Friendship

Well, another weekend gone in a blink! I seem to have spent the last two days just working, but it's that time of year I suppose - we're either getting the kids ready for their exams or helping them to choose their subjects.

However, I did manage yesterday evening to take some time out to make a little something.  I bought a pack of square doilys on Ebay and they arrived so quickly; I knew I had to try one out straightaway!

I used one of my all-time favourite Girls Paperie papers and put the doily on top with a Doohickey swirl cut from white Bazzill.  The image is one of the more recent Tildas and I coloured her with Copics, adding some Glamour Dust to her ribbon, dress and the flower.  Her dress is a bit more pink irl but like most of us, I'm struggling with the lack of light at the moment.

I cut the fence with another Doohickey die and distressed it with some Aged Mahogany DI before adding a few flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. I stuck it onto the card with decoupage glue so that I could bend it a little. The sentiment is a rub on I've had for years and has been cut out with a die by Whiff of Joy.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

TOMIC - Friendship + use a Doohickey die

Just Magnolia - Use a Doily

Have a lovely week everyone!

Hugs,

Tracey xx

It's A Man Thing!

Just a quickie post as I'm dashing off to my course :( this morning.  We have a new challenge starting today over at Sweet Stampin' and this week we'd like to see creations on a Masculine theme.  We don't mind what you make - it can be a card, layout, altered item, anything really - but it MUST be stamped! It's Team Fi's turn for DT makes, so do hop on over to see what they've been up to!#

See you later,

Tracey xx

Lovely hAnglar Only Is Back!

I'm so happy! One of my favourite challenge blogs is back after a break of a few weeks.  I always loved the fortnightly challenges over at Lovely hAnglar Only and so I'm delighted that they are back not just with new challenges, but with some fabulous sponsors and a wonderful Design Team!

And on the subject of their DT...  can you imagine my delight (and shock!) to find out that I'd been chosen to join the team after their recent DT call!  Wow!

So, our first challenge starts today and to make it really easy to get everyone playing along, we've gone for "Anything Goes" as our theme.  We've got a fabulous sponsor too

Here's some info on this fabulous company - just in case you didn't already know!

Lifelong crafters Mother and Daughter, Mary and Andrea were tired of having to buy full rolls of ribbon and lace when they only needed one metre. Because they love ribbons and all things pretty, they decided to open their own online shop in 2010 and make small quantities of beautiful products easily available to all crafters. Mary owns the shop and runs it on a day to day basis as well as keeping the website updated while Andrea looks after the social side, The Ribbon Girl Blog and the Design Team. They specialise in supplying small (or large) quantities of ribbon, twine, gorgeous vintage style lace and seam binding ribbon, tiny pom-pom and ric-rac trim, all sorts of buttons, fancy pins, a multitude of charms, pearl and crystal flourishes, wool felt squares, seasonal and unusual embellishments, mulberry flowers, sticky tape and accessories to card makers, crafters, scrapbookers and cake decorators. They stock only the best quality products and only offer for sale goods that they would personally buy and use themselves.

So here's my card

I coloured this lovely little hAnglar girl with Copics and added Glossy Accents to the hearts. The sentiment is also by hAnglar & stAnglar and this has been stamped with brown ink. 

The papers are a selection of Prima and Magnolia and they've all been distressed with the Timmy Thingy and some Pumice Stone ink. I had the sewing machine out so I stitched some of the mats  and managed to cover up the wonky bits!  I added a doily, a few flowers and a spray from Wild Orchid Crafts and a felt heart which I cut out with a Sizzix die. 

Do come over and visit us at Lovely hAnglar Only today - my new Teamies have made the most gorgeous hAnglar creations to inspire you!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Eyes Down for a Full House!

Hello!  It's Saturday, so there must be a new challenge at Sweet Stampin'! And just in case the title of my post hasn't given you a huge clue, this week we have a bingo challenge - you can choose any line, horizontal, vertical or diagonal but you must use all of the items specified on that line.  And, of course, you need to STAMP!

Our sponsor this week is Crafts and Me, who kindly sent Team Abi some images to play with.  They are offering this week's randomly chosen winner a prize of 3 digis from their online store and believe me, you will be spoilt for choice.

So here's my card

Not the best picture, I'm afraid as it's been dark and damp here this week.  Hopefully though you can see the lush paper, which is from a 6" x 6" Black Market Paper Society pad called Vintage Romance.  What I love about this paper is its texture - it's like linen - and all the sheets are double sided.

The image is by Crafts and Me and she has been coloured with Copics and distressed with Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  I used a Martha Stewart punch in each corner of the image and added Glamour Dust to her wings and the lettering on her balloon.

My Bingo line included flowers, brads and lace.   I kept the whole thing very simple, just adding a strip of lace behind the image and some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.  I didn't have many peachy toned flowers so I sprayed some white blooms with Chalk Mist in French Vanilla.  The brads are there (top right corner) but they may not be so easy to see as they are tiny! 

Do come over and play bingo with us at Sweet Stampin'!  The Team Abi Sweeties have made the most fabulous creations to help you get started.

I'm going to enter this card in this week's Crafts and Me Challenge, which is "Distressing".

Back tomorrow with some rather exciting news..!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Love and Layers

Hello!  I'm much later posting this than I had planned, but Blogger has been extremely naughty and hasn't been letting me upload any of my photos. 

So many challenges at the moment obviously centre around Valentines Day. As I'm not the slushy-mushy type I find these a bit difficult to do, but when the latest Tildas were released and I saw this little cutie, I knew I'd have to change the habits of a lifetime if I wanted to use this gorgeous stamp!

I coloured Tilda with Copics and splodged Pumice Stone DI around the edges of the image mat using a sponge and the tiny Stempleglede grunge stamp.  Pretty much everything else has had a good doin' with DI too. 

I've used Magnolia papers and sandwiched between them is a layer of tulle. I put a layer of white Bazzill under the image; the border was made with a Martha Stewart PATP punch and again, had Pumice Stone ink liberally splodged all over it.

I wrapped some red twine around the card and used this to tie on the hearts charm.  And I had to add some flowers, from Wild Orchid Crafts of course.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Use Twine
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes + love (optional)
Magnolialicious Challenge - picture inspiration
CES Challenge Blog - Lots of Layers (at least 3)

And before I go, I must tell you about our new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'. This week we're asking you for Clean and Simple designs.  Hop over here to see what my lovely teamies have made to inspire you!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Sweet Stampin' - The One I Love

We have a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' today, just in time for Valentine's Day.  We're looking for cards to send to "The One I Love"; it's Team Abi's turn this week, so here's my contribution:

I went for something a little different for me this time.  I really wanted to use these Magnolia papers  with their lovely gold tones. I usually dive straight into my flower stash but felt I wanted something less cluttered so instead I splodged everything with Versamark ink and gold embossing powder.  I used my Martha Stewart PATP to punch a 5" square and this also had random splodges of gold embossing along with some smears of some creamy gilding stuff that was free in a magazine a while back. 

I stamped the Magnolia text and heart with brown Stazon and added some of the gilding cream to this too to make it look a bit worn and tatty.  I coloured the little hAnglar boy with Copics using E numbers only and added gold Stickles to the heart he is holding. 

This week at Sweet Stampin' we are sponsored by

 

Here is a little "blurb" about the store...

Stamp and Create is an online store based in the US. We have free shipping on US orders of $55 or more and low international shipping rates. We specialize in stamping and carry many companies including: Wags 'n Whiskers Rubber Stamps, Magnolia Stamps, CC Designs, Sweet Pea Stamps, Whimsy Stamps, High Hopes Rubber Stamps, The Greeting Farm and more. We have a weekly candy each Monday on our blog. In addition, each Monday a new stamps company or category is on sale for up to 25% off.

They are giving away this fabby prize to one randomly chosen winner

And of course, we also have our lovely monthly sponsor, Joanna Sheen, whose prize goes to one randomly chosen winner from all of this month's entries.

I'm going to enter this in the following challenges

Just Magnolia - Anything Goes + option of Valentines
Deep Ocean Challenges - Love You

Back to marking prelim papers after I've done the housework.  Bet you wish you had my exciting life!

Enjoy your weekend.

Hugs

Tracey xx