A bit of brightness on a grey day

It's looking pretty stormy out there again today! I'm really hoping that we don't get a repeat of yesterday's weather and powercuts as I've got redcurrant jelly to make.  The Boy Wonder and I picked over 5lbs of redcurrants from the garden on Monday and the plan was to make the jelly yesterday, but obviously with the electricity going off it couldn't be done. 

On the theme of cooking, I thought I'd ink up this cute Tilda as I haven't really had the opportunity to use her very much.

The DP is from the Basic Grey Piccadilly collection and I love the bold colours, which I managed to match with flowers from my stash. 

Challenges entered:

Basic Grey Challenges - Flowers

Have a lovely day!

Tracey xx

Red hair and pink? Why not?

Hello from stormy Scotland! We've had the mother of all thunderstorms this morning followed by a powercut till just after 12 noon.  I'm not complaining, though, as Scottish Power have sent texts out saying that some people may not have their power restored until 6pm this evening. 

I spent the time without the internet giving my crafty stash a good sort out, namely stamps and dies.  These will be going on eBay shortly.  I had hoped to do some colouring to try to get ahead with my DT cards, but it's still way too dark.  And the ironing beckons...

However, I do have a card today - another Tilda in readiness for a girlie birthday.

I've been at the Go Kreate dies and Maja papers again - as you can see, I'm fairly smitten with these at the moment!  Tilda is coloured with Copics and after some experimenting with colours, I managed to get her hair red enough by using a combination of E31, 33, 35 and 39 with some orange from the YR numbers, including YR14, 18 and 27. 

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

Totally Tilda - Titian Tilda
Bunny Zoe's Monthly Challenge - Pink and White

Hugs

Tracey xx

Another Glorious Day

It's another stunningly beautiful morning here in SW Scotland so I'm going to make the most of it before the forecast storms arrive tomorrow :(  First, though, here's a card I made for the Marvelous Magnolia challenge, which this week is Embossing + a sentiment.

I'm still completely smitten with my Maja Designs papers so have used these again with my Go Kreate dies. Tilda has been coloured with Copics and I've used Frantage for the embossing part of the challenge. 

I've gone a bit bonkers with the flowers but my logic is that I can't justify buying more if I don't use these up!

Have a lovely day!

Tracey xx

Bingo!

We're having a Bingo challenge over at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia! My teamies have made the most adorable creations to inspire you and some have even got a "Full House" by using all of the options on the Bingo Board!  The prize this fortnight is a GDT spot, so there's everything to play for!

Here's my take: I went for the bottom line, Sparkle, Ribbon and Flowers




My lovely friend is due to have a little girl later this year, so I thought I'd get ahead and make the card while I'm on holiday.  The DP is from the fabulous Maja Design Sofiero range  and I love how pretty this is.  I stamped my hAnglar girlie onto a Nestie diecut and coloured her with Copics.  I'm really pleased with how well the Copics, paper and pinky-mauve roses match up - more by luck than by design, but that's fine by me!

The flowers are a mixture from WOC and the Ribbon Girl; the white vine/leaves is actually ribbon, too and I think it was from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop (so sad that this has closed). The butterfly was cut with a Cheery Lynn die and I used some wired ribbon to make the big bow. There's Glamour Dust on her wings and clothes to add some sparkle.

You can get all the details over at LhoSM but I've included the bingo grid here for you to see.

Hope you can play along this fortnight!

Challenges entered:

That Craft Place - It's a Girl Thing

Hugs

Tracey xx

Christmas in July

I am SO loving this fabulous weather! The sky is picture-postcard blue, the sun is shining and there is a slight breeze to help us keep cool.  It seems stranger than usual, then, to be posting a Christmas card in July, but that's our new challenge at Sweet Stampin'!

I've been revisiting some of my older Lili of the Valley stamps as I have no doubt that I'll NEED a good number of the lovely new Christmas stamps which are due out next week. 

I've been at the Simple Stories paper pad again.  I love this collection; it goes so well with kraft card and has that lovely homespun, folk-art look.  I teamed it with a Cheery Lynn border and patterned ribbon from my stash.  I cut a Dienamics photo corner and a Doohickey bow and used the offcut hearts from the La La Land banner die to echo the hearts in the ribbon. 

Stamp and Create are sponsoring this challenge with a $20 voucher for their online store, so do hop over here to see the fabulous inspiration projects my teamies have made! Stamp and Create also have a sale on right now, if you fancy a little internet shopping!

I'll be back tomorrow with my Lovely hAnglar DT card but in the meantime have a fabulous weekend!


Challenges entered:

Lili's Little Fairies - Christmas in July

Hugs,

Tracey xx

Snowpeople!

I'm sitting here looking at a beautiful clear blue sky. The birds are singing, the sun is shining and it's already very warm.  Hubby is home for a visit and has managed to fix the sit-on mower so that I can now see my garden again.  There's lots of weeding to be done but it's already looking 10 times better than it did a few days ago. 

So why the title of this blogpost?  Well, it's time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and this month we want to see Snowmen or Snowpeople on your creations.  The Christmas Sweeties have made some cracking inspiration projects for you this month and we're sponsored by My Mum's Craft Shop, who have a £10 voucher waiting for our winner.

Here's what I made:

I decided on another flat card as I always have so many to post at Christmas.  I used a Lili of the Valley image, coloured with Copics and with a touch of Glamour Dust here and there.  The kraft card base was given a Martha Stewart punched border and I layered up 2 different Simple Stories papers from one of their 6"x6" packs.  I cut a Memory Box vine in half and added some tiny pearls, coloured with Copics, for holly berries. 

I'm off to prepare the patio for a big clean-up with the pressure hose before it gets too hot to do anything other than sit under the parasol and enjoy being on holiday!

Have a lovely day everyone!

Tracey xx

Butterflies & Bows

It's the holidays!!! Here in SW Scotland the schools have finally broken up for a (well deserved) 6 week break and am I ready!  It doesn't look like we're going to get the glorious summer weather that has been forecast for most of the rest of the UK over the next few days, but at long as it's sunny and warm-ish I'll be happy - it's got to be an improvement on what we've had to put up with for the last few years!

I'm not here to discuss the weather, though - I'm here to tell you that a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' is starting this morning.  We'd like to see Butterflies and Bows on your designs this week - how's that for a lovely summery theme?  Here's what I prepared earlier...

I use a Kraft base and DP from MME and Teresa Collins.  I made the bow with my Lil' Inkers die and added a flat-backed pearl to the centre.  Tilda was coloured with DIs and had a good sprinkling of Glamour Dust over her wings.  I just added a few small WOC roses and some punched Martha Stewart butterflies as I didn't want to clutter up the card, which is smaller than my usual 6"x6".

Why not hop over to Sweet Stampin' and take a look at the gorgeous cards my Team Abi teamies have made to inspire you.  As always, we have great prizes on offer - this week's sponsor is Cuddly Buddly, who have a £10 voucher to give away and our the sponsor of our monthly prize draw is the Ribbon Girl.

Hope the sun is shining wherever you are!

Hugs

Tracey xx