Handmade with Love

Taking Time Out to Enjoy the Little Things

My little fella has two weeks off this half term and we have spent our first couple of days chilling out and doing the things that we used to do before he was at school.

We have been to the park and fed the swans.

We drank hot chocolate in the cafe in the park. We played on the swings and slides.....

We have admired the trees, flowers, sun and the nature that surrounds us.

We have walked the dog, watched a film in bed and another with a blanket on the sofa.

He has reminded me what it is like to be eight, to be care free, to enjoy the simple pleasures in life and make the most of the day!

I hope you are all having a great week!

Tracey x

A Productive Morning!

Hi all, welcome to my new followers. One problem I have come across is that if I click on a new followers details, it does not come up with their blog so I can't join them. However if they comment I can then click on the comment and find their blog. Am I doing something wrong? Any help would be appreciated!

Hubby was off sick earlier this week so we snuggled down in the lounge with a hot water bottle and a blanket. I bought in a few of my new Prima stamps from QVC and a small table and made a few much needed cards.

I stamped using Versamark ink onto Linen card.

I added a little colour with distress inks.

And added a little bling.

I used different colours.

I love the green and yellow, not my usual colours!

Another stamp from the pack.

And in a different colour!

Thankfully hubby is now feeling better and back at work, just in time for my youngest to start his two week half term! I hope you all have a great week!

Tracey x

Weddings and Anniversarys

Hello all, life seems to be keeping me busy at the moment and my friend Jennifer reminded me this morning that I had not blogged for ages, so hello Jennifer, I finally did it!

Last month saw me making a lot of wedding and anniversary cards, the most special one being from me to my hubby to celebrate 16 years of marriage. We have been together since we were at school!

I used a heart shaped stamp from Papermania and stamped it onto linen card stock in Crimson Versamark ink.

This was layered onto black card with black and red ribbon. The sentiment was printed from my computer in Edwardian Script.

I then added a bit of bling, yes I know its a card for a man but I couldn't help it!

Here is another card I made for my neighbour to give to her brother on his wedding day.

The heart was stamped with silver ink onto linen card.

I layered it onto grey and silver linen cards and used some foam pads to give it some dimension.

A few Papermania gems were added to finish it off! I have actually made three of these cards recently with different colour gems and backing paper, one in purple which looked lovely although I didn't get time take a photo!

Finally an anniversary card that I made for my friend and her husband, although the photo didn't come out to well. This was a digi heart from 2 peas in a bucket which I printed onto linen card and added some dark grey pearls.

Let me know which heart you like the best! I hope you are all having a great week, I am off to catch up with what you have being making.

Tracey x

Birthday's Galore!

Hello all and welcome to my followers new and old! It has been a manic month for birthdays and anniversaries and with the kids only just going back to school I have been busy trying to keep up with my cards!

Today my youngest son who has just reach the grand age of 8 is having a sleep over with two of his little friends. We had a group of his friends come to see Smurfs 3D at the cinema and then went for a pizza and now the two remaining ones are playing quietly with him upstairs. I hope they don't stay awake to late as I want to be bright and bushy tailed to go to Ally Pally tomorrow for the Stamping and Scrapbook show!

Apart from my son's birthday this week I have also had our gorgeous niece's birthday.

First a quick bit of background not only is Grace gorgeous but she loves monkeys so much that my sis in law has two cuddly toy ones so that she is never without her monkey! I thought it would be a good idea to send her a card from my two little monkeys to their lovely cousin!

I used a digi set called Animal Crackers by Libby Pritchett & Tracey Howard from Sweet Shoppe Designs. I used a branch of a tree and two cute monkeys and arranged and printed them from Publisher. I then decoupaged their heads, flowers and some leaves and covered them in glossy accents to make them stand out a little. Finally some wiggly eyes were added and a sentiment backed onto some pink paper.

Our card to our niece was made with a stamp I have had for ages and love using it for babies and little ones.

Stamped in pink onto white linen card stock.

Layered onto pink card and silver linen card stock..

I then added a bow, glamour dust to its ears and paws and a few gems onto the card.

I hope she likes it! Anyway I must go and check on the little ones upstairs and get them ready to snuggle down for a dvd, wish me luck!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Tracey x

Cards for Kids

Sometimes I can spend hours thinking of ideas for cards and other times I will see something and the ideas just flow! I saw a Digital Paper set by Lauren Grier from Sweet Shoppe Designs, I can't find it on there now so I think it's retired. It's full of monsters and great backing papers.

I wanted to make some quick cards for the kids to give to their little friends on their birthdays and made these in a matter of minutes.

I punched the little faces out with my circle punch and stuck them on with some foam pads.

I added some wiggly eyes that I bought from the Factory Shop and used Glossy Accents on their hats to make them shiny.

Same idea as the previous card but with another wonderful backing paper.

Here I used one of the backing papers and added a 3D sticker that I bought in a set from the Factory Shop.

This one has girly colours suitable for a tom boy!

I really enjoyed playing with these papers and it feels good to have a little stash of cards ready for all the birthdays coming up!

Have a great weekend!

Tracey x

Cards for Men

Hubby and the boys have been away at our caravan this weekend so I have indulged in a little craft shopping and card making.

I have made this card for my god mother to give to her son, she wanted something to do with bikes as he loves cycling.

The card was made from this Digi kit and printed onto linen cardstock. I printed the bunting, cut it out and mounted with foam dots. A few silver embelishments were put at the centre of the wheels and on the bunting. I love Polka Dot Pixels, they have alot of images that are suitable for male cards!

I am entering this card in for the Cards for Men Challenge where this weeks card is Anything Goes. There are so many beautiful cards on the blog, I am in awe of your colouring in too!

Have a good weekend all!

Tracey x

Gift Tags

With the kids still on summer holidays I am keeping it quick and simple at the moment and just spent a few minutes making some gift tags. I love kraft and bought these tages ages ago online.

This is a prima stamp which I used on my card in this post. I stamped it in white and added white sparkly embossing powder.