Friday, May 3, 2013

April's "Life as it is right now" challenge winners!



It's that time of the month - time to reveal the winners of April's "Life as it is now" challenge The winner of the yummy prize pack is...[drumroll]



Karen! She made this beautiful mini about herself so that her kids can know a little more about her.



Thanks to our sponsor May Arts, we also have a random winner for April....Paula!





Congratulations to Karen and Paula! Please send your mailing addresses to Marivic at berry71bleu@gmail.com so that we can send your prizes out to you!

Come join us for our May Mood Board challenge!


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Love's Sacrifice - May Challenge Layout with Dana


Thanks for stopping by today! Dana here sharing my layout for the Zeus and Zoe May Challenge. The challenge this month is to be inspired by the mood board Riikka created.


I chose a slightly darker color palette, but included several of the romantic items from Riikka's board on my layout.


My favorite pieces in my Zeus and Zoe Kit are the vintage book and magazine pages and the gorgeous buttons. Several of the papers on this page are cut from a vintage magazine that dates back to 1885! I included the date here as a fun reminder. The simple bow is a piece of May Arts lace.


This beautiful image also came in my Zeus and Zoe Kit. The old magazine pages from my kit included a love story. I used the title, "Love's Sacrifice," as the title of my layout. I think it goes well with the photo of the woman alone on a gondola. Perhaps she is singing about a lost love!


I cut this quote from the love story. The vintage sewing pattern was cut from the same magazine. I layered three pieces of gorgeous May Arts ribbon above and topped that with a piece of ScrapFX chipboard that I colored with mist, gold paint and Stickles. The pretty bloom is from a Ruby Violet set. I swapped out the original flower center for one of the buttons from my Zeus and Zoe Kit.


I couldn't resist adding a couple of flowers to my page.  The larger purple flower is the sister to the smaller Ruby Violet bloom from the previous photo. The bright red flower is by Manor House Creations.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! If you're looking for a fabulous vintage kit that is personalized to your tastes, just contact Marivic and she'll get you all the details. We can't wait to see all the entries for the May Challenge!  Click HERE for all the details.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

May Challenge: A mood board


Great start to May! Riikka here to present the May challenge. Here in Finland May really marks the start of sunny weather and warmer days. The nearing summer effects the spirit and the ever increasing amount of light turns people happy and light. May Day is celebrated with balloons and streamers and with a picnic amongst the family. 

The challenge this month is to be inspired by the mood board I created. I tried to capture the light, happy feeling of May together with some beautiful products from my Zeus and Zoe kit. You can use the mood board anyway you like - you can take the colors to your creation or just be inspired a single detail, like delicate trims in the board. Let your mind wonder and create something spectacular! 

If you wish to see the pictures in the board bigger, please visit this Pinterest board (link). Photos that aren't there are taken by me. And by the way, have you found this board yet (link)? It contains sample projects and ideas for monthly blog challenge - talk about inspiration!



Our sponsor this month is May Arts - a fabulous ribbon company with huge array of different products. "May Arts is a ribbon wholesaler, based in Riverside, Connecticut, serving over 16,000 customers worldwide. We offer an exceptional selection of ribbons, including sheer, satin, grosgrain, silk and a variety of patterns and prints. We also maintain a steady stock of inventory so that orders can be fulfilled immediately. As one of the country’s leading wholesalers of decorative ribbons, May Arts has been providing superior products and the highest level of customer service for over 25 years."

Main Prize: Over 20 yards of assorted ribbons and trims




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.




Here's my take on the challenge. I've included the textures from the mood board together with the touches of pink, the light color scheme and some beautiful trims. I was also inspired by the "Do not fear the future" frase and wanted to create something connected with it. 

I tried to capture the light feel of May and spring to this layout. I wanted a lot of texture to the background but wanted to keep it light at the same time, so this paper by Prima Marketing was just perfect. There's a lot of going on there, but the over all appearance of the paper is still light. I added my own touch to the page with stamping, doodling and splashing acrylic paint and mist. I used grid stamp in an angle to reseble the diamond type pattern in one of the pictures in the mood board.


Although I mostly scrap pictures of my children anyway, for this future related page they seemed to work perfectly. Children are the future, after all. I chose to go with this picture of my first born, taken on her 4th birthday.

Almost all of the supplies are from my Zeus and Zoe kit. The butterflies and the large flowers are cut from patterned papers in my kit. The delicate trims and  lace are from my kit, too, as well as the old book page. The pearls are  taken from a jewellery piece and scattered around the page. The little nest embellishment is selfmade and there's a tutorial for it in my blog. I felt it fitted perfectly to this spring-like layout and to the mood board, too. Behind the nest there's two feathers, inspired by the wings in the mood board.

I hope I have inspired you and showed you a few ways to include the inspiration from the mood board to your creation. I'm really looking forward to see what you have created! Please, join in!


Here's some detail shots:




Here are the rules: 
1. Projects must be linked up to our linky tool in the side bar, using the URL of the ACTUAL POST, not your entire blog.
2. You may submit as many entries as you would like and combine your entry with up to 2 other challenges.
3. Post this challenge to your blog and mention, in your post, that you are playing along at Zeus and Zoe TOGETHER with a link back to our Zeus and Zoe blog.
4. All entries must be received by MIDNIGHT EST on the 31st May 
5. Entries to be submitted via the linky tool at the top of the sidebar ONLY, not by email and not by linking up in the comments section please.

Information about our challenges:
1. Zeus and Zoe Challenges are open to anyone, anywhere in the world.
2. Our DT do their best to comment on all entries, you can make their job easier by turning off your word verification.
3. Challenges are held monthly and each month TWO winners are chosen. One winner is chosen by our DT and the other is chosen by random draw.
4. Challenge winners will always be announced within a week of the challenge closing and winners are then required to contact Marivic.
5. Prizes not claimed within two weeks will be forfeited.
6. The Merit winner will have an image of their project featured in the winners post, together with a link back to the homepage of their blog.
7. Winners will be awarded a Winner's Badge to post on their blog...full bragging rights included!

We can't wait to see your entries for this challenge! Thank you for your visit!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Mother's Day Card

Hello girls, here's is Rô again!

In many countries of the world, May is the month we celebrate Mother's Day.
In the United States, as well as in my country, Brazil, the date is celebrated on the second Sunday of May.

I believe this is one of the most beautiful dates, because there is no greater love than a mother's love, so if anyone deserves all the tributes, is our Mother!

Today I would to show you a simple card I did with the beautiful produtos Zeus and Zoe, to inspire you to think in a gorgeous gift for your Mother.


To innovate, I decided to use the color blue, but very gently, leaving the card very feminine.

And to sweeten, some beautiful and sweet cookies in heart shape and a beautiful cup to keep the card?

I hope you like it!
Rô Philippsen

Friday, April 26, 2013

Heritage Page by Denise van Deventer

Hello Everyone

Well the weekend is almost upon us and I am sure you are looking forward to it, as much as I am! ;-)

I have a heritage page to share with you today - Dad & Us.


This is a photo of my Dad and us 3 kids.  This was taken when I was about 7 years old. I just know that we were going to a function and we were all dressed up for the occasion. Don't we look spiffy?

I loved using the Zeus and Zoe crocheted round, buttons and text paper, as they really added to the heritage look and feel. The trim under the photo is May Arts trim and is really soooo divine! You will see I also did some  stencilling with gesso and here I used a beautiful DecoArt classic stencil.



Please check out the Zeus and Zoe Etsy store here, where you will find these wonderful crafting goodies.

Have a super weekend.
Denise x

Thursday, April 25, 2013

April Challenge: "Life As It Is Now"


Hello Zeusand Zoe fans, here's Rô Philippsen today, I’m here to sharing with you my Project I did for April Challenge.
This month we have an amazing Challenge, because it is about yourself. This is a topic very inspiring to do scrapbooking, don't you think so?
And we have one additional requirement for the challenge: incorporate the use of buttons into your creation. This is amazing, because I just LOVE buttons! 


Normally I do not usually write in my layouts and projects, so I decided to hide my journaling in an envelope behind the photo. Because I believe I can show all the light and joy of my soul through the colors and textures of paints, cutouts and layers!


And so I worked my Project, with light and shadows, bright colors and vibrancy, which represent very well who I am! 




I started applying a thick layer of gesso on my canvas, using a palette knife making sure to get a good coverage but not exactly aiming for a smooth finish. I like to leave scrape marks here and there for texture.
As soon as the gesso has fully dried, then I applied several coats of spray inks. Next comes the texture.  I used a palette knife and the DecoArt Stencil to apply the modeling paste. 
Note my base ready to receive and layers of papers and the amazing Zeus and Zoebuttons.


There is still time to participate in the April Challenge.
Here are the amazing prizes up for grabs when you link your project about you in the upper right side bar. Don't forget to read the "Life as it Is Now" Challenge details and rules here.


Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Butterfly Lady Cards


Hello! Riikka here to share my second project for this month.

The monthly challenge asked for buttons and we have a special price by May Arts, so I combined the two to these cards. I used materials from my Zeus and Zoe kit and created two butterfly ladies with old book pages, patterned papers, buttons and ribbons.

Both of the cards have a lovely lace edged velvet trim by May Arts to decorate the card. It also brings lovely vintage feel to them, I think. The vintage ladies are cut from old book pages from my kit. I just love the turn of the centry fashion! I've also used an old post card from my kit instead of patterned paper. 


I created the backgrounds for the cards by stamping with buttons using gesso as the paint media. The other button repeated the pattern better than the other - the rings are more visible than the other impressions from that rose button. The flat, easy shapes work best for this technique, but I wanted to try what kind of texture the rose would create.

I also used buttons as embellishments for these cards. The other card has a little frame made out of a button and the other has an aged rose. For the frame one I added an epoxy sticker inside the beautiful decorated rim. The rose is made to look old with acrylic paints, alcohol inks and gesso.

Please take part to the challenge, if you already haven't done so! We would love to see your project! I hope that my takes on the buttons have inspired you!

Wishing you a lovely Tuesday!