A date with Kirsty

This weeks class cards, both really quick and simple, but they went down really well - so well in fact that all the sheets I had ordered of the scalloped die-cut - 50 in total have now all gone.

The Cuttlebug was used for the circle and the embossing, the punches were a mix of EK Success, Woodware and Stampin' Up, sentiments were Stampin' Up, papers are all My Minds Eye.

A massive thankyou to June who baked an absolutely lush banana and walnut loaf, it went down really well with our mid class cuppas and as usual she also did extra gluten free portions, how sweet she is !!!

The ribbons are the lush seam bindings Tim Holtz uses in a lot of his projects, so easy to dye with inks and you can keep them smooth or make them all vintage and wrinkly, we have 6 colours in the shop with more coming next month.

This next card was one I made in my dinner break, I had twenty minutes whilst I snaffled a butty in between classes, so I used up all the little strips left over from cutting out the quadrants for the cards, I don't like wasting anything !

A massive virtual hug for three of my special class members this week Dawn, Andrea and Trish, all for different reasons but all three very, very dear to me, bless you all and huge hugs xxx

Sorry I forgot to share last weeks card, so this is for you Cathy, sorry I didn't get it on earlier.

We usually make two cards in class but we had a lot of stamping and handcutting this week so we only made the one. The flowers were stamped four times, painted with some subtle detailing using distress inks and then decoupaged together to give a lovely little flowery flourish.

Last but not least I have a couple of photos to share of the yummy package I received from Art from the Heart today.

This is the package as it was removed from the cardboard box

And here are the delish new paints and inks I ordered, wow so fast too, I only ordered it on monday and it was here first thing this morning. I must be the last girl on the planet to order from Dyan's shop but it certainly won't be my last time, I feel a new addiction coming on !!!! Thankyou Dyan xxx

And why the new mediums you might well ask ? Well just because I have about 3 minutes in the middle of the night where I am not doing anything at all so I thought I would sign up for Kirsty Wisemans new MIMM class and her sneak peeks looked so lush with her bright funky colours. I had used up most of my paints on my Petite dolls last year so was in dire need of some fresh colours - what a perfect opportunity to restock.

Kirsty has very generously allowed us class members to post our journals on our blogs as we progress through the course so watch this space, the fun starts tonight !!!

Love and lickably, luscious lime dylusions

Tracey xxx

Bell View

I enjoyed the luxury of being home all day today, the heat encouraged me to take respite indoors and indulge in a little crafting.

Please adjust your monitor screens now Tracey and Anne B if you are reading  - green alert !!!!!! He he I have a couple of class members who seriously don't like the colour green.

I completed the title page to a new 12x12 album, this album will be for the Lake District photos we have from our recent camping trip, hopefully I will have lots more when we take another trip there soon.

I made most of the elements from scratch including this cute little picket fence, I made it out of lolly sticks - how fun was that - a true Blue Peter moment !

The little sign was a scrap of patterned paper, for those wondering the relevence, our tent is a "Bell" tent, I like using a play on words for my titles.

The background was created with Key Lime glimmer mist over a mask - the mask was very kindly gifted to me by a sales rep - bless him.

The butterfly is also handmade - more on that later in the week, I am planning a little tutorial for you all so will be sharing that later in the week.

I also finished this little canvas, it is a little smaller than A4 that my lovely friend Anita bought me it quite a while ago, it was a really fun project.

I used gesso to prepare the base, texture paste for the detailing at the bottom, book paper, a few little scraps of scrapbook paper left over from Saturdays class, the pink colour was a mix of Spun Sugar Distress Satin and a rose coloured wax rub.

 The lettering is thickers, the bottom set I have daubed in fluffy stuff and glitter.

I also completed my swaps for the ATC group on our site, there are just a couple of days left to get your swaps in, if there are any peeps still sitting on theirs I would really love them in the shop for thursday, so that I can complete the swap over the weekend, thankyou xxx And remember, please don't share them on your blogs just yet, it will be nice for all the recipients to have a little surprise.

On an entirely different note -  U2, Coldplay, Beyonce - wow, what an amazing trio of headliners this year, I am a rock chick really and Download is more my cuppa tea ( or warm beer lol) but I would have LOVED to have been at Glastonbury this year, they all played their hearts out.

Love and the joys of camping

Tracey xxx

June tag

My tag for June

I spent lots of time playing with yummy techniques for the background and then did my usual trick of piling on stuff until the background had almost disappeared !!! You know me - less is more - NOT ha ha

The corrugated heart had been coated with gesso, once it was dry I rubbed it with Rock Candy stickles and finally finished it with a little gold wax rub.

The lush fabric roses were in the sale bin at my local co-op, they started life as hair slides and I had been wearing them but they just seemed to fit the tag perfectly, oh well will have to treat myself to some new ones for the barnet.

As always I was not alone creating these tags

Paulien's is HERE

Anita's is HERE

Nicki hasn't had chance to create hers this month as her craft room is housing extra furniture from a decorating project so the poor love is struggling to get any crafting done at the mo.

In other news

I have signed up for a really exciting class with the supremely talented Kirsty Wiseman, it is an art journalling project and I truly can't wait to play. And at the risk of sounding like a complete star struck wally, I had the pleasure of speaking with her on the phone today, oh bless her heart honestly she is so sweet, I can't wait to get to know her better throughout the class.

My ladies that crop will attest to the fact that I emitted several excited squeals and did a happy dance round the tables, simple things make me incredibly happy, I promise to keep you posted on how the class goes and promise not to squeal if she rings again. Sorry Kirsty I think I might have babbled incoherently for a little while.

Love and squeals

Tracey xxx

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers day to my lovely Dad, who has always been there for me, but even more so this last two years with the shop. I honestly couldn't do it without him, he literally is my right hand at work, so thankyou Dad for always being there and making life much easier.

This is the card I made him, an A5 easel.

The little girl is a Stampin' Up image that I have coloured with Polychromos pencils, I nearly used my copics but I like the slightly grainy effect you can achieve with pencils and I thought it suited the image better.

And this is the card I made for the kids to give to Neil, another A5 easel

The verse at the bottom is printed onto a little folder I created to hold some journalling cards, the cards are where the kids all wrote their little messages for Neil.

Love and warm daddy hugs

Tracey xxx

Cards, Cookies and Cosiness

The card my ladies made in class this week, there was a fair bit of cutting, all the little layered panels took some time but everyone agreed it was worth the effort. I think the fold will be replicated in lots of different styles.

We all agreed the extra weight made it a 'give' rather than 'mail' kind of card. The papers are by Prima and the die cut is a Nestie. The stamp is Hero Arts.

On wednesday afternoon June came in laden with a huge box full of homemade cookies, peanut butter, milk chocolate and white chocolate with walnut. All absolutely delicious - and gluten free too as we have a lady with an intolerance in class - how thoughtful ! We all had a couple of each and there were plenty left over, June said I could take them home for the kids - thankyou June, they went down a treat, the kids all say a BIG thankyou xxx

Remember the vintage ATC's I made a couple of posts ago ? I have started to make an extra one each swap to use as a card topper, this is the one I made in the crop this afternoon, very quick and easy as I had the stamping already done. Papers are Basic Grey, vintage button is K and Co. The large rose is a Prima flower, we took delivery of them a couple of weeks ago and they have been flying off the shelves, such a pretty flower !

Talking of ATC's, you have a fortnight to go to hand in your Recycling ATC's for the Running With Scissors swap, I already have quite a few in and I can tell you they are all fabulous, really creative with some fantastic reuse and recycle ideas.

Finally I will leave you with a picture of a scarf my lovely friend Dawn made, she truly is such a talented knitter and one of the sweetest ladies you could meet. She brought one in to show me last week and lo and behold had made one for me by wednesday - thankyou so much Dawn - I can't wait to wrap myself up in it xxx

 Love and cookies

Tracey xxx

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

After a thorough polish and shine throughout the house and once all the laundry had been completed, I sat down with a view to leafing through a magazine and enjoying my coffee whilst it was still hot.

Nope ! Best laid plans and all that.

Inspiration struck and I began a cardmaking frenzy.

Maybe I missed dad more than I care to admit last week or the thought of the forthcoming Fathers day was in my mind - whatever happened I decided to make some masculine samples for the shop.

With a little pile of manly coloured papers and not a flower or pearl in sight I set to ! I played with a few different styles, trying to accommodate all ages.

The men in my life are not really into hobbies and sports and I know from a lot of my customers that they themselves have male friends and family who aren't either or they have already exhausted the golf, football, snooker and fishing themes, so I thought I would challenge myself to create all the cards without going down that route.

I couldn't resist reaching for a little pink and some flowers for this one though, as I had a little girl in mind when I created this, these next two cards were just really quick and fun, ideas for little ones to give to their daddies.

I hope I have inspired a few ideas.

In case you are wondering, no, none of the above are destined for either Neil or my dad, they both read my blog and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for them so I won't be sharing their cards until after they have received them.

And ...... the coffee never did reach my lips, ah well, I did have a relaxing afternoon !

Love and cold coffee

Tracey xxx

Tags, Tears and Trades

My tag for May will surprise some of my friends and blog readers. I had to smile when Debbie told me on saturday that she thought of me when she uploaded her latest card as it was orange. It's good to know my aversion doesn't rub off onto my class members otherwise Grimsby could well be an orange free zone !

As usual I was inspired by the techniques my dear friend Paulien used on her tag especially the use of texture. Paulien used puffy paint to achieve hers, as I didn't have any, I substituted with Fluffy Stuff from Woodware, I must admit I liked it so much I got a little carried away and everything on my craft mat ended up receiving a liberal daubing. The little vintage ticket on the left of the tag was a free download from the very talented Miss Cutie Pie - thankyou for sharing hon xxx

The little birdie was an image I found from google, the flowers have been buried deep within my flower drawers for all eternity, I honestly never thought I would be using them, but they look really lush layered up and smothered in fluffy stuff.

The bird cage is a Marianne die that has also received the texture treatment and I have dangled some T!m baubles from the bottom.

The ribbons are dyed with distress inks - Peeled Paint and Spiced Marmalade.

You can see Paulien's tag HERE

And my friends who are also doing the tags

Anita's tag is HERE

and Nicki's tag is HERE

Also this week I completed my ATC's for the Stampman, these are actually for July - ooooh get me !!! a month early !!! The theme was Vintage, I love Vintage so this was one of my favourite themes to create and I can hardly wait to receive my swaps.

It is hard to see from the photo but the background paper has been distressed and spritzed with two shades of glimmer mist, the image was stamped with a sepia toned ink and the buttons are genuinely vintage mother of pearl, salvaged from a charity shop.

I also made a sympathy card this week. One of my class members has recently suffered a bereavement, I know nothing makes much sense when you are going through a loss but I guess it helps to know your friends are thinking of you, I always think a sympathy card is like a gentle hug in an envelope.

The stamped image is a cling from Hero Arts.

And a couple more flower photos, there is always a sense of serenity in a white flower I think.

Finally I would just like to say a massive THANKYOU to all my lovely class ladies. The past 6 months have been nothing if not a trial and I am so grateful for the patience and understanding that has been shown. I haven't lost any of my lovely loyal ladies, they have all come back to class, filled me in on all their news and made me laugh. They also made me realise just how much I actually missed them all. My classes kicked off on tuesday and it almost seemed like there had never been a break so THANKYOU all, I am so proud of the little crafting community we have fostered together xxx

Love and laughter

Tracey xxx

Tag for April

Paulien is posting some fantastic tutorials on her blog each month, myself and a few friends are playing along and creating tags in a similar style. I am playing catch up ( nothing new there !)

Here is my tag for April

This month Paulien inspired us to use netting as a mask for the background, she used Gesso - silly me left mine at the shop so I created mine with acrylic, even sillier me used Pearl instead of matte ( I should really look at labels before slapping it on) but you know what ? I actually quite like the way it turned out - the tag now has a lush lustre.

The large flower, I made from cutting a multitude of voile and net flowers, I layered them atop one another then added some string and a mulberry rose to finish. All the flowers have been brushed with stickles for a little extra sparkle.

You can see Paulien's april tag HERE

Anita's april tag HERE

Nicki's april tag HERE

Next I have a card to share - just using up some scraps here, and, the funny shaped mat behind the photo was an accident, I cut it wonky and to save discarding it and starting again I decided to cut the bottom at an angle too and make it a feature. I must say I owe finishing this card to the lovely Denise of Tilly's in Immingham, I ran out of silicone glue just before adding the flowers ( you all know by now I cannot be without my flowers !!!) so Neil took me on a mercy dash so that I could finish the card. Yes !!! even I run out of the basics sometimes. I wished I had more time though as Denise has such gorgeous lines and I would have liked to have browsed and treat myself - oh well will have to pop back soon.

The sentiment is a rub-on by Basic Grey that has been languishing in one of my drawers forever ! The ribbon has been made by cutting a scrap of velvet paper into a strip and running through my Cuttlebug for texture, I rubbed a little white pigment ink over the top to define the embossing.

The vintage image is a PaperArtsy one and I have attached it to the card with silver brads that have been backed by silver spacers, bought for me by my lovely friend Victoria - thanks hon xxx

Just before I sign off for the night, I would like to apologise for my lack of blog-hopping, getting the shop back on its feet has eaten into all my free time of late and I have missed stopping by and seeing all your lovely creations, I will be back to normal very soon and can't wait to catch up.

Finally I have a couple of photos from the bouquet Pat brought me on Saturday.

Love and pearly tags

Tracey xxx