August workshops

Hello folks,

Are you having a good bank holiday weekend?  It's always good to get an extra long weekend isn't it?

On Saturday, it was the Claritystampers workshop in Bawburgh and last Sunday at Great Blakenham, so today's cards are the ones we did there.  
I always let people choose their own colours when I do workshops, and I am constantly amazed at the beautiful colour combinations people use.  I learn so much!  I also enjoy how everyone can be given the same raw ingredients and yet the finished results can be so different!  One of these days, I will get it together to remember to take some photos.  (Ladies if you are reading this - remind me!!)

We did all the cards with one stamp set The Bird and Flower Row and one stencil The F[oral Stripe



For the first card, I used a technique I learnt at the Clarity Retreats recently, Tape the stencil to the card, the sponge white acrylic paint through - two light coats is better than one heavy one, so you don't squish under the stencil.  Remove the stencil and allow to dry, then add lots of lovely bright coloured inks.  The paint will resist the ink, and you can wipe over the paint to get it a bit whiter.
I used my new Artistry inks for this - they are rather fabulous!!  As  a couple of finishing touches, I drew a black line round the edge of the stencilled area (makes a huge difference to the finished look!!) and also highlighted the flowers with a pencil and paper stump.
On a separate piece of card, stamp the birds, and sponge the same colours over them too, then cut out and add to the stripey background.

For the second card, we did a Brusho/Burst background in blues, and lifted a bit of the colour to make a sky, allow to dry, then brush with talc and stamp and emboss the birds, then paint them with diluted Burst/Brusho.  I used some grey under the line to make a branch

For the third card, the main strip is done by stamping the flowers in different colours, brushing the same colour over that area of the card, then lift the colour from the flower with water and blotting with kitchen roll, then adding lots of dots.  (I don't think this shows very well here!)
The background pieces are just stamped and brushed with inks.

I'm off the get Christmassy - samples to make for the Clarity TV show at the weekend!  I know folks moan it is too early, but there really aren't that many card-making days til Christmas!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your BH weekend,  thank you for visiting.

Janet xx

The Parrot Sketch

Good morning all,

Thanks for popping by..  I've had a busy weekend; on Saturday I went to a leaving do for a guy I started working with 35 years ago, he was 18 and I was 23.  Much has changed at work in that time and it is a very different job now to then.  I looked around and realised that I am the oldest one there now - definitely time to start thinking about retirement....!
Sunday was the Claritystampers  workshop at Great Blakenham, I do enjoy meeting all the lovely ladies who come along to those, it is good to catch up with news, have a laugh and as always, be amazed at the beautiful work everyone produces.  I will show the cards next time as I am going to do them again on Saturday at Bawburgh - looking forward to that.
Today's card is not a card, it's a bookmark - one of the colouring projects I did for the last TV show.
I chose to do the parrot and being of a certain age, the word 'parrot' always conjures up a certain man complaining about his recent purchase in a dingy pet shop.....  I chose to colour my parrot blue!!


 
Side 1
I wanted nice bright colours for this, so used my Inktense watercolour pencils, which gave a good result.  I did all the pencil work first, then added water.  On the first side, I also splattered a bit of ink too. 
















Side 2

The bookmarks are double-sided and come with a wallet.  I added an eyelet at the top and pushed some fibres through.

If you enjoy colouring, these are a must have! 

Janet xx

Soar like an eagle

Good morning!

It has been a while since my last blog - time goes by so quickly these days. 
I have been watching the Olympic games, I always enjoy watching them.  Hasn't the cycling been awesome!  and the stunning Valegro, the beautiful horse.  Amazing what funding can do, giving the athletes the opportunity to train full time.  Team GB going from strength to strength.  I have to confess that the event I am most looking forward to though, is Usain Bolt in the 200m final - he is such a fantastic athlete!  I hope he retires at the top.

So, back to cards.... we didn't have any stamps this month, we had the lovely new colouring book along with the postcards and bookmarks.  The card this is printed on is amazing quality, so you can watercolour or use alcohol pens.  I am not the best colourer-inner in the world, but I do enjoy sitting and getting lost in colouring, hours can go by without you noticing!



This is one of the postcards from set 2  I used charcoal pencils in greys and browns to colour this.  I also used a paper stump to blend the colours.  I mounted it up as a card, then added the words, which I printed out and cut out.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time, chilling and colouring!
Thanks very much for visiting
Janet x

Workshop cards

Hello folks,

Thank you for dropping by.  I have had a wonderful few days away last week.  I go and stay with my friend in Kent and we go to the Clarity Retreat, which is great fun.  This year we chose a really good time to go because 4 of the parching design team were there and they were good enough to give us all some expert tips.  Mel was there too, the lovely lady who does lots of the line art for the Clarity stamps, she gave us a little talk about her work which was interesting.
Thanks to Barbara and Paul for the lovely projects and tuition, Lisa for the endless coffee and sandwiches and Dave for being Dave.  I won't show you the projects yet as there are still more workshops to come and I don't want to spoil the surprise....just to say you will enjoy it.
These cards are from the Claritystampers East workshop at Bawburgh and repeated at the Diva Red workshop yesterday - we had a good time with gilding flakes and bleeding art tissue...
The stamps used were from the Entwined Hummingbirds set.

 We started with the background - lay pieces of bleeding art tissue on one side of the card and spritz generously with water and allow the colour to bleed out of the tissue onto the card, you can move the tissue around a bit and lay it on to a second piece of card if there is enough ink left (there usually is!!)
Allow to dry, then add blend some distesss ink through a background stencil on the other side of the card.  Stamp the image with black ink, then add a few little bits of interest by dragging a piece of card (or any other straight line) through the ink pad and pressing on the card to give you lines, use various sizes of lid to give you circles - it's fun!!!  Use the bottom part of the image to stamp around the card as a frame.  The butterfly is done on parchment using Jayne's butterflies Groovi plate

The second card is basic stamping and inking but we've cut out the circles behind the hummingbirds , added double-sided adhesive from the back nd added gilding flakes.

Thanks very much for stopping by, I hope you are enjoying the TV shows with the new colouring book and postcards, they really are amazing quality and great fun to colour in!!

See you again soon
Janet xxx