Playing with Cuttlebug...

I had promised myself that I would take some time to use my Cuttlebug. I bought it last year and never touched it since this summer...! I must say that it's lots of fun and now I bought even more templates and some gorgeous ones for Christmas...!

These cards where my first attempt, for the 2 first one I used the border templates but it might not show very much on the picture. The bottom one is the Holly branch and the effect is done by sanding the embossed leaves.

Summer is over...

Hello my friends Fall is here and it's beautiful.... But, it also means the end of vacation for a little while! I had a great summer traveling with our RV and visiting nice places in Canada. During these vacations I also did a few quick and easy cards, since I cannot have my entire studio material in the RV I had to be selective...!

The mystery project!

Hi

On one of the groups I belong to we had a very nice challenge to do. Our group mom had 11 objects to send to 11 ladies who would willing to alter it... we did not know what the object was!!! I submitted my name ... Unfortunately my name was not picked in the first round... but then one of the lady could'nt do the project so I got lucky and my name was picked for the challenge. The mystery object was an accordian folder to be altered:

ORIGINAL ACCORDIAN FOLDER

We where entirely free to alter it the way we wanted... I thought this was my first opportunity to do a mix media project as I've been wanted to try for some time ... So I gather, gesso, newspaper, mulberry paper, Golden purnice paste, embossing powder, decoupage photos, grunge flourish, embelishment key, paint, stamps, inks, letters and made doors out of fimo paste and mold.... here is the result:

THE SECRET DOOR

I had a great time working on this art project, what I didn't know at first was that the 11 projects where to be voted on and the winner would receive a prize from our group mom Cheryl (she is a very generous lady)... The voting took place and we where 2 winners ... so we had an elimination vote... again it was close I came second... but to me I'm won the confidence to start doing projects I was a bit afraid of doing... I never thought I would be so happy with what I did.

Thank you to Cheryl for her generosity and thank you for giving me the opportunity to play outside of my box!!!!

On the road again

Hello It's been a while since I have wrote on my blog... I was and am still away from home in the beautiful setting of Meaford, Ontario. It is located on the shore of the Gorgian Bay and it's awesome... our campsite is 2 steps away from the water and we are having beautiful weather. Below 2 pictures of a sunset on the Bay.

I will be back home by mid-September and will start working on all those projects that have been on my mind during these quiet moments...

Talk to you soon my friends...!

A spur of inspiration...

Bonjour, Hello

Yesterday was a nice creative day for me... I wanted to participate in a contest, no big prize but I felt like doing it especially that I love doing Vintage ATC... and that what the contest is all about so I came up with these 2 ....

Have a nice creative day... hope mine will, I have a nice project on the go....!

Mid July already....

Ouf.... summer is at is peak point and I hope you are all enjoying yourselves. Other than playing in my flower beds and rock garden I have been working on 2 entries for the lottery of one my groups. Follow your Dreams

Our theme her was "Winged Things" the stamp give the effect of stain glass. Background was done with different color of ink, stamped and embossed in black, Lumière was added to the different elements of the image. The wording is a stamp from "Invoke" speckles of embossing are included... LOL! I love the combination of blue and copper color. All was assemble on a cream cardstock and a copper tread of cord was added to give dimension. Voilà!

Imaginary Tree

Is my entry for our ATC lottery ... As you can guess the theme was " Tree(s)". I love this stamp form "Invoke" it is so different and original. The background was done by sponging blues, yellow and green, stamp in black embossed in clear. I added a few gems to give it an Out of this world dimension! Next week will be a real vacation week since we are leaving with my daughter and granddaughters for Compton in the "Eastern Townships" of Québec one of the most beautiful area of the province http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Townships . Hope you enjoyed your visit, have a nice week-end and take the time to smell the flowers....!

Recent ATC - Winged Creatures

Stamping & Paper Arts Master Class-Heirloom's West Springliefd Rubber Stamp and Paper Arts Festival (part 2)

Friday evening was the class with professional artists and well known stamping experts : MaryJo McGraw, Zana Clark, and Darlene Domel. Each one shared some techniques, product knowledge, and creativity ideas. I enjoyed this class very much.

MaryJo McGraw, http://maryjomcgraw.blogspot.com/ talked to us about the different type of inks, the quality, their use and how to recognized them. She also challenged us to create 2 post cards using 3 different color of ink and 3 stamps... she encourage us to use the colors and stamps that we would not normally pick... ( Think outside of the box)... MaryJo did talk to us about a product I didn't know. It's a Double-sided tape perfect for layering. Holds paper fabric Paper Cords™ plastic and more. Mosaic Tape can be cut or torn which makes it convenient and easy to use. It can also be used and reused with acrylic blocs for unmounted stamps. It can easily replace the well known more expensive one. It is available from Judy Kins under the adhesive section. Darlene Domel from Stampland http://www.stamplandchicago.com/index2.html demonstrated on the masking technique using here "Mask to the Max" way. Here again I discovered a new masking tape called "Eclipse Tape" from Judikins. This is a tough, reusable, repositionable tape that makes masking a breeze. Use it to create your masks and store them right on top the stamp. Reusable and removable! She also had us work with the "Judikins Color Dusters" an excellent tool to apply a light dusting of stamp pad inks, pastel chalks or watercolors. These bristle brush applicators feature a compact easy to grip turned wood handle and produce a light dotted or stippled effect that adds depth and/or highlights. Load Color Dusterª with color by tapping it directly on stamp pad or paint palette. Creates delicate shading and background effects. I thought both products where fantastic ... no need to say that I have them now! http://www.judikins.com/index.html

Zana Clark, http://www.stampzia.com/ and her terrific spray watercolor has shared with us some of her new idea, gave us more tips to play with those inks. For me it was fun and an occasion to see Zana with whom I had taken a 3 day seminar a few years ago.

I love working with those watercolor and when Zana told me that she had a Craft & Cruise coming up in March 09 I thought that is was time for me to realize a this dream I had of going on one of those cruises. Fortunately, I found myself inquiring about the details at the same time as this very nice lady from Québec who was at the convention too... It was like we known each other all our life...

Decision was not hard to make our reservations are done and we are going to Craft and Cruise with Zana and Jackie in March 09. It's a dream come true...!!!

Overall I did enjoy my time at this Convention and bought lots of supplies that are difficult to find here in Québec.

Heirloom's West Springliefd Rubber Stamp and Paper Arts Festival (part 1)

First I must say that it was the first time I attended a Rubber stamp convention! http://www.heirloompro.com/

I always wanted to do it but never had a chance to! It was nice but smaller than previous years, some merchants where saying that it was mostly because of the fuel price!!!

I was there 2 days before, we are lucky enough to have a nice big 5th Wheel so I was able to rest and prepare myself for this event.

I had chosen to take 2 classes one on the Friday afternoon and the second on the same night.

My first class was with Nami of DeNami Design, I had no idea what to expect since we could not see the projects ... It is not my true style but I found interesting to be able to make 5 quick and easy all occasion cards DeNami style in 2 hours....!

I must say that Nami is a sweet, patient and very talented teacher. She creates most of her stamps and they are just so soft and elegant! I finally enjoyed my experience with her. Mostly she showed us that we can do your own printed backgrounds so starting with a white blank card you do the complete designing of your card. We also used some of her papers.

http://www.denamidesign.com/index.html

Hey I'm back...

Bonjour mes amies - Hello my friends! I have been away on vacation for a little while, first to attend a Convention in West Springfield and visit the Boston area and then to spend a complete week with our granddaughters in Picton at the Sandbanks Provincial Park in Ontario. I will report on both period in separate posts.