My scrappin' life

I still do! a layout using WOW! embossing powders

 

Ahhhh, finally summer arrived in our part of the world! And isn't it lovely!?

I so much enjoy the sunshine and the warmth! Anne is studying for her exams in the garden, getting a nice tan. Doors and windows open all day, laundry hanging in the back yard, walking barefooted all day, Marlijn going to the swimming pool...

Anne and I just said to each other this morning, we wish it would go on like this until about october :)

The layout I'm sharing today was made for WOW! Embossing Powder. My husband and I are together for 26 years and in march we celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. 

Let me show you how I created this page. First I sprayed glimmer mist at the top of the paper and dragged the paint down the page using a bank card. I stamped the heart with Versamark and embossed it with WOW! Primary Ebony. 

After that I stamped the heart a second time on scrap paper and cut out the inner part with a craft knife. Now I could use it as a mask laying it on top of the embossed heart.

   

I put a piece of Punchanella on top of the mask and filled the dots with Versamark using a piece of blending foam. 

Then I took away the punchanella and the mask and embossed the dots with Suzy West Honey.

   

After that I put the mask back on top and sprayed the heart with glimmer mist. The embossed parts work as a resist. If I would have put a piece of kitchen paper on top after spraying the dots would have been totally clean. But I like how some of the glimmer mist pools in the lower parts of the embossed texture and wanted to keep it that way so I let it dry by air to get this specific look. 

   

To create the black letters on the tag I traced them with an embossing pen and then embossed them with WOW! Primary Ebony. 

   

To add the blue color on the edges of the heart I used a brush and glimmer mist.

Finally I placed a piece of torn scrap paper just below the top of the page and stamped along the top using the Vintage Wallpaper stamp set with Versamark and then embossed with WOW! Primary Ebony again.

The little stars were made using Punchanella and Stazon ink.

 

   

I hope you liked my little tutorial and found some inspiration to use WOW! on your own layouts!

 

Art journal pages with WOW! embossing powder

Today Powder Puff Girls team blog post is up on the WOW! embossing powders blog and here is my project:

The background was a result of Nat and Julie's "Second Floor-challenge". The challenge was to use something from your stash that you had never used before. I had 2 boxes with effect salt lying around for about 2 years and never even opened them. I just splashed some Ecoline in my art journal and sprinkled salt in the wet ink to see what would happen. I wasn't to impressed with the effect at first and put the pages aside, moving on to something new.

But they were still somewhere in the back of my mind and then i found the MM masking tape on the bottom of one of my drawers and I thought that might look good on those un-used salted pages.... and that's how these pages were born.

I used a dress doll shape from Basically Bare and covered the top part and the bottom part with Versamark (I did not color the cardboard shape) and embossed it with WOW! Clear gloss ultra high. I sprinkled tiny little glass beads in the heated embossing powder while it was still hot and fluid. Then I painted the skirt with acrylic paint and stamped on it with Versamark using the WOW! Vintage wallpaper stamp. I embossed it with WOW! Earthtone Honey regular. The stars behind the dress form where made using Punchanella and Versamark and then also embossed with WOW! Earthtone Honey regular.

Thank you for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful and creative weekend!

A hate and love affair...

Deadlines... hate them!

They make me nervous and the closer the date gets the more it freaks me out. Because I always start last minute working on the projects.

Well, why don't you start early, I hear you say! Don't you know long enough in advance that the deadline is coming? 

Yes, most of the times I do know long enough in advance that a deadline is coming. For my DT's I have set dates to blog or I get a calender at least a month before. For assignments I usually know at least 2 weeks up front. 

I tell myself over and over again to start early, to get it done so I don't have to worry about it anymore! So I can sleep at night, in stead of worrying about them! What if I get sick, what if something get's in the way?

I sometimes see other people having scheduled their blog posts weeks before they're due, while I'm typing it the day that it has to go up. Makes me feel bad...

April 15th I have a deadline for a major project. I talked about it in my "Challenging myself..." blog post a couple of days ago.

I spoke about how I had all these awesome goodies to work with and still I didn't get anything done... Well, I still did not get ANYTHING done and April 15th is in less than 2 weeks.... Yikkes!

But the point is - and that is what I realize now - I NEED those deadlines! When I reach the point that I can't postpone it any longer, when I totally freak out because I'm sure I won't get it done in time, exactly at that moment when I sit down - desperate - because I HAVE to do it now, that's when the ideas come! And usually then I get it done in no time. And when I'm done I realize that I would never ever have made the project the way I did now if I had started earlier because at that point I didn't have these ideas yet. Funny huh?

Now, knowing that, deadlines will no longer have to bother me, I now know that it will all turn out fine in the end! Right? So relax! I just hope my nervous mind will believe me when I tell myself it's ok to relax, that it's ok to sleep :)

So if you ever want me to do anything for you, don't leave it up to me when to do it. Because then you will never get your project. Give me a deadline!

Because deadlines... love them!! LOL!

Now, because I don't like blog posts without pictures I will leave you with a tag I made for the Powder Puff Girls team post on the WOW! Embossing Powders blog last Saturday: 

I used a printed label (7Gypsies) that I wanted to add color too but I didn't want the color of the words "Life is good" to change. So I covered the letters with embossing ink using an embossing pen. Then I used WOW! Clear Gloss Super Fine to emboss the letters. I did the same with the clock face.

After tha,t I stamped on the upper half of the label with the WOW! Vintage Wallpaper stamp using black embossing ink (Exquisite from Ecogreen Crafts) and embossed this too with the Clear Gloss Super Fine. I also did that with the little metal wheel I added to the clock face.

After all parts were embossed I used distress inks (Ranger) and a piece of blending foam to color in the rest of the label. The embossed parts act as a resist and the distress inks will not stick to that. After adding the color just gently whip the surface with a piece of kitchen paper.

The label was finished with some rub-ons, cute paper birds and a piece of ribbon.

Make sure to visit the WOW! blog for tons and tons of inspiration!

Workshops @ Scrap4fun, September 14 & 15!

In September, on friday 14th and saturday 15th, I will be at Scrap4fun.nl again to teach 2 colorful workshops!

For the Love of Masking and a Dream canvas.

Both workshops will be taught at both days, the canvas workshop in the moning (9.30-12.30) and the masking workshop in the afternoon (13.00-17.00).

You can book the workshops separately.

Happy weekend!

Love canvas with WOW! embossing powder

Hi there!

Today I want to share with you a little love canvas I created for the WOW! embossing powder CHA booth.

I first covered the canvas with tags, a doily and pieces of book paper. On top I put a thin layer of Gesso leaving some parts of book print uncovered. On those parts I stamped with bubble wrap and Versamark and embossed it with WOW! clear gloss regular. This keeps the book print visible and creates a resist for the Tattered Angels glimmer mist that I sprayed on top.

I layered a piece of Punchenella (Sequin waste) as a mask in the left upper corner and filled a couple of spots with Versamark and then embossed it with WOW! Metallic Silver regular.

After spraying the whole canvas with glimmer mist I took a little piece of cardstock, used my crop-a-dile to punch out a couple of little holes and layered it on the canvas. I filled in the holes with Versamark, removed the cardstock mask and embossed the little circles with Suzy West Whirly Pop regular.

A heart cut from book paper was sprayed with glimmer mist. I put a piece of Punchenella on top and filled it with Versamark and embossed it with Suzy West Presidio Purple regular.

I stamped some swirls (from the WOW! Build a Butterfly stamp set) in the right lower corner and embossed them with Suzy West Bay Area Blue regular.

All 4 sides of the canvas where covered with Versamark going to the front of the canvas in some places and then embossed with WOW! Metallic Silver Regular.

The canvas was completed with rub-ons and crystal angel wings.

I hope this inspires you to use embossing powders in you mixed-media projects and art-journals!

Enjoy!

The whole shebang at Creabest, a Finnish advertisement and a blog hop on the WOW!-blog

Good news for those of you who wanted to come to "The whole shebang"-workshop at Scrap-4-fun or in my studio but were either to late to sign up or couldn't make it.

I will be teaching this workshop at Creabest in Ommen on May 19.

We will be working with the new WOW! embossing powders and a variety of Tattered Angels products.

There are only 15 places available this day so if you're interested don't wait to long! :)

 

As you might know my amazing friend Revlie and I will be teaching at the Intohimona Skräppäys event in Finland, april 21-22.

A Finnish magazine called Ihana decided to make some advertisement for this event :) 

The title is freely translated "Come to learn from the internatiomal scrapbooking stars!"

The area in the middle contains the time table of the courses and some general info about the IS event. Around it is the courses with their little images and the texts translated into Finnish. 

At the top of the page is a short bio of both of us.

"Revlie Schuit is an artist and scrapbooker form the Netherlands. Revlie loves to create colourful minialbums. In her works she uses fabric, felt and embroidery together with the tradiotionel scrapbooking supplies. Revlie's blog is: http://..."

And the text next to my photo is: "Birgit Koopsen is an experienced educator and scrapbooking teatcher. She has held courses for seven years both in her home studio and in fairs around the world. Birgit is also a Prima educator and part of TA and 3L design teams. Birgit is interested in the multitude of techniques in scrapbooking as well as of preserving the every day life for generations to come. Birgit's blog: http://..."

Now how fun is that?? Thank you Riikka for sending me this!

Last but not least I want to share with you today is that we are having a blog hop over at the WOW! embossing powder blog! 

•  It started with Anne yesterday. Leave comments on hers and then do the same with Irit Shalom. http://www.wowembossingpowders.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-heart-takes-wing.html

  

  WOW Embossing Powder: My heart takes wing...

  wowembossingpowders.blogspot.com

 

 

WOW embossing powder DT-call!!

Tonight I'm leaving for CHA! Very exciting! I will spent de night at Schiphol Airport and fly tomorrow morning.

I kind of freaked out this morning... when checking in online I got a message that the bank had not confirmed my payment and I could not continue check-in. Whaaattt??? I booked this flight in september, I have a confirmation, what the...???

It appeared to be a failure on the KLM website and all was fine, pfffff!

Anyway... Im very happy and excited to announce that I'm now an endorsed educator for WOW embossing powder! How cool is that??! The WOW and Suzy West collection is truly amazing. A huge variety of colors in gloss and puff, fine and regular and Ultra High. There is always a powder that fits your project! 

Now, if you're reading this and think I want to be a WOW educator and/or DT member too, here's some great news!

WOW is looking to add 2-4 new members to the team! Go to the blog for all the details. Good luck!

Covered in silver, a project for WOW embossing powder

Wow, I am amazed and overwhelmed by the reactions on my Jump Start video!! Thank you all so much for you sweet comments on the Jump Start page, here and through e-mail! I never thought that such a "simple" idea would inspire so many people, but like someone once told me, sometimes it's the simplest ideas that inspire the most!

If you haven't signed up for the Jump Start newsletter, you still can! Just see my previous post and follow instructions!

Today I want to share with you a project I created for WOW Embossing Powder!

I turned a little white tea box into a silver plated jewelry box. I used the brocade stamp on a white wooden box and embossed it with Metallic Silver Regular. I also embossed the flower and the leaves.

Some details:

supplies used: WOW powders Metallic Silver regular
WOW powders Skyline Grey Puff
WOW powders Brocade background stamp
Flowers and leaves are from Prima Marketing Inc.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful and creative weekend!

Workshop update and a WOW layout!

Just a quick update. I’m in my hotel in Capelle aan de IJssel. It’s Friday the 13th.

My day went pretty well so far, hope yours is too! I will be teaching at Scrap4fun tomorrow and Sunday.

Just had a lovely dinner and the Scrap4fun DT is coming over here to meet up and have a drink together in about an hour. That will be fun!

About my workshop “The whole Shebang” that I will be teaching here… I had several people asking me if I would be teaching this workshop in my own studio in Winsum too, and yes I will!

 

A 15x15cm mini-album filled with techniques. We will be using gesso, acrylic paints, spray paints, distress inks, alcohol inks, aquamarkers, masks, stamps, embossing powders etc. on a variety of surfaces like wood, cardstock, metal foil, canvas, felt and transparencies, or in short, you will get the whole shebang! The workshop is scheduled for Saturday, march 24. Time: 10.00-17.00 Price: € 57.50 (lunch, drinks and snacks included)

If you are interested drop me an e-mail at scrappen@birgitkoopsen.nl

So this week I posted on the WOW! Embossing powder blog for the first time. Very exciting!!

 

I love to create with little strips and blocks of paper in different colors and with different patterns. I'm always left with a lot of scraps, big scraps, because sometimes I only use a one inch strip of a whole sheet of paper. Recognize that?

So why not create your own patterned paper and bring 1 single sheet of cardstock to great value?

For this layout I cut half a sheet of white cardstock into strips of different sizes. I stamped the strips with a variety of stamps and embossed them with different colors.

The tickets and leaves where also stamped on white cardstock and embossed.

The little butterflies are actually part of a flower stamp (Gratitude) of which I only used the top part. I applied them to the layout with staples so I could bend the wings.

Behind the picture you find a cake cup that was embossed with the same color which gives it a nice structure. I also did that with the flower.

The chipboard letters where first embossed with puff powder and then covered with fine clear embossing powder.

Supplies used:

WOW! Embossing Powders: Suzy West Whirly Pop, Tea Garden Green, California Sunshine, Bay Area Blue, Presidio Purple, Skyline Grey Puff and Clear Gloss Super Fine.

WOW! stamps: Brocade and Gratitude

Patterend paper and chipboard letters: Basic Grey, Flower: Prima Marketing inc., letterstickers: Lily Bee design, Other: Kraft cardstock, cake cup, black pen, Adhesives: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you got inspired to get you some of these wonderful powders and stamps and create some art work!

Have a wonderful and creative weekend!!

Birgit