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.