Best Wishes for 2018

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.  I spent the day with my brother and his family, we had a fab time.  He had also invited a friend and her family and she told me about a lady called Iris who visits my blog every day, so Hello to Iris and thank you for visiting.  Sorry I don't update it very regularly!

The card today is one of the ones I did for the Maria's last TV show, made using the lovely Art Nouveau stamps.  These are lovely designs very much in the Rennie Mackintosh style.
Stamp set used: Art Nouveau Best Wishes and Thank You
Stencil used: Abstract Squares 2

I stamped the image  and coloured with promarkers, keeping to a simple colour scheme of green, grey and orange.
I tore round the image and inked the edges with  green ink.
Add a few gems.
For the background, I chose colours that matched my colouring and added some orange ink to a piece of acetate, spritz with water and add to the card, repeat for green ink.
Once that is dry, I add some grey ink through the   stencil
Stamp the Best Wishes on a separate piece of card and cut out.
I had a spare flower from a bit that had gone wrong, so I cut that out and added it to the card.
Assemble all the pieces on the background card and add some gems and spots of paint to finish.
I did mount it onto a green card, but that seems to have been cropped out of the photo.
Thank you all for visiting, I wish you all a very happy and peaceful 2018
Janet xx

Merry Christmas!

Good evening all,

Thank you for visiting.  I hope you are all ready for Christmas.  I have finished work now until Wednesday, but having worked a 24hr shift system for many years, I am well aware that some folks will be working all over the festive season, so a big thank you to everyone working over Christmas.
I have a couple of Christmas cards to share.  These were planned for the Diva Red workshop one Sunday, but the day was 'snowed off''.  Lucky for me actually, because I had prepped all the cards, so I made them up and had lots to send out!

 This is a really simple card, just right for making lots of them.  Simply stamp and colour with a glitter pen.
I always come back to simple!  I do like making more complicated ones too, but clean and simple is my 'go to' type of design

 The second card is also quite quick.  The snowflake is a bigz die.  The background is done by adding ink to a rectangular shaped Clarity mount, spritzing and 'stamping' on the card.  Tear round the shape, stamp some snowflakes.  The words are also die cut

The same thing, but portrait instead of landscape.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and a very peaceful 2018
Janet xxx

Claritystampers East Christmas

Good morning,

I had a good day yesterday!  I took the day off work to get some Christmas shopping done...and actually got some Christmas shopping done!!  I made a list of what I had left to buy, went to the Park and Ride, got all my shopping done in two hours and was home in time for tea.  I have just got to get it all wrapped now.
Last Saturday was the last Claritystampers East workshop for the year and we finished with Christmas cards, it seems everyone is a bit behind making them this year.  I would like to thank all the ladies who come to the workshops, many of them have hardly missed one.  I have been doing Bawburgh for five years and Great Blakenham for four years, it is good fun and I really appreciate everyone's support over the years.  Looking forward to doing it again next year.  If you are in the area and would like to join us, the dates for 2018 are on the relevant  pages on the blog, message me for more details.
These are the cards we did on Saturday, all using one stamp set, Christmas Carols 2 Reindeer and Robins such a useful set of stamps.

The first card: we made the background paper by blending ink on copy paper, scrunching the paper then adding more ink lightly over the top to pick up the texture, you can also add some stamping to this to for added interest. tear two or three strips of paper to add to the card.
On the main card, add some ink onto acetate, spritz then add to the centre of the card, stamp the 'Christmas Greetings' and the Christmas Carol score.  Also stamp the reindeer.  Add a few splatters and leave to dry
Stamp the reindeer again on a spare piece of card, colour and cut out.
Die cut a snowflake
Assemble together on the card and add a few gems

 The second card is just stamped and coloured, I love this quirky church and trees.
Stamp the church on a separate piece of card, colour and die cut a circle, also die cut a piece of red card to back it
Position it over the main image,then mount onto another piece of the red card

The three robins has to be one of my favourite stamps ever, they are so cute!
Stamp them in place on the card
Attach the circle aperture stencil on the card and mask off the bottom part.  Blend blue ink for the sky
Remove the mask and add another little snowy dip.  Remove the stencil and add the trees.
Colour the robins.

Thanks very much for visiting,see you again soon
Janet xx

Simply Stencils

Good morning,
I think we have been one of the very few areas of the UK which hasn't had any snow at all over the weekend - we had one light, sleety shower, but apart from that it has just been raining.  I hope everyone is keeping safe and warm!
I am having a bit of a catch up today, so there are a few cards here.  They are done mostly just using stencils with no or very little stamping.  All stencil and any stamps are from Claritystamp.

 I attached the stencil to the base card and masked off the area I wanted to use.
Blend ink over the stencil to colour the flowers.
Allow to dry then spread bead gel medium (which is clear) across the stencil
Remove the stencil and allow to dry
Mount on black card, add gems and ribbon to finish, then attach to a matching piece of lovely Designer Parchment










For this card, I attached the stencil to black clarity card, and masked off the area I wanted to use, then squish versa mark ink through the stencil
Remove the stencil, then dust over the image with Perfect Pearls
Allow to dry, then buff with a soft tissue to remove any excess power.
Attach to the base card and add the greeting

 I enjoyed making this one!  The stencil has two parts, an inny and an outy.
Attach the outy to the card and blend colour through the aperture.
Stamp the script from the Journalling set all over the aperture.
Keep the outer stencil in place, then add the inner part too.
Blend plenty of black ink through the stencil
Mount on matching card and attach ribbon and gems
Stamp the word Love from the word chain set and die cut the shape, then blend a bit of ink round the edge and attach to the card.




This card is done the same way, but without stamping the script. I couldn't decide whether I preferred it with or without the script in the background (I also messed up one edge, which is why it is cut off!  I really liked the final shape though!)
I dotted black paint in the centres of all the flowers

For the final card, I spread white texture paste through the stencil, remove the stencil, then add embossing powder over the top, leave to dry.
When it is dry, heat it to set the powder, you will also get the texture paste to bubble and give a nice bit of extra texture
Add ribbon and a Clarity brad to finish.

I had a lovely time making these samples, I enjoy using stencils both as backgrounds, but also as the main focal point for the card.

Thanks for visiting,
see you soon,
Janet xx

Snowmen and Snowflakes

Hello all,
How is the Christmas preparation going?  Me..it has barely touched my radar yet!  I am still finishing cards for workshops and TV shows, so not had much time for thinking about presents or decorations yet, but it will all get done in time (at least it always has so far...!)
We had a lovely time at Diva Red yesterday, the last one until 2018.  It seems I am not the only one who isn't  sorted yet, we were still making Christmas cards.
The cards below are two quick and easy ones, both using Claritystamps and Sizzix dies.

 I die cut lots of snowflakes then stuck them to some Kraft card, die cut a circle of the card with the snowflakes stuck on, also die cut a size bigger circle of white card.
Stamp, colour and cut out the Snowman on a separste piece of card.
Put everything together on Kraft base card.
Add some gems

Die cut the dotty background, blend ink over and tear across the top and bottom to make the sky.  Attach to a square white piece of card.
Stamp colour and cut out Frosty on another piece of card
Stamp Christmas Greetings in place and attach Frosty.
Embellish with a left over snowflake from the above card.








                                                                                     
Here is another version where I've inked and stamped snowflakes on the base card.

Thanks very much for popping in, hope to see you again soon.
Janet xx

Santa's coming

Good evening all,

It has been a while again since I blogged, sorry about that, but I am here again now!  The card I am sharing today is one we did at the Diva Red workshop.  It is quite nice and quick, so if you still have cards to make, it is a good one to try.  I started by cutting a nice curve in a piece of copy paper and covered the bottom part of my card strip.  Add a moon mask in place and blend plenty of blue ink
Remove the mask then stamp the large tree in place at the bottom of the card
Use the mask again to create some snow dips in the lower part of the card.  While the mask is in each position, stamp some trees too.  Stamp Santa and his Reindeer across the moon.  Ink the edge of the card and mount onto white card, the onto the base card and stamp the Happy Christmas in place.  Finish with a few gems

Workshop cards

Hello bloggers,

I have some cards from the Claritystampers East workshop at Great Blakenham,  I had to cancel the Bawburgh workshop this time because my nephew got married at the weekend.  It was a lovely day in a wonderful venue in Hampshire.  Apologies to the Bawburgh ladies, but I couldn't miss the wedding and the hall was booked other weekends.

Here are the cards we did, fairly quick and easy - I don't think you want complicated cards to do at Christmas!

 Really quick:
Mask to leave a 5cm strip
blend Distress oxides
stencil in a few stars
stamp the nativity scene and the star in black archival
remove the mask and stamp the carol
add gems










This one is done with the square petite gel press:
Add ink to the plate and add some texture with damp paper towel, 'stamp' on the card
repeat twice more, using different textures, inks and spritzing
Stamp the trees and star in black archival
add a few gold highlights with a glitter pen.

Stamp the carol as a background on the base card









 The last card is also done with a petite gel press plate (the circle this time) this card is a repeat from another workshop and I have blogged it before.

We used the Christmas Carol sets for all the cards and the stamps can easily be interchanged for the different cards.

Thank you for visiting
Janet xx

Autumn Leaves

Good evening,

I thought it was about time I blogged again.  Sorry it has been a while.  I was out gardening at the weekend - that takes its toll these days.... I used to be able to work all day, have a bath and feel fine.  These days I can hardly walk afterwards!  I shouldn't really do such a long spell, but it was a very rare non-workshop weekend with good weather, so I thought I'd better make the most of it.
I cleared 9 big bags of undergrowth, so the garden looks better and I can move again., so it's all good.

There is a definite autumn feel now, so today's card is one from Maria's show last time using the lovely leaves stencils and stamps sets

I started with the background, I blended Golden Turmeric ink all over stencil card, then blended various colours through the leaf stencils.
I used the same colour inks to blend on another piece of card, then stamped three of each of the leaves and cut them out.
I stamped the verse on another piece of the blended card and cut that out and mounted it on matching card.
I assembled it all on the base card.

Sycamore leaves 1 + Stencil
Maple Leaves 2 + stencil
Mulberry Leaves 3 + stencil
Oak Leaves 4 + Stencil

Thanks for visiting,
Janet xx

Crafty Saturday

Good morning all,

I hope you are having a lovely weekend so far.  Mine is another crafty one!  It was the Diva Red workshop yesterday and this afternoon I meet with the Sundae Club.  A small group of us have been meeting one Sunday afternoon a month for many years now.  We do make a couple of cards but I think the chat over coffee and cake is just as important.

These are the cards I made for yesterday's workshop.

 Start my adding ink to the circle Gel Press Petite and print it on the card, add a darker colour just on the edge of the plate and re-print over the top of the first one, this will give you a nice edge to the circle.
Stamp the Carollers and music score in place.
Add the trees along the edge of a piece of torn copy paper.
Colour the music with  grey pencil.
Use a gold glitter pen to colour the lantern and add some splatters and gems to finish

The second card is a repeat of the one we did at Claritystampers East

Thanks very much for visiting
Janet xx

Workshop cards

Good morning,

Thanks for visiting today.  I am a bit sad this morning, we found a very sick little hedgehog in the garden yesterday afternoon and tried to rescue it, but we were too late, it was in a bad way and I don't think taking it to a rescue centre would have helped, it was too far gone.  We got advice from a lady Simon knows who rescues animals, so I will know what to do another time, if we find another one who isn't in quite such a bad way.

I realised I haven't shown the cards from my last Claritystampers East workshop, so here they are...
It was a Christmas workshop, which means I get the glitter out!  (Just a small amount!)

 

This was the first card.  We inked the Square framework stencil and pressed it to the card to make the frame, then did little scenes in each square.

FOr the second card, we made the background by blending ink through the holly stencil.
On a separate piece of card, apply green paints, allow to dry then stamp the outline holly leaf and cut out.
Stamp some of the berries on red card and cut them out too
Assemble the pieces on the card
Stamp the deer in place and add the greetings which are stamped on a left over piece of the painted card

The third card is simply stamped with permanent ink onto good quality watercolour paper and watercoloured.  I have never known it so quiet while everyone was doing this!

Thanks to the lovely ladies for another fun couple of days and to Veronica who supplied her wonderful cakes even though she didn't come to the workshop!

Items used:
Holly leaf outline set
Jayne's Letter to Santa
Word chain 13
Word Chain 14
Framework squares stencil
Christmas Holly shape stencil
Perga Glitter

Hope you have a good weekend!
Janet xx

Paper Poinsettia and Tree

Good morning,
Thank you for visiting.  It is chucking it down with rain here and so cold!!  I hope we have another warm spell before autumn really sets in.  This is not my favourite time of year, I like spring and summer - not a fan of dark evenings and drizzle!  I do like the colour of the leaves as we get into later autumn though , so it's not all bad.
Today's cards are the ones we did at the last Diva Red workshop....

 I have been bitten by the die cutting bug recently - I haven't really done much before, but have started to enjoy it, especially when mixed with stamping of course!
The background for this is die cut foliage stuck onto card and brushed over lightly with green acrylic paint.
The poinsettia is die cut from brown paper packaging.  I did two of each layer and stamped one of each layer with the script from the Journalling set from Claritystamp.
It does look better if you brush some black ink round the edges of all the petals (huge groan from everyone in the class!!) It makes the petals stand out better though - so it has to be done!
Assemble the poinsettia and attached to the card. Mount onto Kraft card and add some gems.  The Season's Greetings stamp is from a Clarity set.

The second card is a paper folded Christmas tree attached to a background of matching paper from the lovely New England Fall Designer Paper Pad.

Thanks for visiting,
Janet xx

Cogs, Clocks and Flowers

Good evening to you!

I had to be very careful typing the title to this! Clogs and cocks would be a whole different thing! Pictures of hens in clogs......hahaha.

This is one of the cards I did for Maria's show a while back.  I was really pleased to get the Cogs and Clocks stamp set, something a bit different and obviously good for men's cards, but I decided to go pink and floral.

 This is simple to do..
Stamp the clock face and mask it.  Stamp the cogs and swirls around it.  I kept to a pink and grey theme.
Add a few splodges by inking on to acetate then placing on the card.
I added one of the lovely new paper flowers and leaves from Clarity.
Mat onto matching card and add a few gems
Resist the temptation to add anything else!!
Sorry the picture is a bit blurry, the flower meant it didn't scan brilliantly well

This is the more masculine version..
Stamp the clock tower and mask, stamp the clock face over the top
Use a rectangle to mask over the stamped images then blend brown and blue inks all round.
Stamp the various cogs and swirls in different colour blues and browns
Remove the masks, edge the rectangle frame with a fine brown pen
Add a tiny bit of colour to the tower with pencils
Mat on to brown card

Clocks and cogs
Blossom Pink Paper Flowers

Thanks very much for visiting
Janet xxx

Ribbon writing

Good evening,
Thanks for dropping in.  I have had a lovely day with the Claritystampers East ladies at Bawburgh..They are such fun, we always have lots of laughs.  I will post the cards after next weekend when I am at Great Blakenham.
Rosie was on the TV today with the ribbon writing sets and a new Happy Birthday set.  I am a huge fan of this style of stamp, they are so useful.  I was so short of time, I only had chance to make one card, but I loved using this set.

I started by attaching the oval stencil to a piece of stencil card.  Blend some inks through the aperture.  Leave the stencil in place and run round the outline with a fine black pen.
Remove the stencil and stamp the Happy Birthday in black archival ink
Colour the letters with the same colour inks
Add some splats and splodges
Allow to dry
With a fine black pen colour the letters in blocks then draw in and out round the oval shape and colour that in blocks too.
Stamp the rest of the greeting
Add some gems
Outline the edge of the card with a black sharpie pen then mount on matching card.

Happy Birthday Sentiments
Oval Sand Dollar stencil

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Janet xxx

Starry leaf

Good afternoon,
It has been a nice relaxing day today, although I still have a lot to get done.  I have a workshop in Lowestoft tomorrow which should be good fun, I will post the cards from the day soon.  This card is one from a TV show recently, using the Holly Leaf outline stamp set and the Christmas Stars stencil

I started with a painted background which was in my stash.
I stamped the leaf, then masked it and placed the stencil over the top.  I used orange ink to sponge through the stars and circle, then added a touch of yellow towards the tops of the stars.
I removed the stencil then with a black fine line pen, I did lots of edging.  I roughly went round the edges of the leaf several times and round the stars and circles.  I also added some lines and circles with the spreading tool and a lid from a spritzer bottle.
Before removing the leaf mask, add a little black ink round the edges
Remove the leaf mask and add the little scene and highlight with a white pen.
I hope you like this, I am off to get packed for tomorrw and sort out more cards for the Claritystampers East workshop next weekend - it's all go here!
Thanks very much for visiting, Janet xx

Inks, stencils and leaves

Good evening,

Autumn again already!  I am sure time is going quicker.  Someone did explain it to me once: when you are new born, 1 day is your while life time, so it seems like a long time, but as you get older one day gets to be a much smaller percentage of your overall life, so it seems to go by more quickly.  So nowadays a year, or even a decade seem to be going past at a rapid speed!  It kind of makes sense to me.....
Anyway, before another minute whizzes by, let me get on with another card.  This is one I did featuring stencils.

There are a couple of little stamps in here, but it is mostly stencils.
Framework Squares
Fossil leaves petite stencils
Dotty wave and leafy swirl petites

Start by attaching the Framework Squares stencil to a piece of stencil card, just on one side so you can use it as a hinge.
Open it out, so the stencil is not on the card and lay it on some copy paper.  Squish ink over the stencil, then spritz with water, remove the copy paper from underneath and then fold the stencil card over the top and press down, so the ink transfers to the card, it may not be perfect, but that's okay!
Keep the framework stencil in place and slide one of the leaves under it, blend ink in one square, change the leaves and colours as you go round, inking one square at a time.
outline all the squares with a fine black pen, remove the stencil, add the birds, lightly blend some ink randomly through the dotty wave and add some splatters and lines.
This was a really fun card to make, I thoroughly enjoyed myself!
Thanks very much for visiting!
Janet xxx

Rainbow Boy

Good morning,
Another blog so soon?  Well, I have lots of cards at the moment.  Clarity have been busy with lots of lovely new stamps and papers recently and there is more to come.... Maria is on TV on Tuesday 29th at 10.00 and 14.00

I made this using the same background technique with ink on acetate to make my rainbow.
Stamp the Flying Boy with black archival and stamp the sentiment from the Fairy set
Edge with a black marker and mount on to the base.
Add some matching colour gems.
Very quick and easy, but one of my favourite cards

Artistry inks: Blaze, Orange Popsicle, Golden Turmeric, Green Garland, Midnight Blue, Indian Jamun

Distress ink: Wilted Violet

Stamp sets used:
Fly Away
Fairies 1 (Rainbows and Stars)

Thanks very much for visiting
Janet xxx

Just paper....

Good morning!

Were you you up bright and early to watch the Clarity shows at 07.00am?  I managed the 'early' but 'bright' in the mornings is a bit of a stretch!!  I have to tell you that you definitely need the new Indian Summer paper pads, the designs and colours are just gorgeous and then they brought them out in parchment!  An absolute 'must have'

I like paper!  I have a ton of beautiful designs which I don't get round to using often because I also love making my own backgrounds.  It's a tough dilemma!
For this card, I chose a couple of sheets from the Indian Summer pad, both the same.
The background is made by simply tearing three strips off the paper and sticking them back on to the same sheet of paper, making sure you get a nice white edge. Trim to size.
The tree is done by cutting five squares of paper in 4,5,6,7 and 8 cms and folding them using a triangle teabag fold.  Glue them all together, mount onto card and add to the background.  I added some white paint dots and a little star embellishment I found in my stash.
Thank you for visiting today, I hope you enjoy the bank holiday weekend!
Janet xx

Rainbow Butterfly

Good evening,
Another post already!  Don't get too used to it though - it won't last.
Today's card is another one we did at Claritystampers East, using my newly discovered 'Controlled Random' technique by adding some ink to a piece of acetate, spritzing,, the placing the colour where you want it to go on the card.

I thought I would put the control to the test by making a sort of rainbow.
I started by stamping the lovely butterfly from the Gerbera and Butterfly set with a waterproof black ink
Stamp again on copy paper and cut out a mask to cover the main image
Using the acetate trick, add the colours of the rainbow one at a time across the card.
Sponge a little black round the edge of the mask to create some shadow.
Remove the mask and colour the butterfly by painting the same colours
Add some matching gems
Run round the edge with a black marker and mount onto a white base card.

Thanks for visiting,
Janet xxx

Gerbera and Journalling

Good evening ,
A bit of a late one, but I am winding down after a lovely crafty weekend with the Claritystampers Easr ladies at Bawburgh on Saturday and Great Blakenham on Sunday.  It is always great to catch up with everyone and as always we had some laughs and plenty of cake as well as making some fab cards.  We used some new stamps I spotted at the Clarity Retreat as well as one of my all time favourite sets of stamps; the Journalling set.



Both of these cards are done the same way, just that one is portrait and the other is landscape
 Start by blending some yellow inks on the card, then stamp the Gerber twice in diagonal corners.
Stamp again on copy paper to make masks.
Cover the stamped images, the use the stamps from the Journalling set to do the background.
Add a little shadow round the flowers
Remove the masks and colour the flowers with the same yellow ink and maybe a shade darker too.
Ink round the edges and mat onto black.
The little black dots are done by dipping an embossing tool in black paint, then dotting it onto the card (Apparently this is known as 'dip-dotting, which I think is a fabulous name!!)

I am rubbish at remembering to take photos, but rest assured, the ladies all made wonderful cards!

Stamp sets used:
Journalling set

I can't find the Gerbara and Butterfly set on the Clarity website at the moment, but I am sure they will be there soon....

Thanks very much for visiting,
Janet xx

Morrocan lady

Good morning all!

Up bright and early today - it is the Claritystampers East workshop at Bawburgh today and tomorrow is the workshop in Great Blakenham, I am looking forward to seeing everyone again.  I will blog the cards from the workshop on Sunday evening.  Today's card is one we did at Diva Red a couple of weeks ago.  Definitely a clean and simple one.

 I started by die cutting a white circle and stamped the lady and her hat.  Colour her hair and add some lipstick.  Stamp the lady again onto some beautiful designer paper and cut out the hat.  Attach to the stamped image on the card and mount onto a die cut circle of matching card.
I then used the fab Morrocan Tile die twice to cut the same colour card and paper.
Attach the outer part of the card die straight on to the base card
The trickiest part of this is to inlay the inner parts of the paper cut outs inside the outer part of the card.
Once that is done, attach the lady and add some gems.
Really nice and easy
Hope you all have a great day... I'm off to get inky

Janet xxx

Dare to be Different!

Good evening,

I enjoyed watching Maria's 'Get in Shape' show today - thankfully not about keeping fit, but about simples shapes for Groovi plates and stencils.  Such a good idea, and so very useful!
I was lucky enough to get the stencils to make samples with:
Framework Circles stencil
Leafy Swirl and Dotty Wave petite syencil

I started by attaching the stencil to a piece of stencil card

Blend black ink though all the circles, apart from one - use pink ink for that one

Keep the stencil in place, and place the circle inners over the circles you don't want to ink, then place the Swirl stencil over one circle at a time and sponge some white paint over the stencil

Repeat for all but the pink circle, add black ink over the stencil for that circle.

Remove all the stencils.

Using a fine black pen, scribble round all the circles

Add a few dots by blending some black ink through the dotty wave stencil

Print the words Dare to be Different on a PC then cut out and mount onto black and add to the crd.

Mount onto black card and then the base card.

Hope you like it,

Janet xxx

Controlled Random..

Hello at last,
I have just realised that it has been ages since I blogged, so I have three cards to show you today.  I am having a wonderful day to myself, I got up early, did the housework and have got the rest of the day to make cards.... prepping for workshops and making samples.  It is going well so far...!

I am sure you will know by now that I like doing inky backgrounds, but the results can be quite random sometimes.  I have just discovered a way of getting some control, this is not my idea, I saw it on an online course I have subscribed to. I am sure many of you will already know about this, but it was new to me.  All the cards below are made using this technique.

 At Christmas, I was having lunch with my Aunt and she had some lovely serviettes, with a wonderful colour combination, so I nicked one to keep for inspiration.
The colours of ink I've used here are Iced Spruce and Dusty Concord, both Distress Inks.  The stamps are from the Snowglobe Outline set
So on with the card..
Start by stamping the snowglobe with a black archival or some sort of permanent ink.
Mask to cover the snowglobe
squish the Iced Spruce ink on a piece of acetate, spritz  lightly with water, then you can pick up the acetate and place the ink where you want it to go.  It still gives a random effect, but you have much more control over where it goes.  Good eh!!  You can add as much or little as you like.
Once you have enough Iced Spruce, repeat the process with Dusty Concord.
Allow to dry, then do some stamping, I added a few little snowflakes from  the set of stamps which comes with the snowglobe , I also added a few circles, by inking the base of a lid and applying to the card.  When you are happy, remove the mask and replace with the opposite mask, so now you have covered the background and exposed the snowglobe.
I used the same colours to make my little scene and black archival to stamp the images.
Paint the base with Dusty Concord.
The Christmas words come from Jayne's Postcard Framer set

 

This card was done in the same way, using the same colour inks
Stamps used:
Journalling set
Gerbera and Butterfly set

...and again, this time with the Chrysanthemum and Butterfly set and the Journalling set
.

Thanks for visiting, I won't leave it so long before I blog again..

Janet xxx

A week of Clarity

Good morning,
I have had a week off work and have been thoroughly enjoying myself!  It was the Claritystampers East workshop in Bawburgh on Saturday, then off to Kent to stay with my friend and catch up with all the news, we also went to the Clarity Retreat on Wednesday and Thursday, another chance to meet some lovely crafters and catch up with Barbara and Paul, who both worked hard to make it a lovely couple of days, we did some fab projects over the two days.
It was a bit of a long journey home, travelling on the first Friday of the school holidays is not the best idea!
Then it was the Claritystampers East workshop in Great Blakenham on Sunday, which was lots of fun and lovely Lynne Hammond joined us which was brilliant!  Nice to catch up with her too.

These are the cards we did at the Clarity stampers workshops:

This is a brusho background and the lady is also painted with brusho mixed with a little water.

This lady had a fusible film and fibre hat and die cut flowers

Spread grunge paste through the stencil, allow to dry then paint through the stencil, sand a bit and add some black ink

These are the stamps and stencil used, all from Claritystamp:

Hats 1
Journaling set
Flower Power stencil


I have one more day before I return to work tomorrow, so I am off to make the most of it!  IThanks very much for visiting,
Janet xx

Elements - Fire

Good evening,
I am posting a card tonight made with the 'Fire' elements stamp - but I really think the 'Water' one may have been more appropriate with all the rain we've had recently!

For the main image, I stamped the image with versa mark and heat embossed with gold powder.  I coloured with water based markers, scribbling them on a mat and picking up the colour with a water brush.  I die cut it to a scalloped oval.
For the background, I cut a piece of the Northern Lights designer paper into strips, then cut them in half to make a long triangle.  Find your centre point on the card, then stick all the strips round.

Thanks for popping in, hope to see you again soon.  (I will try and remember to blog a bit more regularly!)
Janet xxx

Elements - Water

Hello,

I thought it was about time I blogged again, I have been a bit remiss recently!  I am busy doing samples for the July shows - it's Christmas!!  I always find it a bit difficult to do Christmas cards so early in the year, but I know we have to get ahead if we are going to make enough cards to send out to everyone!  They are fab new stamps coming up, so don't forget to tune in!

Today's card, however is more appropriate for the weather - Water!.  I am a Pisces girl, so water is dear to my heart!  I love 'watery' colours.

Stamp : Water Element
Stencil: Jo's Bubbles
Perga-Glitter

For the background, I found a brusho background I had in my stash, then added more colour using the Jo's Bubbles stencil, inking through in random areas.  I let the ink dry, then drew round the circles with a glue pen and added some glitter.  I used the new Perga Glitters - yes, of course you need them! Layer onto matching card.
On a separate piece of card, I stamped the water element image with black ink and coloured with pencils, then cut it out and layered onto a die cut circle. Attach to the background a finish off with a few gems

Thanks very much for visiting, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!
Janet xx

Tags

Good morning!
I'm up early this morning, the trouble with having cats is that they expect breakfast soon after dawn, which is pretty early this time of year!  It is a lovely morning though, so I don't mind too much.  It is nice and cool, so there is chance to get a few jobs done before the heat starts taking its toll.

I thought I would show you a few tags I've made with one of the latest sets from Clarity, but first a card sample using the same tags set and the gardening set

I stamped the tags out, starting with the biggest in the centre and working down in size towards the edges.
I just stamped and coloured a little scene in each tag.  Just make sure to mask off the one next to the one you're working on.





Here are the other tags...

Thanks very much for visiting, I hope you have a fabulous day!

Janet xx