Pages

Monday 29 February 2016

Love - ClarityStamp February Challenge




The Clarity Challenge this month has the theme of love. Great, I thought, I can make something for hubby for Valentine's, two birds and all that, and I'll get it done in plenty of time. T'was not to be!

This bookmark (which I have given to the ever patient hubby) was meant to be the trial run before I tried my tentative hand at a canvas, but the end of the month is here, so this will have to be my entry.

Hubby and I were both drawn to some of the lovely colourful entries last month, so I wanted to do something in that vein.

I started with stencil card, cut to size for the bookmark holders. The first layer is acrylic paint, applied through the harlequin, Jo's bubbles and abstract squares stencils.


I think this looks very eighties! I have a limited range of paints, mostly primary colours, which probably has something to do with it. I also tried printing onto the card with bubble wrap, but wasn't that happy with how it came out - a lot of it got filed back and covered over later.

Once the paint was dry, the next layer was distress inks (definitely not primary colours!). I used peacock feathers, picked raspberry, mustard seed, spiced marmalade, crushed olive, dusty concord and mowed lawn - I think that's the lot! Applied with a blending tool on the Clarity blending mat.


This completely changes the look, it's much richer, and grungier, now.

The next layer of pattern came from the pattern plates stamps. I used distress inks - chipped sapphire, dusty concord and peacock feathers - and black permanent ink where I wanted a stronger effect.


You can see this is where I've also changed the bubble wrap print with ultramarine acrylic, applied through selected bubbles in the Jo's bubbles stencil.

The last step is to add the letters. I used the wheelie alphabet stencil, with versa mark pen, then added silver embossing powder.


The finishing steps are to drag the black permanent ink pad around the edge, cut a piece of black card to go behind it, and  put them together into the bookmark holder.



And that's it. Not elegant or sophisticated, but I think it's a lot of fun, and quite funky. Maybe one day I'll get round to making the canvas version.


9 comments:

  1. I love it - those colours are gorgeous. It's a very funky look! Thanks for the step-by-step and good luck in the Challenge this month Lucinda x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you - I love the blend of the colours too, very satisfying!

      Delete
  2. Brilliant work Lucinda, I love all the texture and colours, brilliant. Great step by step too.
    Good luck in the challenge. Xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Amanda. This is definitely a "more is more' technique.

      Delete
  3. Such a lovely book mark. The colour combination is super. Very retro. I hope you do go for the canvas version, will enjoy seeing it. Thanks for entering the Clarity Challenge and good luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Naomi, I think hubby liked it to. Maybe I'll do the canvas for our anniversary this month!

      Delete
  4. Very funky. A great bookmark and very informative instructions. Hope you do have a go at the canvas for your anniversary. Good luck in the challenge x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lesley. Hmmm, lots of votes for the canvas maybe I'll take the plunge.

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I really appreciate hearing from you, and try to respond to every one.

Lucinda