I love alcohol inks for their vibrant colours and everything you can do with them. I took a glossy white cardstock, put some alcohol solution directly on the card and then dropped some alcohol inks in the 3 colours. Afterwards, I wanted a more "blotchy" look so I put the same colours on the spongy tool so I could dab those colours directly onto the card. Once that dried (which went quickly), I stamped the leaf design directly on top. I stamped the flower in purple and heat embossed it in white, which I did not want to do, but it seemed to come out in a pale lilac so it still worked. I took my tombow markers, in various shades of purple, and scribbled them on the flower. Next, I took my waterbrush and painted the flower by brushing the colors around. I did the same with the leaves. I took my Happy Birthday die cut, rolled it through my sizzex to cut out the saying on purple shiny paper. I used pop up dots for the flower and glued the saying in place. I coloured the corner stickers in purple and placed them in each corner. Finally I took a couple of tiny flower crystals and used one for the dot above the I in "Birthday" and another in the one flower centre.
We all need an angel on our shoulder I think and I love angels so this was a fun and quick card to make. I stamped the angel in Gold, took embossing powder in Egyptian Gold, Lavender and Silver and sprinkled the powders where I wanted them to go. I added the mixture to the stamped saying and the snowflakes. I added the gold border stickers and coloured inside with a silver pen. I added small silver dots everywhere for snow flakes and, finally, mounted this on the gold glitter cardstock.
May you all have a beautiful week regardless what we see on TV or social media...ignore it and enjoy your day.
October is a fun month because we get to see the leaves change to some brilliant colours, smell the grapes and, of course, Halloween. This is a boostacular month for scary, creepy films and even comedies. It will be fun to see what everyone else has chosen, so go to Wandering Through The Shelves and find out what other Houses are on the list this week. Here are my 3...
1. THE INNOCENTS-1961
This film freaked me out big time especially this scene. This whole film is creepy with Deborah Kerr giving a great performance as the governess of these very strange children. She is hired by their Uncle to care for the children at this house that seems to be menacing. You realize the children were enthralled by the previous Governess and the Groundskeeper who had the hots for one another. The house does not want to let anyone go and the ghostly beings do not want the children to leave. The kids act very convincingly making this film even more freaky. The governess knows she must save the children before the home claims them. I read the book which scared me but this film truly freaked me out especially when the spider comes out of the mouth of a statue in the garden....shudder!
2. THE HAUNTING-1963
This is one of the best haunted house stories ever and we never see any actual ghosts but we know the house is haunted and a group of people decide to stay there to conduct experiments. You have the good doctor who is trying his best to base this on science. The owner of the home who wants to sell it and make money and does not believe in this at all. You have the clairvoyant lesbo, played wonderfully by Claire Bloom and the young, sad Julie Harris who also has gifts but does not want to admit to them. She decided to come to get away from her controlling sister and her family. They all experience strange things but they know the house wants young Julie. This is very creepy but intelligent something the remake does not have. Please pass on the remake because it is so bad where the original is brilliant.
3. BURNT OFFERINGS-1976
Yeah, I have not seen this film in decades because it really freaked me out. The chauffeur was so creepy I had nightmares about him. This family decides to escape to a quieter life so dad can write his book. When they come to this home that needs some TLC, the mom, played by the brilliant Karen Black(who starred in many horror flicks around this time), loves the home and can't wait to to give this home some love. The brother and sister are very happy to let this family rent the house for 9 months provided they feed their mom who is kept up on the 3rd floor and never wants to be seen. OK, that would be my first clue to run away, but these people decide to stay along with Oliver Reed's old Aunt played to the hilt by Betty Davis. We soon see that as the family feel more and more uneasy(except for mom), the home starts to repair itself. Even when dad finally decides to leave, the home does not want this to happen. I love the behind the scenes of this film because Oliver Reed was a huge drinker and that's putting it mildly. His antics really got the better of Betty Davis who found him very unprofessional which was probably true.
I believe I have chosen these before but I had to go with them again because they are that great and I hope you see them one day. So which 3 would you choose?
On a sad note, in case any of you did not know, Jo from Jo on Food, Life and a Scent of Chocolate has suffered a stroke. Her husband is in a long term care facility and is being taken care of. I sent flowers to her and mentioned we miss her but know we will see her again sooner than later. When I called about the flowers, the nurse said "it is a work in progress". Let's all say a little prayer or salutation to her.
The last week in September....WTF??? Before you know it, Christmas will be here where we can only Zoom with our family. I am giving a shout out to one strong, beautiful lady, namely Ruth Beta Ginsburg who fought an uphill battle when there were nothing but men, fighting for women's rights and our rights to be heard. I hope, someone, similar to her way of thinking, will take her position she had to relinquish. OK, now onto the wonderful world of Journalism and let's see what the others will chose so head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to find out what everyone has chosen. Here are my 3...
1. ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN-1952-1958
I Loved watching this TV show when I was a kid, in reruns, as I am not that old yet:) You have mild-mannered Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet with Lois Lane, a star reporter, whom he has the hots for, and Jimmy Olsen as the kid photographer, whom he does not have the hots for. This newspaper is run by the curmudgeon Perry White who sends these 3 out to find the scoop especially anything about Superman. Of course, they never guess that those stupid glasses Clark wears, hides Clark's true identity...Superman! Of course, Lois and Jimmy get into hot water and Superman must save the day whether from the Mole Men or some really bad guys. It's fun, corny and I love every minute of it. Lois Lane is an early female character where she is an independent woman with a "man's" job. This, during the time when women were to be a perfect homemaker greeting her husband in a nice dress with high heels, pearls grateful that he brings home the bacon(blecvhh). One has no idea how huge this show was back in the day to the point that George Reeves hated his alter ego. What a shame that George Reeves was murdered...yes, not a suicide.
2. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW-1970-1977
This show does not age and is just so funny from the get go. You have a young woman who decides not to marry but strike out on her own, move away from her family and friends and take a job in a newsroom as an associate producer surrounded by men. Her boss, Lou Grant, is an old school newsman who tries to run a tight ship with head writer Murray and the ultimate goofball egomaniac in Ted Baxter who gives new meaning to the word stupid. The show is rounded out by her soon to be best friend, Rhoda(friends in real life too), her landlady, Phyllis and, later on, Sue Ann Nivens, the horny, happy homemaker who has the hots for Lou as well as sweet Georgette who dates and, later, marries Ted. You see them at work, at Mary's parties that always go wrong and the News Awards. Some famous episodes are considered the best ever like "Chuckles The Clown Bites The Dust". My sides hurt from laughing so much when I watched this episode.
3. MURPHY BROWN-1988-1998
Candace Bergen played this character to perfection as a recovering alcoholic who is an acerbic, intelligent, powerhouse who, like a Barbara Walters type, is an excellent investigative reporter. She is the head of a major news show with her best friend, Frank Fontana, a highly respected wooden Jim Dial, The young yuppie trying to run this crew, Miles Silverberg and the quirky, annoyingly happy former beauty queen, Corky Sherwood. Each week we see poor Murphy having to deal with another dreadful secretary along with these people who surround her. They often meet up at a bar run by the gruff, Phil before Murphy comes home to Eldin, the painter who never leaves but offers many philosophical thoughts. This show brought up many controversial topics of the day from breast cancer to becoming a single mom. The latter created a huge political issue when dumbnut Vice President Dan Quayle derided Murphy Brown for taking away family values because she chose to raise her child without marrying the father of her baby. Later, Quayle visited a school and corrected the kid for spelling Potato by informing the kid that it was spelled potatoe. Yup....even if this was on a cue card, you would think Quayle would not have gone through with what was spelled on the cue card. The show created an episode called, "You say Potato, I say Potatoe". It is brilliant.
I am starting this right off without much talk because it’s late and I need to write this up. Wandering through the Shelves has created the themes for each week and this one is all about the band. This is another fun one so here are my 3...
1. STRIKE UP THE BAND-1940
This is a very fun movie starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland who were quite the dynamos and were life long friends. They star as boyfriend and girlfriend team who love singing and putting on a show. She believes in her drumming ADD boyfriend who dreams of conducting his own dance band and meets his idol Paul Whitman . They need to make enough money to get to Chicago to win the contest but they just don’t have the money so they need to raise it somehow.
2. ABBA:THE MOVIE-1977
Anyone who knows me knows I love, love, love ABBA. I have all their albums and know almost all their songs. Funny moment..I pleaded with my mom to see ABBA in Toronto for their Voulez-Vous tour since my brother had already seen The Who, The Rolling Stones etc.... My mom refused and I asked why, "There will be drugs there." I looked at her blankly and said, "Mom, it's ABBA." I didn't go. I had no clue there was a movie about them until a few years ago and I watched it enjoying every moment. It’s pretty simple, a journalist is trying to get an interview with them while they travel around doing their gigs. It’s fun, engaging and you get to see all their terrible outfits...Voulez Vous outfits and all!
3. I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND-1978
I saw this and thought it was so much fun to see. It really engages you and it made me realize, for the first time, how crazy it was for the Beatles. These teen girls and a couple of guys all want to get to see the Beatles in concert. They go through some antics with one ending up in their hotel room. It is very funny with all the gals taking centre stage. I recommend this movie highly.
My anniversary is tomorrow and we will have been together a short 14 years but they are glorious. No Patterned paper here and I rarely use that paper for card making. I missed Color Throwdown again...story of my life. I took these trees and stamped them in brown but not before taking my distress inks and, using a spongy thingy, I swirled the colours down in orange, golden yellow and a darker red to create a vibrant sky. I cut out a moon/sun shape(using a shotglass as the base) and took some more distress inks to create the last shimmer of the sun. I tore up some paper and, once again, used some brown distress ink for the colour of some rolling hills. I stamped the birds in brown and place this on some cream cardstock followed by this rich gold. I used my sizzex and the die cuts to make the letters. I coloured the gold stickers in red to add the final border. I hope my hubby will like it.
So Now Twofer Card Challenge will see that I used the same set of trees but, this time, I used them multiple times to great a scene of serenity amid a beautiful sunset(no forest fire thoughts please even though a warped mind could go there...like mine). I stamped almost everything in brown except for the deer. I had a larger stamp with these deer and I coloured them in a black tombow marker. Once everything was stamped I adhered this to the same gold cardstock as the Anniversary card and finished it in stickers I actually coloured in brown but it looks red here.
Now on to something completely different. This is a challenge blog I love but keep missing which bums me out. This time the book chosen is about Lizzie Borden who took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41. I took my red distress ink and patted it down on some kraft paper that can be wiped up. I spritzed it with water and placed the whit cardstock on top making sure the red bled down. I took my gal stamp, stamped her in versamark and used my blush perfect pearl colour and dusted it over the clear versamark which brought this image out. I sealed her with some hairspray otherwise the powder comes off in your hands. I tore the paper and dabbed on white on the edges. I drew an axe, coloured it with my tombow markers and fussy cut it out making sure the axe has plenty of blood on it. Finally, I stamped the words and embossed them with black sparkle. This was a fun one to do and made me think of the TV movie about Lizzie Borden starring Elizabeth Montgomery as the legendary axe gal. Here is the book...
Ahh, the wonderful world of the foreign film where one might be forced to watch a bowl of fruit for 15 minutes before you see the words, "Fin". Hahahaa, ok, they are not that bad and, in fact, many are quite good, excellent actually, but I don't see that many in my humble town I live in and I wanted to "bend" the rules because I love doing that. Wandering Through The Shelves is a weekly blog post where anyone can join and choose 3 films that suit that theme. Here are my 3...
1. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI-1920(I THOUGHT IT WAS 1917)
Post war German film exploded where we can see the effects of the German expressionism to this day. None shows this better than this film with all the jagged cuts, wonky lines and a great way to use black and white. The film industry was poor to say the least so they used inventive ways to create a story and film it. This is a great film that is shown in every film class and with reason. You have Francis telling the story to an older man about how he met the beautiful Jane at some fair. At this fair, they are "entertained" by Dr. Caligari who shows them a somnambulist, played by Conrad Veidt, who is at the complete control of the doctor. Soon enough, murders start happening and Jane is in mortal danger. This is a must see in my eyes with an unexpected ending that left me gobsmacked. I just realized this flicker is 100 years old!
2. THE LAST LAUGH-1924
I watched this film only this past year and I loved it! This German film is directed by the great FW Murnau(of Nosferatu fame) and stars Emil Jannings as a proud doorman of a prestigious Berlin hotel. He is proud of his position as it holds high esteem but his employer believes that younger blood is needed and demotes him to a lower level bathroom attendant. He is so humiliated that he keeps up the charade where he lives and with his daughter. It shows the slow decline of a once proud man to one who hates to look in the mirror. Jannings often played these types of characters and he did it well. Murnau hated the fact that he had to tack on a happy ending and, even though it looks contrived, I don't mind it.
3. DIE NIBELUNGEN-SIEGFRID-1924
Oh those Germans and there sagas. I actually read the book and wrote an essay on this of which I got an A-...for this C student, I was tickled pink. This is like the Tales of King Arthur but German with a cast of thousands. The hero, after killing a dragon and getting the horde of gold from the dwarf King, is asked by his king to win the beautiful Brunhild's hand in marriage. With help from some magic, he wins and Brunhild marries Gunther while Siegfried marries Kriemhild(ughh, these names!). Let's just say Brunhild is suspicious and things don't end well. You see, Siegfried defeated the dragon Fafner and bathed in his blood to become invincible not realizing a leaf fell on his back making him susceptible in this one spot. There is a second part to this film but I have not seen it yet but would love to. This is a pretty good retelling of this legend and, once again, I enjoyed watching it. I am a sucker for silent films.
This was a quicky but I enjoyed making it. I just took 2 pieces of cardstock with the inner one ribbed for some texture. I took a snippet of paper scrap for the background of the Merry Christmas stickers. I took snowflake stickers and adhered them to the paper. I took sticker borders to wrap it up and, finally to finish it off, I placed some crystals on the snowflakes.
I created this for last week's Color Throwdown but, as per norm, I missed the deadline. This was fun because I got all inky with alcohol inks on this shimmery cardstock. I used blues, greens and a lighter green but it shows up yellow which is fine by me. Squirting Alcohol solution down made the colours swirl. I used a stencil to place on some swirly parts but hard to see it here. I stamped different foliage in dark blues and purple to create an underwater affect. It looks better in person. I stamped and cut out the mermaid and coloured her with sparkle pens. I stamped the saying and added sparkle plus added the sparkly stickers on the border. I think this turned out well.
Again I created this for another challenge and missed it...such is life:) I had this mirror card in silver and, once again, used alcohol inks in blues, pinks and purple to create this night sky that makes me think of the Aurora Borealis. I used my sizzex to cut out the tree, the village(twice) and the snowflake. I tore a piece of blue cardstock and glittered it up for a snowy scene. I coloured the village and added sparkle to the tops of the houses. Finally, I glued everything in place and added these tiny small silver stickers to create the image of snow. I have snow and a scene...I think it looks quite pretty.
It is cooler here... thank goodness and I can enjoy this weather much more. Wishing you a great day and rest of the week.
