Blues and twos

Hello everyone,

Thank you for dropping in.  Sorry I haven't been here for a while, but I have a bit of time off work now, so I will do some catching up.

We were at the Claritystampers East Bawburgh workshop last Saturday and we got off to a better start this time as someone did turn up to let us in!  The day was not free from excitement though!  One of the cards involved using Perfect Pearls and I had forgotten that Moira is allergic to mica (she forgot too and did begin using it) and a few minutes after we started, she started getting hot and bothered, a bit itchy and turned a rather bright shade of red!  One of the ladies at the class dashed home to get some antihistamine cream, which helped considerably, we cleaned up Moira's workspace, she stopped using the powder and all was well.  This serves as a bit of a warning though - people can react to anything and mica is in a lot of products, not just in the crafty world!  Moira now has antihistamine in her craft box!


On to the cards.....

Let's get the mica ones done first - we used the lovely Window Stamps, they come in several designs, I chose Madonna and the Shepherds for mine.  so what you do is stamp the image on one side of a double-sided adhesive sheet, then stick that side to some card.  Using a craft knife, score through the cover on the other side of the adhesive sheet, following the lines of the stamp.
Then one bit at a time, take off the cover and add Perfect Pearls to the adhesive (run off to get antihistamines if required!).  Once the whole piece is finished, cut out, then 'polish' lightly with a soft tissue to remove any loose powder, add a sheet of acetate over the top - it may not stick immediately but after a day or two, it will be properly stuck.
The background is a piece of card with juniper and denim ink brayered in diagonal corners.

I seem to have cut the end off this picture, but the card had a black border all round - honest!
For this card, we masked off a strip across the centre of the card, then stamped the small baubles  in place.  Cut out masks to cover them, then add juniper ink with a stencil brush, I also added some denim round the edges of the images with a sponge.
On a separate pice of card, stamp the large Santa bauble (I used the same design - others are available!)colour in all the images, then add a clear glaze over the top of the large bauble, I used glossy accents and sprinkled some crystal glitter over it.  This does take a while to dry, so leave it out of the way so you don't keep prodding it.  (Only one got left on a windowsill!)
Once dry, cut out and add to the card.

In the afternoon, we relaxed and got groovi with Sylvia Marshall's lovely Christmas tree design, mounted onto a brush background - sorry, it doesn't show up very well in the picture.
Check out Claritystamp.co.uk for the full range of Groovi products.

Thanks for visiting,, I hope to see you again soon,

Janet xx

Birds

Hi folks,

I am getting a bit behind with blogging, so I have got three cards, all featuring birds today.

The first two are done with the fab Wise Old Owl set.

   

 The background for this one is done with brushos,  I used a brown one (sorry, can't remember which one!) and sprinkled very lightly onto card, then spritzed.  I used one piece to stamp the owls on and one pice as the background.  I did add some colour to the owls with pencils.  In the set, there are also little spectacles, a morter board and a monacle - so ideal for graduation cards!

The second card is a very simple design. Stamp the owls in place, then mask and place the arch stencil over the top put a moon/sun mask in place, then add colour - blue at the top and green at the bottom.  Draw round the stencil with a black pen.

Remove the mask, then colour the owls.
The arch stencil comes from a set of fantastic aperture shapes, they are really useful
Stencil Framer Shapes set 1










The last card is another simple one, this time with the lovely goose from the Goose set I stamped him in place, then used another framer stencil, this time from set 2.  I think this has to be my favourite shape from both sets. I love the deckle edge!
I drew round the stencil with pencil, then all the colour and shading is done with pencil and blending with a paper stump - I find this a very relaxing thing to do.  I was originally going to keep just to black/grey, but decided to add blue to the sky.
I added extra pecil round the edge of the frame and blended that too, to make it a bot more smudgy.

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you have a great Sunday.
Janet xxx

Color burst for Christmas

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a great weekend - it would be nice if they were three days long wouldn't it?

Today's card is one I did for the last Clarity show, I am a long way behind with blogging it!

It seemed strange without Clarity on the TV last month didn't it, but Dave's health must come first!

I made the background with color burst - have you tried these yet?  They are little pots of granulated pigment powder.  I light;y spritzed some watercolour paper, then added the tiniest amount of powder and spritzed some more - the colours just burst into life!

If the colour looks a bit intense, you can blot with some paper towel (just make sure Kirsty Goodwill isn't looking, she shouts 'don't you dare blot that!!' at you)
Once it is all dry, select a bit you like, then stamp on it!  I used black archival for Santa and the Reindeer and green archival for the trees - all stamps from the new Christmas Wee Folk sets 7 & 8.
I added the reins with a black pen.

I am having a quick break from making sample cards for some upcoming new sets of stamps, but I need to get back to it now....
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Take care,
Janet xx

Catching up a bit

Good morning all, I hope you have a good weekend,


I am home again after spending a lovely few days in Kent.  I went to the Clarity retreats in Crowborough, which are brilliant - lovely projects and a fun and friendly atmosphere.  Barbara, Paul Church, Jayne and the Clarity team work hard to make it all run smoothly.  There is always a lovely atmosphere.
We have been asked not to show what we did until all the workshops are over, so today's cards are the one we did at the last Claritystampers East workshops.
I know we are still having summer, but as card-makers, we have to start thinking about Christmas cards if we are going to make some to sell or even just to get ahead for making them for friends and family - one of the ladies who came on Sunday said she had already got all her cards done for this year!

The first card is actually more green/grey but for some reason, it doesn't show up here.  We did the background first - using Fresco finish chalk acrylic paints and sweeping it on the card with a stencil brush, I start with pale colours and add darker as I go.  If you add too much dark, you can just go over the top with a bit more light.
Wash your brush quickly after use and the paint will come out easily.
Once the back ground is dry (it doesn't take long, the paint is quick drying!) use an archival inkpad to stamp over the top.  Stamps are from Christmas Wee Folk 7 and the Christmas word chain 14 I also added some shadow under the folk and trees.  The final touch is to add some white dots with a white pen.

The second card is done with inks - I used adirondack Denim and Eggplant.  I tore a mask using the base of the Clarity blending mat as a guide.  I brushed denim ink at the top of the card, then move the mask and add a layer of eggplant.
Stamp the Merry Christmas from the Merry Christmas sentiment set  in place, then add the Santa Sleigh and Reindeer from the Christmas Wee Folk 8 set.
I added lots of trees in eggplant at the bottom of the card.
I coloured in the Merry Christmas with matching Spectrum Noir pencils with glitter over the top, and added touches of glitter on the sleigh and reindeer.
The other card we did was the parchment one I showed you in my last blog.
I am off to do some gardening and enjoy being in the sunshine.
Take care,
Janet xx

Groovin' for Christmas

Good morning to you!

It have had a bit of sorting out to do recently!  My poor old car which I've had for 13 years was due for scrapping in a month or so and I was going to get a new (used!) car.  Unfortunately, the exhaust blew over the weekend and I had to hurry things along!  We went round garages on Saturday and I found a car I liked the look of, but wanted to go home and chew it over....so Monday morning, I phoned the dealers and asked if I could take it for a test drive and how quickly could they get it ready for me - they did it the same day!  Amazing!!  ..so I am now the proud owner of a lovely Audi A1.

There was a bit of urgency as I am going to the Clarity workshops Wed/Thurs and my old car wasn't going to make it!

The cards today are featuring the Groovi system - pop over to Barbara Gray's blog, there is a fab offer on at the moment - spend £40.00 and get a free Christmas Tree plate (very lovely it looks too!!) or check out Claritystamp's website

I am not the world's best at parchment, but the Groovi plates make it much easier to get the line work in place - I think of them in terms of stamps, they provide the outline, then you do the rest!  My work is pretty basic, but I am looking forward to getting more adventurous!

These are two that I've done, just embossing and a bit of colour on the second one.

..and finally a little picture of the car I got!  Look out for me whizzing down the M11 very soon!!

Take care and I look forward to seeing some of you at the Clarity retreat!
Janet xxx

A strange day!

Good morning everyone,
I hope you are having a great weekend!
This blog post is a bit different - no pictures of cards - more focus on the 'cat' part of my blog name today.
It was the Claritystampers East workshop at Bawburgh yesterday and for me it was a very strange one!  It all started on Friday evening when we realised that Merlin, our big black cat was in serious trouble - his breathing was all wrong and he was flopped out, his abdomen was a bit swollen and he was not very responsive, so we took him to the vet.  She said it was a problem with his heart and kept him in overnight...
So Saturday morning , still very worried about Merlin, we set off for the workshop, only to find that there was no-one there to open the hall - it took us a while to find someone to speak to, but eventually we got someone and a lady came to open up.  This was about 9:45, and normally I am in by 9:00.  Some of the ladies had arrived, so they set to and there were tables being set up, cups being got out (getting the water heater on was the first job, obviously!!) chairs being whisked around and all my sale items being set out.  No-one complained, I didn't ask, they just got straight on with helping me and as a result, we were pretty much set up on time.
While all this was going on, we had a call from the vet to say that Merlin hadn't responded to treatment and would we give permission for her to Xray his heart, so we agreed....
Finally, the workshop was under way, much the same as always.
I got a call from Simon at lunchtime which confirmed my worst fears, that Merlin wasn't going to pull through, he had probably got blood clots in his legs and that could be causing him pain, so we decided to have him put to sleep (he was pretty much unconscious anyway)  Simon went over to be with him while the deed was done and to bring him home afterwards.
I went back to the workshop...and it carried on as normal.
At the end, the lovely ladies helped wash up and pack up and put the tables away and just left me my own stuff to sort out while I waited for Simon to come and pick me up.  He arrived at 16:00 and we packed the car, but no sign of anyone from the hall, so we had to call and wait for someone to come and lock up.  Apparently they hadn't been able to contact the lovely man who should have been opening and closing the hall (let's hope he wasn't having a strange day too!!)
So we got home, I said goodbye to Merlin and we buried him under a bush in the back garden.
I was a bit numb to it all yesterday, but I feel very sad today.

Merlin turned up in the back garden about 5 years ago, thin, hungry, very nervous and with a big tick on his head.  I fed him, got rid of his tick and made friends.  He moved in, put on weight and became the most gentle, lovely cat who loved a cuddle and a fuss, so although I am very sad to see him go, I also know he had a happy and contented life with me.

Thank you if you have got through this long post, I am not the sort to dwell on this sort of thing, so it should all be back to normal soon.

I will post cards  from the workshop after the Great Blakenham one next Sunday.

Finally, I would like to say a huge Thank You to the ladies at Bawburgh for your help and support, you guys really are the best!

Janet xxx

Black and White Christmas in July

Good morning and happy weekend to you,

It looks like another lovely day here.  I have been lucky recently, it has been raining while I'm at work and sunny on my days off. (so many times it is the other way round!!)

Today, I will be mostly preparing for the workshops over the next two weekends, will we be getting Groovi...?

Today's card is one of the ones I did for the last TV show.  It was very surreal...Barbara brought all the stamps with her to France, so we could work on them while we were there, which was brilliant.  So on the longest and hottest day of the year, there we were making Christmas cards!
I had taken my Zentangle gear with me (a pen, pencil, blender and card - not a big kit!) with the intention of doing some serious relaxing, so when I got the fab ribbon Merry Christmas stamp, I knew it just had to be tangled!

I stamped the Merry Christmas in black archival, then spent a wonderful few hours just taking my time, sitting outside in the sun, with my fine black pen, tangling patterns in the letters.  I also outlined all the letters too.  Then I used a lovely smudgy pencil and added some shading.
I wanted to use the stars from the Christmas Sprig and Decorations set so I decided to add a border across the top. I drew two lines, then filled them in and added the stars and a bauble from the set.
The lovely elf is from the brilliant Christmas Wee Folk set 7
I did add a bit of glitter to the stars.
Not really one to do if you have to make a huge batch of cards, but if you want to sit and relax, it is a perfect thing to do.
Enjoy your weekend and I hope the sun is shining on you!
Janet xxx