Oh dear, I'm a very bad blogger!!!

Hello there everyone!  Its been a long time I know.  There's been a lot going on, and November has passed in a bit of a blur!  Wonderful news first:  our beautiful new grand daughter Rosie Grace was born on Saturday 14th.  On the flip side, we also marked a year on Friday 20th since we lost Dad:  so many memories...  Its been a mad, crazy, busy couple of weeks at work too;  managing a project to completion on a very tight deadline:  quite stressful, I have to say.  And its nearly Christmas:  have I made all my cards yet?  No!  have I finished all the little gifts I want to make yet?  No!  have I finished my Christmas shopping yet?  No!  So what's on my wish list for Santa?  A few more hours in the day please!

So I thought I'd go through my samples in a bit more detail for those of you who're interested.  

Log cabin, star and sprucescape

1.  I'm not very good at scene building, so I kept it very simple and added a little hide and seek trick with the log cabin.  The tag is just attached with a brad;  easy to do, but positioning is everything.

 

2.  Thanks to Maria Simms for the inspiration for this one.  I used Peach Bellini adirondack and Hickory Smoke distress ink.  My original plan was to cut it into 3 panels and mount as a triptych, but I was short of time and worried about spoiling it.  Just a touch of glitter added to the trees. 

 

Elephant and trellis stencils

1.  Bright and vibrant;  Fossilised Amber, Picked Raspberry and Mermaid Lagoon (or maybe Peacock Feathers), brushed and blended through the stencil.  Black embossing paste and black satin glitter for the elephant.

 

2.  Loads of prep work for this one.  I wanted to use the clever corners for a faux zentangle effect, so first I had to cut out masks.  Then I just stamped through all the different sections with the corners with Black archival and outlined with a black micron pen.  Exactly the same for the baby elephant, but on shrink plastic.  Carefully cut 2 slits and hooked baby's tail around mummy's.  Flitterglu sponged through the trellis stencil and gilding flakes applied.

Colour bursts and stag stencil

1.  This was my absolute favourite.  It doesn't normally bother me, but I could quite happily have kept this one!  Still its nice to hear so many lovely comments about it;  hopefully its inspired you to create some art of your own.  This was a wonderfully happy accident;  a mop up sheet of colour bursts mod podged onto a canvas board, then grunge paste pulled through the stencil.  Some Frantage embossing powder added for texture, then spectrum noir pencils and charcoal to add shading once dry.

2.  This last card also uses colour bursts.  This time I pulled translucent embossing paste through the stencil and added little puffs of colour bursts while the stencil was still in place and the embossing paste was still wet.  I just brushed Mermaid Lagoon and Cracked Pistachio distress inks through the trellis stencil to finish. 

Well that's it for now.  I'm already working on samples for Barbara's show on 6th December.  Hope you'll be able to join us then for some fab new stamps and stencils.  Till next time.  Xxx 

A clean and simple design

Hello there!  I hope you are all well.  I can't believe that its 1st November already;  the days and weeks pass so quickly.  Are you up for a new Clarity challenge?  Don't forget you'll be in with the chance of winning a £50 Clarity voucher to spend on crafty goodies.  You've got to be in it to win it!!!

 

Here's my inspiration for this months theme.  All stamping done in black archival.  I stamped the Japanese lady into position first, and masked her off.   

 

I taped the semi-circle stencil into place, and brushed through distress inks in the following colours, blending from top to bottom:  abandoned coral, barn door and fired brick.  It took a while to get this intensity of colour.

Then I stamped the waterlilies and sentiment along the bottom edge of the stencilled shape.  I stamped the waterlilies again onto a scrap of card, coloured with spectrum noir pencils, and fussy cut.  These were then stuck down flat over any red petals and leaves!!!

Finally, I gave my Japanese lady a beautiful pale complexion with spectrum noir pencils, and made her a dress using fusible fibre.  

 

I hope you like the finished card.  I love its simplicity and drama, and hope you will too.  I look forward to seeing all your entries.  Till next time.  Xxx