Hello, what a wonderful day it has been today. Glorious sunshine here in the Midlands, hope you have had the same. It inspired my husband to spend some time in the garden and for the first time this year we opened up the patio doors. Just watching forecast though, it is not going to last. Shame but hey hopefully will be back.
I am able to get into the conservatory as well without having to put heat on which is a bonus. I am continuing on my mission to make sure I use each month's club items, so here goes with the stamp from February. I have to admit when I first saw it I did wonder how to use it but then I looked at the design sheet that came with it. I liked both designs but after watching the wonderful doodle shows yesterday I chose to extend the tree like Dee did.
I started by placing an oval stencil on the piece of card and taping down securely. Then I stamped the Twisted tree stamp in the middle., I used black Archival ink.
Can you see why I was a bit unsure about this stamp.
Next I wanted to use some Colour burst powders to give a random splash of colour in the middle. This is why I used the stencil, in an attempt to contain them. When sprinkling these powders hold them a little distance from the card and just tap the bottle lightly. They are very vibrant to say the least. Lastly spritz with some water again take it steady and make sure you have used a card that will take the water. Clarity stencil card is very good.
This is what I achieved.
Success I kept the colour in the oval. Next task was to sit and extend the branches on the tree. Just follow the way they go using a fine black Micron pen.Then fill in the branches with the doodling. It is so relaxing to sit and do this.
I also went around the outside of the oval with a wiggly line, much easier to do than trying to draw a solid line.
I drew some little birds in the trees, Barbara Gray showed us how to do these. Then added the little boy on his swing and dad trying to get him home for tea.
I enjoyed making this card and just shows that you need to try a stamp before deciding whether you like it. Thank-you Dee Paramour for the initial inspiration, now I need to try Maria's idea. Just got to use last month's stencil and Groovi plate now.
That's all for today, I am off to try a bit more doodling now.
Bye xx
Last week I went along to the Craft show at the NEC, I usually go with both my daughters but due to different commitments that could not happen this time. So my dear husband came along with me he is very patient about my love of all crafty things. It is a shame that the Art section was not there this time as he would have enjoyed that, he is quite good at art.
Anyway I headed off to the Clarity stand and was lucky enough to be able to join in the Make and Take. This was run by the very talented Linda Williams. I love to be able to join in with other like minded ladies. As usual there was a nice project for us to do. I did not complete mine in the time, a little less talking might have been the answer. Still I was quite happy to get it finished at home.
I chose to colour my butterfly , it could have just been embossed. Now those little dragonflies on there were not on Linda's design but as I was sticking my finished piece to the base card it slipped and I creased the parchment a little. Well it was not going in the bin at this stage so a little cover up was needed. It had only creased on the top right hand side but I felt two dragonflies balanced it better.
Can you see the little crease just by the leaf on the right hand side.
A little close up of the centre portion.
Just shows that there is no need to scrap a project if it is not quite right.
After the make and take of course I needed a few items from the Clarity stand then hubby and I had a wander around all the other stands. I did not buy too much else but did find two lovely cardigans on one of the stands in the sewing section. They came home with me.
Plate used was the Butterfly Wreath and dragonflies were from Tina's 3D Flowers plate.
Back soon, thank-you for visiting. xx
Hello again. Just realised we are fast approacihng the end of the month again ,
goodness the weeks are flying by but it has been nice to have a few sunny days. Hubby has just mowed the lawn for the first time this year, that will be a constant now til about October. I love the smell of fresh cut grass though.
The birds are popping along to the bird bath as well, Mr blackbird is sprucing himself up, ready to go courting.
My thoughts then turned to last month's club goodies and realised I have not used them as yet. I have vowed to use each item at least once before the new ones arrive.
So starting with the lovely Teasel plate. I used to go looking for teasels and make little dressed hedgehogs out of them. They were very cute, have not got any pictures which is a shame.
This is quite a quick and easy card, just used some lovely Clarity paper and put the teasel die through my Gemini. I used the picot plates for this one prickly edges, seemed right. I added a black frame and some gems and all done. All mounted onto a black base card.
This is a gorgeous design and I have some more ideas for it's use.
Thank-you for dropping by, back soon. xx
Our eldest daughter and her husband celebrate their Silver Wedding Anniversary tomorrow. Fantastic achievement and certainly a date to celebrate. I remember their wedding day so well. It was the first time I had ever made a wedding cake, in those days they were not quite so fancy as they are now but I still spent many hours decorating it. It also turned out to be a lovely sunny day which can be a bit hit and miss for this time of year.
Anyway I obviously needed a special card for this anniversary. I chose the swan club plate from Claritystamp. There is only one swan on the plate so I needed to reverse it then trace over with a white pencil and then emboss the lines. This is creating the design in the traditional way much more fiddly which is why the Groovi plates are such a big hit. I really wanted to get the heart that is created by using two swans.
The embossing on the necks was done over several days. Very lightly at first with a no 6mm tool then gradually working down the sizes. Instead of embossing the bodies I chose to do some gridwork.
Other than a little bit of gridwork around the border I did not think this design needed much more.
So a very Happy Anniversary to Yvonne and Anthony.
Thank-you for dropping by. xx
I have been having a lot of problems lately trying to share my blog on Facebook. They keep blocking it, not sure why. Perhaps they do not like my style of cardmaking. Obviously not Groovi fans. I shall try again with this post. I have even changed the name of my blog but that did not work.
I go to a traditional parchment class in Lichfield run by Patricia White and that is where I was making his card. It is a design by Josie Davidson, a very clever lady who makes some gorgeous cards and designs. hope I have done her design justice, I gave it to a very good friend for her birthday and she liked it a lot.
The flowers were coloured on the front of the parchment with lots of fine lines, need very sharp pencils for this and also just light strokes. As it is a traditional design the flowers were traced in pencil so there are no embossed lines to show.
I am going to a Groovi class with Josie and Chris Walker at the end of March and I am looking forward to that. Lovely to meet up with other like minded people and there is always a very good project.
Hope you all have a good weekend, stay safe in the stormy weather we are having at the moment. x
Yesterday our daughter-in-law celebrated her 30th Birthday. Several members of the family turned up last night to help her celebrate. I made her a cake but forgot to take a photo. Think one of my daughters took a photo so might be able to show you later. It tasted ok so that is the main thing.
I made her a card using the Groovi system.
The border uses the QueenElizabeth lace duet plate. Gridwork is one of my favourite techniques so these plates are a real bonus.
The butterfly is Tina's Butterfly Papillion. I layered the wings for a 3D effect and coloured with Perga Liners. They shade beautifully.
The tags are made from the Nested Tags Plate. Makes it easy to layer them.
Don't think this card needed too many instructions, hope you all like it.
Now tonight I have to go to Slimming World and face the scales after eating cake last night. I could not resist. My downfall.
Stay safe in this stormy weather we are having, hopefully some sunshine soon.
Thanks for dropping by. xx
Well what a mixed bag of weather today,one minute the sun is out then it is trying to snow but above all blowing a gale. I have had a good day catching up on some jobs and also had a visit from our little grandson, he brought his daddy along too. He is only six months old ( Taylor, not his dad ) and a real little charmer.
I am also getting a few craft items finished as well but yesterday I played around with another fancy fold card. This time a Z fold, but doubled. I also used the leafy swirl stencil and die. My stencil is very well used ( one of my favourites) and I think the die will be too .
Not an easy card to photograph but have tried to give you the idea.
This angle shows you the inside a little better.
I made a note of measurements as I cut the card so will pass them on but of course you could make it whatever size you like.
1) Outer card 5" x 11.5" scored at 3.5" and 6"
2) Inner card 3.5" x 9.5" scored at 3.5" and 6.5"
3) Front panel 3" x 4.5" and gold layer 3.25" x 4.75"
4) Emboss the green panel with the leafy swirl stencil. These stencils emboss beautifully. Then I dry brushed over the panel with Viva Decor Inka Gold and mounted onto the gold panel. 5)Working on the outer card piece I brushed over the stencil with emerald
green Artistry Ink on the back panel.
6) Cut the die out in the same colour as base card and make a frame, this needs to fit on your inner layer so I used the 3rd and 4th frames from centre of the nested picot dies. Place frame over die cut leafy swirl secure with double sided tape. Trim off any little bits that are sticking out under the frame.
7) Back with double sided adhesive and stick to the back part of inner card. Rub glitter over the front to get rid of all the sticky areas.
8) I also stencilled the front panel of the inner card.
9) Just need to join the two pieces now. I put double sided tape on the back piece of the inner layer and stuck that in position first. Now only put tape along the outside edge of the front piece and I closed up the card to position it.
10) Lastly I die cut some more leafy swirls and snipped them out to decorate.
Items used are:-
Leafy swirl die
Leafy swirl stencil
Pergamano glitter
Little bit of a marathon to describe this one but actually quite easy to make. Folds flat for an envelope as well.
Well I hope you all have a good week going to be a bit wet I think so maybe lots more creativity.
Back soon. xx
