About Me

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Hi I'm Clare, I live in the South West of England in the seaside town of Torquay. I adore playing with inks, paints and generally getting messy. It is the calm place which fits in between my hectic life whilst working as an outreach support worker, looking after my son, daughter, foster son and hubby. Not forgetting our gorgeous springer spaniel, Suzi.

Sunday 31 August 2014

Skeletons in the closet? No they are on my acrylic block!

Hi it's Clare here again with my weekly Bee Crafty spot. I know it's not quite Halloween yet but with the gloomy weather this week it certainly has felt autumnal! Needless to say with the fabulous new All Hallows' stamps it seemed rather apt to have a play with my new stamps.

For this card I have used
I started by stamping my image with a watermark ink pad, a sprinkle of embossing powder and heat set the image. After that I brushed on my selected colours of inks. I then flicked the card with water and left for a short time for the water to react and blotted with a paper towel. A stamp around the edge of the card using the zebra backdrop stamp made an effective border. Finally I stamped trick or treat onto some red card and heat embossed with black embossing powder.
Thank you for taking the time to have a look at my blog I love to hear your thoughts and comments.
Crafty hugs,
Clare x x x
 
 

 

 

Saturday 30 August 2014

Birthday Blog

Well yes it was my birthday yesterday and no I didn't make my own card but I am blogging a card that I made for my son, William, whose birthday it was a couple of weeks ago.

 

I used a stamp which is from a selection of my favourites from Bee Crafty Banksy range

For this card I used a selection of stamps from various companies.

  • Banksy inspired boy
  • Inkylicious chicken wire
  • Inkylicious splat stamp
  • Inkylicious rain drops
  • Imagination harlequin mask

 

 

My son has just turned 15 so the card was right up his street. Ususally when they are that age they are so very unimpressed by anything but he was very pleased with his card and I know that it will make it into his collection of cards that I have made for him over the years.

 

Just a quick blog from me today, I shall be back with my official Bee Crafty blog tomorrow morning.
Have a great weekend peeps!
 
Crafty hugs,
Clare x x x x

 

Monday 25 August 2014

Oak House Challenge 'Alphabetica' come and join in!

I've got my Oak House studio hat on today and I'm here to remind you you have this week to join in the 'Alphabetica' challenge to be in with a chance of winning £40 of lovely Oak House Studio products. All you need to do is use one of their stamps or inks on your project and enter.

 

 

Here are some of my DT makes for this month.

 

I had great fun making this one, I just dropped the ink onto a card and blew with a straw to see what happened.

 

 

 

 

So there you have it . My little bit of Oak House Studio inspiration. You've got until the end of the week to get those entries in. Good luck.

 

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x

 

Sunday 24 August 2014

Happy Bank Holiday

Hi it's Clare here with my weekly blog for Bee Crafty. My card this week is a bit on the blue side although it doesn't reflect my mood. I still have a couple of weeks off to enjoy and it's my birthday on Friday (not sure if I should be happy about that another year older and wiser....... Definitely older, not sure about the wiser part).

For this card I have used :
Beautanicals dandelion stamp
Wordage minis, special thoughts
Distress inks
Liquid pearls
Memento black ink
Glitter from stash



I started off by masking my card and stamping with clear watermark ink and heat embossing with clear ep. Then I brushed on my blue background with distress inks. After that I stamped the dandelion in black. Finally I added some liquid pearls and some glitter and then a few more liquid pearls on their own.
Bee Crafty have just launched a super new range of Halloween stamps aptly named 'All Hallows' you can check them out by clicking on the above link.
That's me for today I'm off to try out my fabby new All Hallows' stamps. Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog all comments and new followers welcome.

Crafty hugs,
Clare x x x

Tuesday 19 August 2014

Crackled heart of gold

First of all let me start by saying a huge thank you for all of your kind comments and likes on Facebook. It really means so much to me. Crafting is a chunk of my life that I adore. I frequently loose myself whilst in my crafty mode and it makes me happy, and sometimes keeps me sane. Although my OH often thinks I am loopy when a new paint, ink or adhesive arrives!

Lots of you have commented on the heart and so I decided to do a quick step by step on how they were made. I am a great believer in sharing, I have learnt so much from everyone else that I thought I would give something back.

 

To make the heart you will need:

Grunge board or similar chipboard that will go through a die cutting machine

White spray ink or acrylic paint

I used Dylusions spray ink melted chocolate, vibrant turquoise and calypso teal

Tissue paper with news print or you could use a script stamp

Modge podge

Distress inks

Crackle background stamp

Guilding flakes

Crackle glaze

 

To begin I cut out 2 hearts and glued them together to make them thicker.

Then sprayed them with white linen dylusions

Once dry I gave the hearts one quick spritz of the colours so it had quite a speckled effect

Then I applied my tissue paper with modge podge.

I think adding the tissue paper adds to the the texture but you could use a script stamp.

When it was dry I inked around the edge with black inks and then sponged over the middle with antique linen.

Now for the messy part (even though my fingers are black at this stage) I stamped my crackle background stamp and applied the guilding flakes.

 

I then applied the crackle glaze. I tip it into an old tub and use a paintbrush as my hands can't seem to squeeze it out of the bottle but again I think it adds to the texture.

Once the crackle glaze has dried and crackled I sponged on some antique photo distress inks.

This is my first ever how to post so I do hope you have enjoyed looking at it. Please let me know your thoughts and comments, I love to here your feedback.

 

Crafty hugs,

 

Clare x x x x

 

 

Monday 18 August 2014

While the children are away, mum will play!

Hi there folks, a quick blog from me today. My children are away camping which means I have a lot of crafty time on my hands. Yesterday I decided to have another go at a mixed media canvas.

 
This time I have just used inks as opposed to acrylics although all of the stencilling has been done with gesso.
 

I know that there is always room for improvement. I getting a bit more confident with this new craft but I am learning from each canvas that I make and jotting down my do's and dont's in my note/sketch book.

 
 

I look forward to hearing your comments. Like I said this is still early days for me so all advise is welcome.

 

Crafty hugs,

 

Clare x x x

 

 

 

Sunday 17 August 2014

Banksy Fishing Boy

Tales of a fisherman, I could tell you a few. A main bulk of my household are fishing fanatics but I do not share their passion! I like to keep my feet firmly on the ground. My other half took us out on the boat to watch the fireworks last year and I vowed that it would be my last voyage. Bobbing around and waiting for the fireworks was bad enough I can't begin to imagine a day fishing. He can leave me at home with my inks and my stamps and I will be as happy as Larry!

 

 

Enough about me here is my Bee Crafty post for this week and yes you've got it, it has a fishy theme.

 

For this card I have used:
 
 

Inspired by Banksy fishing boy

Beautanicals maidenhair

Da Vinci inspired script

Backdrop bubble wrap stamp

Wordage dreams come true

Distress inks

 
The colours used for the background are shaded lilac, squeezed lemonade and peacock feathers. I also used the shaded lilac and peacock for stamping the background stamps. Maidenhair was stamped using bundled sage. I garnished with some die cuts, hand made flowers and some gems.
 
 
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, I hope you all have a happy sunday!
See you next week,
 
Big hugs,
Clare x x x

 

 

Saturday 9 August 2014

Summertime flowers

Hello fellow bloggers. I hope you have all had a good week? Still not too sure about mine. I finally managed to make into the cellar to start creating my crafty space and ended up nearly knocking myself out! After clearing one side of the cellar I whacked my head on the entrance door and have ended up with a huge lump on my head and a touch of concussion! Needless to say when I venture back in I shall indeed be wearing a helmet.

Here is my Bee Crafty make for this week.

 

For this card I have used:

BEAUtanicals leaves stamps

Wordage sunshine, freedom & flower stamps

Distress inks

BEAUtanicals cow parsley (flower stems)

Liquid pearls

 

First of all I stamped the leaves masking off the previous leaf so there was no overstamp. I also stamped the sentiment and heat embossed the stamping with black powder. Using inks I coloured in the flowers. I stamped the smaller leaf and embossed with clear ep. I applied glossy accents to the flower and set it aside to dry. A while later I blended in distress inks over the background and added some liquid pearls to the white leaves.

 

 

 

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Happy birthday to you!

Just a quick blog from me today. Yesterday it was my aunties birthday. As a fellow crafter she has always encouraged and inspired me with my crafting. So of course a special make was in order.

With a lot of crafting going on I still haven't started sorted out the cellar. I'm going to have to pull my finger out if I want my own craft room, all this procrastination is not getting me any closer to achieving my own crafty space. I still have a few weeks left of the holidays so I am sure it will happen some time soon.

 

For this card I have used all Lavinia stamps.

 

 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge: Lavinia stamp challenge # 8 Add some glitter

 

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog. I love to hear your comments.

 

Crafty hugs,

 

Clare x x x

 

Sunday 3 August 2014

Family

Hi it's Clare again with my weekly blog for Bee Crafty. Well I said last week that I was going to try something different each week and that is exactly what I have done. When I was scooting around on Sunday I found some little wooden hearts and thought that is something I haven't done before.

 

For my heart I have used:

Dylusions crushed grape

Dylusions white linen

Inkables template damask

Beautanicals cow parsley stamp

Family masterpiece small stamp

Liquid pearls

Gesso

 

I started off by giving the heart a coat of gesso and waited for it to dry. I then sprayed with crushed grape and once again let it dry. With the Inkables damask stencil I sprayed it with dylusions white linen, yes you've got it, for the final time it was drying.

A while later I stamped with a versamark ink pad the sentiment and cow parsley and sprinkled with black embossing powder. Finally I added some white opal liquid pearls ( they are white, for some reason they seem to adopt the colour underneath) and replaced the twine and some ribbon from my stash.

 

 

That's me over and out for another week. I wonder what I will get upto next week.

 

Big hugs,

Clare x x x