Clarity Advent Day 1

Clarity Advent Day 1

Happy December 1st!
Thanks for stopping by.
I hope you will join me in celebrating the advent of Christmas. 
24 days. I decided to look up advent. It comes from the latin word meaning coming. So what we are celebrating in effect, is the coming of the Lord, one day at a time, in the lead up to Christmas.
Monday’s blog is trees and flowers, so let’s launch our Clarity advent with a little Christmas tree and greeting,
 and some cool yuletide offers of course!.
When we use Gilding Flakes, we often want to use them on the actual line art. Well, Dee showed me an excellent, simple way forward .
Let’s take a closer look.
Squirt some Cosmic Shimmer glue onto a wax paper carrier sheet ( I used the wax paper from the double-sided adhesives sheets)

Dab the square blending foam into the glue and allow it to soak in.
You may have to add a little more, 
so that the foam is evenly tacky.
The foam needs to be backed on a hard blending tool, 
so that you don’t over egg the glue. 

Dab the tacky sponge onto the tree stamp, 
covering it completely with glue.

Stamp the image onto black Claritycard. The glossy black card is much easier to use than mat card for this trick, because the glue doesn’t lift the card when you lift the stamp!
It’s important to clean the stamp immediately, I just wipe it well with a damp cloth to get rid of the glue.
When the bloom, the blue haze has disappeared from the glue, 
it’s time to add the gilding flakes.
Pat them onto the sticky surface.

With a foam finger, gently rub away the excess flakes 

and put them back in the pot. 
I transfer the flakes to a larger container, 
because it’s easier all round – especially for the next step.

I am so impressed with the result!
Both of these stamps are what we call fine detail. 
And none of the detail was lost when using the gilding flakes.

Let’s show you another finishing trick. 
Trim the card to size.
Run the 3mm double-sided tape round the edge of the card.

Remove the red skin on the tape and add flakes around the edge.

Same process as before. 
Simply remove the excess with a foam finger.

Doesn’t that look great?!
I tried this once before with other ingredients; what a mess!
So thank you Dee!

Mat and layer on complimentary card.

So there we have it.
Clarity Advent Day 1.
Of course, to celebrate advent, I would like to 
have some giveaways and special offers.
Both stamps for the price of one (rrp. £7.25)
They come unmounted, too, so happy storage.
Gold and Silver Gilding Flakes seem to be the most popular Christmas flavours, so how about both for just £10 (rrp 6.50 ea.)
and we’ll add a FREE foam finger too! Oooh, I say!
I hope you like the idea of our Clarity Blog Advent.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, 
it will be fun and informative.
Tomorrow, we are back to You Tube TUESDAY!
Yay !!! 
See you then!
Much love,

39 thoughts on “Clarity Advent Day 1

  1. Very striking. I have used these techniques and find them very handy. Love the stamps, I have both, but you can never have enough gilding flakes especially at this time of the year. X

  2. Hi Barb,
    Love the gilding flakes on the black card – very effective. Have both of the stamps but fab offer and great offer for the gilding flakes. Thanks, love Alison xx

  3. Perfect timing, as always, Barbara. This technique will be perfect for the very last of my Christmas cards – what I call the Specials. Elegant and so effective. I have been glittering all morning so gilding will add perfectly to the Christmas look of my carpet and the dogs. A nice play tomorrow is called for (cannot do it today as I need to find my craft room and remove all the stuff that has walked into the living room). Looking forward to YouTube Video tomorrow. xx Maggie

  4. Wow Barbara how easy you make using the flakes will have to give this a go , beautiful card ,brilliant offers , you tube Tuesday back too happy crafting xxx

  5. Hi Barbara,
    the gilding flakes on a black card look very elegant.
    I do a lot of stamping with the gilding flakes but the edge with the sticky tape was new for me.
    Thank you very much for that trick!!!
    Best wishes
    Rolf xxx

  6. Yay for Clarity advent, yay for You Tube Tuesday…….. The Return! I will be reading every day just like always and I'm sure that all the offers will be too tempting to resist! XX

  7. Hi Barbara great card and great offers too, especially the building flakes! And I thought you were 'trifling' with us ! (Sorry bad sponge finger joke!). Must get my membership renewal in the post to you. Enjoy your evening xxxx

  8. What a stunning card. I love the idea of Dee. Thanks to both of you for the idea and the inspiration. Thanks also Barbara for the Advent calendar. It is reconforting to know that we're not too old for Advent calendar….Lol!!!
    Laurence xx

  9. This is very pretty Barbara and the gilding flakes have stuck well with the Cosmic Shimmer glue, and their is no fuzziness of the lines. Great offers too! x

  10. Hi Barbara,

    I've always wanted to see what gilding flakes on artwork are like in real life, maybe I need to take advantage of your generous offer and find out by giving this technique a try!! I think it's like the angelina fibres where photos and telly don't do it justice.

    Please don't worry about how others blog, you wouldn't be being you if you did it differently. And you wouldn't have gathered such a large lovely and caring extended Clarity family, nor would I have felt part of this enough to want to try to join in :-). I love your blog.

    I also very much love yesterday's artwork, and your amazing talent. It always amazes me how you can take a piece of scrap, see a scene in it, and make that scene come to life with the end result looking just perfect and as if it was all meant to be. I think for my next challenge I need to be getting my gelli plate out the packet and actually using it (only owned it for well over a year!!!) so that I too can start a 'scrap' box! I've even got the box for putting the 'scrap' in!!!! Had yet another tidy up which left me with a spare storage box that I keep moving out the way round my craft room while wondering what I should put it in, that must be a sign!!!!!

    Hope you enjoyed your log fire last night. Wish I could have one, curled up all cosy in front of a real fire watching the flames, listening to the logs crack and shift and smelling the real wood, (but not the cleaning it requires!). When my brother and I were kids, our Aunty Mi and Uncle Pete (ex farmers) had an open fire and sometimes we'd all go and stay with them on the estate Uncle Pete was gardener for. My first experience of rural countryside, and log fires. Still crave both, I think I was meant to be a rural soul (but not a farmer where anything gets killed!!!) but circumstances don't allow with the help and support I need, unfortunately :-(. Anyway my brother and I would fight over who was putting the next log on the fire, so a rota system was put in place! We must have drove everyone nuts, as soon as one had put their log on the other was repeatedly asking 'is it time yet' and checking through the log pile for the biggest nicest one to put on!!!!! Aunty Mi was a lovely lady, but scary, there was a saying everyone had for her "that's Aunty Mi whispering"!!!! One of her favourite yells to us was "pit a bit wud in the hole" (put a bit wood in the hole, i.e. shut the door)!!!!!

    Love Brenda xx

  11. Your great ideas just keep coming Barbara. I love the tips regarding the Guilding flakes. I've attempted it once with rubbish results and didn't know what I did wrong. I will give it another go after seeing your beautiful card. Super idea also about your advent……..makes me feel excited!

  12. Hallo liebe Barbara,

    eine wunderschöne Idee und die fertige Karte einfach nur wunderschön. Ich bin immer wieder begeistert von den tollen Werken und verschiedensten Techniken. Ganz herzlichen Dank für die immer tollen Erklärungen wie man ans Ziel kommt. Liebe Grüße Silvi

  13. Dee is always so well informed. i agree that cosmic shimmer flake and glitter glue is the best one. i just can't find mine t the moment. would love to know where it is hiding.
    lovely card. simple but so striking, hugs xx

  14. Hello Barb, Non stop inspiration from both you and Dee. I love the gilding flakes effect, just need to get a move on with my Christmas cards, so looking forward to the new youtube Tuesday. Enjoy what is left of the day everyone. Bx

  15. The tree looks so lovely. So posh with the flakes. Maybe I'll try that after Christmas when I can use my green and silver flakes, hopefully I won't make too much mess.

  16. Hi Barbara!!!

    How very very festive to kick of the season!!! and what a great deal!
    I cannot believe just how quickly this year has flown by – this time last year I was looking forward to Christmas in a log cabin in the woods and yet it only feels like a few weeks ago and not a whole 12 months ago! Sadly no cabin in the woods this year but come this weekend I will have either a Christmas movie or music on and will be putting the tree up!
    Looking forward to day 2 and more of your festive advent blogs xx
    Much love
    Kim x

  17. Hi Barbara. A gorgeous simple but stunning card to start off Advent, I love it and also using gilding flakes, they remind me of the shaving foam technique where it is all a big mess and then suddenly beauty appears, it's magical every time and also makes me remember Magic Painting books from when I was a child : ) I do have to remember to be patient and wait until the glue has changed colour before putting the flakes on though!
    Have a good day. Take care.

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