Rare Earth Floral Romance

The Rare Earth Floral Romance stamps are delightful. There is such a lovely selection of stamps in each pack and they are intricate but stamp beautifully. These are the samples I created when first given the stamps.

The background stamps match well with the flowers and enhance the overall look when used with the flowers.

I decided to make a flower basket pop-up in one of the cards.  The flowers combine well to make a bouquet.

The stamps to make the frame are really large but work well with a stamping platform. They can be used to create a dramatic card.

I used the background stamp which matches up to form a continuous pattern, which is really cool. I love the big bunch of roses. It could be used for so many occasions.

These bi bold flowers make a statement on any card.

I used my Scan n Cut to create the flower pot and the rose bunch fits neatly inside.

Not a good photo but when you leave home in the dark and get home in the dark it is difficult to always get enough light. However, a lovely spray of flowers to grace any card.

I made the cart using the Brother Scan n Cut and you can see the stamps are glorious.

The spray of flowers looked better in real life but hopefully you get the idea.

I used the background stamp and tore it to expose the flowers behind it.

Family Fun Day

I had the privilege of organising a farmyard themed craft activity for our Family Fun Day at church. The children made paper bag puppets. I made some samples, which are shown below and used my Brother Scan n Cut to design and cut the shapes. Using the Scan n Cut I was able to prepare enough materials for 100 children. I don`t think I would have tackled preparing so many different animals without it.

The bottom of the bag forms the head of the animal so when you put your hand in the bag you can make the head move. I used one of the dies from Tattered Lace Tiny Tubs for the top knot. The googly eyes add to the fun elelment.

I used upside down hearts for the pigs ears. 

I used the shapes on Canvas work space to design most of the shapes. A pom- pom makes and excellent tail on the back.

The chick was one of the more popular animals with the children.

I thinks the duck was the least popular,

I thought of doing brown horses but went with the white as I could use the white bags for several characters.

Altogether we made 70 animals. There were two of us running the activity and some of the parents joined in. A few children came back to make a second puppet so I thinks they quite enjoyed the activity. 

Rare Earth Boho

I am not a youth, as in the original use of Bohemians,  but in my spare time I like dabbling in arts and crafts. These Rare Earth stamps are fun and give you the chance to play with "art". There are so many stamps in the sets that it gives lots of design possibilities. Here are some of the ideas I came up with when first trying out the stamps.

I used tissue paper to create the coloured backgrounds. I tore some tissue paper, sprayed the paper I was printing onto with water and placed the pieces of tissue paper onto the wet card and put a heavy weight on it until it dried. The tissue paper was peeled off to reveal the bright colours. I think the boho stamps work well with bright colours.

Feathers were stamped onto the background card. The moon with the feathers below hit of a dream-catcher. I love the detail of the feathers. They can be used in so many ways.

Now here is the dream-catcher. It is a big stamp but gives a clear image. the message reads best wishes. 

The background stamps are detailed but stamp clearly. I coloured the feathers with alcohol markers and added a few textured threads.

Yay!! Spring is on the way. This card reminds me of this and no matter what is happening we can bring a bit of sunshine to peoples lives.

I stamped the feathers onto oxide inks with a few splats thrown in to liven it up.

I used the stamp in the background and cut it out and mounted it on foam as a focal point.

I love the small stamp with lines and dots which I used to make a frame. You can see that I also love the feather stamps.

I decided to have a go at making some "art" dolls. I used the Brother Scan n Cut to weld 3 circles together to make the body. I cut out three layers of card and stuck them together to make it strong enough. Pipe cleaners were used or the arms and legs and large beads for hands and feet. I used feathers to make a skirt on the left hand doll. One face was coloured like the sun and one more like a human.

I nearly always decorate a bag as it is nice to have some co-ordination if you are giving a card and present.

Here`s to boho and no boohoo!!

Rare Earth Pet stamps

The Rare Earth pet stamps are so realistic and so detailed which makes them very easy to colour and they are very versatile and fun to use. There are a variety of dogs, cats and more exotic pets in the sets.

I decoupaged the face of the bulldog to give it more dimension. The card front was folded on the diagonal and the dog background stamp was used over an oxide ink background. I designed the kennel and bone and cut out with the Brother Scan n Cut.

I love the fur background stamp and found they look more realistic when blending two colours. The fish-bones were designed using Canvas Workspace.

The hamster stamp is really cute. I used decoupage for the face and the paws. I stamped the fur background green and it looks like grass.

The cat is sitting in a window box. Unfortunately I cut it off in the photograph so it is difficult to work out what`s going on.

The kitten has a pleading look on its face. It fits well on the Tattered Lace rocker card.

These two dogs look ready for action. The paw prints come with the set of stamps and again I used the fur stamp for the background.

I love this cat peeping from behind the door. I nearly gave up with this card but it turned out alright in the end.

I used papers from one of the Tattered lace magazines for the background. The rabbits are sat on a mini fold to give the scene more dimension.

I used the Tattered Lace mid stepper card dies and the fur background stamp. The stamp is so well shaded it only needed one layer of grey alcohol pens.

The week before I received these stamps I made a birthday card for somebody with a tortoise and a parrot but the images I used were not so good as the Rare Earth stamps. I shall now be prepared for next year!! 

I nearly uploaded this picture upside down!! Australian fish?  I used the Brother Scan n Cut to make the bowl and some torn tissue paper for the weed. The fish stamp is very detailed and very realistic and easy to colour.

   

Rare Earth Motivational Sayings

Many people choose cards for the messages and the new stamps from Rare Earth have some sayings to inspire and motivate you.
I made the background paper by tearing coloured tissue paper into small shapes. I sprayed  white card with water and put the tissue paper into the water. I added a little more water to secure the tissue, put another white piece of card on top to make a tissue sandwich and then put a heavy weight on top. I left it for several hours to dry and then peeled the pieces of tissue off revealing the colour transferred to the card.
I love the sentiment below and how it is designed and laid out in this stamp.

"Shine bright like a diamond" is a saying that could be used on so many occasions. It is difficult to see it here but I used a metallic felt pen to highlight the letters. I complemented the saying with a diamond pattern background.

The stamps have complimentary background stamp backgrounds that work well with the designs. I used the heart background to emphasize the sentiment.

We tend to put ourselves down so this sentiment can really encourage us to keep going and may encourage the recipient. I felt the "Yes you can " went with it really well so I used it in the background.

It`s good to get a different perspective on life and thinking outside the box can open a number of possibilities that are new to us. I put the decoration partly outside the box to mirror the compliment.

Creating and designing makes me happy, especially when what I have created gives somebody pleasure.  The bright colours of the tissue paper background and the sun type stamp reflect this sentiment.

Steampunk rare Earth Stamps

Rare Earth have produced a wonderful set of Steampunk stamps.  The sets have a lot of vintage elements with a modern twist.

I decorated a wooden heart plaque using the steampunk stamps. I used a metallic rub to make it look a bit rusty in places and added a few metallic elements.

I used the same colour as the background to stamp some elements and then added a couple of coloured in steampunk characters as the focal points on the card.

Again the background was created by stamping some of the elements in the same colour inks as the underlying colours.

For this card the elements were layered and the hat was coloured as a focal point.

Fashion is a big feature of steam punk and this lady is elegantly dressed in a Victorian outfit and could be used for many celebration type cards.

I decided to make a tag card. The metallic effect background is from a single stamp. The stamp is cleverly designed so they tessellate.

Another tag card using different colours.

I thinks it`s always nice to have a matching bag when you are giving a gift and the stamps allow you to do this.