Saturday Rewind - Challenge #44

Hello everyone! Well our rewind will be going in reverse order simply because I'm trying to get ahead and update this post as we get projects submitted. These are each uniquely their own and absolutely cool as all get out (I know, I have such a turn of the phrase, don't I?)(one of my charms) - feel like we get a glimpse into your artistic process and it is grand!

Great to see that this challenge did take you outside of your own world and into a different viewpoint or inspiration point I suppose is a better way of saying it.

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Ujjwal joined us this week with this darling little Asian Doll card. I love the colors she used. And that image is a freebie she found. Go check out her blog for the details.

Take a look at Gini's meditation card, better yet, go over and read the creative process that led to this card. OMG - too funny!

Electra dazzles us with this gorgeous layout from a trip to Thailand - highly recommend you go over and read her post! Again, another very funny lady.

Deena was super quick getting her project done and it is gorgeous - love the coloring on the bear and what a sweet sentiment (friendship). C'est magnifique indeed! So, enjoy each other's creations and don't forget to return to this same blog on Sunday for our next Challenge!!!! (again, cue the dramatic old time radio music)

Challenge # 44 - C'est Magnifique-Domo Arigato - Que Buena - Namaste - G'Day

One of the best things about our blog, in our humble opinion, is that we have the benefits of drawing participants from around the globe who bring their own perspective to the projects they share with us.

It's great to know that our quirky little blog has global appeal!

So, this week's challenge is "C'est Magnifique-Domo Arigato - Que Buena - Namaste - G'Day," and it's theme is to inspire you to be inspired by a language or culture that is not your own (or yours if you have never ever done something in your native tongue or to represent your culture)!

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Rosemary here- There are days when the only culture I get is in my yogurt! So, to be inspired by another nation's beauty, culture, and style seemed a great departure from my day to day routine. Trust me, playing in my craft room is cheap therapy from a day in the white collar jungle!

So, without further adieu (I'm getting so sophisticated - LOL) - I have been dying to use this lovely peacock stamp and also I've had this gorgeous Taj Mahal stack from DCWV for ages and again, wanted to have a great project to use it for. I think I did okay here. The peacock stamp is from Stampin Up and is part of a set called Very Thankful. If it's good looks aren't enough to make you want to get it, then perhaps this will convince you - all proceeds from the set go to Ronald McDonald charities. That's right! You're spending money to help others - works for me!

My first card is influenced by India and has the sentiment Namaste, something I remember from my yoga days as the start and end of our class. The word translates to "to you," an acknowledgement of the soul from your soul - isn't that beautiful? Also, and this was news to me - the peacock is India's national bird - so this was meant to be! The colors are sumptuous and there is a sparkle to the paper that doesn't seem to be coming through in the photo but to me it just has such a rich look - I really like it!

The motif for this card was created by stamping and embossing the peacock in gold and fussy cutting around it.

My second card is influenced by the Spanish word for thank you - gracias. Again, I used the peacock stamp and kept the word Gracias which is in a beautiful script that just looks marvelous with the peacock image. This was stamped in VersaMark ink Lagoon and clear embossed. The paper is a beautiful lagoon color (again, it looks different than the stamped image but honest, they are the same color!).

Jana here: My take on this was a bit culinary. But not French. I made a Mexican soup that I grew up with. It is wonderful, magnifique! It's perfect to warm you up and keep you feeling full. For me, it is also a comfort food. It's almost as if I am channeling my Nana when I make this.






I couldn't just make the soup though. I also made a recipe page for a family cookbook that I have been wanting to start. I figured why not start now. I only have a half million other projects going. Just kidding. It's more like 50-100. Anyhow, this is something that I want to do now and add to. I want to be able to hand a book to each girl when they move out so they can create the dishes they grew up with. I grew up in a Mexican environment. I ate freshly made tortillas regularly. There was almost always a pot of beans on the stove and you couldn't walk into the house without be hounded to eat something. (Rosemary here - she says a half million other projects like it's a bad thing! hee hee What a wonderful memory to have of the love, warmth and contentment from good food made with love by those WE love)

As with all of my recipes, the measurements are more guidelines than precise. So if you have a little over a pound of ground beef, use it. If you have a hankering for other veggies, put them in. If you don't like zucchini, leave it out. See, it's very flexible. Something EVERYONE can like. And easy enough that ANYONE can make it. Enjoy.

For more info on this layout, check out my blog. (Sneaky, aren't I!?!?!?!)(she is sneaky but it's part of her charm)

Now let's see how Magnifique you can be.

CHECK OUT OUR SUNDAY SATURDAY REWIND - because time got away from us and the recap didn't get posted until today!

A Sunday-Saturday Rewind-UPDATED

Hello! Here it is already challenge day and we didn't post a recap of the fantastic projects we got for last week's challenge - Ruffles and Flourishes! This is Rosemary here and I'm sorry for the delay - it's just that your Poobahs have been having one of those kinds of weeks that it seems like everything that can go wonky decides to.

What I truly look forward to is seeing what you've created from our humble challenges. You all amaze us with your talent because you take our crazy little challenges and make the coolest projects. When we visit your blogs we love to see not only what you've done for our challenges but also your other projects.

The challenge for this week will be up later but without further adieu (hint hint hint) let's look at what you made "Ruffling Your Flourishes"

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Oh my gosh, how could I forget our buddy Kristen!!! Seriously, that was lame of me to forget to include her very adorable card. I sorry, Kristen, brain skips here and there! Look how pretty this is with ruffles AND flourishes! Pretty pretty colors too!



Maria Matter made a Mother's Day card that is so beautiful and check out the gorgeous colors and yes, the flourishes that just make this pop! Katie made a lovely card didn't she? The soft coloring (that is so gentle and sweet) and equally gentle embellishments and flourishes just make you smile.


Heather made a gorgeous card full of lovely flourishes such as the embossed background, that lovely punched border, and the hearts that seem to be bursting out! Classic, elegant, and pretty!

Our dear Electra made embellishments for her layout that draw you into a great layout (love that sentiment!). Love the FLUFFLES! (lol) How did she find time for this great LO when there's the Olympics to be watching?

Diane used an absolutely adorable digi image from our frequent contributor and all-around good buddy Kristen to make a great card that has lots of lovely visual and textural interest. The eyelet ruffled embellishment looks so pretty here!

Deena made a absolutely adorable wedding card and it was well worth the effort of getting that darn felt fusion to cooperate (oh, I feel your pain with that stuff, Deena - looks great but yikes you need uber patience to work with it). But we love the card!

and looky looky what Carol made. Oh my gosh, this just has something for everybody to love - I was enjoying this so much. I love the vintage feel, the antiquing, the dimension and embellishments!

THANK YOU all so much for playing with our Ruffles and Flourishes challenge. Check back later today (or stop by tomorrow, we're easy like that) to see what the next challenge will be (I feel like there should be dramatic old-timey radio music here!)

Challenge # 43 - Ruffles and Flourishes (aka well, ruffle my flourishes)

(Rosemary here) I laughed out loud when I started to write this up because my fellow Poobah, Miss Jana, had entitled this challenge "Well, Ruffle My Flourishes" and well it not only ruffled my flourishes but tickled my funny bone! She's such a fun friend!
>

Anyway, ruffles are flourishes are actually a fanfare of ceremonial music for dignitaries. But we think it makes a great challenge theme too - because, let's face it, we all use one or the other of these in our projects as some point don't we?

So challenge #43 is hereby christened

"Ruffles and Flourishes"

(aka Well, Ruffle My Flourishes)

(release the doves)

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Jana here: My take on this is more figurative than literal. I am using the ruffles on Melissa's dress and the flourish in her face. Danny and Melissa had a date and boy was it an event.

You can see the journalling if you click on the picture.

F

The layouts are digital. The template is from Cathy Z. The papers are Miss Kim Designs.
For more info (and links), you can visit my blog.

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Rosemary here: This is my take on the theme. I've been going through all the old photos I have and saying - thou shalt put these into albums - and when I talk like that to myself I darn well listen! So, I thought about this photo of me with my Mom and then I pictured this ribbon I had and thought - oooh, I have an idea and so with ribbon, thread and a needle - I made a couple of ruffled ribbon embellishments.



I suppose a subheading to this layout's title should be - They aren't ALWAYS up to something. This is one busy layout, I'm going back and forth. Aw heck, it's going to stay as is, I'm just going to be happy with it.

(Jana here: This layout is great. I love these medallions. And that picture is priceless. I really need to get more pictures of my mother. So weird that we both did a layout this week. I haven't done one in ages. But that's how we roll. We are birds of a feather. And sometimes not.)

NOW SHOW US YOUR RUFFLES AND FLOURISHES

Saturday Rewind - Challenge #42 - Asian Motivation

I swear we have some of the most talented artists in the whole blog world here. I mean, week after week, these masterpieces keep rolling in. Would ya just look at what we got this week!!! Presented to you in no particular order.

Remember, you can click on each photo to see all the wonderful details up close and personal like.

Elizabeth, at thefortunatestamper, made this wonderful soft card using a bamboo stamp.

I love th four tiles and the flower in the center.

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DIANE, at 1cardcreator, certainly is a card creator.

Look at the wonderful gold and red lanterns amidst the subtle bamboo embossed background.

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ELECTRA, at wishinIknewhowtoblog, cracked me up with her art journal page of this asian waiter and Tony the Tiger.

I love those sunglasses too. They're GREAAAATTTT.

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HEATHER, at heathersscrap, brought out the tiger and bling.

I love the bling clusters on the sides.

*****

CHAT NOIR, at blackcatsmiaow, used one of a set of asian stamps. I love the understated presence in the corner.
I really love the simplicity of this design.

and using the Tiger prompt made this one too.

Love that paper and those stars add just the right bling.

*****


Deena, at adeenacard, combined two different manufacturers (the embossing folder and the stamp).

Don't they look like they were meant to be together.

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Jess, at jessobsession, rolled out her tools and created this yummy little morsel.

I love that sushi stamp.

and here is the inside of her card. Can you believe how pretty it is?

It could be a card in itself.

Please visit each one of these very talented ladies' blogs to see more about how they made these works of art, and to see more goodies from their arsenals.

Thank you all so much for helping us have fun.

It's so great to see what you come up with based on our wacky ideas.

Challenge #42 - Asian Motivation

This post is delayed for the announcement of the winner of last weeks drawing.

11 of you talents folks played along with our Red, White and Pink theme, and

The WINNER is DIANE.

Woohoo. Please send an email to jdeegs @ cox . net (without the spaces) letting us know what your address is and we'll get that wonderful magazine out to you.

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Now, back to our regularly scheduled post....

Chinese New Year is here. And we thought it would be fun to see what we could do with an Asian Theme.

It's the YEAR of the TIGER.

So we are relaxing our theme a bit to allow Tigers along with anything Asian. Cuz we're cool like that.

Rosemary here: I was thinking at first that I wanted to do a card and then I realized I really need a bookmark for all the reading I've been doing recently. So I pulled out my good old Asian-themed stamp and made myself a colorful and substantial bookmark that will keep me from using old receipts and magazine subscription cards - and I found these cool metal embellishments in my stash!

This is a card I made a while back using this same stamp. I love this stamp and its versatility (may have to break out of the red/black/white/gold streak of using this stamp!)

Jana here: I don't know what came over me. I wasn't even drinking Sake. Maybe I should have. Anyway, I have had this really cool fabric in my stash. And thought,

"Hmmm, I need another bag/tote. (like I need another hole in my head).

and I bet that fabric would look really nice as a bag/tote."

I should have put a bit more thought into it. It didn't turn out disgusting. BUT, there are some problems. For instance, it isn't finished. I dragged my daughters to Joann's to get some grommets, because I want to make this a draw string bag. Well, I got the grommets (and a few other things - DUH) BUT, I didn't get the grommet setter. Oh, I tried to use the tools I have on hand. Cuz I'm impatient that way. They only distorted the grommets. Now I have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to get back there so I can finish this bag/tote. Okay, that was the first issue. Second issue is that I didn't use a pattern. Just kind of winged it. So, I ended up ripping out a few feet of stitching. AND I wasn't paying attention and the fish and kitties are upside down. Oops. (And Yes, I realize this fabric is a Japanese motif, but we DID say Asian. Even if it is Chinese New Year. Go figure.)

I DID make the handle oversized. I usually complain that the handles on my bag/totes aren't long enough. The handle on this little number is 38 glorious inches long. And I lined the bag/tote with a very pretty red fabric. So it's a happy bag/tote. I'll wait to post on my blog until I get the grommets in place and the cording threaded. So check over there in a few days.

I think it's a cool bag/tote even with it's "issues".

I am going to enjoy carrying this around.

NOW SHOW US YOUR ASIAN FLAIR.

Saturday Rewind - # 41 Let your LOVE show

This week you really out-did yourselves. The works of art are AMAZING.

You ladies are making me re-think my dis-like of V-Day. Just because of the love and beauty you'll see here.



In no particular order, let me present these fabulous works:


Electra graced us with some witty and fun ATC's. (above pic) I love all the elements here and the textures and the layers. Wonderful.

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Bobbi showed us all up and made several goodie containers for teachers.

And filled them with chocolates. Get's an "A+" from me.

Very lucky teachers indeed. Dove is one of my top 3 Chocolates.

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Ivolina made all these wonderful little roses to decorate her card in a heart shape. You'll have to show us how you did them.

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Diane scared up some love for us with this humorous Monster of a card.
I love the look on this monster's face. And how you got the word KISS right on his mouth.

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Kristen wasn't playing around when she made this little gamblin' angel of a card. Love how you put these pieces together. So fun.

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Casii pulled out all the stops with this adorable LOVE banner. The sash is my favorite part.

Like a beauty queen. And that little bird is too cute.

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Jess' apology will be taken to heart with this lovely offering.

I love this image.

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Meikoningin's card is all charm and warmth with vintage goodies and bling. YUMMY.

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Grandmalee's card is flyin' high with love for today and everyday. Love this fairy.

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Fia's card is full of Valentine's wishes and lovely flowers. Love the ruffle.

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Maria's card will have the recipient feeling better in no time at all. Love the coloring and the heart border.

Thank you so much for playing with us. We LOVE your creations and feel so honored to be in the presence of so many talented artists. We're not worthy.

Winner will be announced later this afternoon. I have to get to an appointment and won't get to hold the drawing until after lunch. Come back later and check up on us....

Challenge #41 - Let your LOVE show

It's Valentines time. I am not into the forced display of love,

so this is one of my least favorite holidays, BUT

I LOVE the reds, pinks and whites that are so abundant right now.

So the challenge to you this week is to use all of these colors in your project:

RED

PINK

WHITE

XOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Jana here: I went the wimpy route and used cards I made because I needed to send a few out. I used Opus Gluei as my excuse, or the other way around. Nothing too complicated. I used my new Copic markers. I sooooo love them. They made this seemingly simple little stamp just fabulous.






I made this one and three others. I used the same "ingredients", except for switching the background on 2 of the cards.


Check out the other one on my blog. I posted both over there.

(yup, I'm modest like that)

Rosemary here and I made a series of ATCs - only showing one because well, they're all alike this go-round! I went all girly and frilly and gooey - YAY! I've been shoveling snow so something other than only white is appealing to me!

I have mixed emotions on Valentine's Day; I've had wonderful ones where I felt like I was walking on air and some awful ones where I just wanted to go and sit in a dark room and eat a pound of high quality chocolates I gifted myself (there is NOTHING wrong with that!). But LOVE is grand whether we have it for a day, a year, or twenty plus years. We've all loved and been loved in our lives and it's a blessing to marvel in that we get to experience those highs and lows. Oh how boring life would be otherwise!

This ATC makes me think of those little card Valentines we had as kids - I guess that when Valentine's Day is best - the little shoebox mailboxes or brown paper bags that we decorated and put our names on and then we went around and filled everyone's up!

The products used are K&Company Ka-Zoo paper, Martha Stewart and Fiskars punches, QuickQuotes Powderpuff "Pink Cheeks" , computer-generated sentiment, and Darice plastic adhesive hearts.

Oh, and before we forget - we have a little giveaway! A brand new, sitting in the Borders bag, copy of StampIt! Cards magazine published by the fine folks at PaperCrafts magazine. (I was in the bookstore and thought, ooh, this would be nice to buy and heck why not two and share the LOVE with our Opus Gluei ladies!?!) So, just enter a project for this challenge and we'll put the names into a hat or a random generator (I lean toward the low-tech per se) and draw out a lucky winner! We'll announce it at the next challenge and I will mail it out super fast - promise)

Now it's time to LET YOUR LOVE SHOW.

(MWAH)