Wishing you a Happy New Year xxxx

 To all my lovely followers and visitors to my Crafty blog I would like to wish a Happy new year for tomorrow  , may your Bank balance be fat and your bottoms be small, not the other way round like mine was last year!!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM TRACEY ANNE DESIGNS

Here's a card for you all

 

Two of my favourite Characters from Crafter's Companion  S.W.A.L.K.  are having their new years party tonight and like most of us they are are having a crafty glass of fizz while preparing the food for the evening .

 

 

 

They were printed out from the S.W.A.L.K. Collectors box set , Digital Stamp Library CD-Rom and  were coloured with Spectrum Noir Alcohol Pens, There are over 60 digital stamps in JPEG and PDF form to choose from and if you are really clever you can resize them in your Craft Artist programmes . The box set also includes the paper crafting collection and the new S.W.A.L.K Pawfect pals.

 Check them out over at the Crafters Companion website and keep an eye out for my cards during their hours on the 'Create and Craft' TV Show, Channel 36 on Freeview, Freesat 813 and Sky 671, next month as I will be working on their design team for the next 3 months , whoop whoop!!

 

Back to the card

and inside the party's started and they are looking fabulous in their party outfits ...

 

 

 love to you all, THANK YOU to all my followers for your support and kind words and hopefully you will join me again in the new year , I will try not to disappoint you guys, and  have a fabulous time tonight and one last time ..

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FOR  2013

....

Happy Anniversary..

Hi folks,

4 days to go and the clocks ticking to Christmas, you will be pleased to know the world didn't end at 11am this morning and the Mayans are now celebrating their first official April Fools Day!! (apologies to any Mayans reading this , we all have our off days!!)

Happy Anniversary to my friends Jenny and Ray who celebrated their 22nd year together this month. Here's a card dedicated to them, I wish them many more years of happiness together xx

There is nothing more romantic then a December wedding in my view and if I ever do it again then that's my month of choice , and lets face it you can't rely on sunshine in June or July in Britain any more, the last wedding I went to was in June and it rained most of the day!! so you might as well have it in the winter at least you have a rough idea what to expect weather wise!!

This is a really simple card style to make if you have the right dies. Spellbinders have a fabulous range and I have used labels 20 cut from white Centura Pearl card stock which has also been run through a embossing folder for the base and Persain motifs for the star on which the flowers and foliage are mounted. The flower and leaves can be recreated using a Kreaxion's flower die set they were coloured with a Tim Holt's ink pad 'Worn Lipstick' Pink and edged with Silver stickles glitter glue

 

The butterflies were cut from a Cheery lynn die in Silver Holographic card and then doubled up to give dimension

All this has been mounted onto a doily cut in 2 halves and a white scalloped base card . Decorate the corners with a pink dew drop and add a 'Happy Anniversary' peel off sticker in the top corner  and there is your finished Anniversary card xx

I would like to enter the following Challenges
FlutterbyWednesday Challenge 219#
Divas by Design Challenge 66#
The Papershelter Challenge 93# Anything Goes
NutCrackers Challenge 33# Sparkle and bling
Crafty Sentiments Challenge- All that Glitters

I'm not sure if I will have a chance to blog again this side of Crimbo, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A FABULOUS NEW YEAR , Sending love and Seasons to all my followers and Visitors to my blog and a Huge thank you for all your kind comments over the last 9 months xxx

Dutch Iris Card Tutorial

well only 7 days to Christmas now, we will all be tucking into our Turkey or nut roasts this time next week, so time to start thinking about the new year, here's a really easy card to get you in the mood for spring,

The stamp is from the Heartfelt Creations range Dutch Iris Blossom 3 Collection and is called Dutch Iris frame stamp.

you will need

White card
Black card
7'' x 6'' Card Blank
Heartfelt Creations Dutch Iris Frame Stamp
Black versamark pad
Silver embossing powder
Blue and Green Alcohol Pens
Gold cosmic shimmer mica powder
Blue cosmic shimmer mica powder
Clingfilm
Silver border peel offs
Tim Holt's Distress ink pad Broken China

Step 1
Take some white card and stamp your image onto it with a black versamark pad then cover the stamped image with silver embossing powder , melt the powder and leave to cool for a moment when your image has cooled you can colour it in
I used Spectrum Noirs on the project
Blues TB1, TB5, TB7
Greens CG2, DG2

Step 2
When you have coloured your image, cut away all the white card and mount onto some black card then onto some white card that has been dusted with around the edges with your Tim Holts Broken China blue.
I have stamped the sentiment again with black versamark and embossed that with gold and silver embossing powder and then cut out and layered on top. I also edged this with Broken China blue

Step 3
Take a piece of black card slightly bigger than the white card you just mounted your image on and cut into 4 equal rectangles then take some of your Gold and Blue mica powders ( you only need a little bit) and add a little water to them so they become paint, do this on a tile or plate not straight into the pot!!

Step 4
Scrunch up your clingfilm into a loose ball and dab this into the colours and then dab lightly all over your black card, I went with gold first and then blue, just keep going till you are happy with the look then leave to dry for a few minutes

Step 5
Mount your now painted rectangles onto some white card which has been dusted again with Tim Holts Broken China and border the edges with silver peel off borders. Mount onto black card again and then onto your card blank.

All products highlighted can be found over at J and C Creations website why not pop over and check them out now xx

'Put some heart into it' Pine Jewellery box

Hi folks, hope you are all well and excited as I am for the forthcoming holidays , Santa's had my wish list and has promised me some new Pastel Spectrum Noirs for Christmas. If he's a smart Bunnie he'll pop over to the Crafters Companion website as they are on offer at the moment any 4 sets of 6 packs for £25 or 2 sets of 24 packs for £35 I'm hoping he'll visit their site but be so impressed by the offer he'll get me all 4 sets of 24!!, I plan to leave my membership number by the PC so he can get even more discount on them. Of course he could just get me a new kettle like last year, if hes feeling really brave!!

Anyway back to today's project which is my little pine jewellery box ,



When we were on a break visiting family last week we popped into a little garden centre just outside Gt Yarmouth in Norfolk , It was full of the usual garden paraphernalia and Christmas decorations but tucked in a corner was a shelf full of little pine boxes , While Santa hubby wasn't looking, several of this items (pine chests, boxes and birdhouses) fell accidentally into my trolley as each item was only a few pounds each they slid 'under the wire' through the tills and travelled home with us....

Here's my first project and how it was made

Heart Shaped Jewellery Box
 you will need ....

A plain pine chest
White Acrylic Paint
White Tissue paper
Tim Holt's Aged mahogany ink pad
Tim Holt's fired brick ink pad
black versamark ink pad
Clear embossing powder
Gold mica powder
Mini Stamps
Paper roses and flowers
Gold card candies
Paper butterflies


Step 1
 Take a plain pine chest and cover it with strips of  tissue paper and watered down PVA glue , cover the entire front and sides of chest . when it is dry coat the box with watered down pva again and leave to dry again. This makes painting and stamping easier. Paint your chest white. If you have any lumpy bits of paper you can always sand these off gently with some fine sandpaper before painting.  Paint inside and out and leave to dry.
when this has completely dried, rub over the chest with your Tim Holts Red Fired Brick distressing ink

Step 2

 Take your now red-pinky-white base chest and dab with gold mica paint, I like to use  crumpled up cling film to dab mine on with as it gives a subtle but great effect

Step 3
when your gold mica paint has dried, go stamp crazy with your mini stamps. I used a set I found in a bargain bucket for 10p , they have a Paris theme which I really liked. I stamped mine with a Tim Holt's Aged Mahogany ink pad and black versa mark and then embossed over the top with clear embossing powder and a heat gun to seal the prints, be careful not to over heat your project as the paper may lift or even burn so take a little care when embossing !!



Step 4
Add some gold card candies onto the front of your box and punch out a couple of gold hearts for the drawer knobs, add some paper flowers and butterflies to finish

My butterflies had been made in advance they were made from black card that had been stamped with a clear versa mark and then heat embossed with seasalt white embossing powder and then punched out using a Martha Stewart butterfly punch . Then they were embossed with clear thick embossing powder to give them more of an enamelled look . I added some lilac gems down the middle of each for the bodies.. Now I just have to decide who's going to find it under their Christmas tree this year , maybe I'll keep this one for me..

I hope this has inspired you to try a project of your own , good luck and thanks for popping over to visit my blog .

 Click on highlighted items to find where you can purchase them and please feel free to leave comments, I love to know if you like what I'm doing or not!!

 I would like to enter my Jewellery Box in the following challenges 

Creative moments Challenge #6 Anything but a card

Divas by Design Challenge #65 Use some Red

FlutterbywednesdayChallenge- Anything Goes but must have a butterfly!!

Tissue Box Tuesday Alchemy Challenge 44#

Hi everybody,



Thanks for popping over and checking out the blog this morning , Today we are joining Tuesday Alchemy for their weekly crafting challenge and this week its Challenge 44# 'Anything goes'  A huge thank you goes out to our sponsors SASSY STUDIO DESIGNS who have very kindly put up 4 digital images as this weeks prize




To make my Tissue box you will need

Tissue box template
Sassy Studio Designs 'Snowman Pinup' image
spectrum Noirs
Fleur de lis rectangles spellbinders die.
spellbinder die create a flake 3
spellbinders layered poinsettia set
spellbinders labels twenty die
pink pearls
Tim holts Distressing inks
peel off borders and corners
lace
Pink and gold mica paint



Here's my Contribution , its a sassy tissue box cover, complete with snowflakes and lace!! The tissue box blank kit was made using a template these can be found on the Internet but I purchased mine as a template kit from J and C Creations warehouse, They are on sale at the moment, inside you will get a template and around 20 different sheets of coloured card to make your boxes up , why not check out the  website for more bargains or pop down and visit their unit on one of their open days ...


The images have been coloured with promarkers and spectrum Noirs and glittered on the highlights, then cut out in an oval. I've added some gold peel offs around the edge and matted onto a Fleur de lis rectangles spellbinders die that had been lightly inked on the edges with red and green Tim holts Distressing inks, I did 4 one for each side so the front view matches the back

The blank box was painted pink and then dabbed with some gold mica paint using clingfilm. This technique is easy and affective

The snowflakes have been cut from another spellbinder die create a flake 3 and topped with a gold paper candie and the poinsettias are cut from spellbinders layered poinsettia set  in snow white vellum and embossed with some veins on them for interest then I popped a pink pearl in the centre.

The top of the tissue box has been embossed through the cuttle bug inside an embossing folder and added after a aperture had been cut in the middle of it with yet another die spellbinders labels twenty die , Anyone who visits my blog on a regular basis will know I rarely make a card or project without a spellbinders die in there somewhere!!

Add some Snowflakes in the corners on top of your tissue box cover. Trim your box with some lace for a pretty finish and then pop your completed cover over your tissue box.

All items highlighted can be purchased at J and C Creations Website, Digi images at Sassy Studio Designs 
and Spectrum Noirs at Crafters Companion

I will be entering this project in the following Challenges
Artistic Inspirations Anything goes Challenge #19
Crafty boots Challenge - Christmas
Cupcake craft challenge #222-Merry Christmas
Paper Pretties Monday Challenge-PPM69
My Grafico Challenge #149- Anything goes
Love to create challenge#45 Anything Goes

Crazy Christmas Capers...

 Well back from Norfolk and what a landing , I'm still black and blue from pinching myself after hearing I'd won the 7th birthday Challenge at the  Crafter's Companion Challenge blog To be picked out by Sara and leann  over a hundred other entries is mind blowing , looks like my Christmas has come early.

The weekend started well with our trip out to Sussex on Sunday to join all the other mad motorcyclists dropping off toys at the Golden lions hall for  the children's home. They organise a Christmas party for the kids in January and at the end the 'Real Santa' comes in and gives them their presents . Our costumes went down a treat with the locals, everyone was waving at us as we rode though the villages and eventually 120 bikes and bikers arrived at gatwick Manor,to swap gifts for hot coffee and mince pies!! The haul of toys was huge, so the kids are going to have a great time this year. This weekend we are doing it all again and I'm dressing as a Reindeer!! If you would like to see all the photos check out my 'Things with Wheels' page at the top of the blog!!

 The trip to my family's went well and was not as eventful as the journey home, One minute I'm jumping up and down on the side of the A12 with joy after chatting with the lovely Leann Chivers, next minute I'm helping Paul fix the blow-out on the back tyre on the side of the road in lewisham!!

Anyway back to reality  now so here's a Project I made for our friends over at J AND C CREATIONS  Why not pop over sometime and join in this months Challenge Floral Delights





Take a blank card base 14 x 14cm and cover with stripey pattered paper then matt and layer some white card onto some black and mount this onto the stripey paper at an angle, Decorate with border peel offs and paper candie, Add some torn patterned paper embossed the edge of the paper with Gold embossing powder and melt. Cut out a spellbinders Lattice rectangles die cut from gold card and and place on top of some torn pattern paper

Now you will need to stamp your image ,

I used a 'Bella Rose Scroll' Rubber Stamp set from the Heartfelt Creations Range  why not check out the large range of Bella Rose stamps over at the J and C Creations website.

 

Colour the Scroll with watercolour pencils and put a light red wash on the edges of the scroll, The rose was coloured the same way with oranges and yellows and greens and yellows on the foliage and then cut out and glittered with Stampendous gold halo glitter, Stamp the sentiment 'Thinking of you' in Versamark and then cover in gold Embossing powder and melt.

This has been mounted onto more torn patterned paper and some melted Angel's Hair. This is then mounted onto the decorated Square.

 

I like this stamp a lot as the top of the scroll is blank and you can put in any sentiment you like, from Happy Birthday to Deepest Sympathy, a very versatile stamp to have..

 

Items used

White Card blank

Bella Rose Scroll Stamp

spellbinders Lattice rectangles

Versa mark

Stampendous Halo Glitter

watercolour pencils

Patterned and stripey paper

Paper candies

Gold card

Gold Angel Hair

Gold dotty border peel offs

All items highlighted can be found over at the J and C Creations Website xx

 

Tracey Anne xx

Inspired By Stamping Challenge - GD Spot

Hi everyone ,

well today's the day I play at been a 'Guest Designer' over at Inspired by stamping's Challenge blog. I won Octobers challenge which was to create a card from a photo inspiration my colours were Blue, Silver and Gold and I entered my Reindeer Card and they were so impressed I won first Prize. I won some wonderful Vintage Frame Stamps and they invited me to do a Guest Designer spot this month for them!!

 This months Challenge is a photo inspiration Challenge, the photo to your right with the beautiful baubles is there to inspire you to create a card or project of your own using these colours, Red, Cream and Purple, So pop over and join in the fun at their Challenge blog and enter your creation, Good luck to you all and I hope you win something fabulous just as I did last month !!  A huge thank you going out to all the folks at IBSIC for the inviting me to Guest spot with them this week and be part of their fantastic Challenge xx

Below you will find my inspiration for their blog I hope you like what I've done with their colours.

I went with the photo rather then the colours as when I look at it I see pink in there and so I created my first card with pink,purple red and cream!! The baubles are created using Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments dies . They have been run though a cuttle bug inside a M-bossibilities folder after they were cut and are decorated with tiny gems.

The sentiment on the label reads 'May the peace and wonder of Christmas be with you always' which I find quite touching, and I have used this stamp on many a card this year. I believe it is part of a Creative Expressions Set by Sam Poole called Stylish Christmas 2.

 I thought it might be nice to do something different with the second card to Christmas, as I've done such a lot of Christmas stuff just lately , so I went with a floral theme.  The card blank is made from 2 large Fleur de lis Rectangles stuck together at the top. The flower image was a free stamp with a magazine last year I forget which one , Magazines like Simply Cards and paperCrafts and Quick Cards magazines are a great source of free gifts, look out of them in your local newsagents or Supermarket.  The flowers were very easy to colour, I just did a little finger dabbing with 3 ink pads, Red purple and yellow, onto some white card and then just stamped over the now coloured card and cut out the flowers and decoupaged them up!! Its a great technique when you want to do something a little different. The frames were Spellbinders again, this time I used Fleur de lis Rectangles and Spellbinders Fleur de lis Squares The butterflies are from Cherry Lynn and the Sentiment is from Babara Greys Clarity Stamps.

Tuesday Alchemy Challenge 43# - xmas cracker

Hi folks

Hope you are well out there in blogland. Its cold here and damp here in Surrey England , we are off today to visit family up country in Norfolk for a couple of days , its time to drop off the sack load of pressies for my nephews and nieces and say hi to my parents and Sister. and if we are lucky maybe even get some R & R in . They have light snow forries at the moment so it should feel christmasy even though its only the first week of December!!

well its also that time again where I put on my Designer hat on and join the ladies over at Tuesday Alchemy.
This week their Challenge 44#  is 'Anything but a Card' so get your crafty stash out and get creating something fabulous to enter in the challenge, you have till next Tuesday to enter your project and I'm looking forward to seeing what you have done.



Designs Di's Digi Downloads -$10 Store Voucher 
 

and Hugs 4 the heart - $10 Gift Card 

A huge thank you to our sponsors this week  Designs Di's Digi Downloads and Hugs 4 the heart who have very kindly put up some great prizes for you to win
 


here's my contribution to the inspirational section of the challenge I hope you like it ...

 The pattern paper is from cupcake crafting and the decorations on the ends and in the centre are a combination of Spellbinders snowflake dies . The centre decoration is a spellbinders Cut Fold Spin die called Floral Burst with  a memory box  die called Quinn Flourish The large cream paper rose on top has been lightly Glittered

Its a Cracker!!

Sorry this is not as comprehensive as my usual blog posts but the clock is ticking and the cars running as I should be , There's 160 miles to knock off before lunch so I off to grab my suitcase and credit card and head for the flatlands of Norfolk for a while. See you when I get back xx