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