Rachael's Handmade Designs

Hi All, I don't have much time to write today, but I wanted to let you know what's going on in the shop. I'm having a year end sale going on now. There are fresh reductions and some of what's already reduced is on a "Last Chance" offer. Stay safe and have a wonderful New Years celebration! Xo

Hi All! Well, I'm feeling a bit better and have some time to post this! One of the most lovely women I have had the privilidge to meet in my online adventures has been Cindy Bone. She's such a creative soul and really a delight. Here's her interview! 1. What’s your name and shop name and what do you do? I have 2 shops: Bonewear has vintage decorator items, vintage jewelry, and some handcrafted jewelry; CowgirlRocks has Southwest/Cowgirl style jewelry. 2. Where are you located? The great state of Texas 3. What’s the favorite part of your craft? I love making the rounds of estate sales looking for new and exciting vintage pieces for my shop; in jewelry making the creating process and all that it entails is thrilling, but I have to admit the best part is hearing how much a buyer loves a piece they've purchased-everyone can use an ego boost lol! 4. How long have you been crafting? As far back as I can remember-I have crayon drawings my mother saved when I was 4! I...

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday and were able to spend some quality time with family and friends. I have been deathly ill with 'the crud' and have been spending most of my time sleeping (thus the lack of daily postings) since my last posting.  But I still enjoyed time with my family over the holiday. In the meantime, I've been working on a valentine for a very special someone. :) I hope to duplicate the style so that I can provide my customers with similar valentines this year. I've been able to edit and post some photos of products that I took before I became ill. I'm planning to shoot the rest of my items and update the listings as soon as I start to feel better. I suppose that's all for now. Take care everyone! Xo

Welcome Back. I have been working with my seamstress Dawn since August of 2010. She's made some wonderful items for me and I've been so happy with her work that I decided to interview her for my blog. So, here  we go. 1. What’s your name and shop name and what do you do? My name is Dawn and my shop is Eleen Fashions though I goofed and used my nickname when setting up my store. I create and or recreate dress from all eras. I am vintage inspired and most of my orders reflect that. 2. Where are you located? In the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon about 40 minutes from Portland. 3. What’s the favorite part of your craft? Good response from my customers. I love when they love their dresses! 4. How long have you been crafting? I’ve been an artist all my life. I have been selling seriously for the past 2 years. 5. What’s your favorite thing to make? Wedding gowns 6. What kind of camera do you use to shoot? Samsung L730 7. Who or what models your items? ...

Happy Holidays! New in my studio this week is Valentines Day cards. I produced several over the last couple of days, two of which are in my shop already. The third I am still working on. It's going to be so cute! Really, I can't wait to see how this one turns out. I LOVE to make Valentines Day cards (which is kind of ironic because I really detest the holiday!) and I love this new stamp set (Raychel) I got from Kraftin' Kimmie, so we'll see! Maybe my little hedgie will sneak in for an appearance as well! Also, I've ordered some new colors for my copic markers that have come. Here they are! And here's the whole collection thus far! I seem to be gathering more and more flesh/E tones. Finding that perfect skin tone has proven to be a rather challenging task! I also made a couple tag sets last night. They turned out well, but some need more work. Here's what I have so far.  More interesting additions soon to be added to the shop, so make sure to ...

Hello Everybody! Well, for you last-minute shoppers (*ahem* myself included) here's a list of some great handmade products that's sure to get you a smile during the holidays. I hope you enjoy!

Hi Everyone! I'm so glad you could join me again for another post! I've been busily working on my shop over the weekend. I made a cute little glitter dancing card, featuring Craftin' Kimmie's "Monique" stamp and sentiment. I even used a new technique for this card! To get the texture on the lower scalloped circle I first inked some bubble wrap and pressed that into the paper. The produced image is that of the mirrored bubble wrap. I liked the look of this because it was consistent with the sparkle dots on the brown background paper and it mirrored these dots in a larger fashion. Also, if you follow my flickr account then you know that I made two stampings of Monique, one darker image in black with the darker indigo blues, and one stamped in blue and colored in lighter blues. I used the darker image for this particular card and added yellow sparkles to her cane and her top hat for more contrast. Then I added the same gold sparkles to each scallop on the s...

Welcome Back All, My flow for my blogs got a little messed up so today's post is not Links and Promos, which is usually the case, but an Interview with a Seller instead. I hope you enjoy! I sat down with a friend and fellow seller on Etsy to interview him. 1. What’s your name and shop name and what do you do? Dave Vasquez, shop name "NeverTooOld", I'm an antique and vintage junq' picker and sell vintagicities. 2. Where are you located? In the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon. 3. What’s the favorite part of your craft? Finding that one of a kind item that no other vintage vendor has. 4. How long have you been crafting? I've been doing this for over 25 years, as a business 15 years. 5. What’s your favorite thing to make? My fave's gotta be vintage toys, any vintage toy. Oh and games! hehe. 6. What kind of camera do you use to shoot? I use a GE A1251 12.2 megapixel digital camera that I can't hold steady, lol. 7. Who or what...

Hi All, Well today's post is a little late, but better late than never! Below is my first Kenny K image card. I decided to go simple with this one because it was my first time using the kenny k images and I wanted to just play, so there's not much going on here. Ultimately I liked how this turned out. There's a lot of depth to the image. What do you think? Xo

Hi Everyone, Thanks for joining me again today. I wanted to share with you some photos of what is happening in my studio lately, but alas. I do not have anything that I am currently working on in my studio. So...no photo for you! I'm also thinking ahead about a month. It's time to start thinking about Valentines Day and designs, so you will start to see more V-Day designs as we move out of the holiday rush and push past New Years. Xo

Welcome! It's Tuesday again and it's a cold but beautiful one here in Seattle. I thought I'd share with you some great ideas I have for gifts. Today's theme is Peacocks. That's it! Don't forget to follow this blog, favorite me on flickr and facebook. Xo

Happy Monday All! Well, even if Monday is not your favorite day of the week, at least you have new things in my shop to look forward to! Over the weekend I've been a busy bee. Below are photos of new items in my shop. Don't forget to subscribe! Follow me on twitter and facebook too! :D Xo

Hi All. Another Friday! Here's the links and promos. Its a digi day over at SNR and Digital Delights has a freebie here Birds has a candle here E.T. has another wordart her Xo

Welcome Back! I recently sat down with one of my friends who is also a crafter to interview her.  Jocelyn runs her shop, Flowerleaf, and can be found here . Jocelyn is one of the most successful artists on Etsy that I know of and has over 100 sales in her shop.  Her feedback is cosistantly positive and she provides the highest in customer service, which is why I was courious to pick her brain! Let's begin! 1. What’s your name and shop name and what do you do? My name is Jocelyn, Flowerleaf is my Etsy shop name, and I am currently not working, but working on art and jewelry and hoping to move into a career as a freelance artist. 2. Where are you located? I live in California's central valley where we can drop down a little below freezing in the winter and see triple digits in the summer - fun, huh? 3. What’s the favorite part of your craft? I just love creating things in general. I am pretty eclectic so one minute I will be drawing and the next minute w...

Hi All, A lot has been going on in my studio over the past week. I’ve been invited to participate in “Village Night Out”, in which a collection of shops open their doors and there is live music and sales and food, etc. It’s a nice atmosphere and I’ve done VNO before. It’s something I enjoy, so I’ve been preparing my stock for this event over the past week, mostly focusing on holiday cards and going through my items to make sure packaging and pricing is set. Since I didn't want to bore you with these details I didn't take any pictures for today's post. Heartbreaking, I know. ;) I’m planning on making several sets of tags (of which I will be sure to take pictures of) as well and putting on a store-wide sale. So that’s what’s going on! Don’t forget to subscribe to this blog and follow me on FB for special savings and coupons. FB Twitter: Tweet Till next time! Xo

Welcome. I know you'll be excited to see all the beautiful items I've picked for today's blog post. I love Tuesdays, it really lets the great crafters of Etsy shine. Anyways, I've picked some items that would be great for gifts. I've also updated the photographs of the items I've been working on. I added holly and ribbon to this card:   That's all for today! Make sure to follow this blog, follow me on facebook here  and follow my twitter here ! Xo

Happy Monday All! I hope you all had a fun and safe weekend. My weekend mainly consisted of finishing work on my final for school and mounting stamps. I *did* have a chance to make a couple simple cards on Sunday. This fun little window card of Christmas Clara was a trial run for a new idea I have. I like the depth that the shadowing pigment allows for the details in this card. I also like the layered windows. The next time I make this card I believe I will use acetate between the layers and an accordion fold on the sides. This second card was a card I've been working on for about a week. It turned out pretty simple, and I forgot to add a paper I had planned on, but I like it all the same. I hope you do too! It's Christmas, with a country flair! (I added a holly leaf with berries to the corner of the “seasons greetings”.)  I also made a simple two-pack of cute square holiday greeting cards; and I’m working on a four pack as well. I’m also playing and beginning to c...

Hi All, So today is Friday which means its Links and Promos day! So here's what's going on. Kenny K has a new freebie download available for digis here Bombshell Betty is offering 30% off on her shop with coupon today here   - Bombshell Betty is also having some giveaways on her blog here . Do it with digi's - Today see's the launch with some very special candy. There are THREE prizes to give away and to be in with a chance of winning here . Starting today! Donna at Bearly Mine Designs has a sale from Friday 3th to Monday 6th. Buy 3 or more Christmas Digi sets and get the new Christmas insert Digi set for free. Her blog is here That's it for today guys. Don't forget to subscribe, follow, and favorite my etsy shop. You can also facebook fan me here  for all the latest news on my shop - AND 10% off! Shop: here Flickr: here Twitter: Etsy Ketsy Xo

Welcome Back! Yesterday was rockin', I just got to let you know. ;) My Kraftin' Kimmie stamps finally came - I waited and waited and waited and waited for them, and *FINALLY* they showed up. Overall the shipping time was pretty standard, but I was so looking forward to these stamps it was just taking forEVER, it seemed. Anyways, I promptly spread them out on my bed and Oscar decided to help. (He's a very good helper.) I decided to stamp with Christmas Clara because I"m working on holiday cards right now for  a customer who ordered them. This is the beginning of that particular Christmas card, but I think it's going to be too big for this particular order - the order is for minis. Here's how the minis looked before finishing.  I added a menora to the card on the left and a dradel to the card on the right. I've also added a simple sparrow necklace to my store. That's all for today, thanks for stopping by!

Hi All, So nice of you to join me. The past couple of days in my studio I have been just playing and having a great time! I've been playing with my bombshells and using my country western pinups for the first time. I love how they turned out! I'm still working on this one: We'll see how it turns out! I love the blue floral paper, it's so beautiful. The only other card I've used that particular designer paper for is a Hawaiian themed thank you five pack, which turned out adorable as well. I should really make those Mahalo Cards again soon! *** I also sold several of my cards yesterday to a boutique/spa in town called Vixen Day Spa . It's such a fun little boutique day spa! They carry upscale items for the fashion-concious woman, and I love their spa services!!! Check it out if you're in the area. I'm having some problems uploading some photos for you to see of the holiday cards I'm making for them, but if you're interested to see the...

Hi All, Just a short post today. I made a treasury of things that I love on Etsy! My first treasury, wahoo! Some of the items are already sold, but I don't mind, I still love the pieces and I thought you would enjoy seeing them as well. Xo

Hello to All of You! I'm sitting here with Sophie (my cat - Sophie-Mittens Snagglepaw - cuz she gets stuck on everything!) and we're both excited to show you all of the thrilling new things that are happening in my shop right now! I've been so inspired this last week and over the weekend! I have so much to show you all! It has been snowy in Seattle for the last few days. Methinks that this is partly the reason for my creativity spark lately. You see, I do not drive in the snow! Ha ha, there's nothing like forced creativity! (You cannot leave the house! It is cold and miserable and you cannot drive in this. You *will* sit down and make a card!) He he. Anyways, here is what I sat down to design on Wednsday night of last week. This adorable hand-stamped and personalized card is one-of-a-kind; there's nothing like it in my shop, and I haven't I seen this stamp used anywhere else (yet!) It has been quite a popular card with everyone I have shown it to, and I even ...

Hi All, Well, it's Friday and you know what that means! Links and promos! First, let me state that on the 30th I'm going to be hosting a FREE GIVE AWAY CONTEST right here. More information will be posted on the 30th and the contest will be open for a week. Cute FREE PRIZES?! Who can resist?! Bombshell Bettie is having a Black Friday Sale  on her blog. Check it out for way cute vintage findings and goods. Totally hip, stylish and cool. I'm not big on challenges, but I know a lot of stampers are.  Smeared and Smudged is hosting a Kenny K Challenge here: click me!  Might be a good way to gain inspiration! Bombshell Stamps are still having their "Follow Me Contest": Click Here That's all for today's links and promotions. I hope you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving...And now it's on to Christmas! Don't forget to follow this blog! Fan me on FB  for insider deals, coupons and news. Heart my store on Etsy  for the latest! Cheers, Xo

Hi All and Welcome Back! Happy Thanksgiving! Seattle is still snow covered and bitter cold! I hope you are all staying warm and enjoying time with your family. There are a number of things that I have been working on in the studio - some of which haven't even been listed in my shop yet! Anyways, here we go! Above is a photo of my styled hair. I have been using hair combs lately and decided to add this clip for decoration. I offer these white Orchid clips in my etsy shop in singles and three packs. The three packs are very limited, so if you love them, heart them and cart them! They won't last long! Violet three pack - $9 Etsy *** Also available in singles in white and violet, These Orchid Clips are the result of my obsession with the pin up culture. I've been creating vintage hairstyles in my personal life and I needed something that was pin up oriented but that wasn't going to be a costly endeavor. I've kept one of each of these orchid clips for mysel...