Butterflies

Hello there!  I thought I'd pop in with a quick blog of my butterfly card from 20th November's Best of Clarity shows on Hochanda. 

First, I blended distress paints on an A5 piece of stencil card.  I think the colours I used were:  candied apple, carved pumpkin, fossilised amber, lucky clover, mermaid lagoon and wilted violet.  The good thing about using paint is that you get full coverage and vibrant colour really quickly and easily.

It took several trial runs on copy paper to work out the positioning of the butterflies before stamping them onto stencil card.

I then cut round the wings with  a really sharp craft knife so that they could be folded up.

All that I needed to do then was to stick this in place on top of the coloured background.

Trim back and edge with a black sharpie pen before mounting onto a card blank. 

Its a clean and simple design, but its very effective I think.  I hope you like it too. 

I can't believe that Barbara Gray is back on the TV on Sunday.  My samples for that show are all boxed up ready for posting tomorrow and I'll be back on Thursday with my Claritystamp Challenge card for December!  Going to be a busy few days!!!  Till next time.  Xxx 

A blast from the past - keeping it clean and simple

Hello there!  Its been a while...

I can't believe its 1st November already.  Where does the time go?

This month, we're doing something a bit different over on the Claritystamp challenge blog.  So go on, pick your favourite theme from one of our previous challenges and create a new project.

I decided to go with "Clean and simple" from November last year.

Put the hexagon stencil in place on a 7" x 7" piece of stencil card.

 

 Brush wild honey distress ink through the aperture, concentrating around the edges and defining them with a make-up sponge, and keeping the centre a bit lighter.

 If you hinge the stencil at the top of the card with low tack tape, you can check your progress.

 Replace the hexagom 'outie' and use the honeycomb 'innie' from one of the square aperture stencils to add some detail, brushing through more wild honey distress ink.

I  used the word chain alphabet and the bee from the agapanthus set designed by Jayne Nestorenko to stamp my sentiment in black archival.

I added a drop shadow with a grey distress marker.

Coloured the bee with my Faber Castell polychromos and added a teeny bit of Glamour Dust glitter to the wings.

All that was left to do was to run a black sharpie round the edge and mount onto a card blank.  I hope you like it.

Its going to be so exciting this month.  I can't wait to see your projects and your favourite themes. 

Don't forget, you could win a £50 Clarity voucher;  but you've got to be in it to win it.  So, go on, why don't you give it a go.  Till next time.  Xxx

Going round and round in circles!

Hello there!  Just popping in to share my project for this month's Clarity challenge.  The theme this month is to use circles or squares in your artwork.  Why don't you pay a visit to the Claritystamp Challenge blog where you'll find inspiration throughout the month from my talented teamies. 

Don't forget that there's a £50 Clarity voucher up for grabs.  The winner is chosen at random, so everyone has the same chance to win.  Go on...  give it a go!

Time has run away with me this month, so there's no step by step this time.  Its quite an easy one though.

Tape the stencil into position onto a piece of 7" stencil car and mask off the central square with a post-it..

Brush worn lipstick, picked raspberry and wilted violet distress inks through the stencil.  The colours blend together beautifully.  A final bit of blending with a make-up sponge will help to ensure the stencil design is crisp and defined.  

Remove the stencil and mask the outer edges of the central square. 

Stamp the fuchsia into place with black archival, and another twice onto a small piece of stencil card.

Using a compass, mark the circles for the decoupage and cut out.  This is the only part of the fuchsia design that was coloured in;  the rest was left in black and white.

All that was left to do was trim the artwork back slightly and edge with a ruler and a black sharpie pen; before sticking the decoupage circles into place with pinflair glue gel. 

I really like the combination of Jayne Nestorenko's beautiful floral designs with the funky stencil frame;  I hope you do too. 

Off to Port Sunny today.  Hope to see some of you there.  Then, Barbara Gray will be back on the TV on Sunday and Monday.  There are some real treats in store for you.  Hold onto your credit cards!!!  Till next time.  Xxx