nativity at christmas card club

Hello there! Its Christmas card club again and the theme this fortnight is Nativity. I am pleased to have made two cards for this - they are basically the same though!

Its my only nativity stamp that I can think of ... an oldie but a goodie from LOTV. I have simply coloured it using distress inks and added a sentiment from Indigoblu. 

Can't believe its May day tomorrow - have a great one!

Hugs

Rachel x

life's what you make it

Hello Lovelies - well where has this week gone to eh? I feel like I am over the jet lag but really I'm not up to speed with everything at home - hence my lack of posts! I took a bit of time out today to do a journal page for the junk journal junkies over on facebook. The theme is lessons and the coloours ivory, purple and gold...I forgot the gold but this is what I came up with.

I started with violet storms infusions and then used distress inks to add the background thru' a clarity stencil and also a stencil girl stencil.

A close up of the part of the page with the face created from the stencil girl stencil.

I added the words and then stamped the indigo blu feather stamps.

My words mean a lot to me on many levels. I know that life can be cruel and hard but if you choose to see the glass as half full things never seem so bad.

Big hugs

Rachel x

Back to Clarity Cumbria

Hello lovelies! Well I hope this post will mark a return to normal blogging life for me! My jetlag has been bad but I feel I've now turned a bit of a corner. I managed to sleep until 5.50am today so its all good!!!
I think our visit yesterday to Clarity Cumbria may well have had a pivotal role in the recovery of normality! We had a lovely day - playing with some fabulous stamps. Here's what I made.

I really like this one - it was a good start to the day!

This one involved a bokeh technique which I struggled with .... but I quite like the look on this picture!

I went a bit freestyle on this one but I do like the result!

my final picture is a bit odd - not sure where that shadow comes from! Nevermind - you get the idea! This one showed me how tired I was - my sun slipped in front of my mountains so I added my sticker to cover the error!!!

It was a lovely day and lovely to see just how busy the class has become over the years. No wonder as Jo Rice is such a superstar!!!

Big hugs

Rachel x

we're back

Good morning all! Its very early as we are still getting used to being the right way up again! Coming back from downunder NZ has its drawbacks - but we'll get there!

Just wanted to share a few photos that we had done by photographers whilst out there. The first ones are from Hamner springs - our favourite place!!!

Next our pictures from the antartic centre....

those penguins are so very cute!!! We went on a backstage penguin encounter and got very close to one little penguin called Nick - all the little blue penguins at the centre are rescue penguins - Nick was rescued from a shark attack - in the nick of time - hence the name - he had one toe missing!

Finally the christchurch gondola...

it was a great place to visit indeed! The views at the top were just amazing!

No more NZ pics now - I promise! Back to the crafting world asap!!!

Big hugs

Rachel x

Humour at Christmas card club!

Hello lovelies! How are you? I hope you are doing good! Today I have some cards for our Christmas card club - the theme was humourous and I knew just the stamp set I wanted to use. Its by hobbyart - thanks mum!!!

three clean and simple cards - I think they'll do!!!!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Rust ... time flies at Countryview Crafts

Hello lovelies - its my turn today over at the countryview crafts blog - our theme this month is ' Rust' and I have an inspirational piece to share with you today. I did the rusting effects again using the techniques of andy skinner and decoart products - see here.

Here's my make and a step by step.

Here's the finished piece ...

I started with a cogs embossing folder and embossed a piece of card.

Next I sprayed it with cobalt black not covering entirely.

once dry I added a layer of quinaconone gold...

I stamped and painted a sheena douglas stamp image and cut out another barbed wire piece made by using sand paste through a stencil and rusting in the same way. I then arranged on a piece of card coloured with distress ink...

The time flies sentiment came with the stamp set - the other sentiment is some Tim Holtz ideaology---paperie---metallic-stickers-quotations.

You've still got over two weeks to join us on this one so why don't you?

Big hugs

Rachel x

More nz memories

Well we're coming to the end of our main road trip and i have a few more memories to share.

These are the pancake rocks just north of greymouth on the west coast. A beautiful spot.

This was taken at shantytown just south of greymouth. It was a bit run down but had interesting elements!!!

Hokitika gorge was stunning. A really beautiful place.

Hokitika beach had lots of driftwood and was fun.

At puzzling world in lake wanaka.

This is at lake wanaka too. Such a beautiful place.

More hot pools at tekapo springs.

And lake tekapo. Super pretty. 

Really lovely.

Big hugs xxx

Lucky Star at Stamps and Stencils

Good morning all! Its time for a new challenge at Stamps and Stencils - our theme this month is 'Lucky Star' and here's what Branka had to say about it.

For this challenge I would love to see a mixed media project that has star/s in it somewhere. You can create anything you like as long as you include a star. Don't forget to use stamps or stencils or both! Can't wait to see what you create!

So I was wondering what to make - and stumbled across a star box template from crafters companion - and so I decided thats what I would make!

I started by using distress stains to cover 2 x A3 sheets of card.

Next I used stencils and blueprint sketch DI to add stars.

Then I used the template and drew around it ...

and cut out the base and lid ...

Next I scored and creased and made the box up.

Finally I decorated it using lace, flowers, a stamped dragonfly and a stamped star that I also cut out using the template.

I do hope you can join us! Hugs Rachel xx

Our trip

Hello there. Just wanted to share a few pics of our trip with you.

The kaikoura peninsula is so pretty... especially when the sun shines!

Here i am with my sister who lives in kaikoura.

A family pic.

The girls enjoying the waterslides at hanmer springs.

Gorgeous walk at hamner

Jet boat ride at hamner

A whale watching flight at kaikoura.

Its pouring with rain just now so we are chilling! Hope you are all well. Sorry for missing posts  but we are busy ... i will get back to normal soon when we return xx

Flowers at christmas card club

Good morning all. Just realised i have forgotten to schedule this post so i am trying to do it on my phone. Never done this before so please forgive me if it doesn't work.

The theme at christmas card club is flowers. I made two cards using the clarity jane nestorenko poinsettia.

I also used a th stencil. 

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Rust at Countryview Challenges

Good morning all! Well I'm very excited to tell you about the new challenge over at countryviewchallenges that starts today. The theme is 'rust'. I absolutely loved playing to make something for this theme - sorry I don't have a step by step as I got carried away!!!!

Here's my finished piece - its actually very large - its one of the etcetera-tags---thickboard-large from Tim Holtz. I started by using paste through a clarity stencil and a Tim Holtz stencil directly onto the tag surface. Next I used Andy Skinners rusting techniques that you can find here ...rusting

I did the techniques directly onto the tag after adding cogs cut using Tim Holtz dies. I also added the rust technique to barbed wire that I made by adding gritpaste through a dutch doobadoo stencil. And again to some industrial parts from tando.

Here's a close up of some of the rusty parts ...

I love this barbed wire!

The words were cut from another tim holtz alphabet die and coloured with distress oxides. The butterflies are of course from Tim Holtz.

I do hope you can join our challenge!

Big hugs!

Rachel x