Angelina Film and Fibres Balloon Card

I always enjoy working with these stamps. They are so versatile.

I've got a few Hot Air Balloon cards on here but this is the first one with Angelina Fibres and Film. It's a card I made for the German TV shows.

I think the balloons look so pretty. You can use you iron or a ball tool to get some dimension into them so they look quite realistic too.

I only have one colour of the film (Gold Pearl) so I just use different colour fibres inside it to change the colour. These are what I used.

My favourite stamp, Meadow Dance, makes an appearance too. It's the first time I've used it with the balloons but I think they go well together.

The hills are made using the Clarity Mountains and Hills mask.

Stamps Used

Large Hot Air Balloon

Medium Hot Air Balloon

Small Hot Air Balloon

Meadow Dance

Mask Used

Mountains and Hills

Lynne

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Gelli Print Card on Kraft Card

This was me experimenting with my Gelli plate again.

Mum's birthday was coming up and she said she didn't mind if I used the making of her card as Gelli plate practise, so that's what I did. Thanks Mum.

I cut myself a butterfly mask out of Doeflex with my Silhouette Cameo.

I used that along with bubble wrap, sequin waste, and a letter stencil to create the texture on the base layer.

To start with, I printed onto white card but wasn't too keen on the result - it was a bit bright and I wanted a more muted effect.

So I switched to kraft card. The butterfly background is the second print that you get when you've removed the stencil.

They both have a base print where I used beige paint and the bubble wrap etc. to create the texture. The  butterflies are the first print with the stencil still in place.

I then cut out the middle with a Scalloped Nestabilitie and did the stamping. I got the idea for the butterfly circle from The Stamp Man's Jill Tuck when I was watching her on Create and Craft. I think it's a lovely idea and one I plan to use on my IndigoBlu clock kit, if I ever get the time to make it!

The border that the ribbon is threaded through and the mat for the Nestabilitie were cut on my Silhouette Cameo. The stamping is all done with Black Archival.

Stamps Used

Meadow Dance - I think you've probably noticed, but I love this stamp!

Butterfly from Remountable Best of the Classroom Set

Today Verse

Lynne

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Sending You Sunshine Gelli Print

These cards were made for a couple of my crafty friends who've been having a tough time of it lately. Hopefully these and the other cards they received put a smile on their faces and let them know that people care.

I used the same design for them both, as I thought it was perfect for the occasion,

but being Gelli prints they are both slightly different.

I sized the stencil to fit the card and cut it out of parchment paper on my Cameo (it's a Loni Stevens design from the Silhouette Store). Parchment cuts really crisply and as it's thin it's easy to get a good print from it. It's also a really cheap way to get a stencil for a specific project.

I started off the printing by brayering yellow and orange paint onto my Gelli plate. I then used a variety of items to add texture to it (bubble wrap, a letter stencil, and sequin waste) before taking a print off it. This gave me the base layer.

Then I covered the Gelli plate in orange paint. I added a little bit of texture to this, using bubble wrap, before placing my sun stencil on top and taking another print on top of the first. The two together make the sun.

Out came my favourite Meadow Dance stamp to add the characters down the bottom. They look like they are having fun and bring joy to any card. The sentiment is perfect as that is what I wanted to do.

To make it into a card I added a thin black mat with my 1/16th Perfect Layers ruler (although I don't always mention this, I think I must use it on nearly every card I make) and then did a yellow and orange Gelli print straight onto the card for the base layer.

Stamps Used

Meadow Dance

Sending You Sunshine

I hope I've brought you a little sunshine today too.

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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Meadow Dance Stampstamps Card

This is another of the Stampstamps cards that I made for German TV.

I used my ProMarkers and the techniques that Barbara showed us in the Blooming Corner lesson to colour in the flowers. I then carried on the pastel theme with the rest of the card.

The black embellishments in the corners are cut down from one of the Spellbinders Persian Accents dies.

Simples!

Stamps Used

Meadow Dance

Lesson 6 - Blooming Corner Kit

Large Paradise Stampstamp

Triangle Stampstamp

Rectangle Stampstamp

The clock is counting down to the start of a new term of In the Classroom with Barbara Gray - only 16 more sleeps until Lesson 15. I wonder of Barbara will have the Gelli plate on too? I saw some photos on FB this morning of her all ready to demonstrate it at the NEC. I'm looking forward to mine arriving so I can have a play.  It does look like fun!

Lynne

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Claritystamp Catalogue

Welcome to my blog and my first project for the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. The theme for this month's challenge is "Anything Goes" so I thought I'd make something nice for myself for a change.  

I have been stamping for quite a while and when my collection started to grow I realised that I needed to catalogue what stamps I have; so I stamped out every single one onto sheets of A4 card. It's great to sit and look through when I'm in need of inspiration and seldom used stamps don't get completely forgotten about.

Since I started on the Clarity Design Team I've separated my Clarity stamps from the rest and given them their own catalogue. This was a boring ring binder but I felt they deserved something prettier, hence today's project.

As always, I started off by sketching out what I was going to do. I cut a piece of card the size that I wanted the cover to be (12" x 9½" - so that it fit the A4 punch pockets that I keep my pages in). The first things I stamped were the oval frames from the Letter Box kit for the title "CLARITYSTAMPS CATALOGUE". Then I just filled in the remaining space with lots of different sized boxes.  I wanted a random feel to it so I didn't measure them, but you could if you wanted to fit a specific stamp in one. To get the even borders I used a ruler with a grid on it. This made the job so much easier; again no measuring, you just line up one of the lines on the ruler with your drawn line and you have an even border.

Then the fun bit began. I sat and looked through my catalogue to decide which stamps to use. Quite a few of my recent favourites made an appearance. At this stage I decided to change the title to "CLARITYSTAMP CATALOGUE" so that I had a bit more room at the top to fit an image in (the pawprint).

I thoroughly enjoyed creating all of the little scenes. As they are so small I used a sponge and my Ink Dusters to add the colour to the backgrounds, rather than my brayer. My ProMarkers were used to colour in the images.

The covers are cut down from 12"x12" chipboard that came with my Cinch binding tool when I bought it from QVC. I covered them with black card and then glued all of the pictures on, using my plan as a guide. I decided to use book rings to hold it together, instead of my Cinch, as it will be easier to add pages to it when I get more stamps. A girl can never have enough Clarity stamps!

I did consider tying some ribbons to the book rings but decided against it as it is something that will get a lot of use and I want it to be practical.

Stamps Used

Letter Box Set

Joy Frame

Bunny 5 (carrot drawn by me)

Lamb

Small Daydreamer

Old Mill

Remountable Birdsong Set

Dog Paw 

Never Forget

Small Yesterday

Large Kissing Couple

Toadstool  and  Puck

Meadow Dance

Beach Huts

Wallflower Corner

Large Deerscape

Forest Ridge

Lone Ranger

Poppies

Geese from Remountable Village Set

Small Quirky Cottage

Small Quirky Tree

Labrador from Remountable Home Set

Bus from Remountable London Set

Postage Stamp

If I've missed any or you don't recognise one just ask and I'll let you know what they are.

I hope you like my project - I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Maybe do what I did and take the opportunity to make yourself something nice.

Happy stamping,

Lynne

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Clarity Meadow Dance Card Lavina Style

Here's another card made with my favourite Clarity Meadow Dance stamps.  I saw a project in Craft Stamper by Tracey Dutton from Lavinia Stamps and this is what I made from it.  I love the mixture of colours.

The tutorial is also on her blog, here.  She uses one of her stamps called Harietta.

The little star cluster is by Lavinia and the words are from an old Joanna Sheen set of dress stamps.  All of the others are from Claritystamps.

Well that was short and to the point!

It's nearly time for the next In the Classroom with Barbara Gray show on Create and Craft tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has made.  I'll be back tomorrow to show you what I've been up to.

Lynne
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Clarity Meadow Dance Poppy Card

This is the last of my cards from October's Claritystamp shows on Create and Craft.  It's also my favourite.

It combines two of my favourite Clarity stamps - Meadow Dance and the Poppies.

I started off by cutting an oval on my Cameo.  Then I stamped the poppies into place to create the foreground.  I masked off a couple of the poppies next to the girl with a ball, so that the Meadow Dance stamp would appear behind them.  It looked a bit odd though as the stamp ended suddenly.  I thought it would be a nightmare to mask them all off, so I finished the image off with a black pen.  I just varied the height of my colouring so that it looked like the stamp continued right across.

I really like the contrast of bright red poppies and mat with the bright yellow of the sun and the black silhouette stamp.  They're so appropriate for this time of year too.

Now I'm looking forward to November's shows that are on Create and Craft TV next weekend.  I've just about finished my cards and today's task is to photograph them all.  That's always a bit of a challenge!

I still have the cards that I made for the German shows to share too, so they will be appearing soon.

Lynne
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Gatefold Clarity Meadow Dance Card

I really liked the gatefold card I did with these stamps for the the German shows, so I thought I do a similar one for the UK.

This time I made it bigger.  

Instead of putting the sun (Spellbinders Persian Accents die) on the front, like I did last time, I put it inside and cut the card so it could still be seen when it was closed.   I cut the card on my Cameo by scanning in a cut out image of the die and creating an offset around it.  I then cut it in half and welded one to each side.

It doesn't really show on the photo but there is some green grass mixed in with the black at the front.  I did this to make it tie in with the green trees in the background but looking at it now I think it might have been better if I'd done all of the stamping in black.

What do you think?

Lynne

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Clarity Meadow Dance Stamps and My Blog Header

These aren't the sort of stamps I normally go for but there's just something about them that I love.  I was really pleased when I saw that I had them to make samples with for HSE 24.  The first thing I did was find out that the words meant "After the rain comes the sunshine".

I suppose it's a bit like the English "Every cloud has a silver lining".  

I decided to focus on the sun and make it a big, bright one!  I used Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Ink pads to create it and Tumbled Glass for the sky.  The corners are Spellbinders Persian Accents.

I also made a dinky little gatefold card.  It measures 5' x 5"when it's closed.  One of the Persian Motifs dies was perfect for a big sun on the front of the card.

Inside I made a bright Summery scene to go with the characters.  When I'd finished I thought it would be perfect for my blog header as it makes me smile whenever I look at it.  I'd like to be there with them.  Luckily I hadn't folded it so I was able to get a photo of it without the creases.