Try to be a Rainbow..

Try to be a Rainbow..

Hello there!
Hope you are well and happy?
Mondays seem to roll round so fast, don’t they?!
I was going to hold this BRAND NEW AND BEAUTIFUL Maya Angelou Stamp until Wednesday’s blog (because it is something new, and as we know, Wednesday’s Blog is always something new…)

But I really am rubbish at keeping surprises! When I know there’s something special coming up, I have a hard time keeping it under my hat! What about you? Can you keep surprises? 
Having said that, I remember the best surprise I was ever able to keep secret was a few years ago, when I had booked my Mum and Dad into a fabulous Manor House near Leonardslee Gardens for a couple of nights, and the family were all going to meet there for a celebration meal. But when my parents got to our house, where they thought they were staying, I presented my Dad with a Sat Nav as a gift. And the Sat Nav was programmed to take them to the Manor House. I just told him to follow the directions. And when they got there, we had all shot up there ahead of them, and were waiting for them. That was cool. 
But back to this beautiful stamp, which Jim kindly designed for me last week, when Maya Angelou died. 
It is so lovely.
See what you think…
It is so refreshing. 
The writing is almost childlike innocent, and
So let’s make a card!
First we need to set a background:
4 bright, uplifting Distress inkpads:
Deposit ink on the Clarity Blending Mat, like this:
Spritz (pack of 5 spritzer bottles now available) the Blending mat with water lightly, then lay a document holder down on the ink/water mix.
Swish and mix the colours up .
Lift off the plastic document holder, 
and lay a piece of A5 Claritycard (the shiney card) onto the ink.
Repeat the  process, add more ink if you like, and more water, 
and make several pieces.
Then pick one, ready for stamping.
Stamp Maya’s beautiful words over the colourful rainbow background in Black Archival ink.
The Letters lend themselves to colouring in, which is perfect with Distress Markers.
Remember, if we use Archival Inkpads, we colour in with distress Markers, not Promarkers or other alcohol based pens. (They will cause the lineart to smear, and we don’t want smeared lineart, do we Madame?!)
And all the colours of the rainbow….
  
Here’s a piece of the white square Gelli Card 
I used to mop up the dregs on the mat.
Perfect for a background layer…
Run a black Sharpie pen around the edge first,
then layer it up on the scrap piece.
Well Maya’s death made me very, very sad. 
But I have to say, this message from her makes me smile. 
I have a simple philosophy which I live by: 
I make sure to do something nice for someone every single day.
A random, indiscriminate act of kindness if you like.
But nobody must find out what I’ve done;
if they do, it doesn’t count. 
So you see, I CAN keep secrets!
 much love to you,

57 thoughts on “Try to be a Rainbow..

  1. Good morning. Love the stamp. I already have the other quotation you have done, it is one of my favourites. It is also extremely. Well received.
    It looks like this is another must have

  2. Good Morning Barbara, such a lovely post today, the stamp is perfect and so true. You have been my Rainbow many times over the last few months with your uplifting, comical, well written, truely fab blog, it is such a pleasure to read everyday. Cannot wait to see what comes next. You are my Rainbow. Michelle xxx

  3. Lovely card again Barbara. What a great sentiment and a good way to live a life. It echoes the Christian philosophy of being Jesus to others. There definitely need to be more rainbows in an increasingly cloudy world!

  4. Beautiful background for beautiful words. Your satnav idea was a very clever way to surprise your parents. How exciting for them! Your secret acts of kindness shows what a lovely person you are and is similar to someting I've done at a previous job called Guardian Angels. Each person is allocated a secret Guardian Angel whose job is to watch over you and secretly be kind to you. It was lovely to find an unexpected chocolate bar in your pigeon hole or a little surprise gift/flowers on your desk when you were feeling blue. Like you say the angel had to be kept secret for it to be the most effective and kind deeds should be thoughtful rather than expensive. It also made for a happier more caring workplace. XX

  5. Just love the verse and living by this. Love showing kindness to others there is something specail in doing something nice for someone evern if just a kind word just lifts you up. Will be buying this stamp and using it a lot xx

  6. What a beautiful and thoughtful card today. I have always liked this quote so I will be putting in my order. Never tried the background technique before so will be having a play with that soon. I can keep secrets sometimes but worry that I'm going to let the cat out the bag (strange saying I wonder where it came from?) My dad is the worst though, can't tell him anything if you want it to stay secret! XX

  7. A really beautiful stamp Barbara thank you for sharing it and your inky backgrounds. The satnav idea was wonderful. I'm quite good at keeping special events secret and usually try to put people off the scent. I like daily acts of kindness it's good to see someone smile when you have done something for them they didn't expect . I think your daily act of kindness is your blog Barbara as it makes a lot of people smile. Have a lovely Monday love Diane xx

  8. Hi Barb,
    Fabulous stamp and gorgeous background. I think this is very fitting for such. Wonderful woman – I will certainly be buying this stamp. What a lovely idea to give your dad the sat nav to get him to his destination – I bet both of your parents were over the moon. Thanks again for the inspiration. Love Alison xx

  9. Barb this is lovely and it is very childlike but also so wise, I love it. I think when I get it I will do the same with the alcohol inks like you did with the parrots recently.

    I love your idea of the sat nav for your Dad, I am not very good at keeping secrets much. I had a surprise party for my Husband (before we were married). Took him for an Indian with my friends and the service was as slow as. I was beginning to get stressed as I had invited everyone back to the house for a party to celebrate his Birthday. I was trying so hard not to give the game away and when we got parked at home (the car looked into the kitchen window). And several bodies were seen by my Husband. I fobbed him off with saying it was just my Mum and Dad coming down to join us. I managed to keep the secret that time, I almost gave it away with getting stressed and the friends and family in the house were not very good at the secret keeping. I remember being quite annoyed with them at the time lol. I learnt from that that not everyone's agenda is the same as your own. My Husband loved his party and still talks about it.

    That is a lovely way to live Barb trying every day to do something nice for somebody. I am always thinking of others and try to always be nice to people as you never know what is going on in somebody's life.

    Have fun today and I am looking forward to tomorrow also.

    Denise xx

  10. Absolutely beautiful Barbara – thank you Jim. I live this saying by Maya Angelou and what you gave done with it today really brings it to life. There definitely needs to be more rainbows in everyone's life.

    I agree your secret acts of kindness is a wonderful philosophy to live by. xx

  11. Hi Barbara love the card the stamp is beautiful. The stamp will be used a lot you are a very special lady Barbara a rainbow to many certainly to me I'm 76 now so glad you came into my life. I bought and the caged bird sings love June xxx

  12. Hello to our very own inspiring lady. We can all be a rainbow in our lives and you are so right that it's even more rewarding if people aren't aware that you are doing a good deed. I must try to remember that more often. Lovely stamp and the font is just so interesting that it's a must have for me. Have a great sunshiny day. xx Margaret Col.

  13. Hi Barb,
    I hope you are feeling a bit better today. This is absolutely beautiful, both in thought and deed. Your card captures it spot on.
    Take care and take it easy xx

  14. Hi Barbara. I love the card. Great colours and a beautiful sentiment. Making someone smile always makes me happy and little secret acts of kindness are the best aren't they. I am so lucky that we all do them for each other in our house and do them for others too : ) I am rubbish at lying but did manage to trick hubby last year for his 50th birthday. He had always wanted 2 Bearded Dragons, had researched them in depth, talked to a friend who runs a reptile shop etc. but as the whole set up is not cheap couldn't afford to get them. We arranged to pool all of our present money, lied to him all week about him having to go and help another friend fit some signs at the reptile shop then once there presented him with a "Gift certificate" for the Beardies and full set up needed! He read it and for once was speechless : ) After getting over the surprise he then turned round and said " We had better get on and do the signs now hadn't we". It took a while to make him realise that we had only told him that to get him to the shop! He couldn't believe that I had managed not to give the game away. That was the first time in 33 years that I managed to keep a secret from him : ) So hard for me to do but so worth it. Take care

  15. God bless you Barbara, you are such a warm and giving person. Love the card and Maya's words. We had a rainbow only yesterday don't know why but they always make me happy. Have a lovely day. Joan x

  16. Lovely stamp, great background idea which could be used for lots of images. Such beautiful thoughts today, always great if you can make someone happy. Yes I can keep surprises and if I am told something in confidence it goes no further. Have a good day. xx

  17. What a lovely stamp, the background is brilliant and the whole card just perfect.
    You are a very generous person Barbara and that is a great philosophy to live by

    Jackie x

  18. Hi Barbara,
    Keeping secrets is hard, years ago we had a party for my grandparents golden wedding anniversary, ALL the family came, but the LIES we told to get gran to get her hair done, new dress etc and that her brother in law had to stay at their house to surprise them, she never quit forgave us, even my much younger cousins managed to keep the secret too. Amazing but we managed to keep the secret.

    Great card again and I'm defiantly getting this stamp, beautiful sentiment and Maya, a lovely lady, sadly missed by many.

  19. Not only do I love this, but I think it should be made law that this be stamped on the back of all greetings cards so that everyone gets to see it as they open their cards! 😀 Have a great week of rainbows!

  20. Beautiful sentiment, beautiful design and a beautiful person – what a start to a Monday morning! We saw a fantastic rainbow yesterday driving back through the Highlands – it was really low and seemed to make the mountainside different colours – amazing!!! X

  21. this is just stunning barb – a really wonderful new stamp – I love it – and being a Rainbow leader its all the more special to me – hugs Rachel xx

  22. What lovely words from Maya and just the perfect setting by you. We once had a surprise party for my mum's 80th, and at the time I hoped it would be what she would like. She thoroughly enjoyed it, and as she died a couple of years later I was so pleased we had done it for her. I always love seeing a rainbow as they look so beautifully vibrant against the dark clouds behind so Maya's words are so apt. x

  23. Lovely stamp and great memories of Maya who was talked about on my training again today!

    You and the clarity team certainly make the rainbow in my day, I look forward to your blog and wouldn't miss it for the world.

    Thanks to you and to Jim and of course to Maya x

  24. Barbara Gray….!!! This is such a lovely stamp and technique so glad you shared this secret – some secrets have to be shared and others kept secret until the moment is right – am so with you on that level!!
    I love that Maya was your Shero – though I have to say you yourself is probably Shero to many of us – you share with us a lot of your personal and private thoughts, what you have learned along the way, provide us with guidance and come out with some lovely ditties yourself – so I think the influence of Maya on you and how you run your life is allowing you to pass that message on down the line….so I guess I am saying you are a bit of a Shero to me x
    I love the story of your parents and the tomtom guiding them to a lovely family gathering a stay – how very special that must have been.
    So before I get too sentimental I will leave it at that xx
    Much Love
    Kim xx

  25. Lovely card and blog today. Some lovely stories in your comments too. Keep on doing what you're doing Barbara. We all love it!!! Thank you, Jan

  26. beautiful stamp, I love the sentiment and also love what you made with it. Thirdly I love your act of doing something good for someone every day and think it is something I must adopt xx

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