playing with embossing powders, OCSCC

Argh I have the Lurgi, as you fibromyagony girls know getting a cold can knock you for six, ah well it could be worse.

I have had the lovely classes to keep me thinking although to be honest I really haven't felt much like playing, sleep just seems oh soooooo appealing.

I did have a go, over several days, of playing with masking and embossing as demoed by Jennifer.  Oh I got in a right mess!!!!
I finally called it a day at this card

There was nothing clean about my first two... that I was prepared to take photos of ;) attempts

I do love this technique and will try it again, things I learned:

 start with the lightest colour powder;

 Washy tape is not a good alternative;

 wait for your stamping to dry and 

soft tissues really do make a difference.... atchoo!!

Tracey

Online clean and simple card class 4

Now I can't stop to chat for long as it is my day off work so I finally ha e time to play.  I have gained so much inspiration from this online card class I am busting to get some ideas onto paper.
The class is run by the lovely ladies; Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner and also some fab guests.  I can't recommend you join in enough.  If you are already playing along please let me know so I can have a look at your interpretations and creations :)

Here is a card I managed to squeeze into making in my evenings.

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I used twinchies by Ali reeve that in the UK you can get from clevercut, they also have some amazing storage units at fab prices, I will share more about them later as I just love them.  The technique is called "faux tile" and is awesome fun.  I have a lot of tiles that I practiced with first

Hmm you can see why I needed the practice but the classes are all about learning .... right?!

Anyhoo I'm off to play, do let me know what crafty creations you are paying with.

Tracey :)

water colour get well card

My boss lady, Elaine poss more known in the land of blog as Ellapu, was asked to be a guest designer for Crafting by Designs.  Her art is unbelievably awesome and I just love the piece she made for them.  If you don't go and have a look you are denying yourself a real treat!!!

I had to join in, the theme is under the weather/get well soon.  There are all sorts of unwell, I was inspired to make a card to support a friend coming thru depression.  Mental health issues are seriously in need of more funding and better knowledge sharing as there are much misunderstanding of these conditions.

Anyhoo. this card did not come together easily for me but I did have lots of fun playing and third lime lucky I got there...ish

It was hard to capture the colour change of the embossing powder, hero arts gold, in a picture but up close and personal I love the way it changes in the light.

I used distress inks and spectrum noir aqua pens.

This is take 1

And take  2

I am sharing this over at Crafting by Designs

I am also supporting Happy Little Stampers...again 

woody like it... masculine birthday card

I love blog hopping around, there are so many talented peeps out there and so many inspirational challenge blogs.

Rubys rainbow are having a masculine themed challenge, I was super chuffed as I had a wood grain embossing folder I really wanted to use.

The stamp is by clarity stamps and the little critters are from... sheesh I need to be better organised!!!!

I am sharing this with Rubys rainbow and hope you hop off for a nosy

Thanks for popping by

Tracey :)

Card Concept Love Challenge

I was really inspired by the photo The Card Concept Challenge blog are using as their inspiration for this challenge

This blog is a new one to me and I love it.  There are lots talented people on the design team and lots of different styles for you to choose to play along with and gain inspiration from.  in their words

"This is a bi-weekly challenge blog, which features 12 designers and 6 different styles.

Each designer has their own "style" of design and they explain how they were inspired by the challenge.
The styles are divided into 6 style themes:

• Clean & Simple (CAS)
• Clean & Layered
• Clean & Graphic
• Freestyle Collage
• Shabby Chic
• Classy & Elegant

• The participants are encouraged to create a card, based on the challenge and they have to choose one of the "styles" of our designers to design in.

There is also a really handy "Style Definition" tab. I love the idea of being able to try out new styles and see how the designers interpret that theme in different ways, Awesome idea right?


I chose to do a freesyle collage.... I think!!!!

I die cut and paper pieced some words by tonic.  I love the wood background in the picture so chose some craft card, Neena to piece them in,

I had initially planned to do a CAS card but I love embellishments especially brassy/bronzey ones so I went with the love theme of the chalenge and used lots of things I love.  I also love my tim Holtz tattered rose die and used the lovely pinks in the picture as my colours.... and then I just piled on the bits and bobs in my stash that I love, are you picking up on the fact that I love this challenge blog :)

As I said I am sharing this over at the Card Concept and really recommend you pop on over :)

Thanks for stopping by
Tracey L(

cold days... warm colours

The fibromyalgia is still ahead a little at the mo, am blaming the cold ;)  this gorgeous vibrant colour palette from MFT's first colour challenge of 2015 called me away to my happy place... tis warm and cosy there!!!

sorry for not writing more, if you want to know any of the products I used pls ask.

Keep warm

Tracey :)

Sketchy water colouring...

Hmm, as I  have said I am a newbie and love to try lots of things out.  I had a go at water colouring and turned it into the card below.

Quick typey post as my Fibro is making my fingers funky today and typing is just way too hard lol.


I am sharing this with Happy little  stampers - watercolouring challenge
And My Favourite Things - Sketch challenge

Thanks for the inspiration you guys :)

Tracey

well colour me Flonzcraft vintage....

And cover me in pearls, that love random selector thingumy over at the Flonzcraft Vintage challenge picked little ole me as the winner.

I would have posted sooner but it took a long time to browse through and narrow down the stamps I was lucky to be able to select with my prize!!!!!
Between you and me I added a little chaching myself because stress does nobody any good and those little guys were just telling me they needed to come to mine for a play date;)

Thank you very much Flonzcraft



Yours, postman stalking

Tracey

Darnell and CASology combined challenge :)

The only way to really say congratulations to Darnell on being the cue card for CASology  is to join in the challenge  and share with those of you who have not yet visited her place.  I myself had not heard of CASology until Darnell's post and am chuffed to have found them.

Darnell is the mother of NBUS, never before used schtuff, her posts are not only packed with awesome art but are humorous and touching.  CASology add design comments to their design team projects.  I found these incredibly helpful as a newbie to crafting and their design team is uber talented.

Anyhoo here is the card I made to celebrate and share with them and also to say thank you to Darnell for opening up a lot of new blogs to me and for making me laugh :)

The stamp is by Papermania and their urban stamps collection,  I have had it in my stash for ages, its beautiful and was a lovely Ebay win but then I just didn't know what to do with it other than gaze at its prettiness!!!

I stamped it with versamark and used mica powders in violet frost and enchanted gold,  I haven't used this technique other than to play before and I love the way the image changes as the light catches it.

The "celebrate" sentiment is by paper smooches and the "True colours" is by Sheena Douglas, it came with a set of totally gorgeous butterflies.  I stamped them using a metallic purple stamp that I cannot remember seeing before!!!  It must of been sent by the crafty angels as I think it was perfect to go with the mica powders.

As I said I made this to share with Darnell and her NBUS challenge
and CASology and their NBUS challenge.

Thanks for looking now treat yourself by popping off to their blogs for a real treat

Tracey :)

Retro Sketch - with a magazine freebie retro stamp

I saw this fab sketch challenge over at Retro Sketches and was inspired to create this using some freebie dies I got from Creative Stamping Magazine.  I love the retro look to them and they stamp really really well, I was skeptical before I tried them lol

I created the background with bubble wrap,distress inks and shimmery water.

In the picture above I hope you can see the shimmer from, the perfect pearls that I added to the water I used with the distress inks, top tip I picked up from Jennifer McGuire, It is subtle.... until the light catches it!!

Now I was over visiting Darnell,the inventor of NBUS, don't know what im talking about?  lucky you you have a lovely discovery ahead of you, get over there... Now!!  Anyhoo, I love popping over to Darnell's not just because her craft is awesome but because she introduces and shares lots of other crafty bloggers work.  I saw a link to Pixie' Crafty Workshop and an intriguing challenge called pixies snippets,  I love the idea and was inspired to add some "snippets" of bakers twine and also punched some hearts out of the card I had left over from the background i made.

The stamps give really good impressions, I used versafine in black.

Thanks to their inspiration I'm sharing this with Retro Sketches challenge, thanks for the cool sketch you guys

Pixies Snippets, I will so be visiting Pixies place again.

And finally with Creative Stamping magazine thanks to their freebie stamps

Take Care

Tracey

congratulations Becca you Crafty Gal

I made this card to share with those crafty gals and to say congratulations to my pink teamie Becca Cruger for a well deserved appointment on the crafty gals design team.

I couldn't make a card for Becca, the Damsel of Distress Cards without using distress inks so I got some bubble wrap inks and water and had great fun making these backgrounds

I chose the bottom right one, the clear line was a happy accident but when I saw it I thought great place for a sentiment, now if only I could work out how to do it again ;).

I cut a circle from the background, paper pieced some ballons... just for a change;) and gold embossed a sentiment and added the strings with a glue pen.

I'm disappointed with how the colouring of the balloons turned out, I used metallic pro markers, New lesson learned, colour before sticking and then you can change out if unhappy.

Anyhoo big congrats Becca well deserved x There is a fab blog hop going on over at the Crafty Girls Corner sites, get your tush over there as they have some great individual candy giveaways as well as the challenge.

Thanks for looking

Tracey

paper piecing entry for My Favourite Things Sketch Challenge

I would like to share this card with My Favourite Things Sketch Challenge

• 

I am still addicted to paper piecing at the moment and after all the little note cards I made to practice with, see my post "Once you pop you can't stop" for those little cuties, I wanted to challenge myself a little more.

This is a single layer card, other than the sentiment which I placed using foam tape to add some height,

I love these dies and stamps by My Favourite Things and as they are currently my favourite things to play with I am sharing this over at Tuesday Taggers where their current challenge is... My Favourite Things!!!

Thanks For Looking

Tracey

Paper Piecing, Once you Pop You Cant Stop.

I tried my first paper piecing card for my new niece Baby Lucy.

I realised I had made a few mistakes and wanted to practice as I love the look of this type of card and have always loved jigsaw puzzles.  There is just something I find so relaxing and satisfying about popping those bits out of the dies and then assembling them in different colour combinations.  Add that to the lovely dies I used from Paper Smooches, Lawn Fawn and of course My Favourite Things and I have been in a paper piecing paradise.  The only real shame is how tricky it can be to get stamps and dies from these companies in the UK at a reasonable price :(  if you guys have found a good supplier please let me know

As I was practicing I found some brightly coloured card blanks I have had kicking around for a while, I cut them down and then started cutting some of my favourite shapes out of them.  I then wanted some cool patterned paper to piece into the shapes.

 I used distress inks and water with a little perfect pearls in it and was really chuffed with how they turned out.

The great thing about this type of paper piecing is that you just never run out of cute little bits waiting to find homes in new cards.  I have a little..ish box full of little bits and bobs just calling my name and a whole lot of note cards :)  I am on the look out for some new wordy dies as I think these look great in the form.

Thanks for looking and if you haven't had a go at paper piecing I urge you to try it

Tracey

Welcome baby Lucy

My brother and his wife got a very very special present over the holiday season, a gorgeous baby girl! Their son is going to be an awesome big brother

This was my first attempt at die cutting paper piecing and tho I am happy...ish with the finished card I have some "I meant to do that so I could learn" moments!
I'd like to share in the hopes of getting better through trying but also hoping you crafty gals will share your tips with me by pointing in the direction of cards/projects you have made using this type of technique.

Firstly a big one is use card/ paper of the same thickness, prob a rookie mistake but being a rookie I gonna make them ;)  I then tried to add height to the hello die cut using glossy accents.... not a great idea, it is still smaller and it really changed the colour to a not so nice one... hmm

I did like my bow, I am not a natural bowtier but this one went well fairly quickly, I made the little pink bo and then the white one and used the tails of the white one to hold the pink one in place.

I used glossy accents to stick it... I had considered glossy my old faithful, never let me down, sticky friend until this card, maybe it or I was having an off day but I ended up using double sided tape.


Popping back to the thought of glossy changing the colour of things, my lovely matey Becca, Damsell of Distress Cards, had a great idea and made a colour swatch of how embossing in clear changes distress ink colours. I have started one for myself  and have just had a thought that i may add a spot of glossy on it too.

I will be sharing this card with the girls over at Hiding in my Craft Room - theme is pinks
And That craft place - theme is monochrome


Thanks for looking, please share your paper piecing projects with me because I love the look but need some practice and tips ;)

Tracey :)

Balloon die cut birthday card for my bro

I made this card for my brother who celebrated his birthday yesterday, we had a great evening at Mum's, lots a giggles playing the "logo game" if you are from a family that likes games I definitely recommend it.

 I recently bought paper smooches balloon dies and have had a lot of fun with them and am still having ideas I'd like to try, however, I got an added boost of inspiration from Brenda over at Vintage Journey and Tennyson's poem "ring out the old, ring in the new" that she has chosen to inspire us all for this challenge. I have chosen to interpret this challenge by including my favourite new die, the balloons with my fav old die the umbrella man.  Also my brothers birthday, being the 3rd of January is the end of Christmas for us as a family and the first card of a year I make for a family member. Imagery wise I see the balloons of last year as floating away taking bad bits away yet still tethered by the fond memories we have and lessons learnt over the past year.

This is my favourite balloon project so far... I think ;) but am def sure it is my brothers taste. As mentioned I used Tim Holtz umbrella man die but chopped off the umbrella.  This die is one of my favs as I find it so versatile.  The negative works great for iris folding and the positive can be chopped into easily to get more use from it.  I used a crafters companion embossing folder and lots of brown distress inks for the background.

I cut the letters for "Happy" using a lawn fawn die and mounted them on the balloons using lashings and lashings of glossy accents, I love the 3d kinda spherical look this gives them and there's no way them little letters are going anywhere!

As I waffled on earlier I was inspired by Brenda at Vintage Journeys so am entering this card over at their fantastic challenge blog dedicated to Crafting in the style of Mr Holtz.

I am also sharing for the 2nd time over at Darnell's place, I have no idea how long I have had that embossing folder for!!!! get your NBUS on and get on over there ;)

Thanks for looking and hope the new year rings in lots of true for you.... and you :)

spectacular spectacles

Happy New year to you all.

I have been playing with some prezzies from Santa but have to admit I was a lucky girl and got a bit bogged down not knowing quite what to play with first.
I was browsing around some of my favourite blogs and thanks to my lovely teamie over at Eclectic Ellapu, Becca a true damsel of distress inkyness (she has some great news to share and some fab art so do pop on over)  I decided to use a lovely sketch from over at Retro sketches challenge site.

I used my new Die and stamp set "Geek is Chic" by My Favourite Things bought from the Simon says stamp site,  a pad of Kraftcore in Tim Holtz distress ink colours, and my corner chomper by we are memory keepers, anything that could get rounded xmas day did!

I just loved using these products, I stamped the background using two tone inking in a variety of distress ink colours, mat and layered using my kraftcore paper, I love the texture on this stuff.  I then cut one set of glasses out and layered the other set on some funky foam,  (a great tip from the awesome Jennifer McGuire) to add some dimension

 I finished up with one of the fab sentiments from the set,  I heat embossed them in white, I have quite a few as I am in Lurve with them all and finally chose this one.  The sentiments are really quirky and fun.

I am entering this card in the Retro Sketches challenge,  thank you so much for getting me out of my OMG too much new stuff where do I start funk,

Sweet Stampin Anything Goes challenge and finally

Darnell's NBUS challenge... wanna know what NBUS is, well pop on over for a good browse, lots of inspiration and a giggle.

Thank for popping by, please do say Hi and then I can pop over to see what you have been up to with your Santa prezzies

Tracey :)