New Series....Defunkifying my Life

Remember I had mentioned that I have been busy lately and I would share with you soon...

Well soon is now.
I have started a new series (or playlist) on my YouTube channel called Defunkifying my Life :)

If you are familier with my posts and videos on Defunkifying my Craft room then you know where I am going with this.
It is going to be organizing my whole home and sharing the process.
I have been toying with this idea for a couple of years now and finally decided to just go for it.

There are a few reasons why I have been debating with myself on sharing this.

1. I wasn't sure if I should start a new YouTube channel devoted just to my home.
I even asked my viewers and a high majority told me to keep it on the same channel....even though I had a cute name for it, lol.
2. When I share, I share whole heartily.
Which means you will see the good, the bad and the ugly. Yup, I will share it at its worst.
I know there would be some that will judge and I wasn't sure I wanted that negativity.
But then thought, I know that others may benefit, or feel like their homes aren't as bad as mine, and be encouraged to come along for the ride :)
3. Do I really want to open my home up to everyone!!!!
Like seriously sharing my crafts and sharing my messy closets are 2 different things, lol.

But in the end I thought, if I have been playing with this idea for 2 years and it is still tugging at me to share, I guess that is a sign to just do it.
Plus I can't put off cleaning out those closets any longer, lol.

So if you want to follow along and join me, or just snoop in my closets, I would love to have you do so....just no judging ;)

So without further ado....here is my first video on this :)
Tracy :)

Tracy's Quick Tip....storing full sheets of Stamps

I love stamps....yes I do :)
I ordered online (shocker I know!!) some Unity stamps.
They came in these full sheets.

The only problem I could see with having the stamps come in these full sheets, is how to store them once I took them off.
So I thought, hey I can store these the same way I store my smaller cling stamps but on a bigger scale :)
I grabbed some thin acetate (as I have large sheets of them on hand ;) ) then clung the full sheet of stamps on the acetate.
Soooo no matter which stamp I take off, the rest of the stamps will be clung to the acetate :)

Here is a quick video I made showing exactly how I did this :)

I have been one busy lady lately....I will share with you soon what I have been doing :)

Hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)

Tracy's Qucik Tip...Labeling Heidi Swapp's Punches

In my past videos, I had shared my crafty tips during, or at the end of my process videos.
This year, I thought I would do a short video for each of my tips :)

First tip....how I like to label my Heidi Swapp large punches.

The bigger, the bolder, the better for these aging eyes, lol.
When purchasing these large punches, the packaging looks like the punches come with these big bold images on the pink circle.
But when you open up the package...its a big surprise, as the black images are on the packaging, not the stamps.
Of course the images of the punches are printed on the actual punches in gold...but I like the big, bold images....how many times have I mentioned this, teehee.
So what I do, is I pull off the sticker from the packaging and then stick it (there is still adhesive on the sticker) on the pink circle.
Lastly I trim the clear part of the sticker that hangs over the pink circle.

Here is my video on how I do this :)
If you would rather watch my video on my YouTube channel "Tracy's Treasures24", just click on my YT name :)
Hope you all have a very Creative Day :)

Tracy :)

Art Journal Page….Happy New Year

Ohhh Look another art journal page.
2 this year, look at me go!!!!

If you remember from this Art Journal page, I had made 2 of these Prima girls.
I couldn't let her go to waste, so though I would use her on another art page.

This page was super fast.
First I coloured the page with black gesso….remember that huge tub I picked up from Blick's on one of our trips to the States?
I then used gold embossing powder and heat embossed these dangling streamers (actually a snowflake stamp).
I also heat embossed these wooden words in the same gold embossing powder.

I then used a gold pen to splatter some gold confetti over the page.
Lastly I added my girl to the page.
Look at all of those pretty sparkly layers to her dress :)

This page seemed just too easy, but I still like the outcome of it.

One thing I noticed with most of my art journal pages is that I stop when I could do so much more.
Its like, I like how it is turning out, and leave it at that.
Instead I should be pushing myself to go into more detail.
I will work on that this year.

I hope you all had a very creative day today :)

Tracy :)

My planner for 2016

I am keeping a planner again this year.
I love my planner and I love planning …. or I love decorating it…either way, its fun :)
I use the Day Timer and its inserts.

Here is my 1st pages of the year.
Because it had the last week of December on these pages I adhered some pretty pattern paper to cover up the days (I am planning on writing my goals on here).
Because not much was done the 1st and 2nd of January, I just added some die cuts that I had extras of.

To decorate up the pattern paper I adde some of the Heidi Swapp washi word tape.

Here is my first full week decorated.
I am thinking I am going with the gold theme this month ;)

I cut some flags out of the same pattern paper that I had used on the first pages.
I then added a piece of the washi tape to the flag :)
It wasn't until I posted this photo that I noticed the pattern in the paper and the washi tape are the same pattern…pretty cool eh..and I didn't even plan that :)

I am loving the look of the gold  Heidi Swapp washi tape.
But am a bit disappointed as to the quality.
Some of the washi tapes are hard to peel off the roll as it sticks to the roll, it rips when I tried to pull off a section, and one tape I wasn't even able to use :(
I had the same problem with some of Tim Holtz washi tapes years ago.
Mind you, I have to say, I love most of their other products :)

I am just sitting here chuckling knowing that I will never be asked to review a product from a manufacturer, lol.

I am using other planners for other purposes and will share those in a future post.
I was actually thinking of using a different planner this year, instead of my Day Timer…but this is my 4th year using a Day Timer.
I just wish they would make this size pages in a vertical format…but you know what they say about wishing ;)

I hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)

Art Journal Page..Have yourself a Merry little Christmas

I think I have taken a long enough break and am excited to get back into crafting and blogging :)
So to start the year off right, I will share with you my Christmas Art Journal page.
This was another challenge that Caroline and I put on for each other :)
The theme for the month was Christmas and collage.
Both Caroline and I were a bit behind on this challenge…oops.

The first thing I did was glue this pretty napkin to the page.
The napkin was a bit longer than the book, so I cut it down to fit the page…I fussy cut the border where I sliced the napkin.
See how there is a darker part across the page, that is where part of the napkin overlapped…..but I will deal with that later.
I also stamped and then heat embossed (with black embossing powder) my Prima girl image on some white card stock.

I wanted to use my Copic markers to colour her hair and skin.
BUT….the alcohol from the Copic marker smeared the black embossing..grrrrr.
I didn't want to ruin my Copic markers, so I used some gelatos instead.

Because this challenge was to do some collage…I cut strips of pattern paper and collaged them to form her dress….pretty, right?!

Now for some creative changes ;)

I had to come up with a way to disguise the seam of my napkin…so what better way then to make more ;)
By doing this it takes your eye away from the main seam and gives more interest and texture to the background…especially since my background is pretty simple.

The next thing I changed up was the girl.
I thought this fun sparkly dress went better with the crisp colours of the background.
Don't worry, I used the other girl on another page :)
See the way the foiled snowflakes sparkle…..so pretty.






















Lastly comes my journaling.
I usually do my journaling on the computer and print it out…see how nice and neat this is, much neater than my handwriting.

Even though I love the crisp clean look of the pure white paper, I thought it was a bit too bright for this page.

So I inked up the paper with distress ink and then the edges to help it blend with the page. 

Isn't she festive :)

I hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)

Happy New Year!!!

This year sure zoomed along now didn't it.
I have so many plans for this year!!
I am pretty pleased with my goals for 2015…even though I didn't do as many as I wanted, I did do a variety of them :)
How about you?
Are you happy with the goals you achieved for 2015?
Did you make any new goals for 2016?

Either way, I hope you all have a wonderful year :)

Tracy :)