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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.

Friday 1 January 2016

Happy New Year - my first completed card of 2016

After watching Barbara Gray working with double sided adhesive sheets, gliding flakes and stencils, I found a few minutes to play.  This is the result, using the tree stencil from Clarity.

Ingredients:
Clarity stencil
Sheet of double sided adhesive
Gliding flakes -Pirate Treasure and Gold
Clarity stencil/Gelli card
Brown card for mounting


Place a piece of double sided adhesive sheet on the stencil card and smooth down firmly.  Remove the second piece of waxed paper from the adhesive and position your stencil as you wish.  Add gliding flakes and smooth them into all the sticky sections.  I used a mixture of the two colours to try to get some kind of sharing in the landscape.


Use the sanding block to remove all the excess gliding flakes and put them back into a tub for future use.  Then carefully remove the stencil slowly to avoid damage to the stencil.  Brush baby powder into all the sticky areas left from under the stencil.  Give the whole thing another good rub done to burnish it.

It looks good then but you can add more definition and depth if you highlight parts with a coloured pencil.  I used a dark grey and added shade on one side only of each tree and branch.  With this lovely treescape stencil, it is necessary to work out which branch belongs to which tree and highlight to show that.

I also added marks down the trunks and along the branches to give more depth.  It worked well as I found that the pencil on top of the baby powder naturally gave me the slightly scratchy marks I really wanted.

When it came to mounting it, I found that the dark brown worked better than black, giving a warmer feel and blending better with the building flakes.

If you try this technique, choose your stencil carefully,  I found the more open stencil of the treescape easier to remove than those with a wider framework.  The other major point to remember is to remove all droughts and don't sneeze or breathe on the gliding flakes.

Have a Happy New Year, all of you, and I look forward to seeing what you all get up to in 2016.

10 comments:

Debbie Rock said...

Absolutely one of my favourites Maggie and I was all ready to send for some gilding flakes (have yet to try them!!!) until I saw the word "pencils" ... you lost me at "shading" and "pencils"!!!! Am longing for time to play but have managed to get all my 20 wedding anniversary cards made over these past two days plus a further half a dozen with just a general "happy anniversary" greeting on them all ready for my fundraiser later in the year ... so that is another 20 cards ticked off my "to do" list. Am off now to study this wonderful card once more ... it instantly appealed to me and I do so admire your skill with the dreaded pencils! Happy New Year and love to you. xXx

Emma Burns said...

Happy new year Margaret. What a lovely card. I do love gilding flakes. Love the shading too. Hugs and have a good year xxx

JackieCou said...

Hi Maggie, this is one I want to have a go out to thanks does reminding me. I was looking through my stencils the other day, I haven't decided which to try yet but the trees look very effective. I'm not confident about shading though so might be looking at yours for help there! Happy New Year! Xxx

Julia Dunnit said...

It's gorgeous Margaret, I do love variegated gold flakes I must say. Debbie could always sponge ink on for the shading...I think you're right, it really adds to the depth.

Naomi said...

It's beautiful Margaret. Happy New Year.

Linda Page said...

Lovely card Maggiexx

Lynne Bishop said...

Beautiful Maggie. Got to try this yet but love the effects. Happy New year. xx

Dora said...

hello Maggie,
So nice to see that you crafting.
Beautiful peace of work.
I like the sparkle with the gold,yellow, orange on the right side.
it just like to shine the sun trough the woods. that little light want to go far into the woods. that Every tree gets some light.
Beautiful!!!! What a effect.
all the best wishes to you and your family.
kind regards, Dora

Jackie Elliott said...

Hi Maggie,
I love this card, I've done this technique before but never thought about adding the shading...going to borrow that idea!!
Jackie xx

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Wow, clever idea Maggie, haven't that stencil r one like it, but do have the gilding flakes, must get into them. Like Ve the effect, brilliant card
Shaz in Oz.x