a bit quiet!

Hello lovelies! I'm back from my holibobs and was having the house rewired whilst I've been away - so I've returned to an almighty mess - consequently I may be absent for a few days. Do not worry! I shall return! See you all soon! Hugs Rachel x

Liz's card

Hello Lovelies - this is my final scheduled post for a while - we should be returning from Cornwall tomorrow - not looking forward to the drive but it has to be done!

Today i would like to share a card with you that i made for my friend Liz.

I thought this indigo blu stamp might be suitable - but first I made up the background using distress inks and layering stencils. then I added small stamps before adding the main stamp in black archival.

The last thing I added were painty circles in snowflake fresco paint! I hope Liz liked it!

Big hugs and back to normal soon!

Rachel x

Danielle's card

Hello Lovelies - another scheduled post today - this is a card I made for my friend Danielle's birthday - it was yesterday so I'm safe to post it just now:

She's a really bright sunny person so i wanted to make a card reflecting that! I used distress inks in yellows and orange and then two clarity stencils plus a script stamp.

The friendship stamp is from Indigo Blu.

Thanks for popping by today!

Hugs

Rachel xx

mini canvas for Lavinia

Hello Lovelies! This is a scheduled post so i hope things work out okay! I've made a mini canvas for this moths Lavinia Stamps challenge - where the theme is anything but a card.  I decided a canvas was a good idea in the case.

I started off using texture paste through a crafters workshop A4 sized stencil - then once dry I base coated the whole canvas with cinderella metallic pink paint from Indigo Blu. 

Next I used emerald city metallic green paint from indigo blu on the leaves and a blue paint on the dragonflies. I also added some sprays and let the whole thin dry.

Next came stamping using lavinia stamps and both inks and paints.I also added some inka gold wax. Finally i added the stamped image at the bottom that I stamped in card and fussy cut before adding.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

laviniastamps: anything but a card

anythingbutcutechallenge-august-making-magic.

Thanks for looking today!

Hugs

rachel x

Summertime at Country View Crafts

Hello lovelies! Well here I am today with the second of my posts for CVC this month - the theme is summertime and I have used lots of lovely Paperartsy goodies in my second make. Can't get enough of the beautiful Lin Brown stamps. In todays project I used two main stamp sets elb24 - sunflower and elb22 teasel. I started with three MDF hearts and painted them with fresco-finish-chalk-acrylic-paints jade.

It looks very blue in this picture against the black but trust me it is jade! Then I started stencilling with snowflake paint. I used different stencils on each heart.

On the first one I used the -jofy-ps007 stencil. I stamped the sunflower in red archival on card then painted with -tango fresco paint.  I fussy cut and added to the hanging. I also stamped with some of the smaller stamps from the set to build up the background. The sentiment came from the teasel set.

On this one I used the stencil-elb-ps002 and some smaller stamps and painted with both the bougainvillia paint and the wisteria paint. 

The final part uses the stencil-elb-ps004. and the paints zesty-zing and banana. 

I hope you can join is in the wonderful summertime challenge over at countryviewchallenges.

There's still time and you might be lucky and win a £20 voucher to spend in store! 

Big hugs

Have a great day!

Rachel x

santa at the christmas card club

Good morning lovelies! How are you? I hope you are okay! Today I am sharing my christmas card club make - a day early as I have something else to blog tomorrow!!!  I hope thats alright with all the christmas card club ladies!  The theme this time was santa - I managed to get only two cards made this time - but every little helps:

They were both made using Tim Holtz stamps mostly although the second one also has a santa and sleigh from Indigo Blu.

On this one i stamped and masked santa then tamped the wreath - i coloured both is using distress pens then inked around the edge in festive berries D.I. Finally i used the TH poinsettia layering stencil to add more detail.

This one was made using distress paints both for the background and for stamping! I was playing around with this colour scheme for entry to a craft stamper thingie - but never got around to entering it!!! Anyway - the santa part was added lastly using black archival ink.

I hope you have a good day - we are on our way to cornwall as this  goes live - its going to be a long drive!!!

Big hugs

Rachel x

Frame it at Indigo Blu

Hello Lovelies - its time for a new challenge over at Indigo Blu today - Oh my - I had fun making this one!!! I wonder what you think?

I started with the stamped image - its called jane -  I stamped in black archival and then fussy cut. Next I started on the canvas - I used grandmas-teacup acrylic paint on the base and over all the lovely goodies I had added - these were a mixture of metallic pieces plus items made using paperclay and moulds.

I then stamped using rugged-edge stamp and flitter glu and added indigoblu-megaflake-chocolate-box.

When I added the image and all was dry I added more interest using treasure gold in purple and renaissance gold. 

I hope you like this piece and will join in with the indigo blu challenge which you can find here.

Big Hugs 

Rachel x

Connie's Card

Evening all! How are you? I hope you are fine and happy - thanks for your comments on yesterdays canvas - you are very kind!  Todays run went well - I managed 11 miles - again slowly - but I am now starting to believe that I can complete the Great North! Woohoo! Here's hoping!!!

Tonight I have a birthday card to share with you that I have made for another girl in Lucy's class - she will be 11 next week!

I created the background using distress inks, layering stencils and a script stamp. I also stamped words from Chocolate baroque.

The main image is from Indigo blu - I have coloured her with distress pens.

I think Connie should like this!

I hope you enjoy your Wednesday evening - have fun - hope you enjoyed bake off - I did!!!!

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

mini mermaid canvas

Hello Lovelies .... how are you? I hope you are well. We've had a few days in Nottingham with Shaun's mum - its been lovely - more of that later. Tonight I want to share with you the fruits of my labour in the attic whilst the girls were looking at the tv!

Its a mini canvas done with a few challenges in mind. I have used a clarity canvas board 6x6 inches and Jo's bubble stencil, grunge paste, distress paints, pens, sprays and a clarity stamp.

I started with the canvas and applied the grunge paste through the bubble stencil then left it dry. Next I applied mermaid lagoon and mowed lawn distress paint and blueprint sketch distress spray. Once dry I applied the stamp to the canvas, I also applied it to card and coloured and cut the mermaid out. 

Next I added inka gold in a variety of shades to the raised areas and inked in the hair. Finally I added some snowflake white paint to highlight the dots around the stamped image.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

claritystampchallenge-30 tic tac toe - I used the line stencil, grungepaste stamp.

/thatscraftychallenges under-sea-challenge

allsortschallenge-share-your-favourite-colour - My fave colours are greens/blues.

anythingbutcutechallenge challenge-4-august-making-magic

welove2create-craft-challenges-17

It was a great few days with Bez - we've laughed and cried and put the world to rights - Shaun would have been smiling if he were watching us!  We also had fun with the girlies in the day times:

 

this was at Wollaton Hall Park in Nottingham - they have recently added a new playground - it was great fun until the weather changed!!!

This was at the High Peak Trail in Derbyshire where we all panned for minerals - it was very absorbing and they really loved it!

Tomorrow is another day and I have an 11 mile run planned - I will do it but I suspect time will be very slow! Wish me luck!!!

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

Clairty cumbria step by step and other makes.

Hello lovelies - how are you this fine morning? I hope you are well and happy. We are good and looking forward to a short trip to Nottingham to take Bez home. We've not been to Nottingham for over a year - since before Shaun had his heart attack. It will be good to be there again and the girls will enjoy catching up with their cousins.  Fingers crossed it will be fun.

I did have fun yesterday - it was Clarity Cumbria August and we did a mixed media thermometer house - here's the steps:

To start with we masked off the thermometer then used whichever stencils we wanted to use with grunge paste - I used grunge paste for the non circles and wendy vecchi crackle paste for the jo's bubbles stencil. we left this to dry.

Next we added embellishments I chose to add some Tim Holtz diecuts - the dragonfly and garden greens. Also some wooden flowers.

Next it was time to cover entirely in black gesso and leave to dry.

Finally I added a variety of colours of inka gold to highlight the different areas and added two Tim Holtz diecut words.

I hope you like this make - I certainly do and would like to enter it into the following challenges:

vintagejourney things-with-wings

mixed-media-monthly-challenge-15-get texty

I also made a few tags and a card whilst waiting for the drying processes:

I had a great day and thanks to Jo for all your hard work!  Thanks to all the lovely ladies who came along and brought cake too! 

Have a great Sunday!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Tims tag August and a visit to Clarity Cumbria

Hello Lovelies! Thanks for your comments on yesterdays post - you're very kind both to me and to the girls - thankyou!

Did you have all the rain yesterday? I thought it would never stop here - luckily we've got a better day forecast for today. I'm off to Clarity Cumbria today and its usually sunny when I'm there so fingers crossed.

I made my Tims tag for August the other day:



This is Tims make - I used most of the methods outlined here although my tag looks very different I think - the pink changes it all.

I loved this found relative - she looks like the ladyfriend of an explorer to me - in an ephemera pack i found a letter addressed to a lady called Fischer - I couldn't resist using it on this piece! 

The words I chose were very personal - mantras for everyday life!

I loved the main tag technique that Tim used to make the background but am a bit sad that I covered so much of it up. 

I would like to enter this into the timholtz 12-tags-of-2015-august. 

Thanks for looking today and i hope I've got something good to share with you today from Clarity Cumbria!!!

Big Hugs

rachel xx

Lucy's birthday

Hello all! Well it was a lovely day yesterday - my little girl Lucy had her 9th birthday - not so little now is she???? Here's some pictures:

There was a bit of a Harry Potter theme going on - I think she'd give Hermione Grainger a run for her money! My cake was appreciated - although we all had a giggle at my attempt at Harry Potter!!! 

So no time to make anything today - so I have my July ATC swaps to share with you:

I used a klimt panel from chocolate baroque to make mine this time - I was going to use black but got swayed towards the gold embossing powder - stampendous detail. 

I also used distress inks to make these.

These are the ones I received in return. Need to get Augusts made now - if you fancy joining us click on the bar in the sidebar - Jo hosts the challenge and I'm sure she would love to hear from you!

Big hugs and thanks for all your well wishes for Lucy!

Big Hugs

Rachel x

Lucy' birthday!

Hello Lovelies - well its Lucy's birthday today - my big girl has reached the heady heights of 9 years old! Well she does at 8.35 tonight - but hey - we'll celebrate all day! Actually she's off to the gym for most of the day but we have a family tea going on tonight and she's probably tearing packages open as this goes live!!!! I hope she has a really happy day!!! I made her cake yesterday - its okay - but my version of Harry Potter leaves alot to be desired - lol! I can bake but sugar craft aint my thing!!!! I'll post a picture tomorrow! What I can show you is her card!

Its those crazy birds!!!! ha ha - Lucy fell in love with these a while ago so I know she'll love it! I've used the bird stamps and dies and also the extra stamps - but I don't have the extra dies as yet so had to fussy cut the hats and flowers and parcels.

The background was made using distress inks and layering stencils from Tim Holtz.

I'm sure she will be happy with this card - I hope she likes her harry potter themed cake too!!!

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

vintagejourney things-with-wings

sirstampalotchallenge august-challenge-anything-goes-with stamp and die

I had a lovely day yesterday and went for a fabulous run with my friend Rose - we ran from Hornby to another local village - over some hills - it was amazing - the views were spectacular!

We did enjoy it!!!

Running with two other friends today - in Lancaster this time so the views will be quite different!

Have a great day! Big hugs to you!

Rachel xx

A just because tag!

Hello lovelies! How are you? I hope you are well. We're good - the girls are at the gym again today - later on there is going to be a Peter Pan party - which will include a treasure hunt and a huge inflatable to play on in the pool - sounds good to me. I'm hoping to go for a run with my friend Rose - then i have to bake Lucy's birthday cake - she will be 9 tomorrow!

Today I want to share a tag with you - I made it just because! I wanted to play with the dragonfly die and so I did!

The tag background was made using distress inks and layering stencils -

I diecut the dragonflies in both card and packaging acetate material - I kept the wing parts of this and coloured then with alcohol inks. I kept the card body parts and coloured with distress inks.

I also added some stamping too.

I would like to enter this into the challenge over at a vintage journey.

vintagejourney things-with-wings.

Hope you enjoy wednesday!

Big Hugs

Rachel x