Clarity Challenge 46 - "Carol Singing and Christmas Joy"

Hi everyone....'Tis the season to be jolly.......and I do love this time of year.
Our theme this month sums up December for me - let's get Christmassy & joyous with the beautiful stamps & stencils from the Clarity range.
For me, the stars stencil is a great all-rounder, and one that I choose again & again because of it's versatility.  This teamed with some of the older stamps, "The Holly & The Ivy" tree and contrasting Holly & Ivy stamp, forms my design.  (Check out the new www.Claritystamp.com website as this set of stamps is on offer this month!)
Here's the finished card, followed by the ingredients & instructions to inspire you.......

Ingredients

7x7 piece of stencil card & blank base card

Star stencil

Stamps - "The Holly & the Ivy" tree verse, Holly & Ivy stamp

Olive Green Archival Ink

Grey & red dye based inks (Distress or Artistry)

Talc, clear embossing powder, low tack masking tape, blending tool, Clarity stencil brushes, thin paint brush, glue pen & colouring pencils

Red Promarker, Decoart Craft Twinkle Crystal Glue, Red Glitter

Place the stencil on the 7x7 piece of stencil card and tape with the masking tape.  Brush through the grey ink and sharpen the lower parts of the circles & stars by using a make-up sponge to drag the ink in off the stencil.



Once done, move the stencil very slightly up and across so that you can then ink with the red using the blending tool - this gives the illusion of shadow and is far quicker on a large design than individually adding shadow with a grey pencil.

Next, dust the work with talc and stamp the tree verse with Olive Archival ink and sprinkle with clear embossing powder.  Heat set with a hot air gun.

 Stamp the Holly & Ivy in each corner before trimming the piece

Evenly cut off a slither from each side of the stencil card so that there is a small white border showing when placed against the base card.

Once trimmed, colour the corner stamps then edge with a red Promarker.  Attach to the base card, then add the red glitter to the circles & holly berries.  Once dry, paint the stars with the glitter glue for that final bit of sparkle - I'm loving the glitter glue as the glitter stays put once dry...I can highly recommend it.

 Hope you like my card and feel inspired to maybe re-visit some of your older stamps and stencils from your Clarity stash........You may even have had a chance to grab a few of the designs in the fantastic sale last Friday?  I know I have some goodies on their way!

I see my tree is a little crooked, but hey, I think it adds to the charm of being hand-made & bespoke!?

Whilst you're making your Christmas cards, why not photograph one and join in the Clarity Challenge?  You'll be in with a chance of winning a £50 Clarity Voucher to cheer yourself up in January!  I'm sure there will be some lovely goodies at the beginning of 2017 on the new website.  Visit www.claritystamp.com to check out what's available now and start thinking about what you could spend your winnings on if you are chosen by the random selector at the end of the month!

Hope to see your artwork appear during the month.  

Have fun & I hope you have a great Christmas with friends & family xxx