Dog Days of Summer

Hi All!  I hope you are all enjoying your summer and are getting great weather.  Here is Nova Scotia we can already feel the change in weather as the evenings are cooler and the forecasts seem to be more unpredictable.  Personally, my favorite season is Fall and wish that it could be Fall all year! I love the nice days and crisp evenings while enjoying the beautiful colours of changing leaves and the gathering of Fall harvests here in the valley.

I am stopping in today to share a card I made earlier this month!(sorry for being a stranger)  This card was made for the challenge over on the Inspiration Emporium Blog.  I made a card with a travel theme which would be perfect to send to someone you traveled with.  Sending a photo from your travels with a little note will sure to bring a smile to their face remembering the adventure.

 I started the card by embossing a piece of patterned paper and because it was larger that the embossing folder I turned it so I could get the overall look I was going for.  Using a blending tool I made the embossed area pop even more by adding walnut stain and peacock feathers distress inks.Various remnant rubs finish off the background piece. The globe was stamped with black archival ink on watercolour paper to prevent it from bleeding when water is added.  I can't say enough how much I love playing with my distress markers because they truly are so fun.  Having them dual tipped really adds to their versatility. The image was added with foam squares to the background to give it some lift and dimension.  One of new word bands released this summer was added with jute as a finishing touch.  I love how this card came together and I hope you do as well.

 

 Items used: kraft core cardstock, watercolour paper, destinations paper stash, remnant rubs, jute, observation word bands, travel blueprint cms148 stamp set, distress markers, distress inks, blending tool, watercolour detail brush, foam squares

There are a few days left for you to get in on the monthly challenge yourself so why not get in on the fun and possibly win 50 dollars to spend online with them.  The supplies used in this card as well as the newly released items are arriving daily at IE so drop by and use ink&flour to get 10% off your purchase!  Happy creating everyone! h

Sunday sharing

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! It has been absolutely beautiful here in terms of the weather which I am loving.  We don't get a long summer here so we must enjoy it when it is here because before we know it fall is here and the temperatures drop.

I want to thank everyone who has visited and also left comments.  I truly love reading them and are thankful you have taken a few minutes to do so.  I love to create but being able to read that others also enjoy what you do is heartwarming and encouraging so thank you! I am back to share a few more of my samples...

 This card uses another part of the paper I said I loved so much in the last post.  There is just so much holiday magic and innocence going on in this piece that I couldn't help but use it(twice).  Don't you agree?  

 This card uses the new 8x8 seasonal paper that we have come to love so much.  It is difficult to tell in this photo but I painted the letters with antique linen distress paint and added a bit of rock candy stickles to give them a little twinkle. 

 This project took on a life of its own.  I just couldn't wait to get back to this one as I was creating it because ideas just kept popping in my head.  Each little box that is turned around actually has the next number behind it.  This way I could stick to using only one tray and it also adds a bit of suspense to the piece.  This certainly was an ideology playground of the festive kind.

One of the new papers was the "Twas the Night before Christmas" story and I knew I wanted to incorporate it so I paper-pieced this to the back of the tray before sealing it.  What a great tradition to start on Christmas Eve after enjoying the tray all season. 

 I hope you are able to take some time this week to be creative.  I know I have lots of ideas swirling around in this crazy head of mine and with another week of vacation to go I am looking forward to playing.  I will be back soon with my monthly challenge piece for the Inspiration Emporium's monthly Blog challenge.  This month it is My Summer Vacation or any travel related project.  Why not get in on the fun, who knows you might be the winner of $50 to spend in their online store.  Enjoy your week and thanks again for stopping by and leaving your comments. h

More Sharing

I wanted to stop by and share a few more of my CHA samples.  I had so much fun making them and hope they will give you some inspiration for your future holiday creations.

As a past skater, the large and small skate dies just called to me!  I knew I had to incorporate them into a project where they were the focal point.  I used die cut grunge board from the new vintage market die and trim from ideology.  I can't wait to get this back to hang over the holidays.

 Next up is a stand alone holiday piece using the new Merriment paper. I absolutely love this piece of paper(not to mention the whole pad) but also made another card using this piece that I will show tomorrow.  I wanted to draw attention to the focal point without taking away from it by adding too much.  I didn't get a photo before sending them off of the back but I mounted this to a piece of painted chipboard to give it stability and used two of small easel chipboard die cuts so it can stand alone in just that perfect place.  These trees are so fun to work with and ink like a dream.  I clipped the back of this one in order for it to stand flat against the project which also gives a place glue.  New cord, tissue tape, mirror stars and remnants rubs complete this project.

A few shots from the show (Thanks M and Scraptime for the use of your photos)...

Personally, I love creating for the holidays and can't wait to do more.  This release and seeing all the wonderful samples by amazing people has got my creative soul charged.  I will be back with a few more samples tomorrow.  Make sure you check out Inspiration Emporium and pre-order all the new goodies, remember to use ink&flour and receive 10% off your purchase. Have a great Friday! h

CHA Excitement

I hope your week is going well! I am sure many of you have been checking out all of the updates and recaps from this summer's Create and Connect(formerly CHA).  I know I have and all I can say is WOW! Wow on so many levels.  New Products, amazing booth displays and so much amazing talent when it came to samples for all to see...seriously WOW!  I have to say that this years releases are over the top amazing. As you can probably tell from my past blog posts, I am a huge fan of anything Tim Holtz and the companies he is involved with and this year I had the honour and privilege of creating samples for my friend.  I want to start first by thanking Tim for the opportunity because I was over the moon excited and humbled to be part of the journey and have to say scared at the same time.  This was the first time creating samples for such a big stage so that is where the scared factor came into play.  A big thank you also goes out to Paula Cheney for answering all my crazy questions and all your guidance. 
 
I am sure the woman at the post office truly thought I was crazy when I picked up my parcel but I was ok with that.  It was so exciting seeing all of the new things for the first time and those little skates(OMG) put a huge smile on my face because they have alot of meaning for me! (Beware, they will be on so many projects for years to come, LOVE them!)  Once, I settled my brain, I got to work because I knew I would have one less week to create due to travelling for my niece's high school graduation. (Congrats Kat, wouldn't have missed it for the world)

The first sample I am sharing uses the new merriment paper, word bands and mirror stars.

(photo used from Scraptime with permission- check out their Flickr account)

 For this card I used the 2x2 snippets page included in the paper pad.  I cut apart the small squares only to sew them back together to resemble a patchwork quilt piece before layering them on my card.  This technique gives great dimension to a project and I had alot of fun making this.  I coloured the mirror stars with alcohol ink...what a simple thing to do that made such a difference in their look.  Don't you just love the new wordbands? I sure do!

I will be back sharing more samples very soon but until then make sure you check out the blogs of fellow sample makers, there is so much incredible talent.  A list of individuals and links to their sites are found HERE and I hope you are checking out Tim's recaps each day and leaving comments.  Until then, Cheers! h