BY GEORGE I'VE GOT IT.

            Sorry I could not resist that title. The piece of work I have finished off today was using the George lace plate.  The lace plates from Clarity are amazing really complete a piece of work.  I rather worked this piece backwards though as I did the border first then decided what to put in the middle. Not difficult with Groovi though as it is easy to make something fit.   
                                                           

      The middle section is from Tina's Henna Dreamcatcher and Droplets Plates. I layered up the little star shape for greater  effect and of course there had to be a bit of glitter and gems on there.
                                                                    

                                                                                 

                
                                 A couple of close ups of the inner piece and the lace work.   

               This card is for a special friend of mine who celebrated her 60th Birthday recently, I am only posting it now though as she has been in Australia for the occasion. Lucky lady but her daughter is out there so wonderful that she could spend her Birthday with her. I also chose not to put any sentiment or age on the front as I could not give her this card on her actual Birthday.

               I bet she has had better weather than we have today or tomorrow judging by the forecast. Never mind I have plenty to keep me occupied and I am also waiting for those lovely new embroidery plates by Tina Cox.

              Have a lovely weekend everyone, I am off to Hazel Edwards Groovi class at Rosliston on Saturday and my traditional parchment class with Pat White on Sunday. Busy time for me. 


                                    All for now, back soon. xx

                              

                                                

A LITTLE BIT MORE YUPO

               Hello and thanks for dropping by in your Easter break. Think I woke up with a spurt of energy today decided to tackle a couple of overdue jobs. First the freezer, got it defrosted and sorted through all the bits that sink to bottom of the shelves. Then decided it would be a good idea to move the furniture in the conservatory and clean windows and the floor. Now this is my craft space so not a quick job but in good Mastermind tradition I started so I needed to finish. Anyway all done now , reckon I might sleep well tonight. 

             So after all that hard work I needed some time for a quick play in my shining space. Do you remember the yupo paper that I coloured with alcohol inks and gilding flakes a few weeks ago. Well I still have some and want to use it wisely on cards as I love the colours. 

                                          This was the piece I used today

       1)    Die cut a small square of the yupo paper.

       2)   Using the nested square dies cut a black frame.

       3)   The Leafy Swirl die next. I used plain white card and snipped the swirl out of the frame carefully . Some of the leaves needed to be tidied up.

        4)   Next I cut a little bird from the   Birds in a tree Aperture die . 

        5)  Assemble as in the photo. 

                          

                               The little bird sat nicely in the swirl. 

      Another simple card but I do like that paper, I will have to experiment some more. 

                         So sadly that is another bank holiday over but at least we had lovely weather. I have smelt the barbecues being lit tonight and one of them was causing a fog, goodness knows what was on it. We have gone over to a gas one but our son-in-law is adamant that is not right. 

                

                                     Bye for now. xx

               

BUNDLES OF THANKS

              Hope you are all enjoying the Easter break with the gorgeous weather. It has been lovely to throw open doors and windows here to let in the fresh air. Fred has been out tidying up the garden a bit, planning what he wants to do this year.  It is a shame for our son and his wife ,as they have gone to Spain and are not having very good weather. The only drawback are all the little midges that are about, one has bitten me on my face and as usual I have had a good reaction to it. A trip to the chemist this morning to get some advice but it seems to be calming down now, thank goodness.


              Before I went off on the recent Groovi retreat I prepared some thank-you cards for everyone who had put in so much hard work on our behalf.  They were quite simple, I used some of the lace that is sold on the Clarity website and brushed ink through it to get a lovely pattern. Then just a bit of stamping and colouring to finish off. 

         

                       For this one I used Distress Oxide to stamp the flower, I was not sure if it would be successful but I was pleased with the result. 

                        

                  

         

                 These did not take me too long to make and I like the simple design. 


           Right enjoy the rest of the Easter holiday and any chocolate eggs if you have them. We have been given two and I know Fred will after eating some later, he always reckons Easter egg chocolate tastes nicer. It is a fact that they put more fat in them to get the shape to hold firm, so maybe that is why. 

                           Have fun and stay safe. xx

             

TWO BRILLIANT DAYS

         Hello, have not posted on my blog for a little while but lots has been happening. Fred and I went off down to Tunbridge Wells on Sunday for the long awaited Groovi retreat. We  stayed at the Spa hotel along with loads of other excited Clarity folk. I had been really looking forward to this event partly for the two day workshop but also because we were meeting up with friends that we had not seen for a while.

       So Sunday evening we had a meal arranged for approx 20 of us at the Neville Crest and Gun which is  pub just outside Tunbridge Wells. It was certainly a very jolly evening as we all caught up on news. 

                                       The serious business here of checking menus.

     

      

                       We certainly took over a large part of the conservatory.

           On the Monday morning we all gathered together in one room ready for the hard work to begin. Linda Williams certainly had a wonderful project for us to do and I will show you that in a later post when I have completed it. Fred and a few more of the men disappeared off to visit Chartwell, Winston Churchill's home. 

                    Linda and Barbara briefing us on what they expected us to achieve. 

   

      Monday evening saw most of us in the Chandelier Restaurant in the hotel for a meal arranged by Barbara. 

     

               The view down the room as everyone found their places.

        On the second day we had another project to do, again it was fantastic and it certainly stretched me as it involved a lot of colouring, not my strong point, but I learnt  a lot. By the end of the day we were all very tired but happy. I would like to say a big thank-you to Barbara, Linda Paul, Tina and Becca for all their help and hard work and also the fantastic team back at Clarity headquarters who all put in a lot of effort to help make these events successful. 

            All for now but I will be back tomorrow with some thank-you cards I have made and when I have completed my projects I will share them with you. 

                                Bye for now. xx        

     

INKY BACKGROUNDS and GILDING FLAKES

          How nice it has been this week now that the clocks have gone forward and it is not getting dark so early. I do love the longer days and the lighter mornings, I always get so much more done. I have also spent more time in our conservatory at my desk. I have been trying out some different techniques for backgrounds. 

       Alcohol inks were my first choice as I rarely use them. Just drip them onto some yupo paper and watch the magic happen especially when you add some blending solution, just a few drops. I also added some white mixative that I bought ages ago and never used.

        So these were the results but then I got out my quickie glue pen and drew some squiggly lines across the paper. Before it dried I dropped on some gold gilding flakes and gently rubbed them in. Wow that added some interest.

 
                                                

             Not sure why it looks silver in the photos it was definitely gold flakes.

     I wanted these to be a feature on a card not covered up. So I cut off a narrow strip of the blue piece. 

  This was my finished card, now the flakes look gold, must have been the light. The butterfly was stamped in Versamark and gold embossed. Then I painted it with inks in similar colours to the coloured strip. 

                               A closer view of the yupo paper

   
                  The butterfly trail is little dip dots made with an embossing tool and Kuretake gold paste.

         Now I need to use the rest of the yupo paper, I have an idea for the orange piece but that will be for another day now. 

    I am off for a day with Maria Moorhouse at one of her classes tomorrow and we are using inks there too. I am sure she will have some great ideas for us. 

            Back soon and thank-you for visiting.  xx 
      

    
        

       

      

A FAIRY BORDER

            I hope you all had a pleasant weekend it was a busy one for us. I spent Saturday at a workshop run by Josie Davidson and Chris Walker. They are both very talented and always give us a beautiful design to do. I was fortunate this time as I did not have to go very far, really nice to have a local venue. I will share my card with you all when I have completed it. Still a  little bit of snipping to do.

       Then of course it was Mothering Sunday yesterday, our youngest son and his girlfriend invited us for our dinner and all of our other kids called in during the morning to say hello. It is always a very noisy time when they are all together, lots of laughter, I must admit that sometimes I like to sit back and just watch them all. 

       So this afternoon I was very pleased to be able to spend some quiet time with some stamps and ink. 

      

        This was the result, a quick border card. I do like these cards and sometimes it is nice to work on a smaller area especially with a scene. I used the willow stamp which was a club stamp and I hate to say but another one that I have not used until now. 
  
      When making a border like this use low tack tape to mask off the edges, still be careful when removing it though, it still catches sometimes. Once the edges were masked I was able to work on the middle panel. I stamped everything with Watering can Archival Ink which is a dark grey, black seemed  too harsh on the background. 

        Hope you like this one. Back soon with some parchment cards. xx