A brilliant work of art?

Hello again.  Here I am again with another of my samples from the last Claritystamp shows on Hochanda.

 

I started this one with a piece of stencil card, and brushed and blended distress inks in mermaid lagoon, twisted citron and wilted violet.  

 

 

Now I splattered on some water and blotted with kitchen roll to lift the ink.

  

 

I splattered on distress sprays in the same colours diluted with a little water in the same way. 

 

 

At this point my hands looked like this!!!!!  Maybe next time I should think about using gloves.

 

 

 Using the same colours, I stamped the easel from the brilliant work of art set randomly over the background.

 

 

I also stamped the paint tube randomly over the background, but this time using the distress stains.  This gives a looser, less perfect image.

 

 

Stamp on "You are a brilliant work of art" in black archival in the middle of the card.

  

 

 I took 3 jigsaw pieces and decided where I wanted to place them.

 

 

 I applied colour to the jigsaw pieces with a make up sponge, using the colours of the background as a guide. 

 

I also stamped the sentiment onto a piece of copy paper.  I traced round the jigsaw pieces and used this as a guide to stamp on the sentiment so it would line up perfectly.

 

I embossed the pieces using versamark and detail clear powder.  I repeated this stage 3 times for a smooth glossy finish. 

 

I edged the piece with a ruler and a black sharpie pen and matted on to a card blank.  Finally, I glued the jigsaw pieces into position.

 

 

I hope you like the finished card, and that it gives you another idea for when you don't want to use the whole jigsaw. 

 

Don't forget that Barbara Gray will be back on Hochanda tomorrow and Monday.  I can't wait...  its going to be Groovi!  Till next time.  Xxx  

Ssssssssh.... don't tell my mum!

Hello again.  Well this year is really flying by;  I can't believe its 1st March already.  You know what that means:  its time for a new theme over at the Claritystamp challenge blog.  This month, its all about the girls.

 

I decided to use the card I've made for my mum for Mother's Day;  its only a few days away, so I don't think she'll see this before then.  So if you are reading this mum, stop now! 

 

I stamped the hen into place using black archival, and once dry, covered it with a mask. 

 

 

Then I put the daffodil frame stencil in place as shown.

 

 

I cut out a copy mask to cover the outer part of the frame to make sure I didn't get any ink in these sections at this stage.

 

I then blended in picked raspberry distress ink at the bottom of the oval,  mermaid lagoon at the top, and mustard seed in the middle using the Clarity stencil brushes.  Then I sprinkled on a little water and blotted with kitchen roll to lift the ink.

 

 

Next, I covered up the central oval with the innie part of the stencil and covered the join with masking tape.

 

 

I brushed and blended the same colours through the flowers and the frame, I made the colour a bit more intense here.  Then I added my sentiment using black archival and the wordpress kit. 

 

 

I stamped this little chick onto shrink plastic with black archival and coloured with distress markers.  It never ceases to amaze me how much the image shrinks without losing any detail.

 

 

You can see here that I've used spectrum noir pencils in the same colours for the hen,   I've also started to add some shading to the border with grey pencils.

 

 

I trimmed the artwork back and edged it with a ruler and a black sharpie pen. 

 

All that was left to do now was to decide on the position of the little chicks...

 

 

or...

 

 

or???

 

 

I finally decided on this. 

 

 

I hope you like my fun and funky Mothers Day card.  I'm pretty sure it will make my mum smile. 

 

Now its over to you...  I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll make.  Don't forget, the winner is chosen at random, so it doesn't matter if you're a beginner or a seasoned stamper;  everyone's in with an equal chance to win that £50 Clarity voucher.  So go on, give it a go.  Till next time.  Xxx

 

Are you an angel?

Hello everyone.  Hope you're having a lovely weekend.  Did you manage to catch Barbara on the TV on Thursday;  if not you can now get them on catch up on Hochanda.com 

 

I just love the artist set of stamps.  I thought I would start by blogging my favourite piece.

Not quite sure where this idea for an angel with paintbrush arms and legs came from.  Here's my little practice one made out of copy paper and tissue, where I made sure that I could actually do what I pictured in my head!  

Yes, crack on Barbara, this will work.

I planned to make a little canvas, so I started with an old book page and sprayed on some white Dylusions ink spray to start to soften and obscure the print.

 

As I wanted a very random effect, I didn't mount the "You are a brilliant work of art" stamp, but just used it in my hand.  With such a large stamp, this makes it easier to vary the pressure and the areas of the stamp used.  I used vintage photo distress ink here.

Then I used the palette and the paintbrushes to add more texture;  stamping with Paperartsy Fresco Finish in Limelight, and trying out some Paperartsy rusting powder.  This didn't come out as expected (need to play more with this to better understand how it works;  watch this space).  At this point I thought I might have ruined it, but decided to keep going.

More random stamping in garden patina and cactus flower archival (these are new Wendy Vecchi colours), and chalk and snowflake Fresco Finish paints.

Once dry, this was mod podged onto a small canvas board.

 

I stamped out my words and letters on stencil card, "an" was done by masking off the unwanted letters in "brilliant."  The check frame was stamped on copy paper.  

I arranged everything on the canvas board until I was happy with the layout.

Now I set to work on the angel.  I decided to use Annabel's head for the finished piece and stamped her in black archival.  Let's make two;  just in case...

Then I stamped the paintbrush into position on another scrap of stencil card for her body and legs.

I used the other paintbrush for her arms, curving it on the mount before stamping into place. 

The wings were made using an NDC butterfly and angelina fibre.  I forgot to take a photo here, but its very easy.  If you're not sure how to do it, take a look at Barbara Gray's You Tube video here.

Wemt round the edges very gently with a blending tool and a tiny bit of garden patina.  Don't want to overdo it...

Edge the words with a ruler and a black Sharpie pen so they match the letterboxes before mod podging into place.

Mount onto a larger canvas board using an adhesive sheet.

Colour the angel with spectrum noir pencils, then cut her out.

I then cut a long strip of pink organza and gathered it along one edge.  This was attached in place around the neck of the angel.  

 

I then added the arms and glued everything into place using pinflair glue gel.

  

 

She's cute isn't she?

 

 

I hope you like the finished piece and that maybe it has inspired you to look at these great little artist stamps in an entirely different light. 

 

I'll be back soon.  Till next time.  Xxx