Pride

It's nearly the weekend, so that means that Barbara Gray will soon be on our TVs with another great Claritystamp show (Sunday 1st June, 9-11am). Until then, here's another of my cards from this month's show.

I always love the silhouette animals that Barbara does and the Woodland Animals set is no exception. They are so cute and although I only used the deer and owl on my TV samples I can see the rest popping up a lot in my scenes in the future.

The Woodland stencil is the perfect accompaniment to these stamps.  You just place it on the card and create the scene through it. I used Distress and Adirondack inks for this, then did the black stamping in Archival. The new Wheelie alphabet stencils are perfect for creating whatever text you'd like, in this case it was "Happy Father's Day".

The word "Pride" finishes it off perfectly.

That was a short one! I'd better get writing my next post for the Claritystamp Challenge Blog now - I don't think that one will be as short. Don't forget, you have until 8pm on the 31st May to enter this month's "It's All About The Words" challenge. It's well worth having a go as there's a £50 Claritystamp voucher for the winner.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Wheelie International Alphabet

Woodland

Remountable Woodland Animals

Trees

Pride from Word Chain 6

Lynne

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Lapwings

My samples for this weekend's TV show went in the post this morning and I've also made my next project for the Claritystamp Challenge Blog so I can now tidy up my craft room and get all of those other jobs done that get neglected when I have cards to make. Then I can look forward to watching Barbara at the weekend.

My research on lapwings told me that they are found on farmland and in Winter they flock on ploughed fields.

That gave me the idea of using the Old Mill stamp, with its ploughed fields, as the background. It fits quite well into the Cottage stencil, although I did have to extend some of the fields with a black Micron pen.

The black outside was done in the same way as my Halloween card with black Archival ink.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Cottage

Old Mill

Lapwing

Remountable Line Sentiments

Lynne

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Nuthatches

Well it's a typical British Bank Holiday weekend - grey and wet. At least it's given me the chance to do some crafting though and my Clarity samples should be ready to post on Tuesday.

I thought I'd blog my Nuthatch card today as I was speaking to my Dad yesterday and he said he'd just photographed one. I got him to email me them so I'll put a couple at the end of this post.

Like so many of the DT, I thought that the Lone Tree stencil made the perfect setting for the Nuthatches. Unlike when I first used it, I now have some Grunge Paste and I thought it would give the trees great texture. That gave me a bit of a dilemma - how to stamp the birds on the trees whilst not getting ink from the background on the trees.

First I had to make the trees though. I did them on a separate piece of card to make things easier. I applied the GP fairly thickly and dragged the knife up and down quite a few times to give them lots of texture. When they were dry I cut them out and inked them up with a brush and several shades of brown Distress Ink. As a finishing tough I added a few areas of green to look like lichen.

Then came the fun bit.

I stuck the trees on with Repositionable Herma and then stamped the birds into place. That enabled me to position them properly and get their feet on the trees.

I then removed the trees and masked off the birds so that I was able to work on the background (a typical Clarity scene with trees and hills) without worrying about getting stray ink on the trees.

I made a Post-it mask to add colour to the birds with a make-up sponge. As the background was quite busy I made them quite vibrant so that they stood out. To emphasise them even more I added a mat in the same colour.

That's my vibrant take on a nuthatch...............

now here's a couple of Dad's photos of the real thing. Such a beautiful bird.

Thanks Dad. x

Stamps and Stencils Used

Lone Tree

Remountable Moorhens and Nuthatches

Forest Ridge

Cow from Remountable Farm Set

Lynne

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Happy Halloween

It's nearly the Bank Holiday weekend! I've just got back from York after a catch-up with fellow DT member Kirsty. Coffee, cake and great company. A lovely way to spend the day.

I know I'm a bit early but when I saw the new owl stamp I couldn't resist making a Halloween card.

The Woodland Stencil makes the perfect background for it. I placed the inner part of the stencil on the card and then used a make-up sponge and black Archival ink to create the outer part of the scene. The tree and owl were then stamped in black Archival.

I used a mask to create the moon, then brayered in the sky with Dusty Concord and Black Soot Distress Ink.

My favourite part has to be Lily the witch though.

As I'm useless at drawing, I create a dinky little stencil with my Cameo (the design was bought from the Silhouette Store) and sponged the colour through it.

Annabel and Rosie make good witches too.

The cobweb border was cut on my Cameo and the writing was done with the International Alphabet stencil.

Some Black Soot Distress Ink was applied with a Clarity stencil brush to the base card to dirty it up a bit.

Viola! A Halloween card..............in May.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Wheelie International Alphabet

Woodland

Remountable Woodland Animals

Branch

Lynne

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My Funky Moorhens

I hope it's nice where you are, it's another lovely day here. I've been making the most of it and I'm even wearing my new shorts. I bought them to go to France with but unfortunately it wasn't warm enough to wear them there. I can't believe It's been nice enough to wear them here!

Anyway, that's enough about my little white legs, let's move on to my moorhens' green ones.

The feathers on the new Moorhen stamps are very similar in shape to the Tangle stencil......

.........so I thought they would work well together.

To emphasise this I thought I'd colour them in the same so I chose bright colours rather than true moorhen colours.

I outlined a strip of the Tangle stencil with a black Micron pen, then coloured it and the birds in with the Autumn set of ProMarkers - Twilight Sky, Apple Cider, Tawny Owl, Wild Cranberry, Plum Preserve and Grey Squirrel. I also used Wild Cranberry to colour the matching pink mat.

As they look like a family group I thought that "with love" finished it off perfectly.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Tangle

Remountable Moorhens and Nuthatches Set

Remountable Line Sentiments

Lynne

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Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

Finally, here's the first of my cards from this month's Claritystamp show. As I was talking a lot about beautiful houses yesterday...........

.........I thought this one would be a good one to start with. It was inspired by the colourful seaside houses you get in places like Tenby.

I used brown acrylic paint and my Gelli Plate to get the outline of the houses. Then I coloured them in with Distress Inks and a make-up sponge. This involved quite a bit of masking.

I masked off the windows and didn't add any colour to them as I liked them as they were.  I then made a frame around the houses with Post-its to protect the surrounding area and added the colour with a make-up sponge.

When I'd finished that I masked off the top four houses to add the sea and sky.

A flock of seagulls and a pink mat that matches one of the houses finish it off. 

I was quite reluctant to send this one in as I thought it would look lovely in a frame. When I have time I might have to make myself another.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Town

Small Birds In Flight

Lynne

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Hello Again

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post. It has been a very busy couple of weeks though, including a week in France with the Clarity DT. What fun that was!

I've only ever driven through France to get to Germany so it was lovely to stop and explore. It was also lovely to meet most of the DT (unfortunately Jane, Julie and Elaine couldn't be there). They are a great bunch.

Before I get back to this month's DT cards I thought I'd share a few of my photos and some highlights from the trip.

I drove Jo and Sam and I'd like to say thank you to them for keeping me going, especially when we managed to lose everyone getting off the ferry and ended up driving the first 200 miles in France on our own. Jo kept me fed and watered and was fab at the tolls. Sam can talk for England and they both kept me entertained. That was so needed as I drove over 1400 miles that week!

We stayed in one of the smaller cottages with Janet (my room-mate), Kirsty and Jules.

As you can see we made the most of the local delicacies.

Jo did a great job of buying baguettes at a local market. They were fab with yummy French butter, cheese, ham and pâté. I'm not quite sure how I managed to come home the same weight that I left!

I also really enjoyed the evening meals cooked by Barbara. She is a fab cook and we were all asking for her recipes. Her potato salad and salad dressing are to die for! Thanks Barbara.

This was my favourite spot, looking out to the lake - it's the perfect place to sit with a cup of coffee (or maybe a glass of wine) and relax. I wish I could have brought it home with me. 

I'd rather have liked to bring this dinky little house home too. It's so cute!

This is the big table in the main house. It was a hive of crafting activity. If you look closely at the fireplace you can see the beautiful canvases done by some of the ladies. I wasn't brave enough to have a go there but they certainly inspired me and I will be having a go now I'm home.

It was really interesting to meet Mel, one of the stamp designers. Watching her work was fascinating, she's so talented and great fun. 

Well, that's a few of my highlights. Thanks again to Barbara and Dave for such fab hospitality and to everyone for making it such fun.

This post was a bit longer than I'd planned so I'll be back tomorrow with a card.

Lynne

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May's Claritystamp Samples

It was a great show today! Lots of sell outs, gorgeous cards from the DT and fab demos from Barbara.

These are the samples that I made.

I love the new scenery stencils; they are so useful and so many stamps will work with them. I know I'm a bit early but I couldn't resist using one to make a Halloween card. I even stuck a hat on Lily to made her into a witch.

Well, that's it for a while. The DT are off to France for a week on Tuesday. I'm driving Jo and Sam and we start the long journey down south tomorrow. Let's hope that the Bank Holiday traffic is kind to us. Anyway, I'm so excited. It will be great to meet all those I haven't met and catch up with those I have. 

I'm afraid I haven't been organised enough to schedule blog posts so I will blog all these samples individually when I get back.

Happy crafting,

Lynne

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Seeds of Change

I thought that I'd better get my final card from last month blogged before this month's show tomorrow. Where does time go?

This one is done on my Gelli Plate. I started off with a base layer of Buff Titanium before taking a print with the Pods stencil.I used Vale of Chromium Green for this.

When the paint was dry I put the stencil back in place and added some colour to the pods with a make-up sponge and Olive and Black Archival Ink.

To finish it off I chose the word "Change" from Word Chain 7. I thought this was appropriate for seed pods. It's stamped in black Archival and embossed with clear powder.

That was short and sweet but before I go I'd also like to share this sneak peek from tomorrow's show.

Don't forget - Barbara Gray is on Create and Craft TV at 9am for a two hour show. I can't wait to see it.

Stamp and Stencil Used

Word Chain 7

Pods

Lynne

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It's All About The Words

It's the first of the month, so it's time for a new Challenge on the Claritystamp Challenge Blog. Last month's challenge was "Monochrome" and there were so many superb entries. Congratulations to the winner and Top 5. I look forward to seeing what you all make this month.

As the title of this post suggests, this month's theme is "It's All about The Words".

This is my project. I got the "Moment of Clarity' stencil when I was at the GNPE in Harrogate back in March. I thought it would be nice to make a picture for my craft room with it. At the time I had the intention of using it with the Journaling stamps to create something like my Mother's Day card. However my moment of clarity came when I was watching a demo on Create and Craft. The demonstrator (sorry but I can't remember her name) used patterned paper with stencils and acrylic paint. I thought it looked great fun and would be perfect for this project.

The base is an oval piece of wood that I bought in a local craft shop. I painted it with gesso then applied a couple of coats of Buff Titanium acrylic paint. When that was dry I stuck some patterned paper on with my Decopatch glue.

Then I put the stencil on top..........

.............and gave it another coat of Buff Titanium.

When you remove the stencil you're left with the design in the patterned paper. I removed any excess bits of paint with a blunt-ish pencil (I did use my pockey tool to start with but it scratched the paper).

I then decorated it in typical Clarity style. If you've read my blog before you'll know how much I love the Meadow Dance stamp - when I showed it to my Dad he joked "Haven't you worn those stamps out yet?" That's one of the great things about stamps though, you can use them again and again and again...........

Now I just have to hang it up in my craft room.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Small Moment of Clarity stencil

Meadow Dance

Tree

Set of 3 Repositionable Trees

Birdhouse Set

Small Hot Air Balloon

Lynne

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