Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from The Scrappy Tree!  Easter weekend is here and I'm sure many of you are looking forward to exchanging chocolate eggs tomorrow and observing the rites and rituals that make up your Easter :)

At our house it will be chocolate eggs, but as usual my parents will be visiting my Nan several hours drive away so I've sent this little Easter something up to my Nan :)

 This card (love those bright colours!) are the Spring Distress Ink colours on a white card, layered and spritzed with water with a kraft ATC in the same colours in the top left corner and a manila square stamped and edged with coffee Archival ink.  The bunnies are from Craft Stamper magazine (love those free stamps!) stamped in black Archival on the main card.  The flourishes at the corners are Stampers Anonymous and I also added a line of small gems to the right side of the ATC.

Have to have some choccie eggs at Easter!  This is a plastic envelope for a card decorated with a strip of manila card coloured with peeled paint Distress Ink and some metallic Distress Stain. I stamped the same swirls in brown Distress Ink and added the Anita's bunny stamp (coloured with pastels), some coloured buttons and a strip of dymo tape.

Hopefully Nan will enjoy her choccies :) have a great Easter everybody!

Gayle xx

Happy Mother's Day UK!

A very happy Mother's Day from The Scrappy Tree! Hope you have a wonderful day and know how much you're appreciated :) xx

Wishing Spring was here again...

So I'm kind of tired of this stinky weather... bring on the Spring! Not so much the British summer (because it rains the whole time!) but Spring could really be something to look forward to :)

However!  It is March the 1st today which sees the beginning of National Craft Month in the US (and we don't mind joining in these things from the UK, do we!) so definitely something to feel cheery about!  We'll be celebrating over the course of the month in our own Scrappy Tree way, so keep your eyes peeled :)

Now onto this week's piece!  I made this card as a thank you to my most recent placement mentor, she was very lovely and looked after me well!

I used a free stamp from Craft Stamper for the central image (which is raised on foam squares), stamped in coffee Archival on manila, and the background card is an IndigoBlu script stamp coloured with the Spring Distress Inks (Shaded Lilac, Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers) with some Dusty Concord around the edges.

I added the purple ribbon from my stash because I loved the colour, and the black edging also has some sparkle!

I really hope she likes it, I won't see her to give it to her in person but I know she is a crafter too :)

Happy scrapping!

Gayle xx

Congratulations!

Hi and welcome! I have a card to share with you today which I made to wish a very good friend congratulations on her recent engagement.

The card uses broken china and tarnished brass Distress Stains for the background, layered and spritzed with water and dried inbetween with a heat gun.

 The edging and the main stamped images are in Dusty Concord Distress Ink with the paler script stamped in Shaded Lilac, and the stamp set is IndigoBlu Sarah's Choice with a Stampers Anonymous flourish in the corners.  The butterfly was a free stamp from Craft Stamper magazine which I stamped in coffee Archival and spritzed with Sunset Strip Shimmerz Paint, and then cut out to stick onto the card.

When I searched out my button jar I had some buttons in matching colours so added these for embellishment.

Wishing the happy couple all the very best, they are lovely together!

Thanks for visiting today, look out for some exciting news soon and a chance to win some goodies!

Happy scrapping!

Gayle xx

Making a spectacle (holder!)

Hi and welcome! Gayle here with a card and altered piece using Papermania Chronology 'Looking Glasses' and 'Cogs' stamps - I bought these new stamps on the weekend with a voucher left over from Christmas (love those!).  They're Papermania steampunk style stamps - I discovered on a recent Hobbycraft trip they have their own line now :)

I made a birthday card and glasses holder, both inspired by necessity ;)

I used a piece of 12x12 My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two Breeze "Everywhere" Mirrors Paper for the background; on one side a green pattern and on the other a sheet of ruler type print.

For the card I used the ruler print side for the background, with a strip of the green pattern and some Tim Holtz tissue tape across the bottom and the Looking Glasses stamp in coffee Archival, mounted on green cardstock and embellished with a brown butterfly from my stash and an Idea-ology philosophy tag and brad.  The flourishes are from a Tim Holtz stamp set.

The glasses holder was an idea that came up as a result of YEARS of me knocking my glasses on the floor when scrabbling for them in the morning and being unable to find them (I'm too short sighted to see the floor from the bed!)

This is a recycled soup can covered with the ruler print side of the paper with strips of the opposite side green pattern and tissue tape added, and a piece of ribbon from my stash.  I stamped the Looking Glasses image in coffee Archival onto manila, and cut it out and inked the edges with Frayed Burlap Distress.  I restamped the image and cut out the binoculars to make them stand out, sticking them onto the original image with some foam squares.

I added a Tim Holtz vial label (glasses!) and lined the inside of the can by gluing cotton wool balls to the inside base and sides, and then glued a piece of calico to the inside rim.

The padding inside holds my glasses securely in the centre of the can, and it's easy to spot them against the light fabric in the dark mornings when I wake up :)

Seems like a simple idea but it's changed my life! lol! Well, my morning wake-up anyway ;) it never put me in a particular good mood to wake up and spend time scrabbling about down the side of the bed!

Thanks for visiting today, happy scrapping!

Gayle xx

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing all the UK mums a very happy Mother's Day!  My project to share with you today is the card I've made for my Mum :)

I combined a vintage image with some stamping and tissue tape, and embellished with little bits and pieces from my stash.

And for a gift?  Well, we're off to the Stamp Attic next Saturday for some more crafty fun :)
Love you Mum!

Have a wonderful day wherever you are :)


Gayle xx

A little splash of colour

I was looking at layering this week when I was making a few cards, and had tremendous fun with pigment ink, spray ink, tissue tape, paper, doilies, images, flowers, pearls and punches while making these!

As with my last post, both images are from Crafty Individuals but I'm afraid many of the other supplies are ones that were floating about in my stash and caught my fancy :) although you might recognise a few flashes of Mr Holtz in the stamping and tissue tape department!  If you look closely at the card above you can see the Eiffel Tower off in the distance ...just! lol

What I enjoyed most about making these was layering up a neutral background with cream, beige and gold, and then choosing a colour to accent; with the second card the spray ink I used seemed to quite closely match the burnt oranges in the image.

Thanks for visiting! Happy scrapping this weekend :)

Gayle xx

Dreamy card

Just wanted to share a dreamy little card with you today :) Using My Mind's Eye Bella Bella paper for the background I stamped some Inkadinkado swirls in gold and stamped the PaperArtsy caption.  

 The dreamy looking lady is from a collage sheet from Crafty Individuals.

 I added some ribbon, the flower and the green gems from an embellishment pack from Scrapagogo...

...and the butterfly is cut out from the Bella Bella paper with some gold Stickles added to the body.

Sweet dreams! And happy scrapping :)

Gayle xx

TST update and some inky fun!

Hi everyone and welcome to my second post of the new year!  Hope you've all had a great first week of 2012 and that your resolutions are still holding fast (although I'm still in the process of making mine so if you're a bit behind that's ok too ;)

Just wanted to let our blog readers know that since we have had to move our community site from Ning because of the costs, we've now opened a new group on Facebook called The Scrappy Tree Facebook Branch where we'll be able to share projects with you and chat about scrappy-related stuff, and hopefully it will be a place where people can share their projects with us too!  Julie has been posting a few scrappy questions over there so if you want to join in come and visit us :)

We're really excited about being able to interact more easily with everybody there as a lot of people now use Facebook, and of course you can also still find us on Twitter.  

My project for today is a birthday card using some scraps from my stash and also some of the new goodies I had for Christmas :) The 'H' and the coloured paper are scraps left over from my November Scrapagogo kit and there is also a journaling spot from the Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue ephemera pack and a Tim Holtz ticket tucked in behind these.  

The background to the card was made by spraying some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists in Candy Apple Red and Irridescent Gold onto the blank card, and then stamping some swirls onto the card afterwards in Poppy Red Impress Ink.  I added a Dymo caption and some handwriting for the sentiment.

Happy Scrapping and we hope to see you soon!

Gayle xx

Bonfire Night and Happy Anniversary

In the UK, the 5th of November is Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night, which means a LOT of fireworks! Either in a public display or in the garden at home, there are usually lots of bonfires, sparklers and big bangs!  Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated every year on this date in memory of the foiled attempt in 1605 on the life of the monarch at that time, King James I.  A man called Guy Fawkes led a plot to blow up the House of Lords with gunpowder to take the lives of the King and the Government, but the plot was discovered and Guy Fawkes was executed.  The survival of the King was celebrated across London with bonfires, and all across the UK to this day, every November 5th is celebrated with bonfires and fireworks.  Sometimes a 'Guy' (a man's shape made up of some old clothes stuffed with paper) is put on the bonfire, after the children take the figure around to collect a penny for the Guy.  I remember as a child that the bonfire at the public display was always enormous, but the fireworks were always my favourite :)

If you'd like to know more about the British traditions behind Guy Fawkes Night you can click here but to celebrate like a true Brit all you really need are some sparklers and fireworks and the will to light them and enjoy them :)

In our house, the 5th of November is also my parents' wedding anniversary; we used to buy fireworks every year to set off in the garden but since we now have five dogs it's not quite as important to us to celebrate at home; there are plenty of local firework displays so hopefully we'll be able to catch one tomorrow night :)

In the meantime, I'd like to share with you my card for my parents; I had a lot of fun with this card and it got a little grungy in the end!  The borders are scraps of BoBunny paper, embossed with swirls and then inked with gold ink and Fired Brick distress ink.  The central image is stamped in black StazOn, with the heart shape cut out and then inked in spiced marmalade and dusty concorde Distress Ink, with the central heart shape outlined with a black Posca pen.

I am actually addicted to small sparkly gems, so of course I had to use some to outline the heart shape, and then added the caption using letter stamps on some leftovers pieces of the BoBunny paper.

Thank you so much for visiting us today!

Happy scrapping!

Gayle xx

Happy Mother's Day America!

Wishing all the American Moms a very happy Mother's Day today from The Scrappy Tree!

Have a beautiful day and here's to being thoroughly spoilt today for everything you do all year round :)

Happy Mother's Day Moms - we love you!

'The Snowman' Christmas cards

We're nearly there folks, just over a week to go! :)
One of my favourite children's films at Christmas is Raymond Briggs' The Snowman; I have very fond memories of watching it as a kid :) so I was excited to see that Trimcraft brought out a craft line last year with lots of lovely images that certainly remind me of Christmas :) last year I just kept it and looked at it, this year I made some cards! :)

I kept it quite simple by cutting out and inking the edges with Faded Jeans Distress Ink, and then stamped some holiday sentiments using 7gypsies and Papermania Christmas stamps, followed by lots and LOTS of Icicle Stickles and a few jewels from my stash.

Most of these have gone to friends of a similar age who I know share the same childhood memories; I know that it will give them a smile :)

Hope you're having a scrappy Christmas! :)

Gayle

Butterfly card

Christmas may be over but the card-making continues! We had to share this beautiful card made by TST's Julie; her cards are so beautiful and a great inspiration.

'In my opinion, when you make cards, you need to think like you are dressing for Winter.....you need layers! I love the weight that the layers add to a handmade card. This card has six different pieces of cardstock/papers on top of the base! (seven if you count the butterfly!) It is a sturdy card!

Of course my love of layers also adds to the postage in sending these cards to loved ones and friends, but in my opinion, it is worth it. One thing you should keep in mind when you heavily layer a card on the outside is that you will need to layer it up on the inside or the card will never stand up on its own well. It would slide down or fall if your recipient wants to stand it up for display. So, make sure you layer the inside too!'

Supplies:

Bazzill Basic kraft cardstock, DCWV papers, paper piercer, American Crafts brad, Fiskars border punch, Inkadinkado stamps, Color box ink.