Probably last Christmas Card for the year

Well, I have managed to fit in one last Christmas card for this year, sadly I will have to clear my craft desk A.K.A. the dining table, for the big festivities next week - this is no small feat and will take some time & take even more time to put back together again afterwards!

Anyway, I've been playing with a gorgeous Little Miss Muffet digi stamp, Kiki's Gift to create a fairly simple card, I stuck to very traditional Christmas colours of red and Green, and it was really nice to do some colouring again as it's been quite some time since I last played with my Spectrum Noir pens.

Well, if I'm not back beforehand, I would like to wish everyone a fabulous Christmas & peaceful New Year - lets hope 2019 brings wonderful things!

TTFN

Rach

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Merry Christmas

Well, the big day draws ever closer.  I know why they call it the 'big' day, its because we all eat waaaay too much and end up getting bigger!  I really enjoy all of the cooking for Christmas, its really just a roast on steroids and I love cooking a roast, and cooking for family.

I also love all of the glitter and tinsel around Christmas (tho I still haven't decorated our house yet, this weekend is set aside for that!).  Here, I'm showing a sort of simple card, its one set of snowflake dies (Gemini sparkling snowflakes 1), so one pass through my Gemini, which I then sprayed with stick and stay and covered in fine glitter (its a beautiful gun metal colour, and I found it in a set a Lidl of all places!).  I then stamped a sentiment from the Gemini Festive Phrases set, arranged the snowflakes around and then inked the edges of this layer with Midas metallic Platinum ink and then mounted onto a slightly larger card base.  Sadly, the photo does not do this card justice but I love it!

Hope your Christmas preparations are nearly complete, but if not, I hope you enjoy all the hustle and bustle of the next few weeks.

TTFN

Rach

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Fab 'n' Funky Challenge - Thank You

Well, we have a new challenge over at Fab 'n' Funky, the theme this week is 'Thank You' - everyone used to send thank you cards after Christmas, but it does seem to be somewhat of a dying tradition, but thank you's can be useful at any time of the year.

I like to keep my thank you cards without a sentiment on the outside so that I can actually put a good heartfelt message on the inside.

For this card I've used a Lavinia Stamps image which has been second generation stamped onto the main card base.  For the topper I smooshed some Distress Oxides onto a plastic sheet, really wet the cardstock and then put the plastic sheet on top and spread the ink out, I love the effect this creates!  Once dry I stamped the feather on top again using distress oxides, it doesn't show very well but I then also stamped with watermark ink and sprinkled with a Holographic embossing powder and heat embossed, mat and layered onto some coordinating card stock and placed this on the front of the card using foam pads to raise it.

A very cheery card in the depths of winter and I think definitely says 'thank you' and puts a smile on your face!

Hope you have a brilliant day whatever you are doing and hope you can join in our challenge.

TTFN

Rach

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More Christmas

Hi all, it's a lovely frost Monday morning here in Plymouth, although I'm not expecting it to stay clear for long, sadly.

We are officially less than one month until the big day, and as usual I'm not really very ready, very few presents bought, although, I at least have some cards made (not sure they're enough).

Today's make uses Sara's Winter Wonderland Collection - I really love the Dendritic Crystals, though I have to admit it was a pain to cut out as I put double sided sticky on the back, which means that it does not release all of the little bits as easily so it took an age to remove each of them - well worth it though!

I think if I make this again, I will just use stick and spray, or invest in a xyron machine so that I don't have to go through the hassle.  The sentiment is also from the collection and I created an additional mount in white by drawing around the outline die and cutting out.

Well, just a quick one today, I must get ready for the day.

TTFN

Rach

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Snowflakes

Hi all, well, another week and another fabulous challenge over at Fab 'n' Funky and of course with the holiday season fast approaching we all need lots of Christmas cards!

I have been trying to make simple cards that I can then re-create to make the Christmas process just a little bit easier, however I normally fail miserably and cards get increasingly complicated and layered.  This one sits somewhere in the middle but I do like it.  I've used one of Sara's signature collections with the embossing folder and gorgeous reindeer, the glittery snow is from the Cute Christmas glitter card pack and the snowflakes at the top are one of Sheena's lovely border dies.  The sentiment is an old one from Crafters Companion - I have looooaaaadddds of Christmassy sentiments!

Sorry for my absence from blogger recently, I've just been to Craftaganza 2018 - had a whale of a time but it's taken a bit of recovery time & also time to unbury me from all my crafty purchases - I hope to show you some of what I worked on and makes with my new purchases very soon, but for now I must off to work.

TTFN

Rach

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My First Ever Fab 'n' Funky Design Team card

Hi all, I was recently very privileged to be asked to join the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge team and this is my first make, this weeks theme is fantasy figures and is sponsored by digistamps4joy, I used the pre-coloured Meirenyu for my make.

This is a bit or a departure for me as it is a very multimedia type card, I used a couple of masks from the Sara Signature Enchanted forrest range (the sentiment die is also from this range) with Cosmic Shimmer Metallic Gilding Polish (this is the blue leaves at the bottom of the card).  For the water droplets at the top this was made with various colours of Glitter Frosting Paste from Glitzcraft I've had these pastes for ages and this seemed like a great time to use them & they're still fine & not dried out at all!

The leaves are Sheena Douglass dies, which I was given to work with for a magazine project (how lucky am I!).  It doesn't show up very well but I have added foiling to the mermaids tail and also to the beads in her hair.  I die cut the sentiment 3 times and glued together before covering in watermark ink and then WOW totally teal embossing powder.

Hope you really like & it inspires you to join in with our challenge this week - I'll look forward to checking out all of your makes.

TTFN

Rach

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New card shape for me

Hi everyone, Happy Sunday!  I thought I'd show you a video for my latest make, mainly because you'll get a better view of it than if I just showed a picture, this card is a pull up card and this was my first attempt (probably the first of many).  I found the instructions here so head on over if you'd like to have a go.

I used paper from Sara's Signature range "Shabby Chic" along with Gemini Daisy Patchwork dies, which it turns out are exactly the right size for the concertinas on this make.  These dies are really versatile and I hope that Crafters extend the range to include some Christmas designs - I can see bells, holly and snowflakes working really well!

Anyway, just a quick post from me today - sorry for the silence on the video, will have to learn to add music later (& plough the minefield that is music copyright!).

Enjoy your Sunday, whatever you're up to!

TTFN

Rach

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Sunglasses on please!

Well, with Autumn in full swing and a fabulous frosty start to the day today, I thought I'd share a couple of cards I made with new goodies I got at Exeter in September.

These cards were made using some fabulous Brusho's, which I only discovered recently.  I used a mask from Visible Image and on the first card, I put the mask down, spritzed water through it then sprinkled with the brush's.  For the second, I took the mask (still wet and colourful from the first card) and put card on top, rubbing all over so that the ink transferred.  Once dry I added sentiments again from Visible Image, mounted onto dark card and then onto a card base.

Well, hopefully these will help wake you up on this chilly morning, although thinking about it, the colours are actually slightly autumnal!

TTFN

Rach

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Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Well, as promised before, here is a card I made, which is really simple and can be reproduced easily so you can batch make for Christmas.

I started by taking one of Sheena's gorgeous stamps from the Holly Jolly Christmas stamp set and stamping it onto sheen stamping card using watermark ink, then heat embossed in white, then I used Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens from the spring/summer collection (Moonstone and Cosmos) to create the colour washes over the top and blending a bit in the middle, unfortunately the sparkle does not show up in the photo but it is definitely a bit bling in real life!

To finish off I mounted the topper onto some pink card and then onto a top folding A6 card base - I then decided it needed a little bit more interest so I added some iridescent sequins randomly.

I love how this turned out and will definitely be making more - all you need to do is change up the colours of the wash - green & red, gold & silver, well, just pick two colours and I'm sure it'll look stunning!

Anyway, hope you have a crafty Sunday whatever you're doing! - I'll be humming this tune all day as it's now stuck in my head!

TTFN

Rach

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Noel

Well, I'm still playing with Christmas stuff, but then I love Christmas so why wouldn't I?

This card was made for the weekly theme over at Make One Christmas Card Every Week Throughout 2018 (great idea & I started well, but now I'm playing catch up!).  The theme was "Your card should contain a green bow, some holly or Ivy, a sentiment which says 'Noel' and three snowflakes" - I think I managed to get it on theme!

I used mainly Sara's Signature collection Winter Wonderland, with some really old Ivy dies - the mats for the sentiment were made with some Sue Wilson layering dies - I really love these with the stitched detail.  It's a really simple card, which should be fairly easy to replicate, which at Christmas is really important, though I have some more ideas for cards that can be mass produced coming up, so keep checking back!

Well, anyway, as it's a work day (hump day!), I should go & get ready for the day.  Catch up with you all soon.

TTFN

Rach

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A Little bit of Christmas

Well, whether we like it or not, Christmas is on it's way (and I still haven't bought a single present!) and so it's definitely time to start making sure the card making is under way.

This is a card that started in my head & insisted on being made, however, it hasn't turned out quite as I wanted it to - does that happen to any one else, or is it just me.

All of the items used are from Sara's Signature Range Scandinavian Christmas, the ink was Versa Magic, Red Magic - I love the simplicity, but I'm not sure whether it's too simple?

Well, it was just a quick post today, I must get on & get ready for the day, though I would much rather be sat at my craft desk playing with inks - if anyone knows of a job that would let me do that, please let me know!

TTFN

Rach

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Butterflies

Well, this time last year I had just finished working on some launches for Crafters Companion birthday week, sadly this year I’m not working on any of the launches and am no longer on the team. However, they really do have some fabulous launches and I’m looking forward to watching the shows and trying desperately hard to control my spending!

Anyway, the card I’m showing today is made using stamps from the Flutterby Sara Signature Range that launched during birthday week last year.  I stamped the large butterfly several times using watermark ink and then embossed with clear powder.  I used some Distress Oxides (Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Crushed Pistachio and Peacock Feathers) to colour the background by squidging some ink onto my glass mat, spritzing with water and then dunking the card with the butterflies on it into the ink, drying off and then doing the same with the other colours.  By doing this I built up the colours as they overlay each other beautifully.

I then created a velum overlay with some of the other stamps from the range, again stamping in watermark ink and using white embossing powder.  For the turquoise mat, I didn’t have any card the right colour so I used white card and coloured the edges with a Spectrum Noir pen (BT4) - got to love those pens!

Anyway, hope you all enjoy Crafters birthday week, I know I will!

TTFN Rach
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Falling leaves

Well, the weather has taken a decided turn for the worse, but then we are well into Autumn now, sadly the high winds have taken quite a lot of the gorgeous coloured leaves off the trees.  I love seeing the beautiful colours of Autumn on the trees and feel very sad when they are on the ground, but hey ho, it all happens for a reason.

To capture the magic of these colours, I created this card, it's a single layer and I created the frame by using one of the Spectrum Artliner pens to quickly draw round the card three times, I say quickly because if you take your time over it, the lines look wrong, they need to be quick scribbles.

I used the Sara Signature Collection Autumn morning stamp set and a light coloured ink from the Harmony range to stamp some leaves (second generation stamps so they just ghost the card).

I took a sheet of white card and used some of my Brusho's (I am so in love with these) to create a lovely autumnal background and then cut out leaf shapes with Sara's Autumn morning 'Leaves are Falling' and 'Scattered Leaves'.  The larger leaf dies have veining detail so I inked through with a light grey ink (again Harmony, love those inks!) to give the detail, then I arranged the leaves over the bottom left of the card to look like leaves being blown about in the wind and adhered them when I was happy with the arrangement, all that was left then was to add the sentiment using another Harmony ink, think this was a mid range brown.

Beautiful, simple and really captures the best of the season!

Well, I'm off to have some more Autumnal fun - hope you have a lovely Sunday.

TTFN

Rach
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Brusho's

I recently went on my annual trip to the Exeter craft show, as it falls around my birthday, it would be rude not to!  

I bought loads of brilliant new bits and pieces and with that was some Brusho's, I just went for a box of 12 colours as I had no idea what to do with them.  Having had a bit of a play, I'm now starting to get there and so today, I'm showing you a card I made on my second weekend of playing with them.

I started this card by masking off a strip on a piece of white Sheena Stamping card, then I spritzed with water and then sprinkled three colours of brush's, concentrating each colour on an area (I used purple, lemon and leaf green), I then spritzed a bit more until I was happy and then dried with my heat gun before removing the masks.

Then I stamped the image over the top (this is Sheena's A Little Bit Sketchy - Beautiful Day), the ink I used was Spectrum Finesse Rustic Brown as I didn't want a harsh black, I also used this ink for the sentiment (from a set by Crafters Companion called "Fun & Friendship").

After this I used some Nuvo Glitter Drops (White Blizzard) to give a look of dew on the sprigs.

All that remained to do after this was to mount onto a piece of yellow card and then onto the front of a card blank.  I'm really happy with this card and it makes me smile just to look at it, it's much more artsy than I have done for some time!

Well, happy hump day all - I'd best go get ready for work (got to earn the money for more crafting funds!).

TTFN & I'll be back on Saturday with another Brusho's card for you.

Rach

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Getting ready for Christmas

Hi all, well I had to start getting ready for Christmas some time and I have been so behind in previous years (and this one too!).

Anyway, I was reading my copy of the Crafters Inspiration magazine (issue 20), and was inspired by the cards made using the stencil.  Now, I don't have any of the imagination crafts products but I looked round my craft/dining room and quickly spotted my fabby new Spectrum Noir Finesse ink pads and the Midas ink pads too.

I had no idea whether this idea would work, so I just grabbed a spare piece of card, just to test it out, I used Frozen Lake from the Christmas Finesse set (Seasons Greetings) and Silver from the Midas Metallics.  Firstly I stencilled with the Frozen Lake, then went round the edge of the card with this as well and then moved the stencil slightly to create the drop shadow with the Silver Midas, I also edged the card with the Silver by swiping it directly through the ink pad (buff off any excess so that you don't end up with very inky fingers, these pads are juicy!).

I then mounted the piece of card onto a slightly larger piece of matt silver from Crafters Companion's Luxury Cardstock range, and then placed the panel onto the front of a white card, adding a sentiment from the free stamp set that came with the magazine (I used Versafine Onyx Black for this).

I'm really pleased that my little experiment went so well, I will definitely be making more of these with some other of the Christmas colours.

Hope I still have some followers to read this, sorry for the over long hiatus, hopefully I can get back into this a bit more - I've been having some fun with Brusho's recently, which I will try and share over the coming week.

TTFN

Rach
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Gorgeous new easel cards

Did you enjoy the first easel card launch from Crafters, I know I did, I love easel cards, they look so complicated to a non-crafter but are actually really easy to make and great fun to decorate!

Tomorrow evening on Hochanda, Fiona will be bringing the second easel card launch so you will have even more fun shapes to play with.  Here are a couple of my makes using just one of the new shapes - the ‘Henna Easel’, they really are very different cards but starting from the same base.

I hope you can find a slot in your busy easter schedules to tune in, I know you won't regret it!

TTFN

Rach

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Thank You Crafters Companion

Well, 4 years ago today, I received an email at 7 p.m. that was to change my life in so many ways - it was a very welcome but completely unexpected email, and I will share the text below, it was headed “Congratulations”:

Hi Rachel

Congratulations you have won a place on our  Crafter's Companion Design Team 2014.

We were so impressed with your creativity and cannot wait to have you join the team.

I was completely stunned, I really expected to receive a rejection - I’d already had one the previous year (but I’m persistent if nothing else!).  I can tell you, I bawled my eyes out, and kept doing it every time I thought of the enormity of what had just happened.

Then, once that finally subsided, I started to feel sick to the pit of my stomach, they were bound to realise very quickly that they’d made a mistake, I was not good enough to be on the design team and then I would face the humiliation of leaving the team.  What if I was given a DT assignment that I did not like?  I was not sure how I would cope, what if I couldn’t make enough samples and let them down?

Thankfully, I did not let the little voice of doubt in my head stop me from accepting the position on the team.  I was so lucky with my first assignment which was working on the gorgeous Barkley collection - this was one of my makes

I cannot tell you how much I held my breath waiting to be told that I was indeed as rubbish as I thought and that they would find someone to replace me, but it didn’t happen!!!!

Don't get me wrong, there have been collections that when I first saw them I thought, this is not me, this is not my style, how on earth am I going to make something with this.  I did not let this stop me, and you know, one of the collections that I felt like this about was Downton Abbey.  I know many of you watched Downton Abbey religiously, but I never did, so thought that it would not appeal, but as soon as I started looking through the papers and toppers on the CD, I realised that if I just ignored the name, it was a most INCREDIBLE collection - it became, and still is, one of my favourite collections.

Then, after a couple of years, I was even luckier that Jo McKelvey, who was head of the team at the time (still miss you Jo), asked me to join the Die'sire design team - so then I got to play, not only with the gorgeous CD's and stamps from Crafters Companion, but those stunning dies too!!!  this was the first collection I got to play with.

I have had the most amazing 4 years on the team, learned so much, and still think that eventually they will find someone to replace me, but so far, so good.  Don't get me wrong, I have made the occasional bad design, and sometimes, makes that I think are awful turn out to be everyone else's favourites - keeps you on your toes! 

I love working for Crafters, my next ambition would be to get paid to craft in some way.  I did tell my current employer that if I could get a job in crafting I would be gone in a heartbeat - he wasn't very happy with this, funnily enough he thought I do my day job for love and not the income!  Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my day job, but it is a means to an end and not an end in itself, and that's where I'd like to head.

I've even been given the opportunity to work with one of Sara's Signature ranges (I usually buy them all anyway!), this is one of my favourite makes from the awesome Flutterby collection.

Anyway, in the meantime, I will continue to throw my heart and soul into making my designs for Crafters Companion and hope they don't notice how bad I am!

Sorry I've been AWOL for so long, I will try and update my blog more often.

TTFN

Rach
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