A couple of cards

Hi there - well I should be heading back from Cornwall today - hope all has gone well! I'm sure I'll be looking forward to my own bed - there's nothing quite like it is there! A couple of cards to share with you today - the first is for a friends baby 's first birthday.

The stamp is from LOTV and has been coloured in promarkers and cut with a spellbinders die.

My second card uses a Mo Manning image and was made for my Aunty Anne who had a birthday on the 20th of this month.

A fun card - such a wonderful image.

Back to normal tomorrow - I will have three posts tomorrow as its the 1st September - and also a Sunday! Hope to see you then!

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

Big Connie's Card

Good morning lovelies - this is another scheduled post - its the last full day of our holiday today - I hope things are going good!

I've got another Jujitsu card to share with you today - this was for the sister of Alec who's card I showed yesterday.

I went for an orange colour again - to match the belt. The image is of course a Mo Manning one. The papers are from Sei.

Thanks for dropping by today - back to normal soon! Big Hugs

Rachel xx

alec's card

Good morning - this is a card I made for one of Lucy's class mates - Alec was 7 earlier this month! I've used a stamp from LOTV.

Alec is another jujitsu buddy - hence the image - I teamed it with bold colours - the orange to go with his belt colour and blue as a contrast. The image has been coloured with promarkers and cut using a spellbinders die. The cogs are squidgey pins coloured with distress stains. The card was made using centura pearl card on a hougie board.

Thanks for dropping by today and I hope to see you again soon!
I'd like to enter this card in the following challenge: liliofthevalleythursdaychallenge-no-flowers

Big Hugs

Rachel x

fairies at Creative Inspirations

Good morning - this is a scheduled post so I hope blogger is behaving itself!

 Over at Creative Inspirations this week's challenge is Fairies!
We would like to see only Fairies as the main images on your creations!

This week's prize is from our monthly sponsor J&C CREATIONS who are giving 1 lucky Winner a
 £10 GIFT CERTIFICATE!

Here's my card:

 This is one of those cards I'm not happy with - there are parts of it I love but I just don't feel it gels well. But I'm afraid time ran out - lol! I've used a Lavinia script stamp in the background and then used an imagination craft stencil and added DI though the wholes to create the poppies and sparkle medium at the top to produce the dragonflies. Finally I used the lavinia fairy stamp in black archival on top. I cut the topper into three panels and mounted them on black card. The sentiment is from a dylusions stamp set stamped and cut out. 

Thanks for dropping by today and  I hope to see you again soon!

Hugs

Rachel xx

yellow rose

Good morning! This is another scheduled post! I'd like to show you the card I made for my Joanna Sheen Forum Cardswap this month - the theme was roses - and I had to think long and hard before I remembered I had this old kanban stamp from many years ago. I chose yellow as the colour as I adore yellow roses:

The background was another kanban stamp that I stamped in butterscotch adirondack over and over to create the background itself. The image was coloured with promarkers. I used DI around the outside of the image (scattered straw) and then added it to a mat cut with a spellbinders die. The ribbon is from Creative Expressions.

Thanks for joining me today and I look forward to seeing you again soon!

Big Hugs

Rachel x

Post for Whoopsi Daisy: Use two or more images

Good morning Lovelies - how are you on this bank holiday morning? Hopefully good! This is another scheduled post for me as I'm away just now!

Over at Whoopsi Daisy today there is a new challenge starting that would like you to use two or more images. I used two images - one from sheet 447 and one from sheet 467 that you can get here.

The images were printed out and coloured with promarkers then added to the card blank made on the hougie board - its been getting a lot of use I know!!!!The Christmas tree image from sheet 467 was flipped before printing.

Thanks for popping by today and I'll try and catch up with you later!

Big Hugs

Rachel x

Danielle's card

Hello there - this is a scheduled post so I hope Mr blogger is behaving! Today I'm showing you the birthday card I made using Little Claire stamps for my good friend Danielle - its her birthday today - so she has her card already!

I made the card using my hougie board and then used the prima papers to cover the main panels. I stamped and coloured the main image with promarkers and distressed the edges with distress ink. I stamped the bottom panel and the corner pieces and used similar colours to that on the main image. Finally I stamped the sentiment which seemed very appropriate as Danielle has a daughter called daisy!

Hope you are well and happy and I'll try and catch up with you later - thanks for visiting today!

Hugs

Rachel x

Box tutorial with Princess and frog new image from Crafty Sentiments

Good morning! This is a scheduled post as I'm bound to be running around trying to finish packing bags for our holiday as this goes live. I have a box to show you today that I gave Lucy for her birthday - here it is - then I'll show you how I made it.

Okay so here's how it started out:

I bought this MDF box at the Doncaster show - it was only about £4 - which I though was a bargain given its size and weight. The first thing I did was to add a layer of acrylic paint - I used Pebeo acrylic paint but I suspect any would do.

Once dry I mixed some sparkle gel from Imagination Crafts with some white acrylic paint - roughly 50/50 mix then applied it with  spatula through a mask (poinsettia) from Imagination crafts.

I then removed the mask, cleaned it up and allowed the paste to dry (about an hour).

Once dry I gradually repeated the process to cover the whole lid. Many of the joins weren't brilliant but with some clever use of embellishments you can hide the worst bits. Then I coloured the stamped image and cut using a spellbinders die and stuck this and some flowers on top of the lid. Here's a close up of the image.

Hope you've enjoyed my tutorial and that you like the new stamp!

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

In the garden with Penny Black

Good morning all! How are you today? We're going to be packing today as tomorrow we go on holiday - squeaks excitedly!!!!! We're off to Cornwall and I can hardly wait! I'll be keeping up with what you're up to as much as possible - but please forgive me if I don't get around to visit every day!

Today I've got a card to show you I made for the two Penny Black challenges for August.

I made a stepper card using my hougie board - the hedgie image was stamped on to neenah card stock then coloured with a combination of promarkers and speccies. Then I used  spellbinders dies to cut out the image. I added this to the stepper then cut out some diecuts from scraps and added them to the side steps.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:
Penny'spennyschallenges :Diecuts and punches
PBSC:pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge Bright and Sunny
PB and more:pennyblackatallsorts In the Garden
Twisted Tuesdaytwistedtuesdaychallenges: Pink and outdoors
LEJlejdesignschallengeblog: Nature inspired
Tuesday Throwdowntuesdaythrowdown: Use your scraps

Thanks for visiting - I'd better get packing now but I will get around for a visit today!

Big Hug

Rachel x

Fairy Sunset

Hello there lovelies - how are you today? We're all good and looking forward to spending the day with my mum and dad. The girls have been helping to paint all of my dads garden gnomes and I think they will finish that off today! Then we'll have time to go to the Park I suspect!

Today I've got a card to share with you that I made with the challenges at Lavinia stamps and the Sunday Stamper in mind.

I had lots of fun making this one - I used some A6 clarity coated card and stamped the main Lavinia stamp in black archival. Then I cut a circular mask and positioned it over the image before inking up my brayer with the big and juicy foliage inkpad using the red end of the pad.. After doing this I brayered the card to get the lovely colours - then reinked with the brown end of the pad to create the brown. Then I used spiced marmalade DI to get the orangey colour to the sun. When dry I used the lavinia french script stamp with espresso ink and stamped randomly. Finally I added the lavinia foliage in black archival to complete the look.

I'd like to enter my card ino the following challenges:

Sunday Stamperpinkleart: Sunset colours
Lavinia Challengelaviniastamps: Anything goes
come and get it challengescomeandgetitchallenges: things with wings
PIOpileitonchallenge: No designer paper
sweet stampin:sweetstampinchallengeblog bold and beautiful
a creative romanceacreativeromance: masking

I hope you are having a great day and enjoyed reading about this card - thanks for dropping by and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Big Hugs

Rachel x

Day 3 new releases at Crafty sentiments

Good morning! Its my second post of the day and I'm bringing to you another new card from the New Releases at Crafty Sentiments - this one is lovely and she's called 'the mask'. A really pretty image - here's what I did.

The card shape was made using the hougie board - on the base I added some fabric that I found at Terry's fabrics that you can find for yourself here. The image was coloured with promarkers and cut out using a spellbinders die. The flowers are WOC. Check out what the guest DT did with this image over on the Inspirations site here.

The three new images plus 7 others will be available in the shop from tomorrow. The 7 images not yet shown will be featuring in tutorials on the Inspiration blog from Friday onwards. I'm doing one on Saturday - the image is lovely - I hope you're going to enjoy seeing what I did with it.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges.

Crafty Ribbonscraftyribbonschallenge: Use three of something - three masks
SSSSsimonsaysstampblog: Carnival
PFPpromarkerchallenge: Fave colour combo - purples and white

Thanks for dropping by today - I look forward to reading what you think about this card! Big Hugs and look forward to seeing you again soon xx

Rachel xx

Christmas in August for Creative Inspirations

Hello there, how are you? I'm feeling good and ready for another day. Lucy and Penny are off to Mad Science again today so I'm looking forward to a bit of peace and time to do stuff! I'm running with my friend Sue again today so I'm looking forward to that.

Over at Creative Inspirations (cinspirations) the challenge this week is Christmas In August! We would like to see Christmas creations only!

This week's prize is from us and is the chance to be our GUEST DESIGNER FOR SEPTEMBER!

Here's what I did - I used stamps from LOTV to make this card.

First I made a background - I stamped snowflakes with versamark and used white and blue embossing powders on them. Then used DI and dylusion sprays to make up the remaining background. I used a script stamp to make up the next layer and finally had painty fun with some Distress paints and once dry I stamped the deer onto here. The ribbon is from Creative Expressions and the snowflakes are crafty emblies painted blue with Distress paints. I've added some beadazzles to the centre of these.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

LOTV August challenge:ideastoinspire Make it festive

LEJ:lejdesignschallengeblog Nature Inspired

Fashionistafashionistachallenge: Christmas in August

CHN extra challengecraftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2.: AG

PIO:pileitonchallenge No designer paper

LLFliliofthevalleythursdaychallenge: Vintage/shabby Chic

Thanks for dropping by and for any comments you choose to leave - I love to read them all! Big Hugs and hope to see you again soon!

Rachel x

2nd day of new releases and colourful challenge at crafty sentiments

Good morning all! I hope you are well and happy and ready for day two of the new releases at Crafty Sentiments? Todays new image is so cute - she's called Lily Fairy and here's what I did with her:

I made the background using DI - chipped sapphire and dusty concorde and milled lavendar. I added the Crafty sentiments diecut and then added the image coloured with promarkers and cut with one of my bargain Go Kreate dies from the doncaster show. Then I added the LOTV sentiment and some spellbinders diecuts. Check out what some of the Guest Designers made of her on the craftysentimentsinspirationsInspirational blog.

There's also a new challenge starting over on the Crafty Sentiments Blog. Its all about being colourful. Here's what I did:

I used a stencil and some sparkle medium from Imagination Crafts - the sparkle medium colour is amethyst. The mermaids were stamped and coloured with promarkers then fussy cut. The rock is one of the accessories stamps from Crafty Sentiments too. The sentiment is from Sheena Douglass. Finally I added some sea shells.

I'd like to enter these cards into the following challenges:

OLLCB: ooh-la-la-creationschallengesInspired by a song: Under the Sea (from the little mermaid)
Lexi'slexiscreations: Sparkle and shine
Cutie piescutiepiechallenge: AG
Glitter n sparkleglitternsparklechallengeblog: Not square
PIO:pileitonchallenge No designer paper
sweet stampinsweetstampinchallengeblog: Bold and beautiful

Thanks for dropping by today - just wanted to let you know about my coffee morning - I thought it was going to be a disaster as two very supportive friends texted me an hour before to say they had dodgey tummies - but luckily the local Hornby ladies rallied round and we had a lovely morning and I managed to raise £67 towards my total - plus another £13 on a game I have going where you have to try and guess my race position to the nearest 500! The nearest gets a bottle of champagne. Here's a quick picture of the cakes and my girls before kick off!

Thanks for dropping by today and for your wonderful comments! I do enjoy reading them!

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

New Release preview Day 1: Crafty Sentiments

Good morning again - this is my second post of the day - and I'm so excited that this new release day is here - you are so going to love these new stamps that go into the craftysentimentsdesigns shop on Thursday! Here's what I've done with todays stamp which is called 'off to the ball'.

My tryptych (is that what its called?) was first painted with yellow acrylic paint from Pebeo and once dry I applied antique bronze sparkle medium through a mask called leafy swirl from Imaginations crafts. I left that to dry and coloured my stamped image in promarkers and then added the picture and the flowers. Finally I stamped the words from a dylusions stamp set and cut them out before adding them.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:

I love promarkers: ilovepromarkersSummertime
Sweet stampin challenge:sweetstampinchallengeblog Bold and beautiful
Pan pastel:panpasteluk Create your own Background
PIOpileitonchallenge: No designer paper
Lacy Sunshinelacysunshinechallengeblog: Girls girls girls
Glitternsparkleglitternsparklechallengeblog: Not square

Thanks for looking today - its now only 1 hour until my coffee morning begins - I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow! Don't forget to pop over to the craftysentimentsinspirations here - for some inspiration from some blog favourites!!!

Big Hugs

Rachel xx