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