Black and White plus One

Good morning!  It's the holidays at last and I now have a couple of days to get the house ready for Christmas.  I'm actually almost looking forward to having a tidy up - that's how bad the mess is right now!  Not like me at all, but work has been manic and the BW's social life has resulted in me running a taxi service every night this week!

Anyhoo, it's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin'.  This week we'd like to see just Black & White plus a pop of one other colour (we'll let you have skin colours though!).  I'm still not getting the best from the light box so advance apologies for the photo - here's my DT card:

This is a CC Designs image and one of my favourites to colour.  I used C0-9 Copics (the cool greys), adding some Sakura black glitter pen to the bow on her dress.  The red bobbles in her hair have been covered in Glossy Accents and I used a white Sakura pen to add some definition to the lacy part of her shoes.

I do hope you can join in the fun at Sweet Stampin' this week.  We're being sponsored by Di's Digis AND Marianne Designs, so there are two lovely prizes up for grabs next weekend.

Have a great day!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Winter Sports

We've been on storm-force gale alert here today and thankfully it hasn't been nearly as bad as we had anticipated.  However, it is absolutely FREEZING - I've got the oven on in the kitchen, the heating is on and there's a coal fire on the go in the sitting room and I'm still cold! 

It's our last challenge of 2014 at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and the theme is Winter Sports - if the forecast snow arrives here at the end of the week it will be a winter sport trying to get up the hill to get into school! 

For my DT card I used a Tiddly Inks image - I really like colouring these images and this time I went for blue and white to give a frosty feel.

I used a Memory Box dies for the background and layered these onto some Magnolia paper.  Wryn's clothes have had a sprinkle/bucketful of Glamour Dust; the frozen pond was created using the same Glamour Dust on top of a layer of Glossy Accents.  And yes, it is a very small pond... ;0)

We're sponsored by Iva Nova Chest and the lovely Natali always puts together a lovely prize.  Do check out what my teamies have made here!

Stay safe and cosy!

Tracey xx

It's (nearly) Christmas!

Hello!  I'm back to tell you about the latest challenge over at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia.  It's our last challenge of 2014 so the theme just has to be Christmas.

Here's what I made

 

 

I bought myself a light box recently and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to have the lighting, so do forgive the quality of the photo.  I used one of my favourite hAnglar Christmas images and coloured her with Copics.  I used a Sakura Souffle pen as a change from glitter on the trim of her hat and around the lacy parts of her dress.

 

The DP is Magnolia and it's been put onto a linen card base with a Martha Stewart PATP border.  I wanted to pick up the hearts in the paper so I painted some Simon Says Stamp hearts with red Fresco Finish, then covered them with Glossy Accents.

 

The Ribbon Girl are our sponsors this time:

 

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.



Do come on over to Lovely hanglar or Sweet Magnolia and join in the Christmas fun.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Things with Wings

Good morning - and a very frosty one it is here, too!   It's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' and as you can see from the post title, the theme is Things with Wings.  The Team Abi Sweeties have some lovely inspiration projects over on the challenge blog so do hop on over and check them out.

I went for a Christmassy look and chose a Sugar Nellie fairy for my card

I always make something using this sweet image as we get towards Christmas and I always seem to give her the same colours - I just like her in cream and pink.

I coloured the image with Copics and added loads of Glamour Dust to her dress and wings.  The papers are Magnolia and there's a doily and a strip of linen underneath the image. I put a few flowers on as this card will probably be hand delivered.

I do hope you can join us at Sweet Stampin' this week.  Stamp and Create are sponsoring the challenge and giving away a $20 voucher so that one lucky winner can have a wee spend in their online store.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Use a Die Cut

Hello from a very foggy SW Scotland! I've just been outside to fill up the coal bucket and had to walk through a thick wall of mist - it feels a bit like walking through wet candyfloss!

Anyway, here I am to tell you about the penultimate challenge of the year over at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia.  This fortnight you need to add a die cut to your project - remember that you need to use a hAnglar & StAnglar or Magnolia product as well if you want to be eligible for a prize. 

I'm now in panic Christmas mode so for my DT card I used some red Magnolia Christmas paper that was on my desk:

 

 

 

I used a Go Kreate die set for the various layers and popped some Doohickey flowers under the WOC roses.  The little hAnglar girlie has been coloured with my favourite red Copics (R24, R27, R29 and a touch of R39) and I added lots of sparkle with some Glamour Dust.  Apologies for the photo (again).  I've bitten the bullet and ordered a light box, so I'll let you know how I get on with it.  Hope it's worth the money!

 

 

We're sponsored this fortnight by Live and Love crafts

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 us over at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia!

Hugs

Tracey xx

We are 5!

Happy Birthday to us, happy birthday to us... la la la la, la laaaa laaaa...  Sweet Stampin' is celebrating it's 5th birthday! We have a mega-challenge to mark this special day on the Sweet Stampin' calendar with prizes galore.  The theme is a lovely easy one:  Happy Birthday!  You must have a birthday sentiment on your card to be eligible for entry into the prize draw.  Check out all the details here!

The Sweeties from both team Fi and team Abi joined in this week's challenge and believe me, there are the most fabulous inspiration cards on the Sweet Stampin' blog today.

Here's my DT card

Apologies for the photo - I still haven't got round to sorting out a light box but I really must.  I never seem to see daylight at the moment!  I used MME papers, distressed them and inked the edges with Walnut Stain DI.  I stamped one of my favourite Tildas and coloured her with Copics, adding some sparkle with Sakura glitter pens.  The sentiment is from a Clearly Besotted stamp set and I went over the script with a clear glitter pen to make it stand out a bit.  I didn't want too much white space on the card so I added a few WOC roses in shades of gold and creamy yellow to the top left corner.

I do hope that you can join us over at Sweet Stampin' this week.

It's perhaps as well that we don't have a birthday cake at Sweet Stampin' Towers.  At school we have "Cake Friday", which means that the staff take it in turns to bake something lovely to have with our cuppa at break time.  I'm not in the staffroom that often but for obvious reasons I try to get in there on a Friday.  Yesterday one of the kids offered me a sweetie and I declined on the grounds that I had just eaten a rather big piece of delicious Victoria Sponge.  My darling pupil didn't give up: "It's OK, Mrs Trayner... you're not THAT fat!"  That's me told, then.

Have a great day!

Tracey xx

Snow People

Is it cold and frosty where you are?  Or persisting down, like it is here?  Whatever the weather, we'd like you to think "snow" and, more specifically Snow People, over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month.

I used a Wild Rose Studio stamp to make my DT card

The image is coloured with Copics and I added some Glossy Accents to the beak/noses. There's a bit of sparkle, too in the form of Clear Rock Candy Stickles and some Doodlebug gems. The papers are from one of this year's Doodlebug Christmas pads and I love these bold colours - some of the less wintry patterns will be easy to use at other times of the year. 

We have a mixed goodie bag to give away to one lucky winner, chosen by the CaSSettes, so why not crack on with those Christmas cards and join in the fun with us.  Stuck for inspiration?  My gorgeous and talented teamies have created a feast of designs to kick start those creative brain cells. Come on over here to take a look.

Mid week already - yay!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Sparkle!

Here I am again! It's time for a new challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia and our theme this fortnight is Sparkle!

I hope you can see the sparkle in this card - I promise you, it is there!  I stamped Edwin peeking through the Christmas Tree and coloured him in with Copics before adding Clear Rock Candy Stickles to the baubles.  I went over the background with a silver glitter pen to add a bit more sparkle to the scene. 

I used another Magnolia stamp to make the mistletoe, adding a glittery enamel dot and some Wink of Stella, although I'm not sure how well that shows up in the photo.  Even the DP is sparkly - it's from a MME glittered paper pad from years ago.

We're being sponsored by the Ribbon Girl, so there's a lovely prize on offer for our winner.

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.

Hope you can play along this fortnight.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Remember

Hello! We've got a lovely challenge starting today at Sweet Stampin'.  Our theme is Red for Rememberance - you don't have to go for poppies, or flowers of any kind if you don't want to, but we need to see plenty of red on your project.

I have a few poppy stamps and had a bit of me time colouring this one up during the October break.

I used Copics in shades of red ranging from R24 to R59.  The image is by Hero Arts and I think it's called "Delicate Blossoms"; it's one in a set of two clear stamps.  I decided not to colour the stems or centres of the poppies to make the red really stand out. It took a while to complete but it was so relaxing. 

The Sweeties have made the most beautiful inspiration cards, so do hop on over here to take a look.  As always we have a fabby prize for one randomly chosen winner and this week we're being sponsored by Crafty Ribbons who have a goodie pack to give away.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Autumn Colours

I'm here with my DT card for Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia.  Our challenge theme this fortnight is Autumn Colours.  There isn't much colour at all as I look out of my kitchen window today as it's a very grey, wet and windy day, but even so I love this time of year.  We have lots of trees around us, which is lovely, but when the leaves drop we have a beautiful view of the estuary in front of our house.

Anyway, back to the challenge! 

I coloured this sweet hAnglar image with Copics and chose papers from Maja Designs, which I cut with a Go Kreate die.  I just added a few WOC flowers together with a little stamped sentiment (possibly Whimsy - can't be sure as I've had it for ages).

I hope you can join us at Lovely hAnglar of Sweet Magnolia - do check out the lovely inspiration projects my teamies have made.  Our winner, chosen by the DT, will be offered a GD spot.

I made the Christmas cakes yesterday (1 for us, 1 for my mum and dad) so I'm off to give them their first "feed".  Mincemeat is also made but the puddings will have to wait until next weekend.  I love the Christmassy smells in the kitchen and yes, I know we've got a good few weeks before that season is upon us, but we're back at school tomorrow.  Just wish I was as organised with my Christmas cards... I have a sneaky feeling that John Lewis online will be coming to my rescue again this year!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Anything but a Card

This challenge is the one that strikes me with terror, but that's the theme this week over at Sweet Stampin'! I'd had these wooden hearts for ages and thought that now was as good a time as any to try my hand at altering them.

Out came the gesso, then the Fresco Finish paints (Nougat, Stone, Chalk and Dolly Mix). I painted some Crackle Glaze between the Dolly Mix and the Stone layers after stamping a Hobby Art text stamp over the hearts in brown Staz-On ink.  I sanded off some of the top layer to get a patchy look and rubbed gilding wax over the top.  Boy, that is powerful smelling stuff!

I hope you can join in with us at Sweet Stampin' this week.  The Sweeties have made the most outstanding inspiration projects to help you get started, so grab a cuppa and hop over here to take a look.  We're being sponsored by Di's Digis, so there's a $12 voucher on offer to our lucky winner.

Have a great day!

Tracey xx

For someone who doesn't do Halloween...

I've made another Halloween card!  I can't resist colouring this Tiddly Inks image at this time of year; she's called Alison and she's a dream to colour.

I haven't entered a challenge for AGES so I thought I'd enter the following:

Without Words - Boo
Tiddly Inks - Non-traditional Halloween Colours

Now I really need to get going with my Christmas cards!

Tracey xx

I don't do Halloween...

...but I quite enjoy making Halloween cards, so I decided to join in with the Team Fi Sweeties this week for the Sweet Stampin' Halloween-themed challenge. 

This was a pretty quick card to make! I used the Halloween set from Clearly Besotted to stamp the cat and the sentiment.  For a change this card won't need to go in the unsent/charity box as I could use it for a belated birthday or something similar. I've used the cat stamp a few times for Good Luck cards, so it's quite versatile.

Hope you can join in the fun at Sweet Stampin' this week.  We're being sponsored by Crafty Devils (appropriately, given the challenge theme) and they have a £15 voucher to give away to one lucky winner.  The Sweeties have been busy making suitably spooky projects to inspire you, so do hop over here to take a peek.

Have a lovely day!

Tracey xx

Embellie-licious!

Hellooo!  It's time for another challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia and this time we'd like you to use 3 different embellies on your projects!

I got my DIs out for the first time in ages to paint this hAnglar image and I'll admit, the first version ended up in the bin.  I definitely prefer the ink pads to the markers, so I don't think I'll replace them as they run out... will just have to invest in the little ink pad sets ... and something to store them in ... ;)

I punched a scalloped border around my Bazzill base and then distressed and inked the edges of some Magnolia DP.  I covered the metal corner with Frantage - something else I haven't used in a while - and placed some WOC roses around the base of my image mat.  The rolled flower ribbon is from the Ribbon Girl (probably!) and I added some large pearls to the centre of each flower with some matte Multi Medium. 

The Ribbon Girl is our sponsor this fortnight and they have the most delicious Christmas embellies in store right now, so the timing of this challenge is spot-on!

Hope you can join us!

Hugs,

Tracey xx

For a Friend

It's the end of term!  I've now got two weeks to catch up on sleep, housework, gardening (weather permitting) and, with any luck, get a bit of crafting in!  We're not going away this holiday as our lovely dog, Tam, is really showing his age now.  Mum and dad usually come and house/dog sit, but they can't do as much as they used to, either, so it makes sense for  the Boy Wonder and I to have a quiet time at home.   And I'm quite happy with that :0)

It's new challenge day over at Sweet Stampin' and our theme is to make something that is clearly For a Friend. 

I tried out my new Papertrey Ink stamps & dies for this one.  They are rather gorgeous and very nice to use once you get the hang of the two-step stamping thing.  But crikey, were these bad boys expensive!  The stamps themselves are reasonable enough, but the postage was shocking (and very slow) and to make matters worse, I then got charged as much again by HM Customs! 

Anyway, I stamped and cut the flowers and cut the stitched frame with a Lil'Inkers square die. The sentiment is computer generated as I didn't have anything that fitted the theme.  A couple of gems here and there and the card was done.

Our sponsors this week are Flat Friends who have some digi stamps to give away.  As always, I am in awe of my talented teamies and would encourage you to grab a cuppa and nip over here to see their lovely inspiration cards.

Hope you can play along this week!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Snowflakes

Autumn. Falling leaves. Warm reds, ambers and browns.  Forget all that.  We've got a new challenge over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and our theme is Snowflakes, so start thinking a season ahead!

I tried the inlaid die technique for my DT card

I used Lawn Fawn dies to cut a stitched rectangle from linen-finish card and then cut the snowflakes from the same piece.  I cut the snowflakes again using a mottled gold card I had in my stash and put the whole thing back together, replacing the linen snowflakes with the gold ones.  Not too fiddly, either as the snowflake dies are reasonably big.  All I needed to do after that was add a clear gem to the centre of each snowflake.  Another flat card for the Christmas collection - I'm doing a lot better on the Christmas card preparation than I did last year!

I do hope you can join us at CaSS; we're being sponsored by StampArt this time, so there's a lush prize for one lucky winner.  As ever, the CaSSettes have done us proud with a fabulous collection of inspiration projects, so grab a cuppa and come over to take a peek!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Just for Girls

Would you believe it?  Yesterday's DT card was for a Just for Men challenge, today's is for the exact opposite - Just for Girls!

It's new challenge time at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia and it's girlie cards we're after this fortnight.  A perfect opportunity for me to bring out a cute hAnglar stamp and (after I'd stopped hyperventilating) some Girls Paperie DP which I've been hoarding.  I've still got one piece of this gorgeous paper left and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to use it!

The card base has a Martha Stewart PATP lace border and on top of this I've layered the lovely DP and a stitched rectangle mat cut from more white Bazzill. The image has been coloured with Copics and I've added some WOC roses.  The sentiment was created using part of a Clearly Besotted stamp set, cut into a flag shape and edged with Walnut Stain DI.

We're being sponsored by Live and Love crafts

 

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!

 

Do take a look here at the lovely inspiration projects my lovely teamies have made.

 

Hope you can play along this fortnight!

 

Tracey x

Just for Men (and Boys)

It's the weekend at last!  I think most of my time over the next 48 hours is going to be spent trying to support the Boy Wonder with a ton of homework.  And then there's the housework, including another mountain of ironing :(

But before all of that, I'm here to tell you about our new challenge at Sweet Stampin': Just for Men.  One of the Sweeties commented that the challenge theme made her think of the hair dye advert and ever since then I can't get it out of my head!  Anyway, here's my DT card

I made this for my friend's son Max who is absolutely mad about superheroes.  It's a Tiddlyinks image and was such good fun to colour.  I used my MFT die to cut the cityscape but when I bought the die I didn't buy it's partner, which was the background to go behind the top layer of the diecut.  I thought it would be a waste of money.  It's true that until I made this card I hadn't really needed the background layer but it would have been SO much quicker if I could have simply run the yellow card through my Big Shot rather than cut and emboss the windows by hand.

Our sponsor this week is Yours or Mine Papercrafts who have a $10 voucher for their store to give away.  As always, my teamies have made the most fabulous inspiration projects in case your mojo has gone walkies - you can check them out here.

Have a lovely day!

Tracey xx

Seeing spots!

We had spots and stripes yesterday for Sweet Stampin' but today we've just got the Spots for Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia!

A new challenge starts today and Spots & Dots is the new theme.   Our sponsor this time is the Ribbon Girl.

Yes, it's another flat Christmas card! The Copics worked overtime as not only did I use them to colour the little hAnglar chappie, I also used them to colour the image mat as I didn't have the right shade of brown in my card stash.  I added a few die cute snowflakes and popped a tiny gem into the centre of each one.

Do take a look at what my talented teamies have made to inspire you - you'll find their projects and the challenge details right here.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Spots and Stripes

Helloooo!  It's a Spots and Stripes challenge at Sweet Stampin' this week- nice and easy, don't you think?

I used some of my favourite papers with one of my favourite stamps for this one

My papers are Maja Designs (the stripes) and Simple Stories and I was so pleased to see that the red in both papers matched my Bazzill card so well - that saved me some time, let me tell you!

I coloured my hAnglar girlie with Copics and added some white pen to the spots on her top for a bit more definition.  The enamel dots pick out the colours in the card and yes, it's another flat one for posting! Yay!

Check out the challenge details here - you'll also see the most gorgeous creations made by the lovely Team Abi Sweeties.

Enjoy your day.  We're off hunting for trainers and shoes for the Boy Wonder... what a joy!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Christmas Critters

How many weeks is it until Christmas?  Hard to think, when the sun is shining and it's still warm enough not to wear tights to work, that it is only a matter of weeks before the festive season will be upon us.

At Christmas at Sweet Stampin' our mission is to help you get those Christmas cards made well in advance (this is do as I say, folks, not do as I do)!  Our theme this month is Christmas Critters, so not surprisingly we'd like to see animals on your Christmas projects.  Here's my card

Simple, I know, but I'm quite pleased with it - I could certainly make a few more of these in a relatively short space of time.  The stamp is one I've had forever but always seems to be lurking at the back of a stamp drawer.  It was during a clear-out in the summer that I found it and I knew immediately that I had to use it for this challenge.  All I had to do was add some colouring with my Copics, some sparkle and a sentiment!

We're being sponsored by the Hobby House who have a goody bag waiting for our lucky winner.  The CaSSettes have made some fabby inspiration cards, so do hop over here to take a look.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Purple and Gold

Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia is back from it's summer holiday with a brand new challenge.  This fortnight we're looking forward to seeing your favourite colour combination.

My favourite colour combo varies all the time, but I do like a bit of purple!  So I dug out my Maja "Shall We Have Coffee" papers, which have the best purples in any range of papers.

I coloured my hAnglar girlie with Copics and added a die cut mat of purple Bazzill.  I sprayed some flowers with Glimmer Mist to get the deep purple tone I was looking for and found some similarly deep purple velvet ribbon in my stash.  A few purple pearls added the finishing touch.

Hope you can join us at LhoSM - my teamies have made some very lovely projects to inspire you, so do go over and take a peek.  You'll get all the competition details there too.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs,

Tracey xx

A bit of embossing

Hellooooo!   So much for my plans to get the garden sorted and have more crafty time this summer.  I just don't know where the holidays have gone and we've now been back at school for nearly 2 weeks!  It's true that I made a start on quite a few cards...

Thankfully, this was one I did manage to finish in the summer!  This week over at Sweet Stampin' our challenge theme is Embossing (any kind). Everyone seems to be doing the white embossing thing so I decided to give it a go myself. 

I wasn't brave enough to go for one layer, so I used a couple of different types of kraft card for my base, mat and image.  I find it much easier to colour kraft card that's got a bit of tooth to it, but I discovered that it's a wee bit more difficult to get all the little bits of stray embossing power off your card!  Still, I'm not too bothered by the little flecks of white as there are pollen-type circles on the image anyway.

The image is by Stampin' Bella and I love it!  I coloured it with my Prismas but it looked really nice without any colour at all.  I think you'll be seeing this from me again.

Do grab a cuppa and hop over to Sweet Stampin' to check out the challenge deets and the fabulous inspiration cards my lovely talented teamie pals have made.  Our sponsor is Hobbycutz who have a £7.50 voucher for the online store up for grabs.

Hope you can play along!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Christmas in August

The summer holidays are coming to an end here and I'm back at work on Monday.  That means it's only a matter of weeks till Christmas!  So to help you make some progress with your Christmas cards, our challenge at Sweet Stampin' is Christmas in August.

I'm trying to keep my Christmas cards relatively flat this year as the cost of postage is high.  I printed a Pink Petticoat sentiment onto linen card and layered this onto some green Bazzill.  I stamped the baubles using a Poppystamps stamp and used the co-ordinating die to cut it out.  This was simply coloured with Copics and a touch of Wink of Stella before attaching to the card with sticky pads. I think I'll make a few of these as they are fairly quick and easy to do.

We're being sponsored by both Di's Digis and Crafty Devils, so there are 2 prizes up for grabs this week!

Once again the Sweeties have surpassed themselves and created the most gorgeous inspiration projects to get you started.  Do pop over to Sweet Stampin' to take a look and join in the fun with us!

Have a fabulous day!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Christmas is just around the corner!

Well, nearly.  The weather here is most certainly autumnal, we go back to school next week and I'm here to show you a Christmas card!  Today sees the start of a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and our theme this month is Gifts Galore.

Our sponsor, All Dressed Up, gave the CaSSettes some images to play with.  Here's what I did with mine:

My printed image is quite large, which makes it lovely to colour.  To show it off I made a very plain centre-step card and simply added some Glamour Dust and some ribbon.

Come on over to Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and take a look at the inspiration cards my talented teamies have made.  With All Dressed Up digis as a prize, it's got to be worth having a go!

Have a great day.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Celebrate!

We're celebrating our 100th Challenge over at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia!  Our challenge theme is a lovely easy one: Celebrate! This can refer to any kind of celebration but you'll need to use a Magnolia or hAnglar & StAnglar stamp to take part.

I coloured up Tilda with her big ribbon using my Copics and added a little bit of celebratory sparkle with a touch of Glamour Dust.

Our challenge will run for 4 weeks so that we can have a wee summer break so you've got plenty of time to enter! We're being sponsored by

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

with this great prize

 

Hope you can join in the fun!

I haven't entered a challenge in ages, so I thought I'd have a go over at My Mum's Craft Shop where the challenge is Clean and Simple.

 

Hugs,

 

Tracey xx

Creative Bloggers Blog Hop

I was hugely flattered to be asked by the lovely Fi, who runs Sweet Stampin' with Abi, to take part in the Creative Bloggers Blog Hop.  As part of the hop I need to answer some questions, so here we go!

1. What am I working on?

I'm usually working on DT cards! I work full time as a teacher, so the holidays are usually spent trying to get ahead with my DT projects.  I do, however, have a number of projects on a to-do-when-I-get-time list, some of which have been started, none of which are anywhere near finished!  I've got a couple of journal covers on the go and way too many stamped images waiting to be coloured!


2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?

I'm not sure that my work is different, although I'm aware that my style is changing.  For the past few years my cards have been fairly "full" with embellies (mainly flowers) but lately I have been increasingly inspired by the Clean and Simple look.  I love trying different things so although I feel I do my best colouring with Copics, I also love working with Distress Inks and pencils.  I treated myself to some Inktense pencils recently and am still playing with these - I'm struggling to get skin tones I like, so I need to keep practising.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

This is easy: it's sooooo relaxing and helps me to switch off from work.  Before I discovered crafting my evenings were mostly spent preparing stuff for work or thinking about work.  I still bring a lot of work home but now I make sure that I have a  more even work:life balance; whether I'm making something or just blog hopping, I can forget about work for a while.  I know that there are millions of people who are much more creative/talented/clever than me but I don't care - I enjoy doing what I do!

4. How does your writing/creative process work?

Hmmm... depends on time really.  Sometimes the creative process is driven purely by panic - I need to get something done in record time - but mostly I'll spend some time thinking about my DT cards. If inspiration strikes, I'll try to make the card while it's fresh in my head, so often I've got DT cards for future months made well in advance. The panic sets in when I realise that I've forgotten to make something that is due for Thursday!

I also love checking out what other people have made and I do like a good tutorial.  I'm a recent convert to Pinterest and get so much inspiration from admiring people's cards.   I don't work in any particular order; sometimes I match my colouring to papers, sometimes it's the other way round and sometimes the thing just evolves somehow!

I'm very fortunate to be on a small number of Design Teams - Sweet Stampin', Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia.  This has enabled me to "meet" the most amazing and talented people and I'd like to introduce you to one of my favourites.  The very lovely Lisa is a former DT teamie and one the most talented card makers I know.  Lisa's blog is a brilliant source of inspiration, so if she's not on your reading list already, do hop over here - you'll be glad you did!

Hugs,

Tracey xx

Bingo!

Good morning! We're having a Bingo Board challenge  at Sweet Stampin' starting today.  Here's my card

 

 

and here's the Bingo Board

 

 

I went for Ribbon, Buttons and Spots and my Doodlebug papers seemed to fit the bill nicely.  I coloured the wee hAnglar boy and the button with Copics, adding some Doodlebug Sprinkles to complete the design.

I hope you can join in with us at Sweet Stampin' this week. We're being sponsored by Craft Mojo and the team Abi Sweeties have made some amazing inspiration projects which you can see here.

Have a great day!

Tracey xx


 

Button Up!

Hello!  I'm stopping by to let you know that we have a new challenge starting today at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia.  The theme this fortnight is Buttons, so be sure to include them on your hAnglar & StAnglar or Magnolia designs - don't do what I did, which is make the card, take a piccie and not realise that I'd left the button off until I was about to do my post!

After a quick adjustment, here's my DT card (complete with button!)

I stamped the hAnglar boy onto watercolour card and coloured him with Distress Inks.  The DP is Simple Stories and I simply added some twine and (eventually) a button from my stash to complete the design.

We're being sponsored by the Ribbon Girl this fortnight

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.

 

 

Hope you can play along at LhoSM.  Do check out the inspiration cards my teamies have made - you'll find them all here.

 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

 

Hugs,

 

Tracey xx

What's your favourite?

Good morning! Hope you've all got a lovely weekend lined up.  I'm here to let you know that a new challenge starts at Sweet Stampin' this morning and this week we'd like you to use your favourite stamp.

I always struggle to pick a favourite stamp; usually my favourite is my latest purchase so I don't have an all-time favourite.  I do, however, have go-to stamps and my choice for my DT card is one of them.

It's a Hero Arts stamp from a wood block set and it's ideal for when I need to make a quick card.  This card, however, was not quick.   In fact, I had seven kinds of trouble trying to get this card right.

I was inspired by this card which I saw on Pinterest and set about making the stripes on the tag match the stripes on the card.  Now I could have just stamped across both layers at the same time but the OCD part of me wanted to have the stripes on both layers (yes, even though the tag is stuck down with foam tape).

Several attempts at lining up later I managed to get the stripes the way I wanted them.  I used a Clearly Besotted stamp for the sentiment and found some orange twine to complete the tag.  All I had to do now was take a photo...

Several attempts at getting a decent piccie later I had to admit defeat in order to get this post scheduled.  Irl the colours (Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed) look much brighter. Edited to add: Have now replaced the original photo with the one taken with a black background, which seems a bit sharper. 

Hope you can join us at Sweet Stampin' this week. Quixotic Paperie are sponsoring us so there's a £10 voucher up for grabs!

Have a great day!

Tracey xx

Krafty Kristmas Part 2

As promised, I'm back with my second card for the latest Christmas at Sweet Stampin' Challenge, which is asking for you to use kraft on your Christmas project.

I took my inspiration from a pink and kraft card I saw ages ago but I honestly can't remember where I found it.  If you recognise this inferior version of your card, please let me know so that I can credit you.  Lucy Abrams, who makes the most amazing cards, did a design with a fabulous stamped tree covered with pearls - you can find it here - but I opted for a slightly flatter look using Liquid Pearls.

 

The tree is a Penny Black stamp and again I've used one of my many Pebbles rub-ons for the sentiment.  The ribbon was the last bit in this colour (admits to a slight panic while I thought I might not have enough to make the bow!) and matches my Liquid Pearls exactly, although that's more by luck than judgement.

We've had another good day in the jungle, cutting back dead branches and pulling out nettles.  I'm now covered in nettle stings but at least they take away the attention from the veins in my legs!!!

If the forecast is right, we'll have one more good weather day tomorrow before the rain comes in, so hopefully I'll have one part of the garden cleared before I see you again.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Tracey xx

Krafty Kristmas

Forget that it's sunny outside and think Christmas... because it's time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'. This is a monthly challenge, so you've got plenty of time to enter and this month we'd like to see kraft on your projects.

I love using kraft card, so much so that I managed to make 2 cards for my DT contribution! I'll show the first one today and post the second one tomorrow. 

This is very CAS and I kinda like it.  I used a very old stamp - one of the first I ever bought (Great Impressions) - and coloured it with Prisma pencils.  The image was cut out with a Lil' Inkers die and adhered to a plain kraft card.  The sentiment is a Pebbles rub-on, again something I've had for years.

I do hope you can join us at CaSS this month.  Do hop on over to check out the gorgeous inspiration cards that the CaSSettes have made.  We're being sponsored by Kathryn from StampArt Designs who is giving away 5 digis to our lucky winner.

Getting the odd Christmas card made while you take a break from working in the garden is proving very therapeutic for me.  We've had a really productive day in the jungle and another (hopefully) scheduled for tomorrow.  It was very nice to sit on the patio with a wee glass of wine looking out at what we'd achieved today.  I still regret the fact that before I went back to work full time we had an OK lawn/ flower garden and a very productive fruit and veg  garden, only for it all to go to pot because I didn't have the time to keep on top of it.  Donald is away for all but 4 weeks in the year and so much depends on the weather being half-way decent when he is home if we want to get anything done.

I'm going to have to buy a new potting shed as Donald managed to put his foot through the floor - twice!  It's so wet here during the winter and the shed has been up for 12 years or so, but it's a pain that we're going to have to dismantle it and start again.  However, we started out 14 years ago with an overgrown field full of rubbish so we know what we can achieve when we put our minds to it!  The Boy Wonder has been a complete star today and worked just as hard as his dad and I did.  Long may that last!

Will be back tomorrow with the other DT card.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Tracey xx

Summer Fun

It's the start of a new challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia and this fortnight our theme is Summer Fun.  We've got a super prize from Bunny Zoe's Crafts on offer, so let's see those summer Magnolia and hAnglar & StAnglar creations!

I opted for a fairly clean look for my DT card

The papers are Echo Park (I think) and have been matched as closely as I could to the Copics I used to colour the wee hAnglar boy and his picnic basket.  I added some Doodlebug Sprinkles as the only embellishment and there's plenty of room to add a sentiment later if I want to.

Hope you can join us over at LhoSM!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Perfect in Pink

Good morning everyone!  I'm doing the happy dance this morning because the school holidays have started and I've got 6 weeks of freedom, give or take the occasional day at work.  I've ordered some crafty goodies to keep me entertained in case the weather lets us down, although I'd like to make a start on taming the jungle that used to be our garden.

Anyway, must get down to business - I'm here this morning to tell you about our latest challenge at Sweet Stampin'.  This one is called Perfect in Pink because, unsurprisingly, we'd like to see lots of pink on your stamped creations.

Here's my DT card

I used a Martha Stewart PATP to create the scalloped border around my easel card.  The beautiful papers are from Maja Design's latest collection and I cut the pretty strip from along the base of the paper to use in place of ribbon.  Tilda has been coloured with Copics and is surrounded by little roses from WOC.  The Doohickey tag is deliberately blank as I don't know where this card is going yet!

I hope you can join us at Sweet Stampin' this week.  We've got a lovely prize from Wild Orchid Crafts to give away to our randomly chosen winner and you'll find some fab inspiration projects from the Team Abi Sweeties right here!

Enjoy your weekend!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Kraft card at LhoSM

Another challenge is starting at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia.  This time we'd like to see kraft card/paper on your creations, as well as either a hAnglar or Magnolia product, please.

I'm never usually very happy with the male cards I make, but I do like using kraft when I make them.  Here's what I did for my DT card

I coloured the hAnglar boy with Prisma pencils and kept the layout fairly plain, using some Kraft Funday card from MME and a little bit of twine, leaving me plenty of room to add a sentiment when I know who will be getting this!

Our sponsor this fortnight is the Ribbon Girl

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.

 

Hope you can join in the fun!

 

Tracey xx

 

 

A new form of therapy

I'm counting the weeks to the end of term.  One and a bit really, but as I'm off on the school trip to Paris I've only got one working week in school.  Yay!

Everyone at work is tired and we're at the point where you feel like you're trying to wade through treacle every day.  I feel like I could sleep for a week but at the same time I'm struggling to wind down when I'm home.  But now I've discovered that paper piecing is the most relaxing form of crafting ever... no fussing over toning colours, no bleeding of ink, just stamp onto different sheets from a paper pad, cut out and stick!

Of course, it helped hugely that I chose this sweet image to paper piece, so there was no fiddly cutting out either!  I stamped onto Maja Life by the Sea papers and also onto a die cut square of Neenah cardstock.  I mixed and matched the cut-out sections of the image and stuck them down, adding a pale blue star-shaped brad in the stamped star on the sail.

All I had left to do was mount the image onto a square of Bazzill and stick the lot onto my card base.  Simples!

So what made me paper-piece this card?  Well, paper piecing is the challenge theme at Sweet Stampin' this week.  So bring your stamps, paper and glue and come over and play! We're being sponsored by Stamp and Create, so there's a fabby prize of a $20 voucher for one lucky winner!

Enjoy your Saturday!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Christmas Fairies

 

What!  Did someone say Christmas?  Yes, folks it's time to let you know about the latest challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.  The theme is Christmas Fairies and I found I was spoilt for choice over which fairy to use... Lili of the Valley, Mo Manning, hAnglar, Magnolia...  there are a lot of Christmas Fairies out there in blogland!

I opted for a Sugar Nellie fairy as we're being sponsored by Funky Kits, home of the fabulous Sugar Nellie stamps





Here's what I did

 

 

I stamped the image onto watercolour card and painted her with DIs.  Lots of Glamour Dust and Stickles were used to make it nice and sparkly.

 

The sentiment is by Magnolia, again stamped on watercolour card.  I used Maja papers and gave the lower half of the card a scalloped border using my Spellbinders wavy borders die.  Some rose ribbon and a doily were added, leaving me with a card which has some depth to it but is still flat enough for posting.

 

Hope you can join us at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month!

 

Hugs

 

Tracey xx

 

Bingo!

There's a new challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia!  We've got a Bingo Board for you to work with this fortnight

I went with the bottom line for my DT card

 

 

I stamped Tilda and coloured her with Copics, adding my Sparkle with Glamour Dust and Liquid Pearls.  My papers are from a Bildmalarna pack and I matched these with some WOC flowers and a huge taffeta bow.  The pearl is from my stash.

 

My lovely teamies have made the most gorgeous inspiration projects so do grab a cuppa and hop over here to take a look. 

 

Hope you can play along with us this fortnight - there's the chance to win a GDT slot with LhoSM for one lucky winner!

 

Tracey xx