My Dad's 70th Birthday Card

Greetings! I've been in sewing mode for the last couple of weeks but some new Clarity stamps have just arrived so I'm back in card making mode and thought I should say hello. I've not made any cards for a while but I do have one left to blog.

It was my dad's 70th birthday last month and this is the card I made for him. It may look familiar to NDC members as it's based on one of Barbara's January projects. When I saw it I thought it would work well for my dad as he is a keen birdwatcher. 

As I added the branch stamp I changed the sky to clouds and a sun so that I didn't have to mask it off. 

I'd better go and get started on my samples. If I can get Hubby to take some photos I'll blog my sewing until I have more cards to share - I've made 5 tops in the last few weeks. Let's hope my card making goes as smoothly......

Stamps Used

Garden Birds and Blossom Branches

Happy Words

Numbers

Wordpress Letters

Lynne

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My Dad's Birthday Card

Good morning everyone. Thankfully I wrote the bulk of this post yesterday, so it should make sense. We had a Ladies' Dinner Night in the Mess last night and no matter how late we get in Maya still wants to be up at 7am. Bless her! I definitely made the correct decision not to go to the NEC today. Feeling a little bit sleepy!

This card is one I made for my Dad's birthday back in February. He loves wildlife so I thought this cute little hedgehog would make a great card for him.

I put the stencil in place and stamped the trees and hedgehog. I then masked the hedgehog off so that I could add the grass. I did this and the sky with a brush and make-up sponge.

I then coloured in the hedgehog with Spectrum Noir pencils and I also added some detail to the trees with them.

Stamps and Stencil Used

Small Kind Hedgehog

Pine Forest

Small Birds In Flight

Remountable Letterbox Sentiments

Word Chain 3

Letterbox Set
Winter Tree Stencil

I think I need more coffee.........................

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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Happy Birthday Connie!

I will get back to my Claritystamp samples but it's my friend Connie's birthday today and I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Connie! Of course I couldn't possibly tell you how old she is, as that would be rude.............

.......................but this is the card that I made for her.

It's a mixture of two pop-up box cards by Lori Whitlock bought from the Silhouette Store and cut on my Cameo. The printable papers by American Crafts were also bought from the store and sized to fit.

As we go out for coffee and cake once a week I had to make sure that there were cakes involved. The cupcake paper on the side is so cute.....

............and I positioned the paper at the back so that the cake had pride of place. The flame on the main cake has been glittered to add a bit of sparkle.

The balloon is shaped with a ball tool and stuck on with Pinflair glue gel. I tied two strands of embroidery floss to it and let them hang down like a string.

The same printable papers were used to create a matching gift bag.

Some thoughtful words finish off the back of the card.

I think I am going to be in so much trouble when I see her later......................

Lynne

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Hubby's Birthday Card

I can't believe this is my last post of 2013. Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog this year, I hope you've enjoyed it.

I wonder what new Clarity stamps and things I will be blogging about next year?

As I mentioned in my last post, I really enjoy Barbara Gray's lessons. As well as watching the ones on TV I also have all of her DVDs.

When I saw this project on the new one I knew it would be perfect for my diving mad hubby.

I was so pleased with how it turned out. I did have a bit of a problem colouring the fish though as I only had a couple of Distress Markers but I've since bought some more. The next ones will be more colourful!

Well, I guess that's it for 2013. I hope you'll join me on New Year's Day when I'll be sharing my next project for the Claritystamp Challenge Blog.

DVD Used

Artful Crafting With Barbara Gray - Part 1

Lynne

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Squiggles and Rocky Block - Part 1

I certainly had a lot of fun making this card!

I know with Gelli prints you're sort of meant to go with the flow but I'm not very good at that. I usually have an idea of what I'd like to achieve and tend to keep printing until I get it!

I wanted to use the Squiggles and Rocky Block stencils together but I couldn't get a print I was totally happy with. So I kept on printing.

These are the rejects! 

I tried different colours, with and without an aperture, but I just wasn't sure about any of them.

I eventually ended up with a print I was happy with and the colour scheme led me to this western style card. Clarity have a fab "Follow Your Dreams" stamp that I thought would finish it off perfectly (the squiggly line reminds me of a path that has to be followed). 

Unfortunately I didn't have it, so I had to write it in by hand. 

I managed to rectify that at the NEC and used it to make a very similar card for my father-in-law's birthday.

Ooh I've waffled on today. I think I'll make this Part 1 and blog the other card made from this printing session next time.

Stamps Used

Lone Ranger

Forest Ridge

Follow Your Dreams

Cow from Remountable Farm Set

Twiggy Frame

Stencils Used

Rocky Block

Squiggles

Brick Wall

Leafy Swirl

Lynne

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Welsh Birthday Card

This is the last of my samples from September's shows.

It's also my favourite!

When we lived in Brecon I don't really remember hearing a lot of Welsh being spoken but we were on holiday in North Wales last year and it was lovely to hear it. I thought it would be really nice to incorporate it into one of my Welsh cards. The Letter Box kit is great for this - you can write whatever you want.  For my fellow non-Welsh speakers Penblwydd Hapus means Happy Birthday and is pronounced PEN-BLUE-ITH HAP-IS. I did lots of Googling so that should be correct! 

The base is Theuva card. I started off by masking the central panel so that I could work on the frame. I stamped out the text and then triple embossed the tiles so that I could brayer over them. Doing it three times makes sure that the embossing is really smooth. The first layer I did using Versamark on the solid tile in the kit but I used a Versamark pen for the other two.

I then brayered over with Distress Ink and stamped the various Welsh images.

For the central panel I stamped Welsh Castle in the Six Cities of Wales frame and coloured it in with ProMarkers.

The outline of Wales was purchased from the Silhouette Store and cut on my Cameo. I coloured it in like the Welsh flag and added some more of the Welsh stamps.

Stamps Used

Six Cities of Wales

Welsh Castle

Welsh Flag

Remountable Welsh Set

Letter Box Set

Lynne

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Dreams of a Kitten Birthday Card

I realised a couple of days ago that it's now just over year since Barbara asked me to be part of the Claritystamp Design Team. I was so shocked and not sure if I could do it but I knew I would be an idiot if I didn't at least give it a try. I'm so glad that I did as I've really enjoyed this past year.  So, thank you for asking me Barbara. Thanks to you too for reading my blog and the support you've given me. It means a lot.

This is a birthday card that I made for a friend. It combines ideas from the two DT cards that I made with these stamps.

I was really pleased with how the background turned out and can see it being a really useful technique (in other words I'm sure it will be popping up on more of my cards!). I did actually try a version using the words "Happy Father's Day" on my Dad's Father's Day card (the one with the boat) but it looked too busy. I think it works better with a simple scene. 

It's done using the grid card technique. Each box is masked off with tape and the edges are inked. I used an Ink Duster and a sponge to build up the colour. It's the colour I usually use for my skies - Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. The rest of the stamping is done with Black Archival.

Stamps Used

Lesson 18 Set - The Birdhouse and the Picket Fence

The Dreams of a Kitten

Lynne

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Meadow Dance Birthday Card

After publishing my 100th post yesterday, I thought it was about time I entered a blog challenge. The one I have chosen is over at the Less is More blog. The theme for this week is "Use Scallops".

This is a birthday card for my friend Connie. As she was born in Germany I thought it would be a nice touch to use some of my German Clarity stamps. The phrase means "After the rain comes the sunshine", which is a bit like our "Every cloud has a silver lining". I think it works really well with the Meadow Dance stamps as the characters look so full of joy.

I started off by stamping the Meadow Dance and tree in Black Archival ink, then I built up the scene around it. I inked up the Forest Ridge stamp in Adirondack Meadow then added some brown to the bottom of it. I stamped this onto copy paper, then used the second generation ink on the scene. This makes it more subtle as it's in the background.

I cut a template to match the horizon and used Adirondack Lettuce and Meadow on my Ink Dusters to fill the grass in with.

It's finished off with some fluffy clouds and a bright yellow sun.

Stamps Used

Meadow Dance

Tree

Forest Ridge

Sentiment

Lynne

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May All Your Dreams Come True Card

It's nearly the end of the month, if you haven't had a go yet you have until midnight on the 31st March to enter the first challenge of the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. It's well worth it as there's a £50 Claritystamp gift voucher for the winner!

This was a birthday card for a friend. It's my version of a tag by Lynne Gilbert in the first Creative Expressions Project Book.

The base colour is Pickled Raspberry and Salty Ocean Distress Ink. I added that with Cut-N-Dry foam and then spritzed it lightly with water. I used the same ink pads and some black Archival to do the stamping.

The background stamps are a mixture of Clarity, Kanban, and IndigoBlu. Once I'd finished it I spritzed it with some gold Pefect Pearls mixed with some water. That doesn't really show up in the photo but it gave it a lovely shimmer.

The butterflies and sentiment are by Chocolate Baroque. They were stamped onto cream textured card. I used Pinflair glue gel to attach the butterflies so that they have some dimension.

It's a bit different to what I normally do but I was in the mood for a play and I really enjoyed creating it.

Lynne
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XL Postage Stamp Cards

I do love the Clarity Postage Stamp stamps, so I was excited to see a new one in the collection. Being an XL version there's lots of room to play with.

I decided to do a simple one layer card and used a mask to create the white border of the stamp.

This could be done by hand with a pair of scissors and a craft knife, but it's a fiddly job so I used my trusty Cameo. I scanned an image of the stamp into the Design Studio and was then able to create my own mask.

With that in place I was able to create my scene using my brayer and Ink Dusters. 

This set has the postmark and Queen's head to go with it. I embossed Her Majesty's head with gold embossing powder to give it an authentic look (the embossing shows up better in the first photo).

Not long after I'd made this card I had a birthday card to make, so I decided to do a birthday version. I think the first card looks more washed out in the photo than it did in real life, but I do prefer the second version.  

I went more vibrant with the colours and I think it looks better, especially in the photo.  

I used my Cameo's Design Studio to create a birthday version of the postmark and set it to print, rather than cut. I was then able to build the scene around it. Hopefully Clarity will bring out some more postmarks themselves, a Christmas and a Birthday one would be fab.

I noticed the other day that when the cards are put on the Clarity website they list the stamps that are used to make them. I thought it might be useful to add the link to that page here. That way if you want details of any of the stamps you will know where to find them.

Lynne

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Clarity Ballerina Card

I really like the card I did in this style with the Meadow Dance stamps, so I thought I'd have another go with the Clarity Ballerina. It's a bit of an unusual choice but I was pleased with how it turned out.

I think that with cards like this getting a nice shape of hill is the key. I'm not that great at tearing them though.  For this card I used a new trick.  I worked out where I wanted the hill to go to fit in with the moon and the ballerina and drew the shape on a piece of copy paper. I was then able to follow this guide with the ruler when I did the tearing. I found it a lot easier to get a good shape than tearing it 'freehand'.

The brayering and sponging was all done with various shades of Adirondack ink. All of the stamps in the main image are Clarity, apart from the Vine and Stars which are by Lavinia. The Birthday Wishes stamp is from Chocolate Baroque.

It's all finished off with some holographic glitter.

Lynne

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Two Little Ducks Bingo Card

Here's one of my cards using the number stamps from Lesson 13 of In the Classroom with Barbara Gray.  I'm not quite sure where the idea came from but this is what I came up with.  :-)

It's a good job that Mum and Dad were here when I was planning it. Being a crafter, rather than a bingo player, I was thinking of the bingo cards that you get as embellishments. As with a lot of craft things they are American. I didn't realise that British ones are different. 

After a quick Google  I found out what they should look like and set about drawing the grid on my computer. I sized it to fit the number stamps and luckily it was just the right size to fit on an A5 card.

Nigel made me smile when he was showing it on TV.  He came over all nostalgic as apparently he used to be a presenter on a bingo channel.  I bet he was a laugh on that!

Lynne

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Clarity Window Cards

I thought I'd show you my robin cards first as they didn't get shown today.  I had the idea for them when I was out walking Maya.  We've sponsored a dog with the Dogs Trust for many years and their famous slogan is "A dog is for life, not just for Christmas".  I thought the same should apply to robins.  They tend to be associated with Christmas but are in the garden all year round.

So I decided to make exactly the same card in Winter and Summer versions.

It's my "A robin is for life, not just for Christmas" card.  :-)

I thought I'd also add some old cards that I've previously made with these stamps.  This is a birthday card I made for a crafty friend.  I coloured the dog to look like her spaniel, Hamish.

I'm afraid I can't remember the make of the stamp as I've had it for years.  It's really cute though.

This black and white one was made for the monthly Clarity Club challenge.  The challenge was "Black & white, 3 cats and a bird".

I made a matching insert for it.

I also made exactly the same card in colour.  My opinion keeps changing on which I prefer.

My First PanPastel Card

Well I held out for a long time but I finally gave in and bought some PanPastels. I've seen so many gorgeous things created with them by my crafty friends that I had to have a go.

I followed a tutorial by the super talented Eileen Godwin.  Although it looks like a simple technique, it's a bit tricky to get the blending right.  I wasn't totally happy with my first attempt and it eventually ended up in the bin.  This is version 2.

I've a long way to go to get to Eileen's standard but I love the vibrant colours I ended up with.  I used the same colours as Eileen, Permanent Red, Phthalo Blue, and Diarylide Yellow.  By blending them together you also get lovely shades of orange, green, and purple.

I've finished it off with two sizes of Swirl stamps from Clarity and a greeting from Chocolate Baroque.  It's very different to the cards I normally make but I really like the simplicity of it.  I think you will be seeing more of these from me.