Clarity Matters Blog Tutorial: Time in the Park

Hello hello! Grace here.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend so far. Feeling crafty?!

We are joined this week by the very talented Glynis Whitehead, our good friend and Clarity Crafts Design Team Member. I will hand you over to our teacher for today…

Time in the Park

Ingredients

Linda’s Glistening Winter Wishes (GRO-WI-41822-03)
Deluxe Groovi Plate Starter Kit (GRO-SK-42144-XX)
Nested Squares A5 Groovi Plate (GRO-PA-40037-03)
Barb’s Landscape A5 Groovi Plate (GRO-LA-40007-03)
A5 Plain Parchment (GRO-AC-40020-A5)
Number 1&2 Tool from the Starter Kit (GRO-AC-40026-XX)
1.5mm Ball Embossing Tool (PER-TO-70004-XX)
3mm Ball Embossing Tool (PER-TO-70005-XX)
6mm Ball Embossing Tool (PER-TO-70016-XX)
Perga Liner B pencils (PER-CO-70063-XX)
Dorso Crayons – Lively (PER-CO-70061-XX)
Dorso Crayons – Natural (PER-CO-70062-XX)
Dorso Oil (PER-CO-70066-XX)
Spot On Sponge (ACC-MG-30537-XX)
Blending Nibs (PER-AC-70300-XX)
Pergamano Perforating Tool Picot V 2 (PER-TO-70282-XX)
2-Needle Perforating Tool (PER-TO-70037-XX)
A4 Picot Foam (GRO-AC-40625-XX)
Rainbow River Companion Paper (ACC-CA-31665-88)
6 x 6″ Card Blank (ACC-CA-31671-66)

I wanted to do this blog to show you that winter themed plates can be used for other times of the year too. Let’s jump right in…

Method

Step 1. Use the Number 1 Tool and Nested Squares plate, and trace the 2^nd and 3^rd lines in to make a border. Switch that plate out for the Winter Wishes plate and centralise the trees.
Leave out the street lamp, snow and writing. Also do not take the tree trunks right down to the bottom until you have your landscape in place.

Step 2. Use the Landscape plate to add paths and hills in the background. Move the plate around to make a path, then add the hills, being careful to avoid taking a solid line through the trees. The sun is added last and then the tree trunks are lengthened to settle at the edge of the path.

Step 3. Very lightly emboss the hills with the 6mm Ball Tool. This is just to provide a bit of highlight where the sun would shine, so where the trees would cast some shade, it isn’t necessary to add embossing.

Step 4. I used a mixture of Dorso Crayons and Perga Liner B pencils to colour in the landscape. The Lively colours has a great sky blue and a light green, the Natural box has a couple of greens too. You will find 3 greens in the B pencil selection and from there, I got the brown for the path, trees and bench. The yellows in the sun come from the Pergaliners.  

TOP TIP: Remember that the further away the hills, the lighter they will be and as you get nearer to the viewer, the colours will be brighter and darker.

Use a selection of the pencils in the border. Just go lightly as when they are blended, the colours do get richer.
I folded a tissue (a bit like a piping bag) to a point for blending – you can refold to a new point as you change colours. Dip the tissue into a little bit of Dorso oil dropped onto a Spot On Sponge. Use the nibs for blending the colours in the margin.

Step 5. Lay the piece onto the Picot foam with a piece of stout card underneath to protect the needles of the tool. Shallow perforate with the Picot V and Fine 2-Needle tool. 
The Fine 2-Needle tool is there to help you measure the correct gap between the perforations so that you can fit in an extra row. Begin at each corner and start with the Picot V, hook the needle of the 2-Needle fine into the last hole of the Picot V. Carry on alternating the perforating tools in the same way, until you have 7 Picot Vs.

Step 6. Lightly emboss into the picot perforations with the 3mm ball tool. Make a little arrow to mark the start and direction of your embossing layers. You need to be aiming at grey rather than white straight away.

Step 7. Every time you emboss into the picots, give the parchment a little rest before going in and doing another layer of embossing. I add a little dot for each layer I have done. Here is my second layer of embossing.

Step 8. I did 4 layers with the 3mm ball tool and tidied up the edges of the embossed area with a 1.5mm or number 2 tool from the Starter Kit.

Step 9. Deeply perforate the Picot Vs. Use the 2-Needle tool to perforate down the straight edges between the Picots, then snip the piece out. 
TOP TIP: If you find it difficult to relocate the needles, then use a Fine single needle tool to do so.

Step 10. Use brads to attach the work to a piece of Companion Paper and then stick it to the front of a 6 x 6 card blank. Your project is complete!

That’s an amazing project. I just want to be sat on that bench! Doesn’t it look relaxing?

Thank you ever so much, Glynis, for sharing this very helpful blog tutorial with us. For those of you crafting at home, please don’t forget to share your versions with us on Groovi Worldwide. We really like to see them, and see how helpful these blogs are.

Everything that Glynis has used in this particular project is available in a shopping list, HERE.

Right, let’s look at the week ahead…

Monday 21st October:
In the SHAC with Barbara – 10am Live on Facebook & YouTube
Tuesday 22nd October:
***No Groovi Tuesday***
Thursday 24th October:
In the SHAC with Barbara – 7pm Live on Facebook & YouTube
Friday 25th October:
Clarity TV – Crafting with Clarity with Barbara – 10am & 2pm Live on Facebook & YouTube

Things are ever changing at the moment, but we’ll do our best to keep you informed! 🙂 I hope you’ll join us this week.

Travel gently, friends.
Lotsa love, Grace & Glynis xoxo

Clarity – The Home of Art, Craft, and Well-Being.