Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!

Can't believe its over two months since I last blogged.  Gosh time flies!

These last two months have been very busy with attending Xmas craft fairs selling my wares, a couple of craft classes and getting ready for Christmas.  And I am there in terms of getting ready for Christmas and have got a couple of weeks off work (don't go back until 9th January) so am looking forward to having a relaxing time with the family.

Have just been looking back at the various cards that I have made this year.  For those of you who know me, you know I am a massive fan of Tim Holtz and everything he does and I do definitely sway to his products and style when making a card if I was left to just play.  However looking back I have done quite a few various cards with all sorts of techniques for various occasions (and people) and I thought I would just post a few of these.  Enjoy!

I will also be doing some more classes at Samuel Taylors Brighouse in February and March so will need to get into action soon doing the samples.  More on this later!

Hope you all have a great Christmas!

Take Care. Tx

A circular challenge!

Hi All!
Hope you are all okay.  Been busy getting ready for half term and holidays.

I do think I am starting to get addicted to challenge blogs and here is my latest attempt at the Stamp Man Challenge blog - Circles.

Its funny how inspiration and ideas hit you.  The idea for this card started in the early hours of one morning when I was struggling to sleep.  Originally I was just going to do a circular card with circle shaped flowers, then I was looking through my Cricut Cartridge books and I came across this circle with the branches (I think it was the Story book cartridge) and then I adapted my idea.

I created the background to the card by covering a card initially with old paper distress stain.  Then clear embossed elements of TH Papillon stamps on this and then went over it with tea dye and frayed burlap distress ink.  The green circle/ branch was cut using the Cricut and then sprayed with heirloom gold perfect pearls and edged with bronze acrylic paint.  The butterfly was stamped and coloured with fired brick distress stain and then another butterfly was stamped onto acrylic with black Staz on which was stuck on top of the coloured butterfly to give an element of depth and movement (although the acetate does not show up very well on the photo...)


The flowers were great to create but a bit messy!  I tore strips of canvas (from a roll) and coloured them with distress stains (wild honey and spiced marmalade) and then dried them - this is important otherwise they won't stick while wet (believe me I know!!!).  The canvas is then twisted and stuck on to a small round piece of card.  It is a bit fiddly I have to confess but I love working with canvas.

The card was assembled and then voila!!

Hope you like it.

Bye for now! Tx

The card was assembled

Samples galore!

Hi everyone.  I always say I am busy don't I.  Well I am with working and doing the crafting thing.  Have spent the days off from my 'proper job' (this is how my parents refer to it!) over the last few weeks finishing off the samples for my craft classes at Samuel Taylors in Brighouse.  Oh I did take a little time out to play with the new seasonal distress ink colours of course and made a cool halloween tag (Not taken a photo of this yet but will do and post!).

Thanks to all the ladies who came to see me demo on Saturday at ST's in Brighouse - it was really lovely to meet you all.  It means a lot to me that some of you gave up spending time in the glorious weather to sit and watch me - and for some of you that was 3+ hours.  That takes some stamina to listen to me prattle on for all that time!

So back to my crafting....As you will see I now have my Stamp Man Blinkie on my blog - chuffed to bits that I came in their top five for their monochrome challenge blog!  See 19 September post for my successful offering.

What have been working on.  Well first I did my Xmas configuration box:

The first pic is not very clear but you will get the idea.  I am particularly proud of my angel!

Next I made Christmas cards:

And then I made some calendar wall hangings:

All these are classes I'm doing over the next few months at Samuel Taylors.

Told you I have been busy!
Bye for now
Tx

So excited!

Look what arrived from the USA this morning! Yooooo hhhoooooo!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Another challenge!

Hi All!  Have been working on my samples for my classes over the last couple of weeks as well as doing the odd birthday card here and there....but more of those in a later blog.  Last weekend went to Harrogate for a class at Art from the Heart and also the Harrogate paper craft show.  Broke the piggy bank again and spent an absolute fortune at Art from the Heart which is an absolutely fab place!  I also bought a couple of raffle tickets from there ... and guess what I won!   But not only once but twice!  And what did I win but some Tim Holtz goodies(which is better than a cauliflower - private joke for my Facebook buddies ;-)! ).  So am eagerly awaiting the end of the week for Mr Postman to deliver these!!!  Was so excited when I found out as I never win anything  (apart from the Snow White colouring competition when I was 11!)

I have also realised that I could get a bit addicted to these blog challenges and below is my latest attempt at the Stamp Man Challenge blog: Monochrome and one other colour.  What do you think?

I have used some of the IndigoBlu stamps again to create the background and the main image - I really love these stamps.  I have also coloured some seam binding for the ruffle using distress stains.  Hope you like it!

Bye for now! T

Travel time....

Hi Everyone.

Hope you are all well and apologies for not blogging for nearly a month again.  Need to get into the routine of putting fingers to the keyboard more regularly!

Well last day of the school hols tomorrow - gosh seven weeks has flown by - an age thing I guess!  I've had the last week off with the little one and it has been great to spend some time with her.  I have said we can do whatever she wants tomorrow so it should be interesting.

As life returns to some routine and normality I can get to spend more time in the craft room which is great as I have some more classes coming up over the next couple of months and I need to get the samples done.

However the little one and myself have spent sometime this week crafting; she has been making bookmarks using various stamps and I have been making a wall hanging with a travel theme using some of the IndigoBlu stamps.  I have made a few of these wall hangings now and I really enjoy doing them.

This one uses the fabulous distress inks (of course!), some stamping and embossing and a bit of acrylic paint around the edges here and there.  And I have managed to find a new way to use paper clips...can you see?  And a little bit of film strip to finish off!

It was also a bit of a coincidence that 'travel' was the theme for the The Stamp Man Challenge Blog.  I have been meaning to have a go at this for sometime so it was the perfect opportunity....

Gosh just noticed its pitch black outside and it is not even 9 o'clock yet.   Autumn/ winter on its way...


Bye for now! Tx

Long time no blog!

Well its been a very long time since my last blog!  Time just whizzes by!  But I do have a good excuse - holiday in Disneyland Paris a few weeks ago and to be honest we are just back to normal (well as normal as it can be with a little person being on school holidays!) I am just surfacing from a mountain of washing and ironing at last...

The week in Disneyland was absolutely fabulous.  Would have loved to have gone to Florida but wanted to check the little one liked Mickey Mouse and co before we spent the big dollars getting to the States.  Anyway she does so in the next couple of years hopefully I will get my dream holiday.  Have wanted to go to the (proper) Disneyland since I was about four!

Five full days there crammed with rides (and the queues) photos with the characters (yes even me!) and lots of food.  Was really sad to leave and get back to reality...

Have hit the craft room in a big way this week not only tidying it up but spending some time making a few cards as I have a stall at the Halifax Agricultural show on Saturday 13th August and have more classes at Samuel Taylors starting in September so have some samples to do.

So life is very busy once again...

Bye for now
Tx

Busy Again!

Hi All!
Have had a busy week what with finishing off cards that people have asked me to do for them, doing the piece for the Creative Expressions competition as well as getting organised for my class that was held yesterday.

These are a couple of the cards that I have done this week:

Thanks to all the ladies that came on the class yesterday especially the two that came all the way from Scunthorpe - hope you had a safe journey back!  The class made a mini book using various Tim Holtz techniques.  

I hope you all enjoyed it; you all smiled for the camera anyway.  I wonder if I will ever run a class where the table is neat and tidy!

Have a bit of a summer break now for the craft classes and have August off!  Really looking forward to a bit of breathing space and the chance to 'play' with all my crafting stuff and not have to worry about samples for  a while.  But will I get the chance as the summer holidays approach and a certain little person will need to be entertained....

Bye for now!

Creative Expressions Calling Card Challenge

1. Using cream acrylic paint cover a 14” x 10” canvas.  You may need to apply two or three coats of paint to ensure that the canvas is covered.  Using tea dye and vintage photo distress ink, over stamp the acrylic paint using script and crackle stamps to give some interest to the background; I used  Creative Expressions ‘Texture’ stamps.

2. Put tissue tape around the edges of the canvas and colour slightly by rubbing this over with tea dye distress ink; distress ink can be applied using a blending tool or cut and dry foam.  Then stamp some swirls (Ecogreen Crafts ‘Embellishing Flourishes’) onto the tissue tape edging overlapping onto the canvas in some places using tea dye distress ink.

3.With the swirl stamp inked ready with Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad, triple emboss the corners of the canvas with blue embossing UTEE (Blonde Moments ‘Savoury Sky’) and stamp into the UTEE while still hot with the swirl stamp.  Once this has cooled, rub Inca Gold (Blue - 914) into the stamped area; this highlights the stamped image.

4. The bouquet of flowers is made from various layers of flowers assembled together.  The flowers are made using various techniques:

1. Metal flowers: Colour a silver coloured metal sheet (from Ten Seconds Studio) using alchohol inks (Stream and Stonewashed).  Cut flower shapes out of this sheet using the Cuttlebug and flower dies (Paper Artsy ‘Grunge Flowers’ and ‘Grunge Flowers No. 2 & 3’).  The flowers were edged using a Metal Roller Texture Tool.
2. Grunge paper flowers: Cut flowers from grunge paper using the Tattered Floral Die (Tim Holtz) and colour with distress ink (weathered wood and tumbled glass) using a blending tool or cut and dry foam.  Stamp over some of the flowers using the swirl stamp using Ancient Page Ink.
3. Kraft Glassine flowers: Cut flowers from kraft glassine using the Tattered Floral Die again.  Scrunch some of these up so that they are well creased, unfold and then apply mica powder/ perfect pearls.  Heat very quickly with a heat gun so that the mica powder is absorbed by the kraft glassine’s coating. Stamp the remainder of the kraft glassine flowers using various script stamps in black ink (I used script stamps from Tim Holtz ‘Mini Ornates’ and Paper Artsy ‘Hot Picks 1006’).  Again heat these flowers quickly so that the ink is absorbed into the kraft glassine’s coating.

Assemble the layers of the flowers in different combinations and stick a button in the centre or a brad; I used glossy accent for the sticking.

5. Spray some string with Adirondack Colour Wash ‘Meadow’, dry and plait; these will be the stems of the bouquet. Tie a ribbon around the string to give the appearance of a hand tied bouquet.  This ribbon is made out of two pieces of Tissue Tape stuck together and coloured with vintage photo and sprayed lightly with Perfect Pearls Mist ‘Heirloom Gold’.

6. Cut ‘Elegant Flourshes’ (Tim Holtz Die) out of grunge paper and colour with bundled sage distress ink and spray lightly with the Perfect Pearls Mist; these will be the ‘sprigs’ dotted throughout the bouquet.  

7. Assemble the ‘stems’ and the flowers on the canvas and stick down using glossy accents.

8. For the Calling Card, stamp (with Versamark) script text (Tim Holtz stamp) onto an ATC and emboss using clear embossing powder.  Once cool, apply weathered wood distress ink all over the card and vintage photo around the edges.  Put a piece of paper over the card and apply a medium hot iron to this piece of scrap paper and iron over the ATC.  The embossing powder melts and is removed from the ATC when the paper is removed.  

Stamp a greeting on the ATC; I stamped “Flowers by tmw” - tmw are my intials!  Stamp the swirl around the edges and finish off by applying a metal flower and leaf embellishment coloured with alcohol inks.  Affix to the ‘hand tied bouquet’ with a Tim Holtz Memo Pin.

Samples as promised!

Hi All!
Thank you to all the ladies (and a few gentleman!) that came to my demonstration of die cutting and embossing on Saturday at Samuel Taylor, Brighouse.  It was a really enjoyable day and was really busy!  I hope those who visited enjoyed it too!  I must admit I was absolutely shattered by the end of the day but luckily I had a lovely evening out at friends so it was the perfect way to relax!

As promised to those attending, I said I would put some photos of my samples on the blog just to remind you of the techniques.  I must apologise for the quality of the photos as they are a bit dark; not sure why as lights and flash on - maybe the camera is suffering with the heat too!

Anyway here you go:

If anyone wants to know further details please do not hesitate to get in touch!

Hope this gives some inspiration! 

Tracy

Rain rain go away!

Hi Everyone
I have the morning off work today, so decided to spend my time doing the other 'job' - crafting!  Have just finished off my samples for my demonstration at Samuel Taylor, Brighouse on Saturday 25th June.  Have also just finished off a wedding card for one of my colleagues at work who is getting married tomorrow: Congratulations Michelle and Neil!  So I am really looking forward to attending the evening reception and celebrating!  Only soft drinks though with me demoing the next day ;-)  This is the card I have just finished for them:

I have also spent all morning keeping an eye on the weather - our great British summer!  It is the little ones sport's day this afternoon and big 50th celebrations at the school and really don't want the weather to ruin it!  So waterproofs on hand!

I will post some piccies of the samples I have made but not taken the photos of them yet.

Bye for now! xxxx

A very busy weekend!

Phew - ready for sleep I think!  Its been a very busy weekend: work, family and fun!  Yesterday I was teaching a morning and afternoon class at Samuel Taylor, Brighouse; finished that at 4pm and then after a quick stop at home off to Hyde for our friends 50th birthday party!  Not too late a night as the little one was with us but it was lovely - especially the wine and the food and of course the company!  Happy 50th Steve!

Today after a quick run  it was off to the craft show at Doncaster Dome.  I really was determined not too spend too much - ha ha!  Well of course there was some Tim Holtz goodies that I saw and just had too have.  The Kraft Glassine was what I really wanted and managed to get it so no doubt will be having a bit of a play with this this week!  

Being so close to home (well I say home - home in terms of where I grew up), we spent the rest of the day at Mum and Dads after a lovely lunch at the Charnwood Hotel - brings back many memories as it is where we had our wedding reception all those years ago!

This evening I have had a bit of a rearrange of my craft room in order to fit in all of today's purchases.  I have even sorted out all my unmounted stamps (which I have been meaning to do for the last 6 months) into appropriate boxes and labelled them all!  I feel very pleased with myself!

Another busy few weeks ahead.  I have got to finish the samples for my next class (Tim Holtz day on 9th July at Samuel Taylor- already fully booked) plus I am doing a demo day a week on Saturday - not even thought about the samples for that yet!  Plus working the normal day job!

Its time for bed I think....

Some time for family...

Well been meaning to blog for sometime now but not seem to have got the chance!  Just got back from holiday yesterday - we spent the week in a motorhome touring the Lake District.  Yes the motorhome (below) was hired and named Jeanette!?!   So she looked after us for a week.  Weather was a bit mixed but it was nice to have some time together as a family.  Quality family time!

But back to normality now and a busy few weeks ahead.  We have the Shibden Hall craft show this weekend (4th and 5th June) and then I am teaching another craft class next weekend at Samuel Taylors at Brighouse.  The class will involve making two cards using acetate and apertures (see below) with Magnolia Tilda Stamps.

Well better sign off for now as got a few last minute things to do for the craft show!

Bye for now.  

A time for 'firsts'!

Well I thought it would be good to start my first blog about my first craft class!  A time for 'firsts'!  The class was on Sunday 15th May 2011 at Samuel Taylors at Brighouse (West Yorkshire) using the Magnolia Tilda stamps using various techniques including stamping, masking, embossing and using dies on the cuttlebug, as well as making bow corsages with the Bowdabra.  Thank you to the ladies who attended - hope you enjoyed it.  I know I loved it although it was a big relief to get my first class completed.  Not really nervous but anxious that it would go okay and that everyone would enjoy it!



The sample cards I produced for the class are below.  The two A5 cards with same Tilda image were aimed at showing how using the same stamp and sizes of paper/cardstock could produce two very different cards.  The square card shown used embossing techniques and used the same patterned paper for Tilda's blouse as that of the background paper.

At the moment busy preparing for Shibden Hall craft fair that is taking place on 4th and 5th June.  I have a stall there selling my cards.  My husband will also be selling his handmade wood turned pens along with other bits and pieces so if you are in the area pop in and see us!

Bye for now - back to card making and lunch!
Tracy x 20th May 1pm