Thursday, April 29, 2010

Dogwoods Mean Home


It took me a while but I finally figured out what I wanted to do for the Week #7 challenge at The Shabby Tea Room. The theme was "Comforts of Home". There was no sketch , but a picture for us to draw inspiration from with some yummy neutral colors in it.

Home to me is the 100+ acres my family has owned for almost a hundred years. I've lived here all but a couple of years of my life and know it like the back of my hand and LOVE it! It was a huge pecan orchard when it was bought, but sadly most of it is now gone thanks to Hurricane Katrina. We had to watch out the window as they were laid over one by one like dominoes.
We just enjoyed the full bloom of the dogwoods here. They're scattered all over the old homeplace and I chose them to represent the comfort of my home. I'm also going to enter this in the OCC Blooming Blossoms Challenge, my first time for their challenge blog.

I made the flowers. They are the simple organza ones that I did a YouTube tutorial on. I had to tweek them a little bit to try to get that little divet in the end of the petals that dogwoods have. I alcohol inked some stamens for the centers. Yes, dogwood flowers do have green centers. :)


Papers: DCWV, Bo Bunny
Acrylic Paint: Olive, Butternut
Glimmer Mist: Vanilla Breeze
Ranger Alcohol Ink: Lettuce
Tattered Angels Glimmer Screen
Martha Stewart Punch
Kaiser Pearls

Hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by.
Tracy

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

My Happy 101 Blog Award from Kristina

First off I need to apologize to Jan and Priscilla. So far I've been muddling through the world of blogging fairly well, but I still haven't got all the bells and whistles figured out. I changed my comments to moderation instead of word verification since that's recommended by the card challenge sites. I thought it was supposed to e-mail me when I had a new comment waiting to be moderated but it didn't so I didn't see the comments posted by the two ladies above for a day or so. Arrgghh! Didn't want you to think I was ignoring your comments ladies. I think I have it fixed now.
I've only been involved in the world of blogging since February, but I have been blessed with meeting some incredible ladies that I can now call friends. The encouragement and support they have given me has meant the world to me and I try my best to pay it forward (or maybe it's backward in this case LOL).
One of these new friends is Kristina. You just click with some people. You'll find that most of the people I have become friends with have wonderful senses of humor. I love a good chuckle and I like to try to make other people happy too. She's not only funny but she's an incredibly talented artist. Mini's, tags, cards, or painting {had to throw that one in too K :)}, she does it all very well. If you haven't checked out her blog you should give it a try. She'll make you smile. She made me smile today by giving me another blog award.


Thank you my friend. This means so much to me. Who wouldn't be happy when someone gives them a cupcake. LOL Seriously, the sentiment says it all.
As a recipient of this award I am to pass it along to five fellow bloggers and list ten things that make me happy.
Of course I would pass it back to Kristina. I wonder if that's allowed? :) Until I know otherwise though, I'll pass it on to the following ladies. I know Kristina already picked the first two ladies but we're all kind of in a little group of common friends so I'm picking them too.

I had to list ten things that make me happy for the other award Kristina gave me so I'll try to give some different things this time(the others still apply).

1. Shopping! Let me clarify. CRAFT shopping. I love to spend hours in Michaels cruising the aisles. They know me and they know that I know where everything in that store is better than they do. That's bad . . . but true.

2. Fishing. Hubby and I don't get to do this much anymore. But I love to go out in the Gulf and catch a nice mess of white trout. YUM! Freshwater bream will do too.

3. People enjoying the food I've cooked. We southerners love to cook AND eat.

4. The fresh smell in the air after a thunderstorm. I have many wonderful memories of being lazy on an old couch on my grandparents screened in front porch watching and smelling the rain.

5. Movies like Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. I'm a hopeless romantic! It has to have a happy ending though.

6. The old homeplace. My family has owned the 100+ acres I live on for almost a hundred years. I know and love every inch of it. I'll be talking a little more about this when I post my card for The Shabby Tea Room challenge. (My pondering paid off Jan)

7. Learning something new and being able to share it with my friends.

8. Visiting new places. We don't get to travel a lot but I've been below sea level, above 12000 feet, on a couple of islands, and everything in between.

9. The cheese dip at El Saltillos Mexican Restaurant. Nuff said.

10. Chatting with my online friends. This should probably be way up at the top. I love talking to you guys.

Got a couple of projects in progress so I should have something posted soon, probably my card for the challenge first. Enjoy your awards ladies you all deserve them my friends.

xoxoxo

Monday, April 26, 2010

An Honorable Mention Surprise

I can't believe it! My card won an Honorable Mention in The Shabby Tea Room challenge I entered! I'm so excited! And so thankful to all of you who have encouraged me in my cardmaking. I'd probably still be a chicken if you hadn't showed some faith in my work. Bless you all! I hope that I have been as much of an encouragement to you in your artistry as you've been to me in mine.
I've got so many projects in my head that I want to do . Can't tell you exactly what will be next, but I hope to share something new with you soon.
Have a fantastic day!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Hydrangeas and the Color Purple

Well, I've attempted to make another card. (Can you tell I'm in a "purple" mood?) I've always loved the card challenge blogs, but was too chicken to submit anything. I'm biting the bullet this time and I'm actually going to submit this card for the Week #6 "Sketch This" challenge at The Shabby Tea Room.
I love the look of watercoloring although I have no clue about how to do it correctly. You know all the shading and stuff, but I love to play around with it anyway. I like the softness of the images.
I stamped the image in Stazon on some watercolor paper and painted it. There are some teeny tiny purple acrylic bling in the centers of all the flowers. I used a piece of DCWV card stock for the base. I found the DCWV Luxury Stack on clearance at Michaels (LOVE this paper) and used some of a piece of the beautiful soft blue damask patterned paper for the side pieces which I used a Martha Stewart punch on. I used some more purple bling for the flower centers in the punch. Some ribbon, Prima roses, and a Nestabilities die cut sentiment finish it off.
Hope you like it.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Roses and Stained Glass


This is the tag that I made for the April Tag Swap hosted by Arlene at butterflykisseswithlove.blogspot.com. The theme this month was Roses and Flowers and our challenge was to use fabric on our tag. I had this stained glass design in mind from the beginning, but the fabric was really throwing me for a loop. I had bought some burlap not long ago so I pulled that out and clipped off a little piece to use. That little snippet just seemed too little. I had thought about using sticky back canvas for the front of the tag. My sweet friend Elaine in Singapore sent me some Studio Multi Medium so that I could attempt her Rustic Wall Effect. You can check out her tutorial for this on her YouTube channel--sillyfroghoneybee. She used the sticky back canvas, but I decided to just do the technique on the chipboard. I say all that because the sticky back canvas made me think of some off white muslin material I had in storage. Then I remembered seeing a tutorial for these cute little butterflies made out of ribbon and I thought "Hey! I can make them out of that muslin and Glimmer Mist them!" So I did. LOL
If you click on the picture you can make it bigger and see the "stained glass effect" I got with UTEE. I have several other projects in mind using this look. I have a video up on my YouTube channel if you're interested in seeing how I made this tag.

Tracy

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Kiss Me I'm Irish

Actually I AM a little bit Irish. I had a set of gr-gr-gr-grandparents who immigrated over to the U.S. from Dublin and County Cork. Kiss Me I'm Irish was the theme for the March ATC Swap over at Life On The {Scrap} Beach. The very sweet Hope Simpson (MsScrappaperscissors) has just posted her video showing all the cards from the swap so I thought I'd post a picture of my card here on my blog and tell you a little about how I made it.


The card base is a piece of watercolor paper cut the standard 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" size. I used Frayed Burlap Distress Ink to color it and then added a little bit of Shabby Shutters in the center. I then stamped the card using Walnut Stain Distress Ink with a Stampabilities wooden stamp called Ornate Textured Background.

For the clover I used some of my handmade stems and the leaves were made using a Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch. I just cut the little flowers in half. The clover petals were made using a technique I learned on Splitcoast Stampers (I think?). I took a piece of cardstock and repeatedly rubbed it over the edge of my counter top until the layers of the cardstock began to separate. Once the whole piece is softened you can peel the two layers apart. What you're left with is a texture very much like suede. I then sprayed the petals with Olive Vine Glimmer Mist.

The little blue flowers are ribbon flowers just like the ones I made the hyacinth with on my Birthday Mini video. You can find a fantastic tutorial on how to make these on Gina Ortiz's YT channel--scrappinology.The sentiment was computer generated and painted with pearl Perfect Pearls mixed with water, and the whole card was edged with gold embossing powder.

It was fun to make and I can't wait to get the cards from my swap partners.


Have a great Sunday!
Tracy

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Kristina and Beth's Blog Candy

My sweet friend Kristina has some yummy blog candy over at her blog Kristina's World so go check it out and follow her instruction for your chance to win. Here's a peek at the goodies she has up for grabs.


She's also teaming up with her friend Beth who's giving away some blog candy of her own on her blog Runs with Scraps. So check her blog out to see what you need to do to enter for her giveaway.
Yippee! Who'll be the lucky winner?
Tracy

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

I Made a Card!

This may sound lame to you, but I'm excited. See I don't
make cards. I've tried to in the past and they just came out terrible. I have created a new blog list on my side bar for all my friends who make cards so that I can hopefully learn from their expertise. If you haven't checked out Sarah's blog The Handmade Card Blog give her a looky. She's from Scotland and makes the cutest cards. I love the ones she's been making lately with the fibers in lines for a background. I made a comment on one of her videos and she sent me a load of encouragement in a few little sentences. Her philosophy is "simple cards = maximum impact". I gave it a shot and I was pretty happy with the results. Thanks Sarah!
I used a white notecard blank from a pack I picked up on sale at Hobby Lobby. The edges are inked with Dusty Concord Distress ink. The center panel really doesn't show up very well in the picture. I couldn't get the lighting right to see it well, but it was just a piece of white CS sprayed with Garden Fairy Glimmer Mist. The flower is stamped using a Papertrey Ink stamp. I colored it with watercolor pencils and added some glitter to the center. I cut it out, covered the whole thing in Triple Thick, and popped a bling in the middle. The sentiment was from the same stamp set. At the bottom I added a little border punched with a Martha Stewart punch and a little polka dot bow.
It's definitely simple, but I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. Maybe I can do it again. :)
Til next time.
Tracy

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Another Heritage 12 x 12 Layout


Here's another one of the heritage layouts I did last year. My great-grandmother is also in this one. She's the little girl on the bottom left. It was taken in the early 1890's. Her mother is sitting behind her. I just love old photos and stories about my ancestors. I'm a huge genealogy buff although I haven't really fooled with any of that in a while.
For this layout I printed out another frame pattern. It also had a design on it, but for this one I used a stylus to trace over the pattern which raised it up on the opposite side. I then inked the piece and the raised edges caught more ink and defined the design.
The rose was an image off the internet. I printed it out three times and cut the print outs up so that I could layer the image. I then covered the whole thing with Rock Candy Crackle Paint. Just a note of advice here. DO NOT use crackle paint on matte finish photo paper. Once the crackle crackle it started to fall off and it took the ink with it. After I put that whole thing together I had to redo it on regular cardstock all over again.
The flourish on the right hand side was done with a piece of acetate and some dimensional puff paint. I found a flourish image online and blew it up to the size I needed. I then put it under the acetate and used it as a guide to make the paint dot pattern.
The paisley background paper was cut out using a piece of die cut cardstock and then I cut around it with scallopped decorative scissors. I then went back with a paper piercer and poked holes in every one of those little scallops. Yikes! That was a job!
Hope you like it. Thanks for popping in.
Tracy



Sunday, April 11, 2010

A Little Something Different







It's been forever since I did a 12 x 12 layout. The last project I was working on was a heritage style album of old family pictures. Here is one of the pages I created with a picture of my great-grandmother. She was a playmate for me when I was a kid. We spent hours playing dominoes and card games like fish and war.
All the flowers, stems, and even the vase are handmade. Those stems were some of my first attempts and they use the same technique as the one I use in my vines and stems tutorial on YouTube. The leaves were hand cut and inked. The vase made me use my brain. I didn't want it to be flat so I made a back and a front AND a lip for it so the stems could actually be "inside" the vase. It was also run through a Cuttlebug Embossing folder and then Glimmer Misted with Caramel Apple.
I also made the frame. I found an image of one either off the net or from my Printmaster clipart, printed it out, glued it to chipboard, and cut it out. The print out had a design on it. I used glue to go over the design lines, let it dry and then painted over it with black acrylic paint. After it dried, I took a little bit of gold paste similar to Rub and Buff and brushed it lightly over the raised lines.
I need about ten clones of myself right now to be able to do all the projects I want to do. So many ideas floating around in my head that I want to try not to mention the things that I have obligations to do. I hope to have a couple of new tutorials up soon on YT. My friend Steph wants me to do a tutorial on the tag I made for her. Here's a pic of it



and here's a pic of the tag she made for me. I LOVE IT!



I actually bought a package of blank cards and envelopes so I can give card making a try again. Maybe, just maybe I'll have a card worth showing you in the future.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tracy





Monday, April 5, 2010

Busy Days

Whew! This past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. Lots of good stuff going on.
I did a giveaway for my subscribers on YouTube. I don't really know much about putting kits together but that's basically what I did. I bundled up some beautiful K & Co. paper with matching embellishments. That was really fun. I liked being able to give something back to all the people who have encouraged me.
I also won a giveaway! My sweet friend Alee' did a giveaway for her subscribers and her daughter drew my name out of the bowl! So I'll be getting a beautiful kit that she put together.
I had started a mini with some of the new Dear Lizzy Spring papers but I put that on hold to concentrate on making a very special tag for my friend Steph (sweetcraftychick). She's already posted the video on the tag that she made for me but I haven't peeked. I want to be surprised. I'll post pics here soon and may do a video on how I made her tag later.
Meanwhile here's a photo of the tag that I made for Arlene's March Tag Swap on her blog--butterflykisseswithlove.


If you're interested in how I made it you can check out the two parter video I made about it on my YouTube channel. The link is on the top right hand side of this page. I tried my best to edit that video down and even with all the slicing and dicing I still came out with two ten minute segments. LOL
Does anybody know of a good place to download music to use on videos that doesn't have copyright infringements? YouTube's Audioswap selections are pretty limited.
I'm signed up for this month's swap at Arlene's too, so I've got to get busy designing!

Have a great day!
Tracy