April Sketch Challenge for 52CCT

Hello everyone, can anyone please tell me where this year is going? Here we are at the beginning of the 4th month. But I get to keep playing along with wonderful challenges over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge. As you can see from my post title it is sketch time 🙂

This has been shown as a square card and I don’t usually make square cards so I have transformed this sketch into a rectangle.

For me, this card is on the simpler side of style but I am still donating my cards and I don’t want extra postage to be a factor in them using my donations. But I am so glad to be working through Christmas paper pads that have been sitting in my stash for ages. I may be able to buy some new pads this year and not feel guilty about those ones in my stash 🙂

Thanks for stopping in and looking at my 52CCT Design Teamwork for this week. I hope that you will come on over to the blog and see what the other designers have made with this sketch. Before you depart my blog I would like to leave you with this last thought for this post.

If I’m not crafting you will usually find me with my nose stuck in a book. My favourite escapes. 

Until my next post,
😉 Tracy

52CCT March Technique

Hello everyone, can you believe that we are at the end of March 2020 already; which means that a quarter of the year has already gone? With is being the 4th week of the month this means that we are up to a Technique or Stash challenge. And this time around we have

We want to see your creations with a Window. If you want some inspiration please watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oHpAssCok8&t=29s

I had a lot of fun creating this window to put my festive Cockatoo into. This card was made using the paper pad called “Under the Gum Leaves” by Kasiercraft. I also added some Love from Lizi peel offs just to jazz things up a little.

Thanks for stopping in and looking at my Design Team work for the Window Technique Challenge over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown blog. I hope that you will come on over to our blog and look at what the other design team members have done with this challenge. And then I hope that you will join in on the fun of the challenge. Before you depart my blog I would like to leave you with this last thought for this post.

Until my next post,
🙂 Tracy

3 Questions for Decluttering

Hello everyone, this isn’t my usual post. But I thought that I would share the questions that I think will help me to declutter my current crafting space.

This is my current space. Some of this has changed since this photo was taken and my space is also on the move again later in the year. So before this happens I have decided that I will try and do a declutter but sometimes I get stuck on certain items. But I have come across 3 questions that I think will help me on my decluttering journey and they are

 

1: Is there something else I could use in place of this item?

**For eg: If I got rid of most of my ribbon collection is there something I could use in place of it on a card project? Well yes – I could use Washi Tape or a strip of pattern paper.

2: What is the worst thing that would happen if I got rid of this item?

**If I got rid of my extra pairs of scissors what could happen. Well, I could misplace the ones I have or they could stop working somehow. But I don’t live that far from a craft store so I could replace if necessary.

3: Why? Why am I keeping a hold of this? What is preventing me from throwing this out?
** Is there some memory attached to the item? If you can’t deal with an item at the moment – get a box and store it in there where you can’t see it and then look at it again in 6mths. Maybe then you can deal with the letting go.

 

Hopefully, these questions will help me to conquer my space. I will also be going into the other storage spaces that I have and looking at the stuff there as well. I am going to use this time where life is being forced to slow down to get my most used space in my house – my craft space – into somewhere that I want to spend more time.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my post on decluttering. If you have any tips that you have used to conquer your clutter please leave a comment below. Before you depart my blog I would love to leave you with this last thought for this post.

Until next time,
😉 Tracy

52CCT March Theme

Hello everyone, today is the 3rd week in March which means we are up to a Theme challenge. And this time around we have

What a wonderful theme to play around with. This can be used in so many different ways. I don’t know any Christmas display these days that don’t include lights in some way or another.

These Christmas lights are a digital image from Etsy and come with some other wonderful characters. I had a lot of fun playing around with a fully digital card front but I added some details once I printed it. I will be using this set for some other cards using the other images.

Thanks for stopping in and looking at my Design Team project for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge of Christmas Lights. I hope that you will come on over to our blog and have a look at what the other designers have been up to. And maybe you might even want to join in with the challenge. Before you depart my blog I would like to leave you with this last thought for this post.

Sometimes the silliest of ideas are the best ones.

Until my next post,
❤ Tracy

You are Amazing

Hello everyone, with everything that is happening around the world at the moment and so many events being cancelled and people having to self-isolate we can start to feel disconnected. So to counteract this I am planning on sending some cards to friends and family.

This card started with the sketch #601 from Sketch Saturday.

I am really pleased with how this card turned out, I wasn’t able to follow the sketch exactly but I was guided by this bunny image. I had coloured in this image with my Copic markers quite a while ago and it has been sitting in my finished images waiting to be used. The papers that I used are from a magazine that I got ages ago and I found them in my stash when I was cleaning through a section of my craft area.

Thanks for stopping in and looking at my card project. Before you depart my blog I would like to leave you with this last thought for this post.

Be yourself the world will have to adjust.

Until my next post,
😀 Tracy

52CCT March Colours

Hello everyone, I am here today to share with you my Colour project for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge. And we have these colours for us to play along with

If you looked into my craft space you would think that I would have everything to make anything but … even surprising to me I didn’t! But more on that later here is my card that I made

Anyway, I had to go to the craft store to buy some Kraft paper. I didn’t have any in my stash even though I would have sworn that I did. This card came together pretty quickly thanks to the large sentiment image that was part of the paper pack that I used for this card. Looking at this card now I probably should have matted my lace paper before attaching it to the card but I will know this for next time I use this product.

Thanks for stopping on by and looking at my design team make for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge. I hope that you will come on over and look at the other design team makes and maybe even join in on the fun. Before you depart my blog I would like to leave you with this last thought for this post.

So keep practicing. You are better today than you were yesterday.

Until my next post,
❤ Tracy.

Learning to Deal with Curveballs

Hello everyone, yes my posting over the past month has been very sporadic. The healing of my shoulder isn’t going to plan so we are having to look at other alternatives one of which is surgery. It looks like I am going to have to walk down this path again but I have to trust that God has a purpose for me having to go in this direction as he has the other times.

So yes this post is called “Learning to Deal with Curveballs” as along the way my body has decided that it would be a good idea for me to have to deal with bad cramping in many joints. There is no known cure for these so I have to learn to deal with them when they hit. So I have been doing research on what I can do about these naturally actually I am finding that I am reacting to so much “modern medicine” that I am having to go back to what my Grandmother use to use and swear by. I sometimes wish that I had taken notes on these but at least I am able to do research.

One of the main reasons for me going down the almost ‘patient heal thyself’ route is because I have had many tests done and 97% of them are coming back to say that I have nothing wrong. So as 1 doctor put it I am Clinical (as in show all the symptoms) not Diagnostical (showing up in test results). This makes things quite hard because if I don’t have the test results I can’t get the extra help because I don’t have any proof. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place!

Having to do this is exhausting and a lot of times I just want to give in. But if I did that then I wouldn’t have a life. Some days are harder than others and all I can do is deal with my symptoms; other days are better and I can do something that I love which is crafting of some kind. But each day I focus on that God has me here for some purpose I know that he has something/someone/ or somewhere to influence. So each day I focus on Thriving in the moment not just Surviving in the moment. Even though sometimes I feel like I am just surviving in the midst of it I focus on a positive outside of what I am experiencing – this helps a great deal in getting through to the next moment.

I know that this isn’t my usual crafting post but as I said at the beginning of this year. I am no longer going to run away from my reality and I am going to share it and maybe it will end up helping someone else Thrive even in the horrible moments. And they are just that – moments, footnotes to our day.

Even written in the Bible that we are to Thrive and not just Survive.

Until my next post,
❤ Tracy