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Sunday 4 September 2011

STAMPTACULAR #127 "The Sky's the Limit" with multiple challenges

It's Sunday again and that means another fabulous challenge at Stamptacular Sunday Challenge where we are sponsored by the brilliant Bunny Zoe's Craft who are offering one lucky winner a lovely $10 gift voucher.  This week we are asking you to create anything your heart desires - "The sky's the limit".   We want you to be creative though - this isn't an ordinary anything goes challenge.  We in the DT  have been tasked to be "extremely creative; to do something outside of the box".  So I did!!!  My card was a real feat of engineering for me.  I wanted to make an easel bookatrix card with a difference.  I've never used my bookatrix stencil before AND I wanted the easel to be on the inside of the card instead of the outside.
My card is for our Grandson who is being baptised in Crete where he lives with his Mum and Dad. 
This is him Just Chillin' in their cafe bar one week after his second birthday.  He is wearing clothes for a four year old - he is going to be tall like his mummy!   

Baptism's are huge celebrations in Crete and apparently usually take place in the toddler years when a baby is walking.  The service is of course religious but the party afterwards is entirely secular and very often themed.  Our daughter has chosen a "Fairy Tale Prince" theme in bright greens and blues with frogs and crowns.  The candle holders for all of the tables are frogs, there will be crowns hung from the trees, the Baptism favours will be festooned with frogs and crowns and blue and green ribbons as well as the traditional sugared almonds.  I'm sure you get the picture.
Emma asked us to come early to Crete to help with making the Baptism favours - these are pronounced "bubinerra" in Greek (bonbonierre in french) and I HAD NO IDEA JUST HOW MUCH WORK IT WOULD BE TO MAKE THEM.  But make them I did.  I wish I could share them now but I have no way to transfer the photos from my camera to my pc at the moment so I will dedicate a post to them in a couple of weeks time.
In the meantime, I've had to take rather a lot of photos to show the mechanism for card.  All patterned papers are DCWV Citrus.  The plain card stock is Papermill, some DCWV Citrus card and some K&Co too.
This is the front which, after opening becomes a visible back because it stands up. It's made with a Large Prima flower, a Martha Stewart border punch and Marianne die corner features.

This is the base.  The letters were cut with my Cricut and act as the "stop" for the bottom of the easel.

When opening the card, the front panel is attached by a ribbon to the middle section and it automatically pulls the middle section up.  Unlike most easel cards my feature panel lays face down inside the card.  I decorated the inside of the front a little but it isn't actually visible below the Marianne die corner features when the card is fully opened and as the middle and top panels are attached to eachother the space in between is only partially visible upon opening.  I added two felt buttons which act as "stops" for the top of the easel.  

As my main focus, I have used my favourite image of all time which is Mo Manning's "Puddle Jumper" and coloured it with Promarkers.  Puddle jumper is cut out, embossed from the back and glued down with silicone glue to give it more dimension.   Sadly the dimension isn't very visible in this photo.

I made up my own poem for the inside which is word processed. Writing little rhymes for special occasions was something I used to do a lot of 15-25 years ago. The first line is actually taken from an Irish blessing but the rest of it is my own. 

The easel section is cut using a bookatrix template where you emboss the shape of the book and then cut around it. I found it very tricky. See how the button's at the top stop the front cover from falling backwards? 

Finally, here is the side view.
This card took me two full days to make and quite a lot of wasted card stock as I worked out the engineering and folding mechanisms.  Was it worth it?  I hope so.  It took me 60 hours to make the Baptism favours!!!! But more of that in a later post!
Please come and play with us this week and don't forget to share some love with my fabby teamies who have made all manner of lovely creations!

I am entering my card into the following challenges:
Kaboodle Doodle - "Easel done it!"
Passion for Promarkers - "Flexible" (Anything goes)
Flutter by Wednesday - "Celebrate"
Crafty Creations - "Dies and Punches" - I used my Cricut die cutting machine for cutting the ovals of Giannis' name and the word "Blessings". I hope that counts because we are supposed to use three different punches or dies - my other two are the Martha Stewart border punch and the Marianne die corners on the front of my card.
My Mum's Craft Shop - "1-2-3 .... it's as easy as".   I used 1 flower, 2 Marianne Corner punches and 3 felt buttons (one as the flower centre and 2 on the inside)
Simon Says - "Anything Goes"
Cute Card Thursday - "A pinch and a punch"
Charisma Cardz - "Anything Goes" and;
Totally Gorjuss - "As you Like It"

27 comments:

Tracey T said...

Wow - this really is amazing and no wonder it took 2 days! Giannis will love it, I'm sure. Tracey x

Céline said...

Hi Lesley!
your easel special card is AMAZING, i understand that you took ages to make it!!!! but the result is so fab, sure he llike it!
so in french we said "bonbonnière" :)
hugs
céline

Scrappy Scatty said...

Lovely card
thank you for joining us at Charisma Cardz this week
Love Jan
xx

The Crafty Den said...

Hi Lesley, what a stunning card. I love the image and pretty papers. It was definitely worth all your hard work!! Thanks for joining in with our "anything goes" challenge over at PFP this week. Hugs, Denise x

sparklygirl-Tina said...

Hi Lesley

Wow what a stunning creation and you can tell its taken a while to do - but it is so worth it you must be very pleased with it - I know I would be!

Thanks so much for sharing it with us over at Kaboodle Doodles and good luck.

Tina

Debs said...

what a stunning creation!!..:0)..thanks for sharing with us at PFP this week..hugs Debs x

debby4000 said...

Oh WOW this is stunning Lesley and so gorgeous and beautiful too.
luv
Debby

Jill said...

wow stunning card Lesley love the colours and the detail you've added thanks for joining us at MMCS hugs Jill xx

Michele Spera said...

love how you made your card! Stunning job with all the die cuts:-)Thank you for joining us at CCT
Hugs
Michele S.

Vee said...

Wonderful card beautifully done.Thanks for joining our challenge this week at Charisma.
xx Vee

ellen vargo designs said...

Love your card! So many interesting layers and textures - thanks for sharing your art with us at Simon Says Stamp and Show!

Ellen :)

xxxtglxxx said...

wow Lesley :) This is all just amazing hun! :)

Thanks so much for playing at Charisma Cardz this week,

hugs

xxalisonxx

Jules said...

Hi Lesley

What a absolute brilliant work of art.

This is amazing!!!

I love everything you have done here .. .. including the wonderful verse you have written. You are clever!

I am sure your Grandson will love it!! He looks a gorgeous little chappie lying there "chillin'". Will you get to go to the baptism?

Love Jules xx

Nana Donna said...

Wow what a fabulous card, I love all the details and dimension you put into it. The poem is great and I love the way you put the fonts together. TFS

Thanks for playing along at Crafty Creations this week
http://nanadonnascarddreams.blogspot.com/

The Crafty Den said...

Hi Lesley, what a gorgeous card. I love the image and pretty papers. Thanks for joining us at charisma cardz challenge this week. Hugs, Denise x

Dorcas said...

THis is awesome!

Dorcas said...

Hi Leslie!
Just to remind you that you have a whole nother week to enter for the GD call at Mo's. This week the theme is "boy attitude". Hope you can join in!

Julie said...

Gorgeous card, Lesley!! So MUCH work!!! Beautiful colours and stunning attention to detail!! The little lad looks soooo cute sitting there - bet he gets spoilt rotten!! Loads of love Juliexx

Val said...

Wow - this is just fabulous. Hope all goes well in Crete.

Love
Valxx

Vicky said...

OMG.....OMG..........OMG.....I really dont know what else to say I really am gobsmacked its absolutely amazingly fantastic hun WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!
Love the poem as well shug.

Lotsa hugs Vicky xxx

Janiel/ janny said...

HOLY COW PQ THIS IS STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!! What a great card with a ton of thought put into it!!!!

I wanna see all the photos of the event and the party favors and such!! LOL.......... YOUR GRANDSON is a DOLL!!!!!!

I do hope you had a great time away with them. Such a special time I am sure.
Sorry I have NOT been around either I just can't get onto my feet.. SO blogging is just not something that I get to spend much time doing. I struggle to get my cards/projects done and loaded to my blog. :o(
THANK YOU for ALWAYS stopping by with your sweet comments as THEY TRULY DO MEAN THE WORLD TO ME my dear friend!!!!!!
big hugs, Janiel

anita01 said...

Lesley....

Schitterend mooi!!!!!

Warme groetjes,
Anita xxx

Turtle In The Sand said...

Is there a "Cliff Notes" version? LOL If you are going to make a special 2 day card, baptism is certainly a good celebration to do so. I'm sure his Momma will put it in a safe place to show him when he is older too.
This is fabulous.

Anonymous said...

Lesley, this is really amazing hun!! I love the design and your colors look fabulous girl!! :)

Whimcees said...

Hello!

What a beautiful card!

Congratulations of being chosen to be a guest designer on Mo's blog! Your creations are wonderful!

Wishing you a happy day!

Hugs,

Barbara Diane

Pat said...

Hi Lesley!! I love this card!! So adorable...love the colors, DPs, and design! Such fun!! And, of course, I love this beautifully colored Mo image!! I can see why this is one of your faves! So glad you could join us for our "end of the year" challenge at Mo's! Happy New Yea hugs. Pat Frank

Elaine L. said...

them