Category Archives: Clare Lloyd

DT: CHNC: something funny

Clare Lloyd, Promarkers, Letraset

How are we all doing? I must admit I found this week slightly easier than last and have sort of settled into a bit more of a rhythm. That being said I am living with much higher levels of anxiety than I have been used to in the last year or so, and that brings it’s own level of exhaustion of course. But the good news is I am safe and well, and that’s what is important right now.

Right back to the crafting… this week’s CHNC challenge is to create something funny. So I decided to team the Clare Lloyd sentiment stamps with a Making Cards magazine stamp.

I stamped the sentiment and the image and used my promarkers to colour the image and provide the border to the card.

I thought this quite apt for the challenge this week!

Hope you have a good week!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Twinchies… words to live by

Awesomely artistic, Clare Lloyd, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Gelli Plate, Inchies and Twinchies, Serene Silhouettes

My twinchies for the coin swap group for last month’s ‘words to live by’ swap were made in a couple of batches… first lot were made using leftover gelli printed and brayered off book print. I knew I wanted to use the word grow again so I stamped the flowers from Serene silhouettes and there was enough for eight inchies.

I punched out the main part of the image (2 weren’t quite wide enough to be the full circle but I didn’t think that mattered in the end). I then glued them down onto the coloured cardstock twinchies I had made from scraps. I thought these two colours worked well with the colours on the backgrounds.

Next I added doodling on each and the stamped part of a Clare Lloyd stamp to get the word grow.

Again I doodled round the titles to make them work with the focal image.

Really happy with batch one… especially as it meant I used up some scraps… but of course 8 would not be enough for all the swap participants so I had to make some more… but that happened on another day.

A few days later I used some distress oxide on watercolour cardstock and then stamped and embossed the flowers with white powder.

I then added some additional colour onto the image using the oxides and a waterbrush. Next I added the sentiment.

And finally I made eight more to make sure there were enough for everyone…

These I used the Awesomely Artistic floral stamp for the focal images and coloured them with two colours of pink SU inks and a green for the leaves.

Love how this looked on the pink cardstock… And the splatter stamp worked well too. Stamped my word onto separate card and then cut it and adhered it onto the twinchies.

And then three more swaps turned up… so three more quick twinchies made…

All done!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Trades box… using up scraps and transforming the junk

Art Alchemy paints, Canvas and Mixed Media art, Clare Lloyd, Deco art fluid acrylics, Distress Crayons, Gelli Plate, Neocolors II

I had this square box which a kit from Stampin Up came in a number of years ago and until recently have been storing scraps and playing cards in it which were for my 365 atc challenge of 2017 and 52 playing card challenge (which I didn’t finish) for 2018. Well I decided to sort it out and get rid of scraps and sort out the playing cards in it.

I tipped out all the contents and then had the idea of redecorating the box and turning it into the box I use for storing things I make for swaps before they head out … that way I can keep track of them. So rather than throwing away all of the scraps I used a random selection to cover the entire lid of the box. This is following the Nina Ribena idea of transforming junk into art.

I then added a thin layer of gesso to the whole box and this helps to knock back the mishmash of papers.

So next step was to start adding colour to it.. I chose magenta and ultramarine fluid acrylics for this and added them over the top of the box. Then using distress crayons and neocolors I defined some of the elements. And then started Stamping using white gesso and as well as the fluid acrylics. I had in mind at this point the moodboard that Nina Ribena had shared for her first week challenge… the top left in particular and the blue on the right mixed with the pink flower on the bottom.

My magenta might be a tad more red, but this is what I was thinking of with my colour choices.

Next I decided to get some woodchip letters for the title on the box… And added some distress oxide and some embossing to give them texture.

I carried on with some doodling and more definition on the edges of the panels and then stamped the Clare Lloyd sentiment to go with the swaps letters.

Super happy with how this looks now it’s finished. And happy to be able to keep swaps all in one place until they go out to their new homes.

Thanks for the inspiration Nina… I actually think I might have hit three of the four weeks of challenges with this project … mood board, scraps and junk! Not bad for an impromptu project clearing out my desk.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Circle journal 4… teal and lime

Art Alchemy paints, Baked Texture embossing powder, Canvas and Mixed Media art, Clare Lloyd, Dylusions paints, Ellen Vargo, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Lin Brown, Masks/Stencils, PATWITS circle journal

So the circle journal group is off and running for another year and this time the challenge was to choose the colours you want to use and then only use those colours with neutrals for each page you complete.

I chose Teal and Lime as my combo and here is the journal I made…

As I handmade my journal and have bound it with book rings it should be easy for people to complete their pages out of the book and then rebind it before passing it on.

I had lots of fun making my journal covers with the limited colour palette…

And using different materials and textures to create the journal!

Looking forward to this colour challenge over the full year and how I can vary it from one page to another.

The covers I kept to the black gesso as the consistent element to help cover the greyboard I had used as the cover substrate.

The feather part I probably worked longest on but decided it was too delicate as an outside cover so ended up with it as an inside page.

I started with a few stencils and modelling paste and then once dry I added black gesso as the base. Then I layered up colours with a mix of paints … art alchemy, fresco finish paint, and Dylusions.

Then once I was happy with the background I started cutting small pieces of different patterned papers in teal, turquoise and lime greens. I stuck these to a feather template I had made and created the feather.

I gave it a coat of versamark and clear embossing powder to add texture and give strength and then adhered it to the background.

Love all the different colours I got in my covers whilst remaining true to the original colour choice.

Love how these little snippets work together in this collage too.

Looking forward to working in the next circle journal I get too… and seeing how I use these colours again!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Envelope circle journal for Tricia

Artful Days Goodie Box, Brushos, Clare Lloyd, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Gelli Plate, Hot Picks, Lin Brown, Masks/Stencils, PATWITS circle journal, YouTube video

So another journal landed and I immediately set to and in a few hours of wonderful playtime had created two pages. I really just ploughed on and got there so quickly (one side aided by the gelli print piece already done). I videoed the process (A little bit didn’t record due to camera issues) so I’ve put that onto YouTube here for those that fancy watching the speeded up process!

Loved playtime and how these all came together so well. Hopefully Tricia will like them too.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Replacement Patwits journal pages

Brushos, Clare Lloyd, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Hot Picks, Lin Brown, Masks/Stencils, PATWITS circle journal, Washi tape, YouTube video

Unfortunately one of our circle journals never made it back to its owner … and the lovely Chris who organises us all is without her journal. Some of us have made her pages to bind into a journal in the hope that it goes some way to replacing the lost artwork. 

Here is what I made… 

I added black gesso through the stencil, then some washi tape and then lots of bright brushos and added Matt medium to stabilise them. I love how this dragged some of the gesso across in streaks too. 

I then stamped onto separate panel the Hot Picks image and adhered that. Then stamped the sentiment below. I kept this page quite simple with just a little bit of gold pen accents.

The other side however was far more detailed and I’ve done this on YouTube so you can check out my process. 

However here is the finished page.

The whole process took several hours but I managed to get the video down to about 10 mins.

I was on a roll and thought why not make another page. 

I love paper piecing the Clare Lloyd girl. And the colours for this page really spoke to me.  The reverse side I have a different feel but with similar colours with the fun Lin Brown house stamp.

Happy crafting! 

Catherine 

Pocket letter… 9 ATC’s in one go! (73 – 81)

Clare Lloyd, Dylusions, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Kim Dellow, Masks/Stencils

Tonight I have something a bit different… but still ATC based! My friend Chris runs a fb group called mini marvels which focuses on small art… perfect for atc obsessed me. 

Anyway she has organised a pocket letter swap which consists of 9 ATC’s and they are all themed and put into a sleeve with a hidden letter… so as the meet my ATC challenge and are 9 in one go I couldn’t resist joining in. 

So here was my starting point… a piece of cardstock with layers of painty goodness! Stencils and splashes and card swipes galore! 

Then time for stamping… Kim Dellow and Clare Lloyd stamps. 

Next step is to chop it up into the ATC pieces.

I decided once I had chopped them up they needed more stamping to connect them so put them into order and tacked them to a piece of copy paper to keep them in place. Then out came the archival and some stamps.

I started with some Kaisercraft quote/affirmation stamps. I stamped these straight onto three of the cards. I then grabbed some Seth Apter stamps for the background of a few of the others… linking a few cards together.

Then I grabbed some white card and used some of the Dylusions stamps onto that so I could add those to three of the other cards… this is me trying out the layout. 

Next to decide on how to embellish and add features… pink hearts became my theme to go with the positive sentiments. 

These were punched out of cardstock painted with bougainvillea and then I added glossy accents to raise them and add some shine.

And now for more hearts … and circles.

Some Darcy hearts and some die cut and embossed circles. Then I decided to use a Gorjuss girl for the central feature.

OK onto the final steps… some doodling, some additional colour added to the circles and some stars. Sticking it all down and deciding if it is finished or not but putting it into the sleeve. 

I thought at this point it needs something else…. so I left it another day to think about it.  

Happy birthday ickle cus!

Clare Lloyd, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Masks/Stencils, Ticket punch

A few weeks ago it was my cousins birthday but I never got round to sharing what I made for her at the time… so thought I would share it today for you! 

I started with a piece of patterned paper to which I had added gesso added no texture paste and added some of the more muted colours of Fresco finish paint. Then I added a piece of the master board from the PATWITS circle journal I had been doing … this is one of the offcuts I couldn’t bear to throw away. I mounted both the background and this to dark pink cardstock. 

I then took a piece of Very vanilla and stamped the Clare Lloyd girl out using a mix of Taupe and mahogany paint. again I mounted it onto the pink cardstock.  I finished off with a little flower and the That’s the Ticket SU sentiment. 

I stuck it onto a white card blank and of course forgot to take a picture of the final card! 

Happy crafting !

Catherine 

PATWITS circle journal… Jo’s ATC journal

Artful Days Goodie Box, Clare Lloyd, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Hot Picks, Kim Dellow, Lin Brown, Masks/Stencils, PATWITS circle journal

It feels like a long time since I shared anything from the PATWITS circle journal.  I actually finished this one a week ago when my ankle forced me into sitting still for a while. The ankle is still causing bother but less painful now thankfully and so although driving is still an issue the pain of standing and hobbling isn’t as bad.

Jo’s journal is a neat idea. It is made up of pockets and the instructions are to make a master board 8×8 size, then cut into 4 ATC’S using the template provided and then stick three in the pocket as they are and decorate another for the front of the pocket. 

So I took some dsp (so that the back was patterned a little too) and created my master board.  I decided on go with autumnal colours because at the time I couldn’t get enough of terracotta and autumn fire fresco finish paints.  I also added Haystack, Mahogany, Taupe, Mermaid and Bora Bora. All of which look delicious together.

I built the patterns using both stencils and stamps. I mainly used Hot Picks stamps and Lin Brown stamps for this as thought they made lovely subtle backgrounds and then the dramatic pop of the mahogany on the top finished it off. 

I loved this so much I had to squeeze 5 atcs out so I could keep one for use another time too! plus there are some of the offcuts I didn’t throw away.

So I popped three into the pocket and started decorating the pocket outside. As per usual I got carried away and forgot to take pics. 

So this is where I got to before I remembered to take a picture. 

I added stamping to the pocket using the same colour paints and also added some to the ATC. Then I opened up my Steampunk Artful Days goodie box and decided to use the laser cut chipboard bits as they colour so nicely and work perfectly as a frame. 

 I had already coloured them with distress stains so I added some of the fresco finish paints and some stamping on the top to bring them into the colour scheme of the pocket.

Once they were stuck down I also infilled a couple of the cogs with the gel bead medium. Next I chose my focal images of the Kim Dellow birds and stamped them onto card I had already coloured with paint. I then added some details in other coloured paints and cut them out and stuck them down. 

I then did the same with the sentiment.

Once it had all dried I then added some highlights with the white pen and some with the gold pen. I also added a little shading using a Pitt big brush pen.

Now to turn it over and add something to the back.  I started by painting an orange tag using the same colours, and added a bit of pattern using the Kim Dellow stamp and paint.  Then I added some torn music paper and then a strip of the leftover master board. I also added another two strips to the little pocket to stick out from underneath the tag. 

I then added some Kim Dellow stamping and a Clare Lloyd word.  

Loved doing this little project and love the master board I created. 

Thanks Jo for the inspiration and hope you like what I made.

Happy crafting!

Catherine