Archive for 10/1/10 - 11/1/10

Giving thanks


Fall is in full force here in eastern TN. The mountains are just ablaze with reds, oranges, and yellows - it's just amazing! And inspiring :)

I've got a fall-themed card to share. I used this week's fabulous ColourQ challenge colors - aren't they great?


For the layout, I went with the lovely Annabelle Stamps sketch.

And here's the end result.

All right, y'all. That's all I've got for now. Thanks so much for stopping by! 

 TTFN,

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Ingredients (all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise stated): 
Stamps: Vintage picnic, Vintage picnic sentiments
Ink: Tuxedo black (Memento), Magenta (Colorbox)
Paper: White, spring moss, Autumn patterned papers (DCWV)
Other: nesties, copics, fiskars border punch, dew drops, sewing machine

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Fun with Fabric and Flames - JUGS

Intrigued?

It's just a description of what you'll be doing when you play along with the next Just Us Girls wildcard  challenge!
Our lovely hostess, Dana , is challenging all of us to to make a flower out of fabric. But not just any flower, a burnt edge flower!!! Dana found a tutorial on a very lovely website HERE. All you need is some silky material (other material may work too - I just tried what the tutorial mentioned), scissors and flame (a tealight works wonderfully). And if I can do it and not burn down the house, you can too! But seriously, because you will be using open flame, work on a heat resistant surface clear of a lot of material and remember to stay focused :) Oh yeah, if you have a curious kitty, you may want to sequester yourself for a little while... I speak from experience :) I tell you though, the results are soooooo worth it. The flowers look amazing!!!! I put mine on a card but you could make it into a hair clip, a clothing accessory, head band... the sky's the limit! If you decide that flames and fabric are not the safest option for your situation, then just make a fabric flower - we'd love to see any fabric bloom you can create.

On to my take on the challenge;


And here's a close up of that fabulous flower. I definitely do this technique again and I'll give a few other fabrics a go to see the results.


I used the Play Date Cafe colors, black, white and a splash of burgundy as well as the latest sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You.





In other fun news, it's our dear, sweet Kristin's Birthday next Tuesday! Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday to you!!!!! Hope you have a wonderful day, you deserve it!!!

If you already haven't, see the JUGS site for all the challenge deets. Don't forget to swing by the blogs of the other JUGS DT gals and show them a little love :)


Thanks so much for playing along with Just Us Girls - we love seeing your creations and always appreciate your support! Make sure you give this week's challenge a try!!!! You won't be disappointed :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

TTFN,
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Ingredients (all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise stated):
Stamps: Fillable frames #8
Ink: Tuxedo black (Memento), scarlet jewel
Paper: White, true black
Other: Medium scallop die, diamonds impression plate, wine silky fabric (Hobby Lobby), pearl brad, nesties, fillable frames #8 die, white felt (Hobby Lobby), Leaf prints die, damask EF

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World Equestrian Games

I finally got a few pics together from the World Equestrian Games. What a time it was - I wish I'd taken more pictures!


This is just a small representation of the HUGE number of vendor booths - everything from artwork and jewelry all the way up to carriages and vacations. 


The approach to the main stadium where the largest events were held. All the folks were headed over for the Freestyle dressage final.

The main stadium, all decked out :)


The view from our seats as the daylight fades. 

 
The main event about to begin - two, ginormous screens were placed on opposite sides of the stadium to display replays, scores and the sponsorship commercials :)


For any dressage fans out there, this is the order of go - the riders that we had the privilege of seeing that night (Oct. 1, 2010). Some of the world's best - so exciting!!!!

7:04pm- Peter Gmoser and Cointreau (AUT)
7:14pm- Fiona Bigwood and Wie-Atlantico De Ymas (GBR)
7:24pm- Marcela Krinke Susmelj and Corinth (SUI)
7:34pm- Michal Parcewicz and Randon (POL)
7:44pm- Ashley Holzer and Pop Art (CAN)

8:04pm- Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein and Digby (DEN)
8:14pm- Christoph Koschel and Donnperignon (GER)
8:24pm- Brett Parbery and Victory Salute (AUS)
8:34pm- Anabel Balkenhol and Dablino (GER)
8:44pm- Isabell Werth and Warum Nicht FRH (GER)

9:04pm- Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris (GBR)
9:14pm- Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz and Fuego XII (ESP)
9:24pm- Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas (NED)
9:34pm- Steffen Peters and Ravel (USA)
9:44pm- Imke Schellekens-Bartels and Hunter Douglas Sunrise (NED)



Dressage is my favorite!!! Horses and riders complete a series of movements of varying difficulty. The pair is assessed based on how they perform the movements. Something like how figure skating and gymnastics are assessed. At the end of the ride, they are given a score. The event we saw were rides set to music - riders have to complete a number of moves but they can do it in any order and it's choreographed to music! I know it sounds boring (while watching dressage on tv once, my hubby said it was like watching cement set :) but he did enjoy the live version) but knowing how much training goes into these horses and the moves they complete, it's absolutely amazing to watch!
This first picture is of an extended trot by Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris from Great Britain. 


Canter pirouette by Germnay's Isabell Werth and Warum Nicht


Canada's own Ashely Holzer and Pop Art. She had a great ride and was smiling from ear to ear the entire time!


This was Fuego XII and Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz from Spain - they were truly the crowd favorites! Here's a you tube video of the ride (not my own sadly). At the end, the crowd cheered and Juan waved his arm and the horse spooked! It certainly made for a light moment :)


When riders finish their performance, they stop and salute to the judges. A nice, square halt by Anabel Balkenhol and Dablino from Germany.


Steffen Peters and Ravel from the US enter the ring to begin their ride. They did a brilliant job and finished 3rd in the medal standings.


This next picture is of Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas - they were just jaw-droppingly good! It was a pleasure to watch this amazing pair perform. Watch the video on youtube here. Even people not into horse can appreciate how amazing this looks!


Edward Gal and Totilas won gold with their stunning performance. The following picture is of the victory gallop following the medal ceremony with Edward Gal and Totilas leading the way!!!! So glad we stayed to watch this part!

 

On Wed, Oct 6, we saw the Team Show Jumping Finals. Lots of impressive riding and huge jumps!!! In this competition, 4 riders from each country take turns riding the course. For every fence rail that gets knocked down, the riders (therefore the teams) get penalized - the penalties are called faults. The team that finishes with the lowest number of faults wins. Germany won this year with just a total of 17 faults for the entire team! We proudly cheered on Canada - they finished 5th overall with some strong rides.


This was a big double oxer in front of our side of the stands. There was also a very impressive combination including a triple bar (which is basically three fences close together that the horse and rider jump over in one very big leap :)) followed by a single vertical fence (doesn't sound that hard but you only have a short space to slow the horse down enough to jump the single fence cleanly after getting up the momentum to jump that huge triple bar). Wish I'd taken good pictures of that....


A rider jumping the final fence of the course. 

There were also a few other free events that we had the opportunity to take in while we were there.
There was a demonstration by 4 hunter jumper riders with commentary by a judge. This was great - I'd never been to a hunter jumper show, so hearing what the riders are trying to accomplish and how things are scored was really nice. Basically, these riders jump fences like the show jumpers, but the fences are smaller. The riders and horses are judged on their appearance and how they go around the course (for example, does the horse have a good attitude and does he jump with jump with nice form, etc) in addition to keeping all the fence rails up. In show jumping, the horses and riders are penalized only if they knock a fence rail down, refuse to go over a fence or exceed a time allowed to go around the course. They don't get penalized for form over fences or if the horse has a bad attitude. There's so much more to hunter jumper then my simplified explanation but one thing's for sure, these horses were GORGEOUS!



Well that's about it! Hope you enjoyed pictures of our experience at the World Equestrian Games! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 TTFN,

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Create For Fun Inaugural Color Challenge!


Yesterday, my friendly neighborhood UPS dropped off a box full of Papertrey Ink goodies...mmmmm. Tonight I got the chance to ink some up - YAY!!! I sure am glad I had some time to ink up the new products because my sweet friend Mona has started a new challenge, Create for Fun (CR84FN - how cute is that?) !!!! Mona is the owner of the blog, Cupcake's Creations - if you haven't seen her amazing work, you HAVE to swing by and check it out! In addition to being super talented, Mona is the sweetest person and has been a very supportive friend :) So I'm so excited that she's started this new challenge and we get to play along with her!!!! Her inaugural color challenge is a great one too. These colors were just perfect for my new PTI sets, Holly Jolly and Big and Bold Holiday Wishes :) I used this week's fantastic Waltzing Mouse sketch for inspiration. 



I stamped the holly background in versamark and heat embossed with white powder. I also found a package of larger 1 inch epoxy stickers which fit perfectly over the dated stamp from the Holly Jolly set. I also used another new toy - the diamond impression plate from PTI. I did a faux letterpress technique on red cardstock and I love the way it turned out! Big and Bold Wishes is a fav set and I just had to have the holiday version! 

Head on over to check out Mona's color challenge, CR84FN!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 TTFN,
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Ingredients (all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise stated): 
Stamps: Holly Jolly, Big and Bold Holiday Wishes
Ink: Lady bug (Memento), Bamboo leaves (Memento), Versamark, White (Colorbox), Chai vintage ink
Paper: Fine linen, pure poppy, white
Other: Diamonds impression plate, white embossing powder, twine, epoxy sticker, tag die (Sizzix), nesties, eyelet


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Candy corn!

For my JUGS post, click HERE :)

At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I'm going to say I'm not really a Halloween person. I mean, I like it well enough and I love seeing kids decked out in their costumes, but as for dressing up myself... meh.  I used to love it as a kid and even into my early twenties; not so much anymore. I think if we had children I would really love it all over again, but until that day, I will remain "meh" about Halloween :)
I do love seeing all the Halloween projects made by all my fellow bloggers though! There's some amazingly talented people out there. So much talent, in fact, I was inspired to give Halloween another shot :) 
I made a card for the lovely Annabelle Sketch Challenge using this week's fantastic Curtain Call colors.




Here's a close up...

I used Clear and Simple Spooky Sweets for the candy corn and sentiments. I colored the candies with Copics, cut too out and popped them up for dimension. On closer inspection of my candy corn I can see the one on the left is mildly askew - Oops :) I did use grey and black - the grey is the card base and mat for the orange - it looks a bit dark in the photo so I thought I'd mention it :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 TTFN,
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Ingredients (all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise stated): 
Stamps: Spooky Sweets (Clear and Simple)
Ink: Tuxedo black (Memento)
Paper: White, true black, orange zest, smokey shadow
Other: spider web impression plate (FIskars), polka dot impression plate, sewing machine, copics, nesties

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Wedding rose

To see my JUGS post, click HERE or scroll down :)



The colors are from one of two color inspirations provided by ColourQ this week - in honor of breast cancer awareness month. What a great reason to get inky :) After deciding on the Mojo Monday sketch and looking at the colors, I decided I would make a wedding card.



I colored the rose with Copics (R30, R32, R43) - I really like how soft and pretty it turned out. The seam binding also had the Copic treatment (R43) - man, these markers are versatile! Love 'em!!!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend :) 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

TTFN,
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Ingredients (all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise stated): 
Stamps: Year of flowers: Rose, Delightful dahlia- sentiment, Background basics retro and text style
Ink: Sweet blush, tuxedo black (Memento), versamark
Paper: White, sweet blush, true black
Other: Copics, seam binding, nesties, sewing machine, swiss dots EF, bracket border punch (EK Success)

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Enjoy

Happy weekend!

For my JUGS post, click HERE or scroll down :)

Here's one of this week's sketches over at 2Sketches4You; this beaut is by Rosemarie and I love it!


I used the colors provided by ColourQ. They have 2 color combinations this week; the one below and another for breast cancer awareness month. I'll have another card later using this very important color combo later :)



For some reason, I had a hard time with this one; not sure why but I just sat there mulling over ideas for a good hour or so. Nothing doing... Finally a little bit of inspiration but I'm not sure I'm in love with the end result. I do love the argyle stamp set from PTI though!

Thanks so much for stopping by! TTFN,
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Ingredients (all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise stated): 
Stamps: Autumn Tags, A Little Argyle
Ink: Orange zest, Tuxedo black (Memento), Lady Bug (Memento)
Paper: True black, vintage cream, tan textured cardstock (DCWV)
Other: Vintage cream ribbon, pure poppy buttons, swiss dots embossing folder

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