Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Canvas Corp and myStamp BOX “Partner Blog Hop”!

If you have just happened upon our event now, please begin your journey on the Canvas Corp blog here.

Many of our wonderful designers are joining us today to show off some inspirational creativity. See how well Canvas Corp and myStamp BOX products are working together! 

Ready?  Here we go!

                              Canvas Corp <- please start here

Marsha Valk 

Linda Abadie

                                                   Sue Sykes <-- you are here - and I'm glad! :)

Jeannie DeGruccio 

Jaine Drake

Janet Zeppa

Els Brigé

Jolene Johnston

Cassie Box

Isolde Pyncket 

Agata Pfister

myStamp BOX blog

We are giving away some amazing products from both participating companies. All you have to do is COMMENT on all of the designers' blogs along your journey to WIN. Our two Hop winners will be drawn from all participants and will be announced on the myStamp BOX blog and Canvas Corp blog on Monday, November 28th, so all comments are due by Sunday November 27th at 6pm EST. Good Luck!

I received some lovely goodies from Canvas Corp and myStamp BOX - I created a countdown chalkboard calendar for the kids! :

Supplies used:  Canvas Corp canvas heart, chalkstock, linen cord, decorative clothespin and mini clothespins; myStamp BOX stamps (Let It Snow, Rustic Outlines, Mini Alpha - Small Box); Tsukineko Staz-On ink; Stampin' Up Craft Ink; Ranger embossing powder; Faber Castell Gelatos (metallic); Craft Smart metallic ink (silver); chalk.

(Sorry for the dark photo - I wanted a photo of it hanging up and there's not much light when I leave for work OR when I get home!  Boooo, winter... :(

I kept it really simple, with minimal embellishments because I'm sure that little hands will be wanting to add the chalk numbers and I didn't want to have to keep repairing it!  Instead I used the stamps as accents!

I misted my canvas heart with water and coloured right onto the canvas with the Gelatos.  I then blended the colours with a paintbrush and let dry.  Using Staz-On, I stamped snowflakes all over and added highlights with silver metallic paint, watered down to a milk-like consistency.

You can't really tell in photos but the Gelatos and the silver paint have a lovely sheen to them!!

Using the watered down silver paint, I also painted the white clothespin to add shimmer to it, and to help it blend in with my project's colour palette.  With the pigment ink, I stamped the title on the chalkstock with stamps and embossed to heat set.  I placed a dab of silver metallic paint full strength on my craft mat and just dragged the edges of the chalkstock through it.

I cut the linen cord to length, knotted the ends and attached it to the canvas using natural mini clothespins that I painted using the Gelatos.

And voila!

Now it’s time to HOP along and find out what the next talented designer has created. Your next designer is Jeannie DeGruccio of Canvas Corp.  

Don’t forget to leave a comment below for a chance to WIN one of our TWO product giveaways!  Happy Hopping - and Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!

My New Adventure

I was happily surfing Etsy the other day, oblivious to its' charm, searching for some items for inspiration.

When all of a sudden, out of the blue, it hit me.

photo by Allison Wenger Peck via Etsy Seller, imomzi

Oh.  My.  Heck.

Not only does this image knock my socks off and start my aging uterus a-tickin', but that hat!!  Having just created several crocheted flowers this past weekend for my tutorial on WeScrap, I have come to realize how much I missed MAKING THINGS.

Yep.  You heard me.

I know, I know - I can hear all of the indignant scrapbookers saying, "What?!?  My scrapbook pages ARE creations - they are legacies that I leave my children and future generations!"

True.  But have you ever tried a scrapbook page on?  Or better yet, have you ever tried one on a brand spankin' new baby that you're photographing??

As lovely as this is, and I'm sure it's worth the $18 USD (plus shipping), I know that this is probably relatively easy for someone like me who grew up watching her mom crochet all of her daughters tablecloths, and beautiful queen size bedspreads for each of her six grandkids.  She taught me most of the stitches when I was younger but it wasn't until I was older that I had the patience to actually complete any projects.

So, I will admit, I spent more time than I care to admit, searching the web for a similar pattern.  I found a free one here at Alli Crafts and rushed out today after my meeting to purchase some yarn and crochet hooks!

Sadly, I have a lot of year end paperwork to catch up, but if all goes well with this teeny cap, I may spring for the pattern for this adorable one:

photo via Etsy seller, polkadotposh 

After all, it's all tax deductible since they are going to be props, right? :)

Tutorial: Crocheted Flowers

This weekend, I created a tutorial for the Love Songs crop at WeScrap.  Today I'm going to share it here with you. 

I'm going to show you how to crochet your own flowers to match your layouts. This is a quick and easy way to add customized embellishments to your layouts and cards for a fraction of the cost of those on the market today.

I borrowed a pattern from The Laughing Willow's blog and adapted it slightly to my liking. If you are unfamiliar with crocheting techniques, there are a lot of videos and tutorials out there on the various stitches. For our purposes, here's a legend of the pattern abbreviations used:

• ch = chain
• sl st = slip stitch
• sc = single crochet
• dc = double crochet

Okay, ready? Here we go!  To start, you'll need 1/2 skein of embroidery floss in any colour, a crochet hook (size US 2) and a pair of scissors.

Step 1  - Start with a slip stitch:

Step 2 - Ch 5:

Step 3 - Sl st in first ch to make a ring:

Step 4  - Ch 10 in ring:

Step 5 - Join with sl st in first sc:

Step 6 - To create a petal, (sc, 3dc, sc) all in first sc:

Step 7 - Create four more petals by repeating the following: (skip ch, sc, 3dc, sc):

Step 8 - Join by sl st in first sc in the first petal:

Step 9 - Now comes the tricky part. Flip your flower over and sc in the base of the first petal:

Step 10 - Ch 3 and sc in the base of the next petal:

Step 11 - Repeat 4 times until you have five loops. Sl st in first sc:

Step 12
To create a large petal, (sc, 5dc, sc) in first loop:

Step 13 - Create four more petals by repeating the following (sc, 5dc, sc in next loop) 4 times and sl st in first sc:

Step 14 - Finish off by snipping floss and drawing end through final loop to knot.

There are multiple variations on this: 

~ Experiment with different textures. I've used embroidery floss, but you can use yarn, cotton thread - even strips of thin fabric!

~ Lengthen your initial chain and begin with ch 14 (or more) to create bigger flowers.

~ Change your floss after Step 8 to create a two-toned flower. You can finish off your flower after Step 8, to create smaller flowers.

Have Fun!

Ooops!!

I just realized that I forgot to pick a winner for my RAK a few weeks ago!!

I ended up making only a few of those flowers - and then Aili ended up confiscating them to her "pretty" box, where she hoards little bits and baubles!

I did just create one to match a layout for an upcoming DT assignment though...

Fairly easy, even for a non-crocheter like me!  And so nice to be able to 1) use the stash of embroidery thread that I have from my cross-stitch phase and 2) coordinate flowers to papers I want to use!

Anyhow, onto our winner...

I found a new randomizer (thanks to CP4U), and our winner this week is...

List Randomizer

There were 9 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1.Lea
2.Beth
3.Chelle
4.Suzie J.
5.Liz
6.Bamm-ela
7.Connie
8.Laurie (Wally)
9.Allison M.

Timestamp: 2010-08-09 01:45:33 UTC

Congratulations, Lea!  Please email me your mailing address to justinfo (AT) justcre8 (DOT) com and I'll send your RAK out to you this week!

Time Passage

We have a 10 hour road trip ahead of us, with a vacation planned to visit some family in the US.  Normally, I read in the car while the kids are entertained with a movie (or FIVE! LOL!)  No, I'm just kidding...

But I can only read for so long before I get carsick, especially if the print is small.  So I've been looking for small crafty projects that I can work on, while traveling.

I know that my friend, Leica, always talks about scrapping in the car, but I'm much too messy (and slightly OCD) for that - I wouldn't be able to use my Xacto knife!

So what's a girl to do?

Well, here's a couple of projects that I found in my surfing adventures:

Crochet Flowers and Leaves by Attic24

I think these would be adorable on scrapbook pages and cards!

Ditto for these:  Teeny Tiny Flowers by Attic24

I'm also going to be printing out several sheets of digital stamps recently purchased from Pink Petticoat, to watercolour.

I have also been collecting items to create activity packs for each of the children so they will be entertained in between movies and reading.  So far, I have:

activity and puzzle books

• tiny animal figures
• silly putty and comics (remember that as a child?!?)
• colouring sheets and pencil crayons
• mini whiteboards and dry erase markers
• storybooks
• sketch pads and pencils

I also found a great site (http://www.momsminivan.com/) with printable car bingo games and ideas.

And since I just realized that I haven't given anything away yet for July, I am offering up a HUGE stash of ribbon, Prima flowers and this set of Just Cre8 acrylic stamps, Time Out.

To be entered into the draw, just leave me a suggestion for more ideas for the kids and I for our activity packs by 11:59pm EST on Thursday, July 22nd and I'll randomly draw a winner! 

*Squeal*

I would have posted this at 9:32pm on Sunday as soon as I walked in the door, had Blogger been co-operating... Apparently, Blogger felt the innate need to squelch the excited ramblings of crafter who just discovered a new medium of expression!

What a fantastic class we had with Donna Downey!  We had grand plans of arriving early to get seats in the front, but as expected, the best laid plans... you know the rest.

Holly and I arrived at Stamping Bella at 9am.  We had to trudge up two flights of stairs, with our supplies and we walked right past the room at first!  Donna was just handing out kits when we arrived - luckily there were two seats together, at the very back of the classroom.  At first, I thought it would be hard to see, but Donna was great about walking through the middle aisle and helping us as we progressed.

She would also demonstrate the techniques on random people's layouts.  She used one of Holly's canvases to show us how to make splotchy flowers from alcohol ink and blending solution:

My photos didn't turn out great because

a) I still haven't sent my 18-55mm lens in for repair so I was using my 50mm and

b) it was pretty dark and I didn't want to bump up my ISO too much (don't like grainy photos!) so I had to open up my aperture to f/1.8, which then of course shortens my depth of field...

{sigh} I think I need a new camera... 

FYI, most of the photos of me were taken by Holly with her camera.

Donna was an incredible teacher - funny, helpful, somewhat sarcastic (which appeals to me, because I am too!)...  I had just dropped my alcohol inks on my canvas and was carefully trying not to screw it up with the blending solution... Holly snapped this photo of her peeking over my shoulder - nothing like a little pressure!

As you can see from my finger, I fought with an alcohol ink bottle - and it won!  So Donna gave me a blending solution manicure! :)

Because the class ran over, I didn't finish my canvases... and because my studio is in total disarray, due to renovations, I can't finish them for at least another week or so. 

Probably longer, if we're being realistic.

And honest.

I will share this image, taken half way through the course.  I'm further along on the blue and yellow canvases but I will save them for the final reveal when I finally finish them.

I have to say, I was so inspired that I ran out to Michaels' today and bought gesso (pronouced jess-oh, not guess-oh!) and will go back tomorrow to pick up some modeling paste!

Donna also worked on one of my canvases - here, she's demonstrating how to add highlighting to a painted stencil image with oil pastels.  You can soooo tell that I'm a Type A personality from this photo... only a Type A would be peering over Donna's shoulder to make sure she didn't mess up her canvas! LOL!

Another great thing about Sunday... I was standing at our table, talking to Holly, when I hear someone call my name behind me.  I turn around and immediately recognized Isabelle Gagnon, from my Just Cre8 design team last year!!  She took the train in for the weekend for classes from Montreal.  It was so nice to finally meet her - she had to leave immediately after the class to catch her train, but I managed to get a photo with her.

Please just overlook the goofy look on my face here.  Must have been all the alcohol fumes... from the ink, of course.

I think Dorrie snapped this photo of Holly and I with Donna.  I'm not sure why I am making that face but with Dorrie behind the camera, it was probably for a good reason! :)

What a great time!  I am so disappointed that I didn't sign up for more of Donna's classes this weekend!  Maybe next time!

Thanks to Holly for joining me at the remedial table and for the laughs, even if you did ask me, inappropriately, if I was wet... ;)

Green-Eyed Monster

Okay, so the big ugly green eyed monster has bitten...

Only I'm not so sure if I'm more jealous of this gorgeous jewelry display rack by Janine Koczwara that I found on the Prima blog ...

Or the actual jewelry!!  Oh. My. Heck.  That pink/orange/red necklace is a little slice of heaven.

Yesterday's blog post also included this layout by Ingvild Bolme:

Lori introduced me to Ingvild's art a few years ago - the woman never fails to amaze me with her talent!

Sigh... don't you just LOVE Prima??

Guess where I'm going??

At ScrapFest, Nancy and I took advantage of the early-bird entrance to the marketplace on Friday that was included with our crop fee.  One of the booths we stopped at was Stamping Bella - it was our first and only make-n-take of the weekend and I bought an adorable stamp:  Jill is Two.  Sadly, I can't include the stamp image here, but I can include this beautiful card made by Elaine Hughes, using the stamp:

I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm excited to do so - it so reminds me of Aili at this stage, when she doesn't get her way... and she's well past two!  Ah, well...

Anyhow, while we were paying for our purchases, I picked up a flyer with coupons for discounts on future purchases, not sure when I'd be able to visit the store, as it's approximately 4 hours away! 

Then I saw it.

The store was having Donna Downey come to teach classes!  I have always admired her artistic flair and after talking to Holly, we discovered that we BOTH wanted to take the same class!

So, on June 6th, we're heading to Stamping Bella to take her "Swatches" class!!  We will be making 3 - 10" canvas artworks in framed loops.  Here's a class description:

New in a series of craft media workshops, you'll learn the step-by-step process of how to create Donna Downey's signature Swatch art pieces. In this 4-hour workshop, you will create three individual 10" framed canvas Swatch art pieces utilizing more than a dozen art mediums, techniques and tools. As you create each canvas, you will build upon layers of technique and applications, introducing new ideas that will open up multiple creative possibilities for layering and texturizing your art.

I'm so excited!!

Let's Cre8 (Kidlet Version)!

At Just Cre8, we have a tutorial post that goes up every other Saturday by one of the Cre8ive Crew, called Let's Cre8 (you can check some of them out here!) So when Aili brought home a note about needing to bring in a craft completed with recycled materials, I thought we'd do our own kid-friendly version of Let's Cre8!

Here's what you'll need:



Egg carton
Chenille pipe cleaners
Empty toilet paper tubes
Cardstock in favourite colours
Paints (acrylic work best with kids - easy clean up!)
Foam paintbrushes
Buttons (with at least two holes)
Ribbon (green is best, but any colour will do)
White glue
Paper piercer or stylus
Sharp scissors
Newsprint (to cover work surface)
3" scalloped circle punch (optional)

Start by removing the top of your egg carton and cutting the peaks off of the bottom portion. Cut the peaks so that they are level with the remaining edges of your carton.




Then separate the cups and trim the edges. Make sure you have a sturdy pair of scissors - I cracked my Ginsu pair making this, hence I'm using my old beat-up stainless steel pair!!

Spread out your newsprint over your work area and squirt a quarter-size dollop of paint (add more as needed!). Using a foam brush, paint the outside of the egg carton cup. Lay face down to dry.

Don't forget to keep your camera handy to catch your child's expression!

Once dry, turn over and paint the insides a contrasting colour. Let dry.

While your cups are drying, prepare your vase. Begin by punching a circle for your base. You can also use a square or cut a circle using a circle cutter, or freehand.

Using your paper roll as a guide, measure the length and cut a piece of cardstock to fit around the roll, with about 3/4" overlap. You can use a paper trimmer, but I just eyeballed mine, erring on the side of overages and then trimmed it once it was affixed to the roll.

Squirt some white glue onto your work area. Dip your finger in the glue and spread along the edge of one of the short sides of the cardstock piece. Make sure that it is spread right out to the edge.

Attach to your paper roll and wrap around, smearing glue on the other end to seal. Hold, seam side down, for a minute or so (sing the ABC song to distract your little one!) to ensure a smooth seal.

Using your finger, rub glue along open edge of tube and stand upright on circle base. Don't worry about a little glue seeping out - it will dry clear. Hold to set and set aside.

Please excuse the messy fingers - I am SO not a neat painter!

To create your flower centres and stems, choose as many buttons as you have egg cups, in complementary colours. Let your child choose their colours for their stems and buttons - who says stems can't be pink??

Begin by threading the chenille stem UP through a buttonhole and then DOWN through the opposite side.

Match up the ends of your stem and pull tightly.

Twist the chenille stem tightly to set the button, and then loosely twist the remaining stem together.

Using a paper piercer or stylus (a push pin or Xacto knife will work as well) create a SMALL hole for your chenille stem.

Don't make it too large or the egg cup will fall down the stem. It should be a tight fit.

Thread the stem in through the centre of the cup and pull down completely.

Cut your ribbon into 3" pieces (one per flower).

Tie in a tight knot near the top of your stem.

Place your flowers in your vase and make a goofy face for the camera!

Happy Cre8ing! Thanks for reading!