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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.

Sunday 17 March 2013

Clarity and Decoupage


Having joined most of the rest of the country in being knocked flat by the rotten flu type cold last week, I am now playing catch up with the cards I need NOW.  These are two I managed to get done yesterday (four more to do). 
This first card is for a wedding yesterday - talk about cutting it fine.  We hand delivered it yesterday morning.  The lilies of the valley stamp is a Clarity stamp, the smaller version of the one shown on Create and Craft this month.  I had thought I had the large one so I had to rethink the whole idea rather rapidly.  

I did not have the sentiment stamp, so I typed that first onto the card, and stamped the flowers round it.  I coloured them with Promarkers, and them embossed the white flowers with Detail White embossing powder.  I used my Speedball brayer and the wonderful Splodge Away Mat to "airbrush" around the edge of the topper with Adirondack butterscotch, before mounting it on brown and then gold card.

I don't often use ribbon and other bits, but this one did need extra.  I had intended to do a double bow, but I could not remember how to do that in a rush, and actually, I think it is better with just a simple single bow, and the three crystal hearts.

This second card is for friends who are moving from the middle of Sherwood Forest to the outskirts of Bridport, a very different area.

The photo in the centre is one I found ages ago, and could have been a postcard originally, but I changed it by decoupaging it.  I would probably not use photographic paper in the future as cutting it does tend to leave white edges, which are more visible in close up.  The church tower is not only curled but folded along the one edge to give it more perspective.  Gluing it in place requires different thicknesses of Pinflair glue.  I don't think you could get the right effect with sticky pads, and I have got rid of most of mine as they were just sitting there taking up more space.  

The flowers and the bees are just a part of  the Floral Corner set from Clarity Stamps.  There are other pieces in the set, a long piece which joins the corners, and three other insects, a ladybird and a dragonfly, and a caterpillar.    I coloured them with the softer colours of Promarkers and edged each corner with Powder Blue Promarker. 

I also used the ink that was left on the Splodge mat from the previous day and was still very workable to brayer around the outside of the card.  (I am going to leave the ink there for another couple of days and see how long this ink will last.  It certainly saves money using the Splodge Mat, saving ink and paper.) Then I edged the card with my Krylon gold leaf pen, and also added little highlights to the bees and some of the flower centres.  Just one tip, never try to brayer over the top of gold leaf pens or anything like that - you will probably ruin your brayer and definitely ruin your careful work. (Oh yes, I have done it, so I know from experience.)

Unfortunately, both these cards are going to need a trip to the post office, the first one because the envelope I made is a touch oversized and needs a larger package to fit, and the second one because of the depth of decoupage.  Didn't think those through very well, did I?  Oh well, I shall have to add the cost to the next mortgage to the Royal Mail.  Just had a thought - I wonder if the Queen gets her post free as it is delivered by the Royal Mail - probably not!

Sadly, there will not be any paper crafting done today.  We need some fresh bread and probably some cake too.  We also want to test out our new ice cream maker.  So it will be a different type of crafting for today.

6 comments:

Jacqui's little piece of England said...

Two lovely cards Maggie love that Lily of the Valley stamp
jacqui x

Mrs A. said...

Both cards are lovely. Like your splodged away effect around the edges. Still trying to convince myself that I need one of these mats to offset the cost of them. Which size have you got? Hugs mrs a.

shazsilverwolf said...

Hi Marg, I love the elegance of the Wedding Card. Nicely decoupaged images of the cottage- I found going round the white edges with a similar shade of Promarker helps to hide them, having also tried photo paper for decoupage in the past!Work with you pen coming from the back of the image- saves getting lines over your image then when the pen slips, if you work from the front. One more lesson learned the hard way, :). Love Shaz xx

Linda Simpson said...

Hello Maggie, lovely cards and love the gorgeous cottage on the second. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs
Linda xxx

Hettie said...

These cards are gorgeous Maggie.
Your bread smells good and I will be over for a piece of cake later!
xx

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

ah, Maggie how I love both of these cards... a great piece of work.
The first one esp. I am very curious about why the splodge mat is so good with brayer will have to look up videos to see why..
It seemed to work exceptionally well.

... and love the second card too.

I am not sure if it will help you but do my printing on inkjet printer paper because it is matt and not as thick as photo paper and because of the coating keeps the colours well - easier to stick down too.

I have scanned the PB stickeroos from Di on it and used them on cards as the images are so cute and have made digi paper on the same paper.

My sister gave me 100 sheets she did not want it; that is how I started doing it plus scored some from friends garage sale.
Shaz in Oz.x