December Clarity Calendar

Morning, Just a quick post this morning. I decided to enter the Clarity Calendar Challenge this month so I am sharing my entry today. I have to say it has definitely been the hardest crafting I have ever tried. I find it near impossible to replicate someone else's work anyway but even harder when it's Barbara Gray, especially when the project is going to be judged as well.

I have had this stamp set for a while now, I have always loved it, the Santa is so different from any other I have seen, I just love the style.

Well I shall say goodbye for now. I am really going to try to get another post in before Christmas, but if I dont or you miss it. I hope you all have a marvellous Christmas. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Bee Crafty Launch Samples

Great News, Bev from Bee Crafty is on Hochanda today for 3 shows. Today I am sharing some of the samples I made for the shows. Please dont miss them, they are always great to watch and full of techniques, demos and super products. The show times are 11 am, 3 pm and the last one at 6 pm.

There's a wonderful new word set and a couple of set of border stamps, they have been great to use and still have plenty on ideas and projects to share with you.

As always, the stamps are incredibly versatile and will suit everyone, whatever your style of crafting or whoever the finished project is for.

There's a brilliant grungy border, I have used it as a whole piece, but also individual elements from it.

Thank you ever so much for stopping by today, I hope you will join me again very soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Dream

Morning. I hope you are all well. I am sure everyone is frantically getting ready for Christmas. Bev will be back on Hochanda tomorrow with some more wonderful stamps, so make sure you tune in at 11 am, 3 pm and 6 pm. Today I am sharing a card I made for the Bee Crafty show on Hochanda, using the Dream stamp. I wanted a very simple card and decided on Black and white, although any colour would look great or even multi coloured. It would be a nice idea to maybe stick with black and then pick out a specific word with a bright colour.

Stupidly, I forgot to take photos as I was making up the design. It's such a simple card so it will be easy to explain step by step.

I started off with my white 8'' square card blank and stamped separate letters all across the card, using black Archival ink. Be careful to clean after each letter to avoid any unwanted marks on your card.

On another piece of white card, I stamped the main word 'Dream' and then positioned my 'Any Road' sentiment beneath. Finally using one of the 'Style Wire' border stamps, I created a box for it.

I then backed it onto black card giving a strong edge to separate it from the background. Then I attached it to my base card using foam tape.

A very strong look, but very clean and simple at the same time.

Thank you for taking a look today, I hope you like the finished card. I will be sharing some launch designs tomorrow on my blog, so I hope you will take a look and please dont miss the shows. Take care and Happy Crafting.

I wont be doing regular Daily posts now until the 'New Year' However I will still be posting weekly. Hope you all have a great Christmas and Here's to a wonderful 2017.

The Bookshop

Morning, I think everyone must be gearing up for the Christmas Season. I know I am, loads to do and running out of time to fit it all in. Today, I am sharing another project I made using the beautiful Bee Crafty Steam Punk paper pad which Bev brought to Hochanda. I really love the designs on these papers, they are wonderful to use, each one is a piece of art in it's own right and would look wonderful in a frame with very little done or added.

I chose to make a very simple design using this sheet from the pad, I selected the area I wanted to use and stuck it to a piece of board using Cosmic Shimmer Glue.

Using Gathered Twigs Distress Ink I stamped the Large Feather stamps onto Kraft card. I also stamped the Ink Pot with the same ink before using Versamark and brass embossing powder to stamp the nibs (both from the same set).

I used some of my alcohol markers to colour parts of the design to highlight the characters. Finally I cut out the other elements and secured them to my piece using 3D glue gel.

Thank you so much for joining me today, I hope you like what I have shared and the short step by step. Take care and Happy Crafting.xxx

Wake Up

Morning, Today I wanted to share one of the samples I made for the Bee Crafty show on Hochanda. This was from the show when Bev brought us the wonderful Steam Punk Paper pads. The beautiful Feather stamps were also a feature of the show.

For this card I decided to use Kraft card for a different look and feel. I started by stamping one of the feathers letting them overlap, using a mask I had cut from copier paper. The colours I have used here are Shaded Lilac, Pine Needles, Festive Berries, Squeezed Lemonade and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks.

On another piece of Kraft card I stamped the 'Wake Up' stamp with Gathered Twigs Distress ink. This is a really fun sentiment that suits lots of occasions, I think it's especially good for teenagers.

To create the background I stamped the smaller Swirly Feather using Gathered Twigs Distress ink, allowing some to fall off the page.

I blended around my sentiment, background and main piece with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink to soften the edges.

Next I cut a piece of hessian approximately the same width as the background and frayed the edges quite heavily.

I layered my background onto brown Centura Pearl card and secured the hessian in place using Cosmic Shimmer glue.

Using some of the longer lengths of hessian thread, I wrapped them around my main piece and secured at the back with tape. I then layered this onto the same brown card.

I used another hessian thread to thread through a wooden button to act as an embellishment. Then layered my sentiment onto the same brown card.

To finish the card, I assembled, I secured the main piece to my background using foam tape to raise it, then 3D glue gel to add the sentiment, lastly I added the button, again with 3D glue gel.

I hope you like the finished card today and the step by step I have shared with you. Thank you ever so much for joining me. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx 

Bee Crafty Samples for the Hochanda Launch

Hi all. Don't miss the Bee Crafty shows today on Hochanda. Bev will be live at 10am,1pm and a final show at 5pm. You all know just how busy these shows are, so don't miss out and buy early. Here are some of the cards I made for the shows.

The stamp sets are so versatile, you can use them in conjunction with all of your existing crafty stash, they make great frames and borders as well as allowing you to create all of your own designs. These are one of those collections, where there really are no limitations.

Also on the show today is a wonderful set of sentiments, I love the Bee Crafty sentiments, they really are unique and suit all people and occasions. They stamp beautifully giving you a clean, crisp image time after time.

The MDF will also be on today's shows, while the stocks hold up. I highly recommend these, the quality is superb giving a perfect base for all of your projects and an excellent surface for all media.

It's great to be back, I'm still taking it easy so my daily posts wont be straight away, but the way I feel at the moment you wont have long to wait. Thank you so much for all of your messages and mail, I really appreciate your care and support, it has been a tough time for me. I do hope you have enjoyed what I have shared today and thanks for stopping by. Take care and Happy Crafting.xxx

Friendship

A little while ago Bev from Bee Crafty launched a beautiful Steam Punk paper stack on Hochanda. I adore the designs in this collection, In fact they are so wonderful and easily hold their own on a card with very little done to them. Sometimes I think it's so sad to cover them up, so for this project I wanted to use it almost as it is.

This is the sheet I decided to use for this card. You can see from the picture just how much detail makes up the design, is has been fun to read some of the articles as well.

I cut the section I wanted to use, carefully putting the excess away, I didn't want to lose any of the sheet.

To make the image really jump from the background I layered it onto black card, making sure it was only a very thin edge, I didn't want a frame as such, just an edge.

I then stamped the Friendship sentiment using black Archival ink onto the paper, over the clock at the top of the sheet. I positioned it so that the number would be at the edge, almost like an old train ticket.

I backed this piece in exactly the same way as before with black card.

Next I created the background. Taking a piece of cream linen card, I stamped the 2 swirly feathers using Victorian Velvet, Tattered Rose and Old Paper Distress Inks. Next I blended around the edges with Antique Linen and Old Paper.

Using my alcohol markers, I added colour to the Violin and the lady, bringing her off the page even more. The papers have a beautiful surface and take the colour extremely well.

I coloured some cream crochet lace with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink. I secured it across my card at the back with tape. I then secured this to a black base card before securing my topper using foam tape. I then positioned and secured the sentiment with Collall 3D glue gel.

I am so pleased to be back again and posting as it's been a while. I am taking it easy at the moment, so I wont be posting daily just yet. I will be posting as much as I can over the next week until I get back to my old self. Thank you for being so patient and for your support. I hope you have enjoyed the step by step today along with the finished card. Thank you for taking the time to visit.Take care and Happy Crafting. xx

Making Memories

Today I am sharing a project that I made with the papers that Bev from Bee Crafty launched on Hochanda on October 17th. The shows will still be available on their website Via  the 'Rewind' facility. The papers are wonderful, I thought the piece I am making today would be super for the wedding scrapbook page I have made, but there are so many other ways you could use it.

This is the sheet I decided to use for the project, it's such a beautiful design.

I was also using the feather stamps from the show as well, I stamped some of them around, mostly second generation. To position the ones in the centre I took the photograph I was using and I would use a craft knife later so I could use them as photo corners. 

Around the edges, Particularly the left hand side I used part of the ledger stamp to deepen the colour and add some extra depth.

Next I took a selection of alcohol markers and added some colour to the lady and the flowers.

Then taking the photo, I added some feathers to tie the whole thing together.

I used Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet Distress ink to blend the edges. Then using my craft knife I cut a little way along the feathers, just enough for the corners of the photo to slip underneath and added the photo.

Next I added the sentiment I had chosen with Archival black ink.

To create the background, I stamped the feathers around the page and blended with Victorian Velvet and tattered Rose Distress Inks.

I backed my page with mat black card, I ran around the edge of this with a gold Krylon Pen to add the gold detail.

To finish, I layered it onto my background using Cosmic Shimmer Glue.

Thank you for looking today, I hope you have enjoyed what I shared and that you will pop by again soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Nothing Flies

Hi, The card I am sharing today is using the Feather Stamp Set that Bev featured on Hochanda last week. I absolutely adore them, they are simply beautiful and so well drawn, the detail is superb and they stamp like a dream. The stamp I have used coupled with one of the Bee Crafty Sentiments, shows just how little you have to add to make a lovely card or project.

At this point I wasn't 100% sure what size my finished card was going to be, so I took a sheet of Navy cardstock, dusted it with an anti static bag and embossed the feather using white fine detail embossing powder.

Then I took the sentiment, stamped using Versamark and embossed using the same detail powder. I then cut the card to 6 1/2 x 7''.

Next came the fun part, I wanted to add some splats to the design. I masked the edges first, mixed some white acrylic paint with a little water and started adding the distressed detail.

I wanted to keep this very simple as the feather speaks for itself, I cut a piece of white Centura Pearl from Crafters Companion to give me  a 1/4'' border around the card. Then wrapped some matching navy ribbon around it, securing it at the back with tape.

I secured my topper to the background using foam tape and Collall 3D Glue Gel before layering onto a coordinating navy card base.

Hopefully you like what I have shared with you today along with the step by step. It would be lovely to see you again soon so dont stay away too long. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx