I needed a quick project for today's post, so I decided to follow the advice of another crafter that I greatly admire and who blogs every day; 'Go with what you've got and don't think it has to be perfect.' So thanks, Barbara Gray, I love how this tag turned out and I still have the top layer of the paper towel to work with.
I decided to go for quick and cheerful today, so the chance to create a tag using my favourite colour combination for the fortnightly Tag Tuesday challenge, was too good to resist.
As you can tell, my favourite combination is yellow, orange and pink, so I started by adding diagonal stripes of distress inks in Fossilized Amber, Carved Pumpkin and Pick Raspberry over a #8 manilla tag.
I then used two of the stamps from the Journaling stamp set by Claritystamp (script and harlequin) to over stamp each coloured section with a coordinating Archival ink. I masked off each coloured panel in turn and used Vibrant Fuchsia, Monarch Orange and Saffron Archival ink alternating the stamps.
As I had used the Summer stamp (also by Claritystamp), which was one of the monthly stamps for 2016 for members of the New Design Club, on an art journal layout recently, I decided to stamp it at an angle along the bottom using Jet Black Archival ink. The letter uprights and leaves were then coloured using two of the pencils from the Spectrum Noir Floral set.
For my focal point, I stamped the ice lolly from the Ice Cream 1 stamp set by Craft UK onto Sheena's stamping card using Jet Black Archival ink. This was then coloured in using distress markers in the same colours as the background, fussy cut and added to the tag using foam pads for dimension.
The finishing touch was to add some ribbons; the orange and yellow ribbon is perfect because the harlequin pattern echoes the stamping in the background.
I had a session with my large gelli plate to create this background and great fun it was too. This page was created for Challenge 27 of Junk Journals Junkies and Mindful Art: Red, Aqua, Purple and Fantasy.
Having used this method of creating a background for a previous art journal layout, I decided to try it again; this time as a background for a card.
This page was completed with two challenges in mind; Art Journal Prompts Week 30: Summer and the July Claritystamp challenge: Summer Holiday. I have therefore only used Claritystamp stamps and masks.
I can honestly say that I had the best start to the summer holidays. My crafty friend and I had booked places on a Claritystamp retreat held in Crowborough Community Centre way back in February and were attending one of these two day events for the first time. These are run by the amazing Barbara Gray, ably helped out by Paul Church and a whole host of others behind the scenes from Claritystamp. We weren't too sure what to expect as it was the first time that we had been, but we couldn't have been made to feel more welcome and learnt such a great deal of different techniques and skills in a jam packed series of workshops. So here's what my desk looked like on the first morning. (If you want to know why I'm sharing my desk, visit our hostess Julia at The Stamping Ground.)
And here's my version of the project on the day (I still have some colouring and matting and layering to finish at home).
The good folk at Claritystamp had designed some new stamps just for the workshops (although I am sure they are available online too) and the first project involved practising brayering techniques. The second, using inks on a gel plate and the first afternoon saw us get into the groove with some Groovi parchment work (once again, a new Groovi plate had been designed especially for us). We had the opportunity to try out some of the more expensive snips and parchment scissors as well as the budget variety. Nothing was too much trouble. My crafty friend was always convinced she would never be able to do parchment work, yet came away with some snips and a large flower Groovi plate. The technical set up meant that all 40 crafters could clearly see the step by steps via an overhead camera and large screen; a microphone meant we could all hear every word and we also each had a sheet for each project with list of 'ingredients' and instructions to take away. As one of the few left handers there Barbara even came round to each of us fellow 'lefties' to help perfect our picot cutting. Thanks, Barbara, that really helped and I am determined to keep working on it.
The second day saw us all wielding the brayers and gel plates again, this time with acrylic paint, followed by using Alcohol inks on Yupo paper (including stamping with alcohol ink; a brand new technique for me, although I'd worked with Yupo paper before). The organisation of materials was also exemplary. As you can see from our table, each pair/person had a set of materials needed for each project and these were rotated out once finished with and the next set appeared.
From left to right, Maureen, Annettea, Carole (one of the talented Clarity DT) and Ros were all friends by the end of the two days, even though we had never met before Sunday morning.
I was given some great advice by Barbara Gray who blogs every day (I don't always manage to but try my best). 'Go with what you've got and don't aim for perfection every time.' I will be sure to follow that advice and will definitely be continuing my habit of keeping mop up sheets and offcuts to use as backgrounds for quick art work when I need a post in a hurry.
The next event is the Open Day at Leyburn, North Yorkshire on 23rd September, so my crafty friend and I will be heading up there for some more Clarity fun; maybe we'll see some of our fellow deskers there too.
This is the final card made for colleagues at work to sign. It is for a young man who has only been with us a year, but was invaluable on the recent visit to Berlin. He knows exactly what the 'in joke' message is all about; suffice it to say, we couldn't have done without him on the visit.
I decided to go for quick and cheerful today, so the chance to create a tag using my favourite colour combination for the fortnightly Tag Tuesday challenge, was too good to resist.
As you can tell, my favourite combination is yellow, orange and pink, so I started by adding diagonal stripes of distress inks in Fossilized Amber, Carved Pumpkin and Pick Raspberry over a #8 manilla tag.
As I had used the Summer stamp (also by Claritystamp), which was one of the monthly stamps for 2016 for members of the New Design Club, on an art journal layout recently, I decided to stamp it at an angle along the bottom using Jet Black Archival ink. The letter uprights and leaves were then coloured using two of the pencils from the Spectrum Noir Floral set.
For my focal point, I stamped the ice lolly from the Ice Cream 1 stamp set by Craft UK onto Sheena's stamping card using Jet Black Archival ink. This was then coloured in using distress markers in the same colours as the background, fussy cut and added to the tag using foam pads for dimension.
The second day saw us all wielding the brayers and gel plates again, this time with acrylic paint, followed by using Alcohol inks on Yupo paper (including stamping with alcohol ink; a brand new technique for me, although I'd worked with Yupo paper before). The organisation of materials was also exemplary. As you can see from our table, each pair/person had a set of materials needed for each project and these were rotated out once finished with and the next set appeared.
