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You are welcome to copy any of my designs, as long as you do not take credit for them yourself. I am very happy for you to sell them. If I have used anyone else's design, I always try to give credit where it is due. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will put things right.


This is intended to be mainly about my crafting stories, as a personal record of what I do. However, I interpret crafting quite widely, not just paper crafting but other things too. I have a butterfly mind and like to change from one thing to another depending on what I feel like on a given day - knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, cards, baking and several others, including my favourite right now, parchment, both traditional skills and Groovi, very relaxing and calming to do.

I have decided to put some structure into my blog so that each day will have something of a theme.
Monday- for Mindfulness; Tuesday - Tidy Up Day; Wednesday - What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday; Thursday - Technique and Tips; Friday - Finish Off Day; Saturday - Start Something New; Sunday - Anything Goes
These themes are not hard and fast and will be changed if I feel the need.

Saturday 15 January 2011

I love Barbara Gray

Finally, the creative juices are starting to flow, and new things are being tried - not just finishing off old ones.  Having watched Barbara Gray on Sunday (I do wish Create and Craft wouldn't alter the times - it made a mess of my pre-set recording), I was dying to have another go at brayering.  I know all the theory, but actually putting it into practice is very different.  

I stamped the silver birches onto the silk card, and then followed what she had done with the Versamark pen and clear embossing powder, covering the trees themselves.  The first attempt was rubbish.  Not sure if it was the pen (lack of use), not enough powder or the just a rubbish crafter.  So once it had cooled, I added more Versamark and more powder and reheated.  Much better this time.  I really wanted to use a dark colour, a pale grey or something like that, but I haven't got that yet.  The darkest I had was the Mountain Meadow Big and Juicy, so that is what I used.  Having inked up the brayer, I duly took off what I thought was most of the ink and started flicking the brayer across.  Wrong!  I needed to take off much more ink.  The background is now far too bright for what I wanted, so that attempt will go on the shelf until I decide how I can recover it for use.  Never mind, it was only a play, and you don't get things right every time.  Hopefully, you learn.  I did have another go with the brayer, this time taking off so much ink I could not see any left on the brayer.  The result was much better, so that piece of card will also go onto the shelf until I decide what to stamp onto it.

I also had a go at stamping onto acetate, then spraying with adhesive and applying silver leaf to the back.  after burnishing that, I mounted it onto plain black card, then onto silver mirri card, and onto black again, before mounting the whole thing onto a piece of pearlescent white card.  I was quite pleased with the result, which will make quite a good card for a man, being very plain and simple.  I can print a sentiment off on acetate, back that with silver leaf and mount that up below the image.

I am so pleased with my new printer.  It will print everything I have tried so far, including quite thick card, up to 350gsm, which is what I had hoped for.  So I can use it to print a background direct to the card before matting an layering on top of it.  I even tried with a piece of textured card.  Perfect!

By the way, how does anyone else store Clarity stamps to keep them safe, but accessible?  Mine are still stuffed in the box and the paper they came in.  Not good as I cannot remember what I have, so if I want anything, they all come out.  Any ideas gratefully received.

9 comments:

Sherry said...

I love Clarity Stamps too - and Barbara's demos on Create and Craft are the best!! For Christmas my hubby treated me to her DVDs and two of the stamps. I haven't watched or tried them yet, but am looking forward to doing so. I'll bear in mind what you say about removing most of the ink from the brayer - did you do the wheelies too - LOL. Your card has turned out great by the way!

As for storing them, I don't know - it's awkward with the holders. You could always keep them in the box but stamp all the images on a sheet of paper so at least you'll be able to see at a glance what you've got without having to get them all out each time.

SYLVIA-ANNE said...

Hi Maggie - I watched Barbara on C&C - she is fabulous isn't she. I was inspired to try her brayering technique too, but I still can't achieve her perfectly smooth stripe of colour with no dark lines! As for storing clear stamps (although I don't have any of Barbara's but I guess they could be stored like any oher acrylic stamp)- I pop mine onto a thick sheet of acetate, which I keep in a ring binder folder. Just punch the relevant number of holes along one edge of the acetate to fit onto the rings. Alternatively, they can be stored inside an empty plastic DVD cover. Hope this helps. x Sylvia x

ShazInOzCardsCalligraphy said...

Mm, I love my brayer and you did well Maggie, trees look lovely with the brayered background.
I read somewhere the clarity stamps stored on a rod in the top of their cupboard ie piece of narrow dowel linked across between cup hooks and they just hang the stamps with the little see through handles off that, only have one and when it came I was so puzzled wondering what to do with it so went online and did a search but that was best idea I could find.. if you have place for a piece of dowel for them to hang from in your natty storage set up maybe DH can come to he rescue yet again?
Shaz in oz.x

Morti said...

I love Barbara Gray too, so I'm totally with you on that. As for storing her stamps, do you buy mounted or unmounted? Her unmounted ones cling to acetate, so that's how I store mine!

Eileen said...

Hi Maggie... great card, I am glad you are enjoying your brayer, you have the knack alright! I am a great fan of Barbara Gray and store my stamps in plastic tubs... however, a friend has adapted some wavy wine racks ...the stamps clip over the top of the metal racks! I am not explaining it very well...I will post a picture on my blog when I can ask her to send me one. xx

Deborah March said...

Sounds like you've had such FUN with your brayer!! I've heard alot about Barbara Gray, sure wish we could watch her in Canada too...

Sherry Goodloe said...

thanks for stopping by!
i will be including the cars in the kits for this workshop I'm teaching in March: http://gotart4u.blogspot.com/2010/12/nostalgic-curio.html

Mary said...

Maggie, what a beautiful card. I may have to try this. Can you send me a link to Barbara Gray.

Mary said...

Thank you....