A gentle beauty - for Country View Crafts

Well it is the first of a new month and therefore a new challenge over at Country View Crafts and the theme this month is shabby chic chosen by the very talented Astrid.  
Now I went for neutrals which will come as no surprise to many of you I am sure and a very vintage feel for my shabby chic project number one, I will be back later in the month with another offering..so without further ramblings here is my make :

I started by covering a square piece of Mdf with some old music paper and then covering with picket fence distress stain to soften the music . After this I layered a piece of calico and then a piece of music ( from my vintage stash) - I chose this piece because of the crinkled and scuffed edges...love the texture .

I covered the sides of the mdf piece in tissue tape, gluing it into place to ensure it did not come off.

For the focal point of the piece I used one of my stash of vintage photos an encased her inside one of Tim Holtz cabinet cards, scuffing the edges to give it a worn feel.

I just love her ... the gentle look in her eyes ... I added some flowers made using tattered floral die with centres of rolled flowers..that sadly I bought as I have not mastered how to make these :( .

I added another at the top to balance the composition , complete  with some smaller flowers

I left this piece of writing alongside the photo.. as I liked it ..

To complete the shabby feel I added some lace layers and some dyed seam binding all in my adored neutrals..

and a metal idea-ology embellishment , coloured lightly with antique linen paint.

A couple of mother of pearl buttons complete this shabby chic feel piece... 

Make sure you hop across to the countryviewcrafts challenge blog to see lots more inspiration from my team mates and remember you have a whole month to join in the fun..

keep those fingers inky! trace x 

My take on Tim's tag for May 2015

Well talk about by the skin of my teeth... I know I have been a bit of a bad blogger and blog friend ..but needs must sometimes.. Anyways...

As soon as I saw Tim's tag for May I was absolutely in love with it...as many of you may have noticed I do love the found relatives and the photo booth and the textures and layers of collage just made my heart sing in this tag...so here is my take .. still keeping mostly neutral..

I just adored all the details of his gorgeous tag and just changed a few things..I added some seam binding dyed with tattered rose and my blooms were cut from ivory card and the just a smidge of tattered rose ink swiped over them. I followed most of the steps and all Tim's details can be found here.

 I just love the gorgeous burlap against the soft flowers and crinkles of seam binding...yum!

I chose to add a flower to this gorgeous girl..the hardest part was choosing which of the photo booth pictures to choose ..there are so many gorgeous ones to choose from!

I loved these flowers and the tool which comes in the pack made them easy to do... isn't she a sweetie!

So I made it by the skin of my teeth and will be linking this up to Tim's tags here....not long to go and there will be another gem to inspire...I am sure.. but I have to say I do love this one!

keep those fingers inky!

trace  x

what lies inside?..for Country View Crafts

Well for my second contribution to the Simply Scenic challenge over at Country View Crafts.. I tried to create and inside out window...a bit like looking into the window of a Chemist..using the inside of a canvas and an old ikea mirror...so here is my make :

 I started by covering the wrong side of the canvas and sides in tissue tape and smudging some peeled paint distress paint across it in patches.

I then gave it a good spritz of pumice stone distress spray stain to give plenty of splatters.

I found an old ikea mirror that had already been painted and crackled and thought this would make a good backdrop for my chemist's window. I added some peeled paint through patches of the new Tim Holtz brickwork stencil to make it look like a surround for the window.

here is the window , complete with Chemist and the scene inside of the mad scientist creating who knows what?!

i had great fun as always playing with idea-ology and love filling these little bottles!

So hope you like my second piece for the simply scenic challenge over at Country View Crafts challenges. there is still time to enter..

keep those fingers inky!

trace x

simply steampunk.. collage style for Country View Crafts

Well it is my turn over at Country View Crafts and  today I have a male card to share with you , full of layers and plenty of ephemera..with a smattering of idea-ology thrown in!

If you would like all the details of how I made this please hop here . x thanks x

Well hope you like my make for today and apologies for the lack of posts and visits- poorly children and then poorly me have meant crafting has taken a mini break along with visits x

keep those fingers inky 

Trace x

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celebrate the vintage x

Well a shorter post today to share a couple of collage style vintage cards I have made. I am so loving playing with collage and feel I have really neglected my stamps...must remedy that really soon .

But for today here are a couple of men's collage style vintage cards using plenty of Tim Goodies and yes you guessed it more of those found relatives :

I just love playing with all those layers and delving in my idea-ology goodies to create these  cards, a bit of scuffing and sanding, a smidge of walnut stain and there you have it!

I know you may need a lie down after the shortness of this post!

keep those fingers inky!

Trace x 

maybe baby - sneak peak ...for Country View Crafts

Well it has been a while but it is my turn back over at Country View Crafts with my baby inspired make . so if you would like to see the details of how I made this please hop across here .x

keep those fingers inky!

trace x

together is the best place to be for Country View Crafts.

Well new month , new challenge for Country View Crafts and a bus day for me with a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey too...if you would like to see me spring colours piece for that please see here. Now the new theme for Country View Crafts is Simply Scenic and has me really scratching my head... so here is what I decided upon in the end...

I started by covering a square of mdf and about creating my background with Tim Holtz paper, distress paint and then some decoart crackle paste through Tim Holtz new brick work stencil.

Here is how it looked once the wonderful crackle has done its thing...I added some tissue tape from the new release to add some detail to the background and give a start to my scene building!

Now for the details, I love making little houses and loved the look of this new die from Stephanie Ackerman . I die cut them from some of my favourite Tim Holtz papers and mixed and matched the houses .

I stuck with neutrals and added plenty of idea-ology to add details to all the houses..

Just love this ephemera pointy finger!

plenty more idea-ology...

And here is the finished piece, I added a small talk sticker , cut into pieces .

So hope you will find time to pop over and see all the scenic pieces, and remember you have a whole month to join in the fun...! plenty of time to have a play.

I had my DT piece for A Vintage Journey go up earlier and if you have time I would love you to hop here and have a look.

keep those fingers inky!

trace x