Spring into Easter at Sweet Stampin'

It's Saturday, so there must be a new challenge at Sweet Stampin'!  This week we're sponsored by Lili of the Valley, so I was able to ink up this sweet little stamp which has been too long unused!

Janneke has made a lovely (optional) sketch for us again this week and I've pretty much followed it.  I coloured the image with Distress pens and added a lacy doily to give some definition between the image and the fairly busy Girls Paperie papers.

I added a few flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and one of their lovely lace butterflies to the top right corner. Finally I added some lace from the Ribbon Girl and a tiny bow.

Do take a look at what my teamies have made over at Sweet Stampin'! We have some great prizes on offer and with the Easter holidays, hopefully you'll find the time to play along!

I'd like to enter this card in the MilkCoffee challenge, which is "Throw on those Flowers"!

Have a lovely weekend.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Spring has Sprung!

Another stunningly lovely day here in SW Scotland - what a shame I was at work and not out in the sunshine.  It's all downhill now weather-wise apparently, but who cares?  It's the HOLIDAYS!!

Inspired by the beautiful Spring weather I inked up this little cutie from Lili of the Valley.

I coloured her with my new Timmy Distress Pens, water and a paintbrush.  I'm starting to get used to them now and much prefer the pens to the reinkers.  I cut the image out with a circle Nestie and inked the edges with Walnut Stain. 

The papers are Basic Grey - the bottom layered is from the Little Black Dress collection and the top square is from the 6" x 6" Sugared pad (which I can't find anywhere anymore).  I cut a strip of French Vanilla Bazzill and made a border with my Doohickey die, then added a strip of seam binding from the Ribbon Girl before sticking on a double bow.

I wanted to keep the layout simple to show off the image, so I managed to exercise some restraint with the old roses, just adding a small cluster to two corners.

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

Lili's Little Fairies - Anything Goes
Basic Grey Challenges - Mothers Day/Girlie (Little Black Dress and Sugared papers)

I'm going to treat myself to a glass of wine and watch Gardener's World while trying not to think about how much of my holiday is going to be taken up with trying to sort out the mess outside!

Will be back tomorrow with details of the new Sweet Stampin' challenge.

Have a lovely evening!

Tracey xx

Just a quick post before I point the Boy Wonder in the direction of the shower! I made this card with the CES Challenge in mind - it's a photo inspiration challenge and the picture is of a scrummy afternoon tea.  It reminded me of when we took my colleague to Turnberry for tea last summer - what a fabulous afternoon that was! I'm seriously tempted to take Mum and Dad there for their birthdays in May.

Anyway, enough talk of cakes and champagne! Here's my card:

I used a fabulous Mo Manning image and coloured her with Copics.  The papers are Melissa Frances and I managed to squeeze in my new Tim Holtz clock die.  I didn't go mad with embellies as the image is quite big, so I just added a Cats Life press stamped circle and some pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Will be back tomorrow with something I'm quite pleased with!

Enjoy your evening!

Tracey xx

Kolouring on Kraft

Rushing again this evening but at least it's Friday and next week is the last week of term! Yay!

Although I've been trying to practise using my Timmy pens, I still want to get better at colouring with Prismas, so when I saw the challenge over at CES Challenges - Colour on Kraft - I decided to get the old pencils out and give it a go.

The card couldn't be simpler - I stamped directly onto the Kraft card and cut a 6"x 6" square from another piece of Kraft card.  I used a Martha Stewart PATP punch to make a frame, cutting out the middle with a square Nestie.  A few sticky pads and a Martha Stewart punched butterfly were all that was needed to put the whole thing together.  Apologies though for the rubbish photo - it looks like a snail has wandered across the wee girl's garden!
It's been a long week, so I think I've earned myself a little glass of something.  Have a lovely evening and hopefully I'll see you all again over the weekend.

Take care,

Tracey xx

This one's for you, Abi!

Two posts during the working week - can you tell I'm ready for the Easter holidays! I wanted to show you this card, which I made after seeing the challenge theme over at Magnolia Stamp Lovers.  They want the focus of the card to be a Magnolia sentiment.  Hmm... I had to think about this one, as I only have a couple of Magnolia sentiments and they are quite small.  Then, as I was visiting Abi's blog,  I remembered this Christmas text ...

The sentiment was stamped using brown Staz On ink and cut out with a Go Kreate circle die.  I inked the edges with some Walnut Stain DI and put the circle on top of a Joanna Sheen cream diecut.  

I felt the text was more in keeping with a traditional looking card, so I kept the layout very simple.  I used paper from an MME Christmas pack, ribbons from my stash and dark green roses from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The pearls are also from WOC and were originally white until they met a green Copic marker!

And the title of this post?  Well, my lovely blogging pal Abi is SO organised and makes her gorgeous Christmas cards throughout the year.  I don't think I have ever made a Christmas card as early in the year as this, so I feel I owe it to Abi to dedicate the card to her, parrticularly as it was while I was admiring one of her Christmas creations that I remembered about this stamp!

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

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Magnolia Sentiment Only
Just Magnolia & hAnglar &StAnglar - Green

Just a couple of bits of marking to do, then hopefully I'll be able to get some more colouring done! Hope you're all having a good week.

Hugs,

Tracey xx

Spring Colours

It's my friend's daughter's birthday tomorrow and I've been busy making a card in suitably Spring-like colours.  My new Tim Holtz Distress Pens arrived last week and I actually got to play with them over the weekend!  My first few attempts at colouring went straight into the bin but I'm happier with this one - I still need much more practice but I'm getting there, I think!

I used a lovely Lili of the Valley fairy stamp and coloured her with the Timmy Distress Pens, a paintbrush and some water.  I found this so much easier than using the reinkers, particularly for shading.  I was fairly liberal with the Glamour Dust, which went on her wings, the thistles, her skirt and her hairband!

The papers are from the Julianna pad by K & Co and these were (wonkily!) stitched onto cream card. Over the top of the DP went some American Crafts velvet ribbon, which you can just about see. As the papers are quite busy I didn't overdo the embellies, so I just added some roses and some pearls from Wild Orchid crafts, together with a little paper butterfly I made using a Martha Stewart punch.

Here's a photo giving you a peek at the inside:

I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges:

Lili's Little Fairies - Butterflies and Fairies

Deep Ocean Challenge - Butterflies (hope the butterfly wings and the punched butterfly are enough!)

Before I go I would just like to say a big THANK YOU to the lovely Jacqui at Lili's Little Fairies and the fabulous ladies at The Ribbon Girl.  I was lucky enough to be the randomly chosen winner at Lili's Little Fairies last week and my prize was a little bundle from the Ribbon Girl.  The envelope arrived at the weekend and my goodness, what a beautiful surprise it was.  Gorgeous pink ribbons, the prettiest little buttons and some pearl-headed pins - I was over the moon. 

Can I also remind those of you who like your hAnglar stamps that the  Lovely hAnglar Only challenge is up and running again.  The winners are chosen by the Design Team and we have some fabulous sponsors on board.  Our new challenge theme is Die Cuts and Punches so do join in with us if you can.

Right, I'm off to try and get an early night!

Hugs,

Tracey xx

Green for St. Patrick's Day

Good morning!  It's time for another challenge at Sweet Stampin' and as it's St. Patrick's Day today we've opted for "Green" as our challenge theme.

We have been lucky enough to be sponsored by Emerald Faeries who gave the Sweeties in Team Abi a lovely digi image to play with.  Here's what I did with mine...

I coloured the image with Copics and added plenty of Glamour Dust to the thistle and the fairy's wings. I used papers from Basic Grey and others from my stash (can't remember the names, sorry).  The ribbon is from the Ribbon Girl and the rolled flowers and swirls are made from the smallest Memory Box rolled flower die - swirls are the leftover bits when you take the die off the paper!

Do hop over to Sweet Stampin' and take a look at the rest of the team's lovely creations - we'd love you to join in with this challenge, too!

Hopefully I'll be back over the weekend with something to share. I've managed to have a play with my Tim Holtz pens so I'll try to get something ready to show you.

Have a lovely day.

Hugs,

Tracey xx

Blue and White

A very quick post to show you a card I made for the Just Magnolia and hAngar & StAnglar challenge - Blue and White.

A very simple layout once again...

I used my oh-too-neglected hAnglar girl stamp and coloured her with Copics and Primas. She's been cut out with a Nestie which is in turn sitting on an oval lacy die cut shape.  I used my Doohickey lace die to cut a strip of white Bazzill and added some blue ribbon over the top.  The DP is Magnolia.  Just added some pearls and roses to finish it off. 

Told you it was just a quickie!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Can't Wait for Spring...

Sunday evening already - I just don't know where the weekend has gone!  I thought I'd quickly post this card while dinner is in the oven as I don't know how much time I'll have to get online over the coming week.

First though I need to let you know that we have a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'.  This week we want to see "Lots of Layers" on your projects.  For those of you who don't normally "do" layers, our lovely Sweetie Janneke has provided an optional sketch - I think I'll be using this time and time again.  So do hop over and see what Team Fi have made.  As usual there are some fabulous prizes on offer!

Now for today's share:

I made this for the new challenge over at Lili's Little Fairies, which is "Ribbon and Lace". I've kept the layout very simple as the Basic Grey DP is a bit busy and I wanted the super-cute image to stand out.  the Lili of the Valley image is coloured with Copics and the image mat has been splodged with some Aged Mahogany Distress Ink.

I added a Cheery Lynn die cut doily and some lace and ribbon from Wild Orchid Crafts and the Ribbon Girl respectively. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts too, as are the pearls.

So there is it, nothing fancy but I wanted to make something that I could keep for emergencies - I can always add a sentiment later if I need to.

Off to give dinner a stir (lamb tagine - I have to say, it's smells rather lovely).

Hope you all have a fab week. 

Hugs,

Tracey

Swirls and Pearls

Hope you're all enjoying a relaxing weekend! I'm back to tell you about our latest challenge over at Lovely hAnglar Only.
Our challenge theme is "Swirls and Pearls" and this is what I made...

The pretty paper is from the K & Co Juliane 6" x 6" pad - I really like the blue-grey tones in the flowers. The cute little hAnglar boy has been coloured with Copics and has had a good dusting of Glamour Dust over his wings. He's been cut out with an oval Go Kreate die and I used 2 oval doily die cuts (Marianne? I think) behind the image.

The card base is very pale grey Bazzill and the Martha Stewart PATP got a good workout to give me the lacy edges! I also used the fabulous swirl Doohickey die - I use that so much now, I wonder why it took me so long to decide to buy it!

The  pearls are from Wild Orchid Crafts, as are some of the flowers and the butterfly was made using a Martha Stewart punch. The remaining flowers are by Magnolia.  Finally I distressed a Doohicky tag die cut with some Aged Mahogany distress ink and added a little Magnolia rose to finish it off.

This fortnight we are sponsored by the fabulousness that is

The Ribbon Reel is kindly donating a £10 voucher for their lovely online store - well worth checking out!

So come on over to Lovely hAnglar Only and take a look at what my fabby teamies have been working on!  They're sure to inspire you!

Have a great week - hope to be back soon!

Hugs

Tracey xx

 

Cute as a Bug!

Hello! It's time for another challenge over at Sweet Stampin'! This week we've chosen the theme of nature, bugs and ladybirds to get us all feeling a bit more like Spring might finally be on the way!

I made an easel card to show off the gorgeous K & Co paper, which is from their Watercolour pad. I love these papers! I punched the edges with a Martha Stewart PATP punch to get a nice lacy look, then I added a strip of yellow ribbon over the top of the contrasting DP (from the same pad) and machine stitched the edges .

I stamped Bee Tilda onto ivory card, masked her with a post it note and stamped the jar over the top. Masking can be a bit hit and miss for me, but I'm quite pleased with the way this turned out!

I coloured Tilda with Copics and added Glamour Dust to her wings. I put a bit of Distress Ink around the edge of the image, which I cut out with an oval Go Kreate die. To add a faint gold trail for the little bee I used an old Sakura gel pen so irl it has a slightly raised effect. The "jotting spot" is cut from a Doohickey die and has been edged with Antique Linen Distress Ink. Last but not least, on went a selection of roses and leaves from Wild Orchid Crafts.

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

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Punches
Just Magnolia - Anything Goes + optional stitching

Housework calls now, followed by a bit more marking, I think.  I really must make a couple of cards over the next couple of days, so I'm trying to get all the boring jobs out of the way. 

I'll be back tomorrow with my DT card for Lovely hAnglar Only!  Enjoy your day!

Hugs

Tracey xx