Clarity Ballerina Card

I really like the card I did in this style with the Meadow Dance stamps, so I thought I'd have another go with the Clarity Ballerina. It's a bit of an unusual choice but I was pleased with how it turned out.

I think that with cards like this getting a nice shape of hill is the key. I'm not that great at tearing them though.  For this card I used a new trick.  I worked out where I wanted the hill to go to fit in with the moon and the ballerina and drew the shape on a piece of copy paper. I was then able to follow this guide with the ruler when I did the tearing. I found it a lot easier to get a good shape than tearing it 'freehand'.

The brayering and sponging was all done with various shades of Adirondack ink. All of the stamps in the main image are Clarity, apart from the Vine and Stars which are by Lavinia. The Birthday Wishes stamp is from Chocolate Baroque.

It's all finished off with some holographic glitter.

Lynne

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Golden Winterland Card

Here is the last of my cards from the November shows on Create and Craft. For this one I revisited a design that I won the Clarity Club Challenge with back in September 2011.

The original was done in black and silver. I'd wanted to make the snowflakes on that one sparkly but the sparkly embossing powder I had back then wasn't very good and made them look like a blobby mess. So in the end I just used my Detail Silver powder. It wasn't quite the effect I wanted but at least the snowflakes were crisp.

Since then I've bought some Metallic Gold Sparkle Wow! powder. It holds the detail of the stamp so much better so I can now have sparkly snowflakes!

The Winterland scene was stamped in black Archival and I coloured the windows in to give them a warm glow.

The snowflake detail at the bottom is done with a Martha Stewart punch.

Here's the original one. Which do you prefer? I think the gold one is my favourite.

Oh well, I must get back to work on next month's cards.  I've only made two so far, so I have lots to do. The next German ones are done though and Barbara will be on HSE24 Extra with those on Sunday.

Lynne

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Clarity Hummingbird Card

I certainly coloured in a lot of hummingbirds before I got one I was happy with. They are such beautiful, iridescent birds and I wanted to try and achieve that look on mine. I stamped a load out and got out all of my sparkly things.  I tried Perfect Pearls, mica powders, Sakura Stardust pens, then coloured pencils and ProMarkers, but I wasn't happy with any of them

In the end Hubby came to the rescue. He said "Why don't you use that sparkly stuff you used on the Autumn Leaves card?". I wasn't convinced as I didn't want to end up with "Disco Hummingbird" but I gave it a go to keep him happy.  In the end I had to admit it was by far the best, so that was the technique I used. Thanks Hubby. I coloured the bird with Promarkers first, then I went over it with a Versamark pen before covering it in Stampendous Stardust embossing powder and heating it.  Voilà!  One iridescent hummingbird!

I wanted to make the flower that he was going into stand out, so I stamped it several times and decoupaged it to give it a 3D look.

It was all finished of with a pretty lace frame cut on my Cameo.

Lynne
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Baby's 1st Christmas Bauble

This was another of my ideas for the number stamps from Lesson 13. It also uses the letters from the previous lesson.

The bauble was cut on my Cameo from Centura Pearl Card. I inked it with Dusty Concord Distress Ink on my Splodgemat.  The bauble top was cut in gold Mirri card (that hasn't photographed very well).

The baby in the crib is part of one of the 'Twas the Night stamps. I first saw this done by another member of the Design Team, Janet Pring (thanks Janet). It's great to be able to get more use out of a Christmas stamp. It's stamped on a Nestabilities and mounted onto foam pads to give it a more 3D effect.

The reverse is done the same so it doesn't matter if it turns around.

Lynne
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Clarity Deerscape Card

I always have a favourite and this is November's.

It's my version of a card that Barbara Gray taught at her workshop at the Harrogate show. Fortunately it ended up a lot better than the one I did at the show!

Dad bought Mum and I tickets and although we had a brilliant time, my artwork was a complete disaster. If it could go wrong it did and I was so embarrassed!!!! So when I got these stamps to make samples with I wanted to show that I could do it.

To make it different to Barbara's version I added the reflection and put the words in the moon.

The invention of the Splodgemat has made reflections much easier to do. All you have to do is stamp onto the mat and then you can lay the paper onto that image to reverse it. It's then easy to line up the clear Clarity stamp to complete the reflected image. In this instance I used the brayer though, as I preferred the results I was getting with it.  I have the wider 6" one, as well as the regular size, so I was able to fit the whole image on it.

I think it's always worth having a play when you do things like this. I tried first and second generation ink for the Deerscape and the same with the brayer and Splodgemat for the reflection. You can then decide which you like best for that particular project.

To do the water I got out my Ink Dusters and tried to get lines when I was dragging the ink across. I think this gives a nice watery effect.

The inks I used are Adirondack Eggplant and Espresso.  You brayer the hills in Eggplant, then go over them very lightly with Espresso at the end. The creates an almost misty effect. You want hardly any ink on your brayer for this. As Barbara says, "You can always add more ink but you can't take it away". Someone should have said that to me at Harrogate!  :-)

Lynne
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Sepia Log Cabin in the Woods Card

The first version of this picture was done in colour but I thought it looked too similar to the other Log Cabin card I'd made. Mum had the idea of doing it in sepia.

I used the coated Clarity card and it's all done with an Espresso Adirondack dye ink pad.

Like the previous card, I started off with the cabin and then stamped everything else. The sky was brayered using my Splodge mat and then spritzed with water and blotted to give a snowy effect.

I used the coated Clarity paper to make the background. I originally bought it as a cheaper option to practise my brayering on, but it's also fab for using for backgrounds.  I randomly applied the Espresso ink to it with an Ink Duster and brayer before I spritzed it with water and applied scrunched up cling film.  Once it had dried I stamped the snowflake from the Lesson 14 set all over.

If you looked closely at the group shot I previously posted, you may have noticed that the topper was on wonky.  The foam pads stuck so quickly to the coated card and I couldn't move it. I was frightened to pull it off incase I ripped the card and ruined all that work. Luckily Dad came to the rescue with a clever idea (apparently he's used to fixing Mum's mistakes!).  I went into the kitchen and sharpened a long knife. I protected the sides with some copier paper (so that I didn't scratch the coated card) and then just cut through all of the foam pads. Simples! I was then able to stick it back on straight with some Pinflair. I should have just used that in the first place!!!!!!

I've since tweaked the colour version and made that into a card too. I will post that on here too.

Peace on Earth is stamped onto a Spellbinders Ribbon Banner die cut and it's all finished off with some Glamour Dust for a bit of sparkle.

Lynne
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Log Cabin in the Woods Card

I have used the Clarity Sprucescape stamp so much and I was very pleased to see the little Log Cabin joining the collection. They work so well together.

I started off by stamping the Log Cabin and built the scene around it. I'd love to be sat next to a roaring log fire in that cabin. It looks so peaceful.

The sky was brayered in blue using my Splodgemat, then I added a couple of other colours to give it a grey snowy look (I really should write down exactly what I use but I keep forgetting).

The snow was done with an Ink Duster and copier paper. I like the subtle effect that they give.

It was looking a bit bare so I added the deer from the Deerscape stamp and some Glamour Dust to finish it off.

It's matted on some Coredinations card that has been embossed with the Bricks and Bark M-Bossibilities folder and then sanded.

Lynne
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