A brand new little spacer plate. Perfect Picot fit.

A brand new little spacer plate. Perfect Picot fit.

Hi there.

Thanks for popping in.

Thought I’d show you another little trick I’ve worked out, using the picot dies today.

Let’s say you have a plate which is not a standard shape, like the little bird spacer below, which is a little bonus plate on the 6pm show next Sunday. How do we use a picot die when the plate is smaller? Well, the rectangles nested die fits lengthways, just not depthwise. So that’s a start.

Fresh Cut Rectangles

Let’s picot cut out a piece of black parchment. Have you worked on black parchment before? It is very cool. Cut from the front.

Easy. Note that we’ve cut out a white piece of copy paper at the same time.

Next, we’ll emboss the little spacer plate within the picot edging. All of the birds in the design, but not the flowers. They are an extra. Since we’re using black parchment, you are going to need a light source from underneath – a Lightwave panel. A very important piece of kit – especially with coloured parchment!

Oooh! I spy with my little eye, another new Groovi plate! A little bird told me there are 4 altogether – plus a very neat little spacer plate. Spot the Groovi Guard. A must have when you’re doing this lining up.

But what about the bottom edge? The edge which isn’t Picot cut?

You have choices. You can select a larger size rectangle die, and simply picot cut the 4th edge now. The larger die will sit outside the artwork and not affect it at all, except where you place it to cut the lower edge.

Or… you can go traditional, and manually picot cut the 4th side out. Which I elected to do, because the bird’s tail was peeping out beyond the frame.

Use the basic straight grid underneath the artwork, and perforate from the front using the 2-needle bold tool. Place the Super foam on top of the lightwave too.

There we are. I will leave the picot cutting until later. That way, I have some parchment to hold on to whilst working on the piece.

Like erasing colour from behind with an eraser pencil; the white eraser is good for radical clearance. The pink eraser is better for softer shading

.. and adding a sentiment from the NEW Twas the Night plates, which I’m also launching next Sunday at 2pm.

I bet there are a few stars somewhere on those Twas the Night plates too….

Looks great just in black and white, but once you remove colour from the black parchment, you know you can turn these birds into robins, right?! What did I use to add colour? Maybe not what you would think at a glance. Why not tune in next week on HOCHANDA, and I’ll show you.

Love and Hugs,

Barb

xxx

33 thoughts on “A brand new little spacer plate. Perfect Picot fit.

  1. Hello Barbara

    Ooh, the last five ‘Twas the night’ plates. Fantastic! And everything else looks good too. I am looking forward to the shows.

    Love, Roz xxx

  2. Love the robins, I have the stamp set but liking the look of them as Groovi. I have just read Janet’s post on Facebook regarding enlarging the shapes using the picot dies so I am off to give it a try. It will be matching the picots that I fear may be a little tricky but we will see !!
    I am just making a card using the Casablanca Lilies die & an idea from the ii book for my nephews wedding.

  3. Liebe Barbara Gray,
    ich möchte Ihnen meine große Bewunderung zum Ausdruck bringen und vielen Dank für Ihre tollen Kreationen. So künstlerisch!
    Bin ein Großer Fan Ihrer Kunst.
    Vielen Dank.

  4. I was excited to read that the bird designs are going to be 3 way overlay stamps next weekend. This set of Groovi designs will be amazing also and I’m sure they will fly (pardon the pun!) Looking forward to the shows. Xx

  5. Wow looks like another “must have” next Sunday then. Thanks again Barb, love reading your blog and learn so much as well
    Linda xx

  6. Love these birds and can’t wait to see how you coloured them. What a super spacer.
    Had a look at todays birthday month one day special. I already have these fortunately, as well as most of the other things which have come up daily. However for those who are just starting out with Clarity what a wonderful opportunity to get these treats.
    I would like to thank you for your generosity to all us crafters, I am sure many benefited from this event. I know I did as I stocked up on brushes.
    Decided to have a lazy day today and watched some of the older youtube video’s, made some notes and got lots of ideas. Also flicked hrough some of the older blogs – this web site is like an encylopaedia for crafters.
    Hubby is cooking dinner so I’d better go set the table and dig out the wine!!!!!

  7. Ohh how beautiful
    I love the ‘‘twas the night plates and now I will be able to complete the set
    I bought the stamps on the one day special and wow love em I remember you getting very emotional when trying to read the lady plate
    God bless and hugs T xx

  8. Hi Barb, as always, you come up with the solutions to everyone’s ‘how do I…’. Love your artwork too. Thank you for sharing.

    Am I the only one who got emotional reading Barb’s poem on today’s offer email?! Why did that happen?!… Thank you Barb for all the daily offers, you are so generous. And it helped me, and I’m sure all of those us who are truly unable to get to any of your shows, Open Days and Retreats feel a wee part of your celebrations. I’ve got today’s offer currently sitting in my basket, waiting for me to decide if I should go for them in the hope I don’t get frustrated when my old hand cranked mangle doesn’t cut them too well!!! Spending time putting things through a die cutter is no my thing, soooo boring, and all you get for your time wasted is something you can’t do much with to make it your own! So what’s the point?! I therefore make very few die cut cards. But, I can see ways of individualising all your Clarity dies, things that would be hard to do from the stamp/stencil versions, I’m quite handy with a wee pair of scissors!!!

    Hope you’ve had a good weekend, and work and life is kind to you this week xxx

  9. Hi Barb,
    Love the bird stamp and have used it loads, so I’m really glad it’s now a Groovi plate. Really useful blog today as well. I think next weekend’s shows will be brilliant and I foresee sell outs! Sending love and hugs, Alison xxx

    1. Hi bloggy friends,
      Hope everyone is ok and that you’ve had a good weekend. I’ve been listening to the radio all afternoon listening to the Ryder Cup – got. Too close for comfort at one point I must say, but very exciting. Sending love and hugs to all,Alison xxxx

  10. Hi Barbara – this looks amazing and I am sure that you will have more sell outs. I haven’t been able to catch up with the blogs this week, things have been horrendous. I am so pleased that your Mum and Dad had a wonderful time with all of the family. What an achievement. Treasure every moment. Love and hugs, Gilly xxx

    1. Hi Gilly,
      Sorry to hear that things have not been good this week. Hope Neill is ok. Sending love and hugs to you both, Alison xxx

    2. Hi bloggy friends – we have had a horrid week. Neill had been home from his original stay in hospital for about 2 weeks, when he started to feel unwell last Monday. By Wednesday he was much worse & I got him an emergency appointment for early evening at the GP surgery. Fantastic GP thoroughly checked him over & just couldn’t find the cause. He spoke to the hospital & it was agreed that they should send an ambulance to take him in. It got there just after 8.00 pm and he insisted that I stay at home. To condense things – the following day his heart stopped beating for 21 seconds and then the next day it stopped for 10 seconds and they had to use the defibrillator to bring him back. They took him to the theatre a couple of hours later to fit a pacemaker. Part way through the op, it stopped again. Thankfully he is now at home, safe & sound but totally worn out by all those events. I feel truly thankful that they were able to save his life. It is going to be baby steps, but that really doesn’t matter. He is still here. Barbara I am sorry for leaving such a long personal comment, I hope that you will forgive me. Love and hugs to you all, Gilly xxx

      1. Oh, Gilly! What a traumatic week for you both. I am so glad you are both recovering now. I am sure you have all our best wishes. Thank you for putting craft into context. Hope it helps you get over the shock.

      2. So sorry to hear you’ve had such a stressful/upsetting week but happy to hear Neill is, hopefully, on the mend. Strangely enough when I read your earlier posts re Neill’s ‘collapses’ I was going to mention my dad who suffered similar episodes. He was referret to the ‘Falls and Synscope’ Clinic at RVI in Newcastle as nothing could be found by the usual tests. He had to wear a heart monitor/recorder for a few days and it showed his heart was stopping for over 20 seconds at a time. He also had a pacemaker fitted and his op was actually shown on TV as it was ‘ground breaking’ at that time. I really wish I’d mentioned it as a possibility…but not being a medic I didn’t want to possibly worry you further if this was not appropriate in Neill’s case. Fingers crossed the pacemaker does the trick as in my dad’s case xx

      3. Oh Gilly what a time you’ve both had, I’m glad Neil is home again and on the mend. Sending you both a big hug. Xx

        1. So glad to hear they have finally sorted out Neill’s heart problem. My best wishes to you both for a less stressful future.

      4. Hi Gilly,
        Just read your comment about Neill. How awful that must have been for you and obviously Neill as well. Hopefully the cause for the problems has now been found and the pacemaker will work wonders for him. Keeping fingers crossed for a good recovery now. Sending both of you lots of love and healing hugs, Alison xxx

  11. Oh dear, credit card groaning already but I must have the last plates to complete ‘Twas the Night’! Looking forward to next weekend’s shows! Xx

  12. Just as cute as a groovi design as it is in the stamp form. Funny enough I’ve started doing some Christmas cards today, using the little robin stamps from last year. Had a bit of a frustrating time with my stamping until I realised that the wee word chain stamps were slightly thicker than the robins, which meant that the bottom of the robins wasn’t stamping properly! Still it was only a few bits of card wasted in the end, and I have learnt something new!!!

  13. Robins are my passion! You will spot them everywhere around my house. I love this idea. I am practicing hard with my picot cutting. The border grid I bought on the deals of the day is perfect to help me improve. I look forward to seeing the show and the inevitable hints, tips and inspiration. Thank you Barb xxx

  14. Hello Barb, great tips and love the little Robins that have appeared. Looking forward to the shows. Take care all. Bx

  15. Hi Barbara
    What a lovely little spacer plate and a great tip for cutting it out. Isn’t it great that you can colour the birds as you like by removing the darkness behind. I have to say the black parchment looks very cool, I always thought it would be a bit morbid sending black cards but they are very elegant aren’t they. Looking forwards to next weeks delights.
    Love Diane xxx
    Ps I’m going to miss my daily email, thank you for the wonderful offers xxx

  16. Hi Barbara – I love these little birds. Excited for the shows next Sunday – am sure you’ll have another sell out on your hands.

  17. Love the birds well I see to have had trouble finding your blogs keep bidding must be a FB problem. What’s it like anyway catching up x

  18. Love the birds well I see to have had trouble finding your blogs keep bidding must be a FB problem. What’s it like anyway catching up joyx

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