Rainbow Funky Christmas Trees

 I bought the smaller set of Sam's Tree stamps at the recent Clarity Open Days and finally had time to have a play.  I had to go with my favourite rainbow colours for my first sample.

Snowflake and Snow Globe Art Journal page

The prompt over on Try It On Tuesday is Snowflakes, so I thought this art journal page would fit the bill.

I cut a piece of mixed media card to fit my large art journal (slightly smaller than A4).  I added a thin layer of Ice Blue acrylic paint (DoCrafts), to my page.

I stamped all the Snowflake stamps from Clarity Crafts (now discontinued) in Versamark ink and heat embossed them in detail white embossing powder, leaving space to add the focal point at the appropriate step. 

I then masked off two of the snowflakes from the Peace, Noel and Snowflakes A5 stencil (NDSC #6).  I dragged silver Dreamweaver embossing paste through the apertures in several places.  While they were drying, I worked on my focal image.

The Snow Globe Outline stamp was stamped onto a piece of stencil card in Versamark ink and heat embossed in silver EP.

I created a scene within the globe using some of the Let It Snow Miniatures.  The trees were stamped in Smokey Grey Versafine ink and the tobogganers  added in Onyx Black. A small Spot mask created the moon and Broken China Distress ink was brushed across the sky using a Clarity stencil brush.  A little grey was added around the top of the globe.  The Mountains & Hills mask and the same grey was used to create shadows on the snow.  The Snow Globe was then fussy cut and Sparkle pens used to add Icy Blue and Silver onto the base of the globe.

I had already used sparkle pens on the base, now I added Versamark ink all over the top of the snow globe glass and heat embossed in a clear sparkly EP.

The finished focal point was added to the page and the area around it sealed with matt medium.  Once dry,  a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pen was used to add shading around and below the image, blended out with a Pergamano blending pen and nib.

I added a quote about winter.  I stamped the key word in the same way as the snowflakes, using the Winter stamp from the Treescape & Seasons stamp set.  The rest of the quote was handwritten in the same Pitt Artist pen as before.  I mixed some of the Icy Blue sparkle pen with water and used a fan brush to add subtle splatters.

I added three strips of various widths and length of washi tape across the bottom of the page to complete it.

WOYWW 860/80: Busier Than Ever

Welcome to the weekly sharing of desks which is WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?), the brainchild of Julia, who kindly entrusted it to me to continue after the first 15 years of togetherness.  Please feel free to link up your desk and visit others' - we are a friendly bunch. 

Continuing to send Neet well wishes and healing hugs as she is still in hospital for a bit longer. Hope she improving.

My desk shows the results of the afternoon workshop that Eva and I attended on Saturday.  Porcelain Christmas decorations ready for firing.  We are intending to organise at least two more workshops after Christmas and I will be taking Clarity stamps with me to decorate now I know this is possible. 

Sorry for the bumper #dailyart2025 update.  

Had a rehearsal for the Christmas busking / concert yesterday with the u3a group in Lichfield.  I took my fingerless gloves so I could get used to playing in them.  I seem to be busier than ever - meeting up with family, crafting and additional workshops.  Looking forward to one with Tilly Tea Dance on 6th December.  People say that they don't know how they fitted in work after they retire and I never thought it would be true, but I now see what they mean.

Stay safe and Happy WOYWW.

Christmas Woodland Scene

 I had a play with one of the Autumn/Winter Skies toppers and the new Woodland Scene stamps in combination with one of the November Clarity New Design Club stamps.  Here is how it turned out.

Favourite Poppet Projects

 I love the range of Poppet stamps and printed toppers licensed by Clarity and designed by Marina Fedotova.  I thought I would highlight some of my favourite makes (among many) using some of the range.  As usual links to the original step by step are below each photo.

Printed parchment does all the hard work (see HERE),

An Experiment with Hot Foil and Masking Fluid

 Barbara Gray often says 'What if?' so I decided to follow her example and see if I could combine hot foiling with the use of masking fluid using the October Clarity New Design Club stencil.  It worked really well foiling first.

Big Bloom Thank You

 I was inspired by Eileen Godwin and Barbara's new stamps to create this clean and simple thank you card.

Merry Christmas Pines

 I decided to combine the October Clarity New Design Club stamp with some trees from the Just Woodland and Birds stamps to create this small clean and simple Christmas card with a touch of bling.

Mid Month Mini Make November

 The mid month challenge over on Clarity Crafts Mini Makes and ATCs is to create a piece 6" x 6" or smaller using your favourite colour with a touch of beige and the theme of self care.  This is what I came up with.

WOYWW 859/79: And Breathe

Welcome to the weekly sharing of desks which is WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?), the brainchild of Julia, who kindly entrusted it to me to continue after the first 15 years of togetherness.  Please feel free to link up your desk and visit others' - we are a friendly bunch. 

Continuing to send Neet well wishes and healing hugs as she is in hospital for a bit longer. Hope she is feeling better.

My desk shot today is of my desk at Barbara Gray's workshop on Sunday before we started.  The inky make and takes went down really well and there were 164 cards made over the two Open Days. I blogged what we did on Monday if anyone wants to check them out.

Eileen Godwin, Grace Gray and Jane Telford

Lisa (designer) and Jilly (in charge of DT and more)

Jane, Linda Williams and Tina Morris

Catherine and Deb 

Glynnis on snip clinic!

Jazz (designer) and mum Lee)

I still have to finish putting away all my lovely new stash, so will show you the finished items from the workshop next week as well as you catch up with my #dailyart2025 drawings.

I will leave you with the two beautiful new Raku birds from Barbara's pottery studio which I could not resist adding to my collection.  It was a very tiring but highly rewarding few days.  I drove back on Monday and had a long lie in yesterday!
Stay safe and Happy WOYWW.

Happy Birthday Son

My eldest son had a birthday earlier this month.  This is the card that I made for him.

Clarity Make and Takes November 2025

 In case there was anyone who didn't make it to Ditton for the Clarity Open Days, I thought I would share the projects that I prepared for the inky Make and Takes.

#dailyart2025: November Part I

Working my way through my seventh Clarity Petite watercolour journal with my #dailyart2025, following the prompts on the 365 Days of Drawing Prompts and Other Art FB page. Here are my drawings for the first half of November.

I was 18 and in my first year at university.

Not sure which one is scarier.

If this year is anything to go by it's looking promising.

Watching the news is not good for my mental health!