Winter Sport

I'm entering this card  for the Clarity Stamp October Challenge. The theme of the challenge is winter. I used a piece of A5 Clarity coated card and created the sky using a brayer and stonewash Adirondack ink over one of the moon/sun masks (which I bought from the Clarity stand at the Stamp Magic show in Doncaster) and some cotton wool soaked in Versamark ink for wispy clouds. The trees and snowflakes are from a set of small Christmas stamps, the waymarker from the remountable waymarker set, the skiers are from the Sport set and the words from the letterbox kit. I also bought the new set of boxes for the letters at Doncaster. I've just used stonewash and denim for all the stamping. The main picture is matted onto another piece of Clarity card stamped with the snowflake. Finally I drew a border round the scene and background with a China Blue Promarker.

Catching Up

Its been a while since I had time to write anything on my blog but I haven't been idle on the card making front although holidays and tidying up the garden have slowed me down.  Here are a couple of birthday cards I made in September.

First a card I made for my husband's 65th birthday.  He is a keen photographer and loves taking photos in our garden of any wildlife. Butterflies were a favorite this summer so I used a photo he was particularly proud of for the central image on his birthday card.  For the background I used the foliage, birds, cat and squirrel stamps from the Clarity bird table set and the letter box kit. I was very pleased with the finished card.

 Secondly a card for my grandson's 6th birthday.  He is Super Hero mad so when I found this spider man image at a show I had to use it to build a card around.  The background is made using shades of blue and a brick wall stamp which looks very effective.  My grandson was impressed and says I am the best card maker ever, and I'm happy with that even if he is biased!!!

Cats on the prowl

I spent an enjoyable few days playing with gilding flakes recently.  I've had a number of pots for quite a while and never really got to grips with using them so I set myself up on the dining room table and tried out various ideas some of which worked and some didn't work so well but how do you know until you try?  For this card I created a background using the Clarity Stamp small sprig stamp (one of the stamps I got with my prize money) glue and gilding flakes and I'm quite pleased with end result which I then matted onto black card.  I then stamped the Clarity Stamp wrought iron cat stamp onto black card using glue and gilding flakes again and some small gems for their eyes.  I cut out three individual cats and placed them onto the background card with pinflair so they are slightly raised.  The thank you Clarity club stamp is gold embossed onto a black background to finish off the card.  The overall effect is best seen with the light catching it to show the shine on the gilding flakes and I hope the photo does it justice.  I am entering this card for the August Clarity Stamp Challenge Animals theme.

Meadow Cottage Bears

This is a card similar to the one I made for my Granddaughter's first birthday last year. I usually make at least 2 and usually 3 versions of the same card with slight differences and then decide which one I want to give.  The card is made using a Meadow Cottage Bears digi stamp coloured with promarkers and matted onto silver mirri card.  For the background I embossed a lattice design onto some centura pearl card brushed with Spun Sugar Distress Ink and matted onto silver mirri card and then onto some white card shaded with Spun Sugar round the edges.  I placed white satin ribbon and around the lattice background.  The base card is an 8 x 8 white scalloped card with pink pearl pva glue dots around the edge.  I am entering this card for the Crafters Companion Blog Challenge for August, Animals are everywhere.
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1920s lady

The main image for this card is stamped in Wow Gold Embossing Powder and coloured with gold and honeysuckle Promarkers.  The topper was then mounted onto a spellbinder die and the edges have been coloured with Aderondack Peach Bellini.  I've used some black card matted onto gold mirri card and cut the trellis in gold mirri card using a die and some gold ribbon across the middle hides the join.  The flourish was cut from black and gold mirri card and I 've made the flowers from some circular cut card.  I am entering this card into the Crafts to Challenge You Twist 2.  Not entirely sure of the decade but I would guess 1920s and unfortunately the photo doesn't do justice to the card it looks better in real life.

Donkeys on the Beach

This card has given me a chance to practice some techniques, and I admit its probably the 4th version/ attempt to get something I felt was worth submitting for the July Clarity Stamp Challenge Oh I do like to be beside the sea theme.  I used the Clarity silk card and masked a border on all 4 sides stamping the Bunnies into the border then masking when dry.  I brayered Aderondack Stonewash and Denim for the sky after using cotton wool soaked in Versamark to make some wispy clouds.  For the sea I used Aderondack Pool and darkened with some of the leftover denim, running the brayer over some scrunched up paper to get texture for the water. For the sand I made a wavy template and brayered Mustard Seed Distress ink onto the card and then added some shading with Aderondack Peach Bellini, Tea Dye Distress ink for the sand dunes and meadow for the grasses from the Bunnies Set and the top of the Cow Parsley Clarity club stamp.  The flocks of flying birds are hand drawn with as black pen, the boat is hand drawn as demonstrated by Barbara in the April 2013 Create and Craft show (after several tries on scrap paper).  I've added some glitter around the shoreline for shingle and stamped the donkeys from the Countryside set onto the beach and finally the thank you stamp which was the last Clarity Club stamp. I drew a border around the picture and used the thick end of a Gold Promarker to edge the card and then matted onto some turquoise card.

Summer Sizzler

I think the colours on this card certainly sizzle just like the weather over the last few weeks which we have enjoyed here so I am entering it for the Country View Crafts Challenge Summer Sizzler.  For the card I've used some hot citrus colours. I die cut the trellis and coloured with Mustard Seed Distress ink.  The main image was printed from a CD by Jane Shaskey.  I don't own many craft CDs or do much CD crafting but find I go back to this one for numerous occasions both for male and female cards.