Thursday, January 02, 2014

Serenity for 2014

Happy New Year!   I hope 2014 brings you happiness, health, serenity and lots of creative activities.

I have a design today using Chocolate Baroque's new gorgeous Serenity A5 set.


The background is Teal & Turquoise Dylusions ink.  I stencilled a little over top with TCW Pointy Circles and stamped in the background with a beautiful feather image from Peacock Parade.   I embossed with gold UTEE around the edge of the background.

I embossed the Buddha from Serenity with gold directly over the background.   I stamped a second Buddha image with Cobalt Archival ink and embossed a third image with gold powder on separate cardstock.   Next I decoupaged the cobalt Buddha and the gold Lotus chair and layered over the main image.   I embossed the smaller feather images also from Peacock Parade with gold and decoupaged as shown.  All the images were coloured with Prisma and Inktense pencils. 

I'm including a few photos taken after the 48 hour ice storm that hit here the weekend before Christmas.   We are thankful that our electricity was only off for one day as many families went much longer in freezing weather.  Some waited over a week for hydro lines to be repaired.    Sadly there is extensive damage to trees in the Region.  We won't know the extend of damage to our shrubs until the Spring when the snow melts. Our trees are younger and seemed to survive well.  Nature is beautiful and sometimes cruel.

Taken on the third day, still very dark.  The ground is snow & ice covered, the shrubs and trees are ice covered, that's not snow!

Candied Crab Apples covered in ice. 

Taken when the sun was setting, a couple of days after the ice storm.


I would like to thank everyone for all your visits and kind words at my blog during the last year,  I appreciate them very much.   I'm looking forward to the inspiration I gain from visits to your blogs in 2014!

Have a great day
Shirley

34 comments:

maria's knutselplezier said...

Such a beautiful card again dear Shirley, I really love those stamps, so I'll put them on my wishing list, your garden looks so beautiful in the snow, but I can olso see that it's so cold brrr, I really don't like that!!!
A happy, healthy and creative 2014, I hope my card has arrived otherwise there is something wrond with Canadiën Post???

Greetings
Maria

Annette P.-L. said...

Wonderful card ... full of serenity!
Great colors!
And beautiful photos! We don´t like icestorms indeed, but it creates little wonders of nature!
A happy new year for you!

Valerie-Jael said...

Great card, and love the photos, sorry the weather hit you so hard over there. Here the winter is still mild. Happy 2014! Valerie

brenda said...

What fabulous intensity of colour Shirley.

Looks like you are pretty cold there, a nice frost would be good here, it's so mild and nothing but rain.

B x

brenda said...

Ooops, posted before I said Happy New Year.

B x

Elaine said...

Lovely work Shirley, beautiful background colour and the teaming up with the Peacock stamps works beautifully. The colouring of the main image is lovely and I love the little touches of gold and the bird too.

Your pictures of the snow are amazing, especially those crab apples encased in ice. That would make a lovely photographic Christmas card. I am glad your own situation wasn't worse with the power outages.

All the best for a very creative new year.

Elaine x

Little Artbee said...

Such a lovely card with wonderful colours, I love these style so much.
Great Fotos from your canadian winter. Here in Germany we have no snow yet and had no white christmas.
It was so mild that the flowers in the garden got to grow again.

I wish you and your family a Happy New Year.
Greetings
Sabine

Crafting Queen said...

Beautiful photos. Love your card,such lovely colours and details. Have a very Happy New Year. Purrs to your furry ones.

Shirley said...

You have created something very beautiful with these stamps Shirley.

I do hope your shrubs survive the cold icy weather and what a true sentiment about nature being beautiful but also cruel.

Warm crafty hugs from Shirl x x

Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries said...

Again a mysterious look on your card with these stamps Shirley...great work!
And about the icerain...the pictures looks scary..hope the situation is better now?!
All the best for 2014

Pat said...

I love the colours Shirley, and the way you have incorporated the Buddha with the Peacock Parade stamps. The background has great interest too with the stenciling and the gold UTEE, and the Inktense and Prisma pencils give good colour and coverage. A beautiful card. You took some lovely photos of the ice, it's amazing how thick a layer it is. I can understand how damaging it must be, but it looks quite magical!

Unknown said...

Beautiful card full of serenity and a comforting feel to it...so love your stamp and photos are refreshing to me as so hot here.xxx

Happy New Year.xx

Donna Ellis said...

Gosh, ice storms are like a double sided sword - so much damage on one side, and so much beauty on the other side. Glad you are safe, Shirley. Love this new set by CB, and your amazing cards - so colorful - and this one looks exotic in its composition - rich and peaceful! hugs, de

Gerrina said...

First: Wish you a wonderfull 2014 with beautiful and creative moments!
Your card is a beauty! I love the green with this stamp!
The photo´s are stunning! What a different world in comparison with here...it is 6°C, sometimes a little bit of sun, most grey and sometimes it rains (at the moment it is sunny and raining...) Warm greetings, Gerrina

Paula (PEP) said...

Very effective with the subtle hint of pointiness from the Pointy Circles in the background echoed by both the Peacock Parade feathers as well as the image & her architrave. The way you used different colour sequences for the feathers hanging down & the feathers at the bottom pointing up catches the eye & there is a sense of the predominant pink the two bottom ones affiliating them with the image. It's also very effective the way the two bottom feathers are layered over the larger background feathers. The Prisma colouring of the image is delightful & I love the way you used gold for the edging as well as the Lotus chair. I love the way the bird's beak is pointing toward the Serenity text.
I'm glad you seem to have come through that storm reasonably unscathed. We also have freak weather in the form of rain & wind - another bout tomorrow with very high wind speeds. So far our woodland trees have stayed in situ.
Wishing you well for 2014 & thank you for all the pleasure you give.
Paula (PEP)

Alex said...

A wonderful card in beautiful vibrant colours, Shirley!
I am glad the ice storm didn't hit you too hard. You are right, nature can be beautiful and cruel. I must say, I love the photo of the Crab Apples covered in ice! A real stunning photo!

PiaRom said...

Exquisite work! The colors are just beautiful too!! Wish you an artsy, happy, healthy and magical new year to come ♥ Conny
Piaroms Art Journaling

Saakje said...

That card is beautiful Shirley.
The serenity of the image you needed I think after such an ice storm. Your pix tel us how much ice you had on your trees and shrubs. I feel glad that you had not to much problems.
Take good care! Saakje

Anjas-Artefaktotum said...

Wonderful lovely elegant look. I love how you combined the stamps, stencils and colors.
I wish all your dreams come true in 2014.
Big hugs Anja

Words and Pictures said...

Love that deep teal - what a fabulously intense background to the gentle tinting of the serene Buddha figure - beautiful!

Thank you for your visit and lovely comment - so much appreciated.
Alison x

Darnell said...

I went back to be relaxed by your serene card after seeing that cruel ice storm! Don't get me wrong, the photos are extraordinary and beautiful, but it is sad, both for the toll on humans with the loss of electricity, but also to the toll on plants.

We've had a long period of below freezing here already and I'm wishing I were married to a nursery man! They are going to be doing a booming business come spring!!

Happy New Year, my friend!! Hugs, Darnell

Greta said...

Beautiful images & colors, Shirley--lovely card! I can remember an ice storm quite a few years ago & feel fortunate we haven't had that again. Hope your plants/trees survive. Happy New Year!

Patricia said...

Happy NEW YEAR Shirley, great card, and LOVELEY photo's!!!!!
Greetz Patricia

Wendy said...

So pretty Shirley! My favourite colours, and I love those gorgeous patterned stamps. Xxxx

MaryH said...

This is definitely another WOW card. I read through all the specs & think "how does she DO that!" Loved the gold Utee trims too. Just a beautiful, beautiful card with the amazing colors combined with the gold. TFS the garden pictures. So very lovely but also very cold looking. A frosty, icy wonderland. I'm glad you didn't lose power for very long. We were out for 7 days in 2005, so I know what that is like. We now have a generator that is tied in with our natural gas, so we can still have heat or a/c and a few lights. Looks like some of the northern USA states are being hammered again. Our high today was 35, pretty cold for our area, this early. At least it was sunshine, no ice or snow. I'm thankful! Hugs

Cole Meyer said...

What intensity of color! Yet, peaceful -- amazing! Lovely, winter photos, too!

Karin said...

wow its fabulous!
happy 2014!
groetjes karin x

Sandy said...

Happy New Year Kid! You are off to a good start. I good use some serenity! The colors you used are gorgeous - which I think really makes your card so special.
I love your snow pictures - I only wish we could get a good snow storm here. I just look at your pictures and dream...
Sandy

Lindeke said...

Happy New Year to you too Shirley!!
And wow, what a beautiful creation you made!! Oh I love it! It's gorgeous! Love the colors you used here!! WOW!! Gr, Linda

Petra Tillmann said...

Happy New Year to you too, Shirley! You made a lovely creation for this new year!

Lindeke said...

Beautiful card Shirley!!
And I hope the ice storm didn't cause much damage to the trees and shrubs.
The photos are beautiful!
Gr, Linda

Janny's Cards Creations said...

Beautiful card and wow, a lot of snow. Beautiful pictures. Janny

Colleen Dietrich said...

You've done a lovely job featuring the Serenity set, Shirley! So elegant and very artistic. :)

Thanks for sharing pics of the ice storm results. You're right, nature is beautiful, but also cruel. I'm glad you were w/o power for only a day. It's always in the back of my mind when we get ice, or high winds, here in NJ during winter. I'd so hate to be w/o heat.

Happy New Year, and thank you SO much for visiting me this morning! I am making my rounds today, and you were on my mind to visit anyway. :)

Beth Norman-Roberts said...

Beautiful work. I follow the Choc. B. blog and found you by way of Rynn's stamp company I just discovered through an article in Paper Craft newsletter. I live in Sarnia and we weren't hit with the ice, thank heavens. I'm sorry you went through what you did. My daughter lives in Toronto and thankfully her electricity didn't go out. What a hard time for Toronto and area.