Monday, February 4, 2013

Challenge: Ever After

Once upon a time, design team member Anna-Karin emailed me and asked why not have a fairy tale inspired challenge? Why not indeed - I replied! So here we are, and off we go to Neverland - or anywhere else you please. Whether you go with a classic tale, use a quote from a story, or just tell a once upon a time kind of story in your art journal we can’t wait to see what you do. There are no strict rules here, you could be inspired by a story, a character, even an idea or color scheme or story of your own. From stories of princesses to flowers that talk, faraway places to under a rock - embrace your sense of whimsy this week and see where inspiration leads you...

Dan couldn't decide which fairy tale inspired him most, so he chose all of them.
A few years back, I was lucky enough to see a big production of "Into the Woods", a musical where the characters are all the familiar faces from Grimm's fairy tales mixed up together in a new story, and that was my inspiration here. I've included references to at least 4 well known fairy tales in my postcard, can you spot them? While I was making this I got to use several stamps that have sat in my collection for a long time, but that I have never gotten around to using. It felt good to finally take them out of the packaging! Lots of stamp sets combined together here, including Christmas Blueprint, Soulful Journey, Mona's Sketchbook and Creative Muse, among others.

Tracy created a fairy tale dimensional card showcasing Wendy and Peter
A new acquisition in the form of the Neverland plate from Artistic Outpost was my inspiration this week. As soon as I saw this stamp set I knew I wanted to frame my images in some way and eventually decided to create a circular aperture using the Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circle Large Die. I also wanted to give my card a brighter colour palette especially with using child like fairy tale images and fired brick and wild honey Distress Inks came to the rescue and fitted the whimsical feel perfectly. It was such a refreshing experience to create something a little less grungy than I normally create.



Sarah created a card with a slightly melancholy feel.
Years ago as a child, I can remember watching Disney Time on the television. There was a view of the famous Disney castle and the theme tune would start which I think was a medley of Disney hits. One of the songs was "Someday my prince will come..." from Snow White. That's the first thing I thought of when I heard this challenge theme and it was also a chance for me to use my new Tim stamps. My many layers include Graphic 45 papers, the delicate fern is from Wendy Vecchi and seeing as we are dreaming, a Philosophy tag was the perfect finishing touch.
 
Candy loves fairy tales and happy endings. Can you tell her favorite story is Cinderella?
Cinderella is my very favorite fairy tale of all time. So, I recreated one of the memorable moments from the story using Wendy Vecchi's Artful Shrine, Tim Holtz' Weathered Clock, Kaiser's Iron Gate Wood Flourishes and Darkroom Door's Frame Stamp. Prince Charming and Cinderella sparkle and shimmer thanks to Waterfall, Stardust and Gold Stickles. Tinkerbell waves her magic wand, directing our attention to the center of the all important Clear UTEE covered clock. There, a partial sentiment from Tim Holtz' Fairytale Frenzy; reminds us we create our happy endings!



Sandra Mouwen likes to believe in fairy tales, because they're so magical and full with inspiration.
Don't you just love magic? I really do. All those kind of stories and movies are such a inspiration filled with lots of creativity. Stardust is one of those movies and this tag is inspired by it. I can't stop playing with the metallic stains and creating backgrounds with them. In this case Brushed Pewter in combination with Peacock Feathers and Broken China Stains were used this on the little #5 tagThe little vail contains Golden Embossing Powder, and I really thinks it looks like stardust, don't you?


Anna-Karin loves fairy tales, and this time, she placed her son into one.
I read a lot of stories to my son and thought it was a fun idea to let him fly to Neverland together with Peter and Wendy, on a magical fairytale layout. I used Artistic Outpost's Neverland stamps, background and sentiment stamps from Tim Holtz, and balloons and clouds from Hero Arts. The houses were die cut from Eclipse tape using the Artful Dwellings die, and then masked while I did the background with Distress Stains and mists. Mirrored sheet die cuts and a tattered banner gave the finishing touches to my layout.

Trace often dressed up as a Princess as a child, and continues to do so today.
When I came across this picture of me, it brought back many fond memories of dressing up as a Princess as a child. This picture is from one of our annual girls scrap/craft get togethers, where we all feel like Princesses. The journaling about being a Princess is hidden under the photo. Inspiration for the page began with the colours in the photo; my red hair, the barn board walls, and of course the tiara!  I choose Heidi Swapp Color Shines and Tattered Angel Glimmer Mists in these colours to create the inked background. I was so happy to see that Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions Stencil mimicked a crown, especially when I painted it gold with my Krylon Gold Leafing Pen! Tim Holtz Idea-ology Alpha Tiles were the perfect colour match, and feel to finish off my page.


Ashli and her girls had the lunch date of a lifetime a few months ago and now it's time to get it scrapped!
What could be more magical than a lunch date with all of the Disney Princesses? My girls were over the moon with excitement when they learned we would get to do this! I plan to scrap several pages of this wonderful treat for my Disney album and this page will be the intro to that section. A few fussy-cut speech bubbles created the perfect foundation for lots of title work and letter play. I also couldn't resist adding in the Basic Grey Paper Cottage paper with the little tea-time doodles. A border of navy blue from October Afternoon as well as some Gold Glitter Tape helps to set off my photos and title work. A surprise lunch with royalty certainly is scrap worthy!



Anita loves to sing despite her voice, and when she focused on the word "Fairytale" she started to sing "Frosty the Snowman". 
They say Frosty was a fairytale, but we all know he came to life, and the poor guy dreamed to stay that way, but alas the sun came out. So goes the same with our own lives sometimes, but that should never stop us from dreaming big!

You might notice that this Snowman Blueprint Image looks a little strange on this wooden plaque. That is because he was stamped into hot molten Melt Art's Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) that was colored in a Melting Pot. Stamps aren't just for ink anymore!



Suzz decided to see who was the fairest of them all with her magical mirror.

Ever After promises happy endings, but every happy ending has to travel through a little darkness.  I decided to create the magical mirror in which the Evil Queen peered into and asked the question "Who is the Fairest of All?".  The Daffodil Girl from Stampendous provides the sweet innocence of the princess reflected back to the Evil Queen.  Since it was the Evil Queen's mirror everything was gold and black. Anything white was turned the appropriate shade of black using Tattered Angels Black Magic Glimmer Mist.   The beautiful Prima White Soprano flowers added the perfect detail to the frame.   The touch of gold around the edges is the base coat on the mirror of Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel.



I (May) decided to use words from one of my favorite songs in Cinderella to create a Valentine.  
 As the song goes - a dream is a wish your heart makes - and with Valentine's just around the corner I thought that those words stamped with my favorite alphabet set would be perfect for a pretty Picked Raspberry colored card. This card actually has inspired me to create a canvas with more of Cinderella's famous lyrics - I do love my fairy tales!
 
Now it's your turn! Take a peek at our design team's blogs for more detail photos and supply lists, and then be sure to make (and share) your own creation with us here!
 
As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here. This challenge will end at 11:59pm on Sunday February 10th EST.






9 comments:

  1. Fabulous creations guys, as allways, hugs terry xxx

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  2. WOUW this is one awesome challenge. I like this idea very much.

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  3. Amazing inspiration as always... looking forward to my SSS hop! Perfectly timed challenge theme for something I'd just finished - but definitely inspired to go and play some more. It may be one of those weeks where you see me quite often!!
    Alison xx

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  4. Thanks for the Fairytale challenge...LOVE the idea and as you can see, I created not 1, not 2 , but 3 mini Princess albums for my G daughters to treasure always. TFS your amazing DT with us.
    Creative Wishes,
    Claire S
    www.scrapmyway.blogspot.com

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  5. Fairy tales and ever after...February seems like the perfect month for this!

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  6. Wow! The DT is so talented! I love all of your projects!! Beautiful work! :)

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  7. Fantastic design team work...love all the samples. Thanks for the fairytale challenge!

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  8. Thank you for you kind comments on my last entry. Hopefully I'll make it to top 3 this time. Blessings!

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