Fashionably late... nope just plain rude!!!

I'm really gutted haven't been able to post and play for a while but I've had a really bad fibro flare :( However, you still have a week left to play with us eclectic girlies :) the challenge this month is outside your comfort zone!

 I've been Loving the Stampotique creations that I've been seeing hopping around.  To me there is an eclectic mix of bright colours, fun and a little bit of grunge in the projects I have been admiring... reet up my street.  I have been really inspired by the wonderful owner of the Kathrywheel blog, her journal soup classes are just Awesome. I hadn't yet had a try so I treated myself to 2 new stamps and I have just been loving playing with them . I was further inspired by one of the challenges at the Stampotique blog, use stitching, way way outside my comfort zone.

 I am so super chuffed with how this turned out :)  My eldest daughter is taking her GCSEs and I am consumed with thinking of her and her  friends and what difficult time of life this is for them.  I love how this card is still fun and girly but not too cute and young for a teenager,   I think the stamps really help with this.

 I had no idea what I was doing when I started making these flowers. I just twiddled the string around caught it upwith the needle and fastened them off . They really add cool  dimension and texture.  it's something I will definitely be having a go at again .

 Something else that is completely outside of my comfort zone are shaker cards.  The sun is a mini shaker that I made using the packaging from Tim Holtz ideology Buttom package .  I then used my thread needle again and added little rays for the sun .

 I completed the card by using a faux stitch die down the side , and a hugs and kisses die.

 I popped the cutout part of the hugs and kisses die through the holes so you could also see them from the inside. I stand out we believe in you sentiment with the new lemon citrus ranger ink and voila.

 Again my apologies for being so late, hope you like it .

 Take care

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

my first DT piece _ Tim Holtz Christmas Carol stamp card

I am so excited to be sharing my first piece that I created for Eclectic Ellapu's  design team.

 I am a pink lady over there and our theme is "traditional Christmas"  I am really looking forward to looking at your creations so please pop along and enter your own pieces.  If you are not a traditional type of crafter than the purple team are doing "anything but a card" the options are endless and both teams inspirational creations are well worth a peak.

My first DT piece :)

I looked through my stamps and decided I wanted to use one of my favourite christmas stamps, Tim Holtz's Reindeer Games stamp.  I love the texture you can achieve with thin one it embosses beautifully for such a detailed design.  I dont have  a huge collection of embossing powders and aalthoughI had tinsel powder in gold and red I don't have a green.  No problems though I just used clear embossing powder that I had mixed with a little glitter powder over pine needles distress ink and voila.

DoDon'tave the right embossing powder clour, no problem just use and ink and clear embossing powder.

I wanted the background to be kinda plain as my main focus is the stamp, but not too plain ;)  I used an ebossalicious folder and brought the pattern out with vintage photo distress ink.  It was a little too dark so i sponged some picket fence paint over and when dried sanded back a little.

Remember there is never a crafty addition that cant be adapted if you go a little heavy, picket fence is great for toning down an over eager hand :)

Although I was really pleased with the stamps on the background it felt a little austere.  I layered some hessian, green ribbon (a bargain at £1 a roll from the range) and some thin crochet trim and placed the stamps over this.  They looked a little lost so I mat and layered the stamps on the same card as the background, glitter card in gold and a gorgeous holly patterned paper from one of my many craftwork Cards pads.  I cut a doily into bits and popped it peeking out of the two end and above the middle stamp.

If your focal image looks a little lost, mat and layering can really help bring your eye where you want it too.

I wanted some kind of pretty embellishments at the top, I had in mind the traditional swags we place over fire places and up banisters.  I made a long chain of jump rings, threaded some ribbon through every third ring and then hung some gorgeous christmas stockings and bells.

I just love brass embellishments,  I have a large range in my collection (magpie) and buy most from Ebay :)

I finished my card with some docraft red sticky glitter dots and a bow i made by wrapping some twine in natural and red.

Bows don't have to be made with ribbon :)

I had a blast making this card and am so thankful to have made the DT over at Eclectic Ellapu. I am honored to be showing my creations alongside the lovely and Uber talented ladies.  Pop over and see for yourself how inspirational their makes are.

Merry Christmas x

I am entering this card in the following challenge: Outlaws Twisted Thursday
Simon says stamp Monday challenge
And Hels Sheridans Ink on my fingers Christmas challenge 

Upcycled Home Decor - Tim Holtz watercolor technique with some old stash bits

I created this as have been looking for a nice little something to hang on a wall in my bedroom that was calling out to me to be prettied up.  I was sorting through and reorganising my stamps, having watched a Jennifer McGuire vid and came across the lovely stamp set  that I bought ages ago and have been neglecting.  Im sorry but I really cant remember where I got it from but Graphic 45 Parfumerie Clear Stamp Set by Hampton Art has the bottle and small images. I raided my stash of cardboard and material and found some net and this is what I came up with.

I stuck 3 layers of cardboard together, covered with gesso.  The backing papers are from my stash, I inked them up with the same colours and used watered down gesso to mute them a bit.  I then covered loosely with the net and used pins to hold in place so I could manipulate it after the images were in place.

From the back, nearly as messy as my desk

 I use Tim Holtz watercolor technique from his compendium book 3, so easy, and distress inks victorian velvet, black soot, pickled raspberries and pumice stone to create my main images.

 I inked the edged of the images and mat and layered them using my "perfect layer tools", they make the job so much easier for me.

I coated all the images in glossy accents including the little circle.  I love how this really changed their look.  It was hard to pick up on camera but they look like enamel buttons.  Then onto embe;;ishment heaven.  The flowers were made but curling ribbon into circles.  I punched out some sma;; butterflies and raided my box of brass tone embellies.

I added lots of pearls and a special button I have been saving.  I chopped the back of the button off and sanded it so it would lie flat.

The chain under the Parfumerie sign was from a necklace that I had broken and kept because I (am a crafty hoarder) just know them odd little bits some would call rubbish are just waiting for a new home.

I am super chuffed with my new wall art and because I made it myself it matches my room perfectly :)

I am entering this into the following challenges

Altered Eclectics -Anything but a card anything goes
Flonz craft - Anything but a card
That Craft Place - Anything goes.

Thanks for taking dome crafty time out to have a look at my blog, please feel free to leave a quick message and then I can pop over to your place too

Tracey :)