Indigo blu - dramatic eye

Hello my lovelies! How are you this morning? I hope you are doing well! My girls and i had a fun day yesterday - we went shopping for sandals then had lunch at pizza express and finally we had fun at home making props for the play from salt dough and then doing some face painting! We have the summer fair coming up again and thats one of my jobs! Anyway - it was a good day - here's hoping today will be as much fun!

I have been playing with another new stamp from Indigo blu that i got at happy stampers in Port Sunlight. Here's my make.

I created the background first using distress inks - fossilised amber, ripe persimmon and abandoned coral, I also used a stencil from crafters workshop and some limor circle stamps plus another stamp. 

I stamped the eye in black archival plus the sentiment (CB). Finally I used walnut stain around the edges.  A beautiful stamp - love it!!!

Have a great friday and I'll see you around again soon!

Hugs

Rachel xx

time for some journalling

Hello there - how are you? Hope you are doing good - we're enjoying half term and will hopefully continue to do so! I made a card on Tuesday night that I was going to blog today - but I'm not so sure about it - I'll decide what I'm going to do with it soon! So I thought I would catch up with showing you a couple of journal pages that I did for the journal Art 15 group that I belong to on facebook.  The prompt for the first one was doodling - we were encouraged to include some doodling or zentangle on our pages:

I wanted some white space in this set of pages - I find it quite intimidating and wanted to see if I could incorporate some. The doodles are all mine apart from the girl which is a stamp from Lavinia. 

The next page is from this last week - the prompt was something old - my distress inks, something new - fish stencil from clarity, something borrowed (the stick stamp used at bottom is actually a violin handle from a violin stamp I borrowed from my mum a wee while ago), something blue - thats clear I think!!!!

I do enjoy journalling and look forward to the new prompt every Thursday - I wonder what todays prompt will be?

I hope you have enjoyed your visit - thanks for any comments you choose to leave! Big hugs rachel x

colour challenge at chocolate baroque

Hello lovelies! How are you? We are good and enjoying the half term! I had a day yesterday whilst the girls went to jujitsu and we are doing that again today - I had a run in the morning and did a bit of gardening later before my mum and dad came up - it was lovely to see them - I actually cooked a meal too - and baked a cake - so thats all good. Today I think I will swim unless its dry them I'll run again!

Have you seen the new colour challenge over at chocolate baroque? Here's the banner and picture:



Such lush colours - here's my interpretation of it -

well the colours don't look much like it - but trust me in real life they do! The Ophelia stamp was stamped and masked and then I used evergreen bough to do an all over background. Then I overstamped in evergreen bough using some of the flowers from the sunny sunflowers stamp set. 

I also stamped some leaves in purple (seedless preserves). And added some picked raspberry through a stencil. Finally I unmasked the image and coloured it in using distress pens - picked raspberry, seedless preserves, faded jeans and also a spectrum noir skin tone pencil. Finally I stamped the chocolate baroque stamp 'Let the adventure begin'.

I would like to enter this into the chocolatebaroquechallenge eleven.

Hope you have a great wednesday!

Big hugs rachel xx

Eroded metallic, spring colours and vintage garden!

Hello Lovelies! How are you? I hope you are good and thanks for your comments on yesterdays post. Did you have a good bank holiday Monday? We did - it went away in a flash though! I feel like time just disappears these days! Don't know where! We went to my friend Julias house - she still teaches at the school I used to teach at - in chemistry! She's on her own - her children have grown up and flown the nest -   we have decided to spend a week together in Cornwall during the school holidays - she is so good with Lucy and penny I am sure we'll have fun!!! Anyway - we managed to get the cottage booked today - its near Falmouth - and looks just perfect! Here's hoping!

Today I would like to share with you the card I've made for another chemistry teacher - our old boss - and the lady I run most often with! I've made it with a few challenges in mind including compendium-of-curiosities-3-challenge-29: Eroded metallic which is sponsored this time by inspirationemporium. You will need to look at book to see the technique but it was lots of fun!!!

Here's what I did:

I started using the eroded metallics technique on a piece of hard board then cut the watering can using an eileen hull die. I filled it with garden greens, and other Tim flowers made using the new dies and the floral stamps. I have used distress inks in the colouring of the flowers - including the lovely new twisted citron! Its lush!!!

I also used a Tim butterfly from the butterfly duo and embossing folder and used the Tim stamp 'remember the now'.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

compendium-of-curiosities-3-challenge-29 eroded metallics

vintagejourney spring-colours

mixedmediamc mixed-media-monthly-challenge-12-may flowers

anythingbutcutechallenge-1-may-vintage-garden

Hope you have a good day!

Big hugs

Rachel x

Welcome Tripp!

Hello Lovelies! Well as you all imagined Windermere was cold yesterday - but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined - the swim was short and invigorating - I found it very tricky and can't see me joining in any of the race swims any time soon - but I have my new wetsuit - and am looking forward to a swim at fellfoot park once the girls go back to school. I need to figure out where to put my car keys though!!!! Any ideas????

On Friday Shauns' sister Jane gave birth to a baby boy - she's called him Tripp Edwin Golder. I know not where Tripp comes from - the Edwin was her and Shauns dads name. Its nice that she has remembered her dad. Anyway - here's the card and tag I have made to send to her.

Both were done using ideas from the Marjie Kemper course I have been doing - I've only done two lessons so far and am enjoying it so very much!!! These include the Tim Holtz baby blueprint stamps and the techniques of using household objects to create the funky circles and lines in acrylic paint.

I hope Jane likes these! I love them!!!! I'd like to enter these into the following challenges:

welove2create.challenge-11-anything-creativemixed

Have a great bank holiday Monday whatever you do. Me and the girls are off to visit my friend Julia - we're hoping to book a holiday to Cornwall in the summer holidays - then we'll have lunch at Bella Italia - I have vouchers to use!

Big hugs

Rachel xx

Gifts at Christmas Card Club

Hello there! I hope you are well and happy and enjoying the bank holiday weekend! I've scheduled this post - when it goes live I may well be swimming in Lake Windermere!!! I'm going for a try before you buy wetsuit session! The idea is wild swimming - I'll let you know how it goes! Nice idea anyway!!! Well it floats my boat!

The theme from the lovely Zoe at Christmas card club this fortnight is gifts. Well I have taken the theme rather literally and made three money holders/gift cards!

All the stamps are from the lovely Mr holtz and of course my course from Marjie kemper is showing through here!!!

The distress palette is weathered wood, faded jeans and tumbled glass. Very pleased with these!

Thanks Zoe for your inspired choice!!!

I'd like to enter this into pinkleart sunday-stamper-week-357-all-kinds-of everything

Hope you have a great Sunday!

Hugs

Rachel xx

Clarity Cumbria - May meet!

hello lovelies - well I hope its been a beautiful day where you are ... its been glorious here and after dropping my munchkins at my mums I headed to Lindale to join the lovely Jo Rice for Mays' Clarity Cumbria. The lovely ladies and 1 gent had a great day - we did three makes - the first was a card with inside gift.

We started by masking off three pieces of card and blending the distress inks - I chose mermaid lagoon, cracked pistachio and fossilised amber. Then spritzed with water and mounted on black card.

Then I stamped the shepherds purse stamp and highlighted parts with snowflake fresco paint.

I mounted two on the cards to go inside (these were notelets - the gift) and then repeated the process with the pocket bands. Added the ribbon and butterflies and that was the first piece complete.

Next we made a card using more stamps from the shepherds purse set.

we stamped and coloured the lower layer in the form of  a wreath. The top layer was stamped on to vellum and we added clear embossing powder and heat set it. Then we cut out the shepherds purse and added it to the bottom layer with the twine. Then stamped and added the sentiment.

The final one was a quickie.

I enjoyed all of the cards!!! I enjoyed the whole day!!! Thanks ladies!!!! Thanks Jo for a fabulous day as always!

hugs rachel xx