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Sunday 21 June 2009

Celtic Heritage Day 4


This little card uses one of my favourite sentiments "Top O' the Mornin' to you and the rest of the day to yourself." (From the Irish Blessings clear stamp set I'm releasing in a couple of days!!!)This old fashioned Irish greeting is such a quaint way of wishing someone a good day, with the extra bonus of hoping they get some time to themselves - we could all use a little of that!!! Lol.

I paired it with a lucky shamrock, there are 3 different styles in the Celtic Heritage set and here I used the knotwork version.

The background was made by stamping a little square celtic motif (Irish Blessings) in cream ink onto a Ripe avocado cardbase.

That little square motif measures 3/4 inches square and is so easy to use to build backgrounds. Such a useful wee shape.



This next card features a thistle image, handy for Scottish related cards - my card uses the sentiment Slainte (Meaning - Good health to you) which is used in both Irish and Scots Gaelic. Technically, the accent over the 'a' should face the other way for Scots but there simply was not enough room in the stamp sets for both versions.

Living in Northern Ireland I see references to the Scots Irish all the time. The stories of Scotland and Ireland are entwined throughout history and there are many folk here and in America who consider themselves Scots Irish, having ancestry in both lands. this was a good reason for me to include the thistle in my designs.

The thistle is framed by a delicate Celtic style border which is very like a heraldic shield in design. I envisaged this combination of stamps being particularly useful for Scrapbookers. The Heraldic shield frame can also be used to frame the shamrocks and heart images in the set, more on this later.

Not having any suitable tartan paper to put behind my image I made my own using copic markers - a few pics below illustrate how easy this is, you gotta try it!! You can make any colour combo you like but I picked copics to match the Bamboo (green) and Boysenberry (purple) Versacolour inks that I used for the thistle and shield stamped images.


You can build up the pattern colour by colour - I found a clear quilting ruler very handy for this but as long as your spaces are even you should have no problems. I made sure there was 1/2 inch space between each of my thick green lines, then left 1/8 inch between the green and purple lines. I used Vintage cream card as my base card.




The last card this morning is one of my favourites from this release - I love to stamp backgrounds and chose the solid lunette (Celtic Heritage) together with the mini shamrock (Irish Blessings) to make my backgeound. I inked up the lunette with either Raw Sienna ink or Cognac before rolling the edges a little in Pure poppy ink (all Palette inks, PTI). I used this as a background for one of the sentiments from Irish Blessings which I just finished off with a very delicate outline four leaf shamrock (Celtic Heritage).

Hope it tickles.


I'll be back later with more!!!

24 comments:

  1. I do hope you had lots and lots of these sets made because they are going to be huge sellers! I am anxiously waiting to order mine.

    Katie

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  2. These are amazing! The designer paper you created is beautiful!

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  3. Beautiful. Wondrous!!!

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  4. Wow, Claire!! You really did wonders with backgrounds! Just love that little square, your multi colored inked stamped background, and custom made plaid, oh my! :>

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  5. WOW, these are just amazing, Claire! Are you going to be able to ship to the USA reasonably? Lemme know! Hugs, Nicole

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  6. Your cards are breathtaking Claire! They are all stunning. You have done such a wonderful job with these stamp designs. I think you've included everything I have looked for in Irish images and greetings.

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  7. Oh my goodness Claire, this has to be some of your most creative and beautiful work to date. The stunning backgrounds you've made are breathtaking x

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  8. fantastic Claire I love these

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  9. Wow, Claire, I am blown over by these samples. Cannot wait to get my hands on these sets!! Fabulous work.

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  10. Hi Claire, I love reading about the images - so much thought has been put into these sets. I can't wait for next week. Heather J.

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  11. Fab cards! Love the Tartan background paper, very nice :)

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  12. Claire these cards are so beautiful! Your tartan is amazing and I love all your new images!!

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  13. Claire, you are killing me with anticipation!!! These sets are everything I've been hoping to find somewhere forever. The images, sentiments, everything couldn't be more perfect if I'd designed them myself!

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  14. These are so lovely Claire! I'm really looking forward to putting an order in. We are so lucky you decided to make your designs available to all. Thank you.
    PS - I don't suppose there's a Welsh Dragon hiding in there somewhere!

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  15. My goodness, Claire, they just get better and better!

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  16. Oh My!! Claire!

    These cards are Gorgeous! I love the colors and design elements you've used in each and every one of them. I love that you added the thistle in the set. My grandparents ( father's side)were from Scotland and Ireland. My Grandfather was born and raised in county Mayo, and my grandmother was born in Glascow, Scottland. My Father was born in Cowdenbeath, just across the Firth of Forth, a little ways from Edinburgh ( it was a little mining town, probably no longer exists.) He always referred to himself as ScotsIrish.

    It is difficult to find stamps with Scottish themes.

    I hope this set will be available to U.S. customers. I also love your baking sets. is the apron card done using any of those set? I love how you've done that one and would really like to do something similar.

    Great Job! and loads of Good Luck to you with your new endeavor! I had'nt visited for a while and was so pleased and surprised to see that you have come out with your own stamp sets. That is awesome!!

    Best of Luck!

    Heidi Heneghan-Kilgore

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  17. When can we start ordering the sets, i can't wait to have them in my own hands and be able to play.....

    They look soooo GOOD.

    Hugs Yvon.

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  18. Jill S, Northern Ireland21 June 2009 at 21:54

    Hi Claire,
    This looks like an absolutely fabulous set and I would like to wish you all the best with it.

    Also coming from Northern Ireland and living in Coleraine I am intrigued as to where you live! Is it anywhere close to me?

    Jill
    xx

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  19. Wow, Claire you certainly have let your creative juices flow in all these sneak peaks. Just love love love these designs, can't wait to order them.

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  20. My mom always said we were Scots Irish! I am coming to Ireland next June, hopefully, so I will certainly buy these. Thanks so much for the lovely designs. Nancy Sanders

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  21. As we say down here Janey Mac! (the polite version of my initial reaction). These cards are amazing, I especially love the thistle, because believe it or not it's one of my favourite flowers! Please release them soon and let me be the first to order them, pretty please...

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  22. Yikes! I missed this post too! I've gotta learn to scroll down!!! love your bg stamping Claire - and each Irish blessing is better than the last!

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  23. These are my favourite peeks yet!

    I love the thistle, and the rock and roll technique you did is fantastic. Thanks also for showing us the ease of making plaid. It's all so great!

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  24. Oh, my! What gorgeous ideas! My father was born in Scotland, and my roots include Scot and Irish...so this is so intriguing to me. I'm enjoying your blog and offerings!

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Thanks for taking the time to comment, :) I read them all and I appreciate you taking time to visit!