May All Your Dreams Come True Card

It's nearly the end of the month, if you haven't had a go yet you have until midnight on the 31st March to enter the first challenge of the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. It's well worth it as there's a £50 Claritystamp gift voucher for the winner!

This was a birthday card for a friend. It's my version of a tag by Lynne Gilbert in the first Creative Expressions Project Book.

The base colour is Pickled Raspberry and Salty Ocean Distress Ink. I added that with Cut-N-Dry foam and then spritzed it lightly with water. I used the same ink pads and some black Archival to do the stamping.

The background stamps are a mixture of Clarity, Kanban, and IndigoBlu. Once I'd finished it I spritzed it with some gold Pefect Pearls mixed with some water. That doesn't really show up in the photo but it gave it a lovely shimmer.

The butterflies and sentiment are by Chocolate Baroque. They were stamped onto cream textured card. I used Pinflair glue gel to attach the butterflies so that they have some dimension.

It's a bit different to what I normally do but I was in the mood for a play and I really enjoyed creating it.

Lynne
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Decorated Mirrors

Who lives in a house like this?  Me!

I like doing lots of different crafts and can't resist putting my own stamp on things. Like a lot of crafters I love the Malma mirrors from Ikea. They are really cheap and have a lovely wide frame that's perfect for embellishing.

For this one I used Stampbord. It's a great surface to stamp on as it is lovely and smooth and doesn't buckle.

I chose a few different sized pieces and laid them roughly in place to make sure I had enough.

I then used Alcohol Inks to colour the tiles, dabbing them on with the foam applicator.

Then came the fun part of choosing the stamps. I used a variety of different brands but Clarity, Chocolate Baroque, Tim Holtz and the free ones that you get with Craft Stamper magazine feature heavily.

Once I'd done all of the stamping I had the rather tedious task of triple embossing them all. That took a while! If you look at the first photo you can see that the colours changed a bit when I did that (for once it's not my photography!). The gold isn't as visible as it was and it took on a more yellow hue. They ended up looking like real glazed tiles though.

I stuck the tiles to the frame with Aleene's Tacky Glue. It seems to have worked well as I made it two years ago and none of them have fallen off!

I was really pleased with how it turned out and it now hangs next to my front door.

Living in an Army quarter the decor leaves a lot to be desired (think woodchip wallpaper and magnolia paint) so I couldn't resist getting my Cameo and some vinyl out and giving a few things the Lynne treatment.

This is the mirror in my bedroom. The sentiment is particularly true when I look in it first thing in the morning!  lol

I probably should have dressed up for the photo but I'm meant to be doing housework today. As usual I've ended up on here instead.  Oops!

It also makes me laugh as you can sit on the toilet at the other end of the hall and see that you're "Gorgeous!". I know, it doesn't take a lot to amuse me! Although you've probably guessed that already if you've been reading my blog for a while!!!!!!!!!!!!

This one is in my downstairs toilet. It was cut on my Cricut from the Paper Pups cartridge and does indeed make me smile when I look in it. 

After I'd finished with those I couldn't resist giving my own mirrors the same treatment.

This one is in the guest bedroom. It's the one that Hubby keeps all of his uniform etc. in so I made this one for him. "Happy Wife - Happy Life". 

I made him the gold star after he'd been on a course as he had such a glowing report.  :)

Finally this one is in the kitchen. It's just above the cooker so I can stand stirring things on the hob and the crown sits on my head! 

So far I've managed to resist the large mirror that hangs above the fire in the living room...............

Lynne

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Birthday Card - Teenage Girl

Some cards I will spend hours on, stamping, masking, and brayering etc. and still not be happy with the results.....

....this one was so quick and simple but I was really pleased with it.

It was a 19th birthday card for my niece. I bought the Pretty Face design from the Silhouette Store not long after her 18th as I thought it would be ideal for her.

The hair is cut in black card but I did the lips and eye in vinyl. The vinyl cuts the small details, like the eyelashes, really well. It also gives a nice glossy look to the lips.

Once I'd cut the main image I thought about doing a stamped background or adding some embellishments. In the end I kept it really simple by just mounting it on an 8 x 8 card with white and black mats. Sometimes less is more.

Lynne
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Claritystamp ATCs

Love

I've recently started making ATCs again and this is one I made with the theme "Love".

The background is done with Distress Ink and my Ink Dusters. I added some Perfect Pearls to it which gives it a lovely shimmery finish that doesn't really show up in the photo.

I initially stamped the word Love in the bottom corner (top left version) but I thought it looked a bit boring and needed an embellishment. I added a little plaque from an old K&Company kit with the word  Love stamped on it and then covered in Glossy Accents.

Loooking at the photos side by side I think I actually prefer the first version. What do you think?

This photo shows the detail I added with a clear Sakura Stardust pen.

Stamps Used

Large Kissing Couple

Small Sprig

Bullrushes

Love (stamped on card) from Lesson 10 - Birdcage Set

 The other Love stamp is an old clear one and I can't remember who it's made by.

Inspiration

This one uses the theme "Inspiration". I've made a card similar to this in the past (my scarecrow in a field painting) and thought the same idea would work for an ATC.

As I tend to do with small things, the colour is added with an Ink Duster and the stamping is done with Black Archival.

The fun part of this was doing the shrink plastic paintbrush. This photo shows the stamp I used and the size it shrunk down to. It wasn't an easy thing to do and I ended up enlisting Hubby's help. He used some blocks to get the sides straight once it was heated, then I whacked the top of it with another block to flatten it. It's a shame it wasn't captured on camera like Barbara and Dean's efforts!  We probably looked as comical, although as we weren't on TV the language was a lot worse!!!!!!!

Stamps Used

Small Daydreamer

Large Daydreamer

Easel from the Remountable Artist set

Paintbrush

Grass from the Remountable Garden set

Inspiration stamped with the Remountable Letter Box set

Better go and walk Maya now - I've been putting it off as it's snowing, freezing cold, and really windy. It's a good job I love her!

Lynne

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Meadow Dance Stampstamps Card

This is another of the Stampstamps cards that I made for German TV.

I used my ProMarkers and the techniques that Barbara showed us in the Blooming Corner lesson to colour in the flowers. I then carried on the pastel theme with the rest of the card.

The black embellishments in the corners are cut down from one of the Spellbinders Persian Accents dies.

Simples!

Stamps Used

Meadow Dance

Lesson 6 - Blooming Corner Kit

Large Paradise Stampstamp

Triangle Stampstamp

Rectangle Stampstamp

The clock is counting down to the start of a new term of In the Classroom with Barbara Gray - only 16 more sleeps until Lesson 15. I wonder of Barbara will have the Gelli plate on too? I saw some photos on FB this morning of her all ready to demonstrate it at the NEC. I'm looking forward to mine arriving so I can have a play.  It does look like fun!

Lynne

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Spring ATC and GNPE Harrogate

This is a fun little ATC that I made in a similar way to my Easter Egg Card.

It opens up to reveal the little chick inside.

I stamped the Cracked Egg stamp onto Centura Pearl card using Archival black ink and coloured the chick inside with ProMarkers. Like the large card, a brad acts as a hinge. Once the egg was finished I stuck it onto a simple scene I'd created for it.

Stamps Used

Cracked Egg

Chick from the Remountable Chicks Set

Spring from the Remountable Seasons Set

We had a great time at the GNPE Harrogate on Sunday. It was lovely to catch up with Barbara, the Clarity team, and some crafty friends. I had my birthday money with me and I had fun spending it. I bought some Clarity stamps (of course!), Lili of the Valley stamps, Flowersoft, the IndigoBlu clock kit, 200 sheets of A3 card (that should keep me going for a while), some more PanPastels, and a few little bits and bobs. I also got lots of inspiration from all of the beautiful samples on display.

As always Barbara had a huge crowd at her stand watching the demonstrations. We saw Maria Simms making dresses for the new lady stamps with Angelina Fibres and gilding flakes. They looked fab and I shall definitely be having a go.

It still seems quite surreal seeing my cards on the Clarity stand and I couldn't resist photographing them. 

I also had to get a photo of this board for Hubby - his melting snowman was there too. He didn't believe me when I told him that Barbara said people were asking her for the melting snowman stamp!

There was entertainment too - Barbara and Carol on the karaoke! What more could you want in a day out?

Lynne

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Rosie

It's nearly time! - I'm off to the GNPE in Harrogate in a bit. It sounds like all of those who went yesterday had a great time and I'm really looking forward to having a look around myself. Before I go I thought I'd share the last of my cards made with the new Clarity lady stamps.

This is Rosie with a funky background that matches her dress. It's made with the Cog Swirl stamp which is very clever as the pattern matches up on all sides. I made full use of this by stamping out a whole sheet of it. Once I'd made it I didn't want to cover it up, so I stamped Rosie on a slim oval mat and kept as much of the background showing as I could. The mat is an oval postage stamp that I bought in the Silhouette Store and cut on my Cameo. I think it goes really well with the cogs.

I made the background with my new Summer set of Distress Ink pads - Pickled Raspberry, Mowed Lawn, and Salty Ocean. They are gorgeous and I don't know why I waited so long to buy them. I applied the ink using Cut-N-Dry foam then spritzed it with water and stamped the Cog Swirl in Archival ink.

I used the same technique to colour her dress before cutting it out and sticking it to the image I'd stamped of her. This is easier than trying to colour it on the stamped image itself.

I think all of these lady stamps really come to life once you start dressing them. The finished outfits probably say a lot about the stamper too - I'd love to wear any of the dresses I created for mine!

Stamps Used

Rosie

Cog Swirl

Must go now, things to buy and drool over.

Lynne

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Maya the Easter Bunny Scrapbook Page

I always know that every single one of my cards probably won't get shown but it's hard not to be disappointed when your favourite doesn't. It probably isn't the most inspiring technically........

........but who can resist a cute doggy photo? I may be biased, but I think Maya looks so cute in her bunny ears!

I took the photo last Easter as I had some gorgeous K&Company Easter papers that I wanted to use.  I haven't actually finished that page yet (it's sat in my Work in Progress box) but when I saw the Clarity Easter Egg stamps I knew I could do something similar with those.

I stamped the eggs onto some of the K&Company papers and coloured the details in with my ProMarkers. The grass is cut on my Cameo. The Chocolate Easter Bunny text is done on my computer.

You can probably guess that Maya is actually looking up at Hubby holding a bribe treat, but I like the way it now looks like she is staring at her name.

It is just a bit of fun but it shows you how versatile Clarity stamps are, how good Maya can be (if there's something in it for her!), and possibly how bonkers I am!

Stamps Used

Blossom Egg

Leaf Egg

MAYA stamped using the Letter Box Set

Now for some more cuteness.

Here's the reason that I waited until today to do this post - I was in Sainsbury's a couple of weeks ago when I saw some Red Nose Day Deely Boppers (who else remembers then from the eighties?). I think a nose would have been pushing it a bit far but how could I resist those?

As today is Red Nose Day I thought I'd share this photo too. You can probably see that we're getting better at taking them; Hubby was holding the bribe treat right above the lens this time so she's actually looking at the camera! I wonder what I will find for her to wear next? 

Happy Red Nose Day. 

Lynne and Maya

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Lily

 Lily is another of the new Clarity lady stamps.

Like the others, she has large open areas on her clothes that you can add your own design to. I wanted to do something different for each of them so I decided to colour Lily in with my ProMarkers and stamp a section of her dress with the background stamp.

The Heart Weave stamp creates a lovely background. The hearts are coloured in with a red Sakura Glaze pen to add a bit of colour. I do love black, white, and red together.

I used a gatefold card so that I could continue the design inside. The strip that runs across the card is cut with my Cameo. The oval and circle mats are cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities.

Stamps Used

Lily

Heart Weave

However You Spend It

It's nearly time for the one I've really been looking forward to sharing with you. If you're a dog lover you might enjoy my next post. Maya hopes you'll come back to see what she's been up to.  :)

Lynne

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Easter Basket Card

I hope you had a good weekend. I had fun with Maya yesterday - taking a special photograph for Friday's blog post!

Meanwhile this is another card that I made after I'd been to Kate Crane's PanPastel class. I used one of the techniques that I learnt in the class to colour the eggs - stamping with Inkssentials Watermark Resist Ink and then gently brushing on the PanPastels. 

I bought the basket shape from the Silhouette Store and sized it to fit the Ribbon Banner before cutting it out with my Cameo.

I kept the background really simple, just a blue cloudy sky (they never seem to show up in my photos) and some grass in the foreground, as I wanted the focus to be on the basket.

A bow and a cute little chick complete the picture.

Stamps Used

Happy Easter

Easter Egg Banner

Blossom Egg

Leaf Egg

Chick from the Remountable Chicks Set

Lynne

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Annabel

Clarity recently brought out three new lady stamps drawn by Barbara Gray. They have quite a bit of open space on their dresses so they're really versatile; you can colour them, paper piece them, Zentangle them, or fill them in with the matching pattern stamp.

For this first one, Annabel, I chose paper piecing (cutting out different areas of the stamped image in different patterned papers). The paper I used is Picnic in the Park by Serif. It was a 6x6" pad that was free with a magazine. I chose them as the pattern is quite small and I really like the strawberry paper.

I covered the front with some of the green paper and then stamped the Curly Curve along the edge so that I could cut away the excess to reveal the paper than I had stuck inside. I coloured in parts of it to match the papers.

The papers also influenced my decision to give her funky red hair.

I finished it off with a flower and a verse.

Dies/Shapes Used

Oval - Spellbinders Petite Ovals

 Scalloped oval cut on my Cameo

Foliage - Spellbinders Foliage

Flower - Cut on my Cameo

Stamps Used

Annabel

Curly Curve

No Matter Verse

Best Wishes

Lynne

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In the Classroom with Barbara Gray - Lesson 15

There's not long to wait now until term starts again on the 6th April. I do love these shows and I'm really looking forward to crafting along with Barbara again.

This is the card that I made with the stamps from the kit. I made it just after I'd been to Kate Crane's PanPastel class and I think I was influenced by the bright colours she uses. Kate talked about colour wheels in the class, so when I got home I dug mine out.  I picked a triadic colour scheme of purple, green, and orange for the main areas. 

I liked the shape of the trees so I carried that idea through into the frame. I stamped out the main image out then I randomly drew the shapes for the frame. I could have made my life a lot simpler if I'd coloured it in with ProMarkers but I wanted to use Distress Inks so a lot of mask cutting was involved.

For the main image I just stamped that onto copy paper and cut out the parts I wanted for each colour. My Fiskars Finger Tip Craft Knife is great for jobs like this.

As the frame was my own design I made a copy of that on my scanner and did the same. 

I added the colour through the apertures with my Ink Dusters and then stamped the various texture stamps in the same ink.

Stamps Used

Lesson 15 Kit

Dream from the Lesson 10 Kit

I can't wait to see what clever things Barbara does with these stamps. I think it will be a fun lesson.

Lynne

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Easter Egg Card

 I thought I'd start with one of my cards that wasn't shown on Sunday.

If you've been reading my blog for a while you may recognise the idea as I made a similar card for Germany - My Berry Corner Easter Card.

When I made that I thought how nice it would have looked with a chick or a little scene in the card. So when the Nest stamp arrived I couldn't resist making another version of it.

The egg shape is cut out of Centura Pearl card on my Cameo.  I used the same Berry Corner stamp for the pattern on the egg as I did last time but this time I stamped it all in one colour - Archival Pale Ochre.  Happy Easter is stamped in Archival Rose Madder on a tag cut from Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two.

A brad acts as a hinge and when it's opened up the chicks in their nest are revealed.

I coloured them in with my ProMarkers and added some clouds with my template and Tumbled Glass Distress ink to complete the scene.

Stamps Used

Chicks in Nest

Happy Easter

Berry Corner

Lynne

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March's Clarity Samples

The launch of the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog went well on Friday. Thanks to everyone who took the time to visit my blog and comment on my project. I'm glad you liked it. I really enjoyed reading the rest of the DT's posts and there have already been some entries. It's nice to see that people are enjoying it.

Today was Clarity Sunday on Create and Craft and these are the cards that I made for the shows. There was a bit of an Easter theme, but there was also some new lady stamps, and the launch of the stamps for Lesson 15. The new term starts on Saturday 6th April, so there's not long to wait now.

As always I will blog each card individually over the next week or so. My opening egg cards weren't shown so I'll be able to reveal what's inside them. I also made a fun scrapbook page of Maya in her bunny ears that I look forward to sharing with you.

Lynne

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Claritystamp Catalogue

Welcome to my blog and my first project for the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. The theme for this month's challenge is "Anything Goes" so I thought I'd make something nice for myself for a change.  

I have been stamping for quite a while and when my collection started to grow I realised that I needed to catalogue what stamps I have; so I stamped out every single one onto sheets of A4 card. It's great to sit and look through when I'm in need of inspiration and seldom used stamps don't get completely forgotten about.

Since I started on the Clarity Design Team I've separated my Clarity stamps from the rest and given them their own catalogue. This was a boring ring binder but I felt they deserved something prettier, hence today's project.

As always, I started off by sketching out what I was going to do. I cut a piece of card the size that I wanted the cover to be (12" x 9½" - so that it fit the A4 punch pockets that I keep my pages in). The first things I stamped were the oval frames from the Letter Box kit for the title "CLARITYSTAMPS CATALOGUE". Then I just filled in the remaining space with lots of different sized boxes.  I wanted a random feel to it so I didn't measure them, but you could if you wanted to fit a specific stamp in one. To get the even borders I used a ruler with a grid on it. This made the job so much easier; again no measuring, you just line up one of the lines on the ruler with your drawn line and you have an even border.

Then the fun bit began. I sat and looked through my catalogue to decide which stamps to use. Quite a few of my recent favourites made an appearance. At this stage I decided to change the title to "CLARITYSTAMP CATALOGUE" so that I had a bit more room at the top to fit an image in (the pawprint).

I thoroughly enjoyed creating all of the little scenes. As they are so small I used a sponge and my Ink Dusters to add the colour to the backgrounds, rather than my brayer. My ProMarkers were used to colour in the images.

The covers are cut down from 12"x12" chipboard that came with my Cinch binding tool when I bought it from QVC. I covered them with black card and then glued all of the pictures on, using my plan as a guide. I decided to use book rings to hold it together, instead of my Cinch, as it will be easier to add pages to it when I get more stamps. A girl can never have enough Clarity stamps!

I did consider tying some ribbons to the book rings but decided against it as it is something that will get a lot of use and I want it to be practical.

Stamps Used

Letter Box Set

Joy Frame

Bunny 5 (carrot drawn by me)

Lamb

Small Daydreamer

Old Mill

Remountable Birdsong Set

Dog Paw 

Never Forget

Small Yesterday

Large Kissing Couple

Toadstool  and  Puck

Meadow Dance

Beach Huts

Wallflower Corner

Large Deerscape

Forest Ridge

Lone Ranger

Poppies

Geese from Remountable Village Set

Small Quirky Cottage

Small Quirky Tree

Labrador from Remountable Home Set

Bus from Remountable London Set

Postage Stamp

If I've missed any or you don't recognise one just ask and I'll let you know what they are.

I hope you like my project - I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Maybe do what I did and take the opportunity to make yourself something nice.

Happy stamping,

Lynne

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