Rachael's Creative Moments

Feel Better Soon!

2011-10-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it has been 1 1/2 years since I made a card! I am SO sorry! Really, I have gone through a lot since my last card. First I went on a vacation where I found out awful news about my little sister... she is okay now, but it was very difficult news to digest. Some other family drama occurred, then in July of 2010 I found out my husband of 8 years had been having an affair for 1 1/2 years. He had had a baby with the other lady, and wanted to keep both of us and live a polygamist lifestyle! Needless to say, I went through shock, grief, and a divorce, move, and major adjustments. After being divorced 1 year this week, I must say my children and I are doing TONS better. I have gotten both school aged children through 2 grades with homeschooling in the past year (they are just going through a time of picking everything up really quickly). Everything in my house has been unpacked, organized, and cleaned. My craft room is even finally in order! :) I have raised many chickens, ducks, sheep, and goats this year... I think that was partially something to keep me going through some of the stages of grief. Most have been sold at profit, so that I can focus even more on my children,crafts, cooking, and learning to make money at home. Also, I have made quite a few YouTube videos on my A Moment With Rachael channel.

Anyway, enough about my personal life! Onto the card! :) This card was inspired by my children's great-grandmother, Connie who is in the hospital right now. I wanted to make her a get well card with autumn in mind and this is what I came up with! Here are some detailed pictures of it:

I decorated the inside a bit, too, although the photo didn't turn out the best:

I'm entering a few challenges with this card that I have listed below:

Cute Card Thursday - this sketch:

Simon Say Challenge - Anything Goes!
Creative Belli Blog - 1234 Challenge (1 twine, 2 designer papers, 3 buttons, and 4 punched/inked leaves)
The Play Date Cafe - color challenge:

Charisma Cardz Challenges - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations Challenge - Leaves and the Beautiful Fall Palette

I used Prismacolor pencils to color in the image. I'm unsure where the image came from... but it's a cute one! The patterned papers are Die Cut With a View, but I'm not sure about the solid pieces.

I guess that is all for now! Sorry for the long update above... I thought I owed everyone an explanation for my disappearance! I could seriously write a novel-sized update after the year+ I've had, so you'd be proud of me if you knew what a nutshell that is, LOL!

Hugs,

Rachael

A Sweet Little Wink Wink Ink Mermaid!

2010-04-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a card that took me nearly 3 days to make! Okay, so it was just a moment here and a moment there over the course of 3 days, but if felt like a long time. :o) My baby girl, 9-month-old Elizabeth is teething and it must be hurting pretty bad - she has been soooo fussy and clingy over the past few days! The poor baby. :o(

I colored in the Li'l Mermaid *Wink *Wink Ink image with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol. I used a Martha Stewart border and corner punch around the white and orange cardstock. I don't think you can tell, but I put some glitter on the end of the mermaid's tail, on the seahorse, on the necklace, and seashells.

I'm participating in the following challenges with this card:

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Friendship (don't you think Li'l Mermaid and the seahorse are friends?) :)

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - "Sew" Special
Lili of the Valley Challenge Blog - Here Comes Summer (mermaids definitely seem summery to me with those little bikini tops and all!)
Our Creative Corner - Blooming Blossoms
Papertake Weekly - Do Something Different (I colored in the background, which I basically NEVER do! I'm always a bit intimidated, but I thought it turned out well this time!)
Crafty Creations - Make Your Own Paper (I don't know if it counts, but coloring in the background was sort of like making my own patterned paper!)

Thanks for looking! :)

I Miss You, Vicki!

2010-04-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a card I made last night using *Wink *Wink Ink's stamp, "Beauty". All the papers are from Die Cuts With a View, the brad is from Making Memories (bought at Target), and I colored in the image with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol. For the stitching look I used my Uni-ball Signo brand, white pigment ink pen. I LOVE that pen! It's my favorite one for writing anything in white on dark papers. I made this card for an online friend I've been missing, Vicki of Stamped Smiles. She's taking some time off for family stuff (house work and such) and I've been thinking about her a lot, so thought I'd make her a card!

Here's the list of challenges I'm participating in with this card:
One Stop Craft Challenge - Things With Wings (there are a bunch of butterflies on the DCWV cardstock I chose).
Simple Doodles - Inspire Others (I always hope to inspire others!)
OWH Stars and Stamps - Hardware (the big brad)
The Creative Cottage Challenge Blog - Going Green (one of my papers has mostly green).
Simon Says Stamp! - Things With Wings (butterfly cardstock)
Crafty Creations - Distressing
Our Creative Corner - Butterflies
Stampavie and More - Lace & Botton (I hope that yellow thing I made with my punch will count as lace!)
Stamp With Fun - Animals
Papertake Weekly - sketch:

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! :) Have a wonderful weekend!

A New Challenge Blog

2010-04-17T14:21:00.001-07:00

Hello!

I just wanted to drop by and let you all know there is an awesome, new challenge blog I thought you'd all love to go check out!

Sleepy Baby

2010-04-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I have a head cold that I came down with last night and cannot seem to think of anything to say! Isn't that awful? Oh yeah, I remember now... this card was made with *Wink *Wink Ink's Blossom Baby stamp (which I simply adore).

Challenges I'm participating in today are:

Quixotic Challenges - Heavy Metal
Secret Crafter - A Day Out
Stamp Something - Something Layered
Cute Card Thursday - Touchy Feely

The Sisterhood of Crafters - All About Family/Faith - Remembrance (Baby cards... definitely in the family category, I think). :o)

The Creative Challenge Blog - Things With Wings

Papertake Weekly - Cutie Pie (Now, that is one of my favorite challenge names for two reasons. 1. My hubby calls me "Cutie Pie". 2. I LOVE cute things!)

While I'm here, I would like to announce that over at *Wink *Wink Ink they're having their very first challenge! The challenge this month is "Border Punch/es," so you just have to pull out a border punch (or more than one) and incorporate some punched out paper on your project/card somehow! How easy is that? I LOVE using my border punches. The prize is awesome, too; a *Wink *Wink Ink image of the drawn winner's choice and a guest designer position next month! The one strict rule for this challenge is that you have to use at least one *Wink *Wink Ink stamp on your card/project to qualify. With all of their cute images, that's so fun to do! :)

I'm Baaaack!

2010-04-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

After being away for 2+ months (it felt like so much longer), I'm happy to report I'm back! At least for a while! I don't have a craft spot in my home, but I live close enough to an awesome scrapbook store that's open 7 days a week. My time is still limited with having 4 children, but I should be able to get a couple of cards done a week with the help of my husband babysitting! Anyway, without further ado... here is my first card in awhile:

I admit, I haven't figured out the perfect place to take pictures of my cards yet, but I figured this wasn't too bad of a photo! I used *Wink *Wink Ink's stamp, "A Little Behind", which seemed just so fitting since I'm SO behind in my card making! Here are the following challenges I'm participating in with this card:

Stampavie and More - Green
Simple Doodles - Inspire Others

Cupcake Craft Challenge - Childhood Memories (Ponies and horses always remind me of when I was 5-years-old and I took horseback riding lessons. I've pretty much always wanted to be a cowgirl!)

And Prairie Fairy Fridays color challenge:

I didn't use all of the colors in the photo, but I hope my card still qualifies for their challenge!

Lovely Sash Giveaway

2010-02-24T13:05:00.001-08:00

Check out this gorgeous sash giveaway! How I would love to win this! Isn't it just beautiful?

A Sad Day

2010-01-22T17:16:00.000-08:00

Well ladies, it's a sad day for me. I wanted to let you all know that my craft items are half way packed up now and I won't be able to post any cards for a little while. I hate abandoning my blog even for a little while! I really don't know how long this break will be for, because things are a little up in the air over here! I will try to be back as soon as possible. And in the meantime, keep an eye on everything Melanie makes over at *Wink *Wink Ink! She's sure to come up with some more cute stamps that I'm going to be hungering to play with while I'm in the process of moving!

Take care and thanks again for reading my blog and leaving so many nice comments on my cards all the time!

Hugs,

Rachael

Wink Wink Ink Design Team Call!

2010-01-19T17:31:00.000-08:00

*Wink *Wink Ink is having a design team call! Here is a copy of the call & requirements:

Design Team Call

*Wink *Wink Ink is in search of design team members! We’re searching for five dependable, team-oriented people who love to work and design with digital stamps!

To see our stamps, please visit winkwinkink.com

Submission Time Line:

January 20, 2010 – February 20, 2010. (Sorry, late entries will not be considered.)

Submission Guidelines:

E-mail winkwinkink@gmail.com with your full name, contact info including email address, blog address, and attach 3 of your best creations. You can include cards, scrapbook pages, and/or altered items. We would love to see you use *Wink *Wink Ink images on your entries, but it is not a requirement (There is a free stamp available to use on the site!)

Please include a brief description about you and your stamping style, previous design team work, published work, and/or any other artistic information you would like to share. However, previous design team experience or publication of work is not required for consideration.

Once I receive your email complete with all personal and artistic information, including samples, I will send a confirmation of receipt. If you don’t hear from me, I didn’t receive your submission.

If you have been selected I will contact you via email. I will need you to confirm your commitment and once that has been done, I will make an announcement at *Wink *Wink Ink and you will be able to do the same on your blog. If you do not confirm within 72 hours that you still want the position, I will have to choose someone else.

Wink Wink Ink Design Team Benefits:

As a *Wink *Wink Ink DT member, you will receive one new stamp EVERY week of your term.

You will receive a *Wink *Wink Ink Designer badge to display on your blog showing that you are a design team member at *Wink *Wink Ink.

Your name and blog link will be placed on *Wink *Wink Ink’s website.

DT submissions are yours to keep and use as you wish.

Design Team Requirements:

Your Design Team duties will last for a period of 6 months and you must design at least one project per week using *Wink *Wink Ink stamps. Your art can be any type, including but not limited to cards, scrapbook pages, and altered items. Please DO NOT try out if you are unable to make this commitment.

Because you will be working with digital images, you must be familiar with how to download, save, and unzip files, manipulate them, and have the ability to print the images you will be using on your projects.

Because you will need to share your *Wink *Wink Ink creations, you are required to have a well-maintained blog for posting your artwork and any major *Wink *Wink Ink stamp company updates. Ability to photograph and post your creations is a must.

You will be required to participate in any company scheduled events and whenever possible we would like our DT members to support all *Wink *Wink Ink sponsored events, such as challenges. You can either join in the event by creating something or simply make a post on your blog alerting readers of the event. We encourage all of our designers to combine challenge projects with DT work each week. This allows you to create one sample, which meets many criteria.

As a design team member, you will be required to join our Yahoo Group for design team members so that you can keep up with all the latest information regarding company information and events and post pictures of your creations for use on the company blog. You will need to join our group on Paper Craft Planet to support events that may be going on over there as well.

As a DT member we would like to see you post your creations in online stamping community galleries, such as Splitcoast Stampers, Paper Craft Planet, etc. This will help to increase exposure to our stamps and images.

Thank you for your interest in applying for our new company!! We look forward to hearing from you and seeing all of your creations!

The *Wink*Wink Ink team

winkwinkink@gmail.com

So, what are you waiting for?! Head on over to *Wink *Wink Ink and apply to become part of this awesome company! :) Good luck!!!

HUGS,

Rachael

Altered Binder

2010-01-16T20:41:00.000-08:00

It took me quite awhile to alter this binder today, but it was oh, so fun! I really enjoyed my time. I used *Wink *Wink Ink's stamp, "Jewel" as my main feature. I colored it in with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol. I'm just sure if you tell by the photo, but I added Stickles to the jewel. I used one of my Cuttlebug embossing folders to emboss the red and black papers under the dragon (the rectangles of paper). The flowers are all made by Prima. I used one of my Martha Stewart border punches for the black side, there. Here's the sketch I used today from Papertake Weekly:

Other challenges I'm entering with this are:

Charisma Cardz - Anything New (*Wink *Wink Ink is a new company and Jewel is a new stamp!)
Simon Says - Shabby Chic (I distressed quite a bit of the paper and used my Old World Die Cuts With a View pad of paper).
ABC Challenge - L is for Layering
A Spoon Full of Sugar - a recipe (3 pieces of designer paper, 1 piece ribbon, 3 flowers, and 3 buttons).
Crafty Creations - Textures.
Cinema Saturday - A Night at the Museum (that adorable dragon did remind me of this movie as did the colors!)

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you get a chance, you should see all the new, adorable stamps *Wink *Wink Ink has to offer! I've been having SO much fun with them! :)

You're PURRFECT... Happy Birthday!

2010-01-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

Here's a birthday card I made with *Wink *Wink Ink's Catnap stamp. I twisted some craft thread around the kitty's head and paw to make it look like he had been playing with yarn (my kitty LOVES yarn) before his little nap. The sentiment comes from a clear Inkadinkado set I have. I colored "Catnap" with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol (still my number one way of coloring in images). I used the awesome sketch from Truly Scrumptious:

I used the colors from the challenge over at Raspberry Suite

The other challenges I met with this card are:

Your Next Stamp Challenges - Embossing (I don't know whether you can tell or not, but all of the paper circles under the kitty are dry embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.)
Crazy 4 Challenges - Birthday (the inside of my card reads, "Happy Birthday!")
Just Us Girls - Stitching

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave a comment if you have a moment! It's always nice to get some love! :)

Roses Are Red...

2010-01-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

Here's a card I made today with *Wink *Wink Ink's Kitty Temptation stamp. I colored her in with Prismacolor pencils and blended it with Gamsol. I used all Die Cuts With a View paper, a crochet flower I got from a gal on Etsy, and used my Nestabilities for those square on the upper left hand corner. I typed out the little verse on Microsoft Word and printed it out on cardstock.

I used a Roxie sketch from Splitcoast Stampers.

I used all Pink/Brown papers to participate in the Simon Says challenge this week.

To play with Cute Card Thursday in their "All New" challenge I used *Wink *Wink Ink's new stamp, "Kitty Temptation".

Also, I achieved "Love WithOUT Hearts" so as to play with Saturday Spotlight.

Last, but not least, I did plenty of layering for "L is for Layering" over at ABC Challenge.

Thanks for visiting! :)

Hogs & Kisses

2010-01-06T16:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a card I made with *Wink *Wink Ink's new stamp, Rosie. Isn't she cute? :)

I used MoJo Monday's sketch:

Here are the other challenges that I did for this Valentine's Day card:

Cute Daisy May - Love
A Spoonful of Sugar - Hearts
Creative Card Crew - Distressing (I inked all the paper edges.)

S ophistiCat Challenges - Fancy Borders (I used my border punch there, near the bottom).

Artful Inkables - Monochromatic Card (I used all pinks - from baby pink to hot pink).
Papertake Weekly - New Beginnings (Rosie is a new stamp and *Wink *Wink Ink is a new company!)

I machine stitched around several of the borders, added some pretty pearls in a couple of places, and colored in Rosie with Copics. :)

Thanks for looking!

3-Challenges Met Alien Card

2010-01-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

Here's *Wink *Wink Ink's alien again! Okay, this will probably be the last card I make with the alien this week, LOL. I've just been having so much fun with him! He looks good in SO many colors! I colored in both images with my Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol. I used my Fiskars border punch for that decorative thing on the left side of the card. The patterned paper is from K&Company, but the solids are from Die Cuts With a View.

I used Sketch Saturday's awesome sketch:

I don't know if you can tell by the photo or not, but I glittered up the planet pretty good and added Stickles to the blue paper in several places (the scalloped oval is completely glittered). I did all this to participate in Crafty Creation's challenge, "GLITTER and BLING". I hope all that glitter counts as bling, too!

I used all those yellows and greens on my card to play along with Colour Create's challenge, "Lemon and Lime"! I hope you like it! Thanks for looking! :)