My take on Tim's tag for May 2016

Well better late than never, I'm late, I'm late for a very important date...well very nearly .... I have had this tag made for a few days and not found the time to blog it ...so as always this tag is inspired by the crafty master that is Tim Holtz and all the details for his gorgeous tag can be found here....

I have really gone off piste for this one , but as always it has been inspired by Tim's tag for this month and all the details for his tag can be found here .... and here is mine :

I have gone very much away from the colour scheme and gone for a more masculine feel ...my favourite brown tones and plenty of embellishments...along with some trusty rusty wire ...

I know I have gone far away from the original but I loved playing and had fun making my tag ....

and phew by the skin of my teeth I am adding this to Tim's tags for 2016 .x

I am adding my Tim inspired tag here ... thanks again to Tim and Mario for continued inspiration ..x

keep those fingers inky xx

trace x

Home sweet home bunting for Country View Crafts

Well I have managed to pop another post up over at Country View Crafts and for all the details you can hop here  .

This piece is fairly simple to make and hopefully fun and effective too...so here are a couple of sneak peaks ...... and for all the details hop here ..x

thanks for stopping by and hopefully I will be back soon x

keep those fingers inky!

trace x

A stitch in time ....

Well I am struggling with crafty mojo at the moment ... and have been pinging around playing with this and that and not really finding my groove .... but I saw the challenge over at A Vintage Journey ... and decided to have a play ... so here is my sewing inspired make :

I created this little make using some great new shrine kits and had fun filling it full of sewing inspired pieces, some of the new Tim Holtz gears were rusted up ...and well just plenty of playtime really, so I wont bore you with all the step by step details...

I added Decoart weathered wood crackle, on piece , then clear embossing and plenty of distress goodness!

I added some idea-ology, weathered up a bit with a painty wash.. some sanding...

Inside I nestled some spools covered in hand dyed seam binding, vintage lace and some more idea-ology...rusty wire ...and some little vintage buttons

Here is a little side shot , to show the wonderful dimension , these little things have ...

A more sunny shot ....just because I loved the shadow the rusty cogs gave ...

here is the close up detail of the hand dyed seam binding I tied around the inside before securing...I love the contrast of the blue tones against rust....

And finally one last sideways shot....

So thanks to the team over at a Vintage Journey for inspiring my playtime ....I will be adding this the challenge, cant remember the last time I linked up and played in a challenge...and I loved this playtime ...so thanks x 

Well that's all for today ...I am off to teach a few more lesson for James...IT today amongst others , so not my strong point!! give me some inks anyday ...

that and running Oliver to and from school, looking after Lucy ..who is under the weather to say the least ....

and well that about sums up my day ...

oh and trying to find a snippet of time to do my Tim's tag...which yes I am behind on again....oops !

hope you have a great day !

keep those fingers inky x

trace x

Painty playtime

Well it has been a while and I cannot say that I have managed to make anything much of a finished nature .... but I have decided to have a bit more of a play with some of my DecoArt paints and some techniques from Andy Skinner ..

These will be put into a final piece but for today were just the results of some weekend playtime and just getting back into something painty...

so here goes ..

I have followed the steps from the timeworn workshop , which I have re enrolled to and this time its a lifetime access .... all the details can be found on Andy Skinner's blog

I have never tried this one before....and am quite pleased with how it turned out ..

and this is another piece ...

A rusty piece , which I have tried before ...needs a bit more work...

This is a rusty textured piece, but still wet ...and needs a bit more work...

and this wood technique can be found from A Vintage Journey blog, used by Brenda Brown... of bumblebees and  butterflies blog...

and this is a work in progress ...

so there you go, no final make, just some work in progress and some learning in my painty playtime.

keep those fingers inky!

or in this case painty!!

trace x

My belated Tim's tag for February 2016

Well , here I am again ...and this time playing catch up...with my take on Tim's tag for February ..which obviously I cannot link up...but nevertheless I wanted to have a play and make this one too...

So here is the link for Tim's tag and below is my take on his .. I have used many of the techniques but changed mine a bit ..but the idea is to be creative and inspired....

I created a more neutral background , which will come as no shock to regular visitors here ... and then added some collaged flowers from the wallflower paper stack , which I fussy cut .

I added seam binding , dyed with soft tones of one of my favourites , tattered rose.

I used the words, with brave wings , she flies ...which felt pretty apt for me ...

and added the heart charm with the word hope in, adding to these gorgeous arrows using rusty wire.

I added a couple of tiny butterflies , also fussy cut and coloured with distress markers.

one final close up of the background....

So better late than never , I guess...but none the less I loved playing along ....

keep those fingers inky 

Trace x

Adventure awaits you - for Country View Crafts

Well  I have happily found some more crafty playtime, this time more paints from Decoart, some mdf pieces and some stamps from Paperartsy... This is another post for Country View Crafts ...so for all the details ...please hope here...

So for the sneak peaks for this make.....

And here is the finished piece...

If you would like to know how I made this ...all the details can be found here.....

If you have found the time to stop by then thanks so much, your visit is very much appreciated , as are your lovely comments x

keep those fingers inky!

 and those hearts full x

trace x

There is beauty in simplicity

So a simple make for today , using a non brown favourite distress colour of mine, tattered rose...

I just love the softness of it and yet I am so not a pinky person and yet this colour has found a way into my firm favourites list ..

So here is my simple card for today ..

I started by spritzing the card with water and then tattered rose and antique linen distress spray stains..

I then dried adding more water ...before adding some stencilled detail  using latticework stencil

I added the stencilled detail,using tattered rose distress ink, building soft layers..

I also added some stamped layers , again in tattered rose distress ink  using lattice work stamp from latticework and flourish set of Tim Holtz stamps...then added some script stamping in frayed burlap , before edging the card in walnut stain distress ink.

I completed the base of the card using seam binding, dyed with tattered rose ..

I die cut some pieces using the new wildflower thinlits, inked with tattered rose and edged wit walnut stain distress ink.

As you will see I punched some butterflies but decided not to use them in the end..

I added them to the front of the card and added a small talk sticker to complete this simple make.

  and there we have a simple  card , which could easily be made to suit any colour palette.

keep those fingers inky!

trace x