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Kekritär and the Forgotten Tradition Before Halloween: Kekri

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Why did people go door to door dressed as dead ancestors threatening to break your stove or listen to trees creaking in the wind to tell the future? These are just some of the forgotten Finnish traditions before the modern day, commercial Halloween.  In my childhood in the 90s and even in the 2000s dressing up for Halloween or celebrating Halloween wasn’t really a thing yet in Finland or at least it wasn’t as common as in America back then or the way it is here now, but if we go back far enough, like even a few hundred years, there actually was a similar tradition. Kekritär coloring page Kekri harvest festival The biggest event of the agricultural year in pre-Christian times was a harvest festival called Kekri in the fall. Sometime between the end of September and beginning of November. The exact day might change based on when the harvesting and autumn plowing was done. The customs of Kekri would eventually mix in with the Christian All Saints Day and move to November 1st, but it w...
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I Made a Women of Finnish Mythology & Folklore Coloring Book

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I made a new printable coloring book. It's a combination of the women of Kalevala (the first ones I've drawn) and other women from Finnish folklore. The PDF includes a cover image, 8 coloring pages (with black and gray lineart) and a summary page with the names and short explanations of the characters. You can find the Women of Kalevala Mythology & Finnish Folklore coloring book in my shop. I've already posted these coloring pages individually on Patreon , where my new coloring pages go first.   WOMEN OF KALEVALA INCLUDED Aino Maiden of Pohjola Louhi Kullervo's sister FOLKLORE WOMEN INCLUDED Easter witch Kekritär, harvest festival goddess Elf girl and yule buck (the original Santa Claus) Ghost of Blue Maiden Here are some shots of how I made the coloring book: 1) Maiden of North listing photo 2) Sketching Kullervo's sister 3) Editing the listing photo of Blue Maiden ghost in GIMP 4) Sketching Louhi 5) Editing the cover image in GIMP 6) Putting together the colo...
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Free Reverse Coloring Pages

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  Reverse coloring page of flowers and leaves. There's a new trend in coloring. Reverse coloring. The beginning of the trend seems to be The Reverse Coloring book by Kendra Norton  (affiliate link).  The coloring pages of a reverse coloring book are usually more or less abstract watercolor paintings. So the coloring page already has the colors and you draw the lines. If you want to color on the go, you could only bring the coloring book and one pen for drawing the lines. But you could also use a variety of supplies. Different sizes of pens and markers for varying line thicknesses. Different colors of supplies. Paint markers. Metallic markers.  Reverse coloring page of a cloudy sunset sky. I tried making my own reverse coloring pages with watercolor on watercolor paper. One of them is a cloudy sunset sky above the sea. The other is of houseplant leaves and flowers. I scanned both of the pages before filling them in myself, so you could have a chance to reverse color t...
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How to Create Double Exposure Effect in Photoshop

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Want to create a double exposure effect for your art, design or photo, where you'll have a silhouette of one image and another image inside it? I'll show you how to make three different versions of the same artwork or design for your print on demand shop using Photoshop: a silhouette, a double exposure effect combining two images and adding a gradient overlay. You can watch the Photoshop tutorial video or keep reading.   If you don't have Photoshop, you can start a * free 7 day trial , which you can cancel at anytime before the 7 days are up. Adobe also has student discounts and different bundles and offers, which I'll link to below, if you want to buy a Photoshop subscription. Disclaimer: Links marked with * are affiliate/referral links that let you support the blog / YouTube channel at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through them. * Start Free 7 Day Photoshop Trial   * Students Save over 60% on Adobe Creative Cloud   * Start Free 7 Day Creative Cloud T...
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How to Make a Transparent Background in Photoshop

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Want to remove the background of your artwork, design or photo? I'll show you how to turn the background of your artwork transparent using Photoshop, so you can use it as a sticker or a t-shirt design or a repeating pattern for your print-on-demand shop, such as Redbubble. You can watch the Photoshop tutorial video or keep reading. If you don't have Photoshop, you can start a  free 7 day trial , which you can cancel at anytime before the 7 days are up. Adobe also has student discounts and different bundles and offers, which I'll link to below, if you want to buy a Photoshop subscription. Disclaimer: Links marked with * are affiliate/referral links that let you support the blog / YouTube channel at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through them. * Start Free 7 Day Photoshop Trial   * Students Save over 60% on Adobe Creative Cloud   * Start Free 7 Day Creative Cloud Trial Select the background I showed you how to edit a scanned or photographed artwork by ad...
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