Monochrome

Good Afternoon! Well I can't believe it's 1st April already! The year is just flying by!
And as ever with the new month comes a new Clarity Challenge. Last month we had loads of fabulous entries and it is getting harder and harder to pick out the best! I could have had a top 20! But well done to the winner and to the top 5 when they are announced.

This month you have to decide on a colour you would like to use and only use that! or tones of it! Along with any Clarity stamps of course. 
I decided to use the Adirondack eggplant ink pad along with the bunnies set of stamps to create a card. So here it is!
I have been given an inkadinkado circle and cog and I thought I would have a play with that too for this card. 
I started off on a piece of A4 paper to see how it worked out.
I then got a piece of  A4 theuva card and marked the centre for the cog to go. 
I stamped in first generation ink on every other notch then with second generation ink on the notches I had missed out. So my circle was complete.

I then stamped the bunnies in place and covered them with a mask so I could create the background. I added a moon mask above the bunnies heads. Using a makeup sponge and torn paper I added some ink so that the bunnies looked like they were in a field with hills behind. I was careful not to go into the grassy circle! I then trimmed the card to a square so that the circle was in the centre. I removed the masks of the moon and bunnies and brushed over the scene with one of the clarity brushes just to take the white off the bunnies and the moon. I tried to avoid their tails!
I stamped the grasses into each corner and brushed ink over the corners to add an air brushed effect to the edges of the card. I then matted and layered it on to dark purple card then a paler purple before mounting it onto an 8 x 8 card blank.

Hope you like my card but you must also take a look at the rest of the design teams projects. They have excelled themselves again! If you click on the link to the Challenge blog then onto their card it should take you to their blogs so you can see what a talented bunch they are.

Then its your turn...and don't forget there is a prize of £50 to be had to spend with Claritystamps.

Happy Crafting

Garden Birds (or in other words Big tits and Little Tits)

Good evening to you all! I thought I better get a wriggle on and show you another couple of my cards from last months shows. 
The Garden birds caused a bit of a stir and a bit of hilarity among the design team and also the regular readers of Barbara's blog. We were all waiting for giggles on the show regarding the Blue tit set but Barbara was professional as always and didn't once use the tit word in the whole show.

Anyway here are the two cards I made using this set of stamps. 

This one was done on parchment. The Bird was stamped in blue ink then embossed in clear powder. 

It was then coloured from the back to add shading and dimension. 

The feeder was stamped in black on the back and then dry embossed with a fine ball tool onto a mouse mat. 

The branch is actually half of the split tree. 

I then put the parchment onto a piece of double sided adhesive sheet and attached it to a piece of grey card stock. Then it was matted onto a piece of blue then 
attached to a card blank.

The next card was made using a Gelli print I had kept from a Gelli plate session and I had used the doves stencil to to it. I trimmed the edges as I didn't want the white edges on...It wasn't even which was probably why I didn't use it originally. I used the blossom and the small birds to create a little scene and added clouds very gently behind them.

I coloured this with promarkers and edged the central square with a brown fine liner pen.
I matted and layered this onto brown then blue card then onto an 8 x 8 card blank.
I do like these stamps and am so glad they have been so popular! 

Hope you have a good evening! Leave me a message if you can.

Happy Crafting

Just another Sunday Morning!

Good Morning to you! And to all that have headed off to the NEC I hope you have a great day! I am looking forward to another road trip with Brenda and Jo next Saturday to Port Sunlight for the Happy Stampers show...Its always a good one!

I thought I would share two of the cards I made for the last Clarity show today using the freesia stamp and the Mother verse

I stamped the freesia onto a piece of Theuva card and coloured it with promarkers. I then rounded the corners to make it look like a topper and edged the card with yellow ink using the clarity brushes. I stamped the verse onto an off cut of the theuva card and rounded the corners and inked that to match.I found some lovely spring colours backing paper...I don't often use backing paper these days. I also found a piece of ribbon that matched the green on the leaves and arranged all the elements onto a 6 x 6 card blank. I added brads at each corner to finish it off.

The next card I wanted to look very different so out came the watercolour card and I stamped and embossed the freesia stamp in clear detail powder. I then used my cosmic shimmer paints and plenty of water to create a background for the freesia.
I matted this on a piece of pearlescent card then onto a pearlescent green card blank which had been cut to suit the topper.

Hope you enjoyed looking at them today.
Please leave me a comment to let me know you dropped by.

Happy Crafting 

Happy Saturday

Well what a lovely morning it is! But clouds are beginning to appear and I'm sure this sunshine won't last. However I have nothing much planned for today or tomorrow apart from some secret stuff.
You will of course see that eventually!
In the meantime I want to share with you a card I made for the last Clarity show! I used the word chains, the blue tit and the journalling set to do this one.

I started off creating the tag. I inked it first in brushed corduroy and espresso and spritzed it to create the background. Once dry I stamped the word CREATE in the corner and surrounded it with the faux stitching stamp. I stamped the bird in the top corner but off the page to make it look like it was flying in and I used the sprig stamp to make it look like the bird was carrying it.
I then used the other stamps and randomly filled the space.
I darkened the edges of the tag and that was that part done.

The background was created by randomly stamping the script stamp and then I used the dragonfly from the good luck set ...oh and I added the ladybird from that set to the tag! I then used the word ART, brushed around the edges with ink and my background was done.
I mounted the background onto a brown card blank. I added a ribbon to my tag and then mounted this onto the background and the card was complete. 

Please leave me a comment if you have popped by today.

Happy Crafting

A Family Home

Well hello! 

After a busy weekend with some of it spent over at the GNPE in Harrogate I thought I would share another of the samples I made for the last Clarity Show. 

For this one I made a small canvas using some of the techniques I had learned ages ago at a workshop with Hels Sheridan but using clarity stamps.

I found two or three backing papers I could use to make the background and set to cutting it up then gluing it on to the canvas until I had filled the entire area. I then brushed over the surface with a matt acrylic varnish with a touch of cream acrylic paint mixed in to make a more even coloured background and to take any brightness off the paper. I then used the journaling stamps to randomly stamp. I also used the miniatures from the home set. 

I cut two small pieces of white card and inked in in Brushed corduroy Distress ink and stamped the words  home and family. I then covered the card with 3 layers of versamark and UTEE and then stamped the words into it to give a 3D effect on the words.

I stuck these on to the canvas and stamped the word And to make the phrase Home and Family. 

Here it is finished

I do like to hear from you so if you drop by please leave me a comment

Happy Crafting 

Good Luck

Well I thought I had better start to put on my cards from the last Clarity Show.  So on this 13th Day of March, which happens to be Barbara Gray's birthday, lets get going with them. Oh and Happy Birthday Barb! xx

The first one I will share with you is this one using the 'good luck' set. I decided to use the stencils and the four leaf clover. 

I started off brushing with meadow through the stencil onto a piece of theuva card. I then outlined the letters in a green fine liner. 

Using the same ink I stamped the 4 leaf clover down the sides and once on the part on the OO of good where the letters merged.

I brushed the outside of the card with meadow .....oh I do like those Clarity brushes...I need more!

I matted ad layered it onto gold then green card before mounting it onto a blank 8 x 8 card. I finished it off with some black gems at the top and bottom of the card!

Here it is

I hope you have enjoyed reading this 

Please leave a comment if you can

Happy Crafting

Flower Power

Well good morning...sorry I am a bit late posting this but it's been a bit of a hectic and stressful week for me.
Thankfully I had had last week off and had done all my samples for the show tomorrow and for the challenge blog! I think if I said OFSTED then you will understand!

Anyway on to the new Challenge...

Last month I think you really enjoyed the challenge as there were so many entries and all really lovely which makes it hard to choose the top five but when they are announced well done to those people. And well done to the winner ....enjoy spending your prize.

This month as Spring is just about on us then the subject is a great one. FLOWER POWER. It reminds me of a fancy dress competition I did when I was younger and me and my 3 friends went as the Flower Power Girls...all in vivid colours mainly purples and greens so I used that memory to make my card.

Here it is.

 I used the flower framer kit and the insects from the flower border classroom set.

I started off by cutting a piece of clarity card into a square and then stamping the word flower into the centre using currant Adirondack ink. I blotted it well!!!

I then covered it up with a post it note and using the pansy stamp form the flowers I just filled the card completely with flowers. Again I used the currant Adirondack ink. I blotted that and then left it to dry.

I then cut myself a mask for the O and then removed the post it note and filled the O with flowers. I stamped the dragonflies but I did them ink blot plot and then the ladybird...well I think I had to!

Then it came to colouring the flowers. I made sure I had a piece of paper to cover my work and rest my hand on as I coloured every pansy with 2 purple and an orange promarker. I also added colour to the ladybird but went for a pink not a red!
I used a brown fine liner to edge round the space where the word was then matted and layered on to a piece of dark brown card then purple before I put it on an 8 x 8 card blank.

Hope you take some time to visit the rest of the DT cards on the blog...there are some stunners this month!

If you visit here please leave a comment.

I'm off out today to help Amy move house...oh my baby is all grown up! 
Have a great weekend and don't forget Barbara is on the telly tomorrow with some really fabulous stamps.

Happy Crafting