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 30 November 2014

Some more seasonal greetings!

It's Clare again back with some more Bee Crafty seasons greetings. I'm sure I mentioned last week how fond I am of this stamp, it is a lovely large stamp and so versatile.

For this card I used:
 
To make this card I stamped using watermark ink and heat embossed using clear powder. I then brushed the card with mowed lawn and crushed olive. Using the same coloured inks I stamped the smallest snowflake. I then punched out some small holes using my punch. Using a die cut I stamped on the seasons greetings in black and heat embossed. To tie the greeting in with the card I again used mowed lawn to edge the shape and stamped the small snowflake with crushed olive and mowed lawn. I mounted the card onto a hidden panel of white card and then onto green and added my favourite little pearly dots and a sprinkle of glitter.
 
 

 

I hope you are not finding your christmas preparations too stressful? It's a busy time of year and I know I am trying hard not to let this busy period weigh me down. Some crafty time for me today I think.
 
Crafty hugs,
 
Clare x x x x

 

Sunday 23 November 2014

Seasons greetings!

Hi it's Clare here again with a little bit of Bee Crafty inspiration and like it says on the tin, I've gone a a little seasonal with some of The Yueltide collection stamps. You will will see this greeting pop up quite a bit over the coming weeks. I absolutely love it. It is such a good size and stamps fantastically.

 

For this card I used:

Seasons greetings stamp

Fir tree stamp

Beautanicals ferns stamps

Distress inks

Embossing powder

 

 
To make this card I masked with a circle aperture and a moon so that I could ink in my scene using festive berries distress ink. After that, with my circle mask remaining, I stamped on the ferns using black ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I removed the mask and stamped on the sentiment and the fir tree and once again heat embossed.
 
 

 

That's me for this week. I expect all of you are busy getting ready for that special day so thank you for taking the time to look at my blog. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Crafty Christmassy hugs,

Clare x x x x

 

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Frosty Double Daisy

Hello fellow crafters, it's Clare here with more winter ideas. I didn't go for the obvious choice of stamps on this one. I chose one of my favourite stamps, Double Daisy and decided to give it a touch of winter.

For this card I used:
 

 

First of all I stamped Double Daisy and the sentiment in Oak House Studios wine pigment ink pad and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I then randomly went over the leaves of the double Daisy with a white wax crayon to cause a resist to create a frosty effect. Out came the lovely inks in a bottle and I continued to paint the Daisy with my red shades. Once Daisy had been painted I decided I wanted a splash of colour behind it. I mixed my green colours to create a wash for behind the flower. Finally after matting and layering I added a smattering of glitter to complete a frosty finish.

 

 

Good luck with your winter challenges. There is still time to get your entries in and be in with a chance of a wonderful prize.

 

Happy crafting,

Clare x x x

 

Sunday 16 November 2014

Looking on the bright side!

Hi there bloggers it's Clare and I'm here with my weekly spot at Bee Crafty. Over the last few weeks I've seen some fabulous, bright colour work so I decided to have ago myself and this is what I achieved.

 

For this card I used:
 

Beautanicals cow parsley stamp

Inspired by Banksy balloon girl stamp

Beautanicals branches stamps

Beautanicals ferns stamps

Wordage shoot for the moon stamp

Distress inks

Clear embossing powder

Liquid pearls

 

 

To make this card I Started by stamping the balloon girl and beautanicals stamps in watermark ink then embossed with clear embossing powder. After that I masked off a moon and inked in the background using salty ocean, picked raspberry and Crushed olive. I removed the moon mask and inked in with squeezed lemonade. The sentiment was stamped in black ink and again heat embossed with clear embossing powder. To finish I added my favourite liquid pearls.

 

 

 

Thank you for coming over and having a look. I love to hear your comments so feel free to feedback below.

 

Crafty hugs,

Clare x x x x

Saturday 8 November 2014

Falling leaves

Hi bloggers it's Clare here with my weekly blog spot for Bee Crafty. If you are lucky enough to venture to the NEC in Birmingham be sure to pop by and see Bev and the Bee Crafty team and check out the fantastic stamps, templates and all things inky.

 
For this card I used:

Backdrop bark stamp positive

Wordage - Live with no excuses

Distress inks

Beautanicals maple outline

Dylusions inks

 

I started off by masking off a corner of my card and using green distress inks I blended through the basket weave template. I stamped over this using brown ink using the bark backdrop stamp.


I removed the mask and stamped on the sentiment, some maple leaves and heat embossed with black embossing powder. On a separate piece of card I stamped some more leaves, heat embossed and cut out.


Using Cut grass, sunshine yellow and postbox red dylusion inks I painted all my leaves. I then applied my cut out leaves using silicone for dimension.


Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post.


Happy crafting,

Clare x x x

 

Snowy Hills

Howdy fellow bloggers, it's Clare again. Here is a little bit more of winter crafting to help you along with this months challenge. Winter scenes are proving very popular at the moment so I thought I would join in and make one of my own.

 
For this card I used:

 

 

I started off by placing my card behind a flower shaped mask. I then ripped up some scrap paper, using a sponge and my powder blue ink pad I inked on my snowy hills. I masked off a circle for the moon and with another piece of ripped paper I sponged on my wintery sky, again using Oak House Studios powder blue ink pad. After I had set the scene I stamped on the beautiful beech tree and the sentiment using the same coloured ink. Finally I added some glitter to the tree, hills and sentiment.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post. Good Luck with your entries into this months winter themed challenge. You could be in for a treat and win a prize for your entry. You only need to use one of Oak House Studios fabulous products.

 

Happy crafting,

Clare x x x

 

 

 

Sunday 2 November 2014

Introducing the new Backdrop Borders

Hi it's Clare here with my weekly spot at Bee Crafty. Friday saw the launch of the new stamp range 'Backdrop Borders' so I placed my order and to my surprise they landed promptly on my doorstep, Saturday morning. I happily unpacked my parcel and set to work.

 

For this card I used:

Backdrop borders - dandies

Beautanicals - Dandelion stamp

Wordage - Joy is a flower

Inkables template - Honeycomb

Distress inks

Liquid pearls

 
First of all I stamped my backdrop border, twice with versamark, once with my black ink and heat embossed with clear powder. After that I stamped the dandelion stamp, sentiment and again heat embossed. Through the honeycomb mask I blended mowed lawn, crushed olive, peeled paint and peacock feathers distress inks and then added my favourite liquid pearls.
 
 

So now you know about the 'Backdrop Borders' why not drop by the website and treat yourself.

I have had a lovely crafty week but alas it is back to work for me tomorrow. I have made quite a few things which I look forward to sharing with you over the coming weeks.

 

I always enjoy reading your comments so feel free to feedback your thoughts on this weeks blog.

 

Happy crafting,

Clare x x x x