Sunday 2 April 2017

Chocolate Baroque Challenge March 2017


Chocolate Baroque Challenge
March 2017
‘Flight of Fancy!’
This is Mike's favourite shot and as my resident photographer, it had to be first.

Having sorted through my CB stamps this morning - oh! what a beautiful selection - a little idea was beginning to form so when Mike came up to check on my progress this afternoon, I was suitably surrounded with re-inkers, ink pads, spritzer bottles of different strengths, card stock galore and quite a selection of stamps. The following project evolved as I experimented, discarded and changed my ideas around. Although not as envisaged, I must say I’m more than happy with the end result - project that will certainly find itself on the stairwell wall, my new display area!
I love the shadow on this shot as it shows the depth of the project.
Materials:-
·         Stamps:- Chocolate Baroque - Sketchy Doodle Landscape - Leaves, Sketchy Doodle Flowers - Scroll-type Leaf, Tangled Garden – Butterfly
·         Card:- Watercolour paper, Kraft card, Black
·         Inkpads:- Distress – Twisted Citron, Shabby Shutters, Aged Mahogany, Milled Lavender; Adirondack -  Butterscotch; Encore – Silver
·         Embossing Powder:- WOW - Dark Silver, Black
·         Misc:- Glossy Accents, Seed Beads, Sequins, Haberdashery silver beads on filament, Clear Sparkle pen
Another angle capturing a different light

(TOP TIP:- I have just, through this project, found out how wonderful and forgiving water-colour paper is thus negating any need for foam pads of 3D glue. Next step is to try it with the smooth variety!

Love the butterfly shading on this shot

Instructions:-
1.       Cut two A4 sheets of water-colour paper in half and sweep Aged Mahogany, Milled Lavender and Twisted Citron over to cover – straight from the pad – onto all four pieces. *NB I found I got a better mix of colour using half A4 (A5) rather than keep the sheet whole.
2.       Choose one as a background and sweep Adirondack Butterscotch around the edge. Spritz inked card with water, allow to soak in then dry with a heat gun. (The colour-mixing once spritzed diluted the Aged Mahogany and once the Butterscotch ink was added, the resulting colours achieved.)
Trim to create three strips 2.5ins wide. Carefully sweep each edge of the strips with Encore Silver inkpad, add Silver embossing powder then heat-set.
3.       Mount onto black card, Kraft card, black card, Kraft card, black card – in that order. Set aside.
4.        Spritz the other three with water and dry as before. Brush with talc/baby powder/ anti-static bag and stamp sets of leaves using Encore Silver. Add Silver embossing powder. Heat emboss. Cut leaves out.
5.       Stamp a silver butterfly on chosen area of remaining inked card, add black sparkling embossing powder and heat-set. Cut out.
6.       Arrange leaves and butterfly onto pre-prepared background and attach using Glossy Accents.
7.       Paint butterfly with Sparkle pen then add sequins using Glossy Accents. Tip each filament with Glossy Accents then gently feed these filaments under the butterfly head for the antennae.
8.       Dot a flight path with Glossy Accents then add a silver seed bead to each.
9.       Manipulate the leaves and butterfly to suit.
Et voila – Le Papillon ou Mariposa ou Vlinder – depending on your chosen language but otherwise known as my ‘Flight of Fancy!’


Happy crafting!

Shelagh
'The Making Lady'
shelaghscraftyconcepts.blogspot.co.uk



Saturday 1 April 2017




Clarity Challenge
 April 2017
‘It’s Only Words’
‘Dream’

. . . . . . . And here we are in April . . . . . . . . or even ‘Oh, to be in England now that April’s there’ (‘Home Thoughts from Abroad’ - Robert Browning.) . . . . . . . . and . . . . . . the theme is ‘It’s Only Words.’ Where do I begin, I asked myself? Time was very much against me . . . . . . it had to be a couple of quick projects – well, if you believe that , you’ll believe anything! Up therefore, to ‘The Making Lady’s abode and a quick sort through stamps and stencils.

And this is what emerged!


Materials:-
·         Stencil:- Clarity NDSC 15 Dream Catcher
·         Groovi:- Plates - Small Alphabet Picture Frame, Nested Stars; Parchment tools
·         Paper/Cardstock:- 1 x A4 white parchment sheet; 1 x A5 white parchment sheet; 1 x Clarity Papers sheet; 1 x A4 sheet silver mirri; 1 x A4 sheet lilac mirri; 1 x A4 sheet white card; I x A4 black card
·         Misc:- glue pen, fine glitter, white pencil,

Instructions:-
1.       Trace the Dreamcatcher onto parchment and emboss. Add star and words.
2.       Pierce with double needle tool. Cut to form picot edging.
3.       Dot with glue pen and apply glitter.
4.       Mount onto trimmed Clarity paper of choice.
5.       Mat onto silver, black, lilac, white – in that order.

And to my second example:-

Same Stencil - Different Take!!!


The texture paste images on the canvas having been staring at me for a few days and I had one or two ideas as to where the next steps would lead. . . . . but how to get there? As the theme included ‘Words,’ I decided to stamp onto such and my library houses some old poetry books, bought from a country school sale many years ago when, as an eight year old, I loved the richness of leather bound books and one of them, a collection of Longfellow’s works, contained ‘The Song of Hiawatha.’ The rest, well, you can work it out.

Materials:-
·         Canvas:-
·         Stencil:- Clarity NSDC 15 Dreamcatcher
·         Stamps:- Clarity Rope Frame Scene – horse and rider, Scarecrow Field – crows, Native American Man, Alphabet
·         Ink pads:- Staz-On Black, Distress Oxide - Iced Spruce; Distress – Hickory Smoke, Black Soot Artistry – Aged Stucco
·         Paper/ Card:- Recycled Poetry Book, tissue paper
·         Misc:- Transparent texture paste; Tonic Nuvo glitter – Graphite, Silver, Black; pages from poetry book; charcoal pencil; Mod Podge – matte, gloss; Perfect Pearls Mists – Green Patina, Pearl, Mint; Cosmic Shimmer; gesso – white; Faber Castell Polychromos

Instructions:-
1.       Coat canvas with mate Mod podge and apply tissue paper sheet over. Trim at reverse.
2.       Paint ‘tissued canvas’ with white gesso. Allow to dry.
3.       Spray Perfect Pearls Mist to suit. Brush the canvas with a large paint brush to create an uneven finish.
4.       Attach ‘Dreamcatcher’ stencil onto canvas with low-tack masking tape and pull through a layer of texture paste; allow to dry. Leaving stencil in place, sprinkle over silver glitter and pat down gently. Allow to dry.
5.       Pull translucent paste through chosen feather at each corner and add black glitter. Allow to dry.
6.       Pull translucent paste through a different feather around perimeter spaces, add graphite glitter and pat down as before. Allow to dry.
7.       Using Staz-On (Second Generation) and onto poetry pages, stamp Native Indian man, horse and rider, crows, ‘I dreamed a dream in time gone by.’
8.       Colour Native American man using grey Polychromos.
9.       Rip around stamped words to leave a border then edge with Hickory Smoke and Black Soot. Further enhance edges with charcoal pencil and smudge.
10.   Attach all stamped images to suit on canvas using double-sided sticky tape then dab over Mod Podge gloss to cover.

. . . . . . and there we have it!
Stamps and stencil may be found on the Clarity website - claritystamp.com
Best wishes in the Challenge!

Shelagh
'The Making Lady'