LINDA TRACE DESIGNS

crafty adventures of a makeup loving Japanophile!

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Monday 31 October 2011

Album for a friend :)

Hi everyone!

Just a quick video to show you an album I made for a friend in Hawaii about a year ago. I've had this video sitting waiting to be uploaded but I was having major technical issues with Youtube!

It seems to be rectified now.

Please excuse the intro of being "Linda from The Great Paper Caper", those of you who have followed me from early on will know, I changed my blog name a while back and this video was filmed just before I did.
Hope you enjoyed!

I'll be back very soon with something special :)

*hugs*

Linda

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Hello Hexagons

Hi again!!

I'm  here with another card :)

This one is card number 2 for Jay Gee's colour inspiration challenge. Just look at this palette!!



I recently purchased this Sizzix die after seeing Jennifer McGuire use it in her Inspiration Showcase class
Ummm. I am in love :)

So here is my card

The colours are showing up a bit strangely in this photo, it's actually very pastel (not such bold hues). It matches the colour inspo chart PERFECTLY (which is rare!)

The papers are from the Echo Park 6x6 paper pad and one of the sheets (the dark teal grid pattern) is from October Afternoon's Fly A Kite collection.

Very simple to put together so I wont bore you with the details!

The butterflies were cut with a Martha Stewart punch and then I  did embossed resist technique using Hero Arts Background stamps in : Music, Woodgrain, Friendship Definition and Swirl. I then inked over the Colorbox chalk inks to match the colour palette.

For a final touch I added the sentiment which is from the Hero Arts/Studio Calico Hooray stamp set and added some pearls to the butterflies and sentiment strip.

That's all folks!!

I'll be back tomorrow to share some Christmas Cards with a twist that I've made!!

Speak to you soon!!

As always, I'd love to hear from you.

*hugs*

Linda xx

Monday 24 October 2011

Marketplace stamps..Robot Miss you

Hey there!

Have y'all heard of Market Street Stamps? I hadn't until just a few weeks ago. I saw the uber talented Jess Larsen use them and fell totally in love. So of course, I ordered a couple :) And then before they arrived, I ordered a couple more :) lol

I needed to make a card for my nephew, who is still living back in Perth (where we just moved from) and needed it to be both masculine (he's ALL boy :)) and cute. The adorable image, Robo Love was just the ticket.

As it turns out, the Young Crafters Unite challenge this week is to make a masculine card. I'm by no means young, but hey, I can still remember when I was, so maybe that counts for something :)

Any hoo, here is a card I made ;

 Firstly I stamped Mr Robot onto white cardstock and coloured him in using my (gorgeous) Prisma Colour Pencils. I tried to really focus on the shading and where the light was coming from etc. I still need a LOOOT of practice :)

Then I folded the card over and then diecut a circle out using the Spellbinders Nestabilities Circle die and my Big Shot. Next I chose some patterned paper from the My Minds Eye Stella and Rose Collection 6x6 paper pad and cut it to size (about a 1/8 of an inch smaller than the cardface) and cut that, this time choosing the circle die that is one size larger in the Nestabilities set.

I inked the edges of the circle with ink (Jenny Bowlin Cough Syrup for the inner circle and Tumbled Glass for the striped paper & outer circle).
I stamped a sentiment using Lawn Fawn's Harold's ABC's and Jenny Bowlin ink, then cut the strip out and rounded the corners and added two eyelets to thread some Bakers Twine through.

For a final touch I added some Enamel Accents to his eyes and some Glossy Accents to his heart :)

 On the inside I added "bots and bots" (I miss you bots and bots=lots and lots) to give my nephew a giggle.

Anyhoo that's it! Seems like a lot when you type it all out but it came together really easily. I'm so glad I got to finally make a window card as they've been popping up all over the place lately and I've been dying to make my own :)

Speak to you soon sweeties! I'd love to hear what you think.

*hugs*

Linda xx

Sunday 23 October 2011

Simon Says Stamp challenge card

Hi there!

Today I've got a card that I made for the current Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog competition. The theme of which is;  

Be Inspired by a Nursery Rhyme or Fairy Tale

Cute theme right?! 

So I immediately went to my stamps--no fairies, no castles, no magic...hmmmm off to Tiddlyinks digital store!!

So here is my card:


I used my Prismacolour pencils to colour her dress and hair in, and then very lightly over her wings and around the edges of her wings with a slightly darker aqua.
I decided that if I were a fairy, I'd want a dress like hers :)
and I wouldn't mind those cute shoes too!
  To give the wings some magic sparkle, I used my Glimmer Mist as paint and very lightly went over the whole area (being careful to only brush inwards from the outer side of the wings, so the black of the printed image didn't smear and also to bring the darker aqua around the edges come into the centre)
 Here you can see the sparkle :)

And I did a little of the aqua Glimmer Mist on the stars, just for a little extra touch.

After I coloured her in and edged the page with Antique Linen Distress Ink, I cut it out and adhered to some hot pink Bazzill Cardstock.

I then cut some white cardstock to size and stamped the Hero Arts Friends Definition background stamp using Jenny Bowlin Chewing Gum ink (more pink!!) and edged the white cardstock with the same pink ink to finish it off.

To finish, I adhered it all together and added some gemstones from Hero Arts.

Hope you like it! I think it's the cutest image.

I'm "Dedicating" this card to my dear friend Laurel, who is having a bit of a hard time lately. Laurel--if you want the real card instead of just the image, let me know your mailing address! (lol)

Speak to you again soon friends~

thanks for popping in :)

*hugs*

Linda xx

Friday 21 October 2011

Hero Arts Christmas Card

Hi all!

Just a quick one tonight, it's been ages since I've played with my Hero Arts stamps, or entered one of their challenges, so I thought I'd give it a go!

Tonight I'm showing you a Christmas card for their October Challenge, "Using non-holiday stamps to create holiday card".

This card is Hero Arts HEAVY!!

Here is my card:
 Using the Studio Calico/Hero Arts "Hooray" stamp set, I stamped the 'flags' (or trees!) in Black Staz On ink.
Next I spritzed some Studio Calico Mr Huey's (Piglet, Bonny Blue and Lemonade) mists onto my craft sheet and painted the trees with the ink.  
Next I dusted some Perfect Pearls over the top to give shine (you can see below).


Then I stamped the clouds images (same stamp set) in Versamark and heatset with Hero Arts white embossing powder. I then inked gently over the top with Tumbled Glass Distress ink.

For the 'grass', I cut a strip of My Minds Eye paper (from the Stella and Rose collection) and then tore along one edge to give a more natural 'hill' shape. I inked the edges with Bundled Sage distress ink.
Then I adhered the pieces down to the cardstock and added small strips of Hero Arts Kraft envelope as the tree trunks (I had extra envelopes lying around!)
Even the sentiment is 'non-christmas'!! I used theHero Arts CL272 All occasions Messages set. (The sentiment seemed extra appropriate as it's always so hot here at Christmas time in Australia! lol). I used Jenny Bowlin Seed Packet ink for the sentiment.

Finally I added some gemstones and bakers twine and adhered the whole piece to the front of a white card using dimensional adhesive squares. 

For an added little piece of interest, I scored the card twice at the bottom (below the sentiment) just to give an added something. I love this technique and will be using it a LOT from now on.

Hope you all like it!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See you soon xx

Linda

Sunday 16 October 2011

park kinda mum

Hello again!

Thanks so much for the lovely comments on my last layout :) it's so nice to hear from you! 

So today I have another layout, I used all Lawn Fawn stamps again (can you tell I'm a bit *cough a lot cough* obsessed?!)

So anyhoo, I've been trolling around on Pinterest a bit lately and found this layout: 


 


I just love it. The kraft, the colours, the white ink--it spoke to me. So I decided to copy it lol! (or at least, do my take on it!)

So here is my version:

I decided to leave out the coloured paper in the background, I like the kraft too much.

Here is a whole lot of fussy cutting around Lawn Fawn Blissful Botanicals stamps :) (coloured in copics)
 Some cutesy (read: lopsided) flower embellies. (I'm very proud of myself for being able to leave them lopsided lol)
 I love how the white ink on the kraft cardstock is enough. Its just lovely. I'll be doing this again...soon.

The photos are from my iphone, using the Instagram application. I just printed them out on my home printer (with photo paper). I LOVE this look. Stephanie Howell is always doing this--I don't know why I didn't try it myself sooner.

Ok that's it for me!! If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them!

take care!

Linda xx

PS Is anyone else here having a bit of a heart-attack that Christmas is REALLY soon?! wow. Decemeber Daily time is coming up!! eek!!!

Saturday 15 October 2011

Hi there!

Just a quickie today, I've woken up early before my rugrats are awake so I could post something-


I made this using a piece of kraft cardstock and a piece of white cardstock...and lots of ink :)

All stamps are Lawn Fawn. (I mean literally ALL...oh, except for that tiny date stamp on the right).
 This is the fence stamp from Critters on the Farm, I used Jenny Bowlin Spun Sugar paint dabber to stamp and to paint the insides of the pickets.
 Lawn Fawn Say Cheese stamp, with Zing embossing powder.
The little leaves background is using Harvest Season with Jenny Bowlin Malted Milk ink on the Kraft cardstock background--I think I'm in love wtih this look.
 I masked off the clouds from Bon Voyage (before stamping them) and used Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky. Then I stamped the clouds in Tumbled Glass. I love how theres a slight white edge around parts of the clouds.

I was totally inspired by Kelly Marie's video HERE showing her make a thank you card using Autumn colours. It's actually Spring here in Australia but you wouldn't have known it lately! It's been super chilly, so I went with an Autumny feel. 
I had Mustard Seed (yellow), Fired Brick (red) and Wild Honey distress inks and used the exact same technique as Kelly Marie (why mess with genius?!) where I inked up the stamp with one colour, then gently touched an edge or a side with another colour. love love love this effect!

anyhoo, that's it for me!!

If anyone would like to follow me on twitter, I'll be putting  a link on the side of the blog soon. My 'handle' is @cutiepiechan. I'd love to tweet with ya!

Take care!

Linda xx

Tuesday 4 October 2011

A couple of cards :)

Hi friends,

I've got 2 cards to share with you today, both of them are for a few challenges that are currently running.

This first card will be entered in this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge #19, which is "Dimension". nice. 
It will also be entered into the Simon Says Stamp Challenge which is "Anything goes"...This is the first time I've entered into a SSS contest so I'm a bit nervous (o.o)/ AND it's inspired by the colour palette theyve cooked up for us at JG's nook (a great Australian store). It's the first time one card of mine has fit more than one challenge!

I needed to make a thank you card for some friends who had us over for dinner and this is what I came up with. I was inspired by the recent Jennifer McGuire class Inspiration Showcase. I've seen her make these rolled canvas flowers before, and have always meant to give them a go but never got there. They're so cute I just had to try them.


 The flowers are basically strips of Sticky-back canvas, that have ink smeared on them, then you twist and twist and twist until they turn out like this :)

The clouds are from Lawn Fawn and I used Aquarelle pencils to colour around the edges of them, then added water with a small paintbrushto give the effect you see above. I really love how it looks! 

i did the same thing with the grass (also Lawn Fawn).

 -ooOOoo-
 Card number 2 is in existance because card number 1 just wasn't right for the intended recipients. They just aren't cutesy rolled flowers and sunshine kinda people.
This card will go into the Simon Says Stamp challenge as well as the Lawn Fawn challenge.


The rosettes are cut using a Tim Holtz die, but first I 'made' the paper. I started with white cardstock cut into a strip, then I stamped the leaf stamp from the Lawn Fawn Botanicals set, all over, in various directions and then I heat embossed with white embossing powder.
Next I took Tattered Rose, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress Inks and using a foam applicator, coloured the paper in. The leaf image resisted the ink and this created a fantastic hand-made patterned paper! love

Then I cut the rosettes with the die.
The rest of the card was super simple. The grid paper in the background is from the uber gorgeous Fly a Kite paper pad (October Afternoon). I used Jenny Bowlin Malted Milk ink and stamped the same leaf image all over the paper where the rosettes didn't cover.
I used the same ink and stamped the leaf around some kraft cardstock that I'd cut to size. 

I diecut a banner using a Papertrey Ink die and stamped the sentiment from a Hero Arts mixed clear set.

For a final touch, I added twine, some pearls and faux stitching around the edge, using a white gel pen.

 I hope you like them both!

If you have any questions or comments, I'd really love to hear from you :)

take care and speak to you soon 

Linda xx