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