A Groovi Lady!

Been neglecting my poor old blog for ages now, but a lovely lady persuaded me to enter the Clarity Stamp Challenge, so here is my submission for Challenge 29 Anything goes....

This was my first attempt at using the new Groovi plate system from Clarity. I used the smallest embossing tool to draw around a Clarity stencil of the lady. Then I used one of the smaller "mates" to decorate her dress. I don't have many of the mates or borders yet, but enjoyed the challenge of being limited in choice. I embossed a sheet of parchment with the leaves plate, and then fussy cut them out and used them as the "garden" behind her. 

Originally, I had planned to create a scene on a card or canvas, so I stamped and white embossed some tree, benches and she was going to be walking her dogs, but I didn't like it and began to faff, so I abandoned that idea, but used the leafy parts of the trees to cut a spiral and rolled them up to create  flowers, one of which is at her feet ! So, another happy accident, and I'm determined not to waste my other parchment pieces so watch this space!!

I coloured the parchment on the back using Spectrum Noir Pencils and Alcohol Markers, and then white embossed the" May flowers always line your path" stamp from Clarity, which is one of my favourites, and again used the same mate and border to decorate the banners.

Have a good day all...and thank you for looking.... 

Chris xx

Summer in France 2014

Just love those Sunflowers.....

so cheerful, bright and well........Summery!

There's a leisure area called La Bussiere on the River Gartempe, they've made a beach and an area for kids to swim and play...and for the grown ups..a nice bar area...even when it rains we go there!...

...and the kids swim!

....that's not me...by the way but a lovely friend... Nina...

We had a fabulous time in Thollet.....pizza...wine....a concert....and the most fabulous Fireworks...every year they get better....even in the rain!!

......and finally....our lovely Abbaye de St Savin....

...our bike ride.....

Gartempe River......and a rather risque window display in Poitiers !!

.....erm....don't know his name...but know the man you mean!!   Lol!!

All for now...thanks for looking.....xx

An old Bench returns

We used to have a rather neglected wooden bench on our patio, our son sat on it one day, and then we realised how neglected it actually was!!  These pieces of wood were left out for recycling, and I thought...

....hang on...I'm sure I could do something with all this wood....

I played about with some Acrylic paint, and Chalk paint and came up with these....

a present for a friends 50th birthday.....

and

a present for a friend's granddaughter....I think I've become obsessed as I've now cut the bench into 

pieces ready to decorate in various ways...and even kept the rusty screws and bolts which I thought could  and will be used for something something....watch this space!

Thanks for looking xxx 

La Dame aux Cammelias in glass...a possible Clarity Challenge entry No 2 !

Hello Crafters...a friend is arranging a surprise Art Deco theme birthday party for her Mum in June. As part of her decorations she had an idea to put tea lights in recycled glass jars on all the tables. I suggested maybe we could decorate them...and landed myself the task of thinking up how to do it !!!

A while ago I saw Sheena demonstrating stamping and colouring on Acetate on Create and Craft, so I thought lets try that.......

I

 

 

I didn't have any acetate, but I found some overhead projector A4 sheets left over from my Drawing Office days, and thought this would probably be better because it would cope with the heat of the tea lights. I cut the film to fit the various sizes of glass jars. I didn't have any Stayzon so I used a black Archival inkpad to stamp the lovely Clarity stamp "La Dame aux Camellias" and dried it briefly with a heat gun. I coloured the image on the reverse side with Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers, I tried Promarkers but they didn't show up very well...or maybe I just have palers colours in Promarkers !   I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to using bright colours, but the brighter the better in this case. I found the alcolhol markers slid around a bit on the film, especially on larger areas, like the dress and the sky, but I quite like the effect when the ink is dry. I adhered the film to the jars with 3mm red line tape...and added a tea light !!  It's quite difficult to take a decent photograph of them, they look more effective the darker it gets, and I'm pleased to say my friend was thrilled with them..only another 100 to go ...lol  !  I may enter them into the 2nd Clarity In the Garden Challenge. Hope you like my latest offering, as I'm not the most prolific blogger, and thank you for taking the time to look xx

 
p.s These were my first offerings, and I didn't like the screw thread at the top of the jar showing, so the next ones I did, I made the film cover come further up, so that when they're lit they don't look so much like glass jam jars !!!

 

 

 

 

More of what I've been up to lately !....a little vase..

                                             More of what I've been up to lately !.....

 

 

Hello all... so..I was rinsing out this soup can...and saw..a little vase !! We have a sort of mini Music Festival here in Kent where I live, over the course of a weekend in July. On the Saturday, we like to take a picnic table which we cover with a nice tablecloth, and lay out our picnic.One year we really went to town and had a candelabra, but I thought this was a bit OTT, so last year we just had a plastic drinks bottle covered with floral paper with a little fresh flower posy in the middle of our table. So, when I saw the empty soup tin on the draining board I thought perhaps something could be done with it, so this year ,this might be our table centrepiece, hopefully, it will be a bit more stable than the plastic bottle !!

 

 

 

 

I gave the tin a couple of coats of Gesso, decorated it with the paper napkins and Melt pot flowers as before, and added some Stampendous Powder Blue Fragments, I did do some stamping, but it didn't show up very well. I think I'll need to varnish the inside though, as theres a few rust spots starting to show, unless anyone has any other suggestions, any

advice gratefully received !

 

 

Thanks for looking !! xx

 



What I've been up to lately !

A Decorated Heart

 

 

 

I bought a cheap wooden heart, gave it a coat of Gesso, stamped the lovely lady using Clarity Stamp's La Petite Musique with Dusty Concord Distress Ink, then lightly embossed the image using Stampendous Vintage Lilac Embossing Tinsel. I then cut the flowers from paper napkins, and adhered the pieces with slighly watered down PVA, which was also used as a glaze. I then added the flowers made using a silicone mold and experimenting with my Melt Pot. I added a bow to finish. I was inspired by the fabulous and talented Asia King's blog Under a Creative Spell, she also has a brilliant video on Youtube on how to use the Melt Pot !

 

Co-ordinating card and box !

 

 

As the heart was a present for a friend, I thought I'd try and co-ordinate everything using the same image, as I love it so much ! The tag on the card is the middle of a toilet roll run through the Grand Calibur !  a quick coat of gesso, some embossing as before, a bow and you'd never guess !! I thought it could also be used to hold a gift voucher or money.

 

 





 

 

The box was made on my hougie board, and again stamped and embossed, with the addition of embossed cola tin pulls as buckles.

 

 

..and finally the gift bag !!

 

 

 

I needed a gift bag to put the present in, and came across this one in my stash, embossed the front as before, added a tag, and the silver embossed strip at the bottom covers the lovely Vision Express logo, which needed covering !!

I'm hoping to enter this project for the first Clarity Stamp Challenge !!

 

Hope you like my offerings....and thanks for looking xx

 

 

 





Christmas Wreath

A Christmas Wreath made from toilet roll centres !

....and embellished in icy blues with some pot pourri added to fill the gaps and make it fragrant !!