An Irish Blessing

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I love this saying.  Living in Oxford means that a lot of people come here for a short time and then move away, and a good friend of mine was leaving this weekend for Scotland. I wanted an understated but stylish card suitable for a man so the challenge was on. Having been ill for a few months, which has kept me out of the craft room, I was dying to get my fingers all inky again!

Kraft cards couldn't be better for me as they fit well with my nature themes, and appropriately this card has turned out quite autumnal.  The background is stamped with a stampin' up set. I loved the transparency of the skeleton leaves, as well as the 'splodge' stamp which made it look like water drops had splattered on the surface. I used distress inks in walnut stain, vintage photo, and bundled sage.  Here's a little close up, along with buttons (bargain pack from The Works!) which are the perfect non-blingy embelishment for the guys.

The main image has been built up using Claritystamp  products, and techniques demonstrated by the wonderful Barbara Gray.

I purposely kept the background quite stark so the words would be the part to draw the eye. As a first foray into the inky world for some time, and being in a bit of a rush, I was quite happy with how this turned out. Wouldn't mind having a play with the stamps again to see how I could improve things. So you never know I might have a new post up again soon.

Helen x

Boy oh boy

Why is it so hard to make cards for men?  For me I really want to make something that is special, and is appreciated, but sometimes they just miss a bit of the zing you can put into girl cards.  I've always been a bit of a sucker for pink and frills (just ask my family about the pink dress!).  So most of the male cards I've made or you see in the shops just seem a bit bland.  But then along came kraft, buttons and bakers twine, and for some reason I'm liking the boy cards again.  So here's one I made earlier:

This uses two pieces of 6x6 Kraft card, cropodile-punched down the edge and threaded with twine. The trees are Clarity Stamps, which I just love.  I actually stamped this ages ago but was never inspired enough to know how to showcase it until now.

Pretty aren't they, in a very masculine sort of way of course!  I tried putting a sentiment on it but couldn't get it in the right place and in the end decided it looked better without for a change. Well once finished it needed the male focus group to approve or not. Thankfully Thomas decided to show his approval :-)

Hope you like it. You never know there may be more boy cards appearing here in the future now.

Helen x

Seaside cards for the men using Clarity Stamps and ProMarkers

I know it is always a bit difficult making cards for men. Since I've invested in some Clarity seaside and lighthouse stamps the cards I've been making have seemed to go down pretty well! I've also been developing my promarker style and love using them for moody backgrounds, landscapes and seas and have really enjoyed using them in a bit of a different way to what we normally see on crafty cards.  Some other examples can be found here and here. To me they are just another medium to exercise my love of colour blending to achieve depth and atmosphere.  Let me know what you think - would love to hear your comments...

Anyway, here's the first - a 60th birthday card for a friend who loves messing about on boats!

Decorated with a bit of faux suede cord tied in a reef knot (can you tell I was a girl guide!) and a little punched and stamped 60.

Close up of the colouring. Having just got back from Anglesey, the sky and sea are pretty accurate - not exactly Mediterranean blue in this climate!

The second card is for my cousin who moved to Anglesey last year and being a rocky island there are plenty of lighthouses around the coast.  So Barbara's lighthouse stamp was perfect!  I wanted to achieve a bit of the stormy atmosphere around the lighthouse that we often get there so lots of dark blues and greys.

There is a lighthouse just of Penmon Point (one of my favourite places on this enchanted island) which really inspired me - wonder if Barbara has been there too?!

Not sure if he's got it yet but hope he likes it!

Would to hear what you think of these cards. I know I don't have many followers but I do appreciate everyone who takes time to to look at my little creations.

Helen x

Dandelion Fairy

Anyone who has visited my garden knows that I am quite a fan of the humble dandelion (well that is my excuse as to why there are so many in the lawn!).  It is a cheery little plant though and the buzzy bees seem to like them, and they are friends with my favourite little daisies :-).  So I just had to get the Dandelion Fairy stamps from Clarity Stamps, and I had the excuse to make this card for my lovely friend Karen on her birthday. I've been dying to post the photos but it's taken ages for us to meet up... Anyway, here it is:

The stamped images are created with a Versamark inkpad and dusted with Cosmic Shimmer powder - I tried about 3 different types of powders, embossing etc until I got the detail I wanted. Here are a couple of close ups:

Karen being a bit of a perfectionist and finishing off her cards so well, she needed a matching insert as well!

Anyway, so glad we got to meet up, do crafty shopping, compare notes on new purchases, and of course have coffee and cake! Just what we both needed I think (best not mention the dress that forced me to buy it in Laura Ashley though - naughty dress)...

Bye for now,

Helen x

A seaside card and fabulous at 50

Very quick post today with a couple of my latest cards! First off a good friend and colleague has recently turned 50.  Now there is now way on earth that she looks that old and I am sure her birth certificate must be wrong... We needed a big card to circulate at work so out came the 8x8 square cards again, and I wanted to make it fresh, vibrant and funky.  And a little bit of paisley was also needed to reflect where her hometown.

She loved it and was very thankful that the age was hidden down at the bottom! And now for a little seaside card inspired by my hols in Anglesey.  This time for my cousin who has recently moved there.  The stamps are clarity stamps and of course they are coloured in with my trusty ProMarkers. I was quite pleased with the simplicity of it all.

Wish I was back there, but with weather like this maybe not. I'm resisting putting on the heating seeing that it is still August (just) but it's pretty nippy isn't it? No signs of an Indian summer then...

Works in progress

This week has been a 'starter' not a 'finisher' week.  I have started lots of focal images but haven't yet made them up into cards.  What I really wanted to do was play around with the stamps and pro-markers/copics to see what effects I could achieve and to work on the composition until I am happy.  Then I'll consider making the best ones into cards.

Seems to be the story of my life at the moment - there are so many projects I've started at home that haven't been finished.  It's in that 'it has to get worse before it can get better' stage! But I can cope with the chaos as I know there is a plan in my head of how it will be finished, like with the cards.  I wouldn't like to compare myself with such genius, but I was bursting with excitement to see the first video post from Peter Jackson as he starts filming The Hobbit. Can you imagine having to plan out all of those details, before you can even get started? If you fancy a look at the video take a look here.

Next time my head might be in the right place to finish some projects to share!

Grungepaper Bracelet

This is a bracelet I made using Grungepaper and some paper flowers and embellishments. For the band, the grunge paper has been inked with Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord Distress Inks, and stamped over using a Clarity stamp in the Dusty Concord. The fastening is a Tim Holtz ideology hitch fastener, and the holes were made using the Cropodile (small hole punch for the fitting, and the large hole punch for the end you push over the fastening).

The flower is made using two of the smallest 'Tattered Florals' Tim Holtz dies, cut out in Grungepaper on the Cuttlebug. These have again been inked with the two purple shades to achieve a more 3 dimensional look, and then coated in Crackle Accents and left to dry. I then layered them up with a Prima paper flower and a fancy brad and finally attached the completed flower to the bracelet using Pinflair glue gel (what else - it is brilliant stuff!).

Here's how it looks fastened:


Hope you like it!

Stamping in UTEE

Inspired by Sheena Douglas on a show a while ago, this is a a little project I did using Cosmic Shimmer Ultra-Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) in Malacite Fire. I built up 3 layers of UTTE and then stamped into it using a Clarity Stamp. Clarity Stamps are perfect for this technique as they are resistant to high temperatures and have deeply embossed images that make a great impression into the UTEE without ruining the stamp. Once the UTEE is cool the stamp pops right out without any problems. I then edged the piece in some gold embossing powder by lightly pressing each side into my Versamark ink pad and dusting in the gold powder before heating. Isn't the colour luscious? Love it...

More poppies but for a sadder occasion

I used the same stamp along with a Paula Pascual mixed sentiments stamp for this card. Sadly the week I created the card I also needed to give it to a friend. Probably the saddest time to have to give cards, but also probably the most important.

Poppies

After much trial and error - mainly through trying to use the wrong pens (until I'd read again which pens Barbara Gray recommended on the design sheet) - I finally managed to make a decent card using the poppy stamp. This was one of the monthly stamps from the Clarity Stamp New Design Club, added to with some freehand drawing and colouring. Not sure I've ever seen poppies this colour but never mind. I used the Adirondack inkpad in Wild Plum. As a nature lover, the words of WH Davies really speak to me. There should always be time to stand and stare!

May the road...

This is one of my favourite sayings and I was quite pleased with how the picture came together. I love these particular tree stamps from Clarity Stamps. The Big and Juicy inkpad in Spice was used for the background, and the trees were stamped in Adirondack Expresso. I'm hoping to make it into a card for a colleague who is moving overseas shortly.

Lighthouse

This is the first attempt at using the lighthouse stamp from Clarity Stamps. As you can see there is still a way to go to make it a good picture - I forgot to mask the lighthouse, I forgot to put in the sea, there are stripes and blobs on the brayering! But I guess that is why practice makes perfect... I'll post back when I get a little bit better to show my progress.

The Finished Project

I imagine like most crafters, some of my completed images never make it to a project! This time I did manage to frame the picture and sell it to raise funds for the Haiti disaster fund (even if it was to my Mum!). Again this uses the clarity tree and bird stamps.

Trees

I've created a few of these scenes using a brayer with adirondack inks. The stamps are Clarity Stamp trees and birds. I've really been inspired by Barbara Gray's work, and her stamps are such good quality and very versatile.