Thursday, 13 March 2025

Roll out the Red Carpet

Onefer

 

The 97th Academy Awards have just concluded and once again the bold and beautiful have graced the red carpet with their elegant (and at times eccentric) fashion choices!  Time Out Challenge #284 is all about past and present red carpet haute couture as inspiration!


Our challenge is sponsored by Picket Fence Studios who have very generously donated a $25 store credit to be awarded to our top pick as voted by the Design Team.  Our winner will also be invited to guest design with us in a future challenge.  Speaking of guest designers, we are joined this challenge by  Carol our winner of Challenge 279!  Please do drop by and see what she has made especially for this challenge and if you didn't come from the Challenge Blog, drop by there as well and see how the rest of the team were inspired by Red Carpet masterpieces!

Stephanie has handpicked a few creations from previous Academy Awards to help you on your way but feel free to find your own red carpet outfit  - please include a photo so we can appreciate how you were inspired!  Here's a closer look at Stephanie's picks


Can you guess which of these magnificent dresses was my initial inspiration for this challenge?  Yes it was Halle Berry's gorgeous number, though it was a tough choice as I also had ideas a few of the others and there was also a beautiful dress Liz Taylor wore for her first Academy Award in 1961!


Here's a closeup of Halle's dress!  Firstly the sheer bodice - I framed a panel of dark red vellum (so I'd have somewhere to hide any adhesive)!  Next the embroidery - I used this NBUS fuchsia die set (Memory Box Delicate Fuchsia Trio) to mimic the spray of greenery and flowers on Halle's gorgeous dress.


I did make up all three flowers from the trio but I only used one in the end so there was room for this "fabulous" word die (Honey Bee)!  I guess the alliteration appealed to me and luckily it just fitted inside the frame!  Lastly, once everything was in place I added a little sparkle to mimic the gold sheen in  Halle's dress with my newly acquired Wink of Stella pen (loving it)!

Twofer

I couldn't let all that inspiration go to waste and Zoe Saldana's dress with all it's billowing frills made me think of Ursula from the Little Mermaid and I was inspired to make this octopus card for my husband's birthday using 3 shades of purple - light to dark as in Zoe's dress.




The die is actually meant to be interactive with the bottom legs spinning independently of the rest of the body but I struggled to give it enough support while still allowing the legs to swing so I went with an action wobbler element instead.

And what would an Octopus do without his garden?  I cut some coral with dies from a few different sets from various coloured snippets (below is just a sample that I thought to photograph during construction).


The signpost die is from the same set as the Octopus but the sentiment is from a Poppy Stamps set (Whittle Sea Life Sentiment) - I performed surgery on it so it could be split across 2 lines.  

I'd like to enter both cards in the following fabulous challenges
NBUS Challenge #72 - NBUS Fuchsia die set, NBUS Octopus;

I'd like to enter Card 1 in the Snippets Challenge #501 - various coloured snippets were useful for cutting the coral;

I'd like to enter card 2 in the following fab challenges;
Fab n Funky Challenge #612 - Punny Sentiment;
Crafty Animals Challenge #92 - Include an animal;
Die cut Divas March Challenge - Include a critter (and a die cut);

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 should be able to find you!


Kate

16 comments:

  1. If you'd told me about the card idea, I probably would have said, "I don't know if it all fits together so well." But now that I see the finished card, I have to say, it all fits together perfectly, and the card is very harmonious and looks beautiful.
    And your underwater world card looks so cheerful.

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  2. KATE! I just love both of these cards! I so love that you and I used the same dress as inspiration, yet they are so different. That is the thing I loved so much about the Runway Challenge from years ago. I love that you used fuchsia which cascades beautifully. The octopus is a fantastic take on Zoe's gown. I love that it is flanked by 2 jellyfish like the Oscars are on either side of Zoe. I had not really noticed the flowers where the curtain meets the carpet in the photo. Your octopus's garden is brilliant! Fabulous makes for our challenge!

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  3. Both cards are wonderful. I do love the fun Octopus card, so cute and fun. I know you wanted the bottom legs to spin independently, but using a wobble was very clever and I bet it worked out great. So glad you entered our Die Cut Divas challenge of using critters, real or imaginary.

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  4. Two wonderful cards Kate, a great take on the theme.
    Liz xx

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  5. Two lovely cards.
    Thanks for coming to play in the Snippets Playground. See you up in the treehouse shortly. X

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  6. fab card, thanks for joining us at FnF :)

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  7. Two fabulous cards! Love the octopus underwater scene - thanks for sharing it at Die Cut Divas!!

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  8. You're so creative, Kate! Both cards are wonderful! I'm not great at this sort of challenge, but am going to see if I can come up with something.

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  9. Your floral card is a wonderful interpretation of Halle's dress and the ombre octopus is so creative and adorable!

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  10. Wow, Kate!! Such clever inspiration from the 2 beautiful gowns! The first so elegant and striking and the second so much fun! I can see where the inspiration for it comes from when I look at the frothy blue creation! SO clever!! Love them both!! :) Hugs x

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  11. Great octopus card, super colours and sentiment, thanks for sharing at Fab’n’Funky.

    Pat xx

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  12. I had trouble coming up with one card and you made two. The fuchsia is lovely and the vellum is a great substitute for the sheerness of the dress. The octopus is darling in his three shades of purple and I love all the extra color along the bottom.

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  13. Wonderful cards Kate - I adore how you reflected the Oscars dresses! A clever theme for a challenge! Off to Google what Liz Taylor wore in 1961!
    Hugs
    Di xx

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  14. I spied this cutie on Darnell's site and had to come give that octopus some loving. I think he's absolutely adorable!

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  15. Your cards are beautiful! How wonderful to get inspiration from the lovely dresses, so creative!

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  16. Truly amazed at your creations. Zoe Saldana's dress does remind me of Ursula, now that you mentioned it. I wouldn't have linked the two on my own. I love the way you put together the octopus and created the incredible underwater scene. Thanks for joining us at Die Cut Divas.

    sue n.

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