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