Friday, April 29, 2016

Tag #4 - Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016

I am loving the techniques I am learning through the 12 Tags of 2016 remix!! Because I haven't done the challenge before alot of the techniques are brand new to me and I am enjoying it. I have been creating and papercrafting for years but I can't even believe how much I have to learn and new things are happening all the time!! I can't keep up with all the creative geniuses that I admire and follow on a regular basis!! But I'm sure going to give it a try LOL

Here is my take on Tag #4! I was able to pick up the mosaic kit and use that, and I quite love it! Used up little bits of scrap to fill my tattered floral and used my Distress Crayons for some of the color and of course, some of my awesome Emerald Creek metals! 





One of my Emerald Creek Brads was the perfect center for this metal flower!


Thank you for stopping by and checking out my Tag #4! Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to swing by next week for a new challenge from Emerald Creek!!

Thanks,
Cathy


Saturday, April 23, 2016

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!

http://www.emeraldcreek.ca/default.asp


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


Products Used 
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 

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Anything Goes

It's Spring, the weather had been wonderful and today on the Emerald Creek Blog....Anything Goes!! And I'm going to the beach!! It is my favorite place and I really need to go more often....just to walk, take pictures and have ice cream! And collecting seashells and little driftwood sticks to use on craft projects of course.


For this project I started with a Tim Holtz shadow box, gessoed it, then used my fingers to add some Dusty Concord and Peacock Feather Distress Paint. I made my own "fishnet" using some hemp twine I had in my stash.




I stamped and cut out my Emerald Creek Starfish and Water Logged. I then used my Emerald Creek Weathered Wood Embossing Powder and San Tropez Tan to the add texture to the logs. I love the texture from these embossing powders!!



I painted these adorable little seahorses and starfish from Southern Ridge Trading Company, with Distress Paint and a bit of silver Distress Spray.
 I used some old Scrabble tiles for my "beach" across the top, just used the same colors of Distress Paint on them as I had used on the shadow box.





Supplies Used:
Emerald Creek Starfish Stamp
Emerald Creek Water Logged Stamp 
Emerald Creek Weathered Wood Embossing Powder
Emerald Creek San Tropez Tan Embossing Powder
Southern Ridge Trading Company Mini Ocean Set
Southern Ridge Trading Company Ocean Mix 1
Tim Holtz Distress Paints in Picket Fence, Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concord 
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Dusty Concord, Victorian Velvet and Tattered Rose

Please make sure you check out the Emerald Creek Design Team creations up on their blogs today!! The inspiration is endless with these ladies!

Julia
Katelyn
Diana
Shilpa
Claudia
Pam
and Guest blogging with us today the uber talented 
Nicole Wright


Share your Anything Goes creations with us for your chance to win a $25 GC to buy your own EC Supplies!!
http://www.emeraldcreek.ca/default.asp

Thanks for stopping by and all the great support!
Cathy

Challenges Entered:




Tuesday, April 5, 2016

My Own Hippie!

And no....she would not mind that I called her that! LOL  This is my beautiful daughter, Sadie. She was the perfect subject to use my bright, luscious Dylusions paints for.  These colors are definitely not in my normal use...I'm all about the purples and earth tones. So I loved branching out and trying something new!





I used Prima flowers and painted them with my Dylusions paints in Fresh Lime, Squeezed Orange and Vibrant Turquoise and used the same colors on the background 12X12 canvas. I stuck with the same colors and mixed them with texture paste and used a Dylusions stencil to add some texture.


Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!
Cathy