work in progress and a lovely anglesey holiday

Hello lovelies! How are you? We are good - just back from a weeks holiday in Anglesey - its been beautiful - but more of that later! Whilst there I have been working on a needle felted picture that my friend Helen bought for me for my 50th - it was a kit and I have really enjoyed doing it - its all complete apart from the beading and embroidery... here are the steps I took...

I used unicorn wool to cover the back of a large canvas.....

Next I used green felting wool to add the grass and a combination of yarn and coloured wool to add the first flowers...

Next I added the two blue flowers....

I added the green leafy parts next - and then added more leaves and another flower in the front which I haven't pictured as yet... I am hoping to finish this soon!!

Its been a lovely week in Anglesey - here's a flavour ....

Its been fab!

Big hugs!

Rachel x

More cactus makes ...Chocolate baroque

Hello there! I don't have the chance to add my remaining samples to the Chocolate Baroque blog but I wanted to show them here so that I have a log of them. These are the remainder from the June shows using the cactus stamps...

An easel card - all images were coloured using pencils....

I love this image - and this card - coloured using sparkle pens....

Finally this exercise in pattern building .... again colouring was using pencils.

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Anne's card

Hello there! How are you today? I hope you are well. I have a short post to share with you today...I'm showing the card I made for my lovely friend Anne for her birthday last Friday.... A special day indeed!

I used a gesso resist technique with distress oxides to create the background along with paint splashes...I added the stamped details along the bottom and fussy cut under the sea images from Tim Holtz. I know Anne loves Tim, these colours and seahorses so I am hoping she liked it!

Have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Carol singers at CCC

Hello there! How are you? I do hope you are well. Today its Christmas card Club again and the theme this time was Carol Singers.... well I had a bit of trouble with this theme .... so I have used a stamp I wanted to use - from Tracy Easson, and well I think they sort of look like Carol singers!!!

Such a pretty image - I have just simply stamped and coloured in sparkle pens and distress ink...

I made 4 in total!

Have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Lee's card

Hello all - wow - it was a good day yesterday ....I broke up from school for the summer - so school's officially out for me - whoop whoop!!! And I went to see Lucy's school music festival - it was brilliant! All the better for knowing that Lucy's house won overall! The standard was fabulous though.

Today I have a card to share that was made for my brother in law - he likes a vino or two!!!

I used a blueprint stamp set from Tim Holtz and a brusho background...

Here's the words...

Quick and simple! Hope you like it!

Hugs

Rachel xx

CB makes from June's shows.

Morning all! I'm over on the Chocolate Baroque DT blog today with these makes from last months TV shows...hope you can join me.....

Full details on the blog here.

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Journal class with Jenny and Elizabeth

Hello there! How are you? I hope you are well. We are good and rolling ever closer to the end of term on Thursday ....how exciting - since I've been working in the school where I was doing the invigilating 3-4 days a week for the past 4 weeks, I am so looking forward to the holidays with the girls. It will be good to do some relaxing but of course, typical of me we have got lots planned!

Last Saturday myself, my mum and Lucy and Penny all went to a class run by Jenny Marples and Elizabeth Robinson. It was organised by Sharon from Rowantree Crafts and took place in Carnforth. So lovely to see both Jenny and Elizabeth...both such lovely ladies. In the class we used Eileen Hulls wrap around journal die and all made a journal.

Here's a look at the completed album. We used distress oxides and 7 gypsies papers and allandcreate stamps. A great day ....

Here we are hard at work - you can just spy me on the far table!!!

Big hugs

Rachel x

Quick makes for Chocolate Baroque

Hello there! How are you today? I hope you are fine and well ... if not sending huge hugs to you!

Today I have some more quick makes using CB stamps.

This one I simply stamped in versamark, set with white embossing powder and coloured with pencils then added some doodling lines.

This one was simply stamped and coloured then I masked the image using a band of tape and inked the remaining card.

This one was super quick - I already had the background card ready but it was simply made using pixie powders. Then I stamped the image and coloured using pens.

I hope that gives you a bit of inspiration for some quick makes!

Hugs

Rachel x

Tracy Scott class

Hello lovelies - well its been a busy old week - thank goodness its the weekend - time to breathe and time to blog about last weekends class with Tracey Scott from Paperartsy! It was fabulous. Thanks to Sharon from Rowan Tree Crafts for organising! Here's what I made....

It measures 12" x 12". I adore it - and what a fabulous day - there were papers and tearing and paint and stamping and fussycutting galore - I won't document the steps here in fairness to Tracey - but it was lots of fun! 

This week has also been a time for theatre - we went to see the sound of music at a local school - it was amazing... We also went to the play in the park in Lancaster last night - the three Musketeers... it was fun - especially the orange ball. And tonight we've been at a night of music hosted by Lucy and Penny's piano teacher where lots of students played - including the girls! 

Tomorrow we are off to a workshop with Jenny Marples and Elizabeth Robinson - can't wait!!!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Quick cards for stamps and stencils

Hello there ....I am over at stamps and stencils blog today with a quick post about using ombre to make a quick set of cards! here they are....

you can find the post here.

Have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel x

mum's card

Hello there! How are you? I hope you are good. I have a card on the Countryview Challenges blog today and here it is here on my blog. The theme this month is 'In the summer Garden'. This time I chose to use a JOFY set of stamps and made a card that I gave my mum for her birthday!

I started with a distress oxide background and stamped the stems and leaves on to it. I used distress oxides and inks to add further colour to the leaves and stems.  Next I used brushos and created a red/orange background and stamped on the flower heads and then fussy cut them. I then coloured the centres in brown and added the heads to the card..

I also added the sentiment from the stamp set and some Chocolate Baroque bees...

Here's a proper close up of the flowers...love these flowers!!!

Hope you enjoy this piece and might even join us in the challenge!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

white on white at christmas card club

Hello there! How are you? I do hope you are well? Things here continue to be hugely busy but I managed to squeeze in making three quick white on white cards. Now I am sure all the ladies from Christmas card club will have amazing designs with lots of diecuts...but I am not generally a diecutter and so my card design is very simple. I have used a stamp from chocolate baroque - christmas rose - and I have included green in my sample too.

The background has been embossed using a sheena folder ... I hve included lace and ribbon too.

I do hope this will fit the bill!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Cup and saucer

Hello there! Yay - I can finally reveal to you today that I am now a fully fledged member of the Chocolate Baroque Design Team! I was thrilled to be asked by Lesley and Judith back in May when I met them at Port Sunlight. Its been hard not to spill the beans!!!

My first post over on the design team blog is my cup and saucer from last months show.

I stamped the images in glaze - this time it was a bit tricky as the surface isn't flat but I managed! Then I painted in glaze.

Have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Ombre at stamps and stencils

Good morning! How are you today? I hope you are well and happy! Its time for a new challenge at stamps and stencils and this month Ruth has chosen the theme 'Ombre' ...this is what she had to say.

 Ombre has been in fashion for a while now and not just in art. It's a french word meaning 'a colour that is shaded or graduated in tone'...so for this challenge we want to see projects incorporating one colour (or more if feeling adventurous!) that graduates from it's lightest pastel tint to its darkest shade...with a little stamping or stenciling of course!


I have done a very personal piece for this challenge - I don't know if you know but I have a tattoo marking my lovely Shaun... here's a picture of it...

The equation is one that Shaun devised to describe the workings of a box that could be used in experimental physics. 

When it was my 50th I had my crafty day and we were going to have a piece to do based on this. Jo Rice - tried to get this done but it didn't quite work out that way - but she did manage to get a piece diecut in MDF for me... The piece I have made for this challenge is Jo's gift to me - what a lovely lady!!!

Here's the start of the ombre on the hair of the lady - I used indigoblu paints on this ....

Next I painted the moon and the rim too ....

Lastly I used a stencil to add detail to the moon and also painted the back board. Finally I added the words - Shaun loved many songs by Neil Diamond and the one 'play me' has become a favourite of mine. Thats really the reason for the tattoo....

I do hope you like my piece - thanks Jo!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Chocolate Baroque on Hochanda today ...and birthday invitations...

Hello there! How are you? I do hope you are well. I wanted to let you know about the chocolate baroque shows on Hochanda today - its all about christmas ...some old stamps and some new new ones... here's a sneaky peek at some of my samples ....

You'll need to watch the shows for more info!!! They're at 12 noon and 4pm! I hope you can tune in...

I also want to share with you the cards I have made for Lucy to give out as her party invitations....

These have been made using the carousel-horses-unmounted-rubber-stamp-sheet-a4. Love them!

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel xx

In the summer garden at Countryview challenges

Hello there! Wow July already! How did that happen? It'll be the school holibobs before we know it! Wow!!! Time really is flying!

Its a new challenge begining today at Countryview Challenges - Jane came up with this beautiful theme - in the summer garden. I have made a card using some stamps from Hobbyart plus brushos and pixie powders and distress inks.

I thought the flowers were so pretty and I have coloured them as the appear in my garden! 

Here'sa closer look... the individual flowers are such a pretty shape! And I like the definition.

I painted the leaves using peeled paint distress ink. I added some extra ones on having cut them out first and shaped them a little too!

I do hope you can be tempted to join us - the theme is perfect for this time of the year!

Check out what my teamies have made and link up here.

Big hugs

Rachel xx