Welcome to our Blog Hop!!

The exiting design team at Zeus and Zoe is leaving with a trail of pretty blooms. Of the handmade variety. Come join us for an amazing blog hop where you can learn how to make pretty blooms and win some amazing prizes along the way!

There are 6 fabulous RAKs to be won. All you need to do is leave some love at every stop along the hop. You have until 11.59pm EST on Wednesday 31 July to leave your comments for your chance to win! Winners will be announced on the Zeus and Zoe blog on 2 August.

1. DANA

Dana Tatar 

2. DENISE

Denise van Deventer

3. MARIVIC

Marivic Clifton

4. NORMA

Norma Gomez

5. RIIKKA

Riikka Kovasin

6. YVONNE

Yvonne Yam

7. ZEUS AND ZOE

http://zeusandzoe.blogspot.com/2013/07/welcome-to-our-blog-hop.html

Illustrated Stories & Sketches - Art Journal Page

Hi Everyone, Norma here with you today!!   This is my last post as an official Zeus and Zoe team member so I'd like to take a moment to thank Marivic for the giving me this wonderful opportunity to share my creations with all of you.  I have truly enjoyed working with this amazing team of talented ladies and all of these fabulous Zeus and Zoe products!!   A huge THANK YOU to all of you Zeus and Zoe fans too!!!!!

I really wanted to share a fun project in my favorite mixed media style so I created this colorful art journal page.

My background was already started with left over sprays and stencils so all I had to do was pick a focal image.  I chose to use this beautiful vintage lady from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  I colored her in using Prismacolor pencils, distress inks and markers, Liquitex soft body acrylic paint and a Faber-Castell brush pen.  I simply fussy cut her out of the paper and glued her onto my colorful world ;D

I added swirls with Golden Molding Paste and a DecoArt stencil.  Then doodled around the top and bottom of the page.  I added pops of color with Golden Fluid acrylic paints.  The fluid acrylic adds tons of color while allowing the colors underneath show through.

I added bits of vintage news papers from my Zeus and Zoe kit to create my title and for scallops along the inseam of the page.

I doodled flowers here and there to add some yellow as an accent color.  I wrote "Dare to dream in bold bright colors" along the top.  I imagine that this is the way my vintage lady sees the world.  I have to say, I'm so loving this art journal page!!  It makes me so happy with all of the bright colors and doodles, it's how I see my world, lol.  

Well friends, thank you so much for visiting with me today!!  I hope my art journaling makes you smile too, HAVE A BEAUTIFUL/COLORFUL DAY FULL OF INSPIRATIONS!!!

HUGZ!!!

Create Happiness - Art Journal Page

Norma here with you today to share my second project of the month featuring the beautiful products from our sponsors Donna Salazar and Couture Creations.  

I was inspired to art journal by the Donna Salazar dictionary pages so I chose to highlight: artistic, journal and happy.

I like to use my excess inks and paints in my art journal so that nothing goes to waste.  So I flipped through my art journal and found this page filled with the over sprays of a previous project.  Next I dug through my Zeus and Zoe kit and found an unfinished page that never made it onto another project along with jump rings and it hit me!  Create an art journal page within an art journal page, does that make sense, lol?  I punched holes on my art journal page and the mini album page I found then connected them with the jump rings, easy peasy right?!

Then I began by adhering torn and inked strips of Donna Salazar papers from the Natural Beauty collection.

Once I figured out the basic design, I focused on adding the layers of inks and paints to grunge it up a bit and give it my "Norma twist" ;D.  I used a doily stencil with an acrylic dauber to create texture.  I really like the way the acrylic paint puffed up.  This allowed the inks to really get in those groves to help define the shape.

With all the stencil work done, I started layering more of Donna Salazar's Natural Beauty papers and even ran some through my sewing machine.   I used a beautiful flowing vine stitch, distressed and inked all of the edges.  Next I added the dictionary strips that I wanted to use.  I highlighted the edges with fluid acrylic using my finger then outlined the entire strip with a black pen.  I created a small banner using the Donna Salazar Natural Beauty die cut pieces.  To give them a little more presence in my design, I glued them on some of the paper and cut around them leaving about a 1/4" border.  Then I added the Natural Beauty Chipboard Alphas with a little pen work to make them pop.

For the insert, I focused on journaling about why I love to art journal.  I wrote:
"These pages are so much more to me than a place to learn through my creative play.  
They see me through the darkest days.  With each layer, the troubles of the day fade away and I'm transported to my happy place."
This is so true for me, my art journal gives me wings to soar above whatever challenges I might be facing.  I truly believe in the the healing power of art.  Being creative has a wonderful way of lifting the soul and one of the beautiful things about art journaling is that it can be done with no expectations or pressure.  You don't have to worry about incorporating a photo or story.  All you have to do is play, let the page become whatever it wants to be.  If you don't like the way it's turning out, just keep going.  Add another layer of paper, ink or paint; whatever you want until you feel that smile on your face and twinkle in your eye.  You know the feeling you get when you're so happy with what you've just created.

For the cover, I used a page from a mini album that I received in my Zeus and Zoe kit.  It already had paint and stencil work on it from before.  I was gonna use it on a layout but ended up leaving it off.  So all I needed to do was add some of Donna's Natural Beauty paper, a little more stenciling and chipboard alphas.

To finish off my pages, I added some doodle work, strips of torn fabric and cording from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  I also added the key and hanging sign Couture Creations dies.  I love the grungy feel of these art journal pages and the bonus mini page tucked in.  If you've never art journaled before, I encourage you to give a try.  Just remember to have fun and JUST PLAY!!  It's also a wonderful way to use up all those scraps, odd letters and embellishments you have laying around.  Well I hope I've inspired you to give art journaling a try!!

Oh and don't forget to enter this month's challenge: My Favorite Things!!!  There are wonderful prizes up for grabs including this autographed kit from Donna Salazar, so get to craftin peeps!!

The Main Prize

Donna Salazar is a wife, mom, grandma, artist, designer, teacher and kid at heart. Her playful nature tends to come across in her products and classes because she believes that art should be fun. Donna is known for blending contrasting elements to create what she calls her “Girlie Grunge” look. Donna's style is especially appealing to mixed media artists, however her love of flowers and all things sparkly seems to appeal to crafters of all types and styles. 

Donna is a licensed designer and has product lines with 5 different companies: Clearsnap, GCD Studios, Spellbinders, Want2Scrap and Zutter. Donna offers free video tutorials, e-classes and a LIVE webshow, called Tuesday Tutorials, where she gives away lots of prizes from her partner companies and/or original artwork created during the show!

Random Prize:

Couture Creations

http://couturecreations.com.au

An Australian owned and loved brand, Couture Creations is the culmination of 20 years experience in the scrapbooking industry. From its final inception in 2010, Couture Creations has been devoted to producing expertly designed, high quality products overseen by veteran designers and crafters for a result that is both simple and elegant.

Couture Creations is part of Artdeco Creations growing collection of quality craft brands available worldwide. Distributed through a network of the best industry representatives in scrapbooking and craft internationally, Artdeco Creations has the ability to test and meet global expectations for quality and precision beyond local trends and markets.

Also included in the Random Winner Prize Pack is this 6x6 paper pack from Donna Salazar:

Thanks for joining me today and have a BEAUTIFUL, INSPIRED day!!!

June Challenge - My Favourite Things

Hello Everyone! 

Denise and Norma here to bring you the June Challenge!!  This month's challenge is inspired by the lyrics of Julie Andrews song " My Favorite Things"

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things!

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

These are a few of my favorite things!

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eye lashes

Silver white winters that melt into spring

These are a few of my favorite things!

When the dog bites, when the bee stings

When I'm feeling sad,

I simply remember

my favorite things

and then I don't feel so bad!

We all have those favorite little things that we just can't help gravitating to and maybe even collecting.  So this month we want to see projects highlighting YOUR very favorite things and to kick things off, we've put together a couple of boards to share the things that we love!

For me (Denise) personally, my favourite things that come to mind are: my shoes, my morning cup of coffee, my flowers in the garden, comfort winter food eg. soup or a beautifully decadent cupcake. So here is my board for some inspiration.

Now anybody that really knows me, really knows that I have quite a shoe collection! ;-) I love a beautiful pair of shoes and my Dad asks me regularly if I am wearing a new pair! So my layout had to simply be about this little love of mine. The sentiment I chose specifically because it is absolutely spot on! ;-)

So here is my page for this challenge.

I used the wonderful papers by Donna Salazar, the die-cuts, as well as the chipboard alpha's. I did some gesso stencilling on the background and also added texture to Scrap FX chipboards with Kwik crackle.

Aren't these shoes just to die for?!

Norma also here to share some of my little obsessions with you, lol.  I absolutely  love everything on my board with my top pick being the beach.  The beach photo on my board is my family's favorite summer getaway here in beautiful Texas.  I added pics of bracelets, lanterns, storage crates and pink orchids because I collect all of these things.  I love, love, love orchids and have them all over my home but they have to be pink (you know how I love color, lol).  I'm also obsessed with storage containers and lanterns.  They're all over my home too.  Oh and bracelets, don't even get me started!  The funny thing is that I tend to always buy them in beautiful shades of turquoise, browns and silver just like in the photo.  One of my other loves is architecture and design, I enjoy taking photos of old buildings with loads of character like gorgeous detailed doors and worn wrought iron and you know my board would not be complete without my paint brushes.  They transport me to my happy place!

Since my all time favorite thing is the beach, I thought I'd do an ocean inspired project.  I also wanted to do my favorite kind of project (mixed media) and use my favorite blue/green colors.  So this is what I came up with:

Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved painting and been completely mesmerized by the sea.  I looked forward to Saturday mornings so I could watch two of my favorite shows on public television: The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross and The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.  So my goal was bring those two worlds together in this piece.

I began by applying molding paste, patterned papers from my Zeus and Zoe kit and swirls with a 3-D writer.  Once that was dry, I added layers of paint in my favorite shades of blue and began building my cluster of  treasure that I'm sure my mermaid has been collecting for some time ;D.  Most of the found objects I used are from my Zeus and Zoe kit but a few are from my stash of goodness.  Next I applied a layer of gesso over all the little bits.  Once the gesso was dry, I spritzed various colors of Dylusions sprinkled with blue/green PearlEx for shimmer.

I love including a positive message in my artwork so I chose to use, "You can never cross the ocean unless you have the COURAGE to lose sight of the shore".  I truly love the way this project turned out and I hope I've inspired you today.

Now it's your turn!! We would love to see your interpretation of this month's challenge "My Favorite Things"! Whether it's a project using your "favorite" materials or it's about your "favorite" things; if you love it and it's your "favorite" share it!!

This month we are fortunate to have the talented Donna Salazar sharing her wonderful products with us as well as Couture Creations. Each has sent a beautiful assortment of items for our challenge winners.

The Main Prize is sponsored by: Donna Salazar, http://donnasalazar.typepad.com/, and she even autographed it!  How cool is that!!

Donna Salazar is a wife, mom, grandma, artist, designer, teacher and kid at heart. Her playful nature tends to come across in her products and classes because she believes that art should be fun. Donna is known for blending contrasting elements to create what she calls her “Girlie Grunge” look. Donna's style is especially appealing to mixed media artists, however her love of flowers and all things sparkly seems to appeal to crafters of all types and styles. 

Donna is a licensed designer and has product lines with 5 different companies: Clearsnap, GCD Studios, Spellbinders, Want2Scrap and Zutter. Donna offers free video tutorials, e-classes and a LIVE webshow, called Tuesday Tutorials, where she gives away lots of prizes from her partner companies and/or original artwork created during the show!

Random Prize:

Couture Creations

http://couturecreations.com.au

An Australian owned and loved brand, Couture Creations is the culmination of 20 years experience in the scrapbooking industry. From its final inception in 2010, Couture Creations has been devoted to producing expertly designed, high quality products overseen by veteran designers and crafters for a result that is both simple and elegant.

Couture Creations is part of Artdeco Creations growing collection of quality craft brands available worldwide. Distributed through a network of the best industry representatives in scrapbooking and craft internationally, Artdeco Creations has the ability to test and meet global expectations for quality and precision beyond local trends and markets.

Also included in the Random Winner Prize Pack is this 6x6 paper pack from Donna Salazar:

You have until the 30th June.

File Storage Box

Hello!!  Are you all enjoying all of the fabulous May projects?!  I know I certainly am and now it's my turn to share my 2nd project of the month featuring the wonderful products from our sponsors, May Arts. and Couture Creations.

I really needed something pretty to put my sketch books and art journals in so I created this beautiful file storage box.

I started out with a nice sturdy boutique bag that I'd been saving forever.  It already had the beautiful purple chevrons on the inside.  All I had to do was cut it down to the height I needed using a box cutter and t-square.

 To give the box some added strength, I adhered wooden album covers to the front and back of the bag.  The mini album and 7 Dots Studio paper both came in my Zeus and Zoe kit.

The beautiful ribbon I used to trim around the entire box is from May Arts.   I actually used the backside of the ribbon because the front was a little to bright for my design.  So keep that in mind when you're using your ribbons; you're not limited to just the front of the ribbon and you could even tint it to match your project.

I accented the front of my box with Couture Creations dies: Key To My Heart - embossed with CC Great Almazo 5x7 embossing folder, Magical Butterfly, Hanging Sign and Aladdins Key.

The Couture Creations hanging sign is the perfect spot to label the file box.

I added clusters of looped May Arts ribbon around the beautiful Manor Creations flower and the burlap flower I made.

Thanks for joining me today and don't forget to enter the May Challenge for your chance to win prizes from May Arts and Couture Creations!

Have a Wonderful Day!!

Happy Birthday Beautiful - May Challenge

Happy Saturday Everyone!  Norma here to share my May challenge layout inspired by Riikka's gorgeous mood board.  Here is the LINK to the challenge in case you wanna take a look at the mood board and check out the fabulous prizes that this month's sponsors May Arts and Couture Creations are giving away.

My sweet little grand daughter just turned one and when I saw Riikka's board, I knew these pics of her birthday would be perfect.  I stayed with the soft pinks mixed with white and a tiny punch of fuchsia.  (Come on, you know I just couldn't resist adding a bright bold color, lol).

The base of layout is pink Bazzill, then a distressed layer of My Mind's Eye Lost & Found and on top of that is a piece of 7 Dots Studio, Love Me Hopefully from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  The 7 Dots paper had really cute medallions on it so I cut all of them out to use as embellishments.  I punched the top and bottom with a Martha Stewart scallop punch.  Next I stenciled some dots here and there with gesso and gave the edges a light white wash.  

To matte my photo, I used some of the Paper Reflections accordion tags and a vintage handwritten letter.    Then I layered the circles that I cut out and a couple of the beautiful vintage crotchet trims from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  

I painted over some of the gold buttons and the Prima Ruby Violet flowers to tone them down to match my layout.

I added a bow on her giant cupcake cake using some May Arts ribbon.

To finish off my layout, I added my usual doodling around the edges.  I just really like the idea of framing my projects and doodling does the trick for me.

Thanks so much for joining me today, I hope I've inspired you to play along with our May Challenge!

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!

Victorian Wall Decor

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you've had a fabulous week!!  Today I have a sweet Victorian wall hanger to share with you that I put together using my gorgeous Zeus and Zoe kit.  

The inspiration for this piece came from this beautiful calender image included in my kit.   Aren't these two just the cutest!!



To keep with the Victorian feel that I was going for, I chose to use an oval frame.  I turned it backwards to create a shadowbox and simply cut the image to fit inside



For a nice finished look I added trim around the edge of the frame.  The sequenced trim I used from my kit was a gorgeous blue but it didn't work with my design so I applied a layer of gesso, then painted over it with fluid acrylic.

To create a base for all of the layers, I cut a frame using my Cricut Frame of Mind Cartridge.  The beautiful KaiserCraft papers in my kit were just perfect.  All I had to do was ink them up a little bit.

Once the frame was on, I was able to start having fun with all the layers.  I used beautiful lace, crotchet trim, ruffle trim, a crotchet doily, beads, buttons and ScrapFX chippies all from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  Marivic's kits really come jam packed with a huge variety of items for your creating pleasure.  She can even make you a custom kit based on your style.  All you have to do is contact her and let her know what you're looking for.

Here's a closer look at the distressing I did on the key chippie.  This is layers of embossing powders, crackle and acrylic paints.  I just kept layering until I was happy with the look.

For a splash of color and whimsy I added a large butterfly.  I also mixed in some K&Company pieces and some ribbon from my stash to complete my design.

 To create the hanger, I used some beautiful May Arts ribbon.  I really love the mix of velvet and crotchet trim on their ribbons.  Zeus and Zoe carries a large variety of these gorgeous May Arts ribbon, go check them out.

Be sure to visit the Zeus and Zoe online store to pick up some of these gorgeous products for your next project.  Oh and don't forget, we still have a fun challenge going on right now!  Click HERE to find out all about it!!

Thank you for stopping by and for all of your sweet comments, enjoy your weekend!!

Adios :D