A study in contrasts

 I just love when challenge prompts complete each other in a beautiful way. Today was one of those occasions. I liked the prompt to study extremes. The inspiration photo of The Card Challenge seemed to point into that direction. And I just love birds. There was a helpful card sketch and the prompt 'spring'. Which all boiled down to this:

I created my sentiment using a TH  sentiment "for everything" (omitting the "thanks") and instead of that I added "there is a season". 

I stamped my favorite flowering branch sideways and added a pink bird (ScrapBerry). I have the contrasts of  color, matte vs. shiny, light vs. dark.

I matted it with dark forest green, which now looks almost black.

This is the finished card: For everything there is a season.

entering in:

Frilly and Funkie: A study in contrasts 

Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenge: #4 With a bird / dragonfly optional (I just went with the bird)

The Card Concept: #173 / inspired by the picture prompt

Freshly Made Sketches:  FMS532 

Time Out Challenges: #212 Spring

Spring is coming

 I have wanted to make a wood-cut looking card for a long time. Today was the day!

I picked three flowers making sure they were outline stamps. I am so in love with these by Altenew, the stamps are actually from two different sets. The large flower had a corresponding filler stamp, for the the smaller ones I used the filler stamp for leaves.

I used distress inks from a refiller, because I wanted the ink looking uneven. I also selected a super porous paper that took up the ink without drying time - that way I could be sure the coverage was uneven and it would be looking like it was applied by a wooden block.

I then matted it with pale blue, added a scribbled frame and some Nuvo drops.

The sentiment is by Creative-Depot, it has a nice calligraphy feel to it.

Entering it in:

Try Stamping on Tuesday: #551 - I was inspired by the photo of those gorgeous tulips

Country View Challenges: Spring is coming

Beyond the Blue: #BB60 Use your words

Frilly and Funkie: April showers bring May flowers - the flowers are here already! 

Tuesday Taggers: Spring colors

Hey Courageous!

This industrial style card has loads of grungy texture. First, there is the embossed background. It's done on a antique gold cardstock which I then messed up with black acrylics.

The letters were die cut from canvas. I then painted them black, applied some bronze and green, and to top it off, black mica flakes.

Lastly I applied industrial style brads, a TH token 'Courageous' and a real rusty washer. And I call it finished.

 Entering it in:

Frilly and Funkie: Industrial/ grunge

Can You Handle the Pressure: AG Embossing / Twist: use green - technically I used green here, but as it's not showing, let's go without the Twist option

Mixed media Lovers: #12

613 Avenue. AG /twist April showers - I didn't use the twist

Simon says Wednesday Challenge: AG

Something yellow

 I just love challenges that, well, challenge me. At Frilly and Funkie the brief is to do something or use something that you find challenging.

For me it's the color yellow. I like to use many other colors but not yellow.

So I used it, and found out it needs rather strong colors as counterparts, but even when combined with a riot of colors it still manages to hold its own.

All leaves are cut from papers that I first made with a gelli plate. I used acrylics and printed paper as my substrate. I find the print gives the color a nice structure.  The flax twine is from my knitting stash, it miraculously matched the color of the yellow twig and brings a whole other dimension to the mix.

The sentiment was stamped and then heat embossed.

 

 I'm entering this card into:

Frilly and Funkie: A rather blustery day

Fab 'n Funky: #546 Dies or Stencils - dies!

Creative Artiste: #80 Anything Mixed Media 

HLS: Anything goes with Dies Challenge 

A walk in the woods

 I do love a good walk in the woods. At this time of year when the leaves are almost all down it's easy to spot the squirrels chasing up and down the tree trunks.

I was overjoyed to find this squirrel stamp recently, and inspired to make a card to send apropos of nothing, inspired by my walks.

The leaves were die cut from several papers that I had painted with Distress Oxides. I added some silver thread around them as well as a few 'dew drops' (aka clear glue). The sentiment is stamped and then embossed with orange red and reads 'It is lovely life'.

This is a guest project for Funkie Junkie Challenge Blog for the November theme of Living Things, where I was recently chosen as the Top Pick. Please hop over and participate!

This card also fits this challenge:

Double D: A walk in the woods

Critter Crazy Challenge: #56 Anything goes with a featured critter

Through the Craft Room Door: Anything goes

 

Some textural oomph

It was fun to make some dimensional mixed media again. I was inspired by two challenges, one asking for 'touchy feely' texture, another for chalk paint. It seemed obvious to marry the two, and so this card came to be. It is 5"x3" and thus large enough to allow for the use of dimensional and flat surfaces.

The base is a craft card (with black print as this was repurposed from a promotional post card). I created some swirls in the corner areas with texture paste. When that was dry I painted with white chalk paint over everything.

 That black thingy is something I found on the sidewalk. It is either rubber or foamy plastic (hard to tell at this stage), but it is dimensional as well. The bird is fussy cut, then adhered with glue and with foam dots on the upper part to raise it to the level of that black thingy-

Lastly came some stamping. I made the berries and the bird's eye look more 3D with the help of Glossy Accents.

Entering in:

Funkie Junkie: Chalk it up

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Touchy feely

... said the raven

 A couple of challenges coincide again very aptly, at least for my taste calling for distress and shimmer. The summer was very short and hefty here in the High North and is busy turning into fall. I am longing for the first pumpkins to hit the market stalls, but until then this photo had to do.

 

I completely mistreated it - as I so often do with magazine cuttings - distressing it first with a sanding paper, then applying distress markers and Gelatos into the roughened texture.

The backbround is kraft stock where I had smeared some leftover black acrylics a while ago. Those marks are now hidden under the green paint. I then stamped the trees (stamp by Viva Las Vegas) with black Versamark ink - and while it was still wet I sprinkled a wonderful shimmer powder onto it and rubbed it in. The excess can be removed, it only sticks onto the ink, totally changing it's color. Here the green powder on black ink gave me metallic shimmering trees. (This wonder powder is called Blonde Moments 'Friends Pearl Pigments' and it may be already retired.) The raven stamp is by Lost Coast, I stamped on copy paper and then fussy cut.

The card was completed with black and white splatters and a sentiment that the raven might well express when he has found a heap of pumpkins that he deems to be his, and his alone.

 Entering this in:

Frilly and Funkie: De-stress with a little distressing This is definitely on the funky side!

Simon Says Monday challenge: Glimmer and sparkle 

A Place to Start: #8 What's your style? I love doing collage on mixed media and adding text to it.

Dare 2 be Artzy: Anything goes

Word Art Wednesday: #505-506 Anything goes

Frilly bits with numbers

Today I made a skinny size card with lots of frilly bits. The background was inspired by two challenges: I used a background stamp with numbers and letters and embossed it. I then added paper lace, die-cut frothy Queen Anne's lace flowers and a badge.

Entering in:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Emboss it

Frilly and Funkie: Funky and Frilly

Stamps Fun & Creativity: #393 Numbers and letters 

A Bit More Time: #143 Anything goes July

Stamplorations July Challenge

What matters

There is a lovely inspiration: Time has a wonderful way of showing what really matters. It's open to so many interpretations and the one I chose is Confidence. Confidence is something you acquire with time, as you grow and form and sort your experiences.

There was an exercise my yoga teacher used to make us do, sat nam - truth is your name. Repeating those words along with a certain breathing exercise made it sink in to this day. 

I added a tea leaves sentiment to echo it: Recognize that you are the truth.

Entering in:

Frilly and Funkie Challenge: Time has wonderful way of showing us

Tissues and numbers

This somewhat moody card was inspired by two challenges. The background has paper with numbers and there is a top layer of a flowery tissue on the right.

entering in:
Frilly and Funkie: Pass the tissues, please!
Country View Challenges: Letters and/or numbers

I made a group of three with the same idea and each one took on a different identity.

Let me count the ways...

... I love thee. This being the Valentine month, there is bound to be at least one 'love project' in this blog. I got inspired by one challenge in particular which specified to use three of something on the project.

I selected a die cut as a stencil and applied the twirly stem twice onto my substrate with distress ink. The third stem is the die-cut one.

entering in:
Frilly and Funkie: Let me count the ways
Try it on Tuesday: Romance
Take a Word: Love is in the air

 

Impressed

I love using book paper, it gives such nice character to backgrounds. Even if it is totally unrelated, like here.

I went with the book theme and selected 'short story' as my title. You can make up your own story - it is fall, she looks determined, there's a shiny bough in her arm - enough said.

The leaves are die-cut and embossed. I highlighted the veins with some Distress ink.

entering in:
Paperminutes: #562 Buchseiten / Book pages
Frilly and Funkie: Impress us!
SimonSays Wednesday: Anything goes

Critters

I decided to play with my paints and make something mixed media.
The substrate is a piece of packaging cardboard. I always use the printed side after I have taken a piece of sandpaper to it. The paint just sticks better if the surface is not too slick.

I dabbed on a lot of brown paint, smeared it with a palette knife and while it was still wet, took a rubber stamp and printed onto the paint with no color. When the stamp came off so did most of the paint - leaving me with a nice impression.

The pictures of a bee and a bird's nest with eggs are vintage ( via 7dots stdio), the dragonfly is a print on shiny plastic.

entering in:
Emerald Creek: #ECAUG2018 The great Outdoors
Frilly and Funkie: Back to Nature
That's Crafty: Animal magic

Just to say - -

There are stamps that get a lot of use and then some that - while lovely - don't get much use at all. I think it's the more complex stamps that get less use - they are more or less 'ready' and don't require much thought.
Nevertheless, today was time to use my favorite pretty stamp:

I stamped and inked the stamped picture, added some rub-ons, washi tape and words. (The stamp is by Crafty Individuals in case you are wondering.)

entering this in:
Fashionable Stamping: #122 My favorite things.
Frilly and Funkie: Put on your inking cap.
Rubber Dance Art: Black+white+one more color.

Can it be spring?

I believe so. I hear the birds making a racket, the sun is out at the long last, and soon there will be leaves in the trees and flowers and grass everywhere. But not yet! That's why I felt drawn to the springy colors and making a flower themed something.

It is also heavily layered - ink through stencil, stamping, texture paste through stencil, some washi tapes and cut out stamped circles. Finally topped by a flower that was created with texture paste and infusions.
Here are the punched shapes on my desktop. (Notice the colorful paper? It's my desk cover, to be used afterwards for backgrounds.)

And here they are ready. I gathered all the materials in one picture so you can get an idea how I made them.

entering in:
Simon says Monday: Handmade flowers
Frilly and Funkie: Welcome spring
Rubber Dance Art: Color challenge using stamps from the plate Round in circles

Valoa ja varjoa / Light and shadows

Koukussa kortteihin vintage-haateen aihe on tällä kertaa Valoa ja varjoa. Ajattelin sen ihan kirjaimellisesti - taivas antaa valoa ja varjoa. Tosin kuvassa näkyy vain pilviä, niitä varjon tuojia, mutta pilvet on valaistu eli jossakin paistaa aurinko.

Naiset putoavat jostakin - tämähän voi olla myös kuvitteellinen matka. Tekstit löytyivät juuri lukemastani kirppispokkarista, jonka hyvällä omallatunnolla heti leikkelin.

Inspiroiduitko? KKvintage-haaste on avoinna kuukauden ajan ja siihen voi osallistua kahdella työllä.

I have just finished the book by Cecilia Ahern: Thanks for the memories. The prologue is rather dire - it's a grippling account of someone miscarrying and loosing lots of blood and debating whether to stay alive or just go. I portrayed four women in this journey between darkness and light. The words are from this prologue.

I haven't landed yet

Stop me from falling

Light fills my eyes

Only one is still reluctant:

There, not here.

entering into:
Frilly and Funkie. Author, author.
Dream in Darkness: 31 days of Halloween

Important messages - from bees

I am busy preparing for end exams - so I won't be here often this month.
But of course I can still create, in the odd moments between the day's work and going to bed. Or early in the morning, sneaking in half an hour of precious me-time.

Viewed in that light, what else should my cards be than about work.

During this month I'll be working hard.

Achieving something, hopefully...,

but after it's over I'll be free. What a gorgeous feeling to look forward to!

Stamping, gold spray, paints, papers...

entering into:
Simon Says Monday: Monochrome
Wicked Wednesday: Something in the Sky 
Frilly & Funkie: Let the Words do the Talking