WOYWW #371

And another week has flown past, and here we all are again, meeting up at our Deputy Head Deskers place, LLJ's. Doing a fantastic job of keeping us all organised whilst our Julia recuperates.A few desk shots here, as I've been trying out a few things which aren't working as well as I'd hoped, but I'll post more about those later in the week. A couple of cards have made it off my desk, and they're in the previous two posts.

These two are not strictly on my desk, rather on my dining room table. Aniseed balls.  I had a fancy for them, and could not find any locally. Doesn't help that we don't actually have a proper sweet shop in town. You don't seem to see those so much anymore.

Regular aniseed balls above, and black ones, with liquorice, on the right. Who else could have Goth aniseed balls? Rofl!
 Beloved Hubby did a bit of internet searching, and found me some. I just found the way they were delivered very pleasing, lol.

Next, some stamps. Some of the new releases from Visible Image.
Christmas ones here on the left.

Some fabulously cool images here on the right, as well as a set of sentiments. And the headphones are made to fit perfectly onto the large skull.

These also arrived this week, back in May, Helen & Mark did a special run, for one month only, of  personalised 'handmade by' stamps.

Finally, how I store my stencils. A document folder from Staples, with clear pockets.

I don't have any larger than 7"x7", apart from a couple of A4 ones I cut myself from my Silhouette.




And finally, following on from the pic of my eldest, Ant, with his green beard last week.

One of his friends posted this on FB last week- he was on a course, when this picture pops up on screen.
Ant had told me about this before, it all started with a course he went on when the BBC in Birmingham was being closed down. The guy running it asked Ant if he could use a picture of him in the section of his course dealing with how to stand out and get yourself work when you go freelance!
 Suffice to say, every time this guy shows the pic, and asks his group if they know who it is, at least three quarters put their hand up and name Ant. To which the bloke responds, 'my whole point in a nutshell.' 'If you remember Ant, so does everyone who employs him. And when they want someone for a job, and they are all good at what they do, it's the memorable people who get called first.' So his advice, whilst not needing people to dye various parts of themselves crazy colours, is to find some way of standing out from the crowd.
I will visit as many people as I can today, and after that it will possibly be Friday- Virgin are doing some work on the Broadband infrastructure on Thursday, and it could be disrupted for most of the day.

EDIT :
I forgot to say, many of you will have seen Julia's & Jan's posts about Darnells visit to the UK. She will be in Salisbury one day next week- Jan & Julia have the info, so give them a message if you can make it and would like to join them. Also, she will be coming through Birminghams New Street Station on Sunday 24th July. I don't know what time yet, as Marg (Silvercrafter) is making the plans, and I'm going with her. So anyone who could make it to Birmingham next Sunday would be very welcome indeed. Not sure Marg has got an email link on her blog, if you want to know when & where, Email me with the link in my sidebar, and I'll pass on all the info.

Clarity & Cardio - Take 2

Here's the second of my Clarity stencil/Cardio stamps cards.



This one was done using  the Clarity Abstract Squares 2 stencil, along with a selection of Adirondack brown inkpads, and brushes to apply.

These are the inkpads I used, along with the brushes. The smaller brush was used with the Espresso ink to add some shading, which was further enhanced by going around the stencil with a latex make up sponge at the end.

Change of subject as well for this card- it's all about the birds. I'll list the stamp sets used at the end again.

I'd used Smokey Gray to stamp the tree & birdhouse, then switched to Onyx Black for most of the other images, apart from the Squirrel. He's done in Vintage Sepia. All Versafine inkpads.

Some foliage was added in Olympia Green,and a wire drawn in fine pen to hang the feeder from the branch. Then it was trimmed and matted onto brown, then black cardstock. All mounted onto a 7"x7" card base, with some eyelash wool wrapped around the spine.
Final touch was to stamp Happy Birthday, done in Vintage Sepia, and using one of the new Visible Image ' Go To Words set 1'.
 I think the colours lend itself nicely to a masculine card, and perfect for any bird watchers you may know!


Card Recipe:
Cardio/Majestix stamp sets:
Tall Trees ( tree trunk & small branches)
Forest Friends ( owl,bunny, squirrel, some small birds)
Birdsong 1 (birdhouse, bird on birdhouse, bird on feeder & tree)
Summer Wreath (Foliage)
Winter Walks (Flying Birds)

Sentiment:
 Visible Image Go To Words Set 1

Clarity Abstract Squares Stencil

Inkpads:
 Adirondack in Lake Mist, Latte, Hazelnut,Mushroom & Espresso.
 Versafine in Onyx Black, Vintage Sepia, Smokey Gray & Olympia Green.

Cardio/Clarity Birthday Card

So, I was showing you all the backgrounds I made using the Clarity stencil, and said that I had plans for using them with small stamps- Cardio, Lavinia, Clarity, mainly.
 This is the first one I've done, and it used Cardio/Majestix stamps. These are almost all small stamps, along the lines of the Rubber Stamp Tapestry Peg stamps, and indeed, Cardio do make a few round acrylic pegs to use the stamps with, if you find that easier than small blocks, or if you don't have any.
I will list the sets I used at the end of this post.
 I used the technique I posted about a couple of weeks ago, using images stamped onto OHP( Overhead Projector Film), you could also use acetate, or indeed, plastic packaging for this.

 
 I sorted out a handful, and fiddled about till I had a basic layout  I liked, then added to it a little later.

I also picked one of the backgrounds I made using a range of Green Adirondacks.

 This was my starting point, and I photographed it with my phone, as I knew as soon as I'd moved them, I'd forget what went where!



For the scarecrow, I used Versafine Vintage Sepia.

 

I switched to Versafine Onyx Black for the next few images, and Versafine Crimson Red for the Butterfly. Smokey Gray for the bunny, and toadstools.

I infilled with some dragonflies,stars and flowers using Versafine Majestic Blue and Deep Lagoon. Most of these pads are the little 'cube' versions, and are really easy to use with such small stamps.I added a couple of leaf stems using Versafine Spanish Moss.




The cardstock is Clarity Stencil card, which is a 7"x7" matte stock. This size works perfectly for a 6"x6" Gelli plate.
 To mount this, I matted it onto a mid-green cardstock, then onto brown.

I'd added a thread for the spider with a fine point black pen.
The dragonflies and small flowers are from assorted Rubber Stamp Tapestry sets, you can find similar items amongst the Cardio/Majestix line.



I also left some spaces empty, so as not to crowd the image too much.

The sentiment is from a Tim Holtz set, called 'Saying Stuff', one of the Visual Artistry sets.
 It comes with a range of sentiments, and a box to stamp them in. Both were inked in Majestic Blue, then stamped onto a scrap of white card. Matted to match the image, then mounted above it with foam pads.

A suitable card for the gardeners in your life?


Card Recipe:
 Stamp sets, all Cardio:
Summer Wreath ( Butterfly, and leafy stem bottom right)
Backyard Blooms (Spider, web,caterpillar, leafty twig top left)
Pleasant Pastures (Scarecrow, Toadstools,snails, small birds)
Cottontail Capers( small bunny)
Birdsong 1 (Woodpecker)

Rubber Stamp Tapestry sets:
Triple Dragonfly Floral SFL 34015
Dragonflies at Dusk  SBI 08000

Tim Holtz Visual Artistry stamp set, Saying Stuff.

Inks:
All Versafine:
Onyx Black
Vintage Sepia
Deep Lagoon
Majestic Blue
Smokey Gray
Crimson Red
Olympia Green
Spanish Moss


Background:
Clarity Stencil, Abstract Squares 2
Adirondack Green inks,
 Blending tools/brushes.

Clarity stencils- backgrounds for stamping

Here are some of the backgrounds I stencilled, using a brayer and Gelli plate, with inks. I take no credit for the technique, I watched one of Barbara Grays videos, and this was her technique. HERE is the link to the You Tube video if you want to check it out.
 I had no plans to buy a Gelli plate, this one is part of the craft stash that was gifted to me. Everything I'd seen up to now had been using paints, and that really hadn't grabbed me. This one with inks though looked more my thing.

 


 Barbaras technique is to lay your chosen stencil on top of the Gelli plate, then dab your ink pad straight onto it.

Using Distress Inks here, as they are nice and wet, and they are what she used.  This one on the right was using Candied Apple and Carved Pumpkin.

 Next, take your Speedball brayer, and spread the ink out evenly over the stencil.
 By the way, this stencil with the oblong shapes is called Abstract 3, by Clarity.  The one with the squares is called Abstract Squares 2.
At this stage, you really can't see much.
 Now peel off your stencil, and put to one side. Take a sheet of cardstock- Barbara produces a 7"x7" pack especially for this, and it's very good too- and lay it down over the Gelli plate.

I had some on order, so used the plain back of some pearl card for now.
Smooth out over the back of the cardstock with a reasonable amount of pressure, and trying to make sure you cover the whole of the sheet.
Peel off your cardstock to reveal the print.





You can see I missed a spot or two, where I didn't press very well.


Now for 'Spot the (unintended) mistake'!

I repeated the inking, after cleaning my stencil, lay the cardstock down- and then realised I'd forgotten to remove the stencil. I actually only realised when I took the picture. Good job the cardstock is double sided.

This time I dabbed Cracked Pistachio and Wild Honey.

I think this one was Wilted Violet and Mermaid Lagoon.

This time around, I added a Moon mask below the main stencil. This 3 colour one didn't work out- guess who forgot to remove the stencil again?

But these three did.

 I also tried with another stencil- Jo's Bubbles.I have a feeling those are going to work well with some Lavinia stamps of fairies.

 

 All in all I think I love this technique. It's easy to get a wide variety of backgrounds from it. I think next I may try brayering directly onto the stencil and use some of the Adirondack inks.

WOYWW #370

Don't know about you, but I really can't get my head around how fast this year is zipping by. Into July already, some summer about now would be nice.Big hugs and lots of love to our recovering Head Desker, Julia, and more love & big Hugs, to our Deputy Head Desker for a while,LLJ.

On my desk this week, loads of images stamped onto OHP film. I got a bargain a couple of years ago when we made a trip to Staples, and they had some boxes of OHP film  reduced to clear. I like it for lots of things, one of them being this- I stamp the images so that I can use them as an aid to placement. I've done lots with my Stampscapes stamps, for scene building, and I thought it would be really helpful with all those stencilled backgrounds I've done lately. Doing it by eye always results in something being adrift or skewed, which irritates me.

This sort of thing is what I mean, using Cardio stamps and one of the Clarity Stencil backgrounds.

  I've made a couple of cards with them, and I'll post them over the next few days.
Because they are on film, I had to use Staz-on ink, and from some research on the net, it appears the ink doesn't harm clear stamps, it's the Staz-on cleaner that does.
So, it's fine if you don't mind stained stamps, and I don't.
 Two tips I've come across doing this- first, if you don't want Staz-on staining your stamps, then if you apply Versamark first, then Staz-on, the Staz-on will wipe straight off your stamps afterwards, but as I was doing this on film, I'm guessing that would not have dried, so defeating the object.
Second- what if you get Staz-on onto your acrylic blocks? The cleaner definitely ruins them, I ruined a few before I found out about the cleaner. Turns them cloudy, with loads of fine cracks appearing. Well, apparently, Antibacterial hand sanitiser gel will clean them up. Sounds mad, doesn't it? But, nothing to lose by trying it.
Here was one very mucky acrylic block.
















                                                                                          

 
I squirted a small amount on,spread it over with my fingers, wiped off with a paper towel, and hey Presto! It works! Literally, wiped over with my fingers, and it came straight off. No rubbing or scrubbing.

That was definitely a wow! moment. I really wasn't sure it would work. But it does, perfectly.
So, something useful there.

Finally, I though these may amuse you. It does prove that dying your hair in a variety of colours clearly runs in the family.
Top picture is my eldest son, Ant, with his green beard, and opposite, my youngest son, Mike, with his two tone one. Amazing, that as Mike ages, he looks more & more like his brother.
 As they say, madness does not run in our family, it just wanders around, having a good time in the process.