Anything with wings

Hello, and Happy New Year to you all.  This is a very exciting start to 2015 for me, having being asked to join the design team for the Claritystamp Challenge Blog.  I hope that my take on each months theme will give you some ideas and inspiration for your own projects.  I can't wait to see what you all make.

Main Ingredients
23cm x 23cm Ribba frame from Ikea
Gelli card
Few vintage book pages
Old Paper distress ink pad
Frayed Burlap distress ink pad
Black archival ink pad
Butterfly tree stamp set
Blending mat
Stencil brushes
Mini ink blending tool
Butterfly tree stencil
Black embossing paste

My first task was to tear some hills from the book pages:  the edge of the Claritystamp blending mat really helps with this and makes it very easy.  I then used the distress inks with the stencil brushes and blending tool to add some colour, working from light to dark.  The book pages are quite delicate:  so gently does it.  

 

 

 

 

Working on a piece of gelli card, I cut a large moon mask from a post-it note and very gently brushed some Old Paper across the sky.  It doesn't look like much until you take the post-it away.

 

 

 

The hills were then glued into place to create the base of the landscape.

 

 

 

 

Then I stamped the beautiful butterfly tree into place using Black archival.  As you can see, I missed a bit, but not to worry;  this can be touched in using a black micron pen, and no-one will know, (unless you tell them that is!!!)

 

 

 

Next job was to make some 3D butterflies.  These were stamped onto the book pages using black archival, cut out and layered up, then some old paper distress ink was added around the edges. 

 

 

You can see here how they were positioned onto the picture.

 

 

In order to give an extra dimension to the picture, I taped the stencil to the inside of the glass, before dragging through some black embossing paste.

 

 

Once dry, it was just a matter of reassembling the frame, and...  voila!

 

 

 

I hope you like my first project, and I can't wait to see what fabulous ideas you come up with, and the artwork you create.  Good luck to you all.  I always like to see how a piece of artwork progresses from start to finish, so let me know if you find the step-by-steps helpful and interesting.  Till next time.  Xxx 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Christmas Bauble

Hello everyone.  Yes, I have finally managed to find my way back to my blog.  It has been neglected lately, and here we are in the middle of December with so much still to do.  Other than more crafty goodies, one of the best things Santa could put in my stocking would be more time!  I daresay that many of you feel the same.

This is my entry for this months Claritystamp challenge, which has the theme of "Trees."  In keeping with the season, I've decided to make a very simple little Christmas project.

Firstly I drew round the outline of my template, then slowly began building up the colour using Faded Jeans Distress Ink with a stencil brush, gently working round and round.  You can see below how it starts out light and gradually builds in intensity.

 

Then I cut out the circle and added even more depth of colour around the edge with the same ink using a mini blending tool.

 

The next step was to create some snow.  This is quite a simple effect to achieve, just flicking water at the artwork and blotting with paper towel.  As you can see, although the technique is easy, it is a bit more difficult to control;  and I have created a blizzard!

 

 

To complete this piece, I used Jo Rice's trick of soaking the mini blending tool with water to lift the ink and make a full moon (Thanks Jo!), then stamped the carol onto shrink plastic, and glued into place once I had shrunk it down. 

 

 

Now it was time to start work on the artwork for the other side.  I brushed Faded Jeans Distress Ink about half way round for the sky.  Using only Olive Archival Ink, I sponged through the Treescape Mask to create a backdrop, then using first, second and third generation ink with the trees from the Bleak Midwinter set I completed the forest before cutting out.

 

 

The two pieces of artwork were then stuck together back to back.

 

 

I then assembled the bauble, adding a few sequin snowflakes to create a shaker effect.  My first intention had been to use some polystyrene beads, but the static kept making these stick to the sides of the bauble, so I had to have a little rethink and move to plan B.

 

 

 

 

Apologies for the quality of the photos;  the finished bauble was difficult to photograph.  If you have time, please leave a comment;  I'd love to know what you think.  Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and many blessings for the New Year.  In spite of all my good intentions, it will probably be 2015 before I get round to blogging again.  Till next time, next year!  Xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seasons

Hello again.  This is my project for this months Claritystamp challenge:  the theme is the seasons, and I have chosen autumn.  I have to say a huge thank you to Maria Simms, as I found this months workshop at Shrewsbury inspirational, and after a few very hectic weeks at work, feel that my creative juices are finally starting to flow again.  Another highlight of the last few weeks was being able to go to Port Sunlight for the first time;  what a fab event.

I used my new 8" x 10" Gelli Plate to pull a simple background print using Buff Titanium acrylic paint and some scrunched up copy paper.

Then I used Potting Soil archival ink to randomly stamp one of the funky leaves all over the background.

 

Then I masked off all the leaves, and used my stencil brushes with Distress Inks in the following colours:  Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey, Barn Door and Peeled Paint to randomly colour the background.

 

 

This was then used to cover a wooden wreath and the edges blended with a little Vintage Photo distress ink.

 

 

I the meantime, I set up a production line stamping and colouring more funky leaves in the same colours, also adding some extra shade and definition by using the corresponding colour of distress marker.

 

 

All that was left to do now was to arrange and glue the leaves into place.  I also decided to add a couple of twigs and fir cones.

 

 

I had great fun making this, so I hope you like it.  (And I have some leaves left over, so watch this space!)  If you're still reading, I hope you'll take the time to leave a comment, I'd love to hear what you think.  Looking forward to seeing all the other entries this month.  Good luck everyone.  Till next time.  Xxx