Sunday, July 27, 2008

Royal Chocolates Winner! (Castigatorul concursului Ciocolata Imperiala)




As the image above shows (click for larger view) the winner of this week's Royal Chocolates draw is comment number 3: LINDSAY. Congratulations, Lindsay! You have won a new custom designed header for your blog. Please contact me by e-mail to discuss the details.

The rest of you, stay tuned cause I'll soon find another occasion to offer you chocolates. ;)

Dupa cum puteti vedea in imaginea de mai sus (click pentru a o mari) castigatorul Ciocolatei Imperiale de saptamana acesta este NUMARUL 3: LINDSAY. Astept sa ma contacteze prin e-mail pentru a discuta detaliile.

Restul, fiti pe faza! In curand voi gasi un nou motiv pentru a va servi cu ciocolata. ;)

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Color Inspiration #17 (Inspiratie culori #17)

Don't you just love this dress? So are all the other items Kristina finds for her Color inspiration challenge. I can't wait to see the next one.

Imi place foarte mult rochia acesta, la fel cu toate celelalte lucruri pe care Kristina le propune in fiecare saptamana ca inspiratie. Abia astept sa vad ce va urma.



This week's Color Inspiration was the quickest card I made in a very long time.
I came home last night from helping a friend of mine who is a flower designer prepare the flowers for a weding. Wow! The bride's bouquet and her little daughter's came out so beautiful!!!! I hope I can share them later when I get some pics. Of course, the invitations are Handmade by Meda. I will show you those later.
Now back to this card, I was so happy I managed to post it before the deadline when I realized the deadline was before midnight on Thursday, not Friday. Well, I'll know that next week.

Felicitarea de saptamana aceasta a fost cea mai rapida pe care am facut-o in ultimul timp. Aseara am ajuns foarte tarziu acasa penrtu ca am ajutat-o pe o prietena sa faca buchetele si aranjamentele florale pentru o nunta. Buchetu miresei si al fetitei ei sunt superbe! Abia astept sa fac rost de niste poze sa vi le arat. Evident, invitatiile sunt Handmade by Meda. Voi publica in curand si imagini cu invitatiile.



Card recipe: Stamp set called "Beauty" from Close to my Heart Company. I have them from Manna. Ink: unknown brand from Germany. Dewert watercolor pencils for the faux stiched lines. Card stock: Fabriano white linen.

Reteta felicitare: Stampile: un set numit "Beauty" de la compania Close to my Heart pe care le-am primit de la Manna. Cerneala: marca necunoscuta din Grmania. Creiaona acuarel Dewert pentru liniile de cusatura falsa. Carton: Fabriano textura de panza.

Monday, July 21, 2008

New Look and... "Royal Chocolates" (Un now look si "Ciocolata Imperiala")


Many of you have noticed my blog has a new look. This Royal Red is my favorite color when it comes to design. I think it's the most elegant color. Actually I didn't plan for the new look. I stumbled upon this background on my computer while searching for some sort of a swirl to make a background paper for the wedding invitations I'm designing at the moment. I tried the background on the blog and...wow! ... I suddenly felt like changing my blog aspect completely. It was all done in 1 hour.

Now what about the "Royal Chocolates"? Well, I love my new blog so much that I have decided to give one of you the chance to change your blog's looks. I wanted to call it "Blog Candy" first but then I thought: "Hey, that name doesn't match your new look!" and changed it. Why "Royal Chocolates"? Because I love fantasy and I love stories about princesses and castles and noble heroes and this blog is the place where I can be just that and leave out reality :)
Here are the details: You have to leave a comment to this post and tell me 2 things:
#1. What do you think about my new blog layout? (honestly)
#2. Indicate one blog whose design you like most. (any on the internet)
What do you win?
I'll use random org to pick a winner on Sunday evening (7pm GMT). The winner will get a custom designed header for her/his blog. Also, I'll ask the winner to post the Royal Chocolates Badge on his/her blog to give me credit for the design. We'll discuss the design details afterwards.


Please be back on Sunday to see who the winner is.

Google Cache image of my blog's old layout
Imagine din Google Cache a vechiului design

Multi ati observat probabil ca mi-am schimbat design-ul blogului. Totul s-a datorat imaginii pe care o vedeti acum in background si pe care am gasit-o intamplator pe calculator in timp ce cautam niste inflorituri pentru invitatiile la care tocmai lucrez. Am incercat noul background pe site, mi-a placut, si intr-o ora am adus design-ul la stadiul in care este acum.

"Ciocolata Imperiala" este denumirea pe care i-am dat-o eu faimosului "Blog Candy" si are legatura cu pasiunea mea pentru fantezie: povesti cu printese, palate si razboinici.
Iata detaliile: Trebuie sa faceti un comentariu la acest articol in care sa precizati 2 lucruri:
#1. Ce parere aveti despre noua "'faţa" a blog-ului meu? (sincer)
#2. Care este blogul al carui design va place cel mai mult? (orice blog de pe internet)
Ce castigati?
Voi folosi un generator de numere aleatoare ca random org pentru a desemna un castigator duminica la ora 7pm GMT (10 seara ora Romaniei). Acesta va primi un header nou nout pentru blogul sau. De asemenea, voi ruga castigatorul sa-si posteze insigna Royal Chocolates pe blog pentru a-mi credita design-ul. Detaliile le vom stabili dupa.

Va astept duminica pentru a vedea cine este castigatorul.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Color Inspiration #16 (Inspiratie culori #16)


I almost didn't make it to this week's challenge. Again, too many colors for my taste but I really want to extend my color comfort zone, so I'll try to do this every week. See Kristina's blog for details.
Butterfly stamp unknown, sentiment Stampin' UP!, ink unknown brand fromGermany, cardstock Fabriano.



Era sa nu termin felicitarea aceasta la timp. Noroc cu diferenta de fus orar. Din nou prea multe culori pentru mine dar vreu sa-mi extind zona de confort cromatic, asa ca voi incerca sa particip in fiecare saptamana la provocarea Kristinei. Stampila cu fluture marca necunoscuta, text Stampin' UP!, cerneala marca necunoscuta din Germania, carton Fabriano.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The White Dragonfly (Libelula alba)


When I made the card from the previous post, I also made this one. Actually I had embossed more types of winged fellows to se which looked best. I really loved this dragonfly from Stampin' Up! Wonderful Wings so I had to use it on a card. This time I used brads to keep the velum in place. I tried brads on the previous design too, but they were competing with the pearls so I decided to use my gluestick to adhere the velum.
Thanks for coming by today.

Cand am facut felicitarea din articolul trecut am incercat mai multe variante de fluturi si mai multe combinatii. In acest caz am ales o libelula care imi place foarte mult (din setul Stampin' Up! Wonderful Wings). Pentru ca nu mai erau perle care sa concureze vizual cu ele am ales sa prind hartia de calc cu ajutorul acelor tinte care se pot vedea in colturi.
Multumesc ca v-ati oprit sa cititi acest articol.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Featured Stamper 74


This card is for the Featured Stamper #74 on SCS.
The Challenge was to CASE a card by Teneale Williams .
She has so many great cards that it was really hard for me to choose just one.
Still, I decided to CASE this one because I had some new butterfly stamps from Manna and I wanted to try them out.
Things I changed: the butterfly image, the card stock color, gave up the sentiment, made a different, smaller bow, velum swirls from SU! to replace the swirl stamp. Of course I had to add my signature on the butterflies (the pearls). Many thanks to Bev for the velum. This is the first time I dared to use it. Yea, I'm a paper & embellishment hoarder too.

Felicitare inspirata de [link]. Provocarea a fost sa algem una din felicitarile lui Teneale Williams si sa modificam cateva elemente. Mai multe detalii despre regulile jocului aici.
Modificari realizate: imaginea cu fluturasii, culoarea, am renuntat la textul de jos, fundita, am inlocuit imaginea cu inflorituri cu o hartie de calc asemanatoare primita de la Bev (multumesc pentru cadou, Bev). Evident, mi-am adaugat semnatura pe fluturasi (perlele).
Stampila cu fluturas am primit-o de ziua mea de la Manna.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Happy Birthday, Val! (La multi ani, Val!)

This is a birthday card for my friend Valerie in Canada.
I usually need one day to design a card but I can't afford to spend that much time on cards right now, so I went to SCS to find some inspiration. Here is the card I CASED. I changed the stamp and used different embellishments, but basically it's the same card.
This is the first time I ever tried to case a card, but it is not as easy as I thought and also doesn't give me much satisfaction knowing that it is not 100% my design.

Aceasta e o felicitare pentru prietena mea Valerie din Canada. Deoarece nu stau foarte bine cu timpul in acesta perioada am cautat inspiratie pe SCS. Aceasta e felicitarea pe care am ales sa o reproduc. Am schimbat doar imaginea si fundita, dar in principiu, e acelasi design.
E prima data cand am incarcat sa reproduc design-ul altcuiva, si pot spune ca nu e chiar atat de simplu cum credeam si, in plus, nu ai satisfactia ca felicitarea iti apartine 100%.

Color Inspiration #15 (Culori inspiratie #15)



Yesterday I found this great blog that also has a color inspiration challenge. Since I needed to make a card for my brother-in-law I decided to make it a triple challenge:
#1 use the above color palete
#2 make a masculine card
#3 only use materials from my scrap stash

This is my card. The images are hand drawn and colored with watercolor pencils*. They are adhered with foam tape for extra dimension. It was also the first time I have ever used this type of coloring medium (they were a gift I made myself for my birthday).

Ieri am gasit un blog foarte frumos care are, printre altele, o tema de lucru cu un anumit set de culori. Intrucat chiar aveam nevoie de o felicitare pentru cumnatul meu, am decis sa accept provocarea si chiar am triplat-o:
#1 sa folosesc paleta de culori de mai sus
#2 sa fie un design masculin
#3 sa folosesc doar din resturile de materiale
Imaginile sunt desenate cu mana (nu sunt tiparite sau stampilate) si sunt colorate cu creioane aquarel*, si acestea reprezentand un element de noutate pentru mine (tocmai mi le-am cumparat cadou de ziua mea si acum le-am folosit pentru prima data). De asemenea, imaginile sunt lipite cu spuma dublu-adeziva pentru a crea impresia de volum.

* For those who don't know, watercolor pencils look like normal colored pencils but they are water soluble. When they are wet, these pencils act like watercolors and you can use a brush to pick up the pigment and paint.
Pentru cei care nu stiu, creioanele aquarel arata ca niste creioane normale de colorat, dar sunt solubile in apa, in contact cu care se comporta ca niste aquarele. Se poate folosi o pensula pentru a prelua pigmentul si a picta.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Still Life Paintig Exam (Examen pictura natura statica)


This was my final exam painting. It was painted after real life in about 10 hours. Dry pastels on Canson paper 50x65 cm (20x26 inches). I still have to learn how to draw curtains in color so that will be my next painting study.

Aceasta este lucrarea mea pentru examenul de sfarsit de an. Timp de lucru: aprox 10 ore. Materiale: pastel pe hartie Canson, 50x 65 cm. Inca mai am de invatat cum se realizeaza drapajul in culoare, deci asta va fi urmatoarea mea tema de studiu.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Birthday Cards (Felicitari de ziua mea)


I turned 26 on Friday, July 4. It was a day that helped me remember how blessed I am with friends and family. I didn't know I had so many friends and so many who remembered my birthday although I tried not to make a fuss of it.

Thanks to all the SCS members who left me private messages and thanks to all my friends across the ocean who have sent me cards (one day last week I came home to find my post box full of cards).

Vineri, 4 iulie am implinit 26 de ani. A fost o zi in care mi-am amintit cat de binecuvantata sunt avand asa multi prieteni, familie, colegi, prieteni peste ocean pe care nu i-am vazut niciodata fata in fata. Foarte multi si-au amintit ca era ziua mea, desi am incercat sa nu fac prea mare tam-tam despre asta.
Multumesc tuturor membrilor SCS care mi-au lasat mesaje chiar daca nu ma cunosc personal si multumesc tuturor prietenelor pe care le-am cunoscut prin intermediul internetului pentru felicitari (intro zi saptamana trecuta m-am intors acasa si am gasit cutia postala plina de felicitari venite in Canada si SUA).