Rachael's Handmade Designs

Welcome Back! I created this card the other day for Valentines. Its probably my favorite design for Valentine's Day because, if you're like me, we don't like a lot of frilly crap on our Valentines.   Simple and clean! Three little buttons paired with divine twine - so cute! I hope you like it! Cheers, 

This happy little card has just been freshly listed in the shop! This card was so much fun to create! I think rainy-themed cards or Seattle-themed cards have been my favorite to create with lately. They're so much you can do with them, and I keep adding to my rubber stamp collection with rain-accessories, so that works out well for me I guess! :) This card features a new stamp I just purchased to work with the umbrella I paired it with and my other rainy/Seattle-themed stamps. I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I added some liquid applique to the top of the umbrella to create a wet look! What do you think?

A few weeks ago I found a simple sketchbook at Goodwill.  So I've been playing around and trying to be more consistent with creating art - specifically, I've been drawing a lot lately and trying to incorporate acrylic paint, copic markers and mixed media techniques. Here was my first entry in my art journal with a sketch I drew on normal copy paper. I coloured this girl with copic markers and cut her out after the paint had dried. I used Mod Podge to stick her down and finished the piece. This piece has subsequently been fucked up because I tried to use spray inks on the back of this page, which seeped through and ruined the first page's drawing. Oh well, at least I still have a picture of this. I'm thinking of going back with acrylic paint and "fixing" it. I learned that its good to skip a couple of pages between entries and to try not and mix spray inks. Here's  my second entry, a full double page layout with spray inks, rubber stamping and a...

Ever get frustrated because you cannot *see* what stamps you have? I do, all the time, mostly because my collection of rubber stamps have been sitting in a rubber tub for the last year. (Due to my move to Canada and now because of lack of living space while I wait for the purchase of my condo to go through.) So I started looking for a more practical way of storing my stamps. You can't use what you don't even remember you have, right, and its best to be able to SEE what you have. But there isn't anything ready-made on the market for exactly what I needed: a large shallow shelf suitable for small to large rubber stamps, maybe two deep, that displays things so that I can SEE them. So I decided to make my own shelf. In my research I cam across this, which was  primarily the idea that I have worked off of , except that I added a backing to this design to that it would not wobble back and forth. [I have very limited woodworking skills. ( I made a birdhouse once when I was a...

Just before Christmas my Mom and I took a trip by train to Portland. We originally wanted to go for the Saturday market, but when I found out there was a handmade show going on (Crafty Wonderland) we decided to make that a priority. Turns out we had time for everything on the list! We hit the craft show, the Saturday market (which is also open on Sunday) and my favorite place in Portland, Collage art store in the Alberta Arts District. (Second favorite is Barista coffee just down the street, where you can also get a beer!) Anyways, I'd had my eye on a Gelli printing plate for a few weeks and since I had my Christmas shopping done I decided to treat myself. I've been playing ever since! Here's a picture of my first print that I liked. Anyways, the second print I created that I really like is below. I was able to create this piece with multiple layers of color and using three sets from Bombshell Stamps as stencils, Butterfly Queen , A Pirate's Life  and B...

Welcome All and Happy Holidays. What makes you happy? Travel, art and handmade goods make me happy. {And shopping!} Last weekend my mother and I decided to take the train to Portland. We stayed downtown and we originally went to go to the Saturday Market (which is open on Sunday, too) but a few days before we left I hear about this handmade sale going on (crafty wonderland) at the convention center. So that became our focus of the trip. And an obligatory Powell's Books trip. Crafty Wonderland was really a fun time, with the exception of the crowds. It was nice because I still needed to finish my holiday shopping. Perfect timing, 'eh?! So we needed up getting breakfast and heading over to the convention center (we took the max). The crowds were unbelievable. I walked down the corridor once we got in line to see how many people were ahead of us - there was free goodie bags to the first 150 people in line. By the time we got in line there was probably easily 300 people, an...

Hello! I've been taking a little break from my cards lately in favor of creating in my art journal, but I found a new technique to use with my spray inks, so I had a play and decided to use the result on a card. The new technique is a cling wrap technique! Spray your inks onto cling wrap making sure to have a bit of wrinkle in it, then flip it over onto paper, press and let dry 45 minutes. This technique will not work if you do not let it dry for the appropriate amount of time. Lift off, and voila! Doesn't have to be perfect, that's the fun. I grunged up the sides of my background, matted it in silver and added my new 'just because' sentiment, threw on some gold embossing powder and embossed with a heat gun. How pretty with the pink and blue/purple! I even got had the chance to use a cute little Some Odd Girl image Kite Flyin' Mae (which I've been hording forEVER and am delighted to use!!!) I just love...