Hi there!

It’s Saturday, it’s sunny here

and it’s 

STENCIL SALE AT CLARITY!!

But before you dash off to the Website,

 do take a look at what I rustled up yesterday. 

Having had a day of business meetings and business suits,

I wanted to escape, and create something really arty and obscure.

Just to remember the primary purpose of Clarity.

ART 

But with so much to do and so little time, 

I reached for my stash of Gelli Plate prints;

they always get me fired up in one direction or another.

And since we are having a big stencil sale on the website this weekend, I decided to use a new one – the butterfly.

When we were in France, there was quite a lot of art flying around, with charcoal pencils and hearts, which I really liked the look of, so I borrowed that technique and put my own spin on it.

So I took the Butterfly stencil and drew around it on a nice 

Gelli Print.

In fact, I did three, 

because I couldn’t decide which colour road to take!

Then the next challenge was to pick complimentary 

background pieces for each butterfly.

The trick was to find a piece that was the same but different. 

(?)

The background pieces also needed 

a little white card showing, too.

So I decided to go with the third one here, the yellow and blue one.

Permanent spray-mounted the butterfly to the back piece, and went round the image with a charcoal pencil, 

both on and off the butterfly.

The best way to smudge the charcoal line has to be 

with your finger.

Don’t worry when you get to the half-way mark, and wonder what possessed you. I am getting used to that point, where you hope nobody is going to peep over your shoulder and actually see the holy mess you are creating!!

See how the yellow gets muddied too?

Never worry; charcoal come off easily with an eraser, 

and we have excellent eraser pencils which are great for getting into the tight spots.

Dare I show you where we’re at?

Yikes.

Let’s trim it and add an appropriate word chain word.

That MUCH better!

Run the charcoal pencil along the edge of the card, 

and gently smear it into the card.

Can you see I also used the detail butterfly stencil and a stencil brush to add a bit of something!

Add a shadow to the word with a Distress pad

(Shabby Shutters)

Still looks a bit ropey, so let’s mount it on a white card….

Now I like it. 

And I still have another two to make!

But this creative hour has done the job for me, 

hit the spot as they say, and the strain of the day is gone.

Now if you fancy a quick trip to the website, 

there is 20% off 

ALL our stencils 

AND the storage folders (A5 has landed, too)

AND the the Fab Felt Art Portfolios (Teal-Blue has landed, too)

And of course, Club Members get an additional 10% off.

much love,