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