Garden Swing Card

This is one of the cards I made for the recent Trade Show at the NEC that Claritystamp exhibited at.

They had a whole stand dedicated to their stencils and it looked fab. If you want to read more about that Barbara Gray recently blogged about it and that post can be found here. 

The stencil is a fab image on its own but you can have great fun, like I did, creating a scene around it. There are so many Clarity stamps that would work for this. When my stencil arrived I'd just finished making some samples for German TV with the Birdhouse and Picket Fence set and the stamps were still on my desk. I soon realised that they would be perfect together. 

To make my card I started off with the stencil. I taped it to a piece of Theuva card and sponged ink through it. I used black Archival ink for the branch and girl and Lettuce and Meadow Adirondack for the greenery. I think I might have also used some Olive Archival.

Once I had the stencilling done I stamped the scene in around her. There are so many beautiful elements to the Birdhouse and Picket Fence set and I used nearly all of them on this card. I love the little squirrel on the branch!

I will certainly be looking through my Clarity stamps to see what other backgrounds I can create for her, although she does look like she's having fun in the garden.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Birdhouse and Picket Fence Set - Lesson 18

Swing Duet Stencil

Lynne

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Clock Card

This is the last of my samples from this month's Claritystamp shows. It's hard to believe that it's nearly time for the next one (Sunday 2nd March). It's not been a great week for me but I finally got started on my next lot of samples yesterday and that's how I plan on spending today too.

I'd just watched the 3D film "Hugo" when I got the Clockwork stencil. I don't know if you've seen it but it's a lovely film. Hugo is an orphan in 1930s Paris who lives in a train station and looks after the clocks. There are some fab 3D scenes where you're looking through the workings of the big station clocks. Anyway, I really enjoyed it and just had to make my own clock with this stencil. 

The clock part is a design from the Silhouette Store which I cut out on my Cameo. I then used the Clockwork stencil to fill in the workings. Unfortunately they're not in 3D and it doesn't work but it looks the part.

I must go and walk Maya now so that I can come back and play. I have lots of colouring to do and something "arty". As you know, I'm not good at "arty" so that could be interesting. I'm looking forward to having a go though.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Clockwork stencil

What Is This Life stamp

Lynne

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Marionette Theatre Card

This card was definitely the one that took the longest to make out of this month's samples.

It also took me a long time to decide how to use the Stage stencil - Should I emboss it, colour it with ProMarkers or ink etc. In the end I found some fab embossed red paper by Kanban in my stash that reminded me of brocade curtains, so I decided to paper piece it (cutting out the parts of the stencil in different papers).

I made it into a theatre card (how appropriate) although I kept the back flat as I didn't want too much dimension.

This is the back section. I drew around the pieces of the stage stencil and cut them out with scissors. The Marionettes and Hands were also cut out after being stamped on Theuva card. They were coloured in with ProMarkers and then stuck in place.

I didn't want the Marionettes' strings to stand out too much so I drew them in with a pencil. The pattern on her dress was made with one of the petals from the Butterfly and Petals set (Lesson 9).

I did apply Versamark ink to the masks at the back of the stage but it's very subtle and I don't think it really shows up in the photo.

For the front section I added 2cm to the width. I then scored each side at 2cm and 3cm with my Hougie Board. The aperture was drawn following the shape of the stencil and cut out with a craft knife.

The curtains were cut out the same way as the back and I cut out the little row of lights at the front to add some more interest. By this point it was turning into a bit of a labour of love.

I think the rest of the DT felt the same way as there were so many fab samples with this set and everyone had done theirs slightly differently. I always love seeing how everyone uses the same products in their own way. I hope you like my version.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Stage

Marionettes

Hands

Remountable Pretty Petals

Lynne

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Another Magpie Montage Card

This card is based on one of Barbara Gray's old TV demos (looking back through my photos I guess it was around March 2012). It was a really popular one and I remember seeing lots of people posting their own versions of it online.

Anyway, when I saw these stamps I thought it would work really really well with them.

White Coated Claritycard is essential for this.

You start off by stamping the Magpie Montage and verse in black Adirondack ink. When that is dry, mask it off with Post-its so that you can stamp the background in Versamark ink.

Then, with the help of a brayer, the magic happens. Leaving the masks in place I brayered in diagonally from the top right using Adirondack Mountain Rose. When I was happy with that I brayered in from the bottom left with Adirondack Raisin. You want to leave a paler area where they meet, although those two colours do work beautifully together.

I used a sponge to add some shading around the edges of the stamped images before I removed the masks. Then you buff it over with kitchen roll or toilet paper (which is a bit softer) and the beautiful background appears.

I stamped the Magpie Montage out several times onto copy paper and cut out the different parts of the birds that I wanted to add colour too. I then used them as a mask and sponged the colour (Mountain Rose and Raisin) on.

I also added a bit of colour to the branch and leaves with ProMarkers.

To finish it off I want around the edge of the verse with a black Micron pen and added a couple of Ivy Flourishes cut with a die by Joanna Sheen.

As I found them I thought I'd share these old photos too.

This one's dated the 8th March 2012........

..............and this one is from the 1st April 2012. If my memory serves me correct, the colours on those are Eggplant and black. The stamps are all by Claritystamp except for the bird on the grasses and that is by Chocolate Baroque.

Stamps Used in the Magpie Montage Card

Magpie Montage

A Bird Does Not Sing

Small Sprig

Music from the Remountable Birdsong Set

Lynne

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Magpie Montage Card

This card was the first of February's samples that I made. It always gives me a boost when the first one goes well and the enthusiasm to get on with the rest. It combines the Magpie Montage stamp and the Magpie 1 stencil.

I played around for a bit to work out the best position for the stamp and stencil to get the best out of them both. Then it was just a case of filling in the stencil with the stamped design.

I didn't want the border so I covered it up with Post-its when I inked up the stamp. Just make sure that you remove them before you stamp!

I then stamped through the aperture of the stencil. I used a black Micron pen to draw in any bits that didn't stamp properly and to fill in any gaps. I also used the pen to draw around the edge of the magpie.

Post-it masks cover the little magpies so that I could apply the Distress Ink to colour the large one. I used the same colours to edge it too.

The inside part of the stencil comes in handy to cover the large magpie when applying some ink around the edge for a shadow.

The background is stamped with the Small Sprig which matches the Magpie Montage perfectly. 

A small bow, some music and a verse finish it off nicely.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Magpie 1 Stencil

Magpie Montage

A Bird Does Not Sing

Music from the Remountable Birdsong Set

Small Sprig

Lynne

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Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I got Hubby's card made in time and it's lucky I did as he'd actually got me one. Normally on card giving occasions he will "have to go the the supermarket" for something the night before. However last night he stayed in and it was me who disappeared upstairs "for something".

Sometimes with a card it's all about the words and this is one of those times.

The stamp pretty much says it all..........

........but just to be sure I added some words of my own inside using my trusty Letter Box set.

I was very impressed with my colouring as I'd had half a bottle of cava beforehand (from M&S' Valentine's meal deal - which was very yummy, not sure what we're having tonight now though....). Bubbles do go to my head!

The stamp is this month's New Design Club stamp. If you are a member you will have yours already, if not it can be bought from Claritystamp next month. I stamped it in black Archival, then heat embossed it with clear powder as I was going to colour it in with ProMarkers. I used the same pen (Berry Red) to create the matching red mat.

I realised when I was making it that it was 30 years ago that he sent me my first valentine card. That makes me feel old!

Love to you all,

Lynne
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Magpie Gelli Print

I've been a busy girl today. I took another set of Claritystamp samples to the Post Office, then I came back and made my Dad's birthday card. I rushed out to get it in the post only to find I'd missed today's collection. Never mind, it should still get there in time........

I thought I'd have a break and write this before I disappear upstairs to make Hubby's Valentine card. This month's Clarity NDC stamp has arrived at the perfect time.

Sometimes when I use my Gelli plate I'll take lots of prints before I achieve the look I'm after. This one was my first attempt. I loved the mixture of colour and pattern so stopped there.

It was built up in three layers. The first Pistachio one was done on a "dirty" Gelli plate that had a bit of colour and pattern on it already. This makes for a more interesting print. I then added the Sprig layer in Phthalo Turquoise and the Magpie layer in black. I added some Slow Drying Gel to the black layer to keep the paint wet and get as dark a colour as I could.

To finish it off I stamped the sentiment in black Archival. 

I guess I'd better get up to my craft room.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Magpie 2

Sprig

Thinking of You

Lynne

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Filigraphy Flower

After making the Clarity Family Tree I wanted to do something completely different with the Filigraphy Petals.

This was the result.

I just used the petal with the daises on and stamped ten of them out in black Archival. I then coloured them in with Distress Markers. I cut a circle out for the middle and coloured it like the centre of the daisies.

I also coloured a couple of different ones green for the leaves and used the Leafy Border stamp for the stalk.

It doesn't look very attractive from this angle but it shows how I curled the petals and used Pinflair gel to give them some dimension.

I didn't want black card showing through the ribbon so I used white and just coloured the edges black.

I'm now eagerly awaiting the postman as I should have some new Clarity goodies arriving today...........

Stamps Used

Filigraphy Petals

Leafy Border

If I Had a Flower

Lynne

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The Clarity Family Tree

Here's another card from February's Claritystamp shows.

I certainly had a lot of fun making it. I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want the finished card to look like when I start the actual stamping but this one ended up completely different to my original vision.

I started off by heat embossing the Family Tree stencil with Detail Copper powder but I had two different ideas of how to finish it. I often take photos on occasions like this as I find it easier to make a decision by seeing them side by side on my computer screen. I thought it might be fun to share them.

The first one was putting the Clarity Silhouette figures in the apertures and making a Clarity family tree.

The second idea was to fill them with heat embossed Filigraphy Petals that match the stencil but should I do them in gold, copper or black?

In the end I decided on the first idea - a Clarity family tree.

I added some grass, clouds and the characters but it looked really boring.

That's when I had the idea of combining the Filigraphy Petals with the characters. Again I had a choice to make - Do I stamp them in blue to match the sky or green like the grass?

As you know I went for green. I'd used Adirondack Lettuce and Meadow for the grass so I used them again for this. First I inked up the stamp with Lettuce then I went around the edge with Meadow. This gives a lovely effect when you stamp it.

I also darkened up the grass and added some trees and a bird for a bit more interest. I wasn't totally happy with the words either - I thought that "The Clarity Family" sounded a lot better than just "Clarity Family" but I couldn't fit "The" in the same stamps in. After searching through my Claritystamp catalogue I found the perfect "The" at the beginning of "The Dreams Of a Kitten" stamp.

A final change I made was to cut the embossed frame off as it wasn't as neat as I'd like. I also thought it made it too similar to my Time and Tide card.

Well, I got there in the end!

Stamps and Stencil Used

Family Tree

Filigraphy Petals

Remountable Clarity Characters

Letter Box Set

The Dreams of a Kitten

Lesson 21 - Remountable Trees

Bird from the Remountable Birdhouse Set

Lynne

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Time and Tide Wait for No Man

I spent an afternoon making a few different pieces with this stencil but I wasn't really happy with any of them.

Thankfully the next day I had this idea - a beach scene for the background and a heat embossed image of the stencil on top.

I kept the scene very simple as I wanted the main focus to be on the stencil.

I added the sea first, running my brayer over some scrunched up copy paper to create the waves, then brayered the sand up from the bottom of the card. The shells were stamped over that and coloured in with ProMarkers.

The moon was created with a Post-it mask which I brayered over to create the sky.

Then came the fun part - the embossing. To lessen the chances of getting stray specks of powder I left it for a while to make sure that the ink was dry and then went over it with an anti-static bag.

Another thing you want to avoid is moving the stencil, so I created a little hinge out of masking tape. I stuck this in place first, then put some copy paper over the artwork to protect it and inked up the stencil with Versamark ink, making sure not to miss any bits.

I then carefully folded the stencil on top of the artwork and ran it through my Grand Calibur. I used the regular cutting sandwich for this - blue base plate and white cutting mat.

I then removed the stencil and heat embossed it with Stampendous Detail Copper embossing powder. It's a beautiful colour and one of my favourites.

A thin black mat cut with my Perfect Layers ruler finishes it off.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Time and Tide

Shell Cluster

Small Birds in Flight

Lynne

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Circus Scene

After making the previous card, I thought it would be fun to do a little circus scene in true Clarity style.

This is what I created. There's a lot of masking involved!

I started off by stamping and masking the ringmaster. I could then stamp the tent behind him and when that was masked, the trees could be done. Archival ink was used for all of these. I know you shouldn't use it with ProMarkers but I left it to dry overnight and was careful not to disturb the ink too much when I coloured him in.

The circus wagon was stamped in black Adirondack as there was a lot of ProMarker colouring to be done on that and I wasn't so bothered about it being really black.

I did however want the horses stamped in Archival so I coloured the yellow background in before I stamped them. When I'd finished colouring it was still looking a bit plain so I added the crackle stamp on top.

The bunting was stamped across the top and I masked off the surrounding letters with Post-its so that I could ink up each individual letter of the word CIRCUS.

Then everything was masked off so that I could add the scenery. I used a mixture of my brayer, sponges and brushes to do this. To save myself some really fiddly masking I only masked off the body of the wagon. I then coloured the wheels in black and added the black horse.

To make the tent stand out a bit more I added a line of black around it with a fine Micron pen.

I think that, like the other one, it has the look of a poster about it.

Stamps Used

Remountable Circus Set

Large Horse - Diamond Horse

Small Horses from the Best of the Classroom Set

Remountable Shapes

Lynne

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Circus Joy

What fab shows today. There were so many gorgeous cards from the DT - I feel privileged to be amongst them.

I thought I'd start with this card as it's the one I did a sneak peek of the other day. It's also one of my favourites.

I based all of the stamping around the Joy Framer from Lesson 4 of In The Classroom with Barbara Gray. They are a great match - it could have been made for them!

After stamping JOY in black Archival I heat embossed it with clear powder. Then I just added the others around it, bending the Circus stamp so that it followed the curve of the "O". I drew the trapeze with a black Micron pen.

The little dog was stamped separately and attached with some Pinflair gel to give it some dimension.

The red and white paper reminds me of a big top. It's a design from the Silhouette Store which I printed out. 

A piece of ribbon and some chunky eyelets finish it off.

Stamps Used

Joy Frame

Remountable Circus Set

Lynne

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You Light Up My Life Candle

It's the 1st of the month so that means a new project for the Claritystamp Challenge Blog. The theme this month is "Love and Romance".

I know it's really cheesy but I just couldn't resist making this!

The design is stamped onto tissue paper. You then heat it with a heat gun to stick it to the candle.

To help me line up the text I centred the tissue paper over the cross on my glass cutting mat and stuck it down with masking tape. I could then see where I needed to stamp.

I stamped the boxes and text in black Archival ink, then I masked them off with Post-its to stamp the pattern. I did this in Versamark and heat embossed it with gold detail powder. The hearts were coloured in with a red ProMarker.

Then comes the fun part - sticking it onto the candle. Fellow DT member Naomi did one of these for the Christmas challenge and Barbara has also made them, so I read their blogs for instructions. If you'd like to read them, Naomi's can be found here and Barbara's here.

Naomi has a great tip at the end where she suggests starting small and putting several small images on a test candle to get a feel for it. I should have listened to this as I went straight on with my large piece of tissue and I didn't find it as easy as it looks. I got there in the end though.

Congratulations to the winner and Top 5 of the "New Beginnings" challenge. One of the entries was a beautiful candle by Lin Henson. She made a tag to match it which I thought was a lovely idea, especially if you are giving it as a gift.

I look forward to seeing what everyone creates for this challenge. Don't forget there's a £50 Claritystamp voucher for the winner.

Stamps Used

Letter Box Set

Heart Weave

Lynne

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