Never-ending Halloween Card

Happy Halloween everyone. I hope you're all ready for a spooktacular Clarity weekend - it's nearly here!

Meanwhile I thought I'd share something different today. It's a never-ending card that I made for a Halloween swap couple of years ago.

They're really simple to make but a lot of fun.

For once I've not used a single stamp! 

It's just cut up pieces of K & Co. paper, Dymo tape and shapes cut out on my Cricut.

Here's Hubby showing it in action.

I've not put the instructions on here as there are some fab tutorials on YouTube (that's how I learnt it) - just search for never-ending cards.

My humans think this is funny but I got biscuits so I don't care!

Sorry to all of you who saw this last year but I couldn't resist showing Maya in her witches' hat again. I have a feeling it will come out every year.........

See you all tomorrow for the launch of the new challenge on the Claritystamp Challenge Blog.

Lynne & Maya

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Flowery Leaf Gelli Print Card

There's not too long to wait now until the weekend (2nd and 3rd Nov) when Barbara Gray will be back on Create & Craft TV. Before that, on the 1st Nov, there will be a new challenge on the Claritystamp Challenge Blog so don't forget to enter this month's if you haven't done so yet. There's a £50 Claritystamp voucher for the winner.

Meanwhile, this is another of my samples from this month. 

I love the bright pink colour of the Daler Rowney System 3 Process Magenta paint and I thought it would make a fab background. I also thought that it would be fun to have a print covered in leaves so I had to make some more leaf masks for the Gelli print. I used my Silhouette Cameo for this but you could also do it by tracing around the stencil and cutting them out with scissors. It would just take a lot longer.

Wrong way                     Right way

        

If you look closely at the stamp in the stencil you will see that there is a right way and a wrong way up for the leaf. This means that you need to be careful that you position all of the leaf masks the correct way up on the Gelli Plate before you take a print. Guess who didn't do this the first time?!!!!

As the print is the reverse of what you see on the plate, the leaves need to be this way up. Then when you take the print you will end up with leaves that the stamp fits perfectly in.

Making it was really simple once I'd sussed out those bits. I applied paint to the Gelli Plate, put the leaves on top followed by the Leafy Swirl and Dotty Wave stencils. I pressed them down with some copy paper before removing the stencils and taking the print.

I stamped the Large Flowery Leaves in place, coloured them in with ProMarkers and outlined them with a black Zig Millennium pen.

Stamps Used

Large Flowery Leaf from the Repositionable Leaf Set 3

Thank You

Stencils Used

Leaf 3 Double Mini Stencil

Leafy Swirl

Dotty Wave

Lynne

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Gelli Print Country Scene

I'm up early this morning as Maya forgot to change her tummy clock. At 6.30am she decided it was time to get up, by 7am I had to agree with her. Still at least it's nice and light - I do hate getting up in the dark. It's also given me some time to write this post.

This card uses my favourite Gelli technique - you create the first print by putting a layer of Buff Titanium paint on the plate and adding texture with some scrunched up paper. Then you add the second print on top (this one was the Treescape stencil), before adding ink to different areas with a sponge. If you've not seen it before Barbara Gray has done a fab tutorial here on her blog.

I did mine in a very similar way except I used the leaf stencil to leave an aperture in it to stamp the verse into. It was originally going to be a little scene (like I did on this card) but it was far too busy for my liking. So I started again and found a verse that fitted in perfectly.

Once I had the print I placed the Treescape stencil back on top and sponged ink through it to colour the sky, hills and tree. I then used the the Leaf 3 stencil to apply Distress Ink through and to outline the leaf. I noticed when Barbara does this she does it freehand but my hand's not steady enough for that.

The stamping's all done in black Archival ink.

Stamps Used

Fern

Foliage from Lesson 18 - Birdhouse Set

Medium Scarecrow

Crow in Flight

Today Verse

Tree from the Remountable Farm Set

Stencils Used

Leaf 3

Treescape

Lynne

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Lovebirds Gelli Print Card

Morning, I hope you're all having a good week. I'm having one of those where I have so many things to do that I don't know which to do first! I'm writing this whilst eating my breakfast so that will be two of today's jobs out of the way!

I love the vibrant orange and green of lovebirds and used those for the colour scheme for this card.

The bright orange background is a Gelli print that I made using two stencils. One is the Clarity Leafy Swirl and the other is a heart one that I cut myself.

I used Doeflex and my Silhouette Cameo to create it. 

I applied paint to the Gelli Plate and placed the Leafy Swirl stencil on top. This was followed by my stencil and some copy paper to take off the excess paint. I then put a heart shaped mask in place before I took the print to leave me a clear aperture to stamp into.

I coloured in the lovebirds with ProMakers and created a little bit of scenery to set them off.

The green mat is white card coloured in with the same green ProMarkers that I used on the birds. It 's an easy way of making sure the colour matches.

I don't normally do anything to the insides of my samples but this had to be done! Everybody say "Aww!".

Stamps Used

Lovebirds

Thank You

Leaves

Letter Box Set

Numbers Set

I guess I'd better brave the elements (it's absolutely chucking it down!) and take Maya out for a walk before I crack on with the rest of my jobs.

I hope you have a lovely day.

Lynne

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Fifties PanPastel Card

My samples for November's shows are slowly coming on. Yesterday was both a hit and a miss. The hit was a card made with the stencil brushes (they give such a lovely effect), the miss was the fibres and film! I don't know what I do wrong but they never look anything like Maria's!

Today the Gelli Plate is coming out and and I know exactly what I want to do with it. Hopefully it will work!

This is another really simple card made with one of the new pattern stamps - Fifties. They are such great designs that you don't really need to do a lot with them to make an eye-catching card.

I stamped the image horizontally in Versamark ink and then blended over it with red, yellow and orange PanPastels. 

When I was happy with the colour I stamped the image again, but this time vertically, in black Archival ink.

The 'Thank You" stamp and a thin black mat on each side finish it off.

Stamps Used

Fifties from the Remountable Patterns Set

Thank You

Lynne

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A Wise Old Owl Lived In An Oak

What a fab day I had yesterday at the Stamp Magic show at the Doncaster Dome. I went with fellow Clarity DT member Sam Crowe and we had such a laugh. Needless to say we spent a lot of time on the Clarity stand and as always I picked up lots of inspiration. Sam is so enthusiastic about the Gelli Plate and kindly shared lots of tips with me, Maria Simms had some film and fibre samples on display and they looked fantastic and Barbara Gray was using the fab Clarity stencil brushes that I got at Harrogate. All of these items will definitely be coming out for a play in my craft room this week.

This is one of my samples for the Leaf Set 4 stamps and stencil but I couldn't resist adding the owl and verse to it. They go together so well.

For a change I used cream card to stamp onto. I drew an oval in the middle and stamped the acorns around it. They were coloured in with ProMarkers before I inked the leaf shaped edge using the stencil.

The owl is stamped in the oval and coloured in with ProMarkers.

To do the tree stump I stamped the verse onto copy paper then cut around it to give the shape I wanted. I then had an aperture to sponge ink through.

I used a Big and Juicy ink pad in Foliage on the solid stamp to colour the leaves. They were then cut out, scrunched up and stuck on with Pinflair glue gel following the line of the oval.

I added Distress Ink to the edge of the card and wish I'd done it to the oval too. Unfortunately I didn't think of  this until I'd stuck the leaves on and then it was too late. I knew if I tried to do it with them in place I'd mess the whole thing up. Never mind.

I guess I'd better get up to my craft room now, what shall I do first - Gelli, Film and Fibres, or some stencilling?

Stamps Used

Leaf 4 Mini Stencil

Repositionable Leaf 4 Set

Owl

Owl Verse

Lynne

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SCUBA Diving Card

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember my Roseart Vase Card with a Shaving Foam Background that I made last Christmas (if you don't the post on that can be found here).

If you look at the photos in that post you will see that the first print Mum and I made was green. I really liked it but thought that the other colour was better for the vase project, so its been sat in a box since then waiting to be used - when I saw the Neptune stamp I realised its time had come.

If you want to know about how we made the background it's all in the other post. This time it was just a case of doing the stamping and colouring it in with ProMarkers. Unfortunately I didn't have any large Clarity sea creatures to use with it, so I cut a diver out from the Silhouette Store on my Cameo. It was inspired by my Hubby who is as obsessed with his diving as I am with my stamping.

A spot of Glossy Accents on the bubbles adds a bit of texture. "Happy Birthday" stamped with the Letter Box and Numbers sets finish it off. 

I couldn't resist the Tropical Fish Set when it was on at the weekend so I might have to make another version with them.

Stamps Used

Neptune from the Remountable Patterns Set

Fish from the Remountable Harbour Set

Letter Box Set

Numbers Set

Lynne

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From Little Acorns.....

What's everyone got planned for today? I hope it's something nice. I've had a few days off from crafting and plan to get back to it today. Next month's samples won't make themselves!

This one was Hubby's favourite from this month, as he kept telling me at every available opportunity! You may be thinking "Isn't that lovely" but this is why.................

......I'd been sat in my craft room all afternoon planning some cards and was particularly pleased with this one, especially the idea of using one of the framer stamps with a large "O" to make the word "Oak". Hubby comes in from work and I proudly show it to him. He looked at it and said "Or you could say from little acorns".

After a bit of thought I grudgingly had to admit his idea was better than mine (Ooh it's so hard to type that!) and went with his version. However, as I keep reminding him, he wouldn't have thought of that if he hadn't seen mine first!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those of you who are FB friends with me will probably have an idea of what we're like and know that this could go on for some time......................

Anyway, back to the card which is what you're really interested in.

As you can see from my plan I used a couple of Spellbinders dies - Labels Five and Grand Labels Eleven to cut out the shapes, then I used my Cameo to cut out the mats and base card.

You may have noticed that the tree looks slightly different in the finished card. Well Hubby also pointed out that the trunk didn't look very oak-like, so I used the top and mantle of the smaller tree in the set with the trunk of the largest one.

The solid stamp in the set is used to colour in the oak leaves. I first inked it up with Adirondack Lettuce, then added some Meadow around the edge. This gave them a lovely vibrant green colour which I thought was a nice change form the autumnal colours I usually use.

Before I go, if you fancy a bit more Clarity, Barbara Gray now has her own blog. You can find it here.

Happy stamping.

Stamps Used

Noel Frame (although you can use any of the "O" framers)

Lesson 21 - Remountable Winter Trees

Letter Box

Remountable Leaf Set 4

Lynne

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Monochrome Lacy Curve Card

As Theresa and Linda very kindly said they liked this one I thought it would be a good place to start.

It's one of those cards that's really simple but has to be done very carefully to look good. It uses the scary combination of white embossing powder on black card and black powder on white card. You have to be really careful with this or you will end up with a right mess!

To avoid that I was careful not to get sweaty fingerprints all over the card and I used an anti-static bag rather liberally before I stamped with Versamark.  I still managed to get a few stray specks of embossing powder though, so they were carefully brushed away before I heated the powder.

When it was cool I used a microfibre cloth to remove the remains of the anti-static powder.

I cut the black card following the angle of the top of the stamp and placed this on top of the white card. That was then cut into a rectangle. Now I just had to figure out how to make it into a card...........

My usual favourite of a thin black mat wasn't going to work, so I tried placing it on all sorts of bright colours - red, pink, lime green etc. It just didn't look right, then I had the idea of reversing the top layer - Perfect! I stuck another piece of black card on some white before sticking the stamped piece on top, making sure that it all lined up. I then cut it out leaving an even border.

Keeping the simplicity of it all I just added three white pearls and 3 black gems to finish it off.

Simples!

It kept getting shown like this on TV but I think I prefer it how I intended it to be. Which do you prefer?

Stamp Used

Lacy Curve form the Remountable Patterns Set

Lynne

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October's Clarity Samples

What a fab weekend it's been! So many hours of Barbara on TV with the launch of her fab new DVD. I've made a few purchases and I know I'm not alone! It's also been great fun chatting away to other Claritystamp fans on Facebook whilst watching the shows. It's been like one big party.

Here's all of the cards that I made (click on photo for a larger version). As always I will be blogging them all throughout the month (I've already done the blue Lovebirds one). There was also some of my older cards shown again, they are all on here somewhere.

The Gelli plate has made quite a few appearances in my samples this month - it is such a fun item. After watching Barbara earlier I'm going to have to get my inks out and try them on it. That's the great thing about stamping - there's always new things to try.

As she was so busy this month Barbara asked the Design Team to make some of the TV demo cards. I  was so nervous when mine was shown but thankfully it all went well. Barbara is such a professional - it would have been a whole other story if I'd had to do the demo too!!!!!!

Anyway I'll explain more when I blog them all individually. I'd better get some jobs done before Barbara is back on at 2pm.

Happy stamping, 

Lynne

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Moonlit Lovebirds

It's finally here! 3 days of Barbara Gray on Create and Craft TV. I've just watched the first hour and already made a few purchases, one of them being the new shapes for the Letter Box kit. They look fantastic and I can't wait to play with them.

I thought I'd start off with this one of my samples as it was shown this morning and is one of my favourites.

The Lovebirds is such a cute stamp and looks fab when it's coloured in. It's perfect for an anniversary card - I used it for my Hubby's card this year. That's blogged here if you missed it before.

The moonlit idea came about as I wanted to extend the branch stamp and make it into a tree. Black was the easiest choice for this (no worries about the colour matching). I stamped it a couple of times in black Archival and filled in the trunk with a black ProMarker. I've not tried this before but I was really pleased with how it turned out.

I stamped the verse in the sky and cut a moon mask to cover it. The dark sky is created using Barbara's method of brayering with Denim Adirondack ink, then going over it with Black Adirondack. A few dots of white pen create some stars. How romantic!

The birds are coloured with ProMarkers.

The card was originally going to be shaped like the photo above but I thought it needed something else. Mounting it onto a square card gave me the chance to add the words "Happy Anniversary" using the Letter Box kit. The green and blue card is Bazzill Bling.

Three heart shaped gems finish it off.

Oh well, best I'd better get some jobs done before Barbara is back on at 2pm. There's so many shows to look forward to this weekend, what a treat!

Happy Crafting! 

Stamps Used

Lovebirds

Love You

Branch

Letter Box

Lynne

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My Original Four Seasons Card

What a busy week it's been. Mum and Dad have gone home after a lovely week here. We all had a fab time, especially at the GNPE. It's always great to catch up with the Clarity team and Mum and I came home with lots of new ideas and a few new crafty goodies.

With so long between the Clarity TV shows this month I'm running out of things to post, so it's a real blast from the past today.

July 2013

This card is based on my first ever Four Seasons topper.  It was inspired by Lesson 2 of In The Classroom With Barbara Gray - The Split Tree. Can you believe it was about two years ago? Hasn't time flown! I made it for a topper swap that I took part in. The idea was that we all made a topper, posted it to someone else who made it into a card and they posted it to the next person.

October 2011

This is the original topper that I made. It's a mini version of the trees from the lesson all put together as a sheet of postage stamps. I can't tell you how many times it took me to get the stamps all joined up, even then it wasn't perfect. That part of the 2013 version is a lot better!

Anyway, for some reason my topper never got made into a card. Back in July it came up again in conversation and I had the idea of doing it myself. 

I wanted to keep the new version pretty much the same as the original but as you can see I made a couple of small changes. I don't know why but I got Spring and Summer the wrong way round on the first one, so I changed that. I also changed the colour of the ground in Autumn as I couldn't remember what ink pad I'd used.

I kept the making up of the card really simple as I always do. How someone else would have made it up was one of the things I was looking forward to seeing when we did the original swap. 

Anyway, it may have taken nearly two years for the recipient to get her card but better late than never!

Whilst I'm feeling nostalgic here are my trees from Lesson two that I made along with Barbara. If someone had told me then that I'd end up on the Design Team I wouldn't have believed them!  You never know what the future holds.......

Stamps Used

Lesson 2 - Split Tree Set

Remountable Seasons

Vertical ATC Stampstamp

Lynne

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Gelli Print Anniversary Card

This is the final sample from the last German shows.

The base of it is a Gelli print done with black acrylic paint. You can get a very different effect with the same stencil depending on how much paint you take off with the first print.

This card, that I blogged previously (here), uses the same stencil and black paint for the base print but by removing more ink with the first print, it looks very different.

For today's card I stamped the Alliums onto some copy paper and cut a heart shape out around them. I used this as a mask when I took the Gelli print to leave myself a nice white area to stamp into. I then used the bit I'd cut the heart out of to mask off the Gelli print when I applied the red Distress Ink to the heart.

Like the other card, I used the Dotty Wave stencil to add some dots, this time in red.

The names are stamped separately, cut out and stuck on. I'm not sure who Brigitte is but first time we lived in Germany we had some great nights out with a policeman called Wolfgang whose English improved greatly when he was drunk! Not that we ever were of course!!!

Stamps Used

Allium 1

Allium 2

Letter Box Set

German Version

Stencils Used

Leafy Swirl

Dotty Wave

Lynne

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P.S. One more sleep until Harrogate!

Winter Wonderland Aperture Card

I'm starting to get excited - only 3 more sleeps until I'm off to the GNPE in Harrogate.  It always a fun show and it's lovely to catch up with crafty friends.

This is the card that inspired the one in my previous post. It's one of my German samples.

The stamped image is on the inside of the card and can been seen through the aperture on the front.

I started off by stamping the deer scene on the front of the card with Cobalt Blue Archival Ink. I then cut it out with my fab little Fiskars Fingertip craft knife.

I matted that onto some blue card and followed the outline with my knife to give an even-ish border.  It's not stuck on to the background then, I just forgot to photograph that stage.

The base of the card is covered in snowflakes. I used Cobalt Blue Archival Ink and Weathered Wood Distress Ink for this. I also went around the edges with the Weathered Wood.

Once I'd finished the base card I stuck the main image on so that it lines up perfectly with the aperture.

A spotty bow finishes it off. 

Stamps Used

Lesson 14 - Winter Wonderland Set

Lynne

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Warm Winter Wishes Card

I can't believe it's the first of October already and time for a new challenge on the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. It's been a busy month that's seen lots of changes. It's sad to see Karen, Hellen and Rae leave the Blog Design Team but lovely to welcome Amanda, Jo and Sam.

The theme for this month is "Winter" and I've created a snowy scene aperture card.

When closed the scene inside can be seen from the front.....

.........but when you open it up the design follows through.

I started off by working out the positions of the children playing in the snow. The child pushing the sledge is actually wearing ice skates but by covering them up when I inked the stamp I've managed to get rid of them. It's also taken away the harsh line of the sledge so it looks like it is in the snow.

I then worked out how to get the Gelli print of the Treescape to fit the scene.

I wanted to get the line of the hills on the stencil to match up with those on the stamp so I positioned it appropriately.........

.......and added a temporary extra bit to the stencil. This stage also showed me where I needed to cut the aperture for the front.

I then made a print with black acrylic paint. I used some Weathered Wood Distress Ink to add in some more snowy hills to match the print. 

The "Warm Winter Wishes" phrase is made up from these two Clarity stamps. It's stamped on a Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two die cut.

I created another matching Gelli print for the inside.......

..........and a mirror image of it (by turning the stencil over when I took the print) for the facing side.

It was one of those cards that sort of evolved (when I started off I only intended to have a Gelli print on the front) and turned into a bit of a labour of love. I hope you like it.

As always, I really enjoyed looking at all of the entires for last month's "Vintage" challenge. There was such a great variety of ideas. Congratulations to the winner and Top 5. Don't forget to enter this month, there's a £50 Claritystamp voucher for the winner. It's picked at random so everyone has an equal chance of winning.

Stamps Used

Large Winterland

Kids and Sledge

Small Frosty

Large Frosty

Snowflake Verse

Warmest Wishes

Winter from the Remountable Seasons Set

Stencil Used

Treescape

Lynne

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