Friday 28 April 2017

Snowdrop

Good morning,
An early morning blog from me today!  (Definitely don't get used to that!!) I thought I would share the card I made with the Snowdrop stamp which is the accompaniment to the Cornflower from the previous post...

I am quite a fan of single colour cards, for this I chose green because I was going to colour the leaves green, so I stamped in a green archival ink and cut the card to a slim rectangle.  I coloured the leaves and the very tips of the petals, but left the rest alone.  I think simple white flowers are amongst the most stunning things to look at.
I did edge the card with green, then matted on to dark green card.
For the background, I stamped the wording across the centre, did a bit of splattering and edged with green.

Thanks very much for visiting, I hope you all have a good day - I am off to work now.  Another two of my colleagues are retiring - must be my turn soon!!
Janet xx

Wednesday 26 April 2017

Cornflower

Good evening all,
I love flowers but I like wildflowers, simple and beautiful, rather than all the fancy double blooms.  Cornflowers are one of my favourites, I love the colour and the lovely shape of them, so I was delighted to see that this stamp has been revived.  This is an old design from Clarity, now in a different size.

 I decided to have a rifle through the Clarity paper pads to see whether there was one to suit the cornflower and of course, there is.
The back of one of the papers is quite pale, but has all sorts of bits going on in the background.  I stamped the cornflower in blue archival then masked it while I stamped the words in the background.  I tore the bottom edge at an angle, inked round the edges in blue and curled over diagonal corners, then attached it to the front of the same paper.
I did colour the flower slightly, but didn't want it to bet lost, so left it fairly light.

Stamps used:
Wildflowers

Sweet Dreams designer paper pack

You may notice the beautiful snowdrop in the same set - tune in tomorrow for that one

Janet xx

Monday 24 April 2017

Black Magic Flowers

Good morning!

I am back again after only a day, I have lots of cards to blog, so get used to it (but  only for a little while!)
I saw the 'black magic' technique many years ago and it has been something I keep meaning to do, then we had this lovely set of stamps to use which is ideal for the technique.
You need a fairly solid stamp...
I used  Floribundance from the Special day sentiments set.  This is an old stamp and one of my favourites, I am very happy to see some of the older Clarity stamps making a comeback!


Stamp your image onto black card using a white pigment ink, Leave to dry then colour over the top of the pigment with pencils
 I also stamped the greeting in white ink and matted it over the top.
Easy eh!
I think I intended to add a few doodly dots around, but didn't get round to it!  Maybe on the next one.....

Thanks for visiting,
Janet xx

Sunday 23 April 2017

A Little Grid


Good afternoon!

It's been a good Clarity weekend, yesterday I did the Claritystampers East workshop with the lovely Bawburgh ladies - I will post pics next week, once the Great Blakenham ladies have done the cards.  I even managed to take some photos on the day - quite a palava!
Also it has been lovely to watch Rossella on Hochanda, demoing with Clarity stamps in a completely different way, I will post my samples for that in due course, but thought I had better finish the last lot of samples first!.



I enjoy working with little stamps and the teeny stamps that came with the outline stamps are wonderful, they are still very detailed even though they are so small.
I did a grid card with the stamps from the Stag set.
Basically, I masked off small areas and filled them with little scenes, it is surprising how much stamping you can get into a small area!

Stamp used:
Outline Stag

Thanks very much for visiting, hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Janet xx

Wednesday 19 April 2017

Fox

Good evening,

I am a bit late blogging tonight, but just wanted to share my fox with you before I go to bed.
I used another of the lovely aperture stamps, this time the leaf.  Along with the leaf, comes a set of teeny stamps to use to make up a little scene in the aperture.  I stamped the leaf then masked around it and did the scene in using mostly brown inks.
Once done, I removed the mask and stamped around the outside with one of the leaves from the set of teeny stamps.
As is my way, I shaded around the edge with more ink, then matted onto brown card.

Link to the stamp set:
Outline leaf

Thanks very much for visiting,
Janet xx

Sunday 16 April 2017

Paper and Lace

Good morning to you!
I hope you are enjoying the long weekend break - bit chilly here, but nice to have the extra time off work.
I went to a workshop yesterday, it was lovely to sit and make cards and a canvas someone else had designed, and not to have to think about it too much!  I also realised just how hard it is for small independent retailers to make ends meet, so, if you are lucky enough to have a craft shop in your area, do support them, or they will disappear and that would be very sad!  (I did my bit to help and stocked up.....)

The cards today are the ones we made at Claritystampers East, I may well have blogged similar cards in the past, so will just show the pics today.                                                                                              
The first one is done by sticking strips of patterned paper to a square of card, then stamping and cutting out the vase and flowers

 The same, but in different colours...

The background is done by emdossing the lines, then stamping and dragging ink pads over the debossed side.
Stamp and colour the bouquet














Finally, this one is very much based on one Barbara Gray showed on TV - using a gel press to squish through some lovely lace,

Stamps used:
Bouquets
Urn

Elegant ladies stencil
Lace


Hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend
Thanks for visiting!
Janet xx

Wednesday 12 April 2017

Spring is here!

Good evening!

One of my favourite things this time of year is when 'my' house martins return.  When I first moved in to this house nearly 20 years ago, my neighbour had lots of martins' nests on her house and mine had netting to stop them.  I removed the netting but had to wait several years before they started to build a nest on my house.  I was so excited when they eventually did!  Since then we have had good years and bad years, I now have three nests outside my bedroom window and I just love waking up in the morning to the sound of these delightful little birds chattering away together.
I am happy to report that the first pair arrived back at the weekend!  I always worry about them!  They have such a long way to fly to get back.


I thought I would share this card in honour of the occasion...in my mind the birds are martins.
I stamped the outline tree, then masked off each area and added brusho powder, and rather than spritzing, I used a waterbrush to activate the colour - you get a bit more control.  I did sprinkle and spritz a bit as well!

Once it was all dry, I mounted on to another piece of card, which I did sprinkle and spritz.

Stamps used:
Grove tree outline and mask

Thanks for stopping by,
Janet xx

Saturday 8 April 2017

No place like home...even though there's not mushroom!

Good afternoon,
and isn't it a beautiful day!  I have been out in the garden this afternoon, doing a bit of cutting back - before it all gets out of hand.  I love this time of year, when everything is renewing; trees and shrubs coming into leaf, birds nesting, bees buzzing round etc etc.

The card today is one from the last TV show.  I love the aperture sets Barbara had on, so many ways to use them.
I decided to use the toadstool to make a little house for the lovely fairy to live in (I was not alone with this idea, lots of the DT made it into a little house!)
I stamped onto Kraft card, then drew in the little door with a fine black pen and coloured with pencils
If I am being honest, I had intended to just stamp 'Home' under the Toadstool, but the pen slipped when I was going round the edge of the card, so the 'New' is covering a black line!  I did panic when it happened, I can tell you, but part of the learning curve with making cards is how to cover mistakes!!!  There is usually a way, so don't just throw things away, some of the best ideas come when you are looking to cover an error!!

I hope you are enjoying the lovely weather and are having a great weekend
Janet xx
Stamps used:
Toadstool Outline set
Word Chain 2
Word Chain 9

Tuesday 4 April 2017

Sunburst stag

Hello folks,

Thanks very much for visiting.
Did you enjoy the shows on Sunday/Monday?  Good to see Barbara back in stamping mode, and what wonderful sets.  I wouldn't like to choose a favourite, they are all wonderful.

My card today features the Stag.  I love images of stags, they are such regal creatures (I can't begin to imagine why anyone would want to shoot one!!).  When I was staying with my sister a couple of weeks ago and we spent pretty much the whole time making cards, one of the things I wanted to have a go at was a sunburst card.   We had a little practice and found there are a few pitfalls, but once they are sorted, it is pretty straightforward.      


 Start with the sunburst background..
 First select your papers, I used three gorgeous patterns from the New England Fall paper pad.
This is a 5" x 7" piece of card, so I cut 2 rectangles 6" x 2" from each piece, then cut them in half along the diagonal to give triangles.
The important bit is to decide where your centre is going to be, the line up the triangles so that all the points meet at the centre point.  I laid them all out first before taking the plunge and gluing them all down.  I overlapped the edges while I was gluing, then trimmed back.

I cut a circle from one of the papers and matted it on a die cut scalloped circle cut from the same card I used to mat the background on to.  Stick the sun in place, then trim and mat.
The I stamped and clear embossed the stag onto another piece of paper, then cut him out and stuck him in place.
Link to products used:
Stag outline and mask
New England Fall paper pad

Janet xx

Saturday 1 April 2017

A nice day

Hello all,

Thank you for stopping by.  Today, it was the Diva Red workshop which is the one Moira and I run together.  We had a lovely time, as always, chatting and making cards.

This card is one of the cards we did today and also one I did for Claritystampers East.

I used the Winter Trees set,
On linen card, stamp the grassy edge along the bottom of the card, then mask off the area under the stamped image.
Ink up the round gel press petite plate (I used fossilised amber) then add texture by lightly dabbing some damp tissue over it, then 'stamp' it in place.
Using a medium brown (I used Gathered Twigs distress ink) stamp the tree branches, then go over again with the Mantles using a green (I used Forest Moss)
Ink around the edges of the card.
On the base card, I used the tree branches to make a frame then added the main image to the centre.
I have lots of little birds from various sets, so used a couple of them to complete the scene.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend!  OOh and don't forget to tune in to Hochanda to watch Barbara and Tina on Sunday and Monday, there are some lovely new things coming up......!!
Janet xx