Thursday 1 September 2016

Clarity Challenge 43 'In the Garden'

September 2016
‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’
Hello and welcome! 

We have a new month and also a 'new look' Clarity Challenge blog. Exciting times, indeed!

Thank you for looking at my Clarity Challenge 43 contribution. Alas it's not my usual step-by-step as I made 'Tom's Midnight Garden' before leaving on an around Britain trip to Ayrshire, Chester, Oxford, Bath, Royal Tunbridge Wells on a lead-up to my second Clarity Retreat. (And what a treat it was, too. Many thanks to Barbara, Paul, Dave, Jayne my 'buddy' Lynne and everyone else involved in making it such a lovely, messy, fun and informative experience.) 
I can however offer a number of photos of the stamps and stencils used throughout the blog.The daisies were stamped on old book pages and leaves on copy paper which was then coloured, you know how much I like my 3D additions!

I DID find this challenge lived up to its name and for this reason once again I turned word-play to decide the route I was going to take. I wonder which road you will follow? Looking forward to viewing your wonderful pieces of art-work on the Clarity Challenge; all details and guidelines are to be found at claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.ukclaritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk and this includes how you can submit your post from your blog or send by email a photo of your work to claritystampchallenge@hotmail.com


Materials:-
·         Clarity Stamps: - Cat from ‘Lucky’ set; Leaves from ‘Poppy’ set; Meadow Grasses set; NDC 99 – Daisy outline stamp.
·         Clarity Stencils: - A5 Bird Table; Brick Wall.
·         Clarity Moon mask - Large
·         Cardstock: - Clarity Stencil Card 8.5x11ins
·         Inkpads: - Distress - Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky, Dusty Concord, Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Black Soot; Memento – London Fog, Tuxedo Black.
·         Miscellaneous: - Clarity Brushes; Old book pages; Micron pen; alcohol pens – rust/brown and yellow, Polychromo coloured pencils.


Instructions:-
For the embellishments: -

1.       Stamp the daisy 21 times onto old book pages using Tuxedo Black; cut each out and glue together in threes to form seven flowers. Using alcohol pens, colour the centres and on two flowers, trim away some petals. Set all seven flowers aside.

2.       Stamp 11 leaves from the ‘Poppy’ set; blend over Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet and Chipped Sapphire and cut out. Set aside.
For the background: -
3.       Attach large moon mask to top right of the Clarity stencil card.

4.       Tape the Bird Table stencil over the card, having masked off the birds with tape or similar and gently brush over ‘London Fog,’ ensuring areas in the shade are slightly darker. To intensify colour around edges, use a make-up sponge to pick up residual ink from stencil and dab over. (Thank you, Barbara and Paul for this little tip!)  Remove stencil.

5.       Tape the Brick Wall stencil along the lower half of the inked bird house.
6.       Tape the bird table stencil over the inked image and gently brush over a medley of Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord (in that order) around the perimeter of the card, shading lighter tones towards the centre.
7.       Remove moon mask and replace with moon ‘outie.’ Brush over Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber, concentrating the darker colours at the edge of the moon. Remove mask.
8.       Brush London Fog over the Brick wall stencil. Remove stencils. Trim card to suit.

9.       Using Tuxedo Black, stamp a variety of Meadow Grasses at the base of the inked image. Repeat using Dusty Concord further up the card. Brush Black Soot along the foot of the card, over the existing colour.
10.   Outline top of wall and a selection of bricks with Micron pen.

11.   Stamp ‘Tom’ on top of the wall using Tuxedo Black.
12.   Glue on leaves and daisies.
13.   With Polychromos, add shade where needed.

Et voila – here we have ‘Tom’s Midnight Garden.’

Remember a £50 voucher to spend on goodies from the Clarity website could be winging its way to you, should your submission be selected at random. Then, there is chance of being selected as one of the Top Five. You know you can do it - Go on, go on, go on!!!
claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk

Best wishes,

Shelagh
'The Making Lady'

24 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you, Carol. Not my usual type of project but I did like working in all the colours. Recognising when to stop was the difficult bit! ;~}

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  2. Hi Shelagh I love your garden and the way you have used the colours to make it very atmospheric. x

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    1. Thanks, Angela - the colours took a bit of working in as there were a few to blend together. Had thought to 'round off' the inside corners but decided they echoed the birdhouse thus I sat on my hands! ;~}

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  3. Lovely card Shelagh. I really like the way you have stamped your flowers onto old book pages and made some of them facing sideways. x

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    1. Thanks, Lesley. Old book pages are just that little bit more flimsy than copy paper and add a touch of fragility. Must add that I coloured the petals with a white chalk pen. ;~}

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  4. Fab card Shelagh I love what you have done with the flowers. A very atmospheric card xx

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    1. Thanks Linda. I painted the daisy petals with a chalk marker which blanked out the print on the top layer - made them more realistic, well, to my mind anyway. ;~}

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  5. This is a beautiful card, or should I say work of art. It most definitely deserves a place on permenent display. So inspiring to see the depth you have achieved with the shades of ink and the use of different paper types. Thankyou for the details of how you achieved it.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your lovely comment. This piece did not take as long as usual once I'd decided on the title. I'm actually going to 'The Range' today after our walk along the beach and I think I will take the card with me To source a frame for it.

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  6. I love how you have done this the moon light makes it xx

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  7. What a great moonlit garden scene with the cat creeping along the wall - I must admit, until I read your blog, I hadn't noticed the brick wall! It certainly looks like a lovely peaceful night in the garden. x

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  8. This is a masterpiece to me . The effect around the birdhouse is out of this world
    Awesome . And what a Clever way to use the wall stencil . Have a joy filled day , jan

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jan, very kind of you. It all began with a children's book title - 'Tom's Midnight Garden' and it took off from there. In my mind's eye, I had a picture of tom-cat walking along a wall in the moonlight-nothing to do with the book at all- but then I had to add my staple - 3D embellishments!!! ;~}

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    2. Just seen your previous comment I loved that book Tom's Midnight Garden. Anyway love your design and as usual it is a work of art. So talented Shelagh. It was great spending time with you at the retreat look forward to our next get together. xx

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    3. Thank you, Lynne; it is so kind of you to comment. Have been at the parchment over the last couple of nights but could probably do with some lessons as I made one or two mistakes but guess what - I won't make them again! It was lovely catching up, too. Trust you and Fred are well. ;~}

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  9. Sorry I am so late getting round to visit this month. I love this piece Shelagh; its so moody and mysterious. Xxx

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Barbara. I found it difficult to come up with something for this challenge, but in times of adversity - well, who knows? It turned out better than I dared hope!;~}

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  10. Shelagh your art is just beautiful no wonder you are part of the Clarity team hope you get this as you might know im not that techy lol...love Dot.xx

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Dorothy - message received -LOL! As I said above, I found it hard to be inspired for this challenge as I'm not really a garden person - although I do like pottering about in ours. Finding a book title or phrase does it for me every time! ;~}

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  11. wow this is just so atmospheric.

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