Clarity March challenge 'all about the girls'. March 12 th 2016

This months challenge is ' all about the girls'. 

I wanted to continue my journey with parchment, but as usual forgot to take photos, it has been on a journey with me to London and back which is possibly why I forgot.

It was quite a challenge to get all the elements straight and to figure out how to get the lady reflected in the mirror the right way round!  I did her from the front and all the other elements from the back. 

(several times) 

My step daughter will be 50 at the end of this month and this is for her.  

My daughters and I were discussing why we like our different and varied crafts, and agreed it is all about the process. One daughter writes, another does stand up comedy! And the third is a dress maker/designer.

When my husband looked at this card which he loved, he said ' wow there's some work in this'! That I am sure you all agree is the point.  If you don t love the process then you won't want to do it.

Anyway here is my entry for the third Clarity challenge. 

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 😊

February calendar challenge 'take flight'

Here is my entry for the February calendar challenge, 2 down 10 to go!

I loved doing the shaving foam background but found sorting out the landscape more challenging! Think I go there in the end.........

Wee houses meet parchment

I was inspired to have a go at some stamping and parchment after Paul's demo on HOCHANDA on Sunday, and Barbara's blog at the beginning of the week. 

I love the wee house and shops so thought I would have another go at a reflection on parchment while I was at it. 

I m working on the White work and getting the houses straight!!

Here it is

Groovi trials

HI have been able to spend some time getting to grips with the groovi system this week.  I love it... So here in order of trials are my three attempts.  I must say the photos do hide a multitude of errors but 

I m learning in the process.

Number 1

No 2 

No 3

This one inspired by Emma Burns very similar one just uploaded to her blog.

I also had a go at doing a reflection with the wee houses see below:-

Hope you like them.....

 

Calendar challenge; January 2016

Here is my January offering from the Clarity calendar challenge.  I have changed it slightly by not adding the tree mantles as I wanted to create a bright, frosty winter scene.  I had to improvise a bit with the birds as I don t have that stamp.

I hope I have risen to the challenge! New Years resolution no 1 completed and only 11 to go. 

Hope there will be lots of us 'having a go'

Hope you like it X 

Calendar challenge update!

I wanted to add some subtle glitter to this card o it had that cold frost morning feel to it.  I ordered an amazing glue applicator which has a very fine metal applicator ideal for tiny amounts of glue.....well it arrived today ( was not expecting it for another couple of weeks) so have now added the glitter ( quite subtle)! It's a great little gadget ( photo at the end).

Glue applicator

Great, very precise application possible.......love it x 

Clarity challenge January 2106

January 4 th 2016

Happy new year!

My New Years resolution in January 2015 was to enter the Clarity challenge every month! I made it in January and then dismally failed thereafter.

Work, life and a redesign of the garden intervened and so I have renewed the resolution this year and plan to enter both challenges through 2016 including the calendar challenge. We ll see how I get on.........

Here is my entry for the 'say it with flowers' challenge for January.

I have made two cards but think this will be my entry, I have posted the other one underneath.I wanted to have a go at layering using clarity stencils and a variety of acrylic paints and distress inks/ markers. I also wanted to use the clear, gloss textile paste to see what happened!

I used various stencils (see if you can spot them all)! 

I love the fact that the acrylic paint acts as a resist to the distress inks. 

Dotty wave; lantern pods; brick wall; ocean swirl; ABC stencil; clock stencil; 

The dotty wave; brick wall and ABC stencil and lantern pods were done with acrylic paint first.

Distress inks; mustard seed; wild honey; pickled raspberry; dusty concord; peacock feathers and chipped sapphire round the edges. 

I used transparent gloss texture paste to add the dotty wave over the top, I used the Chinese lanterns in the first one I made but it was a bit over powering and also the texture paste was too thick.

I love the effect and all the layers give it a nice 'grungy' look.

The flower stamp is Gentian and columbine which I stamped onto 7 x 7 stencil card and masked while I did the background.

I like the texture paste effect which adds texture but doesn't detract from the detail.

Second card

Hope you like it.