Is Spring finally here ????

Hello,

I can't believe it we actually have some sun and a bit of warmth, well it is when you are in the sun, bit chilly when you aren't.  But its just lovely to see a bright fresh day.  I think it cheers everyone up don't you?  Hubby is currently in his greenhouse pricking out over 300 plants and I'm about to do some crafting and it is so nice to have the conservatory door open to hear the birds.

Well I have that many cards to show you I really don't know where to start so I think I'll spoil you and combine a couple in the same post.   It was my hubby's  birthday last weekend and, as you can imagine, I had quite a few cards to make.  I generally find it difficult making cards for men  but for these I just found a couple of sketches that I had save and worked from there.

The first card I'm going to show you is the one from me.  Anyone who knows my hubby will know that he is a tea-a-holic.  So what better set to use then the Tea Shoppe stamp set.   Stampin' Up couldn't have made a more apt set for him.  You don't realise until you use this set just how detailed the large cup is.

Now a blokes card, to me,  means mens' colours so I used Pool Party and Island Indigo (both from the 2011-2013 in colours) along with Whisper White card and here is the end result:

I stamped the image onto Island Indigo card-stock with Whisper White ink and put it to one side to dry.  Whilst the image was drying I cut out one of the sizes from the Labels Collection Framelits and then embossed it with the Perfect Polka Dots Folder.  By now the image had dried so I used the next size down
(I had already measured it check the image fitted) and die cut the image.  The rest is pretty much straight forward.  The two sentiments were from both from the  Tea Shoppe stamp set.

Now for the second card.  This is one that Little Leo sent his grandad.  Boy is he getting big now and his speech is coming on in leaps and bounds.  It helps that his mum interacts a lot with him and doesn't just sit him in front of the TV, they are always doing something :)

Anyway, Leo wanted to do a quite simple but colourful card for his Grandad so chose to use the Pennant Parade stamp set to create a party hat card.  The colours were Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Pool Party and Calypso Coral, well in fact all the in-colours for 2011 to 2013

Its the first time I have put all 5 colours together and I think they look good.  The sentiment is from the stamp set For My Family a very useful set to have.  The punches used were Curly Label and Decorative Label.  Also used was the 1/2" punch to make the pom poms on the hats.

Well I hope you have liked my double post.  I'll be back soon to show you the cards I made for the girl to give to Dad.  Until then take care and look after yourself and your family.

Oh I forgot to show you that Leo even signed the card himself...... don't you just love those memories?

Take care

Hugs

Tracy -x-

Henry Says

Hi everyone,

I'm sitting at home watching the snow fall and praying that its gone by tomorrow as I don't like driving in it.  My 10 minute journey today took 20 mins today.  

Remember in my last post I showed you a card I made for my youngest daughters partner?  Well I'm now going to show you the one I made for my eldest daughter to give him.  I decided to use a new set from the Spring/Summer catalogue that started on the 1 February until the 30 June. Its called Henry Says and it just sooooo cute.  Not only can Henry (the elephant) be for a birthday but it can be used for any occasion, Christmas, invites etc.

I also teamed it up with other new products from the Spring/Summer catalogue such as the pin wheel die, Soda Pop Tops, new scoreboard and the Print Poetry DSP Stack.  Here is the end result:

I quite liked the finished item.  I pierced the Soda Pop Top with my piecing tool which went through quite easily  So if you like Henry and would like to purchase him just get in touch and I'll gladly put your order through.

ck 

That's it for now but I have lots to show you so will be back soon.

TTFN

Hugs 

Tracy -x-

Products used:

Big shot 113439 £98.95

Pin Wheel Die 129411 £4.50

Henry Says stamp set 128093 £21.85

Soda Pop Tops  129388 £3.75

Black card stock 121688 £6.25

Whisper White card 106549 £7.50

Scoreboard 122334 £25.95

Simply Scored Boarders Scoring Plate 126192 £13.50

Feeling Sentimental

Well its been a very busy end of January/beginning of February with birthdays.  It was my daughters partners birthday at the end of January so I needed to make 3 cards for him, one from us, one from my other daughter and one from my grandson.  As usual I left it right to the last minute to make the cards.  Does anyone else do that?  You know all year long that you have birthdays to celebrate yet never do the cards in advance !!!!!

Anyway, I wanted to do a card using the fabulous free sets we can earn during Sale-a bration so I chose to use the set Feeling Sentimental.  Its always difficult to do male cards but don't you think these are great images to use on male cards?  I do.  I like the telephone box as it reminds me of my childhood when you actually had to go and use it if you didn't want your parents hear your conversation......lol

I used Night of Navy card for the base.  On the top of that I applied Cherry Cobber  Core'dinations card that was available in the Autumn/Winter catalogue, new colours are available in the current Spring/Summer catalogue.  I have embossed it with the new embossing folder, Honeycomb, and have sanded it down with the sanding block to highlight the honeycomb design.

Next I stamped my image in Cherry Cobbleronto Very Vanilla card  and cut it out using my big shot and the Window Frames Collection Framelits  Dies.  I added the brads before I attached it to the card.   Again, in Cherry Cobbler, I stamped the sentiment from the set and cut this out but this time I used the Apothecary Accents Framelits.  The brads were added and then attached to the main card.

I think it turned out okay and, to be honest, it looked better in the flesh but then again most things do, don't they?  I'll be back soon to show you some more cards made for the Jan/Feb birthdays.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment to show you have visited my page.

Hugs
Tracy -x-

Products used:
Stamp set: Feeling Sentimental (Free with a £45 spend until 22 March)
Big shot (113439 @ £87.95) If you are interested in purchasing the big shot don't forget to check out my Specials page for a great offer.
Embossing folder - Honeycomb (129378 @£7,50)
Window Frames Collection Dies ( 129021 @ 22.95)
Apothecary Accents Dies (127003 @ £20.95)
Stampin' Sanding System  (129367 @ £3.75)
Not Quite Navy Cardstock (126971 @£ 6.25)
Metallic Brads (119741 @ £5.75)
Very Vanilla card (106549 @ £7.50)

Wow, where has the month gone, it seemed only yesterday that I was posting about my last class and here.  Mind you, I've done 2 fairs and have been quite poorly with bad tonsillitis, so it must be nearly a month...lol.

Anyway, today I held my monthly class and a couple of my lovely ladies couldn't make it for one reason or another so I held it at my house instead of the hall I usually have it at.  As last month was a scrapbook month it meant this month was cards.  I asked my ladies at the last class what they would like to cover this month, as I think it is important to go with my ladies views, and they wanted another Christmas Class.

Well I'm all for doing Christmas cards as it helps me get ideas for my cards too, I just need to make sure I don't send my sister and sister-in-law the same one...haha.   So the stamp set we went for this week was Joyous Celebrations from the new Autumn/Winter catalogue.  My ladies also bought the embossing folder and punch that are shown on the same page.

OK so what did we make, well we did a little bag, using the fantastic new Bigz die in the main catalogue, and 6 wonderful cards (well that's what my ladies said).  So here they are in one shot and I'll then show you them individually:

The first thing my ladies did was the lovely little bag you can make with the bigz die.

I used paper from our wonderful 12x12 selection Be of  Good Cheer, you get 2 bags from one sheet.  I can't believe the gorgeous 12x12 papers we have this time.  I have received the wood effect set (sry can't remember the catty name but you will know which ones) and OMG they are just lush, the shine on them is fantastic.  Anyway back to the bag and you will see there is no stamping from the Joyous Celebration but I did use the stamps from Tags til Christmas which I think is a must seeing as Christmas is nearly upon us.  I have also used the Sweater Trim from the Autumn Winter catty and, I hope you agree looks great on this project.

Here are the 6 cards we made today:

 

You will see that I have used several different techniques and products, some new some old, to make these cards.  For those of you who have the new catalogue you will see that I have "cheated" a little and CASED a card from the catty.  Now its not that I couldn't come up with a 6th idea but I just love this card.  Its so simple yet so effective.  However, instead of using the Itty Bitty Frames dies I have cut the "label" by hand with cutting a "V" either end of the card.

Well, I hope my absence has been worth the wait.  I promise I will be back soon with new projects to show you.  Until then take care of yourself and pop back soon and please leave a comment.

Hugs

Tracy -x-

Products used:

Stamp sets – Joyous Celebrations, Tags til Christmas

Big Shot – Oval Embossing Folder, Framelits Dies, Bag bigz die

Inks – Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple, Early Espresso 

Papers – Be of good cheer, Festival of prints designer series paper stack

Punches – Decorative Label, 1” and 1 ¾” Circle Punch, 1 ¼ and 2 3/8 Scallop punch, Large oval punch, Boarder punch, 2 ½ “ round punch

Accessories –Self Adeshive Rhinestones and Pearls, Round treat cups, BakersTwine, White gel pen, Dazzling details silver sparkle, Big shot long plates, Brads, White Stiched Ribbon, Tulle ribbon (cherry cobbler), Vintage Faceted and Naturals designer buttons, Sweater Trim

Adhesive Paper – Festival of print designer series paper stack

Tools –  Paper trimmer with scoring blades

               Bone folder

               Snail Adhesive

               Tombow Glue

               Stampin’ scrub

               Stampin’ mist cleaner

Ex stampin up – Crop-a-dile

Wedding card

Saturday saw me and hubby at a wedding and I always like to do a special card as its a special day for them.  Well I knew that her colour scheme was burgundy and cream so that was an easy start - Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White were my choice in card and ink.

For those of you who me will also know that I like to do a card that is boxed and the shape of a book.. The template for this is not from Stampin' Up! but from my own materials.   I also used Confetti Cream card for the base of the card as this is sturdier than Very Vanilla, although this was used as the top layer to the card as it is smoother to stamp on. Here is the finished card :-

I embossed the image using versamark ink and then Cherry Cobbler and heat set it with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder.  The rose buds were made by punching out varying circles and, starting from the outside cut into the circle  to create a spiral effect.  Then from the outer edge roll the card up to make a circle.  Allow the "bud" to relax a little and secure using tombow.  The new glitter from the Autumn/Winter catalogue was used to create the raindrop effect on the flowers

Obviously such a special card required a special box to put it in so I again cut out the book shape and embossed the frames onto the smaller "page".  I then used the Timeless Types Alphabet dies, which are sadly retiring, to cut out the initials of the bride and groom.  I finished the box off with a few adhesive pearls

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my work.  Any order gladly taken.

Til next time

Hugs 
Tracy -x-

Today is my 25th wedding anniversary and the weather is so different to what it was 25 years ago.  It was raining on and off all day and I wasn't able to have the train on my dress drag behind me as it was too wet but once I got in church I was able to put it down.   It brightened up just enough so that we could have some photo's taken outside.  Still, to me it was a wonderful day and I got to marry my soul mate and closest friend :)

Anyway, enough about me, you want to know what I've got to show you today, don't you?  You may have guessed that it my be my anniversary card to hubby, well you'd be right.  However, I only made it today as he was cleaning the windows...haha, how romantic is that?  He was a good boy and didn't peek when he came in and out of the conservatory so it was a surprise to him.

I've also used none other than the Confetti  White for the base card and teamed it up with  Whisper White and Basic Black.  I wanted some "silver" on the card and what better card to use than Brushed Silver from the main catalogue.  Now what could I put on the front that would keep the card both masculine  and show how I felt for Dean?  Of course it was easy, love hearts.  So I punched lots of hearts out in all the colours using the Heart to Heart punch and 4 large hearts using the Full Heart punch.  I embossed some Brushed Silver card using the Stripes Embossing Folder and some Whisper White with the Manhattan Flower.  I punched out one large love heart from the Manhattan Flower embossed card to give the look of embroidery on the heart. Here is the finished card:

I was very pleased with the finished result and it looks much better in "real life" if you know what I mean?  Inside I didn't put a veyrse but wrote something to Dean from me.  So all in all it was a very private card.

I have had a lovely day relaxing around the house and basically chilling out.  I can't say that's going to happen tomorrow as we have the gas men here fitting a new boiler, so that should be fun ..... not.

Remember if you want to order anything just get in touch and I'll be happy to oblige.  Also the new autumn/winter catalogue comes out on the 1st of September so that only leaves 9 days to order from the spring/summer mini.  If you want anything don't delay and be disappointed order today !!!

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a message.

Hugs
Tracy -x-

Products
Big shot
Manhattan Flower and Stripes EF
For My Family stamp set
Punches Heart to Heart, Full Heart

Everything Eleanor

A few weeks ago I commissioned to create a special wedding card for a friends father in laws wedding. Now when I make anything to order I like to get a feel of what the recipient likes are such as favourite colours, hobbies etc to enable me to make it even more personalised.  So with it being a wedding I asked what the colour theme was.... not a difficult question.  Well I nearly fell off my chair when she said there wasn't one as they were both in their 70's .... bless them.  So I decided to keep the colours neutral and chose to use Confetti Cream card and the Brushed Gold card  from the main catalogue.

You will recognise this card as I've recently done one similar but I do believe that for a special occasion you cannot go wrong with this particular style of card.   To keep in line with the Brushed Gold card I used Crumb Cake ink to stamp the image from Everything Eleanor onto the top layer of Very Vanilla card once the verse had been printed out and the layer cut to shape.   I coloured in the petals by lifting Crumb Cake ink from the lid of the ink pad with the Aqua Painters and then stamped the butterflies onto scraps of Very Vanilla card and cut them out.  The butterflies were added to the card using dimensional with Rhinestone jewels to decorate.  A Vintage Brad and Victoria Crochet Trim was used to secure the layers.

The lid to the box is similar to one I did a few weeks back for my sister in law to give to a friend but on this one I've added more Rhinestones to the centre of the flowers.  I was pleased when I saw my friend at work last week and she told me that everyone at the wedding had commented on my card and that the bride and groom thought it was lovely. There is so much negativity in life that its nice to receive praise every now and then don't you think?  I felt really good for the rest of the day.

Well I hope you've liked what I've shown you today and, if you wish to purchase any products mentioned above, or anything from the catalogue, then please get in touch, my details are at the top of this page.

Hugs
Tracy -x-

Wedding card

Recently my Sister-in-Law attended a wedding of which she had been helping with the invitations with a little help from me. As a result of this she was asked to do a reading at the wedding and wanted to incorporate this in the card she made.  Being fairly new to crafting she wanted me to help her with the card as she had seen some I had done previously in the shape of a book in a box.


So about 2 weeks ago she came round whilst I was on leave to work on the card.  She also brought with her  the card she had made for the office to send but just needed a sentiment on it.  Luckily I had one that fit nicely on it so that was one thing out of the way.

The colour scheme for the wedding was black and white with a hint of red.  We used a well known scoring board to make the different layers of the card.  The biggest layer was Basic Black then Real Red followed by Whisper White.  We wanted to make it look like a veil  so added a layer of Vellum paper that was the same size as the Basic Black layer to cover the whole card.  Underneath the Vellum was Real Red Grosgrain ribbon and the vellum was secured by an antique brad at the top and a small silver brad on the bottom.

The stand was made by tracing around a stand that some small Royal Dalton plates stand on that my Aunt bought me as a wedding present, this will be 25years this August...wow it definitely does not seem this long.  Anyway, such a nice card cannot go in just any old envelope so obviously we had to make a box.  For this I used my Score Board from Stampin Up, Basic Black 12x12 cardstock and then layered it with tissue paper.

Around the edge of the lid we attached the black polka dot ribbon and then decorated the lid by applying a layer of Real Red and then Whisper White that had been embossed in two corners with the Elegant Bouquet   embossing folder.  We then die cut the initials of the happy couple in Basic Black with the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet and adhered them to the lid between the embossed area.  To finish it off we attached small pearls to the centre of the embossed flowers.

My sister in law is now on holiday so I don't know what the reaction of the bride was but I do know that she was overwhelmed when she saw just the box so hopefully she wasn't disappointed when she opened it, I'm sure she wasn't.

If you would like to order any of the products used please get in touch as they are all listed below.

Hugs
Tracy -x-

Products used:
SU Simply scored Board 
Big shot with Elegant Embossing folder and Timeless Type Junior Alphabet set
Card stock: Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White
Vellum Paper
Accessories : Real Red grosgrain ribbon, Black Scallop Dot ribbon, Adhesive Pearls, Antique brads, Silver Brads


None SU - Shaped score board, tissue paper.

Sweet Cake

Oh dear what has happened to the lovely weather we were experiencing not so long ago?   I think I jinxed it by buying a new chair for the garden  so I could get a bit of a tan before I go to Vienna in 12 days.  I don't think that's going to happen now !!!!!!

Anyway, on to today's card.  Its my niece's birthday today and I have had the card ready to post for several days but dare not  in case she saw it on here via facebook, hence the delay in posting.  I have used the new stamp set from the mini call Sweet Cake.  I will be honest and wasn't that impressed with it when I first saw it but having seen some of the end products at various training sessions I soon changed my mind.

The card I used is from the 2012 - 2013 in colour collection, Calypso Coral and Pool Party with Very Vanilla. From the mini catalogue I have use the Edgelits Adorning Accents to create the shape down the side and then the Textured Impression Embossing folder that matches the Edgelits to create the embossed shape.  To emphasise the cut out section I layered the inside of the card with some of beautiful designer paper from the mini and that is Twitterpatted.

The layers on the top of the card are Twitterpated and Calypso Coral card which has been embossed with the heart folder again from the Textured Embossing folder. The main image was stamped onto Very Vanilla in Calypso Coral and then cut out using the Framelits Label Colletction.. Although it doesn't stand out so well I have glittered the Calypso Coral stripes on the image.  I haven't taken a photo by on the inside I have put a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and stamped the sentiment "Happiest wishes on your birthday" from the Hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes in Pool Party Ink.  The sentiment on the front of the card is from the Sweet Cake set.

All products used will be listed below and if you wish to purchase any of the just drop me a line or give me a call/text and I'll happily order them for you.

Hugs
Tracy -x-

Products
Stamp sets - Sweet Cake, Happiest Birthday Wishes ( Hostess set)
Card - Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Very Vanilla
Ink - Calypso Coral, Pool Party
DSP - Twitterpated
Big Shot
Bigshot tools - Edgelits Adorning Accents, Textured Embossing folders, Framelits Labels Collection
Accessories - Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds

Mixed Bunch

Anyone that knows me via Stampin' Up! will know that if I attend any training events I very very rarely do the make and takes at the time of the training.  I always bring them home and they never seem to get started let alone completed.  Well at the recent Leeds training I actually started on the kits and managed to make the card and the little milk carton, I left the scrapbook page until I got home.

The card was very simple  but effective.  I used the so saffron ink to ink around the flower to contrast with the card

Next came the milk carton which was made using Certainly Celery card and, whilst it doesn't use the stamp set, it uses the twitterpated papers from the designer series papers in the mini catalogue.  However, you could stamp around the main part of the milkcarton using the stamps if you wanted too.

Now a couple of days ago I decided I wanted to finish all  of the projects from Leeds so I got the scrapbook kit ready to go but couldn't find the instructions that went with them.   I know I bought the home with me but for the likes of me couldn't find them.  So I asked my upliner, Victoria, if she had a photo of the finished project and she did but hadn't uploaded it yet.   Being the impatient person I  am I then asked on In Love With Stamping if anyone else had the destructions or a picture they could share with me.  Luckily I got a quick reply from a lady called Nicola and she linked the information sheet for me.

Great I thought, I'm ready to go ....not.  A couple of things happened in my personal life that made it so I wasn't in the mood to craft, you know how it is don't you.   Anyway, I finally got the page finished and, whilst I still wasn't 100% committed to crafting I enjoyed doing it and felt better in myself as well.

The picture is of me and my daughters and was taken on 11 March 2012 my grandson's christening day.  If you haven't worked it out yet I'm the little short one in the middle...lol  Both girls take after their dad for both height and being skinny, two things I can honestly say aren't me...hahaha  I'm not sure if you can see it close up but the top right and bottom left corners have been stamped with Baja Breeze with one of the large flower stamps from the Mixed Bunch set and a smaller one on the blue flower.

I think it is such a pretty but simple layout, I just love it.  Making these projects has steered me on to wanting to make all those that I brought home before but I have my nieces cards to do for the weekend so will concentrate on them first.  I've done one already but can't show it yet as she goes on FB and will see it so you are just going to have to wait  a little longer.

OK, take care folks and if you would like to leave a commnent I'd appreciate it and/or like my FB page via the link on the left hand side.

Hugs
Tracy -x-