my current state of mind. Puzzled. I have a lot of different feelings that I'm trying to sort out and understand.

This is my new favourite band, Kashmir... and my current inspiration.
Beware, there's boobies in the video!

Hippie hippie shake

2008-07-07T02:09:00.001+02:00

Im doing a series of pictures with hippies. Don't ask me why, I just got an image in my head that I wanted to put down on paper. But it never really turns out how I want it to. I guess I'm still learning. Im also doing a hippie picure in Illustratior and one in cut paper. This one is okay I guess. I will wright more about what I really had in mind for the look of my illustrations, but right now i can't concentrate bacause its 2.32 am.

Sleep!!

I suck at photoshop...and I'm stupid

2008-07-01T23:54:00.002+02:00

I almost got mentally ill trying to get the black edges sharpend in photohop. I used the draw tool to fill out all the lines and it took me hours only to do her hair, until someone said that I could increase the contrast of the picture. Well you're probably thinking: Is she stupid? Yes I am, and Im proud of it!
I also took the liberty to erase some small things I didn't like in the picture.

So..the song that got me inspired is called Black and Gold by Sam Sparro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHuebHTD-lY). It's like a mixture between Span (they have similar voices) and Scissor Sisters. For those who know me, I love Span and I love Scissor Sisters. Listen to the lyrics and see if you can find the words in the picture.

Here's Johnny!!

2008-06-30T00:46:00.001+02:00

I'm not very good at updating the blog, I know. All work and no play makes Denize an uninspired girl. But here's a preview of a picture im doing right now. Also inspired by a song. When it's finished im going to reveal the artist. First I want to sharpen the black edges in Illustrator or Photoshop, but I SUCK at Illustrator and Photoshop so I can only offer you the crappy version for now. Today I bought some cool papers on sale so be ready for new cut paper illustration soon.

I've always wanted to do a picture with this quotation

2008-06-21T21:29:00.001+02:00

So I had som instruments laying around and I made this listening to Sufjan Stevens and his orchestra. One of the greatest artist of today.

Music as an inspiration

2008-06-15T21:48:00.001+02:00

This I made in like 5 minutes listening to Charlotte Gainsbourg. Listen to "Little Monsters" and you'll understand the childish style of my picture.

I'ts just a phase

2008-06-14T23:03:00.001+02:00

I have always loved to make things with my hands. I remember when I was 11 or 12 and my biggest wish for christmas was a potter's wheel so I could make my own ceramic. My creativity comes in periods. Three years ago I was all about making my own jewelry. But after a month I got sick of it and began to make a scrap book of my time in school and with my best friends. I got a new camera a couple of months ago and took blow up-pictures of the flowers in my garden like a maniac. Now I hardly use my camera at all, except when I'm with my 1,5 year old nephew who's the cutest creature on this earth.
At the moment I use my time to make cut paper illustrations. I got my inspiration from a swedish illustrator named Camilla Engman. I fell in love with her piece "Lovely" and now I'm hooked on the cut papers myself.

Get inspired on http://flickr.com/groups/cutpaper/

Newbie

2008-06-13T00:12:00.001+02:00

So...I went against my religion and started a blog. Not because I am one of those who like to write about what kind of cereal I've eaten today or what kind of eyeshadow's the best . I'm not sure I'm going to write at all. It's just that lately I've become really creative, making jewels, drawings and cut paper illustrations and I really like to share my creations with people who possibly could comment on my work and give me some constructive criticism. It's not great, i'ts not even good some of the times, but it's fun!

(The Marilyn Monroe look-a-like is one of the first drawings I did on Adobe Illustrator)