Surprise Baby Shower for Anna-Karin

Anna-Karin Evaldsson is a very special member of the Eileen Hull Inspiration Team. Last year there were a lot of changes in her life, including a move from one continent to another and just a few months later, a new baby! Leo arrived weeks ahead of schedule (and just 20 minutes after reaching the hospital!) but thankfully he and Anna-Karin are both doing well. 

We want to show Anna-Karin how special she is to us, so we are giving her a virtual baby shower today to celebrate Leo's birth! Even though we can't be with her, we send our love and special crafty surprise. We invite you to visit each team member/shower guest's blog to see what they created for this new little guy.

 Tracy (me)

Diana 

Lisa 

Shelly

Oxana

Pam

Donna

Nicole

Anne

I hope you enjoy your virtual baby shower Anna-Karin, sending you love and best wishes to you and your family.

I decided to use the Box, Recipe Card and coordinating  Recipe Card and Label dies to create a box of Leo's firsts, first steps, first haircut etc. I decorated the front of the box with Distress Inks and added layers with the Harlequin Layering Stencil using Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean Distress Inks.

I added the adorable picture of Leo that Anna-Karin had shown previously on Facebook and highlighted with a wire heart. I also included a touch of stencilling using the Typo Layering Stencil and Wendy Vecchi's Crackled Texture Paste.

I added a touch of stencilling to the side along with Remnant Rubs for added interest. I also added Velcro to close the Recipe Box.

Adore has been added to the opposite side and I added cherish and love Remnant Rubs to the front of the box.

I left the back plain so that Anna-Karin could add a picture of Leo over the coming months.

I decorated six Recipe Cards to coordinate with the box and added a heading to each. I thought this box would tell the story of Leo's first year, something to treasure for the whole family. I decorated each with Distress Inks, stencilling and Crackled Texture Paste. I have coated everything with Mod Podge so that they can be wiped clean should little hands want to handle them as they get older!

I coloured the Crackled Texture Paste with Salty Ocean Reinker, adding different quantities of Reinker to darken the colour on a couple of the cards. I love adding layers to designs.

You can see from this picture that this stencilling is slightly darker in colour to the previous.

Each of the cards has been given a heading which I printed off from my computer and coloured lightly with Distress Inks and then covered with Mod Podge to protect.

The reverse of each of the cards has also been coloured and stencilled and I have added wording using the Valentine Layering Stencil.

Hope your virtual baby shower has put a smile on your face Anna-Karin, we all wanted to let you know how special you are to the team. With all my love. Tracy x x x

Artistic Outpost Spring Blog Hop

Time for our Spring Blog Hop with Artistic Outpost.

For this months blog hop I am showcasing my favourite, the BIRDS OF A FEATHER stamp set, adding the focal image to a heart easel. The background of my card has been coloured with Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean Distress Inks and I have included two further die cut hearts to the background.

The gorgeous bird image has been stamped with Potting Soil Archival Ink and I have added a monocle for added interest, along with remnant rubs.

I also added die cut pieces of chicken wire using Tim Holtz Mixed Media thinlits die along with die cut hearts covered with embossing powders and a touch of rusty wire for added texture and interest. I also added Chitchat stickers coloured with Distress Ink.

FLY has been die cut from mountboard using the Wordplay die and again covered with Wendy Vecchi embossing powders. I also added random stamping to the background using the background stamp from the Birds Of A Feather stamp set.

I actually feel like Spring is around the corner here in the UK and I am really looking forward to spending time in the garden along with all the wildlife it attracts.

My fellow team members have created artwork to inspire you further along the hop.

Terry

Shari

Kate

Tracy

Lisa

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x x 

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 24

I thought I would have a bit of fun this week and join in the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge 24, Remnant Rub Resist, page 51 of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities Volume 111.There is a fabulous prize on offer from the Funkie Junkie Boutique and also a wonderful prize from Tim and Mario.

I thought I would have some fun with Tim's Bird Crazy stamp set this week, showcasing them on an ATB using Eileen Hull's block/cube die. I thought this would be perfect to give as a gift with chocolates over the Easter period. My Crazy Birds are dressed in their Easter Bonnet's and have been set against a background using Tim Holtz Remnant Rub Resist technique using Abandoned Coral and Mustard Seed Distress Inks, loving these colours together. I have also added an egg to the top covered with Buttercup embossing powder, inspired by Wendy Vecchi, adding Chitchat stickers for added interest. I have also included the head of a rabbit cut using Tim Holtz Easter Elements die, die cutting several layers and adhering them together to give dimension and then covering the rabbit's head with Vintage Photo Distress Glitter.

These Crazy Birds are great fun and so quirky, I love them.

I picked some moss from my garden and added to the top of my ATB, I love the natural feel this gives and the rabbit looks like he is just peering out from the moss, love it.

I have decorated all four sides using Tim's technique and added a different Crazy Bird to each side. Each bird is wearing a different bonnet for the special Easter holidays! Each hat has been covered with Wendy Vecchi Embossing Powders.

I love these hat's and will be using them again. I think these birds would look great for halloween wearing a halloween hat!

This Crazy Bird has made an extra effort and is even wearing a bow tie lol.

Hope you enjoy my piece today as much as I enjoyed making it.  Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

Friendship Never Melts Away

Today I am shocasing the Winter Walk stamp set from Artistic Outpost.

I wanted to use the stamp set in a different way rather than use it in winter colours I wanted to go for a more rustic appearance.

The background of the card started life as a piece of white card which I coloured with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then applied Vintage Photo Distress Powder over the top. I then spritzed the background randomly with Black Soot Distress Spray Stain to add to the rusty appearance.

I stamped the focal image with Black Archival Ink stamped onto white card and again shaded with Distress Ink. I bleached out areas on the house in the background .

I added banners stamped with the sentiments along with memo pins and number brads. The sentiments are from the Skating Emporium stamp set.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

Compendium of Curiosities 23 - Collection Folio

When I saw the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge was the Collection Folio, I knew it was the perfect time to make a start on my Mother-in-Law's alternative birthday card, she is 80 in September. The idea behind my folio is to build on it as the year progresses, adding more pieces each month to make this an alternative card to cherish. Inspiration Emporium are kindly sponsoring this challenge and offering a fabulous prize for the winner.

I will avoid going into too much detail as this post is very picture heavy to show all the details. The folio has been covered with the beautiful Wallflower Paper Stash and machine stitched into place, I love adding stitching to this kind of project. The focal image is that of my Mother-in-Law with my husband and two children. I have also included three die cut hearts, cut from mountboard using the new Heartfelt die and covered with Wendy Vecchi embossing powders, adding rusty hearts around the outside edge for a further texture. 13 represents the date of my Mother-in-Law's birthday and I love the Chitchat stickers they fit perfectly. Family and Cherish were die cut from white card using Tim Holtz thinlits dies.

My Mother-in-Law loves her garden and the birds they attract so the Wallflower paper seemed perfect.

Natural twine and embellishments add further interest.

I love these hearts and the rusty hearts to echo the shape.

Flashcards add a further layer of interest to my design.

I don't use papers very often so this was a nice change adding layers using papers and embellishments. I also added touches of stencilling here and there along with Remnant Rubs and wooden birds.

80 has been added using Alpha Parts, covered with Tree Branch embossing powder.

I have die cut tags from kraft card using Tim Holtz Tag and Bookplate die and added them as layers to the folio and I will add more personal pictures of my Mother-in-Law over the coming months.

I highlighted September and 13 on this pocket card my Mother-in-Law's birthday.

Chitchat stickers have been added throughout.

I love the alphabet background on this group of tags, perfect as my Mother-in-Law was a teacher.

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you like what I have created. Tracy x x x

Winter Wishes

Today I am showcasing the fabulous Skating Emporium from Artistic Outpost.

I began by applying a piece of crumpled tissue paper to a piece of white card and allowing to dry, once completely dry I then applied embossing paste through a star layering stencil for added dimension and then spritzed with Distress Spray Stains, adding touches of Picket Fence Spray to the top to lighten and add to the frosty feel.

The focal image has been stamped with Black Archival Ink onto white card and coloured with Broken China Distress Ink. I also included a die cut snowflake covered with embossing paste and coloured with Distress Spray Stains, highlighting the texture with wax. The letter 'S' was to echo the s in snow and was covered with embossing powder to coordinate with my design.

Chitchat stickers have been included and WINTER die cut from white card.  I love the texture the tissue paper gives to my backdrop.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x

With Brave Wings She Flies

I decided to just enjoy crafting for the fun of it this weekend and join in with a challenge and A Vintage Journey challenge fitted perfectly as they are celebrating their first birthday so my piece is to say Happy Birthday and long may the creative journey last.Country View Crafts are sponsoring the challenge and there is a fabulous prize on offer for the winner. The challenge this time around is ANYTHING TIM. Eileen Hull's Art with Heart Challenge is "Go Green" and my piece also fits perfectly for that too, although I am on the Design Team I thought it would be fun to join in a second time just for fun.

I decided to create an ATB using Eileen Hull's Block/Cube die combined with Tim Holtz products.

I painted my ATB with Black Soot Distress Paint, I love how the black pop's against my coloured piece and really sets everything off to perfection. I decorated the square panel with Embossing Paste applied over the Tim Holtz Gothic Layering Stencil, allowing to dry and then colouring with Distress Paints Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn. I applied the paint to a non-stick craft sheet, spritzed with water and then mopped up the paint with my card. I then spritzed with Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain. I then die cut a butterfly from mountboard using Tim Holtz new Butterfly Duo die, applying Wendy Vecchi Crackled Texture Paste over the butterfly for added texture and then colouring with Distress Paints, applying Black Soot Distress Ink to the edges. I also included a Salvaged Doll, coloured with paints and adding a mini bird along with Chitchat sticker.

I wanted to add some detail around the edges of my ATB and after some considerable thought I decided on the Pediments die, adding a piece to each top edge of the ATB and painting each piece with Black Soot Distress Paint. The top panel was coloured with Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn Distress Paints and painty circles added with the top from a lid and again spritzed with Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain. I also included FLY, die cut from mountboard using Tim Holtz WordPlay die and coloured with Black Soot Distress Ink and then covered with Wendy Vecchi's Sky Blue Embossing Powder. I also added a die cut butterfly again cut using the Butterfly Duo die, colouring with Black Soot Distress Ink and then coating with Fern Green and Sky Blue Embossing Powders. Chitchat stickers were added to the wings for further interest.

Each panel was decorated using Salty Ocean and Mowed Lawn Distress Paints and painty circles added using a lid along with a few delicate splatters using Black Soot Distress Paint. A further butterfly has been added to this side along with a Chitchat sticker.

I kept one of the sides free from any embellishing so that the background and layered detail was clearly visible. I love these two colours together and I love adding layers to my designs, achieved here with paint, sprays and Embossing Paste.

The final side of my ATB has been decorated in the same way with a further butterfly and painted backdrop with added Chitchat sticker. I then added my ATB to a wooden spool adding a piece of Tim's metal industrial sticker around the top edge.

The spool was again painted with Distress Paints and I repeated FLY lettering to the base to echo the lettering at the top of my design but this time sprinkled with Fern Green Embossing Powder. I love these Embossing Powders! I also included a final Chitchat sticker from Tim's new range.

I hope I have inspired you in some way to just craft for the fun of it and join in some of the fabulous challenges in blogland.

Eileen Hull Art With Heart Challenge - "Go Green"
A Vintage Journey - Anything Tim

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment, I really do appreciate the time you take to leave some feedback. Tracy x x

Artistic Outpost Product Focus - Flowers/Gardening

Artistic Outpost is now having a monthly feature known as Product Focus and this month we are focusing on Flowers/Gardening and all the stamps in the Flowers/Gardening category are all on sale up until 7th March and you can find them all HERE.

I am showcasing the fabulous SERENITY stamp set , I love the foliage, flowers and birds on this set and I thought this focal image fitted the theme perfectly.

I decorated the background with Distress Paints Cracked Pistachio and Gathered Twigs, I love these two colours together. I added drops of the paint to a non-stick craft sheet, spritzed with water and then picked up the beads of colour with my card and then dried with a heat tool, and then repeated the process until I was happy with the coverage.

I stamped the focal image with Black Archival Ink and stamped a few of the delicate flowers from the stamp set, cut them out and then added to my background, adding beads to the centre for added interest.

I am now thinking more and more about Spring and looking forward to the longer days and spending more time in my garden, this focal image really reminds me of my garden.

The letters were die cut from mountboard, coloured with Potting Soil Archival Ink and I then added Tree Branch embossing powder to the top to give an aged feel.

My fellow team members have also created projects to inspire you further and focus on more of the wonderful range of stamp sets available.

Gerrie

Terry

Lisa

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x