Monochrome

Hi crafter's

I haven't been able to blog for a while our computer has gone wrong, but as my daughter is home from uni I've borrowed her laptop. I thought I would quickly do my entry for the clarity stamp challenge. It's all about monochrome and as I like the colour blue water immediately came to mind. I saw this wave on the Chocolate Baroque website, it was a tag by the very talented Glenda. I have tried to create this many times with varying degrees of success. This time I think it works. I used two colours of ink, denim and stonewashed. Put some ink on to a craft mat and mix with a little water. Take a piece of white card and starting on the bottom sweep the ink along and upwards, repeat until it looks like a big wave. Now use the stonewashed ink in the centre of the wave. Because I have used Adirondack inks don't over work it. Ink up the shell stamp from the design club with denim, using second and third generation ink stamp along the bottom and a little up the side. Ink up the word water in denim and stamp as shown. Cut a moon mask from a post-it note and use the hole that's left. Using a sponge and denim ink colour the moon but leave a little white showing. To create the foam I used some white acrylic paint applied with a dry paint brush using a stippling motion, the curve can really be accentuated this way. To finish blend the denim ink around the edge. Sweep a little ink across the moon and draw some birds with a blue fine liner pen. Mount on to a 6" square white base card. That's all this time hope you like it.

Thanks for looking

Sally

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Flower power

Hi crafter's

It's time for the Clarity stamp challenge and it's all about flowers. I bought the fuchsia stamps in the latest members sale. I also bought a wooden jewellery box and furniture from Crafty Individuals. The two together will be perfect for this project. To prepare the box I painted it all over inside and out with white gesso. When dry I painted it with a cream colour acrylic paint for the base colour. I used a pearl acrylic in pink next just sweeping in from the outside edges not covering the whole area. When all the painting has been done ink up the small fuchsia in black Archival  and stamp on to the lid twice. Draw a stem with a black liner pen to join up the flowers. Stamp the fuchsia bud in place then join up with the pen as before.To colour in I used Twinkling H2O's in various shades of pink finishing with a wine colour. Add green for the leaves and stems. Ink up the music stamp in Rueberry Adirondack, stamp randomly over the box lid in second generation ink. Take the hearts and leaves stencil and lay a heart in the middle of the lid. Ink up a piece of sponge with rueberry and dab inside the heart then around the outside, it doesn't matter if you catch some of the leaves.Still with the ink and sponge add some deeper colour to the corners and the edges. Do this around the sides too. The verse I used is Count your garden. I stamped a line of the verse on each side in black Archival. The inside is lined with thin card which has been stamped with the fuchsia stamps and stenciled to make a master board. This is then cut to fit the sides and lid, the bottom is lined with pink felt. The handle and feet were rubbed with golden light gilding wax. Glue the feet and handle on, I used a hot glue gun for extra strength. I'm really pleased how this turned out so glad I bought two of these little boxes, maybe an oriental one next. That's all for now, hope you like it.

Thanks for looking

Sally

love and romance

Hi crafter's

It's been a while since my last post but I have finally got round to making my entry to the Clarity stamp challenge. It's all about love and romance, so I decided to use the lovebirds. The first thing I did was to stamp the universal framer in black then the birds in the middle. I made the pole they are sitting on a little longer with a fine liner pen. Across one corner I drew a line with my pen then went back over it to make a wiggly line. Ink up the leaf from the Birdcage set and stamp them near to the line, draw lines to attach them. Ink up the musical score stamp in grey ink then dab with some kitchen towel and stamp randomly over the card. To colour in the birds and leaves I used promarkers then added shading with prismacolor pencils. Colour the frame in green and orange to compliment the birds. Using adirondack inks citrus and peach bellini colour the background blending the two colours together. Ink up the words cherish and love in black and stamp as shown. To give a bit of texture I used an embossing folder just over the edges then rubbed gold gilding wax over the raised design. Run a black marker pen around the edges. The background paper was made with the gelli plate from a previous afternoon of experimenting. Everything I make goes into a box to be used later. The colours fitted nicely with the topper. I run the black marker around the edges as before. My base card was a piece of kraft card for a change.

That's all for this time, thanks for looking.

Happy crafting

Sally

Valentine

Hi crafter's

I am going to enter this card into the Craft Stamper challenge, you have to use the ombre technique somewhere. I have used the Romantica stamp set by Chocolate Baroque for this card. I started with a piece of white card and stamped the bottle on the table stamp with black ink in the centre. Cover with a mask then colour it with Adirondack sandal ink. I inked up the verse with Versamark ink and stamped around the edge then embossed with clear powder. To get the ombre look I used Adirondack inks, sandal, hazelnut and distressed vintage photo. I started by adding more sandal then went on to hazelnut starting at the top working my way down. Keep adding colour until it's dark enough. Now use the vintage photo to darken the very top. Buff over the words to remove the ink from the embossing, they stand out much better now. Take the mask off and colour the central image in red ink with a sponge, adding more intense colour around the table and bottle etc. Layer on to first red card then kraft card. The base card is cream coloured. Stamp the sentiment on to white card and colour red then layer as before. Attach as shown. Quite a simple card but I do like the colours, might give this to my husband for valentines day.

Thanks for looking

Sally

Beatrice and the Gelli plate

Hi crafter's

Two posts in one day, I've been busy playing and not blogging! I have had my Gelli plate for a while but haven't really used my papers to any purpose. So this for once is a finished card. I have used craft acrylics and not artist acrylics for the background. I used Royal Langnickel Crafter's choice and Americana. To start I stamped Beatrice in black Archival ink in the centre of some 7" x 7" white card, now cover this with a post-it note. Now brayer some neutral coloured paint over the Gelli plate and lay the flourish stencil down making sure it makes good contact, then lift off. Place the card on to the Gelli plate, I normally use the brayer rather than my hand to take a print. Next brayer some light blue paint and repeat with the flourish stencil turning it 90 degrees before taking the next print. Brayer some purple just in one corner then dab over with some large bubble wrap moving the colour further towards the middle, this will blend the edge a little. Lay the card down again and take another print. To colour the centre image I used Adirondack ink and a make-up sponge, I was looking for a soft blended feel and was not too worried about the lines. To add shading I used Prismacolor pencils. To finish stamp the verse No matter... in black ink then cut it in to strips, run a black ink pad around the edges. Arrange the words down the left hand side and when happy with the arrangement stick down. Cut the piece to size and mount on to the base card mine is a 6" x 6". That's all this time hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by

Sally

New beginnings

Hi crafter's

This card is going to be my entry for the Clarity stamp challenge which is New beginnings. I wasn't quite sure what to do until I had one of those discount leaflets from a supermarket. The offers were for the Chinese new year and it is going to be the year of the horse. This was good as I had just purchased the galloping horse. Also my son is studying Chinese Mandarin at school so he could help me with the words. The background was made directly on to the white base card. Using a stencil and inks ( juniper Adirondack and bamboo leaves Memento) start with the lightest colour then add the darker colour in some of the corners. I wanted this to give the impression of a screen. Next I put black peel offs around the edge where the stenciling finished, crossing over at the corners. Stamp the flourish from the oriental stamp set in black ink twice in opposite corners. To start the topper stamp the horse in black ink then the blossom branch and finally the lanterns. Make the background scene with the hills and mountains masks. Take some Promarkers and add some dots following the undulations of the land. Make the sky with the clouds mask and blue ink. Colour in the blossom with Promarkers, pastel pink and dusky pink with a little gold for the centre then light green for the leaves. Stamp the lanterns on a scrape piece of white card and colour in (I used Prismacolor pencils for this) using red and yellow. Ink up the flourish in black again and stamp over the long lantern picking what part you want as the pattern. Cut out the lantern leaving off the hook and tassels. Shape them a little and stick down with dimensional glue. Use the black peel offs to frame the topper. Attach it to the base card at a slight angle. Stamp the double tile from the Letterbox set in black. I then carefully copied the characters my son had written down for me, it says The Year of the Horse. Ink up the solid tile with Versamark and glaze with clear embossing powder. Cut out then edge with red. Cut a piece of black card and mount the tiles. Attach at the top in the centre. That's it card finished!

 I hope you like it, any comments are welcome.

Thanks for looking

Sally

Small icon

Hi crafter's

This is going to be my entry for the Indigoblu challenge which is about your favourite stamp. Mine is the Wild Meadow, especially the flourish, which I find myself turning to all the time. I recently bought a small wooden icon from Crafty Individuals and was looking for a way to use it, this project seemed the perfect thing. The first thing I did was cover the wood with a layer of white gesso when dry paint over the top with some neutral acrylic paint, I used Crafters Choice in almond and Americana in antique white. Paint over the back front, and sides. To add more interest to the background I used a stencil and Archival ink (french ultramarine). Ink up the flourish from the stamp set in black Archival and stamp on the front of the icon down the bottom. Ink up the words in black and stamp on the left side. Next use the flitter glue on the flourish and stamp at the bottom on both sides not going up as high as the black, add some mega flakes as usual, I used Morris dance. Repeat this with the butterfly stamp, the one I used came from the Craft Stamper mag. Now turning to the back,

to create depth I used a  blue flourish I had left on my gelli plate (I'm usually working on a few things at a time so this was a bit of a cross over), I wanted to see what it would print like on a different surface and it worked well. Now using a stencil and some dark blue ink add colour just around the outside and on all the edges, blend the ink without the stencil around the front and back of the icon. Dab some flitter glue on to the small anemone corner and stamp twice on each side as above, add morris dance flake and burnish. Dab some glue around the edges, it wants to be hit and miss, then use the flakes again. To make the whole thing look a bit worn put white acrylic paint on your mat, using a fan brush load up with the paint and swipe over the icon touching here and there. That's all for this time, hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by

Sally