Time for some crafting!

Hi Folks!  Yes I know I have been missing from Blogland for quite some time now.  I have simply been enjoying the summer weather and getting on with lots of odd jobs around the house and garden.  I haven't done very much crafting (I found that my books were clear for card orders - which is a first for me) but I did have a few projects to get along with on the days that it has been raining.

It has also been quite a time for us with our two cats and two tortoises...vet trips with the cats fighting (not each other) and a 3 hour dash to the other side of the country to get to a tortoise specialist to remove a microchip from one of our tortoises that had started to work itself loose...all pets doing well now.

I also treated myself to a new summer house ( that took a lot of painting ) and I am in the middle of making a very low coffee table to go in it.  (just waiting on some rope to arrive).

So now I have to get on and do some cards for Christmas and a few birthday cards too (that will keep me out of trouble for a bit)

For a long while now I have wanted to make myself a clock and I have finally got around to it.  I really needed to make one to go in the new summerhouse as I can sit in there all day and the next thing you know its 9 pm and I have missed lunch and dinner!

So here is my clock.  The inks I have used are all Archival and the Stamps that I have used are all from Claritystamp.co.uk

I started with a piece of wood (from an old drawer base) I cut it down to size and drilled a hole for the clock fixings.  I then gave it and undercoat of white paint.  I took my forest mask ( Clarity Stamp again ) and dabbed on some Fern Green ink.  I did 3 rows of this stencil. Next I took a Tree and stamped it in front of the stencil. Now I did this while the paint was still tacky for a reason...You can get the look of acrylic paints by doing this.  It adds a bit more dimension to your work, just remember to have a cleaner for your stamp handy so as not to transfer the paint onto the inkpad.  I started using this technique years ago when the kids were much younger as I didn't want acrylic paint in the house - not easy to clean up once dried!

I then stamped the tree from the winter wonderland set.  I used stamps from the Birdhouse set for the bottom and also for the foliage around the clock face.  I used the numbers from the number set.  I used Cornflower Blue and Cobalt for the sky, putting it on with a mixture of stencil brush and make-up sponge. To finish it off I took my Fern Green ink pad around the edges to give a border.  Now I just have to give it time to dry properly and I can get it hung up in place in my new summerhouse!

I forgot to mention the small fern and the grass stamp that I also used.

So all in all I am quite happy with my home made clock especially as it started out as an old drawer base!  I hope you like it too.

I have to get on now as I have a bag and a quiver to make but I will post soon with pictures of the reflection landscapes that I made while I was absent from Blogland.

Happy Crafting Everyone


Hugs

Emma x

Competition:  http://claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/challenge-17.html