Fairy Birthday Card

Hi everyone. I've had a very expensive morning - I've been to the optician's and found out that I need glasses for reading (and crafting!). Hopefully when they arrive I will be able to craft for longer without getting sore, blurry eyes and see what I'm doing properly!

Today's card is one I made for my friend Lucy's birthday earlier in the month. It's based on one of Barbara's demos from this month's Create and Craft show. I loved her idea of the fairies making the banner and had to have a go.

I also used Barbara's idea of mixing up the upper and lower case letters. It's something I wouldn't have thought of doing but I love the look of it.

Some holographic glitter finishes it off.

Stamps Used

Wee Folk 3 - Fairies

Wee Folk 4 - Elves

Woodpress Letters Set

Tree Branch

I hope you have a lovely weekend. I will be having fun in my craft room making samples for next month's show.

Lynne

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Goldene Hochzeit (Golden Wedding) Card

Good morning. I thought I'd write a quick post before I crack on. Mum and Dad have been up to stay for a week; I've had a great time but I now have a lot to catch up on and I haven't even started this month's Clarity samples!

This is another card from the German show. I think the old couple look so cute together on the bench and they could well be celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary, hence the card.

I wanted the tree stencil to be embossed in gold over the top of the scene but my first attempt wasn't very successful.

I taped off the border of the stencil so that I could then ink up the central part with Versamark ink. I then removed the tape and placed the stencil onto card (which I had rubbed with an anti-static bag) and ran it though my Ebosser to transfer the ink.

However, when I applied the powder I ended up with a right mess thanks to the sticky residue the tape had left behind. I was never going to get rid off all those specks so I had to do it another way.

I also realised that I needed to do the scene first.

So I did that and then created a card frame that I could ink through. No sticky residue this time and I was left with a lovely gold embossed frame around the scene that matched the inner one.

Some punched hearts hanging from the tree finish it off.

Stamps and Stencil Used

Remountable Tree Rows

Wee Folk Set 1

Remountable Woodpress Letters

Tree Box Frame Stencil

Lynne

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Happy Birthday Mum

Good morning. I always look forward to my Claritystamp New Design Club stamp and projects arriving each month and this month's (No. 102 Alice) was no exception. Alice is so cute and I love the projects that Barbara had done with them, especially "Dotty Alice". I thought it would make a lovely card for my mum's birthday..................

...............and this is my version of it. Thanks for the inspiration Barbara.

I used "Picnic in the Park" papers by Serif for my hills, the bunting and Alice's dress. The sun and sky are created with Claritystamp stencils.

I put my new personalised stamp on the back of the card and coloured it to match the front, including using the same paper on the hills. It makes a lovely finishing touch.

Stamps and Stencils Used

Alice NDC 102

Woodpress Letters Set

Word Chain 3

Word Chain 2

Sunshine Stencil

Dotty Wave Stencil

Lynne

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Happiness Is When You Share It

Today's card is the first of my German samples from this week's show. I think I'll alternate them with some of my personal cards for the rest of the month.

The words translate as "Happiness is when you share it" which I thought was perfect for this family day out.

The scene is created with inks and Clarity masks, then I added detail to the castle and coloured in the bunting with Spectrum Noir pencils.

Stamps and Masks Used

Wee Folk 1

Remountable Woodpress Letters

Landscape Mask Set

I hope you have a good weekend.

Lynne

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Home Sweet Home Fairy Gatefold Card

Who lives in house like this?

The Wee Folk Fairies and Elves!

As the two sets go so well together I thought it would be fun to make a gatefold card.........

..............with the fairies and elves on the front.............

..............and their house inside.

I stamped my Personalised stamp on the back and coloured it in to match the front of the card......

............and I made an envelope to match it all on my Hougie Board.

I do like a bit of co-ordination!

Stamps Used

Personalised Stamp Set

Treehouse and Vines Set

Wee Folk 3 - Fairies

Wee Folk 4 - Elves

Woodpress Letters Set

Rectangle Stampstamp

I'll be back soon with the first of my samples from yesterday's German show.

Lynne

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Hanging Heart and Packaging - Part 2

Hi everyone. Where the previous post was about the Hanging Heart itself, today's is about the packaging I made for it.

It started off as a plain white bag that I bought in Hobbycraft. I chose some card to match the heart and just had fun with it.

I used the packaging stencil to decorate the back.

Filling it up with some DVDs made it easier to do this. I taped off the parts of the stencil that I wasn't going to use and sponged black Stazon Ink through the stencil; I cleaned this off with surgical spirit afterwards.

Then for the fun part - I've always loved stitching on cards but I could never get the tension correct for it on my old machine and so it always looked a mess. My shiny new machine is a totally different beast so I thought I'd give it another go. I swapped the needle over (I'll keep one just for card) and was so thrilled that it worked perfectly.

I used a dotty embossing folder to make the pink card match the spotty fabric heart and then stuck it to some black card and embellished it. My personalised stamp is stamped onto card cut out with a Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight die. I added a bit of shading to it and added some more butterflies with the extra one that comes with the main stamp. It's such a cute little stamp in its own right.

I zigzagged around the pink card with black thread, then went around the black with cream thread. I also went across the lace where it's above the cream card to make it more secure. A ribbon and a couple of small pink hearts completed this part.

To finish it off I stamped the tissue paper with my personalised stamp in Jet Black Archival ink. If I was doing it for my own use I would use second generation ink for this, as I think it looks nicer, but for TV I went for first so it would stand out well.

Stamps and Stencil Used

Personalised Stamp Set and Finishing Stencils

Lynne

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Hanging Heart and Packaging - Part 1

Hi there. I hope you're enjoying your weekend. I thought I'd blog my heart today as I'm in a sewing mood; I had a lovely day yesterday making Maya some new camouflage quilt covers and this morning I spent some time in my craft room trying to make it more sewing friendly.

I wanted to show that the new Claritystamp Personalised stamps aren't just for card makers (and I wanted to play with my new sewing machine) so this is what I came up with.

The heart is for hanging on cupboard doors etc. and I made the packaging to match it, as if it was to be sold at a craft fair. I think I'll blog the heart today and the packaging next time or I'll end up with another mammoth post!

I'll start off by saying that I haven't sewn for a long time and I never was an expert, so don't look too closely at the sewing - especially on the appliqué!

I cut myself a heart template out of card using my Silhouette Cameo but after a practise run with some old fabric I found out that it's not that easy to follow the curve around the heart..........

..............so I cut out a second template. I made one the size I wanted the heart and another with a 6mm seam allowance. I used a disappearing pen to trace the shape onto the fabric, giving me a line to follow with the machine.

There were several firsts for me in making this heart. The front of it contains two of them - a yo-yo and a fabric covered button.

You have to cut out a circle of fabric in a specific size to cover the buttons. The template is on the packaging but I thought it would be so much easier to just cut one with my Cameo. I drew around a saucer (it's about 12.5cm) for the circle to make the yo-yo; I won't go into detail about that as there's loads of fab tutorials online.

I must have a go at cutting fabric on the Cameo when I have some time. I do like it when things have more than one use and it's nice to be able to use it for sewing as well as paper crafting.

The back contains another first - appliqué! I stamped my personalised stamp on the beige fabric with VersaCraft ink, this is a thick, sticky ink that is perfect for fabric. Once stamped you place a cloth over it, set your iron to "cotton" and press for at least 15 seconds to set it (it can even be washed after that).

When I'd done that I used some Heat n Bond Lite to stick it to the heart, ready to sew around. This is where it went a bit wrong! I used the blanket stitch on my machine and managed to get the sides nice and neat but the corners are a bit dodgy! I'm guessing that you need to alter the length of the stitch to turn them properly. If anyone has any tips for this they would be very much appreciated.

Then it's just a case of stitching them both together. One major thing I learnt here is not to stitch to a point on the top bit of the heart. When you get to the bottom of the point sew across one stitch before you go back up again. I ended up doing a couple of stitches as the hanging ribbon was there too. If you don't do this it gets all bunched up when you turn it the right side out.

All I needed to do then is stuff it and hand sew the opening closed. That reminds me of another minor error - I got so engrossed in the sewing the first time I went all the way around forgetting to leave the opening for turning..!

I'll be back soon to blog the packaging. Before I go I'll leave you a photo of Maya and her new quilt.

I don't think she's realised that she's meant to lie on it!

Stamp Used

Personalised Stamp Set

Lynne
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PanPastel Believe in Fairies Card

Good afternoon. After the last mammoth post I thought I'd blog this card next as it's nice and simple to explain.

It's done with PanPastels on white linen card from papermilldirect.

I did the stamping first, then masked off the text boxes and the toadstool before applying various shades of PanPastel.

I used Versamark ink (please excuse the state of this but I couldn't find my clean one) to stamp the stars and flowers then I applied PanPastel over the top.

Some Stickles glitter glue makes the fairy wings sparkly.

The stars on the base card were cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

My personalised stamp on the back, which I coloured to match the front, finishes it all off.

Stamps Used

Personalised Stamp Set

Remountable Wee Folk 3

Remountable Wee Folk 4

Remountable Woodpress Letters Set

Lynne

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Wallflower Corner Bookmark with Tutorial

Hi everyone. I hope you had a good Easter weekend. I had a lovely morning yesterday making a couple of birthday cards and watching Debbie Shore on Create and Craft. Then we had a BBQ lunch and spent some time in the garden enjoying the warm weather. Lovely.

I thought I'd start this month's samples with the bookmark. I do love corner bookmarks and thought the Wallflower stamp would make a pretty one. I had a bit of a play to find a nice shape to fit the stamp so I thought I'd share it with you. I have a feeling this post could get quite long, as I took lots of photos, so bear with me.

It slips onto the corner of a page..............

.............and I personalised it for Barbara.

I decorated the back to match with my own Personalised Stamp.

Now for how to make it.

Draw two 9cm squares next to each other in the top left corner of some thin card (I used Theuva).

Stamp the Wallflower in the first square like this. I used Jet Black Archival ink for this.

You could just cut an arc following the line of the stamp for the next bit, but this is how I did it. Draw in diagonal pencil line like this. I've continue with a dashed line (sorry it's a bit faint in the photo) to the top left so that it makes sense, but it's the bottom part you want (it should all become clear when you see the next photos).

Set your compass to 14cm.

Put the pencil on the bottom corner of the card and the point on the diagonal line. Check that it meets the same point at the other side of the box....

and draw in the curve.

Add a tab for the adhesive and cut it out.

I decorated the inside with some patterned paper and coloured in the stamped images with my Spectrum Noir pencils.

When it's finished fold the tab under and stick it together (this is a picture of the undecorated prototype). I used Cosmic Shimmer glue to stick it together as it gives a strong bond.

As a finishing touch I added my details to the back. I wanted to add a border of the squiggly lines (to match the outline of the stamp) but I've never been able to do them before (you know I'm hopeless with a pen!) then I had an idea.

I added a pencil line that I could use as a guide to go back and forth over.

When I repeated it I got the effect I was after. It's Lynne-proof!

Congratulations if you got to the end of all that. See you again soon.

Stamps Used

Personalised Stamp Set

Wallflower Set

Remountable Woodpress Letters

Lynne

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April's Claritystamp Samples

Hi there. Did you see Barbara's show today? Hubby was up at 5.30am to go diving, so Maya and I had a leisurely morning snuggled up on the sofa watching Barbara do her magic. Bliss!

The new Personalised Stamp Set is a great idea, not just for card makers.......

......it can be used for any handmade items. I tried to show this with my stitched heart and co-ordinating packaging (it was also a great excuse to play with my new sewing machine!).

I also used in on the back of all my cards, colouring it to match the front, and made an envelope to match the Treehouse card.

I don't know what it is about the Wallflower set that makes me think bookmark but I made one for this month's samples.................

..............and I also made this one when they were first out in 2012. The blog post about it can be found here.

This card was also shown again today. The post about it is here.

As always I'll be back to blog all of today's cards individually throughout the month.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your Easter. I'd better get up to my craft room now - I have two birthday cards that need to be made today.

Lynne
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Happy Easter and a Sneak Peek

Hi everyone. I hope you've had a good week. I've started something new - book folding. I spent yesterday morning scouring the charity shops of Northallerton for a book that's over 23cm tall and contains at least 562 pages to fit the pattern I've bought. It wasn't easy but I did find one eventually for the bargain price of 20p. Now I just have to fold them all. I've done 13 so far so it could take a while...........

I'm afraid that I've run out of cards to blog, so I thought I'd give you a laugh and wish you a Happy Easter instead.

Yep, Maya has got her revenge and made me wear bunny ears too! I guess it's only fair.

Don't forget that Barbara Gray is on Create and Craft TV this Sunday at 9am for a two hour "Stamping With Clarity" show; I'll be back afterwards to share the samples I made for it. There's also an extra treat at 2pm when Barbara will be on with Sara from Crafter's Companion demonstrating the Spectrum Noir pencils. I do love mine so I'm looking forward to this.

Here's a sneak peek at one of the samples I made. It's something a bit different but I hope it shows the versatility of the stamps.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend. I'll leave you with one of the rejects from our photo shoot. It's too funny not to use at all.

Lynne and Maya
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