Snowy sparkles on saturday

Good evening

Here is the christmas card I made this week

I must say a massive thankyou to Trish for the gorgeous die-cuts, this card came together so easily and was completely inspired by the sparkly santa and sleigh, thankyou Trish

All the card and paper is pearlescent and the glittered elements are the Stampin' Up glitter paper in silver

I used Marianne dies for the trees and poinsettia

The aperture was cut using a Stampin' Up labels die

Who else is keeping up with their christmas card a week ?

I have missed seven in total since the beginning of January - not too shabby considering the miserable effort I made last year

Love and sparkles

Tracey

xxx

Anniversary wishes

Good evening

Tonight I am here to share the anniversary card I made for Neil

(22 years last tuesday)

I used some fab papers given to me by my lovely friend Margaret  - thankyou Margaret

And the stamp set used is one of the fab range designed by Darcy for Paperartsy, these were given to me for my birthday by another lovely friend Anita,  thankyou Anita

But biggest thanks must go to my gorgeous hubby who has stuck with me this long and not only stuck with me but has made the last 22 years so very special, here's to the next 22

Love you Neil

Love and special people

Tracey

xxx

Die cutting class - May

Good evening

Tonight I am sharing this months Die cutting class card

We all created this 8in x 8in card last thursday

As always both classes behaved impeccably - well almost, he he

Keitha fancied a pink card this week so that was where my inspiration came from

Thankyou as always for my lovely little army of helpers

Love and glittered flutterbies

Tracey 

xxx

Happy Birthday Sandy

Good evening

I am back tonight as promised to share with you this card I made for one of my customers / class members

Happy birthday Sandy

I knew Sandy liked purple and lilac so I started making this card at the beginning of the week and chose the papers and design really quickly, but then I hit a stumbling block and wasn't sure what to use as the focal point

And then my lovely friend Dawn came to the rescue, she bought me the beautiful Spellbinders trellis die as a gift and I knew exactly what the card needed

So Happy Birthday Sandy, hope you had a lovely day, also thankyou so much for donating your Cuttlebug to the shop for classes

And a massive thankyou to Dawn for the lovely gift

Dad is back tomorrow - yipppeeeeeeee

So, thankyou to all those lovely people who stepped in and helped whilst he was away

Thankyou also to June for the tomato plants, Kate for the biscuits and to Beryl for the tulips, what a lovely caring and sharing week it has been

Love and sweet gifts

Tracey

xxx

Card commission - Happy Birthday Iris

Good afternoon

I am sharing a commission I completed this week for a grandad to give to his granddaughter

My brief was to create a special card for a first birthday and it had to be very pink, very girlie and with lots of sparkle

The card is an 8in x 8in scalloped card base, the papers are Disney by Paper Adventures, the image is one from the new Crafters Inspiration magazine by Crafters Companion, the glitter card is by Stampin' Up and the sentiments were computer generated, I added a double layer of ribbon and stickles on the image for a little extra sparkle

This was the most fun card I have had to make for a long time

Hope you all have a lovely restful bank holiday weekend

I have taken advantage of the lovely mild weather, enjoying the local walks, clocking up around 35km this week

Back tomorrow with another birthday card, this time for a lady slightly older than the one above

Love and sparkles

Tracey 

xxx

Gluten free Tiffin ( fridge cake)

Tiffin is definitely one of my kids all-time favourite sweet treats ( mine too as it is soooo quick and easy and always turns out delish)

Not at all a trial to make gluten free as most of the natural ingredients are already gluten free

Ingredients :

250g digestive biscuits ( I used Tesco free from digestives but actually any good and crunchy biscuit of your choice will be fine)

4 oz butter

3tbsp golden syrup

2 rounded tbsp good quality cocoa powder

good handful of sultanas ( you could use currents, raisins or cherries)

4 oz chocolate ( please check carefully as Cadburys Dairy milk chocos are gluten free but Dairy milk bars are NOT !!! Chocolate is an absolute minefield

Method :

Melt butter and syrup gently over a low heat in a heavy based saucepan

Add all ingredients except biscuits and stir well

Crush biscuits, you could pulse them in a blender but I shove them in a strong freezer bag and bash them with my rolling pin( good for the old stress levels), you are aiming for a crumbly mixed texture of fine sandy grains and slightly larger lumps too)

Add biscuits to other ingredients and combine well

Add to a buttered pie dish and refrigerate until cold

Melt chocolate either in a bain-marie or like I did with shorts zaps of the microwave ( keep your eye on it though, don't over heat or it will become grainy)

Smother melted chocolate over chilled tiffin and sprinkle with desired yummy bits, I used gluten free chocolate sugar strands and white chocolate chunks

The possibilities are endless when you consider the variations in this recipe, we have had it with Maltesers in the past ( can't have them in there now as they are not gluten free) but I think I could be chopping up a cadbury's fudge or two to include in my next variation

Love and Sprinkles

Tracey 

xxx

U.F.O Friday - Little drawers

Good evening

I have something a little different to share tonight

I found a little chest of drawers in a local charity shop recently for the bargain price of £1.50

It was a lurid shade of pink, with hints of violent purple and some rather ugly yellow and white daisies for good measure

Obviously the piece was originally intended to brighten a child's bedroom or maybe for someone with a taste bypass or someone optically challenged - you get the drift ! ( why oh why do I always forget to take a 'before' photo)

I have the ability to see past all hideousness and just knew there was cuteness and functionality lurking beneath the ugly exterior

Many many coats of white paint later

Some pretty paper panels, lots of coats of mod podge and some cute replacement knobs

Et voila !!!

I filled each drawer with little boxes of colour co-ordinated crafty goodies and a quote ( as I know my dear friend Margaret loves a quote or two)

Hope you loved your little gift as much as I loved prettifying it for you Margaret

Love and transformations

Tracey

xxx

Tinsel and turkey thursday

Good evening

Tonight I am here sharing with you my christmas card for last week, with a technicality that Neil has taken full advantage of !

You will guess what is coming Margaret !

THe background was created with embossing folders, Distress inks and metallic wax rubs

I have no idea why the camera is picking up the gold in the glitter as it is, it is actually far more subtle in real life

I finished this card after midnight on tuesday, 2.30 am wednesday to be precise, so technically I missed my deadline and therefore owe Neil forfeit number 6, worryingly he never forgets and is storing them up for later redemption hmmmmm wonder if there is a way I can wriggle out of them !

But........ to be honest, I am pretty chuffed with myself that I have got to the first week in May and am only six behind, 6 out of 17  is much better than my 4 out of 52 last year !

And .......... as I missed last weeks deadline with this card I am actually ahead of myself for next week - woohooooo, see,  every cloud has a silver lining!

Love and silver linings

Tracey

xxx