LINDA TRACE DESIGNS

crafty adventures of a makeup loving Japanophile!

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Tuesday 30 October 2012

Shopping Our Stash

Hi friends!

here with another Shopping Our Stash challenge inspiration for ya!

This week we want to see you use:

Flower Power- Use your handmade or 3-d flowers!  (your project can include stamped images but it also needs to have at least one flower that is either handmade or a 3-d flower you bought.  Think Wild Orchid Crafts, puffy stickers, Primas, etc.)

So I chose to use one of my OOOOOOOOOOOOLD flowers from Prima. Its at least two-three years old (which is when I started crafting, so...it's about as old as it gets for me!)

I love this flower. it's over the top and kinda gaudy, but totally unapologetic. Reminds me of Maggie Smith's character in Downton Abbey (anyone else obsessed with that show?!)

I digress.

Anyhoo, I used Lawn Fawn for the background, Hero Arts for teh sentiment :)

Nice and simple, and CLASSY. :)

Hope you like!

Please pop over to the blog to see the rest of the DT's work!

See you again soon!

Linda x






Wednesday 24 October 2012

Happy Birthday Mary Dawn

Hi!

I'm here with a short, but important post, about a short, but important woman.

Mary Dawn.

She's awesome.

She's my friend--and that's awesome in and of itself.

But today? Well today you see, she's 40. That means this blessed ol' world has been lucky enough to have her awesomeness (yes that's a word) wandering around for 40 years. What a lucky world we live in :)

Let me get a lil' sentimental with you if I may, about my friend Mary Dawn.
She's honest, to the point where you'll spit your coffee out when you see just HOW honest she is.
She's loyal.
She's gorgeous (inside AND out)
She's funny as all GET OUT (or is it geddout?! i dont know..)
She's sweet and kind.
She's fragile and uncertain at times, despite all the above amazeballs (her word) traits and her balls-to-the-wall strength.
She's got an UH-MAZING sense of style and colour. I've never known anyone with such a natural talent.
She can spell words in the wrong way, that make you wonder why they weren't spelt that way in the first place. eg inoright (i know right), geaux tou bed (I'll let you figure that one out)
She's thoughtful, lovely and just downright beautimous (another of her words).

And like I said, she's my friend. (and I get to run A Blog Named Hero with her :))

How lucky am I?!?

So anyways, it's her birthday.

So I thought I'd make her a card.
I used Hero Arts background dot pattern, and a Simon Says Stamp card kit from a couple of months ago for the rest.
It's complex, and bright and pretty and makes me smile. Just like Mary Dawn does :)

Here's a close up (of the card, not MD...)

So please read the sentiment on the card my love, and do so. Celebrate Friend!

If you'd like to see the rest of the cards the DT made for her, head over to the blog!

Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back again soon

Crafty hugs to you !

Linda xoxo

Sunday 21 October 2012

Shopping Our Stash Challenge 74!

Hey Howdy Hey!


I'm here for Shopping Our Stash Challenge blog, which is up to it's 74th Challenge this week!!

This week we want to see you do:
Out of the Jar: use anything that came in a jar- flower soft, glitter, perfect pearls, embossing powder, etc.,  OR a jar image - or make something using a Jar! (decorate a jar)

SO here's my card :)

christmas card_perfect pearl

I embossed the Neat and Tangled flower image using Versamark ink (and clear embossing powder), onto black cardstock, then heat-set it.  Next I took some Perfect Pearls (which are so fun to play with) and 'painted' them over the flowers. I wanted it to be a little messy, so I was careful to NOT be too careful (know what I mean?!) I wanted the colour to look almost watercoloured, so I just played.

Once dried, I cut the black cardstock into a large banner/pennant shape and adhered it to the front of my cardbase, using dimensional adhesive. Lastly I added some faux stitching lines and the stamped sentiment!

A real jumble of companies on this card :)

Here is another shot so you can see how pretty the shine is from these Perfect Pearls

christmas card_perfect pearl_closeup


Here are the yummies you'll need :)


Hope to see you back here soon!

Linda xx

Saturday 20 October 2012

Mixin' up the companies

Anyone who has followed this blog for more than, oh FIVE minutes, knows I'm a HUGE fan of Hero Arts, and Lawn Fawn.

Today I thought I'd share a card I made, where I asked my two favourite children companies to play nicely together. Of COURSE, they obliged :)

HA_LF Collab all i want for christmas

Yes, that song IS now stuck in my head, and thanks to me, it's also stuck in yours. You're welcome :)

Suddenly I'm in Christmas mode. Not sure where it came from, it just snuck up on me. Suddenly I'm humming carols all day.

Hero Arts 'you' (From the Big Words set), ink (for the snowbank) and background stamp. Colorbox white ink, Lawn Fawn everything else.

Here's the deliciousness: (Clicky to buy-y :))



See you again soon!

Linda xoxo

Friday 19 October 2012

Simon Says Stamp stamps...

No, that title is NOT a typo lol

As most of you probably know, Simon Says Stamp, have launched their own range of exclusive stamps and dies. They. are. FABULOUS.

I got a *few* and I recently received my order of them.

So here is today's card, it's very simple, but I wanted to leave the stamp simple and gorgeous in it's natural state (well, almost natural, I did add a little stickles for bling :))

on a scale of one to ten

SUPER simple, Lawn Fawn paper over some neenah cardstock, stamped the sentiment and diecut it using the exclusive matching die, added some Mossy Made Ribbon, dimensional adhesives under the diecut, some little cabochon flowers I bought from etsy.

Fabulous :)

Here are the goodies you'll need if you like what you see here:



See you again soon!

Linda xx

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Shopping Our Stash Challenge #73!!

Hi there!

Yup,. it's that time again, time for another


 This week it's Trick or Treat: anything Halloween or Spooky OR candy, dessert theme, food, beverages, etc
 I decided to go for cutesy Halloween, so this is what I made:


The cardstock is Bazille, the image is Whiff of Joy (love her), letter stickers are Basic Grey, papers too.

I gave this card to my sweetie hubs. He actually liked it! (He usually goes for the darker, more masculine colours as you'd imagine).

Thanks for stopping by!

Please head over to the blog to see the rest of the DT's work--they're super fabulous as always!

We'd love it if you'd join us, just enter via the inlinkz linky tool!

See you again soon!

Linda xx

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Happy Birthday Steph!!!

Hi!

Just a quick post because I just stabbed myself (accidentally) in the finger with my super sharp scissors and its difficult to type lol.

I'm here to show you the card I made for my sweet friend and ABNH DT member, Steph! It's her B'day, and we thought we'd get together to make cards for her to wish her well.


steph b bday card
Steph--you are THE sweetest and I love you to pieces. I'm so glad we've become friends, you brighten my day immesurably.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday, and that we are friends for many more birthdays to come.

Now, if you'd like to, please head on over to A Blog Named Hero, to see the rest of the cards!

See you soon!

Linda xx

ABNH Challenge CLEAN UP YOUR ACT~

Hi there!

It's challenge day over at the wonderful A Blog Named Hero and this time we want you to
So that means, CLEAN AND SIMPLE!!!

 I really seriously love CAS cards, but I find them HARRRRRD to do.
This card popped into my head, and strangely enough, translated out perfectly onto the actual card itself. That never happens.

chair CAS Like it?! VERRRRY easy and quick. Yet another reason to love CAS cards :)

Here are the goodies you'll need if you want to try to make it yourself (which you can in less than ten mintues!!!!!

Be sure to head over to A Blog Named Hero to see the rest of the DT's amazing projects--we have two fabulous guests this week too!

See you soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 Linda xoxo

Thursday 11 October 2012

Shopping Our Stash

Hello friends!

I have to keep this short because my electricity keeps blacking out--who knows whether I'll actually get to finish writing this post! (This is my FOURTH try!) So sorry it's late.

Its time for another Shopping our Stash challenge!

This week we want you to


Tic Tac Toe Challenge for you!  You just need to use any row, horizontally, or diagonally or vertically!



 I chose the middle row (obviously!)

Image is from Paper Smooches, I put strips of washi tape down onto white cardstock, then stamped the image twice onto the washi tape (actually about 6 times--washi tape is SLIPPERY!) and then cut out the pieces, before paper piecing them back together on this main image panel.

Fun way to try paper piecing without the paper!

A bit of white Studio Calico Mister Huey's mist in the background and some ribbon from my stash :)

Please pop over to the blog to see the rest of the DT's work, it's inspiring as always! We'd love it if you'd join our challenge too :)

If you do join us, please be sure to specify which row you are using and limit your links to a total of 13 challenges including ours! Thank you!

Thanks for looking!

Linda