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

Anya Antics

I made this card for my friends daughter who was turning fifteen ... a cute card but not childish was in order and Miss Anya suited this criteria perfectly. I stamped her several times with black stayzon and coloured her with whispers brush markers. Then I cut out the layers to make my own decoupage.Some gorgeous papers for the matting and layering, some fabulous little silk flowers, I found at a market, a die cut scallop circle with some dinky sweet gems glued down in swirls. Finally I used chipboard letters coloured pink to match the card covered in crystal lacquer.

A sweet card for an extra sweet teenager.

Back soon.
Tracie x

Mother ... Like No Udder

I love this card, made for mother's day, but they didn't want flowers on the card but a farm animal. Unusual I know, but so much fun to play with.

The card was stamped using "Kanban - wobbler's" stamps, a great little set with matching paper pad, but for this card i made my own background by stamping the image several times with distress ink and water colouring them. Then I stamped and coloured the main image several times and cut out decoupage layers, built the image up and matted it into a nesty scallop circle, inside a circle cut out in brown card with a border punched along the right edge. Then i was just a case of adding ribbon and a peeloff butterfly.

Different, I'll admit, but O what fun.
Happy crafting and have a great weekend.
Tracie x

Misty Magic

Made to thank my hubby's Auntie for having us for lunch Christmas day. Her pedigree kitty called Misty looks just like this cat stamp, so I took a photo of her, to make sure I was colouring her the right colours, which I did with whispers brush markers on watercolour card, stamped with stayzon.

I added some tiny gems to the flowers, punched the main card with a "Martha Stewart" border punch, with a couple of layers on top, punched with a photo corner to slide the photo into. I added some ribbon and bows. Incredibly simple, but I love it.

Tracie x

Candle Celebrations

I made this candle set for my sister's birthday in January.I diecut a spellbinders scallop & plain circles, stamped a "sarahkay" image into the plain circle and coloured her in with whispers brush pens. For the band around the candle I cut to rectangles and border punched each long edge and layered them on top of each other. I attached the band around the candle with silicone glue. Then I glued the stamped image to the band and used prima flowers, some ribbon and a plastic greeting tile.I made a box to match and decorated it with curly ribbon.

*Remember to stick a label on the box telling the recipient
to remove decoration ... if they wish to burn the candle.*
back soon.
Tracie x

Washer Wearables

Good afternoon ladies, today I'm going to show you the necklaces I made as Christmas gifts. They were really easy. I purchased some boshers, stamped them with black stayzon, added gems, then sprayed them with gloss varnish. Then I added some beads on wire, wrapped around the bosher itself. For the necklace above I used a brad buddy for a different look. Then to finish I used silk cord and silver plated findings.

Hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Tracie x

Sweetest First Kiss

I love Sarah Kay stamps, they take me back to my childhood. This stamp "first kiss" is so sweet, perfect for any age and many occasions.

I wanted to keep this card muted with a splash of a bright colour. I stamped the image with black stayzon and coloured it using whispers brush pens, then I embossed around the image with a gorgeous template I had cheap during a craft sale in my local store (it had no packaging ... so I don't know the manufacturer). I lightly tinted the embossing with pale green chalk, just to high light the embossing and then mounted it onto brown card and cut a thin border, just to lift the white from the cream layer beneath it. It isn't very clear on the pic, but the cream layer has been stamped with pale green hearts.I added a ready made greeting and pearly hearts from my stash. Used organza ribbon across the card, with a bow to match. The large flower is a poinsettia (a digi download from "fred she said"), but in this colour I think it can be used for any occasion. I shaped the flower with a ball tool, sprayed it with "crafter's companion" - silver glitter spray and used white seed beads in the centre. Punched some brown leaves, green branches and tiny white flowers and decorated around the card to add more interest.I think it turned out OK, it's maybe a little overworked ...
I've always had a problem knowing when to stop.

Happy crafting ladies.
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

Pocket Full Of Makeup

Morning everyone ... I've made this card for a friend to give her niece on her 13th birthday, the concept was ... she loves jeans and makeup, but she only wears black and red. That in itself caused a problem, as you know it's not always easy to make a card from just two colours. So I decided I needed to add white and grey and try and keep it as grungy, yet young as possible.I found some fresh papers and grunged the edges with black chalk and cut three mats and layers and arranged them randomly on the card. I then stamped a jean pocket on grey with black ink and added red hearts and brads with a pocket label with her name on. I made a large tag to go inside the pocket and decorated it with quickutz makeup dies in colours to match card.

Then I just added co-ordinating flowers and ribbons to finish. I just hope she likes it.

Have a great day, everyone.
Tracie x

Roses For Mother

Ok, yes I realise Mother's Day has come and gone, but with my pc problems, their better late than never, I say!

I purchased this stamp at a craft fair it was in a bargain bin and cost me £1.20, what a bargain.
I stamped them onto watercolour card and coloured with watercolour pencils. I tried to keep them as delicate as I could as I wanted the cards to look light, fresh and romantic looking. I ran round the edge with an ink pad to match the colour of the rose and mounted onto silver mirri.
Then I simply made a swiss dot layer with three co-ordinating gems and organza ribbon bows.
I hope you can see the light and fresh effect I got from the pics.

Thanks for stopping by
Tracie X

Spring Milly

Milly's back, this time I wanted to make it look like you were looking through a woodland into a clearing. So I stamped Milly and coloured her with Whispers brush pens, then I cut two mounts (one green and one cream and used a nesty for the aperture) and cuttlebug embossed the cream layer and tinted the edges with mauve ink.

I punch loads of ash branches in two shades of green and glued them to the back of the cream mount, then glued the green and cream mount together. I placed the mount over the milly image to align it and taped it in place, then glued the whole lot to the card base.
I finished by adding some paper flowers etc and a greeting.

Tracie x

Playful Kitty

Well, April turned out to be a nightmare on the pc front, it totally put me off my stride and I have so many cards to show you because of it, never mind eh!

Ok I purchased this stamp at Hobbycraft, I just couldn't resist it, it's so sweet.I stamped the image onto water colour card with stayzon and coloured it with water colour pencils (both wet and dry to add extra detail). Mounted it onto black card and silver mirri using photo corner punch. I stamped the base card with dandelions and coloured them with a red sakura gel pen. I added paper flowers with brad centres and leone em ash punch branches, with a giant red bow to finish.I can't wait to try different colour kitties, I did this one grey because we have a grey cat (called Misty ... very original) and he chases anything that buzzes.

Back later
Tracie x

Pink Gem Babies

Have you all seen the new baby stamps by Janet at Pink Gem Designs? They are so cute!

And as my nephew and his girlfriend are getting ever closer to their due date, they were ideal for me to make ready for the new arrival.

Do I sound excited? ... because I simply can't wait!For the baby boy card, I stamped the image onto stripy paper and cut out. I then stamped several images onto white paper and used whispers brush pens to colour it in. I then cut them out and decoupaged the layers.

I used the same stripy paper for the matting and layering and added some nautical embellishments I had lying around, I mounted the stamped image onto a nestability scalloped circle and added a greeting and a couple of buttons to finish.
For the baby girl card, I did exactly the same but used border punches and peeloffs for the matting and layering. And flowers with gem centres on the wheels rather than buttons.

How can anyone resist these little cuties ... I certainly couldn't, lol.

Tracie x

Get Well Milly - Feeling Blue

I love Milly, did you guess, lol.

On this card I used silver thread to stitch around the outside of the mat and to do some spirelli behind milly herself. I drew a background of flowers and grass for milly to stand on. I added white 1" organza ribbon with bow, blue silk flowers with some ash branch's.I tore around the matting to age it and did the same with the silver mirri card. I mounted the whole thing onto a white card, with baby blue swirls stamped onto it. the daisy backing paper is by papermania.Tracie x

Badgers Set

I thoroughly enjoyed designing this card, restricting myself to three colours, the decoupage was a little tricky to cut, but think the end result was well worth it.I matted and layered the decoupage on black and white card. Added hydrangea and prima flowers with fancy brads, some narrow black ribbon with a double tag. I punched some teeny flowers and added them onto the decouage for extra dimension and finished the card with a black ribbon bow. I completed the card by stamping and colouring the insert and envelope to match.Time for a cuppa, back later.

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

Dahlia Medallions

I first saw this technique on SCS, it's a variation of teabag folding (called dahlia fold), its done with circles rather than squares and is relatively easy to do, once you get the hang of it. Its a maximum effect for minimal work.

I finished the card by stamping flowers and field of sky on the base card, added a tag, ribbon and prima flowers with gem centres.

Below a couple of variations of the dahlia fold.

Things to do ... be back later.

Tracie x

Ruby Roses

This card was made for the a lady I work with to give to her hubby on their ruby wedding anniversary which made it a little more difficult to do ... men just don't do romance do they!

I went with masuline colours, obviously, but just did several layers of matting and layering of different colours and textures ... didn't want anything to pretty, but it still needed to be romantic.I added thick chunky knotted ribbon with beaded strung hearts, an entwined set of hearts (quickutz) mounted on gold mirri card and cut out, with a handmade rose embellishment and gold peeloff sentiment. With a matching personalised pillow box.

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

Get Well Milly

Yes another Milly, I know, I have a problem ... I love Milly.

She has been stamped with stayzon and coloured with whispers brush pens, I added glitter to the flower, the bows in her hair and on her boots. For the card I used a papermania design paper, stamped over the top with whispers dye ink pad in port wine with 'field of sky' stamp, just to define the edge of the paper. Added pink narrow ribbon, prima flowers with gold bead cap and a dark pink brad, with a couple of tiny paper flowers and punched ash branches.I used a heart shaped plastic tag, with the greeting 'with love' on, I attached the tag to the card with clear thread, so that it can dangle freely.

Tracie x