Outdoors in the Summer

It's time for a new challenge from Emerald Creek Dares! So many things to do in the summer...but I am not a real outdoorsy person! But if it's the beach I am all over that and camping was the big thing my kids and I used to do.

 I started with a great 6X6 canvass and stained it with some Distress Spray in Mermaid Lagoon and Twisted Citron. I then took some Tim Holtz plain tissue, stamped my images on it in Archival Black, quick shot with the heat gun to set it. I then scrunched up my tissue and rolled it in Distress Spray on my craft mat. I layered that on the canvass for my background. I added a bit of gel medium in certain spots and sprinkled in some Irridescent Shimmer Embossing powder on the sea side and weathered wood embossing powder on the camping side to add some texture.

You can see the Weathered Wood EP in the bottom corner here and the image of the outhouse on the tissue paper too.

The Irridescent Shimmer powder is there, but the pics do not do the shimmer you get justice! And there is the fishing boat image there too.

Love the outhouse image! And really, we've all had to use them on a camping trip. I colored in all the images using the Distress Crayons.

Yes I have used this starfish stamp alot! I love it! This time I embossed it in the Thanksgiving EP and filled in the open spaces with a Distress Crayon.

Campfires are the best thing about camping....sitting around them roasting marshmallows, talking and just relaxing.

The beach or camping it is for me....although the camping gear has not been used in alot of years now. Maybe next summer :) But don't you delay in sharing your Outdoors, Sports and More project over at the Emerald Creek Dares Challenge and you could win a $25 GC to order some of the amazing products! 

Please make sure you swing by and check out the amazing creations from the Emerald Creek Design Team!!

 Claudia
Heather
Cassandra

Emerald Creek Products Used:
Starfish Stamp
Out the Back Door Stamp
Fishing Boat Stamp
Life's Fire Stamp 
Irridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder
Weathered Wood Embossing powder
Burnt Copper Leaves Embossing Powder
Thanksgiving Embossing Powder
Dragonfly Brad
Angelfish Brad 

Other Products Used:
Southern Ridge Trading Company Scroll Borders
Distress Spray in Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron and Lucky Clover
Distress Crayons
Dylusions Paint in Calypso Teal and Dirty Martini
Dylusions Mica Spray in Vibrant Turquoise

Thanks again for stopping by, it's always appreciated!
Have a wonderful day!
Cathy 

Challenges Entered:
Southern Ridge Trading Company 
Anything But Cute: Summertime Fun

Buttons, Brads and Buckles

Welcome to another exciting Thursday release for Emerald Creek!! I never knew I'd love Thursdays so much, maybe even more than Fridays!! Bring on the B's...brads, buttons, buckles! I had fun using some of my favorite b's and trying out some new toys I got!

I started with 2 5X5 white canvasses and got the background using Distress Sprays in Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Antiqued Bronze. Once it was dried I covered it in the  Crazing Distress Collage Medium. I love the effect I got from that, it could be my new favorite thing!! :) For my brick walls I used the Mixed Media #3 Thinlits die. I took the cut out part and attached it to the bottom right corner after I embossed it in Burnt Copper Leaves, I then took the little bits that were cut out and glued them all individually on the top left.

Used my oh so versatile button brads and embossed them with the Burnt Copper Leaves

Took some cardstock bits and ran them through using the Tim Holtz Festive Greenery Die and then embossed those bits with my Vintage Ivy Embossing Powder.

The button brads make the perfect flower center! And I then used Distress Paint in Gathered Twigs and Ground Espresso over green alcohol ink for my flower charm.

Used a Distress crayon to quickly color around the edges of my fearless buckle. My butterfly is made with the butterfly thinlits. The top layer is embossed in Dusk Stone Violet and Frosted Plum embossing powder and then a quick swipe of ground espresso paint to finish it off. The bottom layer is a scrapbook paper scrap and painted with distess crayons and then misted with Wendy Vecchi Mica Spray in Buttercup.

Just love the crazing medium and  the textured look it adds

Please continue your journey and check out the rest of the projects from these talented ladies on the  the Design Team.

Katelyn
Claudia
Shilpa
Pam

Now it's your turn to show us your creations and have a chance to win a $25 gc to shop at Emerald Creek!!

Products Used: 

Emerald Creek  4 Hole Button Brads

Emerald Creek Floral Spray Charm

Emerald Creek Fearless Buckles

Emerald Creek Vintage Ivy Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Burnt Copper Leaves Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Frosted Plum Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Dusk Stone Violet Embossing Powder

Distress Sprays in Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade, Antiqued Bronze

Tim Holtz Thinlits dies, Detailed Butterflies and Mixed Media #3

Distress Paint in Gathered Twigs and Ground Espresso

Distress Collage Medium - Crazing

Prima Flowers

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!!
Cathy

Challenges Entered:
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Home Decor
2 Creative Chicks - Anything Goes
Anything But Cute - Celebrate Your Style

It's A Charmed Life and Thoughts of My Mom

My post is late this time around, was knocked off my feet for a few days thanks to an abcess tooth and the left side of my face being about 4 times bigger than it should be, but antibiotics, painkillers and finally some sleep have made me feel almost normal again!

The time is flying by it seems and Mother's Day is just around the corner again and it's time for a new challenge at Emerald Creek Dares!! I love spending Thursdays sharing some amazing Emerald Creek products and incredible inspiration from the Design Team, with all of you who stop by. At the end of my post there is a more personal note about my Mom and missing her and a poem my son wrote for her service.

For this project I used a frame that came in a Tim Holtz kit. I painted the the frame with Dylusions paint in London Blue, Dirty Martini and Fresh Lime. Around the corners I used Ranger Clear texture paste and a Tim Holtz stencil for some texture.

I used a 1" square punch to punch out the small pictures of my Mom and glued those on using the Distress Collage Medium. The line on the inside pic says "Though she be but little, she is fierce" and that was definitely my Mom.

And some amazing embossing powders from Emerald Creek are a must for projects, so many colours and so many textures!

For my large blue flower and the little tiny tattered florals I used the Irridescent Shimmer, for the leaves I used Vintage Ivy, for the heart center, Frosted Plum and on the bottom of my dressform the Hammered Metal.

 And a couple of the ephemera from the frame kit were perfect, the little robin, Mom always got excited to see the first robins of spring and the word piece that has Coney Isl on it, which was my Mom's favorite fish and chip place in White Rock.

Please join us for your chance to win a $25 gc to shop at Emerald Creek and try out these amazing embossing powders for yourself!

Please swing by and check out the Design Team creations, the talent is amazing from these ladies!!

Julia

Katelyn

Claudia

Shilpa

Pam

Our amazing leader, Kim

Products Used 

Emerald Creek Metal Brad Hearts 

Emerald Creek Flower Link Charms

Emerald Creek Vintage Ivy Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Hammered Metal Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Frosted Plum Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Cardstock in Arctic white

Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peacock Blue and Twisted Citron

Dylusions Paints in London Blue, Dirty Martini and Fresh Lime

Ranger Ink Clear Texture Paste

Distress Collage Medium 

Challenges Entered 
Frilly and Funkie: It's not Easy Being Green -upcycled a picture frame and used paper scraps to do my tiny tattered florals and my dressform.

On a more personal note, this is my 3rd Mother's Day without my Mom. It does not seem to get any easier to get through the day. I still have moments when things happen that I reach for my phone to call her, then just as quickly remember that she isn't here anymore. Small things that have changed make me cry, like a couple of her cardigans that I kept and hung on my bedroom door, sounds crazy I know, but they don't smell like her anymore, now they're just sweaters. But I still haven't been able to get rid of them, maybe one day.

Last year, on my way to work, The Dance by Garth Brooks came on the radio which is one of the songs Mom wanted played at her funeral. So the day started teary and didn't get much better. I just got home from work, put on my jammies and wanted to just forget what day it was. Then my kids reminded me I am a Mom and my son took his sister and myself out to dinner in White Rock (one of my fave places) and he took us to Coney Island (my Mom's fave fish and chip place). 

My Mom was very close to my kids and they loved her beyond measure. She was the most important person in their lives after me. My daughter sometimes still sleeps with the housecoat Mom always wore. My son had a dream about her just before Christmas and I think may have made some peace with losing her. 

The night after my Mom passed away my son wrote a poem, I still can't read it without crying and he said he could not read it a her service, so the officiant added it to his readings. And I can tell you when he read this poem, I heard some grown men lose it. I think it took alot of people by surprise that a 17 year old boy (almost 18 since his birthday was 8 days after he lost his Grandma) would sit and write. I've attached a pic of Lucas's poem that he wrote for his Grandma, with his permission.

Thank you for visiting and if you read this far, thank you for that too.

Cathy 

It's Anything Goes Time!

Yay for another great release from the always inspiring Emerald Creek Design Team!! This time our wonderful leader told us....Anything Goes!!

But instead of falling back on my faves of flowers, purple and dragonflies, I went with something completely new!! Angel Fish and my new addiction....TAGS!! I love them!! I need some of the Ranger ready to go ones, but until then I just cut my own from my Emerald Creek Arctic White Cardstock.

All three of my tags!

Tag #1 - The tag was done with Distress Spray in Broken China and Evergreen Bough and added some white wisps with Ranger Texture paste. The Emerald Creek Angel Fish on the squares were stamped in acrylic paint on my Gelli Plate and then I pulled the print with my Arctic White Cardstock. Center fish was stamped in metallic teal and cut out. The beautiful Emerald Creek angel fish charms were painted with some glue and dipped into german glass glitter by Iced Enamels.

 Tag #2 - Background was done by stamping my Angel Fish into paint on my Gelli Plate and pulling the print, left hand side was done with the left over paint and then I just swiped some gesso over it to tone down the color on that side. The saying is a great stamp from my first  Wendy Vecchi stamp set.It's embossed with the Emerald Creek Onyx Frost Embossing Powder and attached with a copper colored angel fish brad.

Tag #3 - Background done again using my Gelli Plate and pulling the print, inked the edges with Black Soot. Center piece edged in Distress Rock Candy Glitter. Center Angel Fish was stamped and embossed with Onyx Frost then watercolored with Distress Spray and brush over lightly in Brushed Pewter. And tucked away in the top corner is my little seahorse from Southern ridge Trading Company.

These angel fish brads are just so detailed and beautiful!

 

Don't you just love his little smiling face?!

All the little word tags are from my Tim Holtz Small Talk booklet, I should have grabbed two of them when I had the chance.

 

Also on this background just to add a touch more color, once my print was dry I stamped another layer of Angel Fish in Wendy Vecchi's Violet Archival Ink. 

Don't forget to join our Emerald Creek Dares Challenge for your chance to win $25 to buy your very own stash of Emerald Creek Supplies!!

And do not miss out on the amazing projects from the rest of Emerald Creek Design Team, these ladies are so talented!!

Julia

Diana

Katelyn

Shilpa

Claudia 

and joining us soon

Pam

Products Used:

 Emerald Creek Angel Fish Stamp

Emerald Creek Angel Fish Brads

Emerald Creek Onyx Frost Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Arctic White Cardstock

Ranger Texture Paste

Wendy Vecchi Saying Stamp

Wendy Vecchi Violet Archival Ink

Tim Holtz Distress Spray

Broken China, Evergreen Bough and Concord Grape

Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Black Soot

Distress Rock Candy Glitter

Southern Ridge Trading Company - Ocean Mix 1

Thanks so much for checking in and supporting us on this amazing journey!

Cathy

Let It Snow...

....just kidding!! I'm okay with no snow, but my project is all about the pretty, sparkly snow and icicles that the cold and water can create!

I started with some canvas banners I had stashed away (and had forgotten I had) and stamped my snowflake image in Stormy Sky and Mermaid Lagoon.

I stamped the words in Mermaid Lagoon on cotton ribbon

My plans for my project changed from my original idea as soon as I saw the Soft Fallen Snow embossing powder! I used it on all my icicles and sprinkled it on some Ranger Texture Past for some snowflakes to add dimension.

I stamped the icicles, then rubbed them in Brushed Pewter Distress Stain and Stormy Sky Distress Ink. Then sprinkled Soft Fallen Snow embossing powder on and heat set it. Love the shimmer and puffiness!

 

I used a Tim Holtz stencil and Ranger Texture Paste to add some dimensional snowflakes, and sprinkled them all with Soft Fallen Snow embossing powder.

Had to have my snowflake charms to add some bling and because I love these charms!

And the finished project with three banners together with some old twine. The icicle stamps from Emerald Creek are so amazing!! All the different sizes can be used for so many ideas! They are a must have!

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my newest project for Emerald Creek Design Team!
Please don't forget to join us over at the Emerald Creek Dares Blog and enter the newest DARE and your chance to win a $25 shopping spree!!

And don't forget to check out the other amazing projects by the other design team members!

Julia 
Karon
Diana
Katelyn
Shilpa
Claudia 

Products Used:
Emerald Creek Icicles Stamp Collection

Emerald Creek Snowflake

Emerald Creek Soft Fallen Snow Embossing Powder

Emerald Creek Mini Victorian Snowflake Charm

Emerald Creek Arctic White Cardstock

Ranger Texture Paste
Tim Holtz Distress Stain Brushed Pewter
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Stormy Sky
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mermaid Lagoon

Challenges Entered
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

Exciting News!!

Can you all please take a moment and help us welcome our newest Design Team Member over at Emerald Creek Craft Supplies!!

A warm welcome to Katelyn, who has joined us and had her first guest design spot up on the Emerald Creek Dares Blog!

Take a quick minute and pop over and check out Katelyn's awesome creations at her blog "A Creative Journey"

Welcome to the team Katelyn, looking forward to "creating with you" !

Have a great night everyone!
Cathy