A Black and White Image

There's a new challenge starting today at Lovely hAnglar Only ... except we're no longer "Lovely hAnglar Only" - we're now "Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia"!

As much as we adore our cute little hAnglars, they are getting more and more difficult to buy.  Now and again they appear on Ebay but my goodness, they can sell for an extraordinary amount of money!  So the Boss Ladies at LhO have taken the decision to include Magnolia stamps in our challenges.  I think that's a great idea, as the stamps actually work very well together.

I've used a hAnglar stamp for this fortnight's challenge.  We'd like you to colour your image in black/white/grey but use colour everywhere else!  Here's what I did

I coloured my little hAnglar girl with Copics C0-7 and decided to put her with some of the brightest papers I could find in my stash!  These fabulous orange papers are among the last few squares I have of the Basic Grey Ambrosia collection.  I teamed them with black Bazzill which I shaped using a Martha Stewart PATP punch.  The tag was made from the same paper and card, cut out with a Cheery Lynn die and given a rub on sentiment.  I added some roses from Wild Orchid Crafts and a Cheery Lynn die cut butterfly to complete my card.

Apologies for the photo.  In real life the contrast between the papers and the mono image looks a lot stronger. 

Hope you can join us at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia - remember, you can use either hAnglar or Magnolia stamps in our challenges now!  And we have prizes, too; this fortnight our sponsor is Quixotic Paperie who are giving a £10 voucher for their online shop to our lucky winner.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Tracey xx 

Anything But A Square

It's Saturday and that means there's a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'!   This week you can stamp anything you like, as long as your entry isn't a square shape!

I decided to use a much neglected stepper card and will admit to going totally OTT once I got started!

I had some of the central step cards in  my stash so I traced round the base onto pale green Bazzill before running the cut-out shape through the Grand Calibur with a Doohickey grass die.  I masked some of the Magnolia images and cut out the rest, layering them up with sticky pads.  All of the images are Magnolias apart from the tree, which is a Basic Grey sticker. 

Our sponsor this week is Di's Digi Downloads

 who are offering a $10 voucher for their online store. And of course, we have our monthly sponsor, Joanna Sheen - a randomly chosen winner from all of the month's entries receives a £10 voucher for Joanna's online store. My teamies at Sweet Stampin' have made some gorgeous cards to inspire you, so do hop over to take a look and hopefully join in!

This is a scheduled post as it's the last day of my Schools Leadership course today :)  It's completely manic at school just now as we head towards the exams so the way I feel at the moment I don't think I could lead my way out of a paper bag!

I'll be back tomorrow with my Lovely hAnglar Only card.

Have a great day,

Tracey xx

Spring Colours

Just time before bed to show you something I managed to finish earlier while the Boy Wonder was watching the football.

 I followed the sketch over at Simply Magnolia using papers from the Girls Paperie and MME together with lace from Wild Orchid Crafts. I cut the base card from Bazzill, making a large shaped mat with my Cheery Lynn dies.

I coloured Tilda with Copics and gave her clothes some sparkle with Picket Fence Stickles. I used a Happy Birthday stamp from the new Whimsy collection for my sentiment and then I went mad with the embellies again! The roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts and I also added Cheery Lynn large butterfly which I painted with Stickles, although the sparkle isn't showing up too well in the photo.

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

Magnolia Stamp Lovers - Butterflies
Simply Magnolia -Sketch
Just Magnolia and hAnglar & stAnglar - Lovely Lace
Totally Tilda Challenge Blog - Happy Birthday
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge Blog - Happy Birthday
Can't believe we're halfway through the week already!

Hugs,

Tracey xx

Walkin' In The Rain

As I'm writing this post there is a programme on telly about the 1970s. It's a decade I remember as though it were yesterday and those of you of a similar age to me will no doubt recognise the song title that is my post header.  I can't remember whether it was the Partridge Family or just David Cassidy who recorded this song, but it has stayed in my memory even though I was more of a Donny Osmond fan at the time!

The song title seems rather appropriate when you see the card I have made:

I made a base card from Bazzill and punched a border around the mat with a Martha Stewart PATP.  I used the same corner punch on the DP, which is from Basic Grey's Piccadilly collection.  I wrapped a length of sheer lemon ribbon around the DP before I stuck it down and added a bow in the same fabric to the top right corner.

I masked Tilda with the Magnolia rainbow stamp and coloured the image with Distress Markers and a wet paintbrush.  I added some Picket Fence Stickles to the clouds, Tilda's brolly and the puddle at her feet.  I put some silver Liquid Pearls onto the raindrops and popped some lemon Papermania gems into the corners of the image.

I went a bit loopy with the flowers, but once I'd started I couldn't stop, particularly as the shape of the image left quite a large blank space to be filled! All of the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

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

Papertake Weekly - April Showers or Water

Basic Grey Challenges - Spring Colours (Basic Grey Piccadilly DP)

Deep Ocean Challenge Blog -  Song Title Inspiration (Walkin' in the Rain)

Simon Says Stamp - April Showers Bring Spring Flowers

That's all from me for this evening - I've got a pile of marking to do and today was only the first day back!

Take care.

Tracey xx

Better Late Than Never!

I'm so late with this post having had a pretty hectic couple of days with people visiting.  But here I am now to tell you about the new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'!

This week we'd like you to go all girlie but...  NO PINK!!  It took me a while to decide on an alternative colour but in the end I came up with this:

Our sponsor this week is Pollycraft and they gave us all images to play with.  I decide to paper piece mine using this sweet paper from Pink Petticoat.  The colouring has been done with Copics and I added some Glamour Dust to the moon.  The border was made using a Martha Stewart PATP punch set and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Hope you'll come and join us at Sweet Stampin' this week!

I'm going to enter this card in this week's CES Challenge, which is "Paper Piece It".

Hugs

Tracey xx

Happy Easter!

Better late than never, I suppose! Where has the time gone?  I really don't know what has happened to today but I'm now in my usual rush to get a card uploaded in time to enter a challenge!

I followed the sketch over at TOMIC, where you need to use a rabbit as well in your design.  I faffed about for ages and thought the card would never look right but after going overboard with the flowers it looks more cheerful.

The papers are all Basic Grey(Piccadilly and Blush collections) and the lace and flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The little butterfly was made with a Martha Stewart punch.

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

TOMIC - Sketch and include a rabbit

Basic Grey Challenges - Easter



Must dash as there are only a couple of minutes to go!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Using Basic Grey Papers

I'm posting this while waiting for friends to arrive, so it's going to be quick!  I love Basic Grey papers (the proof of this lies in the drawer full of pads and 12" x12" sheets!) so I really wanted to make something for the Magnolia Stamp Lovers challenge, which is to use ... that's right, Basic Grey papers!

I decided to go for a very straightforward layout so that you can actually see the papers rather than do lots of layers.  The papers I've used are from the Piccadilly and Ambrosia collections.

I coloured Tilda with Copics and added a fair bit of Glamour Dust to her dress and bow.  The only embellies are roses from Wild Orchid Crafts, punched Martha Stewart butterflies and a big red bow.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

Tracey xx

Dies and Doodles at Sweet Stampin'

Just a quick post to tell you that there's a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin' - Dies and Doodles! We're being sponsored this week by My Mum's Craft Shop, so do hop across here to see what the Team Fi Sweeties have made to inspire you.

Hope to be back a little later.

Tracey xx

The Best Laid Plans...

In my head, I was going to get lots of jobs done in the garden this week, as well as give the house a good Spring clean.  And, of course, I was going to get a fair amount of crafting time... in my head.

The reality of the situation is that yes, I've managed to get one or two jobs done in the garden (before the snow/rain/wind/cold descended) and yes, I've done a fair amount of tidying, cleaning, washing etc.  I've tried to get some crafting done, but my mojo has decided that because it's the holidays, he (notice how today I've made it a man?) is taking a break.  Great timing, eh?

However, after chucking two or three dodgy efforts in the bin, I've finally made something I quite like.  Couldn't get a decent photo of it, but I guess that fits with the general theme of the week so far!

I used one of the new-ish Cheery Lynn dies to make this easel card.  I've been very pleased with the way these dies cut so cleanly, although I can't get the smallest die to cut a full shape without getting a line down the middle.  Basically the dies are half of the shape you see in the picture so you cut, remove the die and position it so that it cuts the matching half.  I think the smallest die will make a good tab shape, though.

Anyway, the image is a much neglected Whiff of Joy stamp coloured with the Timmy Distress Pens and water. I added a fair amount of Glamour Dust to the wings and to her clothes.  The DP is Magnolia and there is a stitched panel of Coredinations card on top of that.  I put the image on a doily to give a softer look to the card; underneath this is some beautiful sheer ribbon from The Ribbon Girl.

The flowers are, of course, from Wild Orchid Crafts and are my favourite open roses.  Mum's birthday is next month so I think this might be heading her way, unless I make something I like even better in the meantime!

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

Wild Orchid Crafts: Things With Wings
Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes with option Mono (pink and white)

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your evening!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Make your own flowers at Lovely hAnglar Only!

Hope you're all having a lovely afternoon.  We've had a bright and sunny morning but the clouds are rolling in now and there's a definite chill in the air.

I'm here to tell you about the latest challenge at Lovely hAnglar Only which started this afternoon.  This fortnight we'd like to see handmade flowers on your card.  My Teamies over at LhO have made some amazing creations to inspire you so do hop over here and take a look.

We're sponsored by the lovely Ribbon Girl who are offering one of their fab ribbon packs.

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.

This is the gorgeous prize Mary and Andrea are offering

I know from experience how fabulous these are, as I recently was lucky enough to win one in a Lili's Little Fairies challenge.  So do ink up those hAnglar stamps and join in the fun!

Here's my DT card

I used a Bazzill base and Magnolia paper, which I stitched (badly!).  I then added a square doily and some metal corners.  Ribbon from the Ribbon Girl and loads of die cuts followed:  a Cheery Lynn butterfly, Doohickey leaves and a Doohickey swirl.  The flowers were made from Doohickey die cuts - I don't have this die but I bought a couple of packs of diecuts on Ebay for pennies.  I splodged the petals with some Distress Ink and while it was drying sprayed the diecuts with Chalkboard Mist to give them a lovely shine.  Once the petals had dried I glued them together and added a pearl to the centres.

The image was coloured with Copics and cut with a Nestie, which I then edged with Distress Ink.

Fortunately I've managed to get a fair few jobs done in the garden while the weather has been good.  Yesterday I cut the grass -  it took me 3 hours!  I've got a sit-on mower because the Boy Wonder and I live in the middle of a field (it's supposed to be a small holding but I just don't have enough hours in the day to keep it going) and could I get the thing to start?  I'm no mechanic, so out came the electric mower.  Today the Boy Wonder and I cleared out the greenhouse in readiness for seed sowing and veg growing.  I have to say TBW's reluctance couldn't have been more obvious, but he stuck at it nonetheless.  And I'm happy because I've managed to cross some jobs off my holiday "To Do" list!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Hugs

Tracey xx