Mica powders and Clarity adhesive sheets - messy fun!

This card is as a result of watching Barbara Gray on Sunday, and was great fun to do.  It uses Clarity Adhesive sheets, and the Clarity Lovescape set of stamps, and a mixture of mica powders.

I am not going to presume to tell you how to do this technique, I am not good enough.  What I will say though is that it is great fun to do, and I am still very inky and everything in sight is covered with shimmery mica.  The design is mounted onto Clarity white silk card, and then covered with Clarity film to protect the micas.

The base card is pale blue pearlescent, a ready folded card from stock, which I thought set off the mica colours best.  The sentiment is again, my one and only Happy Birthday stamp, used with a blue Adirondack (my brain has gone as I cannot remember which one).

I am now in the middle of trying to find a good way of backing it onto black card, but I need to go back to the drawing board for that one.  if I get it right, I will show you later.

WOYWW 149 Follow on - Narrow Boats interpretation

Working Narrow Boat "Aquarius"

When you go to caravan rallies, you can have a follow on rally afterwards.  We had our usual WOYWW yesterday, so this is my follow on explanation.  A number of people gave me credit for having drawn the boat myself.  I wish!!!  I am not that talented.  So I thought I should make things clear.  I am not clever but I do enjoy manipulating images to get what I want.  That is my excuse for this post.and I am sticking to it.

For those of you who saw my canal boat card yesterday on WOYWW, I thought you might like to see the original photo from which I took my traced image to add to my Clarity stamps.

Traced and inked image of "Aquarius"

The first thing I have to tell you is that it is a narrow boat, not a barge.  If we ever slipped up and called it a barge, we got thoroughly told off.  The majority of the canal network will only take the narrow boats, and not the bigger Dutch Barge types, and some locks will only take the shorter narrow boats.

The hardest part, once the tracing was done, was to stick to what I could actually see on the photo and not to add in the things I could not see, but know are there.  For example, I know there is some beautiful sign writing on the side of the tiny living quarters, which is just not visible due to the angle of the photo.  The size of the card also limited the amount of detail that could be fitted in.
 

Traced and inked image of bridge before I reversed it

The same criteria really applied to the bridge too.  The picture I took that from was actually reversed so that the tow path was on the opposite side.  This did not fit in with using the stamp of the horse, and it was easier to reverse the bridge than to reverse the horse.  I could have been very nit picky and drawn all the bricks on the bridge, but I think that would have been too much detail for the size of the image, hence the artistic licence again and the roughly drawn huge blocks.   All bridges are numbered, as far as my limited knowledge tells me, so I chose the number of this bridge knowing that they would have travelled beneath it at some time.

Final Result (unless I decide to titivate it a bit more)

The colouring part of this card did show up the fact that I need more and varied greens, both in ink pads and Promarkers to get the real depth I wanted.  Failing that, a lot more practice in blending what I have to get the desired results.

Ingredients used:

White paper

White Centura pearl card

Copper Krylon pen

Tracing paper

Clarity Stamps - Horse, herons, bullrushes small and large (Canal barge Kit),  Geese (Small village set)

Adirondack ink pads: lettuce, cloudy blue, juniper, pitch black

Cut and Dry brush nibs

Promarkers: various

Pencil for tiny detail, like the fence on the hill and the obelisk

Brayer

Make up sponges

Craft a Scene - second go this month

This is one of those cards that developed as it grew.  It is intended for the Craft a Scene challenge for a Moonlight scene.  It is tiny, having been created from offcuts of Clarity shiny card, and a cut down pearlescent card.

I started off being inspired by a painting I saw on the Antiques Roadshow at the weekend, which was just clouds in the moonlight.  I thought that would be a cool image to go with.  So the first thing was to tape down the shiny card so it stayed put and gave me the white edging.  Then I put the moon mask in place before taking a piece of cotton wool and shredded it before pressing it hard into the Versamark pad.  Then I put it randomly over the whole piece of card in wisps, placed a piece of copy paper over the top and used the brayer over the top of that to give the clouds.

Once I had done that bit, I loaded the brayer with Adirondack Cloudy Blue, and did the usual routine of getting rid of most of the ink and then doing a wheelie.  A second layer followed that to deepen the colour from the top right corner downwards, then a layer of Denim over the top of that. 

I wanted to ground the whole thing with the tops of trees peeping at the bottom of the card, so I used one of my Clarity trees to hint at trees.  Once that was done, i looked at it and realise the whole picture had changed.  I could not see clouds so much as mountains in the background and a lake.  So I added a few more trees round the edge of the lake, left it all to dry before buffing it up with a piece of kitchen roll.  The moon is still there in the background, but the clouds have changed a bit.  I was going to highlight the trees, but then I decided that with such a small card, it would be better left alone.

Craft a Scene

This is the first of my entries in the Craft a Scene Challenge for this month.  The title for this month is Anything Goes.  The stamps I used are from the Clarity range from Barbara Gray, and one of my first attempts at creating a scene for myself. 

I used slate grey Adirondack for the stamping, and the trees were done on the first generation ink.  The reflections of the trees were second generation ink.  The fence and the gate were drawn with a thin black pen. 

Most of the background colour was added with a make up sponge as the brayer was too big to fit in the areas I wanted.  The colouring of the oast houses and the hops were done with my limited range of Promarkers, with some blending going on. 

I edged the picture with the gold Krylon pen, before mounting it on white card.  Just a warning, the Krylon is wonderful, but do not use it on photographic paper.  It sits on the top and then flakes off, leaving a mess.  Everything else I have used it on has been fine.

My next session of crafting is intended to be a really good play with my stamps and inks to see what other scenes I can put together.  Who knows, I might get something worth showing from that., even if it is only a "what not to do" example.

WOYWW - 107

My desk this week is a real mess, but I am having a ball.  You can see lots of images in the process of being played with, my red A5 file which is developing into my stamp catalogue, and a lot of other detritus from present projects and past projects.

One of my birthday presents was the large Velvet Lady from Clarity Stamps.  Unfortunately, I still don't have the lamp post to go with her, so I had to improvise and use the one from Cute Companions - not quite right but it will do for the moment.  After all, Barbara does not say we have to copy her exactly, but if giving us ideas from which our own imaginations should take off.    I also used the little spruce tree for the background as I could not think how to create buildings.  To get the shading on the snow, I used a scrunched up pad of kitchen roll, inked up and smoothed out.  With care, it seems to work fairly well.  The lady herself was partially coloured with Promarkers (her skirt) and her jacket and hat were printed and cut from a free downloaded tartan backing paper, which toned quite well with the Promarker.

Then I had a go with the cottage kit, which also involved some use of  things that were a little different from the way Barbara worked, again because my stock is of ink pads is not large .  The first attempt will end up taken apart and redone, but the second was better, but I suspect the next version will be better still.  There are too many trees behind and around the cottage - Geoff said it looked as if it had a beard, so less trees on the next one.  I might try putting a lake in too to get some reflections. (EDIT - tried that and promptly chopped it off, didn't work)

My reflections were very variable too with the brayer, but I think they are getting better.   My first attempt had the same problem as I have taking pictures of the sea - the water was running out.  Never mind, guillotines work wonders to straighten up wonky work.  My first one (not shown) was stamped with the black Adirondack and worked fairly well, being quite dramatic.  The one on the left here was done with Adirondack Slate which I think gives a softer more misty look, which I quite like.  I also really like the blue one (Adirondack Denim).  The background hill on both was done with the kitchen roll pad again.  the tree reflection on the blue one smudged on the brayer, but I think that adds to the watery feel.

I was going to show you the pif I sent to Andria for the 2nd Anniversary, follow the link to her blog at  http://andria-drawingnear.blogspot.com/   .  Her photos are better than mine.  I am glad she finally got it and she says she liked it, so ... result.

Anyway, I think that is enough waffling from me this week and I am sure that you will all have fun by popping over to the residence of our leader, Julia, where you will find lots and lots of fascinating desks with loads of different styles, which you will find at  

http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

WOYWW - 106

Before I show you my desk this week, I have one more important thing to do, and that is to publicly thank Becky Horn for my lovely pif.  It arrived on my birthday at the weekend, which was extra good.  So much work and love in it.  Thank you again, Becky.

I had some lovely cards and pressies, not least the complete set (until No 5 is released) of Barbara Gray's DVD's, which I have been coveting for ages and ages.  They came from my very very kind husband, who is so supportive of my crafting.  If you have a look at Silverwolf's blog, you will see the picture of the beautiful card she created for me, and how she did it.

Now to my desk.  Last week, it was so tidy thanks to a hurricane which hit it.  This week is not quite so good, although it is better than it was an hour before.  Some time ago, I started removing all the horrid sticky cushioning from all my unmounted rubber stamps, and finally finished today, thank goodness.  While the last batch were on my desk, I decided to start cataloguing them, by stamping them in sets into an A5 loose leaf file.  By the time, I had finished , my fingers were totally black and covered in Adirondack black ink.  So far, nothing has removed it, despite my best endeavours.  Any ideas?

I also started a "reflections" card, inspired by Barbara Gray.  As you can see, there is still a lot to do to it, but by then I was so inky, I thought I had better leave it alone for today.  You can also see some of the sheets I have started to print for my stamp catalogue.  I might have another go tomorrow, either at the catalogue creation or just playing with pictures and techniques.

I have also had company for most of my working today from our biggest pup, who suddenly realised I had a small bag of dog food on my desk which might be worth keeping an eye on.  He has be partially responsible for me not getting too much crafting done over the last couple of weeks.  We have just found a new trainer, who is teaching us all the things that really suit a working bred dog, tracking, retrieving and general searching.  Flash loves it and really puts all his effort into hunting.  Gemma, on the other hand, is a little blonde about it, easily distracted from the job in hand.  Never mind, she can only improve with work.  Our trainer, Madaleine, is very strict with us, and gives us lots of homework to practice.  I come back from  training class absolutely buzzing with excitement.  It is just great fun, and so rewarding when you finally coordinate all the things you are trying to sort out.  (I need 4 hands to deal with a clicker, a treat, and a lead, and a few more brain cells to allow me to "get it".)  It is not the dogs who are being trained, it is us as handlers.

By the way, are there any others of you out there who think that things have gone too far in the type of clothes being sold for young children, such as padded bras for girls of 5 and upwards, and the way they are being encouraged to be so much older than their years.  I did hear that pop videos are to be given ratings in a similar way to films, to try to protect young children from being exposed to salacious things while they are too young to cope.  My daughter already tries to vet whatever pop videos that her children watch.

Having had a bit of a soap box moment, perhaps you might like to slip over to see a few more desks at Julia's place, which you will find at  http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/  Thank you to all those who came to visit me this week, and apologies to those I did not get round to visit myself.  Hopefully, I can do better this week.

Another year gone!

I just want to know where the last year has flown off to.  I started this blog just one year ago yesterday without any idea of the number of new friends I would be making, or the number of new ideas I would be given.  Thank you to all of you.  I am so glad I met you.  And special thanks to Shaz (Silverwolf) who inspired me to try it, and who is always so generous with her help and tips.  Also thanks to her lovely husband who managed to solve my photo problem on the blog yesterday.

I had a great day with lots of visitors and some lovely cards and pressies.  I will photo some of them and post them later in the week.  My wonderful husband bought me the four Barbara Gray DVD's (number 5 is due out soon), so I can study her techniques and attempt to do better than I do now.

 This is a card I did recently for some friends who now live on a narrow boat, wandering the waterways.  I found a photos of their boat and printed it onto a piece of silk art card, thenn once the ink was thoroughly dry, I masked it off and brayered and stamped the border, using leafy stamps to create the lower areas.  (The nasty blobs at the top left turned out to be Krylon gold leaf on the scanner plattern - cleaned off now).  Then I removed the mask and drew a wriggly line round the picture with a fine line gold pen.  I edged the whole card with Krylon Gold Leaf and mounted it on green and red  card.  The numbers were printed and cut out and embossed with a glittery red embossing powder.

This card has not yet been delivered, but I don't think he will be looking at my blog.  This one went together very easily until I tried to decide what card to mount it on.  My room looked a wreck when I finally finished.  I have a lot of lovely card, but I am getting to the point where I have not quite got the variety to make choices easy.  The image is from My Craft Studio, and it was all designed and sized within that program.  Once it was all stuck together with Pinflair glue, I left it to dry before giving it a good dose of Spray and Shine, until it was really shiny.  Then I mounted it with a thin border of holographic silver card and then put it on to a silvery blue pearlescent card.  I shaped the boat and the sails before adding them to the decoupage, which, I think, gives it a more realistic look (and hides the glue better too).

This is another card that got the shaping on the decoupage, and a good dose of Spray and Shine  on the finished card.  Again the image was from My Craft Studio.  I think the Spray and Shine enhances the image and brings out the colour.  Because this has to go through the post, I did all the matting and layering within My Craft Studio and printed it out direct to the white supersmooth card.  The gold club and the ball were separate pieces of decoupage, shaped to give dimension without being too high.


We have got a new oak computer desk downstairs, so I have snaffled the set of drawers that belonged to the old desk to store things like my heat guns and things that really have no real place yet.  So I am off up to my room now to sort that lot out.  I suspect it will also become a place for another pile to start.  You all know what happens to clear surfaces in craft rooms.  Time will tell - very soon!