Working with Alcohol Inks on Acrylic

This piece was the last one that I made for the recent mixed media Clarity shows on Hochanda with Louise Withers.  I used a larger acrylic square as I was feeling more confident working on the substrate, having already created three samples.

A Clean and Simple Good Luck Card

I like the additional small stamps and sentiments which come with the Circus stamp sets (designed by Leonie Pujol for Claritystamp). They work really well for a clean and simple card.

Pebeo Vitrail on an Acrylic Shape

This was a simple piece trying out a 3D effect on acrylic using some of the Pebeo Vitrail paints and one of the new Clarity acrylic shapes.  This one is from the square set.

Turning Stamps into Large Flowers

This is the second of the art journal pages that I made with the new Circus stamp sets, designed by Leonie Pujol for Claritystamp.  It was featured on Barbara Gray's blog yesterday so I though I'd share the step by step today.

Leonie's Circus Stamps on an Art Journal Page

This was the first sample I made with one of Leonie Pujol's new Circus stamp sets (Claritystamp) being showcased today at 8am and 12pm on Hochanda.  They are great for card making, but also for journaling.  My first project was an art journal page.  They also fit in beautifully with her stencil designs.

Die Cutting Vinyl: An Acrylic Background

This was the second sample that I made using the new acrylic shapes from Claritystamp. I have had some sheets of vinyl suitable for making peel offs for a while and decided to see how a piece would work with dies rather than an electronic cutting machine, such as a Cricut or Brother Scan N Cut.

WOYWW 516: Leisure is Good!

This will be speedy to match how quickly the week has gone round.  #1 son and girlfriend are moving house tomorrow and we want to help out.  I have a couple of things to get done in the shed today so that I can have a day off tomorrow.  My desk photo was actually taken this morning for a change. 

I am busy cleaning the indexing off some stamps that I treated myself to from Claritystamp.  In the background you can see the left over acrylic squares from my sample making.  The One Day Special which is on Hochanda today until 6pm has all sorts of fabulous shapes in acrylic to play with.

This is one of the samples that I made which featured on the shows yesterday evening.  I will be sharing a step by step later this week if you want to see more.
In the mean time, please visit Julia over on The Stamping Ground, where you can find out more about WOYWW and also links to a lot more desks.  Only 4 more weeks until the 10th anniversary!

A Pendant: Experimenting on Acrylic

I really enjoyed playing with some of the new acrylic shapes from Claritystamp.  Watch out for Lou Withers at 6pm and 8pm today and tomorrow at 9am, 1pm and 5pm on Hochanda as she shows you what else can be done with this fantastic form of  substrate.  I started by working with one of the smallest shapes to see how they work with different media.

Art Journal Calendar Page

I confess that it has been quite a while since I joined in with Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More this year.  In fact the last page that I completed in my art journal was on 10th March and that was catching up with the last of February's pages.  Rather than go back and start the March pages, I decided to jump ahead and instead have completed the calendar page for April (week 3).  The current theme is Easter so I couldn't resist using my hare stencil from Claritystamp as the focal point.  I also love the mood board for this month, so picked elements from that too.

Turkish Fold Pop out Insert in a Birthday Card

I wanted to make a card with a difference and came across the idea of a Turkish Fold for the insert.  I am grateful to Susan Angebranndt for the instructions for this fold, which can be found on her blog HERE.  I used a piece of copy paper and decorated it using stamps by Claritystamp.

The finished insert

The outside of the card

Learning from Mistakes: Gel Plate Experiments

I was determined to create a layered background using my large gel press plate and the Charge of Lancelot stencil from Claritystamp.  I ended up with something I was proud of  in the end, but it was a very bumpy journey!

Changing the Shape of a Stencil

Just because a stencil is a particular shape and size, doesn't mean that it is the only way it can be used. By combining a framer stencil with a picture stencil, elements can be chosen to highlight. This is what I did with the new Charge of Lancelot stencil from Claritystamp.

To start, I stamped the dragon in Sepia Versafine ink onto stencil card and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

I covered the stamp with matching mask. Next, I laid the oval stencil outer from the Framer Shapes (1) set over the card and tried the Charge of Lancelot stencil over the top until I was happy with the layout. I taped the stencils down and brushed Tea Dye Oxide through the apertures.

 Next, I added Vintage Photo Oxide around the edge and in certain areas with a Spot On sponge. The stencils were removed.

For the next step, I laid the oval inner over the image leaving the mask in place over the dragon. I added a Tea Dye Oxide halo with a Spot on sponge round the oval and the dragon.

The mask and oval inner were removed and the knight on horseback outlined with a brown fine liner.

The dragon was coloured using Distress Marker Pens in Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Brushed Corduroy.

For the sentiment, I stamped ‘Thank You, You’re so great’ in Sepia Versafine ink and heat embossed the words in clear embossing powder (Mini Word Chains 17&18 and 19&20).

To finish, the stencil card was trimmed to 16.8cm x 16.8cm and added to the front of a 7” x 7” kraft card blank.

Colour and Heat Embossing over Fibre Paste: A Masculine Birthday Card

This was the first sample that I made for Maria's shows on Hochanda yesterday (12pm and 4pm) where, among other items, she introduced the Clarity wizard and knight stencils.  The shows can still be seen on catch up for a while if you missed them.  I came up with three completely different looks using various techniques with the same stencil.

WOYWW 515: Playing Away from Home JJAMMMA Meet Up

For once I am actually writing my WOYWW post on a Wednesday, the perks of the school holidays lol.  I even took a photo of my desk this morning as I unpacked from my gallivanting yesterday afternoon and the latest arrival in the post.

I admit to indulging a little in the recent Spring Sale over on Claritystamp.  I have even purchased my ticket for the open day in Leyburn which isn't until September,. I was determined not to miss out this year.
Yesterday I had the most fabulous afternoon, meeting up with fellow JJAMMMAs Jane Telford, Lou WIthers and Kaz at the monthly JJAMMMA get together in Stockport.  It is rather like a WOYWW crop minus the cake: far more laughter and chatting than crafting, but worth the journey for the company.  There weren't as many there as usual this month due to illness and prior commitments but a fun time was had by those who made it.  I actually travelled quite light for a change.

And I actually managed to get some work done too (Ecoline pens and a water brush on water colour card).

Kaz is shy, so I haven't taken her photo.  On the other side of the desk however Jane and Lou were quite happy to share.

Jane was working with her Gel Press Petites making card toppers and Lou was prepping for an up coming One Day Special on Hochanda.  Thanks for your company yesterday ladies (Kaz too).

I am enjoying the school holidays and have managed some shed time every day so far.
JJAMMMA = Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art.
WOYWW = What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? a weekly blog link up hosted by Julia over on The Stamping Ground for nearly 10 years now.  Please do pop over and visit! 

A is for Acorns and what else?

I made this tag for a friend as a swap.  Each month the JJAMMA group has a swap for a tag, journal page or ATCoins. We are working our way through the alphabet and I decided to use Acorns as the theme for the letter A.  I also managed to fit the letter A onto the tag in other ways, can you spot them all?  Keep reading and I'll let you have all the answers.

Layers and a Rust Effect gives an Industrial Effect

I haven't taken part in the Tag Tuesday challenge in quite a while.  The current theme is Anything Industrial which allowed me to try out various techniques.

Cupcake Birthday Card

This birthday card was made for my son's girlfriend, who celebrated her birthday yesterday.  If you count up ALL the candles on the card you will see how old she is now. 

Creating Faux Lace using a Gel Plate on a Tag

I thought that I would take part in the latest challenge over on Tag It Tuesday.  As I had my large Gel Press plate out anyway and one of the prompts was to use lace, I decided to create a faux lace effect by making a gel print.  The four prompts for April are: 1) Tag, 2) Book Paper, 3) Pearls, 4) Lace.

Faux Doodling using Stamps and a Stencil

This card was my 50th sample since being invited to join the Claritystamp design team at the end of last year. Since the start of this year I have made samples for 12 shows and am currently working on samples for shows 13 and 14. It is a labour of love and I am really enjoying stretching myself and coming up with different ways to use the items that I am lucky enough to receive in advance.  There has been a real increase in interest in doodling recently and I decided to create a faux doodle effect using the #1 outline stamp in the Floral Forest three way overlay stamp set.

Building Up Layers for an Art Journal Background

I started the background to this art journal page at the last JJAMMMA (Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art) meet up in Stockport.  I managed to finish it on Tuesday, so at least that is before the next meet up lol.  I was working in my leather bound journal full of handmade paper, so I gave the pages a coat of clear gesso and dried them thoroughly before getting started.

WOYWW 514: 1000 Blog Posts

A week has passed and it is time to share our desks once more.  This also happens to be my 1000th blog post and I am so pleased it has fallen on a Wednesday.  We are creeping ever closer to the 10th anniversary of WOYWW, only 6 more weeks to go and the community is as strong as ever, thanks to Julia over at the Stamping Ground keeping things going all this time.

Just my side of the desk to share today.  As you can see if you look to the other side, Eva's chair is empty and will be for a few weeks as she travels the country examining on her days off.  I decided to show a wide view again.  I was working on an art journal page in my leather bound journal.  You can see some of the stamps and stencils that I had been using.  For once I remembered to take a picture before I put everything away.  If you want to see the finished piece, I will be sharing tomorrow.  As you can see,  I have space for up to four visitors, so if you ever want to join me in the shed, let me know!

I will be round to visit this evening after work, so see you all soon.

Row of Tags with Gel Press and Stamped Patterns: A Thank You Card

I was originally going to create a one layered card using stamping, masking and use of a gel plate, however, messy fingers lead to me adding the stamped images to a kraft card blank instead.  I actually prefer what I ended up with, so making a mistake needn't ruin a project.

Fusible Fibres as a Finishing Touch

To be a bit different, I decided to work on a card of a smaller scale.  I also used fusible fibres as the backdrop for my sentiment as a change.

Floral Forest: Mineral Powders over Gel Medium

I wanted to try out some of my recent Pentart purchases with some new stamps and stencils from Claritystamp.  For a change, I also decided to work on black card.

A Clean and Simple 21st Birthday Card with a Perfect Repeat Frame

I took the decision not to add 21 to the front of this card even though it was for a young man's special birthday.  I felt that the layout would be unbalanced if I did so.  Instead I stamped a message inside the card.  I used the Tim Holtz stamp platform to create the frame around the outside to get a perfectly even placement.

One Layer Birthday Card

This is the last card that I made for the stamps launched last weekend as a one day special on Hochanda.  It looks multi layered, but in fact is only one layer thanks to the use of the masks which come with Tina's Summer Layering Stamps (both circles and squares) from Claritystamp.

Up Above the Streets and Houses: A Rainbow Canvas

I made this canvas board as a sample for Claritystamp using some of Leonie's stencils, but it fits the March mini mission prompt over on Mission Inspiration: Up Above the Streets and Houses, Rainbow Flying High.

WOYWW 513: Short and Speedy

Short and Speedy: the last week and my blog post today.  I spent yesterday morning finishing samples ready for the launch of some new stamps and stencils on Sunday afternoon (2pm-4pm on Hochanda if you are interested).

I can show you how I started my last sample as I used an older stamp set with the new ones, so can't get into trouble for this shot lol.  If you want to see how it turned out, you will have to wait until Sunday when I will share the step by step.

Eva and I managed a crafty session together last Thursday.  She was busy getting into the groove with parchment.  Exam season is starting now, so it is unlikely that we will manage another get together any time soon.
Please visit The Stamping Ground, where you will find out more about WOYWW and the annual crop which takes place this year in Shrewsbury on 1st June.  In 7 weeks this blog link up will be celebrating its 10th birthday! Thank you Julia and all my desking friends.

Thanks a Bunch Tag: Turning One Stamp Into Two!

This tag was made for the launch of Tina's Layering Stamps over the weekend.  I decided to remove one of the rectangle panels from its frame to create the background.  It was easy to do and gives me more flexibility with the stamp.

Layers of Heat Embossed Texture on a Birthday Card

I made this sample for the introduction of Leonie's Circus stencils last Friday on Hochanda.  It was the first time that I had used the Clarity Kraft card blanks to work with and I was impressed with the quality and the way that they stood up to multiple heat embossing.