If I had a brain, I would be dangerous.......

 Saturday was the first of Maria Simms'  Clarity workshops for 2015 up at Shrewsbury.  It was a great day with lovely projects and great company and an excellent tutor.  Maria had set us four new projects to complete, so she was definitely wielding her whip.  (She had also looked at the list, saw my name and put in a load of cutting out). 

The first one was the new owl stamp, teamed up with the acorns and oak leaves from the Stage remountable set.  The owls are not on the front of the card but stamped and embossed and put through the aperture, which we cut through three layers in the front of the card.  The pearlescent topper was embossed first before putting it onto a backing of black.  Then we had to stamp and emboss the acorns and oak leaves and they were then CUT OUT and layered on the front of the card.  I was doing fine until a very kind gentleman came in and told me I had left my headlights on.  so I didn't have time to finish putting the leaves and acorns on the card.  I tucked them away safely (Ha!) in a sealed bag, but when I came to stick them on this morning, I could only find six instead of the eight I should have had.  They did eventually emerge from hiding.  I really like the simplicity of the design, classic!

When this stag came out, I really did not like him at all and didn't want him.  As often happens, when you start working with a stamp like that, you suddenly get an appreciation of just what you can do, and it totally changes your feelings.  I even dealt with the fact that I had to CUT a mask - Maria said it was character building.  As you can see, my oak leaves are very varied in colour.  I had a problem with the reddish colour to start with and really then just stamped without a lot of planning, with a lot of overstamping to try to tone the red down a little.    So I was expecting that I might need to redo this totally when I got home.  However, now that things have settled, I quite like the more random effects.  It could even be the Sam Crowe effect?

This third card has cost me more money.  I was told today that the clock face is a Tim Holtz die which is now out of production.  However for those who are interested, I did find it available on Amazon  http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=tim+holtz+weathered+clock+die&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=40259688486&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2671271138237691499&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5v9vzl6ll9_b

and it comes with free postage.

 

The  main topper was on craft card and I used Sam's Eggs (fantastic stencil) again to add the background.  Because we were running short of time, we had the choice (decided by Maria) as to whether we put the words on the background or missed that bit.  I chose to leave all the finishing off and putting together until today.  I also chose to add a hint of gold gilding wax to the clock and to the edge of the topper - the pot was right on the table next to me, so what else could I do?

The final card is not pictured here because it was an unmitigated disaster through my own stupidity.  Having done all the stamping, I picked it up and dropped in in a hurry in horror.  The acorns were in second generation ink, so it was ink, blot, plot.  Fine but where had I blotted?  Oh yes, right along the edge of my precious card, and to make it even worse, I had added inky smudges to another corner.  absolutely no chance of resurrecting that one.  Start again, Margaret.  That is tomorrow's project.  My daughter said,"Oh well, Mum, you will know not to do that again".  Little does she know, it is not the first time and probably will not be the last.

Hope you enjoy looking at these cards, all designed by the lovely Maria.