"Less is More - How Charming" and "Pixie's Snippets Challenge" No 16

This is my entry for this week's Less is More Challenge, the theme of which  was "How Charming!"  - to make and/or use a charm on your project.  This is one of those cards that really does not photograph well.

The base card is a deep purple card from PDA Cards and Craft, which I had already messed up, so I used it to play with rubbing mica powders into and around, mainly gold.  I had a small piece of deep purple mirri card which I put into the centre, and intended to put a complete Dufex decoupage on.  However, after I had stuck the base layer down, I looked at it and decided to leave it at just that one layer, and let the design speak for itself.

I did feel, though, that she needed a fan to hold, and spent a long time playing around with paper fans and all sort of other stuff, until I remembered that Shaz Silverwolf had told me about some embellishments being sold cheaply at The Works in town.  I had stocked up, including some silver coloured fans.  Now, silver just did not go at all, so it was out with the Dufex pens to colour one in to see how that worked.  It did take a bit of playing around to get just the right tone of gold, but, in the end, I think it worked.  I was able to just tuck the loop of the fan under her hand and, with a dab of silicone, glued it into place.

The final flourish was a thin peel off, just to give a frame for the main image.  I wish these cards showed up better on a photograph, but photos do not show shimmer and the play of light.  Perhaps we ought to do videos of this type of card.  My only other problem with this card is to find someone to send it to, someone that I can bear to let it go to, because I like it so much and I know I can never repeat the design as well.

I am also entering this into Pixie's Snippets Challenge,as it was put together with things from various bits and pieces I already had.

Less is More - Doodling

I nearly didn't enter this card for this week's Less is More Challenge, which is Doodling.  Looking down the other entries to date, I was so impressed with the wonderful work already posted, this card nearly ended up in the bin.  Everyone is so talented.  However, as you can see, I persisted and finished the card, and I am not too displeased with the result.

The outline of the sentiment is printed from the computer  (my writing is far too erratic to use) and then coloured in with Promarkers.  The outline of the vase and flowers are from Clarity Stamps Versatile Vase Kit.  I did go over the outline with my fine line black Staedtler pen.  I had done a test card on copy paper and found that the black of my stamp and the black of my pen were not quite the same.  I had forgotten that black has a huge number of variants, so I just went over the stamp to sort that out.  The flowers are just simply coloured with my Promarkers.

The vase itself is my first real attempt at Zentangle, and I did enjoy trying it out.  I tried to choose designs that would emphasise the roundness of the vase shape.  I think that one of the crafty things I shall take away on holiday this year will be a pad of paper and a thin black pen. so I can play in any free moment I have.

I shall do my best to get round as many of the other entries as possible this week (what I have seen so far, they are truly impressive), but please excuse me if I don't make it to everyone.  Things like gardening and visiting friends is starting to nibble away at my crafting time, and I have a lot of cards to complete before the end of the month too.  However, I do promise to visit anyone who visits me and leaves a comment.

WOYWW - 150

One or two people complained last week that I restricted the view of my desk to hide the worst of the mess.  I have had a little bit of a tidy up today, putting away the equipment from the cards I have just finished, so there is room to do the next project.  For those who are now wondering why on earth I would bare my desk to the nation (well, Blogland, anyway), it is Wednesday, which means the wonderful blog hop hosted by Julia, which is when we all wander round and see what all our friends have got on their desks.  If you want to join in, just go to http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/.  some of us are tidy and some of us are not.  Like all friends, you must take us as you find us.  Whatever, you will find a real welcome, especially if you leave a comment, and if you need help or just a friendly word, you will find it there.

As you can see, I have been well looked after with hot drinks today.  I really must take the dirty cups downstairs when I go in a minute or two.  You may have realised by now that the photos were taken on Tuesday afternoon to take advantage of the natural light, but I still needed my Ottlite as the rain was hammering down (I know we need it).  My project for today is a bit of zentangle.  I have not done much of that, but I thought I would have a go for a challenge.  If it works, I can use it for a birthday card with a difference.  It is a combination of the Versatile Vase kit from Clarity, and a printed sentiment, which can also be zentangled.  To the side of that is another Clarity image - the two poppy stamps which fit together beautifully.

Moving to the left, you can see my computer monitor.  The wallpaper on the screen is one of my own photos of Marwood Hill Gardens in North Devon, a beautiful and very welcoming place to visit (dog friendly, too, we were met with dog biscuits for our two).  I love the beautiful silver birch bark on those trees.  You might also spot on the desk a little pot of natural dog treats.

Above my computer is a small notice board, on which you can see the lovely tag specially done for me by Debbie, a photo of the wedding of one of my school friends, ready printed to take to our annual reunion this weekend.  There is also my Patience Strong calendar, printed out from the Joanna Sheen CD.  I managed to pull it apart a couple of months ago, but I did finally get round to putting it back together again today.

As Julia has asked us to be brief, I think I had better finish for this week, and give you time to get round a few more desks.  Could I just add one little plea?  Blogger seems to have turned on the Word Verification on a lot of blogs over the last couple of weeks.  Please could you all check if this has happened to you?  If you do have it turned on, you may find that you are not getting as many visits as you do normally.

I will apologise if I am not very quick in getting round to visit you, but I will do my best.  Like many others, i now find it impossible to visit everyone each week, and find time to craft as well.  If you leave me a comment, especially if you add your number, I will get to see you asap.  I also visit anyone whose number fits the rule I have chosen for this week.   Have a great week, everyone.

Pixie's Snippets Challenge 15

 Not a lot to show for the snippets this week, sorry, Pixie.   I suddenly realised that I needed to complete six cards for my friends for next weekend.  Four of us meet up once a year, rotating round the houses, and next weekend is the date for this year.  We were at high school together, and were always very close, although we did not meet up much after school and university were over.  Since we have created our official yearly reunion, we have been lucky enough to have fabulous weather for it, so fingers are firmly crossed for next weekend.

As the Post Office has seen fit to hike the cost of stamps to such a tremendous amount, I decided that I would take all their birthday and anniversary cards with me for them to open on the relevant days throughout the year.  At least I can be sure they will arrive and not be battered in the post.

However, I did manage to put together a couple of cards for the playground from bits that had been started last year.  Both images were printed out last year, so I am not 100% certain where they came from.  I think that the cornflower is a Clarity stamp, but the poppy is definitely a digital image.  I am seriously into poppies at the moment, they are simple flowers and show the shading well. 

I hope I am going to make it into the playground this week as I am running late again.  If I get there, I will meet you over by the hopscotch place.  Have fun, all of you, and thank you, Di, for being such a patient and kind head teacher. 

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

WOYWW - 149

I am only showing you a very small portion of my desk today.  Anything else would be too soul destroying, it is such a wreck.  I have had so much out all at once, Cuttlebug, Nesties, brayer, ink pads, Promarkers to name but a few.

Artistic licence

I started off with one of the cards I showed the other day, using Clarity Stamps Barge kit, trying to make a card for a friend with an old working narrow boat, but the stamp in the kit was more of a pleasure narrow boat, which did not quite fit.  So I managed to dig up a photo of their boat at the right angle for my purpose and reduced it to a line drawing, scanned that onto the computer, and did the same with a suitable bridge, put the two together digitally and printed them onto smooth paperstock.  Then there was a lot of masking and brayering, before using the Promarkers to colour in other parts.  I went back to the Clarity set for the bullrushes, large and small, the horse (Our friends don't actually have a horse, just engine horsepower, but we do have to have some artistic licence, don't we.  Nor is there a canal within sight of the obelisk at Eastnor, but I am doing this card so I can do what I want) and the herons.  The geese came from another Clarity set, the small Village kit.  they are supposed to be walking but I wanted them in the water so I just masked off their legs.  The bushes were from the same set.  I also used the Cut and Dry nibs to create tree shapes in the background, and finally a pencil to suggest a fence on the hill, and an obelisk on the other side.  to finish off, I used the Krylon copper pen to edge it before mounting it on Centura Pearl white card.  All I need to do tomorrow is a suitable insert and it can be sent off.

For those of you wondering why I should shame myself by showing the remains of this card on my desk, it is all part of the great desk visiting blog call What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, hosted by the lovely Julia.  If you want to see many varied kinds of crafting, this is the place to go to find the links to everyone else.  Everyone is welcome.  All we ask is that you read Julia's very small number of rules, come and visit us and leave us comments.  We will undertake to return your visit if humanly possible.  Go on, join in, you know you want to.  If you can put your number from WOYWW at the end of your comment, it makes it easier for us all to visit you.

Pixie's Snippets Challenge 15

I think I should get into school in good time this week, not lie the rush I had last week.  If you are thinking I am completely mad, you are probably right there.  However, these are my offering for this week to the fun challenge which is Pixie's Snippets Challenge.  It is all good fun - not clean cos it involves inks and glues and stuff.  The idea s to use up all the bits and pieces of stash that we all have left over, ie snippets.

This first one qualifies as I cut the topper (with my one and only set of nesties) from a discarded sheet of card which had gone wrong, but I was able to rescue enough for this card.  The stamps used are Clarity Stamps' Canal Barge kit.  I was in a bit of a rush to get this one done (not a good state when you are masking and using inks and Promarkers and anything else that fits), so I did take my inspiration from a sample card created for Barbara Gray's programme by Dee Paramour.  There are slight differences, not least because of my novice status, but also because I wanted a smaller card than the original.  The horse should ideally be further in front of the boat to give a better perspective.  Most of the shading was done using make up sponges and Adirondack ink pads.  I did not have a tree stamp small enough for this project so I just used the nibs to smudge them into the background.   To get the break between the topper and the base card, I edged the topper with the red Krylon pen.

This is another card that I wanted smaller than the original stamps allowed me to do.  These are also Clarity Stamps, the Blooming Corner kit.  To change the size, I stamped a good clear image onto very white card, allowed it to dry and then scanned it onto the computer.  Then I could shrink it to fit my snippet and the pale blue pearlescent card.  Once the printout was thoroughly dry, I sat down to the fun bit, colouring it in, using Promarkers, all in pastel colours.  I was short of some of the colours that Barbara Gray had used in her demonstration. so I just used the nearest colour available.  Doing the blue round the outside and inside edges does really finish it off, and tied it in well to the base card.  The skep (beehive) was really good fun to do, and I was busy thinking of what other cards I could use that on.  If you want to know how to do that properly, you can do no better than to watch the expert herself, Barbara Gray, on Create and Craft - it is the latest Classroom and well worth watching.  Forgot to say that I also edged the topper with the same blue Promarker that I used to highlight the flower border.

This is rapidly turning into a Clarity post.  This one is a Christmas offering, stamped and then coloured.  Then I used the Quickie glue pen and my lovely Martha Stewart glitter to pick out the sentiment and the holly berries.  Very simple and fairly quick to do.  All the bits, apart from the base card,  came from my bits and pieces box, and the peeloff down the edge was from a set I am trying to use up.

This last one is another Christmas offering.  I had already cut this one out so I am not sure who created the original art work.  If I come across the paperwork, I will give the credit where it is due.  Again, to avoid matting and layering (which makes it more expensive to send) I just added a peeloff round the edge to tidy it up.  As suggested by Di, I am also entering this final card into Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge.

Right, having handed in my homework for this week, I am off now to have a go on the roundabout and perhaps do some skipping, before the birthday party tomorrow (little granddaughter).  Hope they have got jelly and ice cream for afters.  I probably will not get a chance to get round everyone until Monday, so I will wish you all a very Happy Easter.  Thank you, Di, for being such a great headteacher and looking after us all.

WOYWW - 148

Before I show you my desk this week, I want to thank all those who visited me to ask about my bee plague and, more importantly, how Flash is (Flash being the older of our two mad working cocker spaniels).  He is a week into his painkillers, and all of a sudden, he is bouncing around as normal.  He has lost his fear of going upstairs or up steps, and  his tail is wagging madly again.

Now, onto the main purpose of this post, - the state of my desk, for the weekly meeting of the WOYWWers, hosted by the lovely Julia..  You missed the five minutes when it was tidy on Monday morning.  I am now back to my normal state of doing five or more things at one time. 

You can see some of my meagre stash of Promarkers, in use colouring in some Clarity stamps, and some other images printed off last summer.  My big problem with these is that I really need a lot more of the fine nibs to do the more delicate work and I am having to swap them from one pen to another, trying to remember to remove the ink from one before I start using the second colour.  Red in the middle of pale yellow is not a good look!

I was colouring a card when I realised I did not have an Anniversary stamp to finish it off.  So I printed one off in the right colour, but I did not want a straight cut piece of card to stick on.  Out came the Cuttlebug and my one and only set of Nestabilities.  Step by step instructions were needed to work out how to cut and then to emboss the Happy Anniversary print out.   I cringe every time I put anything through for fear that I might break an expensive plate.  I did get it done safely, and I will show you the result once the card has been delivered.

I have also been busy printing the DVD's I have just copied - the Barbara Gray shows from this week.  The printer threw a wobbly in the middle and had to be told very firmly that the tray WAS in the right place and I did want it to print.  At the same time, the computer threw a different wobbly, insisting the I had to sign in to XMarks, not letting me do anything else.  A bit of internet research solved that one.  

Then the Silhouette  decided it needed an update.  It is all go round here.

I hope you all had a good week, and I apologise for how long it took me to get round all those who visited me, and to all those I did not get to - I hope to visit you this week.  Have a good week and a very happy Easter.

Pixie's Snippets Challenge 14

All my snippets for Pixie's playground this week are Christmas ones, mainly because I got a bit carried away with the Rudolph Challenge earlier in the week.  These are some I did not put in for that.

This first one is another of my stained glass type, overlaying the printed image with the reversed image on acetate, which intensifies the colours.  Rather than adding a straightforward sentiment, i put the border with the bow on straight across the bottom.  That is from a batch of peeloffs i bought a couple of years ago.  The main image is from a My Craft Studio CD and is one I started when I was doing samples for them a couple of years ago.

This is another My Craft Studio image from the same image.  The original I made for them was actually a shaker card, but I had several versions of the image printed out and never finished.  I edged both the main image and the backing paper with Krylon silver before putting them onto the black card.  I was a bit annoyed when I trimmed the corners of the black card to match the rounded corners of the topper.  The guide on my Fiskars shaped scissors snapped straight off - how cross making!  Makes it an expensive snippet card.  The sentiment and the little dots are just from a peeloff sheet.

This one is a Clarity Stamped image, coloured over with a copper Sakura pen.  I edged it with a copper Krylon pen, mounted it onto brown pearlescent.  Then I found a roll of bow making ribbon which had not been put away so it was right in front of me.  It had a strip of just the right coppery colour running through it.  I just removed the pull up strip and tied a simple bow.  I would have preferred a slightly thinner ribbon, but beggars can't be choosers, so what I had was what I used.

 These last two are recycled cards from previous years.  The snow scene appeared in several cards that year, in different sizes, so if you have seen this image before, it is not actually this card. 

The second one was a bit of a fiddle to cut out, but I did nothing else with it.  The sentiment was already printed on the topper, so all that was needed was to glue it to the cardstock.

Right, folks, I am off now to make the bread for tea, otherwise we shall have nothing to eat.  I need my sandwiches to eat in the playground.  There may be cheese scones on offer too .............  See you by the swings.

Rudolph Challenge - 3rd entry this month

This is my third and final entry to the Rudolph Challenge for this month, that is, as long as Mr Linky and Mr Blogger let me join in today.  I am back to the recycling part of my crafting this time.  Having cut the topper out of the old card, I edged it with my trusty Krylon gold leaf pen, and mounted it onto yet another of my stack of ready folded cards.  All that was needed after that was a peeloff sentiment. 

Rudolph Challenge - 2nd entry this month

This is my second entry for the Rudolph Challenge for this month.  The image and sentiment are from the Clarity Stamps range, and are stamped direct onto black card and coloured in with gold Sakura pens.  Then I just matted it onto gold pearlescent card and edged it with holographic border peeloffs. 

See you tomorrow with my third and final offering tomorrow.  I have to apologise to everyone who has been kind enough to leave me comments this week.  I am very slow at getting back to you and posting them.  My only excuse is family matters and a poorly pup.  Flash seemed to have bounced back from his pain, but has relapsed a little.  He tried, like all manic cockers, to do too much, hurt himself and is now frightened to move very much at all.  We will see how he goes today with his painkillers, but I suspect we shall be back at the vet's again tomorrow.

Rudolph Day

This is my first offering this month for the Rudolph Challenge.  It is one of my Dufex die cuts, that have been around for several years.  In fact, I bought two sets of each, so I still have one set left to drool over.  The card is one of my huge pile (getting less now) of the ready folded cards, which were a BOGOFF offer when I first started card making.  The Dufex is easy to shape to give it some dimension, and I always use Pinflair Glue which makes it even easier to shape your decoupage.

I will be back tomorrow with another of the cards I put together this week.  Mind you, with the proposed increases in postage rates, we may never send any Christmas cards again.  They wonder why we are not sending letters and other correspondence as much these days.  Have they never thought that it might be their brilliance at overcharging for a poor service, losing our mail and cutting down collections and deliveries?   Sorry about my soapbox moment, folks - not much Christmas spirit there.  See you tomorrow with another offering.

WOYWW - 147

 

Yes, this is really what is on my desk today.  (I say today, because I am posting this after midnight and I have not slept yet, so I suppose I should say yesterday - I hope you understand that - I am not sure I do)  I have had a small plague of these tiny bees in my craft room over the last week, and have no idea where they are coming from.  None of them are very well, and are mostly crawling feebly on the floor.  The bigger one in the pot was the one that inflicted painful injury  - it stung me.  Mean or what?  The smaller one was dying on my floor after lunch.  If anyone out there is an expert on bees and can give me ideas of how to get rid of them in the house.  I am happy to have them outside in the garden where they belong, and where we have planted lots of food plants for them.  In the meantime, as I said in my last but one post, crafting is DANGEROUS.

Apart from dying insects, my desk is covered with the debris from a frantic making of Christmas cards for Sarn's Rudolph challenge.  I still have to post some of them on the challenge page, but I actually completed 20 in one go, mainly from toppers already made, ready folded cards, and oddments of peeloffs.  Hence the huge pile of used and unused peeloffs.  I even use the waste bits between the borders, and anything else gets bits punched out to embellish other cards.  The cards themselves are mainly hidden but I will post them at intervals later.

Today (Tuesday) has been a bit of a mess. Our big pup suddenly started yelping every time he moved.  He could not jump up to his usual comfort place in the evening.  Going upstairs was really bad for him.  Of course, by the time we had an appointment for the vet, he was moving much better.  After an injection and some painkillers for a week, he is better than last night, but still not 100%.  He is scared to move much, so will be on very reduced exercise for a while.  

Thank you for coming to visit me today (Wednesday), and I must now let you go to visit all the other desks on show over at Julia's.  I hope to visit as many of you as possible in return.  Have a great week.

UPDATE

I am pleased to report that the anti-inflammatory injection and the painkillers are working for Flash, our big pup (he is just 6 years old.  He is trying to run around like a lunatic again, so we shall have a hard time keeping him a little more calm for a few days. 

Crafting is dangerous - that is official in my house

I have just been stung by a bee which was on my rotary cutter.  IT HURT!!!!  but I didn't cry.   I have been using the said cutter all afternoon and then putting it back down on the floor till the next time.  We seem to be plagued with bees in the house at the moment.

We had a HUGE bumble bee crawling round the bedroom floor the other night, scared the dogs to death, they leapt over the bed and shot downstairs until we had removed the bee.  The following morning I went into my craft room and found about a dozen small dark bees, mainly dead, around the floor.  Since then, there has been the odd one or two, but nothing live until this afternoon.  I just wish I knew where they are coming from, then  I could block up the gap .  Being fairly allergic to rather a lot, I am now distinctly nervous about going into my craft room.  We are now restocking on Piriton and all other remedies.

Has anyone else had the same problem with these creatures in the house?  I wouldn't mind but we are busy planting things to encourage bees to survive, then they go and attack me.  Ungrateful insects!

See, I told you crafting was dangerous.

Pixie's Snippets Challenge 13

I have been late for everything this week, but I was determined to make it into the playground in time.  I cannot miss my go on the swings.  I will be out there to play when I have handed in my homework to Miss Pixie. 

Number one is a leftover from a sheet of Debbi Moore ladies.  The main card was sent out months ago and the oddments have been in my box since then.  I just added a bit of my lovely Martha Stewart glitter to her dress and jewels to give it a lift.  Sadly, as usual, you cannot see the glitter, but it is there.

Number two is one of a batch of toppers I printed out and took on holiday last year to colour in.  It is printed on Clarity shiny silk card, and then coloured with my very limited Promarkers.  Sometimes, when you have a small range of colours, you have to get even more creative with the way you shade.  I think I could make a better job of this one if I did it again now, but I am not going to waste this topper.  Once it was coloured and dry, I polished it with a piece of kitchen roll, then added Krylon gold leaf round the edge.  I mounted it on a piece of lilac coloured textured paper and then onto white pearlescent card.

I used the same textured paper to mat this topper.  The sparkly bits were from a kit which I bought several years ago, with lovely flowery cards, and these sparkly peeloffs and glittery borders, and metallic flowers.  all of the items were pretty in their own way, but no way did they go together, so they got put into a box to be thought about.  I had a small set of pearlescent offcuts from PDA Card, and I used some of these to mount up these peeloffs.  This one looks better in real life than it does in this picture.  The scanner seems to have changed all the colours slightly and reduced the impact of the peeloffs.


These next two are from the same set, but backed onto dark blue card (should have been black, but I only have one sheet left).  The base cards are rejects from Kanban, being badly folded so they all need some trimming to tidy them up, but they are lovely colours, and pearlescent too.

The last one is a combination of papers and techniques.  It is a floral corner stamp from Clarity, my favourite company.  Again, I printed it out, but on ordinary smooth card this time.  I think I used Promarkers again for colouring in, but I did it so long ago that I cannot remember for certain.  I did it while we were away in the caravan, so it could also have been water colour pencils or even paints.  I found it floating around today, but could not find a stamp to put into the centre, so I decided to use one of the left over tags from a card I showed you a couple of weeks ago.  Hope you like it.

Right, I am off now to finish potting up the second batch of strawberry plants and the garlic cloves in the greenhouse.  Then I will join you all in the playground.  We could play "What's the time, Mr Wolf?"  Anyone want to join me?  (Don't forget Rudolph Day tomorrow, 25th March.)

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.

WOYWW - 146

Not so much a view of my desk this week, rather what is on  my desk.  I have been playing with my brand new Clarity stamp.If you want to know more, I wrote about it in my previous post at the weekend.

For those of you who don't have time to go back to that, I will just tell you that Clarity stamps agreed to make my favourite rose bud painting, created by my daughter, into a proper Clarity stamp, with all the quality we expect from that company.  They really did the artwork justice, and kept all the detail.

It is a joy to use, so light and easy to position, and I am having a wonderful time playing around with it, putting into practice all the ideas that I have had for it.  You may see the image coming up on Shaz Silverwolf's  blog at some time, as well as here.  We had three copies of the stamp cut, one for me, one for daughter and one for Shaz, who is her mother-in-law.

I have managed to finish all the cards for this month that I need, so I now have to have a look at April.  there are one or two there right at the start of the month, right where they catch me out and panic sets in.  One of my resolutions this year is to look ahead and try to avoid the panics.  How long will this last, I wonder.

I will leave you now to go on round the other blogs on show over at Julia Mansion.  I just hope that Mr Blogger and Mr Linky decide to play properly for her this week.  have a good week, all of you, and enjoy the signs of Spring all around us.

Clarity delights - New Stamp - Rosie

I know I am committed to Use It Up in 2012, but this is something a little out of the ordinary.  Many years ago, our daughter drew and painted a beautiful rose bud, which you can see here.  This is the original.  I loved it so much that I scanned it onto the computer and have been using it since then for a number of projects.   On the computer, it is listed as Rosie, to help me to find it among all the other images I have stored there.  I used it most recently for a Less is More Challenge, where it was most effective.  I love the simplicity and the detail of it, and it lends itself to so many ideas.

I have often thought it would be good to have it as a stamp, and be able to colour it with other rose shades, but I thought it would be too expensive  and lose too much detail.  Then I had what Barbara Gray calls a "Clarity moment".    I contacted Clarity for advice on what I could do, and before long, I had got the chance to have my stamp made by Clarity, with the same level of care they use on their own stamps.

I decided to have three stamps made from the artwork, and with advice from Pete at Clarity to have them made about 3 inches long.  There is  one for me, one for the creator, and one for Shaz Silverwolf (her mother-in -law).  They arrived this week, and this is one of the images I have stamped from it.  I used Adirondack Pitch Black on to Clarity card, using the "ink, blot, plot" method.  If you are stamping on to non shiny card, which is more absorbent, then you should not need to blot between the ink and the plot bits.

I cannot praise the people at Clarity enough.  the amount of detail they have got into this bespoke stamp is brilliant.   Like all Clarity stamps, it is deeply cut, so there is little chance of getting ink in the wrong place, and comes on its own mount.  It is light and easy to use, beautifully balanced, so it is easy for anyone with dexterity problems.  I can't wait to really get going with it.

Our daughter is really delighted at how good her design looks on this stamp, and it has fired her interest to see what else she can create for more possible stamps.  So watch this space and see what else her talent comes up with.

Thank you again to Pete and all those at Clarity who made this possible.  Definitely a company to work with, such friendly staff, with advice always available.

My kitchen stool

You may have read a little about my kitchen stool earlier this week, and one or two of you commented on it.  That started me thinking about the memories tied up in that humble piece of wood.  It is at least as old as me - ancient!  My grandfather was an old fashioned undertaker in the days when undertakers made all their coffins to order for each funeral.  There was no such thing as buying coffins in from a catalogue in those days.  The nearest Grandad got to that was to get the plaques made and engraved at a specialist in Birmingham.  However, he was able to do that himself as well if necessary, if it was needed in a rush.

The house he and Grandma lived in was a typical three story shop and house in Walsall, right on the main road.  The shop was at the front, together with the small chapel of rest.  If that was occupied, we knew we had to creep past silently to maintain respect.  Behind the shope was the main living room and the kitchen/scullery.  The side alley was always filled with planks of wood stacked so they could season properly, after which they were taken down into the cellar until needed.  Behind the house was the garden and yard, including the coffin workshop (and the disused bridle bit workshop).  On one occasion, Dad's youngest brother was found to be missing from the family gathering, together with his youngest cousin.  They were eventually tracked down in the workshop, sitting either end of a partially made coffin with a plank of wood across between them, playing Strip Jack Naked.  

Dad and both his brothers were encouraged to learn how to work with wood and make small items of useful furniture.  One of Dad's pieces was a small solid stool.  All the wood used was coffin wood, well seasoned and strong.  I first remember it when I used to sit at the kitchen table, next to the solid fuel stove, having my tea.  By then, it had a green padded cover.   We had a new cocker spaniel puppy at that time, whose basket was under the table, just in the right position for her to hang on to my socks as I sat to the table.  My favourite tea was fried spam and slices of home-cooked beetroot with a piece of fried bread (Now I am feeling hungry). 

My stool was joined by two more, bought this time,also with green padded tops, for Mum and Dad to sit on.  They were not so robust and the joints were constantly having to be strengthened, not like mine, which was used for all sorts of things - sawing wood, climbing on to reach things from high up, and for doing the decorating on.

This humble piece of furniture followed my parents from house to house, and when we had to clear Mum's house in the end, there was no way it was going anywhere but with me.  Now it is back in real use, out in the greenhouse for me to rest on in between jobs.   It is the perfect height, strong, stable and comfortable.  It is protected by resting it on an old groundsheet to keep its feet dry.

Have any of the rest of you got a piece of furniture  which brings back memories from all your life.  Let us know.  Tell us the story of yours.

Pixie's Snippets Challenge 12

All these cards are made from snippets and bits and pieces that I have sitting round in my craft room in various boxes and files.  I am entering them into Pixie's Snippets Challenge for this week.  I am a bit late arriving in the playground this week, but I reckon I just made it before the bell goes.  I might even manage a go on the swings before we all go in for registration.

My first offering is a decoupage I put together from a picture in one of our very old Beatrix Potter books to see if it would work.  It looked a little stark on the card so I added the flowery peeloff edging which bends round quite well and there are some bits just tucked under the decoupage layers.  Not sure I would repeat this particular make - could do better, but this was sitting there so it needed to be used up.

This one was a groups of bits left over from another card ages ago, which I could not bear to throw away.  I think they many have come from an older Joanna Sheen CD, but I am not absolutely sure about that.  The card was from a batch of pearlescent ready folded cards I picked up on offer at Hayley West's shop ages ago.    It matched the artwork beautifully.  None of it is complicated, just a piece of backing paper cut diagonally to fit across the bottom of the card, with the main art work on top of that.  The peeloff edging was cut to fit exactly even to cutting the angles.  Actually as I look at this now, I think I might go on a search for the right CD and repeat this idea.  I love the colours and the design from Joanna.  My only problem is that I think I have finished my stock of cards that colour.  Mmm a bit more thought there.

The base card is another of those pearlescent set, and I had done the embossing ages ago as a play around, then shoved it into the box of stuff.  One of the things I am trying to use up this year are my collection of peeloffs, so the embossed squares lent themselves to filling in the gaps.The embossing of the card is something I have not done much of in recent time, but I might do a bit more having dug this one out.

Again the card is from the same set as the last two.  The toppe in the centre is one I did about three years ago and was found in an envelope of other similar things.  It started off as a circle of acetate, with the flower design printed on the back.  The I used my Sakurea pens to colour it it.  The main problem with this is to remember that you need to do the foreground first, a little like stamping, and build up the background after that.  It was mounted on white glitter card before being stuck onto the base card.  Sadly you cannot see the glitter in this photo, but it is there, honest.

Same technique here, except that I then mounted the design on its glitter card onto a circle of silver mirri card.    that just looks black in the photos, which is a shame.  It really sparkles in real life, but you will have to take my word for that.

My final offering only really qualifies as a gift card, it is so tiny.  It is only two inches square.  It really does qualify as a snippet card.  Even the white base card is a snippet left over from a larger project.  This is another acetate picture, which was coloured with the Sakuras, and then mounted direct onto the silver mirri card.  The photos distorts the colouring a little, and makes it seem as though the colours have run, which they haven't.  You may see a few more of this type of card appearing over the next few weeks as there are a lot in the envelope, just waiting to be used.  I might try backing some of them with gold and silver leaf and gilding flakes.  I can't waste them, can I?

Ok, now I have done my homework, I am off to have a go on the swings and the roundabout if there is room over there.  Looking forward to seeing you all there.  Thank you to Di for all her hard work in monitoring our little efforts.  See you all soon. xx

Craft a Scene - Moonlight

This is my first offering for this month's Moonlight challenge over at Craft A Scene.  I almost did not enter it, having seen so many other stunning pictures from so many others.  However, I am still learning and experimenting, so what the heck, you might see improvements over the next few months - I hope.

The stamps are from Barbara Gray's Clarity range.  I love her stamps, they are so deeply and carefully cut that there is little risk of not getting a good stamped image.  I stamped them onto the Clarity silk card with Adirondack Slate, and brayered the background with Adirondacks Cloudy Blue and Slate.  The moon was created by masking the background with a punched circle of Post it Note.  It is not as noticeable as I would have liked but I added highlights from the moon using a Sakura white pen, trying to pick up where the moonlight would have hit.

I am hoping to find time to have another go at this challenge, but time has a habit of getting away from me, so who knows.  Have a good month with this challenge.  xx Maggie