TCR 92 Constance and gala opening of CSI celebrating with Tea At Bettys

What a glorious day it has been this day in Stockholm! the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the temperature was springlike and mild. At this time last year, we had a zillion Mount Everests of snow piled up everywhere and it was really cold. Now there are several bushes pushing delicate leaves and I've even heard birds sing! Pray we don't get a freezing surprise over night.

Friday saw the release of palette #92 over at TCR. Gorgeous vintagey colours of Antique Blue, Eggplant, Custard Cream and Rustic Rose.

And as the cherry on our cream cake, we have Meg's Garden as sponsors for the month of January! Meg has very generously sponsored the TCR DT with their gorgeous new paper collection. I have posted about Meg's Garden before and shared both cards and pages that I have made with their yummie romantic papers. I will have the link to ther online store and blog at the end of this post.

Here's first the inspirational palette and Lydell's beautiful sketch:

This is what I made:



The girl in the photo is not unknown, her name was Constance and she lived in Paris with her family during the Belle Epoque. In this pic from 1902 she is about 8 years old.

Double stitching around the border, the eggplant/purple doesn't show here in the photo as it's stitched on the black cardstock. IRL the blue and purple stitching give a nice touch to the page.



The locket and the mauve velvet flower bud are both from Meg's Garden. The photo in the locket is of Constance as a baby and her young mother.



The shabby paper matting has been through quite a bit of working on before looking this way. Check out the plain vanilla card that I started off with!

I saw a cool tut over at Miss Art's a few months ago. Alyssa McGrew showed how to decorate chipboard alphas with this method.

First you smear gesso or molding paste on your plain surface and let it dry just a bit before adhering a ripped off piece from an old book or from a newspaper on it. Wait for a short while, not too long though or the paper will just stay put! gently pull off your paper strip and see how the print transfers onto your gessoed/pasted surface. I also wanted small pieces of the actual book page to stick as well as some of the card to tear off in places so I just repeated the sticking on and pulling off until I was satisfied.

Next step I pulled out my mists. On this one I have used TA Sand + Creme de Cocoa + Tattered Rose + Old Lace + Vintage Pink + Suede and Hydrangea. Might have added a squirt or two of some Creme de Rouge and Timeless Lilac as well :)

The stamping is made with clear acrylics from Elise's Huis. I used ink nbr 171 in Pine Cone from Versa Color. (no, it's not pine green! it has a subtle lovely shabby brownish vintage hue.)

The swirly chippie corners are from Dusty Attic. I painted them in TA Glimmer Glam in Gold and rubbed them slightly in the same Versa Color in Pine Cone to offsett the shine of the gold.



The die cut Eiffel tower and the stamp are both from KaiserCraft's new collection Sweet Nothings. Boy am I longing to start working on the papers, they are gooooorgeous beyond words!



Being me, I had to have flowers of course. Mauve pansy and bejewelled organza flower are both from Meg's Garden, as are the tiny forget-me-nots. The blue border swirl is also from DA. First I dabbed it in a metallic blue hue that I haven't got the name of as the label has fallen off the bottle. Then I randomly used ColorBox pigment chalks in Gold Brocade, Sapphire Silk and Warm Violet all over it.





With the scraps that were left over from making my page, I made a card;



The label is fussy cut from another of the lovely papers that can be found in the online store of Meg's Garden.

Click HERE for Meg's Garden online store where you will also find the link to their blog!




*Drumroll* the waiting is over! finally we have opened up shop at CSI - Color ... Stories ... Inspiration ...!

Check this out!

Welcome to our very first Case File! We are so excited to unveil our challenges. We are thrilled to have The Dusty Attic as our sponsor and delighted that their design team is joining the CSI team as guest designers for the month of January. This week, we have Mistra Hoolahan, Michelle Grant, and Jenny Burns joining us. We also have Nadia Cannizzo joining us as a special guest designer for our launch of CSI.

As you will see from the designers' layouts, the palette is very versatile, perfectly suitable for scrapping your recent holiday photos but also perfect for so many more themes. For the other elements of the challenge, we have a range of options, all inspired by our inspiration image, aka "The Scene." At the bottom of this thread, you will find some more details about this Case File, such as the RGB codes for the colors and more thorough explanations of the journaling prompts.

Since the CSI Case Files are brand-new to everyone, you will want to take some time to read the article "How the Challenge Works." Also, please take a moment to read the guidelines herefor some logistical rules.
In case you haven't figured out from Johnny Depp peeking through the magnifying glass on the front page preview, this month's inspiration images are all inspired by Alice in Wonderlandto celebrate Lewis Carroll's January 27th birthday.

So without further ado, we are pleased to reveal Case File No. 1...



Click  HERE to come to CSI and more of Case File No. 1.

... and here's my page;




I very often journal at the back of my pages but bringing it up on the page itself, really is something that makes it easier to take in the whole layout in one glance. Journalling is also often something that many find difficult.

All papers are from the BoBunny Welcome Home collection.



A swirly frame from Dusty Attic, from the same sheet as the corners I used on my TCR #92 Constance page.

I just love how dainty and cute the waitresses look at Bettys Teahouse, not only in York which is my local hang-out when I'm there. They used to have little lacey flimsy things in their hair but not any longer. You know, the same kind of ruffles the uppstairs maids in the BBC TV series "Downtown Abbey" wear, little cap-like old-fashioned thingies.



Stamps are from Elise's Huis and the metallic embellie is from Meg's Garden. The little tea tag is from one of  my fave morning tea bags, comes from Dilmah (naaaw, seriously does it now?!).




Isn't it silly the little things we sometimes have to do before we can enjoy something! Yup, I need the full trimmings before I'm ready and set to enjoy my visits.



The bling on the chandelier is liquid pearl nr 904 in Bronze from German brand Viva Decor. The overlay is a snippet from a Hambly sheet.



The doily is from Leeann Pearce's Chip Chop Shop on Etsy. The die cut sentiment is from BoBunny Welcome Home collection as is the trinket tucked in at the bottom.





The jewel stick pins are from Meg's Garden and the raw chippie swirl under the cluster is from Dusty Attic.


The flowers are a mix of Petaloo and Prima. The fabric bloom next to the sentiment is from Precocious Paper's Etsy shop.

What a glorious day it is!! Thanks for popping by and for any beautiful comment you might want to leave.

Todeloo! xoxoxo Eila