A very Merry Christmas to you all

Well Christmas Eve and all is ready here...well it will be when Amy arrives. We are going out with Amy and her young man, Matthew tonight to the pub and I am really looking forward to a lively evening!

I thought I would blog the three remaining cards from the last clarity show at the beginning of December.
The first used the cicle aperture and the chrysanthemum stamps.

I managed to bend the sentiment so it fit round the shape of the circle too.
I was glad I had spent a bit of time cutting out the masks for the chrsanths and leaves for the other card and that I kept them!!!

The circle aperture is lovely and with the insert makes it a bit different


The next card I did used the stencil of the flowers which I ran though the grand calibur onto a piece of pearlescent card. Then whilst the stencil was still in place I brushed over the surface with different coolours of distress inks to give it that floral feel.
I then removed the stencil and wanted a piece of card to mount this onto. The card out of the packet of the stencil was there....perfect! and I didn't even need to cut it!

I stamped the Congratulations in Cobalt blue archival and added a gem in each corner to finish it off.

For my final card I cheated a bit and decided to repeat a card I had made before for the Clarity Challenge Blog. It was the one I did using Kasha.

I did update it a bit and used the corner stamp instead of peel offs and used the arch aperture stencil to stamp her into. I also used the clarity wall stencil which I didn't have to my disposal when I last made this card. I also added a sentiment.
I was pleased with how it had turned out and think that it is better second time around!


Anyway I must away as I have my girlie about to arrive.

Have a great Christmas and I will look forward to you leaving me a comment if you get to visit me over the Christmas period.

Happy Christmas Crafting.

Big Orange Flowers!

When I was very young I can remember my grandma always having big orange flowers in the glass vase on the kitchen table and there were always 5! I know now they were chrysanthemums but to me as a child, they were just big and orange. To this day they make me smile as they hold such happy memories of my Grandma and Grandad, who I spent a lot of time with as a child playing in their back garden or on the rug in front of the fire.

So when I got these stamps a little smile lit up my face and I knew I had to do big orange flowers!

The Background is done with the matching stencil. I used the leaves from the Leaf set 1 but I had to mask the flowers which took a bit of cutting out. I also stamped and embossed the congratulation sentiment. I bent it into shape to fit round the flowers and it worked pretty well. I di the topper on a luggage tag and then mounted this onto brown card the onto the backing card before I put it on the 8 x 8 card blank. I finished with a bit of green ribbon and a sparkle gem and a couple of Sweet lilac flowers.

I hope you like this card.

Please leave me a comment if you visit today!

Happy Crafting

Hello Flower

Good morning.
I have been a bit quiet because I have had this awful flu that seems to be doing the rounds but today a feel a little better so I thought I would blog one of my cards from the December clarity shows.

This one used the Chrysanthemum stencil and what a fabulous stencil it is.
And this technique is one used by Eileen Godwin and so well explained to me by my friend Amanda Branston so thanks to them both!

I got a piece of watercolour paper and cut it to the same size as the stencil. I then ran the paper and the stencil through my grand calibur so that it was embossed. I then brayered over with versamark and applied clear embossing powder which I then heated. I then used distress ink which I applied to the card with a wet paintbrush and this is the effect.

I added a pale blue wash in the corner and then trimmed the paper back to the size of the flower.

I then took an 8x8 card blank and using pink and yellow distress inks 1st and 2nd generation I stamped all over the edges of the card with the large and small chrysanthemum stamps to create a background. I mounted the topper onto a piece of pink pearlescent card and then onto the stamped card.

I added some dewdrops to the corners and that was the card made.
I think it looked quite cheery and I was pleased at how it turned out. What do you think?

Have a good day

Happy Crafting

 

Down by the Canal

Well here we are again the start of the month and another new challenge from the Clarity Challenge blog!

Last month we saw some beautiful cards again and it is getting harder and harder each month to pick out the best as they are all so good!

This month it is all about scene building and there are some really fabulous cards from the design team to inspire you! Its well worth a look at their blogs to see how they did them!

So to my card for this challenge. I started off sitting and not having a clue what to do!
Then I looked through the Clarity Catalogue. I often find if I am stuck for ideas if I look through there I suddenly start to get a plan in my head. However it also reminds me of stamps I still need to get!!

Anyhow I'd formulated a plan and then got all the necessary bits and pieces together!

Here is the card I made.

I started off by making the kingfisher out of angelina fibres. I used a mixture of white, pink, blue and green. I cut it out and put it to one side for later.

I drew out a rough plan and used the stamps to give me an idea where I wanted things positioning!

I then got a piece of Theuva card and stamped the windmil and the barge then the branch. I masked the windmill and barge so I could colour them later.

I then masked off the section for the river and using a brayer I created the river. I then used paper masks to create the land and the clouds mask to do the sky. I did put a sun mask so I could get the sun.

I then used the trees and the birds to make the picture more dimensional. The bottom of the trunks make the fence (along with a brown fineliner pen) and the sides of the trees make the grasses along the canal bank and the tuffs of grass in the fields. I used the edge of a post it to do the sun rays! I then removed the masks of the barge and the windmill and coloured these with promarkers.

I then stuck the kingfisher to sit on the branch and the card was matted and layered on to brown and then sand coloured card then onto an A4 card blank which I had used a stencil on to give a soft green background.

I love how the angelina fibres always give you different results and the colours can be so different.

And there is my scene!
I hope you like it!

Now over to you. Lets see some great scenes form all of you happy clarity stampers out there!

Happy Crafting