Black is the New White

My friend Donna posted a stunning card on That's Crafty's blog the other day (see her card here), where the main panel is black instead of white. WOW! I had forgotten how beautiful a black card can be!

So, on my day off on Sunday I wanted to make a black card, too ... but I didn't know what or how or ...  Solution: I looked at my fave challenge blogs and browsed through Paper Playful as well to see if there were any challenges that would kick-start my idle muse. Oh boy, did she ever get kicked! I had to stop browsing after I had found SEVEN challenges I wanted to combine! I wrote them down so I wouldn't have to remember them all (my Post-It notes stick so much better than my memory ...).

I use my work table when I mix paints....best palette ever!

See if you can spot all the challenges:

 I white embossed the flowers and coloured them with alcohol markers,

same with frame around the card.

Layers: Check!

Sketch: Check!

Bingo: Check! (Black, Dies, Ribbon. Die cuts are the orange and blue rectangles)

Something new: The cone flower stamp from Penny Black is one I've had for an eon and a half; but the die cuts are brand new - they came in the mail last week and I hadn't even placed them in my die cuts organizing thingie yet.

Fave tool: Heat gun, by a long shot! (<--- no weapon pun intended). I use it not just for heat embossing like I've done here, more often for speed drying whatever I'm working on since patience isn't something I willingly practise .....

Ribbon or Lace: I don't use either that much, but I have a huge selection of ribbons from back in the days when I used them quite often, I even subscribed to a monthly ribbon club! I don't have that much lace - which is really why I use ribbon, if anything :)

30 minutes or less: Un-check, more like 300 minutes! :-O

I'm entering my card to only six challenges, then:

Rubber Dance: Layers

Penny Black: Use something new (+ a PB product)

Simon Says: Fave tool - heat gun * Rats, missed the deadline!

Fab'n'Funky: Bingo - black, die-cuts, ribbon

As You Like It: Ribbon or Lace + Why?
Cheerful Sketches: February sketch:

Thank you for all the fun challenges, folks!

And thanks to Donna for inspiring me to make a black card!

Last but not least: 

Thank YOU for looking! ♥

  

Edited: This card was picked as one of the DT faves at Penny Black. Thank you so much!

Badass Journal, Update and Class #2

Hello lovelies! If you saw my first post about my Badass journal, you know that I considered adding some black to the cover ... and I have, but much more than black! Once I started adding layers, I didn't know when to stop ....

Before and After:

 

I put my hand there so you will get an idea of the size of my journal.

Whole cover, journal opened flat:

Can you spot the "before" cover, underneath all the new layers?

 

I think I'll go light on my next canvas cover, but it has been fun! :)

Onto the 2nd class of this Badass Journal course.

This class was taught by Tiare Smith. I didn't do it the exact same way she did, but I don't think that's the main point when doing a class - it's just to get ideas and be inspired.  Tiare used patterned tissue paper for the hair, but I didn't have any so I used stencils instead ... can't really see that it's supposed to be her hair, though. Tiare made a big eyelid on her face, so I did that, too ... Mine is cut out of a Gelli print background I had laying around, same with her lips, which got a double coat of dimension to shine. Why the pink face? Because I'm such a badass, that's why ;-) And because I listen to P!nk when I need more of that badass energy, especially when I dity up my studio after crafting.... It's a big mystery how one person can make such a mess so quickly.

  

 

dream with love

a dream is a wish your heart makes

(stamps from Rubber Dance)

I don't consider myself a mixed media artist - I'm a stamper and cardmaker first and foremost, so I learned a lot from my twist on this 2nd class, what worked and what did not. I covered up a lot of booboos and I'd do it much differently next time. The result is so-so, but the process was super fun! 

This is the course I'm taking:

Disclosure: I am not sponsored, I'm just sharing because I have enjoyed the 1st and 2nd classes! I do know one of the teachers (Susanne Rose), in fact she's a close friend and a colleague, but that has nothing to do with the fact that I LOVE this! I have only taken the first two classes, the next one will be released on the 20th of Feb., as these are weekly classes going on till June. You can jump in at any time and follow the classes at your own pace.

 

Thanks for looking!

(badass wannabe)

Join our Layers Challenge!

Hello, everyone! I'm just popping in real quick to inform you about the challenge that started over at my stamp company's blog today:

The challenge runs for 2 weeks - deadline Feb. 28. at midnight CET.

You don't have to use our stamps to enter.

Read all about the challenge here.

Here's the inspiration I made for our challenge, 

using the Textured Houses stamps from Rubber Dance:

I hope you will join us! :)

Go to the challenge here.

I'm such a BADASS! - my first bound book

I've done it. I've finally done it! I've been looking at book binding tutorials many times but I never made one. It has always looked too complicated, intimidatingly complicated! And I don't do complicated. I'm such a chicken. *bwaakbaak*

However, while watching a video class by Kiala Givehand, I just knew that I would do it this time. Her class is one of 17 classes in this online course called One BADASS Art Journal, and the way Kiala taught her book binding class made it really easy to understand so that "even I" should be able to do it. So, while watching Kiala bind a book, I got out my watercolour paper and bound them with her! The next day I went to the fabric store to get the canvas I needed for the cover.

Want proof that I really DID IT this time? I've got proof! You can click on the photos below if you want to see bigger versions:

Canvas cover decorated with acrylic paint and stencils	My watercolour paper was glued with some black goo on 4 sides of the pad. I decided to leave it there, 'cause I'm such a badass, remember? ;)
I painted the inside of the flap as well.	Example of my pretty stitching ...
Example of not so pretty stitching ... I didn't really have the kind of thread I needed, but I was too impatient to wait so I used what I had.	Not too bad, is it?

I think I want to decorate the cover more, add some black paint perhaps. I used colours that, to me, feel empowering so that I can become a real BADASS! (i.e. not such a chicken ...)
Edited Feb 15th: See my update of how I added more to my cover in this post.

These are the One BADASS Art Journal classes I'm taking:

 

Full disclosure: I am not sponsored, I'm just sharing because I LOVED the first class! I do know one of the teachers (Susanne Rose), in fact she's a close friend and a colleague, but that has nothing to do with the fact that I LOVE this! I have only taken the first class, the next one will be released on the 13th of Feb., as these are weekly classes going on till June. You can jump in at any time and follow the classes at your own pace.

I will use my very first bound book when I take the rest of these classes, so that by the end of this course I will have filled at least 16 pages of my precious book. So stay tuned for updates as I continue to take these classes, and by June I should be a genuine BADASS. Yooohooooooo! (Be very afraid ...)

One thing's for sure: now that I have bound my first book, I will do it again. And again! I have ordered the thread I want for my next few books - waxed linen 4 ply in vivid red! See, I'm turning into a badass already ;) 

Thanks for looking!

(badass wannabe)

If Age is Just a Number ... Male BD Card

Hello everyone! The Male Room challenge blog wants us to use numbers on our cards this time, and I guess I went a little overboard .... Once I started adding numbers using stencils on the main panel, I just couldn't stop - such fun!

A relative of mine just turned 40-something and knowing he's a bit self-conscious about his age (haha, just wait, young man!), this card will be perfect for him. The Norwegian text stamp from Rubber Dance reads, "If age is just a number ...". The stamp is available in English as well, but this guy is Norwegian, so ...

The white panel was decorated using two different stencils and Distress inks, and a few small numbers in circles stamps (Rubber Dance). I stamped the sentiments on pieces of scrap cardstock and adhered them to the base with foam dots:

  

Inside the card, I stamped these sentiments and a row of numbers:

So, there you have it - a card with numbers, made for a young 40-something:

 

Stamps used: Norwegian Funny Birthday; Pick a Number; Happy Birthday (all from Rubber Dance)

Stencils: Numbers from Panduro; Arrows from Tim Holtz; Lines from Tapestry in Time

 

I'm entering my card to this challenge:

The Male Room - #53 Theme: Numbers  (deadline Feb.14th, midnight GMT)

Thanks for looking!

==============================================

The plea below is aimed at no challenge in particular.

      If you run a challenge, may I ask you a couple of favours?       

• Please state clearly in your challenge post which day/date the challenge ends so we who join don't have to do the math by looking at your linky tool closing time thingie, where one must also consider the time zone differences (my May 17th could be your 16th or 18th)
  
• Please state clearly what day/date you will announce the winner(s). That way we won't have to check back several times a month to see if we won some fame and glory, or perhaps a prize. I guess it can be annoying if winners don't acknowledge the honour of an award or claim their prize, but this might very well be the reason why.  It's not that we don't care! :)

     Arright? Goodie! Thank you!  ♥     

Daisy in The Jar

Hello everyone! If you are a fan of Irish folk music, you most likely know all the lyrics to the old trad. song, "Whiskey in The Jar". I don't drink whiskey, though, so I put some daisies in a jar instead :)

 

I'm always excited when I find two or three different challenges that I want to combine. The ideas start spinning around and pretty soon I see in my mind's eye what I want to make. The first challenge I saw was that of As You Like It, where they ask us what our favourite flower is and why. My fave is the daisy, especially the tall ones that grow wild in fields and alongside country roads. Why it is my favourite? They have been since I was a child and I guess they were proof that summer finally had arrived. As I grew older, I realised that there were many kinds of daisies and daisy shaped flowers, such as coneflower, gerbera and asters - flowers that all belong in the Asteraceae plant family. I love them all, but the white wild daisy will always be my #1 favourite. Painting white daisies isn't much fun, though, so I took the liberty of adding colours to mine this time.

Anyway - I wanted to put my flowers (Textured Daisy from Rubber Dance) in a jar, and I have two jar stamps - both on a set from YNS (Your Next Stamp). I had only used one of those jar stamps before, so hey - I'd get to join Darnell's NBUS #10 (Never-Before-Used Schtuff) as well if I used the other jar stamp! Turns out it was a better choice anyway as it's taller than the jar stamp I had used before. To add one more NBUS, I chose a sheet of watercolour paper I hadn't tried yet. I had bought a pack of 10 different sheets to see which I liked, and I love this one! It's a cold-pressed paper, meaning it has a slight texture to it, and I love how my ZIG watercolour markers and a waterbrush worked using the wet on wet technique. But wait - what about the colours I've used? Well, turns out that the manufacturer of the jar stamp (YNS) has a colour challenge right now, and it looks like this:

I decided to use all their colours, the beige one on the stems of the flowers:

 

I'm not a 100 % sure that I should have added the dark blue lines on the top and bottom edges of my painting. I think they steal the show from the more delicate coloured flowers - but what's done is done. A lesson till next time - and learning is an important part of the creative process and fun, isn't it?

I'm adding my watercolour painting to these three challenges:

As You Like It, your fave flower any why (deadline Feb. 8th, I think)

Darnell's NBUS #10, something you haven't used before (deadline Feb. 5th)

Your Next Stamp, colour challenge #56 (deadline  Feb. 2.)

- Thank you for the fun challenges, folks!

I hope you liked my Whiskey... er......I mean Daisies in The Jar!

Sláinte! Cheers!

      If you run a challenge, may I ask you a couple of small favours?       

• Please state clearly in your challenge post which day/date the challenge ends so we who join don't have to do the math by looking at your linky tool closing time thingie, where one must also consider the time zone differences (my May 17th can be your 16th or 18th)
  
• Please state clearly what day/date you will announce the winner(s). That way we won't have to check back several times a month to see if we won some fame and glory, or perhaps a prize. I guess it can be annoying if winners don't acknowledge the honour of an award or claim their prize, but this might very well be the reason why.  It's not that we don't care! :)

     Arright? Goodie! Thank you!  ♥     

 PS: I'll make sure we do the same for the challenges at my stamp company's blog ;-)

Join our challenge!

Hello, everyone! I'm just popping in real quick to inform you about the challenge that started over at my stamp company's blog today:

The challenge runs for 2 weeks - deadline Feb 14th at midnight CET.

You don't have to use our stamps to enter.

Read all about the challenge here.

Here's the inspiration card I made for our challenge, 

using stamps from Rubber Dance:

 

I hope you will join us! :)

Go to the challenge here.