Merry Christmas

Hi, I have had such a busy month that my Clarity Challenge Card is only just finished.

It is a "Clean and Simple" challenge this month,

I used a circular stencil and one of my favourite Clarity Stamps, Forest Ridge for the trees. Added a moon mask and using Clarity Stencil brushes and Adirondack inks coloured the sky. Over stamped with Father Christmas and his reindeers. Added some pencil shading around the stencil apeture and finally stamped Merry Christmas.



Thank you for visiting

Kathy xx

Clarity Stamp Challenge - Stencils

Hi, today I have my card for the Clarity Stamps Challenge, this month using Stencils.

I thought that I would use my neglected Gelli plate for this. I started out by adding some distress inks in shades of brown to my Gelli plate and taking a print. My idea was to give some colour to the Clarity Stamp trellis stencil. I then added some Paperartsy paints in lines to the Gelli plate, Greens in the foreground, taupe  and blues. Then added the trellis stencil and took my print, I loved the dark and moody look to my card. I took several more prints with the paint that was left on the Gelli plate so I have plenty of backgrounds ready in my stash. I had planned to add flowers to my trellis using various stencils, I started with the Poppies Stencil in the foreground and I pulled some grunge paste through it. I loved the effect of the poppies on their own, to create more of a picture, with the Gelli paint background suggesting green fields, distant hills and blue sky, that I decided less is more and didn't add the extra flowers to my trellis. I coloured the poppies with Spectrum noir pencils and added some banks of red poppies into the background too.

The poppies are so relevant at the moment with Remembrance Day approaching, I chose to add the "Remember" from the Word Chains and to finish my card I mounted it on a white background. This brings to mind the amazing display of poppies at the Tower of London last year, sadly I didn't manage to visit.

As my card has the beautiful poppies created with grunge paste I am also entering it into the Country View Crafts blog Challenge - Add some Texture.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my design

Kathy xx

Clarity Stamp Challenge - Shaped Cards

Hi today I have my shaped card for the Clarity Stamp September Blog Challenge

My design is a parchment using Groovi designs for Christmas. Love the Jolly Santa and the Christmas Dove of Peace. Some colouring with Spectrum Noir pencils. I added decorative edgings, Snowflakes and holly, and using the Christmas Tree added the background to the dove and wording Peace, Ho Ho Ho for the Jolly Santa and Season's Greetings with the snowflakes. I backed my parchment with a piece of card coloured with Fresco paints and finally a piece of kraft card.

This has been the hardest project to photograph, it is difficult to get the parchment work detail to show clearly in my photo.

Here are some more pictures, this one taken outside shows the complete card with the three panels.

I think that enlarging the pictures may help to see the details clearer.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my design.

Kathy xx

Orange Pigment Powder

Hi, today my card is for the PaperArtsy blog challenge - Pigment Powders

I have some color burst pigment powders, and they have remained unused as I was not sure how to get started with them. PaperArtsy blog challenge has been such a revelation, with some super ideas to try. I had a go at the sprinkle the powder on the paper and spritz your stamp technique, just not happy with how it turned out, I need to select the stamp more carefully I think.

The technique that I used for my card was blogged by Catherine Johnson, stamp with black and add clear embossing then wet the area where you want to add pigment powder, I used a JOFY stamp and orange powder. Then I puffed some powder onto my card and spritzed with water for the splattered background effect. I added a Happy Birthday stamp and a background painted with PaperArtsy paints, Brown shed, Autumn Fire and Pumpkin Soup. I love how this has turned out and will be trying this technique again.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my design

Kathy xx

Up, Up and Away with a twist

Hi, today I have my entry for the Stamps and Stencils blog challenge,

Up, Up and Away with a twist, using Autumn colours.

So it was out with my PaperArtsy paints. I am usually a blue and green colour choice, so this was a distinct change for me. There is Pumpkin Soup, Butternut, Autumn Fire, Smoked Paprika and Haystack in the background. I stencilled over that with numbers using the bumping technique with Brown shed and Vanilla. TH Wildflower stencil is in the background using Ground Espresso DI. TH Harlequin stencil on two of the corners, a PaperArtsy HP script stamp using Vanilla paint over the background. I stamped the sentiment using Ground Espresso DI as I love the colour, but I think that it would have been a better choice to have used an Archival ink, just didn't have the colour I wanted. Still, I outlined it with white pen to help lift it more clearly from my colourful background. I added a seperate piece of card using foam pads to raise it up for dimension. It is coloured with Distress inks and stamped with the script stamp. The lovely bird stamp from PaperArtsy Hot Picks, more wildflowers stencil and finished with the postcard top from the new Christmas set by Sara Naumann.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my design, thank you for taking the time to comment, I love to read them.

I have also found that my design will suit the Country View Crafts blog challenge, Numbers.
So I have entered my design there too. As well as the lovely large stencilled numbers using a Tim Holtz Stencil, there are some smaller numbers stamped on the background in Distress Inks which have not shown up very well in my photograph.

Kathy xx

Clarity Stamp Challenge - Bingo

Hi, today sees my design for the Clarity Stamp Challenge
This month it is a bingo theme, choose any three in a row.
I have chosen to use, the middle line, Grunge Paste, Stencils and Stamps, my favourite combo.

My background is made using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints brayered on, a mix of blue oyster, mermaid, south pacific and moonlight and lilac all layered up. First I used the clarity alphabet stencil and blue oyster paint, then added the grunge paste through the Clarity Stencil, Seed Heads. I left that to dry and then added the Gerbera stamp to the right hand side. I used grunge paste through the trellis stencil again on the right hand side, and continued this towards the left side using snowflake paint. I edged my design with London Night paint, a lovely violet grey, now discontinued. Over the trellis stencil I added some Dotty Wave dots in lilac. I added some colour to the grunge paste with paints and Spectrum Noir pencils. Then stamped the Wee Folk Fairy sitting on a seed head looking at the stars. I used "Imagine" from the word chains to finish my design.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my design

Kathy xx

Clouded Yellow Butterfly

Hi, today is my design for the Stamps and Stencils blog challenge - Time Flies -

My design is using PaperArtsy paints for the background brayered on randomly, then I used a Clarity Stamps Alphabet Stencil with blue oyster paint, various PaperArtsy stamps using distress inks and snowflake paint. The main focus of my background is a Clarity Stamp Stencil of clock parts stenciled using Cinnamon paint. I added my sentiment ... every minute is a possibility ...  for the hungry caterpiller heading towards the flowers, stamped on card and cut out. The card was coloured using distress ink sprays. With the completion of the life cycle a beautiful butterfly. Coloured in shades of yellow and brown to remind me of the Clouded Yellow butterfly that I was lucky enough to see on monday, 17th August.


I am going to enter this design into the PaperArtsy Blog Challenge - Circles- too where I was inspired by the design from Gabrielle journalling circles.


Thank you for visiting and reading about my design,

I was so lucky to have my design chosen in the Top 3 of the Stamps and Stencils blog challenge and to have been randomly chosen on the PaperArtsy blog challenge. Thrilled. 

Kathy xx

Frilly and Funkie : Things with Wings

Hi, today I have a card for the Frilly and Funkie blog challenge. My first time creating a card for this challenge, "Things with Wings" I have a beautiful butterfly stamp from Tim Holtz which looks super and plenty of space to add colour this time using Spectrum Noir Pencils, which I thought would fit the brief.

My butterfly is stamped onto a background made using the rubbing alcohol technique detailed on Wendy Vecchi's blog. I do not, at present, have the picket fence distress spray stain, so substituted with Abandoned Coral and two shades of blue Archival Inks, the result is very soft colours. I overstamped with some PaperArsty stamps using Memento inks. My butterfly was stamped again onto white card and coloured, then fussy cut out and attached by it's body using foam pads to give some dimension. The pink and blue background has been mounted onto a white card that has been coloured with Fresco Finish paints from PaperArtsy using a brayer. There are various colours, blue oyster, moonlight, and hyde park are three that I can remember. To complete my card I have added a sentiment form the Tim Holtz Perspective stamp set, which includes the lovely butterfly. The background stamping is clearer if you enlarge my photo.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my design.

Kathy xx

Less is More - Berry Colours

Hi, today I have my design for the Less is More blog challenge
This week it is a COLOUR Challenge using berry colours

Well, Berry Colours are some of my favourite colours, so just had to create a card for this week. I used Distress Inks to make the background, Seedless Preserves and Shaded Lilac. Then made some coloured card with DI Seedless Preserves and Pickled Raspberry so that I could stamp the flower design and cut out the flowers. Then I stamped the flower design on to my background card and added the cut out flowers on foam pads for some dimension. Finally stamped "Thanks" in a dark shade of purple.

Thanks for visiting and reading about my design.

Kathy xx

PaperArtsy Challenge : Flowers

Hi, today my blog post is for the PaperArtsy blog challenge : Flowers.

I was inspired by the post a few days ago, although I enjoy seeing all the inspirational designs.
The post was by Anneke De Clerk I loved the lovely bright and cheerful canvas design.
Additionally, I am a huge fan of Sue Carrington and her deisgns, so there is some of her design influence too.

I started with a brayer backgound, Fresco finish paints, guacamole, sherbert, bora bora, chalk, spanish mulberry and lilac. Then stamped various Ellen Vargo, Sara Naumann script stamps and the lovely flowers. The leaf edging is from JoFY and the stems are by Darcy. There is a stencil in the background of seed heads painted through, and a grunge paste "Secret Garden" stencil by Lin Brown. To lift my design I added the circle stamps in DI seedless preserves. The leaves and stems were coloured with distress markers. Finally, the stamped sentiment "Art in Bloom" was added stamped on a piece of scrap card that had been coloured in DI berry colours, cut out and stuck down. The flowers were stamped on first and then stamped on to the berry coloured card and fussy cut out, buttons were added for their centres, I decided to leave the buttons white for contrast, they were fixed to my design with foam pads to give some dimension.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my design.

Kathy xx

Less is More : Snippets

Today my card is for the Less Is More blog challenge,

It is recipe week and using "Snippets"

I have used my snippet for the cupcakes, over stamping a piece of scrap lilac card that I had cut off from an earlier project and was still on my craft table, I fussy cut the cupcakes out and stuck down on my card.

The cupcakes have a glitter pen added to the line art, just a subtle shine, but not very noticable in my photo.
Then I stamped a frame around three times in various shades of purple, with "Happy Birthday" and some shading to add depth around the frame and cupcakes. Stamp set from Waltzingmouse Stamps, "Frame It"

I would like to wish Happy Birthday to Chrissie on her special day !!

Thank you for visiting and reading about my card.

Kathy xx

Clarity Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

Today my blog post is for the Clarity Stamp Challenge, 

This month it is "Anything Goes" which is handy as I have made a Birthday Book.
I used to religiously write up my birthdays on next years calendar, something went wrong this year and I seem to have missed out August completely. So, I thought that it must be time for a proper job, and decided to make myself a Birthday Book.

Front

Using Clarity stamps, and masks and coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils. Lots of distress inks in the background and sky, using Clarity stencil brushes to ink in the hills and clouds. A second generation stamped tree in the background. I love how the poppies stamp has worked to make a ribbon  along the base underneath the children dancing and playing.

The back was made by repeat stamping the lovely floral corner, so William Morris, another favourite stamp, colouring with Spectrum Noir pencils and edging with Distress inks.

 

Back

I laced the front and back together with pages between for the months and dates to fill in.

Then I made a couple of tags ready for up and coming birthdays.

I love the heart stamp and the "Happy Birthday" sentiment. The bows are coloured with matching Distress inks and then scrunched up.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my designs

Kathy xx

Less is More : Life's a Beach

Hi, today my post is for the Less is More Blog Challenge

Theme : Life's a Beach

Stamps are from Waltzingmouse Stamps, "My Island" a lovely set of stamps. When I think of a relaxing beach there are always palm trees, beautiful sunsets, turquoise gently lapping sea, (no huge rolling waves) and lots of space to enjoy it all, my tropical paradise, not like today persistantly raining.

My card was stamped using various Distress Inks and black archival, second generation stamping for the palm trees, my sand effect was dusted in with a Clarity stencil brush and DI tea dye ink.

Thank you for visiting.

Kathy xx

Less is More : Masculine one layer card

Hi, todays card is for the Less is More Blog Challenge
This week it is masculine and a one layer card.

My card is worked using  a white 7 x 7 card blank coloured with Clarity Jo's Bubbles Stencil using Distress inks, Stormy Sky, Twisted Citron and Cracked Pistachio. I stamped the saxophone, musical notes and Happy Birthday in Black Archival ink, all Clarity Stamps.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my card

Kathy xx

Paperartsy Stencils

Hi, the current Paperartsy blog challenge is stencils.
This was inspired by Sue Carrington's Vintage Journal design on the Paperartsy blog

Paperartsy Fresco paints in blues and greens brayered onto my card and then stenciled with some Lin Brown designs and overstamped with numbers and circles, Ellen Vargo, Lin Brown and Darcy stamps and a script stamp from Lynne Perrella. I added the sentiment stamped onto tissue paper to get a clearer stamped image

I have only recently found Fresco paints and just love using them, this is my first Paperartsy blog challenge entry. I am enjoying the new releases and techniques showcased on their blog with my wish list getting ever longer !!

Thanks for visiting and reading about my design.

Kathy xx

Less is More - Colour Challenge

Hi today I have my card design for the Less is More blog challenge, this week it is a colour challenge using Red, White and Blue

Made using Clarity Stamps and stencils, I wanted a softer stencilled heart in the background and the stamped heart as the foreground focal image. I gave the stamped heart a surrounding of shadow to lift it, and coloured using Spectrum Noir pencils. I thought that red and blue work well with a heart, red for the passion and firey heart and blue for heartfelt sadness, emotions that can be so closely linked, two sides of the coin.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my design.

Kathy xx

52CCT Mixed Media Too

Hi, well I had to make use of my darker background, and this is it, entered into the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown Challenge.

The background is various Fresco Paints brayered onto card. Then overstamped with snowflakes, dots, harlequin diamonds and some circles for good measure. Then stencilled over that with bubble circles. I had a snowflake stamped over a light section centrally on the card and thought that would make a good star over a nativity scene, which would be dark in the night time. So I stamped in black archival ink, the Nativity and some palm trees. Merry Christmas sentiment added with a distress inked background.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my second card.

Kathy xx

Less is More - Sketch

Hi, today I have my entry for the Less is More Sketch Challenge

Using Clarity stencil through a square apeture and distress inks "tumbled glass" to colour. Stamped Clarity Stamps flowers in the squares and coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils and used a white pen for highlights on the silhouette stamps.

I made a rectangular block below the flowers with distress inks and stamped "Thanks" stamp from Waltzingmouse Stamps in black with white pen highlights.

This is the sketch design.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my card.

Kathy xx

52 CCT - Mixed Media

Hi, today's crafting is for the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown Challenge.

This week it is mixed media, sounds like fun.

I am quite new to mixed media but have purchased some acrylic paints and stencils to play with, so they might do as a starter.
I used Paperartsy Fresco paint, coloured the background then stamped over the holly leaves in green archival ink, using a stencil I added the lilac paint shapes and overstamping with white paint the script. I made tags to match and added diecut Christmas Stockings. Stamped the sentiment, Merry Chritmas edged this with distress inks and attached to my card which I mounted on a contrasting mount. This is a bright colour combo, my first background started out much darker, so I started again for the above card with a lighter colour pallette.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my card design.

Kathy xx

Clarity Stamps Challenge : Boys, boys, boys

Hi, today I have my entry for the Clarity Stamps Challenge Blog, theme : Boys, boys, boys.

This took me a while to decide on what to create. My first thought was a "Gone Fishing" sign to hang up by the front door. I spent a good while finding clarity stamps and stencils got the board ready and then saw Barbara's blog on the Gelli plate and Fresco paints, and I was veering off in a completely different direction.

I actually started this piece with the gelli plate and fresco paints and Clarity stencils and 7x7 gelli card, they are all there underneath. I peeled my print with a lighter section in the middle using the flare frame stencil, it just didn't inspire me, so I picked up my brayer and rolled on some guacamole paint and then blue oyster, this was definitely more fun, topping with Hey pesto, green and South Pacific, blue paint. I had completely covered the gelli card. I stamped some numbers, diamonds and circle shape of the journaling set using distress inks. Then I was thinking that I would use this as a cover for a journal as a gift for a nature loving, and fishing friend. Stamped the landscape background complete with the fisherman and the word chain "Journal" in black ink. Added some highlights with dots through the dotty wave stencil. Folded in half and added some watercolour paper pages with ties to hold in place. Then added the twine to hold shut, and hold a pencil in place.

Back of Journal

I have enjoyed making this project so much I am going to use a lilac and blue paint mix and flower stamps to make a garden journal.

Thank you for visiting and reading about my design, and welcome to my new follower, Jo.
Kathy xx