Saturday, December 27, 2008

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge - #12 - An Affair to Remember

The challenge for this week's Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge is to create a card, scrapbook layout or altered project inspired by the 1957 Oscar nominated movie: An Affair to Remember, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. I hope you all take a peek at this challenge and play along! Its a great way to watch a movie, make a card and hear everyone's stories about their favorite parts of this movie :). Come on and check it out here.

This is one of my father's favorite movies and one of my favorites too! I remember watching this when I was little with my dad - although back then I missed some of the meaning of the dialogue. He was totally excited that we were doing this movie this week - we had a lovely talk about our favorite scenes from this movie and then we got into a whole conversation about the best Cary Grant movies :) I loved hearing my dad's stories of how old he was when he watched these movies and what his experiences were. I know watch this movie differently, because now when I watch some scenes, I know that they are my dad's favorites :)

This week, we are visitng my in-laws for Christmas vacation and I had a chance to watch this movie again with my mother-in-law and father-in-law. We are all just absolute fans of Cary Grant - that man defines elegance and grace - he is just classic. I loved sitting and watching this with my in-laws and sighing here and there at the same time with my MIL - by the end of the movie - we were both crying (even my FIL had a little tear)... sigh - i just love this movie!

Watching it again - I forgot how brilliant the dialogue is - it is so humorous and savy and this movie is full of very very smart writing. I mean this movie was released in 1957!!! AND it is SOOO clever in the writing - seriously - you have to see this movie if you haven't seen it yet! This movie has been voted as one of the most romantic movies of all time by the American Film Institute. This movie inspired Sleepless in Seattle with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, The movie Love Affair with Warren Beatty and Anette Betting and Mann with Amir Khan and Manisha Koirali. An Affair to Remember totally inspires love and is such a classic love story.

I love Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr's back and forth banter - so cute and clever and charming. I had so many ideas for making a card - but the two that I picked were inspired by 1) the fact that they both agreed to meet at the Empire State building 6 months later and 2) the song called: TomorrowLand.

The first card is inspired by the 6 month meeting place of the Empire State building. Deborah Kerr exlaims that it is the closest thing to heaven. I wrote the sentiment: You were heaven sent" inspired by this part of the movie. I use Jen's Sketch for You to Try for this sketch. This is the sketch from December 20th.
I loved the little circles on the bottom of the sketch and had fun making a little circle collage of purple-y colors.

Watching this part of the movie when he is waiting for her to meet him at the Empire State Building is just too sweet - esp. when you see him waiting in the thunder storm. Sigh! I love that the Empire State Building is a symbol of their love and a symbol of them being close to heaven. This is a little card that I have to save for my little tweetheart for Valentine's day :)

I also loved the song Tomorrowland - it was so sweet and the lyrics are just too sweet. The handwritten senitment: "May your troubles, like bubbles, vanish in the air" are the actual lyrics from the movie. I used bubble wrap over the DP in this card to represent the bubbles from the lyrics of the song....( on a sidenote, doesn't popping bubbles always help one's problems vanish into the air?)

I used Kazan's totally fun sketch from 2 Sketches for U. Love the circles in this sketch and love the wavy wavy wavy border. It was perfect for the bubbles in this card project. I punched out some DP from Provocraft with my CM circle punches and then cut out a similar circle from packing bubbles that I then adhered to the DP circle. The shiny silver paper is from paper Craft, the gray one is from my stash, the bottom DP is also from ProvoCraft. The buttons are from my MIL's stash (she was so sweet to let me raid her button stash) and I hand wrote the sentiment.

here is a side view - you can see the packing bubbles from this view. I totally love this song and I love the lyrics -  here are some more of the lyrics: "There's a wonderful place called tomorrowland, and its only a dream away, and the moment you get to tomorrowland, you'll forget about today. You'll forget every care, and your troubles, like bubbles, will vanish in air. Ask me how do you get to tomorrowland. Close your eyes, make a wish and you're there."  I totally loved this song growing up... always felt like a daydreaming kind of song... so sweet.... you can watch the video on YouTube here


here is a closer view of the bubbles:


here are both cards side by side:


I loved making cards for this challenge and I loved using these awesome sketches too! I seriously have fallen in love with this movie again - and with Cary Grant even more - sigh! If you haven't watched this movie - I would totally suggest renting it, snuggling on the couch with some popcorn and enjoy this beautiful era of filmmaking.

We would love it if you would play along with us! Go and check out the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge Blog for more details! Its so much fun to see what everyone comes up with from the same movie!!

Can't wait to see your lovely creations!!

Thanks for visiting today! We are traveling tomorrow back to Iowa - so I will have a chance then to come around and visit all my awesome blog buddies! Hope you have been enjoying the holiday season!!

Sending you merry and bright wishes!
Lots of love always,
Sankari

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas Everyone!


Merry Christmas Everyone!!

We are on our family Christmas vacation in Minneapolis. Its been great to be here - with the grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends. The kids are loving the snow and the cold weather (which, I am not a huge fan of -- but that's okay because I can stay inside with some hot chocolate and watch out the window while DH plays outside with the kids :)
We have done some sledding, some snowman building, some sleigh rides, wrapping presents and shopping and of course some snuggling by a warm cozy fire :) Its been great!

I had a chance to meet a wonderful blog buddy: Tracy of Zukes Girl Creates which was so much fun! Tracy also lives close by and was able to show me a few awesome scrap stores! Thanks for the enablement Tracy! I will have to post a pic of the two of us soon - we just have to download the pictures first :) It was so cool to meet a blogging buddy in person - and I hope to someday meet all of you!!

 This card was made for Melanie's sketch on PaperCraftPlaneta while ago - never had a chance to post it till now. You can check out the details here.

I did bring some craft supplies to make some stuff - but I clearly forgot the reality of vacation and family time. Every moment of every day has been packed with things to do and see and eat and I have barely had any time for myself. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday!! YAY! So we are planning a little surprise party for him and we even might even go out for dinner- while grandma and grandpa watch the kids! That is crazy - because we never have a chance to do that at home - so it will be very special :)

Hope that all of your christmases are wonderful and that all of you are enjoying this lovely holiday season with all those close to you! Wishing everyone happiness, merriment and the fulfillment of all your dreams!! 

Best wishes always,
Sankari and Family :)



Saturday, December 20, 2008

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge # 11 - It's a Wonderful Life


Good Saturday Morning Everyone,

We are so happy to present the movie pick for this week's Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge: Frank Capra's Oscar nominated black and white classic movie released in 1946:  It's a Wonderful Life. 

I have so many favorite parts of this movie: the gym scene where they are all dancing, George and Mary falling in love, George meeting Clarence, George realizing his impact on all those around him and how the community comes forth to rally around them - but my favorite part is ZuZu's line "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." Just love it - because she is just so darn cute, and George holding her with his family near the Christmas tree saying that always makes me smile - you can watch the ending of this movie with this scene in it here:

In making the card for this movie, I used Adela's Sletch#6 from PaperCraftPlanet. I used the circle element of the sketch to carve out a little circle in the card to hand the bells. The red paper is handmade paper that I received as gift wrap on a gift, but saved because the paper is so pretty. The gold paper is from Paper Company, the bottom of which was crimped. The green cardstock is from K &Co., the red ribbon is from stash and the bling is a ribbon also - forgot where it came from. The bells are earrings that I poked a hole into the cardstock and wound up the post part around itself to stay in place. I cut the hole with my Creative Memories circle cutters and printed out ZuZu's quote on my computer. The inside of the card says Merry Christmas.

Even after seeing this movie so many times growing up - I loved watching it again - man - it is such a good movie. Jimmy Stewart is awesome and Donna Reed - is just so beautiful! My parents and I used to watch this movie growing up around the Christmas season - they are visiting us right now - and so it was fun to watch this with them and remember my childhood. 
I love the message that each of us has such power in all that we do and say and to never feel like we haven't made a difference. I just want to thank all of you that I have met through this site for inspiring and encouraging me - you guys are just too sweet!! Thank you so much for coming over here and playing along in our challenges - we have so much fun doing these and hope you do too!! Its so nice to be part of such an amazing blogging community and meet such wonderful artistes as yourself!!!

I hope you have a chance to play along in this week of holiday busy-ness!! Come on over to Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge and play along! 

All you have to do is : Create a card or scrapbook layout or altered project that is inspired by the movie: It's A Wonderful Life
 (it can be inspired from the movie jacket, the characters, the dialogue, the music, the costumes, the themes --- ANYTHING reallY!!) and then link your creation to us by commenting on the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge blog site.  anytime from now until this Thursday, December 25th at 9pm PST!!!!

Thank you for coming over for a visit!
Best wishes and a warm cup of holiday cheer!
Sankari :)

Friday, December 19, 2008

Friday Sneak Peek

Hi Guys!

The Sneak Peek for Tomorrow's sneak peek is posted on Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge.

This one is a tricky sneak peek!! Hope you have fun guessing it!!!

See you at the movies tomorrow at Cinema Saturday for the big reveal!!!!!!
hugzzzzz,

Sankari :)

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration Challenge #35 - Baby's First Christmas card


Good Evening Everyone,

Wow - it feels like forever since I have even looked at anything craft related - let alone blogged... I am so far behind on everything that I am just tired of thinking about it. After a crazy week of working double shifts (teaching and writing articles) I finally finished everything and submitted my last article just before the deadline today - phew!

I have been wanting to play Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge for a few days - but have not had any time to play - nor the space - my parents are staying with us and so my craft corner has vanished and my craft table is more like a catch all for suitcases etc. Its been great to have them here (they came to celebrate our son's  4th bday) and I can't even believe how quickly the days are flying by! 
I am so glad that I had a chance to play today - its so nice to relax by coloring something cute! I love this cute little giraffe by Paper Works Co. from their Safari friends collection. This is such a cute set and a fun company. Check out the Paper Works Company group on Paper Craft Planet. This cute giraffe's name is Gordie the Giraffe and I had so much fun coloring him -- I kept 
going .. awwww -  :)  and  since I had to create a card for my friend who just had a little baby boy last month - I thought that Gordie would be perfect for the job.

Kristina's color picks for CIC #35 for this week were: chocolate chip, close to cocoa, baja breeze, so saffron and very vanilla.  I swiped the So Saffron SU!  stampin spot, on a piece of paper creating the background. The giraffe is colored with pencils and then popped up on dimensionals. I cut out a little hat (which is very glittery IRL) and popped that on dimensionals too.  Actually the whole thing is popped up on dimensioanls except the chocolate brown cardstock.

I based the card very loosely on Taylor's sketch #46 - which I totally missed doing. She called for two patterned paper and ribbon on the corner - but the ribbon didn't fit because of Gordie's hat and I didn't do the two patterned paper part of the sketch - oh well. I wish I had another whole 24 hours in a day, just to do cards and color and sketch challenges. It's so depressing sometimes to look at my little craft corner and wish I could make all the things that I am so way behind in making and finishing up before the holidays. Ah, well - can't do it all.... sigh! I am just happy that I had a chance to make this card :) I love KW's challenges and hate to miss out on doing them - and Gordie is just too cute not to get all inked up! 

It was so much fun to make this card - and so relaxing. Okay - now I have to go and clean up my scraps and give my parents back their room :)

Hope all of you are well and are enjoying the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Can you believe that Christmas is in a week! WhaaaT?? I still have so much shopping to do - and still no idea what to get some people.... hopefully I can finish everything off this weekend :)

Sending you all happy holiday wishes,
Sankari

Card Ingredients:
Paper: Dark and lighter brown cardstock from the Paper Company, Baja blue-ish color from stash
Ink: SU! So Saffron Stampin Spot, Martha brown
Stamps: Gordie the Giraffe from Paper Works Co., sentiment from Taylored Expressions (SASI)
Accessories: ribbon (offray), corner rounder, paper piecing, dimensionals

Movie watched while making this card:  - A Muppets Christmas (fun for the kids to watch, while mommy makes a card :) LOL!) 
check it out on Hulu (its only available for another 2 weeks!)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge - # 10 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone


Hello Everyone,

How are all of you doing? Things here have gone from crazy to just plain insane. My son's 4th birthday party is tomorrow and I have been running around like crazy trying to bake and make all kinds of fun favors... wow! I am both excited and exhausted!! :) Well onto something fun!
Today is Cinema Saturday's 10th Challenge and our movie pick is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - yay! As soon as I saw Kazan's awesome sketch at 2S4U, I had an idea for a Harry Potter inspired card. The sketch reminded me of a door - and I started to think about the door opening into something magical.
The theme that I went with - was that of discovery - the first book is all about discovery to me - Harry's journey to discover who his parent's really were - who he really is and his entry into a whole new magical world. I was inspired to make this card from thinking of opening a door into a different world - and so the door on the outside of the card is opens and the inside of the door (where there is a pic of a hand holding a wand says: Magic Awaits...) the whole card then opens up - and the inside of the card reads: Hope your New Year is filled with Magic! I love these Harry Potter books (as soon as I would get my hands on a copy - I had to read the whole thing - it was impossible to put it down :) Its been so great to see these movies and watch Harry, Hermione and Ron grow up in front us on the screen. Love reading and seeing all the adventures that they find themselves in - and in this book - I love how JKR shows the reader this whole new world that Harry is entering into.


I had a lot of fun doing this movie challenge - and there were a TON of ideas running around in my head - man it was so hard to try to pick just one - there are just so many themes, characters and themes to choose from :)

Well, I am off to finish baking and making fun favors... can't believe that 4 years have flown by! crazy! Hope all of you are enjoying the holidays and are staying warm! We would love for you all to play along! Come on over to Cinema Saturday and check it out!! We hope that you will have a chance to play along!!!

Sending you all happy hugs!
Sankari

sorry if i have been a mite bit checked out - my parents flew in on weds. and since then its been a whirlwind!! literally! can't wait to see all of your lovely blogs soon!! best wishes to all!!!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration Challenge #34 - Let it snow

Hi Everyone,

 Kristina Werner  is back with another fun Color Inspiration Challenge (#34) from this picture of yarn that she took in NYC.  

I love yarn - totally makes me want to knit again- which I haven't done in forever - but am totally inspired  to get back into it after seeing this pic of this yummy yarn. The colors were so soft and wintery - so I went with the winter theme and created this snowman card. This was also made for the Stamp Something challenge - where this week's challenge was to create something with snow. So here is the snowman/snowmen/snowpeople card that I had fun making: 

I stamped the snowmen, colored in the scarves with Kristina's colors and then cut out the snowmen image and then applied liquid glaze (its hard to see in this pic). The snowflakes I punched out with photo paper - its kinda cool because it gives it this sheen and nice texture....Its funny in a way to look at this card with the sentiment: "Let it snow" because I made this card before our snowstorm here started. Now, when I look outside what I see is a blur of blowing snow and howling winds - wow! its amazing how quickly it went from freezing rain to blowing snow! Talk about winter weather ! 

Well, I am off to make some hot hearty soup for lunch - hope you are all staying warm!

Thanks for coming over for a visit!!
Ciao for now ;)
Sankari 

Card details:

Paper - all from my scrap stash - yay - love using it up so that I can feel justified in buying more :)
Stamps: sentiment from Taylored Expressions, Snowmen image from Stamps Happen Inc (Tara Reed Designs)
Ink: Stampin' Up: Bordering Blue (yay! my first SU! ink on a card!)
Accessories: Creative Memories oval cutters, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, bling (a light green) on the snowflakes, Prism coloring pencils, Paper liquid glaze, dimensionals, ribbon from offray
TVsode watched: Grey's Anatomy

All thanks to my daughter for taking a nap so that mommy could stamp :)

Monday, December 8, 2008

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #45 - Happy Birthday Cupcake Flowers

Good Morning Everyone!

Quick post before I run out for the day - (have the days suddenly become faster and crazier?) seems like there isn't enough time to get everything done. Here is Taylor's Sketch #45 from her Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge. Taylor does a sketch challenge every Friday where if you have cupcakes, why not use them in your card! I realized that for the last 2 sketches that I haven't used cupcake stamps! So I wanted to fix that right away! 

Last night, as I was talking to my friend - I was doodling some flowers on a piece of paper and it kind of reminded me of a birthday card that I got from my mother last year - which was a flower with a cake on it - so I thought how about a flower with some cupcakes!

 So I drew the whole image and then cut it out with my oval cutters from Creative Memories. I colored it in with some pencils and then a little stickle and liquid pearl for the frosting :)  I used the colors from 22nd color challenge the lovely ladies at the Color Throwdown this week  - which are pink, green and black (the black is very minimal in this card- mainly just for the drawing pen color) and I had to add a tiny bit of orange to give it a little pop - hope that's ok?)

The oval was matted onto a dusty pink oval. I used my Creative Memories decorative cutter to create a wave pattern for the bottom panel. And then embossed the sentiment "Happy Birthday" which is from Taylor's Sweet Celebrations. All of this was adhered onto a crystal glitter cardstock from DCVW - it is totally glittery and totally hard to take a picture of. I adhered some matching ribbon as a panel - the ribbon is from Taylored Expression - I was going to try to make a bow - but then it seemed too much - so I just kept it simple. The buttons are from my button stash - and the little butterfly is from my Creative Memories meadow makers punch. 

I had a lot of fun doing this card - and a lot of fun drawing - I haven't done that it a while and it was fun to do a little doodle :)

Hope you guys are having a fabulous day!!! I am off to run a whirlwind of errands with 2 kids! Wish me luck!!!

Thank you for coming over for a visit! 
Best wishes, 
Sankari :)

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge # 9 - The Sound of Music

It's time for another Cinema Saturday Challenge!! This week our movie pick is the musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of Music! This musical was translated into the silver screen in 1965, six years after it opened on Broadway. This movie musical has won 5 Oscars, including best picture! It is such a classic and has since then become one of the most famous movie musicals world wide. You can read more about this movie here on Wikipedia.

For me personally, this movie brings back so many childhood memories. I remember my cousin singing the song "Edelweiss" to me - I was seven years old - she was 6 and had the sweetest voice ever! I have loved that song ever since - and every time I hear it - I can also hear my cousins voice singing it... I have watched this musical I don't know how many times growing up... more than 25 times easily :) I had dialogs memorized and the songs totally memorized as well - although my singing ability was far from great :) And then when I was in highschool - I was on Stage Crew and in the Drama club - so I was psyched when our senior year we got to do The Sound of Music. I was the Art Director and got to design the sets (my favorite set that I designed and created was the Abbey for the Reverand Mother - I did this Stained glass window with colored tissue paper and lighting that was pretty cool --- and I got to have a very minor minor role ... I was Herr Zeller's wife (guess what my line was.... okay ready? My line was: " Shhhh...." when I shush him when he gets out of line (and then I exited with him stage right :) I loved getting into the theater wardrobe to try on our party gowns for that ballroom scene -- that was so much fun to pick out dresses and jewelry... ahhh good times :).

There are so many great songs and great inspirations in this movie - I almost didn't know where to start. When I was watching this again for this challenge - I got up to dance and sing along for one of the songs and my son (now almost 4) just looked at me in questioningly - and my littlest wee daughter joined along in the dancing... it was so much fun :)

I couldn't decide which direction to go - but finally landed on creating a little birthday gift for my husband from the song: "My Favorite Things". I loved this song growing up and it was fun to watch this with my son and see his enjoyment of this and all the other songs. Since this was inspired by the song of favorite things.. I gathered some favorite memories to put together for my husband. This wooden box was given to me by my father-in-law years ago when we first go married. It has since then held our spare keys, change and little kinck knacks.... I thought that it would be nice to have this box , house our favorite memories. I covered the box in shades of the blue and green that are inspired by the Sound of Music - love the shades of the blue and green of the hills alive with music :) - this paper is from K & Co.

The top half of the box has pictures of our children punched out in 1/4" circle and then popped up on dimensionals. The picture of our son holding his sister after we brought her home, has her little bangle adorning the picture - I can't believe that she wore that. There is a bell that I adhered with metal glue on the top panel also - I got this beautiful bell when I was visiting the Forbidden City in Beiging. The ringing of the bell is supposed to bring good wishes to your surroundings... and the kinda cool part is that every time the box is opened - it rings the bell.


The bottom half of the box contains a mini scrapbook that I made for my dear husband of just some precious moments. It also contains little forgoteen pictures of our children, my son's artwork,, including his hand print and pics of both our families, as well as little love notes to him and a little page from our little guy called: "why Daddy is awesome!". There is also a rock that we got when we were engaged in India, as well as a beaded necklace that he had dipped in the Ganges. Also a quarter from the year we were married and the 2004 charm from his graduation hat from the year he got his PhD.

I love how this project turned out and love that my son helped me create the mini scrapbook for his dad. My husband has a little drawer at work that is full of little pics, our son's artwork and so I thought this was something that could sit on his desk that he could open anytime he needed a little sunshine :)

Don't forget to check out Brooke's beautiful Cinema inspired work and also our Guest Designer Amy's beautiful card at our Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge Blog.

Come on over and play along -- its totally fun!
Thanks for coming over for a visit!
Best wishes,
Sankari :)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration Challenge #33 - Peace, Joy and Love Holiday card

Good Morning Everyone,

Guess who woke up super early today... me! With the house as quiet as a mouse - I was finally able to attempt Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #33 for this week. This week her challenge comes from a notebook that she took at her local Target store of a notebook covered with buttons.

The five colors are:
Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery and Whisper White. These felt like fun colors and so I tried to have fun with them. I don't know about you guys, but I need to get cracking on some holiday cards - so I used these non-traditional holiday colors to make a holiday card and here is what I ended up with: A Peace, Joy and Love Card:

I just found out about this great paper company called the Paper Temptress - there are so many awesome papers to choose from - I love the quality too. I used the Brown Column cardstock from the Paper Temptress for the base of the card. And the green and teal are from my scrap stash - which I am trying to reduce so I can get more papers :) The peace symbol is a foam cutout that I stickled orange, the face is created from 2 punches (one of the face and the other from a MS small circle scallop punch (also stickled). The heart I drew and then added an eyelet to pull the ribbon through into a knot (also stickled orange - i {heart} stickles :). The circle layers were created using the SU! scallop punch and the Fiskars 1" circle punch - which was then adhered to the squared alternating cardstock (one corner of which was rounded with a corner rounder). 

With the bottom half of the 1"circle punch, I embossed the words: peace and love - with white EP (from Taylor's SASI kit) and the word Joy was embossed with clear EP (from Martha's Christmas stamps). 

Overall - it was a fun project and I had fun with the colors. Totally not a traditional holiday card - but ...that's okay, right?? 

This card marks me doing 20 of Kristina's color challenges in a row! You can check out all of her color challenges: here. I remember reading her blog and seeing the color inspiration pieces and then the round up - and was always so inspired - and then finally I thought maybe I would try it so I created this blog - and posted my card and was totally hooked to CIC's :)  Just wanted to say a big thank you for all of the amazing lovely friends that I have met doing KW's challenges - you all totally inspire me! And a big hello to everyone who I haven't had the chance to meet yet! and of course a big thank you to KW for continuing with these fun challenges!

Alright - off to make lunch for my little munchkins...! 
Hope you are all doing great!

Thanks for coming over to visit!
Ciao for now!
Sankari

PS - can you believe its 20 days till Christmas Eve (Whaaaat??? when did time just start flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyying by???)