Have a Beary Good Day!

 

Happy Saturday everyone hope you have had a good week. They just seem to be flying by don't they! I thought I'd get my Bears Picnic set out this week as I hadn't had a chance to really use them yet other than the ants. It's such a cute stamp set and perfect for spring cards, I teamed it with the Sunburst cover plate die and framed it with the Nesting dies. 

I started by cutting out the Sunburst cover plate die and cut out a rectangle the same size. Using the Scene it 6 x 6 stencil I stencilled on some clouds on the rectangle using Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink. I  finished it off by splattering on some Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink. For the sun I began with some Squeezed Lemonade and went around the edges with Dried Marigold adding some more splatters with the Dried Marigold.

I cut out the grass the same size as the rectangle using the Landscape edge standalone dies and used Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn to colour it up finishing it again with splatters of Mowed Lawn. Once all the background was coloured up I stuck it down and started work on my critters. 

As always I stamped out a tonne of images and coloured them up I find this a great way to do things. It's so much quicker whilst you have your pens out and means you have extra images for next time when maybe you need a quick card. I used Copic markers to colour up my images and finished them off with a bit of black Gelly roll pen for the bears noses and white Gelly roll pen for the cheeks. When I laid out my images I felt like it was missing something I decided to frame the image with the Nesting Dies it didn't quite fit though so it hangs over at the top and bottom and as bigger at the sides. I just chopped off the excess and once it was stuck to my card base you cat tell that it was bigger. I really like the look it gives though like a family portrait. 

Once the frame was on I could stick down my images, I'm not going to lie I kept getting carried with the picnic and it just kept getting bigger and bigger! I finished it off with a sentiment I used the sentiment from the Bears Picnic set and cut it out using one of the speech bubble dies from the Speech Bubbles coordinating die set. 

I hope you liked my card for don't forget if you want to buy any of the products or anything in the shop you can get 10% off using code T4TNATALIE10 Hope you have a great weekend!

Waffle Flower Creative Challenge

 I'm so, so excited to be joining Waffle Flower for their weekly challenge, the challenge starts on Friday and runs for a week. This weeks theme is all about tiny stamps those ones that tend to be forgotten and putting them to use. I’m joining Arjita and Juhi for this challenge so don’t forget to check out their cards too and show them some love ❤️

If your anything like me I love to pack out my cards with all the images in the set. So that's what I decided to do, I wanted to  show you how to bulk out your card with lots of tiny images to create a super fun feel. 

I love summer and spring and being in the water so my eyes were drawn to the underwater sets.  I have a hard time sticking to one set and I love to mix and match and stretch my stamps and dies as you will soon see. 

So here's my card I hope you like it I had so much fun creating it. I began by cutting out the Under the Sea Panel die but I didn't want the water ripples so I carefully chopped them off. I also cut out the Rainbow Panel die the frame part and the rainbow. I wanted to use the rainbow stripes to create the impression of sunrays through the water. Again I carefully chopped off the strip at the top and the cloud to create clean longer stripes. I created the background using tumbled glass, peacock feathers and faded jeans distress oxide ink. Using the darker colours at the edge and the lighter blue inside the rainbow stripes. I finished it with a spritz of water and then dabbed it off to add some texture and splattered the same colour oxides on the top. 

I cut out another of the underwater sea panels to cut out my rocks and used the frame part to mask off the frame whilst I coloured in my seaweed and sand this helped give a crisp finish. I used mowed lawn and twisted citron for the seaweed  scattered straw for the sand and for the rocks I used Pumice stone and splattered on some hickory smoke. 

Then it was time to stamp out my images I literally just stamped everything out from the Mermaid Mail and Sea Birthday sets. I like to colour in lots of images as once whilst I have my pens out then there's plenty spare for other cards. There wasn't much shading needed as the images are small so it made it really quick and easy. 

After colouring everything in I wanted to make my sentiment to make sure it fit around everything else. To avoid loosing the detail of the rainbow die I stamped my sentiment from the Under the Sea sentiment set onto velum using Staz on ink. I love the velum look you can clearly see the sentiment but it doesn't detract from the stripes of the rays. I just played around with my layout a fair bit before I stuck everything together making sure there was an even fill of images. The tiny stamps are great for adding a little something into areas that are looking a little bare. After finally deciding on my layout I stuck it all together and popped it onto my card base and that was my card finished. 

I hope that you join in the fun and enter the Waffle Tiny stamps challenge, you have until Thursday April 15th to enter so what are you waiting for! You can enter using the hashtag #WFC2104W2 on Instagram, on the Waffle Flower Garden Facebook group page, or on the Link Party over on the Waffle Flower Crafts website. We can't wait to see all of your gorgeous designs.

Brave Spirit...

Hi everyone hope you have all had a lovely Easter weekend. I have another card to share with you all today. I really had no plan with this one I was just flicking through my stamps for some inspiration and she just called out to me. I'd just got the rose stencil too and it was just looking at me on my desk as though it was meant to be. 

I started by cutting out a stitched square which measures 6x6 and laying on some Worn Lipstick distress oxide ink all over. Once I had a good coverage I spritzed on some water let it sit for a few seconds and dabbed it off. This adds some texture to the ink then once it was dry I could then add the rose stencil. The stencil isn't as big as the square so I centred it as best as I could and went over the top with Festive Berries distress oxide ink. I found the stencil lined up perfectly above and below so I could make it fit to the top and bottom of the square. With the sides I just blended some more of the Festive Berries so it just looks like it fades into the edges. 

I stamped out Love from the Angels of Love and Light collection in memento tuxedo black ink onto Make it Colour Blend it card. I love this paper so much it was recommended by Faye Winn - Jones and its wonderful for blending with Copic markers. For her hair I used my favourite brown combo E31, E33, E35 and E37. I started with the lighter colours and worked my way up to the darker ones just flicking the hair trying to get it to look how it would lay naturally. As you can see I didn't block colour it and there's still some white peeking through. This just helps add that natural look of highlights and shadow. For her T-shirt I used YR07, Y17 and Y08 using the orange to add the shadows at the edges. 

 The wings were coloured simply I started using E40 and E41 but I wanted I felt like it should be a little warmer so added some Y11 and Y21. For her skin I used E31 around the hairline, underneath the chin for the dimple on her chin and a line on her nose. I smoothed this out with E11 and blended into E00 adding some R11 for the cheeks and R11 and R32 for the lips. 

Once and coloured and cut her I realised there was a lot of empty space around the image so I used the next size down square die to cut out a frame. Once this one cut I popped her on some foam tape and stuck her down. Then it was just the sentiment to add which I white heat embossed onto black card cutting the words out individually and popped them straight onto the image so it's just the girl that is popped up. Then I just popped it onto my card base and that was my card finished up. I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial and card. I just love seeing how everyone brings the images to life in their own style and way as do all the team so keep popping them in the group for all to see!

If you want to see the full collection of Tracy's stamps you can see them in the shop here https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/tracy_easson 💕

Hoppy Birthday!

Well its Easter Weekend so I couldn't resist making a super cute bunny card! We aren't planning much this weekend but the little man is excited for an Easter egg hunt in the garden hopefully the weather is kind! How about you?

I used so many sets to make this card I find it so hard just sticking to the one but that's what we love about Time for Tea right everything just works so well together. I started my card by cutting out the largest rectangle from the Slimline Scalloped Nesting Dies and stencilling some clouds on there using the Scene it 6 x 6 stencil and some Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink. The grass was cut out from another of the large rectangles I cut using the Landscape Edge Standalone Die I just had to join it up and cut it twice to cover the length of the card. This was coloured with Twisted Citron Distress Oxide and a little bit of Mowed Lawn to give the edges some depth. I cut the fallen tree trunk using the Lift the Flap Slimline add on die  which I stamped on a woodgrain effect using the A5 Woodgrain Stamp  using dark brown distress oxide and going over with a lighter one. Then I cut the straight edges a bit wobbly to make them look more wood like. 

The flowers are cut from the spring blooms kit I blended a range of green, yellow and orange oxides for the leaves and some pinks and oranges for the flowers then die cut them out. 

All the stamped images I coloured up in Copic marker the images come from a range of stamp sets including Treat Yourself , Hip Hop Hurray, Life's Ups and Downs and Bears Picnic.

When I popped my card together I felt the layout didn't work with all three flaps open so I just had the middle one that opened and covered up the edges of the other flaps with my flowers and bunnies. Once everything was stuck down I popped on my sentiment and stuck it on my card base and that was my card finished up. I hope you like it and have a great weekend. Don't forget you can get 10% off in the shop using code T4TNATALIE10

 

Spring Sale!

 Happy Saturday everyone did you see the Spring Sale in the Time for Tea shop yet? If not be sure to check it out there’s lots of fab dies to be had including this wavey hello sentiment die. Just be sure to add HOPPYSPRING21 in the promo codes as the checkout or if nothing in the sale takes your fancy you can still use T4TNATALIE10 to get 10% off your order you just can’t use both offers combined. 

There’s a great selection of dies in the sale which are perfect for creating fun scene cards and you know that’s my favourite kind of card making. 

Every so often though you need that quick last minute card though don’t you! This one was such a simple one to make I used the Slimline Scalloped Trio Circle Nesting Dies to cut out the white panel. Then layered behind a panel I had stencilled using the Zigga Zigga stencil using Distress Oxide inks. 

The Wavey Hello die I cut out twice once out of hot pink card and once out of white card which I offset layered on top of each other for some added interest. 

The critters are from the Bearing Gifts and the Happy New Year Critters stamp sets which I coloured simply using COPIC markers. I finished up by mounting the base on the same hot pink card stock and then popping onto my card base. I hope you enjoyed my card for today and don’t forgot to share your makes in the group and on Instagram we love seeing them so much! 

Hope you have a great weekend,  Natalie! 

Hello Sunshine!

 I can’t believe how fast the weekend has come around again! It’s been a busy week in the garden getting it ready for summer so I thought I’d mark the occasions by bringing in some warm feelings with my latest card. Watermelons always remind me of our lazy summer holidays in France my little man always insists on picking the biggest one in the shop and carrying it all the way around. So that’s where my idea came from, I’m seriously regretting not adding a little slice of watermelon in the little mouse's paws though maybe next time! 

I started out by cutting out the Oval Scalloped Nesting Dies twice out of 360gsm white card stock. I scored one at the top about a cm down and then stuck them together to create my card base. 

To create the watermelon I cut another one out of the same white card and lightly blended worn lipstick distress oxide onto it. Then using the Zigga Zigga stencil I went over the top with Picked Raspberry distress oxide to add some texture. I also spritzed on some water and dabbed it off with paper towel to add more interest and splattered on some back soot distress oxide to represent watermelon seeds. 

For the green I cut out the frame die out of white cardstock and then out of green fun foam so I could add some depth. I find the fun foam much easier when it’s an awkward shape as it’s just one cut from the machine and fits perfectly. I used twisted citron and a tiny bit of mowed lawn to add some shading on the edges. 

Next I needed to add my sentiment and little mouse. I used the Hello Sunshine Sentiment Die and cut it out using black card stock and used the negative die cut to get them placed perfectly. The little mouse is from the Treat Yourself Clear stamp set I used warm grey Copics to colour them in. There wasn't much shading involved as they are so tiny. I just finished them off with a little R11 in the ear, on the cheeks and for the nose. I cut them out with the coordinating die and popped them on my card. 

After sticking everything down  I finished it up with some Black Nuvo drops and that was my card finished up. I hope you enjoyed my tutorial don't forget if you want to buy anything in the shop you can get 10% off using code T4TNATALIE10 

Happy Mother's Day!

This week seems to have flown by I can't believe how fast the weekend has come around. It's been a quiet week with the boys being back at school and work so extra crafty time for me! Did you get your Mother's Day cards finished up? If not I have another quick and easy card for you today. 

A great way to get more out of your dies is to turn them into stamps, its super easy I just cut them out of fun foam and stuck them to my stamping block with some double sided tape. I used the new Spring Blooms Dies to create my background.

If you want to use different colours with the same stamp its probably best to cut one for each colour. I just stuck to one colour per stamp so just cut out one of each. 

I cut my base out of white 360gsm cardstock using the large rectangle from the Autumn Cover Scene Die and stamped my images straight on top. I used Worn Lipstick and Dried Marigold Distress Oxides for the flowers and then Bundled Sage and Mowed Lawn for the foliage. 

Using the fun foam doesn't give a crisp stamp but I like the distressed look I think it adds extra interest to the card. I didn't follow a pattern just tried to even space the flowers and fill in the gaps with the little leaves.

I didn't want to hide too much of the background so I kept my sentiment small and simple. I heat embossed the Happy Mother's Day stamp from the Mum and Dad clear stamp set onto a small rectangular piece of black cardstock. I wrapped some twine around the card and then popped the sentiment over the top using some foam pads. I finished it off by mounting it onto some pale pink cardstock and popping it onto my cardbase. 

I hope you like my card if you want to purchase anything you can find them in the Time for Tea shop and if you pop in code T4TNATALIE10 you can get 10% off your order. Hope you have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

 

Brave Spirit...

 

Hello Lovelies I hope your all well, its my first blog post as official design team member for Tracy and my first ever step by step tutorial so no pressure lol!

The Angels of Love and Light are so beautiful and I particularly love Believe she just looks so serene and peaceful. I've been wanting to colour her up as though she is floating away in a bath full of bubbles since I first saw her, so it was great to finally put pen to paper.

I began by creating my background I cut out a piece of 360gsm cardstock using a slimline die. Then blended Squeezed Lemonade, Kitsch Flamingo, Wilted Violet and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxides on there. There was no method to it I just tried to get an even amount of colours on there. Once I had an even coverage I used some clean water to spritz on top then left it for a couple of seconds before dabbing it off. The ink will react with the water and the colour will lift off. I finished the background off splattering each off the colours onto the card. I just love the texture it gives the background but its still really subtle.

The next step was to colour up my girl there I used E31, E34 and E35 on her hair I didn't end up using the E37 in the end as I decided to go for lighter hair. I flicked the darker colours at the edges and went lighter in the middle to add a highlight. Using the flicking technique helps get the texture of hair and adds some depth. For the skin I used E31, E55 and  E51  I added the darker of the colours to the hairline and cheekbones, a little spot under the nose and for the dimple of the chin. Then blended it out think about it like your contouring your make up to help where to put the shading. Once the colouring was done I fussy cut her out. 

Laying her on my card I could see how many layers of bubbles I needed, I coloured them in the same shades as I did the background. Again there was no method I just kept the pink, yellow and purple on one side and then the blue all over. 

Once all the bubbles were coloured up I could stick everything down. I layered one set of the bubbles over the girl and the rest underneath. Once they were stuck I flipped the card over and chopped off the edges so that it all lined up neatly. Then the extra ones I carefully cut and stuck randomly towards the top of my image after stamping my sentiment. I finished the top panel off by adding some more smaller bubbles using a white Gelly roll pen and adding some glitter with a clear wink of stella brush pen. I mounted it on white cardstock that I cut using the larger slimline die out of the set using white fun foam to add some depth. 

I hope you liked my first project and I cant wait to see all of your creations.

 

Mother's Day Card

Not long to go till its Mother's Day have you got your card made up? I have some inspiration for you if not using the new Spring Blooms kit. Again I love how well the Valentines release combines with this one. It's quite a quick card to make as there's no colouring involved just some simple die cutting. I kept my colours quite simple pink obviously for the hearts a little subtle lilac and a pop of contrast from some greens and yellows. 

I made a card base slightly larger than the Lots of Love Horizontal Cover Plate  Die and popped some pink card on top then layered on the horizontal hearts die cut out of white. I re-cut the same die then out of pale and dark pink. The hearts were then randomly layered onto the card base there was no pattern but I tried to make it even. 

The big die cut sentiment is the new Got it from my Mama die I cut out the back in the pale pink and some white fun foam and layered them together. The sentiment was cut using the out of the same darker pink card and layered on top. It cuts in several pieces but it's pretty easy to line up. 

Once this was all put together I could use it to figure out the rest of the layout. I stamped the smaller sentiment from the Mum and Dad clear stamp set onto the paler pink with a pink oxide ink making sure it's dry before cutting it out with the Mum and Dad Coordinating Dies. 

Then it was just the flowers and fauna to cut out again using the Spring Blooms Dies I tried to balance out the colours the flowers I made opposite on each side.

Once everything was laid out how I wanted it I stuck it down with some liquid glue and that was my card finished up. I hope you like it and don't forget you can get 10% off in the shop using code T4TNATALIE10  Have a good weekend and happy crafting!

 

Sending Hugs!

Happy Saturday everyone, I’m here to share my first card with the new stamp set from the Spring Blooms card kit. I teamed it with the Lots of Love Vertical Cover Plate Die to make this fun rainbow heart card. 

I cut out the Lots of Love Cover Plate die once out of white card stock which was 360gsm then once again out of white fun foam to give me my base. Then cut out the hearts from rainbow coloured paper. I just cut off enough paper to cut out 3 hearts but if you wanted to make lots of cards you could cut the whole cover-plate out each time. 

I popped the fun foam and white card panels what I cut out on top of a black card base, then I could glue my hearts on the inside. It’s such a quick and easy technique but looks so pretty! 

The sentiments I just white heat embossed into some black cardstock and cut out the hugs with the coordinating dies and the other one just with my paper trimmer. I glued them on my card and that was it finished up! I hope you like it, there’s so many different possibilities with the new spring bloom kit I’m really enjoying playing with it. Don’t forget you can also get 10% off in the shop using code T4TNATALIE10 

Have a great weekend and I will see you next week! 

 

I love Mew!

Happy Saturday everyone have you had a good week? Surprisingly I have another Smitten Kittens card to share with you all today. I'll be mixing it up next week I promise but I'm sure you will all agree they are totally adorable. 

Todays card is perfect for anniversary's also an added bonus it was really quick and easy to make so perfect if you need one last minute. I used the Dotty Hearts Cover Plate Die to create my base and stencilled a heart on using the Large Heart Masking Stencil and some Worn Lipstick and Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide inks. I started at the bottom with the darker shade and blended up into the lighter one to give an Ombre effect. I also used the Picked Raspberry on a sheet of card and stamped my sentiment on there and cut into a small rectangle with my paper trimmer. 

The kitties I had left over in my stash that I had already coloured up. When I get a new set I tend to stamp out around 3 of each image and colour them all up at the same time. I find this method works so much easier as you already have all the pens out. Its also great to do when your feeling a bit crafty but you don't want to make a card.

I popped them both onto my card alongside the balloons and popped that onto my card base. I hope you like it and don't forget you can get 10% off in the shop using code T4TNATALIE10

 

Cosy Days by the Fire!

The weekend is here and we have made it to half term whoop! That means more crafty time for this momma, so I hope your ready for more Smitten Kitten cards. Its been so cold and snowy this week I just wish I was curled up by the fire like these cuties. 

I began by cutting out the rectangle die from the Autumn Scene Cover Plate Die set and added a little Wild Honey Distress Oxide to give a warm glow and my base was ready for my scene. I coloured up the fire from the Warm Winter Wishes stamp set using some light warm greys so that the flames are the main pop of colour. The cats again I coloured up with the warm greys and added some E95, E97 and E99 for the ginger colour. When placing them on my scene I felt like it needed something else to make it look a little more cosy so stamped out the blanket from the Plaid Background Clear stamp set. I popped these all onto the card and added my sentiment from the Be Kind Be You stamp set. 

I finished my card off by mounting it on some burgundy card to match the rug and popped it on my card base. A quick and easy card for today, I hoped you like it, don't forget if you want to purchase ay of the items in the shop you can get 10% off using code T4TNATALIE10

 

Hello, I love Mew!

Happy Saturday everyone I have a quick and simple card to share with you all today. It's a layout I've used a few times and works so well. I used the Hello Rectangle Nesting Die to cut out my base it a really great notecard size. Then used the A7 Essential Stripes stamp to create an orange sunset feel using a combination of squeezed lemonade and spiced pumpkin distress oxides.

You have to make sure this is really dry before cutting out the Hello Die otherwise it will smudge, so I  popped it to the side whilst I stamped and coloured up my kitties. You can find this loveable pair in the Smitten Kittens stamp set, its my absolute favourite from the new release. I kept the colours really light just added a little warm grey to both then some spots to the one on the left using E97 and E95. 

Before cutting out the hello I added the I Love Mew underneath the stripes and again made sure my ink was dry before I cut the hello. I cut out the hello on the card making sure to keep the centres of the letters too and out of some fun foam so I could pop it up on my card. I also cut out the matching die for the kitties out of the fun foam too so I could match the height of the hello. 

To put my card together I popped it on my card base then stuck down the fun foam letters where I cut it out then stuck the stamped letters on top. Next carefully adding the inside of the O and the E. I added the fun foam die cut to the kitties but cut off a bit at the top where it layered over the Hello and that stuck it down. That's my card for today I hope you like it and if you want to buy any of the supplies you cab get 10% off in the shop using code T4TNATALIE10 Hope you all have a good weekend and I will see you next week!