Day out at the Clarity NW Workshop

On Sunday I went off with Jo and Rae to the Clarity NW workshop run by the lovely Maria Simms. She does the most amazing cards and I had been looking forward to it for ages.
It was pouring down as we set off and rained the whole way there ...and back for that matter!
I picked up Jo and we headed off to Rae's house then she took over in her car and drove us to Birkenhead where the workshop was. We went under the Mersey through the Birkenhead tunnel and I do hope that no one was filming us in Rae's car as she tried to use the device aimed at getting you through the toll more quickly.....in the end she managed to get it to work (with a bit of colourful language) but it would have been quicker the throw the coins in the basket!!!


We arrived in good time and it was lovely to see Maria again.


There were 9 ladies doing the workshop on Sunday some had obviously been before others like me were new to the group!


First job was to get the coffee made then when everyone was there and ready to start we were off on the day!
We had all been given a clarity stamp (which you will see in the photos) and our next job was to take the blue off it...this proved more difficult than it sounds! We got to take the stamp home at the end!

Then we were ready to do our first card.


Maria had given us all the card stock we would need and showed us the sample card. We had to use the brayer and resist technique using versamark pad and then cranberry over it. This piece of card was then cut into 3 pieces and matted onto a piece of black card.

We then stamped the image onto a piece of card and pulled some of the ink out using a damp paintbrush. This was then cut into a circle so that it could be mounted with the largest die cut over it.
I just love the die cuts we used...Spellbinders cogs and sprockets...I have added them to my wish list!


Here is the first card we made.

The clock was stamped and cut out and then when I got home I added the glaze to it.


The second card used the same stamp but using a more messy ink technique. I loved the lemonade adirondack that was used. We had used a coloured Archival Ink pad to stamp the image first I think it was Pale Ochre that we used!!


We then had to cut some cevrons from some brown card and used a versamark pad to stamp it. We then went round the edge with a fineliner to make faux stitching. I used a brown fineliner so it was not so harsh as black. I loved how the card then looked like leather.
Twine was added finish the card and here it is.

The next card saw us stamping out the same image 4 times and pulling out the ink again! We then had to cut out parts of the image as we were going to create a decoupage of the image.
We also created an apperture by embossing the card front. We then spritzed it with mica spray and cut out the central square for our apperture!
The decoupaged image was stuck onto some black card and this then attached to the back of the card so it could be seen through the apperture. Again I highlighted the watch face with glaze when I got home!

The final card was a real quick one.

We maked off the top and bottom of the blank card leaving a 2inch(approx) gap in the middle then used our stamp to stamp along the space we had created. We then used either a make up sponge, ink blender or brushes to blend ink to the edges. I used my new brushes and was well impressed with the result!

I finished it off at home with 2 wiggly lines top and bottom and 3 gems. It just needs a sentiment now but that can wait til I know who it's going to and for what!

All in all it was a great day out. Well worth the money and when you weigh it up it was excellent value!

Maria is such an inspiration and the cards we did could be done with so many different stamps and using different colours!
I certainly want to go again!

Hope you are all having a lovely crafty day

Jane xx