Thursday 5 January 2017

January 2017 Clarity Challenge - "Animal Kingdom"

Hi there!  Happy New Year to you and I hope 2017 brings lots of good things your way!


So for the new year, as you will have seen on Barbara's blog, the Claritystamp Challenge has a new location on Facebook where the Design Team will be posting some inspirational pieces throughout the month to give you ideas, and hopefully encourage you all to join in?!? 
Midnight on 31st January is the deadline to get your entries posted. Barbara will then choose a winner who will receive a £50 Clarity Voucher......As you know there's a huge selection of goodies to spend the winnings on!
And so to my card.......
Unlike my usual blog - this one lacks photos - my camera ran out of charge and I'd mislaid the charger.  Happy to report though, a replacement charger arrived today so I'm rockin' & a rollin' again now the camera has power!  The only photos I have this month though, is a start & end photo.

My piece was made using the following ingredients:
Piece of 7x7 Stencil Card
8x8 blank greeting card
Design Club Elephant stencil
Flower Power Stencil
"Elephant" word stamp
Clarity Stencil brushes/blending tool
Talc
Versamark pen
Versamagic inkpad
Un-mounted alphabet word chains
Black Sharpie pen for the doodling
A piece of sequin waste or you can use the Dotty Wave Stencil
Black Archival Ink and a selection of pastel Distress or Artistry Inks
Clear Embossing Powder
Perfect Pearls Mist Spray - Colour used is "Perfect Pearl"
(See below for links to the Clarity website for most of the above)

To get the correct place to stamp the "Elephant" word, tape the 7x7 elephant stencil on a piece of stencil card (hinged at the top so that you can lift it), and mark the eye and underside of the elephants belly lightly with a pencil.  Lift the stencil and using Black Archival ink, stamp the "elephant" - placing the first "e" of the word where the eye is marked, and make sure the rest of the word stays within the other line under his belly.  Doodle within the letters with the Sharpie pen and  dust with talc.  Using a Versamark pen fill in the letters and sprinkle with clear embossing powder & heat-set.
Flip the stencil back onto the artwork and using a grey dye based ink with either a Clarity stencil brush or blending tool, colour him in.  Once you're happy with the colour, keep the stencil in place and press a Versamagic Inkpad into the stencil so that you can emboss the whole elephant.  Sprinkle with clear embossing powder and heat-set.
Next pick various parts of the Flower Power stencil and using dye based inks, randomly add colour to the background moving the stencil as you go, for this I used a blending tool.  Fill in the gaps using either the sequin waste or Dotty Wave stencil and the same colours used for the flowers.
Next, to blend all the colours, (I love to use the Perfect Pearls Mists - they manufacture a great range of metallic colours, but for this project I used "Perfect Pearl"), spray the artwork all over with the pearlized spray - it blends all the colours perfectly and gives a lovely sheen to the artwork.  The elephant looks cool too as though he's been splashing around in water!
Once the work is dry, add "Never Forget" using the alphabet stamps and black Archival Ink.
Trim back the stencil card and edge with a grey Promarker or Sharpie and add shadow around the elephant & letters.  Lastly, doodle round the edge with a black Sharpie pen to frame it.  
Mount on contrasting coloured card or paper, then onto an 8x8 blank greeting card.
Hope you like him.
Now that Clarity has a Facebook page dedicated to the Challenge and has a global audience, I look forward to seeing some Clarity art from all over the world.
Good luck everyone - and most of all, have fun creating your Clarity artwork!
Love and best wishes for a great year ahead.
Carole xxx


https://claritystamp.com/products/stencil-card-7-x-7-100-sheets
https://claritystamp.com/products/ndsc-14-elephant-stencil-7-x-7
https://claritystamp.com/products/flower-power-stencil-7-x-7
https://claritystamp.com/products/versamark-pen
https://claritystamp.com/products/versamagic-watermark-inkpad
https://claritystamp.com/products/dotty-wave-stencil-7-x-7
https://claritystamp.com/collections/all-stamps/products/alphabet-word-chains-br-unmounted-clear-stamp-set
https://claritystamp.com/products/embossing-powder-detail-clear

4 comments:

  1. Lovely piece Carole. I have these stamps so might bring them out for the challenge as I haven't used hem yet ! Just get them out and stroke every now and again ! Thanks for the inspiration . Xx

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    1. Give them a workout Jackie!
      Thanks for dropping in to see me :-) xxx

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  2. Just found you a half hour ago and had to comment. Your work is simply stunning. I'm a collector of craft products but rarely use them, that's my challenge for this year - to use them and stop worrying I'll get it wrong. You've inspired me. Many Thanks. Sara.

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    Replies
    1. That's wonderful - it's a great crafting community, so if you need any help, just give any of the Clarity team a shout.
      Have you joined any of the Facebook pages? There's lots of inspiration within the Clarity groups. Clarity worldwide is a great one to start you off.
      Have fun, and don't forget, there's no right or wrong in the art world....if you make what you think is a mistake, carry on working with it and you'll be amazed at how things turn themselves around! X

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