Clarity Crafts Bijou Christmas Statement Sentiments A6 Stamp Set for handmade Christmas cards
100 Days To Christmas – Bijou Christmas Statement Sentiments A6 Stamp Set.

100 Days To Christmas – Bijou Christmas Statement Sentiments A6 Stamp Set.

Comments 8 Comments

Ho Ho Ho!! Here we go! 100 days to Christmas! 🎄 Today marks the start of our 100 Day Countdown to Christmas, and over the next 100 days we’ll be sharing a little festive inspiration every day. Now, before anybody panics at the thought of Christmas being only 100 days away — we’ve got time! 😂 We’re going to pace ourselves. Some days there’ll be a little Christmas card-making idea, sometimes a product or technique to inspire you, perhaps a…

Read More Read More

Make Art Everyday – August Arty Challenge
Enjoyed the August Arty Challenge? Let’s Keep Going with Our Online Courses!

Enjoyed the August Arty Challenge? Let’s Keep Going with Our Online Courses!

Comments 12 Comments

Hi there. Sunday again! And this afternoon, from 2–4pm, I’ll be back with you on Clarity TV with Jazz — and I really hope you’ll join us, because today we’re launching something that I’m very excited about. Our new Clarity Christmas Online Course Series. If you joined me for the August Arty Challenge, you’ll know just how much we packed into those 31 little daily sessions. Every day we sat down together, made something, tried something, learned something — and,…

Read More Read More

Day 31 – August Arty Challenge – Every Artist Starts Somewhere

Day 31 – August Arty Challenge – Every Artist Starts Somewhere

Comments 12 Comments

And here we are — Day 31. Every Artist Starts Somewhere. Yes, it’s the very same affirmation we started with, and that feels exactly right. Because 31 days ago, somewhere was the beginning; today, somewhere is a completely different place. We’ve played, experimented, made mistakes, discovered things, gone with the flow, tried new ideas and, most importantly, we’ve kept showing up. So perhaps this isn’t really the end at all — it’s another starting point. Thank you so so much…

Read More Read More

Day 30 – August Arty Challenge – Mistakes Often Lead To Discoveries

Day 30 – August Arty Challenge – Mistakes Often Lead To Discoveries

Comments 7 Comments

Mistakes often lead to discoveries. Well, you couldn’t make this one up! Today I’m taking that colour-wash landscape idea a little further, exploring what else we can do with it — and somewhere along the way I managed to work on the whole thing upside down! Not deliberately. I genuinely got it wrong. But rather than abandon ship, I kept going, worked with what was in front of me, and actually discovered something along the way. And isn’t that so…

Read More Read More

Day 29 – August Arty Challenge – My Hands Can Make Great Things

Day 29 – August Arty Challenge – My Hands Can Make Great Things

Comments 4 Comments

My hands can make great things. And today we’re getting right back to the heart of what this Arty Challenge is all about: getting with our hands and seeing what happens! I’ve used the lovely Elementree leaf stamps for today’s artwork, building up those simple leafy shapes and letting the colours do their thing. And actually, this one couldn’t be better timed, because those leaves would work beautifully with our brand-new Nature’s Palette Card Collection, which we launched yesterday as…

Read More Read More

Day 28 – August Arty Challenge – Make Art NOT War

Day 28 – August Arty Challenge – Make Art NOT War

Comments 2 Comments

Make Art NOT War. Well, I think we can all get behind that one! There is quite enough conflict and noise in the world without us adding to it, and one of the very best ways I know to quieten the noise — certainly in my own head — is to get with my hands and make something. Today we’re creating a very cool little landscape, and this particular technique really does have legs. We actually explored it during our…

Read More Read More

Day 27 – August Arty Challenge – My Ideas Are Worth Exploring

Day 27 – August Arty Challenge – My Ideas Are Worth Exploring

Comments 4 Comments

My ideas are worth exploring. As are yours! That’s the important bit here. This affirmation isn’t about my ideas being particularly clever or worthy — the “my” belongs to each and every one of us. It’s about trusting those little creative nudges that pop into your own head and being willing to follow them, without immediately judging whether they’re good enough or whether they’ll work. Today’s little arty session, using Sam Crowe’s fabulous fishy stamps, is a proper don’t overthink…

Read More Read More

Day 26 – August Arty Challenge – I Am Free To Explore And Experiment

Day 26 – August Arty Challenge – I Am Free To Explore And Experiment

Comments 2 Comments

Art has a wonderful way of taking us places, doesn’t it? Even when we can’t travel for whatever reason, we can still pick up a pencil, a paintbrush or a few inks and let our imagination carry us off to foreign climes. Just think back to our SHAC days during Lockdown! We travelled all over the world together — Japan, Africa, Holland, America, Hawaii — all without leaving home. And that’s where the explore and experiment part comes in too….

Read More Read More

Day 25 – August Arty Challenge – I Will Go With The Flow

Day 25 – August Arty Challenge – I Will Go With The Flow

Comments 5 Comments

This one is my favourite so far. And perhaps that’s because I really did just go with the flow — quite literally! With alcohol inks, you can guide them a little, but ultimately they have a mind of their own. They flow, they merge, they wander off in unexpected directions… and rather than trying to control what was happening, I simply worked with it. No fixed plan, no fighting it, no trying to make it look like something I’d already…

Read More Read More