Monday, January 4, 2016

Brave New Year



Hello friends! A new year has begun and every week we will continue to bring you inspiring challenges at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. This week our challenge is something new. We also have a new feature, during the first challenge of every month, we will showcase a specific designer or company. We are starting the year with Tim Holtz, who has designed so many wonderful products. If you search for Tim Holtz in the Simon Says Stamp store, you get 2835 hits. That is quite something.

Layers of ink - Brave New Year art journal page by Anna-Karin
I did an art journal page reflecting on the new year. This page was begun on New Year's Eve and finished on New Year's Day, which made it extra special. The background is inspired by a new baby jersey of Leo's, a dark navy blue with gold stars. I don't often use as dark backgrounds, or as much gold, and I enjoyed making something a little different.

I worked in my large Dylusions journal, on a page which was first coated with gesso. Blueprint Sketch and Black Soot paint was applied with a palette knife, blending them to create a deep and rich background. When the paint was dry, I stamped it with a question mark background stamp and white paint. You can see question marks peeking through here and there. They are meant to symbolise that we don't know everything about the new year and what's coming.

I applied Texture Paste through the Stars and Rays stencils. When the paste was dry, I painted it with gold paint. Here you can clearly see one of the question marks. The background was splattered with white paint. Some extra stars and branches were punched from gold metallic kraft-core cardstock.

The words and numbers were die cut from different gold surfaces. The year was die cut with the Billboard die, using gold DecoSheet. I love the shimmer of DecoSheets.

Brave was die cut with Vintage Market from gold metallic kraft-core cardstock, and from black cardstock, which was glued underneath as a shadow. I haven't totally made up my mind yet, but I think this is my One Little Word for this year. The letters were sanded slightly to roughen them up.

Two sentiments were stamped on patterned paper and glued to the page. I also added some Industrious sticker borders and Filmstrip Ribbon - the latter is meant to symbolise life's journey during the year, like a movie.

Initially, I was planning to use a photo of myself, but when I went through some photos looking for it, I came up on this brave little zebra, and decided to use it instead. The zebra is going for a balloon flight and wears a stamped party hat.

The balloons were stamped with the Crazy Things set on Correspondence pattern papers. They were die cut with the coordinating dies. The Small Talk sticker has been a favourite quote of mine for a long time. It comes from a poem by Tolkien, and I used a more extended version of it on my Roots Canvas. You can definitely wander, without being lost. I also used some gold rub-ons from the Gilded Holidays set, both arrows and stars.

 Here you can see some more border pieces, anchoring the Zebra to the background.

The stamped hearts also come from Crazy Things. 'New' was die cut with the Block Talk lowercase Alphabet die from gold DecoSheet.

I hope you will join us in our new challenge. As always you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

If you want to, follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 




If you use instagram add #sssmchallenge to your challenge entry uploads, so that we can see them on there too.





Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:




24 comments:

  1. Dear me... so many details and so GORGEOUS Anna-Karin - wow. What a wonderful project to start the New Year. So vivid and bold and BRAVE!!! Love your Zebra too. And so the ADVENTURE BEGINS.... HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hugs. j.

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    1. Thank you so much Joi! And thank you for all your wonderful comments, I really appreciate them. And Happy New Year!

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  2. Happy New Year Anna Karin! Thank you so much for all the beautiful posts and art work you have posted through 2015. Your creations are always so inspiring and amazing to look at. I don't know how you find the time being so busy with your gorgeous family but you are always posting these wonderful projects. Looking forward to visiting with you on your blog through 2016 to see what you have been up to. Thank you sooo much! {{{hugs}}}

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    1. Happy New Year Emily! I hope you are well and that you had a great Christmas and New Year! Hugs!

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  3. absolutely GORGEOUS journal pages Anna-Karin, the details are so striking and I love that you used a baby jersey for the inspiration, aww, so cute :-)

    luv
    Lols x x

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    1. Thank you so much Lols! As soon as Leo got that jersey in Christmas gift, I knew it would inspire a background of some kind.

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  4. i really love tbis page anna karin....the colours are so striking. love the sunburst too. brilliant x

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  5. I just love the dark blue background and the stars look fantastic against it. The idea of the question marks is so clever, none of us knows what this new year brings... Happy New Year Anna-Karin to you and yours! Anne xx

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  6. Gorgeous, Anna-Karin! Just love this use of color!!


    *mwah*
    Steph
    Simon Says Stamp!

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  7. Reminds me of fireworks on New Year's Eve and I really like the zebra.

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  8. Wow, what an explosion of life and energy to start the New Year! Love the hits of gold against the deep blue background and what a lot of Tim goodies you've managed to include. Fabulous! Happy New Year to you!
    Alison xx

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  9. Oh my gosh, where to start, this is amazing Anna-Karin! Love your colour palette, all the incredible layers, details and textures and most of all, all of the wonderful Tim goodness you have incorporated. Thanks so much for sharing it with us all, Deb xo

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  10. Ohh that Zebra!!!!! I didn't know where to look because everywhere I was looking at I was just staring in awe -- then I saw the Zebra and, I have lost my mind!!!! So adorable!!!
    I love the fact that this page, although it is full of elements, it is all tied together and your eyes just follow every elements without getting lost !
    very well done!
    xxxZoey

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  11. What a wonderful celebration going on here! I keep seeing more fun elements like the zebra and the balloons! Looks like a party, Anna-Karin!

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  12. Such a fun and fabulous creation, Anna-Karin! Love all the beautiful embellishments and great texture. Happy new year! :)

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  13. LOve every single detail in your page! Colors are incredible, textures are stunning! Wonderful as always, HAppy New Year Anna-KArin! Barbarayaya

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  14. What a fabulous page, Anna-Karin. Love that it has so much detail, so much layers and texture! The combo of dark blue with gold is amazing! Happy New Year! Hugs, Sandra

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  15. What a wonderful piece of artwork, this is fabulous Anna-Karin! The colours are so rich and work so well together and I adore all the layers and texture ~ it's incredible! :)

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  16. Bold and so striking, Anna-Karin ... amazing texture, fabulous detailing and such brilliant detailing! Anita :)

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  17. Love the bold and striking colors and how gorgeous the gold is on your page! Fabulous journal page!

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  18. I love, love, LOVE how you gave this new year's piece such fabulous energy and optimism for 2016! Can't wait to see what else you create!

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  19. Fantabulous journal spread!!! Love everything about it!

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!