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!

Getting Ready for Christmas

The prompt over on Try it on Tuesday is Get Ready for Christmas so I thought I would share these gift tags.

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.

I started by adding Ocean Reef and Indian Jamun Artistry inks onto a blending mat.  The ink was smoothed out with a brayer, given a light mist of water, then the A4 card was laid over the top and pressed down.  I also managed to get a second background from the same ink on a piece of copy paper.

Next, I sprinkled Pixie Powders in Purple Violet, Teal wash, Midnight Blue and White Pearl onto the background,  misted several times with water and allowed the colours to spread and run.  I dried the card with a heat gun.

Using Clarity stencil brushes, The edges were covered with the same Artistry inks as before.

Finally,  I watered down some silver Izink pigment ink and used a fan brush to add spatters of silver all over the card.  Once again,  I dried the card with a heat gun.

The master board was then cut into 7cm x 7cm squares (12 in total) and the edges darkened with Ocean Reef ink on a blending tool.

Using a combination of stamps from the Mini Word Chains by Clarity Crafts (13&14),  I stamped greetings in Versamark ink and heat embossed them in silver EP.  I made three toppers using each greeting.  Merry Christmas

 Season's Greetings.

Peace on earth at Christmas.

And finally,  Happy Christmas.

To finish, I just needed to glue the toppers to some pre made 3" x 3" card blanks.  They each come with an envelope, so they can be used as gift tags for presents or can be sent as miniature Christmas cards.

I love how each topper is so different despite being created from the same sheet of card.

Small and Sparkly Christmas Floral Round

For my final sample using the Linda's Christmas Floral Rounds stamps and masks from Clarity Crafts, I went small and sparkly. I was in such a rush to get them posted that I forgot to take a photo of the finished card.  Thanks to Jilly at Clarity for saving the day.

November PTC: November Rain/Beige

The prompt for the November PTC swap over on Clarity Crafts Mini Makes and ATCs is November Rain, and the colour is beige. This is what I sent to my swap partner.

WOYWW 858/78: The Calm Before the Storm

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. 

Sending Neet well wishes and continued healing hugs. Hope she is feeling better.

My desk shows some goodies that my Mum gave me when she was tidying - I thought they would be useful for those of you who make for charity so if you want to let me know I can get them popped in the post next week.

I have been busy filling and labelling the storage boxes that I bought in the Clarity half price sale.

I have completed the outside of my autumn jigsaw but won't get much further now until after the Open Days.

I don't know where last week went, considering that it was supposed to be a relaxing one.  I had recorders on Saturday and yesterday afternoon and made sure I filled up the car ready for my very early start tomorrow as I head down to Ditton in Kent for the Open Days and Barb's workshop.  I won't be back until Monday evening as I shall not rush the journey back and will probably call over at Mum's on the way through.  Sorry I was so late visiting last week.  I shall endeavour to do my visits before I leave, otherwise it will probably be next Tuesday before I manage.

Stay safe and Happy WOYWW.