Not ready to say goodbye to summer....

It's true. I love summer.

The long, warm days. Flip flops. Shorts & Tank tops.

I love that.

Don't get me wrong...Fall is beautiful too but fall is sometimes short-lived season in these parts of Canada. It could snow any day now and I am definitely not ready.

Which brings me to these cards I made last week on the first day of fall. Initially, I was just making an anniversary card for my in-laws and decided to use my Peerless Watercolor's & the Timeless Love set from Stampin' Up!

 I was really happy with the way it turned out and had a craving to make some more cards.

I went to YouTube for inspiration and found the lovely & talented Nicole of Scraps & Stamps

Her video tutorials are awesome! Her most recent video using Distress Inks & Color Burst  has me wanting to go out and buy the whole line of Ken Oliver Color Burst products immediately! 

Thanks, Nicole!

 The Blended Bloom stamp from Stampin' Up! worked really well.

The image was first stamped with Versa Mark then 

heat embossed with superfine white embossing powder.

I used the same stamping technique with this card using the 

Flower Garden set from Tim Holtz & Stampers Anonymous.

I decided to leave the background white for a softer feel.

I love the butterfly from the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Perspective stamp set 

and just had to try it with this technique. I love it and I already have 

several colour combo's I want to try.

Thanks for visiting my blog today! I really appreciate all your comments.

Live Your Dreams......

My son's birthday was last weekend and since he is off at college

there is no better gift than gift cards for coffee shops, the local grocery store, 

gas for his car & clothing stores. 

There is no cooler way to give a bunch gift cards than in an Eileen Hull 3D Square Box. 

I love this die! I have used it often to make a gift box, a storage box for small doo-dads and even a box for a custom made advent calendar.

This project was all about my son so it had to be manly, gritty & grungy.

This box has it all - The Time Travellers from Tim Holtz & Stampers Anonymous, tinted sand texture paste from DecoArt Media, lots of Distress Inks and a few bits and bobs from my stash. 

My favorite part is the Edison Bulb Charm from Emerald Creek Crafts .

 I made matching gift card holders from card stock to put in the box. I love the look of the torn notebook edge that fold over and is secured behind a brad.

Don't forget to check out the Emerald Creek Dares blog for this months challenge and for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate to their online store!

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.

The 1980's.....those were totally tubular times!

It's almost time for the 

Great Canadian Scrapbook Carnival in Calgary

and this years theme is Celebrate The '80's

Ah....the '80's. The big hair, leg warmers, fingerless gloves and shoulder pads.

Those were good times, weren't they?

The Emerald Creek Dares DT were given the task of designing projects for the  Emerald Creek Crafts Supplies booth for Carnival and I couldn't think of any better way to get inspired than by listening to

top hits of the '80's by Canadian artists. 

Seriously, how can you NOT be inspired when listening to Echo Beach by Martha & The Muffins. 

Or how about The Glass Tiger classic - 'Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone. 

Patio Lanterns by Kim Mitchell was always a favorite tune to play on the tape deck

I have to say that the most iconic song for the 80's to me was Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams

Well, I'm off to tease my hair high & knit myself a pair of neon pink leg warmers!

Check out the Emerald Creek Dares blog for more totally tubular '80's project for the rest of the DT.

 

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

~~~stay crafty~~~

Products used:

STENCILS:
Stripes by Tim Holtz
Burlap by Tim Holtz 
Clockwork by Tim Holtz

Stamps:
Crab  
With The Wind
Seagull
Shocked 
Clef T 
Note
Guitar
Fresh Lips
Just Hearts
Just A Design
Heart Of Hearts
 Tiger
Interlaced Hearts
Swirl 

dollar store canvas
white gesso
acrylic paints

 
 

 

Fresh Brewed Friday

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope you had a fantastic week and here's to a great weekend

 of fabulous weather and maybe a bit of crafting!

I love coffee and when Tim Holtz started coming out with his 

Fresh Brewed products I went a little crazy.....like full on large double double

 with 3 shots of espresso crazy!

Here is a quick 4 card set I made this week - 

It started with the Fresh Brewed stamp set & 4 Distress Ink Custom Blend Ink Pads

The back ground was made by using the same background technique used on Tim's June tag - check it out here.

I then stamped the image directly on the background and then stamped it a second time on cardstock.

I coloured the second image with Distress markers, fussy cut them out and layered them on the background with foam squares to add dimension.

The edges were finished off with some Ground Espresso (of course!) and a bit of twine.

 Thank you for taking the time for visit my blog today!

Seeing Spots

Big spots. Little spots. Medium spots.

I was making some random colour swatches on a scrap piece of paper

last week and thought that this would make a great card! 

looking for the perfect green watercolour

So I grabbed my Limor Circle's stamp set from IndigoBlu

and started stamping away. 

 

I made a set of masks using the Mask Sheets from Tim Holtz and continued stamping. Distress Markers finished off the card with a nice watercolour look.

I was so happy with the way it turned out, I decided to make a few more!

Thank for visiting my blog today!

Please, leave me a comment so that I know you were here ~ I love making new crafty friends!

Stamps used on Floral Card are from

Emerald Creek Craft Supplies:

Carnations 

Geraniums 

Aster 

Tim Tag September 2015

I can't believe it is already half way through September! Where did the time go?

The hubby & I are starting to feel more settled in our new condo and I think I have my craft room pretty much organized. Or at least as organized as I can get.

I was so ready to sit down and get my hands messy while making my September Tim Tag!

Check out Tim's Tag here

Gorgeous, right?

I had to get a bit creative since I didn't have the Frosted sheets. I had Frosted Film and decided to layer that on to a piece of acetate/plastic that I had in my stash. It seemed to work when I experimented with it.

Here is my first finished tag - 

 I absolutely love the look of the transparent gloss gel over the alcohol inks.

I decided to make another tag but this time with a more Fall feel to it and what feels more like Fall than leaves! I used these 2 stamps from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies.

The Leaf & Maple Leaf 

I ended up using my finished leaves with the frosted film side down, I just liked the look of the stamped image better but I still had the shimmery, frosty effect.

I used the Woodgrain Stencil by Tim Holtz for the background and gain I love, love, love the look with the transparent gloss gel. This will be a product I will use again very soon.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today!

Leave me a message so that I knew you were here. I love making crafty new friends

 and visiting your blogs!

~~~stay crafty~~~

julia

Submitted to:

 12 Tags of 2015 - September 

TGIF

I am so happy it's Friday and I am going to spend it enjoying a beautiful glass of Riesling

and my new colouring book that I picked up in Craft Warehouse in Portland, Oregon in August.

If you are in Idaho, Washington, Oregon I totally recommend a stop Craft Warehouse.

 

 Have a fantastic weekend everyone

and if the weather is nice where you are get out and enjoy it 

because you just never know when the snow will start to fly.

There, I said it....the 's' word. ;)

~~~stay crafty~~~

julia

 

Exciting news......

It's a rainy, miserable cold day where I am which means that is the perfect crafting weather!

But first I blog......

I was excited to find out that I had been selected to join the Emerald Creek Dares DT.

This is my first design team and I couldn't be happier or more thrilled to be involved with this new & exciting Canadian company.

I met Kim Evans, owner of Emerald Creek Craft, for the first time yesterday and she is amazing! There are going to be some exciting new product releases coming up in the next few weeks so keep checking back for those.

Here is a tag I made with some of the Canadiana stamps from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies.

I followed the steps used for the Tim Holtz July 2015 Tag. 

Ground Espresso & Fired Brick look gorgeous together!

Don't forget to watch the Emerald Creek Dares blog for monthly challenges! You could win a $50 gift card to use at Emerald Creek Craft Supplies

Check out this months Challenge.....

Do You Dare.....Triple Take 

~~~~stay crafty~~~~

julia

Box o' Birds.....Craziness

It has been a crazy week for the Chupik family this week. 

I made the 3 hour drive from Edmonton to Calgary to help not one but BOTH of my kids 

pack up and move into college dorms.

It's weird to not have kids in the house - for 21 of our 22 years of marriage

 there has always been a child here and now nothing. 

This is pretty much how I feel....

I decided that I needed a creative distraction.

I grabbed my big shot, Crazy Bird Stamp stamp set and matching dies

 and a few sheets of patterned paper.  

 

I now have a Box O' Birds  to use for future projects.

 I may even use a few to make fridge magnets - wouldn't that look adorable!?

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

~~stay crafty~~

julia