Sunday 7 February 2016

February's Clarity Challenge 'Love'

So far so good! My new year resolution is holding ......2 down, 10 to go.
This month's challenge took me a bit of time to find inspiration, and then I thought of the thank you framer and wondered if I could adapt it.  So I did!

I must do a step by step with some photos but here are the written instructions below. This is also my husband's Valentine card, fortunately he was engrossed in the rugby so didn't t pay much attention to what I was doing!

ITEMS USED

Thank you framer and mask.
Word LOVE from the word chains.
Couple on bench from the wee folk
'All I need is love' stamp.
This month's heart tree stencil from the stencil club
Distress inks ....worn lipstick; peacock feathers; mustard seed and chipped Safire.
Transparent texture paste (Matt)
Ranger spritzer
Ranger mini blenders

INSTRUCTIONS
First was to stamp the 'thank you' framer onto white card stock, I used some talc on the card as I was going to emboss the framer. I then masked the 'thank you' while I inked up the stamp using black archival ink. I coated it with clear embossing powder and then heaT set it.  
I then used the 'Love' from one of the word chains. I needed to snip it a bit to help bend it round the 'O' which proved difficult as it is such a short word.  I stamped; embossed and heat set it and then did the same with the birds and the cat and added an additional scroll under the cat.  ( we have two thoroughly spoilt cats, so they had to feature.)
I went over all of the embossing with a versamark pen and re embossed to get a nice clear image.

Once that was done I masked off the 'O' ( with the outy mask) and stamped the couple on the bench from the wee folk and created a bit of a hill and some sky behind them then covered this with the mask while I did the back ground.

I used the 'all I need is love' stamp and versamark ink stamped randomly all over the background.
I then used the worn lipstick, peacock feathers and mustard yellow inks and created a random background blending it well in.  At this stage the images are fairly subtle behind the ink, the more you apply and the darker it gets they do become more obvious.  I wanted it subtle and mainly to add texture.

I then spritzed with water ( the ranger spritzer is brilliant, it holds 4 oz of water and is so easy to control, giving a fine mist, if you half depress the trigger you get a droplet effect)
Once this was dry I added further stamped images of the ' all I need is love' stamp in versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. I then randomly added some of the hearts from the heart tree stencil with transparent texture paste) and allowed these to dry ( takes a couple of hours).

Finally I added more ink, the textured hearts add some nice texture and depth and take on the ink really well. I finished off by deepening the edges with chipped Safire and going over bits of the design to bring out the original back ground stamping.  Be careful, it's easy to add too much and end up with a muddy look! ( as Barbara would say ' how does she know this?') !!
I finished by colouring some of the letters of the 'all I need is love' stamped images using poly chromos 
Faber Castell crayons and added a drop shadow where I could! 

I hope you can understand these instructions, I must try and take photos next time it is much clearer.

Hope you like it! Hope my husband does too 😊

12 comments:

  1. This is so colourful and nicely done good luck in the clarity challenge xx

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  2. A lovely card the background is stunning. Good luck in the challenge and thank you for entering.xx

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  3. Stunningly beautiful. Love it all. Good luck.

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  4. A beautiful creation and so many different techniques used. Thankyou for sharing your instructions and good luck in the challenge. x

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  5. I love it Hilary, it's a beautiful piece of artwork xx

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  6. What a clever use of the framer and a fab card. Good luck and thanks for entering the Claritystamp challenge

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  7. This is beautiful Hilary - must have taken you the whole of the rugby game, (plus,) to create this! I'm sure your hubby will love it! Good luck in this month's Clarity Challenge and many thanks for entering x

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  8. Absolutely gorgeous Hilary. I love all the layers you've built up for the background; they give a fab finished result. Thanks for entering the Clarity challenge, and good luck. Xxx

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  9. A beautiful card Hilary. Your background is fab. Thanks for entering this month's Clarity challenge. Good luck! x

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  10. A lovely card, really vibrant and beautifully put together. Good luck with the challenge x

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  11. What a fantastic card design Hilary. Loving all the details. And a great set of instructions too. Best of luck in the Claritystamp challenge xxx

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