Another day

Hello Lovelies! How are you? I hope you are well and thank you for your kind words. Its been another day at the hospital today - Shaun was in a chair today though which is good. Another step forward. We're still having problems communicating though - he's not able to grip a pen as yet and is not strong enough to have his cuff down as yet so is unable to speak. But we'll get there - its very sad to see him so frustrated though.

I have a card to show you today that I made for the Indigo Blu challenge - the theme is glitz and glamour and I didn't have many stamps to fit this theme - so I compromised and went for a glamorous colour combo - black and gold!

I wish I had used gold ribbon - but that was something else that I didn't have!!! 

anyway - I would like to enter this into indigoblublogchallenge-glitz-and-glamour

Thats all for today - I hope you are well and happy and wish you all a very fabulous 2015!

Hugs rachel x

A big thankyou to Chris and Dave

Hello Lovelies - how are you today? I hope you are well and happy and weren't too hindered by the snow. We didn't have any in Lancaster - yet anyway - but my relatives in Nottingham had quite a lot last night. I hope we manage to escape for a bit longer too! Shaun has been good today - he was less down which is great and we managed to communicate a little bit better too - although its hard work.

I have a card to share with you today that I made as a thanks for a lovely couple in my village who have been very kind to my family and I wanted to make a card for them. Here it is:

most of the stamps are from Tim holtz as is the stencil I used to create the background - I used tumbled glass and tea dye distress inks and a sepia archival too. the butterfly is a dina wakely stamp - from the scribbly insects set. the ribbon is from TCP. 

here's a closer look! 

I would like to enter the following challenge:

vintagejourney -ring-out-old-ring-in-new - I have used lots of new goodies I bought at CVC during their fabulous 24 days of advent. I have also used my inks which have been with me for a long time.

Big hugs to you all and thanks so much for any comments you choose to leave!

Rachel xx

Tims tag december and a waking Shaun

Hello lovelies - well I'm very excited to report that Shaun really has started the process of waking now - he can squeeze my hand and smile when I speak - we only have him for 20 - 30 seconds at a time just yet but as the sedation wears off we should get him for longer time intervals. The doctors are very pleased with his progress - his foot is still a bit of a problem but mostly the circulation is good and there are pulses in the foot so hopefully things will be okay! His liver is good but we await the return of the kidneys!  Later this week he will have to go for his first heart biopsy to test for rejection. Doesn't sound very nice but it sounds like initially it will be a weekly process so we had better get used to it.

Anyway - onto my tims tag for december - I loved tims tag - and have used most of the techniques you can see here. Here is tims tag and following that is mine:

I found the photographing of this very difficult - but I am actually pleased with my tag for once! The background has been done differently - I didn't have a good tim stamp for that so went with a stencil although I did everything else in the background the same. I also didn't have any frosted film or the same embossing folder so I had to improvise with some packaging and the water bubbles!

apologies again for the quality of the pictures - there is no light apparently at present! 

I would like to enter this into timholtz 12-tags-of-2014-december.

Thanks for dropping by - and thankyou all for your support - especially of late - I really do feel blessed to have made so many good friends here in blogland - wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

a gift for Bez and Shaun snoozes on

Hello Lovelies - well all is well still with Shaun but we are still awaiting him waking - I know he took his time last time but I'm still hoping he'll wake before Christmas - watch this space!

Today I have a quick post to share with you - its a gift I made for Bez my mil - for Christmas - using the steampunk cockerel from Chocolate baroque - I hope she likes it:

Here's a close up:

I'm pleased with it anyway - simple but she loves the image so I think it will work!

Here's a picture from Friday night - it was the Hornby ladies christmas dinner - 60 ladies meet in one of the village pubs for a lovely meal - it was great to catch up with them! 

Big Hugs and a Happy Christmas to you!

Rachel xx

My Little Miracle!

Hello Lovelies! Well its been an eventful few days in the world of Shaun - currently he is doing well - the tracheostomy is in place, the balloon pump is out and the meds are coming down. He's still very cold though and he has issues with his left foot. The bloodflow was compromised there by the balloon pump but we're hoping thats not going to be a long term problem. The sedation is coming off and I'm hoping that we may have an awake Shaun for Christmas day - that would be my little miracle indeed!

I want to thankyou all for your continued support and also would like to thank the lovely Brenda over at Floral Fantasies - I was lucky enough to win her last candy - so thanks Brenda - I really appreciate it!

Back to my little miracle - this is the card I have made for him for Christmas - I've used an idea from the Clarity stencil club although I did make mine in a different way! I love this idea - what do you think?

I used the inny part of the stencil first and created the background using distress inks and other stencils. Then I covered the background and did the scene. The stamps and stencils used are all from Claritystamps and I would like to enter this for the claritystampchallenge 22 trees.

here's a closer view:

Hope you have enjoyed your visit! Big hugs Rachel xx

chest closure and Bez's card

Morning all! Well thankyou all for your kind comments on my last post and your well wishes too. I've been away from the hospital for a couple of days but will be off there again soon. There was a development last night - they closed Shaun's chest and touch wood - he has been stable overnight. They're going to be putting his tracheostomy back in place today and after that I assume they'll be thinking about taking the sedation off. As far as I know he still has a balloon pump in place - we'll have to see when they're thinking of removing that! So things are moving along - slowly but steadily!

I want to show you today the card I made for Bez for Christmas - I've used an old stamp st that I got years ago from lakeland when they did their crafts - they always remind me of card-io stamps in that they're on a long tubular piece of wood. I also used a TH layering stencil and distress inks.

so quick and I think quite effective - I'll have to remember this one for next year when I'm short of time with lots of making still to do......although I hope that's not going to happen ....lol!

My girls did their nativity last night - Penny was Ned the donkey and Lucy was a Shepherd:

They were both brilliant but Penny did exceptionally well - she had a big part!!!! I went to both performances - and the whole school shuld be so proud of their achievement! They're off to the pantomime today in Kendal - I think its thumbelina. I hope they have fun!

Thanks for dropping by - off to catch up with what's happening in blogland befre I head off to the hospital!

Hugs!

Rachel xx

Mid month for Imagination Crafts

Hello Lovelies! Well thanks for your lovely comments on my last post - I'm still feeling blessed but now I'm full of cold too. I'm thinking I won't make it to hospital today - it will be my first day not going since 4th September - I wonder if I'll manage it.

Today is the mid month for the challenge over at Imagination Crafts. Here's my mid month make for your inspiration.

I used the following imagination crafts products to make this:

bauble branch stencil

gunmetal sparkle medium

diamond blue sparkle medium

sage vintage patterned card

Additionally I used distress inks.

I hope you can join in with the challenge which is anything goes - link up here,

Big hugs

Rachel xx

feeling blessed

Hello my lovelies! How are you today? I hope you are well! I'm shattered - its been a big few days but also feeling good. Shaun has been stable for a couple of days now and the consultants seem happy. And I had a lovely day with my girls - well part of the day anyway. We went to Lancaster Castle to have breakfast with santa:



They had such a lovely time and it was so well done - I'll definitely do it again! Tonight I took them to the village bingo. It was a lovely evening and we had lots of fun.

Another thing that has made me feel blessed is my experience yesterday - I went out for a meal with the old Rosemary Conley crowd - we laughed and had lots of fun - and when my friend Julie gave me a lift home she presented me with an amazing hamper - full to the gunnels with everything you need for Christmas - and a lot more beside - plus a box with presents in for the girls and some vouchers for Booths supermarket.



I was absolutely gobsmacked - what a kind and thoughtful thing to do - so amazing - I really am blessed to have such wonderful friends and that includes you lovely people out there who have been so supportive at this tricky time. Thankyou!

No cards today.

Big hugs

Rachel x

stable is good

Hello Lovelies. Well I'm feeling pretty low tonight - its been a tough old day - when I phoned the hospital last night Shaun was not good - they had taken him off the ECMO successfully then closed the skin on the chest - shortly afterwards they put the drains on and the heart started to get unhappy. The switched the drains off - but then fluid started to collect around the heart causing it to be unhappy again - they ended up fully opening his chest and sealing it with a membrane. Since then we have had stability of sorts. The consultants are about at the end of their intervention - they say the R vad is unlikely to help because it seems to be space that is the issue. They are going to maintain the drug regime in the hope that the stability will gain momentum. The issue of closing his chest would then be tackled. So we have to wait and see. I just feel so exhausted. But we must keep hoping and praying that things go well.

I have treated myself to one of the new celtic dream dies - oh my word - it cuts so beautifully. Love it. Here's what I made - again I apologise for the quality of the pictures.

I actually made 8 of these in an evening!  The background behind the die was made using inkadinks from the vintage set from Imagination Crafts - I used ochre and gingerbread and covered a sheet of A3 card. Then I cut the die cuts and added then to the sheet and then cut around them to make the toppers.

I used some printed paper from my stash and then added flowers and/or holly to the card plus the sentiment from Imagination Crafts.

I would like to enter this into the laviniastamps-challenge-12-add-a-flower

Big hugs to you and thanks for your kind words.

Hugs

Rachel xx

Its time for snow at Indigo Blu

Hello lovelies! Would you believe it - I'm sitting here watching Holby City (strange I know) and there's a baby on it on an ECMO machine - unbelieveable!

Anyway - that aside - Shaun is still stable - the ECMO is being reduced and everything is looking okay. Either today or tomorrow the consultant will reopen the skin on Shauns' chest and have a closer look at the new heart. He will remove the ECMO and either replace it with an R-vad or nothing at all - depending on how things are looking. Then they'll be able to close his chest properly and start the process of waking him up. Fingers crossed that things go well.

I am so behind on card making - I made a batch of cards using indigo blu stamps the other night - they're not what I would have liked to have made - given time - but they're okay! Here's the results:

apologies for the terrible lighting for the picture - its sooooo dark here at present - day and night it seems!

I'd like to enter these into indigoblublogchallenge challenge-22-let-it-snow. 

Thanks for your continued support! Big hugs! Rachel xx

A sneak peak for imagination crafts

Hello Lovelies:

here's a sneaky peak for my tutorial over on the imagination crafts blog today.

I would like to update you on Shaun - he has had a  good steady weekend - and even dare I say made some improvements. Its crunch time today or tuesday when they remove the ECMO support. I'm just slightly worried - but I hope and pray that they will manage to get him through the transition time and he gets the chance to gain his strength again and come back to us. We all miss him so very much. 

Fingers crossed and keep those prayers coming!

Hugs

Rachel xx

a new heart for shaun

Hello lovelies - sorry I've been quiet - we got the call on Wednesday morning that a heart was on the way for Shaun. The operation went ahead and was initially very successful. Then his blood pressure dropped rapidly causing him to go into arrest. They brought him back into a good rhythm by manual massage and a shock then he was stable for 12 hours. Then the right side of the heart started to struggle so last night they put him onto ECMO. The aim is to rest the heart and lungs over the weekend and then reduce the support on ECMO come monday. Thankyou so much for all of your kind words on here and on facebook. I really do appreciate it. The consultant says Shaun needs luck and prayers - so please keep praying.

I'm absolutely shattered and will be on Monday......

Anyway - I want to show you a Christmas tag I made using products from foilplay.

I have really enjoyed using the foiling products - they're easy to use and lots of fun.

Going to sign off for now.

Big hugs

Rachel xx

A card for uncle Ivan

Hello Lovelies! How are you today? Its turned proper cold here - brrrrr - not looking forward to driving in icy conditions - I hope things don't stay too cold for too long. Take care out there!

I had a good visit at the hospital today - Shaun continues to do well - he is definitely bored though! Fingers crossed that heart comes soon. Before we left for Manchester Bez and I bought a Christmas tree and put it up plus the lights and left the rest for the girls to do when my mum fetched then from school. Well they did a wonderful job and as I sit here writing this there is a lovely christmas tree full of baubles and lights and that beautiful smell filling the room - yummy!!! Lovely!

Today I want to share with you my make for my uncle Ivan - he's got a birthday on Sunday and this is the card I made for him - I made it using the techniques from Tim Holtz in the latest compendium of curiosities 3 challenge here.

I used the holiday jumper layering stencil and distress embossing powders (peeled paint, fired brick and vintage photo). 

The challenge is sponsored by the thefunkiejunkie boutique.

and also there is a fabulous prize for one lucky winner chosen by the curiosity crew;

I hope you enjoy my post! I am entering my card into lindaledbetters compendium-of-curiosities-3-challenge-16.

Big hugs to you!

Rachel x

Its anything goes at Imagination Crafts

Morning all! How are you? I am very happy today to be starting my third term at Imagination Crafts. I really do love their products and am honoured to still be on their design team. We have a new challenge starting today and as always now the theme is anything goes. If you want to be in with a chance to win the £40 prize you need to use something from Imagination Crafts.

In this piece I have used a stamp set and inkadinks.

I had never used the inkadinks before - this is made using the vintage set and I must say they were really easy to use and come with full instructions and ideas as to how to use them. In this piece I painted with them and stamped with them. To make this I used the gingerbread, ochre and coca inks. I used the leaves decoupage stamp set.

I made the background using the inkadinks like a water colour wash then stamped over it and added the topper made from  the main stamp image decoupaged up.

We had a good weekend - my girlies made me so proud in their BFG production. 

These pictures were taken at the end of the show. Lucy is dressed in her final role as a court police officer and Penny is showing off her tie dyed t shirt from her role as the learner giant. It went so well - and I was proud of my girls both on and off stage. That's drama finished now until after Christmas. I wonder what next year will bring us!

Shaun was lovely and happy yesterday - he had lots of visitors which is wonderful and it really perked him up. Long may it last! 

Hope you have a lovely day and looking forward to seeing your entries into the imagination crafts challenge that you can see here.

Big hugs

Rachel xx

A card for Evie and opening night

Hello Lovelies! Thanks for your comments on my last post - I really do appreciate them! Tonight I have a new card to share with you - its for my niece Evie who's going to be 10 in December. I've used a stamp club set from Little Claire.

I made the topper first - I stamped the image then coloured with spectrum noir pens. Then I cut using a spellbinders die then used seedless preserves around the edge. Next I cut the card using a grand spellbinders die and coloured it using seedless preserves again. Then I added the stamped images using another distress ink and finally put the card together.

I'd like to enter this card into littleclairesdesigns monthly-blog-challenge-51-shaped-card. 

I had a good day with Shaun today - he's continuing to do well but is definitely starting to feel he's been there too long! Tell me about it! 

It was Lucy and Penny's opening night tonight for the BFG and everything went really well! I'm so proud of them - I'll try and get some piccies tomorrow night to post on Monday!

Big hugs to you and have a great weekend!

Rachel xx

Hold on to your hats - the rollercoaster is peaking and dipping!

Afternoon all. Well its been a bit of a rollercoaster day. It started with a call at around 4am from the hospital to say there was a heart for Shaun. Luckily my mum and dad were staying over so I was able to head off to the hospital and got there around 6.30am. Shaun and I sat for a few hours until the transplant coordinator came and told us that unfortunately the heart was not healthy enough - it was a bit of a blow but in many ways its reassuring to know that they will only use a good quality organ. Fingers crossed that next time the call comes it will be a viable heart for Shaun.

I should be sleeping now but its not happening so I thought I would blog this that I made for the mixed media challenge at WOW powders this month. I started off by trying to alter an assemblage clock using the deer and trees but everything was too dark - luckily I saw this post by Anna Karin on the timholtz blog. It was the inspiration I needed to finish my piece off.

I used a burlap panel and painted it using distress paints. Then I stamped snowflakes onto a piece of card using versa mark and heat set white pearl wow powder before then adding distress ink over the top -this was then added to the inside of the panel to form a snowy backdrop. I added pebeo matt medium to the bottom of the panel then sprinkled with glitter. The deer was create using a Tim Holtz die cut around 8 times in 300gsm card and then these pieces were all stuck together. I rubbed versamark over the surface then covered with white sparkle wow powder and heat set. The trees were sprayed with first green then silver distress stain sprays and allowed to dry before adding to the scene. Finally I added a tim holtz good times band.

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

wowembossingpowder november-2014-monthly-challenge

stamping sensations sirstampalotchallenge -november-challenge-simply-christmas

Hope to see you again before the end of the month but we will have to wait and see!

Big hugs and thanks for your comments!

Hugs

Rachel xx

A christening, a hospital visit and a colour challenge at chocolate baroque

Hello Lovelies! Well its been a great day today - we started with my two girls getting christened at the church in our village - it was a very small event but beautifully done by the Rev Michael Hampson - thankyou - here's a piccie:

We decided to let the girls get christened when they were old enough to choose for themselves - and they both wanted to at this time! This was followed by a trip to see daddy at the hospital and I have another piccie for you here:

As you can see Shaun is looking very well - the doctors are saying that he'll have his tracheostomy removed on Monday - which will be great! He was so very well today! Long may it continue.

I also have a card to share with you today - this was made using a chocolate baroque clear christmas stamp using the colours from their latest colour challenge:

Here's my make:

I used distress inks to do the colours - peacock feathers, dusty concorde, tattered rose and seedless preserves. I masked off the circle then created the background then filled the circle.

I would like to enter this into chocolatebaroquechallenge-five.

See you again soon and thanks for dropping by!

Hugs

Rachel xx

J.J's card

Hello Lovelies! How are you all? Thanks for your kind comments on my last make and good wishes for Shaun. The wait continues but he's doing really well. I just hope Shaun doesn't have to wait for too long!

It was my nephew's 13th birthday today - here's the card I made for him:

The stamps are from Sheena Douglass and I used aquatints to do the painting.

I hope you had a good Friday and enjoy your weekend!

Hugs

Rachel xx

The transplant List and my take on Tims Tag

Hello lovelies - well Shaun is officially back on the transplant list which is just the best news - he started to get a little low but now is very pleased again! As are we all! Well done Shaun - I hope its not too long before he has a new heart!

Today I would like to share with you my take on Tims tag this month. This is the first time I had to make a card instead of a tag - I decided I wanted to use the snowflake die and it wouldn't fit on a tag so I had to make a card - the techniques are all the same as described at timholtz 12-tags-of-2014-november.

I really enjoyed the making process and I'm pleased with the final result too! I loved using the distress stain sprays! 

I'd like to enter this into timholtz 12-tags-of-2014-november

Big hugs to you and I hope you have enjoyed your visit today!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Its Travel at Clarity

Hello Lovelies! How are you today? We are all good - I managed to get a swim in before I went off to see Shaun at the hospital - I did 30 lengths and felt very good after it! When I got to the hospital Shaun had already done a walk - the full length of the ward (roughly 25m) and he did it again whilst I was there! I was so choked - I never thought I would well up just watching my husband walk! But there you have it! He's getting stronger all the time! Hopefully tomorrow he will be well enough to go back on the transplant list. Got everything crossed.

I have made a very simple CAS card for my entry to the Clarity Challenge this month. I have used the stencil by Jo Rice plus clarity stamps.

I used distress inks through the stencil and applied them using cut and dry foam - the colours were chipped sapphire and faded jeans. The black stamping was done using black archival.

I would like to enter this into the claritystampchallenge-21 - travel

paulaholifieldcrafts - albc-cas-or-clean-and-simple.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you have enjoyed your visit!

Hugs Rachel xx

Mid month at Imagination Crafts

Good morning lovelies! Thanks for your comments on yesterdays post - you're very kind! Shaun was good yesterday too - he's started doing little walks now too - its brilliant!

Well its midmonth already and I'm here to give you a little inspiration to join in the fun over at the imagination-craftschallenges blog. The theme this month is, as always, anything goes. There is a £40 voucher up for grabs but to be in with a chance of winning it you need to use Imagination Crafts products in your make.  Here's my inspiration for you today:

I have altered a stampboard box using silkies and stamps from Imagination Crafts. The stamps I used are all from the dragon fly stamp set. The silkies I used are Purple lace and pink lace. I hope you like this box - it was so easy to make and looks really pretty in real life! Whilst I'm here I would like to thank all at the Imagination Crafts Challenge blog for the past two terms on the team and I'm looking forward to the next term too starting in December. Its such a lovely team to be on - so thankyou! 

Big Hugs to you!

Rachel x