Saturday 1 October 2016

'A Scene for All Seasons!'


Clarity Challenge 44
October 2016
Circles or Squares
'A Scene for All Seasons.'

Hi there and welcome to October's blog. I cannot quite get to grips with the fact that we are now entering into the second month of Autumn - the trees and shrubs are still of green leaf, the grass is still growing and it is still mild enough for sandals! A bit of a difference from my visit to Aberdeen, in October, twenty three years ago, mainly to check out the house my husband had just bought (it was only built to the ground-floor windows!!!) as the city was at a standstill - so much so that we touched down with five minutes to spare having circled the airport for over an hour. (The airport closed at 22.30 in those days.) The reason - a snowstorm; oh and it was Friday 13th! I'd left Bath, after a day's teaching, 'coated and booted' for slighter colder weather and felt quite OTT when fellow passengers got on the plane in short-sleeved shirts and t-shirts. I had the last laugh!
Hope you like my seasonal take on this month's 'make.'
Best wishes,
Shelagh


Materials:-
·         Cardstock:- white
·         Stamps:- Clarity – Wee Folk 1, Wee Folk 2, Wee Folk Elves (flower stalk only), Wee Country Animals, Seasons Words
·         Gelli plate/ Gel Press (6ins x 6ins) and Mega Mount
·         Inkpads:- Ranger Distress – Spring - Squeezed Lemonade, Peeled Paint, Weathered Wood; Summer – Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Broken China; Autumn – Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon; Winter – Squeezed Lemonade, Iced Spruce, Weathered Wood; Archival Jet Black.
·         Dies:- Plain circles of four sizes; scalloped circles of four sizes
·         Miscellaneous:-  Cropodile or similar; Brads – toning colours; glue pen; clear glitter; copy paper

Instructions:-
(These are my practice circles and not the actuals.)

1.      Die-cut four different sized circles and corresponding scalloped circles from white card.

Spring – smallest circle and scalloped circle
2.       Onto Gelli Plate/Gel Press, randomly dab the three listed spring colours ensuring the yellow is in an appropriate place for the sun. Scrunch up a piece of copy paper and dab over Gelli to remove areas of paint. Place smallest circle over and pull a print. Repeat with scalloped circle and onto this, stamp ‘Spring’ using Black Archival followed by couple. Stamp a bower of flowers  around, again with Black Archival. Set aside.
Summer
3.       Spritz Gelli with water and dry with paper towel. Place sun mask onto plate then randomly dab Summer colours over the plain and scalloped circles as detailed above but concentrating blue at top half and green at foot. Add sun. Repeat the scrunched paper technique. Stamp tree branches at each side then add Wee Folk figures. Stamp ‘Summer’ between.
Autumn
4.       Clean Gelli as in 3) and dab Autumn colours( but NOT Ripe Persimmon) as before onto plain and scalloped circles. Stamp Autumn then Wee Folk figures. Add grasses et cetera to suit. Ink a foam spot with Ripe Persimmon and add to scene as a harvest sun.
Winter
5.       Clean Gelli and dab with Winter colours. Tear a landscape from copy paper and apply half-way down Gelli. Ad sun mask. Place over largest scalloped circle and pull print. Remove copy paper and re-ink Gelli plate, remove ink with scrunched paper, place largest plain circle over and pull print. Add Squeezed Lemonade for sun. Stamp a winter scene with Wee Folk then add ‘Winter’ word. Create a winter landscape using glue and gliter.
Add glue and glitter around circumference of all scalloped edged circles.
To assemble
Place plain circles on top of each other, gauge where the holes are to be punched and mark lightly. Punch holes with smaller Cropodile punch and join all four circles together with brads. With wet glue – to allow for ‘wiggle room’ and only applying to centre, glue each ‘season’ onto appropriate circle.
Et voila – ‘A Scene for All Seasons!’




Looking forward to your 'Circles or Squares' makes and remember you could be the recipient of a £50 voucher to spend on the Clarity website - a randomly chosen project - or indeed find your project displayed as one of the Top Five as chosen by the Challenge Design Team. You may enter by a link from your own blog or from a photograph of your project emailed to claritystampchallenge@hotmail.com Please remember to check guidelines too; these may be found at claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk
Best wishes!




10 comments:

  1. The gelli prints are a perfect backdrop for your seasonal scenes Shelagh; love them. The colours you've chosen perfectly reflect each season, but all work so well together too. Xxx

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    1. Thank you, Barbara. For once it was all carefully planned out and I do like the random effect the scrunched paper creates by removing the ink from the press. Last year, I made all the backgrounds for my sister's and our Christmas cards this way and it was so easy and fast - well as fast as possible when you're making into the hundreds! ;~}

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  2. Wonderful idea Shelagh, and a great work of art. Something very different which is always nice to see. :-) x

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    1. Thanks, Carole. It was a bit tricky lining up all eight circles. ;~}

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  3. Sorry I'm late commenting Shelagah, I love what you've done here. It's a great idea and all the scenes work so well together. x

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    1. Thank you, Angela. I thought it could be easily adapted to a calendar. ;~}

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  4. Love your idea here Shelagh different but it works x

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    1. Thanks, Julie. Seems ages ago since I did this! ;~}

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  5. All I can say your art work is stunning. Xx

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Carol. I've used the Gelli quite a bit recently. ;~}

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