Anything Goes!

It's time for a new challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia and it's a really easy one - Anything Goes!

I really wanted to make something spring-like as, like most people in the UK, I suspect, I'm fed up with winter dragging on so long!

I used two hAnglar stamps for my project and painted them with DIs and Distress Markers.

The frame was punched with a Martha Stewart PATP.  The measurements of my image weren't quite right for the punch, so the two die cuts were used to hide a little gap in the punched design! The butterfly was made with two co-ordinating Memory Box dies and the cute little bee/wasp was made with the fabulous Cheery Lynn set, Tiny Things with Wings.  I used the same set to make the dragonfly which is sitting on the Doohicky jotting spot on the base of the card.

The paper is by Magnolia (my last sheet of this in yellow, sigh!) and I added flowers from WOC to finish.  It's my mum's birthday next month and I think this might well be her birthday card.

I do hope you can join in this fortnight at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia! My teamies have made the prettiest inspiration projects for you, which you can see here.  We're being sponsored by the fabulous Bunny Zoe's Crafts so it's well worth entering - remember, though, you must use a Magnolia or a hAnglar & StAnglar stamp!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Anything but a Birthday

Good morning! Here I am again with my DT card for Sweet Stampin'.  Our challenge this week is "Anything but a Birthday" so I decided to make a wedding card as I don't have any in my supplies box.

I used papers from my absolute favourite Maja design collection, which I think translates as "Shall we have coffee?".  Some of the purples in this range are very dark and rich, so perhaps better suited to autumn, but I thought the soft lilacs in this paper would make a nice alternative to the usual ivory or white of a wedding card.

I only have 2 wedding stamps, both Lili of the Valley. I'd like to say that I never tire of colouring this one, but let's be honest, there isn't actually that much to colour!  I kept the embellies fairly simple, just adding some WOC flowers, chipboard corners and wooden buttons, which I painted with distress paint.  The sentiment is a Pink Petticoat digi which has loads of different phrases on it.  I just cut a strip and inked the edges with walnut distress ink.

I really hope you can join in our challenge this week. We're being sponsored by our very own Natali, who always gives away the most fantastic prizes from her store, Iva Nova Chest!  Don't forgot to hop over to Sweet Stampin' to check out the lovely inspiration projects the Sweeties have made!

I'll be back tomorrow with my Lovely hAnglar card but in the meantime, enjoy your weekend.

Hugs,

Tracey xx

Pretty Pastels

Here I am (internet permitting) to tell you about our new challenge at Sweet Stampin'. This week our theme is Pastels and we're sponsored by Cuddly Buddly, who have a £10 voucher to give to our prize draw winner.

The stamp is from Whiff of Joy; I've coloured her with DIs and added some Stickles to her wings. The DP is by Prima although there's a bit of Basic Grey (Sugared) in the butterflies, which were made with Memory Box dies.  The punched border is one of my favourite Martha Stewart PATPs. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the seam binding is from the Ribbon Girl.

It's a quick one from me today as my internet is misbehaving after 2 glorious weeks of great connection.  Do take a look at the look at the fabby inspiration projects my teamies have made - hope you can join in with us at Sweet Stampin' this week!

I think I'll enter this in the following challenges:

Totally Gorjuss - Spring Shades
Deep Ocean Challenges - Flowers and Fantasy
Simon Says Stamp - April Showers or Spring Flowers

Hugs

Tracey x

Well, you said "Use flowers"...

and I did!

I had originally made this card for a DT project for Sweet Stampin's "Girly" challenge but felt it was too dark somehow to be girly.  I'm still not sure whether the flowers are too much, but I enjoyed colouring this image so much that I thought I'd share it anyway.

The image is, of course one of Krista's finest and I just loved colouring her.  I usually struggle a bit with SC images because I'm not great with long hair, but this style worked a treat for me.  I mostly used my Copics but I also went over the hair with a dark brown Prisma pencil. It took AGES! The dark red Copics tend to bleed quite easily, I find, so I had to keep going back to my colouring after leaving the ink to dry for a while.  I added glitter to her bodice and gloves (as if the flowers weren't enough!) and used a glitter pen on the beads in her hair.

The paper is by Magnolia and I added a Doohickey doily; there really wasn't much room for anything else.  The ribbon towards the lower edge of the card was in my stash but I think it had once been on a box of chocolates.  The edges of the card were made with one of my latest toys, the beautiful Cheery Lynn "Lady Kate" border - I just love this, it really is so pretty.  Finally, the flowers - they're a mixture of Wild Orchid Crafts/Ribbon Girl and I just went a bit OTT with them! 

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

The Ribbon Girl - Use Flowers
Papertake Weekly - Bingo (Blooms, die cuts, glitter)

Hugs

Tracey x

Krafty Christmas

Today sees the start of a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and this time we'd like you to use kraft paper/cardstock on your projects.

Here's what I made

I coloured Tilda with my Prismas and yet again, ended up using red and white on a Christmas card.  They don't start out that way in my head, but something in my brain obviously equates red and white with the festive season!

I used paper by Maja Designs and die cuts by Magnolia (poinsettia and mistletoe), Cheery Lynn (corners) and Tim Holtz/Sizzix (clock).  The glittered brads are by Doodlebug and I've had them for years! The Santa calendar was cut from a piece of Simple Stories paper.

My teamies at CaSS have made the most wonderful cards to inspire you and we have a lovely prize for our randomly chosen winner - a £10 voucher from My Mum's Craft Shop and a goodie bag from Iva Nova Chest (our lovely Natali's online shop).

Have a great day!

Hugs

Tracey xx


 

Thank you, Mary J!

I fancied doing some colouring on Kraft today.  It's something I really enjoy but as I don't often get the time (and it takes time!) I'm often disappointed with the results, especially when it comes to colouring skin.  So I did a bit of preparatory blog-hopping and found Mary J's excellent tutorial (here) on colouring skin using Prisma pencils. 

Now the colouring isn't even remotely in Mary J's league, but I'm pleased with the improvement!

I've kept the card layout really simple, partly because the image is quite big and partly because I always seem to need flat cards for posting - not easy for someone who likes to clabber everything with flowers!  I was very brave and cut into some of my Maja Designs paper, but don't worry, I do have some whole sheets for stroking and admiring!   A wee strip of seam binding and some splodges of white ink using a Stempelglede stamp were the only other additions to the card, so it's as flat as I'm ever likely to get anything I ever make.

I thought I'd enter the following challenges:

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Get your kraft on (colour on kraft cardstock)
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes (option to use kraft cardstock)

Have a lovely evening!

Hugs

Tracey xx