Hello!  I hope that those of you who celebrate Christmas have had a wonderful time.  We were at home and although most of yesterday was spent cooking, it was worth it when we sat down for Christmas dinner yesterday afternoon!

Our festive challenge themes continue at Sweet Stampin' and the new one starting today is Food and Drink.  Possibly the last thing you want to think of today!

I'm joining in with Team Jacky this week and put together a very quick and simple card:

The MFT image was coloured with Copics and cut out with a Lil' Inkers stitched square die.  I faffed about trying to match card to the paper and then remembered my stash of doilies; I thought this would make a pretty mat for the image and also fit well with the challenge theme.

We're being sponsored by the lovely Emma at Flat Friends who is giving away some of her fabulous digis to our randomly chosen winner.

Have a fabulous, restful weekend.

Hugs

Tracey xxx

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas is the theme for this week's challenge at Sweet Stampin'.  I'm feeling more harrassed than merry, to be honest, but I think once we finally break up from school and I can get my decorations up, I'll be more in the Christmas spirit.

I thought I'd do something non-traditional this time and got my much-neglected Papertrey Ink stamps out to create the background in soft tones of pigment ink. The die cut sentiment is made from a Mama Elephant die, layered up and coloured with a silver marker before being given a coating of Glossy Accents.  A few sequins for some extra sparkle and the job was done.  In fact, even allowing for the drying time of the pigment inks this card was reasonably quick to make - so much so, in fact, that I think I'm going to get a little production line on the go and get ahead with my cards for 2016!  You can remind me of this when I'm ordering my cards from John Lewis again next year!

I do hope you'll be able to find the time to play along with us this week.  As ever, the Sweeties have made the most lovely inspiration projects and what's more, we're being sponsored by the fabulous Crafty Ribbons.

I'm hoping to get some crafting done over the holiday period to make up for my lack of creative time this year.  This having to work for a living malarkey really does interfere with your hobbies, doesn't it?

Huge hugs

Tracey xx

Father Christmas!

We're well and truly into December now, so there's no putting off the fact that Christmas is just around the corner.  To help you along with those last minute Christmas cards, we've picked a nice and easy theme for this month's challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.  We've chosen Father Christmas, so we'd like to see images of Santa on your projects, please.  If you're in a Christmas card rut,  just hop on over here to see what the CaSSettes have made to help you get your mojo back on track.

I treated myself to a Santa-themed stamp set from MFT recently and just had to ink up this dancing Santa image.

To give a bit of interest to the background I stamped and embossed the black card base  with sparkly embossing powder.  The image was coloured with Copics and I added some Glamour Dust to Santa's hat. The fun sentiment comes from a stamp in the same set.

I hope you'll be able to play along with us this month.  We're being sponsored by the lovely Emma at Flat Friends so there will be digis for one very lucky winner - make the most of being able to get these lovely images as I understand they won't be around for much longer!

Have a fabulous week everyone!

Hugs

Tracey xx

It's Snow Time!

I suppose I'm lucky in that we usually have a lovely view of snowy mountains from the front of our house during winter.  The down side is that we often have snow at lower levels, ie. in places where it's a complete nuisance...  it's pretty to look at but unless school is closed (a rare event) and I can stay indoors, I'm not a great fan of snow!

However, I can cope with snow on my card and this week at Sweet Stampin' we have a snowy challenge for you, sponsored by All Dressed Up.

ADU very kindly gave the Team Abi Sweeties some digi images to play with and I was lucky enough to be able to use this cute snowman image.  I printed him onto some Neenah Desert Storm cardstock and coloured him with my Prisma pencils. I used my Cheery Lynn die to cut the stepper card base and added panels with a snowflake design (Papermania? Dovecraft?  Sorry, can't remember!)  A few embellies in the form of sequins, a Hobbycraft star topper and some glossy accents were added for a bit of dimension and I used a gel pen to create a snowy topping for the sentiment.

I do hope you can join in with this week's challenge.  The Sweeties have created a beautiful array of  projects to inspire you - you'll find them here.  And as ever there's a lovely prize up for grabs, courtesy of All Dressed Up!

Enjoy your weekend!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Let's Dance!

Hello everyone from a very cold and sleety Scotland!  We had our first snow yesterday afternoon but by the time I left school it had turned into very wet stuff coming down in bucket-loads.  Yuk!

I'm here today to let you know the theme of our latest challenge at Sweet Stampin'.  It's called "Let's Dance", so we'd like to see your stamped creations featuring dancing of some kind.

I'm a huge Strictly fan so this Tiddly Inks image jumped straight into the shopping cart knowing that it would be used, and often!

I coloured the image with Copics, adding some sparkle with Glamour Dust and some Wink of Stella. I've kept everything else very simple as the image is quite big.

We're giving away a goodie bag to one randomly chosen winner, so why not join in the fun?  The Sweeties have worked their magic and have created the most lovely inspiration cards, so hop over here to take a peek and check out the challenge rules.

On another topic, I've been so proud of the Boy Wonder this week.  We've been following the dreadful events in Paris and around the world, both at home and at school. This has coincided with an announcement locally that we are to have some refugee families in one of the villages not far from us. While I would say that in the main our community has been very welcoming of this news, sadly this has not applied to all.   The BW has taken a stand on Facebook in response to negative comments made by some of his peers, resulting in some not very nice messages and a bit of "unfriending".  The way he has conducted himself over this has been just fabulous - I know he's 16 now, but he's shown such maturity (and tolerance) this week that it's really brought it home to me that my boy is now a young man.  And a thoroughly decent human being.

Have a great weekend and stay cosy!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Stars

The Christmas Season is fast approaching so over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' we have a great challenge to help you get your card production line moving!

Our theme this month is Stars and here's my DT card

Apologies first of all for the reflection off the sparkle on the penultimate row of stars!  And before you ask, no I didn't suddenly find the patience of a saint and line those stars up with a ruler!  I used a Papertrey Ink coverplate to cut out the stars and used the negative as a guide when it came to sticking them down.

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark ink and white heat embossed.

We've got a little goodie bag up for grabs for our challenge winner, so I hope you can play along.  As ever, the CaSSettes have made the most lovely inspiration projects so why not pop over here to take a look?

Have a great day!

Tracey xx

PS Why Blogger couldn't post this at the scheduled time I do not know!  Naughty Blogger :o(

Autumn Leaves

There are plenty of autumn leaves sitting at the front of our house right now.  I know that I should do as Monty Don suggests and sweep them up, put them in a bin bag and make leaf mould.  But it's cosy indoors and rather wet and dreary outside...

However, Autumn Leaves just happens to be the challenge theme at Sweet Stampin' this week.  We're being sponsored by Crafty Ribbons who are giving away some ribbony gorgeousness to one lucky winner.  Here's what I made:

I used post-it notes to mask off a square in the middle of the cardstock and used a selection of stamps to create the leafy design.  I must admit that I made this card in the summer holidays and then had a panic when I couldn't remember which stamp set I had used.  The leaves are from an Altenew set which has since been sent to a new home and the dots and squiggles ... still can't remember, I'm afraid - middle-aged brain strikes again!

I hope you can join us at Sweet Stampin' this week.  The Sweeties' inspiration cards are just stunning, so do hop over if you get a chance and take a peek.

Have a great weekend!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Too cute to spook!

There's a new challenge starting today at Sweet Stampin' with the appropriately timed theme of Halloween.  If you're anything like me, you might really enjoy making Halloween cards even though it's something you don't take part in.

I've used this little CC Designs cutie before, but she's lovely to colour and I was inspired by last week's Sweet Stampin' challenge which was to use your "antique" stamps!

 

 



I used a selection of Distress Inks to create the night sky background behind the Memory Box stencil.  The stamped image was coloured with Copics and fussy cut before being adhered to the card with foam pads.

I hope you can play along with us this week.  We're being sponsored by the brilliant Stix 2 who have a "sticky" prize ready and waiting for our randomly chosen winner.  The Sweeties have been busy creating some wonderfully witchy works of art, so why not hop over here to take a peek?

Have a fabulous weekend!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Christmas/Winter Transport

I'm back with another Christmas card for our latest challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'.  Christmas/winter transport is the theme this month... think sleighs, skis, vehicles transporting trees etc.

I used a lovely Mo Manning image for my DT card and coloured it up with my Copics.

I'm trying to use up my paper collection and have only a little bit of this gorgeous Magnolia paper left, but it's been a go-to on my Christmas makes over the past few years.  I added a couple of doilies (also on the use-it-up hit list).  There's plenty of sparkle in the form of sequins, Glamour Dust and Wink of Stella - a bit of a pain to photograph but very twinkly irl.

We're being sponsored by the fabby All Dressed Up this month - have you seen their latest images over on the blog?  Gorgeous!  If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning a couple, pop over to CaSS and join in the fun!  The CaSSettes have made the most lovely inspiration cards to help you along.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Use text or script

Helloooo!  It's the start of the October holidays for me so I thought I'd better do my post before I collapse in a heap!

We have a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' today.  We'd like to see text (or script) on your designs this week.  Here's my card

I wanted this anemone stamp from Wplus9 ever since it came out and eventually managed to get hold of one, after which it sat on my desk for weeks  months.  At last, I've used it with some pigment inks and I'm really quite pleased with the painterly effect.  The text was stamped in pale grey ink - the stamp is by Hobby Art.  A few sequins and some inking around the edge of the image mat was all I needed to do to finish the card.

I enjoyed making this so much that I decided to see what the main image would look like in softer colours with the text running over the top...

 

 

I'm now looking for an excuse to use this stamp again, so be prepared for a bit of déja vu on this blog!

 

Back to Sweet Stampin' - do hop over to check out the fabby creations made by my lovely teamies.  We're being sponsored by the Ribbon Girl, so there's a great ribbony prize waiting for one lucky winner.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Hugs

 

Tracey xx

Use a non-white card base

Hello everyone - I'm so happy that it's the weekend!  I'm dropping in to let you know that we have a new challenge for you at Sweet Stampin'.  This week we'd like you to use a non-white card base, please!

I know that I very often reach for a plain white card base (and why not) but I do like to use coloured card, especially when I don't want any pattern in my background.  This time I used some Simon Says Stamp cardstock in Schoolhouse Red to create my card

I used what is possibly now my favourite stamp, the Altenew Lily.  This is a layering stamp and it works beautifully with Altenew Inks - definitely my favourite die inks and I can't wait for the next lot of new colours to be available over here.  The sentiment is from another Altenew set which has a birthday theme comprising lots of sentiments and a layered balloon (can't remember its name).

So, a fairly clean and simple card with the only embellies being some dots of Pico from Simon Says Stamp.  I love this stuff!

I do hope you can play along with us at Sweet Stampin' this week.  We're being sponsored by Funky Kits so you know that there will be a cool prize for our prize draw winner.

Enjoy your weekend!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Make a Scene

There's a new challenge starting today over at Sweet Stampin'. We have more of a technique theme for you this time as we'd like to you create a scene on your project.  You could combine stamps and/or dies to do this although you'll have to stamp somewhere on your project if you want to be entered in the prize draw.  Check out what the Sweeties have made here to help you along.

I went with masking and stamping to create my scene:

I stamped and masked Tilda with the Magnolia Beach Huts stamp and coloured everything with my Copics.  As the image is quite big I kept everything else fairly plain, so just some Echo Park DP to pick up the colours in the beach huts and a doily mat for the image.  The little starfish were in my stash - I'm pretty sure I got them at Live and Love Crafts.

We're giving away a Sweet Stampin' Goodie Bag to our randomly chosen winner, so I do hope you can play along.

Have a great weekend!

Tracey xx

Festive Décor

The nights are drawing in here and I'm counting the weeks to the October holidays (I know we haven't been back at school that long but it already feels like a lifetime!).  Time to seriously start thinking about getting my Christmas cards made...

Three cheers for Christmas at Sweet Stampin' for making me get organised as by the time Christmas comes around I'll have at least 11 cards done and dusted. Not many, I know, but better than none!

We're starting a new challenge today with the theme of Festive Décor, giving you plenty of scope to create a card in whatever style you prefer.

Here's my DT creation

 

 

 

 

My goodness, did I have trouble taking a photo of this.  I shouldn't complain about having sunshine here for once, but everywhere I put my card it was either too dark or too bright for a decent picture.

 

I used a Clearly Besotted set to stamp and die cut my wreath.  Instead of adding the stamped embellies in the set, though, I opted for various sizes of enamel dots from Teresa Collins, Papermania and Papertrey Ink.  The sentiment, also Papertrey Ink, was stamped with Versamark and sprinkled with platinum embossing powder for a bit of festive sparkle.

 

Unfortunately I won't be sending this card, at least, not without a little surgery first.  The sentiment was originally stamped directly on the card base and I managed to make a right pig's ear of it.  Rather than chuck the card, I cut another piece of black cardstock and re-stamped the sentiment on that.  It was only when everything was stuck down, including the wreath, that I realised that I had stuck everything to the WRONG SIDE of the card, so the dodgy sentiment is still clearly visible on the back of the card :o(

I hope you can join in the fun with us at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month.  The lovely Emma of Flat Friends is kindly giving away 2 of her brilliant digi images to our lucky winner, so why not play along?  The CaSSettes have some brilliant inspiration cards to show you over on the challenge blog, so do check them out.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Hugs

Tracey xx

School Days

We've been back at school for a couple of weeks  but schools the other side of the border will now be getting near to the start of the new term.  Over at Sweet Stampin' we thought it would be a good time for a School Days challenge so that you can show off those back-to-school cards!

For once I'm really quite pleased with my DT card, which turned out pretty much as I'd planned:

I'm loving my ink blending at the moment, so I used a Memory Box stencil with some Distress Inks to create the lettered background on some linen card.  The sweet image is a Mo Manning cutie and he's been coloured with Copics.  The school jumper is in the colours of one of our little rural primary schools.  I added some Doodlebug enamel dots and voilà!

We'd love you to join us this week.  We're being sponsored by Crafts U Love so there's a voucher for a shopping spree waiting for our randomly chosen winner.  Grab a cuppa and check out what my talented teamies have made to inspire you here!

Have a great weekend!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Challenges I'd like to enter:

Mo's Digital Challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Deep Ocean Challenge - For the Boys

Bottoms Up!

It's a little drinkie challenge over at Sweet Stampin' this week!  We'd like to see your stamped designs featuring something related to drinks, hot or cold, alcoholic or non-alcoholic!

I used a From the Heart digi to make my DT card

I've coloured the image with Copics, adding some Sakura gold pen to the foil on the bottle.  I had been cutting out some white stamping card and realised that the negative cardstock would make a great frame with a little bit of trimming.  I used a Simon Says Stamp die to cut out the word "enjoy" from both the frame and some red card to create an inlaid sentiment.

It would be great if you could play along this week.  We're giving away a Sweet Stampin' goodie bag to our randomly chosen winner.  Not sure what to make?  Head on over to the Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog to see the fabulous inspiration projects the Sweeties have made.

I can't remember the last time I entered a challenge, so I'm going to put this card into the Harvest Home (Fruit/Veg) challenge at Without Words.  It's no secret that I like my grapes in liquid form!  I'm also entering Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge which is all about Food and Drink.

Have a lovely weekend!

Tracey xx

Penguins and/or polar bears at CaSS

Good morning! I'm in getting-ready-to-go-back-to-school mode: the Boy Wonder's uniform is washed, ironed and ready to go and I'm in a mild state of panic about a) the amount of work I need to have ready before we go back and b) the fact that I can't find a replacement for my most comfy work shoes, which gave up the ghost at the end of last term.  

The weather this holiday has been disappointing to put it mildly, but the clouds, rain and rather chilly temperatures have at least made it a little easier to contemplate making Christmas cards this summer!  Which brings me to our latest challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and our Penguins and/or Polar Bears theme.

I do like a nice penguin (and I know I'm not alone here) but having used my CC Designs Penguins on the CaSS card not long ago, I thought it would be only right and proper to use my Tiddly Inks polar bear image which had been sitting in a box waiting to be coloured.

I decided to keep the whole design in shades of brown.  I coloured the image with Copics (W0-5 for the polar bear, E31-37 for the fox and E40-44 for Wryn's clothes). I then used my Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil and applied embossing paste to the image. I opted for Maja Designs paper which I cut out with a large Go Kreate  die. I used the strip from the bottom of the 12" x 12" paper to make my sentiment border, fixing this underneath the image once the paste had dried.  The only embellies are my last two tiny chipboard corners which I had coated with Picket Fence distress paint. 

We have the lovely Sweet Pea Stamps sponsoring us this month so there are some lovely digis to be won.  Why not hop over to CaSS, check out the lovely inspiration designs the CaSSettes have made and maybe even play along?

Have a great day!

Tracey xx

Getting inky

My son watches someone on YouTube who always starts his videos with the words "Hello procrastinators!".  If you knew my son, you would know how apt this is, but over the school holidays I think the same can probably be said about me.  I seem to have spent hours faffing about and now with just over a week before I'm back at work all the stuff I should have done is still waiting...  Hey ho.

However, I have managed to do another course with Online Card Classes and it's been lots of fun.  This time the classes were all about techniques for creating backgrounds and it's been a great excuse to get covered in ink!  Normally when I take these classes I don't quite manage to get a card finished in time to upload to the gallery (see above ;o)) but today I got my act together and here's what I made

I combined ink blending and heat embossing to create a panel in various shades of green and blue. The panel was cut with a Papertrey Ink die and mounted on to my card base with foam tape.  The sentiment is from a set by Altenew and I added a couple of teal gems to complete the design.

 

There a number of inky panels drying in the kitchen which I'll try to get made up into cards before I go back to school.  In the meantime I hope that no one at home is going to expect me to cook anything!

 

Hugs

 

Tracey xx

Sweet Stampin' Bon Voyage

Don't panic!  Sweet Stampin' isn't going anywhere, Bon Voyage is just our challenge theme this week!

We're looking for your stamped creations featuring anything to do with moving on, travel etc. I inked up this Stamping Bella cutie after she had been sitting on my desk for far too long.

I found a (just) large enough scrap of Magnolia paper with a cloud design and coloured the image with Copics.  I'm not too happy with the clouds but I needed somewhere for the sentiment and the things are stuck fast, so I'm going to have to live with them.

Do check out the gorgeous DT makes over at Sweet Stampin'.  We're being sponsored by Crafty Ribbons, so why not play along with us this week?  Hope to see you there!

Tracey xx

Not part of my original plan...

Hello!  I'm back from our holiday in very hot and sunny Italy and have been trying to adjust to the autumnal weather here in SW Scotland.  Wet, windy and decidedly chilly - not what I want in our school holidays!

Anyhoo, I'm here to let you know that we are starting new challenge at Sweet Stampin' today.  Our challenge theme is No DP, so step away from those papers, folks!

I had an idea in my head to use some of my pink and grey inks and I spent a not inconsiderable amount of time masking a perfect circle and filling it with little stamps from Avery Elle and Papertrey Ink.  It took a couple of attempts to get the look I wanted and when I was finally happy I decided to add a little sentiment in the bottom corner of my one layer card. However, I didn't take into account the rules of Sod's Law and consequently smudged and splodged and generally b******d up my design. 

Rather than start over, I reached for the Lil' Inker stitched dies and cut out my flowery circle, adhering it to the back of some pale grey cardstock.  I held my breath when I stamped the sentiment as I have no doubt that there would have been some very unladylike language if I had messed things up again.

I die cut a few Memory Box butterflies from vellum which I glued together for a layered look. I also added quite a lot of sequins  to complete the design. 

I hope you can join us at Sweet Stampin' this week.  The lovely Emma from Flat Friends is sponsoring us and has some digis to give away.

Enjoy the weekend!

Tracey xx

Oh deer!

It's time for another challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'!  This time we'd like to see (rein)deer on your projects.  I went with an easy-to-colour reindeer image from Digistamp Boutique.

I coloured the reindeer with Copics, adding some red gloss to his nose and yellow sparkle to the star with some Sakura pens.  I found the design paper in my stash (think it might be Authentique) and I matched this with some plain twine.  A really simple design which didn't take too long - must make a note of that as I'll have to make a start on my Christmas cards during the school holidays!

We're being sponsored this month by Funky Kits who have 2 digis to give away to one lucky winner.  Definitely worth playing along for!  You'll get all the details plus a look at the fabulous inspiration cards the CaSSettes have made over at the challenge blog.

Hope you can join in the fun this month!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Bear with me!

It's new challenge time at Sweet Stampin' and this week our theme is "Bear with Me".  Easy - we'd just like to see a bear/bears on your creations. 

Here's what I made

I used a LotV stamp which hasn't seen the light of day for quite some time and coloured the image with Copics before fussy cutting the bear (without the frame).  I then stamped the image again and used foam tape to layer the fussy-cut image on top.  I cut a square of gingham paper from my stash and as luck would have it, found some peach-coloured ink which matched the paper perfectly.  I used this and a Wplus9 stamp to make the sentiment, which I cut out with a circle die.

I hope you can join us at Sweet Stampin' this week.  We're being sponsored by Freckled Fawn who have a lovely prize to give away to our randomly chosen winner.  For more details, plus a look at the gorgeous inspiration projects the Sweeties have  made, head on over to the challenge blog.

The Boy Wonder and I are off on holiday soon.  This time we're heading to Italy, so I'll hopefully have some lovely photos to share with you when we get back.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Bingo!

There's a Bingo Board challenge over at Sweet Stampin' starting today.  Here's my DT card and the board

I went with the top line so my card has purple, pearls and flowers on it.  The image, which I coloured with Copics, is one from a new-ish release from Stampin' Bella. I love this stamp as she's such a great size to colour.  My papers are from Maja Design (so pretty) the flowers are WOC and the pearls were in my stash.

I hope you can play along with us this week.  The Sweeties have made the most lovely inspiration cards so do pop on over here to take a look.  We're being sponsored by Bunny Zoe for this challenge so there will be a crafty stash voucher waiting for one lucky winner.

Have a fabulous weekend - let's hope the sun shines!

Tracey xx

Christmas Stockings

We're starting a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' today and our theme is Christmas Stockings.  I'm afraid to say that the heating is still on here at Trayner Towers as although it's dry (at last) it's still very breezy and cool enough to need your toes in Christmas Stockings in the evenings!  We had a tree down in the storms last week - split right down the middle but fortunately didn't hit anything.  Not what you expect in June, even in Scotland!

So, on to my DT make.  I teamed up matching hAnglars and kept the embellies to a minimum as the image is quite big.

I coloured the image with my Copics and used some much used, much loved Magnolia paper in my favourite colour for Christmas.  The snowflake dot is from a set that I've had for so long I've lost the label, so I don't know the make.  It tones really nicely with the paper though!

Do hop over here to see what the other CaSSettes have made to inspire you.  We're being sponsored by Flat Friends who are giving away 2 digis to our winner, so do check out their Etsy store as the images are great!

Hope you can join in the fun at CaSS this month!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Something (relatively) old, something new

There's a new challenge starting today at Sweet Stampin' and the theme is Something Old, Something New.

Apart from my mountain of Tildas, most of my older stash has been going on eBay lately so that I can indulge my obsession with  passion for acquiring some of the newly released stamps and dies.  So this Clearly Besotted stamp set isn't that old, but it's from last year and that's pretty old as far as my current stamp collection goes!  I stamped the image and sentiment with Hero Arts Unicorn White ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

The new element is the sequins.  A recent addition to the embellies box, I decided that there's no such thing as a "one colour suits everything" approach with sequins.  There might be a "few" packets in the embellies box now...

Hope you can join in the fun at Sweet Stampin' this week.  We're being sponsored by the Ribbon Girl so there's a lovely prize up for grabs!

Enjoy your weekend!

Tracey xx

Birds and/or Bees

It's new challenge time at Sweet Stampin' and we've got a Spring-like theme of Birds and/or Bees.  Here's my DT make

I cut out the bird with a Memory Box die and went round the edges of the shape with some Antique Linen DI.  I then inked up some Taylored Expressions tiny flowers and stems in red and green DIs, stamping them randomly over the die cut shape.

The paper is actually from a Christmas pad and the embossed sentiment was made using a stamp from a Clearly Besotted set.

We've got a lovely Sweet Stampin' Goodie Bag to give away to one randomly chosen winner and the Sweeties have made the most gorgeous projects to inspire you, so why not pop over here to check out the details.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Tracey xx

Cute Christmas

Making Christmas cards in May might not be your crafting priority right now, but if you think about it, we're nearly half-way through the year...  My Christmas card pile only exists right now because I need to make DT cards for Christmas at Sweet Stampin' but even if I only make one card a month until November I'll have enough to send to closest family and friends.

So why not join in the fun this month and add to your Christmas card pile by playing along at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'?  Our theme this month is Cute Christmas - plenty of scope there, I think!

Here's what I made

These cute penguins are by CC Designs and I love the fact that they are a decent size to colour.  I've used Copics and a touch of  clear Wink of Stella plus some Glossy Accents on the large bauble and the red nose.

The papers are my current favourite from Doodlebug. In real life the large bauble is the same colour as the burgundy in the snowflake patterned paper, but goodness knows what happens when I take my photos!

The challenge sponsor this month is Sweet Pea Stamps who have digis to give away.  Hop over here to see the fabulous cards the CaSSettes have made to inspire you.

Hope you can join us!

Tracey xx

Spring Flowers

Good morning!  Our challenge over at Sweet Stampin' is Spring Flowers although looking out of my kitchen window this morning you'd be forgiven for thinking it was November :o(

Here's what I made

This is a Stampin' Bella image that I've used time after time as it's such a joy to colour. I've stamped and white heat embossed the image on kraft card and coloured with Prisma pencils. Simple but enjoyable nonetheless.

Our sponsor is Crafts U Love and you'll get all the details here, along with a look at the beautiful floral creations my teamies have made.

Another mad weekend of housework, helping the Boy Wonder prepare for his exams (English is next, then he'll be half-way through them) and background reading for my impending interview to make my temporary post permanent - I won't bore you with the number of hoops I've got to jump through for that one!  Plus it's my parents' birthdays this week - Mum will be 80 on Thursday and Dad will be 76 on Friday - and I haven't made their cards yet!   No prizes for guessing which one of the above jobs will get the least attention...

Have a lovely weekend and I hope the sun shines for you!

Hugs

Tracey xx

I can sing a rainbow...

All together now!  I remember that song from when I was a little girl - that really is giving my age away!   It's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' and we'd like to see your take on a rainbow theme.  This could be literal with a rainbow image or you could simply use rainbow colours in your design.

I went for the literal approach using a Magnolia stamp and my Copics:

I added a slick of clear Wink of Stella, which you can't see in the photo and topped that with a layer of Glossy Accents.  The sentiment is from a recent Simon Says Stamp set.

The Sweeties have really excelled themselves this week so I would love you to hop over to Sweet Stampin' to check out the challenge details and the amazing inspiration projects my talented teamies have made.  We're being sponsored by Wild Orchid Crafts who are giving one lucky winner a £10 voucher to spend in their online store.

Hope you can join in the fun!

Hugs

Tracey xx

For a Child

It's Saturday (yay!) so it must be time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin'.  This week our theme is For a Child - here's what I made:

I don't get so many opportunities to make cards for very young children now that the BW is in his teens, so it was good to have an excuse to break out this little hAnglar lad and do some Copic colouring.  The bold blue and yellow papers are from a Doodlebug pad and the enamel dots are from a co-ordinating set.  I also added some Glossy Accents to the handlebars of the bike. 

I felt that the card still needed something and then remembered that I had some hideous pink Thickers in my stash - given the colour, unsurprisingly I'd never used them (don't ask me why I bought them...).  Anyway, I took one of the Thickers, coloured it with a blue Copic pen and then covered it with Glossy Accents.  I found some ultra-fine glitter which came free with a magazine and poured this over the top.  I had to do a bit of poking about as the Glossy Accents started to set to keep the glittery goo from setting in the space in the middle of the number, but it was worth it to get a perfectly matched embellie.

Pop over to Sweet Stampin' to check out the fabulous projects the Sweeties have made.  You'll find all the challenge details there too.  We're being sponsored by All Dressed Up who are giving away 2 of their gorgeous digis to our prize draw winner, so why not play along with us this week?

Hugs

Tracey xx

Christmas Candle

I've been in school this morning with some of our exam students but as the weather was dull and chilly, it made being at work in the holidays a wee bit easier.  It's now late afternoon and the sun has just come out, so I'm hoping that the good weather will last a few days more so that I can make a start on the many jobs I need to do in the garden.

Although Spring is trying to put in an appearance here, it's actually Christmas as far as my card is concerned.  It's time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' and our theme is Candles or Bells. 

I never tire of colouring this Lili of the Valley image. I really do prefer the larger LotV stamps and this has to be one of my all-time favourites.  I coloured her with Copics and added some Glamour Dust to the trim on her hat and scarf.  The step card base was cut with a Cheery Lynn die (such a time saver) and the stamped sentiment is also by Lili of the Valley.

I hope you can play along with us at CaSS this month.  We're being sponsored by All Dressed Up who have 2 gorgeous digis to give away to our lucky winner.  Do pop over to the challenge blog to check out the details and to drool over the lovely inspiration makes provided by the CaSSettes!

Have a great day!

Tracey xx

Easter Time

Yes, it's me - I've been a bad blogger but hopefully as we approach the Easter holidays I'll be able to get back on track.  It's been quite a full-on term and of course, I've got a double-whammy this year, as not only am I getting kids ready for their exams, but the Boy Wonder just happens to be one of them!  I had no idea that being a parent of a child doing exams could be so stressful.

Well, as we're only a few days away from the Easter holidays there will be no prizes for guessing the theme of this week's challenge over at Sweet Stampin'.  It has to be Easter, doesn't it?

I don't really send (m)any Easter cards so my stash of suitable stamps is very small - honestly, only about 2 including the one above.  I coloured the image with Copics and used Doodlebug paper with toning Bazzill card as the image mat. There's a touch of glitter pen here and there but as the paper is lovely but very busy, embellies are at a minimum.

I hope you can join in the fun with us this week.  We're being sponsored by Funky Kits who have 2 digi images to give away.  The Sweeties have made the sweetest inspiration projects so do hop on over to take a peek.

It's to be stormy across the UK this weekend I believe, so stay safe and cosy.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Butterflies

Hello!  It's time for a new challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia.  Sadly this will be my last post for LhoSM as I've had to step down from the team.  I've been struggling to find the time to craft/post as work is seriously interfering with my crafty time!  Also, I've taken on a wee bit more responsibility with my first love, Sweet Stampin', so I felt it was only fair to let someone else who loves Maggies and hAnglars take a seat on the team.  

So, on to the challenge.  The theme this fortnight is Butterflies.

I couldn't resist another purple card and a chance to use this gorgeous Maja Designs paper, which I cut with a Go Kreate Die.  The image is coloured with Copics and I've used a selection of WOC flowers as embellies.  The butterfly is a Memory Box die cut which I covered in Versamark and Frantage.

I do hope you can join in with our Butterflies challenge.  My teamies have made the most beautiful inspiration projects which you can see here.  The sponsor is Live and Love Crafts who have a £10 voucher to give away to our winner.

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!

I'd like to say a huge thank you to both Ilona and Sara at LhoSM - Sara has done an amazing job with the challenge and is a joy to work for.  It's a lovely, supportive and laid-back team and I wish everyone all the very best.

Hugs

Tracey xx

CAKE!

I like cake. I like baking cakes and I really like eating them. And I'm not alone.  We have "Cake Friday" at work, taking it in turns to bring in cakey goodies to celebrate making through another school week! 

Cake just happens to be our challenge theme at Sweet Stampin' this week.  I  have a few cake-related stamps but this Magnolia image is one I wheel out time and time again. 

I really wish I could get the colouring of the cupcake case absolutely right but it gives me a good excuse to stamp it again so that I can practise.  I used my Copics in soft colours to match the Echo Park papers.  I'm not convinced that the sequins were the best idea I've ever had but they're on now...

Flat Friends are sponsoring our challenge this week so there are 4 digis waiting for our randomly chosen winner.  Do grab a cuppa and hop over to Sweet Stampin' to check out the lovely cake creations the Sweeties have made - they really are gorgeous!

Have a lovely day.

Hugs

Tracey xx

A Blue Christmas

Can you believe that we're into the third month of the year already?  Time is just flying by and it will be Christmas again before we know it.

Good job, then that it's time for a new challenge at Christmas at Sweet Stampin'  - it's never too early to get started on your Christmas cards!  Our challenge theme this month is "Blue Christmas" - a nice, easy one as we just need to see the colour blue on your projects.

I used a combination of Simon Says Stamp and Mama Elephant dies for my DT card:

I coloured a square of white card with distress inks and layered embossing paste over the top through a Simon Says Stamp stencil.  While this was drying I cut my dies, backing the houses with some white card.  I layered up the houses, trees and snowy hills, adding a touch of Wink of Stella to some of the windows (although it doesn't show in the photo).

Finally, I added some twine although I could just have easily stamped a sentiment.

We are being sponsored by Flat Friends, who are giving 2 digis to our lucky winner.  Do pop over to the challenge blog to check out the lovely DT projects the CaSSettes have made. 

Hope you can play along with us this month!

Hugs,

Tracey xx

Your favourite Embellie at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia

A very quick post from me today.  We're struggling with little or no internet again and the connection could drop at any minute!

I'm here to tell you about the latest challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia, which is asking you to use your favourite type of embellishment.

I went for flowers although I didn't use too many on my card.  When my main image contains flowers I don't really like to overdo the floral embellies, but I adore the off-white roses from Wild Orchid Crafts.  I love this Tilda image too, she's lovely to colour.  I used my Go Kreate dies to cut layers of Bazzill card and Maja Designs paper, which are very subtle but very pretty in real life.

I hope you can join in our challenge this fortnight.  Do hop over to Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia to check out the challenge details and admire the gorgeous creations my teamies have made.

Hugs

Tracey xx

All or Nothing!

What's with the dramatic post title?  Well, it's time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' and that's our theme.  In other words, lots of layers etc or one layer, CAS style. 

Lately I've been much more inclined towards clean and simple cards but I've been itching to use a stamp set from Stampin' Up that rarely gets an airing. 

I've seen several variations on this layered theme on blogs and on Pinterest and had to try it for myself.  I stamped my flowers and leaves on a large square of white card and then used my Spellbinders dies to cut two smaller squares out of its centre, going down 2 die sizes at a time (hope this makes sense!).  I then cut squares from purple Bazzill using the dies I had missed out then layered the Bazzill and stamped squares making sure that the images lined up properly.  I added a little velvet ribbon and could have left it at that, but decided to add a layered die cut sentiment which I covered in Glossy Accents to get some shine and extra dimension.

I must admit that I rather like this look - you could do it with patterned paper if you're really pushed for time.

Now back to our challenge!  Our sponsor is Live and Love Crafts who have a voucher to give away to our randomly chosen winner.

 

 

Hope you can play along with us this week!

 

Hugs

 

Tracey xx

Picture This

There's a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'.  This week we'd like to see your take on our "Inspired by a Song" theme.

For my song I've opted for "Picture This" by Blondie.  It reminds me of my student days when I thought that Debbie Harry was the ultimate style icon.  I can't take any credit for the card design, which was totally inspired by the amazing Debby Hughes.

I saw Debby use this stamp with a die cut photo strip and had to case her design (see it here).  I'm a huge fan of Debby's cards and her photography skills - what I would give for some of that talent!

Anyway, back to the card.  The stamp is by Simon Says Stamp (You are Pawsome) and the cute dog has been coloured with Copics.  I cut three strips from a mixture of Basic Grey and MME papers and added a little sentiment, again from the Pawsome stamp set.

I hope you can join in the fun at Sweet Stampin'.  We're sponsored this week by Crafts U Love, who are giving away a £10 voucher for a wee crafty spend - who wouldn't like that?

Check out the Sweeties fabulous DT cards here at the challenge blog - and check out their musical tastes, too!

Have a brilliant weekend.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Only Words

We've got a fabulous challenge for you at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month.  Our theme is "Only Words" so we'd like a sentiment to be the focal point of your creation, please.

I opted for CAS,  mostly because I love this die and don't seem to use it nearly enough.

I layered white Bazzill with some Maja Designs paper. I die cut the word "jolly" a few times and glued the pieces together to give the die cut some depth.  The final die cut was made from glitter card to give the word some sparkle.  A clear gem above the letter j was added as a finishing touch.

I do hope you can play along this month.  You'll find all the challenge details here, as well as the gorgeous DT projects the CaSSettes  have made.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Just letting you know...

I'll be without any internet connection for a week or so while we try to get my phone line sorted out.  Many apologies if I've been unable to visit you and return comments lately. Can't wait to get back on line to see what you've been up to!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Love or Hearts

Yes, there's definitely a Love theme going on here on my blog this weekend.  This time it's Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia who are starting a new challenge with a Love or Hearts theme.

Apologies first of all for the photo - no matter where I took the picture, I just couldn't get the lighting right. 

I kept the design fairly CAS as the red in both the cardstock and Copic colouring is really bold.  I painted the hearts and the bows in the little girl's hair with some clear Wink of Stella.  Here's a picture I took with the flash on so that you can see the sparkle:

Hope you can play along at LhoSM this fortnight.  Our sponsor is the Ribbon Girl and you'll get all the challenge details, plus a look at the gorgeous DT creations, right here.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Love, love, love

It's all about Love this week at Sweet Stampin'! We'd like to see your love-themed creations - stamped, of course!

I went for something a bit different (for me) this time.  I'm trying to use up the craft stash that is taking over the house, including a few ;o) boxes of flowers. 

I used a heart die to make a template (because I can't draw!) and used varying sizes of WOC roses to fill in the shape.  Some of the roses had to be manipulated a bit and I've noticed since I took the photo that a couple of the leaves have curled up, so I'll need to stick those back down.

The stamped sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp; it was quite hard to get a good impression with my Versamark ink as the kraft cardstock is very "hairy", but I suppose it adds to the rustic look. I embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder.

We're being sponsored by the Ribbon Girl this week.  You'll get all the details here, along with a look at the beautiful DT projects my lovely talented teamies have made.

Hope you can join in with us this week!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Spots or Stripes

The latest challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia starts today! Our theme is Spots or Stripes - in other words, we need to see spots or stripes on your designs.

For my DT card I went for both spots and stripes:

The background is made up of MME papers and some velvet lace, with just a few Pebbles chocolate coloured pearls as embellies.  The image is one of the larger hAnglar stamps and is a joy to colour.  I used Copics and cut the image mat with a Lawn Fawn stitched die.

Our sponsor this fortnight is 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!

I have you can play along this fortnight.  If you're looking for inspiration, check out what my teamies have made here!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Hugs

Tracey xx