CASEing Genius: Marika Rahtu

 

Hello Crafters!

 

Here we go again with another fabulous genius . . .ready  . . .set . . .

 

 

It's Marika Rahtu!!!

 

Did you ever start chatting with someone and then realize that in some other life where you didn't live on different continents you must have been sisters? That's how I feel about Marika. I first spotted one of her amazing cards in a challenge gallery and I went to go leave some love, you know how you do. I was completely blown away by her watercolor work. OMG! It's so amazing. You can see all her gorgeous creations and her blog Me and Minime Crafting.  I was sucked in by your talent but what kept me going back was her sweet disposition. She is sincerely beautiful inside and out.

 

Let's learn all about this lady!

 

Interview:

 

1. Who are you and where do you live? My name is Marika Rahtu and I live in Oulu, Finland. 

 

2. How would you describe your style? I am still finding my "style" but I love clean and simple cards. I would say my current style is clean and simple with layers more or less. I love to colour and fussy cut flower and little critter images. 

 

3. Name one product you're completely crushing on right now? Well, there are many things. If I just have to name one I would say watercolours. I just love to colour at the moment and watercolours really got me hooked.

 

4. What was your first crafty purchase? Would you still buy it now?  I think it was a stamp from Penny Black and Inktense Pencils. I don't think I would buy the stamp, but I would definitely buy Inktense Pencils. Love them and use them as often as watercolours. 

 

Fun Stuff:

 

5.What is your current favorite song? I really don't have just one favourite song at the moment. I love to listen to Finnish pop music but I also like old school English pop music.

 

6. Who would play you in a movie? I would say that I would love if it would be Joanne Froggatt. She plays Anna Bates in Downton Abbey, an English historical period drama television series. One of my favourite television shows at the moment. 

7. One random thing about you that people would never guess?  I am 156cm (5' 2'') and once - a long long time ago - I have lifted 60kg (132lbs) in a bench press.

Holy wow. Tiny little power house!!

 

Want to see that beauty she creates with paper?

 

 

Absolutely loving this CAS cutie. Her distress ink background is the perfect platform for such an adorable flyby!

 

uh what? I'm sorry I was distracted by the fact that I have seen this stamp a hundred million times (it came out in 2010) and I have never seen it look this good. Ever.

 

Oh I'm a sucker for these cute little scenes. Her sky is so gorgeous! And that little bunny, so stinking cute!!

 

The CASE:

 

I knew I wasn't even going to attempt watercolors. Everyone has their strengths and mine lay in the land of copics. I embraced that. I was pretty taken with her adorable scene on the third card so I concentrated on that. The second card was right side heavy and I liked that too. Last both the first and third cards featured some distress ink background and cute critters.

 

I started by stamping and masked my foxes from Hero Arts Stamp and Cut the Fox Says. I also masked a circle for my sunrise and the horizon line. I used Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass, Squeezed Lemonade and Ripe Persimmon to do the sky. Before when doing the area where the blue and yellow meet. Use a light hand or you'll end up with a green sky :/ I removed the circle mask and added a bit of yellow to the center. I flipped the horizon mask and added Mowed Lawn to the second half. This is a great cheat when doing a copic background. I didn't have to use my copic ink to cover the whole bottom panel because I already add a base color. I just started adding in my grass with the copics and it all blended in :)

 

I wanted it to look like the two foxes were cuddled up under a tree in the morning light but I didn't want all that green. I decided to make it a flower tree. I created it with the Hero Arts Stamp Your Own Succulents set. Everything was colored with copics. I added in a few flowers to my field with  pink, purple, and white soufflé pens and called it done.

 

Thanks for visiting!

Don't forget to drop by Marika's blog and check out all her fantastic cards!

 

XoXo