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

New Baby Cards

Good evening,

~It has been a busy couple of weekends, with several workshops, all of which have been fun to do.
The cards today are all made from the two new baby sets and the heart stencils (links at the end of the post)

I started by taping the heart aperture to a piece of stencil card, then blended a pink ink through the aperture.
I put the hearts stencil from the basic backgrounds set over the top of the paerture stencil and blended with the same colour ink, then moved the stencil and blended a different colour pink, repeat this with different colours, so have hearts within hearts.  Finally, blend a white pigment ink through the hearts, to soften it all down.
Remove all the stencils, then stamp the washing line across the heart, also stamp it on some separate white card.
Cut the card to size (6x6")
Colour and cut out the clothes on the white card and layer on top of the base
Stamp, colour and cut the little bows and add to the base at the ends of the washing line
Stamp the 'Baby Girl', cut out and add.in place..  Layer on to a pink card then onto the card base.

 

Same again but in green 

and in blue for a boy

 Stamps used:

Adorable baby

New Arrival

Stencils used:

Basic Backgrounds

Heart shape aperture


























and finally one I did for the TV which uses the same idea, but with an all over background, rather than in the heart aperture.

Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again soon! Janet xxx

DT Anniversary

Good morning,
Isn't it a lovely day?  I hope it is as lovely where you are as it is here.  I think spring has to be my favourite season, especially as the sun starts to shine!  I love all the new life and renewal after the winter.
I have just found out on fb that it is 5 years ago today that my first card appeared on TV as part of the Clarity design team - where has that time gone??  It is definitely true that time goes faster as you get older!  I was so excited to be asked to join the Clarity DT, It is such a privilege to be part of the wonderful team at Clarity, in the company of so many lovely talented people.  The team is so much bigger now, since the launch of Groovi - exciting times...

This is one of  the latest card I've done for the DT (later, I will show you the first one...)

I started by using my gel press petite square plate to do the pink square in the middle.  Load up the plate with ink, the dab a bit of damp paper towel over to give it some texture and 'stamp' on to the card.
Using black archival, stamp the pram and the words around the edge
Colour in the pram with pencils
Stamp the bows on a separate piece of card, colour and cut out, then attach to the card.
Mount on to pink card and then onto the base card.

I had never heard of a Gel Press Plate 5 years ago - it is amazing how things move on isn't it?  We have so many more lovely things to fuel our addiction!

This is the first card that was shown

This is the first card which was shown when Barbara first mentioned me as part of the DT

I made this one for the same show, but it didn't get shown

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             The other card was made for the same show, but didn't get shown, I think it has been on the display boards at the shows though.

Thanks very much for visiting
Hope you enjoy your day
Janet xxx