Tag #10 - Tim Holtz Tags of 2016

Woot Woot!! Got my October tag done!! Wasn't sure I was going to pull this one off since I didn't have the supplies for one of the techniques! It took me a bit but I found a semi compromise so I could do the top layer of this tag! And I also skipped Halloween again and went straight to Christmas! I promise...next year I'll do Halloween!! I hope to have more seasonal things next year!

Tag #10!! I can hardly believe I made it this far! LOL Unfortunately I do not have any of the Monster dies and am not able to get them before they retire. But I did manage to get the cardinal die from Simon Says Stamp when I won a GC for there! The cardinal doesn't cover as much of the tag as the monsters do, so I did 3 of them and layered them! 

I ran the cardinals through my Big Shot with the poinsettia embossing folder and instead of using paint, I just used my Distress Crayon to rub over the emobssed parts. Because the silver I had was not a foil or metallic, the paint just soaked in (on the very bottom layered cardinal so you can't see it), so I improvised! I glue the bottom cardinal on flat them added the red and top silver with pop dots for dimension.

I added my Emerald Creek snowflake charm with some hemp twine and just tucked the other end of the twine under the cardinal.

My little steampunk tree from Emerald Creek had to make an appearance too. And omg...I love the crazing medium! I want to do that to everything!

A little saying from one of favorite embellishments, and just cut it to fit in the space I needed it to.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my October tag! Hope you are all having a great weekend and Happy Halloween!!To see all the other incredible tags head on over to Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016 October!

Thank you,

Cathy

It's Almost Halloween!

But I'm working on Christmas! I wanted to try out all my new images from Emerald Creek. On this card I used the Woodland Winter from Nicole Wright Designs! This stamp set is awesome and there are 7 stamps in the set! You can layer and build with all the pine boughs and a number of different sayings.

This is center fold card, and the bottom is folded. I used my Tim Holtz paper stash, Yuletide from last year and kept my colours very simple. I used Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo and a touch of Tarnished Brass (on the pine cones). I used Soft Fallen Snow embossing powder for Santa's hat, beard and the branch and just used glue to adhere it.

 

You can see a bit of the shimmer, just enough to catch the light.

And a touch of glimmer for Santa's mustache and beard.

Another word image fit just right on the side bar of this card and some extra pine boughs.

I love the little branch with one pine cone that you can stamp and add to the Santa image to add some dimension.

Thanks so much for stopping by and having a peek at Christmas happenings. More to come as I prep canvasses for a craft fair and try to come up with some quick, simple but nice Christmas cards!

Have a great day everyone!

Cathy

Keys to Her Heart

As you know I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Great Canadian Scrapbook Carnival in Calgary near the end of September. One of the stores that was there was Treasured Memories from Edmonton. They have this incredible line of 12X12 scrapbook paper and tags that is custom made with blackened edges. It is absolutely gorgeous and I just had to grab a couple of the pages and some of the tags. I haven't used the tags yet, but I have ideas and I picked this one sheet of paper because I knew I wanted to do an actual scrapbook page of my Mom. I wanted the paper to really be shown so the embellishments leave a lot of the paper showing, it is just beautiful!

The paper is white roses with handwriting in the background and the blackened edges. Treasured Memories has a number of designs in this paper and they are all so pretty.

 

I used the I Love You stamp from my Tim Holtz set (my signed one) and stamped some in Archival black to stand out a bit more and then stamped more in Hickory Smoke.

I painted my Southern Ridge Trading Company Leafy Frame

with Black Soot Distress Paint and then added some embossed spots with Emerald Creek Charred Gold

I used these roses in off white and yellow and the the heart and key represent my Dad in this flower and I got the I love you just in the right spot (okay that was a total fluke lol)

I edged the roses in Irridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder and added one of my favorite charms, the vintagey leaf from Emerald Creek.

And here all the other keys to her heart, a key for each of her children and grandchildren. I did some keys with turquoise and black alcohol ink, some with Charred gold and Oil Rubbed Bronze. I attached them to a chain from one of my Tim Holtz packs of hardware with jump rings from the same set.

And a little dragonfly in the corner to represent the grandson that is already with her.

Thank you so much for stopping by and having a look at this scrapbook page for my Mom, who I miss everyday.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Cathy

Supplies Used:

Tim Holtz Crazy Talk Stamp Set

Distress Paint in Black Soot

Distress Ink in Hickory Smoke

Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink in Turquoise and Black

Archival Black Ink
Southern Ridge Trading Company Paper Flowers

Southern Ridge Trading Company Leafy Frame

Emerald Creek Filagree Leaf Charm 

Emerald Creek Heart Brads 

Emerald Creek Dragonfly Brads 

Emerald Creek Metal Key Charms 

Emerald Creek Charred Gold Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Oil Rubbed Bronze Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Iridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder

Specialty 12X12 Scrapbook Paper from Treasured Memories

Lights at Night

Welcome to the "Lights" portion of the Emerald Creek Dares Challenge...Falling Into Celebration!! So many celebrations in October, Thanksgiving for us in Canada, Diwali Festival of Lights and of course, Halloween! Lights can be so many things, light bulbs, sun, moon, stars, street light...dare I say it...a Christmas bulb?! Yes I did say it, but I did not use one on my project! LOL My light is from a lovely antique lamp post and the shimmering stars and the moon, or the three moons.

A crisp autumn evening where you can look up at the stars! I did the stars using the gesso resist technique and once it was dry I painted it with some pearlescent paint I had stashed away. I then painted over the stars with distress stain. I stamped the Branch Out image with gesso, let it dry then coloured over with distress paint. all my leafs I watercoloured with Distress Spray and then fussy cut them out.

I embossed the antique lamp post with Oil Rubbed Bronze embossing powder! I just love the texture from this and the aged looked I got!

I found this charm in my stash and made it so much more with the Hammered Metal embossing powder! Some of these custom powders from Emerald Creek are truly an embellishment on their own!

And why not have more than one moon, my little blue moon coloured with Turquoise and Black alcohol inks.

And a little crescent moon embossed with Charred Gold, and again so much dimension from this custom powder from Emerald Creek. I really hadn't embossed in ages, but I can't get enough of some of these custom powders that Kim creates!

To add an extra layer I used the Branch Out stamp and stamped it with gesso, then painted over it with Distress paints.

Emerald Creek Products Used:

Maple Leaf 

New Leaf 

Branch Out 

Hammered Metal Embossing Powder

Charred Gold Embossing Powder

Oil Rubbed Bronze Embossing Powder 

Other Products Used:
Distress Paint in Gathered Twigs, Vintage Photo and Faded Jeans
Distress Spray in Spiced Marmalade, Candied Apple and Squeezed Lemonade
White Gesso
Archival Ink - Black
Lamp Post from Prima

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out this month's Emerald Creek project! Be sure to stop by and see my fellow team mates projects too!!
Jess
Heather
Cassandra

Now it's your turn to show us how you "Fall into Celebration" this month!! Enter your project and you could win a $50 gift certificate for Emerald Creek Craft Supplies!

Have a wonderful week!! And thank you for stopping by!
Cathy

More Christmas...

before Halloween!! But again, another amazing new image from Emerald Creek made me just have to play! I love this image and how versatile it can be! I love it for a pretty and simple card and I think it would be beautiful on a canvas as the corner image, with ai family/friend/framily (friends who are family) pic in the center of canvas.

This beautiful stamp is the Holly Branch Stamp from Emerald Creek, one of Kim's newest designs. I stamped the image in Archival Black then used my Distress markers to colour the image in, I love how you can shade with these markers! Once it was coloured, I went over the image with the Distress Glaze and let it soak in and dry, then I edge the ripped image and all around the image with distress ink. I added the super pretty and sparkly Glitter Bead also from Emerald Creek where the little mistletoe berries are.

Seriously these little glitter beads are so so pretty, I just could not do the sparkle justice in the pictures!

Thank you for stopping by and seeing my start of Christmas. Another will be coming soon as the newest Nicole Wright Designs stamp set, Woodland Winter is beautiful too! The script Merry Christmas is from her set and the one above is from my autographed Tim Holtz set that I won in Nicole's class!

Have a great day everyone!

Cathy

It's Time...

to start thinking about Christmas! I know I know, we haven't even hit Halloween yet, but some people make dozens upon dozens of cards for the holiday to send out! I am not that adventurous and I just make a few for family and close friends (if I even get that many made lol) and this year I am making simple cards for a craft fair. But these new images from Emerald Creek are so amazing, I had to play a little!

I wanted to keep things simple so the stamp was the focal point here. I used my Distress Crayons to colour over the image after I stamped it in Black Archival. I tore around the image and then inked the edges with Vintage Photo, and used my Distress Marker in Candied Apple to watercolour the red on the image.

 

Added a small chipboard music note from Southern Ridge Trading Company, also inked and coloured with Distress Crayons and Distress Ink.

Tied some hemp twine around the front of the card and kept it neutral colours. The plaid background paper was from the Tim Holtz stack from last year.

Very simple supplies used and made the stamped image the focal point.

I love how this turned out!

Thank you for stopping by and having a look! Stay tuned for another Christmas card idea and coming up soon, a new blog post from Emerald Creek with new projects from the Design Team!

Have a great weekend!!

Cathy

Scrapbook Carnival - Part 2

I know it has taken me a bit longer to get this small second piece up but I've been busy at my craft table creating and playing and prepping for a craft fair in November!

The Great Canadian Scrapbook Carnival 2016 in Calgary was, as I've told you in Part 1, absolutely amazing!! All the cropping and layouts being created in the center of the event, make and takes from vendors, all the incredible projects on display. Absolutely amazing! The people made it even better. I was lucky to meet so many people I admire and respect and day 2 was no different.

The theme for the Carnival this year was Super Heros! So My Super Hero was "Charm Chick" and I never did get a picture of my costume on! So here is a little collage of my cape and headpiece that I wore! Attached were over 50 charms and brads all available from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies!

Another huge highlight of the weekend for me was meeting and being able to chat with some of the Creative Scrapbooker Magazine crew! These ladies recently suffered a huge loss of someone very dear to them, yet they were there every day giving it 110% and making sure everyone was having a great time and vendors had what they needed, announcing door prizes, and taking time to chat or visit with people that spoke to them. And that is a huge deal to people like myself who aren't well known in the industry or a business owner etc....yet time was still taken to say hi, or love your costume or respond to quick questions and people just wanting to say hi. Katharina Doyle was so wonderful and friendly and it was a big deal to me to chat, even briefly with her. And at the end of the second day as things were getting torn down, Jackie Ludlage was kind enough to take a pic with me....it's the small moments that make an event a wonderful memory! It was an amazing event and I wish I had been more open with my creating etc when I lived in Calgary for over 10 years!! LOL 

I was very excited to meet some of the talented, creative, supportive women that I just love admire and respect for all they do on a daily basis!

Thank you so much for taking the time for a quick pic Jackie. It's going in my frame with my pic of Dyan Reaveley and I :)

End of the event and got a couple great pics of the Creative Scrapbooker Team, not everyone was there but was so glad to get this pic.

 And my last highlight was my signed Tim Holtz stamp set! Of course I couldn't sign off without a pic of that!! Thanks so much for sending out those stamp sets Tim!

Hope you are all having a great week!! Thank you for visiting and reading!

Cathy

 

Circles In Class

This post is doing double duty for me today. I wanted to share this amazing class I took at my LSS, Clipper Street and I wanted to create a project to show at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge - Going Round in Circles! 

I love taking classes with Stacey of Stacey Wakelin Designs! We learn so many techniques and ways to use products and it is a very relaxed atmosphere. She is informative, positive, supportive and if there is something you aren't liking about your project she helps you find a way to change it. My sister and I have taken two canvas classes with her and have really enjoyed the class and spending time together!

Everyone in class received packages of letters (well some went without due to backorders) and that is what some people used to add their words inside the embroidery hoops. We were shown how to age them and paint them to make them more vintagey and less shiny. I didn't have the stickers which worked out fine with me, I knew I had these little wooden words at home and was going to use them.

 

 We started with a blank canvas board and just added our colour, texture, stamped images, tissue images, more paint one layer at a time. We used the Tim Holtz Grit Paste, first time for me, and I love it!! Gorgeous texture, dries quite quickly and takes colour nicely too!

I also brought my buttons home to finish up because I love my Hammered Metal, Burnt Copper Leaves and Charred Gold embossing powder from Emerald Creek. I used those powders on all my buttons and I just love the swirly texturey look I get. 

Gorgeous metallics to finish the buttons

 

 

I painted my little wooden letters to match the Dylusions Paints I used on the canvas. And I had more white space than I wanted for my paper background so I went around the piece with my Fallen Blossom stamps from Nicole Wright Designs.

Lovely stamped Finnabair butterfly on tissue paper and some mica flakes for shine and the fantastic Grit paste in the background too.

It was a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours on Sunday, hanging out with my sister, Stacey, getting messy and painty and having a canvas that I love to bring home!

Thanks for stopping by and have a really great week!

Cathy

Challenges Entered:

Frilly and Funkie - Going Round In Circles

 

Friends...

....we all need them and I am very lucky to have some of the best people as my friends. This post in particular is about 2 ladies that are family to me. I finally made it back to Victoria to visit in June, and one of the people in this picture had moved back to BC this year. And lives just up the street from where I was staying.  

You know it's been too long when you see each other and you both just start crying because so much has happened and changed, but the person you're hugging is still that same person you met at the beginning of Grade 2.

When you are looking at this little clipboard project, the lady on the left I have know for 40 years, Bev, and the lady on the right I have know for 25, Linda Lou and that's little ole me in the middle of these crazy chicks!! LOL  The things we have been through at all different times in our lives and things that we are working through now, and even though we are in the same place often enough, it's like we were just together yesterday. My 40 years and counting and my 25 years and counting.....two of the best broads I know. I love when I can say something to Linda and she just gets it even though sometimes I sound like I am bat shit crazy ( i have that saying from Southern Ridge Trading Company and it's going to be on a canvas soon!)

The clipboard was originally yellow, so I used black gesso over it then a few swipes of Dylusions Turquoise. Rusted up the clip part with rust paste. Layered some tissue tape under where I wanted my picture to be. Then I mixed in a very small spritz of Mermaid Lagoon with clear texture paste and spread that over the mini wildflower stencil.

Used metal numbers and coloured them with alcohol ink in black and turquoise, can't really see the blue tint in this pic, but I did like the way it turned out.

A little alcohol ink on the 25 plate showed up well and I wanted something that took a bit of the shine off.

 

Some flowers and leaves I had in my stash, embossed the leaves in Vintage Ivy and Forest Foliage both custom blends from Emerald Creek and I tipped the flowers in Soft Fallen Snow.

Yup.....these girls...they are my people!

I do have others that are important too and I do try to tell them that, but I suck at that stuff sometimes. I have people that I adore beyond words and I even have a few people that I haven't met in person but have talked with online for years and years...my lovely sista Miah is all the away across the world in New Zealand, but used to be here in Canada, and we have "talked" late into the night or early into the morning LOL And of course my Calgary crew! Kim and Tanya, I am so lucky to have met you both out there and that I still have you in my world! I am grateful for these amazing women and what we've weathered/survived/learned from/grown from/ and all the stuff we still have to go! Yeah ladies....YOU ROCK!!

Thanks for stopping by and for all the wonderful support here in blog land!

Cathy

Challenges Entered:

Anything But Cute - Friendship