SamsHomeCookedCards

Mixed Media with Claritystamp

2018-02-04T15:07:00.000-08:00

So here I am trying out my Blog AGAIN - if you knew how many posts I have started but couldn't get finished off because of the error on my Blog?? Well I cant even be bothered to go into it except to tell you that the reason I haven't blogged for so long is because Blogger is a PAIN IN THE BACKSIDE.

So I won't try to catch up with the last year all in one go, but I will do a few Blogs just showcasing some of my work and some of what I got up to in 2017 then I will get back to the present.

In the beginning of 2016/2017 our stamping DT work from Claritystamp was just ticking over nicely month to month because the Groovi System just went Mad -and still is. So Clarity had to put all of their efforts into that at the time. Its a great invention, a great system and gaining popularity all the time, even now.

It also saved the dying hobby of Parchment Craft. I did try the Groovi myself in the beginning but gripping the tools was paintful for me, so was gripping a pencil for too long. What I didnt't know at the time though was that I really wasn't very well and that I had a lot of pains I didn't understand. My Gall Bladder was excessively enlarged and infected, my Bloods were bordering on being out of sync enough to stop me having a much needed operation! etc etc, anyway the reason I mention this is because suddenly I CAN hold a Groovi Tool AND a Pencil for more than 10 minutes without it hurting my hands now. But that still doesn't make me good at Groovi. See that Mixed Media Head of mine just wants to grunge up the Parchment Paper all the time and you cant! So I was proud of my very first Groovi Grid I did and I will leave it at that. Although I do add little bits into my normal work sometimes. In my book if someone on the DT can do it better than you, you should leave it to them, well ALL of the DT can do Groovi better than me. x

However, what did happen was that I became "complacent"! I was ticking a long taking my time with my DT Samples at leisure. I even started up a second Clarity Mixed Media Workshop - well I had so much time on my hands. This new workshop was and is held at Crafters Companion, Aycliffe Store. They sell loads of Claritystamp products there. I loved holding my workshops there because they look after you so well and its a great "Crafting" atmosphere, obviously!.

Anyway just after I took on this extra workshop Clarity started to concentrate on Stamps again, people had missed getting new ones and I think Barb was wanting to pick up on them again anyway. Well suddenly we were bombarded! In a good way really but as I put so much pressure on myself when I am prepping for workshops and I spend hours in my craft room trying to come up with something new for every set of stamps or stencils I get I was finding it a bit too much to be honest. I went from twiddling my thumbs to stressing myself out completely trying to keep up with everything. Then it hit me, instead of trying to do something different for every set of stamps and stencils and then trying to do something different for each workshop why don't I make them all one project!!!

So I would do my DT Samples and use them in the next workshop in the village, then I would repeat that workshop at Crafters Companion, because I have different people attending both. This way I was producing much better work. However, I did start to get a crossover of some people wanting to come to both workshops, so sometimes I varied the project a little from one to the other.

So anyway, enough of the chat for now, I will showcase some of my cards from last year, here and over the next few Blogs.

The Stencilled Ladies

This card started off with a background made from distress crayons, which I had never played with before. I then used the Claritystamp Star Mini Stencil and on top of all that I put the main stencil

Tags Made for Maria's shows in Summer 2017

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I love to decorate things, especially wood. Door Tags seem to have more use than some other projects so I got myself a batch of them in to use in workshops. This project uses one of my favourite sets of stamps of "All Time"!!! Yep I love them that much.

The reason I love them that much is because they are already "grunged up" for you. No matter what you do to them they look gorgeous just all by rthemselves, but when you start to add "scratches" of white paint to them or put background brights before you stamp them, well they just look even more lush. The words to go with them just finish off those open spaces - lets face it you can stamp words anywhere and they just look great in Mixed Media Terms.

The Gel Press Petites!

Oh boy I have had so much fun with these Mini Marvels! I have been playing with them for a full year at least and I still haven't discovered everything I can do with them. Every workshop I have used them in has been a very happy one!!!

You get such lovely pieces of Art with such little effort!!

But there is one thing better than the Gel Press Mini's and that is the Mini's mixed with

"Sam's Shapes Stamps"!!! I know these were my design, based on a design by Barbara Gray I may add, but honestly these two together! well I could play with them alone for another year and STILL be discovering new things to do with them.

I love the simplicity of these Stamps by Tina Cox. In fact on a lot of my samples I simplified them even more by just using one leaf or one petal. You will see further down that I did this with a Workshop Project that was very popular because once you knew how it was made you could just make a quick batch of them and they were a joy to "play with" mixing up the colours etc on the same theme. Some of my Mixed Media Crew did just that. I will do a post later show casing some of their lovely work.

So here again I used the Gel Press Petities, mixed with Sam's Shapes but this time I added Tina's Flowers. Same design, extra stamps. The word ART from the Clarity Wordchains is the word I have stamped the most in all my time of stamping, I love it. But I have a theory too!!! Power of Suggestion really works - ask that Magician guy who knows what everyone is going to say, or pick, he uses it! So if you stamp the word ART on your work people will look at it and this O'H look at that piece of ART!! So if you have a card and you don't know how to finish it off, just stamp Art on it and instead of putting it on the mantelpiece people will think of putting it on the wall!

So here is that quick and easy card I was talking about which uses that one Leaf over and over again! Isnt it just a beautiful leaf? I have finished using this one in my workshops now so it is on my

You Tube to do list. My Hubbie bought a GoPro this year and said I can use it to make my You Tube Videos, not sure if I might be better off with just my IPaqd but I will try it out.

This Lady is from a stencil using Grunge Paste or Viva Past through it, I then let it dry thoroughly colour it and sand it down. I first used this technique when I demonstrated that lovely Clarity House Stencil at my first Clarity Open Day, was it my first one? Mmmm yes I think it was because I remember how lucky I felt that I had such great products to demonstrate with and how easy it was to make them look great in just a few minutes. In fact my old DT Buddy Kirsty Goodwill grabbed one of them off me and said, can I have that!!! Well I knew then I must be doing something right, what a compliment that was. Kirsty does commissioned Art you know!

I realised when I was doing my first Demonstrations that there had been a slight mix up in communication between me and Barbara! That morning before the event as we were setting up Barbara said to me, "so you know what you are doing don't you Sam, you have done this before"! I gulped and said "Yeah I will be fine!! I know exactly what I am doing"!!!! I just left out the, "but you do know I have only ever demonstrated for about half hour at a time while the main demonstrators went to the loo, I HAVEN'T demonstrated for eight hours a day none stop for two days in a row????

Still afterwards Barb said I was a Natural so I still didn't feel the need to tell her that as she pre-booked me in for the next one. I did know however that I wouldn't let her down or I wouldn't have done it. I used to work in Recruitment for the RAF and you had to chat to people all day long telling them about the Life Style and Trades etc, so similar thing don't you think? Oh and I used to work at the Air Shows ogling at the Hunky Pilots while they talked to people all about becoming a Pilot!! Or more likely for most a Flight Engineer! So yeah, I was very experienced. xxx

These little ladies above and below are from the same set of Stencils, I have done both of them in very different ways. Both took me about 6 or 7 mealtimes and a few full Moons to do, but this is the type of project that I think people will hate but I have to carry on with them until I like them myself, If you could have seen where they started off to where they are now you just wouldn't believe how many layers and hours of labour I put into them. I used to feel I was "cheating" if I messed around so much with things like this, then I found out I am probably just a "Mixed Media Artist"????? I never saw myself as Mixed Media in the beginning but now all that stuff in my Brain just makes sense suddenly!

Oh this is so frustrating, blogger just keeps closing down as I am typing to I am just going to try to get this posted and see if I can come back later to add descriptions.

Thank you for joining me and I hope you enjoy the gallery.

Sam

A Little Catch Up

2017-08-03T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well I have tried over the last few years to keep up with my Blog, its the one way I like to communicate the most in the craft world. Firstly its a space where all my bits are together. Secondly its a safe place because its mine, but its exciting to get visitors, especially if those visitors Like, Comment or Follow my Blog. I do have a thing about keeping things contained, I think that is the old Secretary in me, I have to have paperwork in a plastic wallet that lives in a file that lives in a box file that lives on a shelf and that has to have a mate where I put all my notes, then I need a reminder file to make me look at the notes!! I am sure you get the gist.

I think this is why I have ended up with two Gel Plate FB Pages,- Art On A Gelli Plate was my first one now my main one is Gel Plate Creations, an Altered Arts and Crafts Page and a SamsHomeCookedDesigns Page, Oh and a Claritystamp Mixed Media Workshop Crew Page??? Mmmm is it a problem or does it mean I am organised??? You decide. I even have a You Tube Chanel, I am on Pinterest and now I do Instagram too - oh and Twitter?? No wonder I go to bed late.

Anyway as you know over the last few years I have had a lot of trouble with blogger. But now I have pinched my Husbands Surface Computer so lets see if this and Blogger get along.

So last time I visited I think it was May this year. Well should we do a little catch up?

I am now in my second year of my Claritystamp Mixed Media Workshops. I have expanded now, I still teach them at Billingham and now I also teach them at Crafters Companion Aycliffe Store.

I love both of my workshops for very different reasons. The Billingham Workshop is a Family Affair. My Sisters, nieces, Husband, Brother In Law's and Kids all get involved when needed. They set up the tables, do the shop, make tea and serve cake and biscuits, I have a photographer and so on and so on. What a great family I have. We are all very close and its great to be able to run my Workshops with the backup of my family. Non of them get paid for it, they do it because they love me!! We have always been like that as a family really, if we are needed we chip in wherever and whenever needed. Sometimes I think I have more family than Workshop Crew at my workshops???

This is me in front of a display of one of my Workshops

for Claritrysrtamp at the Crafters Companion Store, Aycliffe

So if any of you want to come along I will chuck a family member out of the room so that I can fit you in!

So I run my other Clarity Mixed Media Workshops at Crafters Companion Aycliffe Store. This is totally different but just as lovely. I turn up and the tables are set - family are redundant- we get tea and cake in the morning, lunch at 12 and tea and cake in the afternoon from the lovely café in store. I haven't been doing workshops here for very long so most of the people who come to this one are new to me.

We work a lot with Tiny pieces of Art in my

Workshops - I LOVE Tiny pieces of ART

Although I am spotting a little trend where the Aycliffe Crew want to come to my Billingham Workshops and the Billingham Crew want to go to my Aycliffe Workshops. My intention was to get double use out of my Projects but that is going a little wry, still I just twist them around a little so anyone who comes to both workshops is never quite sure if they did it before or not!!!

We did a bit of self made de-coupatch papers at my last

Claritystamp Workshop held at

Crafters Companion Ayciffe Store

I have loads more to tell you but for now I will leave it there. I hope you enjoy my little catch up Gallery of some of my workshops and Claritystamp DT Work over the last year or so and I hope you will come back again and join me again. Please follow if you don't already and please leave me a comment or just say Hi if you are already a follower and I promise I will be back very soon. Well actually it may be a few weeks but I will be back !

Strike A Pose !

2017-05-09T21:52:00.002-07:00

Hi there, so I managed to get one Blog done so I will push the boat out and try for a second, wish me luck. (Blummin eck in hindsight? Its taken me hours - apparently Blogsy couldn't upgrade their IOS so doesn't really exist as it did for IPad? They could have told me!!!)

Last time Rosella was on HOCHANDA TV for Claritystamp I had been sent these beautiful stamps but only had a few days to play with them. Well I definately work well under pressure - if I have two weeks to play with my stamps I spend hours and hours in my craft room pondering over how to finish one card!!! Days sometimes!! But then normally in the last few days I get all my best ideas but run out of time to carry them off.

So when my deadline STARTED at the point in which I am normally panicking because I don't feel I have "done my best yet" all those ideas that come at the end of the "fortnight deadline" came flooding in straight away. Of course the fact that I love anything to do with Dressform and Fashion (not wearing it so much as designing it on paper) well that definately helped.

I am often trying to design some Dressform stamps or Stencils but my drawing lets me down so much. So as I was looking at these stamps I thought, well if you can't draw well enough to design the stamp, you could at least make the Stamp look like a drawing???? So this is where I got the idea of my "Fashion Journal". Just like with interior design, in fashion you always do a "Mood Board" first to decide on the feel of the project and the colour scheme etc. Well, I used to really enjoy doing this bit on my Interior Design Course and love Fashion drawings too. I have some great photos of some from the top designers that I saw in a museum.

So when you are working with Gel Prints and cut outs and watercolours, you can decide what the end result is going to look like but, as I got the idea of this Fashion Journal after I had started my pictures I decided to reverse the whole process. Instead of making the "Mood Board" at the top and then completing the picture, I completed all the pictures then made the Mood Boards to match, after all, they aren't REAL Fashion Designs!

But if I am honest with you, I always worked backwards like this when I was doing my Interior Design Course. My Tutor hated that I did it that way so I used to have to hide the fact from her. But seriously, a mood board is a build up of ideas and colours and textures that you want to use in your design, but if you are designing a pattern sheet for instance, you do the doodling and then see what you come up with don't you? You can't pre-plan that can you? So often I used to get my Room Design/Mood in my head, mess about with painting my boards in patterns etc, design my knitted cushions whilst playing with wool AND THEN put it all together for the mood board and put the finishing touches to it from images I liked. Who cares how you get to your end result as long as the end result works??? See you have to show where your ideas came from but I don't really pull inspiration from flowers or trees or the sky or anything really they are just sitting there in a list at the top of my head and when I put a paint brush or Gel Plate in my hand I have no idea what I am about to produce, it just happens? Then I decide how to finish it off. Of course once I have done a design then I CAN plan the next version of it.

So I often get almost to the end of my project before I decide what it is going to be.

I really enjoyed doing a bit of "scruffy" drawing over the top of the stamped image to make it look like a sketch. I then watercoloured from Paint and Ink to make the "Mood Boards" look like the finished projects at the bottom of the Journal. Well I was quite proud of my Drawings in the end, but believe me, if I had done this the right way round I definately wouldn't have got the same results!

Most of the "Finished" pictures are made from my Gel Print Clean Ups and GelPress Mini Prints. I love to position the Fashion Stamps in a particular way over the prints so that you know they will have a certain look when cut out. Like the Boots above and below for instance, I positioned them so you would get the line across the middle giving the effect of a "Stitch" Line. I then coloured bits here and there to make a finished Boot. Then I did the handbag or shoe to match.

I was really proud of the one with the Red Shoe - because the bottom shoe is a Gel Print and the top shoe is me with a paint brush - quite close in the pattern don't you think?? The Hair!!! OK so I thought this was a scarf attached to the Hat to fasten it on, do you remember that fashion?? Then afterwards I kicked myself when I realised it was hair - funny how we all read images differently. Of course its obvious now, but I still feel this hat could definately have had one of those scarf fastenings too - so two hats for the price of one.

So I had done all the pictures on the bottom - and could have carried on for hours, there are so many combinations I could have used. I wanted to use them all but you can't present just a stack of familiar pictures to be shown on HOCHANDA because it would be too monotonous. So I had to decide how to present them. Initially I decided on a Mini Journal Book, but thought it would just look like a bunch of nicely stamped images and a bunch of Not so Nicely stamped images. I needed a way to make it obvious to someone who only gets limited time to look at the Artwork they are sent to understand what they are looking at straight away. So the Mood Board and the finished "Design" needed to be seen together to make it obvious, and that is why I came up with this design - two hours before I had to run to the Post Box! Phew that one was really close to the deadline!

So I will be doing this in some of my Future workshops but I may Modify the Design a little bit!!

Talking of my Workshops!!!!

I still have spaces left for my Claritystamp Mixed Media Workshop this Coming Saturday! A fair few of my regular Crew Members can't make it this month so please let me know if you would like to come along via Private Messaging on FB on my main page, Sam Crowe (Nee Mee) or one of my Pages

SamsHomeCookedDesigns

Gel Plate Creations

Altered Arts & Crafts

Art On a Gelli Plate

or at the bottom of this blog, leave a comment and a way to get in touch with you.

One of my Next projects for this Workshop is similar to this card and the rest will be a surprise.

This workshop is held at the Wolviston Village WII Hut in Billingham, Teesside.

The workshop is on from 10.30 - 3.30

My next Clarity stampwww.claritystamp.com Workshop at Crafters Companion Aycliffe Store is on 23rd May 2017 and you can book yourself using this link below. 10.30 - 3.30

https://uk.bookingbug.com/home/49977-Crafters-Companion

You can also see the projects for this Workshop on the link above.

Thank you for visiting my Blog - I have more artwork to show you but I will just show a few at a time so that I can give you a little explanation of what went on when I made each card/item - if I can work it out for myself that is????

Please leave a comment below to say Hi if you have time.

Sam Crowe

The Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It Challenge - July 2016

2016-07-11T15:08:00.002-07:00

Hi there, long time no see. I do keep typing up Blogs but struggle to get them to post, so wish me luck.

I am entering this piece of Bunting into
The Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It Challenge for Jul 2016

The Triangles are made using the ClarityStamp Shapes Stamp Set - there are two separate sets.

This is a piece of Bunting I made ready to demonstrate for my Clarity Mixed Media Workshop on 9th September 2016. I purposely didn't show this on FB because I wanted to enter it into the July Craft Stamper Magazine Take it Make Challenge. I often tell myself I will enter this challenge but often don't get the time I would like to make something a bit special. See, I think this Magazine is a bit Special and there are so many lovely pieces of Art entered every month into the challenge, so I wanted an entry piece that I felt proud of.

I had done the Centre Top Triangle on another piece of my Bunting and that inspired me to make this piece, I wanted that to be a main feature on the Bunting. Its the only part of this that is from a Stencil - oops I tell a lie the very centre piece is a stencil too. Everything else is done with Clarty Stamps and a Gelli Plate Print I have an FB Page just full of Gelli Art. called - Art On A Gelli Plate(R).

So lately I have been making some card and Bunting and Tags that I am really quite proud of. When I started my Clarity Mixed Media Workshops in March, fully supported by Barbara Gray, I had asked if I could have some Shaped Stamps. Barbara already had some shape stamps for her Letterset Stamp set and I had been getting some great results with them just dipping them. I Said to Barbara that if these were bigger there is no end to what I could do with them.

Its great to have so many areas to just play with your stamps.

Well I was over the moon when Paul Church announced that my Stamps would be ready and waiting for the Launch of my First Workshop (Barbara was on holiday at the time) It felt so good playing with the stamps I had hoped for in my very first official Clarity Mixed Media workshop. Well the workshop far exceeded my expectations, ha that's sounds odd coming from the person who is running the Workshop doesn't it!!! All will be revealed in a later Blog.

I just love these Row of Bird Stamps from ClarityStamp - so much play with them because there is so much open area.

But my point is, I said that there are endless possibilities with these Shaped Stamps and here I am 4 months later still playing with them and still with a large list of possibilities in my head of things I know will look good and are on my list of techniques to try. These are my Go To stamps just like my Gelli Plate. - can you tell I am excited about them??

This is the piece of Bunting that inspired me to make the Bunting for the Craft Stamper Challenge. See how the Flower section really pops off the page.

So this Bunting that I am entering into the Craft Stamp Take it Make it Challenge is made using the Triangle Outline Stamp from one of the Two shape Sets. But this bunting isn't just about one stamp. It is ALL about stamping. A quick explanation is under each photo. The whole of the background of this Bunting was started off with a Gelli Plate Print - I use my Gelli Plate more than my Handbag!!!! I love to show people how easy it is to use too.

My love of colour is enhanced by the lovely #PaperArtsy Fresco Paints that I used. I have also coloured here with #Range Alcahol Inks - they work so well over paint. And I have used the Range Re-Inker water based inks with a paint brush too.

So don't forget to nip by and check out The Craft Stamper Magazine Make It Take It Challenge and maybe have a go yourself? The theme is Anything Goes as long as it includes a Stamp, well mine includes

The ClarityStamp Journal Stamp Set

ClarityStamp Row Of Birds

ClarityStamp Alliums Stamp Set

ClarityStamp Word Chain Set

ClarityStamp NDC Sun Burst Stamp

Thank you for popping in, I hope you like my Bunting.

Sam Crowe. xxx

A Quick Catch Up

2016-05-26T03:01:00.000-07:00

Good morning everyone. I can't believe it's over a week since I posted on FB - I have so many projects I want to do in crafting and in the Home, there are so many lovely family occasions occurring this year too. Life is very busy, in a good way! I have four pending Blogs to offer you, I keep starting them and then running out of time, (takes so long to get the photos and the Blog to meet up)? and then they become outdated? But I think I will just get them all posted anyway?

Hubby is home at last, so he takes up the job of Cab Driver for the kids now Yeh!!!! It's only 8.50 and I am already sat at my Craft Desk (which at the moment is my Dining room table) I am Packing up my craft room ready for a makeover - IKEA Wardrobe ordered, bespoke desk has been designed by my Bro-In Law and my Sister - who had a great idea for doubling the size of my desk!! and I just have a couple of ton of STUFF to get rid of??? It will be all white (with a bit of Red and Green) but apart from that it will be all white with a black checkered floor!!!

These two pictures are similar to how I would like my Craft Room

the one below is about the size of the room I have, and on the one above I have a counter like that now but you just can't see it? It used to be a Box Room, then

a Computer Room, Do you remember when people used to need a whole room for computers???

Can I show you a before and after? No chance! The before is never something I would have wanted to take a photo of?? Maybe I should do an In-between and an after photo though?

Say Hi to my Clarity Mixed Media Crew - there are more of them now too and I have some I have yet to meet in July
What a lovely Crew they are. I am so pleased with the Wolviston Village WI Hut too and the Ladies from the WI are lovely.
Its partly because of this Crew and holding my Workshops that I decided I must get my Craft Room sorted, they want me to get grungy and for that you need space, and you need to be able to get to all those messy products. Any excuse eh?

All my Clarity Mixed Media Workshop items are separate in the conservatory which is for now acting as the Garage! See when I clear out my clutter and when I fill up my Charity Bags they always go in the garage first, then my Hubbie comes home and gets rid of the whole lot, it's a guilt free system, for me, it works! For Paul, its annoying! (Guilt free being the stuff I am getting rid of that has never been touched) yep I am at that stage I just want a clear, clutter free craft room, I walk In there and my brain is as cluttered as the room so one of them needs to be cleared out so that I can start to spill out the arty stuff. It's no good having a mass of arty ideas if you can't be bothered to fight the clutter to get to your GP or your Heat gun or have to do an arm sweep to find a space for your Gelli Plate??? You loose interest or run out of time and the idea is gone, forever! Lazy Crafting ensues and you just know you can be as arty as some of the people who's work you admire, if only you could sort out that craft room and have everything you need at your fingertips! OK does that sound big headed? well it isn't meant to be. What I mean is I have dreams of doing canvas, of finding new styles, of sewing, making books, designing new things and for that I need my Sewing Machine at hand, my Gelli Plate on Tap and my Treasure Gold at the Ready.

A sneak peek at something I am working on for my next Workshop on 4th June. Its going to be a three step project. 1- Get Grungy - 2-Get Arty -3-Get Crafty! I have also made a video of me actually designing the project as it came out of my head, that I will put on You Tube a little later on, it was only meant as a prompt for me initially. At the moment I have some very slap dash videos on You Tube and yet people still ask me to do more, which is another reason I need a nice wide clean desk in my Craft Room!

My You Tube showcasing this page. so far.

This is one of the projects I have been asked to do a Video Tutorial for, at the moment the video just shows it off as a Journal Page, but not how to do it, so I have scheduled it in for just after the Clarity Crowborough Open Days - I did used to find it hard to repeat work, but now I am holding the Workshops I think that way all the time, If I make this what steps would I demo it in for a Workshop?? Maybe this should be a workshop first? I need to add Journals to my Workshop!

The Sketched Lady Stamp by ClarityStamp - this is my favourite stamp of all of them. So its not surprising that I am using it on my Third Worksop, I can't believe I waited this long??

I want to add wood too - We have to work on wood if we want the true benefit of those lovely Fresco Paints.

Anyway as I was saying the Conservatory is acting as the Garage at the moment because we are having the Garage made into a Games Room soon? So The Conservatory it is, but no rubbish now just the "Keep" pile items and the charity bags go straight to the shop instead of sitting around for months! But it takes longer this way! Every Bag and Box is laboriously searched through for Keep, Chuck or Charity items - no dumping them till later anymore! Have you ever got to the stage where you don't even look in the box of papers? You just chuck it in the recycle (guilt free) bin? Cor blimey I used to buy some rubbish "Bargains"! I think we all start there though until we know where our arty tastes really are? And I am really sorry Martha but your punches are in the scrap yard - or did I sneak them in the charity box in the end?

I have chucked out more paperwork and rubbish than you could ever imagine over the last month, I have filled more charity bags than they can fit in their shop! Literally!! I am a woman on a mission!!! I want my house back!! The kids are getting bigger and the toys are getting smaller. The craft room is going to become a work room instead of a collectors room and my organisational PA Skills from days of old are starting to come into their own.

This is a little bit of Art done off the Gelli Plate I did during my practice for the workshop - can you believe I am still discovering new ways to play with it? You can't beat a bit of abstract and it certainly beats that stupid Cardboard Box thing that girl had on TV yesterday - now that IS what you call lazy crafting!

So, Busy? Definately! Self induced business, yes definately but I can't wait to see all the results. X

So I am off now, to pack up my Workshop ready for my return from holiday, then I will pack my Caravan, go shopping, and empty a little more of my Craft Room?? See you later!!

More Blogs to Follow soon

Carry on Crafting

Sam xxx

Posted with Blogsy by Sam Crowe

DT Cards for Clarity 23rd April 2016

2016-04-30T04:25:00.000-07:00

Hello there.

I thought its about time I showed you some cards I made for Paul Church's (this is Paul's Blog) slot on HOCHANDA TV the other week for Claritystamp and have a bit of a chat while I am here. Grab that cuppa again Linda Page! xxx

Boy Oh Boy is life a bit hectic at the moment? Partly due to me, partly due to me and my Arty Stuff and Partly due to the Kids, Oh and Partly due to the fact we are looking to make some changes in the house. Let me give you a word of advice, don't start clearing out your Garage and the toys in the Conservatory at the same time, don't let your Hubbie return the Skip before you are finished and Don't leave yourself half way through the job and let your Hubbie sneak back off to work??? Ha ha sneak back to work? Why do I come out with these things, poor guy has no CHOICE???

Sometimes when I make a card I am happy with where it ended up but feel it has to have more of a purpose which can be a bit restrictive, as opposed to a Canvas that doesn't need to have a purpose? Which is where the Clarity Words come in. There are so many words and letters and verses to choose from now that you can always find a purpose for your cards and still let them be a bit ArtyFarty Canvas style!?! My thoughts with this was that this birthday wish is for someone who is just setting out on life's great adventure. I made this with a Gelli Print, some watercolour blocks, ink, stencil, masks & stamps. x

So what am I left with, a messy conservatory, a garage I can't dump in anymore because we are thinking of converting it, a messy dining room because I can't hide my Workshop stock in the Garage and the conservatory is still too messed up to be able to sneak it in there - the craft room? forget it??? I can only just get myself in the door without knocking off the papers doing the overhang thing like those 2pence coins in the slot machines. I have two, 1" foot squared places to work at, well, one is actually 9" by 7" - Gelli Plate Size! or is it 8" by 7"??? I should know shouldn't I???

I did enjoy making this one and I am pleased with the Chunky look to it. This has a Gelli Plate print background.

Anyway - things are definitely hectic. The kids have all sorts of activities on at the moment too. I have been rushing around buying shoes (they have always grown out of them by the time the next medals or sport event comes along?) and we have been looking for a ball gown! which we paid a fortune for (well my Dad did) and which I am about to get out and start to glue some gems back on, (that was last week?) £300 worth of gems and they are dropping like flies. Anyone got any Swarovski Gems they don't want, preferably gold and clear??? I tell you what it isn't easy finding a Ball Gown, we buy our's second hand but even if I wanted new, not many places are advertising themselves? If I was clever enough to be able to make them I would be rich by now. Surely they can't be THAT difficult can they? A bit of stretch fabric with some non-stretch Satin stuck on the bottom with a bit of gold trim (could use Inka Gold?) and a stack of beads glued to the bodice (with the wrong glue!). If you use a glue that dries rock solid against a piece of satin which is flimsy your gems WILL get knocked off - if you use a flexible fabric glue the gems will move with the fabric!! Just in case whoever glued these gems on is listening???

This card is made on Parchment Paper using the Balloon Stamp and the Philigraphy Hot Air Balloon Stamp and Mask Set and the Skyeline Masks

Anyway - I plod on and in between it all somewhere I get to do the bits I want to do, the bits that are supposed to make me disappear into a little crafty wilderness all of my own, but this doesn't really happen when you have a messy conservatory, the dog is barking at everything and everyone that moves, or doesn't move??? the kids are yelling at me because they can smell their tea burning and I can't remember where I put that cup of tea I made about an hour ago??

So yep I get there in the end. At least I am sleeping at "Normal" hours again so that means I am not falling to sleep as I am driving the kids around? Or whilst burning the tea. Have you ever had that sleep deprivation where the second you sit down you fall to sleep so you just don't sit down??? Well anyway I am not there now so that is good - I purposely changed my Body clock to day time is wake and night time is forget it all and get to bed time! What a difference a real nights sleep makes. I still burn the tea! but I don't get depressed about it? xx

I still have my Blonde moments though, so that wasn't because of lack of sleep then? I kind of just switch off sometimes and I have had a few little Son/Car incidents lately. Like the time he threw his bag in the back and the door slammed shut in the wind so I drove off. As I turned the corner and checked my rear Mirrow to see why Matthew wasn't answering me I spotted him stood on the pavement, wow he really looks like Matthew I thought??? Then there was the time he had half stepped into the car so one foot was still on the pavement and Auto Pilot kicked in - Mam stop the car he said I am not in yet? Oops ? But the most frightening was tonight as I dropped him off to run and fetch his friend while I turned the car round and I accidentally put it in reverse?? Matthew was so close he set off my reverse beepers? Yes, mundane routine is a terrible thing for someone who has very little concentration or who is easily distracted.??? So now we have this thing where I have to say "does everyone have all their body parts in the car" and then actually wait for a response before I drive off !!!

Apparently all these little things are very typical of Arty people according to FB??? So it's official, I am Arty, being Arty can seriously frighten your kids!!!!

So what's with the Gallery? Well I hardly get to blog these days, it has become too much of a palava, and although I love to Blog on a regular basis I have to make it my lesser priority sometimes.

Talking of Arty - sometimes I admit to loving a piece of my own work and I am not ashamed of it ! This card below and above is one of those pieces. Did I show you this be before? Probably but I have brought it back out as the Clarity Masks have just been part of the HOCHANDA TV show again with Paul Church. This card was just done with the Tree Mask - boy was this a labour of love - I wouldn't even like to guess how long this took me but you know what, when I am on a mission to make something look like it has a little more depth I sometimes go on a real Arty voyage of discovery. Isn't paint just beautiful if you get it to do what you hoped for? and the Clarity Mask worked well above and beyond its duty, it is more than a mask and more than a stencil.

So the reason I am posting these cards now is because I want to do catch up and ower Barbara is on HOCHANDA TV this weekend - Sunday and Monday, you can find details here. So I will have more to blog next week.

Thank you for popping in.

Carry On Crafting

Sam Crowe xx

DT Samples for ClarityStamp 25-2-2016

2016-02-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

Hello there everyone, thank you for stopping by. I would like to say a special Hello to my new blog Followers, thank you everyone for following my Blog I appreciate you all. I do get excited every time the number goes up too!

So does this look Black and White to you???

This is my BLACK AND WHITE project - Jigsaw Canvas I did for Barbara's show on 25th Feb 2016 - I am writing this ahead of time, so fingers crossed I won't get any trouble off Blogsy this time? When I say my BLACK & WHITE project, I use the term loosely!!! All will be revealed.

I tried Black and White Alone? I am always trying to do Black and White, I love it? But mostly I find it is just a bit "Harsh" to look at. It needs a splash of something else??? Its just so hard not to add a Splash of colour, and then of course once you have done that you want to add another splash and another.................

It's funny but I used to joke with Barbara Gray about how I would soon catch up with the amount of followers she had, see I used to tell her it wasn't fair that I had been doing my Blog for two years and she had just started hers, AND YET, she had 600 followers more than me!!! I think at the time I had 49 and I used to be happy with my lot???? So Barbara has gained another 1,019 followers since that first week and I was thinking if all my lovely Blog followers wanted to help me catch up to Barbara all they would have to do is Force / I mean Introduce 8 of their friends to check out my Blog and Make/ I mean let them see if they wanted to follow it?? ha ha OK I am kidding - NO HONESTLY I AM KIDDING?????? Good maths though eh? I actually have gained an extra 167 Blog followers myself since then and I am more than happy. I was chuffed to bits when the number got to 10 !!!!!

So you keep on adding a splash of colour and before you know it you have got one of the most colourful Jigsaws you HAVE EVER SEEN!

Ower Barbara has just won an award for her Blog and Clarity Stamp have also won Best New Product with the Groovy System, I knew they would, it's not only clever but it genuinely helps ladies who would love to do parchment but haven't got the skills, time, or maybe the dexterity for it or if you are like me THE PATIENCE?

OH look!!! Is that a WHITE piece and a BLACK piece???? See I even had to add colour to that???

I did try parchment way back in the day, I loved the look of it, and still do, but straight away I just wanted to get that white ink on there. I bought a book, I bought a kit, I sat down to do it and surprise surprise I just didn't get the results I had seen other Parchers get, so after half an hour I gave up !!!! But now with the Groovy I can have a finished piece in no time and I can't really go wrong, well I CAN but it is very difficult to go wrong!!

Well now here I really SHOULD HAVE LEFT A BLACK PIECE!!!! See that one on the left, with the white dots and Red Stripes,, that was supposed to be Black to balance out that side of the JigSaw - I missed it totally. See the Cockeral has three pieces to it but it doesn't show properly because that piece isn't Black, I had already sent it before I noticed on the photo. I was going to send a note to Barbara and ask her to paint it Black but I thought she might think I was a little cheeky????

Of course if you chuck lots of ink, or wet paint at the parchment it is not so hot, or if you get impatient and try to do Mixed Media type cutting it doesn't look so great either, but if you just used the Groovy Plates as intended, have a little bit of patience and stop trying to drench the parchment to grunge it up you won't have any of the results that are in my bin. !!!

I did a bit of hand doodling here to mix in with the Stamps, I used all four stamp sets from the Show.
You will find them ....... HERE !

So this is it! My very first mixed media JigSaw - well actually this was the third out of my batch that I sent off - it definitely won't be my last.
Wouldn't a JigSaw Piece Swap be good? Mmmmm how would it work? You get 24 people, (there are 24 pieces) they all do a full JigSaw and everyone is allotted a Piece No. to receive and send, hang on let me get the logic of this and I will get back to you. I might run this on my Art On A Gelli Plate FB Page for anyone who is interested, and may be do a separate Gelli Plate one on my Art on A Gelli Plat FB Page? I will give everyone chance to get themselves a set of the JigSaws, including me I need to stock up. You could do all sorts to these pieces, you can add handles, have hidden pictures underneath the pieces? all sorts. x Then we will all swap all but 1 piece, so we have one of our own. Then everyone could add a photo to my Pages, Mmmmm would there be a prize or would it just be for the fun of it? Anyone interested?????

So back to the Groovi Plate I have a few ideas of what to do with the Groovi but I need to sort some other crafty things out first - watch this space!! The Groovi DT Team are all brilliant at it, you should check out their work. xx I must say congratulations to Barbara Gray, and Clarity on the Groovi Award, well deserved.

Once I had finished the Jigsaw I mounted it onto a canvas and decorated a backing Canvas - next time though I would make that left hand Jigsaw piece black and I would do a plain white canvas background with the stamped edge. But hey I loved playing with these Jigsaws and that's what it all about.

So have you all seen Ower Barbara's Blog? Just in case you haven't I will <give you the link here > Barbara Blogs every day, I don't know how she manages, it takes me three days to upload my photos, two days to correct my Typo's and 5 hours to charge up my computer so that I can actually post it because my IPad won't let me?? See, I do work hard for you all. Xxx Technology, I can't live with it and I can't live without it.

So I will show you the rest of my JigSaws and cards throughout the next week, mainly because Me and Blogsy are getting on a lot better lately, (well that is obviously a lie, remember I said I did this Blog ahead o time???? what day is it now??????

Carry on Crafting!

Sam Crowe xxx

Posted with Blogsy by Sam Crowe

The Craft Stamper Magazine Challenge

2016-02-18T15:48:00.002-08:00

Hi there I have entered The Craft Stamper Magazine "Take It, Make It Challenge" .
Here is my finished Backing Paper.

I do like to enter challenges when I get chance, it keeps me on my toes in between DT work. This is one of my favourite challenges because you are always given a fair bit of freedom.

I also love the Magazine!! So this challenge is :-

Take A Technique - TEXT ME!

all the details are shown on the Blog, I have put the Link further down.

So this is the original Gelli(R) Plate Print - It was a clean up sheet using two colours and a bit of extra pattern added with a Kitchen Patterned Pastry Sheet.

It's all about backgrounds and that's what I am all about. I love to make backgrounds on my Gelli(R) Plate, a Canvas, a Journal Page, any kind of background really. One of my little hobbies is to make a background sheet or page with Stamps - repeat pattern and all that!

So this is what I have used in my Challenge Submission.

It's a Gelli(R) Plate Print, some Stamping with one of my favourite sets of ClarityStamps and then a little finishing touch in the middle.

So this is where the Text Me part of the Challenge was used. Its a ClarityStamp Backing stamp from their Journal Set. It doesn't actually say anything, it was made as a background Stamp.. I stamped it randomly in the same two colours of the paint on the Gelli (R) Print to make them just part of it.

Here I started to add in the Artist Easel from the Clarity Stamp Artist Set of Stamps. I positioned some of them so that the beginning of the "false" text starts just at the top of where the canvas would be. Then I did a bit of shading to embed the stamps into the background. I did the same with the inks, and positioned them all so that they looked like a "Repeat Pattern"

So on here I started to make a Centre Piece - I stamped over a little Art Card I had left over from a Spray Ink Session and cut it out, I cut it on the inside of the Black stamp lines so that it looks like it has been drawn/painted straight onto the Canvas, then I used the same stamp over the top of it. Normally with a Backing Paper like this you wouldn't take up the centre position unless you were highlighting an area for a photo or something, but I thought in this case it would look good the other way round, so if you added photos or bits of art into the other Easles it would all look balanced. Of course you could just dull the whole thing down by blending a thin layer of paint over it and use it as anything you like. I think personally it would be good in a Journal or Scrap Book.

Imagine having a Journal or Scrap Book especially to show miniature samples of all the cards or artefacts you had made, in Mini photos or small photocopies? It would definitely save us all having to keep so many photos on our IPads etc???

So this is the finished result - an A4 Backing Sheet - of course I did it on Card, so it could be made into an actual card, I like to keep my options open. But for this one I think I will be adding it to my Crafting Journal - which is a record of what I have achieved and some of my favourite techniques.

So, They said no cards! Well this isn't a card so I am good to go?! It's an A4 backing sheet that can be muted down or highlighted, you could add photos in the other artist frames or words or just bits of Art - or you can leave it as it is - it is a Scrapbook Page, a Journal Page, an Art Book Cover? Whatever you want it to be.

That is the beauty of backing sheets,

They aren't finished!

They have only just begun!

Mmmmm I have just made that up, I like that !!!!

- Backing papers have only just begun their Journey!!! x

So I would like to enter this in the Craft Stamper Challenge for February 2016

I hope you like it.

Bye for now, thanks for dropping by and remember -

Carry On Crafting!

Sam Crowe xxx

Posted with Blogsy by Sam Crowe

Clarity Stamp DT Samples for Hochanda TV Feb 2016

2016-02-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

Hi there, thanks for dropping in. Today I am just going to give you a FREE walk through my DT Samples Gallery, nothing else just a Gallery of my DT cards for Clarity Stamp on HOCHANDA TV. with Barbara Gray .

I had prepared a Blog, two in fact? One was early and one was on the day of the show. Boy you could tell I hadn't chatted on here for a while, the first blog was just bla bla blaaaaa and my second blog? Well, I had chopped masses of text out of it and I still fell to sleep every time I tried to check it through!!!

So enough!!! No talking today just pictures, a sneak peak and then the full card and a very brief look at my thought process for each.

So I hope you enjoy my FREE Gallery!! In your head you have to play that tune, -

daaa da da da daaaa da da da daa da da - have you guessed the tune yet? its off a kids Art Programme!!

Boy did tjis one take me a long time - in fact they all do really, they are a labour of love, or sometimes a "Mixed Media" Fix It Job???!!!! They are the ones that I find most of my ideas in.

Happy Engagement Day Paul - its OK he won't have any idea if I have the right day or not, neither do I? but this card was made with our Engagement in mind - 1988

I had a Gelli Print, and I had some lovely stamps to play with !

Whilst using the Paris Mask I had thoughts of those poor people who lost their life on what should have been an average Saturday Night out - so this is for them. xxx

Can you spot the difference between these two? I had to make a slight adjustement.

Paul asked me to marry him on the Statue of Liberty, if you were paying attention above you would already know that!!!!

The grass is always greener on "the other side" - no "on the other side"........

I should have done this one on a Canvas?

This one is my personal favourite - a lot of work went into this one, but I really enjoyed it.

I love where the red paint meets the blue too, and the depth of it - this is the glory of paint to me.

I also love how I got to do all this play on the trees because the Masks are completely flat.

Lisa P MacGregor thinks I have re-created her family Tarten - it does look like a Tarten Skirt I had as a kid actually. So this one is for you Lisa. xx

Life is never long enough - but this represents the young trees waiting to come up and live out their life.

So I hope you enjoyed my Gallery??

All of the links for these Stamps and Stencils are on the Clarity Stamp Website
you can follow this link to get to them. Including the new Groovi Plates on offer on the One Day Special show that was on the Monday too.

See you soon - well I say soon!! Getting my Blog to work took longer than making all these cards. In Fact Blogger itself took all of 5 hours to save three changes to my photos!!!

One day I will own a Mac PC I feel it in my bones!!!!!

Inky Techniques

2016-01-20T04:26:00.001-08:00

Hi there - look, two Blogs in one month!!! I am almost back on track with my Regular Blog Spot!! Ha get it? BlogSpot.com!!!!

So I have had a good old "I don't believe it" session on here today, so if you are in a moaning mood why not grab a cuppa and join in, but while you do that you can take a look at what I originally wanted to show you, which is a few cards from my past using some lovely ClarityStamps and my Ink Blending Techniques. I do enjoy blending ink just as much as playing with my Gelli Plate.

I do like to Characterise Stamps & Drawings -
If I remember correctly these German Words mean "We Belong Together"
This Stamp Set has always been one of my favourites, and you get so much in the set.

Well if truth be known I have been sat for more than half an hour trying to upload 3 measly little photos to FB? A few times I got distracted while I waited for them to upload, I have seen a well trained Rat fetching tissues when its owner sneezes, it also did a spin wen she held up a card saying sping?? WOW then I Saw Adele doing Karaoke in the car with James Gordon, that was good. I avoided the Doggy Rescue videos today as it can be very depressing, sometimes when I watch them (cos I have to) I skip straight to the happy bit near the end.

I was very proud of this one, and actually looking at it. I think I will use this process in my next batch. The reason I was proud of it is because its very pretty to look at AND it has so much white space!! That is so rare for me.

So I turned off my Lap Top, turned it back on and still it just wouldn't upload more than two photos??? Well on principle alone now I wasn't going to give up, I wanted to show more than two photos so I am damn well going to find a way to do that if it takes me ALL DAY!!! FB said I can, it had a slot for me to do it - "Upload Photos/Videos? Share with your friends?? Check in!!! Yeh OK so let me do that then??? Or is it just this annoying little Lap Top that is the problem????

This is another one I enjoyed making and actually liked the end result. I think the ClarityStamp letters and numbers Stamps sets look lovely in all the different colour mixes. I just nip from one ink pad to the other when I do this, I don't care if they get contaminated, in fact the more they do the better for me because you get some beautiful colours in the mix. I use the Adirondack and Archival Ink Pads - I only mix within their own type though, Water based with waterbased, Archival with Archival.

I could have gone to my IPad but the photos for that are stored on ICloud!! Well when they named this so called ICloud storage space that you can get to from anywhere???? (I beg to differ)!!!! I think they mis-spelled it. It should be spelt BERMUDA TRIANGLE!!! Because once you put a photo in there it just disappears never to be seen again.

Did you know, as ICloud fills up on one end it chucks items out the other? Its a bit like those Two Penny slot machines where you stick a coin in and they all fall off at the end!! You can get them back BUT have you ever tried doing a Blog or FB post with photos that were stored in your ICloud say ? a year ago. You can't just nip back to the place you last went to!!! Noooo that would be too quick! You have to remember how many swipes of the screen you did to get anywhere near the space where you picked the last photo from - I once did one where the photos were from the beginning of time, never again, it would have been quicker to upload 3 photos to my timeline on FACE BOOK???>??

And here are the same stamp sets used again, same design but with a different look.
See sometimes when you want to make a batch of cards you don't have to design each one as you go, it can be really time consuming. Here I just went for the same shapes, the same outline, the same colours and the same methods of blending and got 4 completely different looks. With just a few stamp sets. A variation on a theme.

So, what was I trying to do an hour ago??? Ah I know, I was trying to slip in a quick post on my FB Time line to say good morning????? See why I sometimes just don't appear on FB? I am a much calmer person without it. I almost bit the bullet and went out to buy myself a new Lap Top after trying to upload these three photos. My Lap Top runs so slow I swear its going backwards!!! Then I remembered what hassle it is when you first get a new Lap Top, having to put lots of passwords in that you will never remember again, and having to re-sign into all your bits and bobs with other passwords that are long gone from your memory. The fact that I can't really afford one was the least of my concerns.

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED???
This was a very weird one, but see the Lady on the Left and the Giant pointing down at the Cat, well they just appeared when I sprayed my card in Ink. So I gave her some hair, quite nice hair I think. Then I covered up as much of her boobs and bits as I could with the Tree Houses and with the Giant I hadn't realised it looked so much like a person pointing down over until I put the curly hair there, it was meant to be foliage initially.
I wasn't going to send this one in as a DT piece but I did in the end, I actually love it myself - I think it would have been better used as a Journal Page though. I bet ower Boss Lady, Barbara Gray was a little horrified when she received this???

I might get out my old Typewriter that I bought before Xmas, type you a Chain Letter, take a few photos of my work, get them developed in boots and attach one to each chain letter and then post them to you all !!! I think it would be quicker. What would the chain letter say???

Dear all, if I write a post on FB to say good morning, please respond because it probably took me a few hours to do!!! Please do not break the chain ... ....!!!!

Anyway GOOD MORNING EVERYONE.

Carry on Whinging - I mean Crafting

Sam

2015 ClarityStamp DT Gallery

2016-01-18T01:52:00.001-08:00

Hello there, boy I do miss Blogging - would you like to grab a cuppa and we can chat and I will showcase some of my Cards made for ClarityStamp.

One of my Favourite Designs from ClarityStamp is the "Word Chains" they are right u!p my street in every way. They are lovely to look at, useful, handy, can really "make" a piece of work

that you don't know how to finish off? The most useful stamps I have.

See without these Word Chain Stamps this just wouldn't have looked finished! ART is my favourite word, I love how it looks and I love how it gives that suggestion to the viewer, they might not think it is ART but their brain will tell them it is!!!
That's why I use this one A LOT !!!

My New Years Resolution (well one of them) is to be a regular Blogger like I used to be. Its actually how I got started really, before I started to use Face Book. FB is great for keeping up with lots of people at once, although sometimes I find it a little overwhelming trying to keep up with all the posts. Also If you don't keep up with FB you get thrown to the bottom of everyone's list and then it can be disheartening if no-one acknowledges your post, i.e. like when you get more comments on your post about the back of your head than you do on a Video you took time to make showcasing your work over the last few years. See one is personal and one is about what I do? Well just so you know I appreciate all the social comments about my new hair do and the Crafty comments, and friends. See sometimes we just want to get personal and chatty.

Meet Lilly - Isn't she lovely.

She has a lot of lovely friends too.

The Ladies - I love all of the Claritystamp Lady Stamps. I love giving them Gelli Plate Dresses!

This is one of my samples used in my Gelli Plate Class last year, and below is the samples from my Students, ha ha that sounds so weird saying my Students? Attendees? Mates/

Mmmm now I am not sure who did which card, who claims this one? Its Gorgeous isn't it?
This colour combo is just perfect.

Again I am not sure who made this one but again I think it looks great.This one has a Gelli Plate Background with "Sam's Eggs" (that's me) Stencil added over the top. We put a piece of square card in the middle to keep that area white and then that piece of card was stamped on and cut out to make a matching dress, then we stamped Lilly directly onto the centre of the card too and got her all dressed up.

Was this one done by Jayne ? I know Jayne likes Green and I think it works really well
over the Yellow background print. More of a "Lets Do Lunch" dress do you think?

Again this one was done by me, what would I have done without the
Gelli Plate to make it look like I know what I am doing eh?

This was my very first Gelli Plate Class in 2014 and the lovely Lynne Hammond came along to support me.

So what does this mean? Well, I think People are interested in the work I and our Clarity Team do otherwise we wouldn't have so many FB Friends from like-minded Crafters but maybe the Blog is where people want to see Crafty posts about what we do, after all you can put in a good picture tutorial on a Blog. I always used to do this sort of post through my Blog, so that's the way I will do it again now. Apart from anything else I do like to waffle on about what I do, who I see and what new stamps, stencils, paints etc I have been playing with. Most of all I love to do Tutorials, in Pictures and on You Tube. So I hope you will re-join me in 2016 to get all Bloggy again.

Ah this was an ATC I did a long time ago where I turned Lilly into Mary Poppins. So who knows which Stamp Set this Cat is from? The Swirl Stamp is another one of my Favourites. I was going to give you the link to the Floral stamp but there are so many gorgeous ones I thought I would link you to the whole lot so you can check them out. There are a lot I have missed myself, those daffodils for instance, I NEED them.

Look, even she would have fitted into that Magic Bag of hers!
I can't remember who received this ATC?

I would like to say I appreciate every one of my Blog Followers and your comments and I know (because you have told me) that some of you do not like to comment but you do like to read my Blogs so Lets begin afresh for 2016.

Ah here is another Lovely Clarity Lady - I told you I like Lady Stamps!
This one I added to this Photo Frame, then gilded it in Gold after putting the Pattern on with Grunge Paste.
She is called La Petite Musique and has a few friends too.

So what are my Plans this year - well as it has been for the last 2 and a half years, for me, its all about ClarityStamp. I love the products. I love the buzz of being on the DT and I love my Team Mates. Barbara in particular - our Boss Lady as I like to call her, never ceases to amaze me with her forethought, her talent and her generous ways. I think we all know that she invented the first See Through Stamp, and she has been bringing us a wide range of innovative Crafty ideas ever since. She is a very talented Stamp Designer and is still generous in giving other designers a chance to shine too. I still have a list as long as my arm of Clarity Stamps I "need".

This little beauty is the next one on my list, she reminds me of me lounging around the house !!!! Ha Ha.

So this Blog of many for 2016 will be an overview of my Cards in Pictures and Video showcasing some of those lovely stamps. I can't wait to see what new things we have coming our way this year. I wonder if any of my Teamies would be up for a Blog Hop next month? Mmmm that could be fun, what do you think, would you follow a blog hop? what would you want to see at the end of it??

and this is me practicing my Tap Dancing in the Kitchen, I drive the kids nuts!

I have always wanted to get work in Magazines too and it looks like that might just be starting to happen, so watch this space. I have also now learnt how to use IMovie Properly and will be doing more video tutorials, Classes are never far from my thoughts but when you are a single Mam for a big chunk of the year then your time isn't really your own, its hard to make commitments on a regular basis, so one off sessions is definitely the way to go for me but I do wonder if I would get enough people wanting to attend and if I do get enough people will I have enough equipment?? The perfect option for me would be to do Online classes, would people pay to watch me online? well maybe it can be something I look into, of course I am talking Gelli Plate here, mixed in with Journaling, stamping, blending etc etc Mmmm, we will see, all I know is that if I don't get something going I might have to "get a job"??? Oh noooo????

Oh and look here is my Living Room and Skye is sniffing the Xmas Presents!
You could make a whole story book with these Clarity Stamps couldn't you!. I have always
loved this Wrought Iron Dolls House Set.

I sometimes think I am so lucky to be a stay at home Mam when my kids are so NOT toddlers anymore!! But I did always intend to "work from home" they told us once on Tomorrow's World that one day we would all be working from home?? Well I haven't seen any REAL online jobs advertised have you?

Anyway enough for now. I hope you will join me on my refreshed Blog Journey this year, we have had fun in the past haven't we?? My lack of Blogging all started with trouble from my Blogs homesite and that has never been properly put right, so I will carry on flitting from Lap Top to Ipad and back again, so that I can keep this Blog alive.

Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoyed my Gallery. Which are your favourite Stamps from Clarity? I have provided you with links to some of mine, but there are a lot more that even I have been discovering as I was looking through my list - so many to buy, so little time!!!

Here is a Video of a Gelli Plate Journal I did using some of my favourite ClarityStamps

The Journal Set obviously? & Birds & Music Set also the Word Chains

Please click the link under the picture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Y1KBAHpYY

So thank you for popping in and I hope to see you again soon!.xx

Carry On Crafting

Sam xxx

DT Cards for ClarityStamp Oct 2015

2015-10-27T04:37:00.002-07:00

Well our Barbara Gray of ClarityStamp has been on our TV Screens again with some great Demonstrations - If you missed it you might catch a repeat or maybe get it on catch up here:-

HOCHANDA.Com

SKY TV 663

Freeview 39

Freesat 817

She will be on tomorrow night too (Tuesday 27th Oct) at 20:00 (8pm) it's a One day special and is repeated at the same time on Wednesday!

Anyway I have been a busy bee lately helping out family and friends so I am doing catch up and want to practice drawing my faces too ah except I have just remembered !!!! I ordered the lovely new Groovi People so I think I will be getting them out instead. After watching Barbara on the Groovi plate on HOCHANDA TV yesterday I was getting a real urge to get my Groovi on and now I have a few hours to chill with it. So I will just let you enjoy (or NOT enjoy) my Artwork or whatever you want to call it? That I made for the shows.

This card was made using a mix of Paint and Ink through the ClarityStamp Stencils I liked the way the underneath layer of brighter colours showed through the top layer so I just highlighted the Bell through the Stencil with Charcoal. Then I used a Translucent Paint over the top for the Words.

This is all a bit too pink for me but it might be to some peoples taste??? I put GP through the Tree Stencil and used the Holly Stencil for the background and some Christmas Clarity Word Chain Stamps for the Sentiment. Clarity have designed some fabulous word and letter stamps, enough to cover every taste. Like these Line Sentiments for instance, which are actually on Sale as we speak?? Hey Grab a bargain while you can Line Sentiments

For this one I had a bit of a play on my Gelli Plate to get a Xmassy looking background then I Stencilled the Tree over the top with a sponge and PaperArtsy Fresco Paints and did a little bit of doodling and coated with Glossy Accents.

I really enjoyed making this one, it started with a Gelli Plate Print then I had a little play. I will do a You Tube Video on this one to show exactly what I did. The You Tube Videos are just a little hobby of mine, but some people say they like them. They are true to the way I work, slap it on and see what we end up with. xx Well I do have a tiny plan in my head. I also decided on this one to add a hanging hook ready to put on the wall, well it just makes sense with a Bell doesn't it?

This one kind of did itself. I was cleaning my Gelli Plate and got this lovely print. I thought the gap in the middle was perfect for my JOY Stamp. I decided to put one of the Xmas Wee folk in the middle which I think fits perfectly. I stamped him over a few pads to get his colour matching the print so he looked like he was part of the Gelli Print.

I nearly threw this one out and now it is one of my favourites? You know why, it looks like a real card!!and it is very repeatable. I put GP through the Tree Stencil and left it slightly rough for texture. I coloured it with Green Inks then drew the squares with dots in the middle - I thought people would think this was naff so that's why I nearly threw it out. But then I realised it just needed a lovely Word Chain Sentiment.

This is my Favourite of all the ones I did. I did some Gelli Plate Block Stamping and then a little doodling and stamping on the top before I put the GP through the Bauble Stencil, I then added Gold GP over the top of that. Messy but calm is what I would call it? what do you think? I think I will be making a few of these for friends and family, if I get the time?

With this I went back to my days of Pattern Stamping and Good Old Ink Blending, I mean with a good thick coating of Ink. I just needed some vibrant colour in my day. The actual Bauble is from a Gelli Print with the Ink over the top, then I put some Glossy Accents around it to make it look like it was raised.

So this is all the cards I made

and this is all the cards I sent.

Ooops I nearly forgot about this one! Well there had to be one really messy grungy one didn't there?? This all started with a Gelli Print, the Joy just had to be stamped over that Sun didn't it and I went on from there!

I hope you like my cards and I appreciate every visit to my Blog, Comments are great too if you get chance but NO PRESSURE!!!!

If you want to see my You Tube Videos they are and will be posted on my

" Art On A Gelli Plate - Tutorial and Play" FB Page

I have also just posted a great video by Erika too on how to make a
Gelli Plate Book & Book Binding.

Bye for now

Sam Crowe xx

DT Cards for Hochanda TV - 2nd Batch

2015-10-14T11:56:00.003-07:00

Good morning all. Now I have my Blog up and running, very slowly if I do it on my Computer and without the ability to edit if I do it on my IPad, but it IS up and running. I have to keep nipping between the two. On the Computer GBlog I can't add pictures but can edit and on my Blogsy I can add pictures but I can Centre them - what a MARE??? This is the trouble with online programmes like this NO CUSTOMER SERVICE !!!

Unlike this helpful little Lady here. X

So what am I here for? Ahh I haven't shown you the rest of my cards for the Last Hochanda TV show with ClarityStamp.

Now that my little Rant above is over I must say I do like to Blog because if I don't waffle on in my Blogs I end up talking to myself in my Craft Room??? I am now doing a Doggie Blog for Skye and a "Crafting Like No One Is Watching"Blog! Sometimes no limitations whatsoever, no rules no trying to please anyone is necessary. OK some of you might think my work looks like I do that anyway (ha ha) but believe me if you could see what is in my head? I haven't even gotten started yet. So I just need a release of my Inner Self?

So back to this Blog, my REAL Blog, where I show my DT Work for Clarity Stamp mostly. I love being on a design team, it keeps me on my toes and makes me proud of myself. Not just any DT though because it helps when you love the products you get to play with too, well I say it Helps? I personally wouldn't go on a DT where I don't feel completely inspired by the products or the Team, I doubt if many people would actually?

You always have to include at least one traditional looking card, don't you think? This started life as a Gelli Plate Clean up Sheet, they make great backing papers.

So talking of being completely inspired, I loved these new Stamps the minute I saw them and the Stencils well I couldn't get them on my Gelli Plate quick enough. In fact I had so many ideas I literally did a little circle in my Craft Room trying to decide what to pick up first? My Grand Calibur? my Distress Inks? my Gelli Plate? my Grunge Paste, a Canvas a Journal Page? See what I mean??? Some Stencils and Stamps just get your mind in a whirl, which is what is so exciting about receiving those little parcels.

With the Heart Stencil from the Set I made this backing PaperCard on the Gelli Plate and just liked it as it is? I suppose it would make a nice Journal cover or something?

I think this one is my favourite of the whole lot, its just such a lovely backing paper kind of Gelli Print and I even did a bit of self Mixed Media Style doodling on it, which I don't normally have the confidence for (its a fine line between nice and naff?? But anyway I blotted out the right hand side a bit more, I had kept it clearer on purpose because I knew Beauty was going to be the Stamp on this one. I do like the Grunginess of it when you see it close up.

You can get all the Lovely Ladies here!

So as I had these lovely patterned stencils I went for the Gelli Plate mostly, because layering them up I knew would get some lovely results. On this Batch of work I used the PaperArtsy Fresco Snowflake a lot, it goes really see through if you use it right, it looks like chalk on top of black card and it obliterates all those finger marks that weren't supposed to be on show. I am so glad that Barbara sells these paints

Grace - Mmmmm I wonder where Barbara got her inspiration on this one? Again this is a Gelli Plate Print base then I did a clean up through the Stencil over the Background to get the Circles and blended through the Heart Stencil over the top of that.

For this I did the Background Red Ink on Red Card - I wanted that kind of Wallpaper effect.
I really enjoyed Dressing up Grace in her Dance Gear too.

You can get all these lovely Stencils here!

I did the Bokah effect on here and painted in extra pink in the middle to make her the full Centrepiece, I didn't want her to get lost in all those bubbles.

This is the first one I did, I have been waiting for a Heart Stencil like this for a while, next we need one with Long Thin Hearts (are you listening Dave???) Cheeky Bugger Aren't I. x So I kept making Heart Stencil prints until I got a nice cleanup piece, then I did some good old fashioned stencilling through the stencil onto the Gelli Print.

I am very proud of this one! Look how clean and neat it is??? See I do like clean lines too!!
I just painted a strip of Fresco Paint down the middle of the card, masked off of course. Then Stamped the white edges, I put two stamps on the Block so the pattern repeated the same. For the Centre I just stamped randomly and for the middle I cut out a painted stamped circle, placed it in the Metal Necklace Base and filled it with Glossy Accents. Then I coloured the Snowflakes in all in the same Complimentary Blue Distress Marker

So This was next!! As you can imagine with me, all that lovely perfectness, well I had to go a bit mad after that didn't I? I decided to turn back to where I started a little bit and just used my Distress Inks and Markers. These Snowflake Stamps and and Merry Christmas stamp are so lovely sometimes you just need to finish them off literally. I prettied the edges up with my Blender tool from my Clarity Mat and on the Centre I blended lots of pretty colours then just splashed lots of water on it, let it dry then stamped and coloured it.

I enjoyed making this one. Its Grunge Paste on a Canvas - I left it rough so I could get lots of shading in the Hearts and when I had stamped and coloured Charm I felt that her backing needed to stay white, its just GP spread roughly on it own, I did sand that bit down though before stamping.

And this one? Well I had to have one really messy grungy one! Just a good play with inks and Stencils and Stamping.

So I hope you like my efforts. If you missed the other cards I made they are shown on the post below this one. I seemed to make a lot in this batch didn't I???
I hope you enjoyed my little Gallery, thank you for popping in.
Sam xxx

Posted with Blogsy by Sam Crowe

DT Cards - Hearts and Spots

2015-09-27T00:17:00.001-07:00

Good morning Peeps it's me again. Now I have my Blog fixed there is no stopping me!!! I will keep it short and sweet today though with plenty of pictures, I think we all like pictures do 't we???

I honestly enjoyed playing with these stencils and stamps - PATTERN - you can never get too much of it and it's so much fun to play with. And WORD stamps anothing thing you can never have too many of. How quick it is to make a card for someone if you have the sentiment you want just sitting on your acrylic block waiting for you??!

Samples will also be shown on the ClarityStamp website - http://www.claritystamp.co.uk/

So let's get the gallery started!!!

I really loved this when I made it so I had to make more! So I thought, well why not do a set of them with the Stencils and Xmas corner stamps! Xmas Corner Stamps aren't just for Xmas you know???!

These could be for any occasion. I realised I had used the Heart Stencil again and needed to "Move On"! Well it is a lovely stencil. Xx

So next I went for the new ClarityStamp Bubbles stencil. I love it and I know I will be needing a spare one of these by the time I have grunged it up !! I thought I could use this for the Design I was Demonstrating at the Clarity Open days -:

This one look.

This was the original version of it, obviously on the one above I didn't get time to titivate it as it was made during a demo but the idea of the words guiding the theme is something I will be playing around with - I will You Tube this demo and put it on here this week! Fingers crossed it will up-load!

Anyway back to today! Where was I?

Ah I was showing you these lovely Clarity Stencils! Word stamps and Xmas Corners from today's TV Show on Hochanda!

I thought these all looked good together too? You could just make a batch of them ready to add sentiments as and when you need a card in a hurry (and listen to your own advice SAM Crowe) did you know she actually buys Birthday Cards???? Who is she?? Ah me, it's me? I am A card buyer but I am working on it!!!!! I think that's a great idea for 7 in the morning!!! Just make batches of base cards and add sentiments later, don't you??

Anyway I got distracted again.

I thought they looked quite nice together. I will be trying them on a canvas later.

So this is the same stencils but using a different medium.

So this was one of my sneak peeks it looks like it is 4 cards but actually!....

It's just the one! But this was just me having a play with these lovely stencils so each one can be an individual card too. The bottom left one is what gave me the idea for all those cards above. So as the weeks go on I will be doing tutorials and videos of the techniques I used so. Hope you will join me. I hope you enjoyed Barbara Gray's shows today too. Xx

So enough for now I think, I will come back and show you my Other cards made for today's show in my next Blog, so thank you very much for popping in, I will see you very soon.

Bye bye for now

Sam Crowe xxx

SamsHomeCookedCards: My new Modelling Job!?!?

2015-09-26T15:22:00.001-07:00

SamsHomeCookedCards: My new Modelling Job!?!?: Hi all I keep trying out my Blog to see if. Can get it working again, I have really missed my Blogging, so fingers crossed this will actuall...

My new Modelling Job!?!?

2015-09-26T14:58:00.001-07:00

Hi all I keep trying out my Blog to see if. Can get it working again, I have really missed my Blogging, so fingers crossed this will actually post AND I will be able to attach Photos to it?

So this weekend it was Heather's Birthday or (clarity Heather) as she is listed in my Phone, You know, the lady with the Knee Pads at all the shows? I nipped over to her house yesterday and so did our friend Jilly. What a great day we had. Len (Heathers' Hubbie) made our lunch, thanks Len.

I took Skye (Our Romanian Rescue Dog) with me and she had a great Play Day with Heathers lovely Labs. Xx I did take some video on my IPad but although you can hear me and Heather talking there is no picture? Very Odd?

Something else that is very odd is this ............

And this ..........

And this ???????

Are you seeing what I am getting at!? This streak of light is in all these photos and more? You can actually see it hitting the ground on one of them??

There look? Mmmmm

Anyway we went to a fabulous Yves Saint Laurent Exhibition at the Bowes Museum in Richmond. We fancied ourselves as Models for the day???

No this isn't Heathers' House, it's the Museum!!!

Can you spot us?

Oooohhhh Jillly Strike A Pose!

See how her dress matches myHandbag???

See how her Coat Matches Mine??? And she has pinched my Pose too????

I think my Photography is quite good too? Do you???? I love this photo, I will have to find something cool to do with it? Printed on paper and embedded into a Journal page maybe?? This dress is one of my All Time favourite fashion patterns it's so perfect, I love the two behind too! Of course they originate from Pop Art but fashion and home furnishings always follow Art trends and visa-versa. Although???? I think I would have had another square with that blue, on bottom right? Just saying?????

I have so much to catch up on because of my Broken Blog? But for now I will just see if I can get this to go live??? This last photo is a sneak peek of my DT work for ClarityStamp for tomorrow's show on Hochanda TV. Barbara is on at 10am with the Groovi Plate and 2-4 with the stencils and stamps. These were all a pleasure to work with and if I wasn't on the DT I would definitely have got them anyway. I am really looking forward to the shows tomorrow, hope you will join us in watching. Xxx

By for now, and carry on Posing! Errr Crafting!! I mean Crafting!!!!

Happy Birthday Heather you wonderful person you and thank you for a lovely day out. Xx

And a Happy 50th Birthday to Sazz too. Xxx

Cleaning My Gelli (R) Plate

2015-05-17T05:06:00.000-07:00

Gelli is a registered name to Gelli(R) LLC

who have very kindly given me permission to use it on my

Art On A Gelli (R) Plate Page on Face Book. Xx

So just a quickie. I nipped into my craft room to do a little Invitations Project - Commissioned by my Bro so it has to be good! Anyway I realised I had left my Gelli Plates all covered in paint after a post the other day. I was so excited at receiving my

Baby Gelli Plate that I had to tell everyone on my FB Page. I don't know if anyone is listening but Hey, if a Tree Falls Down in the Woods Alone, I bet someone or something, somewhere hears it!!!

I have a reason for wanting my small Gelli Plates, I have ordered the small round one too - they are so cute and dinky. Xx

Apart from the fact they are small and dinky and will fit in my handbag/ Caravan/ Suitcase!! I have a major project in mind.

I have always wanted to be a "Real" Designer. Even from way before I knew I was "Arty"?! All those years before I did my Painting and Decorating Course, or my Interior Design Course it was pointed out to me by a very good friend that I thought different to most people. We were looking at a photo one day and I said to her "WOW Look at that Wallpaper"! "Sam" she whispered in my ear "you are supposed to be admiring the Baby"! "Oh really"? I said. X

When I saw Fabric I wished I could design my own, when I saw furniture I Wanted to make changes. But even with Electrical goods or pottery, I get so Excited when I see good and clever design. The American 50's Diners and dresses are my Heroes in design style and so is Goudy and MacIntosh. In Pottery it has to be Mary Rose Young - who actually did get some pieces shown on the Changing Rooms shows back in the day. One of my Favourite rooms of all time was the Alice in Wonderland style room done by Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen. And yet in my own home right now you would struggle to find any kind of pattern - apart from Sanderson Dandelion Clock and Fifi Designs - quite Funny when you think about what I produce for DT work? So I definitely have Eclectic taste! That's what the inside of my head is like!!!

In the days of Changing Rooms (Linda Barker, Lawrence Llewelyn Bowen etc) I realised how munch I loved Interior Design. People used to ask my advice all the time and ask me to do quick make-overs etc - But actually in my family I am not the best at this, all my 4 sisters are arty and have different design ideas. But I am the one who has the passion for it. I have said often that it all comes from my Mam teaching us all sorts of skills as young kids. So - Anyway I have an Idea ! No big drum roll or anything just an idea that I want to make into a useable idea. Watch this space.

For now I just needed to clean up these Gelli Plates.

I didn't want to waste the Paint So I transferred it to my Journal as you can see in my pictures. I will come back and doodle over it later and post pics. Enough waffle for now Eh.

Thank you for checking in. Xx

Sam

Posted with Blogsy by Sam Crowe

DT- Exploding Wedding Stationary Box for Stamp on C&C TV May 2015

2015-05-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

Exploding Box - Wedding Stationary for Arty Brides

Well at last I have a fixed computer and so far my Blogger is working too!! Even though it still says there is a fault. Boy I have missed my Blogging. I have had to make people suffer really long Timeline posts on my FB instead!! Thank you to everyone who actually read to the end of them. And thank you for all your support lately I really appreciate it. xxx

So today Our Barbara Gray was on Create and Craft TV with Clarity Stamp products that were so popular that they sold out, everything, I mean everything, and really quickly too. So fast that I don't think she actually got to finish any of her demonstrations. I think even the Gelli Plate she was using was on reserve for someone. It was Mad???? But in a good way. Hey hold on to your knickers Barb!!! xx I may just post further on this during the week!!!

So One of my DT samples made using the Stencils and Stamps for this show was an Exploding Wedding Stationary Box. I came up with the idea, 1. because I love to make things a little different or just make things really !, 2. because I struggle with white spaces, 3. I had all these beautiful prints that I was going to make into Cards, but I also wanted to do justice to the Stamps, Stencils and Gelli Prints, I thought this was better achieved by cutting up all the best bits.

So I had two Gelli Plate Prints in Complimentary Colours and decided that I would just make an exploding Wedding Stationary Box and "see how it went"!! You can always scrap a project and start again right? I very rarely do though I love to find a way to make what I have look good!??

Don't you think these beautiful stamps look great with just bits of them bursting into the scene here and there.

and the Childlike Stencil Prints mixed in too - I love that look, always have!

I always love Word Stamps, you can't get enough of them can you? Clarity have a really wide choice of these now with their Strip Words, Letterpress and Word Chains, definitely worth a look.

This Stamp was designed by our very own Julie Owens. Well done Julie and Congratulations. I bet it was great to see your Stamp Design on TV - Its a lovely Stamp Set to work with too.

Also our own Mandy Branston Designed a Stamp for the show too, Congratulations Mandy Yours is also a lovely stamp to work with. Here it is in the middle section - I have other cards that I made using this stamp and I will show them in a later Blog.

So the Lid - do you like my Home made Ribbon?? I made it and frayed it on my New Brother Sewing Machine. You will be seeing a lot more work from me on this as soon as I find the time, I have a lot of Design Ideas.

Look isn't it great!! I have always wanted a machine that does "Real" Embroidery Stitches.

So the Reveal, the Hand is modelled by my Daughter! xx

I have a lot of blogs to catch up on, some tutorials, some from past shows showing my Samples, already written, but I couldn't get my photos to upload or my Blog to update, but anyway it is sorted now (I think) so I will just keep posting until I get caught up. But first I will show you the Exploding Box I made as a sample of what you could do as Wedding Invitations using Gelli Plate Prints and Clarity Stamps and Stencils and Fresco Paints.

Oh before the Reveal - this is almost all of the products I used to make this.
A Gelli Plate
Clarity Stencil
Fresco Paints
Amanda's Stamp
Julie's Stamp
Barbara's Stamps
Mel's Stamps
I am so proud to be on this Team. xx

I see Barbara had a new Clarity Blue Craft Mat too - I think looking at this one I definitely need one, don't you?

So these are the bits and bobs of my Gelli Prints using the Clarity Stencils that I cut up and made into squares for the box and Invitation Booklets.

They looked a lot better cut up - I often chop up my work from a full sheet, it makes everything look more interesting than sometimes when you cut it up first and then decorate.

This was the print that got me started on this, Julie's stamp looked lovely on here but I knew if I sent it in as a Card it wouldn't stand out enough and do it justice, but here it is the main feature.

This idea came from my "Tag You're It" Design for Tags a while back. I love to see a little piece of the Art on the front inside the Card/Tags.

This is the full inside base.

I love this print with the Clarity Flower Stencil - but again as a Card it didn't make the grade for me, but I love it here because again it has become the main feature, which is what I wanted it to be. I think this would have looked good as a Journal Page Background too.

I loved how the Stencil flower just popped in from the Top and you have the Grungy (but pretty) Gelli Print on the rest of it. - by the way I am not praising my own work here, this is just what was going through my head when I was making it, it did take me a loooonnngggg time!

Linda Page - if you read this Blog, this is the project that made me think of you!!!

Here is a close up of the Menu Book

I also included the RSVP - I remember a time when these were never included in Invites you had to buy one to reply.

So that's it, this is the full inside of the Box and below is the full Outside of the Box

I did enjoy making it. I hope you like it. Would I make 80 of them - Mmmmm???? well if you photocopied it onto thick card, embossed the fold lines - It is Dooable and Cheap!x

So I hope you like my Mixed Media/Altered Art/ Arty Farty Wedding Invitations and why not, why can't we have colourful wedding invites??

In complete contrast I made a Wedding Stationary Design for people who like a bit more simplicity. My favourite of the two is the Exploding Box though, Mixed Media Fans attend weddings too?? I will blog the other Invite Pack and some of my cards as the week goes on, I have a lot of Blogging to Catch up on.
By for now
Thank you for nipping in, all comments are greatly appreciated thank you.xxx
Carry On Crafting

Sam Crowe. xxxxx

Tim Holtz 12 Tags Challenge -March 2015

2015-03-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

This s my entry for the March 12 Tags Challenge on Tim Holtz Blog.

I really enjoyed making this Tag. Apart from the fact I love paint it reminded me of a few methods I haven't used for a while or had given up on.

So this is my Entry for Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015 - March

Like for instance last year at the Clarity Stamp Open Days when I was demonstrating I showed a few ladies a tag I had done with the embossing paste on the Grunge Paste I was demonstrating but I hadn't quite got the results I wanted, so we did some Ad Lib demoes to see what else we could stick to GP. It's a great tip from Tim to let the paste dry before you use the Heat Gun - I wish I had listened BEFORE I embossed my with the Heat Gun, I would have had a much clearer image.

So I wanted to start off the same as Tim and just go off on a tangent when I am ready.

Positioning is a big thing to me as in its the only time I am a bit OCD - I really try to be A Symmetrical but I just can't do it, but its all about balance anyway and drawing your eye to every corner of the tag. So I just added my bit of symmetry on the bottom.

But when it comes to paint and ink the OCD Symmetry thing goes out the window I am a totally different person when it comes to blending edges.

So like Tim I dragged and dabbed my Tag in the Paint, this works completely different to doing it with ink- mine went a little muddy in areas so I just added more paint and more water till I was happy with it, the good thing with paint is you can always just rub it off with a wet wipe if you are quick enough.

I did a bit of dripping too, I had to add white, I love white in paint and ink and pens and pencils, because I can't leave "white spaces" so I just add my own.

The Tag was pretty wet by the time I had finished playing so I double dipped onto another Tag. I will use that one another time.

Look at the white behind the tree doesn't it look lovely. I Used one of my favourite Clarity Stamps for this the main feature as I don't have the butterfly and I think this is a picture all in itself. So I stamped and spread the Clear Embossing Powder over straight away.

This is it embossed, I love this background and I think the stamp just jumps off the Tag. These Paint colours by Ranger are lovely.

So the random GP - I love G|P as anyone who follows my Blog knows. Anyway I have had this Tim Holtz Stencil for ages and it gets used in my Journal and I thought it would be perfect for this Tag.

I was really enjoying this process just playing along to someone else's game so to speak!

So I will give you some Links here to Products.
Clarity Stamp - Stamp
Tim Holtz Stencil

Added one of my all time favourite embellishments in the Tim Holtz Range, I always have one pack of these in use, one in stock and one on order! As it should be.

Mmmmmmm see that Gap to the left, I just have to fill that in. !!!!

So my ingredients, back out with the Eye Test Stencil, one of Tim's nibs - I looorrrvvveee these, a bit of torn paper and some Tim Holtz Distress Inks (I buy mine through Clarity Stamp)

So lets go!

A quick random stencil job using the round blender - these are great too.

Finish off the edges a little to match the colours on the Tag.

Always print one background with an enclosing dark frame !! because it looks so mysterious. This is the Tag done and a nib and the message is? "See the World in all its Glory" You might not know why this is relevant to this Tag but I DO!. XXX

TA DA - THE FINISHED RESULT MY
APRIL 12 TAGS OF 2015. I am quite pleased with it, thanks Tim for the inspiration. Ha Ha like he would ever see this?

So I hope you like my Tag I look forward to making the next one. The link to Tim's Challenge is here - carry on crafting and thank you for stopping by.

Sam xx

Craft Stamp Magazine Take It Make It Challenge

2015-03-10T05:49:00.001-07:00

Hi There firstly can I say to my new Blog Followers Welcome and thank you for following.

This is my Three Way Canvas for The Craft Stamper Challenge - March 2015

Well I promised that I would enter the Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It Challenge every Month this year! In January I got in there by the skin of my teeth literally with a few minutes to spare before it closed, February I got in there nice and early, well early for me, mid month and this month the same. This one took me a long time to do and I am still not 100 % happy with it but it is what it is.

I started the Canvas' by ripping up pieces of Gelli Plate Print and old photopcopied papers which had copied prints of some of my First DT entries for Clarity Stamp - Gelli Plate Print Projects which are on the Clarity Stamp Gelli Plate Projects Gallery still now.

I was watching a You Tube video last night with this fantastic Acrylic painter - she made me feel slightly out of my Depth and made it all look so easy. Well anyway she said to me "Craft Like No-One is Watching" !!!! Not just me though everyone on You Tube really.

So this is the main Gelli Plate Print I used, this is the "Sams Eggs" Stencil named after Me - Thanks again Dave.

So I just started to build up a collage of the papers. I had painted a few random colours onto the canvas across the middle because I didn't want to have to fill every gap with the prints and to add more interest to the background.

Anyway we have all heard that saying before haven't we? but not attached to crafting. Well I do craft like no-one was watching, like no-one is ever going to see it and it takes all those restrictions away, as she said "don't do what you think other people think you should do", and she was so right because when you switch off and get in the zone it just happens and you don't get bogged down with how many bottle cap rings you should do or weather the third canvas on the right really does look part of the other two or not or weather the heart is pretty to look at? Well that's my excuse anyway, and really the Heart isn't meant to be pretty because it is Broken!!!

This is some of my Clarity NDC Stamps - I stamped them out and coloured them on Tissue Paper to add to the Canvas.

I have begun to realise in the last few months that I am not a finisher I am a Techniques person, a person who gets a product and pushes it to its limits, I like to find new ways to do things or just to find New Things, I like to teach what I discover and then move on to something else. I am not a finisher. If it was Football I would be a Mid - fielder, in Business I would be the Secretary who sets up the meeting and then the Boss goes in and does the deal (Oh actually I WAS a Secretary) !!! So in Crafting I like to discover something, show it to other people and then let them do what they will with it, as do a lot of us I presume but it means that the end result is actually just the point at which you say Stop - and can be changed drastically at any point! Have you ever thought of taking one of your paintings off the wall and dragging it back up to your craft room for a bit of adjustment? I do all the time! I don't do it because I have moved on, but I do think about it. Well just like with this Canvas I could have gone in and darkened all the edges, I could have white washed the whole lot I could have done lots more stamping, a lot of mixed media is about that, about masses going on in the background but making it look like it is almost not there. Sometimes you carry on and you spoil it, and sometimes it improves it, you have to take the risk if you want to discover more. But on this occasion I decided to say Stop right at this point - when maybe I should have said it a little earlier or a little later.

Well actually not THIS point !! further down there at the bottom of these pictures. This is just the point where I said stop to the Collage of Gelli Plate Prints, Stamped Tissue Paper and old printed papers.

This is the point where I got out my ClarityStamp NDC (New Design Club) Stencil and added the Grunge Paste, I put the stencil over two canvas parts so that when they are separated on the wall they still have a connection to each other.

You can see here what I mean, it covers both Canvas' then as soon as I had put on the GP I carefully separated them.

Like this.

This was the Third Canvas - the one on the right. So now I needed this one to look connected to the other two.

So I got out another one of my ClarityStamp Stencils a bit of a contrast, and put GP through, this will carry on the colour scheme.

To make the Heart look more connected I used the Clarity Stripe Stencil over the Heart, Diagnal on one and vertical on the other - you will see why in a minute.

I do actually like this side the best so far. I do like my idea of "scrapbooking" my DT samples onto canvas, hidden in corners or behind GP with just a bit peeking out - Mmmmm I think I will do a canvas totally dedicated to that what should I call it???? "Get On Board With Scrapbooking" ! Get it ? its on canvas board, I like that.

I put Ranger - Tim Holtz Alcahol Ink into the grooves of the GP and let it drip down - GP and Alcahol Ink like each other a lot but it does dry quick.

I didn't want it to be so bright though, and this with White over was too Dull so it was out with my Inktense Blocks that I bought from the Pencil Factory in Keswick, I go there every year and am due back soon - it costs me a fortune so I thought it was about time I actually used some of the products I buy. They have a lovely little café where local Artists teach Kids how to draw.

So this it is - doesn't it look gorgeous? I wish at this point that with the Heart I had said STOP ! The white bit, well that definitely needed more work but not the Heart.

I added some PaperArtsy Translucent paint here - the yellow in between the flower to make it pop more.

You can see why I didn't stop here though can't you, I think what I should have done is added more Gelli Print papers around the heart to take away the white its too much!

Mmmmmm I can't decide if I spoilt it or not. It wasn't supposed to be pretty, its about people who hurt you and affect the way you feel inside. - so there's deep for you!!!!

See to the left I had covered my flower too much so I just stamped and coloured it on Tissue Paper again and stuck it over the top with Finnabair Mixed Media Gel

Mmm it isn't that photogenic really it looks much nicer in real life HONEST GOV - I am going to enter it though because I did enjoy making it.

So I guess what I am trying to say is, I don't always get the end results that I am imagining in my head or that I pre-planned ha hem, but I do go on a bit of a journey when I am making a card, a canvas, a Tote Bag or whatever it is, I don't follow a pattern I don't follow a style and I don't always like my "End Results" but I usually Did enjoy the Journey!

So please check out Craft Stamp Challenge, they have a great DT team who do real inspirational samples for us. Isn't that funny that the prize is PaperArtsy Paints and my Boss Lady Barbara Gray of Clarity now sell these paints - I love them.

Well if you are still awake, thank you for popping in and all your comments are really appreciated.

Sam xxx

DT Cards for Clarity Stamp on C&C TV March 2015

2015-03-02T06:37:00.002-08:00

Good Morning all - I thought I would Blog a display of some of my cards made for Clarity Stamp for the Create & Craft Show today with Barbara Gray. I will Blog the rest later in the week.

Barbara has just won the official British Craft Award for the "The Most Inspirational Craft Blog" !! Congratulations Barbara you really deserved it. If you click on Barbara Gray just above the link will take you to her Blog. But hang on!!! read to the end of here first please. xxx

So the Create and Craft TV Show today?

I had a bit of a mess around on here and discovered a few little things. So who can name all the inks I have used on here????
I would give up now because I don't think I could even name them all, but its definitely a mixed media piece.

I can't comment on weather it was a good show because to be honest with you I am really writing this Blog yesterday - Saturday - trying to keep ahead of myself!!! But I can say with confidence that Barbara will have been great and she will have done some great demonstrations and I bet that the Fairy Stamps were a sell out and pretty quick too!!!!

This was just a bit of messing around with a Stencil image once I had inked into it. I don't normally have the confidence to show my Doodling but hey what the heck go for it. It just felt like these Clarity Stamp Flower stamps were begging to be added to a doodle. The Words on the side spin round too so you can put them in any order. I think I will do this again on a card but with a sentence.

So when I got my Stamps and Stencils I was really in the mood for a good play, while I am not doing my Gelli Plate Classes I am sat with my nose to the letterbox waiting for my new Clarity Stamps and Stencils to arrive. I only like to craft for a reason. So in between time when there is a bit of a Lull I study!! Well I say Study? I watch a lot of You Tube and search for unusual crafty people on line and on Pinterest to see what everyone is up to? I even made my You Tube video and it is waiting for its second edition, which I have made BUT it was so long even I fell to sleep while I watched it??? So I will "Study on You Tube" how to cut chunks out of your videos seamlessly????

Anyone who knows me or what I do might be surprised to learn that this is one of my person favourites. I love double dipping onto different ink pads and surprisingly enough you can generally get the same ink tones once you get used to doing this. I have found some gorgeous colours using this technique and I can hear people screaming now "you will contaminate your ink pad" yep that's right, great isn't it! This Mushroom Stamp is absolutely gorgeous and I wasn't sure if I would like the fairies (not normally my thing) but once I stamped them, well try for yourself, you just can't leave them alone.

I encased this little chappie in glass. but you could see the join where I fixed it so using Red Double Sided Tape I put the strips over the top of the glass and added the Glitter to it. Then I decided I needed to do a bigger glitter frame and did the same on the cut out edge of the white card.

So you know when you have too many ideas and you start to get muddled up and then you send off your DT Samples and remember all the other things you were going to do -that was me. But its OK because we have a great Design Team and I am sure that there will have been plenty of techniques and styles covered between us all. The reason I had so many ideas was purely because I loved the Stamps so much.

This was a new one I did for the Bunnie Set - So My thoughts on this, its an Easter Egg Hunt and the Bunnies are cuing up to go on the search. I love to make card and Tags that have little surprises so see below!

I thought the little chap from the Clarity Stamp Wee People Set was perfect for using to give instructions. "Pull"

And there is the Surprise - when you pull the Tab with the Man on you get a Happy Easter Popping up.

So someone once commented on how much they liked the way I had all my pictures on display in between my chat so I have mostly kept it that way since and think it works myself, after all we crafters are visual people aren't we??

I made this card, then I got a better idea but I really enjoyed colouring this with proper water colour techniques "My Water Colour Techniques" !!?? I say that because I have never really learnt any proper ones.

I have had a few new followers on my Blog lately and I would just like to thank you all for following, old and new Followers. I really appreciate it.

So on this one I decided in the beginning that it was going to be one of my "Peek-a-boo" Designs. Like I say I do like surprise cards. Again I did Water Colour techniques with paint but it was more about the whole affect rather than shading.

There you go here is the "Peek-A-Boo" bit.

I will be putting plenty of work and techniques on here in the next few months so I hope you will join me in my little You Tube (just for fun) adventure my promise to myself in January to enter all the challenges I wanted to enter last year but couldn't find the time to and on my Page that I will be running alongside it on Face Book in between my Clarity Work which is my main focus. All sounds good on paper doesn't it??

With this one, well it nearly got thrown out but I decided to persist with it. There is a lot involved in this one but well worth making I thought, I really like it myself and will be doing a few more of these I think? I will post a picture tutorial on this later in the week.

I love the depth that can be achieved with this.

My Face Book Page is Altered Arts & Crafts .

You will be able to see and buy the lovely stamps and stencils from today's show on the Clarity Stamp Website

So I hope you like my cards and thank you for any comments you leave and I will see you soon xxx

So much for doing a Blog the day before?? Due to modern technology it has taken me many many hours over two days to get this uploaded with pictures, so thank you for Popping in.
Sam. xxx

Craft Stamper Magazine Challenge Feb 2015

2015-02-20T16:53:00.000-08:00

Hi there, well this is my second entry for The Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It Challenge

http://craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/take-it-make-it-challenge-february.html

You Are My sunshine.

I have done a picture tutorial to make it more interesting than all my waffle ?? But I have to say I was excited to see that this Challenge was about Stencils. I have been playing with stencils since the days of Changing Rooms with Lawrence Llewlyn and Linda Barker. In fact I have a signed book by Linda - she was my hero because she was all about colour and so was I but in a kind of opposite way. In those days I used to buy stencils at B&Q but I also used to make my own. I got quite a reputation And lost count of how many Kitchens I stencilled ? mostly with Ivy!! But I did enjoy blending the leaves with shade and light, not an easy thing to do with "stencil paint"?? Do you remember that? Anyway I am not new to stencils. So you'd think I would go a bit mad Eh ?? But I didn't because sometimes just one or two simple images with a good stencil is all you need. Like the ones I used from Clarity Stamp. I love these images - and the striped stencil is one of my favourites, it's so versatile. You can easily change the feel of a card, tag or Canvas with a Stencil like that. From Pretty to Arty, from Messy to Organised, because its a directional Stencil it forces the eye to follow it but if you did it in both directions it would just calm everything down. Like these Tags here, I used the same Stencil. The one on the left is telling you to look all the way to the bottom and back up to the top - or to look at the whole item at once? right? The one on the right is telling you to stop at certain points because it is blocking your eye from looking at the whole thing at once. Well that's the way I see it anyway. So sometimes if I am a bit stuck as to where I am going with a project I pull out my Striped Stencil.

Anyway about the no waffle thing???

So I got a Canvas Board out - you can buy these from Clarity Stamp along with the Grunge Paste and Two Stencils that I used.

Coat it in Paint with a Sponge, you might want a few layers because obviously canvas is thirsty for paint. I used Dina Wakley Media Paint - Magenta

Next I got out the Dina Wakley "Night" Media paint, if two colours were made for each other, its these two! So two ways you can do this, make your "rain" marks on a gelli plate and then pick it up and slap it onto your Canvas Board using your Gelli Mega Mount from Clarity or get a sponge and/or flat paint brush and have a go at flicking the paint down-over - to give the effect of movement.

Get your Stencil and Grunge Paste out and spread the GP through the Stencil.

If you add rough lines at this stage it gives you more play for shadow or the look of texture when you ink or paint it later.

See, If you look closely I have left the girl on the left with a textured skirt and the girl on the right with textured hair.

Let them dry - about 10 minutes but if you are going to play straight away I would give it about half an our because the ink and paint wet the GP again and if it wasn't totally dry it could easily be dented or rubbed off - it is water soluble so if you really get it wet like I have done on occasion it just disintegrates altogether leaving you wondering where it went ???

So here we are 1 canvas board and two stencils later and we have the base of the picture - well I say picture, it isn't really meant to be a picture its just a bit of Mixed Media abstract!!

So here you can see the effect now of leaving the Grunge Paste a bit uneven, but it is pre-thought unevenness!!

So now I just started to play, I inked it up I wiped it off I painted it I sanded it - that's what Mixed Media is - play see what you get and if it doesn't work stick another medium on it and see what happens. Isn't it???

So I went from too bright to too dull and then too bright again ........ you get the picture, but this is the norm for me. So I decided what was really needed was a bit of pattern. Hence the Punchinella blended through the Line Stencil onto the GP using Ranger Inks and Sponge (I bought mine at Clarity Stamp - these Ranger sponges are perfect for blending.

So what a mess eh??? But you can see that the pattern breaks it up a lot, and the girl on the left is starting to get a skirt that suits her and the little girl on the right is starting to look girly girly, don't you think? I love colouring GP with inks or paint.

So here I wanted to stamp some words but my verses were too long for the size of words I have. So I shortened the verse and hand wrote the wording - which now isn't a verse at all just a few song lines. I would have much preferred to have used a stamp, my hand writing isn't great so its another reason I love stamps and I have some great letters and words, so next time! For the background I just blended some ink through my Clarity Circles Stencil (so 3 stencils used) and some punchinells.

Here now I was just playing with the positioning of everything, this is all too spread out and so I fitted the words in more with the GP

I sanded back the clothing and umbrella a bit and this gives more of a muted look.

I struggled with the colouring on this little lady but only because it was the skirt that didn't fit the rest of the canvas colours but it was the bit I liked the best, so I just played till it worked, well I think it worked??

Ta Da - my Take It - Make It Challenge piece for the Craft Stamper Magazine.

So black frame or white frame???

I hope you like it? Any nice comments are always welcome thank you.

This is the link to the Challenge

B y for now

Sam xxx

12 Tags of 2015 - Tim Holtz Challenge

2015-02-10T18:29:00.001-08:00

Tim Holtz Challenge 12 Tags of 2015 - February

Hi there thanks for nipping over t my Blog.

Last year I was determined to join in with the Tim Holtz 12 Tags Challenge but I failed pretty miserably to keep up. This year again I was determined and so far so good because I have only missed one?!? January ??? Still here I am in February I have a little more tme on my hands at the moment because I am not on the Clarity Challenge because later in the year we will be very busy, also I have stopped my Gelli Plate classes for now because it is logistically impossible to get me and my two kids to 3 different places at the same time so something had to give ?? For now. I will be doing one off Mixed Media / Gelli Plate Classes when I can get them organised.

I didn't have the Heart Die so I used my Tim Holtz Dress Form Die instead.

Anyway I thought I would have a bit of fun and join in all the Challenges I have been wanting to do for Little while - well I say all, there are 3 I want to do and this is definitely one of them. I absolutely love making Tags - everyone including me loves Tim Holtz work and Products ! So it's a no braver.

So I thought I would do a mini picture tutorial but I kept changing my mind on the backing layout so I don't have as many pictures as I would like, I think you will get the idea though?

I tried to keep it as close to Tim's Tag as I could so I did the dress form in Black glittery Felt and then made her a little outfit with a Heart to decorate it. The Felt outfit was a bit too bright so I grunged it up a bit with distress Re-inker and the matching Ink Pad on the edges.

For the Tag itself I just used a drop of Weathered Wood re-inker on my craft mat spread with a little water and then just rubbed the tag in it to make a base colour.

Then to darken the edges I made a puddle of distress ink with a drop of Vintage Photo Re-inker and water and just dragged the edges of the Tag through it, that's how you get the tattered look.

With the Claritystamps - Word chain Love word and Numbers with oval stamp.
I used the Weathered wood again to stamp them directly all over the Tag randomly this gives you the look of secondary stamping because the background ink is watered down and the stamped ink is pure.

So, the layout, well I do sometimes struggle with this. You think it would be easy to randomly throw bits of paper onto a Tag but if you don't do it right it doesn't look right. Once I put the Black and white Bow on the neckline of the Die Cut Dress Form I started to feel my way !!!

Normally I would do my Shading in charcoal pencil but Tim did his with a Black Distress Pen and rubbed it in with his finger, so I thought I would give it a go too. Except on the Love square because that is just directly on the Tag and I wanted it to look like it had been stuck on. So I needed a deeper shaded area - but I like the subtle look you get with the Distress Marker.

Here look, it does leave a nice shadow, if you flicked the pen out a little you could get rough edges and could get quite a deep look.

I added a die cut house from a Tim Holtz Die it just seemed to fit with the subject, love, families home? Some of the backing papers are cut up Gelli Plate Prints and the Sun Flower is a Claritystamp. I added an embellishment from the Tim Holtz range and this was placed all over the Tag until it hit me, well it just fits perfect as her head??

See don't you agree?

So this is the finished Tag - I didn't have the White Ink that Tim used on the Tag towards the end but I did have his new White Ink Spray and have sprayed some onto the Tag just tried to catch the edges, Where it was too much I dabbed a bit back off with a Wet Wipe.

I hope you like my Tag, it would be lovely if you left a comment.

Bye for now.

Sam x

Making Books?! Use up your Gelli Prints.

2015-02-05T14:21:00.001-08:00

So What happens when you tell people you are going to do something before you do it? You put the pressure on yourself because there becomes a certain expectation!!

Well I was excited about this at the time I made it because I love books, Note Books, Journal Books, Altered Books, Mini Books, you get the picture. I opened one up in my craft room the other day and got a lovely surprise because it was one I had Altered a few years ago and forgot all about.

So I notice a trend for making books. I did buy a Zutter Binding Machine a while ago and I will be getting that out soon, but I have always fancied having a go at REAL Book Binding. But for someone who likes quick results, that's most of us Crafters isn't it?

I decided to do Book Binding "My Way"!!!

It Has to be easy doean't it? I can use Glue, ink and Paint, I can Mold Fabric or Card and I can Sew? How hard can it be????

Well My first one was made using Fabric for the Cover at the bottom of this page is a link to my and some of my Self-Reject cards and papers from my Clarity Stamp Design Work, and of course my Gelli Plate Prints. The Gelli Arts -Gell Printing Prints make great inner sheets for this and a great cover too.

So here it is - not perfect but a learning project.

The cover is Kodak Canvas Paper and Dylusions Inks

with a bit of Resist with a Clarity Stamp

Obviously the Inks are Water based and will "Move" if made wet again, but I managed to coat this cover with Modge Podge to seal the ink with little damage, I only had to patch up little areas here and there. So next time I would spray the colours and seal before I put any pattern on.

This is the Back, Lesson No.1 Inserts,even though they are smaller ALWAYS appear bigger when you close the book???
Answer- Add an extra strip of an Arty Feature to hide it, I think the white music strip enhances it though anyway.

I am not an Arty Planner or a person who measure things I do it all "by eye".

So all of the stamps used are Clarity Stamps. This Particular stamp we got for the Clarity Show on Create & Craft last Sunday - it was this stamp that gave me the idea of making the cover. I made it for the show and all the stamps were just right I think. I will come back to this further down.

So you can't make a book without pages? Perfect for the Pages obviously are some of my Gelli Plate Prints. On the next book though as I say, the whole thing will be Gelli Prints in Ink and Paint. So this bit was easy, I trimmed down some Prints and folded them in half, measuring against the cover obviously, by eye!

This canvas was moulded but I wanted it too look as much like a real book as I could manage, so I lined it with the PaperArtsy "12 by "12 card/paper pad.

So these are the Gelli Prints, all inks and paints and rejects for the projects I was making at the time, rejects make the best Journal and Note Book pages because they are so Random. Re-jects as in Gelli Prints, don't exist, there is always something you can do with them.

So if you want to doodle on a Gelli Print in a book you need to make it more like a background page - so I used the PaperArtsy Chalky White paint - I always use this but there are so many Gesso's out there you can just experiment, even a normal watered down white would do it, but I like the Chalkyness of this paint and it is just made to soak up a stamped image. So I used a sponge and just did a light coating depending on the depth of colour I was covering. Obviously you want all of the pattern to show through.

Right this is the bit I thought was "easy" of course it is? a few tacking stitches and you're away. ~Well hands up - it takes more thought than I anticipated if you don't want to be in and out of the same hole half a dozen times, and it needs to be as tight as you can possibly get it without ripping the Card/Paper = I did mention these insert pages are all card didn't I? They are Clarity Gelli Plate Card, really good quality.

So as I was saying, when folded put all the pieces together and prick a hole in the centre of each one. keeping them firmly slotted in line with each other. Then put a prick between the top of the page and the middle hole and again in the middle of the bottom of the sheet and the middle hole - complicated ? no - basically three holes evenly distributed on each page.

I decided to use up some of my "we are memory keeper" yarn. I have the needles to go with it see, perfect size. So your thread needs to be quite thick, not too fluffy and any colour you like, this is an arty book so go for it?

Now ten how do I explain this?
Keep all knots on the outer edge that you see here, we will be covering that up.
Bear in mind there are instructions all over for real book binding.

So I will name each page - from Bottom Page 1 up to Pg 5

Lets do this like a Knitting Pattern

In at middle Pg1 out at Pg1 Left

In at Pg2 middle - out at Pg2 left

In at Pg3 middle - out at Pg 3 left

In at Pg4 middle - out at Pg4 left

In at Pg 5 middle *out at Pg5 Right !!

In at Pg4 middle - out at Pg4 right

In at Pg 3 middle - out at Pg 3 right

In at Pg 2 Middle - out at Pg2 right

In at Pg1 middle - out at Pg1 right

To finish

Loop in and out of thread from Pg1 right to Pg5 right

In at Pg5 right - out at Pg 5 middle

In at Pg 5 Left - out at Pg5 middle

loop under Pg5 Left thread - and down over weaving in an out of thread to Pg1

In at Pg1 - Out at Page 3 tie off end

You can add as many pages as you like this way - I think I will come back and show other methods because this is for a quick gathering of pages so all you need is for them to stay in place but still to open easily. - so remember to keep firmly pulling your thread together, but don't rip.

Here you can see that after I did the above step I then sewed it onto a fabric outer edge. Obviously you can decorate the canvas inner in anyway you like - this isn't really going to show - you will see what I mean if you make this. Its that transitions sheet between hard cover and pages.

So here you can see the moulded outer cover, the Insert Fabric Sheet and the Pages

This is the Side of the Canvas Sheet Insert that has the Pages attached.
Glue the moulded area only on the cover - put a bit of glue on the centre of the Insert just to get it to attach. I used Mod Podge for this but there are other glues that I would happily use too, its a case of what is in front of you?
Hold the cover into place with grippers or your stamina? Keep moulding it into the curve of the cover as it dries. This is a very hands on job and if you don't keep pressing it in you will just end up with a big gap between cover and Insert.

TA DA !!! This is what it all looks like - doesn't it look neat?? This is why I was so excited when I made it, because it worked! I had no idea when I started if it would work or not but if you don't play you don't doscpver?

So here are a few of my Pages - all made on the Gelli Plate over the past few months with inks, and paints and Clarity Stamp Stencils.

Here you can see where I have put the Chalky paint, for a Journal I would keep it like this or mute it more for a Note Book I would put a centre piece of thicker paint to write onto.

Look it even stands on its side. Mod Podge is a very clever glue though sometimes a little too runny for some projects.

This is the Back of the Book Cover

So for this part I Stamped onto a Photo Fabric Sheet in Versamark and Heat embossed with clear Embossing Powder
I did this with all the images. It creates the Resist on the Fabric against the Ink so that part always looks stays the same. (except with fabric it could possible come back at you from the other side if you get it too wet.
I then Sprayed with Dylusions Inks after making the Fabric slightly damp with water.
I very carefully applied a coat of ModPodge Mat, as soon as your brush picks up some of the ink colour clean it and dry it and carry on where you left off, in between time you can keep wiping you brush on kitchen roll. If you don't keep cleaning your brush all the inks will emerge into one colour.

So you can still play on top of the ModPodge so then you can start to do a little background stamping and adding some pattern with Stencils.

Simply sew through from each page and into the Back of this fabric at each individual hole and then tie a knot at the back of the fabric where it will be glued to the inner spine of the book in the same way I am about to show you in this video! Yep that's right VIDEO! I have been promising some for a long time and now I have my new Ipad Mini I will be making more, I have lots of tutorials on my promise list.

So this tutorial on You Tube tells you how to make the cover, the one above is Fabric but on the video it is a Gelli Print on Card - same method though but with the fabric you need to attach it to a card insert to stiffen it even more - the Mod Podge does do a pretty good job of this though.

So I will leave you with it, please let me know if you like the tutorial and video, if you don't like them there is no need to let me know thank you!! xx

Gelli Plate Book Cover 1of 2 - 2 is to follow shortly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5CO9_fVWZk

The Craft Stamper Magazine Challenge

2015-01-28T15:43:00.001-08:00

Mixed Media Canvas

Made for entry into

The Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge 2015

I have been itching to enter some Challenges lately so I can just go wild and do anything I want - well that certainly happened here!!!

When I noticed that my Favourite Magazine,

The Craft Stamper !!!!

had a new Take it Make it Blog Challenge, well I just had to give it a go. I spent hours and hours with my Clarity Stamp Stencils and Canvas,

my Grunge Paste

my Open Acrylics,

System 3 Paints

PaperArtsty Transluscent Paints,

Ranger Re-Inkers,

Sand Paper,

a Tesco's wet wipe

and of course the main part of the Challenge, my Clarity Stamps

Wee Folk

& Word Chains.

The more I did the less I liked it, not the Canvas itself, I do love Collage and I was happy with that bit. But I have discovered that I have a slight aversion to PUPLE??

Well to cut a long story short - well not really, this is me after all, Mrs Blog Waffler!!

I decided that the Canvas wasn't good enough to be entered but thought I could get away with it on my Timeline on Face Book. I didn't want to waste my efforts completely. Well as soon as I put it up I got loads of comments from people saying how much they liked it. Then Tracy Eason who is on the Design Team for The Craft Stamper Challenge said "we have a competition on that you could enter it into, you have 53 minutes left before it closes"!! "Well" I said," that is the competition I made it for"!!! So the madness began, Tracy was trying to help me to understand Linky while I was trying to upload my photo from my phone to my computer to Linky at the same time as I was starting up this blog so that I had something to Linky it to!!! Phew!

So Here is my entry into the Challenge. Wouldn't it be a dream to win the Guest DT bit into you favourite Magazine? Hey dream big I say, but when you don't win just be happy that you managed to work out LINKY !!!

I must say I do love the Clarity Stamps and Stencil and being on the DT you may say I am bias, but I am not because I was buying Clarity Stamps way before I joined the team. These stamps in particular are so versatile and are always close to hand for me. I will add a few pictures to show part of the process of my Canvas.

On the Base I just wanted a mix of colour, I load it up and tone it down, I always used the PaperArtsy Chalky White Paint to tone down any painted projects, I love it.

Here I wanted to break down some areas.

On this bit there is a particular favourite Clarity Stencil of mine - its just stripes, well do you know how much you can do with "STRIPES"?

Then I stamped on to Tissue Paper and glued it down onto the Canvas. Sometimes you add these bits and they get a little lost, but the more you do in the background the more interesting the finished result is, with just bits of all the layers showing through. That's the plan anyway?

So this is me - I love abstract and almost stopped here! I say Almost!

So here I was really just playing now to see what I could come up with.
I wanted darker edges and something to lighten up too.

So you can see I have added Purple but watered it back down with the wet wipe. Then just played with some first and secondary stamping straight onto the Canvas Board. That is the good thing with Canvas board - its hard so you don't have to worry about sticking holes in it?

So this is the bit I really enjoy, adding that Grunge Paste through the Stencils. I love these stencils too, its from the Chess Set, and the Houses, well everyone loves these. The Word Chain Stamps bring any project to life I think and the two compliment each other.

I coloured the houses and "The Street" with the Clarity Brushes and Open Acrylics, with a touch of the Re-inkers and sanded them back a little. Then when it was all dry I got some new stencils out including "Sams Bubbles" yep they are mine! up on the left hand side - they are a great "filler" Stencil. So I and used the GP again to ad another dimension.

So at this stage I had stopped taking photos because I was totally engrossed in the project. But basically my thinking was to keep the light and shade going from corner to corner, I coloured the lady with Re-inkers and my finger. I re-did some of the stamping to make it stand out a little more. I like everything to be there for a reason, like the Harmony "swing" to hold the girl in position, the Tree for the boy to sit and read under on a Lazy summer day, the Cobbled street that brings the houses together, you get the picture. Its all about Harmony in the Home. Boy is it full inside my head sometimes???

Thanks you for stopping by, wish me luck!

and

CARY ON

MESSING UP

YOUR

CRAFT ROOM!!

Sam xxx