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

Upcycling project - Painting fabric chairs

Last year some of my cream Ikea tub chairs were looking a little stained and tired, and although I searched the internet for a pattern to make new covers there wasn't one to be found. They were too good to throw away though, so I had a go at making a pattern myself - what a disaster!

Undeterred I went back to the internet, and found a few articles and blogs about painting fabric chairs, and thought to myself "nothing ventured..." , and if it didn't work they would have to be replaced anyway. I bought some emulsion paint to match the room I was decorating, something called fabric medium which the reference blogs told me would help with painting onto fabric, and got out my paint brush and some newspaper. The advice was to spray the fabric with water, mix some emulsion paint with water and fabric medium, and to give the chairs at least 2 coats of paint, allowing it to dry fully between coats (I used 1 pot of fabric medium and 1 pot of water to about 2 parts of emulsion for my mixture, and combined them all together in an old Whizz tub which had a wide top and screw on lid, so that I could keep the excess fresh until the next coat).

Well, after the first attempt the chairs looked fine, but were REALLY hard and scratchy on the surface - I think they would have taken off your skin like sandpaper if you had attempted to sit on them and rest your arms! I thought maybe waxing them would help, so I went back to the internet and ordered some wax that you use to re-proof wax jackets. With a bit of elbow grease and the help of a hot hairdryer the fabric was soft and smooth to touch again, and waterproofed which will help to prevent future staining!

The starting point...

Here are some photos of my work in progress....don't worry if the first or second coats look a bit streaky and irregular!

They will dry more evenly than you think. Also, when you apply the wax, it will make the colour a shade darker - rub it on thinly, in sections with an old dry cloth, then heat it with the hairdryer and buff it into the fabric well. My small tub of wax has coated 4 tub chairs, and still has about 1/3 of a pot remaining.

 The final result....

I wouldn't recommend this for an antique chair or family heirloom, but it's certainly given my tub chairs a new lease of life, for the cost of less than £20.00 - well worth the effort! 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