Clever Corners

I do love the corner stamps - they're so versatile and classic Clarity. I guess that's why Barbara chose the Berry Corner set for the first lesson of her In The Classroom shows way back in 2011. Do you remember it? She also chose a set, the Victorian Corner, for the first recorded USA show. The two cards I made for that are the ones I'm sharing today.

I thought I'd make some smaller cards as from what I've seen online they seem quite popular over there. They are about 5" x 7" or US A7. When I first started card making UK A6 cards (roughly 4" x 6") were really popular but over time larger cards and square cards seem to have become more the norm. It was nice to do something different for a change and the size is quite suited to the corner stamps. Although with pattern building you can go as large as you want!

They are both stamped on white linen card bought from papermilldirect (I do miss the days when you could go to a shop and fill up your own box!).

For this one I used Potter's Clay and Teal Zeal Memento ink pads to create stripes and a square frame. I pencilled lines on the card first to give me something to follow.

When that was dry I applied some Distress Ink over it with a Clarity stencil brush.

For this one I used the stamp to create a circular frame and another stripe. The stamps fit nicely in the circular Framer Shapes stencil so I used that as a guide this time. I also inked inside it with my Clarity brush to add some colour. I masked off the stripe too and did the same.

I kept it really simple and just finished it off some some pearls.

Stamps and Stencil Used

Victorian Corner

Remountable Line Sentiments Set 1

Framer Shapes Stencil Set

Lynne

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Napa Valley

Hello again. Have you had a good day? I went into town this morning to post another lot of Clarity samples off. That's always very satisfying. Don't forget - Barbara will be on Create and Craft TV at 9 - 11am on Sunday (1st Feb). As always there are some lovely new stamps.

I started this card off by stamping the Napa Valley image on to white card. I then coloured the trees and land in with a combination of ProMarkers and Distress Markers.

Inks were used to colour the mountains and sky. I used a brush for the sky and a make-up sponge for the mountains. Stamping the image on to copy paper made a mask that I could drag the colour on from.

When I was happy with the colouring I used the Framer Stencil with Grunge Paste to create a textured frame. After it had dried I went over the paste and white card with Distress Ink on a Claritystamp stencil brush.

A bit of matting and layering and some brads finish it off.

Stamps and Stencil Used

Napa Valley Set

Bird from the Remountable Summer Shades Set

Lynne

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Another Vase Card

Hi everyone. Are you having a nice weekend? We've just been out playing ball with Maya and I'm frozen! That big round yellow thing below is sadly missing here today.

Thanks to everyone who has started following my Pinterest boards. I wondered why it had been busier than usual today, then I spotted the post on the Claritystamp Facebook page about one of them. Mystery solved.

This is the second of the vase cards that I made for the US Claritystamp shows. I'd been trying to think of a different way to use the round California stamps when I realised that one might work with the vase stencil. After trying them all, the Carmel stamp with the wide vase was my favourite combination.

The first thing I did was draw around the stencil to get the shape of the vase.

I stamped the Carmel scene inside then filled in any bits that I missed with a black pen.

To make a mask for the sun I stamped it onto a Post-it note and cut it out with a craft knife.

I then used the outside part and inked in the sun with a sponge................

................and the inside to cover it up so that I could work on the sky. I used a brush for this, fading down to a lighter blue at the horizon. I didn't worry about masking the trees off as they were going to be coloured in green and the blue wouldn't affect that. The colouring was done with Distress Markers as they have a lovely fine tip which is great for getting into the fiddly bits.

The next bit is my favourite part...............

............I covered the whole thing with Glossy Accents, giving it a lovely glazed look.

The ornate black mat is cut with a Spellbinders Floral Ovals die.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Carmel Stamp

Remountable Bouquet Set

Remountable Happy Words

Lynne

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Floral Vase

Evening everyone. Sorry I'm late again today. It's just been one of those weeks!

The next two cards I'm going to share with you have a bit of a vase theme.

This one uses the Remountable Bouquet Set which consists of two Bouquet stamps and a really useful stencil with four vases and a flourish on it. The two stamps are a solid and a line art version of the same image and I used both on this first card.

The first thing I did was stamp the flowers out in black Adirondack ink. As you can see in the photo, I masked off the stems first so that they didn't get stamped.

Next I masked off the bottom part so that the leaves and flowers wouldn't get the ink from the vase on them. As I was using quite a pale colour this isn't essential but I just can't help myself!  :)

I then stuck the vase stencil in place so that I could work on the vase. I masked off the area around it so that I didn't get any stray ink on it. When I'd done that I drew in the outline with a black pen so that it matched the stamped image.

I sponged some Distress Ink through the stencil to colour the vase, then I swapped it over for a paper version (I find that I'm more likely to get my stamping right up to the edge this way as the paper is thinner than the stencil). I made it by drawing around the vase and cutting it out with a craft knife.

I inked up the solid Bouquet stamp with Versamark ink and stamped it onto the vase (ignore the outline of the flowers on my mask - they were there from a previous attempt that I didn't like).

Then I heat embossed it with gold detail powder. The swirl on the side of the card and the "with love" are also gold embossed but it I'm afraid it doesn't show up too well in the photo.

I coloured the flowers and added some shading to the vase with my Spectrum Noir pencils.

To finish it off I cut the vase out with my Spellbinders Labels Eight and the greeting with Spellbinders Ribbon Banners.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Remountable Bouquet Set

Remountable Line Sentiments Set 1

Lynne

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A New Discovery

Evening all. I'm a bit late writing today's post but I got a bit distracted - I spent the afternoon at my dining table colouring in. It's much easier doing it there than my craft room as I have the whole table to spread out my Spectrum Noir pencil boxes and ProMarkers.

Anyway, today I'd like to share my bird card with you.

I intended making it a cardinal, so I started off colouring it red but then I added some orange and just made up my own, new to science, bird.

I began by stamping the Large Finch in black Adirondack ink onto Theuva card. I stamped it again onto a sticky note to create a rectangular mask so that I could then stamp the Sycamore Branches around it to create a frame.

The colouring is all done with ProMarkers and Spectrum Noir pencils. I used the same sticky note to add some shadow around the frame, then I masked off the bird and text to do the same.

A squiggly line adds definition around the frame and three black gems finish it off.

Stamps Used

 Remountable Finches Set

Letterbox Set

Lynne

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Partying Elegant Ladies

Brrrr! It's chilly this morning; I don't think I'll be dressing like these ladies today.

They're from a range of Elegant Ladies stencils by Claritystamp. I just had to choose these ones as I just love the style of their dresses.

I used Broken China, Worn Lipstick and Dusty Concord Distress Inks for the base colour.....

.....then stamped the floral pattern on two of the dresses in the same colour. The rest of the stamping was all done in Jet Black Archival ink. Some shading for the folds of the skirt was added with Spectrum Noir pencils.

They are such fun to play with. You can make them look however you want and, with the speech bubble in the set, you can make them say whatever you want too. I used a tiny "Happy Birthday" stamp by Clarity but you could also use your computer and print some text, then stamp the bubble over it.

Stay warm and I hope you have a lovely Sunday. I'm spending mine in my craft room. I'm going to use iPlayer Radio to catch-up on yesterday's Finders Keepers show (it's on BBC Radio York on Saturday mornings and is a bit like the old TV show Treasure Hunt but on the radio) and make some more Clarity samples.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Elegant Ladies Multibuy

Lynne

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Summer Dreams

Morning all. Did you see the American Claritystamp shows live from the CHA? It was all very exciting!

This is the first of my samples from those shows. I thought it might brighten up the day a little as the weather here is so yucky at the moment.

I started off by heat embossing the glasses using Jet Black Archival ink and detail clear embossing powder. I then masked off the frames to work on the scene. The base colour was done with a brush and Distress Inks then I used my Spectrum Noir pencils to add some detail to the sea and the sun. The stamping is all in Jet Black Archival and I used a ProMarker to create some land for the bird to stand on.

To finish it off I stamped "Summer Dreams" with the Letterbox set and added some blue brads and a warm yellow mat to match the colours in the scene.

Maya is walked and coffee is drunk so I'm off to my craft room to make a couple of samples that I planned yesterday. I double checked that I have the correct products so hopefully it will all go smoothly! If that doesn't make sense to you see the previous post.  :)

Stamps Used

Remountable Summer Shades Set

Letterbox Set

Lynne

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