Red and gold at Christmas card club

 Hello there,

Well here I am again with another make for Christmas Card club - I am so glad to have got as many made as i have. Things are getting busy stall wise so I think I will be limited in my makes over the upcoming months - but I have two for you today - both the same - made using Chocolate Baroque Poinsettia stamp.

I stamped in versa mark and embossed using god embossing powder. Then painted the image using indigoblu paints before mounting on two mirri card mats.

Mum has made one card.

She first used some paste, flake and a lavinia stencil to make the bauble background then die cut the baubles and added to red mirri card. I think its beautiful!

So thats all for today.

See you in a fortnight!

Love and hugs

Rachel x

Trees at Christmas Card Club

 Hello there! I am very late today for my post - nevermind - better late than never. The Christmas card club theme this fortnight is trees. I am afraid I only have 1 upcycled card to share...ran out of time.

Mum, however, made a better attempt at things and used sizzix dies to make her two lovely cards.

I hope you've had a lovely Sunday and made the most of the glorious weather we've been having.

Hugs

Rachel x

Purples or blues at Christmas card club

 Hello there! Just back from holidays in Anglesey so I only had time to make one quick card - a bit of a doodle card with an image from Pink Ink.

Mum had a lovely time making the next two cards - both using funky fossil stamps. 

That's such a pretty stamp!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Rachel xx

humour at Christmas Card Club

 hello hello,

Well I am scheduling this on Wednesday night for Sunday - I will be at a festival when this goes live ... I do hope the tent will stand up to all the rain predicted!

Its Humour at Christmas card club this fortnight and as this is my theme, I had anticipated doing more - but sadly it wasn't to be and only one card has been made. Not really very humorous either - I couldn't find my go to turkeys or camels! So Rockin' Robin it is!

The stamp is from Pink Ink Designs - and I coloured it using clean colour pens.

Mum's makes are fab - I especially like the last one - all from HobbyArt stamps.

Hope you have a lovely day!

Big hugs

Rachel x

Winter village at Christmas Card Club

 Hello there,

Its Christmas card club Sunday again and the theme this fortnight is winter village...I had great plans for this wonderful theme but sadly time is against me as always - so I have made only one very quick and not very impressive card using some gorgeous stamps from Hobby art.

Not so much a village as a farm but its the best I could come up with in time available. 

My mum made a lovely card using an older Clarity stamp with a design by Jayne Nestorenko

So there we have it! Looking forward to seeing what my team mates have come up with although there does seem to be less and less of us. I am wondering whether this will be the last year of Christmas card club.

Big hugs

Rachel

Penguins at Christmas Card Club

 Hello there! I do hope you are well and happy! Things here are busy but luckily invigilating has finished now for the summer so that gives me a little more breathing space. Drama has also finished so although I am busy ...its not as stretched as it was!

This fortnight the CCC theme is Penguins - I treated myself to a Woodware stamp and made three cards...

I have stamped the images and cut them out then added them to pre existing gel press backgrounds - must make some more of these as they make for good cards I think.

Mum has been busy too....she has used a sweet poppy stamp and dies from her stash.

I hope you have a lovely Sunday!

Hugs

Rachel x

Foxy friends

 Hello there - time for me to post again about 4 legged friends - this time I have gone for Mr Fox and his Friend Ms Fox.

I have used Lavinia stamps, distress oxides Lost Shadow and Hickory smoke and versafine clair nocture to create this card. A misty scene indeed.

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel

4 legged Friends at Countryview Challenges.

 Hello there - July? Really? This year is just running away from me! Anyway, being the first its time for a new challenge at Countryview challenges and this time the theme is 4 legged friends. I have two very different takes on this theme - but each contains one of my favourite 4 legged friends.

For this first one I have included a Pink Ink image - I love this little guy and am rather fond of lizards - I have lots of them as ornaments in my home - hence my choice here.

My second make for this theme includes stamps from HobbyArt. I love these new farm scene sets and enjoyed putting this scene together using at least 4 different stamps. 

I can't wait to see what my team mates come up with!

You can find their inspiration and a linky to join in here.

Big hugs

Rachel xx

sentiment focus at Christmas Card Club

 This fortnight at Christmas card club we are focussing on the card sentiment. For my card I have used a Diesire die cut out in black card and added this to a background made up from crushed olive distress oxide and overprinted with a clarity stencil shown in forest moss distress ink.

Mum, who is doing very well, has managed to make two cards:

This first one includes an embossing folder and a die from Crafters Companion.

The second one includes a stencil from Imagination Crafts.

Hope you have a great Sunday!

Love and hugs

Rachel x

More vintage at Countryview Challenges

 Hello there!

I have really enjoyed making for the current vintage theme at Countryview Challenges - there are so many possibilities. I had to do another twofer - again using beautiful stamps from Crafty Individuals.

These images are quite different from each other this time - I used the vintage train tag image for a father's day card and the telephone image for an any occasion card. Both images had colour added using clean colour pens and were then added to background paper also from Crafty Individuals.

I do hope you can join the challenge - I look forward to seeing what you make!

Big hugs

Rachel x

Nativity at Christmas Card Club

 Hello there - well I am a little early posting for CCC but as I have another post due tomorrow I thought I would do this today.

The theme this fortnight is nativity and I have made a quick card using Chocolate Baroque stamps and a TH stencil.

My mum has made her card using a stencil from Sweet poppy and Lavinia stamps.

Hope you have a good evening!

Hugs

Rachel x

Vintage at Countryview Challenges

 Hello there!

Its first of June and time for a new challenge over at Countryview Challenges. The theme for this month is Vintage - and I have a twofer for you - both made using stamps from Crafty Individuals.

Both have been teamed with papers also from Crafty Individuals. I added colour to both images using clean colour pens and on the one on the left added some distress oxide around the edge of the paper. 

I do hope you can join this months challenge - there will be £20 up for grabs to spend in store for the lucky winner.

You can get more inspiration and link up to the challenge here

Clean and simple at Christmas card Club

 Hello there! Well time is moving swiftly towards the end of May - the weather is glorious and it hardly seems possible its Christmas Card Club again - but here we are! This fortnight the emphasis is on clean and simple and both myself and my mum have only made one card - me because of time and mum because of the difficulty she is still facing with getting around - but she has managed everything herself this time and we are both thrilled with her progress!

My card is made using a stamp from HobbyArt.

I simply stamped this and coloured in fine liner pens plus clean colour pens - very clean and simple I think.

Mum has made her card using stamps from Lavinia and also Phill Martin and I also spy a Lavinia stencil in the background.

I hope you have a smashing day - enjoy the weather!

Big hugs

Rachel x

Farmers come from good stock

 Hello there! Well its my turn over at Countryview Challenges today - the theme this month is vehicles - living where I do I couldn't not go for a tractor really could I?

I used a tractor image from Jane Gill at Woodware and created a scene around it using torn paper and distress inks. I over painted with clean colour pens and added the sheep images from hobby art. Finally I added the sentiment.

I do hope you can join the challenge.

Big hugs

Rachel x

Bells at Christmas card club

 Hello there,

Well it was a bit touch and go getting this done this week - but I have managed to get two cards made - yipee! Here they are - I used a main stamp and a background image from Chocolate Baroque and a stencil from Tim Holtz.

The background stamping and stencilling was done in distress oxide (salty ocean and peeled paint) and the bells were coloured using clean colour pens.

Mum went for 'anything goes' this fortnight and put together a card using pre made topper from hunkydory.

Mum is doing okay but still cannot weight bear. I am hoping that by the next outing of the CCC there will be some progress!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Choo Choo!

 Hello there! 

Happy May Day! Well its time for a new challenge and this time the theme is vehicles. For my first make I have gone for a train image from Aall and create.

I have coloured the image using clean colour pens and created the background using an aall and create stencil and two colours of distress oxide ... salty ocean and shaded lilac.

You can find the main challenge including much more inspiration and the linky here.

Hope you can join us!

Hugs

Rachel x

Stencils at Christmas Card Club

 Hello there! 

Its Christmas Card Club again this week and this time the theme is stencils. I have had very little time on this one - my poor lovely mum has broken her ankle - so I have been helping her in the limited time I have. Mum is doing well but is gradually getting more fed up. We'll get through this together.

My card used a stencil from Clarity and I topped the image with stamps from hobby art.

Mum's cards have been done in two phases. She managed to do the stencilling then I finished the cards off for her on Friday.

Both stencils were from Imagination Crafts.

Hope you have a great day!

Hugs

Rachel x

Cats and/or dogs at Christmas Card Club

 Hello there! Well another fortnight has rolled around and its time - yet again - for an outing of the Christmas Card Club - this time the theme is cats/and or dogs - and I had such plans for this theme and have only managed to make 2 cards.

Both made using the same Pink Ink Designs stamp - ever so slightly different with the sentiment. Both coloured with inktense pencils.

My mum, on the other hand, has gone to town and made 4 cards.

The first is my favourite and is made using Lavinia stamps and Card io.

The second/third are made using Jay's. 

The final is made using Claritystamps.

I am rather looking forward to seeing what the other ladies have made.

I had another very quiet sale yesterday - this economic crisis is obviously really hitting hard.

Here's my stall:

I sold a few things - but mainly to friends and relatives!

Oh well - back to the drawing board!

Have a lovely Sunday!

Rachelx

More owls for Countryview Challenges

 Hello there - since its my theme this month on Countryview challenges I get to do a second post on the 3rd of the month - so this is what I am sharing for my inspiration today - I have used Hobbyart stamps to glaze this 2L jug in ceramic.

I had to do a little magic with cellophane to reverse the image - I think most of the details worked well enough to then glaze.

I do seem to have a bit of a bird thing going on at the moment - hence the theme this month!

Anyway - I do hope you can join us.

Hugs

Rachel x

Winter animals at Christmas Card Club

 Hello there - well that's 2 days in a row now! Check me out! Today's Christmas card club outing is under the theme of winter animals. I found in my stash some printed card blanks and have added toppers to them. Very quick 4 cards. The first two use stamps from Crafty Individuals and the second two stamps from Hobby art.

I haven't added greetings yet - I may well leave them without greetings.

My mum has been busy making two cards using Lavinia stamps.

Love them both mum!

Looking forward to seeing what everybody comes up with.

Love and hugs

Rachel x

Things with wings at Countryview Challenges

 Hello there and welcome to April! I can't believe the year is going so quickly. There is a new challenge that starts today over at Countryview Challenges and the theme, this time is things with wings - my choice. 

I decided to do a painting for my first piece - of an owl in flight.

To do the painting I used acrylic paints - mostly from IndigoBlu. I found an image online and used that to base my painting on. I am pleased with the result!

You will find much more inspiration on the Countryview Challenges blog and a linky to link up your wonderful designs here.

I do hope you have a lovely day!

Hugs

Rachel x