Hats!

Hi All, sorry I've not posted for a couple of weeks, time has just flown by!

Well I'm back today as there is a new challenge over at Fab 'n' Funky today - Hats.

I really had to wrack my brains for this one, and then I remembered Katy Sue's Fabulous Fashion CD and some of the wonderful funky hats on there.  This is only a simple card, but sometimes simple is all that's needed.



Hope you like my little offering and will join in with us, I'd love to see all the gorgeous hat designs out there!

Have a great day all & TTFN

Rach
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Fab ‘n’ Funky #431 - Butterfly

Hi all and welcome to another week at Fab ‘n’ Funky, this weeks theme is Butterflies and I decided to go monochrome and technicolour all in the same card.  I don’t know whether any of you have seen the fabulous film “A Matter of Life and Death” with the fabulous actor David Niven, well it’s one of my favourite films and it is shot in black and white and technicolour, so I used this as my inspiration.

I die cut a panel with a stitched edge and then inked this with my Harmony Inks in Spa Blue, Anthracite and Noir Black, then stamped the Framed Wings from Sara’s Flutterby Collection in Finesse Waterproof Noir Black (second generation stamp).  Then I splashed with water and dabbed this off to give lighter splodges, and then I took some watered down silver Starlights paint and flicked this on and left to dry.

Once dry, I matted this onto some black card and adhered to my 7x7 card base using foam pads and Collal 3D glue gel - the sentiment on the card base is one from Crafters Companion, again stamped in Finesse Waterproof Noir Black.

The little butterflies are also from the Flutterby collection from Crafters Companion called “arrangement of butterflies”.  I took a piece of Cardstock and created a rainbow using Harmony Inks in Chinese Red, Lemon Tonic, Parakeet and Crushed Velvet, once I had this, I die cut the butterflies (they are fab as it only takes one pass through the machine to get a whole flock of butterflies) and adhered them to the card.

I had this card in my head for a few days before putting it together and it really was very quick to do. Where do you all find your inspiration for cards, I’d love to know.

Anyway, hope you like my card today - have a look at all the other cards from the team for more inspiration and I hope you have a fab Wednesday - already half way to the weekend again!

TTFN

Rach
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Number Cards

Well, there have been some incredible new launches from Crafters Companion over the past few weeks and fab celebrations with the move to Create and Craft.  Tomorrow will bring another new launch, Large Number Dies and Stencils, and I was lucky enough to get to play with these ahead of time.

They really are the most incredibly versatile dies/stencils, with number 0 through to 9, you will truly have everything covered.  It's my 49th birthday this year, so for the first card I'm showing, I thought I'd make my own birthday card.



I used my favourite Shabby Chic collection, with the 12x12 paper pad, Rose Garden Embossing Folder and Shabby Chic butterflies then some lace ribbon and a wooden button from the Rustic Wedding collection - the stencils allowed me to shape the card and the backing paper as well as creating the matts around the 9.  The dies cut out the inner numbers which have been embossed to add extra detail.

To show the full range of these dies, you have to imagine them for the younger generation, and it's not just girls they are suitable for - I created a 7th birthday card for a skating boy.



This time I've used Sara's Just for Men Collection, teamed with some Kraft and matt black cardstock and a bit of centura pearl metallics for the stars and Birthday sentiment.

Finally, another birthday card, this time for a 37 year old, it really is wonderful that you don't just have to stick to those milestone birthdays or anniversaries with these dies.



This time, I've turned an A5 card into a double twisted easel and used pretty florals to decorate - I haven't even used the largest stencil on this one.

I didn't get to work with the 2 and the 5, but I definitely want to get these as I'm going to be having great fun at Christmas - you could even do Halloween cards with the 3 and the 1, and our American friends can have fun with numbered thanksgiving cards as the date is actually moveable!

Anyway, hope you can watch Fiona's shows with these tomorrow at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Yet another winning must have!

TTFN

Rach
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Fab ‘n’ Funky #429

Hi everyone, hope you're Wednesday is off to a great start - downhill to Friday now!

Today's challenge over at Fab 'n' Funky is "music" and while this isn't quite a card yet (think I will keep it really simple), it's two of my favourite stamp sets from Visible Image - the background was created using a faux bokeh technique I learned from Margaret Edgar who does classes at the Crafters Companion store in Newton Ayecliffe.  Unfortunately I didn't have a white ink pad and so used white gesso instead which meant when I stamped over with the image, it didn't adhere very well to the gesso, but I actually quite like the effect this has given.

Hope you can join us at Fab 'n' Funky and I look forward to seeing your 'music' makes!

TTFN

Rach

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Happy

Well, it's a lovely sunny Sunday here in Plymouth, so I thought I'd share with you a lovely sunny card!

This was made using the free stamps, dies and stencil in the latest Crafters Inspiration magazine.  I inked the stencil with some Harmony Inks, placed my card on top and ran through my Gemini Junior as though I was cutting a thin metal die, this transferred the ink from the stencil to the cardstock - I think its really effective.  I used a standard 5x5 card blank and cut the word "happy' down the side, I also cut Happy from some yellow cardstock and matted this behind.  For the inside of the card, I used the same inks again, but this time in the traditional way and inked through the stencil onto card, put it all together, add a few Nuvo drops in the top corner and Birthday sentiment in the bottom corner and your done!

A great way to a very simple but effective card!

Happy Sunday all

Rach
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Fab ‘n’ Funky #427

Okay, so I’m really sorry, I forgot what day it was and by the time I remembered I was on my way out of the door to work this morning.

This weeks challenge over at Fab ‘n’ Funky is “with a number” so I’ve made a 21st birthday card.  I’ve used one of the new Gemini Stamp and Die sets - Happy, together with numbers, background paper and embossing folder all from Sara’s Signature Birthday Party Collection and a little bit of Harmony ink around the edges.

Well, I hope you like today’s offering and will forgive the lateness of my posting.  I really look forward to seeing all of your makes.

TTFN

Rach

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Spreading Love!

Well, it's nearly valentines day, that traditional day each year where boyfriends and husbands try to score brownie points by spending money on flowers, wine, chocolates etc...  Not that I'm in the least bit cynical about it all, I've been married nearly 27 years, so we must be doing something right! we just don't save it for one day a year!

Anyway, as well as sharing a couple of Valentines cards today, I'm also sharing my awesome news (although those of you who follow me on Facebook already know),  I have been given the incredible opportunity to join the Crafters Companion Design Team again!!!!  It was such an awesome privilege the first time, but to get a second bite of the cherry as it were, is beyond anything imaginable!

Anyway, onto the cards the first is made using Sara's Signature Love & Romance collection and has been layered up with foam pads to give depth and interest.  The hearts have been cut out of different materials, again to add a bit of interest.

The second card uses one of Crafters Companions latest releases, Edgeable Words Stamp & Die 'Love', together with the coordinating Die'sire frame.  The paper is from the Love & Romance collection, as is the embossing folder in the background (Heart Trellis), a few Nuvo drops finish it all off.

I'm really pleased with both of these, both elegant, simple, saying just what's needed!

Anyway, I'm off to work now so, hope you enjoy your Monday & I'll be back soon.

TTFN

Rachel