Fishy Favourites

I made this card for my nephew, he has an aquarium, so wanted to make a card that used fish but was still manly (as he's in his twenties) and so not to cute.With some die cut fish, that I've had forever, I used distress ink to tint the edges to give them an aged look. With the distressing ink I stamped some leaves onto some cream card. Mounted it onto some gold mirri and dark brown card, then attached it to the main card blank. In the centre I cut some letters to make his name, aged the edges the same as the fish and mounted them onto dark brown card with some gold border peel offs.I then added the fish (shaped for extra dimension) with silicone glue and some die cut leaves (quickutz). I used gold half crystals to re-create the stones from the aquarium floor. Then I added a scallop circle and greeting. I'm really pleased with the end result, I love how moody the card feels.

Happy crafting.
Tracie x

Parkour Pastime

Our oldest son was 16 in March (where's the time gone) ... he is a huge fan of parkour, so naturally I needed to make a card on that theme. I trawled the net hunting for ideas and this is what i came up. The background and wording was done in "MCS" and printed out, then I just simply matted the image onto silver mirri card.

Then with a matching insert the card was done ... suits him.

Thanks for stopping by.
Tracie x

Kinky Boobs and Booty

This card is for a man, it was made as a joke, as he always makes out he's into kinky underwear.It was really simple to make, I used the boobs and booty template to cut out the shapes. I used the palest of pinks for the body, with a black patterned paper for the bra and panties. Using white copy paper, I border punched along the edge and used it to make a lacy effect around the garments. I added narrow double-sided tape around the bra and panties and added red ribbon that I ruffled as I stuck in down.

With eyelets and a ribbon bow to make the bra really kinky, then added a few peeloffs to emulate tattoo's and a nesty shape for his name. I could have been naughtier, but reined myself in.

Tracie x

Cyclist Blues

Just a quickie this morning.I made this card using "my Craft Studio", you are able to call in images and change them (by colour, size, etc), so I made the images all the same tone of blue and printed out all the elements. The cyclist was printed onto a "MCS" circle pyramage diecut sheet and layered using 3d foam pads, mounted onto silver mirri card. I edged the word sport with a silver sakura pen, to make it stand out. I punched the screw heads out, used my embossing tool to curve them and coated them in diamond glaze, so they look like metal.
Then it was just a case of matting and layering all the components.

A great card for a cool cyclist.
Back soon
Tracie x

F1 Fanatic

I made the decoupage for this card myself, I hunted on the net to find the right F1 car for this particular card. I printed the image out several times onto glossy photo paper and cut out each layer and decoupaged up using silicone glue.Then just matted the image onto silver mirri and layered onto the card, with some white eyelet as an accent. I made an envelobox the match.Time consuming deciding on and cutting out all the layers,
but it was totally worth it.

Tracie x

Passionate about Poker

Morning ladies ... woke up to a dull day here, so a little crafting was in order to brighten my day. I have been playing on "my craft studio" over the past few days and designed this card, which is a real quickie. Just print out, cut out and stick.The poker decoupage is on "MCS - Carousel of Classics", so no real work needed there, all I really did was add the recipients name to the backing paper. I used 3d foam pads to add dimension and a little matting and layering. Quick, simple, yet a playful card for a passionate poker player.

Enjoy the rest of your day, thanks for stopping by.
Tracie X

Mountain Biking Hubby

It was our wedding anniversary on the 11th Sept, so a special card was needed for my hubby. He's a gym freak and loves mountain biking, so decided that should be my theme.I used "my craft studio" to size and colour my images. Using the same photo, I made one as large as the card (tinted at 50%) and one smaller to use as a topper. I made a tag and a matching greeting. Then it was just a case of printing out the elements, cutting them out, matting and layering on silver mirror card, a bit of ribbon and a gorgeous card for a gorgeous hubby.

Thanks for stopping by everyone, back later.
Tracie x

Totally Tooled Up

I've had a quiet few days, boys back at school, Ashley just started year 11 and Kieran year 9. Craig went back to work Monday after a two week holiday of which we had to cut short because I was diagnosed with swine flu and had to go into quarantine for seven to ten days. So I've been attempting to relax before my return to work on Friday, which also happens to be our wedding anniversary (with love to those of 9/11).I've discovered over the past few months that I quite enjoy computer crafting. I don't need to go to the shop if I need backing paper or an embellishment ... just design/make one. I can do it anytime, even at 2am and I have. I purchased a program called "My Craft Studio" (I've mentioned "MCS" loads of times) I love it. You can make embellishments, backing papers, inserts, envelopes, tags, boxes, decoupage, pyramage, in any size or colour, basically anything goes, as long as the image you are using is a jpeg ... I mean how cool does that sound. You can use an image from one of "MCS" CD's (there are are few out now ranging from Christmas, men, flowers, celebrations and more), you can even use a photo, one of your own designs or any jpeg from any craft CD you already own.So that's how this card came about, I was playing around in "MCS" and came across this image of tools. With my brother-in-law being a carpenter, I had to make it into a card for him. Using my new found best friend this is what I came up with. Then I just printed out all the components onto decoupage paper and made the card. I used a backing paper, decoupage, insert and paper buttons (glossy accents). Then printed out an envelope to match. Honestly I spent more time playing on the PC, than I did making the card ... opps ... but its seriously addictive.If you come across this program, I definitely recommend you try it, you'll be amazed at the possibilities ... I certainly have. Don't get me wrong I still love going and touching (and buying) all the gorgeous velvet/glittered/textured papers etc that you simply wouldn't get out of a printer. But computer crafting definitely has it's place in my crafting world.

With love
Tracie x

Pyramage Passion

Today's card ended up totally different to what I had planned, maybe because I had flu when I made it last week and my head wasn't totally with it. I just imagined it would look different somehow, anyway ...

This is another CD card made with "My Craft Studio" all designed on my PC and printed off ready to make. The background paper is one piece mounted onto gold mirror card and matted onto a black base card. The greeting was also matted onto gold mirror card. For the pyramage, I mounted the bottom layer onto mirror card and rounded opposite corners (just to be different). Then I added each layer with foam pads, the glittery effect on the pyramage was done using "Crafters Companion" - gold glitter spray (this took around 1 hour to dry). I finished the card with a couple of gold bows, hearts and a matching insert.As I said not what I thought it was gonna look like ... but I'm happy with the result.
Thanks for stopping by.
Tracie x

Superhero Superpants

OK ... I've had requests for cards that I simply don't understand ... but this one had me giggling. When I was asked if I would be able to make it, I simply couldn't wait to get started. A little bit of research for the logo and colours and I was ready to plunge myself into the world of men's underpants.I used "colour my world" underpants template (same set as boobs & booties). I made the outer pants in red and did faux stitching around the edges, for the main fabric I used two shades of blue, a lighter one for the inside of the leg holes and a darker one for the main body. I used ink to tint the blue to make it look more like shaded fabric. I found a superman logo and printed it out the size I wanted onto card and used it as a template.Again I tinted the layers of the logo and added white sakura pen to highlight the it to make it look 3d. I then layered the pants onto yellow dotted card, tinted to match the underpants and added die cut stars. For the greeting/name, I used my cuttlebug to die cut my quickutz "metro" alphabet from yellow card and used butterscotch ink pad to tint the letters to match underpants and stars.
This card has been sooo much fun to make ...
and the response to it was fantastic.
Imagine the variations that are possible ... ummmmm.

With love
Tracie x

Wolf Wilderness

I love wolves and huskies, so when I was asked to make a card with wolves on ... I had to do it.This is another cd card, using "My Craft Studio", it just let's you manipulate any jpeg image and I'm addicted to this program ... I recommend everyone has this program, especially if your a little pc challenged.
I designed the whole card on my pc and printed out all the sheets. I did three images in different sizes and mounted them onto silver mirror card and layered them at different angles on the base card. I used my cuttlebug to diecut scalloped nesties and do some spirelli with black cotton, to tone in with the card. I added a greeting tag to finish.
Ever since I started using "My Craft Studio", I've become quite taken with making inserts and envelopes that match the outside of the card. And I've sold a lot more too.

Love to you all.
Tracie x

Champayne Celebrations

Turning 65 ... what a milestone for this guy. I've used this layout several times ... I simply adore it, so classy for a man too.I stamped the background using brown dye ink and water coloured using whispers brush markers. I mounted this layer onto gold mirri card and then onto the black base card. I used Arty Farty's celebration bottle template, cut out all the pieces in co-ordinating colours and layered the pieces together, then I just added some quickutz stars and ribbon.

I made a quick envelope box to match, very sophisticated for the older gentleman.

Back soon, take care.
Tracie x

Dad Dig's his Shed

Today's card is for Father's Day, made especially for my father-in-law, who loves his garden. Perfect lawn (you could play bowls on it, it's that flat, green and trimmed), gorgeous flower beds, tubs, hanging baskets and a bountiful veggie patch. So I just had to make a gardening card, didn't I.
I found this gorgeous decoupage sheet and thought it suited my father-in-law brilliantly. So I cut out all the layers and decoupaged them up. I added glitter pen to the cobweb's to make them glisten and stand out, made a blue scalloped background and swiss dotted it, then cut two white clouds and layered them between the sky and the shed. The fence wasn't part of the decoupage sheet, but I found it on another and thought it went well with the shed.
Then I added a sentiment to what should have been the back of the shed and cut it to size, with a matching blue background, to make a greeting tile and added some extra pots etc and a ladybird.

Thanks for stopping by.
Tracie x

Potted Dragons

My sister came round for a cuppa and catchup on Thursday ... she ended up having a go with stamps and asked me a favour! She's a Rainbow Guide Leader and as Father's day is fast approaching and she was at a loss what to do ... could I help? ... she did however bring a gravy tub with her (you know the famous brand granules), with the idea of making it into a pen pot.So, I measured the pot up and on my pc, started to play, to see what I could come up with. I decided on some "Dustin Pike" - digi downloads, because they are generic. I didn't want to do fishing, footie or the like, as not all Dad's do the stereotypical male thing's and besides these dragon's are really cute , I'm sure the Rainbow's will love colouring them in. This project had to be easy, the Rainbow's are between 5 and 8 ... so it could'nt be anything to difficult for them to make.
So once I printed the item's out and coloured them in, I simply used double sided tape to adhere the band around the pot. Then to make the stick decoration ... I cut around the circle, then diecut two scallop nesties and mounted the image onto one of the nesties. Then I stapled the straw flat and used silicone glue (Rainbow's will be using PVA) to sandwich it between the two layers of nesties.

It turned out really cute, I hope the Rainbow's enjoy making them and they're Dads make good use of them. I'll get my sister to take some pic's of their finished pots for you to see.

Happy crafting.
Tracie x

Soccer Sensation

I don't know about everyone else but I just love school holidays! Mmmmm ... who am I fooling, the first couple of days a great and then they slowly start to become a nightmare. Now that mine are teenagers, you can imagine, boredom, bickering and the tiniest amount of friendship, the only thing they ever agree on is food and they seem to graze constantly. Well, we're half way through half term ... roll on monday!

Anyway back to today's card ...
I woke this morning to a text asking me to make a card today, for someone I work with, whose Dad's birthday is this weekend. Nothing like an urgent make to get the blood pumping.

As his Dad is a big Wolves fan and that they won promotion the the premiership next season, I thought that I would use this to my advantage. So black and orange, sorry gold and football it is ... oh dear (I'm a Birmingham City fan ... so this is gonna be fun!!).
I started by matting a piece of swiss dot green card onto black and placing on an orange base card. Then I decided on the size of the football (this one is 10cm) and cut both layers from a template in black and white and glued them together. I used quickutz grass die in two tones of green to add some depth and layered the grass and football onto the card.

For the trophy I used a decoupage sheet from "My Craft Studio" - A Carousel of Classics cd-rom set (1960's world cup trophy) and adapted it to become the Championship trophy for Wolves. I cut all the layers out, decoupaged them up and added the team colour ribbons to it ... just like the real one. Then by adding labels 2 greeting and some quickutz stars in co-ordinating colours and a few dots here and there, finished the card off perfectly.

Hope your surviving the school hols too!
Tracie x

Red Roadstar

I don't know about you but I can never bring myself to throw a card away, handmade one's I keep in a special box and shop bought cards get recycled. This card was made using a recycled card (I cut out the car/birthday greeting/star border and ...to you, from a greeting card). I made a diamond fold card using my B&M score board, added backing paper and faux stitching, with a few red peeloff stars.I made the faux stitching with a dressmakers wheel and joined the holes with a sakura pen, its amazing how similar it looks to real stitching.

Extremely simple, but I like the end result and I did a bit of recycling too, we all want to save the pennies on our craft goodies and using old cards in this way is a great way of getting toppers for free (and get the people you know to keep theirs for you too - you'll soon be over run).

Tracie x

Star Studded Champayne Celebration

Well I'm home from work and had one hell of a day, nothings gone right. So a craft fix is definitely needed.
The worse kind of card to make, one for a man that has no interests or hobbies, nightmare.

For this one I used the Arty Farty - Celebration Bottle Pattern, I decided to only use part of the pattern rather than the whole bottle.

I used dome stickers for the lettering, quickutz tag and key dies, gold mirri card, ribbon and peeloffs.

The stars (stamp was free on a magazine) were gold heat embossed onto co-ordinating card, cut out and attached to card with foam pads rather than silicone glue.

Does everyone struggle with men's cards the way I do?

Tracie x

Kurtis Kwon Do

I was asked by a friend if I could make a card for her son, who is a black belt in tae kwon do ... it threw my a little, as I've only ever seen stamps with silhouette images and I didn't really want that.
After much searching I found a picture I was able to adapt, so I redesigned the image to make it suitable for cardmaking and made decoupage layers. The image was then watercoloured, scanned into my pc and printed out, so I can use the design again.

I have a large collection of clipart cd's (40+ from my typesetting days for a printing company) and found some oriental script that fitted the theme perfectly. I printed this from my graphics program straight onto the card and onto an insert to tie the theme together.

I added a typed sentiment and matted it onto red card, used black paper strips and a faux coin to finish ... I'm pleased with the result and made my very own decoupage sheet in the process.

Tracie x

Rugby Rookie In Stitches

Good morning everyone ... well it would be if I hadn't been woken at 7.30am by the council preparing the road for resurface today. Could they possibly have been any louder? It's typical any other day I would have been up for work, but I have a later start today and would have like at least an extra hour in bed ... nevermind, back to cards.

Don't you just love this gorgeous Edwin stamp from magnolia.

He's actually the footie boy, but as the ball isnt quite symetrical I thought it would work well for rugby too ... with the help of a bit of added detail.

I stamped the background with white stayzon rugby balls. Diecut and coloured the lettering (cuttlebug Kids), the greeting (Cuttlebug small embossing folder and diecut using nesty scallop small) and the Edwin image is watercoloured and decoupaged in the colours of the team Dan plays for.

I cuttlebugged a fiskars texture plate (mosiac effect with silicone sheet), set six blue eyelets and laced with coloured paper to match lettering. I added fake stitching around the edge to simulate a rugby ball.

Tracie x

Puzzle Birthday

I find men's cards a nightmare, I mean it's OK when they play sport or have a hobby ... if not what do you do?So, I found these jigsaw puzzles at Handy Hippo, all plain white and ready to be stamped and under £4 for six, a bargain too.

So out came my waistcoat stamp and field of sky, I used black stayzon to stamp the images onto the jigsaw. Then I used watercolour pencils to colour them in. Added faux stitching around background and puzzle.

A little matting and layering, a scattering of puzzle pieces and voila, not the most genius card on the block but definitely passable.

Tracie x