Once Upon a Time

 

Challenge #242 at Time Out has just gone live and this fortnight it's an Inspired By Words Challenge with a quote from Albert Einstein.   You probably already know how an Inspired By Words challenge works but for those who may not be familiar with our challenges, it means you take the words from this quote we have featured and use them to inspire a creation!   You can use one word, multiple words or just the general idea of the quote and if it's not immediately obvious, please explain how you were inspired!  

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. 

If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” 

~ Albert Einstein

You might like to check out the Time Out Challenge Blog to see how my other team mates were inspired,  and this challenge we are joined by Kim Heggins of Cupcakes, Cards and Kim - I'm sure Kim would appreciate some comment love - don't we all!

No prize for guessing how I was inspired!  I am fortunate to live in a country with many castles - some in better condition than others.  Wikipedia says there are optimistically 130 castles in Luxembourg, but that a more realistic estimate is still over 100 - not bad for such a tiny country (just under 1000 square miles)!  After 25 years of living here, I never grow tired of the majestic splendour of the more famous and refurbished ones but even the ruined ones have their own sense of mystique about them! 

When I first saw this pretty, whimsical cottage (AALL Heart and Home), it immediately conjured up a fairy tale world!  I thought a clock might add some interest to the background (once upon a time and all that) and remembered I had this very ancient (and NBUS) Tim Holtz Stencil!  

I'm not great at colouring but fortunately, this brilliant stamp made it easy for me by shading the areas that fall in the shadow!   I stamped it first on the background, and then again on white paper, coloured this with a few shades of purple alcohol inks and fussy cut it out, ignoring the peripheral bits - that way  I didn't have to worry about cutting around those fiddly bits!  

I couldn't resist trailing Rapunzel's golden braid from the tower's window - this I had in mind from the moment I popped it into my shopping basket!  The braid should really have been a lot longer but it was late and I was going cross-eyed at this point!  However, it does almost reaches the ground, Prince Charming will just have to make a jump for it! 

The heart flowers in my garden were from another stamp in the set which I stamped along the base at different heights.  There is a sentiment included with the set - "live simply" but I opted for this text instead (Waltzing Mouse Half Pint Heroines) in keeping with the fairy tale theme and the inside includes another text from that set to complete the sentiment "and she was amazing".   

I were to do it again, I would definitely choose different colours for the stencilling and stamp the sentiment directly on the base panel.  And I'm not sure the patterned paper was a great idea either (although I did try plain white at the beginning and didn't like that either)!

AALL are sponsoring this challenge and have donated a $20 gift voucher to their store for our top pick (as chosen by our design team).  Our winner will also be asked to guest design with us in a future challenge.

I've used two NBUS items on this card - AALL Heart and Home Stamp set and the Tim Holtz stencil/mask - so I'd like to enter NBUS Challenge #52.

I'd also like to enter the July Stamping Sensations Challenge though not sure my little heart flowers qualify as summer flowers, so just the Anything Goes option!

I'd also like to enter the July We Love Stamping Challenge though again not sure my flowers qualify as  fabulous (though I think they're sweet) so just the Anything Goes Option!

I'd also like to enter the Crazy is our Fame July Stencil Challenge, though I'm not using their optional theme either!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate