Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Stampin' Up Black Friday ~ EARLY!

AWESOME Stampin' Up sale!  WOWzers!  Save UP TO 50% on bundled products for the holidays, Dad, embossing and more!  I will be all over this one, and you should be too!  Visit Here and click Shop Now to take advantage of these deals ONLINE ~ supplies are limited, so don't wait too long!  Sale ends December 1st.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

TTIC#9 ~ The Movie!!!

Stamper's Inspiration Challenge:

This challenge is all about the Twilight movie as your inspiration piece. Be sure to mention the movie as your inspiration and describe what about it is inspiring your project. Link back here and share!  Don't forget to leave us a comment with your link!! If you upload to an SCS gallery, be sure to use the keyword TTIC9.

Comment Inspiration Challenge:

Tell us what your movie experience was. Your likes, dislikes, favorite scenes...whatever you want to share.

Well, better late than never!  I really expected to have a million ideas after seeing the movie - you DID go see it by now, haven't you???  But I don't!  And I have no idea why... maybe it is an anticipation hangover. Blurry Drunk
Yeah, I'll go with that.   Anyhow, here is what I came up with:

movie1I felt like the movie was straight to the point - right from the book.  (Except that stupid & unnecessary, but funny, field trip scene.) Remember those gems that Eve sent me a few weeks ago?  I used those to adorn the side, and eventually, I will pick a unique-to-the-movie quote to (yikes) handwrite up the side above the lovely jewels.   If you cannot tell, I used silver metallic paper to cutout the title with, using my Cricut (LOVE it!) and used my favorite Charbon DSP from Stampin' Up for the background paper.  (Wish they would keep black and gray DSP around all the time!)  Finally,  I found a picture I liked (and hadn't seen before - it's a good one, too!) and printed it on vellum and ripped it out.  What a chore THAT was - ripping in a circle! If you've never ripped vellum, it always rips differently horizontally than vertically.  It's just the way it is woven.  YOU go try and make a decent, controlled tear of a circle!  I wanna see it!  :)  But, I digress... 

I liked the movie.  As I have said everywhere I have posted, I want to see it again, now that I have scoured it for details and correctness.  LOL  I ruined some of the joy of it for myself by doing that.   Also, I have said that Rob Pattinson is an excellent Edward, even in the 'weird' scenes.  Surprisingly, I didn't hate Kristen Stewart as Bella - she was good!  LOVED Charlie and Taylor Lautner was a super Jacob.  I can't wait to see more of him in New Moon - he was very comfortable in the character.  Fantastic.  I could go on and on, but you really don't want to hear my expert review! :)

Don't forget to check out these TTIC submissions:

Tonya

Eve

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

OT: True Blood Message Board


Ok, we all know about Tonya's well-documented obsession with Twilight and Edward Cullen... My vampires of choice are the Southern Vampires by Charlaine Harris. You might know them better from the new HBO series True Blood. Anyhoo - I have been repeatedly frustrated by the overloaded message forums, so I started my own. Hopefully, we can maintain a decent number in order to keep actual conversations going without scrolling around for responses! YKWIM?! If you are a fan... visit me here.

See you there!
~Beth

EDITED 11/18/08 ~ In case some new Southern Vamp fans pop in...

Twilight Tuesday ~ TTIC#8

Can you believe it?! The movie opens in 3 DAYS! That makes this this the final, pre-movie TTIC! tticteamsmallerbella37289promophoto
This week I chose the topic, and the theme is Bella. Simple, huh? Nope - there is so much going on with that girl! There are a million ways to go with this one. For me, though, it was pretty obvious... so I call this one the Juxtaposition of Bella Swan. Clearly this girl is a lesson in confusion and opposition. The good girl, dutiful and trustworthy, nurturing of her family and a pure-hearted caregiver to both of her parents on the one hand, then she is also this voraciously obsessive girl who somehow 'knows' that she is to devote her entire (literally!) existence to another "17" year old on the other - oh, yeah, a "17" year old VAMPIRE. Effectively ditching the 'safe' (in more ways than one!) for a relationship with a supernatural, mythical being. Huh-what? But that is what makes her so interesting. 'Fess up, there are times when you want to donate a hearty V8 "thunk" on her forehead. She's naive, but she's brave. She's smart, but she's naive. She's brave, but she's scared. But above it all, she is sure that she is destined to be with Edward. *sigh* Young love...bella2TTIC8

So, I went obvious - white roses for her purity and humanity, and black for the obsession and desire to be immortal. (I know we are supposed to stick to the first novel, but my creation encompasses everything I know of Bella from the entire saga.)

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As 'cuddly' (as I call them) as the vamps in Meyerland are - well, the Cullens, anyway - vampires are still vampires, so I depicted them with black roses.

The second part to my challenge was to describe how you relate to Bella, and/or to find a quote that was particularly meaningful or amusing. I went with identifiable. Definitely identifiable:

Sometimes I wondered if I was seeing the same things through my eyes that the rest of the world was seeing through theirs. Maybe there was a glitch in my brain.
Bella Swan, Twilight, Chapter 1, p.11

Thursday, November 13, 2008

This is the End~

...beautiful friend. The End. (Raise your hand if you are hearing the incomparable Jim Morrison and the Doors...) Yeah, the Doors rank right up there with my lovely vampires and Stampin' Up. :) What can I say, I have eclectic taste! Anyhoo... we just wrapped up this year's Stamp Club, Card Makingand I am a little sad. This was a fun group. Most of them were very new to stamping and now they are pros! *pats self on the back* I was a little surprised to to learn that a few Clubbers pop in here once in a while. Vampire adoration and all... Vampire

So, here are the last *sniff* projects we did. The card, which I will say is one of my all time favorites, and a gussied up version of a Jane Raulin-Kissel creation, is one I want to continue to play around with. Other colors and different embellishments. Such a classic looking card - so not my normal creation! (Which is why I CASE!) Although, by some freak of nature, I do SO love the color pink (she said while typing with her trademark black fingernails). I also got to try out the new vanilla hodgepodge hardware. Everyone should have these! I devised a trick to keep the punches in place and now I am all about HPHW! Go order both colors NOW - it is so worth it! $10 Gift Certificate to anyone who buys both online - that's how 'worth it' I think it is!



Here's a hint when working with HPHW: Attach the punch out to your project with dimensionals. It holds it in place, and 'fills' up the space between the hardware and the card base. Works like a charm. Awesome And how awesome is this vanilla hardware I raved of earlier... I LOVE it!


Moving right along... I thought these next 3x3's would be great for little gifts. A bit more than a tag, but less than a full card. I'll be using lots of these types on packages this year. Act surprised!
See you on Twilight Tuesday!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Oh, SNAP!

The second part of the TTIC#7 challenge was to take the "Which Twilight Male Are You?" quiz.  So, yes - oh, SNAP, indeed!  I am Edward.  I was sure I'd be Jake or Emmett.  Huh... definitely something to think about there...  Oh, well... at least he is fantastically beautiful, if not slightly psycho!    Easy, now - I love me some Eddie too, girls!  Just to prove my point, here are some of my favorite pictures that scroll continuously on my desktop, courtesy of my Google sidebar!   Yes, and endless stream of gorgeous vampires... 

 normal_19poster - wow

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TTIC#7 ~ Emmett & the Bear

Yes, Twilighters ~ another Tuesday is here! And with less than 10 days to the movie, this Twi-hard is getting anxious!! Aarrgghhh! Anyhoo... This week we are inspired by Emmett's story. This was glossed over in the book, but on the author's website you can read him telling Bella is story of life and death, and a little throw down with a grizzly bear!









The long and short of it, is that Emmett was in the woods and came upon a bear than kicked his butt. The rest you have to read for yourself! So I was going for an earthy, rustic feel without being too gory. It was definitely a challenge! Especially since I don't have the cute SU set that Vamp is using! I like the pawprints, and 'torn' equipment, though. Emmett is the man. I love that his machismo has carried over to his immortality. Another great Stephenie Meyer character!
Don't forget to link back if you are playing along and check out Tonya's and Eve's TTIC submission for this week!









Tuesday, November 4, 2008

TTIC #6 ~ Blame it on the Rain...

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For this week, we were challenged to channel the lovely Forks weather... ummm, RAIN. The whole time I was brainstorming, I kept hearing Milli Vanilli in the background. HA! Anyhow, the rain is almost as palpable as a character in this story. So much hinges on that single factor - The Cullens reside there because of it; Bella commiserates in it and feels her joy that much more vibrantly because of it... she even almost bites it (sorry, vampire humor) because of freezing rain! I read somewhere that the cast and crew actually did "rain dances", of sorts, to keep the clouds and rain in place to authenticate filming! Funny, huh?

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This simple little card took forever! I brayered the sky with Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy and then used a napkin to rub off some areas. I also sponged a little Whisper White craft ink into those spots to show small 'breaks' in the clouds. For some reason, I always thin of the scene just prior to Edward saving her in the parking lot, where the rain was freezing on the ground... I imagine the chill, and even tough there was no snow on the ground at the time, I imagine it that way. (I'm from Maine - there is ALWAYS a little patch of snow SOMEwhere!) :) So, in keeping with that incorrect 'vision', I used my Versamarker to paint in some snow on the ground and in the pine tree (Mainers know that there is always snow stuck in the corners of the pine boughs, too!) and embossed it with clear powder before using my markers to add in the grass. Finally, I used my Cricut to cut out the title and then patted it in the WW craft in for the 'cloudy' effect.

Do you get the feeling that I am embracing Autumn in my last few projects??