New Year - New Challenges

I've not blogged for a while now as I started the blog originally in order to enter some on-line Claritystamp challenges, which then moved to a Facebook format. However I have still been crafting away, so here are a few of the entries that I posted onto Facebook last year!

For ages I've been stockpiling stencils and paints and texture paste and canvasses, and most of them are still sitting in their packaging (hangs head in shame), so this year I'm determined to get out of my comfort zone and to try some mixed media pieces, and join in some challenges that really test my skills (and my bravery) !

The first piece of mixed media I've attempted was to use a little canvas that I started on a Claritystamp retreat last summer. All the bits and pieces that I added were found in my craft room, so I like to think it was part of my de-cluttering process too. Here are a couple of photos that show where I started, and where I finished up and I did share the finished artwork on Facebook and got some great feedback. I did ask for constructive criticism, but I think most crafters are just too nice to give you pointers as to where you might improve! Maybe someone visiting my blog will be a bit more honest, as I'm sure my first attempt can't be perfect.

Later in the week I'll share with you a tag that I created for another Facebook challenge group which really challenged my skills! 

Thanks for visiting and please leave me a comment and give me some pointers on how I could improve - I'm always open to learning or trying something new.

Happy New Year, Susan x

Flower of Scotland

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. I've been busy in the garden re-felting the shed roof, sorting out the fencing and painting the wood and garden furniture, so no time for crafting! Still, when you live in the north of Scotland you take every spell of good weather to do those jobs outside. Now the forecast says it's promising to snow again this week, so I'm pleased that most of the maintenance jobs are done.

Here's my entry for this month's Claritystamp challenge. The theme is "all about the words", so I thought long and hard about how to do a background that wouldn't overwhelm the sentiment, and the idea of wallpaper came to mind.  I made my own custom inkpad using a piece of cut and dry foam and distress re-inkers, faintly stamping the Claritystamp thistle image onto the foam, then applying drops of two different green and purple inks to represent the leaves and flower head. I was aiming for a simple repeated design (like the idea of William Morris wallpaper), and the custom inkpad makes it easier to get more consistent colouration of the stamping.

When the background was dry, I added the wording "Flower of Scotland" using Versafine black ink, and a variety of letter stamps from the Claritystamp letterbox and word chain alphabet stamp sets. The card was trimmed to size, edged with a black sharpie pen, then mounted onto an 8x8 inch square white card and finished with a ribbon trim in a complimentary colour.

Hope you like the finished card, and any comments or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks for visiting, Susan x

Spring is in the Air!

I've been busy up in my craft room trying to get ahead with my long list of cards needed for 2017, and as I was tidying up I found some bleeding colour tissue that I've had for ages but have never played with.

I didn't have my laptop at hand to re-watch the YouTube tutorial that the very talented Eileen Godwin had done on the technique (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oivloSbeLXA), so I relied on my memory instead! What I did recall was that she used dies to cut multiple shapes of the tissue, and reinforced that it was messy, that you should wear gloves and an apron, and dispose of the wet tissue carefully to avoid unwanted blotches of dye everywhere in your craft room.

First I cut various sizes of stars and circles in multiple layers of tissue, and put them into a container to keep them away from my water! Then I had a go at placing them onto pieces of watercolour card and spraying them, then removing them with tweezers after a few moments, but the result was a bit pale, watery and the shapes were quite indistinct. I finally decided to use a waterbrush to apply water directly to the shape before removing it, and that gave me a much brighter colour, with a definite shape.

Above are some of the scraps, some of which I've gone round with a black fineliner pen, and I'll use these for backgrounds for other projects. I really liked how some of the shapes had white areas in them, so I might try scrunching up some of the tissue shapes to see if I can enhance that effect in the future.

I used the main square piece of watercolour card for a background for my Clarity Stamp Challenge piece for the February 2017 theme, Flower Power. I thought the brightly coloured circles were reminiscent of the swinging 60s, and I used the Clarity Stamp alium flower stamps to enhance the circle theme, stamping using archival black ink, and stamping using versamark ink with white and coloured embossing for some variation of texture on the finished piece. Finally, I edged the square with a black sharpie pen, and matted onto yellow card for contrast. I added the Spring sentiment (one of the Clarity NDC club stamps) and coloured the lineart with some green pencils to finish the card, which will be sent for one of my upcoming spring birthdays.

Thanks for visiting, and if you'd like to leave me a comment that would be really appreciated!

Susan x

Animal Kingdom - Clarity Challenge January 2017

Hello and Happy New Year! It seems like ages since I've had time to blog, but we've had a busy time during the festive period and then it was my birthday, so the diet's gone out of the window and my hobbies have been on the back burner. Time for a change, methinks!

I've been taking advantage of the January sales however, so there's some new storage in the craftroom, already filled and labelled, and also a few new crafting goodies of course! And now I've just completed my card to enter the January Claritystamp challenge.

This month's theme is The Animal Kingdom, so my entry uses quite a few of my favourite Clarity Stamps to create a valentine's day card for my lovely partner.

Items Used
New Designs Club Issue 105 - Elephants Stamp
Letterbox Alphabet Stamp Set
Wordchain Alphabet Stamp Set
Fiskars chain edging punch
Complimentary background papers
Scrap of velvet rickrack ribbon
Black archival ink
Turquoise pencil

Firstly, I stamped the elephants repeatedly onto a piece of background paper using black ink, coloured the lineart with a pencil in a complimentary colour, then cut out three of the elephants to use on my card. I've a few spare images to use on another card, as this stamp makes a great background for an anniversary card too. I love the way their trunks are knotted together into a heart shape.

Next, I took a complimentary piece of background paper, and punched the knotted design along one edge. I trimmed it to fit my card blank, then I used letters from my letterbox alphabet set, and mixed them with the wordchain alphabet set to spell out the message "I'm knots about you". I had a practice on a scrap piece of paper, and eventually decided just to stamp the message along the paper above the punched border using the scrap to help me space the lettering.

I decided to punch the knot design on both edges of the background paper, then I mounted it onto the base card, and added the three elephant stamps above the wording. Then I added some velvet ribbon in a teal colour to the top of the card. I thought it would be finished then, but I decided to add the word "Valentine" into the white area between the background paper and the ribbon, again using my letterbox and wordchain alphabets. I think this gives the card better balance.

I'm really pleased with the result - the photos don't do it justice, as the papers are a beautiful mix of turquoise and teal colours. I think it's a much more masculine valentine's card than you can buy in the shops, even if it has got some velvet on it!

Thanks for visiting, and Happy Crafting, Susan x

Blast from the Past

Hello again

Today's blog offering is a New Home card for my niece who has just moved into her first flat, and it was a bit of welcome relief from my Christmas card making. I thought it fitted the blast from the past theme of this month's Claritystamp Challenge, as it uses some stamps I've had for a long time and never used, and also one of my favourite stencils; the brick wall seemed so appropriate for a new home card.

Now, Katie is a very girly girl, and has loved pink and sparkles from a very young age, so I knew the card had to have shades of pink and purple and a feminine touch.

 I started by making a print of some lace (repurposed from an old top that I no longer wear) using current adirondack ink and a gel press plate, then I placed the Clarity brickwork stencil over the print, and using the same colour ink and a Clarity stencil brush, I applied the ink gradually building up the colour, working in a circular motion so that the colour was deeper towards the edges and more faded in the centre of the piece. Using a smoothie, I then blended some of the adirondack ink around the edges for more contrast.

Using the same colour ink I stamped one of the Clarity quirky cottages on the right hand side of the card, and under that I stamped the word NEW from the "Time for something new" NDC club stamp, masking off the unwanted parts of the text. Then I added Katie's name at a right angle to the house using the Alphabet Word Chain set. I wasn't originally sure that I needed this alphabet set, as I already had the letterbox kit but now I just can't put down!!! Finally, I coloured the cottage and the open areas on the word using promarkers in complimentary colours.

I cut some swirls from a piece of glittery card, and adhered them to the left side of the card, then added a small punched bird and a mat of the same card to finish the project.

I'll get this in the post tomorrow, and would love to hear your comments. Thanks for visiting my blog, Susan x

Circles and Squares

Hello again - well I've had so little time for card making this month, as I've been crocheting a blanket for a friend who is adopting a little girl. I will blog about it once I've handed over the gift, as I think she should be the first one to see it!

This card is for the new mum though, so I used the circles and squares theme, and a monochrome palette to produce a subtle, but hopefully not too babyish card to celebrate her adoption. To produce the card I used the following items:

Clarity circles stencil
Clarity stencil brush
Wee folk stamps set #2
Small allium stamp
Flower punch
Sticky gems
Clarity With Love line stamp
Clarity NDC blocks of fun stamp
Clarity alphabet word chains stamp set
Distress ink (Milled Lavendar)
Archival Black ink
Black sharpie pen
Black fineliner pen
Lavendar promarker

 

No time for a step-by-step this month, but I've added some extra photos, as the card photo doesn't really show all the subtle details. Would love to hear your comments, and hope my pal loves her card as much as her new daughter!

Susan x

Calendar Challenge #9 September 2016

"In the light of the silvery moon"

Here's my attempt at the Claritystamp calendar challenge for September 2016. I find it really difficult to copy someone else's artwork, so for me, the calendar challenges are far more challenging than the monthly themed challenge!

However, I loved the composition of Barbara Gray's artwork, had the Toadstool and Hares stampset, and I improvised a bit, using Clarity coated cardstock and Promarkers for the colouring. Still, I was quite pleased with the final result, although it didn't get finished until today as both my white gelpens had dried up, so I had to nip to the craft shop and buy a new free-flowing one!

Thanks for visiting,
Susan

A little bird told me...

My offer for this month's Claritystamp Challenge is a little MDF birdhouse, decorated for the theme "in the garden". I honestly can't recall where I got the shape from, but it's really happy to be liberated from the rest of the stash in my cupboard!

I started by giving the MDF shape a base coat of Snowflake Fresco Finish  Acrylic Paint by PaperArtsy, then when that was dry, I went over the shape again in Beach Hut Fresco Finish Paint and dried it thoroughly using a heatgun.

Using the Flower Stencil (NDSC #24) from Claritystamp, with some areas masked off with tape, I applied Blood Orange Fresco Finish Paint to the flowers using a piece of cut and dry foam, a little Cadmium Yellow Daler Rowney System 3 acrylic paint to the flower centres, and a mixture of Sage Fresco finish paint and Emerald Daler Rowney System 3 acrylic paint to the leaves, then left it all to dry. The design looked a little soft around the edges, so I went around the flowers and leaves with a black fine-liner pen, and added some details to the flower petals. I also added some yellow dots with Pebeo Gloss Touch in Bright Yellow to give a bit more dimension to the flower heads.

I decided to add some stamped detail to the roof of the birdhouse, and randomly stamped with Claritystamp small ocean swirl stamp from the Galleon set using Ranger Stormy Skies Distress Ink, and again drew freehand around the stamping to add a bit more definition to the design.

Finally, I found a bit of inky, blotchy scrap card, and drew one of the birds from Claritystamp Bird Frame stencil (NDSC #1) using a fine liner pen, extending the branch it was standing on, so that it would wrap around the edges of the bird house. I felt it needed to stand out a bit more against the bright background, so I added a few black boxes, zentagle style, and made my little bird into a zebra finch! Admittedly, you don't see many of those in my garden in Inverness, but I call it artistic license!!!

Hope you enjoy my little birdhouse, and I'm going to hang it from the shelf in my craftroom to keep me company when I'm crafting on my own.

Thanks for visiting, Susan x

Floats like a butterfly...

Hello there

Well, August has flown by and we've been really busy in the guest house this month. We did have a few days away at the Edinburgh Fringe, which was lovely, but not exactly a restful and relaxing break!

The Clarity challenge this month was fussy cutting so I thought I would create a card using some of the "failed" inky splodge prints left over from my calendar challenge attempt from last month, and the NDC butterfly stamp that has been sitting on my desk for many weeks just waiting for it's chance to shine. I also remembered to take my camera into the craft room, so there are a few more photos with the blog this month - not exactly a step by step because I kept forgetting to take a snap, but we all have to start somewhere!!!

First I stamped the Clarity NDC butterfly stamp, and Clarity butterfly verse onto one of the scraps of splodgy background scraps using black archival ink and left it to dry.

Next I stamped the butterfly stamp again onto another, brighter piece of scrap, and fussy cut 3 of the butterflies to use on my main project.

I trimmed down the background piece using a paper trimmer and framed it using a ruler and black sharpie pen.

 Before I stuck down the butterflies, I tried different positions on the background to see which composition worked best, and then I decided to have one hovering over the card, to illustrate the sentiment in the verse.

I cut a small strip of acetate, and made a small hinge at one end, and a larger hinge at the other end. I fixed the small hinge with double sided tape behind my backgroun piece, and attached one of the butterflies to the long strip. The second hinge part helps keep the butterfly "floating", but will flatten down to allow for postage.

It was a bit tricky to get a photo showing how the butterfly floats, and please don't look too closely at the mess on the top of my craft desk!!!

Finally I mounted the background piece onto an 8X8 white card blank, added a sentiment inside the card, and my signature personlised stamp on the back of the card.

Hope you like my interpretation of the fussy cutting theme, and I'd love to read any comments that you have - thanks, Susan x

Clarity Calendar Challenge - July 2016

Well I never, two blog posts in two days! Nothing like a deadline to make you get your skates on is there?

Here is my attempt at the Clarity Calendar challenge for July 2016 - couldn't let this one pass by, as the Boy with the Birds is one of my all time favourite stamps.

Hope you like my attempt, and please forgive the little additions - I can't even follow a recipe without tweaking it, and I thought my splodges were more like a map of the world, so that's what I went with! It reminded me of that game Risk that my brothers used to play when we were small - Happy memories.

Susan x

Enchanting Eilean Donan Castle

Hello Again,

I created this card to try to capture a beautiful sunset at Eilean Donan Castle that John took back in April when we were out visiting the West Coast and Skye for his birthday. He took a fabulous photograph which we now have framed in our dining room, and that inspired my image. (You can see his photo, titled the blue hour on a recent blog on our guesthouse website using the following link: http://www.inverglenguesthouse.co.uk/favourite-locations-eilean-donan-castle)

It took me a couple of attempts to get the background the way that I wanted it. My first attempt using paints on the gelliplate was just too heavy, then I tried with inks and Gelli/stencil card, but again it was a little too bright and blotchy. Finally I settled on trying watercolour paper, which did the trick!

To create this background, I applied a mixture of adirondack and distress inks to the Gelliplate (Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick, Peacock Feathers and Eggplant), spread it out with a brayer, then spritzed it with some water. I then used a piece of watercolour paper to take up the ink, and dried it with a heatgun before moving on to the next step.

I used Versafine black ink to stamp the castle and bridge image onto the Gelliplate, then using the Clarity Gelliplate mount, I stamped the "reflection" image onto the background, and restamped both images directly onto the card. To balance out the image, I stamped a few scots pine images on the right hand side, using second generation ink to stamp the reflection images. Finally I stamped the word and flourish into the bottom right hand corner, and cut down the paper to size and edged it with a black sharpie pen.


All the stamps I used were from Clarity Stamp : Eilean Donan Castle and Bridge stamps are available to Clarity Club members as back issue NDC stamps. The Forever word and scots pine stamps are part of the Scotland unmounted clear stamp collection, and the flourish is from the Letterbox kit.

Hope you like my card, and I'd be delighted if you left a comment for me below, Susan x

Masculine - Clarity Challenge June 2015

This month's Clarity Challenge entry is Masculine and I am making an early entry as I've had several family visitors last month, and the B&B is currently full of guests enjoying the Inverness sunshine so I'm a bit behind with my card making for all my June birthdays and occasions and I just missed the deadline yesterday to enter last month's challenge!

I've made this card for my dad who was in the Navy for his national service, and loves to be reminded of his youth, especially now that he is approaching his 86th birthday! I have used the following Clarity stamps and stencils to make this card:
Sunshine and Trellis (basic backgrounds) Stencils
Gallion Stamp
Mermaid Stamp
Life is Never Long Enough Stamp from New Designs Stamp Club
Swallow stamp from Journalling set

I started by using the Clarity Stencil brushes through the stencils to create an airbrushed background in two shades of blue Distress Inks. Then I stamped the verse and anchor using Black Adirondack Ink, and drew a chain to link the words and image using a black fine line pen. I then stamped the Gallion 3 times, once in Black Adirondack, then in first and second generation Distress Ink . Finally I stamped the two swallows in Black Adirondack in the top left hand corner, and the tail of the mermaid in the bottom right hand corner in the same blue Distress Ink. I framed the piece using a ruler and Black Sharpie pen.

Thanks for visiting my blog, and I'd love to read any comments that you have about my card, Susan x

Clarity Calendar Challenge - April 2016

Well, this really was a challenge for me. First I had to order, and wait for my Fresco Finish paints to arrive, then I had to find the lovely bird stamp that I knew I had bought recently and put "somewhere", then I had to locate the pristine canvasses that have been sitting in my craft room for the past year or so waiting for me to use them.  Sadly the canvasses are still missing in action, probably under a pile of "stuff" that is really important and doesn't yet have somewhere to live, so my artwork has ended up on a card! Hope you like it anyway, I really enjoyed making it.

Susan x

Masking and Stamping - April 2016 Claritystamp Challenge

Hello there

Finally I've returned to full health after my bout of flu, and I've been busy organising my lovely stamps into the Clarity Storage folders in my craft room. It's amazing how much easier it is to craft when there is space on the surface of the desk!!

I was quite excited by this month's challenge, as I love stamping and masking. I came up with this idea as I was sorting my stamps, and it took me a few goes on scrap to work out exactly how to cut my masks in order to get the finished result - it reminds me of the song about the woman who lived in the shoe, but of course the lovely Alice is far too young to be the lady who inspired that tale!

The main image uses the following Clarity stamps: Sketchy Shoe, Alice and a large and small Alium stamp. I stamped using black archival ink onto an old book page, and cut several shoe masks to enable me to stamp Alice into the middle of the shoe, then masked off Alice in order to stamp the back part of the heel, and another "outy" mask to create a pattern on the shoe using second generation ink and the small alium stamp. Then I left all the masks in place to stamp the large Alium in the background, and finally I stamped a couple of small Alium images in the top right hand corner for balance.

I coloured Alice and the shoe using Spectrum Noir pencils, and added a little shadow under the shoe to ground the image. Then I trimmed down the book page and edged the piece with a ruler and black sharpie pen, and mounted it onto a gelli-print from my stash, to which I added a little pink pencil shading so that it coordinated with Alice's dress. Finally I mounted it onto a 8x8 inch white card blank.

I have another idea to sit Alice on the feather which I'll have a go at another time. Hope you like my card, and please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Thanks for visiting, Susan x

All about the girls

Hello Again

This is just a quick post today, as I'm still recovering from the flu that laid me low at the beginning of the month when we were on holiday in Rome. I had great ideas of trying my first canvas for this challenge, but alas, just haven't got the energy levels back yet to have a go ... but watch this space!

Today's offering is a simple black and white card, using the Clarity Corset and Corset montage stamps (which are 2 of my favourites), a swirly die cut and punched butterflies. I stamped the corset montage onto glitter card with a permanent black ink pad, then matted with black card. Then I stamped the corset onto black card with versamark ink, embossed with white powder, and cut out the image and layered it onto the montage stamp.  Finally I finished the piece with the swirls and punched butterflies, adding some small black gems to their bodies for a finishing touch. The Clarity "with Love" sentiment was added to the bottom of the card for balance.

Hope you like my little card - it's quite simple, but I was really pleased with the finished result.

Thanks for visiting, and I'd love you to leave a comment, Susan x

February 2016 Clarity Challenge - Love

This month's challenge offering is a simple, but I hope elegant card design that would be useful and easy to adapt to a number of different occasions. This was my valentine's card to my partner, but it could just as easily be an anniversary, thank you or birthday card using different colours and embellishments.

To create the card I used:

Claritystamp leafy swirls stamps (large and small, stamped end to end)
Claritystamp with love sentiment stamp
Black Adirondack ink pad
Offcut of wide red satin ribbon
7 red heart sequins (adhered with zigg glue)

The base card was matt black, and I stamped onto matt white card, and layered with a thin mat of red cardstock. I lined the card with white paper, and stamped the small swirl inside too, to compliment the external design.

 I struggled to get a good photo, so you'll have to imagine the ribbon and the little hearts catching the light!

Thanks for visiting, and if you'd like to leave a comment I'd love to hear what you think!

Susan x

February Clarity Calendar Challenge

The aim of this challenge is to follow the steps given on Barbara's 2016 Clarity Calendar, using a number of different background techniques, and a variety of Clarity Stamps.

This image is created using a number of Ranger Distress re-inkers (Faded Jeans, Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough), the shaving foam technique, colouring pencils (Spectrum Noir Essentials set) and Distress Ink (Wild Honey) to enhance the background.  I stamped the Boy with the Birds image using Archival Blank Ink, and added some detail to the hills and valleys that I could see in the shaving foam background with a black fine liner pen and the colouring pencils, then added a thin black border around the edge with a Sharpie pen and ruler.

A few tips - wear an apron and disposable gloves and have lots of kitchen towel to hand when you do the shaving foam technique, as it can be a bit mucky, and be prepared to do a number of backgrounds during the session otherwise you will waste quite a lot of ink - I think I got about 4 large backgrounds and 6 small backgrounds from my session, and each and every one was different!

Thanks for visiting, Susan x

Say it with flowers

Hello and thanks for looking in. It's been a while since my last blog - too busy travelling, entertaining guests over the festive season, and now doing some decorating, but finally I found some time to play in my craft room this week in order to enter the Clarity Challenge for January 2016.

I had a card to make for a 1 year old this month, and really had to think how to use flowers in the card for little Betsy, as I have got into the habit of only using floral stamps and motifs in cards for older people. Still, it's called a challenge for a reason, so here's my take on the theme!

I took some inspiration from the "Torn GelliPlate" design that Barbara Gray showcased on her YouTube blog on 22 April 2014 (http://barbaragrayblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/youtube-tuesday-torn-gelli-plate.html), but did the technique in reverse. So I started by tearing a piece of copier paper in half to act as a mask, and taping these to the top and bottom half of my card leaving an area ready to be stencilled. I then used the chicken wire stencil from the Clarity Basic Backgrounds set of 5, and added some Picked Raspberry Distress Ink using a Clarity Stencil brush. Next, using the same ink pad and a piece of Cut N Dry foam, I randomly inked through the two flowers from the 7X7 NDC vases stencil. Finally, when the stencilled ink was completely dry, I used Spun Sugar Distress Ink and another Clarity Stencil brush to apply a light coat of pale pink ink into the whole aperture area before removing  the paper mask, and outlining the edges with a Black Micron Pen.

Using the LetterBox stamp set and a black archival inkpad, I stamped out Betsy's name and age onto some pink patterned paper, and cut these out. I punched some flowers from deep pink card and stuck these across the top white area of the card, adding a few gems as flower centres. Then I stamped 3 of the wee girls from the Wee Folk Stamp Set 2 in black archival ink, and added a little butterfly punched out of black card with the sentiment for balance.

Finally I added a think black and wider deep pink card matt before mounting the panel onto an 8X8 white square card. I think the deep pink card has come out a little orangy in my photo, but in real life it was a really good match with the Picked Raspberry ink colour.

Hope you like my offering and I'd love to read your thoughts if you would like to leave a comment. Thanks, Susan x

Clean and Simple Christmas Card

Hello there - just a quick blog today to showcase my entry for the November Clarity Challenge whose theme is "clean and simple".

I was feeling quite overwhelmed by the number of Christmas cards that I need to make for family and friends when I have a long holiday coming up and so little time to complete them. Then the clean and simple concept came to mind and I remembered the red and white Keep Calm posters, and decided to do a variation on a theme using a Claritystamp Christmas phrase, and one of the Christmas wee folk - the little elf who is definitely my favourite!

I stamped both images onto a four inch square of red card using Versamark, then heat embossed them using opaque white embossing powder. Finally I mounted the red card onto some small white pearlised square cards that had been in my crafting stash for a really long time - liberated at last!

I think I should be able to whip up a whole stack of these little cards quite quickly - have done half a dozen already!

Hope you like it, and thanks for visiting - any comments would be gratefully received, Susan x

Today's rain is tomorrow's whisky

Hello folks

Today's card was meant to bring a bit of brightness and cheer to a cold and rainy October day, but actually we've had lovely, warm and sunny weather for most of October which has really made up for the terrible summer this year!

This month's Claritystamp Challenge was to create a project using Clarity Stencils only. I just love the silhouette stamps and stencils that are part of the Clarity range, so I've used one of them on this card, in conjunction with three other stencils and a small printed phrase to set the scene.

Stencils used: Bunting Tree Stencil (to create the raindrops), Umbrella's Stencil (for the background), Umbrella Girls Stencil for the child silhouette and Jo's Bubbles Stencil for the Bokeh effect.

I started by sponging different coloured Adirondak and Distress Inks through the umbrella stencil, then using black archival ink, I sponged through the umbrella girls stencil and the leafy part of the bunting tree stencil to create some raindrops. Finally I used a white ink pad through the Jo's bubbles stencil to create a bokeh effect, and added some clusters of small white dots using a white correction pen to add interest. The sentiment is a traditional Scottish saying, which I printed onto white paper, and tore the edges rougly and inked lightly to finish the project.

Hopefully my fingers will be un-inked by the time I go on holiday - note to self - next time wear gloves!!!

Thanks for visiting and I appreciate any comments that you would like to leave, Susan x