Linda's Stampin Up class

Good evening

I am back tonight to share Linda's new Stampin' Up class

Linda will be making this stunning wall art contained within the glass fronted box frame this coming Saturday - 11th October 10am - 12pm

£12.00 to include all you need to finish this project including the frame

It will make a fab gift, or addition to your own christmas decorations - what an extra special alternative to a christmas card too !

Please contact Linda through her blog here or contact me if you require a place, the class is filling up fast !

Love and stamped delights

Tracey 

xxx

Christmas wishes

Hello

I have another christmas card to share

I am woefully behind on my intended target of one a week but I am much further on than I was last year - slow and steady and all that !

I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder for the background

Sentiment is a Stampin' Up stamp

Window die is by Cheery Lynn

Flower punches are Stampin' Up 

Poinsettia dies are Marianne design

How are you all getting along with your Christmas cards ? I bet there are at least a couple of you that have finished !

Love and mistletoe kisses

Tracey

xxx

Birthday, Branston and Bruce

Hello

Tonight I am sharing a birthday card I made this week for a very special person, who turned 80 on wednesday

Happy birthday Mary, I hope you were well and truly spoiled, you deserve it !

I used a Crafters Companion embossing folder, Tim Holtz die for the numbers - used with Stampin' Up glitter paper,  Marianne dies for the butterfly, flourish and flowers

I have had a really good day to day, it all started with a day spent with my lovely friend Carole

We put the world to rights, we confided and shared, laughed and crafted - and we ate !

Carole had said she would bring in lunch so I was expecting maybe a sarnie and crisps, but oh no, as usual Carole ( who never does anything in half measures) prepared me this gorgeous ploughmans lunch - yum yum

Thankyou so much Carole for bringing a little bit of sunshine in an otherwise dull and rainy day, we must do it more often - my treat next time xxx

And in other news - meet Bruce

I came home from work to be greeted by this little cutie

Bruce is a collie/ german shepherd cross, he is 6 months old and still has a bit of growing to do

He is gorgeous and so loving and has followed me around since I got home, we have played football in the garden, been for a walk and generally got to know each other

His left ear is floppy and his right ear stands to attention, he is very wary of other dogs although he was brought up with cats and a lab and he wants to make friends with EVERYONE he meets on his walks !

I think he loves his daddy already, here he is trying to persuade Neil to put down his newspaper and play ( and yes Bruce won, Neil gave up !)

Love and puppy kisses

Tracey

xxx

Happy retirement

Good evening

I am sharing a retirement card tonight, one I crafted for Neil and his shift to give to their retiring day shift supervisor

The card is an 8in x 8in size, giving plenty of room inside for all the guys to sign

I used a Crafters Companion stamp, the image was coloured using Distress Inks and the sentiment was computer generated

Love and lazy days

Tracey

xxx

Birthday wishes

Good evening

I have just been sorting and editing photos and have found a few items that have not yet been shared on here or the shop site

So I will be along over the next few days to share my last couple of weeks crafty projects

Tonight I am sharing a birthday card

I used dies by Cheery Lynn, a Tim Holtz Embossing folder, sentiment stamp is Stampin' Up as are the flower stamps and punches, papers were all out of my scraps box

I must say a massive thankyou to two very special people this week

Ann, you have been an absolute rock over the last few weeks, you know why, thankyou so much xxx

Jan, I could not have managed on wednesday without you, thankyou so much for taking the class, locking up, tidying up and all the other little things, far too numerous to list but every single one appreciated xxx

I also need to thank all my lovely friends who have sent me emails, texts and messages, all the lovely kind words spoken in person and the flowers and cards, and especially the hugs ( I even receive a hug all the way from Sweden, thankyou Inga-lil) xxx

As most of you know, our family has been through a  hard few weeks, no worse than anyone else, but sad none-the-less, we have had such a lot of support, genuine heartfelt kindness, thankyou so much, I am so blessed to have so many thoughtful people in my life, bless you all xxx

Love and heartfelt hugs

Tracey 

xxx

Jan's Box Class

Good morning

I think that's a first, me blogging in the morning ! Unless of course we are talking early hours 

Anyway just a fly by post today, I am well aware my blog has been neglected, my friends and regular readers know that as a family we have had an incredibly difficult month, I have had time to blog, but not the heart if I am honest, I will update soon but for now I am keeping all the emotional stuff in check and stopping by to share with you all the new box class Jan will be teaching this saturday

We do still have a couple of places so if you fancy making this stunning box please telephone the shop or pop in to book your place, spaces are limited and we do need to know by close of business on friday as Jan will be preparing your kits at home

Here are all the details from Jan herself :

September Box Class

Hi Everyone

I'm back again with this month's box making class. This time we're making a traditional chocolate box (though it would be good for all sorts of small pressies, or you could just keep it yourself).

It's in gorgeous brown and aqua, one of my favourite colour combinations, and it's quite easy to do, though you may learn some new tips and tricks along the way.

It's this Saturday, the 27th of September

from 10.00 till 1.00

and costs £7.

I do hope you can join us

Love and craftiness

Jan

Waterfall card and gift box

Good evening

As promised I am here tonight to share the gorgeous butterfly inspired waterfall card and giftbox we all made with Linda on saturday

The box is a drawer style box and is approximately 2.5inches square so would be perfect for a little selection of chocolates or maybe some jewellery

I have had a lovely relaxing sunday, spent with mum and dad, chatting, putting the world to rights and lots of laughs too

Neil has his appointment through finally to see the surgeon regarding all his back problems, his referral was back in April so we seem to have been waiting a long time, hopefully we should get some answers, he will be seeing a guy at Spire in Leeds on monday. Thankyou for all your help and advice Trish, we are seeing Rob so please thank Pete too xxx

We had some fantastic news this week, Robbie attained three A stars in his exams and ended up with triple the number of UCAS points required for his place at Uni - very, very proud mum and dad here !

There are some very special people who have been particularly kind and supportive this last week, you all know who you are, THANKYOU xxx

Love and little boxes

Tracey 

xxx

Beryl's box

Good evening

We had a fab day at the shop today, it was Linda's monthly Stampin' Up class, we made a beautiful waterfall card and matching gift box, we also had a couple of new ladies, lovely to spend time with you Sarah and Hazel.  I didn't get time to photograph mine before the light faded so I shall share my finished pieces tomorrow, as always thankyou Linda for your inspiration and patience xxx

Tonight I am sharing the project us 'tuesday afternoon' ladies made last week

Beryl very kindly offered to show us how to make this great little note block box

The lid opens and houses one of those square blocks of notes, thankyou Beryl, I loved making this and have a very special person in mind as the recipient. It was quite quick and easy to make so I think I may be making a few as stocking fillers at christmas time.

Love and love notes

Tracey 

xxx

Bags, boxes and more

Good evening

These next projects are from a couple of weeks ago

We had a really fab friday afternoon, brill people as always and an impromptu box making session

Pat and her lovely daughter Trudi joined me too and they also made all three of these in the couple of hours we had together

First up a small  gift bag/box, made form a 6 inch square of paper, the finished article measures approximately 3.5inches square and would be perfect for a little jewellery box or chocolates

Then we made a gift bag, this one was a bit bigger measuring approximately 7inches tall and again is folded from a single sheet of paper

Finally we made this teeny tiny tab topped folder type thingy perfectly sized for the smallest size of post-it note, or those infamous after dinner mints

It's a wonder we got one finished let along three with all the chatting and giggling ! Thankyou for a really good afternoon ladies - much fun ! ( and Trudi if you are reading this - I will make you into a bona fide crafter if it kills me !)

Finally before I head out for a very special event that is being held this evening I would like to thank Carole W for the gorgeous bouquet of pink blooms last week xxx

And a big thankyou to June C for this fantastic box full of homegrown fruit and veggies she brought in for me last week, she also brought in a large selection for the class to share and the oh so pretty sweet peas you can see below - thankyou xxx

Love and sweetness

Tracey

xxx

Wedding book

Hello

It's been an utterly dreadful weekend

My youngest son lost one of his best friends in truly tragic circumstances on saturday and to be honest my mind can't settle on anything other than the all consuming sadness that must have fallen on the poor souls family

14 is too young to be taken - full stop

Rest in peace Will, you are very much loved by all who knew you and you will be missed every single day xxx

I do have something crafty to share tonight 

I made this book for my mum and dad to give as a wedding present, the couple have had a house together for a while and mum was stuck for something 'different' to get them

There are four pages in total with eight sides decorated and the book has been cut out of heavy chipboard and covered with Bo Bunny papers, all the edges have been inked with chalk ink

The front cover - I heat embossed a die cut clock face and used antiquing wax to tone down the colours

Inside front cover - I added some photo mats and kept them blank so the girls can add a couple of their own favourite photos to the book

Page 1 - Die cut hearts are Nellie Snellen, chipboard letter are Tim Holtz and flowers are K and Co

Page 1 (back) I kept all the colours similar throughout the book and kept decoration quite minimal as it is already quite a 'chunky' book

Page 2 - I 'borrowed' a couple of photos from the girls' facebook pages so as to keep the whole thing a secret

Page 2 (back) - The chipboard flourishes and flowers are by K and Co

Final page - the girls names are created with Tim Holtz die cut letters and the quote is a stamp

And the back of the final page with another stamped quote

This book is also my entry into the RWS monthly 'Take three things' challenge

You can catch up with what everyone else has been up to on the shop website HERE

Love and angels

Tracey

xxx

Prettifying Pringles

Good evening

Phewwww just conquered the mountainous ironing pile, I have been putting it off, not wanting to stand for hours whilst the temperature has been so high, but finally gave in today, with no sign of any let up in the heat and three boys in the house getting very low on t-shirts ! Feels good to get it done though.

So just a quick blog from me tonight as I have a cool bubble bath awaiting me

I created this gift holder for one of my lovely friends Joan who's birthday it was on thursday

We repurposed or upcycled these pringle tubes in Jan's class last saturday and I actually managed to get mine finished - must be a first !

We made new lids and discarded the old plastic ones and I threw a handful of flowers on top of mine to really pretty the box up

I made a card to match

So big thanks to Jan for her inspiration.

Thankyou also to Joan and Alan who invited me to join them and a few other lovely ladies for Joan's birthday meal around at their house on monday and thankyou to Alan for my lift home on thursday ( I didn't stay that long - it was a separate incident lol)

Love and pringles

Tracey

xxx

Thankyou

Hello

It has been a couple of weeks of many thankyou's, I have received two bunches of flowers, thankyou to both Carol W and Ann E xxx

We had some fabulous veggies brought into the shop to share - thankyou June C

Two separate thankyou's to Joan and Alan, the first for the fabulous day out on monday and the second for the utterly scrummy lemon and almond cake today

Thankyou to Linda and Jan for their fantastic classes over the last two weeks

Thankyou to Pat S for my little 'gift' this week, so good to see you back on your feet and up and about, we missed you lots xxx

  Thankyou also to Margaret

I made this card to give her last week, to thank her for her running the dictionary challenge last year

Finally

The biggest thankyou goes to every single one of you who took the time to message, email or enquire about Neil, we appreciate your kindness and support, it is times like this when you realise there are some truly special people out there, we both thankyou all so much, it does make a difference

Bless you all

Much love 

Tracey

xxx

Jan's Box class

Jan's box class

Saturday 26th July 2014 - 10 am

Jan says :

You can choose your own papers and embellishments, for a very personalised  end result.

It's quite easy to do, and I really enjoyed making mine. 

You don't even need to eat Pringles! See, we've done the hard work for you, and now have a supply of tubes  (and I can easily be persuaded to eat more!)

The class will start at 10.00, and will probably last about 3 hours, so you might want to bring something to eat.

If you'd like to come along, just book your place with Tracey

Hope to see you there.

Jan

There are just a couple of places left so if you fancy it, send me either an email or if you have my mobile you can text me otherwise I will be at the shop from approx 9.30 in the morning

Love and Pringles

Tracey

xxx

New class

I will be teaching this one off special class this saturday 19th July

1pm til 3pm

£7.00

Please let me know if you would like to book a place, spaces are limited and will be on a first come first served basis

Love and ivory wishes

Tracey

xxx

Dictionary challenge 2013/2014

Good evening

This is a long and very photo heavy post so please bear with me

Some of you may know that a few of us at the shop have been taking part in a dictionary challenge

Once a fortnight we were given a letter by Margaret and we were to make a page depicting a word beginning with that letter, the only rule was to incorporate part of the dictionary page, the part containing the word

We finished the challenge this month and so here is my completed book ( see !  I do actually finish things occasionally  !)

The front cover

The back cover showing the techniques I used to make the covers, lots of gesso, texture paste, letter stickers, paint and wax

And all the pages in alphabetic order ( we weren't given the letters in order, they were totally random)

I chose to actually use the whole dictionary page instead of just a snippet and drew all my chosen words, watercolouring them all first and then adding details and outlines with a Pitt artist fine liner and shading with polychromos pencils

Thankyou so much to all my fellow dictionary challengees, it was great sharing the challenge with you all

And massive thanks to Margaret, who came up with the idea for the challenge in the first place, organised all the letters and sent them to us in a text every two weeks and also kept us all motivated and inspired each month - thankyou xxx

Love and letters

Tracey

xxx