While Shepherds Watched.......

Morning all. Just a quickie today as I have lots to do.

For a quickie post, a quickie card seems appropriate - The majority of the design of this one is from the music paper that I've stamped on. I just added the shepherds, sheep, hills, carol and star in Coffee Archival Ink.

The paper was bought from Clarity although it doesn't seem to be on the website anymore. Hopefully Barbara will get it back in stock as it is beautiful.

The middle section was cut out with a Grand Spellbinders Square die, matted onto brown card and stuck back on top to give it a framed effect.

I hope you have a lovely Sunday. I'll be back with my next project for the Claritystamp Challenge Blog tomorrow - Mustn't forget to write that post later!

Stamps Used

While Shepherds Watched

Repositionable Shepherds and Sheep

Star

Lynne

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Silent Night

Morning everyone. Today I'm going to share with you the one my Hubby calls my "Feet card".

Can you see why? He is cheeky!

It uses a much neglected item in my stash - PanPastels.

As I only have a few, I had to mix some Black in with Phthalo Blue to get a night sky colour. 

One of the great things about PanPastels is that you can rub them out, so I used my whizzy rubber to remove the colour from the book, candle and horns. I then added a little touch of yellow Sakura Stardust pen to the candle flame.

The stars are from this stamp. I just masked off the bottom part when I inked it up with Versamark ink. I went over that with Neutral Grey PanPastel to give them some colour.

I thought it would be different to add my personalised Clarity Christmas stamp to the front of this card. It shows that you don't have to just keep them for the inserts and it's nice that it can be seen when the card is on display.

Stamps Used

Silent Night

Repositionable Angels Set

Star from Large Nativity

Personalised Name and Christmas Greetings Set

Lynne

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The Holly and The Ivy

Morning all. I hope you're having a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. I'm having a fun one, as you've probably read Barbara Gray challenged her DT to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and I did it yesterday. Oooh, it was cold and I think Hubby enjoyed soaking me far too much. Maya kept well out of the way as she'd already had her drenching (a bath and she's not keen on them!) that day.

I've also just spent a few days in London, which I why I haven't blogged for a bit (I only got around to scheduling one post). It was fantastic but so tiring. As we weren't there for long we wanted to cram in as much as we could and we just didn't stop!

Anyway, back to crafting..............

This is another card from this month's One Day Wonder shows on Create and Craft TV featuring the personalised Christmas stamps (I understand that they will soon be available from Claritystamp too).

I thought that the smallest tree stamp would make a lovely background for the largest one.

I started off by inking the grid background. I worked out the size of box I needed for the stamp (4.5 x 5.5cm) and made little pencil marks along the edge to help me position the inked lines. I never have a lot of luck with making tape (I always manage to rip the paper) so I tend to use my blending mat to ink off of. It gives me a nice straight line, is easily moved and the mat itself helps with getting a nice soft edge.

Once I'd done the vertical lines I did the horizontal ones to complete the boxes.

After all that work I didn't want to mess up the stamping of the trees so I made myself a little gadget to help position them.

I cut a Post-it to the size of the rectangles (4.5 x 5.5 cm) and stuck it to my acrylic block. I then went around the edge with masking tape.

I removed the Post-it and replaced it with the stamp. Then I just had to line the masking tape up with the inked box and all my trees were nice and central and in the same place. I know if I'd done it by eye I'd have messed one up!

The main image is stamped on a Spellbinders Floral Ovals die cut. I stamped it once, then moved the stamp slightly down and to the left before stamping it again (without re-inking). This gives it a lovely shadow.

The ivy flourish in the corner is cut with a die from Joanna Sheen. I added some holly to it that I cut on my Cameo and some Cosmic Shimmer Berry Red PVA berries.

A matching insert finishes it off.

That was a long one, it's a good job it is a Bank Holiday. I'm off to do a spot of Bank Holiday DIY (painting the bathroom) but before I go I couldn't resist adding this. I've just about warmed up now...... 

.........and it is for a good cause.

Stamps Used

Large Calligraphy Tree

Small Calligraphy Tree

Personalised Name and Christmas Greetings Set

Lynne

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Peace On Earth

Hi, I thought I'd blog this one next as it's very similar to the previous card.....................

...............only this time I've used the larger deer stamps.

Like the previous card I have them staring up at the sky, only this time they're looking at the moon.

As they are larger I cut masks for the deer, including the antlers (that was fun!), and the moon before creating the scene around them. The moon mask was cut with a Spellbinders circle die (I picked the one that the verse fit in).

The deer are stamped in one of my brown Archival inks (sorry but I can't remember which one) and coloured in with Spectrum Noir pencils.

The verse is stamped in Eggplant Adirondack. I also used that, along with Espresso, to create most of the scene.

I also used Eggplant to stamp the verse straight onto the inside of the card.

The decorative snowflake frame that the scene is mounted on was cut on my Silhouette Cameo. It was bought from the Silhouette Store.

Stamps Used

Deer Standing

Deer Sitting

Peace On Earth

Tree from the Remountable Trees Set

Personalised Name and Christmas Greetings Set

Lynne

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Joy To The World

Hi all. Did you have a good weekend? I had a nice relaxing one.

This is the first of two cards I made featuring the Clarity deer. As they are looking up you can be creative with what you have them staring at.

This one uses the small deer that come in the Remountable Forest Set. I thought it would be fun to have them looking up at Santa and his reindeer.

As the antlers are quite small and ornate I made sure that the area behind them was white snow so that I didn't have to worry about masking them off. 

The main stamping is done in black Archival. The deer are coloured in with Spectrum Noir pencils and the snow is dots of white Sakura Souffle pen.

Once I'd finished the scene I matted it onto black and brown card using my Perfect Layers rulers.

I used the same card and matched the design inside, only this time I stamped my greeting on the main section. 

The lines on my glass cutting mat helped me line the stamps up and I then pressed a large thin block onto them to pick them up. I could then stamp them all out in one go as I thought there'd be less chance of messing up that way. You just need to make sure that you give the middle a good press.

I do think that the insert finishes the card off beautifully. 

Stamps Used

Joy To The World

Remountable Forest Set

Remountable Christmas Set

Personalised Name and Christmas Greetings Set

Lynne

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Christmas Place Cards

Hi all. Wasn't Thursday fab! Barbara and her team must have worked so hard to bring the One Day Wonder to our screens and now they will all be working hard to get the personalised stamps made. It's a great idea though and I'm really pleased with mine.

It made me laugh when Leonie said to Barbara that she would have herself and her dogs on hers and Barbara pointed out that I'd done the same. I couldn't leave Maya out though as I do always put her name on our Christmas cards.

I also included her in this set.

She may not sit down at the table but she does always get her own Christmas dinner.

The ornate black part is cut with a Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two die and I sized the base to fit it. I cut mine on my Cameo but you could do it without.

As we are three there was a little icon in the set for each of us. The stamping is all done in black Archival. I added a little bit of shading under the robin and holly and a little bit of red to the berries. So simple but I do like them.

At least at home we won't have to worry about hiding them when we sit down. That's always the first thing to do when in the Mess. If you don't they get grabbed and have rude messages put on them. They're then sent down to the boss who reads them out; it can be very embarrassing!

Stamps Used

Personalised Name and Christmas Greetings Set

Lynne

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Claritystamp's One Day Wonder

What a great start to the day! I will blog all of my samples from today's shows individually but for now I thought I'd do a quick post on the One Day Wonder - The Personalised Christmas Name Stamp and Mix and Match Greetings Set - and the different ways I used it.

It's such a fab idea and I knew it would be popular. I certainly enjoyed using mine.

I guess the main way to use it is for the insides of your cards and I've done my inserts in three different ways -

1. It has been just stamped on the inside of the card in an ink that matches the design on the front.
2. I've added a paper insert that has been decorated with the stamps and colour scheme that are on the front.
3. I've stamped onto white card and matted and layered it in the same way as I have the image on the front. This is my favourite way but it's probably just for special cards as it uses rather a lot of card and also makes them quite heavy.

I've also used it to make a gift bag. Again I followed the theme on the front of the bag to personalise the back.

For the last card, the angel one, I've used it on the front. I thought this was a bit of fun and would make your card stand out from the rest on the mantelpiece.

The last photo (the place cards) is my favourite. They are so simple but I was really pleased with them. You know what's going to be on my table and near Maya's bowl this Christmas!

They are such useful stamps and look so professional.

Don't forget, Barbara is on again at 11am, 2pm, 4pm and 7pm. I don't think I'm going to get much done today!

Lynne

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