Cardinals at the christmas card club!

Hello Lovelies! How are you today? I hope you are well and looking forward to some Halloween fun this evening!

Thanks for your kind comments on my mushroom card yesterday - I'm going to send it to my uncle Gordon who has a birthday next month! I hope he'll like it too.

Today I have my Christmas card club make - a day early - the lovely Mary chose Cardinals as the theme - now i don't have any cardinal stamps - but luckily my lovely mum had a Jane Shasky DVD with a cardinal image on it - I printed it off and made three cards with a lovely inky background!

For the backgrounds I used festive berries and tea dye DI and some tattered lace folders. On the smaller two cards I swiped the embossing with sepia archival. On the largest one I just left it as texture!!!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

scrapsoflifebyscrappymo october-rudolph-days-challenge

allsortschallenge week-335-christmas

I hope you have a great day and enjoy halloween if you're joining in - we're looking forward to trick or treating tonight - hope the weather is kind to us! 

Hugs

Rachel xx

there's not much room inside

Hello Lovelies!!! how are you??? I hope you are well! We are back home and have had a lovely break down in nottingham with Bez (shaun's mum). We also had a visit from Shaun's sister and her children whilst there - we had a lovely day out at Wollaton hall.

This is just out side the hall with lucy and penny's cousins holly and tate.

This was our picnic spot - Jane with baby Tripp, Bez and myself.

and finally yummy icecream!!!

When i got home i opened a package from chocolate baroque and couldn't resist heading into the attic for a play - this is what i made!

The main stamp is the latest in the series of year of stamping stamps - this is the full size stamp and measure around 6 inch square. I've coloured it using distress inks and pens.

The background is created from a mop up of the inks used plus some stencilling using clarity stencils and background stamping. The final verse is from Clarity.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

fashionablestampingchallenge /challenge-104-changing-seasons

pennyblackatallsorts october-challenge-warm-autumn-colours

sirstampalotchallenge october-challenge-colours-of-autumn

I hope you have a great friday!

Hugs

Rachel x

12 tags of Christmas tag 4

Hello lovelies - still away so this is a scheduled post - I would like to share with you my latest tag for the challenge 12 tags of Christmas sponsored by thefunkiejunkie boutique. I loved the plaid on tag 4 that you can find here. I have also used plaid that I created with distress markers - I used blue and teamed it with Tims skate die!

I also used Tims Christmas words 2 for the sentiment.

And the poinsettia die.

Love these skates!

I would like to enter this into thefunkiejunkie challenge-12-tags-of-christmas week 4

I hope you're having a great week!!!

Back to normal soon!!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Lavinia blog challenge entry: glitter and gems!

hello lovelies - I hope you are well!!! This is a scheduled post so I hope its going to go live!!

Today I have my card entry for the lavinia challenge to share with you - this month the challenge is glitter and gems and I've made a simple card:

I started by stamping the Believe stamp in versa mark and setting with clear crystal embossing powder. Next I stamped the fairies and stars in black archival. Then i masked the moon and did the background in DI - picked raspberry, peacock feathers and shaded lilac. Finally I added the glitter and the gems!!!

I would like to enter this card into the laviniastamps challenge-10.

Thankyou for looking today and i hope you have enjoyed your visit!

hugs

rachel x

Blue and brown at Stampotique!

Hello lovelies - how are you? We are all good and warm! The boiler was finished yesterday and touch wood seems to be working well! Long may it continue!!!! I hope you are good and warm too!!

Today i am sharing a tag I made for the latest Stampotique challenge where the theme is brown and blue.

I've used a fun image and teamed it up with a a size 5 tag!!! I've also used Tims holiday sweater layering stencil and blueprint sketch DI. The sentiment is from Clarity.

I would like to enter this into the stampotiquedesignerschallenge SDC218 

Have a great Saturday - we're off for a few days - see you soon!!

Hugs

Rachel x

Funkie Junkie 12 tags of Christmas tag 3

Hello Lovelies! How are you today? We're in a bit of a mess again - yesterday a father and son team appeared to change my boiler - today the old one is out and the new one is in but there's still work to be done with the fittings. It should be completed by the end of the day but I'm not totally sure! Fingers crossed! We'll be in relative peace then until the bathroom is fitted at the end of November - however, I may be getting my coal fire changed to a wood burning stove - but thats still up for debate!

Anyway - less of the work on the house - and today I have my third tag from the 12 tags of Christmas sponsored by thefunkiejunkie boutique. I have been inspired by Linda's use of the winter sweater die set from Tim Holtz.

I cut each layer out separately and coloured them with DI once cut - festive berries, pine needles and chipped sapphire.

I added a topper from a pack of ephemera by Tim Holtz.

The greeting was from the same pack!

I would like to enter this into the thefunkiejunkie challenge-12-tags-of-christmas week 3.

I'm off to the hairdressers today - the girls have finished for half term so we'll be off to my mums and then I can go get a haircut!!! Busy busy!!!

Hope you have a good day!!

Hugs

Rachel xx

journalling Tim Style!

Good morning lovelies! How are you today??? We are all tired after drama group last night - the girls are so excited as we are putting together Mary poppins - can't wait to find out what roles they have. We were singing last night - great songs .... lets go fly a kite ........

So today I have my entry to this months challenge over at AVJ. Its a Tim Holtz based blog and I was delighted to see the theme this month - but having misplaced my journal I was a bit stuck - anyway - i got a new one and - you've guessed it - the old one turned up the day after I had completed this page - nevermind - i now have two journals to go at!!! Lol!!!

I love how this has turned out - I used Tim Holtz tissue-wrap---melange as a base to the pages applied with decopatch glue and creased up to give texture. Then i used distress stains to colour the background so that the translucency was there. I used fired brick, carved pumpkin, fossilised amber and shabby shutters. When dry I added texture paste through a few different layering stencils and when dry added gold rub.

I used the face from  Tim Holtz classics-5-stamp set and stamped her in sepia archival then cut some card i had inked up with various shades of distress ink using thinlits-die-set-14pk---fall-foliage-by-tim-holtz.

On this page I added two of the butterflies from Tims perspective set. 

I would like to enter these pages into the following challenges:

vintagejourney art-journalling-with-tim

fashionablestampingchallenges-changing-seasons

welove2create challenge-21-anything-creativemixed

sirstampalotchallenge october-challenge-colours-of-autumn

craftstamper take-it-make-it-challenge-october

Thats all for today!

I hope you have enjoyed your visit!!!

Big hugs rachel xx

Time Flies at Indigo Blu

Good Morning Lovelies - today its time for a new challenge to start over at the indigoblublogchallenge where the new theme is 'Time Flies'. Here's my make for your inspiration - I have made this for my dining room once it has been redecorated!

Its a pretty simple design but I love it! I used two stamp sets

limor-circles

clock-work

and also cog clock-mechanism-kit and english-cottage-artists-acrylic-paint-peppermint-tea.

Firstly I painted the clock with the peppermint tea acrylic paint using a brayer. Once dry I did the stamping. I stamped the circles and numerals in archival inks 

Finally I added the mechanism!

I hope you can join us! 

I would like to enter this into theartisticstampercreativeteam octobers-creative-challenge-clocks

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

Our house ....in the middle of our street.

Hello Lovelies! I hope you're having a good day! I've got yesterdays makes from coffee pot to share with you today - we were using Tims new sizzix die - village dwelling. Here's the results from 5 of us:

We did have fun - and i think I'm going to use these for Christmas boxes for chocolates for the teachers!!! I'll add snow and a christmas tree I think!!!

I used the Tim bricked stencil and smoked hickory for the brick work.

such fun - I recommend this die to you very highly!!!

Have a great Tuesday!

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

Clarity Cumbria day

Good Morning Lovelies!!! Well I had a cracking day yesterday at Clarity Cumbria - but first I must say thankyou to my lovely mum and dad for looking after my girls - thanks mum - couldn't do it without you!!!

Onto my day - and makes - Jo Rice was full of inspiration as always - we had stencil fun and also made a puzzle!!!

These are the four makes of the day for me together.

This is the first one i made - I adore this stamp - love the colours too - I used DI mustard seed, carved pumpkin and ripe persimmon. The stamp was stamped with black archival.

This one I used an aperture stencil and the heart stencil plus the fence stencil - colourwise I used carved pumpkin, ripe persimmon and the cockeral stamp that i coloured with spectrum noir pencils.

This puzzle I created just using torn paper and masks plus DI dusty concorde and wilted violet.

This final one I felt was reminiscent of a thistle - hence the colours I chose!!!

Definitely a fun day

I hope today is good too - we're planning a relaxing day - and Bez is coming up to stay with us for a week too!!!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

CCC Cas Wreath - a day early

Hello Lovelies - how are you this morning? I hope you are well! We are all good. I was hoping to share some pictures with you from my swim on Wednesday - but they haven't arrived yet - so maybe soon. It was absolutely beautiful - we went to a quarry that has been flooded and is for divers really but its okay to swim there too. I was a bit concerned it was going to be cold - but it wasn't bad at all - infact I loved it!!! And there were fish - pretty fish with stripes and everything - I couldn't believe it - and it only takes 10 mins to get there (and another 15 to get my wetsuit on)... Can't be bad!!!

So today I'm off to Clarity Cumbria - spending the day with all the ladies there - and the one gentleman - and of course the lovely Jo Rice! So i thought I would share my Christmas card club post with you today and my makes from Clarity tomorrow!!!

So here we go - the theme is CAS wreath:

As usual I made three cards to fit the theme - the ones on the right and left I made at Coffee pot last Monday - I didn't fancy what was supplied so I did my own thing with available stamps (from Hobbyart) and these are the results.

This is the first one I made at Coffee Pot - I used hobby art stamps and painted with DI.

This one I made at home - I started by using a clarity stencil then over stamped with Card -IO stamps.

This final one was made at coffee pot again - using hobby art stamps. I painted with DI again - finally I also used some Card IO stamps when i got home.

I hope you have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Autumnal tag

Hello Lovelies - how are you? We are good! We are looking forward to a promise party at rainbows tonight and also restarting of drama group - the girls are so excited about that!!!

I have an autumnal tag to share with you today - I have combined some stamps and dies from Sheena with some dies from Tim Holtz and lots of distress!

I made the background first using DI twisted citron, ripe persimmon, victorian velvet and aged mahogonay. Then I did another sheet and die cut all the leaves. I also used the distress marker gathered twigs and distress tool.

next I stamped the squirrel and then painted with more DI - aged mahogonay, wild honey and vintage photo.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

sirstampalotchallenge/october-challenge-colours-of-autumn

pennyblackatallsorts october-challenge-warm-autumn-colours.html

fashionablestampingchallenges-changing-seasons

frillyandfunkie autumn-splendor

Thanks for looking today - I suspect I will be having a day off tomorrow! 

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

stencil girl meets visible image

Hello Lovelies! How are you? I am good and looking forward to a swim this morning - and later two girls coming over to play with penny and Lucy - its going to be a busy day - just the way I like it!!!

I have a card to share with you today using distress inks and a stencil from stencil girl and finally a stamp from Visible image. The backing paper is graphic 45.

I just adore this stencil that I bought from Thats Crafty.

Here's a close up - expect to see this again very soon!!!!

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs Rachel x

Stencils at Clarity

Hello lovelies! Happy monday to you!!! I hope you have a good day. Thanks for your comments on my tag yesterday - I'm looking forward today to seeing the next piece of inspiration in the series!!! Before that though I have a short run and  coffee pot to look forward to followed by my Monday gym session. Then I can chillax!!!! And think about that film we went to see yesterday - Pan - it was lots of fun!!!

Today I have my card for the Clarity challenge this month - the theme is stencils! My fave! here's what I made!

This is going to be for my niece Evie - she is very good at gymnastics and will be 11 in December - I thought this theme would suit her down to the ground.

I used three of the recent background stencils from clarity and worked with distress inks (wilted lilac, shaded lilac, peacock feathers and evergreen bough). I started by inking up the card with the colours then added layers with the same colours with the stencils.

Once i had got the effect I wanted I started with the stamps - the sentiment is from the clarity club - the others are a set of gymnasts. Then I added the paint circles and lines and finally stamped the words.

I would like to enter this into the claritystampchallenge-32stencils.

allsortschallenge-332-no-design-papers

Thanks for dropping by today and i look forward to catching up with you later!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Funkie Junkie 12 tags of christmas tag 2

Morning lovelies - how are you? I hope you are well. We are good - we had a good Saturday although no wallpaper - apparently they'll phone me when it comes in - I won't go now until they do! Penny got her Halloween costume and they both got wigs - they do look hilarious - I will have to take a picture!!!

Today I have my second tag for the 12 tags of Christmas at the Funkie and Junkie. This is sponsored by the thefunkiejunkie boutique. I was inspired by Linda's use of the Tim tree die. That is what I wanted to use and this is what I did!

I cut the tag from the card left over from doing the wings for my tim tag.

Then I cut the trees in white card and coloured them with pine needles DI. I stuck the trees to the tags then added glitter in the background and sprayed with distress pen marker using the spray tool.

Finally I added the words from TH dies.

I want to enter this into the following challenges:

thefunkiejunkie/challenge-12-tags-of-christmas-funkie tag 2

Have a great Sunday - we're off to see the film 'Pan' - really looking forward to it!!!

Big Hugs

Rachel xx

coffee pot last week!

Hello lovelies - hoping you're having a good Saturday - we're planning to go and collect Lucy's wallpaper today and heading off to my mums too so we should have a fun day. Fingers crossed!!! I suspect we'll be getting a new Halloween costume for Penny too. Its got to be done!

Today i want to share with you my makes from Coffee Pot last Monday - the ladies wanted to colour up the latest chocolate baroque stamp - the one for september in the year of stamping. These are the ones i did.

I chose autumnal colours - I think the orange backed one looks best!

All colouring was done using spectrum noir pencils.

I would like to enter my cards into the following challenges:

sirstampalotchalleng october-challenge-colours-of-autumn

pinkleart sunday-stamper-week-364-forever-autumn

Enjoy your Saturday and thanks for dropping by!

Big Hugs

Rachel x

Tims tag oct

Hello lovelies!  Hope you have got that Friday feeling!!!! The good one I mean - not the tired one!!! I'm good and so are my girls - they had another exciting day yesterday kayaking out on Windermere. Sounds like they had lots of fun and i think Lucy will have finished a certificate in kayaking! Brilliant stuff. They do have a great school life! I had a lovely day too - I went for my swim - and I'm going again this morning!!! I was intending to go to the gym afterwards yesterday but it didn't quite work out that way. It was a good day though!

Today I have my take on Tims tag this month - Tims can be found here.



Its a crazy scary tag this month - I've gone for using a different die cut - the beautiful wings. This is what I did. Its a bit of a homage to my Shaun.

I didn't use all the techniques from this months tag - I decided i wanted a painted background. I used distress paints in wilted violet, blueprint sketch, ground expresso - once dry I added a few stencil and stamp parts to the background. The wings were cut from card coloured with weathered wood, iced spruce and hickory smoke using a fabulous new die.

I added them to the stamped image of the chemist (shaun was a physicist).

I chose the words to reflect both Shauns battle at the end of his life - and also his general philosophy on life. He taught me so much about positivity and will always be the leading light in my life. I've been reading the hospital diary from this time last year and by jove he was such a tower of strength. Blimey!

Anyway, I would like to enter this into timholtz12-tags-of-2015-october.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Hugs

Rachel xx