Happy is as happy does !

I have spent lots of time playing....and just making for me and for pleasure...and here is a tag made to play with abandoned coral... When I saw this colour it wasn't one that I thought was very me ..but I have to say I like it ...

I started with a tag and applied some texture paste through this fab floral stencil from the crafty master Tim Holtz no less!

I then smooshed (technical term!) some distress paint in antique linen, picket fence and abandoned coral onto the craft sheet, spritzed with water and then swiped my tag through and plenty more spritzing!

 I just love those gorgeous marbled colours!

I dried with mt heat tool and ended up with this scrummy background... and its not brown!!!

I scuffed the edges of the tag and then added walnut stain distress ink which looks good with anything!

Now to get playing and adding the detail... I am loving collaging elements and have realised that my stamps have been somewhat neglected...but they will be back

I tend to collect lots of pieces and fiddle about until I am happy and only glue / staple on at the last minute when I am happy. As you know I have a bit of  thing for vintage photos , especially found relatives and the new photo booth and this one seemed to call out to go here...plenty of other Tim Holtz goodies too x

And finally to finish one of Tim Holtz handwritten sentiments on a journaling tag to the bottom...

To tie off the top I added some dyed seam binding using leftover paint from my kraft sheet.

Well hope you like my make...I will be a happy Mummy today as Oliver has been away all week and we have all missed him so much...cannot wait to get my hands on him! I am so proud of him and seems like they have had an action packed and fun filled week but will be so glad to have him home ...so will James and Lucy who have missed him loads...well and daddy too !

sheer indulgence...Tim Holtz style

Well I have been indulging in a little me playtime...more wooden houses and this time very Tim Holtz inspired... you know me well enough to know how much I love all my distress and Tim Holtz goodies but also how I have a teensy bit of a thing for idea-ology... okay maybe its a very large thing!

I have been playing with papers, some doo-dads that I managed to find and also the new photo booth...which I love and also the ephemera packs which are better than rummaging through a tin of chocolates.... and calorie free!..there's always a treasure in my box of ephemera pieces...I have emptied all my packs in and the vellum ones as well and its my little box of yummy!

So enough waffle here are my little houses for today :

Well they may be simple but they make me happy and that's what playtime is all about right? I covered all the houses ( thanks father in law for cutting from my scruffy sketches!) and then sanded and added tissue tape around the sides...so love this stuff!

I added some walnut stain distress ink around the edges and then added the ephemera and photos..spending a lot of time playing around with pieces until I was happy. All were scuffed around the edges and inked with walnut stain distress ink.

Finally I sealed the houses using decoart matte varnish .

So here is a close up of each little house :

House no 2 :

and last but not least this cheeky little chappy on house no 3 :

Well thanks for stopping by to see the results of my pure indulgence and playtime..! .. I have a few more houses on the go..so there may be more to see soon..

I would like to enter my houses into anything goes challenge @ a sprinkle of imagination  .
and Anything goes @ Mixed media world.

keep those fingers inky!

and thanks for stopping by x

trace x

My take on Tim's tag for March 2015

Well the months fly by and time for another of Tim Holtz's tags , his March tag can be found here . So this on is rather bright for the muted colours I am used to but you have to embrace them sometimes... so I did in more me colours and then one in the brighter colours ..

So here they are : two for the price of one ..

(please forgive the not too yummy picture, the light is rubbish and my photographer is at work!)

I love distress paints and how they marble and are just so clever in the way you can play with them and also they are in the yummy distress palette so whats not to like?

I Followed all of Tim's steps for both tags , just changing the colours , but followed his steps which can all be found here..

So for the greeny blue tag here are the details...

I followed all Tim's steps just changed the distress paint colours and used verdigris embossing powder, which I have failed to capture in the pictures very well, sorry .

I love the textures and the peeps of tissue tape, which is one of my all time idea-ology loves, I know I have a fair few!

I must admit I do not usually clear emboss archival but love the glossy finish it gives...

I love the smooshy way the distress paints work and you know I do love these gears..

Finally the seam binding which I dyed using distress inks .

Now for the one more like Tim's colourful creation :

I think some of these paints were happy to be off the shelf and getting in on the action! I used the new abandoned coral to dye the seam binding and have to say I have fallen in love with this colour, it is so not a colour I would have thought would be me and yet I am playing with it lots!!

I love making these tags, there is always some clever tip or some new thing to inspire and play along with...and to take inspiration from and use to create and play.

I will be linking mine up to Tim's tags here .

Hope you are all have a good week, this week will find me trying to shift a really horrid cold, teach James his lessons, look after Lucy and Oliver, finish off some crafty projects, a hospital appointment for James, his first lesson in school since Christmas, a school meeting and try to be a good friend and wife!! wonder how I will do  xxx

keep those fingers inky and painty!

trace x

capture a smile

Well I have been wanting to play with these new dies, well new to me dies, from Eileen Hull, especially the recipe cards as I thought they would make great cards, slightly larger than an ATC.. so here is my make for today ...

I made the recipe box and also three recipe cards to fit inside... using thick card covered in wallflower paper stack and lots of distress goodness and Tim Holtz idea-ology goodies .

So onto the details..

I covered some thick paper in wallflower paper stack, die cut the box and edged with walnut stain distress ink. I think I am hooked on playing with the ephemera packs from the idea-ology range, can't stop using them on everything! I layered up ephemera, all with distressed edges and inked with walnut stain distress ink. I also used a journaling tag, a vellum ephemera photo and some chit chat stickers.

To close the box, I added some holes and tied through these using some seam binding dyed with bundled sage distress ink.

Now for the cards inside ....

I used the same design piece of paper from french industrial paper stack. I wanted all 3 to be linked together as a set .

I covered each card with paper, then die cut using recipe cad die...I used a photo booth photo on each piece, I love these so many to choose from! Again I added layers of ephemera, distressed and inked.

I added some remnant rubs and some idea-ology given a  distressed look using decoart paints, they are great for creating an aged look

The cards were all created in the same way, building up layers of ephemera , rub ons and idea-ology to reflect how I saw the photos..

And finally card no 3 , completed in the same way... I hope you like these as I had so much fun making them !

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and left comments while I slowly make my way back into blogland....and welcome to my new followers so thrilled you wanted to follow my inky and painty journey xx

I would like to enter this for Eileen Hulls art from the heart challenge - go green , as there are lots of soft and sage greens in this piece .

keep those fingers inky!

and hope you do something you love today xx

trace x 

All you need is love for A Vintage Journey .

Well it has been a while since my lovely team mates gave me some time out but today I am back to join my fellow creative guides over at A Vintage Journey to celebrate A Vintage Journey's 1st birthday! So the theme for this challenge is Anything Tim. I mean it would be rude not to join in the fun ! There are some exciting change afoot over at A Vintage Journey, so make sure you pop across here to see my team mates gorgeous makes and also the exciting changes afoot. So here is my make :

I am so loving playing with collage style pieces and layering pieces, coupled with of course plenty of distress, idea-ology and general tim Holtz goodness. This piece just created itself with lots of layers and I even managed to do a little stitching with my new machine..thanks to Anne for all your help! I so love the found relative cards and this picture was my starting point. I used lots of ephemera from the packs, plenty of idea-ology and a heart made using crackle paste and some decoart paints. I covered a piece of mountboard with some vintage music paper, layers of picket fence distress stains and some distress ink.  (sorry got a bit carried away and there are no step by steps x)

I scuffed and distressed the found relative card and added some walnut stain distress ink. the heart was die cut and layered with crackle paint and brushed over layers of paint. The ephemera pieces were scuffed up and the edges inked and layered up.

.

I added stitching round the photo, and scuffed up a bit to remove some.

I added the key with the word memory on to fit in with the overall theme of the piece.

I added one of the new small talk sets...all you need is love and some more idea-ology.

Well hope you like my make, it is great to be back and hope you will find time to pop across and see all the other pieces and some of the exciting new changes that are coming up.

whatever you are up to hope you find some you time x keep those fingers inky and those hearts full!  trace x 

My family have my heart

So here is the result of some more play time... I wanted to play with some more of my decoart goodies but mix them with some of my yummy idea-ology bits and bobs. So with some help from my father in law who cut me some wooden house blanks....here are the results of my painty playtime.

I have had such a good time playing with painty layers to create a distressed finish...I hope ... I edged each house in tissues tape and covered in a wash of matte varnish and quin gold and paynes grey to create a dirty wash...thanks Andy skinner for this idea !!!.. My father in law cut these houses from some sketches that I had drawn...lucky me and I have had a lot of fun decorating these.

The houses are free standing but could have a piece added to hang on the wall... For this house I covered the blank shape in paper and then varnish and painty layers using decoart and distress. I edged with tissue tape. The roof had an Andy Skinner stamp ( wood effect) stamped over roof and inked. I added a chit chat sticker, inked and sealed and a rusty heart... I know can't stop making these!

I tried to make each house different but so that they had a similar feel so they could be stood alone or in a group.

This house was decorated with layers of paint rubbed on with fingertips and also with a baby wipe to add and remove areas of colour for a distressed feel.

 I added one of the new typed tokens and die cut a heart which was stamped, painted, covered in crackle glaze and had paint rubbed in cracks.

Finally a taller house with a wonky bottom...again painted to give distressed feel and sealed with dirty wash.

 Hope that this shows how the tissue tape looks around the sides...

I completed with another handmade rusty heart and chit chat sticker..

I hope you like the results of my painty , inky and distressing playtime!

keep those fingers inky

and those hearts full!

trace x