Craft Stamp Magazine Take It Make It Challenge

Hi There firstly can I  say to my new Blog Followers Welcome and thank you for following.

This is my Three Way Canvas for The Craft Stamper Challenge - March 2015

Well I promised that I would enter the Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It  Challenge every Month this year! In January I got in there by the skin of my teeth literally with a few minutes to spare  before it closed, February I got in there nice and early, well early for me, mid month and this month the same.  This one took me a long time to do and I am still not 100 % happy with it but it is what it is. 

I started the Canvas' by ripping up pieces of Gelli Plate Print and old photopcopied  papers which had copied prints of some of my First DT entries for Clarity Stamp - Gelli Plate Print Projects which are on the Clarity Stamp Gelli Plate Projects Gallery still now.

 I was  watching a You Tube video last night with this fantastic Acrylic painter - she made me feel slightly out of my Depth and made it all look so easy. Well anyway she said to me "Craft Like No-One is Watching" !!!! Not just me though everyone on You Tube really. 

So this is the main Gelli Plate Print I used, this is the "Sams Eggs" Stencil named after Me - Thanks again  Dave.

So I just started to build up a collage of the papers.  I had painted a few random colours onto the canvas across the middle because I didn't want to have to fill every gap with the prints and to add more interest to the background.

 Anyway we have all heard that saying before haven't we?  but not attached to crafting.  Well I do craft like no-one was watching, like no-one is ever going to see it and it takes all those restrictions away, as she said "don't do what you think other people think you should do", and she was so right because when you switch off and get in the zone it just happens and you don't get bogged down with how many bottle cap rings you should do or weather the third canvas on the right really does look part of the other two or not or weather the heart is pretty to look at?  Well that's my excuse anyway, and really the Heart isn't meant to be pretty because it is Broken!!!

This is some of my Clarity NDC Stamps - I stamped them out and coloured them on Tissue Paper to add to the Canvas.

I have begun to realise in the last few months that I am not a finisher I am a Techniques person, a person who gets a product and pushes it to its limits, I like to find new ways to do things or just to find New Things, I like to teach what I discover and then move on to something else.  I am not a finisher.  If it was Football I would be a Mid - fielder, in Business I would be the Secretary who sets up the meeting and then the Boss goes in and does the deal  (Oh actually I WAS a Secretary) !!! So in Crafting I like to discover something, show it to other people and then let them do what they will with it, as do a lot of us I presume but it means that the end result is actually just the point at which you say Stop - and can be changed drastically at any point!  Have you ever thought of taking one of your paintings off the wall and dragging it back up to your craft room for a bit of adjustment? I do all the time! I don't do it because I have moved on, but I do think about it. Well just like with this Canvas I could have gone in and darkened all the edges, I could have white washed the whole lot I could have done lots more stamping, a lot of mixed media is about that, about masses going on in the background but making it look like it is almost not there.  Sometimes you carry on and you spoil it, and sometimes it improves it, you have to take the risk if you want to discover more.  But on this occasion I decided to say Stop right at this point - when maybe I should have said it a little earlier or a little later.

Well actually not THIS point !! further down there at the bottom of these pictures.  This is just the point where I said stop to the Collage of Gelli Plate Prints, Stamped Tissue Paper and old printed papers.  

This is the point where I got out my ClarityStamp NDC (New Design Club) Stencil and added the Grunge Paste, I put the stencil over two canvas parts so that when they are separated on the wall they still have a connection to each other.

You can see here what I mean, it covers both Canvas' then as soon as I had put on the GP  I carefully separated them.

Like this.

This was the Third Canvas - the one on the right. So now I needed this one to look connected to the other two.

So I got out another one of my ClarityStamp Stencils a bit of a contrast, and put GP through, this will carry on the colour scheme.

To make the Heart look more connected I used the Clarity Stripe Stencil over the Heart, Diagnal on one and vertical on the other - you will see why in a minute.

I do actually like this side the best so far.  I do like my idea  of "scrapbooking" my DT samples onto canvas, hidden in corners or behind GP with just a bit peeking out - Mmmmm I think I will do a canvas totally dedicated to that what should I call it???? "Get On Board With Scrapbooking" ! Get it ? its on canvas board, I like that.  

I put Ranger - Tim Holtz Alcahol Ink into the grooves of the GP and let it drip down - GP and Alcahol Ink like each other a lot but it does dry quick.

I didn't want it to be so bright though, and this with White over was too Dull so it was out with my Inktense Blocks that I bought from the Pencil Factory in Keswick, I go there every year and am due back soon - it costs me a fortune so I thought it was about time I actually used some of the products I buy. They have a lovely little café where local Artists teach Kids how to draw.

So this it is - doesn't it look gorgeous?  I wish at this point that with the Heart I had said STOP ! The white bit, well that definitely needed more work but not the Heart.

I added some PaperArtsy Translucent paint here - the yellow in between the flower to make it pop more.

You can see why I didn't stop here though can't you, I think what I should have done is added more Gelli Print papers around the heart to take away the white its too much!

Mmmmmm I can't decide if I spoilt it or not.  It wasn't supposed to be pretty, its about people who hurt you and affect the way you feel inside. - so there's deep for you!!!!

See to the left I had covered my flower too much so I just stamped and coloured it on Tissue Paper again and stuck it over the top with Finnabair Mixed Media Gel

Mmm it isn't that photogenic really it looks much nicer in real life HONEST GOV - I am going to enter it though because I did enjoy making it.

 So I guess what I am trying to say is, I don't always get the end results that I am imagining in my head or that I pre-planned ha hem, but I do go on a bit of a journey when I am making a card, a canvas, a Tote Bag or whatever it is, I don't follow a pattern I don't follow a style and I don't always like my "End Results" but I usually Did enjoy the Journey!

So please check out Craft Stamp Challenge, they have a great DT team who do real inspirational samples for us. Isn't that funny that the prize is PaperArtsy Paints and my Boss Lady Barbara Gray of Clarity now sell these paints - I love them.

Well if you are still awake, thank you for popping in and all your comments are really appreciated.

Sam xxx