Coordinating a Card and an ATC

This is the card that I made to go with the ATC that I shared yesterday (see HERE).  As you can see I used the same techniques as for the ATC but changed some of the stamps that I used.

Making a Focal Point Stand Out against a Layered Background

This is the ATC that I made for the Clarity March ATC swap.  I imagine it will be the last one for a while, but I enjoyed playing with some of the New design Club stamps.  I also made a card using the same technique which I will share tomorrow.  The theme as you can see was 'Bloomin' Lovely'.

Key Worker Heroes

My sister qualified as a GP at the beginning of August 2016, having previously worked for years as, firstly a nurse, then a health visitor.  This is something that she worked massively hard at to achieve and after going back to university and long training, placements in hospitals and GP practices as well as regular study, exams and long hours, she finally made it.  I am so proud of her.  She has worked as a partner at her Practice since then and I made this card to wish her well when she started. She and my other sister who is a senior nurse at a walk in centre in the South of England are my heroes!

Get Well Soon Card

Another card made for a colleague who was recently injured in a cycling accident.  She is recovering at home.

Happy Birthday Friend!

I made this piece of art work/card for a good friend whose birthday is today.  As I have been unable to get it to her, she will have to have a virtual version until it is safe to deliver it.

Using a Stencil as a Stamp over a Gelato Background

For a change, I decided to create my own background rather than using one of the Clarity designer papers.

WOYWW 564: Stay Safe

It feels weird posting this and not going into work today.  I am staff rota team B so I am not needed back in work until next week, although things may change as we are getting fewer pupils than anticipated.  As promised, a shout out to the Y8 pupils who may have left our school last Friday, although hopefully we will be back in time for Prom if everyone follows the instructions we have been given.  My asthma is luckily not chronic enough to have been asked to isolate for 12 weeks, but I have been practising social distancing (as should everyone).

My desk shows a project that I have started on a piece of 6" x 6" grey board.  So far I have given it a coat of white gesso and added some modelling paste through a stencil.  As I write this I am waiting for the paste to dry before adding some Distress Oxide sprays.  As you can see, I am fed up with having no crafty company so I decided to let Tom Baker and Peter Davison keep me company.  I found the framed signed postcards (dating back to 1980) when I was tidying and decided to bring them out to the shed.
I will be joining in with what's On Your Workdesk Wednesday as usual as it is the only way to travel these days.  Looking forward to visiting desks from all around the world today.  My hospital appointment is now a telephone consultation (phew), so I won't have to leave the sanctuary of the shed all day if I don't want to.  Thanks Julia (The Stamping Ground) for hosting our weekly virtual get-togethers.  Hopefully the annual crop will be able to be postponed until later in the year!  Happy WOYWW and stay safe everyone.

The Earth Laughs in Flowers: Art Journal Page

Here is my contribution to the March challenge over on Mission Inspiration.  The main prompt was 'Spring has Sprung', the colours sky, lemon and peach and the prompt words, Birds, Earth, Fresh, Bloom and Life.  As for all the pages this year, I worked in my leather bound journal with handmade paper.

Happy 60th Birthday

Another card made for everyone at work to sign for a colleague.  Before schools closed of course.

Happy Mother's Day

I had to post this card to my Mum as it is not fair or advisable to visit her in person at the moment.  I will be skyping today however.  Happy Mother's day!

Mini Envelope on a Tag

I am keeping up with the monthly challenges over on Tag It Tuesday.  This months prompts were: Add numbers, use a crimper or use something corrugated, use a roller stamp and use/add an envelope.  I didn't use a roller stamp, but other than that followed the prompts.

Creating a Frame with Masks and Embossing

I wanted to frame the City of London 3 way overlay stamp from Clarity with an embossed frame.  It was a little fiddly, but I got there in the end.

Concertina Tag Card

I added tags to a concertina card to create this Paris themed card.

WOYWW 563: All Up in the Air

Welcome to my weekly desk share to join in with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?  It's a great way to socialise in these worrying times, as it is all done from the privacy of your own craft area for those (like me) who have to go into social isolation for 12 weeks at the weekend.  Thank you Julia for hosting this weekly virtual get together over on The Stamping Ground.

My desk shows a pile of marking in the background.  I am determined to keep on top of it this week until I am no longer supposed to go into work.  My phone was on the desk as I was awaiting a call back from the Head to discuss procedures.  The Werder Bremen mug and lanyard were purchased on previous school visits to Berlin.  They are the German football team that I support.  Of course, Stoke City are my first love!  I can't show you my latest projects as they are secret samples for upcoming shows, but I have also been working on tags in my spare time as you can see on the desk.
Happy WOYWW and stay safe everyone.

Wish You were Here: Paris Postcard

I used the City of Paris 3 way overlay stamps from Clarity to create a fun postcard look on coated cardstock.

Stencilling over Designer Paper with Coordinating Stamps

A quick and easy card.  It is really easy to coordinate the colours of the stamped images with the paper.

Get Well Soon Card

I am the go to person at work if we need a card for everyone to sign.  This 'Get Well Soon' card was made for a colleague earlier this year.

Creating a Wreath Frame

I love to use repeat stamping to create a frame for a sentiment or focal image.  Here I used one of the blossom branches from the Garden Birds and Blossom set.

Gold Stencil New York

I used the New York City stencil from Clarity and some gold embossing to add glamour to this card.

I Love New York Panel Card

I used the New York City 3 way overlay stamps in combination with the New York skyline mask (both from Claritystamp) to create this card.

WOYWW 562: Madness!

Welcome to my weekly contribution to WOYWW care of Julia over on the Stamping Ground.  This is where crafters from around the world share their desks each week.
  
The world appears to be going mad.  We went to the supermarket at the weekend for our usual shop, to see empty shelves where pasta, toilet roll and hand wash are usually stocked.  None of those were on our list as we have enough for the next week or two, but how unfair and selfish of people to buy far more than they need and deprive those who cannot afford to stockpile or who may actually need these items now.  Anyway, enough ranting...

My desk shows my large stash of copy paper and paper towel mop up sheets that are my go to when I need a quick background.  I was debating throwing them out, but they don't take up that much space and are too useful to get rid of.

The right hand tag was made with the other layer of the mop up sheet on top of the pile (see HERE for details). 

I have a stinking cold at the moment (nothing sinister), but woke up yesterday morning to find out that in the next few weeks people may be asked to self isolate for 7 days if they have symptoms like mine.  I have been upping the usual hand washing, decided not to go to the footie on Saturday (and was gutted to miss a 5-1 thriller) and missed my JJAMMMA meet up yesterday afternoon as I didn't want to spread my germs.  I am not stopping off work unless I am instructed to.  If it was anything serious, I would be feeling a lot worse than this by now (due to my asthma).  I am not going to see my parents until the cold has gone however as they don't need even my ordinary bugs.

On a lighter note.... I am hoping that some of my samples get shown at 12pm and 4pm on Hochanda today.  I will probably not be round to visit until the morning, as I will probably be too tired after work this evening... happy WOYWW, see you then.

Animal Tags

These tags were made for the March tag swap over on Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art (JJAMMMA).  The theme was animals.  As usual I decided to use some of my Clarity New Design Club stamps.

Repeat Pattern Background

I used Oxides to create a background with one of the Forget-Me-Not stamps from Clarity then added a focal point using the same stamp set.

A Quick Pretty Card using a Designer Card Background

If you want a quick but pretty card, the the designer papers and card from Claritystamp are perfect as a starting point.  here I used a piece of the Waimea Falls designer card.

Chinese Lanterns with a Textured Frame Background

For my last sample with these stamps, I created a frame from the matching mixed impressions texture stamps to go with Barbara's floral spray topper.

Forget Me Not Diamond Pop Up Card

The Forget Me Not overlay stamps from Claritystamp are the perfect size to decorate this diamond pop up card.

Metal Leaf stamped Easel Card

There's nothing like adding a bit of bling to a card in the form of metal flakes.  I added a touch to this easel card by stamping in metal leaf glue.

WOYWW 561: Feeling Tired

Welcome to my weekly contribution to What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW). A get together that has been going c/o Julia over on The Stamping Ground for nearly 11 years.

As the half term is now back in full swing, I prepared this post on Tuesday afternoon.  As you can see, I was working on some tags ready for posting off to my swap partner.  I was just getting started as the photo was taken, but had decided on the stamps that I wanted to use as the focal images and had picked a selection of possible backgrounds from my pile of paper towel mop up sheets and copy paper clean up pages.  My Werder Bremen mug sits empty to the left of the picture and my lap top to the right, ready for writing up notes of the process. An empty soup bowl is waiting to be taken into the house in the background.

I can't show you the finished items as I haven't had chance to post them yet, but these are the ones that I was working on on a previous occasion, that I can now share.  I can tell you that the prompt is animals though.
It will probably be tomorrow morning before I come round to visit, as I am finding myself extremely tired when I get in from work.  Happy WOYWW: March already WOW!

Forget Me Not Sympathy Card

The Forget Me Not design from Claritystamp is suitable for a variety of occasions.  Here I used the stencil to make a sympathy card.

A Thank You Card on Designer Paper

The large garden birds stamp in combination with a pretty piece of Clarity designer paper was perfect for this quick Thank You card.

Garden Birds Panel Card

Barbara Gray will be demonstrating this new configuration of Clarity stamps this afternoon between 2 and 4pm on Hochanda.  This is the first sample that I made with them.  I wanted a Spring like fresh look.