Sketched Lady Gelli Print Card

This is the second of my Sketched Lady cards from Maria Simms' Clarity Take 2 show.

I made it (with Mum's help) back in June after we'd been to see Barbara at the Stamp Magic show in Doncaster. I was still very new at Gelli printing and keen to watch Barbara's demos. We went straight to the Clarity stand to watch Barbara in action. I had already realised that I had been using too much paint and watching her demo confirmed this.

After we'd been around the show we went back to say goodbye and Barbara was just starting another Gelli demo. I found myself mesmerised again and it was some time before we left!

I was so inspired that I got my Gelli plate out as soon as I got home. Mum was my coach telling me when I wasn't doing what Barbara did and what I should be doing! Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we ended up with this.

One of the things that Barbara said was how she likes the white border that gives it the printed look when you use the 6 x 6" plate. I have the larger 8 x 10" one so I cut myself an aperture that I could print through and create the same look.

Once I'd created the main print the lady needed a fab outfit to match.......

......so I created a co-ordinating print to cut her clothes from.

Très chic!

Stamps Used

Large Sketched Lady

Eiffel Tower

Lynne

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Sketched Lady Gatefold Card

There's not long left to enter the "Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside" challenge on the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. Entry closes at 8pm on the 31st July. There's a £50 Claritystamp voucher for the winner, who is chosen at random, so it's well worth entering.

I've just written my blog post for the next challenge which starts on Thursday and I look forward to sharing it with you. Until then I have two cards using the Large Sketched Lady stamp that were on Maria Simms' Clarity Take 2 show.

This is the first one.

Part of the kit on Create and Craft was a mask for the stamp and its mirror image. I made this card to show off that feature.

I stamped the lady onto Theuva card with second generation ink and then used the Splodge Away mat to create the mirror image. I then cut them out with a scalloped Spellbinders die and masked off the ladies.

The background pattern is made with a Butterfly Garden Spellbinders Impressibilities. I placed it on top of the card, with the scalloped die still in place, and sponged Adirondack Mountain Rose ink through it.

The ladies' skin is coloured in with ProMarkers. Her clothes are stamped onto coloured paper, cut out and stuck on. The pattern on her dress is made with the same corner stamp I've used on the card.

I used the same technique inside.

The Large Sketched Lady was the first Clarity stamp I bought about 4 years ago and I still love it. It's a great stamp that you can do a lot with.

Stamps Used

Large Sketched Lady

What Is This Life

Victorian Corner

Lynne

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Colourful Hot Air Ballon Card and ATC

Like everyone, sometimes I struggle for ideas for my cards.

I had a friend's birthday card to make and I just couldn't think of what to do. Luckily I also had an ATC to make and it then gave me the idea for this card. The ATC theme was "Colour", so I got out all of my Memento ink pads and created a colourful patchwork. It took me quite a while to do but once I'd finished it I wasn't that keen on it, so I started again.

I love making scenes with the ballon stamps and thought a grey background with a rainbow coloured balloon would fit the theme.

I was really pleased with how it turned out and thought it would also make a lovely card for my friend. Problem solved!

This is the patchwork one. It made me laugh as I sent them both off for the swap and I think the recipient preferred this one! Which one is your favourite?

Stamps Used

Small Hot Air Balloon

Medium Hot Air Balloon

Large Hot Air Balloon

Be The Change

Sprucescape

Remountable Haberdashery Set

Lynne

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I Saw 3 Ships Gelli Print Christmas Card

There's just over a week to go until the next weekend of Clarity shows.

Meanwhile, here's my final card from this month's.

My favourite part of this is the Gelli print. I was so pleased at how it turned out.

It doesn't show up that well in the photo, but if you compare the two images you might be able to see that it has a lovely sheen to it as I added a final layer of silver to it through the Dotty Wave stencil.

The print itself was taken on some printed paper that I downloaded from the Silhouette Store. I rather liked the wave effect and thought it would make a good background.

The ships are stamped in Black Archival ink and I added some Black Soot Distress ink underneath them. I then highlighted some of the waves with a Sakura Stardust and some White Twinkle Wow! embossing powder.

Stamps Used

3 Ships

I Saw 3 Ships Music

Stencils Used

Ocean Swirl

Dotty Wave

Lynne

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May All Your Dreams Come True Gelli Print Card

Next month's stamps have arrived and I'm about to start playing with those - but I still have two cards left to show you from this month...

The background pattern is a ghost (second) print that I made using the Gelli plate. Then I added a layer of gold paint and used the Dotty Wave stencil to create a pattern before printing a second layer. I didn't cover the whole of the first print with the dots, just a few random areas.

To make the stamping stand out I heat embossed it. The Leafy Swirl is done in Detail Gold and the words in Detail Black.

It is finished off with a thin black mat cut with my Pefect Layers ruler.

Stamps Used

Small Leafy Swirl

Large Leafy Swirl

May All Your Dreams Come True

Stencil

Leafy Swirl 7" x 7"

Lynne

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Wedding Anniversary Cards

My last post was an anniversary card that I'd made as a Clarity sample but it was actually my 24th wedding anniversary earlier in the week, so I thought I'd share the card I made for that too.

I loved seeing all of the "Mr & Mrs" cards on the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog last month, especially the Lovebird ones as I knew I was going to use that stamp for my anniversary card. Pauline Margaret had placed them in the Leafy Bough stamp. I thought it looked fab so I just had to buy that for mine too.

The words inside are from a card by Carol Gilfoy which I also loved.

Thank you for the inspiration ladies. x

For mine I had the idea of creating an aperture in the card and placing the birds behind it.

When it's closed it just looks like they are part of the Leafy Bough stamp.

When it's stood up you can see them through the aperture. So cute!

The images are coloured in with ProMarkers and I have created a cloudy sky for the background. I always use Tumbled Glass Distress Ink for this. It looks really pretty in real life but it never seems to show up very well in my photos.

My Mum also loves stamping and I thought you might like to see the gorgeous card that she made us.

I was particularly impressed with her clouds. They look fab and they've photographed better than mine do.  I asked her what she used and she thinks it was Summer Sky Memento ink. What a perfect name! I will have to try it myself next time.

I think the swans are old Joanna Sheen stamps but the rest are Clarity. 

Thanks Mum.  x

As is often the case with Army life, Hubby was away for our anniversary but he's back home today. I think he will be in need of some TLC as he's just walked 100 miles over 4 days. That's one time that I'm glad I wasn't with him!

Stamps Used In My Card

Lovebirds

Leafy Bough

Happy Anniversary - Happy Words Set

Letter Box Set

Lynne

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We Make The Perfect Pear Anniversary Card

I thought I'd take a break from the Christmas cards and move on to this anniversary one.

The Pear Tree is a beautiful Christmas stamp but I couldn't resist using it to make a cheesy anniversary card instead. I always like it when Christmas stamps can be used for other things.

The Pear Tree is stamped onto Theuva card and coloured in with ProMarkers. It's then matted on some co-ordinating card that I cut with a Scalloped Oval Spellbinders die. That is then stuck onto some card that I chose to co-ordinate with the ribbon. I love those three colours together.

I typed the "Perfect Pear" line on my computer and sized it to fit the space, before printing it out onto the mauve card. After I'd done this I realised that it was a pretty similar size to the Letterbox stamps and I could have just stamped it. Silly me! 

It's a bit of a fun card but it appeals to my sense of humour! I hope you like it too.

Stamps Used

Christmas Pear Tree

Happy Anniversary from the Happy Words Set

Lynne

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I Saw Three Ships Christmas Card

It feels just as odd blogging about Christmas cards in this heat as it did making them!

I love the Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornament dies and thought the Three Ships stamps would work well with them.

It was a bit of a tight squeeze for the smallest ship but there's a ornament to fit them all.

It's one of those cards that's really simple but there's quite a bit of work involved in making it.

I stamped the images on each die cut then added the blue Distress Ink with an Ink Duster. The thin black mats are cut on my Silhouette Cameo.

The white background card was embossed with a Danity Dots Spellbinders Grand M-Bossibilities folder. The dotty theme was continued with the ribbon which I attached with red liner tape.

I'd love a paddle in that sea right now.

Stamps Used

3 Repositionable Ships

I Saw Three Ships

Lynne

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Holly Christmas Card

As soon as I saw the Holly Sprig stamps I thought they would make fab swags with the little bows from the Remountable Corners and Flourishes Set.

The base card is cut with a Spellbinders Grand Labels Eleven die. To give it a vintage look I brushed the edges of the cream card with some Tea Dye Distress Ink.  

I used the flatter of the two holly stamps to go around the base card and the more curved one to make the swags. The holly is stamped in Olympia Green Versafine and the bows and berries are coloured in with a red Sakura Glaze pen. This gives them a lovely sheen.

I used foam pads on the music to really make it stand out.

It's a very simple card but it was one of my favourites from this month. I hope you like it too.

Stamps Used

2 Repositionable Holly Sprigs

Deck The Halls

Remountable Corners and Flourishes Set

Lynne

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Rainbow Gelli Print Card

For this card I thought I'd have a go at trying to create a rainbow Gelli print.

It wasn't easy as there's a fine line between spreading the paint out evenly and muddying the colours. I was quite pleased with how it turned out though.  

The diamond came about as I was using the 7 x 7" Leafy Swirl stencil.  I wanted to get the maximum amount of colours that I could in so I used it diagonally.

I also wanted the Gelli print to be the main focal point of the card, so I just added some matching stamped black swirls, a couple of die cuts and gems. I wasn't happy with it though so I ended up adding the sentiment that you can see in the final version at the top. Although it covers up some of the print I think it looks a lot better.

Stamps Used

Large Leafy Swirl

A Thing of Beauty

The Gelli Plate, Leafy Swirl stamps and stencil are what Barbara Gray will be using on the next In the Classroom with Barbara Gray show on Create and Craft TV. It's on Saturday 3rd August at 11am. Can you believe it will be the 19th Lesson?  Hasn't time flown! If you want to stamp along everything can be bought on the Create and Craft website. I wonder what Barbara will do with them?

Lynne

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My English Christmas Card

Making Christmas cards at this time of year does strange things to you....

.....I was well into creating this one when I realised about the lack of snow, but then I thought in reality it hardly ever snows here at Christmas. We just always seem to associate snow with it. I like to be different though, hence my English (no snow) Christmas Card showing Douglas and Lily walking off their Christmas lunch on a bright Winter's day. 

The scene is stamped and brayered as usual, then I created a mask to colour in the trees. I inked through it with green Distress Inks on an Ink Duster to give them their base colour. I made one of the trees a lot brighter than the others - for this one I coloured the holly and berries in with Sakura Glaze pens, where as the paler ones were done with coloured pencils. I thought this gave a nice contrast. I also added red glazed berries to the holly round the edge.

Douglas and Lily are stamped in Black Archival. This gives them a really nice solid black colour.

Simples!

Stamps Used

Douglas and Lily from the Clarity Remountable Characters

Christmas Holly Tree

2 Repositionable Holly Sprigs

Words from Lesson 11 - Christmas Bauble Set

Lynne

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Deck the Halls Gelli Print Card

It seems so odd to be sharing a Christmas card with you when it's so hot outside but this is the first of my Gelli print cards from the weekend's shows.

I used the 7 x 7 inch Leafy Swirl stencil on my 8 x 10 inch plate. This gave me a slightly inked border when I removed the stencil, which I rather liked. I emphasised it with some Black Soot Distress Ink.

I stamped the music onto some copy paper and ripped roughly around it to make a mask for when I did the printing. This leaves a nice white area to stamp it onto later. Like the border, I inked around it afterwards with Black Soot.

The print itself is the second one, after the stencils have been removed. It gives the subtle effect I was after for this card. I also used the Dotty Wave stencil with some metallic gold paint in selected areas. It's one of those things that doesn't photograph very well but gives the card a lovely metallic shimmer.

Once all that was done I stamped the wreath and heat embossed it in gold. The holly berries are coloured in with a red Sakura Glaze pen.

Stamps Used

Set of 2 Repositionable Holly Sprigs

Deck the Halls

Lynne

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July's Clarity Samples

Here are my cards from this month's Stamping with Clarity shows.

There was a bit of a Christmas theme this month, although I did rebel slightly and made the Pear Tree into a cheesy anniversary card.

I've called the Holly Tree one my "English Christmas Card" as there is no snow on it!

My Gelli Plate was used on 4 of them.  I do love playing with it and I'm getting more adventurous with it. Hopefully a bit better too.

I love the Spellbinders Heirloom Ornament Dies and thought they were perfect for the 3 Ships and Verse.

That's a little taster of them. As always, I will be blogging them all individually throughout the month. I will also have some cards to share from Maria Simms' Clarity Take 2 show that is scheduled for the 16th July.

Lynne

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My 1st Blogiversary - Looking Back

It's funny, yet appropriate, that my 1st blogiversary has fallen at the start of a Clarity weekend. I can't believe it's been a year since I made my first post after joining the Claritystamp Design Team. It's made me feel a bit nostalgic and I've been looking back through my old photos to try and find the first Clarity card I made. Can you remember yours?

I didn't always photograph my cards back then but I think this is it. I guess this also means that the Large Sketched Lady and the Large Ornate Corner were the first Clarity stamps I bought. The photo is dated 6th August, 2009. It is my version of one of the cards in Barbara's book, Handmade Clear Stamped Cards. I recognise the ink pads that I used too, they were my first two Adirondack ink pads  - Lettuce and Denim. They were in a Dawn Bibby TSV kit and I am still using them!

14th August, 2009 - I guess I then bought a brayer and a Big and Juicy ink pad as these are some ATCs I made not long after using the Versamark reist technique on Clarity card.

13th September, 2009 - This was either my first or second trip to the GNPE in Harrogate where I met Barbara and her lovely daughter Grace.  As you can see, my stamping isn't the only thing that's changed!

28th September, 2009 - I guess I bought the shoe there as I made this card not long after. I'm not sure where the lace stamp is from but the papers are from an Artylicious CD.

16th November, 2009 - I guess I started getting a bit more adventurous as this seems to be my first brayered scene. Look at all those lines in the sky! 

16th November, 2009 - My first card using the balloon stamp. I've used that a few times since then!

There have been quite a few changes since I started. For me, the two biggest are the Splodge Away Mat, which makes brayering so much easier, and the thing that's made the most difference to so many of us - In the Classroom with Barbara Gray. I've joined in with the lessons since the beginning and have learnt so much. Thank you for that, Barbara, and for picking me to join your wonderful team. 

I wonder what the next year will bring...

Lynne

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Garden Grid Card

There's not long to wait now until Barbara is back on TV and I will be able to share my new samples. Until then I have one final card from the German shows.

It's a grid card that I made with the garden stamps and German words. Each section is masked off and inked to create the grid. As I hadn't used many stamps around the edge like your normally would, I added a wiggly black line as well.

The colours I used were Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink. They look quite different but looking at it now I don't really think the contrast is great enough. Peeled Paint and Bundled Sage might have been better. 

I had to have a go at Sazzle's stacking pots. It had me swearing a bit as there's lots of masking involved and it's not that easy. I think next time my pots will be quite happy on their own!

In case you don't speak German, the phrases are "A flower greeting", "In the garden is always beauty and work", and "Weeds for sale - Pick your own". I paired each one with an appropriate image.

A piece of co-ordinating K & Co. paper adds a bit of pattern to the background and finishes it off.

Stamps Used

Remountable Garden Set

Lynne

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Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

It's time for Challenge Number 5 on the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. This month's theme is "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside". Can you say that without singing? I can't!

I decided to make a decorative box. It started off life as a box of M&S Marc de Champagne truffles (they were really good!). I thought the box was pretty nice too so I kept it for a suitable project. 

This seaside theme seemed ideal. I thought it would look great with a row of beach huts going around it.

Sandpaper makes a great beach (the clue's in the name), so I went to my local hardware shop to buy some. I must have looked confused as one of the assistants came up to ask if I needed any help. I told her I was trying to choose which colour I liked the best. I got a very strange look, so I had to explain what I wanted it for. She then said "I've not had anyone say that before". They obviously don't get many crafters in there!!!!

I started off by stamping all of the beach huts on some card, then I stuck the sandpaper on. As I was going to decoupage the huts this meant that I didn't have to worry about the gaps between them.

I coloured all of the images in with my ProMarkers, trying to be bright and random with the beach huts, then I cut them out and stuck them on. I also used a ProMarker to add a bit of shadow to ground everything.

My original idea for the top was to use the shell stamps and verse, but once I coloured the sides in it looked far too busy for my liking.

So I kept it really simple by just continuing the sky and adding some seagulls and an appropriate verse. The "rope" is piping cord. It was 10p for a metre in Dunelm Mill. I felt like a really big spender when I got to the checkout!

That's my project, I look forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with. It's a great theme to have fun with. The rest of the DT certainly have. Their projects are stunning this month.

Congratulations to the winner and the Top 5 from the Mr & Mrs challenge. As always the entries were fab. It's my 24th wedding anniversary this month and they've certainly given me some ideas.

Stamps Used

Row of Beach Huts

Beach Ball

Bucket and Spade

Deckchair

Remountable Harbour Set

Seagull

To See The World

Lynne

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