Best Wishes

Another card from 'way back when'

I am not sure I will ever catch up, but, at least I am finally finding my mojo again.

I got to the point of looking at some of my stash yesterday. I didn't actually get it out and I didn't actually make anything, but I did think about it 

I also bought a couple of little paper pads on my last trip in Newquay and Neil bought me some Christmas papers when we went to Truro

New stash does always inspire me, so maybe I need to get them out and start stroking them if nothing else

Hoping this beautiful weather stays a little while longer

xxx

Happy birthday Nicki

Today's card is the last birthday card of the year and it now belongs to my lovely friend Nicki

Nicki was the first person I met and became friends with when I started running my shop, and we have been firm friends since then, so, almost nine years ( which has flown by)

Our friendship started out with a shared love of scrapbooking (crafting is such a wonderful way to bring people together)

Nicki is a beautiful soul and is kind and generous to a fault

 I created this card in a DL size, I used a Prima tag for the main background

The larger flowers are Prima and the small roses are from Wild Orchid crafts, the stamped sentiment is by Stampin' Up, the leaf dies are 'cheap as chips from china' - thanks Jan and Ann xxx,  and all the other die cuts on this card are Nestability dies

Hope you have a lovely day Nicki and get spoiled rotten by Mark and the girls, hopefully see you in the summer - can't wait to give you and the girls squishy hugs xxx

Love and friendship

Tracey

xxx

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

These are the fun cards I made for the kids this year

By 'kids' I mean my three young adults, my grown up niece and Amy's partner Ben

None of whom are children and two of them don't strictly belong to me, never the less I call them "my kids"

 Ben's card

Amy's card

Katie's card

Rob's card

AJ's card

They are all a bit fun and a bit silly and I can't take credit for any of the designs this time. 

The snowmen and various reindeer are all over pinterest, so I took several elements from lots of different designs and came up with these five cuties

Hope you are all having a wonderful day

Love and cute christmas kisses

Tracey

xxx

The dark side of Disney

A little departure from the norm this evening with my card design

This next project was a commission for the guy who did some of our decorating to give to his partner for her birthday

Bart commissioned me to make one a couple of years ago, if your memory is good, you might recall me sharing a Tim Burton style card

His partner loves all the evil queens from the Disney movies and her favourite colour is green - et voila

I created lots of layering on this 8in x 8in card, with the images downloaded from the internet

 I had the sequin waste left over from a previous project and the gorgeous black net along the bottom was a gift from my lovely friend Carol many moons ago

I tied all the colours together with some die-cut foliage and a sprinkling of gems

Bart loved the card and was sure his partner Carla would too

It makes me so happy to know I have contributed a little way in helping someone give a personal and thoughtful card to a loved one

This was just a brief interruption to the avalanche of festive makes, a continuance of christmas crafting will resume tomorrow

Love and, dark disney kisses

Tracey

xxx

Happy Birthday Katie

I made the following card for my beautiful niece Katie who turned 19 on the 16th of this month

I used Mariposa papers and Tim Holtz papers, the flowers are mainly Prima, the sentiment is Stampin' Up as is the punch I used to mat the sentiment and the stamps and punch I used for the butterflies

The die is an old Marianne one and the border punch is Martha stewart

The next card I will be sharing will be totally different as it is for AJ, might have to go down the themed route for a 17 year male I think

Love and blue birthday wishes

Tracey

xxx

Be Mine

Happy Valentines Day

As per usual my valentine will be going to Neil, 30 years together and he spoils me just as much as he did in the early days of our relationship

I made him this card

He is definitely in tune with his feminine side and always prefers the very pretty girlie style cards that I make so I don't ever worry about using pink or throwing handfuls of flowers at his cards

I did add a little masculine grey and the little glimpses of metal you can see peeking underneath the flowers are actually window lead that I have embossed

I used Tim Holtz patterned papers

Prima flowers

Woodware silver balls

A Woodware leaf punch and a Stampin' Up leaf punch

Stampin' Up stamps for the sentiments

The circle die is by Nellie Snellen

I believe the heart die is by Marianne

I have had a lovely day at home, it is also my birthday so I have been truly spoilt and Neil has grand plans for the weekend to look forward to

By far the best part has been all the lovely messages and cards from my family and friends

Thankyou all so much

Love and valentine wishes

Tracey

xxx

Happy Birthday Rob

The 5th February saw my son Robbie turn 21

TWENTY ONE

Just over two decades that boy has been filling our lives with love and laughter

I couldn't be prouder of the young man he has grown into, he has a fantastic work ethic, lovely, kind and gentle nature and is incredibly thoughtful

I truly am the luckiest mum

I tried a slightly different card style this time, it is one I haven't created before and it lends itself nicely to a masculine style as you can create lots of interest without having to add all the girlie touches

Plenty of layers, a monochrome colour scheme and a recurring star theme seemed to work quite well for this style of card

I liked the layout and so have half made a christmas card, which I will share once it is finished ( I haven't forgotten our little challenge Jan)

The papers I used are actually out of an older christmas paper stack, the stamps are all Stampin' Up, tag punch is by Woodware and the numbers have been cut with my Cuttlebug dies ( Hippy chick)

Now counting down the days until I see my boy again

Love and shining stars

Tracey

xxx

Janice's card

As promised, I have another card for another friend today to share. This one is for Janice who works with me and taught me how to use our till at work ( no mean feat I can tell you !)

Janice is very quiet, but has a wicked sense of humour, we hit it off straight away and I love working with her, we share many a quiet giggle or cheeky comment

I used papers by Craftwork cards and a couple that I can't remember where they are from, I swear my memory is getting worse

The stamp is another Stampin' Up one and the flowers are mainly Prima, my scalloped card bases were bought from our local The Range ( just down the road from me and very handy for the basics)

Nearly there with all the catching up, one more extra special one for tomorrow and then I think I ought to get cracking on the Christmas crafting ( nothing like leaving it until the last minute - I never change !)

Love and kisses

Tracey

xxx

Sweet Sixteen

On the 25th of this month, my youngest, AJ turned 16

Sixteen is a big thing to me and I think for our generation and even more so the generation before but it doesn't appear to have the same impact for AJ's generation. Or maybe it is just my son's laid back attitude to life in general

He didn't want any fuss or big party, mind you neither did the other two kids

This is the card I made him

I concentrated on texture and a strong graphic element, nothing too girlie or themed

AJ opted for a quiet meal at home ( Chicken New Yorker, followed by Carrot cake) and then met his mates for a couple of hours afterwards

We had worries when we first moved here, that at the age of fifteen and at a critical point in his academic career, AJ might struggle. But he has settled well and has lots of new friends, he is happy and very chilled and loving the new surroundings.

Love and sweet sixteen kisses

Tracey

xxx

Get Well Soon

Ooops, one of my lovely friends recently took a tumble and has hurt her foot

We were talking on the phone and even though she really wasn't feeling too good she managed to make me laugh, so I just had to make her a more comical card rather than the general 'get well soon' type

The tortoise was made using a variety of punches, I had great fun trying to work out how to make him look like an actual tortoise

Get well soon - you know who you are - love you xxx

Love and little mishaps

Tracey

xxx