Time to experiment.

Good morning all.  I'm back with my weekly post for bee crafty.  I am definitely in holiday mode now, I've been experimenting this week with gesso.  My mum has asked me to do a canvas for her :-/ but still feel I need lots of practise with different mediums so I am trying out lots of things on a smaller scale.

For this card I have used:

Large life & rain stamp

Beautanicals leaves stamps

Maidenhair stamp

Dylusion inks

Inkables stencil metal work alpha

Gesso

Glossy accents

I applied a thin coat of gesso to my card (I used a thin piece of chipboard) and dried and then added the gesso a bit thicker with a pallets knife and played with it until I achieved the desired texture. I let this dry for a while on its own and then helped it along a bit with my heat gun.  Once dried I sprayed with my chosen colours of dylusions and dried.  Using the stencil I sprayed water which lightens the stencilled area I then left this to dry.  Once dried I stamped and heat embossed the life sentiment then I stamped the leaves and maidenhair stamps in black ink.  I applied a small amount of glaze from my stash to the outer edges of the shape.  To give the leaves some dimension I added glossy accents and some glitter and then just glossy accents to the maiden hair

Thank you for taking the time  to read  my post.  I am going to make sure I try something a little different each week now.  It certainly helps to keep crafting interesting.  I have tried lots of things in the past that hasn't always been successful but I don't let it put me off trying again.

Happy crafting,

Big hugs, 

Clare. X x x

Phew.......feeling hot hot hot

How is everyone managing with the heat wave?  It certainly has been hot this week!  Well one week of my holidays has passed already and today has been my first crafty day.  I'm not blogging what I made today as it is all DT makes but I have made a few bits which I haven't shared yet

It was my mums birthday a couple weeks ago and this is what I conjured up.

Very annoyingly I have made a number of thank you cards and my father in laws birthday card and due to lack of time last week I forgot to take photos :-(. Slapped wrists for me.

Stay cool everyone, happy crafting 

Big hugs, 

Clare x x x 

Happy Ever After challenge at Oak House Studios

Hurrah it's the holidays, although I officially finished on Friday, today feels like the first day.  I've been catching up with some essential chores and was in hospital with my daughter Sophie yesterday while she was having a small procedure on her ears.  Hopefully I won't be listening to an over loud TV anymore!  Bless her, she was very brave and it has caused no end of discomfort for her so hopefully now we can have a lovely summer holiday.

Back to the challenge.  Oak House Studios are offering a stunning £40 pounds worth of goodies for this months challenge 'Happy Ever After'.  All you have to do is use one of their fantastic products be it a stamp, spray inks or an ink pad.  They have recently added some new stamp lines and some delicious new colours to the spray ink range.  Pop over HERE and check out their fabulous range of products.

Here are my DT offerings for the Happy Ever After challenge.

That's me for today.  I hope you are all coping with is heat.  All my windows and doors are wide open at the moment.  I hope to be back later in the week with some new makes.  Got lots of idea bubbling around in my head at the moment so need to put pen to paper and then get crafting.

Big hugs,

Clare x x x x

Who said christmas can't be pink?

Well I made it. I am finally on my holidays!  After a week of being at school until 9pm every night I am totally exhausted.  I am so ready for my holidays I have lots planned, no trips as of yet but need to recharge my batteries this week.

Yes I know it's only July but I couldn't resist having a little play with this lovely christmas tree stamp from Bee Crafty.

For this card I have used:

Yuletide damask tree

Yuletide seasons greeting circle stamp

Tim Holtz distress ink

Liquid pearls

I am entering this card into the following challenge : http://52cct.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/christmas-in-july-blog-hop.html

I stamped christmas tree and christmas greeting onto my card and then heat embossed with black ep.  I brushed on my background in picked raspberry and then stamped around the edge of the card using black ink and the top of the christmas tree to create a border.  Finally I added liquid pearls and some glitter over the hills and then pearly dots to the sky to create a snowy atmosphere.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post today.  I am very much hoping to find my mojo and get my crafting back on track.  Hope to see you soon.

Big hugs,

Clare x x x 

I'm forever blowing bubbles!

Hello folks I'm back again with my Bee Crafty blogspot.  I know, I'm sorry I just can't help myself when it comes to these bubbles but you know how one project inspires another? Well this is one of those.

For this card I used:

Banksy slide, bubbles stamp

Wordage dreams come true small stamp

Inkables circles template

Tim Holtz distress inks

Clear texture paste

Usually I start by inking my background first but today I started by stamping the Banksy bubbles stamp and the sentiment first.  After that I taped down my Inkables circles stencils and dusted peacock feathers, picked raspberry and mustard seed over the stencil in random places.  Th colours of course blended together to make new colours.  After that I dragged some clear texture paste over the stencil.   

A while later when the paste had dried I dusted around the edge with seedless preserves and added some white curves to the bubbles.

Starting to feel a little excited as the holidays are nearly here.  One more week and no more work til September which means I can get cracking with my new craft room and some obligatory holiday crafting.

Hope you are having a fab weekend.

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x x

Oak House Studio One stamp project................what are you makingwith yours?

Howdy folks just a crafty little blog to send you in the general direction of Oak House Studios.  Today and tomorrow is the one stamp project where Lynnda Worsnop gets up to all sorts of inky mischief using  one stamp.  This time is the turn of the Walesby heart and in preparation we have all been busy preparing some snippets of inspiration for you to see.

Blog posts will be going out on the hour from 8am til 8pm today and tomorrow so tune in here to see how Lynnda is getting on. If you are joining in yourself don't forget to post your own creations here on the One Stamp Project Facebook page.

If you are not fortunate enough to have the Walesby heart pop over   here to have a look at Oak House Studios fantastic selection of stamps, inks and ink pads.  They have also started stocking some great storage solutions for your inks and ink pads.

I look forward to seeing what you all get up to on this craftalicious weekend.

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x x 

An unexpected blog!

A bit unusual for me to blog so soon but I'm back again.  I had a crafty afternoon despite feeling a little groggy after a fun filled Saturday night ;-).  My son asked me to make a card for one of his friends and of course I rose to the challenge.

In this card I have used the lovely fairy stamp and various other foliage stamps all available from Lavinia stamps.

The background is made by using distress inks.  I added pearly dots to give a magical feel, a sprinkling of glitter and painted the flings with mica powder.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:  http://laviniastamps.com/blog/lavinia-stamps-challenge-7-summer-colours/

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog, happy crafting!

Clare x x x x 

Hazy summer nights.

Hi there it's my turn again for the weekly Bee Crafty blog.  I'm hoping that my blogs will soon be more frequent with the school holidays looming that means I will have so much more crafty time available.  I know that sometimes my job is a bit on the stressful side but the bonuses are the holidays and I've already got so much mapped out.

For this card I have used :

Beautanicals - branches stamp

Wordage - Live with no excuses stamp

Momento tuxedo black ink pad

Tim Holtz distress inks

Twine and gems from my stash.

I masked off the middle section of a square of white card and brushed with dried marigold and shaded lilac. I stamped the sentiment, fern and leaves with black momento ink.  I added some gems and some string and finally mounted onto black card.

I hope that you are enjoying your weekend.

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x x 

Tim Holtz distress inks