Arty Crafty.

Christmas Time Mistletoe And Wine.....Ho Ho Ho.....Just a quick card for a friend The Joy is Clarity framer stamp ...:) embossed in gold WOW embossing powder. I used two mini christmas stamps. Both Clarity again two colours of Adirondack, Cloudy Blue and Stone Washed and Pitch Black to stamp the image's.  Matted in gold mirri card then randomly stamped the snowflake sometimes second generation ink sometimes first.....Inked the merry christmas with a  gold encore inkpad then embossed that in gold too.....thats it really oh I use ink brushes to swirl the blue inside the O in the joy .....couldn't lay my hands on makeup sponge's....hope you like it.

Good Morning well it's cold but at least it's drythe sun is struggling to break through the clouds and we may have a sunny if cold day for all those who have been flooded I hope this give's you a chance to start cleaning....BIG HUG'S.

I have blogged two cards today the top card is a lovely House Mouse stamp made into a Birthday card....Do like these little mice as a good friend of mine would say they are such fun ....


The second card is back to CLARITYSTAMPS again the club members will know the pear stamp was Sept issue I think....well I had played with it and liked the stamp but didn't know what I wanted to do with it.....in town the other day I saw some pine wreath's and thought I wonder if you (ME) could do that with the pear stamp I had the Partridge from last year :)
2 hours later at home I started by playing with the partridge it was obvious he was going to have to be stamped first then I need a circle tins were no good they were just that little bit to small then I found a wide mug .....fitted perfectly all the way round the partridge and left room to put the pears round. So circle lightly drawn.  Stamp partridge in the centre. I then made four masks one for the bird and three of the pear stamp. Starting at the top cover with mask do not stamp first! this will be your last stamping place .....It will tuck in any odds and ends. Next cover Partridge, your first pear stamp should start at two o clock as you look at your circle with the bulk of the pear branch top being stamped onto the mask, cover this and do the next segment again making sure the branch is stamped on the mask...continue till you have compleated the circle and arrive back at the top. Remove the mask at the top and place in last pear stamp it should fit in neatly now if you look closely at my card and the pear stamp you will notice the pears have a brown bit on the bottom.....When you stamp you are taking the last outer pear bottom and placing it on the drawn circle that is how to keep the wreath round...cut out and colour I used neemah card cause I still have loads but any card recomended for promarkers will do ....Oh and adirondack Pitch Black to stamp out the images a mixture of greens for the wreath .....I used Lime zest ....Apple cider....pear green and for the partridge Pastle Blue, Denim Blue Oatmeal and Burnt Orange.  I sent a veriation of this in to Barbara Gray for home work and used the 1st from her numbers set...... as in the 1st day of Christmas.....hope you like it. xx

Hi Everyone I had a Great time at the NEC but more of that later.....Before I went I was asked by the lovely Lindsay Elise Jolly to join her design team the task this month was to either use handmade paper. Which I will use but not often and I really don't like it...it's me I can never get it to do what I want it to do ... or to use a canvas bag....well I thought the bag seemed fun I love altered art projects and I had never tried canvas before, well only to sew on and I'm not much good at sewing either. So good as her word the bag was in the post. Now what to do with it .......well the month is November and there are poppies everywhere so that's where the inspiration comes from but the stamp I had was to small for what I wanted to do even using the two Clarity stamps joined together at the bottom wasn't big enough to catch the eye. Then I thought of the BRITISH LEGION  as I bought my own poppy and this verse by LAURENCE BINYON from his war poem FALLEN which is said at the Festival Of Remembrance so onto what you will need and how I did it.

One Burlap Bag
3 long strips of masking tape each piece needs to be a little longer (About an inch either side) of the width of the bag.
One see through ruler
Archival Black Inkpad
Pro-markers in poppy and moss green make sure you have the fine nibs on both
One Large piece of card to fit inside bag you will need this to be nearly the same size  as the inside of the bag because this is what we are going to stamp on. Oh and please make sure there is no overlapping bits of card as this will affect the outcome when you stamp.
One large stamp-mat.

The stamps are all from clarity you will need Pop2-H Pop3-F and REMBOX which are the codes of the stamps I used. a selection of clarity mounts large medium and small.

Take the bag and put card inside it this does two things first when you stamp the ink will not go through to the other side but will be held by the card and second makes the bag stiff enough to stamp onto without creases.
Peel off strip one of the masking tape it may help if you number these in pencil so this will be strip 1 and if you look on the photo you can see the TOP seam this is our guiding point lay the first strip of masking tape across from side to side just under this seam allowing the tape to stick onto the stamp mat....now if you can get this tape lined up onto a line on the stamp mat that would be good it make things easier to judge....add the second piece of tape Strip 2 right underneath the first but although you want it straight you don't have to stick the edges down on this one....take the third piece of tape Strip 3 and stick down firmly directly under the second piece. So now all three strips of tape should be straight one under the other...
With me so far?
Next take OFF the second piece of tape (strip 2) where the gap is .....this is where you are going to stamp your first line of whatever verse or sentiment you want to put.....Now before you start to put your words together stick that second bit of tape(Number  2 )under the third Number 3) so now when you look down you should have the bag still being held by the first strip of tape then a straight gap where you letters are going to go then two more piece's of tape underneath that.

The words; You could mount all your letters onto different stamps and try stamping them individually....I tried that on paper it looked a mess had I tried the letters first and not taken the trouble to do the masking I would have walked away but I had started and wasn't going to let this beat me!
 so this is how I did it.
You need the stamping mat and the see through ruler. Put the ruler on the mat, and the bag to the side but in easy reach. take you letters and place them FACE DOWN on the clear ruler at regular intervals some letters you will need to play with and move till you think they are right as regards the spacing bare in mind I am stamping groups of letters that form part of words so for the word remember I had to split it down inot REM
  EMB   ER  this can be frustrating as we all know at critical moments the phone goes kids start arguing there will always be something just as you are about to do this however PERSEVERE it's well worth it take your mount and hover over the letters because they are face down you will be able to read them also because they are face down when you press the handle down on top of them you will be able to lift them up ink and blot on a bit of copy paper to make sure you are happy with the letters then ink again and stamp onto bag. Complete this till the end of your first line then... Lift the middle  piece of tape which should be tape Number 3 and place under tape Number 2 you are now going to stamp your second line. The masking tape keeps your lines straight. and you just keep lifting each piece of tape and butting underneath the other one when that line has finished....the poppy stamps I Inked and coloured in with pro-markers and Lastly I ironed the bag ink with a hot dry iron to seal the ink.
I will say be careful colouring in the ink bleeds so I used the fine nibs on both pen's.  The stalks I just ran a quick green line where needed and the flowers were dotted and left the ink just spreads so dotting and walking away then coming back to it in a moment or two worked for me ... in between shouting at dogs kids and telephone calls asking if I had been miss sold PPI! Well I hope these are clear if not PM Me and I will go and take a few Photos but that will be in the morning it's 2.14 and I'm tired so goodnight xxx

Clarity Stamps T'was the night and Baubles Star card

I love the poem T'was the night before Christmas. It's become a family tradition on Christmas Eve that I read it to my boy's of course now James is 21 and a little too old for such things but Rory will still listen with awe.....well I think it's awe and not boredom! I think even when he is 40 he will still believe in Saint Nicholas that Jolly old elf ............................the instructions on how to make the star card are on the previous post I hope you enjoy looking and have a lovely day wherever you are xxx B

Star card ......

Good morning on this bright but nippy September day. well as out thoughts turn to Autumn and for some of us Christmas I thought I would make a star card for my Clarity homework......I do play with other stamps but the clearness and good quality of Clarity Stamp have made them a firm Favourite I have a Clarity Stamp that was I think the second stamp I ever bought Topaz is the name it's over ten years old and still going strong.
Ok enough waffle!
 You will need either 15 cards in three different colours but all the same hight......I have picked out some pre scored card to save time but if you want to cut from 12x12 or A 4 card this is do-able too just keep the hight the same.......

I have chosen Green, Red, And a Pearlesant White card five sheets of each.

Next take the red card and measure a centre meter in. I have marked it clear for you to see, but you don't have to if you have a paper cutter just use the ruler on that. Fold card in half and cut .......you now have a centre meter off BOTH sides of the card.....

Attach double sided tape to the edge of the green card, this is the only card you don't have to trim it stays the same size. Think of it as the cover of a book! Carefully butt the now cut Red card corner to corner with the Green card so when you look at it you should have a space between the middle fold.....your should look like mine above.

with one Red and Green edge attached spin the card round and do the other side again tape and but the cards edge to edge with each other when you stand it up right it should look like this.

Now for the last segment do the same again but taking the lightest colour card but this time cutting two centre meter's off the edge.........now before we go any further it maybe an idea to stop and think how you are going to decorate this card....if you are stamping onto the card you need to do this now before we go any further because once it's attached you wont get a true clear impression same as if you want to emboss it if you want to do this do it now......
I have glued paper into the T'WAS THE NIGHT CARD only because I thought the card was a little pale and I wanted to make it more Christmassy! a little tip do not cut the paper the same size as the card you want it a little smaller so as when the card is closed it wont catch on the fold of the card and crease, leave the spine or fold clear and showing.

For the purpose of the tutorial I have gone straight ahead and not bothered with the paper.......I hope you don't mind.
When you stand you card up it should look like the segment with the white card......Now if you want to attach ribbon all I do is......The Middle segment on the green card make a hole about two centre meter's down and one centre meter in thread your Ribbon or ribbons through and either tie them in a knot and tape to the back of the green card or use a brad to hold them in place this way when you glue it all together at the end you wont see the hole!

Now you are ready to attach the segments together. The first green card is taped to the second green card to make two of the sections of the card.....yours should now have a card that looks something like this.

Hope this helps and you enjoy making it any question's or if you are stuck on any part of this please feel free to ask.
Have a great day and happy crafting. x B

Birdcage....love this set

A version of this card was kindly shown on TV by Barbara Gray.

 You will need;
Birdcage set by Clarity stamps.
Versamark inkpad.
Talcum powder and small brush.
Big a juciy inkpad I chose Mountain Meadow.
Gold embossing powder.
A small lovebird mask made from a post it !
Clarity coated card.
Kay & Co card from Mira collection and Purple card to mat and layer.
Add ribbon if desired
Copy Paper & Splodgemat

Sprinkle talcum powder over card and brush off .....Put a piece of copy paper under the card.
Stamp Lovebird on card and wait to dry in this instance I did not do INK BLOT PLOT but stamped the first generation ink I used a corner of the mountain meadow for the purple and left to dry.
Put the mask over the now dry lovebird and with your brayer ink the LEFT part of the inkpad this is where the yellow is and you want the yellow in the middle gradually becoming darker towards the edge of the card. To do this Ink up the brayer and roll off onto the copy paper or mat so you have taken nearly all the ink off. From the Bottom Right of the copy paper,  spin the brayer across the card making sure that the Yellow is in the middle of the card and the darker colours on the edge . Now half the card should be coated in ink you may want to do this again to add depth of colour....the next step is to spin the card around so the Inky part is now on the left hand side and the lovebird upside down! repeat inking and go again still making sure the yellow is in the middle overlapping the previous brayering. Go again until you are happy you have the depth of colour you want.

Leave to dry.......Now Me being me sprinkled a bit more talc on here.....the makers of Johnson & Johnson would have been proud! brushed it off then take off lovebird mask and inked up the birdcage in Versamark and stamped it onto the now dry and sweetly smelling card! over the top of the lovebird.  Added the Pole type stamp and the big birds sprinkled gold embossing powder on it and heat embossed it with a heat gun. added swirls and sentiment gold heat embossed again.Add now sweet smelling card to purple card to mat onto the kay and co card and from there onto a card of your choice......xxxxx hope you like it

When is a Christmas card not a Christmas card?

Same stamp different styles this was made as a Christmas stamp and form's part of a set along with the NOEL that you see in the bottom photo. That is very dramatic and different for a smart card that could be used for a male or possibly corporate card stamped in Versamark and gold heat embossed onto Black Clarity Cardstock the doves are coloured in silver and the whole stamp edges in gold micron pen then added a gold ribbon and matted on gold mirri . I liked the gold holly hunky dory card for this and there you have it the doves are fast becoming a favourite stamp and the top card shows just how versatile this one is ......change colours and you have a wedding card I can see this being used foe Christening's and Easter .....love a stamp that I'm going to get my monies worth out of!

Just a few from the petal and birdcage set so easy to use weather you are a clarity fan or not the Birdcage set of 17 stamps are a fantastic buy and then just play.............

A few of you may know July and August are busy months here we have Birthdays galore with James my eldest having his 21st Birthday on the 27th July.....we went out just the four of us for a meal and for pudding.
This was at the BARBICAN KITCHEN well worth a visit as a treat.

Clarity Homework The top set Is a Sport Framer the set comprises of the sport Frame and a mixture of sports men including the Rugby player there is a Cyclist a Javelin thrower, Cricketer, Footballer, Golfer, Tennis player. I went with the Rugby player as we are all mad about Rugby in this house! My Hubbys family  way back invented the rugby ball! and his great Uncle Arthur Gilbert at one time played for England.

You will need;
Clarity Stamp Sport set
Sport ball set
Adirondack Lettuce
Adirondack Cloudy Blue
Adirondack Pitch Black
Ruler.
Black permanent marker pen.
Scissors
Promarkers
Burnt orange
Yellow
Blue (Aegean I think!)
Piece of scrap ribbon from stash
Clarity coated card 
Copy paper


I stamped the SPORT using second generation ink at and angle I just thought it gave the illusion of movement as I wanted to put the rugby ball near the top of the page....next the rugby player again using second generation ink putting him inside the frame. then I made the masks one of the O and the last for the ball....should have done these first but never mind better late then never!.....masks done I covered the O and the ball.  And inked the brayer in Lettuce and spun the brayer over a piece of copy paper, and then doing one of Barbara Gray's no famous wheelie's  brayered  the bottom half of the card making the grass then wiped the brayer clean and Inked the brayer again this time with cloudy blue. Repeat the whole process again this time putting the blue where you want the sky to go. Take away layer from the O...... now The SPORT word that I had cut the O mask from Now has just a hole where the O used to be! cover the word SPORT with the hole open and the rugby player showing inside the O and cover any spare card with copy paper and tape the copy paper in place with low tack tape if necessary......Now here I cheated a bit I inked one half of the brayer with Lettuce and the other half with cloudy blue rolled off onto copy paper the first lot of ink and did wheelie's BOTH sides of the brayer then spun the brayer quickly across the open framed O. and it worked.......Last I drew the Rugby post in were I wanted them and just touched the ball with a bit of blue and wrote GILBERT round the edge! Added ribbon . 
The Balls! were an after thought as I needed to fill a inch of card so just stamped them and cut them out stuck on a bit of blue card . When Barbara did the classroom she inked bubble wrap with Versa mark usually I have loads of this stuff lying around but this week there was none to be found so I looked through my card and papers and found the green card with circles which I thought looked like heads! so I used that hope you like it.








Art Deco Diver......
Wow she was a Joy to do! 


You will need.
Diver set from Clarity stamps
Adirondack Pitch Black
Adirondack Stonewashed
Adirondack Butterscotch
Big and Juicy Foliage Inkpad
Low tack masking tape
Copy paper 
Red and Ivory promarker 
Clarity Card.
3 inch circle with a bit cut off at the end to make the sun mask.


Well she was a challenge I knew what I wanted to do but had to experiment a bit to achieve the results I wanted.  First Cover the edges of the clarity card with masking tape to give a border, stamp the diver in the middle of the card using second generation ink.
Make diver mask out of a post it note and cover diver. 
Next put the sun mask over the top of the diver play with this I put the sun right behind her but you can try and see were you would like the sun ...and the ray's to go. Attach the rays to the sun I used Low tack tape and used two bits for each sunbeam starting at the top then putting  in the sides this takes time and more than a little patience.!!! and they have to look the same from both sides.  That done it's pretty much plain sailing from here on in. cover the bottom half of the card with a sheet of copy paper and I attached the copy paper to the card with low tack masking tape I don't want an orange or yellow sea! Ink the brayer with the edge of the Foliage  inkpad the lightest orange bit. Roll off the first generation ink and spin the Brayer over the exposed bit of card....I did this three times to get the depth of colour I wanted DO NOT BE TEMPTED to Ink the brayer without taking the first generation ink off first.  IT DOES NOT WORK all you will achieve is a mess the brayer has to be all but dry the wet ink will not "take" and will remain WET. 
now at this point I went and made a cuppa......just to give the ink that was on there a couple of min's to dry I'm a great one for messing up artwork! due to impatience. coming back to the picture carefully remove the masking tape covering the sunbeams and Put clean tape on the now dry Orange ray's ........take away the sun, but leave the diver mask and the copy paper on the bottom half of the card. now clean your brayer and make sure it's dry you are now going to ink up in Adirondack Butterscotch this is going to be your sun and the other sunbeam's, again using second generation ink and not forgetting to do Barbara Gray's famous wheelie! spin the brayer across the card I think I did this three times too now carefully peel away the tape .......you should have a perfect SUN . If not and I didn't use a make-up  sponge sipped in either the butterscotch or the orange foliage to hide and white bits..... this done go away and drink tea you made earlier! come back and cover Sun Leave the mask still on the diver.take away the bottom half of paper that was covering what is going to be the water.
Take a sheet of copy paper and screw it up tight you need lots of creases........lay the paper flat and ink up your brayer now clean and dry in Adirondack Stonewashed. Spin the brayer now inked across the paper you will now see that the brayer has the creases from the paper transferred onto it...these are going to be our ripples. Spin the brayer across the card now doesn't that look cool. repeat if you need to using second generation ink all the time and using the creased copy paper for your ripples. go away and put kettle on again have second cuppa and come back after a few mins and colour diver in Ivory for her skin and red for her cossi and hat!

Kanban

A wedding Kanban kit I can take no credit for this on it took me ten Min's from start to finish jjust have to find a sentiment.......bit busy for me but it's a card for mu PURPLE Niece! the one who is having the purple themed wedding........I think she will like it.

Wheelie Happy Birthday

Hi all ....Sorry I have not been bloging but have really busy what with half term and DH coming home with a bad knee which needs surgery. My Mo-Jo has gone out the window. I have all these new stamps to play with I have been sat looking at them but done very little. however did mange to make this one useing Barbra Greys Clarity stamps Brayering masking Hovering and plotting! may send this to my fave Auntie it's her birthday on the 30 June. Hope she like's it and I hope you do too.

Ingredient's

Adirondack Lettuce

Adirondack Cloudy blue

 Adirondack Pitch black

Clarity Coated Card cut to A6

Wheelie Happy Birthday set By Clarity Stamps.

Trees by The Italian framer set Clarity Stamps again

Promarkers 

Berry red

Orange

Orchid

Pink Carnation

Sandstone 

Black thin pointed permanent maker to run round the edge.

Copy Paper

Brayer

Cardstock for matting and layering 

White Card

Strip of ribbon

Masking tape

Tape around card with masking tape to give a border.

 Ink stamp sentiment with pitch black Adirondack and stamp onto on copy paper then position over the coated card and stamp at the bottom using second generation ink. Ink the bicycle blot it on copy paper and stamp that too.   Make a mask of the bicycle on a post it note and cut and place over the bike then ink the flowers blot them on copy paper again and position over the basket stamp them. make a mask and cover the flowers also, wait for all the ink to dry before starting to brayer. Taking a piece of copy paper tare or rip it till you have a piece that resembles a couple of hills place over card where you think you want the hills to be.  Inking the brayer and rolling spinning off twice on copy paper do one of Barbara Grey's now Famous Wheelies start to brayer off the card coming slowly inwards to make the sky. do the same with the grass but remember to clean brayer off before you ink up lettuce green Using the other piece of copy paper that you used for the hills the top part should now match were  the sky is covering it exactly. Ink brayer roll off and put the lettuce where the grass should be.  Remove masks and when ink is dry colour bike in red and flowers in whatever colours you chooseI have added the colours of my choice but of course it's up to you. when dry add two trees for interest and there you have it one topper ready to be matted and layered Job Done

Barbara Grey. Craft's Beautiful card

In this months issue of Crafts Beautiful. Barbara Grey and Two Members of her Clarity team write a tutorial on how to make three cards.....I chose to do this one and while it drove me mad the first couple of times I tried to do it.......I kept getting spots when I tried to brayer....!
I then found out why! I had specks of embossing power either on the inkpad or on the table top but underneath the paper/card I was using of course when you ink and brayer over the top of the card the specks/ bumps show through took me a while to figure out what it was I just thought I had something on the baryer doh! anyway here is my take on the card that Barbara has done hope you like it.

Card for FIL's 80th Birthday.

I do like this set of Clarity stamps there are 8 different used stamps in this picture not all from the same set I hasten to add.

To make this you will need
Masking tape Low tack of course.
Adirondack inkpad Espresso.
Adirondack Cloudy Blue.
Adirondack Butterscotch.
Cut out post it note Circle for masking the sun!
Two Mice post it note masks one for each mouse!
These are all Clarity Stamps.
 The cottage
 The barrow
 The words
 2 x Poppies.
 2 x Mice
 And the crow
White card for stamping.
Happy Birthday sticker in gold
Card-stock of your choice.
Promarkers
I used an A4 card for this.
First put masking tape on three sides of your card Leaving the right hand side clear of tape for now...Using SECOND GENERATION INK!!! each time.
Plot and stamp where you want the cottage to be first then put the mask over were you want the Sun to be. Add the words and then the Barrow stamping the Barrow a little off centre...so it goes over the edge of were you think the picture should end.  Then carefully add the forth piece of masking tape. Stamp mouse one and cover with mask and then do the same with mouse two. Stamp poppies over the top of the masked mice, if the second lot of poppies go over the tape don't worry, However if you think they will go over onto the card on the other side of the low tack tape then just put a sheet of scrap paper there to catch any overspill of the poppy image.
The Sky and the yellow foreground was achieved using dusting brushes that I bought form the NEC last year .....for those who have never used them they are easy....just dip the brush onto the ink pad and dab a little ink then on a scrap sheet of paper just swirl around in circles then do the same on the art work/picture you are colouring how little you use is up to you. I used Promakers to colour in and stuck it to a golden foiled piece of card-stock leaving a lip of gold mirri showing I think it makes it look as though it's a card on a card! If you see what I mean...... Then glued the Picture onto an A4 card .I have had this in my stash for a while and sorry I can't remember where it's from or who made it. and added a couple of scrolls that I had cut from a spellbinder just to follow the tail of one of the mice! and the Happy birthday sticker simply matted onto white card with a gold scrap of mirri trimmed and stuck on with foam pads. I like this one it was a joy to make.

The colour purple!

Having wasted so much time effort and card on this project......with stamping and decoupage on Friday. I did what many of you advised I do go to bed and look at it with fresh eye's yesterday morning. Now I will admit it falls a long way short of my usual cards ( I personally do not like it.) I really can't get my head around Purple for a wedding to me that's a funeral colour.  And try as I might whatever I did still looked wrong.
In case anyone want's to copy this the ingredients are;
One piece of Hunkydory Purple swirls A4 card cut in half or trimmed to fit what ever card you have.
6 inch square of Dark green card.
6 inch x 12 inch Purple card-stock
A Small piece of piece of white glittered vellum.
A small piece of white card I used an off cut...at the moment I have plenty of those!
Clarity Stamp RSVP
Silver embossing powder.
Versa mark inkpad
Heat gun
Talcum powder and a small fine brush.
Gem's
Sharp scissors.
You will also need a Cricut and the Wedding cartridge.


Stick Hunkydory card to card-stock. Pick Design of your choice and cut it in the Cricut machine. I cut the Bouquet blackout and stem in dark green at 5 inches.  Cut out with the Cricut again the Purple flower's that form the top of the Bouquet again in 5 inches. The ribbon bit  of the card that comes in the same colour as the flowers I discarded as the stem and ribbon are cut from the glittered vellum, the vellum was cut freehand after sticking the vellum onto the green card with vellum glue dots. I stuck the purple flowers onto the stem with foam pads,  then stuck the whole assembled piece onto the Hunkydory card.  Taking a small off cut of white card I brushed it with talc this prevents any stickiness that would attract specks of stray embossing powder. Stamped the Clarity RSVP in versamark and then added silver embossing powder heat embossed the card from underneath. trimmed to fit and tucked in under the Flower's added a few purple gems here and there to accent the flowers. ........Hope someone out there likes it I must say a thank you to my good crafty friend Tammy Knight who is an amazing font of wisdom ....Her suggestion was to take a Versamark pen and outline the cuts were the petal's are which I have done....oh well I hope MIL Likes it ! It's for her to send to her Grand-daughter.

Life Is Just a Box Of Chocolate's

Well the challenge was Chocolate on Emma's Hint's Tip's And Crafty Inspiration this week and this is my take on it....
Humph! not much chocolate there I hear you say. But you see you would be wrong because it's a little Chocolate box coloured in my faithful pro-markers .

Ingredients;
Clarity Stamp set Old mill and barrow.
One heart shaped box.
One piece of sky blue bazzil card.
About 18 inches white ribbon and the same of the blue tartan ribbon underneath.
Pro-markers
Sandstone.
Cocca.
Pastel Blue.
Leaf Green.
Meadow Green
Putty.
Buttercup.
Grey 3

Looks hard but an easy make the hardest part was waiting for the glue to dry!
So trace around the heart box bottom in pencil and cut around this adding about 1/2 inch all round.
Take a pair of sharp scissors and cut a fringe up to where the pencil line is on the paper and when completed gently fold the edges in so they make the perfect heart now sit the base of the heart inside the blue folded piece of bazzil and make sure the edges are tight and cover the bottom all the way round. Glue the base of the box to the bazzil card and the glue the side of the box and bring the fringe upwards so the sides are covered too.
Next I cut a strip 1 inch wide to put around the bottom to cover the fringe! Shock horror! the circumference of the heart was longer then 12 inches so I had to cut another 4 inch piece of card and trim and match it in! That done I cut the Blue tartan ribbon and placed that around the bottom of the box, it hide's the paper patching quiet well!cut a heart out for the inside in chocolate drop paper and wiggle it to fit.......
 it does.... just, if you don't look to hard!
Next the top. Cut the heart the same as you did the bottom remembering to cut a little larger than the top so  as to make the fringe.  Glue to the top lid and fold and glue fringe to the side. wait to dry and trim around the top so no untidy bits of card are peeking out of the lip of the lid. Now, I didn't  want to paper piece the top for two reasons.  One as it's the top the paper piecing would be seen all to clearly. And two I don't think I could have cut it straight enough and keep it thin too.  So I left out the strip of card on the top but needed something to hide the fringe again a piece of ribbon seemed to be the answer. so I had an almost completed box. I just needed a topper for it. And taking Forrest Gump as my inspiration! I choose the nearest thing I had to a chocolate box cottage! Yes it's a Clarity stamp again I know...... I have got others but I seem to be on a roll with these as I think they are so easy to use.  I cut a heart out on the cricut using the wild card cartridge as it seemed to have the shape of heart I needed. added the cottage and the poppies to the front and coloured in Added choc's and there you are. Done!

I would like to enter this in:  Emma's Hint's Tips and Crafty Inspiration

Same as before but with A4 Aqua Hunkydroy card and and piece of white ribbon. This was coloured in with Aqua markers except for the yellow which was a Lemon Pro-marker.....hope you like it. x

Something painted.....B for Bernie or Boo!

Well I've had this in the craftcave for I don't know how long.....so thought I had better do something with it and as the challenge this week is something painted.  So here it is. It took three coats of gold paint and the green was some water colour pots think they at one time may have been H2Os however the lids have long since broken and having found them thought I would try and see what happened.
Well the swirl was a mixture of two or three  acrylic set's that were similar in size and design ......so I tried putting the paint on a tray and pressing down to see it the paint would lift....but it did not go on evenly so wiping off with a baby wipe try again.......this time I painted it on with a brush.....nope that didn't work either.  What to do by this time the paint was a nice pool of mess in the corner of the tray so do I waste it and rethink or.......do I find an old Opalescent inkpad that had been thrown away and put the ink on that and see what happens Ah ha! ok it's cheating ....a bit but hey it sort of worked there are a few smudges where the ink was too gloopy and maybe it's ran in a couple of places but hey overall I'm quiet happy with it. I didn't use use a block but rather picked up the stamp at the corner wrapped it around and held it in place and prayed then very carefully unwrapped it. what do you think?
 I forgot to mention that I would like to enter this in the Crafty Blogger's Network Challenge this week the theme is painted and is sponsored by Do Crafts. Good luck to all entering

Dream a little dream....

You will need.
Black Clarity Cardstock
Versamark inkpad
Clarity Stamps
Dream a little dream .....Verse
Moon
Forest Ridge
Carriage Set
Perfect Pearls

First time I had tried this. This was my second attempt The first time I stamped all the images on the card and the powder went everywhere so..... Learning by my mistakes! I stamped the Moon The Verse and the coach first, and added the Pearl Powder. Brushed it round the images and then lightly brushed it off.  Then the horse Which I did with a mixture of Pearl and copper.....the copper was to dark, and the bits of Pearl make it seem as though the moonlight is catching him. Then the trees came next. I stamped these three time's across the page at varying hight's so as to make it seem as though there is an incline, and added Green and White Pearl again, brush off and gently rub over with a kitchen paper towel. I will say however, don't forget to use second generation ink on this project otherwise it smear's when you go to rub and doesn't look as clear, the word's looked smudged. So that done with some simple matting and layering another card finished hope you like it.

Red White and Blue

This was lovely to do....

You will need
2 pieces of A4 cardstock on Red one Blue
Card For stamping on again I have used Neemha.
Clarity Stamp Blooming corners
Clarity Stamp Verse to see the world.......(.I Love this stamp)
Denim Inkpad By Adirondack
Promarkers
Berry Red
And a selection of blues I used
Bluebell
Pastel Blue
Powder Blue
Blue Pearl.
Lilac

Again I stamped the frame and added the verse and ladybirds and coloured in.  Made into an easel frame. I trimmed by hand about an inch off either side of the stand up part of the card to make it square ......I was just playing and thought it looked more interesting but you could offset it or mount is as you would like it. I Put glossy accents on the ladybirds and there job done! ......this was a joy to make and I will be making more I love the colour combo.  And with the Jubilee coming up it is a little patriotic without going overboard.

Thank you all kindly for your patience.....I keep trying to update but life has got in the way a little this week. My DH has gone back to work this week after a month off. He works away from home for long periods. and there is always an adjustment period if you like when he disappears back to work. I have my Eldest Son James finishing off his dissertation and Rory "Just Being Rory" but missing his Dad immensely. So whilst I have been crafting, the blog has been put on the back burner a bit.

What you will need is;
Copy paper
Stamping Card I know Clarity have THEUVA CARD but I bought loads of Neemha card when I was at the NEC so I am using that for now.
Clarity Stamps Blooming Corner stamp set.
Speedball Brayer
Espresso inkpad by Adirondack
Butterscotch inkpad by Adirondack.
Pencil.
sharp scissors
Make-up sponge's (2)
Glue or double sided tape.
8x8 Square card
Pro markers;
Orchid
Carnation Pink
Pastel Yellow
Buttercup
Pastel Blue
Powder Blue
Leaf Green
Pastel Pink
Pastel Green
Blender Pen


I am not going to try and explain how I did this But send you direct to Barbara Grey's Classroom lesson 6. This can be found either on the Create and Craft website or on The Clarity Stamps website. Barbara explains how to do this FAR BETTER than I ever could and those who have seen the pic's and laughed on Facebook will understand why I say this.
The only thing I have done differently is added a little blue to the Bee's wings so as they look a little more lifelike (well I think they do).

France......The Top Photo with the little lamb was a friends smallholding the lamb was less then two hours old.

The fourth Photo is a chandelier at a vineyard!
We went to a troglodyte village restaurant at Les Caves de Marson I would thoroughly recommend it. The Cha-tau  was opposite the cave. Just thought I would share. xx