Tuesday 31 December 2013

Geese: Clarity Challenge 10


Hello, I hope you had a lovely Christmas Holiday.  We've been very busy seeing family and are now enjoying a welcome rest.  I did wonder if I would find to design, make and blog this card before the deadline for the December Clarity Stamp Challenge - but I managed somehow!

I have had the geese stamp for some time and not used it, so when I was sorting through my Clarity stamps for inspiration I realised that I could make a scene using the geese as the focal point.

First I  stamped the geese in archival black and embossed them with clear embossing powder.  Then I added a mask for the sun and a sticky note to mask the ground before using the Clarity clouds mask to add the clouds.  I used a combination of weathered wood and pumice stone Distress Inks and Adirondack Stonewashed for the sky.  I replaced the sun mask with it's outside and used squeezed lemonade and mustard seed Distress Inks plus Adirondack butterscotch for the sun.
The next stage was to use various Clarity Grass stamps for the vegetation and a tree stamp on it's side for the grass in the middle.  For the trees I used the branches from the Clarity split tree stamps. I used weathered wood Distress Ink to add the path and some shadow underneath the geese.  Finally I used Clarity birds in the sky.
Then I matted onto black then yellow card before stamping the background.  I drew around the outside of the topper with a pencil and marked the horizon.  Then I used the same split tree and grasses stamps around the edge being careful to preserve the horizon.
Then a final matting onto black and yellow card before sticking to a black card blank.

I'm quite pleased with the overall effect although I wonder if I should have used a lighter colour for the background as the picture makes the bottom of the card look a bit dark.  Looking at it again I realise that I should have put some clouds over the sun too.  I'll have to work out how to do that. 

Please do let me know what you think - and anyone have a tip for a yellow sun with clouds over the top?

I'm entering this card for the December Clarity Stamp Challenge: Scene Building

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Thank you cherries

It's a little while since I blogged so I haven't had the chance to say how pleased I was to be chosen in the top 5 in the Clarity Challenge 9: Christmas.  Thank you to everyone who wrote such lovely comments - and the the team who chose it to be in the top 5!  I've now given the card to my Mum as her Christmas card and she is delighted with it.

My friend Carol sent me a very beautiful cross-stitch for my 60th birthday.  It is a real work of art and is displayed with pride.  She doesn't live close by so I wanted to send her a special thank you card.  I used the cherries stamp and thank you stamp both of which came as part of my 'New Designs Clarity Club' membership.  I used Clarity coated cardstock for the white panel and buffed it to make it shine/  The cherries and flowers are coloured with Promarkers and I used distress ink around the edge before matting and layering onto red cardstock.  It looked lovely in real life and she sent me a special email to thank me.  I hope you like it to and I would be really pleased if you left a comment or tip for improvement as both are really encouraging.

Friday 29 November 2013

Wedding gift

I recently decided to branch out from cards and made this picture as a wedding gift for a friend.  All the stamps are from Clarity and stamped onto Clarity Card.

The landscape stamp is one of my favourites but wasn't the right size for my picture frame.  So  I copied the design using the perspective trees, various grasses stamps and a black micron pen to fill in the horizon and islands.  Then  I brayered the sky and water after masking the moon.  I used sponge and ink for the moon and finally added the verse and various birds.
The trees are quite a bit smaller than in the original landscape stamp but I was quite pleased with the overall effect.  Hope you like it.

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Clarity Stamp Challenge 9: Christmas

I had been wondering what to make for this month's Clarity Stamp Challenge and then this beautiful stencil arrived as this months Clarity Design Club.
I used Centura Pearl white card and embossed the stencil.  I was glad that I'd used masking tape to hold it in place on one side because when it came to stenciling the colour it meant I could lift up the stencil, have a look and then lay it down again in exactly the same place.
I used Adirondak Meadow Green to colour the leaves and tumbled glass distressed ink for the hearts. 
The stamps in the hearts are all from Clarity Stamps. I used black Archival ink for this and it gave a lovely crisp image.   The small star with the shepherds and wise men is the same as the star above the stable.  I masked the stable, inked the star and then stamped.
I allowed the ink  to dry before adding the blue around the edge of the hearts and under the figures to give them some shadow.
Finally I matted onto shiny black card and then onto white cardstock.
 While I was making it I wondered if I would need to add a black edge to the hearts but the shine on the finished card from the Centura Pearl cardstock is  beautiful and I decided that anything extra would spoil it.
I'm entering this card for this months Clarity Stamp Challenge: Christmas

I used:
Clarity: Christmas stamps, Design Club stencil - hearts
Centura Pearl cardstock
Adirondack Meadow Green and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks
Black archival ink

Happy Birthday

I made this card for the 17th birthday of one of my grandaughters.
I took some Clarity Card and masked off the top and bottom.  This left  the central portion free and I used stencil brushes and Adirondak inks to develop graduations of colour.  The Happy Birthday stamp is a wood one I've had for ages and love the shapes on the swirls.  Then I used the Art Nouveau Stamp to create flourishes in the bottom left corner and along the bottom which linked with the swirls on the Happy Birthday stamp.   The Clarity dotty stencil gave some colour along the top. 
I stamped Kasha on to Clarity Card, coloured her with Promarkers, then heat embossed with clear poweder before cutting her out and adding her to the card with sticky foam.
Then I made some paper roses with a Spellbinders die and picked up the turquoise colour in Kasha and used some turquoise paper to die cut some additional leaves.  Finally finished by matting and layering onto turquoise card then the card blank before adding  some gems to finish.

I hope you like it.

I used:
Clarity: Art Nouveau and Kasha Stamps
Spellbinders Paper Rose stencil and small flourish

Clarity Butterfly

A friend recently had her 60th Birthday and I made my first ever Angelina fantasy film and fibre butterfly.
Although this was one of my early uses of film and fibre I was really pleased with the result.  I also
made a matching box to present it.



I used
Clarity butterfly stamp, Angelina fantasy film and fibre

New baby

It's been a while since I blogged.  I developed Labyrinthitus in February and it's very reluctant to go away.  The result is that I'm quite tired much of the time and too dizzy to even think of driving at others.  The good news is that I'm feeling quite good at present.  The bad news is that I pulled some muscles in my back on Sunday and so can hardly move.  However two of the most comfortable chairs are the one for my computer and the one in my craft room!  So it's not all bad news!  I hope to catch up with some blogs.

Here is a card I to welcome my God daughter's new baby.  She's now a few months old.
I embossed the Clarity Clouds mask and then added distressed ink to give background.  The sheep and letter box kit were stamped directly onto the embossed background and I heat embossed the letters with sparkly embossing powder.  I layered this onto some pink card which I had already stamped with the Art Nouveau Corner.  Then I added some lace and flowers.
I hope you like it, my Goddaughter was very pleased.

Clarity Stamps: Letterbox kit, sheep, Art Nouveau Corner, Cloud Stencil

Saturday 28 September 2013

Clarity Stamp Challenge 7 - Vintage


This is my entry for the Clarity Stamp Challenge - Vintage.
The background was inspired by the design of some vintage wallpaper - white and coloured stripes with a repeating pattern.  I brayered each colour separately, masking the rest of the card to get the striped effect.  Before removing the masks I used the Clarity Camelia Stamp to make the repeating pattern.  I stamped around the edges with Art Nouveau Corner and inked the edges in the same colour.  Then I stamped and heat embossed another clarity flower and the sentiment 'Count your garden ...'
 I wanted to add  two blue butterflies I had in my stash.  The gold in their wings looked a little strange without anything else gold on the card so I added gold peeloff (I haven't used these for ages) around the edge and layered onto some dark blue card to finish it off.
This card is now in the post to a friend I've known for over 40 years.  I hope she likes it.

Saturday 31 August 2013

Clarity Stamp Challenge 6 Animals

I made this card for my grandaughter's 6th birthday this month.  She has a beloved black cat called Polly and she loved the way I made the cat was stand on the tail of the mouse in this card.

For the topper I used the Clarity brickwork stencil and Clarity, cat, mouse, bird and foliage stamps on a piece of card die cut with a Spellbinders leafy square.  I masked the edges before stenciling and stamping.
I used the Clarity Stamp letter box kit for Polly's name and then masked this and stamped with various Clarity cat and bird stamps to make the background.  Then applied lots of glitter and jewels to make it sparkle.

I would like to enter this card for the 6th Clarity Stamp Challenge, Animals.

Monday 29 July 2013

Clarity Stamp Challenge 5 Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside


Here is my entry for the  'Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside' Clarity Stamp Challenge.
It was inspired by a greetings card of 4 deckchairs looking out to sea.

I've used the Clarity deckchair and one of the seagull stamps  Then some distressed inks for the sand and sky and Promarkers to colour in the deckchairs.

Saturday 20 July 2013

Wild West Balloons

It's been a while since I've had time to blog.  We're well into the preparations for our Holiday Club starting in 9 days time and  I've also been busy making a scrapbook for our youngest daughter's 40th birthday.  The theme for the birthday was The Wild West.  I'd like to thank Janet Pring for the inspiration for this card.  We made a very similar one at Clarity Stampers East but the colours I chose looked a bit too masculine.  For this version I stamped the forest ridge twice and lone ranger, both from Clarity Stamps.  I then masked off the top and bottom of the card, added a moon and path and then sponged the sky and ground using a Hydranger Big and Juicy ink pad.  I had some pink and blue striped paper which went well with the ink colours and I used this to decoupage the balloons.  I added the Clarity sentiment 'May all your dreams come true' and some gems to finish it off.  Inside the card I used the Clarity letter box kit to spell out 'Happy 40th Birthday.  It was lovely to be able to give her a card which linked with the theme of her party.


Clarity Stamps: Forest Ridge, Lone Ranger, May all your Dreams come true, Balloons in 3 sizes, Letter box kit


Sunday 30 June 2013

Clarity Stamp Challenge 4: Mr and Mrs

The card I'm entering into the Clarity Stamp Challenge I made for some friends who celebrated their 6th Wedding Anniversary a few days ago.  I felt quite privileged to conducted their wedding ceremony, as the bride wore mauve and had mauve flowers I try to stick to this colour for their wedding anniversary cards.

I used the Clarity cornflower and 'Loved you yesterday ...' sentiment stamps.  I stamped the flower and sentiment using dusty concord distress ink and used the same ink to add a shadow around both.  Then I coloured the flower using promarkers,  inked around the edges, add two flower embellishments and a little glitter on the flower to finish the card.

Sunday 23 June 2013

Cards for young men - London Skyline, London stamps plus Wrought Iron Corner

My teenage grandson came to stay over the weekend and while I was showing him my blog he asked why his birthday card wasn't there.  Oooops!
He loves going to London with his Grandad so I chose to make his card using the Clarity Stamp London Skyline Mask and some of the London Stamps.


For the front cover I used different shades of blue distressed inks with the London Skyline mask and then embossed with clear embossing powder to give a tile effect.

For the inside I used the London Bridge Clarity Stamp and then fitted the mask onto each side.  The stamp is a bit bigger than the bridge on the mask so it involved a bit of manoeuvring.  I used distress inks to create a circle around London Bridge so that it looked a bit as though you are looking at it through a telescope and was quite pleased with the effect.
 There was quite a bit of white space at the top so I used the postage stamp stamps and added these to the top to show other aspects of London.
Finally I matted and layered both onto blue and then red card. 
I cut two border strips and wrapped them in some red, white and blue string that I'd bought in Switzerland earlier in the year (my husband thought I was barmy at the time!).  Then I stamped, coloured and embossed two London buses to add as final embellishments before fixing to the white blank.

My nephew, now at university, has also had a birthday this year.  Like me he likes mathematics and patterns.  I'd never used my corner stamps so I searched the Clarity website for inspiration and found a card using the Wrought Iron Corner by Elaine Millner.  I took this as my inspiration and created my own, nearly identical card.  Thank you for the inspiration Elaine.



Friday 7 June 2013

Its all in the sentiment - Clarity Stamp Challenge 3

Here is the card I made for the 3rd Clarity Stamp Challenge.  I was delighted to be chosen to be in the top five and this has spurred me on to start my own blog.

I used the landscape stamp with the  boating and lovers minis, swallows, perspective trees, grasses 1, tall reeds, and the sentiment "Loved you yesterday".  The inks are pitch black adirondack with mustard seed and squeezed lemonade distress inks.

I decided to highlight the sentiment by placing it in the middle panel in the centre of the sun.  To make the bottom and top borders I stamped each word  separately.  It was a bit time consuming but i was very pleased with the effect.

Anything Goes and In the Garden - Clarity Challenges 1 and 2

I entered this card for the first ever Clarity Challenge 'Anything Goes'


it was a very simple card using the poppy stamp and gilding flakes on a textured background.  This was the very first time I had entered a challenge and was really pleased with the comments people made.


So for the second challenge, 'In the Garden' I was brave enough to enter another card.
I used the birdcage stamp from the New Designs Clarity Club, and decoupaged it onto a tag I had made then stamped around  it with the cherry blossom stamp and then used the music and birds from the Joy Frame Kit to the tag and the edge of the backing paper which came free with a crafting magazine.  I distressed the edges of the tag and the backing paper with squeezed lemonade and tumbled glass distress inks.

Thursday 6 June 2013

Inspiration from Clarity Stampers East

I've gained lots of inspiration from Janet Pring at Clarity Stampers East - thanks for running these classes Janet.
Here are some of the cards I've made at the classes or after being inspired.



Sketchy lady

I love the sketchy lady from Clarity Stamps and was very pleased with the effects of embossing and blending on this card.

Grandaughters

I made these cards for my two granddaughters who were both 16 in the same year.

Here are some of my early attempts at making cards







This is one of the first cards I made after joining the Clarity Design Club.  Before discovering Clarity Stamps I had purchased all my toppers and matted and layered everything together.