FAIRY GLADE

 
        Challenge time again at Claritystamps. I am late again this month getting my entry completed, every month I promise myself to be organised but sadly does not always happen. I must admit I have been trying to make the most of the pleasant weather we have been having by enjoying some days out with my husband.
        Anyway the challenge for this month , or what is left of it, is to design something using the Wee Folk stamps. This is a cute stamp range by Clarity that is so useful. If you have not seen them they are small figures that can easily be incorporated into any design. After a lot of thought I opted to use the recently released fairy and elves stamps. 
         I have to confess to forgetting to take some pictures as I assembled this card, so will just have to show you the finished result this time,with a few explainations. 


                          

             

      This is the bottom section, I used the toadstool stamp but added a few alterations to it. I drew in chimneys, door and windows, to make them look like little fairy houses.  Cute. The path was created from a stamp in the journaling set and of course an elf maybe hurrying home for tea.

       Fairy in top corner flying around on a butterfly, taken from the butterfly tree set. Hope she was not meant to getting tea but of course could use magic. Wish I could sometimes.  The branches are another stamp from the journal set, such a useful little set of stamps.

      

   

  

           Closer view of the toadstool houses, I added some glitter glue on the roof. 

                      

       Completed card with some more sparkle in the branches. I also used versamark ink on the moon with some pearl white pan pastel rubbed over. Gives it a bit of moonshine. Not easy to see in the photo. Think I need to improve on my photos they never look how I want them to. 

Stamps used are-------Remountable-Wee-Folk-3-Fairies-Clear-Stamp-Set

                                         Remountable-Wee-Folk-4-Elves-Clear-Stamp-Set

                                         Toadstool-Clear-Stamp-

                                        Remountable-Journaling-Clear-Stamp-Set

       Think I shall save this card for my great niece later in the year. Do have a look at the Clarity challenge blog there are always amazing entries each month and you still have time to enter.  Thankyou for visiting. 

   

SUNNY DAY OUT

         Well the sun has finally decided to shine. The last few days have been wonderful and we decided to make the most of the weather today. My husband and I ( gosh sound like the Queen now) went out for the day. We are National Trust members so wanted to make use of our membership. So we went off to Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire. The grounds are wonderful, probably helped by the sunshine and the Hall enormous. 
          We also had a lunch in their restaurant, which was lovely. I was very tempted by the gorgeous cakes later in the afternoon but resisted as I am on Slimming World diet and weigh in day looms. 

       There were loads of lambs running around, really makes you feel summery. So cute.

                                 
                                   Lovely to hear the water gushing under this bridge.

                    Was this the Lord of the Manor, no just my husband posing for photo.

                Front view of the Hall. We enjoyed our visit but would say it is a place more for adults, most children would soon get a little restless. Plenty of open space for a picnic though.

MONOCHROME BIRTHDAY CARD

   
       Another Birthday today in our family. This time our lovely son-in-law Anthony was in the spotlight. We love a Birthday and always try to make sure we all visit the lucky person, so several family members gathered at our daughter's house this afternoon. The only one missing in fact was our son Guy who is sunning himself in Benidorm.  Heather, our grandaughter, had made her dad a cake. Very clever, she had baked it in a  MARIO shaped tin and decorated appropriately. 
        Of course I made a card for him. Oh dear, men's cards always a little more tricky, they don't really want lots of flowers and butterflies , do they?  So I chose a wonderful stamp by Claritystamps, the Filigraphy leaf.  Looks as if I have spent ages doing Zentangle but actually all done for me in the stamp. 
        I decided to just use black and white, always looks very smart. I just stamped the image once and mounted that onto some black card. Then I used the middle section of the stamp several times and cut out the central leaf. Mounted again onto black card and placed at the side of the full image. 
    
                             

  

        Hope you like this, quite a quick card  but also suitable for a man. By the way cake was lovely, we all tried it. 

SOMETHING NEW------ For Me Anyway!!

      I have been to my very first workshop this weekend. I have promised myself to go ever since retiring two years ago but somehow have not managed it. Anyway off I went on Saturday, had to go to Nottingham but that was fine it is not far away. I had booked a place at Clarity East Midlands workshop which is run by Sally-Ann Hanes. I was a little nervous, but everyone was very friendly and soon made me feel welcome. 
      We had been sent an e-mail telling us what we would be doing. I have to admit on seeing that I thought HELP. We were to be creating a canvas, something I have not done before. I am creative but not artistic so was a little worried. Also I tend to like things to be precise so splashing paint and grunge paste about was a bit out of my comfort zone.  No worries though--- I really enjoyed myself. We used stencils,punches charms glitter and flowers to create our works of art, also discovered gilding wax which is wonderful. 
                    
                                           

         This is my finished canvas, I am quite pleased with it for a first attempt. There are a few things I would do differently next time but that is all part of the learning process. I will certainly be trying some more. I saw some wonderful creations by the other ladies and that has given me some ideas.  Anyway thankyou very much to Sally-Ann for all the advice and also to Kim who keeps us supplied with many cups of tea and coffee. 

      It does not really need me to say that I have booked my place for next month and I am counting the days till I can go and play again. It is lovely to spend the day with other like minded people. I will share with you what we create next time.