Monday 30 November 2020

Sunday 29 November 2020

Four Season Mandala Ring Notelets

The new sets of seaonal Mandala ring stamps designed by Barbara Gray lend themselves beautifully to creating a set of matching notelets. I combined them with some of the Clarity designer card and papers.

Saturday 28 November 2020

One Layer Mandala Spring and Summer Rings

I do like creating dimensional looks even when only stamping one layer. These new Mandala Ring stamps designed by Barbara Gray lend themselves perfectly to this technique.

Friday 27 November 2020

Gatefold Mandala Ring Card

I haven't made a gatefold card for a while.  These new stamps from Clarity designed by Barbara Gray work perfectly with this type of card.

Thursday 26 November 2020

Daily Drawings

 Having taken part in inktober2020, I was inspired to continue my daily drawing start to the day.  Back in 2018, I started the drawcember challenge posted by ther Facebook group Month to Month Arty Fun.  I have also been influenced by Barbara Gray's Shac Doodling which has been taking place since the first lockdown began. As a result, I have been taking 5-10 minutes time each morning to produce a drawing, often starting as a pencil sketch before adding ink.  I have now completed all 25 drawings and thought I'd share them in one place. I have taken lots of inspiration from the internet, googling key words + drawings to find images and tutorials to follow.

Wednesday 25 November 2020

WOYWW 599: One week to Go

The weekly desk share seems to be coming round more and more quickly. This time next week WOYWW will be celebrating 600 weeks of crafting camaraderie, thanks to Julia at Stamping Ground.  I am really looking forward to the virtual crop the following weekend too.

My desk this week shows the last of my catch up drawings for Drawcember2018.  I am not sure what I am going to do now, although I have a new sketchbook ready to go and have the prompts for #inktober2019 which I didn't take part in last year.  There is a new daily drawing challenge starting in December over on Junk Journals and Mindful Mixed Media Art so I may just take a break until then and start my catch up afterwards.
Here's a close up of the last two pages.  Happy WOYWW.  I'll be round to visit soon.


Tuesday 24 November 2020

Panorama and Room with a View Dies: Ideas and Inspiration

 Once again I've gathered together ideas and inspiration for a series of projects.  This time using the Clarity Room with a View and Panorama Aperture dies.  There are links to all project step by steps below each photo.

Monday 23 November 2020

Cat and Dog Die Ideas

 As they have recently been back on offer I thought I'd bring my ideas for using the cat and dog aperture dies from Clarity together in one place.

Sunday 22 November 2020

Feel Good Tag

I had fun with the November challenge over on Tag It Tuesday.  The four prompts were:  Use something from another hobby, shade an area with straight lines, add pearls and add a flower.
As reading is one of my hobbies, I added book text to a #8 manilla tag to create a background. This was dried and trimmed. (Prompt 1)
Next, I stamped Tina’s Floral Poppy spray onto the tag in Nocturne Versafine Clair ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. This covers prompt 2 and 4 as there are straight lines shading the poppies.
Laying the coordinating stencil over the top of the stamping, I added colour to the flowers and leaves with Distress Oxides (Candied Apple, Peeled Paint and Blueprint Sketch).
To fulfil prompt 3, I added a black pearl to the centre of each of the larger poppies.
To create a vignette, I blended weathered Wood Distress ink around the image and the edges of the tag.
To finish, I added one of Barbara’s Feel Good Factor Stickers.

Saturday 21 November 2020

Using Three Way Overlay Stamps with a Twist

I had a sudden brainwave how to use this set of Treescape three way overlay stamps in a different way.  Rather than layering the stamping up, I decided to mix and match the images in a different way.  I ended up with a card and matching tag.

Friday 20 November 2020

I Shall Wear Purple: Double Layered Tag

The challenges over on Mixed Media Art Journey have 6 part and you can use as many of them as you wish.  However when I saw them, a particular poem came to mind - Warning by Jenny Joseph.  The current prompts are make a tag, use purple, add scrap paper, add doodle, book quote and rip / cut / tear edge. I included all six.
Add a piece of copy paper used to clean a brayer to a #8 manilla tag. Seal with matte medium, dry and trim.
Add the top layer of a paper towel mop up sheet in similar colours to a second #8 manilla tag in the same way.
Use a pair of large deckle edge scissors to cut the top section off the second tag.
Glue the two tags together with the smaller tag on top.
Add stamping to the top tag section using two of the Mixed Media Journal stamps in Dusty Concord archival ink.
Add one of the Halloween Paper Dolls from Tim Holtz.
Add the first line from the poem ‘Warning’ by Jenny Joseph using a black Posca pen. Add the word purple using the Clarity Tall Letterbox Infill Alphabet down the side in Versamark ink. Heat emboss with purple embossing powder.
To finish, add doodling around the letters and along the deckle edge with a black micron pen.

Wednesday 18 November 2020

WOYWW 598: T Minus Two and Counting

 Morning.  Welcome to my weekly contribution to WOYWW, linking in with Julia as usual at Stamping Ground.  Only two weeks until the amazing 600th week of sharing desks and friendship with crafters around the world.  What a difference a week makes.  I am feeling so much better and enjoying work and crafting in equal measure.

My desk shows my daily drawing, catching up with Drawcember2018.  I plan to move onto the #inktober2019 prompts after that as I didn't take part last year.  I enjoy starting each day with a drawing.  I am so looking forward to joining in with the Zoom meetings on December 5th to celebrate the virtual crop.  Happy WOYWW, stay safe everyone.

Tuesday 17 November 2020

Jayne Nestorenko Winter Scenes Ideas

 As the new smaller version of these stamps have just been released, I decided to bring all the ideas for cards that I have made with the original larger versions together for inspiration.  Hope you like them.

The first one uses one of my favourite techniques - white embossing on kraft card.  Details can be found HERE for the step by step.

Saturday 14 November 2020

Wednesday 11 November 2020

WOYWW 597: Vertigo

Welcome to the weekly sharing of the desk which seems to come round ever more quickly.  It won't be long before we are all celebrating 600 weeks of WOYWW with Julia who keeps us in check and organises the link up each Wednesday on Stamping Ground.   

The week didn't start off so well for me with a feeling of nausea and vertigo which came and went in waves.  I spent Monday and most of yesterday in bed, but it's back to work today as it appears to have gone for now.

Luckily I had already completed the drawings for days 9 and 10 in the Drawcember2018 series.  My desk today shows the start of day 11 - ornate tree.  You may also have noticed that I have doubled my Washi storage.  I have decided to put my TH collage paper rolls and some of my most used pens and tools into the drawers as well as my Washi tape.  I managed to catch up with #1 son briefly before lockdown and drop in his birthday present and card.  He was on his way out to get a haircut so we didn't manage coffee in the garden, but are hoping to catch up after lockdown for a belated, socially distanced celebration.

I won't be visiting until tomorrow as we have a Twilight Wellbeing session after school this evening so I won't be home until later than usual.  Stay safe everyone.

Sunday 8 November 2020

#Inktober2020: Part 2

I really enjoyed participating in #inktober this year having not taking part in 2019.  It set my day up really well drawing first thing in the morning, even before work.  I even went straight to ink for a few of the drawings.  Here are the last 16 projects.

Saturday 7 November 2020

Wednesday 4 November 2020

WOYWW 596: Holiday Over

 Only another four weeks until we celebrate the 600th week of sharing desks with Julia at Stamping Ground.  I haven't been involved for nearly as long as that with WOYWW but I am so glad that my sister-in-law pointed me in the direction of this caring, sharing, world wide community of crafters.  It's never too late to join in, whether by sharing or visiting.  You can join in every week or just when you are able.

As you can see from my desk, I have been carrying on with drawing even though #inktober has finished for another year.  I decided to go back and finish the 25 prompts for #drawcember2018 as I didn't complete them at the time.  That should allow me to join in again this year with a clear conscience.  I have even ordered some more of the Daler-Rowney cartridge paper journals ready for next year, as I still have #inktober2019 and #drawcember2019 to complete too.  I can fit two year's worth of both these challenges into one book, so they will keep me going for years to come.



I thought I'd share the last four #inktober drawings that I did, although some of you may have already seen them on FB. I think that Caro probably inspired the last one.

Back to work this week and getting ready for anything that may be thrown at us during the lockdown that starts tomorrow.  I'll be along to visit in the morningas I have to drop a birthday card through the letterbox of #1 aon on the way home from work tomorrow.  We can still have a coffee in the garden (socially distanced) so it will be the last chance to catch up before lockdown.  Stay safe and happy WOYWW everyone.