Freesias for my Mum.

Freesias for my Mum.

Good Monday morning!
Monday’s Blog is Trees and Flowers, so here’s a lovely Flower stamp we didn’t get to show off yesterday on TV. 
Oh boy were we busy though! Thank you for watching. 
Freesias. What a fantastic work of God’s art . I am actually looking at a vase of lilac and white freesias in front of me here; the fragrance is wonderful.
So let’s get started. A very simple exercise, using Parchment.
I used:
Plain Parchment
Talc & Brush
Promarkers
Embossing Tool
Acrylic Paints
Stamp the stamp onto a piece of copy paper, 
just where you would like to see them. This is quite important, because when you stamp onto Parchment, 
you want to get it right first time.

Cut a piece of Parchment to accommodate the layout; 
dust it with talc and lay it on top of your copy paper composition.
Now stamp the images directly over the top in Black Archival.

Sprinkle with Detail clear embossing powder…
…and heat emboss.

Now we need a backdrop.
God bless the Gelli Plate!
I have got a Gelli Plate Stash for just such an occasion.
You can see through the  parchment, so you just have to decided which colours your Mum might like!

Does this one look familiar? 
It’s my BLOG PAGE BACKGROUND!

But I’m going with yellows. 
My Mum is yellows more than pinks.
The reason I need to decide on a background first 
is that it dictates the next step: 
colouring in the flowers!
Turn the parchment over;
we will colour in from the back.

Promarkers work very well. I have actually got some Pergamano colouring pens in my Sable, as you can see! But I bet you have got something that works fine in YOUR sable 
(Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy)

Colour in from behind.
I used Peach and Pear green Promarkers.
Time to add some highlights.
There will be some Parchment Experts reading this, shaking their heads, saying, no no no, and I put my hand up to being a Parchment novice. But I like the result I get from bumbling along my little Parchment Path, so forgive me.
Find a crochet hook, or an embossing tool. If you haven’t got the right thing, I have used the lid off a biro before now, too…
You also need a soft surface to work on. An embossing mat, or failling that, a computer mouse pad.
Gently add highlights. GENTLY is the operative word here. Otherwise you will puncture the parchment.
And we don’t want to be puncturing our parchment, do we?!

 When you turn over to the front, you will see the white scratch lines and shading. Easy does it.

The flower is very delicate, so the colouring and shading and the background should reflect that, too.

I like the ocean swirl stencil, 
because it reflects the curl of the freesia.
Cut the parchment back, like this.
I have laid it on my embossing mat, so that you can see it better!
Now we need a couple of brads, to attach the parchment to the backdrop.
I have only attached it in the top corners, 
so you can enjoy the whole Gelli art piece, too

This then is layered up on a long cream card.

 And there you have it. 
A very simple technique…
combining two very different approaches:
super traditional Parchment craft
and
mono-printing with acrylic paint.

Let me think…
If you were thinking about getting a Gelli Plate, 
or even upgrading to the larger one, 
how about this? 
If you buy the 8 x10 Gelli Plate,
we will send you the 9 x11 Ocean Swirl Stencil, 
worth £6.99 as a FREE GIFT.
Offer ends Midnight, Wednesday 5th March. 
much love,

63 thoughts on “Freesias for my Mum.

  1. Morning Barbara,
    Love your new stamps, show was brilliant and this is such a lovely card. I love my Gelli plate although I don't often get usable print but it doesn't deter me as I love trying to be arty! One day I will get a fabulous print for perhaps the start of a gallery!!!
    Have a great day
    Lorna D

  2. Hi Barb,
    Fantastic show yesterday – you & Dean together are hilarious. Now just waiting for my garden birds and cherry blossom stamps to arrive so I can play. Just driven back from Newcastle airport having dropped sister off & came back via Hexham & Tow Law to avoid traffic near Metrocentre & what a beautiful day it is. Our feeders are full of blue tits,great tits, chaffinches,goldfinches & starlings +1 little robin so the stamps yesterday really resonate ( I think that's the word!) with me. A way thanks for today's offering, it is gorgeous too, loving the Gelli plate background in the yellows – I' m sure your mum will love it. Love Alison xx

  3. Love the stamps and the finished card. Sadly mum passed away many years ago so I don't make a Mother's Day card, can only give her flowers. However learned loads again for which I thank you. Hope your mum and you have a wonderful Mother's Day x

  4. Another fabulous creation. I am so pleased you are showing some gelli print inspired work as I too have lots of prints and no idea what to do with them. Hope you're neck is feeling better today… Hugs n kisses… Vx

  5. Morning Barbara, lovely card, I love your Gelli Print. Some are hard to cover up aren't they, the parchment is a good way of showing them off on a card. I see you have been wished a happy Rosenmontag by Lillian, ditto from me. People who had been stationed in Germany used to go on about how great the festival was, shame I never got posted there in the end. Anyway I digress??? Have a lovely day. xx

  6. What a lovely card, my Mum would love it, it's her colours and she loves freesias too. I've not used parchment very much at all but this looks very effective

    Jackie x

  7. Morning Barbara,
    Hope you are not too tired after the show , which was great!
    Lovely effect with the parchment and gelli print.
    I have a fear of parchment which I must conquer!!
    XxRuth

  8. Such a beautiful card again today – I've been searching on the Pinterest site for some ideas of how to use my gelli prints a bit differently on cards, and you've come up with another way of doing it! Alas my prints aren't good enough yet to frame, but practise makes perfect! Thanks for sharing, Susan x

  9. Hello. What fun we had yesterday with you and Dean clowning around and yet managing show off so much of your lovely stamps. Are you sure that it's stable?? That's not the version I've heard. Thought it was stash! Oh well. Chinese whispers and all that. Definitely a stamps for me and my Mum, although I love the fresias and she loves Lily of the Valley (a freebie with your club a couple of years ago). Have a great day. xx Maggie Col.

  10. Hi Barbara I haven't taken the plunge with the gelli plate yet. I bought it at Glasgow but things have been so hectic in my house. Christmas, my mum in law has not been very well so been running about everywhere I cant believe the Glasgow show is this weekend already where has the year gone. Will have a go soon I promise. This card is gorgeous love it.
    Hugs
    CraftyJacq
    XX

  11. Hi Barbara loved the shows yesterday I ordered the tits galore the mother card you made is stunning the verse made me cry I lost my mum a long time ago but I will make her card and take it to her grave as usual thank you so much for sharing love always June xxxx

  12. I just love the Card this way and I believe that your mum will be very pleased with it. Hier ist Rosenmontag – ich gehe jetzt "Zug gucken" – have a wonderful day!

  13. Reading Maggie's post just above reminds me that I need to acquire some more lilies of the valley. I used to have loads but they all gradually seemed to vanish. I love freesias too, but the last few lots I had just had no perfume at all. What's the point of that? I love any flowers with a good perfume, and act just like the Bisto Kid when I find a perfume in a garden centre, tracking it down. My new garden this year will be filled with as many perfumed varieties as possible, and as many as possible that will attract the bees and butterflies. I shall be hunting down the perfumed varieties of petunia and surfinia very soon. I love your stamp of the freesias and that will be on my wish list. I don't have any need any more for a verse for Mothering Sunday, but the flowers are so lovely, and I love the way you have teamed up the parchment craft with the Gelli plate. Hope you are taking time this week to get your poor neck sorted out with continued treatment at regular intervals. Take care and thank you for giving us our daily treat with your blog. xx Maggie

  14. Stunning card, and I imagine the smell coming out of your vase with the real freesias in. They are my favourite flowers, and the stamp is ready in my basket, waiting for my wadge to arrive….. You make me smile and think about my mum very nicely while reading your post, as she was like yours, prefering yellow than pink. Thanks for sharing. xx

  15. I ordered that set yesterday so am eagerly awaiting it's arrival. I orded the 8 x 10 gelli plate (with the girl on the swin stencil) in Jan but it's not with me yet I've checked to see if it has been despatched and it has a week or so ago but it's taking a while to get here. I was worried that I'd had it and misplaced it but I know I haven't after a double check with weekend. I have to ring back later this week to let them know – I spoke to a very nice man but I don't know who!! Not sure why I wanted an 8 x 10 gelli as I've only tried the smaller one once!

    Can't wait to have a go with the freesia as it's my mum's and my favourite. I think I must get myself a bunch for the office from somewhere!

  16. Stop! I had made up my list for SECC in Glasgow next weekend and now it's all going to pot! Husband has sensibly given me a budget but if you keep showing me other things it's going to be impossible to stick to! Absolutely gorgeous as always and both mums would just love this – with very different background colour choices.

  17. Love them ,i have some Pergamano colouring pens ,but not used them for a while ,dont now if they dried out or not maybe i should try them ,xx

  18. Fab shw as ever. had to order freesia stamp [amongst other stuff!] these were my wedding flowers and as it will be 40 years ago next week thought i should….cant wait to have a go on parchment as it looks s lovely. hope your neckand back are under control! by the way i think it used to be a tradition for a chimneysweep to attend a wedding for good fortune. xx

  19. Lovely card; just what we need to see after all this rain. I do like the contrast of delicate parchment with bold gelli print. I've recorded your show and am looking forward to catching up.
    Carol

  20. This a really lovely card. I've often wondered what I could do with all the lovely parchment I buy pre-Christmas and end up leaving it in a drawer. Unfortunately my Mum has died but I could maybe find an appropriate verse for a special friend. That would be good. Thank you.

  21. What a stunning piece of art work freesias is my favourite flowers ordered them plus the full birds set another set of stunning products loved yesterday's show thank you Barbara and all the clarity team xxxx

  22. Hi Barbara. What a gorgeous card. I love the sentiment, and the freesia stamp, and also think it is a great way of using Gelli prints. I often use parchment in this way as I love the effect it gives and, if like me, you can't manage parchment crafting because of hand problems, you can still stamp and colour it. Hope the neck is getting sorted. Take care.

    1. I to have dexterity problems and I am a huge fan of Parchment Craft (its all I used to do) But combined with stamping (especially Clarity Stamp which are so well defined) it's nice to just stamp and colour in. If you use printable parchment it takes the colour quite well from Pro Markers and you can also use a Versamark Pen and dust with Mica Powders. xx

    2. Thank you Emma for taking the time to give me that advice. I didn't know that you couldn't print on all parchment! I must have just been lucky up till now. Mica powders are on my wish list so haven't tried them but I do love my Pro markers. Thank you again. Take care.

  23. Beautiful, delicate card Barbara. Both stamps are lovely and your colouring is perfect. Great offer on the Gelli – may just have to take advantage of that. Pat x

  24. Hi watched the TV yesterday ( wouldn't miss it for the world) you and Dean are a comedy act , I laughed all the way though. Great program , great displays and great stamps loved it . Love todays parchment ,will have to have a go . Thanks Barb. xxp

  25. lovely combo of techniques. but barb when will you offer something that i don't have? well maybe i shouldn't be greedy and buy evrything going in the first place! hugs xx

  26. Beautiful card, freesias always look and smell lovely. I enjoy using parchment, not an expert by any means but the effect is usually pretty good. Always fascinates me the way it changes colour. I too no longer need to make mother's day cards but maybe I can get grandchildren involved making for my daughters. Great blog as always Lynne xx

  27. My favourite flower is a freesia. I was so upset yesterday that I couldn't watch your show live and by the time I watched everything had gone! A quick trip to the clarity website soon put me to rights, tits and branches ordered! Love this as a mother's day card idea. Was going to do a gelli print so now I will have something to put on it as well. Thank you for your never ending inspiration. Xx

  28. Sorry a bit late reading your blog today as I was busy buying my coach tickets for the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC. I really enjoyed the show yesterday and purchased these stamps. Can't wait fir them to arrive so I can start playing.

  29. Ok I love this so much I will attempt a background on my gelli plate once more. you always make yours like a piece of art I can't print what mine end up like but I m going for the less is more look this time
    Thanks or the tips xx

  30. Made sure I got this Barb, this is beautiful and the verse is so true and afterall we only get one Mum don't we ….. I am going to make something special for my Mum with this, just hope she likes it xx

  31. Hi Barbara this looks great. What a beautiful composition from different sources. I really must find some time to create more Gelli plate backgrounds and to use the few I have. I already have this verse and love it – eagerly awaiting the freesia stamp, which I agree is a beautiful flower. I hope your neck is better soon. xx

  32. Fabulous card Barbara. I finally broke open my gelli plate last night and I LOVE IT! Totally addicted, had to do more tonight … couldn't get my nine year old to bed quick enough and I should have really started to write my year 12 reports! Xx

  33. Lovely Card Barbara. Not got a gelli plate yet but I do have the stencil mmmm. Going to Glasgow show this week so I might just add the plate to my ever growing list xxx

  34. Lovely card i am going to try this out will use a different flower stamp have lots of gelli plate back grounds good way to use them hope neck gets better soon.lovely show on Sunday did laugh lots before going to work.

  35. Hello Barb, did not get to read this post until this morning, what a lovely card, great idea attaching the parchment, so you can see the image underneath. I have not opened my large gelli plate yet, but the time is coming. Thanks for the inspiration yet again. Bx

  36. Well I had been toying with the idea of getting a larger gelli plate, so I could not pass on this offer. Will stop by the stall at Harrogate – I shall be there on the Sunday – Hope you will still have some of the new birds stamps left.

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