Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge 47 – Mary Alice Brandon

Happy Tuesday!  It’s my turn to choose the theme for this week’s Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge, and this one is about the character that every Twilighter seems to love — Alice!

Our theme is specifically about Alice’s past, before she met the Cullen family and was known as Mary Alice Brandon. We don’t know too many details about Alice’s life before the events of the Twilight saga occur, but if you would like a refresher on her past, visit the Twilight Saga Wiki here and read! 

The craft portion is to depict an aspect of Alice’s history. You can take your inspiration from what we know from the actual Stephenie Meyer text, or you can use your imagination to depict something that could have happened in Alice’s past.

The comment portion – talk a bit about Alice’s gift. Would you like to possess her ability to see the future? Do you think that that would be a blessing or a curse?

As always, our talented Twilight Tuesday Design Team has projects to display this week – go and visit them! 

Alison ~Dani ~ Donna ~ Erica ~ Eve ~ Jacquie ~Jen ~ Margie ~ Rebecca

And here is my own project.  My first idea for this challenge was really very dark and was about Alice’s being institutionalized.  And when it came time to actually make it, I just…couldn’t.  My mood changed, I guess, so I focused on another aspect of Alice.   It was much nicer to think of Alice being free of all of that, and this card was the result.  I wanted this to be very simple and airy to give the impression of freedom.  Alice being free as a bird – that made a lot of sense to me.  I know this might look black, but that dark color is actually navy blue.  I thought that the blue worked with the airy theme.  (Sorry if the photo doesn’t show that very well.)

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock, Stampin’ Up! Night of Navy cardstock

Stamp:  Stampin’ Up! French Flair; “free” was computer-generated

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Night of Navy

Accessories:  Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Nestabilities Oval and Scallop Oval dies; ribbon; dimensionals; K & Co. adhesive gems; Sakura Jelly Roll pen in clear

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge 27 – Jasper Hale

Happy Tuesday, everyone! This week’s theme for the Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge Challenge was chosen by me – it’s time for a tribute to Jasper Hale!   The creative part of this challenge is to make a piece that says "Jasper" to you. And the comment portion for this week is all about Jasper’s amazing calming abilities. What do you like to do to create that Jasper-style calm for yourself?

As always, all the rules and challenge information can be found here. Please join us and play along! We also just announced the blog candy for the month of April – check that out!  And be sure to visit the very talented members of the Design Team to see what they have to display.

Beth ~ Dani ~ Eve ~ Jen ~ Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya

I’m happy that we get to focus on Jasper this week!  Love this character.  And as always, I turn to the oracle, Edward Cullen, for his words of wisdom on Jasper:

“Jasper is very interesting. He was quite charismatic in his first life, able to influence those around him to see things his way.  Now he is able to manipulate the emotions of those around him — calm down a room of angry people, for example, or excite a lethargic crowd, conversely. It’s a very subtle gift.” – Twilight, page 308

There are just so many interesting things about Jasper – not the least of which are his wicked baseball skills.  I wish that we could hear more about him at some point.  Honestly, if Stephenie Meyer decided to write a LOT more about all of the Cullens, giving us their backstories, I would be very happy.  And wouldn’t you love to hear more about Jasper’s history?  His time in the civil war, all that he experienced with other vamps, what it was like when he and Alice met, how hard he works on his vegetarian diet – that would be incredibly cool.

And really, what is Jasper without Alice?  I find it hard to think about one character  without thinking of the other.  So…that led me to do a  matched set for those two.  We did a challenge about Alice several months ago and I  thought I would model my Jasper card after that Alice card.  (That entry was only my third on my baby blog!)  And as I was working on it, I realized that I actually wanted to make the  exact same thing for this week.  It just made sense to me.  Those two are just  such a matched set, with their special abilities, the fact that they came to join the Cullen family on their own, and the fact that neither of them was actually turned by Carlisle.  So…same cards!  It just had to be that way.

Card components:
Paper: Papertrey Ink white and black cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Baja Breeze; The Paper Company silver
Stamps: none.  Photo property of Summit Entertainment; fonts used: “Jasper:” Zephyr; “calm": Porcelain
Ink: SU! Baja Breeze
Accessories: Cuttlebug: textile texture embossing folder and tag die; Maya Road chipboard frame; Folk Art acrylic paint in silver sterling; silver Stickles; Joann’s ribbon; Dew Drop; EK Success deco corner punch, dimensionals

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge #18 — Twilight Valentines!

Happy Tuesday — here’s an early wish for a Happy Valentine’s Day too!  This week it was my turn to choose the theme for the Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge and it was a really easy decision this time…it’s Twilight Valentines!  All of the details on the challenge can be found at our home base for the challenges, Twilight Tuesday.com.  As always, we welcome you to play along with us!  And, please visit the blogs of the design team members to see what they’ve created!

Beth ~ Dani ~ Eve ~  Jen ~ Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya

The creative portion of the challenge is to make a card that could be given from character to another in the Twilight world.  Because I am totally predictable when it comes to choosing a Twilight character to focus on…yeah, I chose Edward.  I made a card that Edward would give to Bella.  In the Twilight world of my imagination.  (Just go with it — it’s more fun that way.)  More on the card in a bit.

The comment portion of the challenge is to talk a bit about the couples in the Twilight  world. Which couple’s story you might relate to or admire, which couple might not work for you (hey, imprinting on a baby theme – I’m looking at you!). Anything you like. I would bet that a lot of us love the stories because of the romantic elements — just elaborate on that a bit, and tell us what parts of that appealed to you. 

Hmmm…my favorite relationship would have to be that of Renee and Phil…yeah, just kidding — you all know what I’m going to say!  It’s all about Edward and Bella. {Or really, it’s all about Edward.  Has there EVER been a fictional character that has inspired this much adoration?  Seriously?!}

And for my least favorite relationship(s) in the story — I hinted at that one above.  The imprinting on an infant does not work for me, nor will it ever work for me.  So Renesmee and Jacob, Quil and Claire  = not my faves. 

My card for this challenge is not very black and red and Twilighty-looking.  I really just wanted to do a somewhat straightforward Valentine card, something that Edward might like for Bella.  (Again, in my imaginary world.)  There are just a few Twilight hints here.  Aside from adding Bella and Edward’s names to the heart shape on the card, the "forever" sentiment reminded me of the last scene of Twilight (both the book and the movie).  

And my nod to Edward — the presence of the rhinestones on the card, especially the rhinestone heart.  Was that not one of the loveliest of scenes, when Edward gives Bella the  diamond heart for her bracelet?  Edward seemed so thrilled to be giving it to her…so lovely.  So let’s take a moment with this; allow me to quote from one of my very favorite moments of the whole series:

On the opposite side of the chain from the wolf, there now hung a brilliant heart-shaped crystal.  It was cut in a million facets, so that even in the subdued light shining from the lamp, it sparkled.  I inhaled in a low gasp.

"It was my mother’s," he shrugged deprecatingly.  "I inherited quite a few baubles like this.  I’ve given some to Esme and Alice both.  So, clearly, this is not a big deal in any way."

I smiled ruefully at his assurance.

"But I thought it was a good representation," he continued. "It’s hard and cold."  He laughed.  "And it throws rainbows in the sunlight."

"You forgot the most important similarity," I murmured.  "It’s beautiful."

"My heart is just as silent," he mused. "And it, too, is yours."

I twisted my wrist so the heart would glimmer.  "Thank you. For both."

Eclipse, pages 438-439

Card components:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink vintage cream cardstock; SU! Riding Hood Red; 7 Gypsies Savannah flock paper – floral

Stamp: Inkadinkado from Love Letters set, Bella and Edward names computer-generated

Ink:  SU! Riding Hood Red

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Fiskars texture plate in dots; Nestabilities long rectangle and heart dies; SU! ticket corner punch; Martha Stewart floral lace border punch; rhinestone accents; ribbon; dimensionals

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge – A Tribute to Alice Cullen!

Time for a shout out to the lovely and talented Stamp Vamp, Tonya, who kindly hosts the Twilight Tuesday Challenge!

Her theme for this past week’s challenge was Alice, and that gave me the inspiration for what I think is one of my favorite cards that I’ve made to date! I had a ton of fun making this card. I painted the chipboard frame with a silver metallic acrylic paint, and then applied silver Stickles to give it a little glitz – important for any member of the Cullen family. It’s always nice to be able to play with  paint!

I think that I might need to run this idea by Tonya — I think I’ll use this layout for a whole series of Twilight character cards. I already have ideas brewing for most of the characters. So many possibilities!

Twilighters, stop by Tonya’s site, Stamp Happens, and play along on Twilight Tuesdays!

Card components:
Paper: Papertrey Ink white; SU Baja Breeze; Paper Co. silver; Bazzill black cardstock
Stamps: none; sentiment was computer-generated
Ink: SU Baja Breeze
Accessories: Cuttlebug: textile texture embossing folder and tag die; Maya Road chipboard frame; Folk Art acrylic paint in silver sterling; silver Stickles; Joann’s ribbon; brad: unknown; EK Success deco corner punch, dimensionals