Summer is my favorite season

Posted on 2017-07-23 by iHanna

I haven’t been blogging much lately, and I’d like to (at least partly) blame the Swedish Summer for that…

I love that Sweden has four glorious and specific seasons. I love all these different seasons, because they signify change and movement. But I must say I think that Swedish Summer is my favorite season. And it’s hard to get anything done, when the sun shines for me. I just want to go outside, sit in the shade and journal, or read a book, or…

Summer is my favorite season

Lay in the grass and gaze at the ever changing and beautiful sky over Sweden. I can’t say I have done that very much this summer (yet), although I did get to have a wonderful BBQ dinner in my parents garden this month, and that’s when I snapped a few flowery photos to document this glorious season – and share it with you guys.

Pink is my favorite color Photo by Hanna Andersson @ihanna #swedishsummer

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Camp Reset Traveler’s Notebook

Posted on 2017-07-05 by iHanna

This month I’m at Camp Reset most of the time, which is a free online “camp” that is about self-care, mindfulness and health. I’m using a Traveler’s Notebook to collect what I’m thinking about and learning, and today I’m sharing a video flip through of it (scroll down to see it). What are you up to?

Handmade Traveler's Notebook for Camp Reset

The virtual Camp Reset I’m in is set up by Cori, also known online as The Reset Girl. I found her a few years ago when she set up her first free challenge, called Listers-Gotta-List. I’m also going to try to do the lists again this month (it has the theme of “retreats” so if’s a perfect fit).

Cori is positive force online, and her instagram is full of encouragement and happy ideas. She sells stickers and scrapbook stuff together with her husband and team – and her YouTube videos are long and full of cute paper and planner crafting. Watching her set up her ring binders and decorate her planners always makes me wanna dive in and do the same. The power of inspiration online is awesome, you know you’re “hit” with it when you just can’t stop yourself from starting new projects…

The Reset Girl is the one that got me into Traveler’s Notebooks, and I’m so grateful for that. I am still in love with that system!

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Posted in A Creative Life, Notebooks, Paper Crafting | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Purple Table Runner

Posted on 2017-06-22 by iHanna

I’ve sewn together a very easy table runner for a friend of mine. I still adore the table runner we’ve got on our living room table right now, the polka dot one I made this spring. It really makes me happy, with all those bright colors together. I can’t wait to make another one for us, when I find the time, in more “iHanna colors”.

Sewing scraps together to make a purple table runner for a friend, photo and sewing by iHanna #quilting

If I couldn’t create there would be nothing for me to live for. It’s selfish, I know, but geniuses are selfish.
Miles Davis

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Posted in Fabric & Sewing | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Update: Index Card Collages

Posted on 2017-06-18 by iHanna

I’m making Index Card Collages this summer. What are you making?

Index Card Collages - Index Card A Day by iHanna
Today it’s time for a index-card-a-day (ICAD) Update. We’ve already passed the middle of June 2017, and summer if flying by. Time to catch up.

For each day this summer I’m filling a pink index card with a little colorful collage. This year I’m taking a very laid-back approach to this art challenge (called ICAD with the official hashtag for instagram being #dyicad2017). I am making index card collages. Little vignettes of papers, using a lot of typography.

Typography was the official theme of the first week in June, and I like it a lot. It kind of stuck with me, the idea of using words on my index cards. Since then I haven’t checked the daily prompts or the weekly themes that Tammy of DaisyYellow shares freely on her blog…

I’m just doing my own thing and using some pretty papers, cut out magazine words, stickers, washi tape, pens and ephemera of the day.

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Posted in A Creative Life, Collage, Creative habits, Memory keeping, Paper Crafting | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Cute Stuff for Journalers and Stationary Addicts

Posted on 2017-06-06 by iHanna

I made my first Etsy Haul Video (scroll down to watch it). In it I am sharing some kawaii stuff that we Journalers and Stationary Addicts like. Pens, cute washi tape and a pack of stickers. It is not a big haul by any means, just a little something that I bought for myself but didn’t want to keep to myself.

Etsy Haul of Cute stuff <div class="t4p-youtube" style="max-width:600px;max-height:360px;"><div class="video-shortcode"><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/?wmode=transparent" width="600" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>

I want to share these items because they make me happy. I don’t really want to promote this particular seller, even though I liked her stuff, and I don’t want to promote buying in excess, especially things you don’t need. But since I myself enjoy watching “etsy hauls” and “sticker hauls” and “notebook hauls” (although most of those video hauls are massive and makes me wonder when are they ever going to use up all that stuff?) I thought I’d give the video genre a chance… I enjoy sharing as you might know, and these days I’m getting more comfortable talking too…

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Posted in Mail bliss, Pretty things | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

ICAD – Joining the Index Card A Day Challenge

Posted on 2017-05-30 by iHanna

I’m joining ICAD again this year, are you? I hope so, because I’d love to see what you make. Last year I filled 61 index cards with abstract art and learned a lot about what I like to paint.

ICAD stands for index-card-a-day, and I’m talking a bit about what it entails and showing my index cards from last year in the video below.

Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

ICAD is a free and easy-going art challenge where you can do anything you want on an index card. You will fill one index card each day for two months, or however many you want to fill for however long you want to keep going. The only real rule, as I understand it, is that you must create on index cards – that’s the whole point.

If you feel like joining us ICADians, just get a stack of index cards. We start June 1st and the challenge continues on til the last day of July. ICAD for me is sunshine, iced coffee, and easy-breezy fun creating. Summer time, come forward!

iHanna's ICAD from 2016

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Posted in A Creative Life, Art Experiments, Creative habits | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

100 More Creative Ideas to Spark you into Action

Posted on 2017-05-25 by iHanna

Are you in need of a few Creative Ideas? Because I have an abundance of ideas that I do not mind sharing with you! I love creative list writing, so this is a fun blog post to make: a list of one hundred (100!) creative ideas that will spark you into a creative mood, a place where you can take action and play with any creative materials you’ve got!

100 More IDEAS for Creative Action

So how about One Hundred Awesome Ideas to Spark you into Creative Action, all with a link to a previous blog post of mine where I myself have explored these ideas? I hope you’ll all like this list of ideas (the first 100 Ideas here).

Let’s get going, it’s a long list…

100 Ideas to Spark your Creativity

  1. Make a a DIY Inbox for paper scraps on your desk
  2. Alter an old book and make it into your own personal art journal
  3. Hang your art on the wall – don’t let it reside in boxes for ever!
  4. Fuel Your Constantly Creative Brain – start a journal

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Posted in A Creative Life, I write Lists, Life Ideas | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Quilting | Sewing a Polka Dot Table Runner

Posted on 2017-05-17 by iHanna

Quilting – the act of cutting perfectly good fabric into little pieces and then sewing them back together again.
iHanna

Quilters are people who enjoy cutting new fabric apart to sew it together again. It sounds counter-intuitive and a bit crazy, but it is actually fun to do. I’m lucky to have a mom who is a Quilting Queen, so I never have to learn from a book or even take a class. I just go sit in her sewing room when I want to learn something new or get help with a project I’m thinking about.

Quilting a Table Runner - Tulips and new table cloth blog post by iHanna
More Polka Dots and another table cloth? Indeed. You can never have too many polka dotted things in your life. Also a iHanna quote…

This time I wanted to tackle making a table runner for the living room table. I have a few ones I really like already that I alternate between, but not one that I have made myself. And I wanted this one to scream iHanna style out loud.

I picked mostly polka dot fabrics (and some of the new ones I recently bought plus just a hint of stolen fabric from mom’s stash) in my current color crush combination: magenta pink and bright orange. Isn’t that the most stunning combination of all times? I’m in love with it.

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Posted in Fabric & Sewing, Home Comforts | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

My New Polka Dot Art Table (video)

Posted on 2017-05-11 by iHanna

I like a lot of different styles when it comes to interior decorating, and I always admire those that has all-white rooms in their houses. But as an artist, I could never pull that style of, no matter how much I try. At least I don’t think so…

Hello my new polka dot table

Maybe if I had a living room that was rarely used? But then again, each time I would enter with my polka dot socks and striped sweater it would be ruined (or complement?) and the pristine witness of the room gone… Then I would sit down on the couch and spread out my journal, my watercolor set and my embroidery… So why bother with trying something I can never be? I will have to keep admiring (and pinning) the white, clean home images and be who I am, which is colorful and messy.

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Posted in Home Comforts, Organizing, Tutorials | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

New Workshop: Hacking the Color Wheel – Art Journaling for Creative Rebels

Posted on 2017-05-04 by iHanna

Wanna take hack the color wheel and take an awesome art journal workshop this year? Then this is your chance, right now. I am one of the guest teachers in Kiala Givehand’s upcoming workshop called Hacking the Color Wheel – Art Journaling for Creative Rebels. Love this title so much, don’t you? It’s about book binding, art journaling, color play and experimentation. Yum!

Art Journal Page: the iHanna Color Wheel

Paint your own Personal Color Wheel, and exercise from Kiala I did last year. Love my pink color wheel…

There will be two sessions of Hacking the Color Wheel in 2017. The first session, where I’m one of the guest teachers is starting in June already (yay!) and the second one is in November 2017.

They are sold separately or as a bundle, so you can decide what fits you best. You will have access to each one a lot longer than the two weeks we’re in “session”, but when they’re on there will be more of a community feel and some live stuff happening that is quite exiting. Right now they’re on pre-sale for a great price.

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