Last one for Germany

Hello everyone,
Hope you are all doing okay!
I have had some lovely stamps and new stencils to work on for the Clarity shows next weekend - you definitely need to tune in to Create and Craft, there are some wonderful new stamps, and as for the new classroom set...!

Anyway - enough teasing!  This is the last of the cards I did for Germany.  It confused Barbara, because she couldn't figure out what it said, so let me explain.... It is two names. Sabine and Jurgen, sort of intertwined - well, that was the plan!

This is a fairly simple one to do, just lots of masking involved!  I did the letterboxes fist, then added the letters and coloured in.
Mask the words and stamp the lovely foxgloves, so they will appear in the background when you remove the mask.

Everything coloured in with Promarkers.
Thanks for calling!
Janet xx

Winter Wonderland

Hello everyone and welcome to my new followers, thank you for joining me!
Today's card is another of the German samples, this time using the very lovely Winter Wonderland kit, which was first shown as an 'in the Classroom' kit. For the German show, some of the lovely Clarity stencils were also available.  I got the fab snowflakes, which are part of the Clarity Christmas stencil set.

I masked the strip area, then using a stencil brush, I stippled various colour inks over the stencil. there is a little snowflake stamp as part of the kit, and I stamped that in amongst the stencilled design.  I did the top and bottom of the strip separately.
Remove the mask from the centre strip, but run a strip of masking tape along the edges of the stencilled area.
Stamp the scene and add a bit of shadow under the deer.

Remove the masking tape and squiggle a line along the top and bottom edges.  I added a few gems in the centres of the snowflakes as a finishing touch.
Hope you like it and thank you for visiting xx

Christmas in Germany

Hello Everyone,

I got loads of page views for my last post, so welcome along if you are a new visitor!
This card is another of the samples for German TV, using the letter box set and a remountable set of Christmas stamps. This is one of my favourite miniatures sets, I love the spruce tree and the little snowman.  It is amazing how such little stamps can make such a large scene.

I stamped the boxes for the letters first, then stamped in the letters - being very careful to get them right, as I don't really speak much German.  I then masked the whole word
(which means Christmas)
I stamped the snowflake above the word and the tree underneath.
I shaded lightly along the top and bottom of the letters in black and shaded round the whole picture in blue.
Stamp Father Christmas and his sleigh in place and add the greeting which is part of another German greeting set (Best wishes for).
I added some glitter on the trees and along the top of the letters.
Hope you like it,
Thanks for visiting xxx

Flourishes and Corners

This time tomorrow, I will hopefully be in Kent waiting to meet up with a lovely group of ladies.  We are going out for a meal and then off to the Clarity workshop on Wednesday and Thursday. I am really looking forward to it.  I have been to plenty of workshops, including other Clarity ones, but Cowden is really very special.  There is a wonderful atmosphere there - I wouldn't miss it!
This is another of my DT cards for HSE 24, this time using the remountable set  - Corners and Flourishes. 

I made two borders along the edges of a square piece of Theuva card by stamping the tiny corner stamp back to back
Ink round the edges of the card and lightly sponge colour over the whole area.
I used a Spellbinder DLite die to cut two squares and a small circle
Stamp the corner round the edge of the squares and blend some ink round the edges.
Stamp the greeting in the circle and ink round the edges.
Offset the two squares and stick together with the circle in the centre, mount in the centre of the other square
Stamp the tiny bow from the set, colour in, cut out and stick at the top of the squares
Mat onto the base card and add gems along the edge to embellish

The centre circle is not quite so stark white as shown in the picture here, it is actually more or less the same as the background!

There you have it - I'm off to pack...

Take care x

Hummingbirds and Leafy Column

So who has got their heating back on then??  Pretty chilly for the middle of May, but it will all be okay soon because I am going to a Clarity workshop in Cowden next week and it has always been lovely weather in previous years, so I am very hopeful....  Not that it matters a bit what the weather is like, I am soooo excited about going, I just love meeting up with Barbara and Dave and all the wonderful Clarity team and all the lovely ladies who attend regularly and have become friends.
This card is another sample for the Clarity show on HSE 24.  I love both these stamps, so had a good time doing this card!  I also used pan pastels and gilding flakes, two of my favourite products!

• I did the three background strips as one piece and cut it into three
• Using a palette of red pan pastels, shade an A5 piece of linen effect cardstock from dark to light
• Fix with hairspray or fixative
• When dry, stamp randomly with the leafy column using currant Adirondack ink
• Cut into three strips and trim to size.
• Mat each strip onto gold card, then onto a square of black card
• For the main image, prepare another piece of linen card with the pan pastels, and stamp the hummingbirds with currant, emboss with holographic powder
• Here's the tricky bit - cut out the circle background round the birds
• Stick a piece of double sided adhesive on the back of the card, so the circle is sticky from the front
• Apply gilding flakes and scrub with a sponge to remove excess flakes
• Trim the card to size and mat on to gold, then black card
• Stamp the edge of the base card with the leafy column in currant, (I used the third generation to give a more faded look)
• Arrange all the bits on the base card
• To add a finishing touch, I added dots of gold using a gold leaf pen

Did I mention that it was the Clarity workshop next week....?
Janet xx

Up, Up and Away!!

How is everyone today?  I hope you are all enjoying your crafting.  I am home after a couple of days in Birmingham - not the easiest of places to navigate even with Ken (my trusty sat nav man with a sexy Australian accent!)  Glad to be home again!
This is a sample card for the Clarity show on the German TV channel, HSE 24, using a kit with all three balloons and the mountains and hills mask.  I have always liked cards with the same image repeated, so this is my take on that idea.

• Follow the same procedure three times in the different sizes
• Stamp the balloon in place, using Archival ink on watercolour card, repeat the image on a sticky post it and cut out to make a mask
• Put the mask in place over the stamped image
• To create the sky, I used a natural sponge with a very open texture and just sponged lightly with denim, mountain rose and raspberry inks. Sponge to a level just below the base of the balloon image
• To create the hills, I used the Clarity Hills and Mountains mask- put the mask in position and sponge Lettuce and Oregano inks
• Move the mask to create a different hill and sponge slate and oregano inks to make a contrasting colour hill
• Remove balloon mask and colour with Inktense pencils
• Mat onto blue card
• Try out your positioning of the three images on to green card before you stick anything down!!
• Mat onto another layer of blue
• I also sponged around the edge of the base card, in the same way I did the sky
• Embellish with card candy

Hope you like it!  xx