Flutterby Wednesday challenge.......

Here is a card , again for a challenge, think I am hooked!

This card had to have a fairy,butterfly or angel and stripes. I don't often use stripes so found stripey paper too much for me. I decided to use a tim holtz alterations embossing folder to create rays/ stripes instead.
So, here it is:

I started by embossing a panel of coredinations card with the tim holtz die, this paper was black on one side and a beautiful blue on the other. I then sanded back the embossing to reveal the core colour of the card..........making blue stripes.
To coordinate the backing perfectly, as it is sometimes hard to get a true colour match, I used the reverse of the card for the backing of the other side of the card and stamped the corners of this using a rhonna farrer flourish. To make the joint flush I added some coordinating ribbon.
Lastly, my beautiful fairy, from lili of the valley. I cut out a circle using my trusty spellbinders die, stamped the fairy in black memento and coloured using the fantastic cosmic shimmer acrylic drawing inks.(blue blush,silver sheen,pearl shine,black night and cosmic skin).
Once dry I edged the circle using broken china distress ink and added some crystal stickles to highlight her wings.

So I am entering this card in the foloowing challenge:
a fairy and stripes - http://www.flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/

Hope you like it, thats all for now
share the love and leave a comment
ta trace x

serene in the snow..

Hi there bloggers
Just a quick post tonight, I have made a card for two competitions and I have tried really hard to keep it basic. Sometimes I like the elegance of a pure and simple card with limited techniques and feel this card has a gentle and serene, almost soft feel.

I am entering this card for the following challenges:
Totally gorguss Christmas in July -challenge 91 - http://www.totallygorjuss.blogspot.com/
and
I love ProMarkers - challenge 76 -  http://www.ilovepromarkers.blogspot.com/

share the love and leave a comment.
 ta trace x

keys, keys, keys...........

Well hey there bloggers!
Me again in crafty and sunny mood, so GREAT to see the SUN!


More distress inks but a more masculine feel, with keys and locks. I am entering this card into a few challenges but the theme for one was a card for men with keys?! So, here goes...........I am finding myself drawn to these challenges as a way of making myself CHALLENGE my thing of the moment, vintage and all one colour..hopefully I have left  my 'thing' and I have to say I am loving the challenge and find myself really enjoying and liking what I make! Hope you do too..............
Here goes:

The card used another tag coloured with antique linen, tea dye, and aged mahogany, lightly edged with black soot.The tag was then overstamped with the lock image in tea dye and the wonderful sentiment in black archival.

The card base was inked using aged mahogany and again overstamped in tea dye and black archival, both using lock design.

The key was stamped and embossed with bright gold metallic cosmic shimmer powder, the image was then coloured using distress inks splodged onto tile and used as paint. The colours used were : spiced marmalade, fired brick, aged mahogany and black soot.

Finally the card was assembled using pinfalir glue, 3-d mounting tape and accessorized with creative expressions vintage cream ribbon, some black hinges cut on a cricut and 2 metal keys.
The stamps used were from  chocolatebaroque.


I am enetering this card into the following competitions:


http://craftuscrazy.blogspot.com/ - anything goes challenge
http://cardsformen.blogspot.com/ - challenge #15 use a key
http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/ -anything goes
http://totallystampalicious.blogspot.com/ -anything goes


Hope you like the card,
share the love and leave a comment,
ta trace x

curiouser and curiouser.........

Hey there bloggers,
Here I am with another crafty offering....

This is a tag with a (yes you've guessed it...) vintage feel, my beloved antique linen and tea dye  AGAIN!!!! I just can't help myself... anyway hope you like it and I promise to try really hard to brighten things up for next time!
Anyway, here it is....

I have never done a stand alone tag before and I am loving it, more tags to come I think!!! I limited myself to 2 distress ink pads (antique linen and tea dye) and used black memento ink and crystal lacquer.

The stamp sheet is a firm favourite from http://www.polkadoodles.co.uk/ , called wonderland. I LOVE IT!

I wanted to give a layered look but using all tones of one colour and I am really pleased with how it turned out, I added crystal laquer to the toadstools and the top hat and watch face to add another texture and dimension. Finally , I made a flower using the toadstools and a button.

Hope you like it!I am entering this for the following competition:

a spoonful of sugar challenge 161 - create a tag - http://aspoonfullofsugarchallenge.blogspot.com/

Share the love and leave a comment, it would make my day!!!!

thanks trace x

mythical mermaids and magical seadragons

Hi there bloggers!
Thought I would share with you some bookmarks with an underwater theme that I made quite a while ago, none-the-less I still really like some of the effects and adore the seadragon stamp.All stamps are from the now chocolate baroque online company.
Well here is the first a fantastically wonderful seadgragon...........

The background was made using ink smooshed (a technical term!) into a heat proof craft  mat then spritzed, some cosmic shimmer sparkle pigment tapped on and then the card placed on top and gently moved around. The image was pre-stamped and masked off. Once dry, the background of this was overstamped with sea fronds in ink and embossed using a cosmic shimmer lustre powder. The image was coloured using promarkers and glitzed a little using stickles.

Now for the mermaids.............

The background on this and the following was added after image but painted on using a sparkly paint.

For this last coloured mermaid I added crystal lacquer to her tail to give a glossy sheen......

And , finally a sihouetted mermaid offering......these were embossed using a cosmic shimmer embossing powder which looks black but has another shimmery colour when the light hits it, in this case greeny black.

Well I am off to do some crafting now, hope you like these, share the love and leave a comment!
ta trace x

flutterby butterfly

I wanted to set myself a challenge of a limited palette and a theme and see where that lead me..............and here is the result.
My flutterby butterfly card.

I am entering this card for the following challenges:

The Stamp Boutique - challenge #11 cool colours
Flutter by Wednesday's - open challenge, to include butterfly,fairy or angel.

The card was made using the following items: (in case you want to have a go)!!!

cosmic shimmer drawing inks -blue blush,forest green,black night and purple haze
BIG and Juicy - HYDRANGEA
stamp sheets - creative expressions - Natures Wonders and Butterfly Kiss
Eco board tile
perfect medium
clear and black detail embossing powder
cut 'n' dry foam
creative expressions vintage cream ribbon
pinflair glue
crakle glaze

The background of the card was made by splattering the cosmic shimmer inks, leaving to dry and them edging with bluey green end of inkpad, applied using cut'n'dry foam.
The next layer uses one of my favourite techniques at the moment, using clear embossing as resist.
The next layer was created by stamping and edging with BIG and Juicy pad.
The top square was stamped with perfect meduim and embossed using black detail embossing powder and the image coloured using the fantastic cosmic shimmer acrylic drawing inks, they have to be seen to be believed!
The tile was stamped in black, coloured using inks, crackle accents applied and left to dry.
The butterfly was coloured and embossed as panel.
The vintage cream ribbon was coloured using distress inks, but could easily have been coloured using distress inks.

Let me know what you think.
Ta trace x

a little cute never hurt!!!

Well hi there bloggers,
Just a quick offering tonight............I am having a go at another blog challenge:

Fab 'n' Funky challenges - animal magic.

I have included some close ups as the mice are sooooooooooooooo cute, sorry Tim! But everyone needs some cute sometimes!

Thought I would enter my vintage take on this Lili of the Valley stamp......... the first cutesy animal stamp I have bought but I thought it would appeal to a wider market at my next craft fairs, if I ever make enough stuff!!!!! and it is CUTE!!!!

Let me know what you think,

night night trace x