Merry Christmas Everybody!

 Hello all! I have a card that I made for my mum over on the Chocolate Baroque blog today ...

I used a paper from a beautiful set from Stamperia that was based around woodland animals and stamped on it using a stamp set from Chocolate Baroque called 'damask reindeer'. Really quick and easy!

Wishing you the best Christmas you can have - make the most of it and enjoy!

Love and hugs

Rachel xx

The professor gets his Christmas Groove on...

 Hello there! I was having a little fun the other night creating this card - Queen was blaring through Alexa and I was just feeling a little mischievious - so I ended up stamping the rather handsome professor from Tim Holtz and making him fit for the season....

Having fussy cut him out I took an 8x8 card and roughly applied distress oxide rustic-wilderness with a sponge and tool I then added water to create a speckled effect. Next I applied more of the oxide through holiday-script layering stencil and then I added the die cut pinecone.

Hope you can join in the fun too over at Countryview Challenges which is anything goes Christmas this month!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Use diecuts at Christmas card Club

 Hello there,

Its the last outing of our Christmas Card Club this year and this fortnight the theme is use diecuts. I made only one card as time was short plus I already had lots for this year. I used a TH die to make a simple card.

I rather like this! I hope to use it again next year!

My mum made two lovely cards. The first one used apple blossom die. The second one a christina griffiths die and apple blossom penguin die. 

Hope you have a great Sunday!

HUGS

Rachel xx

Anything goes Christmas at Countryview Challenges

 Hello there - well its December - I mean how on earth did that happen? It does mean there's a new challenge starting at Countryview Challenges - and the theme is everybody's favourite at this time of year - anything goes - Christmas!

I used a new stamp set from Tracy Evans at aall and create.

Such a pretty set - I started by stamping with the tree branch stamp all over the card - I then made a topper stamping the main pinecone image in versamark and seting it with copper embossing powder and then colouring the pine cone. 

A pretty simple make for a winter birthday or Christmas! Hope you like it!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Floral dream at Chocolate Baroque and Indian summer at IndigoBlu.

 Hello all,

Hope you are okay. We are good - just getting ready to embrace tier 3 - again - but with all the shops open it won't seem as bad. Going to be a weird Christmas though to end a weird year. Hopefully we'll be back to something resembling normal soon although I do worry that we can't really go on as normal due to climate change. We shall see.

I have a post on the chocolate Baroque blog today and I had one on the indigoBlu facebook page on Wednesday - just catching up with posting here. So for IndigoBlu facebook page this is my make from the Indian summer shows in September.

And from Chocolate Baroque, these are my makes from the October shows!

Three more weeks until Christmas holidays start - I am tired and ready for a holiday. That furlough has made me soft!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Deer at Christmas Card Club

 Hello there! How are you? I hope you are doing okay and managing with the latest lockdown. We are all good and to be honest since I am at work and the girls are at school its not really affected our lives much at all. 

Christmas card club this fortnight and its my mums choice and she has chosen deer. I've made six cards - 2 were made almost a fortnight ago whilst the final 4 were a bit of a rush and got done at 5pm yesterday!!!

For this first pair I used a stag stamp from Crafty Individuals and put him on a distress oxide background and added some TH diecuts. The sentiment stamp is also from Crafty Individuals. I thought I would make him a bit of a rudolph with the red nose!

These 4 were made using Lavinia Stamps - the gorgeous Magnus the deer from the recent release. He's very handsome!

My mum made two cards too. This first one involves a die from Paper Panda.

This second card includes stamps and stencil from Lavinia.

I am looking forward to seeing what everybody else has done!

Have a great Sunday!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Italian escape at Chocolate Baroque

 Hello there - I am over on the Chocolate Baroque blog today with some samples from the October afternoon show. 

These are the ones I am showing - love these stamps!!!

Hugs

Rachel xx

More anything but a card at Countryview Challenges

 Hello there! Its my turn over at the Countryview Challenges blog today - the theme this month is anything but a card - but I could equally have made this for last months halloween scene challenge. I recently got the Halloween Snarky Cats - but have made my piece kind of Halloweeny - but kind of just spooky....

I started by making my scene - I created the background then stamped the images and fussycut them and added them to the scene after colouring them. I then added the thought bubbles and stuck the scene to two sides of an uprighter.

Hopefully thats inspired you to join the challenge - anything but a card! You can link up here

Hugs

Rachel xx

Fantastic Florals at Chocolate Baroque

 Hello there - I have some samples from the Chocolate Baroque shows in October on the Chocolate Baroque site today. Here are the samples I am showing - 

There's more details over on the Chocolate Baroque blog,

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Stencils at Christmas Card Club

 Hello lovelies! How are you all? Its stencils at Christmas card club this fortnight - it was my choice - I have made 4 cards all basically the same. 

I know this isn't a Christmas stamp as such but I really think it makes a good Christmas card. I made a background using distress oxides and then used Tim Holtz stencils over the background again with the distress oxides. 

you can see it more clearly in this picture. I also added the stamped image from Aall and Create and then cut the bird and added him too. 

My mums cards are below:

For this one she used a stencil from Clarity and a Marianne die.

This one is an Imagination Crafts stencil and  Marianne holly die and spell binders poinsettia die.

Looking forward to seeing what my teamies have made!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Anything but a card at Country View Crafts

 Hello there - pinch punch its the first of the month - and time for a new challenge at Countryview Challenges and this time the theme is 'Anything but a card'. This was the perfect chance for me to use some stamps that to my shame I hadn't yet inked up - so I took them off to my pottery painting studio and got busy.....

I used the stamp set from zinski-art-set-58 and painted the images in glaze before firing in the kiln. I tried using splatters of glaze this time too and I think that worked rather well!

I hope you can join our challenge this month! You'll find more inspiration and the link up here

Hugs

Rachel xx

Chocolate Baroque makes

 Here are some of my makes from Septembers Chocolate Baroque shows - I do love these floral blueprints....

Such stunning stamps!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Snowmen at Christmas Card Club

 Christmas card Club has rolled around again - and this time the theme is Snowmen or snowman. I decided to use some more new dies and made 4 cards....

I couldn't resist these snowmen and reindeer... great dies Mr Holtz!!!

I teamed them up with some paper from a recent Chloe box magazine purchase - its the only part I used - I donated it to my mum - not really me - very pretty but not me - give me these fun characters anyday!!!

And my mum did two great cards ...love this ... apparently its a chloe stamp! Lol!

and this one is a woodware!

Who would have thought that I would be using dies and my mum stamps? Hee hee!

Looking forward to seeing what everybody else does!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Spooky Scene at Countryview Challenges

 Hello there! I have got another make for the current challenge at Countryview Challenges to share with you today. 

I have used mostly Lavinia stamps to create this scene and distress oxides. You'll find some of the stamps here on the Countryview Crafts website. I used torn paper and a moon mask and stencil brushes to create the landscape with the oxides (wilted violet, seedless preserves, chipped sapphire, crackling campfire). Then I added the stamping. Finally I added the word spooky and also the diecut bats.

Hope you can join in!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Santa at Christmas Card Club

 Hello there! Well its Christmas Card Club again. This fortnight the theme is Santa. I used an old Bigz die from Sizzix and a much newer wording die. I also used clear gesso through a stencil and once dry added distress oxide.

They certainly are Merry and Bright!!!

My mum went for a more traditional stamped image....

He's a lovely santa!

Hope you have a great Sunday! Keep safe!

Hugs

Rachel xx

A Halloween Scene at Countryview Crafts

 Hello there! Well pinch punch - its the first of the month! At Countryview Challenges we have a great new theme for you - its all about creating a Halloween Scene..... I used goodies from Tim Holtz to create the background to my scene (crackling campfire, ripe persimmon and antique linen D.O) and also the die cuts to make the scene.....

Its surely is a spooky start to the month - and I am looking forward to making the next one too - love this theme Monika!!!!! 

Hope you can join in this month - there is a £20 shop voucher for the winner....always worth having!

You can find full details of the challenge plus more inspiration here.....

Hugs

Rachel xx

gifts ribbons and bows at christmas card club

 Hello there! Well September's nearly over - so glad I did Christmas card club again this year! Already go loads of cards made and now its time for our next theme which is gifts, ribbons and bows....I really wasn't sure about this theme - but then I remembered a die I bought last year and fished it out to play again. So 4 cards later and I'm really happy!

The die is from Tim Holtz and the background papers are from Lavinia - 

I first cut out the cards using a hexagonal die, then cut 4 elves, die cut and made up the parcels, die cut the merry word and finally cut a black mat and a slightly smaller hexagon out of papers. I am really pleased with these! Thanks for the theme!

My mum made one card - she used mini stamps from Clarity and a snowflake from penny black. Love the ribbon - perfect for the challenge mum!

Big hugs to you - hope you have a good day. Stay safe!

Hugs

Rachel x

not much room inside

 My makes over on the chocolate baroque site today ....

its been a funny old week - Penny had a cough and temperature so we ended up getting her a covid test - thankfully its negative! Yay - least we can get on with a normal end to the week!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Namaste

 Hello there,This is my second piece for Countryview Challenges this month - the theme is Complimentary colours. This time I have gone for blue and orange as my complimentary colours. I have used distress oxides and stamps from Visible image plus a stencil from aall and Create.

The products I used are shown here..... I started by creating the background using ripe persimmon through the stencil over the top of dried marigold, spiced marmalade and squeezed lemonade. Next I stamped the main figure on white card and coloured it in blue. Finally I stamped the words to the figure and added it to the background. 

I hope you have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel xx