Rachael's Handmade Designs

Good Monday Morning All! This weekend was all about catching up. I had a special order for some mini thank you’s, so I finished those up. Here’s a photo. And then I went thru my jewelry items and decided to sell parts of my stash. These are items that I’ve either had for a while and don’t speak to me or that are just causing clutter. My loss is your gain! Check out my destash, I’ve listed them in the shop. I began designing a custom order for a mom who gardens this morning. It’s going to be a garden-themed birthday card and I can’t wait to really get started on it. Sketching a few ideas this morning really got the ball rolling! I’m thinking textured grass for starters. That's it for today! Don't forget to follow this blog. Find me on facebook  and twitter  for all the latest items and savings. Cheers! Xo, Rachael

Hi Everyone! Today's post is a technique called bleach stamping which is a fun way to lift ink from a solid piece of paper. All you need is regular household bleach, your favorite rubber stamp, a saucer, paper towels and color paper, car stock, fabric or color napkins. Pour some (not too much) bleach into the saucer and place the paper towels in to soak it up a bit. This will provide a little stamp pad for you. Then it's all about playing! Touch your stamp to the paper towel and try out a few stamps on some color scratch paper. It may take a few tries to get the amount of bleach on the stamp to be just so. Diluted bleach will give a more subtle look to your finished image. While you're letting your finished image dry, make sure to wash your stamps. Too much bleach is not good for the rubber, so make sure to clean them well. I hope you guys try this! It's fun! :-) Follow this blog! Cheers, Xo Rachael

Hola! General announcement: Last Chance items have gone bye bye and all jewelry has now gone back to regular price. Here's my latest interview! Danielle has a great shop full of wonderful goodies to keep you warm! Check out her interview below! *** 1. What’s your name and shop name and what do you do? Hi! My name is Danielle Campbell. My shop name on Etsy is SugarDimples. I'm a one woman accessory factory. 2. Where are you located? Currently based out of a city in Northern Ohio called Fairview Park. 3. What’s the favorite part of your craft? When it comes to crocheting or knitting, I love to see the piece "grow" as I work on it. It's very rewarding! 4. How long have you been crafting? I learned how to crochet at around 13 years old. My great grandmother taught my mother, and in turn my mother taught me. When my great grandmother passed away she gave me all of her yarn, hooks and pieces parts of projects because she knew the love I had for the...

Hola! All of my jewelry is still 50% off, thru this evening. Thanks for joining me again! New in my studio this week are just a couple things. I finished my fishing card on Monday.  If you'd like to read the post re: this adorable card (including lots of additional photos!), please visit this entry  in my blog! :) If you love it and can't live without it, it's posted and available for purchase in my shop ! You may remember this image from a previous post in my blog. I'm beginning to put together some pieces that will flow nicely with this image.    And these two vintage flight attendants I'm piecing together as well! The red bow on the flight attendant to the leftI repurposed from a piece of recycling. The pinup art to the left and right I clipped from a cd cover. and the lace to the right I clipped from a repurposed piece of recycling as well. We'll see how they turn out!! :-D That's it for today! Don't forget to follow this blog!! You can kee...

Hey Ladies! First of all, my 50% off Jewelry Sale is still going on! But hurry, the sale is only on thru tomorrow, and then it's 'bye bye' to the Last Chance items. Shop now to get the best savings of the year. I have a new "Stuff I Love" entry! Handmade cards! I selected my favorite cards (some) from etsy and decided to show them here. Aren't they cute?! Check it out and let me know what you think! :-)  Follow this blog and my facebook  and twitter  to keep up on the latest, and for special discounts! Cheers, Xo Rachael

Aloha All! General Announcement: I've decided to close the jewelry portion of my shop so that I can focus completely on my cards. All jewelry in my store is 50% off Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. *** Today I am so excited to share with you my brand spankin’ new little fishing card, for the guys of course! I was just playing around with my cricut machine trying out some new die cuts for some ideas. After I cut the dies I thought that they would be too small for anything, so I set them aside. And when I fell in love with this Kraftin’ Kimmie stamp I realized that it was the perfect size for the die cuts I had previously cut. So I stamped and colored and distressed each die cut and decided to make a cute little easel card! What do you think? Pretty cute, huh? Here’s some pictures of making the easel card.   Stamped and colored and textured the first die cut, then attached it to it's die cut backing. Stamped the bubbles in blue for the bottom part of...

Bonjour! I'm back from my weekend jaunt in Canada and had a WONDERFUL time with the love of my life! If you would like to see the pictures from my trip, check out my flickr ! Other than cleaning, unpacking, doing laundry and sleeping, I haven't really had much time to spend in my studio lately. :( I managed to clean off my craft table last night, which always helps to improve my creative flow! I plan to finish up some smaller older projects this evening after the gym and perhaps begin a new project or two! ;) I have some scraps that I have been collecting from various places and I plan on using those recycled items to make a few greeting cards. I'll show you pictures on Wednesday! That's all for now! Don't forget to follow this blog! You can also find me on twitter , facebook  and flickr . What's more - when you follow me, you get discounts. Ka-CHING! (Who doesn't love savings?!) Cheers! Rachael

Welcome Back! Today's post is from one of my good friends and fellow photographers Julie Lopez. Julie and I became aquainted on Etsy and when I held a show in town she dropped by my booth and said hello. We've been buds ever since and I'm always looking for ways to help promote her fantastic work! I'm so proud to bring you this interview with Julie Lopez of ImageNationPhoto. 1. Whats your name and shop name and what do you do? My name is Julie Lopez, my etsy shop name is ImageNationPhoto. I am a photographer. 2. Where are you located? I live in Seattle, Washington. 3. Whats the favorite part of your craft? Being behind the camera, capturing a moment that will never happen again! 4. How long have you been crafting? I received my first camera (Fujica 35mm) when I was in High School and I was hooked!! I took my first photography class at Tigard High School and loved taking pictures and developing them myself in the darkroom. I still have many of my first i...

***SPECIAL on TODAY*** Buy one, get one half off of = or lesser value. (You pick.)

Woot woot! I wanted to share my Letterpress love with you, so check out my new treasury!

Good Monday Morning All! I’ve been busily working on finishing some projects over the weekend, and although they sadly don’t include use of the masking technique I was talking about on Friday, they were projects already in the works and still turned out pretty stinkin’ cute, I think. ;) I finished my “sorry so grumpy” card - you can hang it on a peg or nail! I used Kraftin’ Kimmie stamps and fun die cuts for this card, as well as a mix of distressed and punched papers to give it a fun layered effect. The bow on the button is tied from rafia and the hanging cord is hemp. I’ve also finish up some cute little owl tags! I paired brown with blue for these adorable textured hooties and finished them off with a silky deep blue ribbon. Perfect for scrapbooking, gifts or bookmarks. I’ve also started on a card for the dudes - a cute little fishing card! The die cuts are a little smaller than I’m used to using for this project, but they fit the stamp that I wanted to use, so I decided to...

Hi Everybody! Thanks for reading today! You’re going to want to follow this blog and favorite this post as well as leave a comment because today’s topic is GREAT! Over at Bombshell stamps’ blog today, Katie posted using a masking technique (one of my absolute FAVORITE techniques!) that turned out beautifully. Here is her post that you should definitely NOT miss! (I’ve never seen a masking technique done all over the page before! It really turned out cool!) About three years ago when I really started getting back into the paper crafts scene and crafting continually, I came across this blog post. I’d never heard about a shaker card or masking before, even tho I have a background in crafts. (I guess it's not that surprising, I mean, I don't know *everything* :P)This post is a great step-by-step process of how to try masking for the first time and how to make the little crabby look like he’s holding something. So get out your stamps and give it a whirl! This weekend is mas...

Today's post is from one of my favorite shops, DnA Creations! 1. What’s your name and shop name and what do you do? We are Darlene and Alex and our shop name is DnA Creations. We create folk art for wallets, flasks and statues. 2. Where are you located? Los Angeles, CA 3. What’s the favorite part of your craft? The freedom of creativity. 4. How long have you been crafting? Both of us have been crafting our whole lives but doing this business it's been about 2 years 5. What’s your favorite thing to make? We like making statues. It's a very long process but the outcome is well worth it. 6. What kind of camera do you use to shoot? nothing fancy. Just a Samsung digital camera. 7. Who or what models your items? We don't use models. 8. What's the most rewarding part of running your own business? Oh where to start...the satisfaction of being my own boss. Having returning customers that love and appreciate our work. Seeing how successf...