The Oak Stag

Hello folks

..So Christmas is already behind us - a new year to look forward to.  Will you make any new year resolutions?   We are without water at the moment, there is a water main burst in the area and it is going to take a day or two to fix.  There is a water bowser set up at the village hall and we can buy bottled water, so we can manage for a while.  It has made me realise however just how much we rely on just being able to turn a tap and there is water there.  What an amazing luxury that we take completely for granted!!  My new year resolution is to support Water Aid to help provide fresh, clean water for more people in the world - I am far more likely to do that than lose weight or get fit!

My card today is from the last Clarity TV show, I thought I had better get these posted as the next show is very soon!



I am always pleased to get deer stamps to work with, I think they are wonderful creatures.
This lovely stag comes in a kit with the oak circle, two separate leaves and an acorn.
I stamped the deer first then masked him and stamped the oak leaf circle over the top.
I then placed a square mask over the top and stamped the single leaves and the acorn round the edge.  I used green and brown ink for this.
Then I got out the Spectrum Noir pencils and did lots of colouring.
As a final touch, I used a brown fine line pen to draw round the square, then mounted on to brown card.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and wish you a peaceful and successful 2015
Janet xx

Merry Chirstmas!

Merry Christmas one and all,
I hope you are all having a happy day

A little Christmas ATC 
Janet xx

Happy Christmas Eve Eve x

Good evening all,

How is it all going?  I have sent my cards, bought all the pressies and thrown a bit of tinsel around the house so it looks vaguely Christmassy... I have received some very lovely hand made cards this year, I always enjoy it when I get a handmade one rather than a bought one, I suppose it is because we know how much care and work has gone into them, don't we?

This card is one I made a few years ago, but it is very special because I entered it in the monthly Clarity challenge (before I was in the DT) before it was a blog and it won that month.  I was so thrilled!!

It is all about stamping and colouring, I just masked a couple of strips to do the background

I decided to phase the colouring and did one side red and the other side green and overlapped a bit in the middle. There is a bit of glitter in there too.

I can't remember what the colouring on the bark of the tree is.  there is an outline tree and a silhouette tree, so maybe I inked up the silhouette and  kiss stamped it before adding it to the outline tree and then coloured over the top.

There are lots of little holly stamps from Clarity that could be used for the background stamping.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope your Christmas prep is going well!
Janet xx

Doodly Owls

Good morning everyone,

Is is really the last weekend before Christmas?  Still, I am getting sorted out!  The Christmas cards have all been sent and the pressies have been bought (but not wrapped yet!) so that's not bad for me!

I had a bit of an extra expense, Meggie, my tortoiseshell cat had to have a couple of teeth extracted yesterday - poor thing looked really miserable, she must have been in a lot of pain - toothache is the worst, isn't it? so off to the vet and a £200 bill.  Just what you need the week before Christmas eh!  Still, she is much happier this morning, so it is worth every penny!

Toady's card is one from the last TV show that got the most comments on fb.  It is my zendoodled owls

I started by stamping the owls in brown archival ink, then I put the flare stencil over the top and drew round it using a fine brown pen.
I removed the stencil and set about filling in all the shapes with doodles.  I think this is a bit of a 'Marmite' technique - I love it, but know people who hate doing it.
Once all the lines were in place, I added some shading with various brown coloured pencils.
I also coloured the owls - I added a few dots on their feathers and a bit of shading.
Trim to size and mount on dark brown card.
Hope you like it!  I am off to attempt to give the cat her antibiotics - wish me luck!!!
Janet xxx

A Million Thank Yous

Good morning!

Happy Sunday to you!  It is cold, bright and crisp here today - I much prefer that to the warmer, dreary days though, a bit of sunlight makes all the difference to my mood.

Toady, I am blogging thr first of my DT cards from last weekend's Clarity show.  It features the brilliant 'A Million Thank Yous' set.  This comes with the lovely large Thank You and a whole lot of reasons to thank someone - very clever idea and a really useful set of stamps.

I started by stamping the Thank You with versamark and embossing with a sparkly embossing powder
I coloured it in with two colours of Spectrum Noir pencils
This is the fun bit - I then splattered ink over the rest of the card, using colours which matched the colouring in
Cut to size and ink round the edges, then a bit of matting and layering - I used a border punch to get the pretty edge
To finish it, I stamped and embossed the 'for your help' , matted on the same cardstock .
Hope you like it
Thank you for stopping by
Janet xxx

Christmas cards with a Kenyan twist

Hello everyone,

How are the Christmas preparations going??  Me?  I have just started making my own Christmas cards!  I decided that I was going to ask my Kenyan fb friend, Robin to paint me some Christmas scenes that I could use and he sent me some lovely pictures.
I have just spent some time making them into cards, so if you are on my Christmas card list, you may well be getting one sent to you!
Robin is a young Kenyan man who sells his art to raise money for his education.  I think they are beautiful.

Thanks for looking
Janet xxx

Last Claritystampers East of the Year

Hello everyone and welcome,

These are the cards we made at the last Claritystampers East workshop for this year - I always think people have enough to do in December, what with all that Christmas preparation - it is slowly dawning on me that I have got a fair old bit to do!!  I did the cards in different colours, just because sometimes they can look very different, depending on the colours used

The first card is made with the shoe stamp and stencil from the new Clarity Style set, Stamp the words in place first then place the stencil on the card and brush some ink through, I added a bit of shading by going over some areas again with a sponge. When I was happy with the colour, I drew round the edge with a fine pen.
Cover this shoe with the cut out shoe that comes in the stencil kit, it will act as a mask, then move the stencil over a bit and add the second shoe ( a bit lighter than the first!)

To get the splatters, just add some of the ink to your craft mat, spritz with water, pick some ink up on a paint brush and splatter away until you get the desired amount of splotches.
Add a few gems and mat and layer on matching card.  I intend to add a greeting in the top right corner, when I know what I want to say!

We actually did the first bit of this card first, drag some grunge paste through the dress stencil and leave to dry. (Do the other cards whilst waiting!)
When the paste is dry, place the other bit of the stencil over it, to mask it while you do the background, cover with the umbrella stencil and add your colours - this one is quite light, the other one is quite dark!












Swap the stencil over to expose the paste dress, then add the colour to the dress
Stamp the words in place and I drew round the outline of the dress with a fine pen.
I also squiggled a line round the edge of the card

Clarity do a plethora of tree stamps and I love them all!  I think they are one of my favourite things to work with.  The new designs with the butterflies and the birds are wonderful images and it is great to have a stamp and stencil.

For these cards, we used white acrylic paint to sponge through the stencil.

Once dry, brush/sponge with ink

the smaller image is the stamp.
Add some ground for the trees to stand on.














The extra butterflies are made just by stamping the image on a spare piece of card, embossing with crystal embossing powder and cutting out.  I cut off the antennae, then stamp the image on the card and add the cut out over the top.

Hope you like them, sorry it's such a long post!

 Janet xxx

A Crafty Weekend

Happy Weekend folks!

What are you up to?  Me?, I am doing two Claritystampers East workshops!  Bawburgh on Satirday, then Great Blakenham on Sunday. Tune in on Sunday/Monday for the results.

Today I am having a bit of a catch up - I realised that I didn't post the pics from one of the Easton workshops - the one in October, so here are the cards from then....

This card is done by sponging some ink and a bit of glimmer spray on  to the card with the aperture.
Stamp the scene with the green trees on a separate piece of card and attach to the back of the aperture card.
Stamp the red tree on another piece of card and cut out
Add 'tinsel' using a glue pen and glitter and position in place.
Add the message

This one is very simple, one of my very favourite Clarity images.
Stamp and watercolour

Brush ink through a circle aperture, then stamp santa and his Sleigh in place archival and add some snowflakes in blue ink
Add a touch or two of glitter in the centre of the snowflakes and on the tree and add the message.
I stamped the snowflakes and added some ink round the edge of the base card



There you have it for today - thanks for visiting
I hope you have a great weekend, whatever you are planning
Janet xxx

More wind!

Hello!

This is a bit late in the day, I have been busy with the final prep for the Claritystampers East workshops at the weekend - Saturday at Bawburgh and Sunday at Great Blakenham!
~This card is the last of my samples from the last TV show, using a new style of round stamp and the fab rope knot stencil to go with it.
This is pretty much stamped and coloured in really - the edges to the background are done by stamping the seaweed stamp from the pattern plate set

Sorry it's a bit brief - got to go to bed!
Thanks for stopping by
Janet xx

Easton in November

Morning everyone,
Yet another good day for crafting!
Today's cards are the ones we did at the craft group on Easton on Thursday.  I enjoy these evenings with these lovely ladies.  This was the last meeting until next year, so I thought we could do something a bit different - out with the shaving foam!

 This is the last card we did (save the mess 'til the end!) Using the shaving foam technique to make the background and then use it through a stencil for the main image

 This card is simple to do, the images are stamped with versa mark ink, the embossed with white detail powder.  I then very lightly tapped some versa mark along the bottom edge of the card and sprinkled detailed white, chunky white and a bit of gold embossing powder over it and heated.
I then sprinkled some of the chunky white and gold embossing powder over the top of the card and heated.
It is importnant to remember to heat from underneath as the powder isn't stuck to anything

The last card is done by using two colour inks on the stamp, then stamping on to damp watercolour card to slightly smudge the image I stamped the crackle stamp over the background then inked the edges
For the main image stamp the vase and create an aperture mask from copy paper, then stamp the crackle through the aperutre and add some colour.
Mask the top of the vase and add the lovely Roseart stamp

Thanks to all the ladies who've been to the classes, it's been great fun!
~Janet xx

In the pink.....

Good morning all!
Happy Weekend!!  They come round quickly don't they?  (Mind you, so do Mondays!)  Looks like another wet one here, which is ideal weather for making cards, which is just as well as I have loads to do.  I have to prep for the Claritystampers East workshops next weekend and also start on the new DT cards - some fab new stamps and stencils coming up....!

In the mean time, here are a couple of cards from the last show, using a lovely style stamps and stencils - I like the idea that the stamp and stencil work so well together..

The background is done using the umbrella stencil, inked through with different colours
I placed the dress stencil over the top and added grunge paste, left it to dry then sponged ink over that and finally stamped over the top
I ran a fine black line round the outside of the grunge paste to make the dress stand out from the background
I also squiggled a line round the edge of the card and coloured in the centres of the umbrellas

For the second card, I inked through the shoe stencil, and added the words, then cut it out.  I added versamark ink over the whole thing and used crystal embossing powder.  I repeated this a couple of times to give it a sparkly look (which doesn't show well here!)
I added it to the scene with 'Lily'
As always, all stamps and stencils used are from Claritystamp Ltd

Thanks very much for visiting and I hope you have a great weekend!
Janet xx

An Autumn Day

Hello folks,

Thank you for visiting.  For those of you who expressed concern about the mouse in the airing cupboard, I am sure you will be pleased to know that he was safely caught (after a few more days in the warm!) and is now living outside.

Today's card is made using another of the lovely tree stamps from Clarity.

For the centre square, I stamped the tree in brown archival ink, then used copy paper masks to add the moon and some ground.

I squished the same colour inks on to a glass mat, then spritzed with a small amount of water and picked up the ink on a sponge and lightly added it to the card.  I also added a touch of glimmer spray.

I mopped up the ink with a paper towel, allowed it to dry then stamped and embossed the butterflies with crystal embossing powder and cut them out.  I got this idea from my crafty friend, Moira.

I then assembled it all.

Janet xxx.

A Windy Day!

Good Morning Bloggers!

I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the mild autmnal weather.  We have just discovered a mouse living in the airing cupboard, probably an escapee from one of the cats, so will have the fun of evicting him later!  We do have a humane trap, so it should be relatively easy to put him back outside.  I expect he would much rather be in a nice warm cupboard though!

On with the cards, this is another of the samples from the last TV show.  All stamps available from Claritystamp Ltd

I had a bit of a plan for this one - I did the stamping first in brown archival.  I had intended to use brusho paints to make a sort of 'explosion' of colour round the tree and the man, however I added too much paint and water and it all ended up looking like a right mess!
So I started to mop it up with paper towel and I realised that if I mopped it all in the same direction, it actually looked quite good and quite 'windy'  I was well chuffed I can tell you!!

I stamped the words on a piece of the original 'mess' which didn't look too bad, matted and layered -sorted!
I hope you like it!
Thanks very much for stopping by and if you live in the Norfolk//Suffolk area, you may want to pop over to the Claritystampers East pages, I have added the dates for 2015.
Take care!
Janet xx

A Rainy Day!

Good morning everyone,

I have been staying with my sister for a few days which has been lovely, we included a trip to the Hobbycraft show at the  NEC on Thursday, which was great fun.  As well as all the stalls, it is lovely to meet up with crafty friends.

It is definitely a rainy day here isn Norfolk, so I thought this card from the last set of samples for the TV was appropriate!

It is made using two stencils from Clarity.

I started by brayering some blue ink onto a Gelli Plate, then I threw some water on the plate picked it up with a piece of white card.

I stencilled the lovely lady in place, using several colours of blue to get the shading. Once I was happy with her, I removed the stencil and added some 'ground' for her to be standing on.

The strip down the side is down on a separate piece of card, just sponging though the umbrella stencil, using the same blue inks.

I matted it all on purple card

Hope you like it

Thanks for visiting and hope you all had a great time at the NEC if you went

Janet xxx

Deer, Deer, Deer

Evening everyone,

Today I have finished off some samples for the TV at the weekend - I always look forward to 'Clarity Sunday' - a nice start to the day!  I hope you will be watching there are some fab stamps and stencils coming up....!

This is one of my samples from last time, using the beautiful stag/reindeer

I masked off the central strip, then stamped the largest of the repositional pine trees, in two shades of brown

I removed the mask, then stamped the stag three time, being careful to line him up
I ran a brown fineline pen along the edge of the strip and mounted it all on brown card

See you on Sunday!
Take care,
Janet xx

Double Claritystampers (Part two)

Hello again!

I thought I would get part two done while I am in the mood!  These are the three cards we did yesterday.  I would like to say a huge 'Thank You' to the lovely Lynne Hammond fellow DT member who agreed to let me use her fab Christmas jumper card.  The ladies loved it Lynne and we got it done without too much Valium!! ...some wonderful results too!

This is Lynne's card, for the original see Lynne's blog  This is really a lesson in stamping and keeping your concentration!
Lynne used a pencil line to keep the stamping in the background straight, but I didn't fancy all the rubbing out afterwards, so I used masking tape!

 For this card, I cut an aperture in a square piece of card. I squished some distress ink on a glass mat and added a spritz of water and a touch of glimmer spray, then picked that up with a sponge and lightly coloured the card
The lovely reindeer/stag is stamped on a separate piece of card and the background coloured blue.
The tree is stamped on another pice of card and cut out (and glittered!)
I also stamped the edge of the tree round the edges of the aperture square.
Stick it all together and add the message

Finally, for tbis card, we used white acrylic paint sponged lightly on the top half of some white card, then once it is dry, mask off the bottom and add blue to the top half, the acrylic paint will resist the ink
Stamp the trees and stag in place and repeat for the message, without the acrylic paint

I hope I have caught up a bit!

Thanks you for stopping by
Janet xxx

Double Claritystampers (Part One)

Hello Folks,

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend and the extra hour!  I always feel that hibernation would be a good plan at this time of year!  Maybe we should take a leaf out of the hedgehog's book.....

Anyway, I had a lovely time yesterday doing the Claritystampers East workshop in Bawburgh. They are such a brilliant group of ladies and we get wonderful cake from Veronica - what more could you want?

It was pointed out that I haven't posted the cards from last time, so I will do two posts with September and October cards....
These are the cards from September,

September
 

September

September

First card - very simple, stamp the carol and mask, then add some hills at the bottom, put a moon mask in place, then add some colour for the sky
Remove all the masks and stamp the Carollers and trees in place. Add some shadow and a bit of glitter

For the next card, we used versa mark on the red background card to create a watermark background, using the 'Merry Christmas'
The scene is stamped in distress inks, then the tree has some glitter added for tinsel





The third September card again uses versa mark, but this time on the Clarity card as a resist.  We stamped the snowflakes, then added a moon and brayered blue over it, then stamped the sleigh and message in black and a few more snowflakes in blue


Sorry about the long wait...look out for part two ..coming straight up
Thanks for visiting
Janet xxx

Happily Ever After

Good morning everyone,

It's a bit rainy here at the moment, but it is due to cheer up later, I am reliably informed!  I have been busy prepping cards for next Saturday's Claritystampers East workshop., I will blog those cards next week after the workshop.  Meanwhile, here is one of the cards I did for the last TV show.
I have used the lovely Happily Ever After remountable stamp set which includes the Fairytale Castle and all the little flags.  This is a large stamp, so they all come on a mega mount.

I started with a background made by squishing Distress or Adirindack inks on a glass mat, then spritzing with water and picking up the ink on the card.
Once that was dry, I stamped the castle and flags in place and coloured it in with Spectrum Noir pencils Keeping the colours to pinks and blues.
I masked the castle and added some green hills and a path.
I used a fine black pen to emphasise the top of the hills and the path, then stamped the trees and the words in place.

It has been suggested that this castle would look good done in different colours to make a spooky Halloween card........

Thanks very much for visiting,
Hope you have a great Sunday
Janet xxx

Faux Cross stitch scene

 Good evening bloggers,
Remember me?  Sorry I haven't been around for a while, Stuff has been getting in the way of my blog recently.
Anyway, today's card is one of the samples from the last TV show, using just one ink and the set of stamps that came with 'Dave's jumper' stamp.  What a great idea that is!  A plain jumper stamp that you can add all sorts to - good for a Christmas jumper, but also brilliant for all year - nice to get something for men's cards!

For this card, I use the three snowflakes and stamped the background, then cut to size.
For the centre piece, I stamped the deer first, then added the trees round him, then added a bit of shadow.  I may have added a touch of glitter too (as it's for Christmas!!)
I matted it up on blue card - very simple but I rather liked it, if I say so myself!

It is a small card, but I thought it is good to do some small cards for Christmas, you don't want to send everyone a masterpiece that's taken hours to do - do you??

Thanks for visiting and I will try not to leave it so long next time!
Janet xxx

The Great Outdoors and Toucans!

Hello bloggers,

This is my last catch up blog!  These two cards were made as samples for the Clarity TV show last month.

 The first one is 'The Great Outdoors'  I enjoyed making this one even though it did involve cutting out, which is not my most favourite activity!
I stamped and embossed the large scene in place, the stamped and embossed it on three other pieces of card and cut out the mountains so that I could decoupage them over the main stamped image.  I coloured the clouds and water with promarkers and added some glitter.  The other images are then stamped in place and I coloured the words.
The background is a piece of watercolour card which I used to mop up some distress inks spritzed on a glass mat.

I had to look up Toucans on the internet to see how to colour them - what an amazing range of colours they come in!!  I stamped and embossed the toucans, then coloured with promarkers. I masked the centre panel to do the strips down the edge using the lovely cheese plant leaf stamps.
I also picked up some colour off my mat to stamp the images above and below the birds.

Phew, I think I've caught up now, so my more recent cards will be blogged over the next few weeks.

Thank you for visiting
Janet xx

A bit more catching up...

Hello folks,
Thanks for visiting.
I have got a bit behind with my blogging and still haven't done my cards from the last German Clarity TV show, so I will show you the last of those here.  I have had a busy few crafty weekends:  Last weekend was Claritysampers East at Bawburgh, Saturday just gone was Diva Red workshop with Moira and Sunday was Claritystampers at Great Blakenham.  All those cards to feature in future blogs...


These two are from the German TV show, some time ago

 The first one is done using the lovely snowflake stencil for the background, just inking over the stencil.
The main image is done with one of my favourite sets, the winter wonderland set.  I inked the large tree aperture stamp with an inkpad I made myself using the distress re-inkers on a piece of cut and dry felt
I stamped the deer in place, then added some snow.
Mat and layer and add the words using matching colours

The second card is done with a stencil, just ink through,  The word banner is stamped and cut out.
I added a little bit of colour round the edges too

 The last two from the English shows will be here soon.....
Take care,
 Janet xxx

Catching up...

Morning bloggers,

I have just realised that I haven't posted any of my samples from the last TV show, and the next one is only next week, so here are a couple of cards from the show at the beginning of September.
Both use the same image, but the first one is a stamp and the second a stencil

 I cheated a bit here and found a gelli plate background I had in my stash, I picked out one of the colours from the background (purple) and simply embossed the image with purple embossing powder, tore round the edges and mounted onto dark purple card, then white base card
I had a piece of the background left, so used it to make the strip.
Add a few pieces of card candy et voila!

This card is actually quite a bit bigger than the first.
Again, I found a background from my gelli stash and this time I attached the stencil and squished versamark ink through, then removed the stencil and added white embossing powder.
I added a few hills in the background, then mounted on white, dark green and the base card

I always use plenty of talc on the card before embossing to help prevent those unwanted speckles!!

Stamp used is Bird Tree
Stencil used is also Bird tree stencil

One of my new favourite images, although watch out for a beautiful image in the same sort of style - coming up next weekend.....!
Have a wonderful day
Janet xx

Around the World Blog Hop

Good Morning everyone and especially welcome if you are visiting my blog for the first time.

I have been nominated to take part in the 'Around the World Blog Hop' by my sister, Christine Barnsley.
Christine is  very talented at needlework, she does sewing, quilting and crocheting and makes lovely things.  Her blog is Patchwork Allsorts and is well worth a visit.

I have to answer a few questions about me, so here we go:

What crafty thing am I working on? 

My only craft  is card making, I was introduced to this about 15 years ago - I saw it on the TV and wanted to give it a go straight away.  I enjoy stamping and anything inky and currently teach workshops for Claritystampers East,. I also run monthly workshops with my friend Moira 

My actual current project is preparing cards to make at the next workshop, so I won't show you those as it will spoil the surprise but here are some examples of previous ones

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

My work is similar to others in that we all use similar techniques, but all have our own style - mine is clean and simple.  I don't normally do fussy cards, but every now and then I do go bright and glittery, just to keep people on their toes!!

3. Why do I write/create what I do? 

My day job is based in science and I enjoy using my creative side as a contrast.  There is something very satisfying taking a blank piece of card and creating a small piece of art.  I also enjoy the teaching I do, it is wonderful to see ladies at the class start by being very unsure and gradually gaining in confidence and being surprised and delighted with the work they do. 

4. How does my writing/creating process work?

I usually try and have an idea of what I want to do before I start, although it very rarely turns out the way I planned it!  I am happy to go with the flow and let the card develop.
I am delighted to be part of the Claritystamp Design Team and am so fortunate to get sent stamps and stencils every month to work with.  I often stamp these out first, just to see what they look like in different inks and then go from there...

I now have to nominate three other blogs:

My first one is the blog of Lynne Hammond, a fellow member of the Clarity Design Team and a very talented card-maker, her cards often have a quirky touch of humour! Lynne's blog is  Lynne's Crafty Little Blog

My second nomination is Nikki Acton, her blog is called Addicted to Art and it is full of wonderful grungy projects, mostly not cards, but lovely works of art.  I met Nikki when she came to one of the Claritystampers workshops. 

I would also like to mention two other blogs, although I am not actually nominating them to take part in the blog hop:

The first is Moira's blog Craft Ecletia Moira is my crafty friend and we spend many hours together chatting about crafty things.  Moira has just been nominated by another friend, so I am not nominating her again.

Finally, no blog post of mine is complete without a mention of Barbara Gray. Her blog is Barbara Gray's Blog One Day at a Time Barbara owns Claritystamp Ltd and is a remarkable lady who has inspired many, many people with her amazing talents as a card maker and so much more besides.  I owe her a huge thank you for inviting me to join the Clarity Team - it is a wonderful place to be!!  Barbara is a very busy lady and she blogs every day, so there is always something new to see there.

Well done if you made it through to the end of this post!  I have enjoyed it - I wish you many happy hours of crafting, wherever you are in the world, and thank you to Christine for nominating me

Janet xxx