January 11 th.
To fulfil my New Years resolution to enter the clarity challenge each month Here is my first card. I wanted to try some folded cards and so I ve been experimenting and really like the size of this card which is smaller than my recent cards which seem to have got larger and larger!
I was given these very pretty papers for Christmas and wanted to use them too. The background of the bird is done on the gelli plate.
January 8 th
Christmas always creates a natural break in proceedings. I had almost two weeks off work but no time for crafting. However we had a wonderful family time which is as important!
I have a New Years resolution to enter the clarity challenge every month. I also want to have a go at some smaller folded cards. My recent cards seem to have been getting bigger and bigger. I ve been experimenting.
I found some pretty backing papers and have then incorporated clarity stamps into the design.
I want to creat my own back ground papers as well so watch this space x
December 1 st
Here is a card requested by a friend for her Mum's 60 th birthday. She wanted something ethereal with fairies, I ve had some Lavinia stamps for a while, and this was the perfect time to try them out. I love the little bridge and the dancing fairies. Matched with clarity stamps and after several attempts to get the scene to work and the light I was really pleased with the eventual result.
It involved quite a bit of masking off. I did'nt want the 60 or the word celebrate to fight with the picture so they have been left subtle. The holographic embossing powder worked so well on dark blue card.
Hope you like it!
And close up.
I have never managed to get my Christmas cards organised and ready to send in November and this year I have made them all!....it has been a chance to practice my techniques, Barbara does make it all look so easy!
Here are today's efforts
Partridge in a pear tree.
This is becoming a firm favourite.
Then I made a couple of cards for friends, one who has just lost her mum...
November 16 th
I have had a very relaxed weekend with no real commitments so I ve been able to have a proper crafting weekend. I entered one of my Christmas cards into the clarity challenge this month which is travel. I have added that card again so it's easier for people to find the right card if they wish to.
So here it is! Again.......
There are some amazing recent stamps which I really haven't had a chance to play with so here are some cards I made today. I have two birthday cards for little girls who are 4 (2 days apart)! Both mad on the Disney film 'Frozen' which I confess I haven t seen so am hoping they will be ok.
I 'decoupalaged' Grace's castle, her Mum's instructions were lots of cool blues, a castle, fairy and lots of glitter! I embossed the castle which made it easier. A little tip don t forget you have a clarity mask on your art work when you heat emboss it! ........ It behaves a bit like shrink plastic!...... A disaster :)
I also have a Male 40 th coming up and the 'bird tree' and the super little car lent themselves to a scene I heat embossed the tree and car which gives a lovely finish. I liked the idea of the car's arrival disturbing the birds.
I then had a go with the perfect pearls and the double sided sticky sheets. (I ve never used them before)
My step son's birthday is coming up and he loves wind surfing so this stamps seemed appropriate and I love it.
It was all going so well! Until I went to re stamp the boat at the end and it missed by a smidge and the ink was nt clear enough ( any helpful hints would be great, Barbara made it look sooooooo easy. I could'nt waste all the effort so as you can see I managed to rescue it?!...... And unless I point it out as I am to my crafty friends hopefully he will never know.
Thanks for visiting and all your comments, it's a great confidence boost.
Back to mosaics!
I decided to have another go at mosaics as I enjoyed the last ones so much!
I bought a kit this time which was exactly the right size for the project I had in mind. I thought it might be helpful to see how someone else devises the pattern and divides it into shapes to create the design.
The kit also provided exactly what I needed; tiles; grout; adhesive; spreader and a tile nipper.
I bought a 30 cm square planter for the garden as the kit measures 30 cm it means I can mosaic one face.
I then used a sealant and sealed it with a couple of coats inside and out. If you don t seal a pot that's going to contain moisture the tiles will pop off in time.
The planter is made of fibrecotta and a bit rough looking so I had one of the blue tiles scanned and then a paint made up to match it.
The kit uses the reverse method which I wanted to try. This involves the picture being drawn out on brown craft paper in reverse, the picture is drawn indicating how to lay the tiles, the design featuring a fish uses mainly quarter tiles and the background whole ones. The tiles are glass 2 cm square and are glued down upside down using PVA water soluble glue mixed with 50% water. This method means you can assemble it away from the finished object, the tiles are completely flat and if you were doing a big project this can be broken into sections for assembly.
The most difficult thing was to sort out the different colours as the instructions were a bit vague! It was a process of elimination......... Solution below.
The picture pattern indicated where to place the colours
I then stuck all the tiles down upside down and back to front!
The next part of the process was to grout the finished work and then remove most of the grout from the face of the tiles. The face of the pot also had to have the adhesive applied with a notched tool such that the adhesive has a ridged surface for the tiles to stick to.
The picture is then stuck to the pot, face down, with the paper uppermost. Some gentle pressure is applied to ensure good contact with the pot face. The brown paper is then dampened (this helps to dissolve the PVA glue) and this is then left for 15 to 20 minutes for the water to soak in. The brown paper can then be peeled off carefully, the odd tile did lift (I found it hard to be that patient)! The tiles stuck back quite well into the adhesive and on the whole it worked really well.
Once the paper had been peeled off and any adhesive had been removed then it was left to dry.
A further grouting was then done to ensure there were no gaps. This was allowed to dry and then the surface was polished with a dry cloth.
Voila!
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