Wild Orchid Crafts Candy

Wild Orchid Crafts are giving away some beautiful goodies to celebrate the launch of their new flowers on Monday. Hop on over to WOC here to enter.

Cats Whiskers Candy

Jacqui at Cats Whiskers is celebrating over a quarter of a million hits on her blog by giving away not one, not two but three lots of candy!  There are Nesties, Lili of the Valley Stamps and goodies from Wild Orchid Crafts all up for grabs!

Hop over to Jacqui's blog here to enter.

Hope to be back later.  We had no internet last night so I've got lots of catching up to do today!

Hugs

Tracey T x

hAnglar News Flash!

Christmas hAnglars are on ebay now! 

Tracey x

Lili of the Valley Winter Fun

I made this over the weekend and was so happy to use my new Tilda papers which I got from Cuddly Buddly.  The theme for the latest Lili of the Valley challenge is Winter Fun - I think the little girl in this image looks so cute decorating her tree and it reminds me of how my son has always enjoyed this part of getting ready for Christmas.  I'm a terrible mother, though - I let Gregor decorate the tree and then when he's in bed I fiddle with it and tweak it until I'm happy with it.  When he was little he would look a bit surprised the following morning to find that the "tons of tinsel in the wind" look has been replaced with the "neat and pretty tree for a small house" but he's a good lad and he just humours me now.

Anyway, back to the card, which I've kept really simple - not a flower in sight!  I used my lovely Tilda papers from the Frosted Bluegreen collection and inked the edges with Antique Linen ink.  The edges of the taupe paper have been punched with a Martha Stewart doily lace punch.  I cut some Nestie snowflakes from cream glitter card (Doodlebug, I think), cut them in half and stuck them underneath my image.  The snowflake in the top left corner is also a Nestie snowflake and I've added a spacer and a tiny bead to the centre.  The spacer and star were both from Quixotic Paperie.

I've coloured my LotV image with Copics in pale blues and greys and added half a ton of Glamour Dust to her pompoms, the tree, the star and the snow!

Off the get the chickens in, then light the fire - it's almost dark here at 6pm now.

Take care,

Tracey T x

Bev has Tilda Candy!

The lovely Bev Rochester has another Tilda stamp on offer courtesy of Simon Says Stamp, so hop on over here to join in.

Poor Bev - can you believe that someone is messing about with the Inlinkz thingy, deleting their name after the random draw and then anonymously complaining that the wrong number won!  I really don't understand some people  - why would anyone want to be such a spoilsport?

Going to try to get a card done while the Boy Wonder is at a birthday party!

Tracey T x

Just Magnolia Challenge - Dawny P's Sketch

Dawny has provided yet another fabulous sketch to follow for this week's Just Magnolia Challenge.  I decided to use an old favourite Tilda stamp for this card and combined her with some of my most favourite papers - yes, once again, Basic Grey Capella gets an outing!

The glittery paper is from a Bo Bunny range and I'm now down to my last strip!  It matches the Capella paper really well, so I'll have to have a look for some more. Tilda has been coloured with Copics and given a good coating of Glamour Dust on her dress. I used a Martha Stewart PATP punch on the rectangle shape and a Marianne D circle die for the shape Tilda is sitting on.  I stuck this on with some decoupage glue to raise it up a bit and then put Tilda on top with some sticky pads.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the ribbon is American Crafts and the sentiment is a 7 Gypsies sticker.

I think this card might also do for the Magnolia Stamp Lover's Challenge, which is "Sparkling".

I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet evening in front of the fire ... Nigella's on the telly later and my Magnolia Ink magazine arrived today, so I'll be reading that from cover to cover.  Bliss!

Whatever you're doing this evening, enjoy and stay warm!

Tracey x

Woooooo ....Hallowe'en....

It's taken what seems like ages to get back into the swing of things since we got back from our wee break.  I've had cards on the go, trying to make the most of the time before we go back to school and the countdown to Christmas begins, but I've mostly been pulling cards apart and generally not liking what I've done.  Come back, mojo ...

However, there are one or two Hallowe'en challenges out there at the mo and I've been able to use this cute little CC stamp at last - she's been burning a hole in the drawer waiting for this time of year.

It's not the most complicated card I've ever made, I admit but I didn't want to distract too much from the cute stamp. I've coloured her with Copics, Promarkers (grey and black) and a black prisma pencil.  The background paper is Basic Grey and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts (I coloured the orange buds with a Copic pen to get a colour to match the paper).    The sentiment is made from Doodlebug rub ons and the feathery stuff is Basic Grey.

I'm going to enter this in the following challenges:

Stamp Something --- Hallowe'en Somethings
A Spoon Full of Sugar --- Boo!
Stampin' for the Weekend --- Hallowe'en/Fall

Will have a little Magnolia card in a wee while.

Tracey x

Stampin' Fluff'nStuff Sugar Rush!

Faye's blog will be 1 year old shortly and to celebrate she has a wee bit of candy on offer.  You can go to Faye's blog here -  make sure you have a coffee or a wee glass of something by your side as her posts always make you smile and you'll want to read them all!

Bev's Simon Says Stamp Saturday Surprise

Bev has some Tilda candy for us today, sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.

Follow the link to go to Bev's blog, All The Things I Love.

Jane's Friday Flowers

The lovely Jane at Jane's Lovely Cards has some beautiful flowers up for grabs courtesy of Simon Says Stamp.  These lovely Christmas poinsettias are just the thing for our Christmas cards!  Follow the link to hop on over to Jane's blog.

A little Autumn hAnglar

The challenge over at Lovely hAnglar Only is "Seasons" and this gave me a great excuse to get out my Pink Paislee Queen Bee papers again.  I love these Autumn colours!  I'm going to enter this card in the Stampin' for the Weekend challenge as well, which has the theme of Autumn.

Unfortunately I couldn't get a decent photo of the card and looking at it now I would reorganise the flowers a bit, but too late now!  I coloured my hAnglar girl with Copics and added Glamour Dust to her wings.  I cut her out with a Nellie's die and threaded narrow organza ribbon through the holes.  The ribbon and flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

It's just a quick post today because we're getting ready to go on holiday for a couple of days and I seem to have so much left to do before Mum and Dad get here tomorrow.

Enjoy your weekend!

Tracey x

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Can I ask anyone who reads this to take some time to visit a couple of blogs.  Jacque at Jacque's Joie de Vivre is an amazing lady who has fought breast cancer.  She maintained her blog throughout her treatment and is truly inspirational, not just because of her positive attitude but also because she makes the most beautiful cards! 

Now Jacque has heard that her friend Elise Dinolfo, who is 38 and has a four year-old son, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Jacque is asking that as many people as possible pop over to Elise's blog to give her some moral support.

I hope you can find the time to follow the links and leave a message - I love the fact that we have the technology to help someone like this and one of the reasons I love crafting so much is that everyone is so supportive of each other.

Jacque is also offering quite of bit of pink blog candy to promote breast cancer awareness, love her.

Hugs,

Tracey x

Sketch Saturday/Magnolia Stamps Lovers Challenge...

A very late post for these challenges, but I have been without power at home for most of the day.  Fortunately we have a lovely electrician who came over after school and sorted the problem for me, but I was beginning to think that we might be electricity-less for the weekend! 

Anyway, I have a card which fits with the sketch at Sketch Saturday (hope I'm in time!) and the theme at Magnolia Stamp Lovers, which is lace.

I made a 6" x 6" base from white Bazzill and covered this with a Magnolia Christmas paper which I think was from last year's collection.  I cut a 4" x 5" panel of white card, covered this with more Magnolia paper and mounted this over a strip of white velvet ribbon (American Crafts) and a strip of beautiful white lace from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I stamped this little Tilda with Memento ink, then masked her and stamped Magnolia's "Snowy Circle" around her with Versamark. I then heated embossed this with silver powder.  Several attempts at cutting this centrally within my circular dies failed miserably, so I ended up cutting a more abstract shape by hand - not what I wanted really, but I wasted a lot of card trying to centre everything and get Tilda's feet outside the die.

I coloured Tilda with Copics and added Icicle Stickles to the frills on her dress and around the cut-out shape.  I added a sentiment from a Forever Friends pack that I got for pennies in a sale and completed the card with part of a white flower spray and some 5mm pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts.

School holidays for 2 weeks started this afternoon.  We're away for a few days next week - Mum and Dad are coming to look after the dog and the chickens, but I hope to be here tomorrow with a little hAnglar creation.

Enjoy your evening.

Hugs,

Tracey x

Mid-week Magnolia

A little Tilda card today, using one of my favourite images.  The Just Magnolia challenge is "Anything Goes", which makes it nice and easy to combine challenges!  I liked the sketch on Totally Gorjuss and Stamp Something has a "Something to Celebrate" theme.  This little Tilda ticks all of those boxes.

I used my usual Bazzill 6" x 6" card base and covered it with Magnolia paper; the Tilda image is also mounted on Magnolia check paper.  The ribbon is American Crafts (I'm going to have to see where I can buy these when my present stash gets low) and matches the paper exactly - more by luck than design.  I distressed the background of the Tilda image with Pumice Stone distress inks - I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of this now, all thanks to a fab tutorial on Kim Piggot's blog.  Tilda has been coloured with Copics and given a wee bit of Glamour Dust just for the sake of it really.

The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts - I wish I'd joined them up a bit, actually, as I don't like the gap between them, but I wanted to try to follow the sketch.  I also wish that WOC had released their poppies last week 'cos they would have looked great with this colour scheme.  That's something else to go on my shopping list.  Finally, the sentiment stamp is Magnolia and the wee doily is from Joanna Sheen (although my mum got me some lovely ones in Tescos!).

I had one of those moments yesterday after school when I had to confront my craft shopping addiction.  hAnglar have a new kit on Ebay - £42, so not cheap, but tempting.  My too-old-for-his-years son spent half an hour talking me out of buying it... "Do you really need it, Mum?" "You've got loads, Mum"  and "That's expensive, Mum".  I had to agree, I've still got stamps I haven't used and I felt a bit bad that it took a 10 year old to tell it like it is.

Mind you, when he'd gone to bed I went onto Cuddly Buddly's site and bought 2 packs of their Tilda papers which I'd seen on Bev Rochester's blog.  Haven't told him yet, tho'! 

Hugs,

Tracey x

Glitter and Sparkle

I did enjoy making this card, not least because I got to ink up a much under-used Tilda and I managed an "out of the die" cut reasonably well - my previous attempts have been a bit of a disaster!

Anyway, the card - I wanted to do something for this week's Totally Tilda challenge, which is Glitter and Sparkle and I've been waiting for ages to use this gorgeous glittered Bo Bunny Christmas paper.  It matches perfectly with one of my favourite collections, Basic Grey's Capella. 

I stamped Tilda onto watercolour card and cut her out with a Marianne die.  I used the same die to cut the outer ring from Capella paper and gave this a sprinkle of Glamour Dust, which I also put over Tilda's wings.  Tilda has been coloured with Copics and I added gold Stickles to her halo.

I used the Bo Bunny glittery paper on top of a Bazzill 6" x 6" square card, then cut two squares from co-ordinating Basic Grey Capella paper, which I went round with a Martha Stewart punch. I covered this layer with some sheer ribbon (American Crafts - they have a brilliant range of colours, not your usual variety,either).   Finally, the pearls and  flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts - where else?

The card layout follows this week's sketch at Friday Sketchers, so I can enter it in that challenge as well. And, as I've used Basic Grey papers, this should also qualify for the Basic Grey Challenges comp, whose theme is also "Sparkle".

So, that's me card.  Hope to be back tomorrow with another Tilda.  Want to get over to Cuddly Buddly's website before bed as they have some lovely Tilda paper.  Saw this on Bev's blog and I fell in love.

Hopefully won't spend too much money!

Tracey x

Peachy Pink Christmas or the Mystery of the Unknown Paper ...

Not so long ago I bought quite a few new papers for my stash (no change there then) and matched them all with Bazzill card.  What bliss!  However, now that I have used one of the gorgeous new purchases I have no idea what the make is or even where I bought it from! I've even been reviewing my past purchases online to see if I can spot it, but I can't.  If I knew where I'd bought it from that would be a start, but I can't remember. Now is that a sign of age or is it a sign that I buy quite a bit of paper from quite a lot of different places?  Anyway, the card is finished and I'm still no nearer to naming the paper.

So, for my card I used the mystery paper and its matching Bazzill and followed Bev's sketch for the Lili of the Valley challenge.  I used both sides of the paper and I have to say I do like the peachy-pink colour. I coloured my LotV image with Copics and gave it a good dose of Glamour Dust.  I used a Nestie snowflake set to cut out my shapes from glitter card and added a Dovecraft brad to the one on the bottom left of the card.  These brads are such good value - much cheaper than most but very good quality.  I just hope I can find some more!  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts ( I wanted to use a peach and white rose which matched the paper perfectly, but it was too big) and the ribbon is from my stash (All My Memories, I think).  The sentiment is from a past Magnolia Christmas collection.

I'm entering this card in the Lili of the Valley weekly challenge and also in the CES Challenge, which this week has the theme of "Get a Hat".

Hope your Sunday is going well.  So far I've managed to get my ironing done and I've finished my school work, so I might just be able to make a card this afternoon.  I can't go and tidy up in the garden because it's flooded from all the rain we've had (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!).

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs,

Tracey x

I Don't Believe It!

I missed posting my hAnglar card on Lovely hAnglar Only by 10 minutes!  I thought I had until 6 o'clock but I forgot that they are an hour ahead of us!  Drat and double drat!

Pink and Chocolate

For the first of two cards this afternoon I've got a little hAnglar ladybug painted with distress inks and Twinkling H2Os.  I used the sketch from this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge and combined it with the latest Cupcake challenge, which is Pink and Brown.

I gave her a good sprinkling of Glamour Dust over her wings although she perhaps looks a little too shiny now due to my (lack of ) photography skills!

All of the other items, apart from the organza ribbon, are Doodlebug; the gems are in fact dark pink, pale ping and brown but they don't really show up in the photo. 

See you soon with a little hAnglar & stAnglar creation.

Tracey x