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Saturday 30 July 2011

...More Gracie and Cicely...


Good morning, if you are just tuning in I am showing samples made with stamps from two little Halloween stamp sets I am 'leaking' early  - August 1st, this Monday! These were destined for September, but I have no patience, I was so excited to show you - It's a little different for us to have people stamps!!

Today's first card shows off one of the sentiment stamps from Cicely at Halloween,

It's a vintage verse and it reads:

"By pumpkins fat and witches lean
By coal black cats with eyes of green
By all the magic ever seen
I wish you luck this Halloween"

I chose to make it the feature on this card and I set it off with one of the little decorative motif stamps, the moon, also from Cicely at Halloween.



I used the bat and the moon to make the background pattern, stamped on the ginger card. I set the verse on a cream panel, which I then mounted on a black mat. I set all that onto a green panel I made with one of the new Edgeability dies from Spellbinders, the excellent Classic Petal. I simply trimmed out a long rectangle and used the edgeability die on each end. I cut two more 'ends and offset them under my main green panel to get that nice offset point look. Here's a few pics so you can see what I mean. Finished off with a couple of flourishes from the Scallops and Dots set and added the moon, which punches out nicely with a 3/4 inch circle punch, or die.




My second card this morning is a simpler take on the main Cicely stamp - I stamped her in versamark, clear embossed and then did minimal colouring using a water pen and some SU inks, finally added a little extra shading with just a plain graphite pencil, I wanted it to be sort of faded looking. I added the Jolly Japes sentiment from Gracie at Halloween.

Jolly Japes will be a curious phrase for some. Jolly, most folks will understand, but 'Japes' is an old fashioned English word for tricks, or practical jokes, which I think fits perfectly with Halloween. Anyone who has ever read Enid Blyton, may well have come across this word. I thought it was a charming addition to my Halloween sentiment arsenal. Here I cut a slit with a scalpel above and below the sentiment, and pushed two slivers of card through from the back. I took a moment to edge them with my pinking shears first. I like the clean cut graphic edge.



Next up is a little How-To, a sort of picture tutorial for folks wanting to make the toothed aperture from this card.


First I selected two dies, a classic circle and a pinked circle - both Spellbinder dies from sets of that name. I picked a plain circle which fit inside the pinked circle. I die cut a plain circle - you can see it here in the first pic, I have set it inside the pinking circle die so that you can see that it is smaller than the pinked circle die - it's the green circle.

I use the green circle as a template and draw around a portion of it onto a pre-cut rectangle which is exactly the right size for the front of my card. I do this 5 times making sure the arcs for a star shape. You can just see the pencil lines on the orange card.






Next, I trim out the star shape with a scalpel. Then I cut two pinked circles with my pinked die.


Then I sponge the front of the piece of card.


Next, I cut up the pinked circles roughly into sections, just larger than the arcs in the star shape.


Then I start adhering them to the back of the  sponged card rectangle so that only the teeth show up in the aperture. Glue was best for this so that I could smooch it around for the best position. One thing tho - if you are stamping a sentiment directly to the front of your card, it's best to do it now, before you adhere the 'teeth'...


See? simple! If it's difficult, I don't do it!! lol

Hope it tickles, and call back later, I have more!!

21 comments:

  1. I really like that Halloween verse. And the cards are great. Thanks for showing how to make the teeth in that last card.
    Eveline.

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  2. Claire, both cards are brilliant: you truly are a wonderful artist!! I especially love the 1st card and the off-set edges of the two layers of card: so lovely!! And thank you for the "how to" on the "teeth" aperture. you made it look pretty simple!

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  3. What a great card and it sounds wonderful!. I think my nephew Albert (loshakeratoalberto.blogspot.com) would love to color them. I think I know already what will be 'his next Christmas present LOL. I can not wait to see all the stamps

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  4. Super tutorial for the teeth aperture!! And your new Halloween stamps are so lovely. The verse is just great. Can't wait!

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  5. Oh I think I might be saying "Jolly Japers" all day now, hee! Claire, you always come up with the coolest little tricks for your cards. I love the little pinked edges around the sentiment with Cicely, and your tutorial is fab. Did I mention that I adore both cards? Can't wait for tomorrow!

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  6. Stunning!
    Love that verse...
    believe I've actually seen it on an old vintage Halloween card...
    so am thrilled that you created a stamp with it...
    and in such an incredibly gorgeous font too!! :)
    LOVE the sentiment "Jolly Japers"...
    a new one for my arsenal and no one around here will know what I'm talking about...
    will be fun to see how long it takes before I hear others using it...
    *giggle*!!
    Gorgeous cards...
    thank you so much for the fabby tutorial...
    I believe that even I may actually be able to accomplish it!! :)

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  7. Fan-Freaking-Tastic!
    Yup - this is why I love to visit your blog. Your creations go places my brain hasn't even envisioned.
    THANK YOU for sharing your talent. You're wonderful.

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  8. The more I see of these 2 sets the more interested I become! I love your designs, they're truly beautiful!
    Oh, how I wish I could se the full sets already! :D
    Thanks for the tutorial of the "Teeth Hole"! It's ingenioius!

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  9. Gah!! You're brilliant! Sure, the doing of the 'teeth hole' is quite easy, it turns out, but the THINKING UP in the first place... that's the hard part! Standing ovation for you!

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  10. I have no idea how you came up with this technique idea. No idea. It is so smart and even with the pictures it is hard for my little mind to figure out. I guess that's why you are the designer and I am the stamp-rich, cash-poor customer! Thanks so much for this tutorial.

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  11. Amazing creations Claire. I love your fantastic tutorial to creat such a unique opening!

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  12. Aren't you clever? I'm seriously going to try that pull-through trick where you slipped the colored paper through the slits. And the new stamps are wonderful! The font is perfect. And the girls are vintage and modern all in one. Love their bobs!

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  13. Claire, it gets better every day!!! I love the verse - you threw me with the Japers - glad you explained it. Now I can play tricks on people having them try to figure out what it means!! Love the clear embossed Cicely - you did a great job shading. The moon is the perfect accent.

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  14. All you samples are just delightful, and I've purely swooned over that sentiment...

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  15. You are so clever! Love the pinked edges above and below "Jolly Japes" and love the "teethed" opening--thanks for the tutorial! You're amazing!

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  16. I am really loving what you are doing with these adorable stamps!!!! Thanks so much for the tutorials!

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  17. Claire, I really appreciate the how-to's! Your cards are fabulous and I adore your stamps! Patty

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  18. Love that cut out - I might just try it despite it's laborious nature :-)

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  19. Claire I think this Halloween card is FABULOUS.... I feel tickled!!!

    I LOVE the petal edge treatment and the poem stamp is wonderful... Great job!!

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  20. Claire, I am so glad you opted for an early release of these sets. They are fabulous--and such fun! Love the verse and all the additional images--can't wait for the full release. Thanks so much for the tutorial too!

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  21. Oh my how fabulous love love love

    Ali x

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