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

Baby blanket and Elephant for Ellie

Hello again

I mentioned in my last post that I was busy crocheting a gift for my friend's newly adopted daughter, and having delivered it earlier in the month, here's a photo of the blanket that I made.

I used a free crochet pattern by Joanna McVey that I found on Pinterest which came from her blog http://southerndaisy.com/2013/10/02/chevron-baby-blanket-free-pattern, so thanks very much Joanna. The pattern was super-easy to follow and it grew quite quickly which was great to keep me motivated. My only concern was that the free pattern didn't tell you how much yarn you required, so I had to guess, and had a fair bit left over. I ended up using about 3x50g balls of pink, and 6x50g balls of both white and taupe, a size 5mm crochet hook, and used a washable double knitting yarn by Bergere de France, called Sonora, which was 50% cotton and 50% acrylic. The only other point to note is that the pattern uses US crochet terms, so don't forget that it you're going to make one yourself.

I saw a similar blanket for sale on Etsy, which had a little applique elephant and heart on it, so I made up a pattern myself (sorry I didn't make a note of how I did it!), as I thought it made the design a bit more child friendly. With some of the other leftover yarn, I also made a little elephant from the book Ed's Animals by Kerry Lord - this is the seventh animal I've made from this book, and I blogged about the first 4 some while ago here if you want to have a look http://creativecapricorns.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/my-crochet-zooedsanimals.html.  I warned you then that they were addictive!!!

Now I need to get back to the big blanket that I'm making for our own bedroom - don't think it will be finished by this winter but you never know! Watch this space, and I'll post a blog at some point when it's in pride of place and keeping us toasty warm!!!

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