Contraries

Merry, or what?
traded

Made for Saturday Surprise Contraries challenge. My contraries are black and white, old and modern, meaningful and meaningless. This cocktail veers towards the slightly bizarre, but hey, not feeling too sunny these days...!

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Intimacy

En vente partout - Sold everywhere

Inspire Me Thursday's prompt Intimacy made me think of how the true intimacy can only be achieved with time - contrary to what the media may make us believe. I was still in black and white palette, a few pale peachy pink hearts lift it.

pic clicks for big

4x4 Friday: b&w

Black and white is called for in the 4x4 Friday challenge. Last week I took part for the first time, only to realize I couldn't handle the format. This time I persevered, and this is my take on the colors:


words: Behnaz Sarafpour via Vogue. Very apt, I'm thinking, as her spring runway show was all just black & white.

DCM / frames - and more Moos!

A frame! I have hard time fitting frames onto my atc's. I always admire everyone who can do it. How come they look so good, what is the magic? So, anyway, now that DCM is calling for frames in their latest challenge, I seriously wanted to put a frame on my atc. Started with a slide frame - nope, too massive. Proceeded to an even 8mm frame - it looked silly. Finally went with a super thin black line around the picture - now that's still a frame, isn't it!

Fill me with Dreams
tech: on a scan of an original design by moi I stamped a poem. The blings above and below the photo are cut from an embellishment that came off a blingy shirt from the early 90's. In real life they shine like poured silver!
(traded)

And just because...
I love Moos! Here are three more.

7261 - 4874 - remember

It was my day off, and I had perfect time. First: long breakfast. Then four hours of cleaning up my studios (yes, it is a plural) which had become dangerously cluttered in the last hectic weeks. After that I had a languid lunch, did an hour of art, after which I raked some leaves and dug up the rhubarb for replanting. After dinner I did some more art. Sometimes life flows very nicely! I am all rested and can face the weekend (=work).

Three Moo

Wednesday Stampers are great! I have seriously never heard of moo cards before, but these girls made me try the format. I've probably said it often, but I'll say it again: I love challenges! Especially if I manage to do something with them, of course.

This is what I did - three moo cards, in a relatively cheerful orange.


tech stuff: crumbled up the paper, stamped with a nameless cherry blossom stamp, colored in with watercolor, arranged some (watercolor dyed) text on top, added images and flowers and some random word clippings.

I decided I like the format. I could imagine dividing an atc into a similar triptych and doing it quasi in three parts.

Thanks for the well-wishes! I am feeling better than in the morning, now that I've not only had time to make some art, but that I have managed to finish a challenge right away, in one sitting, and actually even like the result. Makes me feel better about myself.

There are days when I sit at my desk all night after work and not complete a thing.
I was really glad to read Paula's words this morning: you've got to try to work with your art every day. I do try to. I would love to finish every challenge every time.
Lately I have not been happy with what I make. I have kept trying, but I grow more and more frustrated. And when I'm frustrated I tend not to like myself too well - and then, for sure, I'm not able to do any art all.
Not sure how to get out of this pickle...

Oh, and please, if you'd like to be linked with me, would you kindly drop a note! I'd love to be starting to work on my links next. Thanks!

DCM midweek challenge

I felt like doing something for it, all the more since TMTA is really tough this week - it seems like nothing makes me smile these days (work is hectic, weather is dark). Maybe little silly things would, but then my atc might look like a funny ad. (Hmm, now there is a thought...)

Anyways, here is my take on DCM's transportation- themed midweek challenge. But would you know it, even here I could think of nothing positive!

Everywhere, 1938 Chevrolet Sedan (Alt Orsova, Belgrad, Uzice)

Can you tell I'm in a dark mood? I'll put it up anyway, maybe someone likes some gloom. Hey, isn't Halloween fast approaching?!

Also, I'd finally like to start working on my link list. There are loads of blogs I visit on a weekly basis and plenty of people visit me. I'd be thrilled to exchange links with my frequent visitors. Please drop a note, I'll be starting doing the links on the weekend!

It's a jungle out there!

Saturday Surprise's theme this week is jungle. I didn't go for the exotic and obvious, but decided that this little guy among the huge plants and butterflies has landed in a jungle of the worst kind (nightmarish, that is).
I used pearlescent ink pad refill straight out of the bottle as paint. Works well!
(Traded.)

I also made two other cards, explored the concept of time.

No Message (Time Travel 1)
Traded.


Plenty of Time (Time Travel 2)
Traded.

everything clicks for big!

Fish and Paris

Down with the Fish
Traded

Wednesday Stamper's theme this week, Fish, elicited a more or less surrealistic piece out of me. I can't think of anything friendly when thinking of fish - wonder why is that?
The Fish will be entered for DCM's Charity theme as well. The base of this collage is a magazine ad for Polycolor hair dyed from a 60's magazine, acquired recently at my local thrift store.

Friday 4x4 threw "France" in the air. A fun thought, but I had to go with an atc. A 4x4 just seemed too unmanageable. (Means I'll have to train it!)

Paris, eh?
Traded
A short word to technique: I spread a big glob of (blue) Pebeo Gloss on the (treated) background paper, then stamped on this thick smear of color. This resulted in a negative stamp - background color stayed put, the stamped image was sucked empty of color. I'm thrilled, this opens up a lot of possibilities!

Clickety click- click both for big!

Gothic Arch / Gold

This is my first Gothic arch. It's a completely new concept for me, and takes some getting used to! This is my take on "gold" for the Gothic Arch Challenge - a secret garden with a golden sky. The smallest butterfly is entering the sky area, and has already turned gold.

Golden Skies
Sorry for the quality - I had to use the flash, so the light blue iridescent areas are looking very pale now.
After finishing this, I wasn't ready to pack it all back up, so I played around with some more. No arch this time, though.

Each flower is a soul opening to nature (Who Am I?)
Traded.

fall - autumn - herbst - syksy

It's definitely here! I started picking up leaves a couple of weeks ago and by now they are dry. I like to send seasonal cards, so these will be mailing out in the weeks to come. And I just love real mail, so I usually send out cards "for nothing".

I also started a triptych for Wednesday Stamper challenge. I am not quite happy with this, still seems a tad empty. I feel like the flaps could use something more.
The edges sport my newest acquisition - foil tape. I'm really excited about it, there are certainly a lot of possible uses.

Arch of Secret Desires.
free for trade

DCM / two of the same

Rhapsody (traded)

DCM midweek challenge prompts to use two of the same, but in different sizes. Here is my take on it!
Small egg, large egg, on top (or inside) each other.

TMTA / slide mounts

I have always found slide mounts to be very challenging. You don't want to use them for nothing and be trivial about them. They are very powerful. I have practically never (ok, once) used them, just because I never feel I am using them right. Now, of course there isn't a right or a wrong way about them, officially, but for me, personally, it rarely has felt right to highlight any given aspect the way they do. Plus they are really sizable!

Ok, enough about my ambivalencies. Thanks to TMTA, I dared myself to use slide mount.

Quelle annee? Back when we were friends (Join the Ladies)
Traded.

A story of two friends, and what happened next. Your guess is good as mine! I came up with three possible endings. Let's hear yours!

purple holes and mulberry papers

DCM has a fun challenge: tearing purple holes for Christmas. Very cryptic, it means your card should have a hole, the color purple, torn paper and a Christmas motive. Add to this Wednesday Stamper's prompt us to use mulberry or hand made papers - you know, those pretty ones that we keep in the stash pile! Well, I knew I just had to make a holiday tag card.
Mulberry papers, all of it torn, some silver and red stamping, dried fir, silver paper, yarns - a merry hodgepodge for a Merry card! This was fun!

limited palette

Inspire me Thursday is calling for a limited color palette. I have been working with a lot of pinks and greys lately (which I adore), so for an added challenge I went with a color I find problematic: yellow. I know, there are so many shades of yellow and pink, and I could have made something really 60's mod, too, using stark, lemony yellow with a dash of hot pink, and enough black and white to balance it out.
Instead, I went with 50's soft, almost dirty yellow, and imagery from that era.



Sandy's Saturday Surprise is themed "Popular Tunes". Hence the name of this atc: Thank you for the music. (Although I doubt this is what Abba had in mind!)

before and after, and some stamps

There was a lot of positive feedback on the backgrounds done for this week's TMTA, so I thought I'd share the technique. Actually, it's nothing very new, I've already shared it a while back, - it is curiosity prompt #2 -technique by ArtsyMama.

This is what I started with for those atc's. A sheet of watercolor paper (one corner already cut out for a previous atc).
And here is the finished sheet. The commands are listed top to bottom.
Notice the first two! It is hard to start with scratch followed by sand - thank goodness I had a background to start working with!

And here is what I cut out for cards. (You're right, one is still waiting for an image...)


Last night I carved some simple, basic stamps. Unfortunately my rubber stamp material is very soft and I can't get any thin shapes made, they'd break. I'd love to have finer scrolls, for one. Or dainty damselflies... Has any of you tried carving their own? If you have a tip on tools, I'd be very pleased! I'm thinking some kind of dentist tools would work, small round carvind heads and the like. Lino tools are just very rough.

great mail day

I want to share with you three wonderful pieces of mail!


First, the tree inchies from Joanne's August swap arrived. I was fully expecting eight separate inchies coming my way, but Joanne had gone to a lot of trouble and mounted everything on a appropriately stamped card. So pretty! Thank you Joanne! I am not going to tuck this into my file folder, but will hang it on the wall.
(Joanne is hosting another inchie swap this month - hop over here to join the fun!)

A thick padded envelope carrying RAK goodies arrived from Chris. Chris had a challenge on her blog to use her shared photos on a card. I am always up for a good challenge!


This package was brimming full of goodies - ribbons, buttons, foil and metal die-cuts, tiny safety pins and charms, stick-on alphabet, transparent tinted squares, even colored staples - how fancy! I was really delighted with the flowers, and already used one on yesterday's card. Chris, thank you so much!

And last, but certainly not least: Hermine's beautiful atc, as a thank you to join her birthday challenge. What a nice gesture!
The card is absolutely beautiful! I am mesmerized by the background. I love the strong color on it, and the idea of black lace as grass is somehow very soothing. Thank you Hermine!

TMTA / men

Exhibit A

Think Monday - think men! Ooh, this was hard! There are a lot of men in my life, but most of them fail to capture my interest. And those who do, I would never exhibit publicly. Wait - exhibiting men - men as exhibits - men as a species... yes!
And because the Exhibit A card alone is only half of the story, here are two that give you the big picture. (Tongue in cheek, I admit!)

everything clicks for big. - And sorry about the glue, still wet, making the flower look untidy!