Harlequin Poppy PanPastel Card

I'm just off to the Post Office to post my Clarity samples for next weekend's shows. I can't wait to share what I've made and see what everyone else has done with the fab new stamps.

Don't forget that you have until 8pm on the 30th April to enter the "In The Garden" challenge over on the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. The winner, chosen by random, gets a £50 Claritystamp voucher so it's well worth a go.

This is a card I made for a friend's birthday. The main poppy/harlequin stamp is from the Butterfly Poppy Collage stamp sheet by Chocolate Baroque. I've had it for years but I think it's the first time that I've used that particular stamp.

I used a selection of red, yellow, and orange PanPastels to colour the background then I stamped some text and the harlequin part of the stamp in Watermark Resist ink by Ranger. I dusted that with orange and red PanPastels to reveal the image.  The rest of the stamping is done with black Archival.

For last month's Clarity Stamp Challenge Hellen made a beautiful card where she used PanPastels for the background and then erased the colour from the stamped image so that she could colour it in with ProMarkers. I bought one of the Jakar battery erasers from Amazon and had a go at that on the poppies. It's really easy to do and I was able to get a nice green colour to the poppies without having to worry about masking them.

Clarity Stamps Used 

What is This Life Verse

Diamond Strip

Chocolate Baroque Stamps Used

Poppy from the Butterfly Collage Sheet - A4

Text from the Paisley Elephant Sheet - A4

Each Day is a Gift from Birthday Words Sheet - A5

Lynne

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Spring ATC

Here's my Spring ATC. Mum and Dad bought me the Best of the Classroom set at Harrogate and I thought they would be perfect to use on this.

First, I stamped the Blooming Corner stamps around the edge and coloured them in with my ProMarkers. I went around the edge of all of the flowers with a Pastel Blue ProMarker to give them a bit of shadow,  then cut out the middle to create a frame.  Edging it in black made it stand out.

I created the scene as I would a large picture but had to make a special little mini mask to create the clouds. So cute!

The tree was made to blossom with my Sweet Pea Flower Soft which gives it a bit of interest and texture.

I finished it off by sticking the frame on, as it has a bit of dimension it helps to protect the Flower Soft.

That's my vision of a perfect spring day but when I look out of my window today, although I can see the cherry trees along my road coming into blossom, it's pouring down with rain. Last night we even had a hailstorm!

Stamps Used

Spring from the Remountable Seasons Set

Tree and Blooming Corner Frame from the Best of The Classroom Set

Sheep from the Remountable Farm Set

Lynne

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Gelli Print Card on Kraft Card

This was me experimenting with my Gelli plate again.

Mum's birthday was coming up and she said she didn't mind if I used the making of her card as Gelli plate practise, so that's what I did. Thanks Mum.

I cut myself a butterfly mask out of Doeflex with my Silhouette Cameo.

I used that along with bubble wrap, sequin waste, and a letter stencil to create the texture on the base layer.

To start with, I printed onto white card but wasn't too keen on the result - it was a bit bright and I wanted a more muted effect.

So I switched to kraft card. The butterfly background is the second print that you get when you've removed the stencil.

They both have a base print where I used beige paint and the bubble wrap etc. to create the texture. The  butterflies are the first print with the stencil still in place.

I then cut out the middle with a Scalloped Nestabilitie and did the stamping. I got the idea for the butterfly circle from The Stamp Man's Jill Tuck when I was watching her on Create and Craft. I think it's a lovely idea and one I plan to use on my IndigoBlu clock kit, if I ever get the time to make it!

The border that the ribbon is threaded through and the mat for the Nestabilitie were cut on my Silhouette Cameo. The stamping is all done with Black Archival.

Stamps Used

Meadow Dance - I think you've probably noticed, but I love this stamp!

Butterfly from Remountable Best of the Classroom Set

Today Verse

Lynne

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Sending You Sunshine Gelli Print

These cards were made for a couple of my crafty friends who've been having a tough time of it lately. Hopefully these and the other cards they received put a smile on their faces and let them know that people care.

I used the same design for them both, as I thought it was perfect for the occasion,

but being Gelli prints they are both slightly different.

I sized the stencil to fit the card and cut it out of parchment paper on my Cameo (it's a Loni Stevens design from the Silhouette Store). Parchment cuts really crisply and as it's thin it's easy to get a good print from it. It's also a really cheap way to get a stencil for a specific project.

I started off the printing by brayering yellow and orange paint onto my Gelli plate. I then used a variety of items to add texture to it (bubble wrap, a letter stencil, and sequin waste) before taking a print off it. This gave me the base layer.

Then I covered the Gelli plate in orange paint. I added a little bit of texture to this, using bubble wrap, before placing my sun stencil on top and taking another print on top of the first. The two together make the sun.

Out came my favourite Meadow Dance stamp to add the characters down the bottom. They look like they are having fun and bring joy to any card. The sentiment is perfect as that is what I wanted to do.

To make it into a card I added a thin black mat with my 1/16th Perfect Layers ruler (although I don't always mention this, I think I must use it on nearly every card I make) and then did a yellow and orange Gelli print straight onto the card for the base layer.

Stamps Used

Meadow Dance

Sending You Sunshine

I hope I've brought you a little sunshine today too.

Lynne

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Delft Tile Style Windmill Card

I love windmills. I see one across the fields every day when I walk Maya. There is also a gorgeous one that I drive past on my way back from the supermarket. The cap of that one has been replaced with an octagonal room that has large glass windows on each side. It must have fantastic views and I would love to live there. How fab would a craft room up there be!

Anyway, despite all of that, when I saw the new windmill stamp I decided to go to Holland (well, not literally but you know what I mean) and create a Delft tile scene.

I think it probably came into my mind thanks to the little clog ornament that I have. They can't remember how it came into their possession but Mum and Dad have had it since I was a kid. Somehow it's ended up in one of the drawers of my Welsh dresser, so I dug it out and set about creating my own little piece of "Delft".

I cut two circle masks on my Cameo - Using the smaller one I inked through the aperture to create the scene, then I used the larger circle to mask off the scene and create a small white border between the two.

Stamps Used

Windmill and Reeds Set - Lesson 16

Large Ornate Corner

Small Birds In Flight

Lynne

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Hunstanton Postcard

I grew up on the Norfolk coast, so when I saw the new Coast stamp I had the idea of making a Hunstanton postcard.

Hunstanton has distinctive white chalk, red chalk, and carstone cliffs which I've coloured in with a sponge and Distress Inks.

I used my PanPastels to create the Wash. I used a bit of artistic licence here - it looks more like a tropical ocean than the Wash but grey wouldn't have looked so pretty!

The shells are coloured in with ProMarkers.

I finished it off by writing on the back, as if I was sending a real postcard. Barbara was obviously intrigued by this as her and Dave took a trip there when they were at Peterborough. Reading the New Design Club newsletter it sounds like they had a good time. I wish I'd known they were going though as I'd have told them that the pretty bits of the coast start at Old Hunstanton - the walk through the RSPB Bird Reserve at Titchwell to the beach is one of my favourites. It's dog friendly too!

Stamps Used

Larger Shell Corner

Walk Along The Sea Verse

Coast

Letter Box Set

Rectangle Stampstamp

Postcard

Address

Seagull - There's lots of these in Hunstanton!

Lynne

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Music, Douglas, Please

I thought that Doulas had the look of a conductor about him, so I decided to make a musical themed card. My initial idea was to Gelli print onto some sheet music. Unfortunately I hadn't received it by the time I needed to make the card, so I had to improvise.

The music is a printable download from the Silhouette Store. I cut out a mask with a Petite Oval Spellbinders die and inked around it to make a frame for Douglas - I think it looks a bit like a spotlight. I stamped and coloured him onto some plain card so he didn't have the music running through him.

The Shatter and quote were heat embossed with Black Detail Powder. I coloured the shatter in green to match Douglas's bow tie and jacket lining. He's a very stylish fellow!

Stamps Used

Douglas

Shatter

Be The Change Quote

Lynne
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My First Attempt at Gelli Printing

This was a bit of an experimental card. It was my first time using Frantage and my first time using my Gelli plate. Taking both of those things into consideration, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I'd just got the tree stamp for Lesson 15 and was watching a Frantage show on Create and Craft. Hubby was reading but the demo caught his attention and he told me to order some. I wasn't going to say no, so I was straight on the website and ordered the Bronze and Green Encrusted Jewel kits.

I started off by stamping the image in black pigment ink, adding clear embossing powder, and heating it. I masked off the trees and added some blue for the sky then created a bark effect on the tress with the texture stamps that come with the Lesson 15 kit.

Then it got interesting. Most of the Frantage demos I've seen have just applied it randomly to a card as an embellishment. However I thought it would be great to give texture to the trees and land. Unfortunately it wasn't that easy. Using a paintbrush to try and herd the grains of embossing powder into the design, getting it to stay where I wanted it, then heating it it before it moved again was a challenge to say the least! It nearly got flung out of the window on more than on occasion. Embossing powder is not going to get the better of me though and I eventually ended up with rather funky trees.

I thought they needed an equally funky background, so out came my new Gelli plate. This was another challenge. I got the Gelli out and put it on a Teflon sheet, as the instructions tell you to. One minute I was happily applying the paint with my brayer, the next the blooming thing was on the floor (that wasn't the word I used at the time!). Paint all over the carpet and fur and fluff all over the Gelli. So Lynne's Top Gelli Tip is - Don't do that - it's a nightmare to clean up!

After that I proceeded with a bit more care and was soon printing away.

This is a photo of my desk after I'd finished. In the bottom right you can see the stencil that I made. I cut this out of textured card on my Cameo from a design bought from the Silhouette Store. The green I used is Emerald from the Daler Rowney System 3 paints that Claritystamp sell. I also used System 3's Metallic Copper and Rich Gold to tie in with the Frantage.

The finished print is in the middle, on the Gelli, and either side of it are the first prints from the plate. The print I've used is what is left on the mat after that. I built up the finished print by repeating this process.

The print at the back on the left is the very first print I did. It wasn't good!

I didn't realise it would at the time but the textured card stencil gives its texture to the finished print. This was printed on to completely smooth white card.

There you go, that was my first play with my Gelli plate. Since then I've had a couple more goes and made two very different cards. One in bright yellow and orange and a pastel one that's for my Mum's birthday. I'll blog them both later this month.

Don't forget that Maria Simms is on Create and Craft tomorrow (Tuesday 16th April) for Claritystamps - Take 2. It will be such a treat getting Clarity shows twice a month and I'm really looking forward to seeing what Maria has to show us.

Stamps Used

Making A Point Kit

Lynne

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Shrink Plastic Shells Card

As I mentioned in my previous post, I loved the Single Shell done in shrink plastic. After making them for an embellishment on my Shells On The Beach card I wanted to do another where they were the focal point.

The background scene is done on Snow White Centura Pearl card just like the other card, but this time I added the Reeds stamp from the Lesson 16 Windmill Kit. It reminds me of the Marram Grass you get in the dunes at Old Hunstanton.

The oval die cut is from Spellbinders Floral Ovals set. Mum and Dad bought me this for Christmas and at the moment it's my favourite set. I cut this on Centura Pearl card, stamped the sentiment in Coffee Archival ink and then stuck the shrink plastic shells on with Glossy Accents.

Stamps Used

Single Shell

Shell To Your Ear

Small Birds In Flight

Windmill and Reeds Set - Lesson 16

Lynne

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Shells On The Beach Card

I had a lovely afternoon on Tuesday when I met up with fellow Design Team member Kirsty Goodwill. Kirsty's "The Arty One" on the DT and our styles couldn't be more different, we had such a laugh though. Kirsty was very generous with her knowledge and inspired me no end, especially in regards to the Gelli plate. I've had a good old play with it today and I'm really pleased with what I've made. I'll do a blog post on it once I've done this month's samples.

Talking of this month's samples, this is the first card I made with the shell stamps.

I used Snow White Centura Pearl card for the scene a it has a lovely sheen. I thought this would look particularly good on the shells.

I think it's the first time I've used my new Detail Copper embossing powder by Stampendous. I bought it after seeing it on a gorgeous card by Julie Owens, who was one of the Top 5 on the Clarity Challenge Blog last month. Although I've been embossing for years it's not a colour I'd bought before but it makes a nice change from using gold and I thought it would work really well on this card.

I stamped and embossed the shells first, then covered them up with a mask so that I could create the beach scene. When that was done I coloured them in with ProMarkers.

The weathered wood is a printable background I bought from the Silhouette Store. I sized it to fit the card and then added some Old Paper Distress Ink to take away some of the whiteness.

Once I'd assembled the card it was looking a bit plain so I had the idea of shrink plastic shells.

The shells are really easy to cut out so they're perfect for shrink plastic. That then gave me the idea for my next card where the shrink plastic shells are the main focal point.

Stamps Used

Single Shell

Shell To your Ear Verse

Shell Cluster

Birds in Flight

Lynne

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Wedding Card - Douglas and Annabel's Special Day!

I just had to blog this one first as it caused such a stir at the weekend. I had lots of comments on Facebook about it and my Crafty Little Blog has never had so many visitors.....

...sadly it wasn't due to my card making genius, but a bouquet of flowers!  lol

It was all going so well, until they zoomed in on the bouquet and Barbara Gray got the giggles, this was closely followed by risqué remarks from Nigel. By then I was in fits of laughter and Hubby was saying, "Told you, told you". Sorry Barbara, maybe this was one of those times when I should have listened to him. Still we'd have all missed out on a good giggle if I had.

The idea for the card actually came from my Mum when she was up for the Harrogate show. I wasn't convinced at first but after we'd stamped it out I really liked it.

I scanned that image into my Silhouette Studio and sized an arch shaped card blank to fit the scene. Once I had that cut out I just had to stamp it onto it and colour it in with my ProMarkers.

I wanted to give Lily a bouquet to make her look more like a bride, but after looking through my Clarity stamps the only one I had that was suitable was the long floral flourish from the Corners and Flourishes Set that Linda Spencer used on her fab Hen Party card.

I wanted to do something different though and thought shrink plastic could be the answer. I took the flowers from the Garden Set and the bow from the Corners and Flourishes Set, coloured them in with watercolour pencils and shrunk them. Voila! Pretty little bridal bouquet.

It's all finished off with Sweet Pea coloured Flower Soft which Noreen McKie kindly helped me choose when we were at Harrogate. I'd only used the white for snow on Christmas cards before so she gave me some tips too. The main one was to use the proper Flower Soft glue. I dug mine out when we got home and had a closer look at it and it does seem to be thicker than my other PVA glues. The Flower Soft was still on the card when it was shown on TV so it did its job anyway.

I thought it looked really pretty when I'd finished it, but I never expected it to make quite such an impact. It could have been worse though, at several people have said to me, at least I didn't use Clarity's "To Have and To Hold" stamp!!!

Stamps Used

Bride and Groom - Annabel and Douglas

Guests - Rosie and Laurel

On Your Special Day

Blooming Corner Kit

Remountable Garden Set

Remountable Corners and Flourishes Set

Lynne

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April's Clarity Samples

Another great weekend of shows from Barbara Gray. So many clever ideas from the Design Team too.

These are my samples.

Growing up on the Norfolk coast, the seaside stamps were just my thing. As you can see I got a bit carried away with shrink plastic and my Hunstanton postcard even inspired Barbara to take a trip there yesterday.

Douglas looked a bit like a conductor to me, so I made a musical themed card with him.  The other ladies joined him for a wedding scene, complete with Flower Soft confetti and a shrink plastic bouquet.

I went blue and made a Delft tile card with the stamps for Lesson 16.

The tree stamps card from Lesson 15 showcases my first attempts with Frantage and the Gelli plate.

I hope you'll come back as I'll be blogging them all individually over the next week or so.

Lynne
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I've Drawn a Boat!

Just a quick extra post today as I'm so excited! The new term of "In the Classroom with Barbara Gray" has started again on Create and Craft TV and I couldn't resist crafting along with Barbara. I even managed to draw the boat!!!!!!! That means there are two things I can draw now - birds on a wire and boats. All thanks to Barbara.

The texture stamps are great fun to experiment with and I enjoyed using them for my samples.  It's always great to see how Barbara intended the stamps to be used though, and the different ways that the DT used them.

I hope you'll join me again tomorrow when I'll be posting my samples from the weekend's shows.

Lynne
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Meadow Dance Birthday Card

After publishing my 100th post yesterday, I thought it was about time I entered a blog challenge. The one I have chosen is over at the Less is More blog. The theme for this week is "Use Scallops".

This is a birthday card for my friend Connie. As she was born in Germany I thought it would be a nice touch to use some of my German Clarity stamps. The phrase means "After the rain comes the sunshine", which is a bit like our "Every cloud has a silver lining". I think it works really well with the Meadow Dance stamps as the characters look so full of joy.

I started off by stamping the Meadow Dance and tree in Black Archival ink, then I built up the scene around it. I inked up the Forest Ridge stamp in Adirondack Meadow then added some brown to the bottom of it. I stamped this onto copy paper, then used the second generation ink on the scene. This makes it more subtle as it's in the background.

I cut a template to match the horizon and used Adirondack Lettuce and Meadow on my Ink Dusters to fill the grass in with.

It's finished off with some fluffy clouds and a bright yellow sun.

Stamps Used

Meadow Dance

Tree

Forest Ridge

Sentiment

Lynne

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Blooming Corner Birthday Card - Mum

I can't believe it but this is my 100th post. I've not really done any writing since I left school but I must admit I'm really enjoying being a blogger.

I'd like to start by congratulating Dawn Lawson, the winner of the first Clarity Stamp Challenge. I hope you enjoy spending your £50 prize. The entries were all so good and was a really hard task choosing our Top 5. In the end we picked Julie Owens, Linda Barton, Chris Hearn, Lin Henson, and Sally Newick. Congratulations ladies, your cards are all stunners.

The Blooming Corner set from Lesson 6 last year was one of my favourites. I loved how Barbara taught us to colour the flowers in and make the skep. I sent my skep card to my Mum for her birthday so I wanted to think of something different to send in to Create and Craft for my homework. I ended up writing my name, LYNNE. The cards can be seen at the bottom of this post or you can read my original post about them here.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, as soon as I'd done LYNNE I realised that it would have been so much nicer to write MUM.

Well, I finally got around to making it for my Mother-in-Law's birthday and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

MUM is stamped in second generation Adirondack Espresso ink and it is coloured in with my ProMarkers.

Stamps Used

Lesson 6 - Blooming Corner Set

Happy Birthday and the sentiment at the bottom are by Chocolate Baroque.

There's only 3 more days until term starts again with Lesson 15 on at 11am on Saturday 6th April. I don't know about you, but I'm getting excited!

Lynne
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In the Garden - Bunnies' Burrow Card

I can't believe it's already time for the second challenge of the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. It was lovely to see so many fantastic entires for the first one. If we get that many every month it will build up into a great inspirational gallery of Clarity card designs.

This month's theme is "In the Garden" and I just couldn't resist using the gorgeous bunny stamps.

The idea of this card is that you're looking out into the house owner's garden from the bunnies' burrow. They've been a bit cheeky and gone out to explore. I hope there aren't any carrots in the veg patch!

It's a theatre card that I made with my Hougie Board. I did a similar card last year with the 'Twas the Night stamps. That one was looking through a mouse hole. They are really easy to make - you just decide what size you want the front (mine is a 15cm square) and add 8cm to one side (so mine are 15cm x 23cm). Score each side at 2cm and 4cm then stick them together. I use wet glue for this.

The burrow idea came to me quite quickly but then I had to figure out how to create it - I didn't have any suitable papers and my painting skills aren't up to it. Eventually I had the idea of taking a photograph. I found a great spot at the side of the road when I was walking Maya; I love how the roots are sprouting through.

I printed this out onto card and drew a circle on the front where I wanted the burrow entrance to be. I ripped the circle out using the line as a guide to give the burrow a natural look then inked the edge.

I added the Home Sweet Home sign and the bunny slippers (cut on my Cameo from a design bought in the Silhouette Store) to make it look like you're inside the burrow. Although Hubby's just pointed out that each bunny should have 4 slippers (smart-arse!).  Mind you, I wonder if bunnies would wear cute human slippers?

I used my brayer and Ink Dusters to create the scene and coloured the images in with my ProMarkers. The shingle path was created with the texture stamps from Lesson 15. 

Well that's my take on "In the Garden", I look forward to seeing yours. Don't forget that there's a £50 Clarity voucher for the winner.  Good luck!

Stamps Used

Bunnies from the Remountable Bunnies Set 

Gardening bits from the Remountable Garden Set

Cottage

Birds in Flight

Bushes made with this tree

Lynne

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