Craft A Scene - Troubled Skies 1

Dad's Photo

This dramatic picture is not my card but the inspiration and starting place for it (finished card is at the end of this post if you are short of time)

It is my first DT offering for November's Craft A Scene challenge and had to reflect the theme which is Troubled Skies.  My mind went straight to this photo taken by my father many years ago of a really threatening and dramatic scene.  It was taken up on the moors in Cornwall, and you can see how the prevailing wind has driven the trees into strange shapes.  My aim was to get as close to this image as I could and, hopefully, to encourage others to look at their photos and use them in a different way, as inspiration, not just printed toppers.

The first task was to print out a couple of images on copy paper to chop up to use as masks for brayering over.  Then I attached a piece of Clarity coated card to copy paper to hold it firm.  I cut the silhouette of the moorland trees and standing stone and put that aside, using what was left as a mask while I brayered in the silhouette with Adirondack Pitch Black.  I found that the image was not quite as dark as I wanted it, so I took my black Promarker and, using the chisel end, went over the brayered area to darken it.  I found that the promarker bled slightly, an effect that I accentuated by using the thin nib to add the tree branches and twigs.

Part 2

Stage two was to put back the piece I had put aside of the silhouette, and cut away the two side pieces, retaining the centre section too as a mask while I brayered in the very dark threatening clouds. 

Part 3

I added Adirondack Denim to the the Pitch Black for this section.

Part 4

I then took away all the masks and laid down a light layer of the same colours over the whole image.  Then I needed to work out how to put in the highlights to mimic the bright edges to the clouds in the centre of the image.

First try - miserable failure!

This was the first result, created by added more of the Denim/Pitch Black, dabbing it on with a make up sponge.  When I had done that, I rushed to mount it up, thinking I had done it.  Wrong!  I stood back and went "Yuck".  It was half way there, but too bland and flat.  Back to work, trying to protect the clean white card it was mounted on.  I tried a mixture of media - white Sakura pen, but that only had limited effect - white Derwent pencil, again limited effect - and finally white pastel in a random way.  I decided that I had probably reached the limit of what I could do, so I sprayed it with Crafters Companion Spray and Shine (that reminds me, I must order more as the can is almost empty).

This is the final result.  I can see things I would do differently next time, but I hope I have done justice to the original photo, and Dad would have liked it.  What do you think? 

Final result!

Why don't you see what your imagination can produce for this theme and join in at Craft A Scene, whether you use stamps, inks, draw your own design - the world of crafting is open to you to create a scene with "Troubled Skies".

WOYWW - 178

Why I am showing you a picture of a boring desk top with not a lot to show.  In case you have not heard already, it is just one of around 200 desks on show, courtesy of a very kind hostess, Julia.  When you are bored with this desk, there are loads more fascinating desks to drool over and enjoy if you pop over to Stamping Ground  and follow the links you will find there.

Not too much on my desk again today, really because I am on the home run to finish all the birthday and anniversary cards for 2012.  That really worries me, 'cos it feels as though this year has totally vanished without trace and at great speed.  I cannot believe that we are so close to Christmas, and I don't remember summer.  Is it just my age or does anyone else feel the same?

The last four cards were quickly done as they were mainly standard computer generated cards, mainly to cut down the cost of postage.  Even if they are based on CD images, I always try to make them different in some way, to try to show that I am thinking of the people involved. 

You can see my heat resistant mat on top of my self heal mat.  Underneath all that, but hidden is my precious Splodge Away mat, which really does the business.  If I could fit it in, I would have the A3 size, but sadly I have to be satisfied with the 12 x 12 mat.  Really, it is quite big enough to do whatever I need.  I can't believe how much paper and ink I am saving by using it, and the ink is still useable two or three days later, so you can do several projects along the same colour lines, without having to remix.. 

To change the subject and finish, I hope all of you out there, your friends and families are all safe and well, especially all those in the path of that horrendous superstorm.  Our nephew is just outside Philadelphia, but is fine so far, apart from expecting to lose power, which apparently happens a lot round there.  Keep safe, everyone, and keep in touch.  

Talking about keeping in touch, did you hear that WOYWW was being talked about on local radio on Merseyside this week.  Fame at last, Julia.  Hope lots more crafters come to join us as a result.  Please leave me a message so that I can come round to see you later.

PS I found my missing labels today.  Now what else have I lost..... Oh yes, has anyone seen one of my small Really Useful Boxes that fits in the little unit on the top of my shelves.  I know it is around somewhere.

Pixie's Craft Snippets - Week 45

I have been MIA for some weeks now, due to the need to finish all the cards for the rest of this year, and my DT commitments, but this is one of those cards that actually used up bits that were lying round. It is a mix of bits from everywhere.

The base card was cut down from a set I bought cheap ages ago, and they do look a little dog-eared now (nothing wrong with dogs' ears, but not on a card), so I just chopped off the raggedy bits.  The sparkly bits were stickers left over from a kit I bought several years ago.  They are one of the reasons I no longer buy kits from anywhere, you always end up with pretty bits that you have no idea how to use.  I sometime think that kits are made up of things that companies are trying to clear out anyway.  These stickers certainly did not go with anything else in that kit.  The cards were pretty, the borders were pretty and the stickers were pretty, and so were the 3 dimensional flower stickers, but none of them really went together.

Anyway, I also had a pack of pearlescent card samples which had started to haunt me - they always seemed to be on top of every pile on my desk.  So, in a moment of diminishing mojo, I decided to put the two things together and see what happened.  The resulting topper was mounted on a scrap of black card and then on to the base card.  It is not a card that I am particularly proud of, but it is using up things that would otherwise sit around for another year or more.

Before I finish, I hope that all of you on the east coast of America and inland from there are all safe and sound, and that anyone you know out there comes through this dreadful storm safely.  Property can be replaced but your lives cannot.  Take care, everyone.  xxx

Craft A Scene - Majestic Mountains No 2

This is my second offering for the Craft A Scene Challenge blog.  This month's theme is Majestic Mountains and this mountain is truly majestic in real life.  I just wish the temperature today was as good as it was when I took the photo that this card is based around.  We might have had sun today, but it is freezing, and my finger tips got frostbite while I was down in the greenhouse getting things emptied for the winter.

Many, many years ago, I went off to France to stay with my French pen friend for three weeks.  I flew from Heathrow to Paris, expecting to be met by my pen friend and her family, get on a train and head off for Nantes, where they lived.  Instead, I was met just by her father, whose English was non-existent.  He worked for the French National Railways (SNCF) so travel on the trains was free, so I was not surprised to head for the Gare d'Austerlitz.  However, I soon realised that we were not going to Nantes but, instead, were heading much further south.  At some stage the engine was actually changed for a steam engine, and we had to change trains at Toulouse to get to Narbonne, where we were met by my pen friend.  From there, it was a local train and bus up the Pyrennees to Vernet Les Bains, where the family had booked a flat in the main square for Easter.  We had a wonderful time there with quite good weather.  My pen friend, her two sisters and I were free to walk in the foothills, even getting right up to the snowline of Mont Canigou.

My original photo was taken one evening at sunset, and is actually far more dramatic that my interpretation.  The basics are there, the fantastic sunlit snow covered peak of Canigou, the folds of the surrounding mountains, and even the building to the right.  However the mountains were far darker, but when I tried to replicate that, it just looked an evil mess.  That was when I decided that I had to start with just the shapes, which I drew in lightly in pencil.  All the colouring in was done with Derwent watercolour pencils and my trusty water brush.  The vividness of the peak was difficult to portray.  I used several thickish layers of white, and then added highlights in quite a bright orange,blending it in.

The trees were two different stamps from Clarity, stamped in Adirondack Bottle, with quite a lot of masking to achieve the smaller trees in the distance.  The birds came from one of the Hobby Art sets.  So all my stamps were easy to place, all being clear, see through polymer.  I started using the burnisher all over and realised VERY fast that ordinary graphite pencil smudges under the burnisher, and I had drawn in the tiles in pencil.  So I had to leave the roof of the cottage unburnished.

Normally, I use quite a narrow border, but I thought this time that a wide black border would suit the image better, and kept it simple by mounting on to plain white pearlescent card.

This is the photo with which I started, and I hope you think I did it some sort of justice.

Spectacular or what?  Mt Canigou at sunset.

 Although we were there for 10 days, this was the most dramatic shot I got.  As you can see, from the next two shots, luck played a great part.

Good shot, but definitely second best

Then, of course, there were the times when the clouds came across -

Not to mention the times when it vanished completely in the gloom

We had a great time up in the mountains, and I always wanted to go back, but I suspect I might lose the magic from my memories if I did.  Still I have my photos to look at and to use.  Hope you like them, and the card they inspired.  I just hope it might have encouraged you to creat a Majestic Mountain scene for this month's Craft A Scene challenge.

More water colouring

Why is it that when you photograph a card, it never looks straight?  The card is straight, but this photo seems to have distorted it it slightly.  Never mind, you all know these problems.

This is the card I have done for our daughter's 40th today.  Now I have had a tidy up, I can get to my watercolour pencils more easily, and there is room on the desk to put the case.  With that in mind, they have figured more in  my more recent cards.  All the stamps used came from a mixture of Hobby Art sets, which do work together well.

I did drop one clanger, though.  Knowing I was going to colour with watercolour pencils, I should have used a permanent ink pad, but I just grabbed the nearest which was the Adirondack.  Bother!  OK, then, change of plan.  No water, just the colour and a bit more careful blending. 

I needed to extend some of the lines to join stamps into a cohesive image, but most of it was just suing stamps carefully.  Being clear stamps makes things so much easier to position things.  I use the Clarity mounts for all of them as they are light and easy to manipulate.  I also needed to extend the road/pathway in both directions, keeping the right perspective.

While I was tidying up and moving things around last week, I decided to put all my Derwent things together, and realised that I had the blender and burnishing set.  I used the burnisher on this completed scene, and was delighted with the result, a smooth protected surface. 

This is one card that I actually trialed on scrap paper before actually going for it.  With so many small stamps involved, I think it was a wise move.  It did end up roughly as planned with a couple of slight adjustments.

We went over to Webbs Garden Centre yesterday morning, (one of the biggest in the Midlands) to have a look at their Christmas stuff.  Didn't get any Christmas things, but did manage to get into Hobbycraft, who have a large presence there.  Surprisingly enough, there really was not a lot that made me want to spend, apart from pencils, paint and that sort of thing.  I had to keep my purse firmly closed there.

WOYWW - 177

I hate glue ......I hate glue ....I hate glue  .... with a serious passion.  Sorry about starting with a moan but I have just spent two hours scraping at, spraying, scraping some more, spraying more to remove a complete can of Stick and Stay from my cupboard top, not to mention all the things around it that were contaminated.  For some reason it sprang a leak and I had not noticed until I decided to have a move around, went to move my Fiskars shaped scissors and found they were well and truly stuck.    One can of Spray Away, half a kitchen roll, and most of my nails has finally removed it all.

Having finished my moaning, I must get to the point of this post, which is to take part in the best blog hop of all.  It is called What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday - WOYWW, and is hosted by the very clever Julia at Stamping Ground.  Do pop over there and take a look at the amazing desks exhibited by friends from all over the world, showing their work, their workspace and beautiful photos and ideas.  When you have had a look, we would love you to leave us a little message so that we can return the call and make friends with you as well.

As a result of my sticky crisis, I have done no crafting at all today, although I have 11 cards to do in a hurry for myself, and three cards to do for the December Craft A Scene.  Mind you, I probably could not show you any cards even if  I had done them, as they are either for future publication or for people who might see them before they open the real thing.

I am in process of reorganising things in my room, to put the things I use very frequently close at hand, and to label boxes with what is actually in them, not what used to be there.  No wonder I can't find things (my labels are still AWOL).  By the way, does anyone have any clever ideas on what to do with all the original tops from Promarkers when  you have replaced them with the fine tips - I have dozens, and like a true crafter, I feel that there must be a good use for them rather than to just bin them.

This is actually a scheduled post, as I shall not be fit to write anything up on Wednesday morning and I am hoping to link up a bit earlier this week, perhaps before I get to bed.  I also hoped that I could get a photo without flash, but the daylight is just too poor today.  Roll on Spring, although given my advancing years, perhaps I should not wish any part of my life away.  Must make the most of every second.  I reckon care homes will have to change to accommodate us with our computers, internet access, wifi technology and our large crafting stash.

Hope to see you all later as I wander round your desks.  Have a good week.  xxx

WOYWW 176 - Not a lot to show

If you have arrived at this post by wandering round the internet and are wondering why on earth I should be showing you an almost empty desk, it is due to a lovely lady by the name of Julia who started it all.   WOYWW stands for What's on My Workdesk Wednesday, and is regularly visited by around 200 each week, so there are plenty of desks to drool over, gasp at in horror and generally mooch around.   There is not a lot to be shown this week on my desk, partly because I have just finished one project and about to start another.  Another reason is that a lot of the things I have on the go are destined for publication in future weeks, either as a new member of the DT for Craft A Scene, some things for other challenges, or for friends later in the month.

I can show you this one card which I did for a Clarity Stamps Club challenge for August.    As far as I can remember, the brief was to use a carol, a star and gold and black.The carol was printed in reverse on acetate (if you don't print in reverse, it will backwards on the finished  image), then I sprayed the back with adhesive before applying gilding flakes.  Once it was burnished, I mounted it on gold mirri card, the on to black Clarity card.  

The star was a Clarity stamp, which I printed twice on to the reverse of the gold mirri card,  I cut one out, following the lines exactly, while the second was cut oversize, so that I could decoupage them ti give a bit of dimension.    The three wise men were also from Clarity, but were stamped using second generation ink to avoid slipping on the pearlescent card, then I brayered over them to attempt a look of desert sand.  I followed the theme onto the insert, continuing the carol, star and wise men.  Again I used the brayer around the edges. 

If you have seen enough here, do go over to Julia to  some of the other desks on show this week.  Please leave us comments, we love to read them, and we will come over and visit you in return.  See you soon.

Delayed anniversary card

As some of you may already know, Shaz Silverwolf is our daughter's mother-in-law.  She and her husband went off to Paris last week for their anniversary celebration.  I am not jealous  ... not one bit ....just rather a lot!  I spent so much time there when I was a lot younger, and have lots of good memories and so many photos.  The thought of Paris brings back smells - fresh bread,among many -and memories of friends I have not seen since I left school.  I won't tell you how long ago that was.

Anyway, back to the card.  I had already almost finished a card for Shaz and Doug before I heard where they were going.  Then I knew I had to change tack, and went hunting through all my old slides to find what I thought would go together.  Most of them date back to a trip one Easter.  A group of us from our school had joined a much larger party of people from schools all over the Midlands to the Lycee Lakanal just outside Paris.  We had lessons in the morning and then were supposed to go on organised trips in the afternoons.  We must have been most annoying to the organisers as my friends and I used to "get lost" somewhere in the Metro and go off and do our own thing.  We always turned up at the right time back at the Lycee in time for the evening meal, so in the end, they gave up trying to hang on to us.

Obviously, one of our visits was to the Tour Eiffel.  This photo is not doctored.  The light was so incredible and dramatic.  Needless to say, we had a tremendous thunder storm just after it was taken, by which time we were in the lift going to the top of the tower.  In those days, you could go higher than you are allowed now so the view was phenomenal.  

This second picture was taken looking towards the Place de la Concorde, and is showing signs of age, turning slightly mauve-ish., but I quite like the effect.  

These are the two photos I chose to work with, mounting them digitally across each other, then mounting the whole thing onto black card, and filling the rest of the border in with black Promarker and ruler.  The  background paper was created using the Splodge mat.  I used three toning colours, to reflect the colours of the photos, and blended then as I wanted on the mat, then used the brayer to transfer the colour in three blended stripes to a sheet of Clarity coated paper.  I cut a length of cling film, misted it with water and scrunched it down on the top of the coated paper, and scrunched it a bit more, left it to dry, and then buffed it up with kitchen roll.  

Once the background was dry, I moved the topper round on top to decide where it looked best, cut the paper to fit an A4 piece of white pearlescent card and glued it down with Crafters Companion Stick and Stay.  I added the topper with Pinflair glue to allow just that little extra bit of maneuverability.  To finish off, I coloured a peel-off sentiment with the Dufex pens, and added two little groups of gem hearts.  

I would suggest that you might like to slip over to Shaz's to see some of her photos and hear what she has been up to on their trip and on her return via Dover.

Craft A Scene - Majestic Mountains 1

Hi folks, this is my first post as a newbie member of  the Craft A Scene  DT, and the brief was to create a project with the theme of Majestic Mountains.  This is my first offering, and sent my brain into overload, trying to decide how best to achieve my ideas.

Recipe:-

Supersmooth white card

Stampscape mountain stamp

Clarity stamps - castle, moonshadow,and small fir tree

Hobby Art stamp - bird

Adirondacks - Pitch Black, Slate, Cloudy Blue, Juniper

Big and Juicy - Sunset

Speedball brayer

Splodge Mat

Make up sponges

Derwent watercolour pencils

The first problem was to find the right mountain image.  I wanted a whole range of mountains, so I did quite a lot of masking and then stamping over the masks with the Stampscape stamp to achieve multiple peaks.   I create the masks by stamping several times on to the sticky edge of a Post-It-Note, then cutting out as many as comfortable with the scissors - after all, cutting out is the pain so it makes sense to cut as many as possible in one go.  (Cut them so that they are fractionally smaller than the original image, which helps to avoid a white halo around your stamped image later in the process)  

As with all stamping, I stamped the front image first, then masked that off and stamped again in a different position.  I repeated that process until I had the mix I liked.  I used Adirondack Pitch Black for all the stamping, and for the mountains, which I wanted to be slightly faded  into the background, I stamped first on scrap paper before doing the final image.  I had also cut out a copy of the mountains on a piece of copy paper, and used that as a mask while I brayered the sky.  At this point, I dug out my trusty Hobby Art stamp of the bird of prey, and put that in just above the mountains, making sure it was a good dark image - first generation ink - as it needed to look as though it was in the foreground.

The sky was the point at which my wonderful new Splodgeaway Mat came into its own with a vengeance.  I masked the mountains, the bird and the sun, and started with Cloudy Blue on the brayer.  I kept going back to the mat to reload the brayer until I had the level of colour I needed.  Then I added a little purplish colour from the Big and Juicy in pad in the corners. 

The castle stamp is from the Clarity Stamp range, which as quality photo polymer stamps, makes it possible to place them exactly in the right place.   I was going to place it on the edge of a lake, but I did not like the lake when I had done it, so I just chopped that bit off.  Then it was back to Clarity again for the small fir tree, which I used to try to blend the mountains and the lowland together without too much of a hard edge.  I used the tree with mostly second and third generation ink so tha I got some sort of idea of perspective, pushing some right back into the background.  I also masked the base of the tree with a piece of copy paper so that I finished with trees of differing sizes.

To ground the trees and the castle, I used  Adirondack Juniper on a make up sponge just to dab colour very lightly.  Yellow on a make up sponge was also dabbed lightly for the sun.  The shadow round the moon was another Clarity stamp, a very useful one.

Once all the inks were thoroughly dry, I used a green Derwent watercolour pencil, just as a dry pencil, to add a little colour to mountain meadows.  The only other addition I made was a bit of glitter, with a Quickie glue pen, allowed to dry and then sprinkled with Martha Stewart fine glitter, just to highlight areas of the mountains and the castle.  As usual, the glitter does not show up on the photo, but it is there, honestly.

To finish the card, I trimmed the topper carefully, watching to see whether I was happy with each cut, and mounted it onto black card with a very thin border, then onto an A4 piece of white pearlescent card.  I was not sure if I need to do more, but when my husband said he really liked it, I decided it was time to leave well alone.

I had a quick look at the card from another of the DT, Sally , who, quite independently, has used the same buzzard image from Hobby Art.  Great minds think alike, but still produce very different results.  Nice one, Sally.

I hope you like it as much as my husband did.  I am looking forward to showing you more of my projects during my time on the DT.  Come and join us over at Craft A Scene and see what you can do.  Can't wait to see your pieces of work.  We have a different theme each month, so come on and have a go.

PS My  husband read this post and pointed out that there is a language problem between the UK/Europe and our friends in North America concerning the name "buzzard".  If you want to read the info for yourself, just go to the Britannica version.  The buzzard Sally and I have used in our cards is the Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) and is not found in North America.  OK, that is the end of the lesson for today.

.

WOYWW - 175

Still reasonably tidy for the second week in a row.  I have been very strict with myself and tidied up after every session or when each piece of work is finished.  I am sorry that there is not a lot I can show you this week on my desk.  That is because I am working on my contribution to the Craft A Scene Design Team for this month, and they must remain hidden until they go up on the website later this month.  I was very proud to be accepted onto the DT and I just hope that my offerings will be good enough to give others ideas on what they can do with what they have.

My desk is set ready to get busy tomorrow, hopefully, on my second project, so the brayer is out and the Splodge mat.  The papers are a mixture of masks and photos that I am turning into line art to use as digi stamps.  They are my own photos so there is no problem with copyright as that all belongs to me anyway.

This week has been a time for losing things and finding them.  There was something I had lost last week, but I cannot remember what that was.  Anyway, I found it.  Then I moved my Melt Dust and the papers to go with them from the sensibly labelled drawer to what I foolishly thought was a better place.  You've guessed it - I lost them all.  Then I needed my posh tracing paper to do the line art from the photos.  Could I find it - nah!  However, hunting for that, I found the Melt Dust stuff and more I had forgotten all about.  I also found my A4 plastic sleeves, and my cello bags.

Then I needed to move my shrink plastic, and there was the tracing paper.  Result!  The only problem now is has anyone seen my mini labels, the ones I picked up and moved yesterday?

Do share tales of what you have lost and found recently.  Those of us who get together with Julia at What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday would love to hear your stories.  See you over there.  Do join us.

Hobby Art - Brilliant company!

I know I have already shown you these cards, but I do have a valid reason for showing them again.  The stamps are from a British company called Hobby Art, who produce a lot of scene sets of stamps.  They are small stamps and excellent for mixing with other stamps to create pictures.  So far, I only have two of their sets, the Countryside set and the Tuscany set, but I really like them.

Consider my horror yesterday when I went to the box to dig them out and found that they had almost "melted".  I was desperate to use the bird from the Countryside set, and did just manage to keep it in one piece long enough to get an adequate image from it, before it fell into several pieces.  Looking at the others in the two sets, they were all falling to pieces.

I immediately contacted Hobby Art and explained what I had found.  I had a very swift reply from them, in which they said they were replacing both sets straight away.  There had been a problem in the manufacture some time ago, which had only just started to show up, so they could not contact me.

We often moan and complain about poor service, and poor quality, so I think it is very important to shout about really good service and quality when we come across it.  I was very impressed with the friendly and helpful manner from Hobby Art, and I will definitely buy from them again, and would recommend them to all of you.  Thank you, Jenny, for your help.

Lesson time!

This is the table ready for action, with all the stamps I thought we would need laid out, all ready mounted (I do listen to Barbara Gray), ink pad in place, copy paper for practice and design, and baby wipe box for immediate stamp cleaning.  Organised or what.  Out of sight to my right is the big grey box with everything else needed for later stages.

Still fairly tidy, having got to the next stage.  We have worked through the copy paper bit - I would have liked to do more of that really, but I wanted to make sure my friend had a finished card to take home with her.  In this shot, she has transferred her design to the Clarity silk card, made sure it was dry, and is now colouring in with Promarkers.  She does not possess as much stuff as I do, so I very deliberately limited the equipment to the bare minimum.  For example, I only gave her 6 Promarkers and four ink pads, including the black for stamping (see the list below for our list of things).  The mauvy stuff is my new low tack tape (I had run out of tape), which is holding the Clarity card onto the backing of copy paper, and also giving a sharp clean border.

This is the final result.  We brayered the sky with Adirondack Cloudy Blue and just a touch of a more purply hue from a Big and Juicy - her first attempt at that technique, which went remarkably well, partly thanks to the Splodge mat (I love that thing).  Because she does not possess a brayer or a Splodge mat, the ground and the hills were done in a very low tech way, with a torn piece of paper and a make up sponge using Adirondack Juniper.  The hops would have benefited from a little more time spent getting a bit more depth and shape, but we needed more time and different lessons for that.  The background was created using the cling film technique on Clarity silk paper, and the Cloudy Blue and Juniper so that everything matched.

For a first go at most of the techniques, I think she did remarkably well, and should be very proud of her achievement.  It did help that my black ink pad is starting to run out so the stamps did not slip too much on the shiny surface, but she did well with the tree shadows too, using second and even third generation ink to get the faded look.

This last photo proves that it does not take too long to completely lose a large green cutting mat.  I suspect it will take me most of the morning, at the very least, to sort everything back into the right place and then I can finish my card (on the table).  Then I must find that melt dust, and all the other things people have asked me to look for, like tweezers and washi tape (What is that - must look that up).

I think I was reasonably well organised for this first attempt at teaching these techniques (probably more organised than I was when I was teaching full time), and I was very pleased with the results my friend got.  We had a three hour session, with a drink break, and managed to create a completed card (apart from gluing the topper into place which she will do at home).  Well done, girl!

What we used:-

copy paper

Clarity silk card

Clarity silk paper

Clarity Oast House Kit with trees from the Waymarker set, and birds from the Harbour Kit

Adirondack - Pitch Black, Cloudy Blue, Juniper, Stonewashed

Big and Juicy - Soothing Sunset

Promarkers - Satin, Sandstone, Blush, Soft Green, Pastel Yellow, Lime Zest, with Slate to do the edges

Speedball brayer

Splodge mat (12x12)

Mist spray

Make up sponges

Kitchen roll

Cling film

Post it notes for making masks

Crafters Companion Stick and Stay

Pinflair Glue Gel

My Beautiful Tree

This tree is the one I can see from where I sit in my craft room.  It is a liquidamber and is a very good guide to the seasons.  Normally, it is all brilliant red by now and starting to drop its leaves.  in fact, the last couple of years, it has turned completely by the end of August.  This year, however, it has only just started to go reddish, so autumn is at least one month later than last year.  I will take other photos as things change and post the best.  How is your Autumn going, or Spring if you are down under.

WOYWW - 174

I cannot remember when I last saw the whole of my cutting mat, but it is a long time.  Not only that but I have actually put away most of the stuff that usually lives there, in fairly sensible places, although I have now lost one complete batch of melt dust. and the papers that go with it.  I do have faith that it will turn up.  Anyway, this clear state of affairs did not last very long, as I now have all the things I need to teach a friend on Thursday.

I now have a large tray in situ, containing all the things I need (I hope), but she is coming to me son it will not take too long to find anything I have forgotten - as long as I do not need the melt dust.  These photos were taken about 17 minutes after midnight so I think they count as Wednesday.  We shall be working with the Clarity Oast House kit, and trying different methods of colouring and creating the background.  If you look, you can see my crib sheet that I have worked with today to give us a start.  I was not too sure about the correct colour of hops so I downloaded a picture  and printed it for our use. 

You might also pick out the ink pads ready and the Splodge mat for use with the brayer.  I also dug out just 6 Promarkers.  I want to keep the palette simple and very limited.  We shall also have a go with a make up brush, and sponges to get the background right.  I hope it all works out and my friend has fun, which is what it should be all about. 

I am off to bed now, but I hope to meet you all at Julia's Place for a coffee and a nice piece of cake maybe a bit later, and a wander round to see what you are all doing this week.  See you soon.  xx

Splodge mat again - I love it

I am having a great time at the moment, playing with the brayer and my new Splodge mat.  The mat is so good at saving inks and allowing the brayer to produce much better blending.  I spoke in my last post about leaving the ink on the mat overnight and being able to use it again in the morning.  This is exactly what I did on this card, and the inks were perfectly useable, just as if they had come straight from the ink pad.

Recipe:-

Clarity silk card

Clarity silk paper

Adirondack ink pads - Juniper, Cloudy Blue, Stonewashed, and Pitch Black

Big and Juicy - one with a good sun yellow in it.

Clarity stamps - Small Village Set, tree from Cottage Set

Digi "stamp" of church

 Limited palette of Promarkers

Kitchen roll

cling film

Speedball brayer

moon mask punched from a post it note

I needed a stamp of a church and was quite shocked to find I had not got one anywhere, so I managed to borrow the large church stamp made by Clarity (I have now ordered my own).  I stamped it onto good white card, scanned it into the computer, and reduced the size digitally to get one that would go with the mini village set.  I had to work out exactly where I wanted it on the card before printing it onto the Clarity silk card, and leaving it overnight to dry thoroughly.  Then I just needed to place all the other images where they looked good (I did try it all on copy paper first).

I loaded the brayer with Cloudy Blue and with the moon mask in place, put the sky in.  Then I darkened it slightly by changing to Stonewashed and repeating it.  The hills and mounds were done using a randomly torn piece of paper, and a make up sponge to apply the Juniper, trying to ground the church, the trees and cottages as I went.   I removed the mask and added a little yellow to the sun with a sponge.

Once the ink was totally dry, I added a little colour with Promarkers, keeping to a very limited palette of colours.  The edge was done with a ruler, upside down, and a Slate Promarker.

The backing paper was created with the brayer, Juniper and Stonewashed.  I added two stripes, overlapping and random to a piece of Clarity silk paper.  Then all I needed was to get a large piece of cling film, spraying it with a mister and scrunching it down (wet side down) on to the inked paper, scrunching it round a little to blend the stripes.  Then it went on another surface to dry naturally (That surface was another pile of things to sort out - not the clear tidy cupboard it should have been).  After that, both the topper and the backing paper had a good polish up with a piece of dry kitchen roll to bring up the shine, before mounting it all on a plain white card.

Like most of my cards I can see loads of ways to improve this card, but it is all part of a leaving curve, and good fun.  Hope you like it, and if you want to see the expert at these techniques, just watch Barbara Gray - she is a legend.

Splodge mat, brayer and Clarity

 This is my second post of the day.  If you want to see what is on my desk today, just scroll down to my WOYWW post below.

After watching Barbara Gray using and demonstrating the Splodge mat, I decided it was a no brainer - I needed it to save me money.  It might seem strange to spend money to save money but I reckon this bit of kit will do just that.  I know you can run the excess ink off the brayer onto copy paper and even use that as backgrounds for future projects, but it does not work if you need to blend two colours together to get the shade you need.  The Splodge mat does work for that.  

This card was done following Barbara's classroom teaching, with three stripes of different colour.  I didn't have the pinky colour I needed, but I was able to blend two colours from a Big and Juicy without damaging the ink pad.  The other big advantage showed itself when I was interrupted and had to leave the project overnight.  I did not have time to clean the mat, which worked out really well.  When I came back to it the next day, I tried the ink left on the mat and it was still useable and I did two more toppers and an insert, without going back to the mat.

The stamps are Clarity - the Birdcage set, which are very adaptable.  I thought very hard before buying yet another set of stamps, but these are really worth the outlay with so many elements to play with.  I stamped with Adirondack black onto Clarity silk card, and coloured with Promarkers.  I used the slate Promarker to draw the dark edge around the topper, with the ruler upside down so that the chisel end of the marker could slide tightly underneath and stay straight.  Once it was dry, I polished the whole thing with a piece of kitchen paper to bring up the shine.

The background of the card was achieved with the same three colours in random stripes on Clarity paper.  Then I sprayed a piece of clingfilm, and scrunching it down onto the top of the brayering and moving it around a little, before leaving it to dry naturally.  I did two backgrounds this way and I really love the "watermark" effect it produced..

I had three different toppers and two backgrounds to choose from.  In the end, I chose my third favourite topper and married it up with the background I had not really liked to begin with.  The background was used as a wrap on a piece of Centura Pearl (glued with Crafters Companion Stick and Stay), with the topper glued in the same way.

The insert used similar techniques, and the same set of stamps.  The supersmooth white paper was lightly brayered with the ink left on the Splodge mat, and the wording was computer generated - my writing is dreadful.

Just a little warning if you treat yourself to a Splodge mat - clean it with water only.  NEVER use baby wipes.

WOYWW 173

I have been a very bad blogger in recent months.  I have very good resolutions to do it each week, but they fail, mainly due to life.  I need extra days in the week to keep up.  Anyway, this is my workdesk this morning.  I actually tidied up after my last piece of work was finished - shock, horror, that is unusual, but I assure you I am feeling quite well (apart from severe stiffness following yesterday's visit to the chiropractor). 

I said I tidied up but I did leave a couple of things out as they will be needed in today's project.  After hearing so much about the Splodge Away mat and watching Barbara Gray using it, I fell and got my own.  I love it!  (Julia, I hope you do not think this is advertising - I certainly do not profit from this apart from saving my ink and my copy paper.)  I loaded ink from the brayer onto the mat, and did the background for the card, which was great.  Then I was disturbed so left the whole lot just sitting there overnight.  When I went back the next day, I thought I would just try to see if the ink still on the mat was useable - it was!  I did another card topper and two inserts with what was left - a real saving on ink and effort.  It also meant I did not have to try to recreate the colour I had mixed first.

By the way, that is not chocolate ice cream on my desk, just the container I saved and now use for the bits and pieces I keep losing on my desk, such as the glue runner, pencil, craft blade, my most used punches.  You know the sort of things I mean, the general dross most of us have hanging around.  Just noticed that my blade is not in it, so failure once more.

I am hoping to keep my desk fairly clear for at least a couple of weeks as a friend is coming round for a lesson or two on stamping techniques, and we need the maximum room in which to work.  Can I keep it up?  Time and future photos will tell.

I hope this post is going to work as it is the first time I have used the new "improved" blogger layout, which I don't like very much.  Anyway, I am off now to see what everyone else is doing this week at Julia's place (by the way, I have added Julia's blog to the list of best crafting blogs on the latest voting thingies).  Are you going to come along with me to see everyone else?  You can bring your mug of coffee or whatever else you choose.

Clarity Challenge for July

This is the first of the Clarity Challenges I have taken part in, being a very new member of the Clarity club.  The brief was to use the Stampstamps, birds and some shrink plastic.

This pushed me to actually buy the Stampstamps, which I had been looking at for some time.  The picture were all bird pictures I had on the computer anyway,  I just measured them carefully so that they would fit inside the stamps when they arrived, and laid them on top of each other, using My Craft Studio to do the computer manipulation.  Then it was a case of positioning the stamps over the top of the pictures with the aid of masks to get the right overlay.   It did take six attempts to get it about right.   The Queen's head was taken from a real stamp and enhanced a little to make it more gold (to fit in with the gold medals achieved at the Olympics)

I used plain but smooth white card, then I brayered with Adirondacks to create the shadowing and shading around the edges.  I still need a lot more practice to get that right in the future.  Still, that is loads more time to play - goodie, goodie, lots more fun.

This was my very first attempt at shrink plastic and I was very wary of the technique and decided to follow Barbara Gray's advice and do it in the oven.  I used the Kingfisher stamp kit - the branch, the leafy twig and the bird itself.  I stamped the image with Stazon and left it to dry.  Then I coloured it with Derwent watercolours and Derwent Metallic watercolours.  The cutting out was a little challenging but worthwhile taking the time.  I put the resulting bits into a foil takeaway tray, quite a deep one, lined with baking parchment and then put it into my top oven (not the fan oven) for about 30 seconds until it had done its shrinking work.

After I had mounted the central topper on the square card, I used Pinflair Gel to attach the kingfisher and the branch at the top.  It may not be perfect, but I was quite pleased with this first attempt, and I hope it does justice to Barbara Gray and her wonderful stamps.

WOYWW - 168

Oh dear, it is worse than ever.  Never mind the push back or anywhere else.  The mountains are about to fall.  Added to that is the fact I have now lost so many stamps amongst the detritus, so a good sort out and put away is called for.

This is the tidiest bit - it gets worse.  Apart from the panic to get this month's cards done, I suddenly realised we are about to go on holiday and I have a mountain of  cards to do for early September, a load of sewing to shorten trousers for Geoff (denim jeans), baking to take away ..... and I WANT TO PLAY with my stamps.  That is one reason you can see my total stock of Adirondacks on show with a couple of Big and Juicys thrown in, post it notes with stamping masks cut out and a lot more.

Just turn to the left a little and it gets worse.  I won't bore you with a list of what you can find there, and just let you browse for yourself.  Just be careful - it might all fall down.  I will just point out the camera battery in the foreground.  You might know that as soon as I get my camera out to take a picture, the battery died.

In case you are wondering why I am showing you the shameful mess in which I was working (playing) yesterday, just take some time to pop over to Julia's place  where you will find loads of other desks to browse through each Wednesday.  I have been missing in action for a couple of months, due to lack of time.  I felt it was unfair to accept lovely comments from others when I could not find the time to return the visits.  Hopefully, things have calmed down a little and I will certainly do my best to get round as many desks as possible this week.

Pretty Petals - Homework Part 2

These cards were done in a similar way to the previous post, using the Clarity Pretty Petals Kit.  Instead of using an ink pad to colour in the petal shapes, I did them with several layers of Sakura pens to give them more of a shimmer.  I thought it suited the butterflies to be glittery too, and I enjoyed getting the glitter pens out again after forgetting them for so long.  

The sentiment is another Clarity stamp.  I found several of them that I really liked in the half price sale, and this is one of them.

 This last card is actually an easel card.  Like all the others, it was done on ordinary white card, but with this last one, I gave it a good dose of Crafters companion Spray and Shine after I had finished.  I did brayer the corners lightly to give it a halo effect before spraying.  Then I mounted it on black card and then onto the gold coloured card to match the flower. 

I was quite chuffed to see all my Homework cards shown on this month's Classroom show and to hear Barbara's comments about them.  It did give me quite a lift, so thank you, Barbara.

Pretty Petal Kit - Homework

I actually managed to get some homework cards done for the Clarity Stamps Pretty Petals Kit.  When I first saw this set, I knew it had lots of possibilities, so I finally bought the bullet and ordered it.  When it arrived, I was a little snowed under and did not have the time to play that I would have wished for.  For those of you who have not seen this set, it consists of 7 petal shapes, two of which are outlines, and a large butterfly (suitable for using with fusible film and fibre). 

This first card was done with one of the Big and Juicy ink pads.  The petals were just stamped as the border on the left, using the dotted border and the solid filler.  When they were dry, I brushed them over with Irridescent medium.  The humming bird is another Clarity stamp I found in a shop ages ago, and it just seemed to fit this project, although it took two days to find it.  Needless to say, it was exactly where it should have been, six inches from my hand.  Once it was dry, I used the Promarker thin black to outline it.

The second card also used the Pretty Petals, and was stamped with another Big and Juicy.  I used the solid outliner and infilled with the solid filler petal for the leaves.  I used the thin Promaker to draw in the stem and the leaf veins.  The flower itself needed some masking with post it notes to fit the petals together.  The sepals (the outside green bits - I had to look up the right name) were filled in with the dotty petal shape,  I actually used a purple Sakura pen over the top of the purple ink on the petals.

I will show the others I did later this week - when I can find what I have done with the photos.

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I love this stamp

This card is really a change ton the one I posted earlier, but I needed to add a bit more to it for our grandson.  All but one of these stamps are from the Clarity range.  The odd one out is the Happy Birthday and it shows.  The stamp nearly tore in two when I tried to remove it from the acetate. 

I found the spaniel in the 1/2 price sale at Clarity and knew I had a good use for it.  Again I used the Vintage Photo Distress ink pad, and coloured it in with a water brush.  The ball was sponged through a punched circle with a make-up sponge.  I used a larger sun/moon when I was brayering the background.  The tree was one of the split trees, and I used one of the leaf sets to decorate it (not to mention to cover up a couple of ink marks which appeared because I failed to take enough care with dirty fingers).  I did try to create a cloudy effect but that did not work, probably because it was just ordinary card rather than Clarity card.  The birds were from the Harbour kit, and stamped with second generation ink, as was the tree and twigs.

I might be in trouble for this card as our grandson desperately wants a dog, which is not a real possibility.  He will have to make do with coming to ours and walking one of our dogs. 

Quality counts!

I decided it was time to get back to the blog again, just as our internet access vanished,  Virgin had just told us that our speed was being updated to double speed, then ..... nothing.  Still, it is working again for the moment. 

Unfortunately, I could not upload my entry for Less is More as the cut off time had been and gone.  It was supposed to be a flat card with Fur or Feathers. 

The card will not be wasted as I know exactly who to send it to.  The spaniel was from the Clarity Stamp sale, and, as we have two working cocker spaniels, I had to have it.  I already had the tree which is another from Clarity.  I stamped the dog with Vintage Photo Distress ink, and used a water brush to shade it in.   Then I masked it off, and stamped the tree into the background.  The ball was done using a hole punched into.a small scrap of paper, a make up sponge and the Vintage Photo again.  That makes it easy to shade the ball to give it shape. 

The sentiment is just right for the look you get from a spaniel, but the quality of that stamp leaves a lot to be desired.  It was from a set of free see-through stamps I acquired, and partially tore through as I removed it from the backing.  I have been used to the sturdy firm quality of Clarity Stamps and treated in the same way, with dire results.  It was also much harder to get a satisfactory image when stamping with it.  Clarity may not be the cheapest, but they are definitely the best I have used.    Quality counts!

Quality is what I was thinking about when I dug out my elderly sewing machine out to do a bit of mending (it was bought new by my father for Mum (with all the attachments, and I persuaded her that she needed a new one when I got married - the new one was never as good or reliable).  It is a vintage Singer, made in 1949 in Kilbowie, Clydebank, weighs a ton, and just works.  It is electric with a knee lever to operate it.  All we have ever done to it is a bit of light cleaning and a little lubrication - oh and Geoff made up a new power cord when the original perished. 

However, today things went a little awry when the drive belt started throwing bits of green rubber at me, and the speed dropped drastically.  A new belt is required - horror.  Not bad, though, when you consider the original has lasted from 1949 till today.  and Singer still make belts for this machine.  As I said, quality counts.  When new, it cost the huge sum of £17-7s-6d, when an average month's wages would have been around £40.  (There is one on Ebay at the moment for £85) .  Hopefully, the new belt will arrive in a couple of days and I can get going again with this family heirloom.  (I bet the new belt does not last as long)

Although I have not blogged for ages, I have dipped in and out of many  blogs to see what you are all doing - some lovely work out there on show.

I am also entering this card into Pixie's Snippets this week - after all, the card was free old stock, and the one stamp was free with a magazine ages ago.  So, Di, please will you let me into the playground next week.  (I have missed this week).   I miss having my go on the swings.

Blooming corners again

I really love this Blooming Corner kit from Clarity, and keep finding new uses for it.  I needed a wedding card to send to America, so it had to be thin, but still be stylish.  I found the photo on the groom's Facebook site and used Roxio Photosuite to cut the circle out and fade the edges.  After printing it on to Clarity card, I stamped the images around it.  Promarkers, several layers of them to get the density of colour, gave me the shades I wanted.  Once it was cut to size, I brayered the edge in yellow to shade it in.

Matting and layering was done using purple sparkly card and pearlescent white.  I chose not to put a sentiment on the front so that it could be framed afterwards if desired.  All the writing goes on the insert, together with a border of stamped flowers and a brayered edge.

I hope this card does justice to Barbara Gray's stamps.

You may have noticed that I have not been blogging much lately.  I still love you all, but I feel it is unfair for you to take the time to leave me lovely comments when I have not even managed to answer some of yours from two or three weeks ago.  Once I have dealt with my backlog of cards, potting up plants, planting out and generally dealing with life, not to mention rotten and unreliable internet access I will be back.  I have still been looking at some of your lovely work and desks.  Having just looked at my filthy, glittery, mica covered keyboard, I see another urgent job to do.  See you all soon.