Use a Die Cut

Hello from a very foggy SW Scotland! I've just been outside to fill up the coal bucket and had to walk through a thick wall of mist - it feels a bit like walking through wet candyfloss!

Anyway, here I am to tell you about the penultimate challenge of the year over at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia.  This fortnight you need to add a die cut to your project - remember that you need to use a hAnglar & StAnglar or Magnolia product as well if you want to be eligible for a prize. 

I'm now in panic Christmas mode so for my DT card I used some red Magnolia Christmas paper that was on my desk:

 

 

 

I used a Go Kreate die set for the various layers and popped some Doohickey flowers under the WOC roses.  The little hAnglar girlie has been coloured with my favourite red Copics (R24, R27, R29 and a touch of R39) and I added lots of sparkle with some Glamour Dust.  Apologies for the photo (again).  I've bitten the bullet and ordered a light box, so I'll let you know how I get on with it.  Hope it's worth the money!

 

 

We're sponsored this fortnight by Live and Love crafts

If the words vintage and shabby chic makes your heart beat faster, you will find your haven at Live & Love Crafts!
Live & Love Crafts is a UK based online store that ships WORLDWIDE. The store is owned and operated by Sandra Mathis, a crafter who is as passionate about the vintage style as she is about customer service and providing a good shopping experience. Live & Love Crafts prides itself on having a website that is easy to navigate with excellent product images. Orders are dispatched fast; usually on the same day received.

Live & Love Crafts stocks a wide range of products from well-loved vintage brands such as Maja Design, Pion Design, Magnolia, Wild Orchid Crafts, Kort & Godt, Prima, Melissa Frances, Maya Road, and the Tim Holtz/Ranger product lines.

 

The store has a vast selection of laces, ribbons and trims, an assortment of over 200 charms and metal decorations, as well as many other unique embellishments that you can't find elsewhere. To help you save on costs, the charms/metal decos can be purchased singularly and all trims and ribbons are sold by the yard/meter. If you’re looking for products that will inspire and a one stop paper & embellishment shop, look no further than Live & Love Crafts!

Hope you can join us over at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia!

Hugs

Tracey xx

We are 5!

Happy Birthday to us, happy birthday to us... la la la la, la laaaa laaaa...  Sweet Stampin' is celebrating it's 5th birthday! We have a mega-challenge to mark this special day on the Sweet Stampin' calendar with prizes galore.  The theme is a lovely easy one:  Happy Birthday!  You must have a birthday sentiment on your card to be eligible for entry into the prize draw.  Check out all the details here!

The Sweeties from both team Fi and team Abi joined in this week's challenge and believe me, there are the most fabulous inspiration cards on the Sweet Stampin' blog today.

Here's my DT card

Apologies for the photo - I still haven't got round to sorting out a light box but I really must.  I never seem to see daylight at the moment!  I used MME papers, distressed them and inked the edges with Walnut Stain DI.  I stamped one of my favourite Tildas and coloured her with Copics, adding some sparkle with Sakura glitter pens.  The sentiment is from a Clearly Besotted stamp set and I went over the script with a clear glitter pen to make it stand out a bit.  I didn't want too much white space on the card so I added a few WOC roses in shades of gold and creamy yellow to the top left corner.

I do hope that you can join us over at Sweet Stampin' this week.

It's perhaps as well that we don't have a birthday cake at Sweet Stampin' Towers.  At school we have "Cake Friday", which means that the staff take it in turns to bake something lovely to have with our cuppa at break time.  I'm not in the staffroom that often but for obvious reasons I try to get in there on a Friday.  Yesterday one of the kids offered me a sweetie and I declined on the grounds that I had just eaten a rather big piece of delicious Victoria Sponge.  My darling pupil didn't give up: "It's OK, Mrs Trayner... you're not THAT fat!"  That's me told, then.

Have a great day!

Tracey xx

Snow People

Is it cold and frosty where you are?  Or persisting down, like it is here?  Whatever the weather, we'd like you to think "snow" and, more specifically Snow People, over at Christmas at Sweet Stampin' this month.

I used a Wild Rose Studio stamp to make my DT card

The image is coloured with Copics and I added some Glossy Accents to the beak/noses. There's a bit of sparkle, too in the form of Clear Rock Candy Stickles and some Doodlebug gems. The papers are from one of this year's Doodlebug Christmas pads and I love these bold colours - some of the less wintry patterns will be easy to use at other times of the year. 

We have a mixed goodie bag to give away to one lucky winner, chosen by the CaSSettes, so why not crack on with those Christmas cards and join in the fun with us.  Stuck for inspiration?  My gorgeous and talented teamies have created a feast of designs to kick start those creative brain cells. Come on over here to take a look.

Mid week already - yay!

Hugs

Tracey xx

Sparkle!

Here I am again! It's time for a new challenge at Lovely hAnglar or Sweet Magnolia and our theme this fortnight is Sparkle!

I hope you can see the sparkle in this card - I promise you, it is there!  I stamped Edwin peeking through the Christmas Tree and coloured him in with Copics before adding Clear Rock Candy Stickles to the baubles.  I went over the background with a silver glitter pen to add a bit more sparkle to the scene. 

I used another Magnolia stamp to make the mistletoe, adding a glittery enamel dot and some Wink of Stella, although I'm not sure how well that shows up in the photo.  Even the DP is sparkly - it's from a MME glittered paper pad from years ago.

We're being sponsored by the Ribbon Girl, so there's a lovely prize on offer for our winner.

Lifelong crafters Mother and Daughter, Mary and Andrea were tired of having to buy full rolls of ribbon and lace when they only needed one metre.  Because they love ribbons and all things pretty, they decided to open their own online shop in 2010 and make small quantities of beautiful products easily available to all crafters. Mary owns the shop and runs it on a day to day basis as well as keeping the website updated while Andrea looks after the social side,  The Ribbon Girl Blog and the Design Team. They specialise in supplying small (or large) quantities of ribbon, twine, gorgeous vintage style lace and seam binding ribbon, tiny pom-pom and ric-rac trim, all sorts of buttons, fancy pins, a multitude of charms, pearl and crystal flourishes, wool felt squares, seasonal and unusual embellishments, mulberry flowers, sticky tape and accessories to card makers, crafters, scrapbookers and cake decorators. They stock only the best quality products and only offer for sale goods that they would personally buy and use themselves.

Hope you can play along this fortnight.

Hugs

Tracey xx

Remember

Hello! We've got a lovely challenge starting today at Sweet Stampin'.  Our theme is Red for Rememberance - you don't have to go for poppies, or flowers of any kind if you don't want to, but we need to see plenty of red on your project.

I have a few poppy stamps and had a bit of me time colouring this one up during the October break.

I used Copics in shades of red ranging from R24 to R59.  The image is by Hero Arts and I think it's called "Delicate Blossoms"; it's one in a set of two clear stamps.  I decided not to colour the stems or centres of the poppies to make the red really stand out. It took a while to complete but it was so relaxing. 

The Sweeties have made the most beautiful inspiration cards, so do hop on over here to take a look.  As always we have a fabby prize for one randomly chosen winner and this week we're being sponsored by Crafty Ribbons who have a goodie pack to give away.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Hugs

Tracey xx