The Winds of Change

Morning all. I thought I'd continue with the umbrella theme and blog this card today.

It was designed in a rather different manner - I had the idea of the umbrella border and designed the rest of the card to fit that.

I worked out that 4 umbrellas gave me a nice size gap to fit a scene inside. Each umbrella is 4cm long, so I drew a 16cm square on the card in pencil and marked it every 4cm. Then I just stamped an umbrella in each section, trying to get them as close to the line as I could, until I'd completed the frame.

The clouds were created with Stormy Sky (that seemed appropriate!), Weathered Wood and Pumice Stone Distress Inks. I used Lettuce, Meadow and Pesto Adirondack inks for the grass. It's finished off by stippling with a shaving brush to give it some texture.

Once I'd got that far I couldn't decide how to finish it off. I really wanted to use the verse but I wasn't sure how or where and I didn't want to mess up a piece I was really pleased with.

To help me decide I stamped it in Stazon ink onto a piece of the cellophane packaging that the Clarity stencils come in. I could them move it around and see what I thought.

I quite liked it at the top (it's nice and balanced) but I also liked the stormy sky and didn't really want to cover the clouds up. I eventually decided that I preferred it at the bottom but I wanted it to be less obtrusive...........

.............so I stamped it in green. Much more subtle. What do you think? I hope I made the right choice.

Stamps Used

Remountable Winds of Change Set

Small umbrella from Remountable Clarity Characters Set

Lynne

x

Sending You Sunshine

Hi there, I hope you're having a good weekend. I come with apologies and thanks - I've not been online much recently and after going on FB to catch up I come on here to find out that it's been 10 days since I last posted, so sorry about that.

I also spotted that my Crafty Little Blog has just passed 100,000 page views, so thank you for that. It's nice to know that I'm not talking to myself.

Thanks also for the interest on my Pinterest. After my marathon pinning sessions I now have all of the cards from my blog on there. So glad I won't have to do that again!

I've picked this card to come back with as the weather is so grey and miserable that I thought we could all do with some sunshine.

Last month when Mum and Dad were staying Mum and I watched this......

.....YouTube Tuesday video of Barbara Gray's and were inspired to have a go. I chose to use the Double Bubble stencil and we ended up with a fab print. I didn't know what to do with it though..........until the Umbrella Girls stencil arrived. I thought they would be fun together and a bit different, although I did feel bit naughty sending a sample to Barbara that used her own idea! lol

The original print was done with the 7 x 7 inch stencil but I wanted to use it for the background too, so I got out my 9 x 11 inch version and did another larger print with that.

I used the same colours as Barbara did - Mustard Seed, Broken China and Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. The stencilling of the Umbrella Girl is done with black Stazon ink on a sponge and the stamping is done with black Archival.

The small umbrellas are from the Remountable Clarity Characters set. They go so well with this month's umbrella stamps and stencils.

"Sending You Sunshine" finishes it off.

The next day - Oops, I've just noticed that the video doesn't seem to be there when I look at this post on my iPad (there's just a gap) but it is on my iMac (which I wrote it on). I must have done something wrong. Anyway if you can just see a space click on it and it should take to to the video. I hope!

Stamps and Stencils Used

Umbrella Girls

Double Bubble 7 x 7 inch

Double Bubble 9 x 11 inch

Remountable Clarity Characters

Sending You Sunshine

Lynne

x

Haunted Castle Card

Hi all. Are any of you on Pinterest? I joined ages ago but haven't really done a lot with it. It was mentioned to me again recently and I thought I'd put my cards on it. I've done different boards for UK samples, Germany, the Challenge Blog etc. Yesterday I uploaded everything on my blog from 2012 and 2013, so apologies if anyone's feed has been taken over by me. I'm going to do 2014 later today (so apologies in advance) but after that I will just pin each time I blog. If anyone has any good boards for me to follow, or any tips, please let me know. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually!

I thought I'd better start with this card, before we get too far away from Halloween! I do love making Halloween cards and Create and Craft's Monster Deals weekend gave me the perfect excuse (even though the show was on the 2nd Nov!).

It was hard trying to get a decent photograph of it, that shows off the shimmer, as it is on Centura Pearl card. I love the effect the card gives though.

I stamped the castle in black Archival ink, coloured it in with Spectrum Noir pencils, then masked it and a moon off ready to create the background. I used Eggplant, Butterscotch, Mountain Rose and Black Adirondack ink on a Claritystamp stencil brush for this. I just kept going until I was happy with the colour (it does take a while on the pearl card).

When I was happy with that, the trees, owl and horse were stamped in black Archival.

The carriage was stamped in black Archival then heat embossed with clear powder.

Stamps Used

Diamond Carriage Kit

Happily Ever After Set

Trees from Remountable Winter Wonderland Set

Branch

Owl from Remountable Woodland Animals Set

Lynne

x

November's Claritystamp Samples

Hi all. It was another fab show from Barbara today - I particularly loved her Diamond Carriage demo. I've always loved that set and it goes so well with the castle. The card I made with it was my favourite this month.

I have put these on FB but I thought I'd still do this post as it shows you what will be coming up on my blog this month.

As always there are some fab new stamps and stencils and I look forward to sharing my ideas for them.

Lynne

x

Here Comes Santa Claus

Hi all. It's time for another challenge on the Claritystamp Challenge Blog.  You might not instantly guess it from my project but the theme is "Travel'.

I didn't have a clue what I was going to do for this challenge until I was at the MDF Man's stall at the GNPE Harrogate. I saw this tree and thought it would look fab with a Christmas scene on it. I pictured this and then thought "No one travels further than Father Christmas on Christmas Eve!"

Mum and I had a lot of fun decorating it. Thanks for your help Mum. x

I thought it would be easier to do the scene on card, rather than straight onto the tree, so I drew around it and cut a piece out.

I started off by stamping Frosty, as he is at the front, I then masked him off and stamped the Quirky Cottages at a quirky angle on a quirky hill. These were then masked off so I could stamp the trees.

A mask creates the moon and I brayered in the sky with Denim and Pitch Black Adirondack ink. Traveling Father Christmas is stamped in Jet Black Archival ink.

Unfortunately I hadn't checked out how it went together and eventually spotted that my tree came down too low for the bucket. Luckily Dad came to my rescue and sawed the top off. Thanks Dad. x

I sprinkled on some Frantage embossing powder for the snow and heated it to set it. Some Stickles was added on the snowy ground to give it some sparkle. The cottages and Frosty were coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils.

I assembled the tree and painted it with grey acrylic paint.

Some silver gilding flakes and a bit of inking around the edges adds the finishing touch. I used red liner tape on the bucket and a piece of doubled sided adhesive sheet for the star.

I hope you like it. I couldn't bear to put it away so it's currently sat in my craft room - I think it's a bit early to bring it downstairs! It is still autumn after all.

Talking of autumn, it was great to see all the beautiful seasonal cards for last month's challenge. All of the seasons were covered and there were some four seasons ones, which I always love. Congratulations to the winner and Top 5. It is always so hard to choose!

I wonder what you will all come up with this month? I look forward to seeing. The rest of the DT had some fab ideas.

Stamps Used

Small Quirky Cottage

Small Frosty

Pine Tree Silhouettes

Repositionable Trees

Happy Christmas

Santa from Remountable Christmas Set

Lynne

x

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone. I've been dressing up poor Maya again!

Too cute to spook!

If you've been reading my blog for a while you'll know that she has quite a few headbands and I just couldn't resist adding this one to the collection.

When I first started, a couple of years ago, it took quite a few bribes and a lot of attempts to get a decent photo. However this time Hubby had the genius idea of using a ball. She LOVES a game of ball and sat there totally fixed on him holding it.........

What are you waiting for? Throw the ball!!!!!

..............even though it was a really windy day and Batty's wings were flapping about all over the place. I never thought a stuffed bat could be more uncooperative/trouble than Maya!

Luckily I got one photo where you could see both wings and Maya was really happy when she got her game of ball.

The frame is a Studio Ilustrado design bought from the Silhouette Store. The bat is from Tesco. Maya is a one off!

I hope you have a spooktacular day. I'll be back tomorrow with a new project for the Claritystamp Challenge Blog. See you then.

Lynne and Maya
x

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

Hi all. I hope you're having a better day than I am. It's been one of those days where nothing has gone right. Not good when I'm trying to finish off my Clarity samples! I thought a break might help, so here I am.

This is the last of my cards from this month's shows, although it was actually the first one that I made.

I started off by masking off the moon and brayering the sky with Denim and Black Adirondack ink. When the moon mask was removed I stamped the deer and trees in Archival ink.

The stars are masked off from the top of this nativity stamp. They were stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with Star Dust embossing powder to make them twinkle. Unfortunately that doesn't really show up in my photos.

The verse was stamped once in black Archival then again, slightly up and to the right, in Versamark to create a shadow effect. This was then covered with silver detail powder and heat embossed.

I guess I'd better get on. I have dinner to cook and samples to finish. See you later.

Stamps Used

Large Nativity

Reindeer and Let Heaven verse

Pine Tree Silhouettes

Lynne

x