OWL BOOK COVER

Last night before going to sleep I was looking for a scrap of paper to write down an idea for a card, this is a frequent occurence in our house whenever I think of something to create.  I quickly scribble it down on any scrap of paper I can find and more often than not that piece of paper is thrown in the bin when I tidy everything away.  Well today I decided I would make a little book to write my ideas in, which I should have created a long time ago to save repeating the routine of writing it down and then throwing it away.  I decided to create a book that would incorporate the challenges over at Simon Says Stamp and Show some EPHEMERA and the Compendium of Curiosities challenge DIMENSIONAL COLLAGE FRAGMENTS, Page 63 of the book.

The ornate owl stamp was a gift from my friend Sue a while ago and I decided would be perfect for my book. The owl has been stamped onto fabric with archival ink and machine stitched around the edges.  'OWL' has been stamped to two corners of the panel.  My fragment has a piece of film strip, postcard and the letter 'O' from Tim's Lost and Found Paper Stash.  I love the little owl embellishment I found in my craft goodies, the perfect finishing touch I feel for the fragment.

The book itself has been created from Grungepaper which I have covered with 7 Gypsies Paddington paper and again machine stitched around the edges.

I have hand sewn black and white buttons to the owl's body and added small snaps for his eyes.  Three black and white buttons complete the front cover.

Not only did I add ephemera to my fragment at the front I also added some to the inside cover of my book, including postcards and tickets, again machine stitched into place.  Black lace has been added to complete the look.

Now I have no excuse my ideas will all be in one place, all I need now are the ideas LOL.  Thanks for stopping by, Tracy x x

WOYWW - Yippee It's Spring

I'm so pleased we are into March, Spring is officially here and the weather is actually milder than it has been.  Can you tell I am looking forward to Spring.  I feel like I have been a hermit over the Winter months, I need to spend some time in the garden to blow away the cobwebs.  Anyway, I digress, the reason for the post this morning is it's Wednesday and that can only mean one thing, What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW), for all the details, pop over to Julia's place HERE.

Work in progress is what remains on my desk this morning and my brain is hurting just thinking about what I am going to do next, I'm a little challenged at the moment but I am hoping inspiration strikes soon LOL.

I also have some Prima embellishments on the left hand side of my desk, which I have now unpacked and placed into my embellishment containers just after I took this picture, they are gorgeous.  I love my embellishments, although at the moment I seem to be doing more purchasing than creating. Not much else of interest on my desk this week I'm afraid, but then again I always have to clear away once I have finished crafting.  I'm hoping to get a little fresh air today, gardening and walking the dog and then maybe some crafting.  Thanks for stopping by, see you in Blogland! Tracy x x

Step Into Spring

The Stampman Challenge - CURLS and SWIRLS
Sunday Stamper Challenge - PARIS
The Play Date Cafe Challenge - COLOUR CHALLENGE see inspiration photo below.

My inspiration came from the colours from The Play Date Cafe, which this week are lovely cheery colours which really had me thinking about Spring, along with the fact that the birds have been singing particularly loudly in my garden this weekend and the frogs have finally appeared in my pond. I have been crafting on and off this weekend, I seem to start something and after an hour take a break to do a little housework and then come back to crafting and that's how my weekend has taken shape.  After two days of this routine I have finally completed three pieces for the challenges above, think I must be the slowest crafter on the planet LOL.

My first piece is an accordion card which has a very definite SPRING theme using an Outlines tulip stamp. I have used the colours from The Play Date Cafe with a small spash of blue in the button on the bottom right hand corner and there is some blue in my flowers too which does not show up to well in the photograph.

This is the back of my accordion and my swirls are in the hearts which come from the Tim Holtz Alterations Heart Wings die.  I have also gathered a piece of ribbon which also created some swirls/curls.

The bird has been created from kitchen towel which I sprayed with colour and then die cut the bird using Tim's Alterations Caged Bird Die.

The flowers and heart have also been created from kitchen towel.

Hand stitching and embellishments complete my first creation.

 

My second piece is an easel card using papers and stamps from Papermania.  The colours are as per The Play Date Cafe and the swirls are included on my paper and on the stamping in the heart.

I also added a needle felted heart to the bottom right hand corner to give some dimension.

My final piece is a simple card made with all the leftovers of my coloured kitchen towel.  I simply stamped the dress image from B Line Designs onto the kitchen towel and cut out.  I do not have any PARIS images so added the text PARIS and some french text to the top of my card. There are also some swirls to the top of two of the dresses, albeit small but they are there.  Again this piece uses the colours from The Play Date Cafe.  Enjoy your week, I am off to do a little more housework and then perhaps more crafting, I can see a routine taking shape here LOL.  Take care, Tracy x x

Artful Tag

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Some Stripes!
Compendium of Curiosities -Altered Metal Alcohol Inks, Page 56 of the book.
Sunday Stamper - Numbers.

I decided to create a tag this time around for the three challenges above.  My stripes come from a piece of 12 x 12 paper by Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante Collection which I machine stitched onto a tag using black thread. The Altered Metal Alcohol Ink technique has been applied to my flowers and my ARTFUL Philosophy tag at the top. The stamps I have used are from Oxford Impressions which are becoming a favourite of mine. My numbers are self explanatory.

I have added wings from the Heart Wings die, snaps to one edge of the wings, black lace and co-ordinated buttons. Enjoy you day and thanks for stopping by, Tracy x x

WOYWW Long Time No Speak

It's been a while since I joined in with WOYWW and I have finally found time to play along.  My dad has been seriously ill for a month so I have been visiting but he is much improved now thankfully, so it is just taking me a while to get back into some kind of routine.  Where better to start than joining in with the weekly phenomena that is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, the brainchild of Julia.  Click HERE to be magically transported to Julia's place for all the details.

I took this picture at 10am this morning but have only just found the time to blog.  As usual I try to keep my desk as tidy as possible before my next crafting session, which I am hoping will be sometime later today, I can hope LOL.  The pot at the back of my desk is one my 10 year old daughter Laura made for me from clay, it is so heavy but it is one of those items I will treasure and is now used to store some of my button collection. The 12 x 12 paper on my desk is for my next challenge piece and the items on the left are for my next Altered Alice piece but I am still at the thinking stage, but these days the thinking stage takes a great deal longer LOL.
Thanks for stopping by, I am now off to try and hop around a few desks, something I have not done for 6 weeks.  Enjoy your week, Tracy x x

The Altered Alice - Chapter 1 - Week 4

We are now on week 4 of our challenge CHANGES IN FORM AND DRESS FORMS and Stampotique Originals is sponsoring our first month with a $30 gift certificate for one lucky winner, see my original post HERE for my first piece of art and all the details to enter the challenge. Carol from Stampotique kindly sent the DT a stamp of our choice so I thought I would take the opportunity to create a second piece for The Altered Alice.

I chose KARIN as I thought she made a perfect Alice.  I decided on a journal page this time around which I coloured with Distress Inks.

I reduced Karin's size just like Alice was reduced in size and I added the text 'Curiouser and Curiouser'.  The Mushrooms are also a Stampotique image along with the Swirl Stalks stamped along the bottom edge of my page.

I also added text torn from an Alice In Wonderland book "However, I've got back to my right size:" which I thought was quite fitting for my journal pages.

There is still plenty of time to enter the challenge for a chance to win this fabulous prize from Stampotique, simply click on the link above for all the details and to view some wonderful pieces from our Design Team and our entries.  Enjoy your weekend, Tracy x x

Sew Simple

I have not made a tag for quite some time, I don't know why but I tend to make cards rather than tags so I thought I would have a change and it was great fun working in a smaller space.

I decided to go for a sewing theme and will probably make a coordinated card to go with my tag.  I am entering this piece for Simon Says Stamp and Show a TAG and the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge which this week is INKING AND STAMPING MASKS, page 59 of the book.

Thanks for stopping by, Tracy x x