Groovi Madeleine at 30 lol!

Hi Folks.  Hope you are well.  I have a 30th Birthday card that I was commissioned make to share with you today and as you will have guessed from the title, the card was made using the Madeleine Groovi Plate from Claritystamp.

The Groovi Plates used were: Madeleine, Nested Oval, Lace Border, Art Deco Floral Border, Sentiment Border, Nested Square, Dotted Line Border
The Parchment is A5 140gsm From Claritystamp used in conjunction with the Groovi Plate Mate.

I love the designs that you can achieve with the Groovi Plates.  So easy to get perfect lineart
As you can see, the card is made up of two panels using the Nested Square Plate to make a rectangular frame....so easy to extend the line of the square.

I have used Tinta Gold Ink and also Tinta Pearl to add a bit of colour to the Oval Frame, Flowers and the Lacy Border.  I embossed the dots in the border.  I also decorated the Flower in Madeleine's hair with the Tinta I used a large and medium embossing tool to create the shading in the hair (in Clarity terms 4 and 3)
For the second panel I used the nested square and the art deco border plate.  With the lines on the Blue Mat that comes in the Groovi Starter Kit I was able to space out the sentiment (forgot to mention that the 30th is on the Months Border Plate ooops)

Once again I used the Tinta Pearl and Gold to add decoration to the flowers. I used my mapping pen to add gold to the edges of the flowers and to the sentiment.

I added a couple of cut out flowers to the design just to finish it off.  I pierced around the edges using a fine straight grid, fine two needle tool and parchment scissors.
A little bit of Perga Glue behind the embossing and attached to Black Card.  Before attaching to a White Card Blank I took a Gold Sharpie pen to the edge of the black card.
I am very pleased to say that the Birthday Girl loved it (that is always a relief lol)
I will have more Groovi to post this week...some of my samples of the new Groovi Plates recently shown on Hochanda TV, so until then...

Happy Crafting

Hugs  Emma x

Last Claritystamp Challenge of the year!!!

Hiya Folks!  Hope you are all well.  I bet you are all busy making Christmas Cards and buying presents......I will let you into a secret.....I haven't done any of that!!!!  Had it all planned out - even had the start date for my own cards marked on the calendar and the time has jut disappeared!!!  There will definitely be some late nights ahead for me.

So it is the last challenge of the year for Claritystamp but we will be back with a new one in January 2016!!
This month the challenge is no. 34 A Christmas story.  This is my Design Sample.  I have used a mixture of Groovi Plates along with some Traditional Parchment Craft techniques for you to peruse.

Step 1 Tracing
Ink up the Merry Christmas stamp with a Dark Ink directly onto copy paper.
Tape an A5 Piece of Parchment over the top.....make sure it is secure all round.
Also make sure you are on a firm clean surface, then with a White Leaded Pencil, TRACE the sentiment.   (if you go squint or wobbly you can erase the pencil marks and start again) This becomes the FRONT
once finished remove tape and then place parchment FRONT DOWN onto your Embossing Mat

Step 2 Line Art
a)  Rub over the BACK of the parchment with a Tumble Dryer Sheet.
Emboss the Pencil Lines using a Small Ball Tool (no. 2 stylus from Claritystamp)
Do not Press hard but take your time going over the pencil lines.
After you have gone over the lines evenly, rub out the pencil lines.

b)  Fit the Nested Square into Groovi Plate Mate and attach Parchment Front Down.
Emboss the 2nd and 3rd square in from the Outer Edge using the no.2 then no.3 Stylus
Change Groovi Plate to the Netting Plate, Emboss the Lines and Dot that show between the Square Frame using the same order of Stylus.

c)  Change Groovi Plate to Snowflake Plate and Emboss hanging Snowflakes using the no. 1 stylus.
Remove Parchment from Groovi Plate Mate and Place onto Embossing Mat.

Step 3 Embossing - Whitework
Begin with no 4 Stylus.  With smooth, light, even strokes emboss part of the letters.  You can emboss the top half or the bottom half, the other half will be left blank for colouring.
To achieve whitework you have to be gentle when embossing.  You make a smooth up and down motion while travelling from one side to the other of the line art.  Repeat the same motion coming back the other way.  Check your work....you will notice the difference.  You begin with the largest ball and after you have shaded an area (got rid of the grey) you can then go over your work with the next size down of ball tool and repeat the same motion until you are happy with the depth of white. Don't be tempted to over emboss as your parchment will 'crack' and remember you can leave your Parchment to rest for a while and then go back to it.

Step 4 Colour
I have used a Distress Marker - Festive Berry to colour on the BACK of the parchment.  But you can use another colour or indeed another type of pen or pencil if you so wish.  At the time of making this card I hadn't yet decided on a colour so I waited until I was finished piercing and cutting before adding the colour.

Step 5 Piercing
Lay your Parchment onto a Piercing Mat (not an embossing mat....if you put holes into your embossing mat it cannot be used for embossing as your work will get ruined) Using a Fine TWO NEEDLE tool Pierce along the inside of the lines between the Frame.  Take Care not to pierce into the line. To Pierce the Parchment, Place your two needle tool upright over your starting point and press through the Parchment.  This makes TWO holes.  Take your two needle tool and place one needle into the furthest away hole, check your alignment before pressing down to make another hole.  You simply repeat the process until you have gone all the way round and meet up with the first hole that you made. Pierce the small Triangle that has formed in the same manner and then Pierce along the outer edge once again making sure NOT to pierce the Line.
N.B.  You can use a Bold Two Needle Tool if you wish. Just be careful not to go too near the lines.

Step 5  Cutting
Lay the edge of your Parchment that you are cutting onto a Cutting Mat and hold the rest gently in your other hand. You will have to reach over your work to cut the edges that lay along the outer line. Turn your work as you cut....no arms sticking up at awkward angles lol.  Start cutting the small triangles first, followed by the other area inside the frame and finally the outer edge.  To cut using Parchment Scissors or Snips, simply place the tip of the scissors into TWO holes, slightly turn your wrist towards you, then cut and retract the scissors. Move on to the next hole.  I find you get a very neat result if you cut the hole nearest you then work moving away from yourself. Always keep your scissors pointing toward the holes....if you don't you will end up with uneven points or even points that are missing. You are cutting the Parchment that is sitting between each hole. So repeat what you have just done all the way around the area.  Once all the pieces are cut the excess parchment will fall away.

Step 6 Mounting
I mounted the Parchment using a teeny tiny amount of Perga Glue behind each Dot. I put some Glue onto my craft mat and I then used the blunt end of a wooden cocktail stick to apply a spot of it to the dots. The Glue dried clear and has not shown through as I had embossed the dots.
I mounted the Parchment onto a piece of wine coloured hand made paper.  I took a piece of white embossed dotty card and pulled a wine coloured sharpie pen along the edge.  Double sided Red Tape to join the two pieces together and again on the back of the white Dotty card and finally attaching this to a 6 x 6 Card Blank.

So there you have a Christmas card made using the NEW Groovi Parchment System and some basic techniques from Parchment Craft.
I hope you like it and maybe give it a try.  Whatever you decide to do for your entry I am sure it will be lovely.


why not pop on over to the Claritystamp Blog to see what the other ladies from the Design Team have made.  I look forward to seeing your entries.

Best of luck  

Happy Crafting

Emma xx

Claritystamp Groovi Plates, Maria Simms and HOCHANDA TV

Good afternoon Folks!  Today it is the turn of the lovely Maria Simms to showcase the new Groovi Plates on television today at 3pm and 6pm on HOCHANDA TV,  SKY 663, Freeview 39, Freesat  817. and of course live online at hochanda.com

I hope you were able to watch the shows.  Here are some of my design samples using the fabulous Groovi Plates.

I hope you like them.

Thats it for now folks!

See you after the next show

Happy Crafting!!

Hugs 

Emma x

Claritystamp Challenge #33 Clean and Simple

OMG  Its November!!!  Time for another challenge over at Claritystamp while I wonder where on earth this year has gone!!

Challenge 33

Clean and Simple

For my Design Team Sample I have gone for a very simple card using a couple of techniques that I love doing.  They are so effective and very easy to do. 

So first things first.  Ingredients.

I used Clarity Black Coated Card, Dusted with Talcum Powder  

I used a bit too much!

Stamped the Wallflower with Versamark

 It really does help if you blot the stamp first before plotting!

Then with a soft brush I dabbed various Mica Powders over the image

Brush off the excess

(I brush mine into a container as I can use it for another project even though it will all be mixed up)

This is what you get after clearing all the mess away

(soft folded tissue for that job)

At this stage I decided to add a sentiment so I simply repeated the process

The next part was to make a border. As you can see from the picture above I went with 

Variegated Copper Gilding Flakes and Red Double Sided Tape.

Add Tape to the edge of the Black Card.  Pull off the Red Backing and Add Gilding Flakes

(use a bit of folded tissue to hold card in the middle to stop fingermarks while doing this bit)

Use a scoochy sponge to  press the Flakes onto the tape and smooth out.  Try not to go onto the card with the smoocher as you don't want to mark the card. 

Below is the card before I mounted it onto a larger Piece of Black Coated Card (A5)

I love how the Gilding Flakes pick up the colours of the Mica Powders

So now over to you!

We would love to see your entries up on the Challenge!

email entries to claritystampchallenge@hotmail.com

or from your Blog if you have one.

There is a £50 Claritystamp gift voucher for the winner

Only Claritystamp Stencils and Stamps (or Groovi Plates) can be used to create your images

Best of luck in the challenge to you all.

Happy Crafting!

Hugs

Emma x

Parchments Cards for HOCHANDA TV with Claritystamp

Hi Folks!  Well it has been all go since I last wrote.  I had a lovely trip to Catterick to see some lovely friends at the Claritystamp Open Day.  I had a marvellous time and everybody was so welcoming.  Then came the holiday trip to Barcelona.....lots of walking in the sunshine.  Then a mad rush to finish cards for the Claritystamp Groovi Plate shows on HOCHANDA TV.  I did take my Parchment with me on holiday but didn't have much joy in finding time to play with it...also my tumble dryer sheet dried out on me (and I had it in a self seal bag!)  On returning home I managed to hurt my shoulder.  It was very painful to move but happy to report that it is nearly back to normal...but no more heavy lifting for me!!
So today I am posting some of my cards and I will post some more in a couple of days.  If anyone has any questions or want to know more details please feel free to leave a comment.   Hope to hear from you.

 Sorry about the picture for the poppy and wreath....I couldn't get my hand to stay steady at this stage

This card is has a drop shadow effect and the center shape is pierced.

I hope you managed to catch our Barbara Gray with the Groovi Parchment Plates and Storage Special...that was a bit of a marathon for Barbara.  As usual the Groovi Design Team made samples for the shows but not all of them were shown (which is a pity as I know that the rest of the gang did some pretty amazing work)  Hopefully you will get the chance to view them on Facebook or on their personal blogs.

Happy Crafting

Hugs

Emma x

Door Plaque

Hi Folks!  As usual on the first of the month, my post is a design piece for the next Claritystamp Challenge which starts today.  This time around it is:

CHALLENGE 32

STENCILS

For this challenge I have made a door plaque.  Just a little something I made for my daughter that I thought I would share.  I have in fact used 4 Claritystamp Stencils for this piece.

Wood Grain, Dots, Brick Wall and ABC

I cut an A4 piece of Gray Board in half LENGTHWISE to make the Door Plaque. I Painted it Black all over with Acrylic Paint and left it to completely dry before adding my first stencil.

I taped a part of the Wood Grain Stencil to the board and applied a layer of Grunge Paste

Once that was dry I added the Brick Wall Stencil to the other end of the board and added a layer of Grunge Paste.  I left this to completely dry.

Remember when using Grunge Paste you should have a container of warm soapy water handy for cleaning your stencils and scraper tool

I then added more Grunge Paste through the Dotty Weave Stencil.  This time applying it to the open area between the last two stencils and then I added some to the opposing corners just to add a bit more texture to the piece.

(don't you think that the Wood Grain looks like hair and an eye)

I roughly worked out where I wanted the Letters for the Name to go

I had to individually mask up around each letter, apply Grunch Paste, clean stencil, let paste dry before adding the next letter of the ABC Stencil.

This is the result before getting all messy with Acrylic Paint and Gilding Wax

Now I got so caught up in getting this finished as a surprise for my daughter Carrie that I didn't take any pictures of the next stages

I wasn't at home in my craft room....I was in her Art Studio....It is not as tidy as my craft room....so as soon as I found what I was looking for Paint wise I just got stuck in!!!

.....but I can tell you what I did....

Paint the whole thing with Black Acrylic and leave to dry (you can hurry this up with a heat gun)

Paint the whole thing again with Bronze Acrylic, leave for a couple of minutes

then using scrunched up copy paper, lay this over the Plaque and rub all over

Some but not all of the Bronze will come off

Paint the whole thing again with Gold Acrylic, leave for a couple of minutes and repeat the process with the scrunched copy paper.

At this stage you can leave it at this or you can go on adding layers of colour...you might want to add more Black or even a Bit of Red, just make sure you have extra copy paper scrunched up and ready to go.

The final stage will be to add some gilding wax.  I used an old rag to apply Gold, Bronze and Red Wax to the background and I used Gold Wax to add to the Letters to highlight them.  I used the same rag to give it all a good buff up.

I applied Double Sided Sticky Sheet to the back of the Plaque and fixed it to the Front Door.

Now my daughter lives in what we call a 'stair' (tenement building) so her door is inside and protected from Rain.  So if you fancy having a go at this but the door it is intended for is open to the elements then I suggest you give it all (front, back and edges) a coat of clear varnish for protection.

A little look from the other angle

Well I hope you like my little piece.  My daughter was very surprised and happy with it and I am happy to say that she hasn't removed it (yet) lol

So now lets see what you lovely people come up with for your entries to the Challenge.....

I bet you knock our socks off!!

You can enter the challenge by post, email or from your blog.  Details and Rules are to be found at:

http://claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

Challenge 32

And Remember

£50 gift voucher to the winner

Hope to hear from you and I wish you all the best.

Happy Crafting

Hugs

Emma x

Hi Folks!  Well did you manage to catch our Barbara on HOCHANDA television channel today? Stamps, Stencils and Groovi Plates!  What shows!  It is always a pleasure watching Barbara and I just love seeing what the Design Team come up with.  Such Fabulous Designs!  Fabulous Demos! What a Team!!  It was really great to get to see Barbara in teaching mode.

I  am off on Holiday in a couple of days so I thought I would show you all some of my samples that were shown on HOCHANDA today.

So first up is the Santa and Stars Groovi Plate 

For this card I 'grooved' out the Santa and Stars first.
I coloured Santa with Spectrum Noir Pencils, also a little bit of white work.  Using the Square Nested Plate I made a Frame for the artwork.  I used a Glitter Gold Gelly Roll Pen to colour the frame.  I pierced and cut out some of the bigger stars while leaving the smaller stars pierced with a grid pattern.  I decided to highlight the larger stars by painting Gold Acrylic Paint onto the red backing card. I used the Scalloped edge from the Border Plate to make the photo corners. A little bit of white work with some piercing and cutting then placing my backing card behind and just letting the corners slide through to the front.  Double sided tape was placed behind the Gold Border which was backed onto white card.  Trimmed with a gold rope design peel-off then backed onto white satin card.

Next!

I coloured A5 Parchment with Cranberry Adirondack Ink. Using 4 Groovi Plates - Classic Shape, Nested Deckle, Nested Square and Meadow grasses I embossed onto the back of the parchment.  I stamped the Verse onto copy paper then traced it onto the Parchment with white lead. I then embossed from the back. I split the verse in two so I could emboss a butterfly onto the parchment. I added some white shading to the grasses.  I used an Adirondack Pen - Cranberry to add more colour to the deckled border.  I used a fine grid to pierce the outer area between the Deckle and the Classic shape.  I pierced and cut around the edge with parchment scissors.  Once mounted onto backing card I made a butterfly to place on top.  I like the effect of the grid piercing around the edges as it makes the design curl out slightly.

A change of colour!

Now this card was very straightforward. One piece of A5 Parchment. I used 3 sizes of the Nested Deckle Edge Squares.  I then added the Stitch Line from the Border Plate. Then came the Happy Birthday (from the Happy Words Set of stamps) - Stamp onto copy paper, trace with white lead, embossed and coloured on the back. Finally adding the center part of the Circle Sprig Plate making sure I didn't go into the sentiment with my embossing tool.  I used Distress Markers to colour in the "Layers" I then pierced and snipped around the outer edge before mounting onto backing card with double sided tape.

So how many Groovi Plates did I use on this next card?

1. Stocking and Lights Plate, 2. Nested Squares Plate, 3. Netting Plate, 4. Deer Plate, 5. Santa and Stars Plate, 6. Deckled Nested Plate and finally 7. Snowflake Plate.
It sounds a lot but it was ever so quick to do.  The colouring took longer!  A mix of Spec Noir Pencils and Distress Markers for the back and for the Border I used a Sakura Pen - wink of stellar Glitter Gold and also a gelly roll pen.  The backing layers are White Satin Card, Pale Green Satin Card, Fine Gold Mesh and Green Satin Card with the Parchment on top!

And Finally!

One sheet of A5 Parchment and the Nested Deckle Edged Square Plates to create the layers first.  I then added the central design using the Bauble and Branch Border Plate and the Deer Bauble Plate.  I coloured the branch  and 2nd "layer" with Distress Marker - Forest Moss. The 3rd "layer" with Glitter Gold Gelly Roll Pen. The 4th "layer" is actually a dark green card from my stash.  I used Spectrum Noir Pencils for the rest of the colouring.  Piercing with a fine grid.
I decided to cut around the outer edge of the design with my parchment scissors just as you would with an ordinary pair - no snipping!
Double sided tape hidden behind the Gold edge and finished off with a trim of iridescent peel-off

Well that's all for now folks.  My next post will be for the Claritystamp Challenge Blog which goes live on the 1st of every month.  I did have a few more cards to show but I think I will wait to share them till I get back from Barcelona!

Thank you for popping in to see my designs, very much appreciated.

Happy Crafting!

Hugs 

Emma x

p.s.  Would like to give a big thank you to Barbara Gray from Claritystamp for giving me the chance to play  work with these lovely Parchment Embossing Plates.  

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Hi Folks!  Well you know what day it is!  That's right...1st of the Month and that means the new Challenge is up and running at http://claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

The challenge for this month is
Shaped Cards

My Design Team offering is:

A Star Card

I used the Claritystamp, Merry Christmas on Parchment and added the design from the lovely Christmas Tree Groovi Plate Designed by Sylvia Marshall.  (such a talented lady)

I have backed my parchment onto Blue Vellum  which was then attached to a Card Blank.  I cut out the star leaving a join at the top. 

(otherwise it wouldn't stand now would it!!)

As I was experimenting with different shapes I began with my Parchment design and cut the Card Blank to fit...it is better if you CUT your Card Blank to the shape you want first and then have your Design fit the card...I was going for an 8 x 8 inch card but in the end I had to make a slightly larger card for the star to fit.  The other bit of advice I will give you is to use a strong card as the join at the top is not very wide....the stronger the card the better the join.

Ready for a few pictures?

I stamped the Merry Christmas onto Copy Paper.  I drew a 5 pointed star onto a square of Parchment using a white leaded propelling pencil, placed the Merry Christmas underneath the Parchment and Traced the design.

A quick smooch with a Tumble Dryer Sheet.  Then I used a Firm Foam Mat and began embossing the Line Art on the back of the Parchment.

The next step was to place the lovely Christmas Tree Groovi Plate into the Groovi Plate Mate, taped a Point of the Star over the Tree Design and embossed as near to the Words as I could get...I worked from the Top of the Tree down before turning the parchment around to the next point of the Star and repeating.  Once Embossed I used an eraser to get rid of the original tracing on the front of the Parchment.

I used two shades of Blue Spectrum Noir Pencils to Colour on the Back of the Parchment and Blended them with a Blending Solution.
I Pierced the design working on the Front of the Parchment

It was after this that I decided to do a bit of shading with my Large Embossing Tool as I thought the design would look better.  I then snipped some of the curved shapes out using my Parchment Scissors.

I pierced around the outside of the design with my Two Needle Tool and once again snipped the excess Parchment away using Parchment Scissors.

I Drew another 5 pointed star on Vellum, cut this out with a Craft Knife, then using small bits of Strong Double Sided Tape I attached the Parchment to the Vellum.

I then attached the Vellum to the Card Blank with Strong Double Sided Tape
Here is another picture of the finished card with slightly different lighting.  (It was a really sunny day and everything seemed to give off a reflection)

Well I hope you like this Star Card, I was very pleased with it (but I think it has more to do with the lovely design of the Christmas Tree Groovi Plate)

I hope that you will take part in this months Claritystamp Challenge and I look forward to seeing your entries using Clarity Stencils, Stamps maybe even the new Groovi Plates

http://claritystampchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

£50 Gift Voucher for the Winner

(picked by Random.org)

Top 5 Picks

(chosen by Design Team)

Happy Crafting

Hugs 

Emma xx