Thursday 29 November 2018

Christmas Card Toppers: Mounting Makes a Difference


The decision how to mount up a topper can make a big difference to the look of the finished card.  From the size and layout of the card itself, to the colour used to mat and layer.  Here I have taken three toppers of the same size (3" x 5.5") and mounted them on three different sized cards (6" x 6", A6 and DL).  Each one works, but the effect is completely different each time.

Wednesday 28 November 2018

WOYWW 495: Secret Squirrel

My desk is a little short on detail this week.  Between working on samples for Lou Withers' Royal Talens shows that I needed to get ready to give her tomorrow, and making a start on my first Clarity samples which need to be posted in plenty of time for January, there is not much I can show you.  I am also trying to keep up with a project a day (except Wednesdays) to share on my blog.
My desk shows the start of a sample using the Ecoline pens to create a mop up background.  It is one of my favourite techniques, so I never throw my inky paper towels away.  You'll have to wait until the 9th or 10th December to see the finished piece on my blog as that is when Lou has her One Day Special shows on Hochanda.
I actually have something to show on the other side of the desk.  Eva made it over for a crafty day's play last Thursday so I took a photo while I had the chance.  We are going up to the JJAMMMA (Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art) monthly meet up in Stockport tomorrow.  I am looking forward to it as we haven't both managed to go together for ages.  She was very productive and finished lots of Christmas card toppers.


For more crafty fun and desks from around the world, please visit The Stamping Ground, where Julia keeps us all in line and lists all the links!

Tuesday 27 November 2018

Christmas Scene through a Window

I created a double layered tag using one of the Fresh Cut Window Aperture dies from Claritystamp.  I had previously used the Dove Window to create a Panorama Card (see HERE), but this time worked with the Candle Window.

Monday 26 November 2018

Sunday 25 November 2018

Pointillism Art Journal Page: Stag

It seems a while since I joined in with Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More.  I haven't yet completed the last page for the October prompts and this is the first page that I have created with the November prompts: Art Movements.  Week 1 was Pointillism and I enjoyed using my masks in a different way to help me create this page.

Saturday 24 November 2018

Christmas Card: Variation on a Theme

I have created various scenes within stencil apertures for my Christmas cards this year.  This card is a variation on this theme, as it uses one of the Clarity Outline stamps and masks and the teeny weenie stamps which come with them to create the aperture and scene. 

Friday 23 November 2018

Jolly Holly Christmas Card

I cannot take credit for this card as it is my interpretation of a topper made by my friend Eva when we were at a workshop with Maria Moorhouse.  I loved her idea and decided to do my own version.  Thanks Eva!  It uses the Holly Aperture stencil from Claritystamp as a starting point.

Thursday 22 November 2018

A Christmas Card Scene within a Wreath Frame

I know that black isn't the first colour that you might think of when making a Christmas card,  but the embossing paste through the Laurel Christmas Wreath stencil from Claritystamp finished this card perfectly.

Wednesday 21 November 2018

WOYWW 494: Getting Excited

I am starting to get excited for Christmas.  My son and his girlfriend will be returning from Romania for nearly three weeks and I am looking forward to seeing them.  I shall also be creating my first secret Clarity DT samples shortly (I can say no more). 
My desk shows a Christmas card topper that I am working on (I will share the finished piece tomorrow).  I love creating mini scenes using the various Clarity wee stamps and teeny weenie stamps and decided to give the finished scene an embossing paste outline using the laurel wreath stencil.
I have finally caught up with all the marking from my meeting last Wednesday afternoon.  I will get plenty done during the two hours that I have this afternoon in school.  No other side of the desk this week.  Eva has been really busy with work and courses and we haven't had a chance for a crafty get together for a couple of weeks.  I'm  hoping she can manage a session tomorrow.  To visit more desks and find out more about What's On Your Workdesk, Wednesday?   please pop over to our host Julia at the Stamping Ground.  I'll be over to visit after work tonight.

Tuesday 20 November 2018

Early for Valentine's Day

I worked on a #8 manilla tag for the November challenge over on Tag It Tuesday.  Four prompts are given each month and at least two have to be used.  This month the prompts were: 1 Paste through a stencil; 2 Paint with your fingers; 3 Write random words; 4 Numbers.  As you will see, I used three of the prompts.

Monday 19 November 2018

Sunday 18 November 2018

House Warming Card

We have been invited to a belated house warming party this afternoon.  As they actually moved in a year ago, but have recently finished their extension, I have chosen to make it a Happy Home card rather than a New Home one.  I love the 3 way overlay stamps from Claritystamp and as I have the stencil in the same design as the Town House set, I decided to use the two together.  Having seen Barbara Gray using Distress Oxides on these stamps to build up colour, I decided to try out the technique.  I also ended up with an additional topper and background from cleaning off my stamps and stencil, so had a choice to make about which combination to use. 

Saturday 17 November 2018

A Cornucopia of Christmas Card Toppers



I recently spent a day making Christmas Card toppers at a workshop with Maria Moorhouse from Claritystamp.  She had many of her own ideas and designs to choose from, some of which I copied,  but the ones I am sharing here are all my own ideas using Claritystamp stencils and stamps.  We used the large sheets of Claritystamp stencil card (8.5" x 11") and I made 4 toppers from each sheet.  The square toppers measure 5.5" x 5.5" and the smaller offcuts 5.5" x 3".  These will all be matted up and added to suitably sized card blanks eventually.

Friday 16 November 2018

Traditional Christmas Card Scene with a Twist

I decided to relax by colouring in a lovely traditional Christmas image: Jayne's Carol Singers from Claritystamp. Rather than stamping and colouring the image in a more traditional way,  I decided to give it more of a water coloured  look.  I then created a background to turn the topper into a Christmas card.

Thursday 15 November 2018

The Perfect Background From a Piece of Paper Towel!

The theme for the November tag swap on Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art (JJAMMMA) is animals.  I already had one tag made which was suitable for the theme (see HERE), but made the second one especially for the occasion and recipient.  I hope she likes them.

Wednesday 14 November 2018

WOYWW 493: All Over the Place

A quick post today as I have had a bit of a bug which knocked me for six on Monday.  I am feeling better now, although I have a rather irritating cough which tends to get worse when I talk.  Luckily I only have to teach three lessons today before going to a meeting, so will manage somehow.  My desk is rather staged, as I can't show what I was working on yesterday.  It was a tag for a swap and I can't share it, or the other one which I sent, as they won't have arrived yet. If you'd like to pop back tomorrow though, I will be sharing them then.
Instead I'll share some of the Christmas card toppers that I made at the Workshop with Maria Moorhouse on Sunday.  I'm only sharing the ones which I came up with myself, not any that were Maria's designs, although I did copy a few of them.  I made four more which were direct copies of Maria's samples and I've already made a second one my Three Ships topper (see HERE).  I just need to mat them and attach them to suitably sized cards and I will have doubled my Christmas output so far this year lol.
Nothing to show on the other side of the desk today, as Eva was on a course in Birmingham yesterday.  However there are plenty more desks to see over on The Stamping Ground, where we all link up our blogs every Wednesday, thanks to our hostess Julia.

Tuesday 13 November 2018

Christmas Card: I Saw Three Ships

I was lucky enough to attend a workshop at the weekend with Maria Moorhouse from Claritystamp.  We were making Christmas card toppers and she had over 20 ideas which she shared.  I decided to go off piste and came up with one of my own, using some of Maria's ideas as a starting point.  I liked this finished topper so much that I made a second one so that I could share a step by step with pictures.

Monday 12 November 2018

A Quick But Classy Birthday Card

I needed a birthday card in a hurry but didn't want it to look as if it had been made in a rush.  By combining one stencil and one stamp set from Claritystamp,  I produced a card quickly,  but feel it still looks special.

Sunday 11 November 2018

Christmas Gift Tags from a Master Board


I decided to have a break from Christmas cards and instead create some gift tags (or perhaps mini Christmas cards).  I managed to create 12 toppers from one piece of  A4 card.


Saturday 10 November 2018

Mini Scenes on the Theme of 'F'

The prompt for the latest ATC swap over on JJAMMMA (Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art) is F.  I decided to go with F is for fence and foliage,  F is for family and F is for football fan.  I hope my partner likes them.  As always, I only used Claritystamp stamps for the project.

Friday 9 November 2018

Christmas Card: Scene Within a Bauble

I haven't made that many Christmas cards yet,  so I bit the bullet and added another one to my stash.  I really enjoyed working with the combination of stencil inner, outer and mask to create a scene within a bauble.

Thursday 8 November 2018

Wednesday 7 November 2018

WOYWW 492: Wow, What a Week

Well the last week has certainly been a spectacular one.  My news this week is definitely happier than last week's.  First of all I checked my email on Wednesday to find out that I had won the place on the Book of Days course next year that Marit Barentsen aka Marit's Paper World is guest tutoring with.  Thank you so much again Marit!  On Thursday I popped up to Stockport for the monthly get together and gave Lou my spare ticket for the NEC.  We managed to persuade Jane to come with us so Friday was our road trip to the craft show at the NEC (more details HERE).  It was a great day out,  but the best bit as some of you have already seen on FB, was being asked to join the Clarity DT for stamps and stencils.   I had great difficulty keeping the news secret, but it's out in the open now and my first samples will be for the January 2019 shows, as there is a little paper work to fill in first and I also need to get up to speed with the DT Handbook.

And so to the reason you are visiting, my desk and its contents, ready to join in with WOYWW.  Please pop over to The Stamping Ground if you'd like to see more desks or link up your own.  Julia will make you very welcome.  My photo today shows the ingredients for my eldest son's birthday card for tomorrow.  I was just getting everything together ready to get started.  Eva is not due until tomorrow, so my second photo is the stash that I got from the NEC and from Clarity's TV shows, the stamps which arrived on Thursday and the dies which were waiting for me when I got back on Friday.
I treated myself to the last set of Oxides and from the Clarity stand at the NEC some of the mini word chains and next year's calendar.  It will be bread and water for a while, but I've had lots of fun with my new stash since, so I can't complain.  Happy, happy WOYWW everyone.

Tuesday 6 November 2018

Hare in the Meadow Curved Aperture Card

I couldn't resist the new Hare Fresh Cut dies from Claritystamp when I saw them a couple of weeks ago.  I decided to play with one of them and create a scene to go behind the aperture.  By curving the aperture panel, the scene behind can be seen more clearly.

Monday 5 November 2018

A Tag with A Three Way Meaning

Having tried out one of my new Autumn 3 way overlay tile sets from Claritystamp on my project from yesterday (see HERE),  I decided to use a different set for today's project.  This time I worked on a tag, rather than a card.  I feel that the tag has three meanings / uses.  It can be used as a gift tag for a thank you present all year round, but it could refer to Thanksgiving or Remembrance Day at this time of year.

Sunday 4 November 2018

Chinese Lanterns or Pumpkins?

Ever since Lou Withers used this stencil from Claritystamp in her last shows on Hochanda and said that she could see pumpkins rather than the actual Chinese Lantern design, I have been seeing them too.  I decided to use the stencil in 'pumpkin' mode together with one of the new Skeleton Leaf 3 way overlay stamps from Claritystamp to create an Autumn card.  As Thanksgiving isn't too far away,  I feel it would be suitable for this celebration too, perhaps using a different sentiment stamp.

Saturday 3 November 2018

A Day of Clarity at the NEC

I had a fabulous day out at the Creative Craft show yesterday at the NEC thanks to Claritystamp, Lou Withers and Jane Telford.  I was lucky enough to win a pair of tickets via the Clarity Facebook page and asked Lou to come with me.  As Lou had another ticket, we persuaded Jane to come with us and the road trip was on.  They were kind enough to pick me up on the way there and we travelled Thelma and Louise style down to the NEC in Birmingham.

Friday 2 November 2018

Christmas Window Panorama Card

I haven't made a panorama card for ages, but the Fresh Cut dies by Claritystamp really lend themselves to that layout.  I also decided to incorporate stamping and masking into the design.

Thursday 1 November 2018

Inktober2018: The Second Half

This is my first year joining in with #Inktober and I have been following the official #Inktober2018 prompts as it is my first time.  I have already shared my first set of responses (see HERE) and today I am bringing my drawings for days 17 to 31 together.  
The first time that I have ever drawn a hand, so day 17 stretched me.