Happy Canada Day

I hope all my fellow Canadians have a fantastic day tomorrow celebrating this fabulous country of ours! Hurray for Canada and ... Hurray for a 4 Day Weekend!!

Yes, that's right -- the Studio is Closed for the rest of the week. I will re-open for Summer Hours Starting Wednesday at 11:30.

I did bring some "colouring" to do while on holiday and the camera is charged and ready to go!! So I'll be certain to do something creative with my time -- for sure!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!
Keep an eye out for some Christmas in July happenings! I'm getting excited -- sales, crops, ______ (shhhhhhh!! It's a secret - but not for long.....! *smile* )

Pictures as promised

Can't take a camera class and then not post pictures!!

So... please remember, I AM LEARNING.... can't wait to get back out there today to snap some more pics. Must go exploring! I'm at my trailer today and tomorrow so I have lots of picture taking possibilities ... hummmmmm.... where to go first!?

Without further ado: Here are a few of my pictures from our class outing. THANKS SUE! Loved having you in the studio and would love to have you back in the fall for another class. Get your calendar out!!! *wink* Another thank you goes out to all who attended this class too. You were a fun group and I hope you got as much out of the class as I. PLEASE send me your pics! Love to see!!

Today's the day!!

That Sue Sykes will be in the studio teaching her HANDS ON! Photography workshop! I'm so excited!

Sue will be in the studio from 11 - 4 today. Chances are the phone will be in the other room. If you call and get "the machine" - we are there. I will be returning calls after the workshop so please leave a message.

Part of our day we will be leaving the studio to take pictures (that is if the rain holds off)...
I'll post again tonight....WITH PICTURES! hehe

A little Flora and Fauna....

I'm on time this week for Something Completely Different.... as in able I am able to create on the day the challenge was posted. YAY me!! Two creative days in a row!! You know I'm happy when.......


Anyway, if you couldn't guess, the new challenge over at Something Completely Different was posted today. This week's theme - Flora and Fauna. Here is the Skinni that I created for it:



I took some trusty white cardstock and stamped Distant Flies (Scrolls Work #5529) with Black Archival Ink and embossed it with my Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (My Flora Bit....) took it out and inked it. There are 5 different colours of Distress Ink there. I used Forest Moss, Shabby Shutters, Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade for the background and on the edges I used a little bit of Black Soot.
Next I stamped the Dragonfly Dream (Scrolls Work #1614) and inked it with the ink remaining on my green blending tool and outlined that with the Black Soot as well and attached it to the background with pop dots.
I stamped the Lacy Set of Dragonflies (Scrolls Work #5516) onto white cardstock with the Jet Black Archival Ink and used a combination of Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks on those. I popped them up with pop dots too.
LOVE how this turned out. You'll be seeing it again in the next few weeks I'm sure (hint hint)

Something Blue...

The challenge over at Gingersnap Creations this week is "shades of blue" and the challenge at Something Completely Different was Blue and White. ....Someone was on the same wave length! hehe
Here's my creation for Gingersnap Creations: a little something funky.... envisioning the possibilities! *wink*


I took plain white cardstock and went to town with my inks and spritzes (made in my Mini Mister with Perfect Pearls and Distress Ink re-inker). There was a whole lotts blending going on!
Stamps are from the following:
Scrolls Work Stamps: Envision (the saying), sm Face, Top Hat, Butterfly and Chess Board (again made to look like a floor - LOVE that)
Harmonie (a Canadian Company) - The Large Flourish
Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous)- Circles from "Bitty Grunge"
Stampabilities - Dress Form


And here is the "skinni" for Something Completely Different. I thought I should do something blue for each after all...

Careful.... the Glossy Accents are still wet!!
A little White paint resist technique, the same inks and some stamps (Harmonie, Tim Holtz and Stampabilities...)
Thanks for the challenge! That was fun!

It's been a real busy day here in Kitchener.

An 5.0 earthquake (which I didn't feel personally because I was driving at the time but heard all about) and friends who live not too far away are still under tornado watches and warnings while experiencing extreme weather..... it was also my daughter's grade 8 graduation day.

I didn't know what to expect when we arrived for the ceremony. Imagine our surprise when we see in the program that our kid won academic awards in every subject but science (hehe),. But that's not all. She made the honour roll (that we thought might happen) and was also a recipient of the silver medallion (for extra curricular stuff - sharp shooters, wrestling, track, library helpers...) Holy Smokes!! How'd I get so lucky to have such a great, successful kid? I'm one proud mama over here!!

Anyway.... have an excellent evening. Stay safe .... blog tomorrow!

Tis the Season to be Crafty....

....Fa la la la laaaaaa la la la la!

I'd like to invite you to the studio on Saturday July 17th ('cause Sunday July 25th I'm flying to Chicago for CHA!!) for our Christmas in July celebrations. An open craft and crop from 10 am - 10 pm. For $40 (plus HST -- Bah Humbug to the new tax) I'll provide the table space, meals and since it's Christmas after all... some goodies too! Hope you can join us!

There will be lots of fun things throughout the month of July so "stay tuned" I know you won't be disappointed!

Seats are limited for our Christmas In July Craft n Crop contact me at the studio to secure your space (519 954 6620).

Fairies Challenge

This week over on Gingersnap Creations... the challenge was Fairies. Those of you who know my work know that I have no problem putting wings on "things" .... this challenge was a "no brainer".

I dug out my Graphic 45 Romantique papers (no, they weren't too hard to find hehe) because I knew there was an image of a woman on one of the papers that would work perfectly for what I wanted to do. So I made me a skinni (3"x5" item)

I cut down the image and with an exacto knife, cut around her image enough that I could "pop her out" and add 3d wings. The Wings (and the stamp items in the top right corner for that matter) are from Scrolls Work Stamps. I stamped the butterfly in coffee Archival Ink onto white chipboard and cut it out using my Tim Holtz scissors (so easy to cut chipboard with those). I then Watercoloured the wings with my new watercolour paints in the same colouring as the beautiful lady. I wanted to make the wings look like they were there from the beginning. I added a little sparkly Gel Pen to give it a hint of bling and attached it behind the image. I used a pop dot to secure her head to the back piece of cardstock I added for stability. A little Vintage Photo Distress ink and you have what you see. Love it. Simple yet elegant. I have an idea running through my head about what I'm going to do with this piece so you may see it again soon... just sayin :)

Hope you're having a creative day!

My daughter is back from camp (with her school) and is joining me in the studio this weekend to catch up and make art. Love spending time with her here. She is currently working on a "random" project - an abstract canvas for her room. If she allows me, I'll post here creation for you to see when it's finished. Gotta go hear more about camp! Enjoy your weekend!!

Getting Excited!

Sue Sykes will be in the studio sharing her SLR knowledge with us NEXT WEEK!!! Can't Wait! I have been playing with my SLR camera settings and sometimes come out with great photos -- I'll say that again .... SOMETIMES come out with great photos. I can't wait to learn about those settings so great picture taking isn't such a fluke! LOL

If you'd like to join us -- I do have limited space available in the class. The all day class (lunch included) is $65. Click here for details

I am looking forward to hosting a June Card Workshop this morning and then I have some girls joining me for a night of creativity tonight in the studio!! I've decided I'm going to get the paints out again and create a 24x48 canvas for my living room at home. I'm on a mission!! ....and will be sure to post pics! I have spent the last couple of days re-organizing and cleaning the studio so my workspace is calling me!!

Have a fabulous day!

New Scrolls Work Stamps....

are now in the studio and I can't wait to play with them all!!

I re-stocked the Alice in Wonderland Stamps.... Come in a get them while you can cause I won't be ordering these in as a set again: Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Queen, King and Rabbit are only $2.25 CDN each!!! High quality stamps of the original book images.... Can't beat that!! *blissful sigh* I digress....

I'll be playing with the Alice stamps this week but I want to show you what I created with some Vintage Stamps that are NEW to the studio:

I created this card using some Graphic 45 Papers and Scrolls Work Stamps: Trunk (#3028), Carli (#4037), Friend Found (#1626) and Compass (#5007). I added a little Tim Holtz fasteners and some Distress Inks (Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint and Aged Mahogany) and Voila!

Hope you like and thanks for looking!

Just a little "Inspired"....

I have always loved and admired the work of artist Donna Downey.
She is an artist I relate to - with similar collage-y styles and philosophies - so I just knew I'd come back from taking one of her classes and end up creating something very Donna-esque. :) Look what came out of me this week. LOL

I just love it. I got to play with some of my favourite things and "roll out" a new technique or two (three stems with leaves to be exact) *smiles*. Life IS good!

I have this hanging in my studio now and it's making me happy!
Come join me in the studio to create one for yourself - with your own style, colours and adornments. You know you want to and I know you can!

A Little Character Study...

I was inspired by an article in the current issue of the "Cloth, Paper, Scissors" magazine. The featured artist loves FONTS and created a 6x6 canvas using her favourite fonts and text. I loved the idea and broke open a 1950's Saturday Evening Post I had kicking around (doesn't everyone have one of those? hehe) and started looking for words that jumped out at me.

I've been on a bit of a self discovery journey lately and the words that popped out, interesting enough, were: Good, Better, Best, out with the old, New and woman. See a pattern? *smile* I swear the words you need (and mean the most) jump right off the page!! Now I have a theme....

The letters in the center of the canvas are my favourite letters .. . for various reasons. The font? Fiesta from Quickutz. I adhered them with Matte Medium to my wood canvas and outlined with Charcoal Pencils and used a waterbrush to smudge a shaddow. LOVE that effect. From there just collaged some elements and even used some liquid beads from Golden for a little 3D effect. The Pen Nibs: a Tim Holtz stamp stamped with black pigment ink and embossed with Fine Black Embossing Powder.

I wish I had a better photo of this. You'll just have to come to the studio to check it out in person. Look for a NEW CHARACTER STUDY WORKSHOP in the studio! I'll be posting details this week. That way you can all come in and play with WORDS and explore your own creativity!

Escape, be free!! :)

A little something I was playing around with last Friday Night at the Studio Crop with the girls.

I am submitting it for last week's Gingersnap Challenge: Wings.
This bird was created by melting UTEE on a chipboard piece and adding some found metal objects. The metal wings were embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, painted and cut to fit.

The canvas was textured with light molding paste from Golden. It's hard to see here but I love the texture IRL.

It was painted with acrylics, the words written in sepia India Ink...there's even a little pumice stone medium (also from Golden) in there too.
Thanks for looking!
Have a creative day!!!!

A House and a Home...

Houses... that's the theme of this week's SCD Challenge . This is what I created for it today!

The background collage is a vintage 1950's New Home Spec book that I snatched up in a re-sale store. The "Home" paper is all Tim Holtz and the saying is Wendy Vecchi. The tree stamp is from a Canadian Company called Harmonie (out of Quebec). A little Walnut Distress Ink and Coffee Archival Ink and you have the completed piece that was put together using Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Matte Medium - My favourite collage-ing adhesive and transfer medium!
Hope you like! Thanks for looking! BTW...loving the new month format ..."the" Skinni (3"x5")

WIN a Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine!

As you know, I was lucky enough to be published in the current issue of the Canadian Scrapbooker! My Cover Challenge Layout is found on pg 8.....

I received a complimentary copy of the magazine as a thank you for participating so ... I thought I'd share the joy and gift it to one of you!!

LINK A PICTURE of a creation that you made that reminds you of summer (this is the summer issue of the magazine after all!!) for your chance to win. That's it! That's the requirement. It can be a layout, a card, an ATC, twinchie, etc etc.... as long as it is summer related ...it's all good!!

I will have this open to everyone worldwide... just make sure I can get a hold of you if you win. I'll need your addy to send it to you.

I will randomly select a winner next Thursday (June 10) at 12pm est.... Good luck and thanks for spreading some summer cheer!! Not long now before the official start to the summer! Can't WAIT!!

Fragments, Fragments

I had a wonderful evening with the girls for our Technique of the Month Club!

This month I had a few questions about how to use Fragments from Tim Holtz's Ideaology Line so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to explore them with the girls. The picture above is of a few Ideaology Fragments that I played with last night. I showed the girls how to use Glossy Accents to attach pattern paper the the back of the Fragments and then use Rub Ons to embellish them. We also stamped on them and coloured with Alcohol Ink Pens and finally we had a lot of fun creating collage backgrounds for our Fragments and making Key Chains to take home.

Thanks for a creative night ladies! I thoroughly enjoyed having you in the studio!

The Final 2 Cards

Here they are... the final two "Man Cards" for June's Card Workshop. *smile*

These cards will be available to create during the month of June. Simply contact me at the studio to arrange a time for you to create them. If you'd like to come in during regular studio hours, you are welcome to anytime... I have a 4 person minimum to create them after hours. If you'd like to see if we can put a group together on a certain day - just let me know.

These cards are very "kit friendly" and as a result, will be available as a kit this month too! $20 for 8 cards - 2 of each (same as the workshop fee)