An exciting new Journey and new challenge blog ...A Vintage Journey!

Well today is the day to unveil and invite you all to be part of a new and exciting vintage journey....next Friday sees the start of a brand new vintage inspired challenge blog.

A Vintage Journey
 I am thrilled and proud to say that I am  part of this new and exciting design team! This is going to be the start of such a great adventure and hopefully you will join us!! Just wait to you see the rest of the team...its amazing and I am so excited !
It will be inspired by Tim Holtz the true crafty master who never ceases to amaze with wonderful ideas, projects, products, techniques, enthusiasm, creativity  and so much more. ( Not that I am a huge fan or anything?!)
This is to be a  blog inspired by our love of all things vintage and will incorporate vintage , shabby chic and mixed media styles...with a vintage theme. It will have a fortnightly challenge with lots of DT inspiration and the winners will be chosen by the DT. There will be a prize for each winner sponsored by Country View Crafts
The blog will be full of inspiration from an amazing team...believe me there is such huge talent here ...including tips , techniques and a fortnightly DT focus where a Tim product or technique will be showcased.
I am beyond excited and cannot wait to get started ...hope you will hop across here and join in all the fun ...and hope to see you next Friday for our first challenge.

Love with all your heart sneak peak for CountryViewCrafts blog x

Well it is my turn over on the CountryViewCrafts blog today and time for something a tiny bit different...well it is a tag...but still there is something a bit different ...! so here is my sneaky peak....

for all the details please hop across here.

sneak peak for Friday Focus DT piece on Artistic Outpost stamps

Well it is my turn to the Friday focus over at Frilly and Funkie DT and as usual I have got a bit carried away...and made a trio of tags ...if you want to see more  make sure you pop across here to see all the details and all the three tags .

keep those fingers inky!

trace x

open the door to the secret garden.........for Frilly and Funkie DT

Well it is time for another challenge over at Frilly and Funkie and the theme this time is bloomin marvellous...chosen by the lovely and talented Jenny... so here are the details...

Hi there. Jenny (Buttons) here to host the latest challenge here at Frilly and Funkie. Flowers are a definite winner at any time of the year and for all occasions, and we saw lots of them at the recent Winter 2014 CHA show. With all those new dies and stamps hitting the shelves it's time toshow us your blooms (flowers)! The twist is they must be handmade. Put them on tags, cards, home decor pieces, whatever you like. Then share them with us here to be in with a chance of winning a Guest DT spot here at Frilly and Funkie or a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

Remember, to enter you must create a new project, link it below and make sure you add a link in your post back to this challenge. You can combine our challenge with up to 10 challenges (including this one) to be in with a chance of winning.

I decided to go for a sort of hidden garden / secret garden using my handmade flowers...I love the idea of a hidden or undiscovered little haven...peaceful and enchanting...

so here is my make ( sorry about the sunshine on the photo ...but loved the glow it gave in a funny kind of way!) :

So I started by creating a collage style ish layered background using layers of texture paste, through my new doily stencil....

inks, corrugated card given a good spritz ( with re-inker sprays...).I love playing with distress in all its forms..

Like flowers themselves bloom and grow so did this piece , evolving and changing as it went and I loved every second, can you tell!?

a large tag layered with die cuts, painted with gesso and sprayed ..ooh and some more trails of hot glue!

Then onto the flowers for my hidden little space....made using the tattered floral die....and of course some cogs...and rusty wire...well I had too !

I had such a great time getting lost in the moment making this piece, which didn't turn out at all how I had imagined but never the less a fun journey and enjoyable creating...and that makes for happiness in itself!

For some more beautiful blooms make sure you pop across here to see some fab makes from my team mates. Hopefully you will find time to join us and make some blooms of your own and join in the competition.

Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die	Tim Holtz idea-ology Fractured Dolls	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Gears	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Long Fasteners	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils - Doily
Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - White	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo	Ranger Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink Reinker	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap	Ranger Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Reinker
Corrugated Cardboard - White (6 sheets)	Corrugated Cardboard - Mixed White and Kraft - 6 Sheets	Sizzix Alterations Decorative Strip Tim Holtz Spring Greenery	Ranger Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink Reinker	Ranger Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink Reinker
Ranger Tim Holtz Black Soot Distress Ink Reinker	50 Jumbo Manila Shipping Tags 8x4" #12

keep those fingers inky!

Trace x 

My take on Tim's tag for February 2014 - how wonderful life is...

Well another month and another tag from Tim Holtz for inspiration...I have completed 20102 and 2013 so am determined to complete this year too...So onwards for my tag I used the layout of Tim's fab tag ...found here but decided to make mine sightly different and go chalkboard mad!

So here is my take on Tim's tag for this month :

So I loved this sentiment...just fab and copied Tim's chalkboard technique for it...which is also what I used to create the background using the new heart stencil...

Now you know me and idea-ology... I have a teensy thing for idea-ology ...so rude not to put some on right? I also wanted to add a splash of colour so added a glittered heart as Tim had but also some red dyed seam binding to the top...

Yes we actually saw the sun and I just know that it has shone all funny on some of these but...it was just so nice to see it...and I love how it shone on the ribbon...so sorry if it makes your eyes go a bit funny...but you never know when we will see it again! x

so I am linking this up to tim's 12 tags ...february tag here ..

keep those fingers inky!

trace  x

Just for me .......how do I love theee let me count the ways......

Well this is just for me , so that I can save the details of this post found here... for  I was thrilled, proud, giddy as a kipper and more to have been awarded one of Tim's blogworthy links and want to say a huge thanks to Tim Holtz for that!

Wow how lucky am I .......... I cannot even begin to say how thrilled I am so thanks and thanks to everyone for all their kind words , crafters truly are the most lovely people...
so just for me and no need to comment ..here is the post that got me that link... ( I have out it on here as it was a post I did for Countryviewcrafts....)


Well it is time for me to post another make and this time I have gone for a little ATC book, made from scratch using Tim dies and tissue tape...along with lots more distress goodness. I have filled my little book full of hearts each using a different technique but this could be filled in all sorts of ways. So here my make and how I created it.

and open...

So I started by cutting 12 ATC die cuts from ivory cardstock and tow from grey board ( for the cover ). I glued a piece of card onto each side of the two grey board covers and also glued all the ATC die cuts in pairs to give a double thickness. (Hope that make sense?) . I then added colour using distress paints on my craft sheet, lots of smooshing and drying later they had a base of colour.

Then I attached each page together using Tim Holtz tissue tape together  on each side...make sure you leave a tiny gap between the pieces so that they can fold shut ..

Now for the background stamping on the pages... I used soft colours and a variety of stamps for this stage ...staring with lighter coloured distress inks  ( here using Halloween script stamp, I also used pumice stone for some numbers ...

And completed the book by stamping the flourish in black soot distress ink.When dry I edged the pages in aged mahogany.

Now for the hearts ...I went a bit mad and decided to create each of my hearts using a different Tim technique/product but really you could add whatever you like and then selected chit chat stickers that said what I wanted... so here is a whistle stop tour of the hearts ...

here I used a mosaic technique and picket fence resist.

(edging hearts in black soot distress ink really gives them a lift)

shattered stains and  an embossed heart 

embossed metal technique and shabby chic technique from Creative Chemistry 102

Wendy vecchi paste through stencil and some distress glitter coloured up with stains

Stamping and inking and then Wendy Vecchi paste layered thick and coloured when dry with Distress

An old book page and rock candy glitter coloured with distress stain

and altogether...

all tied together with seam binding dyed with distress stain :

well hope you like my jam packed little make ...maybe you will be inspired to make one for a special occasions...if you do let me know I would love to see!

keep those fingers inky ... and enjoy that creative journey...I sure am !

Trace x 

Painty pleasures for Country View Crafts DT

Well here I am with painty pleasures piece #2 for Country View Crafts challenge DT. There is still plenty of time to get playing with paints...So for this piece , it will come as no surprise that I went for Distress paints and that I went for browns...but I played a little more...so here is my make : ( not happy with this one but here it is warts and all!)

I wanted to see if the lovely spritzy effect could be created with the yummy denser nature of the distress paints so set about making myself some distress paint spritzers...and sure enough they worked! How cool is that...

I started with a mountboard piece...I know how very predictable..and set too glueing die cut pieces and adding embossed pieces and texture paste through stencils to create layers and texture...all covered with a layer of watered down gesso.

I then set too painting, spritzing and layering more painty and wateriness.

The sentiment was stamped on a piece of cardstock given a painty spritz...

The flowers were painted with painty spritzers too...

To complete the piece some rusty wire twists, some butterflies and some walnut stain ink and treasure gold around the edges.
If you want to join in all the painty fun then hop across here...there will be plenty more inspiration for the rest of the month too....

keep those fingers inky!

trace x