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

A Single Rose

Hi, Barbara Gray from Clarity Stamp launched the most beautiful collection of Groovi plates recently on Hochanda. It was a floral collection made with the stunning work from Jayne Nestorenko. I was so pleased when mine arrived, so I couldn't wait to use them in a project. Today I am sharing a design I came up with using them along with other plates from the Groovi range. Roses have always been my most favourite of all flowers and so I had to use these first. I found a wonderful saying which was to become the focal point of this design.

To start with I planned the positioning of the words, I felt this phrase was so heartfelt and would match so well with the images I was going to use. I wrote the phrase onto copier paper first for reference  as adding large amounts of text can be tricky otherwise. I then used the inner frame to surround the words. Underneath but within the frame I added one of the rose swags.

Next I added the rose head from one plate, added a longer stem appearing from underneath.. I added the larger frame from the set, allowing the rose to hang outside this for a little extra interest.

I filled the space between the frames with the overlapping lattice, completed all of my whitework on the lattice, rose and leaves. I coloured the roses and leaves using polychromos. To add some more depth to the lattice I added some black using Polychromo pencil to give a more 3D look. To finish the piece I mounted it onto some Cerise Silk Art card using a corner punch.

I am entering this into Septembers Clarity Blog Challenge. Thank you so much for taking a look today, I do hope you like the design I have shared. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

So Excited I had to Share the News..

Morning, I am so excited that I made the top 5 in the Clarity Challenge for May. I am sharing the post of the card I entered for this, with the step by Step. Sorry to those of you that have seen it, but I am over the moon and wanted to share it. Tomorrow a brand new card I have made with Leonie Pujol's Stamp Collection.

A little bit of a mix up for you today, I have to say I am really proud of this one. It's a mix of Parchment using the Groovi System, but also adding stamps and even an inked background using stencils and masks.

I do love the Clarity House Martin stamp and just had to include it in my design. By Lifting the parchment from the background with the addition of a couple of folds I was able to allow the birds to hover over the mountain scene I created.

I started by placing the parchment over the stencil I was using to allow me to position the birds. I stamped these with Stazon white ink.

Next I took the Poppies Groovi plate, to add some foliage at the bottom. Then using the Sprig Groovi plate, I created my parchment background. Finally I embossed around the stencil and the birds.

Taking my two pin piercing tool, I pierced all around the stencil.

Then cut out the waste with my pergamano snips and set this aside to rest.

The background (stamped part) had to be on white paper, but I wanted the parchment part of my design to be against black. To do this I carefully lined up my parchment to the base card so I could position my mask/stencil. I stuck it down using Crafters Companion Stick n Spray (repositionable adhesive). I then coloured the remainder of the card with Black Soot Distress Ink.

I removed the mask and cleaned of the residue from my card with a paper stump. Then using Black Archival, I stamped the corn using another Clarity stamp and added a round moon shaped mask. I used Pebeo Drawing Gum to mask off the corn so I could colour it later. I then placed the stencil over my design.

I masked for the mountains and using Hickory Smoke and Pumice Stone Distress Ink, blended the colours from dark to light. Where the moonlight was hitting them, I added very little colour. I then offset the masks and added some Black Soot, then blended out with Hickory Smoke. I created the sky using Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire, finally blending through some of the Black Soot. I then removed the mask and drawing gum.

As it's midnight, I coloured the corn a warm light brown alcohol marker rather than yellow. The birds on the parchment were coloured using a selection of Red, Orange and Yellow Polychromos. Finishing off with a green alcohol marker for the leaves.

I left a 1 cm border around my design, this was scored at the edge of my design and again at 1/2 cm. The final flap was used to secure to the back of my background base and gave me the required distance between the two.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog. I have been really touched by all of your lovely comments. I love to read them and love hearing your thoughts. I hope you will visit again very soon. Take care xx