Garden Inspiration

I'm really running late this weekend, I had this all prepared to go yesterday and Mr B's obviously got the hump with me big time because I only just realised the post was sitting there and not gone live as scheduled. So I have started from scratch so I can also add some challenges.

This week at Allsort's it's Helene's turn to host the challenge and she would like to to seek "Inspiration from a Garden or Park". For my card above, I used this lovely stamp Hero Arts K5366 Tall Birdhouse stamped with versafine back and embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics. I inked some clouds and added stickles to the branches. The mat is punched with Martha Stewart double loop around the page using Doodlebug DP.

And at Polkadoodles the boss Nikky has given us a great sketch to work with. I used it literally as drawn using papers and poinsettias from the new Christmas Paper Boutique CD, decoupaged and layered onto mats cut with Nesties. A Martha Stewart snowflake border punch and ribbon to finish. Greeting on the tag is from the Jingle Jangle Christmas stamp set.

This card is also for the following challenge:

Secret Crafter: Make a Start on Christmas

And my third card (top of post) uses hero Arts K5363 Flower Trio stamped with versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear and coloured with Copics. I stamped round the edges if the main piece with Magenta 32090M crackle background and distressed with Tim Holtz antique linen. I stamped the three flowers a second time onto some DP from stash and cut out to decoupage. The leaves are punched from Basic Grey DP and some hessian and string tied across the middle.

This card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Stamping: Distressed Birthdays

Moving Along with the Times: Recipe

2009 Diamond Edition - Desktop Wallpapers and Game

Here's eleven Disney desktop images with artwork from the 2009 Blu-ray home video release. These wallpapers were available for download from Disney's Official Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition website.

To access them, you first had to play an online game where you could click on a character to download its wallpaper. However, the Queen, Prince, and the Magic Mirror (with Snow White in it) were only available after collecting 15 diamonds throughout the kingdom and unlocking the Dwarf's Mine.

The Wallpapers:

1600px × 1000px

1024px × 768px

2009 Diamond Edition Snow White Desktop Wallpapers.

_____________

The Game:

The Magic Mirror introduced this flash animated game with the words,"The magical world of Snow White awaits."

The homepage consisted of the Seven Dwarfs singing "Heigh-Ho" and marching at center stage while the different areas of the Kingdom passed behind to the left. Diamonds were placed throughout each scene...

If you held your cursor over one of these areas, such as the Dark Forest or Queens's Castle, additional animation would entice you to click your way into this realm...>

Dwarfs' Cottage...

Enchanted Forest...

Wishing Well...

Queen's Castle...

Dark Forest...

Click a character and a window opened to download a wallpaper or email signature...

Once you'd clicked and collected all 15 diamonds, you could then proceed to the Diamond Mind which held a bonus video (of the dwarfs throwing Grumpy into the wash tub) as well as bonus printables and downloads...

Bonus Printables included a Dwarf Name Chart and an Honorary Dwarf Certificate...

Bonus Downloads included the wallpapers (shown at top) and email signatures for the Prince, the Queen, and the Magic Mirror...

All wallpapers and screen captures © Disney.

One Year Ago - Snow White Becomes Millionaire

Twenty-two year old former Snow White Natalie Marston won $5.2 million one year ago today.










Marston was...

working as Snow White at Disneyland when she bought a lottery ticket on a whim. That ticket made Marston a millionaire. [She] won the $5.2 million jackpot on the"Make Me a Millionaire" show by the California Lottery. "I know I played Snow White, but I feel more like Cinderella," Marston said.

Read the entire write-up at lotterypost.com.

Fairies and flowers

How is everyone ? Have you all got this rain as well ? If they talk about droughts now, I think I'll throw something at the TV, to have such green lush paddocks in August is unheard of and utterly bizarre.

I have two shares today, the first is one of the very special birthday cards I have been making for Anysia's 18th on Sunday..............45 peeps coming for a barbie, well that's the plan anyway. Thankfully my mate Mark Spencer.......for those of you not familiar with him he also goes under the guise of M&S......... is doing most of the catering so it just needs collecting and the boys love cooking barbies, so I figure all that leaves for me is to do is make a bowl or two of my famous punch. Why is it famous you ask......nobody can ever remember drinking it !

So the card, another of the gorgeous Sweet Pea Stamps called Black Rose, stamped with versafine black and embossed with detail clear, coloured with Copis and generously glittered and embellished. The DP is Kaiser and the border punched with my new Martha Stewart floral vine punch.

I added lace and vellum butterflies cut with Martha Stewart small monarch. The flowers are a mixture of Magnolia and from stash, plus liberal helpings of pearls.

This card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Pea Stamps: Lace and Pearls

Stamp with Fun: Card for a Girl

Flutterby Wednesdays: Open theme

Charisma Cardz: Hot Hot Hot

C.R.A.F.T: Milestone Birthdays

My second card above is a really quick plain and simple one but I quite like the clean lines. I cut squares on my guillotine and stamped a variety of stamps using Tim Holtz olive and stormy sky and embossed with iridescent powder. I distressed the edges slightly and matted onto blue and green co0ordinating cardstock.

This card is for the following challenges:

Cupcake: Blue and Green

Cut Card Thursday: Dieing for a Punch

Now For Something Completely Different: Snow White's Bar

I made an quick reference to this unique establishment in an earlier post. The Snow White Cafe located at 6769 Hollywood Blvd, is "just steps from the intersection of Hollywood and Highland" in Los Angeles. But it's not necessarily a place you'd expect to find such a Disney icon. Yes, inside you'll see murals paying homage to the famous princess and other characters from the film, but if Snow White was to actually find herself wandering into this place, the atmosphere would probably invoke a response akin to what she experienced in the dark forest...that is, unless she was just interested in finding a spot to sit and watch the tourists. Sounds like the perfect place for this.

Customer comments and reviews from yelp.com:

The decor is absolutely insane. Like...If a[n] amusement park in Iowa was a total Disney rip-off and had a ride called "Black-Haired Beauty and Seven of Her Smaller Friends", this is what the inside of that ride would look like. Lindsay B.

Part alpine Disney nightmare, part fern bar.  I believe the owners were required to retain the Snow White name and decorative remnants by some historical conservation society or something. Linda R.

Snow White is a RELIABLE bar. What you bring to Snow White, Snow White will give back to you. Mandy L.

Cheap crappy food, but it's great if you want to sit and have a pint after a hard day of work. Kelli M.

In the classically cool words of one Mae West..."I used to be Snow White, but I drifted" Stephy S.

 

Photo credit Mike L. 

Rumor has it that the animators (and Walt, too) used to frequent the café, meeting there to brainstorm while having a light meal or a “cup of joe.” Supposedly, the mural was a gift given as a token of appreciation for the café’s hospitality to studio personnel.  Source: 2719 Hyperion

Mural paintings at Snow White Cafe via 2719 Hyperion blog. 

See the 2719 Hyperion blog post from September 18, 2007 with a great write-up and more mural images.

Also read the post from last month's Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles meeting at the Cafe. Great "deets" on the Snow White murals and on the Cafe building itself.

See more images and comments at yelp.com, and read a review (of sorts) from a February 07, 2008 article in the Los Angeles Times.

Dogs and puppies galore

Sorry Folks !!!!

Seems like a constant whinge from me and I'm forever saying this, but so sorry for being a real bad blogger yet again, I must seem like a real pain in the butt, but I am still feeling so rough and taking ages to shift this infection. I really can't believe I've got this so quickly on top on the last one in June. I 'think' I'm going in the right direction, but since the weekend have have a total lack of energy which they say is the concoction of medication taking it's toll. So not a lot of craft the last few days and this is the best I have come up with.

I stamped the main card with Hobby Art GR1341F Shakespeare Sonnet - 'Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day ?' using Tim Holtz broken china, which I also used to create the background for my main image which is Penny Black 4042K daisy fields which I inked with the same TH ink plus tea dye and spritzed with water before stamping. The DP is Doodlebug, the border punch Martha Stewart eyelet lace, then lace, ribbon, gems and pearls to embellish plus three punched butterflies.

This card is for the following challenges:

Tuesday Taggers - Inspired by a Poem

Midnight Madness - Sketch

And a share of a few pictures of the boys and girls, much as I'd love one of all six of them together it night impossible to keep the pups still for long enough to do that.

George, Bernie, Daisy and a non too elegant pose from Buffy (far left)

Buffy and Daisy - night picture and the light makes them look much darker that they really are

George, Bernie and Lily - she's a slightly lighter colour than Daisy