One for the boys...

Hello again.  Thanks to all of you who entered last months Clarity challenge on the theme of "clocks."  This has proved to be quite a tough theme:  maybe a reflection of what a struggle it is for many of us to find enough time for crafting.  This month, we are tackling another theme which can sometimes be difficult:  creating a piece of art for the men in our lives.

Ingredients
Black archival ink pad
Black micron pen
Clear embossing powder
Theuva card
Black card for matting and layering
Jazz man stamp, music stamp set and wordpress stamp set

As I kept it simple this month, I thought I would share with you a bit more of how I go about designing a project from the start.

First, I very often start by stamping out the design roughly onto copy paper.  I might do this several times, until I feel confident and happy with the layout.

Next, I cut Theuva card to size, and dusted with talc.  I then stamped jazz man and clear embossed him.

Of course, with a design so simple, there's no place to hide.  Here are some of the rejects...

Too timid when drawing in the lines.  Tried thicker lines, but didn't like them.

Tried drawing the lines before stamping jazzman.  I concentrated so hard on trying to put his feet in the right place, I cut off his cane.  Barbara:  0   Bin:  2

I drew the lines first again, and disaster!  Can you spot it? 

I realised I had to be brave and stamp jazz man first, and then draw in the lines.  Yay, success at last!  Then I stamped in "Happy Birthday" using both upper and lower case letters from the wordpress set randomly through the stave.

Next job was to add in the notes until I was happy with the balance of the design.

All that was left to do now was to mat onto a piece of black card and the card blank.

I hope you like the finished card.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the projects you come up with for the men in your life;  be it a husband father, son, grandson...  Its up to you.  I have another "boys, boys, boys" project that I've made for one of my grandsons, which I'll blog later in the month.  Don't forget, the winner of the £50 Claritystamp voucher is chosen completely at random, so what have you got to lose?  Go on, give it a go.  If you need more inspiration, pop over to: http://claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

You'll find the links there to the blogs of all my talented design teamies.  Till next time.  Xxx

Yay!!! Its craft o'clock

Well I don't know where the month of April went.  Its time for a new Claritystamp challenge already.  Thanks to all of you who took part in last months challenge using the fabulous wee folk.

I was so excited when I knew that this the theme for this month was "clocks" and knew straightaway that I wanted to produce a piece of artwork for my blog title.  However, what I was actually going to do was another story altogether....

Ingredients
For the background
A4 and A3 canvas boards
Vintage book pages
Mod Podge
Paperartsy Fresco paints
Distress inks
Clockwork/cogs stencil
Chinese lanterns stencil
Curly wurly stencil
Harlequin stencil
Sunburst stencil
Dotty wave stencil
Grunge paste
Embossing powder (I used a Frantage one)
Letterbox stamp kit
Fine wire

For the embellishments
Madeleine stencil
Fob watch stamps
Pretty petals stamp kit
Funky foliage leaf stamp
Medium lamp post stamp
Sizzix love cogs die
Versamark ink pad
Distress embossing powder
Detail gold embossing powder
Grungepaper
Gelli card
More Paperartsy Fresco paints
Spectrum Noir pencils
Small metal cogs

Glass accents
Ball chain
Glossy Accents

Be warned;  this post could turn out to be longer than "War and Peace."  It certainly took me a long time to finish it!

First job was to cover the A4 canvas board with squares cut from vintage book pages.

 

Next job, add some colour by 'walking' the brayer around the board using the Paperartsy paints.

 

 

Add some extra colour round the edges with Distress Ink.

 

After spending time figuring out the right mix and layout of the stencils, I dragged grunge paste through each of the stencils in turn, and roughly and unevenly sprinkled on some Frantage embossing powder    This had to dry naturally before I could melt the embossing powder.  Once this was done, I sponged some more ink onto the exposed areas of grunge paste.

 

 

There!  Stage 1 complete.  This was when I went a bit crazy and kept coming up with new ideas for how I wanted the finished project to look.

 

Firstly I roughly painted book pages with Paperartsy paint, allowing some of the print to show through.  Then I stamped and embossed the bunting and letters before cutting out.  These were then threaded on fine wire and glued into position.

 

I cut out cogs from gelli card and embossed some using just detail gold powder (2 coats needed for a nice glossy finish).  The rest, where I wanted a rougher and more textured finish, I used distress powder for an uneven base coat, then a second coat of detail gold powder.

 

 

 Next, I stamped a load of large and small fob watches onto gelli card with archival ink and aged them a bit with distress ink before cutting out.  Glossy accents was added to the large watch faces, real glass accents were added to the small watch faces as they fitted perfectly.

 

 

After painting some grungepaper, I pulled grunge paste through the Madeleine stencil.  Once dry, I coloured her with spectrum noir pencils.

 

 

Then I had a messy session making some background papers ready for the flowers.  I tried out a few colour mixes with my Paperartsy paints;  splodging and spritzing them on my craft sheet and picking up the paint with some gelli card.  This was a technique we used at Maria Simms' last workshop;  thanks Maria!  These were then used to stamp the petals for the flowers which were assembled using the fob watches for the centres.

 

 

 

Now it was time to assemble it all together.  You can see some of the details below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally I decided to give Madeleine a necklace, using the rest of the fob watches and the lamp post stamp (I did trim a couple of bits off when cutting these out!), and added a scrap of ball chain to finish.

 

 

Phew!  Are you still there?  If you've made it this far, I hope you like the finished piece and that it will give you a bit of inspiration for your own project.  There's some more great work and ideas from my design teamies.  Looking forward to seeing all your ideas too.  Till next time.  Xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wee Folk Fairies come out to play...

Hello there!  Thanks to all of you who took up last months challenge and produced some stunning artwork.  Its great to see how much confidence you have in taking on a project that was anything but a card, and how you have put your other crafty skills to such good use.   But now its 1st April, and that can only mean one thing:  no fooling around, its time for a new Claritystamp challenge.  We have decided to showcase the wee folk range of stamps which have been incredibly popular, and no wonder.  If you don't have them yet, here's the link to the Clarity stamp website:  http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/

My project was one of those where I knew the technique I wanted to use, but didn't really have any idea where I was headed!  The technique is one I learned from the uber-talented Maria Simms, and then put my own spin on it:  thanks for the inspiration Maria, you are a star.

Ingredients
8" x 8" piece of mountboard or similar
Grunge paste
Acrylic paint in various colours (I used a creamy yellow, bright yellow, orange red, magenta, purple, cyan blue, black and gold)
Black archival ink pad
Versamark ink pad
Wire
Scraps of gelli card
Gold embossing powder (I used a Frantage one)
Pinflair glue gel
Claritystamp star stencil
Claritystamp wee folk fairies and elves - sets 3 and 4

First, I dragged grunge paste through the star stencil onto the mountboard.  I left it to dry naturally, but you can speed up the drying process with a heat gun.

Then I started to paint.  You can see below how I built up the colours, letting each layer dry, to avoid muddying the colours too much.  I also added the blue around the outer edge, (that was a spur of the moment decision), and I forgot to take a photo of this step.

You need to make sure the paint is completely dry before moving on to this next step.  Have plenty of baby wipes and kitchen roll at the ready.  Now paint the whole piece with black acrylic, then start to wipe it off again.  With this piece we are looking to remove all the paint in the centre, but leave a lot of it round the edges.  Once the black paint had completely dried, I dry brushed a little gold acrylic over the piece;  concentrating on the halo of stars and the darker areas.

 

 

So now we have created a space in which to create our magical scene. 

 

Using black archival, I sponged in a hill and added the bluebell and some foliage.

 

 

Then another hill, and one of the toadstools, so that our little fairy has somewhere to sit.

 

 

Now  you can see that I added some final touches to the scene with second generation ink to give a better sense of distance and perspective.

 

I love it already, but I still wanted more...  The Claritystamp design team produce some amazing work to inspire us, and I have to say that I have been loving the work of Karen Hayselden:  and her wired wreaths in particular.  Thank you for the inspiration Karen:  this is my very humble effort.

 

I used the star stencil to cut out stars from gelli card.  Then I glued these together, sandwiching the wire between them.  I made 3 of these wire rings;  the only thing to watch out for is the spacing of the stars, so that they look right once layered up. 

 

Then I painted the stars:  one wreath in orange red, one in magenta, and one in blue.  These were then overpainted in black the same as the background, wiping off some of the paint, so that some of the colour underneath could be seen.  This time, once dry, rather than dry brushing with gold acrylic, I dabbed the stars lightly with versamark and sprinkled on some gold embossing powder.  Not looking for total coverage here, so, in areas I even dabbed with kitchen roll while the embossing powder was still molten.  Yes, I hear you say, technically very poor embossing, but I do love the result.

 

 

Then I attached each wreath by just one star with Pinflair:  this allows the wreaths to stand out and move.

 

 

Finished artwork, but what to use it for?  A card...  a journal cover...  (I did toy with this idea for a while)  or a picture... 

 

 

 Although its already in its frame, I'd love to hear any of your suggestions, or your thoughts on whether I made the right decision on turning it into a picture.

 

Now its your turn.  I hope that as a team, we have given you inspiration for your own projects, and I can't wait to see what you decide to do with the gorgeous little wee folk.  Till next time.  Xxx