Rare Earth Botanical Alphabet

These beautiful stamps allow you to personalise designs with a botanical feel. I think they have a lot of potential and could be used in so many ways.

I used bright colours to create this plaque. It would hopefully brighten up the recipient`s day.

I used peach colours to make this stand up pop card. I fussy cut the flowers and they make quite a display.

This is the card from a slightly different angle. I love the dies that create the matting and layering for the card.

Here is a simple thank you card made with the stamps. I decided to set the letters at a jaunty angle.

 Another simple message card. The letters give you so much scope.

Letters used with the border. I made the flowers on the letters to match the border.

Rare Earth Classic Flora

The Classic Flora stamps are part of the Toile de Jouy set and depict flowers and leaves like plaster and stonework in French country houses.

I loved making this card using the Pop and Stand using the Tattered Lace dies. I fussy cut the flowers and arranged  them in the card.

I embossed a flower design in white for the background and fussy cut the buds and layered them on panels to make them stand out. I think I need a lesson in making good bows!

Rare Earth Botanical Borders

The is a lovely collection of delicate frames, corners and flourishes with beautiful sentiments which could be combined in a number of ways.

The designs are exquisite and the sentiments can be changed to suit the occasion.  When stamping you have to check how the frame is placed to ensure it keeps it`s shape.

This simple top and tail design make wonderful toppers to put on a card.

I used the oval border and spring like flowers to create this easel card.

Rare Earth Farmyard Toile

The farmyard toile stamps based on traditional cloth designs from bygone days  They feature lovely scenes and some of the farm animals. Here are a few samples.

As you can see the stamps are large and very detailed. I used water colour paints on the design and the background is from Rare Earth Flora Bunda. The stamps make you look as though you are an artist.

A simple rural scene can look really effective on a card. I used distress oxide inks to create the background.

I love this little scene. You can imagine yourself viewing this scene from the brow of a hill.

Rare Earth French Countryside.

The French Countryside stamps are part of the Toile de Jouy collection from Rare Earth, based on historical cloth designs. They feature pastoral scenes and could be used to send cards for a number of occasions. Here are some samples of how they could be used.

I love this beach scene and had fun colouring it in. The background stamp is from a previous Rare Earth collection.

The trees could be part of a scene but I think they look majestic on their own. I used pencil crayons and water colours.

There used to be a lot of windmills in France, playing their part in producing flour. Afterwards I thought I could decoupage the sails and  they could even be made of a thicker card and set up so they could move around.

There is an old watermill close to where my parents used to live so this picture brought back memories for me. It`s the kind of card my Mum would have liked.

A lovely tranquil fishing scene. I used pencil crayons to colour this design and the blackberries are from another rare Earth collection.

The designs are easy to colour because the stamps indicate areas where it needs to be darker such as at the foot of the building.

Rare Earth Toile de Ville

The Rare Earth Toile de Ville stamps are based on classic designs from cloth making. They include village scenes and village people which are be built into scenes. The stamps are very detailed and work well with the load and fold stamping platform. Here are a few examples using the stamps.

 You can see that the stamps are very detailed. I used pencil crayons and water-colour paints. The stamps make you feel like an artist without having the hassle of drawing them yourselves.

I enjoyed colouring the buildings and used some of the botanical stamps from other stamps in the collection as embellishments.

I made the scene using Impossibel card dies from Tattered Lace. I added some flowers fro decoration.

Motivational sayings by rare earth

It is so lovely to have such amazing messages to send to people and I enjoyed using the stamps to make cards and a motivational mini book.

I used the tattered Lace Impossible card dies to create this card. The sentiment "believe you can" can be used on so many occasions. I used embossing powder to help the sentiment to stand out.

This is the cover for my mini book. I used some of the motivational stamps on the front. 

I used a quote on each page and set myself little goals which are in the pockets.

I used some backgrounds I had made with Rare Earth stamps for the pages.

The feather is from the Boho set of stamps.

I had some round metal clips to join the pages together.

I think this sentiment describes my crafting. I have progressed but am far from perfect.

I stamped some of the sentiments and embossed in white and used other stamps to create a background. I wiped over the white with a paper towel to remove any of the background colours clinging to the white.

This card was created the same way. I used portions of stamps in some areas to give different textures.

I think I got a bit carried away with this technique but could`t stop once I got going.

I used the Tattered Lace book stamps for this card. I used several layers to give some depth.

Another example of white embossing.

Another example using the Impossible card dies. The sentiments fit well onto the stand-up portion of the card.

I added some fantasy flowers made with my fleurs Mallow dies.

The sentiment "you can fly" was crying out for a pair of wings. This card winged it`s way to Tattered Lace Towers!

Build a buddy

When I saw the Build a Buddy dies from Crafter`s Companion I knew I had to have them because I used to make soft toys but enlarging the patterns to the right size and cutting them out accurately can be difficult and a lot of hassle. The dies make it easy peasy to cut accurate shapes and I`ve had so much fun using them.

Here is my version of the cat. I prefer hand sewing but used the machine to make the dress. I added the lace at the bottom of the dress and used a few dies from Tattered Lace Tiny Tubs to give the the face more features.

Here is my rabbit. I made the ears a bit smaller by using the die for the carrot as the ears. I used a small pom-pom for the nose.

I have developed some new characters using the Tiny Tubs dies. Here is Mr Fox.

I used some felt already with a tiger print on to make this tiger, Tiny Tubs dies were used to make the facial features.

Here is a smart panda with bow tie and jacket.

Continuing with my jungle theme  I made cheetah.

My dog character is dressed using African cloth.

I made another of the big cats- the lion. I think it is more a lion cub than an adult.