Focus your Craft & Soul Blog Hop, with Indigo Blu inspiration
Hello and a very warm welcome to my blog in a brand new location. I have migrated from blogger land to WordPress, my blog address however has stayed the same, so hopefully you can still follow me and keep up to date with all my news. If you are a new visitor, it’s so lovely to greet you and please feel free to follow me using your preferred social media button, just to the right there. I hope you enjoy what I share with you.
So onto the matter in hand, I am very pleased to be participating in this Blog Hop event organised by Jennifer Grace, the talented driving force behind the ‘Jennifer Grace Creates‘ blog.
I met Jennifer in April, having previous followed her site as a Facebook fan.We both attended the CHA-Uk Creative Exchanges Educational Weekend, and were both there to learn how to turn our crafting from just being a hobby, into a business. We both had the same apprehensions about meeting new people, and share a similar home/family life so we both had common ground and found it quite a relief that we were not the only ones experiencing the same thoughts. So, on the same wavelength I too share Jennifer’s word of the year
FOCUS
So of course I am more than happy to participate in this bi-annual event, happening all over this weekend. This is the first of Jennifer’s events that I have attended, but reading the comments from loyal followers about previous ones, I’m sure I am in for a treat. In addition to this Blog Hop, Jennifer has little competitions and fun giveaways running through the event, so pop on over to Jennifer Grace Creates to check out what is going on
You will be familiar by now, having arrived to me via everyone else’s fantastic inspirational blogs, that the theme of this blog hop is
‘Focus your Craft & Soul’.
This is a very appropriate word for me this year. I have a big birthday this year…..yes I’m 40….and instead of shying away, I am embracing it, determined to reach the end of 2015 in a much more positive, healthier and fulfilling place. I have already made great strides in sorting out my life behind the crafting, and
now have more energy and drive, health wise than I have done for many, many years and it has enabled me to ‘Focus’ (that word again), on making my passion for crafting a little more than just a hobby.
When it came to creating projects I had so many ideas run through my head, and to be honest I did get a little flummoxed as to where to begin. But of course the object of this exercise is to try to make things clear. The word ‘Focus’ initially made me think of camera’s, my Dad is a huge fan of photography and is rarely seen without a camera in his hand. He too is celebrating a milestone birthday this year, and of course that warrants a special card. Thinking camera’s, photography, and a shared love of birds, I made this card for him. The trees and woodpecker images are from Clarity Stamps
My intention was to create the shape of a lens shutter around the tree images, symbolising the view through a view finder. I have never done iris folding, and that technique would also have given me the same effect, I however didn’t want to create any bulk to the card by adding all the layers associated, this I think is an effective alternative, using the black paper to emphasize the centre image.
I then went on to create three more cards, specifically for this blog hop (on a similar theme to Dads card), and decided to ‘Focus’ on using just one stamp and show you how it can be used to create three very differently styled cards.
These cards very much reflect, what I enjoy about cardmaking and crafting in general. I am very much a neutral and tonal person when it comes to colours. I really like the natural textures (with the burlap) and images from the natural word. I have always had a fascination with birds, and so am drawn to any stamps depicting them.
I loved using the gilding flakes from Indigoblu, I am still amazed as to how much detail they pick up in all the stamps and I think these Stylised Flowers also by Indigoblu look so pretty.
Of course when we buy stamp sets we want to use them in many ways, so I also created another two cards, of very different styles, using this bird stamp from the IndigoBlu Live Laugh Love set, as the focal point.
Here I have stamped and coloured the same bird, but this time onto a Harlequin stamped background, by IndigoBlu. Colouring the background gently with pearlescant chalks, and the bird with promarkers, really brings the focal image to the foreground. I didn’t want to add to much embellishment so sprinkled a little frantage embossing powder around the edges.
I hope you have enjoyed the cards I have made for you, and appreciated and understood how I interpreted the theme of this Blog Hop.
Remember that Jennifer Grace is giving away a WRMK Insta Album Kit – enter to win by commenting on all the blogs in the Focus Your Craft & Soul hop! The giveaway closes on Sunday the 24th of May at 10pm BST, and is open internationally.
Now to continue the hop head on to
Annie at http://www.artyfartyannie.com
if you get lost head back to
Jennifer Grace Creates’ at http://jennifergracecreates.com/the-focus-your-craft-soul-blog-hop/ .
Many thanks for joining me, and hope to see you again.
29 Comments
furrypig
wow those cards are totally stunning… it has been a pleasure to visit a new blog and see your beautiful stamping…so neat and perfect…I will be back meanwhile I am off to look for those flower stamps!
Jacky S
A gorgeous set of cards….I really love the second one.
Jo
Wow I love the beautiful cards you’ve created and I completely understand the process you’ve chosen. I really love the stamp on the first card and the quotes are beautiful
Jo xxx
Fay
Such pretty cards, very delicate and much cleaner than I manage with stampin!
K
Your cards are beautiful & I love how you’ve used the harlequin stamp
sandie
Beautiful cards and lots to celebrate this year! I also like using guilding flakes and guess what? With that stamp too!!
Carol Christie
These cards are stunning Claire, I love how creative you can be with one stamp! I bet Mr McD loved his card xxx
mandysea
I love little birds too and I love this card! Your dad will love it!
How fabulous does the burlap look and the little upturned brush you made!
It was great to read your approach to your blog hop project
Susanne
Just popped over from Leslie’s blog. Your cards are really beautiful – with great variety too.
Dawn Cheshire
Love the cards, I always struggle for inspiration when making cards and they never turn out as well as I had pictured.
gemma steele
those are breathtaking cards! I love the little lilly 🙂
Jackie Edwards
Love your cards…and the quotes are super!!!!!!!!! Love the way your have used the burlap!! Hope you have a super 40th birthday!!!!!
Frances
Such beautiful techniques and cards. Love them all. They make me want to go outside and take a walk.
Annie Claxton
Wow! beautiful beautiful cards, love them all :o)
Gill
Fabulous – I love the birds!
Louise
what a lovely set of cards you have made
Joan Macdonald
Claire I love your new blog and all the work you have put in to it. The cards are stunning, I love the stamps you are using.
Mum xx
LeAnne S
Beautiful cards. I just love the birds.
Leslie Smith
What a beautiful set of cards! Your treatment to suggest the shutter worked marvelously well 🙂
Would love to hear more about the gilding flakes & how you used them…
Janet
Your cards are amazing!!
clarebrown
beautiful cards Claire!
Natalie Nelson
Beautiful cards. Lots of new techniques I want to try now. x
Joanna Ladesma
The cards are wonderful, I love them all!
Janis in ID
I LOVE the bird images!!! Such wonderful cards!!!
<3 J
jwoolbright at gmail dot com
HerPeacefulGarden.blogspot.com
mandysea
I make 3 little bird cards!! THanks for the inspiration!!
Melissa Gross
Great cards!! And happy 40th birthday this year! I turned 45 last year & celebrated by hiking to the top of a mountain in the Canadian Rockies.
Lizzy Hilll
Hopping along! What a wonderful collection of cards – great ways of using your stamps & the hessian looks FABULOUS!!! I really like your style….it’s so thoughtful as well as beautifully finished. Always a problem with me – a bit too slap dash!!! TFS:):)
Daphne
Such beautiful cards! I really like the first one with the woodpecker – it reminds me of the region in Germany where I come from 😉
Jennifer Grace
Claire these cards are all stunning! I love the idea of showing the trees through a camera viewfinder. And the bird cards are all beautiful in different ways. Thank you so much for joining in with the FYC&S Blog Hop! It was lovely to meet you in April. And congrats on making the move over to WordPress! x