Faux Stitching

Good morning everyone, no card today ... but ... I've had a request to show how I do my faux stitching!

I'm in the middle of making some superman underpants ... YES, you read right, lol. So I will take some pics as I make it and will post a tutorial, it's incredibly easy.

Thanks for the request.
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

Soapstar Superstar

Good evening everyone, I'm really late today, sorry ... I've been out in the garden with my Mum, planting (well ... I should say watching, as my back injury doesn't allow me to do any digging etc ... but I can manage a bit of weeding and of course sweeping up). Today is the first relatively cool day we've had here for over a week, so we took the opportunity to get all the summer bedding plants out, hanging baskets done and tomato plants into bigger tubs. My Mum did a fantastic job, as she always does for me ... tomorrow I'll take some pics, so you can see.

Ok, back to today's card ... I had an unusual request ... for a lady who loves Martin Kemp (member of the 80's group Spandau Ballet and Actor here in UK). I've never been asked for anything like this before, ever. So, I needed help ... luckily I have a friend who collects 80's memorabilia and she was able to send me some black and white magazine photo's of him.To make the card, I used the fact he is an actor and made a couple of film strips, placing the magazine pictures behind each clip (you can just see by the photo that some of the magazine clippings were a bit big ... but they seemed to work out Ok with a bit of jiggling about). Then on "My Craft Studio", I made a faux film set, with lighting etc and added a couple of swirls for extra details ( I also made an insert to match). I then cut a wide strip of white paper, a narrow strip of silver, punched the edges using my floral geo punch and added them onto the card, butting up the straight edges. Black organza ribbon with a bow helped to disguise the join and add extra interest.I used foam pads on the back of the film strips to raise them up and placed them on the card, the horizontal one first, then the vertical one. The small flower waste from the punch was added to the card, with tiny pale blue gems in the centres.

It turned out far better than I expected.
Thanks for stopping by.
Tracie x

Cuttlebug Update

As you all know, I injured my bug a few weeks ago (and yesterday I had a message from a gentleman called Matt, who said his wife had, had the same thing happen to her) ... after contacting Provocraft (cuttlebug manufacturer), I have a couple of suggestions.

* Provocraft guarantee the Cuttlebug for 12 months, but this only covers manufacturer defects (it does not cover any damage or defect caused in any manner after your purchase).

* The height of your cutting materials should not exceed 1/8" thick. (by running through thicker material, you risk damaging your machine and may negate the warranty).

Having said this ... to my knowledge, I've never over stressed the machine (forced something to go through). However the gears are under great stress when we run items through the machine, so it's understandable that after time these gears become weakened. My bug was nearly three and had covered a large amount of ground, I can tell you, I've made so many cards with it, that it really didn't owe me anything. I have been unable to find anywhere that sell replacement parts for the cuttlebug, I guess it's because the machine itself isn't exactly a considered purchase, say like a digital cutter.

So my hubby is going to try and make a new gear for me, whether it will work or not ... I guess we have nothing to lose. But I have to say, how lucky am I, I married an engineer, whose willing to try and save me buying a new one.

Have a great day everyone.
Tracie x