Let Them Eat Cake at Ooh La La creations

Good morning and thanks to everyone who entered the male themed / Fathers' Day challenge last time. There were some gorgeous entries and you can see the top three over on the challenge blog by clicking the link http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/

This time it is my choice for the theme and the photograph of my grandson Brandan, taken just after he had clearly wrestled with a tricky bit of chocolate cake gave me the inspiration for the theme. so without further ado the theme is

Let Them Eat Cake 

We are looking for cake themed projects, any type or size of cake will do as long it is cake and lets be honest it is a good way to enjoy calorie free cake using it in crafting so here is that photo and my project .

I chose a lovely rich cream card as my base for this 12x12 page and then used papers and a trimmed down topper from the Shaun Jenkins Collection CD this is great for scrapbooking and card making alike as there  are some wonderfully versatile designs included.

The titles are felt adhesive letters picked up in my local Hobbycraft shop.

I layered several papers behind the photo and added a paper doily and three cupcakes made from Martha Stewart paper clay.

I typed some little phrases onto white card and trimmed these and added them around the layout. I used 'undercurrent' font and colour matched them to the colours in the papers using MCS elite.

I trimmed the Happy Birthday off the topper and added the image to the bottom of the page to mirror the three little cupcake embellishments. 

Oh and if you think the chocolate cake is messy wait till you see what he did with a chocolate pudding and a spoon.

It's all about the Men at Ooh La La

Good Morning and once again huge thanks to all who entered our 'Bear it all' Challenge last time. we had some wonderful entries and the top three can be found over on the challenge blog by clicking the link http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/

This time we are looking for your Male themed creations and with Father's Day looming on the horizon I came up with this card fro my Dad.

I used papers from the bonus papers folder on the new 'Say it With Words' CD and that's where the sentiment tag came from too it is on there as a  blank tag in a variety of colours and you can add your own greeting. Don't forget to watch the launch of the CD on create and craft TV at 15:00 hrs BST on 9th June. The other CD I used was for the image and the border which are both from the 'Boys to Men CD' you can get yours from the Ooh La La Website.

I kept the design simple my Dad is 88 now and he doesn't do fussy.

Inside teh card I printed off a section of teh topper image at 8x8 and reduced the opacity. I added a die cut oval in my graphics programme and added a greeting that was in keeping with the image.

Bear it All at Ooh La La Creations

Firstly thank you to everyone who entered our 'Quotations' challenge last time pop over to the Ooh La La creations Challenge blog to see if you are a winner.

This fortnight we want to see you bear it all so bears in all shapes, sizes colours and hues are the order of the day.

I used a quick card  and paper from the Boys to Men CD to create a scrapbook page about a Teddy Bears picnic some of us participated in. It all started when we found some old photos of us on a 'George Harrison' tour of Liverpool to mark his birthday. It had been pouring down in teh morning and whilst we waited for the tour bus we took refuge in the Beatles story and they had just taken a delivery of Beatle Bears so we all bought one of course the George Bears were very popular considering it was mainly George fans assembled and we took photos of the Bears at various landmarks in Liverpool which were related in some way to George. when we came across the photos we were remembering all the fun we had with our bears and our tour guide from that day Jackie Spencer came up with teh idea of the Teddy Bears picnic. We all met at Sefton Park Palm House a building that George donated money to restore to its former glory. So here we are with our bears on the day.

I included a copy of the lyrics to 'Teddy Bears' Picnic' and that's where I took the title from. 

Behind the picture of Jackie I have used the lovely Teddy Bear weave paper from the family picnic folder - I also included one of the quick cards from the same folder to show the Teddy's setting off on their picnic or they could be going home as 'tired little teddy bears'

We caused quite a stir on the day when visitors to the palm house rounded a corner to find us sitting on my Beatle blanket and partaking of such delights as veggie sausage rolls, home made scones (reference to the film Backbeat) Chocolate brownies (reference to George's appearance on The Simpsons') and of course Jelly Babies (because George once told a reported that John had eaten all his Jelly Babies and ever after fans used to throw Jelly Babies at the band when they played). It prompted may questions from visitors and of course we told them how George had donated a substantial amount of money to the restoration of the palm house to save it when it looked as if it would have to be demolished because he remembered visiting there as a child with his older brother Peter.

Quotations at Ooh La La

Well we had some wonderful entries into our Faithful friends challenge the winners can be found on the Ooh La La Creations challenge blog.

This fortnight out theme is 'Quotations' so we want you to include a quotation on your card.

We on the DT have been really excited about this challenge as it has given us the perfect excuse for giving you a sneak peak of the New Ooh La La Creations CD 'Say it with words' which will be launched on Monday 9th of June at 3pm BST on Create and Craft.

It has something for everyone and is very versatile.However you'll need to tune in to see the show if you want to know more and see even more of the samples the DT have made for the show.

I have chosen to make a Gift and a card with matching tag and mini envelope from a folder on the CD called

'Believe in magic' it is based on a Roald Dahl quotation

'Those who don't believe in magic will never find it'

apart from some mirror card for the die cutting, a piece of acetate, some gold washi tape and cosmic shimmer pearlised glue everything else is from the CD.

The candle is a plain white pillar candle from a local pound store and I printed one of the topper images onto tissue paper then applied this to the candle with a heat gun.

The box is made from A3 card with a cut away section lined with acetate that has little gold dandelion clocks on it. 

I printed off three of the patterned papers from the folder on teh CD onto thin card and then cut these to line nd cover the outside of the box. I don't have an A3 printer so couldn't just print straight onto the card for the box. I reinforced the lid and bottom of the box with gold washi tape to give a neater edge.

I finished off the box front with 2 die cut dandelions and two sentiments and then added some single dandelion clocks to the front of the lid.

I used one of the tag shapes from the tags and sentiments folder and then added a 'ribbon' border from the embellishments folder and added the word Believe. The image I added using a digital punch feature in my graphics programme. The bow is also from the embellishments folder and I added more of the single dandelion clocks to the image and some dots of pearlised glue on the border.

The envelope just prints off from the 'believe in Magic' and is so easy to fold I added another Dandelion clock and sentiment to the front. The design on the front of the envelope is the same as that on the front of the box but with less opacity, the reverse is the same design but with full opacity so the design can be seen.

For the card I printed off the same 3 backing papers I used for the box. I kept the lovely yellow and orange paper as the main piece and matted it onto gold mirror card then gave it a spritz with gold mica pigment to give a really subtle sparkle.

I punched a fancy edge into the green paper to make a border and added a strip of the pretty floral pattern that reminds me so much of dandelion clocks - speaking of which I added a further clock to teh front with some singles working their way up the card, and added a sentiment.

I finished the card off by adding the printed insert from the folder.

So there you have it a sneak peak at the new Ooh La La CD.

Faithful Friends at Ooh La La Creations

Good Morning, what a gorgeous selection of Easter/spring themed projects we were treated to last time to find out if you are winner you can go to the bolg at Ooh La La Creations Challenges.

Our theme this time is .......

Faithful Friends

I have returned to scrapbooking again for this one and used papers from the 'Faithful Friends' CD by Ooh La La you can get a copy from the on line shop 

Chester belonged to my Mother-in-Law and every year in late spring he would go with my hubby and myself to 'help' us get the caravan she owned ready for her to stay there for the whole summer. Chester loved being at the caravan.

These pictures were taken when he decided to help me plant up the hanging baskets for her little garden. Well I thought he was helping until I realised where I had put the table and chairs on the patio was the sunniest position in the garden. 

I cam up with the idea of the title bar having watched Mel Heaton put together a page about her dog on Sunday Scrappers on Create and Craft. I don't have a Cricut so I made a paper template in the shape of a bone and cut the bone shape from this paper from the CD before matting it onto pink and then green card. The letters are wooden and I coated each one with a Sakura glaze pen in green and once that had dried I added the paw prints in black glaze pen. 

I wanted a dark brown background as that colour always reminds me of Ches and whenever I see it I refer to it as Chester Brown. I also wanted to reflect the brightness of the day so used bright pink and green card from American crafts to make my mats an layers and to make the photo's pop.

The green plaid and paw prints papers are also from the Faithful friends CD.

I added a pleated strip from Bazzil basics across the centre of the brown page then added the various panels before embellishing the project.

The pink roses and the journalling tag are from Tilda and I made the hanging basket and the planter (Stephen's Mum had one just like it at the Caravan) using Jonna Sheen dies and off cuts of card. The flowers are cut using the mini blooms die from tattered lace as was the Ivy in eh hanging basket. I just used off cuts from other projects and then used a ball tool to shape the flowers. I added contrasting pearl centres. A picket fence runs across the bottom of one of the panels and I finished off with a smaller bone to match the tittle bar at the bottom corner. 

Sadly Ches is no longer with us but he will never be forgotten. 

Paper piecing with Fab N Funky

Once again thank you for all the floral delights for our Flower Power Challenge last week. Check out the Fab n Funky blog to see if you are one of the lucky winners or top three.

This week we are sponsored by

and our theme is paper piecing. 

I used Paris Honey to produce the following card. 

I wanted Honey to stand out so used muted colours for the background with lots of kraft and cream card accents.

The papers are digital ones from My Craft Studio Shabby Sweet Essentials and because they are digital there is very little wastage as the 'papers could be shrunk to smaller size and the image of honey could be placed in the right position for printing out. In fact the whole honey image and all the paper bits were printed on a single A4 sheet.  I coloured her skin and hair using Promarkers and spectrum Noir pens 

Skin Ivory FS1, FS3, Blush

Hair GB3, GB5 and Caramel.

I also coloured two a separate fringe section which I fussy cut and added to the image before adding the paper pieced hat. just to give her added dimension.

The background paper is from the same CD and I layered this onto Cream and kraft card before adding it to an ivory 8x8 blank.

The doily was cut using a tattered lace die from cream card stock but because it looked lost on the background I coloured it using distress ink in Victorian velvet. 

I added a border that had been punched using a Martha Stewart punch and added the die cut circles.

The flowers and leaves are cut using tattered lace dies and the Eiffel Tower using a Marianne die. the sentiments are done using the computer the font is undercurrent and it is one I like for creating little text bars for my scrapbooking.

I finished off with some pearls and gems.

Struck by creativity at Through the Purple Haze

I seem to be on a bit of a roll with getting some of my digital photographs printed and scrapbooked at the moment mainly due to the fantastic inspiration over on the CSI challenges page 
the latest case file is shown below

so following the rules of having to incorporate all 5 colours ( or the closet proximation of all 5 colours from my stash) at least two pieces from the evidence list and at least one thing from the Testimony list I came up with this layout.

I have included all of the 5 colours. From the evidence list I used several of the things listed. I started with a floral background I didn't have any in my stash that was the correct colours so instead used a sheet of paper from Luminarte intended for use with twinkling H2Os. It has a resist finish with uncoated area that pick u the colours. So not having any H2O's I used distress inks instead and layered up brushed corduroy, iced spruce and stormy sky the edges were then distressed using a pair of scissors. I stuck this down onto a piece of light brown card. I tore and sanded a piece of dotted coredinations card stock in the lovely fresh green and stuck this in one corner. I used something unexpected for the image come on honestly how many of you reading this were actually expecting a photograph of a white Blackbird? 

I framed the image with a die cut frame and also framed a much smaller image of a black Blackbird using a frame made from Paper clay that had been painted with white gesso. 

I added 2 tags one already coloured that just needed a bit of distressing round the edges and the other I coloured with distress inks in the same shades as for the background and gave it a quick spritz with some luminarte gold shimmer mist. 

I added wooden corner flourishes and a wooden bird cage which had also been given the shimmer mist treatment. 

The title was easy I love using song titles or lyrics in my titles and as incomprehensible as the lyrics to my chosen song are it is still one of my favourite songs from the Psychadelic 60's and I was fortunate to see Gary Brooker (former Procul Harum keyboard player) perform it live a few years ago. I just used a computer font then cut each word to form a tile which I coloured with more distress ink. 

I hate throwing anything away so when we recently had a beautiful leather Chesterfield sofa's re upholstered after 20 years I kept the old leather and have used some of it for the flowers die cut using a Tim Holtz tattered flowers die. I added various metal Jewellery findings and gems for the centres and finished off with some metal bird charms.

For the testimony section I included 2 separate tags which I had added Journalling to one tag containing 7 interesting facts about the white Blackbird. for example it isn't actually an albino but a leutino because it does not have red eyes, but the normal colour eyes for a Blackbird it just lacks pigment in its feathers.

So that was my creativity this Monday Morning 

I am entering the layout into the  following challenges 

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - creativity strikes 

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Birds and feathers 

http://creativeknockouts.blogspot.co.uk/ - Furry or Feathery Friends