Join in the fun a win a prize!

Join in the fun a win a prize!

Hi there!
Thanks for stopping by.
Just looked at the clock. 6.30 already! 
Where did that day go??
Everything’s a bit topsy turvy today.
Got 4 demos to prep for the SUnday afternoon show.
Spent way too long on one demo, which I will never be able to complete in 10 minutes on the show, 
and now I’ve got to cram the rest. Silly girl. No, really.
5 hours work for a 10 minute demo? Now I’ve got to do a dozen stages, so that I can fast forward and cram it in on the day!!
That said, I quite enjoyed doing it, 
and am pleased with the result thus far….
Then just now, the Blog bell rang in my head, and I thought,
“Oh confound it.” (confound is synonymous with sod, right?)
But then I had a lightbulb moment. Ding!!!
I know! Let’s have a competition!
Let’s get you lovely peeps at home involved in this 
Pre-Show chaos!   
I’m going to show you the start of the 5 hour labour of love: 
and the middle.
This is where you come in. It’s a 2-parta.
You love these challenges don’t ya!
Tell me exactly what I did to arrive at this place.
No. Not my life story. 
I know only too well how I ended up here! And it would take a lot longer than 5 hours to write it down!
Focus on the artwork…

List the ingredients: what card, what colours, etc etc etc.
Then list the steps.
Sound like a lot of work? Give over! That’s the easy part.
Once you’ve worked this bit out, I want you to get in my head (scary place today!)  and work out where I went next…
Yep. List the steps right through to the end. 

If you’ve got the stamp and a lot of time on your hands, great! 
You can even make it!

But the name of the game is to figure out how I got to this stage, and where I went from here.
Email me your results before midnight Saturday,

barbaragray123@hotmail.com

 and then watch Create & Craft on Sunday at 5pm 
to see if you got it right!
I will know if we have a winner, and will shout about it for sure.
If somebody nails it exactly, I will send them a £50 Gift Voucher on Monday, and a Job Application Form! No, bypass the formalities, my job’s yours!!
Even if we don’t find the owner of the Magic Slipper, 
I’ll draw a winner for a £20 Gift Voucher just for trying.
But you’ve got to be in it to win it as they say.

So join in the creative process, 
and put your creative mastermind to work!

Must dash, said the Mexican.
Must go, said the Russian.

much love,

32 thoughts on “Join in the fun a win a prize!

  1. Hi Barb,
    Well this is a fine mess I've gotten in to!!! If it were me, I'd stamp it, colour it in with Spectrum Noir pencils, cover it with a versmark pen, then clear embossing powder, heat from underneath and when I'd done that, I'd have a cup of coffee. Then, I'd put a mask over the stamp, place a suitable mask over the lot, colour with various adironak inks using the stencil brushes,and then put a wavy line all around it (no problem when I've been on the gin – I might even put a couple of lines and colour them in. Then I'd have a cup of coffee.
    I'll hang my head in shame when you tell us what you really did, but that's why you are the teacher and CEO of a Global company, and I'm a grandmother!!
    xxxx

  2. Might have to come back to that one tomorrow, as I've only just got in from my lunch with the landladies of Inverness!!! Looking forward to your Sunday shows to find out the result X

  3. Hi Barbara, take several plates,put the stamp on one, archival black on another, versamark on another…you get the idea, embossing powder, outer circle mask inny mask, lots of inkpads, pencils, micron pen, oh we'll have a sharpie fir around the edge. Place all plates on top of poles, set them spinning, catch a few and keep them spinning, but eventually let tgem all crash… what do you get?
    A Barbara Gray Masterpiece!

    All will be fine, it always is, looking forward the shows hope tge weather is kind to you travel wise, take care xx

  4. Hi Barbara, take several plates,put the stamp on one, archival black on another, versamark on another…you get the idea, embossing powder, outer circle mask inny mask, lots of inkpads, pencils, micron pen, oh we'll have a sharpie fir around the edge. Place all plates on top of poles, set them spinning, catch a few and keep them spinning, but eventually let tgem all crash… what do you get?
    A Barbara Gray Masterpiece!

    All will be fine, it always is, looking forward the shows hope tge weather is kind to you travel wise, take care xx

  5. Hi Barb,
    Looking forward to Sunday and I really did like what you did with this stamp at the CHA. I've looked in at various times during the day but obviously you hadn't done the blog. I've just caught up with it now but as it's 10.15 my brain has stopped working! Mind you I do like Linda's thinking! Everything will be fine on Sunday and if things don't go quite to plan, just think " Confound it!!". Love Alison xxxx

  6. Well if I can find my thinking cap I might just put it on and have a go. Even if by some very remote, distant and obscure chance I was to get it right I would pass on job application. Just have not got your energy any more. Sure you will be fine on Sunday. Just take a deep breath. xx

  7. I could take a shot at doing the steps so far, but where you went with it next? That's difficult, it could be any one of a hundred different directions, haha. I will ponder awhile x

  8. Hi Barbara oh goodness, what a challenge! Love the stamp though. Hmmm it's coloured in so probably Theuvercard and spectrum noir pencils, looks glossy so probably verse remark and clear embossing powder then a lot of Barbara magic! I think your job is safe ! Take care travelling. Love Diane xxx

  9. Darn it did long answer and pressed wrong button. So quickly again. Theuva card, black archival, distress markers to colour. Use aperture stencil and post it notes with versamark pad and pen to coat image. Clear embossing powder heat underneath and hey Preston your image. Where next, add shadow to image by using slate Adirondack, stencil disc, brushes then makeup sponge ink all around disc easy does it. Aperture stencil back on with frame and grunge paste through. Let dry, wash stencil and replace over dry paste, dust with pale green, same as distress marker on picture, peeled paint or shabby shutters, again go in with make sponge to add depth. Cut back art work to square, lightly dust with stencil brushes around centre art with maybe honey or straw distress ink pads. Frame using promarker and ruler and mount on cream card. Enough now need to be up early tomorrow, so will Tryon Saturday and see what it looks like.

  10. Whoa, that photo resembles how i'm feeling. Spent the day at the Britain's Got Talent auditions at The Lowry in Salford. I have to admit it was very enjoyable but my body feels at if it's definately seen better days! I'd imagine you could have quite a lot of fun with all of these lanscape type stamps. I'm gonna get my thinking cap on and enter the comp. I really need those wee folk and have blown the budget this quarter 🙁

  11. What a conundrum! Well, stamp it with archival, colour with a selection of yummy Tim holtz green distress pens, shade with spectrum noir oil pencils,( green of course), go over the lot with a versamark pen,then set with embossing powder. Phew!!! If this was me, then, the shock of getting this so neat, would drive me to having a lie down in a darkened room, following a touch of meditional tincture, as severe shock should be taken seriously. I would be so scared of spoiling of what I had done, I would leave it at that for a few days to cogugate. It's lovely as it is. I look forwards, as always, to see your masterpiece on Sunday. X

  12. Hello Barb, you really know how to challenge us. Will have a think today, and see how close i can get even to this stage of this beautiful artwork. Looking forward to seeing the reveal on Sunday. And as always to your shows and the tons of inspiration. Take care, don't stress too much as you always have a plan, travel safely. Bx

  13. Well this is what you did. You achieved this image by stamping it with something black onto something white and that's the level of my knowledge, I'm a novice. But I love it and can't wait to tune in to find out how you did it. Love your style of crafting and your demos, really inspiring.
    Thank you Barb. X

  14. Hi Barbara, that is beautiful, I love the colours you've used, and the clear embossing enhancing them. I totally know that, the day you've had, taking so many hours to do something. For me though, that's most things!, not just art /craft, so I don't even get the pleasure of a piece of artwork at the end of it, I just have to settle for the achievement of a clean house /another job ticked off the list or whatever!!!! (I was going to include tidy in the house part, but on looking round me, that would be a lie right now!!! In my defence though, most of the mess belongs to Daisy!!!) Even writing something takes me much longer than it would anyone else because of Asperger's! It gets so frustrating, needing to take far longer to do just basic things, and is one part of having Asperger's that I've not managed to accept /come to terms with.

    I maybe could have had a go at working out what you did to this point, but after that I doubt it very much. I wish good luck to any of you who try. I'm not going to be able to even try the first bit this time though, been quite unwell for a few weeks now, struggling to get my head and body in gear to even do the basic everyday stuff, done hardly any craft /arty type things, done hardly anything of anything! Maybe the next time you do a how did I do it challenge I'll be a bit better and can make that my next scary challenge to myself.

    Talking of scary challenges, my current one which was to phone in an order to Clarity so I could spend my vouchers, hasn't happened :(. I was intending to, needed to this week as I had a few stamps from the member's sale as part of my order. I was getting myself so stressed and scared about phoning it that Nicola suggested this time she phone it in for me and then she'll do work with me for me doing it myself the next time. She was worried about what the extra stress was doing to me, making me more ill (stress makes your chronic fatigue syndrome worse), and me also trying to deal with this stress on top of others that going on just now. I reluctantly agreed. I guess it was the right thing to do but I feel a total failure. When I decide I'm doing something, no matter how scary it is I always make myself do it, no matter what, may take a long time but I still do it. So I'm feeling really bad with myself right now, to the point where I can't even find the happy feelings of waiting for all my new stamps to come 🙁 There's still a wee bit of the voucher left so the next order will need to be phoned in, so I'll definitely try again for next time.

    I’m sure it will be well worth all the hours you spent prepping this demo and you’ve still got the end piece to keep for yourself and hang on your gallery wall. Looking forward to your shows (doubt very much I’ll be able to wake up for the 9am one but I’ll record and definitely be watching the 5pm one). Thank you for all your hard effort, I very much appreciate it as I’m sure everyone of your followers do too.

    Love Brenda xx

    1. Hello Brenda – so sorry you're not so well at the moment. I also used to suffer from CFS, so I know what a struggle it can be – luckily I'm recovered now, so wishing you well. The ladies at Clarity are always so helpful and friendly on the phone – maybe you could just ring and say hello the first time so there is less pressure, and then place your order the next time you ring? Susan x

    2. Hi Susan, thank you so much for your reply. That's a good idea of yours to try phoning to just say hello the first time, I'll tell Nicola and she can make it a step in helping me to do it for myself (if Barbara and her team won't mind). Thank you for your empathy and well wishes, I'm glad you managed to recover from your CFS, it's always good to hear when someone has. xx

  15. Well thought I would have a go at this
    You will need:
    • 7 x 7 geli card
    • Stamp
    • Adirondack Black
    • Clear Embossing powder
    • distress markers in Iced Spruce, weathered wood, pumice stone, bundled sage, old paper and scattered straw
    • glossy accents

    • Stamp the design in the centre of the geli card using Adirondack black
    • Cover with the clear embossing powder.
    • shake off excess and put the excess back in the pot
    • Heat with heat gun until the embossing powder has melted (but not burnt!!)
    • colour in with the distress markers
    • When you have finished colouring in, use the glossy accents to create a clear glossy finish on the stamped item. The embossed area will help to keep within the lines.
    • when dry finish and mount the card to your taste…

    All done!!!

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