Spots and Stripes

It's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin'.  This week we're looking for "Spots and Stripes".  We're being sponsored by SK Digis who have given the DT some images to play with.

 Here's what I did with mine

I used papers by My Minds Eye and added a Cheery Lynn bee, some Dienamics die cut corners and ribbon, a button and a brad from my stash.

I do hope you can join in the fun with us at Sweet Stampin' this week - hop on over and check out the fab cards my lovely teamies have made.

Have a great day!

Tracey xx

Fun in the Sun

Well, it's already our second week back at school and I'm trying to work out where the summer holidays went!  Only seven weeks to go and it will be the October break and shortly after that the Boy Wonder will turn fourteen... I'm sure time speeds up as you get older.

I've got a whole collection of half-finished cards waiting for some attention but I did manage to get this one done - probably because I've kept it fairly "clean".

I masked Tilda with the ice cream stand stamp and coloured the image with Copics. I put Crackle Glaze on Tilda's bucket and Glossy Accents on the shelf of ice cream stand to make it look like glass.

The papers are both by Echo Park and I joined them with some contrasting stripy ribbon.  With so much colour I decided not to clutter things up with embellies and I'm quite pleased with the way this turned out.  I'm also happy that I've managed to add another flat card for posting to my collection!

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

Without Words - Beach Holiday/At the Seaside
Totally Tilda -  At the Seaside/BBQ

Have a great week!

Tracey xx

LhoSM - Punches or Dies

I can't believe how quickly the weeks are flying by - it's already time for a new challenge over at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia!

Our theme this fortnight is Punches and/or Dies, so we'd like you to use these on your creations for this challenge.  I seem to be in Christmas mode at the moment, so I used this cute hAnglar & StAnglar image for my DT card:

I coloured this cute couple with my Copics and used some blue DI to stamp around them.  I put Glossy Accents on the kettle, Crackle Accents on the mugs and some Glamour Dust on the doughnuts.  I also got the Frantage out again - today a mixture of Shabby White and Aqua.  The DP is by Magnolia and is layered up with white Bazzill, on which I've used my Martha Stewart PATP to create a wavy border.  The mistletoe and leaves were cut with Doohickey dies.  Can you believe the rosette is also a die cut?  I've used the Dienamics rosette die on some felt, then rolled it up to make the flower. 

We're very lucky to be sponsored by Live and Love Crafts this fortnight.

 

If the words vintage and shabby chic makes your heart beat faster, you will find your haven at Live & Love Crafts!
Live & Love Crafts is a UK based online store that ships WORLDWIDE. The store is owned and operated by Sandra Mathis, a crafter who is as passionate about the vintage style as she is about customer service and providing a good shopping experience. Live & Love Crafts prides itself on having a website that is easy to navigate with excellent product images. Orders are dispatched fast; usually on the same day received.

Live & Love Crafts stocks a wide range of products from well-loved vintage brands such as Maja Design, Pion Design, Magnolia, Wild Orchid Crafts, Kort & Godt, Prima, Melissa Frances, Maya Road, and the Tim Holtz/Ranger product lines.

The store has a vast selection of laces, ribbons and trims, an assortment of over 200 charms and metal decorations, as well as many other unique embellishments that you can't find elsewhere. To help you save on costs, the charms/metal decos can be purchased singularly and all trims and ribbons are sold by the yard/meter. If you’re looking for products that will inspire and a one stop paper & embellishment shop, look no further than Live & Love Crafts!

 

Hope you can join in with our challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia. Why not hop on over to see what my teamies have made to inspire you?

 

Hugs

 

Tracey xx

Bold and Beautiful

Good morning! It's time to hop over to Sweet Stampin' as we've starting a new challenge this morning.  You'll need your shades on, though - our theme is Bold and Beautiful and the Team Abi Sweeties have excelled themselves this week with their DT projects.

I went for my all-time favourite Tiddly Inks image and teamed it with Basic Grey DP (from the Bittersweet pad) and a big pink bow made with ribbon from my stash. 

Hope you can play along at Sweet Stampin' this week - we've got prizes from Crafters Companion and Iva Nova Chest up for grabs, as well as our monthly prize draw sponsored by the Ribbon Girl, so it's got to be worth a shot!

Have a lovely day!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Flower Power

I bought an obscene amount of stamps this summer and I'm ashamed to say that I've hardly used any of them.  So, to make amends I inked up this wee cutie from Sugar Nellie:

This stamp was a joy to colour! I used my Copics and added plenty of Glamour Dust and some Liquid Pearls in pink and white.  The large punched border was made with a Martha Stewart PATP and the mat for the image is two Spellbinders die cut rectangles placed side by side.  The DP is Basic Grey, from the Sugared collection. 

I'd like to enter this card into the Sugarbowl challenge, which is Anything Goes.

Have a lovely evening!

Tracey xx

Looks like rain, dear

It's time for another challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'! Our theme this month is "Christmas Animals" and I've gone for the most Christmassy animal of all, courtesy of a fab digi stamp from Digistamp Boutique.

I've kept the whole thing very simple, apart from a dollop or two of frontage (which frankly I wish I hadn't done, but there you go).  The paper is from an October Afternoon pad and I've coloured the image with Copics.  The holly berries and noses have had a drop of Diamond Glaze to give a 3D effect, although I don't know how well that shows up in the photo.

We've got a fab prize for our lucky winner this month - a £10 voucher for Quixotic Paperie, our sponsor for August.

Hope you can join in the fun at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - the festive season is closer than you (may care to) think!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Feeling Festive

I'm back again with another Christmas card, which I made with the Totally Tilda challenge in mind.  I've been planning it in my head for a few days but am racing now to get this post done, as the challenge closes shortly!

Totally Tilda's challenge is based on a Christmas Bingo grid; I've chosen the middle, vertical line using ribbon, snowflake die cuts and glitter.

The Joy Crafts snowflake border is my new favourite - even though it took me several passes through my battered old Big Shot to get a clean cut.  I used a Spellbinders border die for the dark purple panel. The paper is by Magnolia, the ribbon is from my stash and the roses are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  Tilda has been coloured with Copics in greys and violets; she's also been liberally sprinkled with Glamour Dust!

Challenges entered:

Totally Tilda - Christmas Bingo
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Have a lovely evening!

Tracey xx

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas?  There are quite a few Christmas themed challenges on the go at the moment, although from my window this morning it definitely looks more like autumn.  The rain is lashing down and the sky is very black.  Hey ho, looks like I won't be cutting the grass today!

I've had mojo trouble recently.  Isn't it always the way when you're not at work?  Just wait until next week when we're back at school - the inspiration will no doubt return when I'm meant to be marking and preparing lesson plans!

Anyway, this card took a while to finish because I couldn't get the embellies right.

I used some non-Christmas paper from Maja Designs but I think it works quite well.  I cut the layers with my Go Kreate dies and then managed to break my Grand Calibur (like, properly break it, beyond repair).  The image is from the new Lili of the Valley Christmas release and she's absolutely my favourite.  She's been coloured with Copics and has had a good sprinkling of Glamour Dust.

I wanted to keep things fairly simple so after trying and not liking the flowers I stuck on, I picked them off (as you do) and made some poinsettias with a Doohickey die and Maja paper instead.  I'm still not convinced - maybe I should have kept the whole thing plain but I needed to hide the glue from the first lot of flowers!

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

Lili of the Valley Ideas to Inspire Challenge - Make It Festive
Lili's Little Fairies - Christmas in August
Deep Ocean Challenges - Christmas in July

Well, the housework calls, although I keep trying to ignore it.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Beside the seaside, beside the sea!

It's been an interesting week.  The Boy Wonder and I headed off to Edinburgh to meet up with our Sweetie pals.  In spite of getting hopelessly lost in the maze of roadworks (it took longer to find our way to the zoo than it did to get from home to Edinburgh!) we had a lovely day - it was fabulous to see everyone again.

Wednesday wasn't quite what we'd got planned: the electricity circuit board kept tripping and we couldn't find what was causing the problem - until the boiler went "pop!". After a slight panic when the boiler people said it might be next Tuesday before they could send anyone out, we were highly relieved and grateful when the boiler man arrived yesterday afternoon.  Oh, the joy of a hot shower!

Anyhoo... I really should tell you about the new challenge over at Sweet Stampin' which started today.  The theme is By The Sea/Ocean and here's what I made:

I thought it would make a change to use a side stepper card base.  I layered up the Maja paper with foam tape to give it some depth and used a Memory box die to cut the waves border.  The images are both Magnolia, coloured with Copics and the bow was made from the fabric used to hold together a set of tea towels I bought from the Aldi!

Do hop over to Sweet Stampin' and check out the fabby cards my teamies have made.  Sir Stampalot is our sponsor this week, with 2 stamps to give away and the Ribbon Girl are sponsoring our monthly prize draw once again.

Enjoy your weekend!

Tracey xx