Less is More - Week 220 Theme & HLS Sketch Challenge

Well it's another lovely day here in Somerset, especially if you are somewhere sheltered as there is quite a cold breeze and we had a slight frost this morning.

There's a new challenge over at Less is More and this week the category is "Theme".  

Here's a theme to conjure up a pretty picture

Up, up and away!

For this one you can think balloons, planes, other things that fly and things that can be carried along on the breeze.

Let your imagination take flight!

There is also the April challenge over at Happy Little Stampers:

Here is my card that I'm entering into the challenges.

I've used my Lawn Fawn Party Balloons die set to cut a balloon out of red card with the string to match.  I sponged round the edges of the balloon to give it more definition.  The greeting is Papertrey (birthday) and Tattered Lace (wishes) die cut from glittered mirri card.  I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to add some definition to the front of the card before I popped the balloon up on a Wobbles Action Spring.  

You can see how it stands out from the card (but goes totally flat to go in the envelope) but it also wobbles as well!  I've just added some sequins to finish off.

Thanks for popping by.  

Happy crafting.

DJKardkreations, Less is More, Happy Little Stampers, Just Us Girls & Time Out!!!

Hope you're all having a great weekend.  The sun is shining down here in Somerset which is lovely.

My great friend Darnell has a NBUS challenge on her blog (acronym for "never-before-used schtuff"),  Less is More have a CASE a DT card, Happy Little Stampers have a sketch challenge, Just Us Girls have a colour challenge - black, white and a colour of your choice and lastly TIME OUT also has a black, white and a splash of one colour challenge.........so I'm entering my card into all of these challenges.  Whoopie - 5 in one go!

First of all I've used my new stamp set SU Big Day which was a freebie with my last order - so that's the NBUS bit; I chose to CASE Chrissie's card which is black, white and red (see below);  Happy Little Stampers sketch is below as are details of Just Us Girls and the TIME OUT challenge is:

 

Clean and Simple

 with the optional twist of:

Black and White plus a Splash of One Colour. 

     

And here is my card:

 

 

A very simple card to make.  I stamped the cake three times across the bottom of the card and coloured the centre cake and the flames with my Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pens.  I then die cut the piece using my Lil'Inker stitched dies.  The sentiment was stamped and the "cake" coloured to match the rest of the card and then cut out and mounted on foam pads.  And that was it - very quick and simple.

 

Thanks for dropping in today.  Please pop on over to the blogs to see all the challenges and maybe join in the fun.

 

Happy crafting.

 

 

LIM - One Layer Week

Hi Everyone - well, did you see the eclipse this morning?  Didn't think we were going to down here in Somerset as it was extremely cloudy but a small window appeared eventually where you could see the sun eclipsed by about two thirds.  Must admit it didn't get as dark as I thought it would.

Anyway, onto the business in hand.  I'm just getting into the new LIM challenge by the skin of my teeth - is that a weird saying or what????  So it's a one layer challenge with the subject of including an animal.  Come and see what I made.

I've been wanting an excuse to use this Tim Holtz Crazy Birds set for a while now and this seemed the perfect opportunity.  I stamped the bird using Stazon and then watercoloured him using my Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pens which are fabulous to use.  If you're interested check out the Kristina Werner YouTube video on them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e-Snj8Ul78&feature=em-uploademail.  The sentiment is from my Wplus9 Unforgettable stamp set.  

Now Chrissie at LIM carried out a survey recently on what one layer meant to everyone and, as a result of that, have changed the guidelines slightly as follows:

On the subject of using inlaid dies, we have decided that it will be acceptable if the whole of the front of the card is simply backed by an inner lining! We deemed this to be much more aesthetically pleasing than a piece of stickytape on the inside of the card to keep the bits from falling out!

As for embellishments... they must be just that... embellishments and not a main feature of the design. They must be small and add to the design and not form the majority of it!

So, how could I not add an embellishment which adds to the design - my googlie eyes!  They just seem to make my bird come alive...........

I'm also entering this card into the AAA Cards challenge which is:

Game #35 Bare Naked CAS

Thanks for dropping by and any comments you may wish to make.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Happy crafting.

Embossing and one layer LOVE and a little bit of masking

Afternoon all from a lovely sunny Somerset - still chilly but it makes you feel good seeing the sunshine and blue skies.

So today I have one card which fits three challenges that are on at the moment.  The first is Happy Little Stampers February challenge - Embossing and the second is Less is More - One Layer Challenge Week 211 with the theme of Love and the third one is Addicted to CAS challenge #57 where the theme is MASK. 

Here is what I came up with:

I took a DL card blank and ran it through my Big Shot with two sizes of the SU Framelets Labels collection - I used the bottom plate of the multi platform with a base plate, card blank with the Framelets positioned (with the cutting blades facing UP), placed my foam mat over and then the cutting plate and ran it through the machine.  This way gives a lovely embossed impression rather than cutting the cardstock.  I then used my SU Love & Laughter stamp set and used my Versamark ink pad to stamp the dress and heart and one of the sentiments.  I then heat embossed the images with detail gold embossing powder.  I cut two masks to protect the outside of the embossed framelet shapes and sponged SU Daffodil Delight ink around the edges and the edges of the DL card as well.  Final touch was a bow.

So hopefully this fits in with all three challenges - embossing two ways......with dies and heat embossing; one layer with the theme of love (wedding) and masking so I could colour around the inside of the embossed framelet shapes.

Sorry for the picture quality but ended up having to scan it as no matter what I did when I photographed the card it either didn't show up the gold embossing or was too dark/light!!!  Frustrating.  Still at least you've got the picture!

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy crafting.

Less is More Celebrating 4 years

Hello everyone from a very wet and windy Somerset!!!  Well I'm just in the nick of time to join in the fun at Less is More this week.  Just can't believe Chrissie and Mandi started up this blog 4 years ago - it only seems like yesterday.  Sadly I don't seem to have as much time to join in these days but just had to do a card for this special week.  Here are the criteria:

As it is the first Challenge of the month it's a 

Colour Challenge 

and this time they are

PINK AND GREY

And here is my card:

I've used some d/p and ribbon from my stash.  Then I stamped Falling Flowers (Honey Doo Crafts) in Memento London Fog on the bottom of my piece of card, coloured with Chameleon pens and then added Platinum Liquid Pearl dots to the design.  The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted Say it in Style stamp set cut using an EK Success label punch.

For some reason although the ribbon is a very similar pink to the rest of the card it has shown up slightly peachy in the photo!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend whatever you're doing.

Happy crafting.

Less is More - Lucky Dip Week

Hi Everyone

It's Lucky Dip Week over at Less is More and the theme is "Little Ones" and you may interpret this in any way you choose... babies, children, small elements on your card... whatever your imagination dictates.

I decided to go for a baby card and here is what I made:

I've used the stork and bundle from my Little B Baby die set and coloured using Promarkers. The die cut words are Tattered Lace and I've used Lil'Inkers Stitched Squares for the mats.  As I'd used the largest of these dies for my last mat - and I wanted a stitched design on my base card - I used the straight stitched die from my Paper Smooches Stitched die set.

For some reason the base card looks cream in the photo but it's definitely white although it's pearl white, so maybe that's why it's showing up differently to the other white card.  Looks fine IRL!!!!

So glad you popped by - hope you're all having a good week and looking forward to the weekend.

Happy crafting.

Less is More - Week 192 Colour Challenge

Hello everyone - well Autumn has certainly arrived and it seems that Less is More are embracing it with their new challenge:

For our Colour challenge this month we have chosen 

Autumn's Bounty

Sounds kinda poetic doesn't it...

so we'd love to see autumnal shades in your cards.

Don't forget to make them CAS of course!

Now it's been absolutely ages since I joined in the fun at Less is More but as I'd just made this card and it fitted the theme then I thought I'd give it a go.

At club tonight one of our projects is showing them the faux pearl technique as demonstrated so wonderfully by my ATCAS DT pal Loll of Stamping with Loll.  I decided to try out my Brushos to see if they worked with the faux pearl technique and to my delight they really did.  I die cut my Memory Box fern and coloured it with Brushos and then when my pearl paint was dry I sprinkled the crystals on the card and spritzed with water.  I layered it up on some brown cardstock, placed a brown strip across with the fern over the top.  The sentiment is SU punched with a circle punch and I added a ribbon.

This is really a great technique so pop on over and watch Loll's YouTube video.

Happy crafting.

Less is More : One Layer Challenge - Week 176 & NBUS Challenge #1

Hello everyone from a very sunny but breezy Somerset.  Just popping by to enter my card into the new Less is More challenge which I haven't done for ages it seems.

This week's challenge is:

Once more it's One Layer Card time and

 the title of our challenge is 

OFF THE EDGE

My card was super quick to produce.  I've used my Memory Box Grand Happy Birthday die on a 6" square card.  Positioned it right on the edge and then placed a piece of cardstock behind the "birthday".  Add in a matching ribbon and "Bob's your uncle"...........well, maybe not, but you know what I mean!!! lol

Whilst we're at it I can't help but join in my great buddy Darnell's new challenge which is to use NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) in celebration of her reaching 500 followers - she's a star and a seriously good friend (mwah!!! Dippy xxx).  This card qualifies as I've never used this die before and it is a new reel of ribbon.  Hope it qualifies on the friendship angle as I'm going to be sending it to a friend.  If you haven't come across Darnell (where on earth have you been????) please pop on over to her blog (be prepared to spend hours and hours and have serious face ache when you finish..........hehe).

Thanks for dropping by.  Hope you're all having a good week.

Happy crafting.

Less is More - Week 164 Recipe

Hello All

The latest challenge over at Less is More is a Recipe which consists of:

Our recipe this week has two parts!

Firstly we'd like to see 

THREE

of something on your cards 

PLUS

We'd like you to visit and comment on three other participants, hopefully ones you haven't visited before!

My card is a pretty simple one.  I have stamped the THREE flowers  (Stampin Up Organic Grace) in THREE colours of Stampin Up inks.  I then die cut them using Spellbinders scalloped circle dies and mounted them on THREE die cut mats - again Spellbinders, but this time Lacey Circles.  I embossed two lines vertically down a DL card and stamped my sentiment (Personal Impressions P488 E) using the same THREE ink colours.  Finishing touches were to use THREE colours of Liquid Pearls in the centre of the flowers and three "pearls" above and below the sentiment.

Thanks for dropping by.  I'm off to visit THREE other participants in this challenge...........hehe.

Happy crafting.

Less is More - Week 161 - Colour

Just popping by to post my entry into this weeks' Less is More challenge which is:

For our colour challenge this month we have chose real Spring colours

YELLOW & GREEN

LIMettes always come up with such imaginative creations... we can't wait to see what appears!

Don't forget to keep it Clean and Simple and remember that white space!

This week's challenge does not necessarily have to bee a one layer card, although we are always  happy to see them in any of our challenges. 

I decided to base my card on die cut inlays.  I took a piece of white linen card and die cut Fresh Daisies by Simon Says Stamp!  I then die cut it in yellow and green.  I also die cut the words Happy Birthday from All Occasion Dies (Robert Addams) from the white base and then again in yellow and green.  So I had a piece of white card with negative shapes.  I placed the green flower back into it's negative shape making sure I also put in the white piece of card that came out between the two stems.  I cut the yellow flowers from the stems and just touched the base of each of them with green ink so they would blend in with the green stems.  I did exactly the same with the words, again making sure I still had the white "waste" from the inside of the letters. I popped this up on the base card using d/s foam pads and Bob's your uncle (well, maybe not!!! lol) one finished card - very clean and simple.

I was so pleased to have time to play with this as I've been sitting all day typing up Minutes of our Parish Council meeting last night and dealing with loads of planning applications etc............banging your head against a brick wall comes to mind!

Thanks for dropping by.  See you soon.

Less is More Happy 3rd Birthday and STAMPlorations Sketch Challenge #5

Hello All - well the weather has quietened down a bit today.  Yesterday was absolutely horrendous with storm force winds of about 70mph and horizontal rain!  We've still got the rain but the wind has died down thankfully.

I wanted to play along with these two challenges as it's Less is More's 3rd Birthday - can you believe it!! How time flies.  It was great that Mandi came back to take part and what amazing photos of her gorgeous shop.  Here's what they want:

Our colour challenge for this week is 

RAINBOW

And over at STAMPlorations this is their criteria:

It’s open to interpretation. Feel free to change the orientation of the sketch, use different shapes, add other elements to suit the type of paper craft you’re making, and so on — just make sure the sketch is recognizable in your submission(s). You can use stamps by other companies to create projects that you enter to our challenges, although if you have STAMPlorations stamps in your stash, we'd be tickled if you use them!

I knew I didn't want to change the sketch about too much but also wanted to include the colours of the rainbow into it and those stripes gave me an idea....... so I got out my Spellbinders A2 Bracket Borders and started cutting.  This is what happened:

 

The sentiment is from my Stampin Up Apothecary Art set, stamped using Kaleidacolour Royal Satin inkpad and I used my SU ticket punch on the corners.

Pop on  over to both challenges and look at the great cards that the DT's have given us.

Happy crafting.

Less is More Week 156 Sketch

Hello everyone from yet another wet and cold day in Somerset.  Thought I'd pop by with a quick post today.  There's a sketch challenge over at Less is More: 

It's SKETCH TIME again 

 at "Less is More" and here is another one drawn by Jen.

The main feature on the band can be any shape you choose, but we would like the layout to remain as here.

As I was blog hopping today I saw a challenge over at Technique Time Tuesday for some triple time stamping, so thought I'd kill two birds with one stone (so to speak.........!). My fellow DT Shana is your host for the month so do pop on over to have a look.

So here's my card:

I have used Stampin Up Bordering on Romance, sentiment is SU Wonderful Words.  I started out by die cutting three shapes from my Xcut nesting Hexagons and attached them centrally on each other using removable adhesive.  I put these three pieces on my foam stamping mat as it gives a much clearer stamp impression when using this technique.  I then used a water brush to draw in colours to the flowers and leaves.  I originally then die cut three mats using the next size up dies but found they were too wide to give the impression of triple time stamping so instead used my Perfect Layers rulers and gave them a border mat of 1/16" which looked much better.  I cut a piece of the pink bazzil card and mounted some white card over and then stamped the sentiment.

So hopefully this complies with both the Less is More and Technique Time Tuesday challenges.

Thanks for taking the time to visit - your comments are much appreciated.

Happy crafting.

Less is More - Week 154 OLC Hearts

Hello everyone - well it's Saturday and a new challenge over at Less is More where it's the dreaded (or not so much nowadays........) One Layer Challenge:

This week it's everyone's favourite - 

ONE LAYER CARDS  

and this week the theme is

Hearts

I haven't joined in any of the LIM challenges for what seems like ages now what with the build up to Christmas and New Year so was determined to have a go today.  Here's what I've made:

I have used a heart embossing folder but before running it through my die cutting machine have put a Sizzix oval diffuser centrally so there would be a central area that isn't embossed thus giving me a lovely area to stamp into.  I used my Clearly Besotted Love Hearts stamp set and used the two words included in the set.  I inked them up with SU Real Red and then clear embossed the images.

Thanks for dropping by - hope you're all having a great weekend.

Happy crafting.

Less is More Week 144 Fireworks

Hello everyone

I haven't joined in the Less is More challenge for a couple of weeks due to lack of time but when I saw what it was this morning it was a bit like deja vu.  Here are the details:

We have a slightly different colour challenge for you.  We want to see how our photo inspires you and see cards that have ...

Dark background with a splash of colour(s)

I thought I'd use my black ribbed card again and made up a 5x7 card blank.  I stamped my Woodware Poinsettia Box in Versamark and embossed with gold e/p.  I used my Vintage Pearly Pallet from Imagination Crafts to colour the poinsettias and added some Liquid Pearls for the centres.

Very strange weather at the moment - we've had really warm sunshine earlier but then it got very windy and lashings of rain.........now it's changed back again!

Have a good weekend and happy crafting.

Less is More - White on White

Well here we are at the end of the week already.  I've just been outside picking my crab apples to make some jelly with but this year is a bumper crop and I have got a huge amount - far too many for me, so will be looking for someone who wants some!!!

I was just sorting out my Christmas dies and embossing folders and came across one folder and had a light bulb moment.............this week the Less is More challenge is:
 

White Christmas

For our challenge this week, we have chosen to add another parameter to our colour challenge and that is that the submissions must be Christmas related cards.

The colour is 

WHITE on WHITE

We would like to remind everyone that submissions must adhere to the Guidelines set out above and be evidently Clean and Simple!

It's also a new month which means a new sponsor and this month we are excited that Stephanie from Clearly Besotted is our sponsor.  Clearly Besotted are Celebrating their first birthday this month too!

 

So here's what happened when I put my light bulb moment into practice:

I put a piece of Anna-Marie's pearl card through my Ebosser using a Crafts Too Poinsettia Frame and popped it up on an A6 tent fold card base.  I die cut a tag from my Spellbinders Fancy Tags 2 set and two lots of the Poppystamps Small Blooming Poinsettia (this is a really handy die especially if you use it with their Blooming Poinsettia set).  The sentiment, also cut from the pearl card, is from a Tattered Lace Christmas sentiments die set.  To finish off I've added some Liquid Pearls et voila!!!  lol

Thanks for visiting, I love reading all your comments.  Don't forget to visit tomorrow when we will be unveiling the new challenge at Addicted to CAS.

Two days - two Less is More challenges!

Happy Saturday all - well it's a beautiful day here in sunny Somerset - blue skies, wispy clouds and SUNSHINE!!!  Hope it's as nice wherever you are too.

After my very late entry yesterday into last week's Less is More sketch challenge I thought I'd surprise everyone by entering their new one on the very first day!  This week the Less is More challenge is:
 

White Christmas

For our challenge this week, we have chosen to add another parameter to our colour challenge and that is that the submissions must be Christmas related cards.

The colour is 

WHITE on WHITE

We would like to remind everyone that submissions must adhere to the Guidelines set out above and be evidently Clean and Simple!

It's also a new month which means a new sponsor and this month we are excited that Stephanie from Clearly Besotted is our sponsor.  Clearly Besotted are Celebrating their first birthday this month too!

I knew immediately what I wanted to do for this theme and here it is..........

It's really difficult photographing a white on white card but hopefully you get the gist!  I have used my Heartfelt Creations Poinsettia stamp set and white embossed it onto vellum (still out from yesterday......)and then die cut it using the Heartfelt Creations Sunkissed Fleur die which matches up perfectly with the Poinsettia stamp set as well - doesn't it make a pleasant change to have one die for two stamp sets?  I attached a piece of white ribbon across a 6" square blank and then shaped the flowers and leaves with a bone folder before adding them to the card using Pinflair Glue gel.  The sentiment, Wishing you a Magical Christmas, was also white embossed on vellum and is from my Woodware "Beary" Christmas set and I used my EK Success label punch and also cut a piece of white card to back it.  Rather than trying to glue the vellum to the white card I thought I'd use brads but didn't have any white ones (who does?) so covered the tops in Versamark ink, then white e/p and heat embossed them.  Finishing touch was adding some white Liquid Pearls.

Just wanted to wish Clearly Besotted's Stephanie and all her amazing DT girls a very, very Happy Birthday.

Thanks for dropping by.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Less is More - Week 139 Sketch #10

Hello All - well it's Friday afternoon and I've just managed to get my entry done for the Less is More challenge - cutting it fine eh?

This week's challenge has been set by Jen and it's a sketch:

For my card I've used a combination of my Tonic Decorative Wreath Rings Verso die set, my new Dee's Distinctively Bell Floral Collection dies and Clearly Besotted's Basic Banners stamp and die set.

I've cut the flowers out of two coloured vellum and the leaves out of green cardstock.  I then ran a piece of white card through my Ebosser using the outer ring and next sized decorative die so I could use the main card with the aperture popped up over the decorative die cut card which had another piece of vellum behind it.  The sentiment was stamped using DI Dusty Concorde and I sponged around the decorative die cut using DI Spun Sugar.  All the corners were rounded using my Corner Chomper.

Thanks for dropping by.  Hope you all have a great weekend.

LIM 136 Colour, Clearly Besotted #4 & Club Samples (photo heavy!)

Hi Folks

Gosh where does the time go?  Things have been pretty hectic over the last few weeks with lots of visitors staying, people coming to dinner etc.  So here is my offering today.  A card for the Less is More Week 136 Colour Challenge and this also matches the Clearly Besotted Challenge #4 Creating your own Background.  I've also added in some photos of my sample cards for the two projects we did with the girls at our club night on Wednesday.  Grab yourself a cuppa and come and see.

The Less is More challenge this week is a colour theme using two colours rust and green.  The Clearly Besotted challenge wants you to make your own background for your card. 

I've used my Clearly Besotted Autumn Flowers stamp and die set for this card which is NBUS (never before used schtuff........).  I've used my Kaleidacolor Autumn Leaves ink pad which has lovely rusts and greens in it.  I've used an A5 pearlised card and cut down a sheet of matching card stock slightly smaller to pop on the front.  When I inked my stamps I stamped onto copy paper before stamping directly onto the card to get a lighter impression.  Some leaves are in the rusty tones and some in the green.  I then stamped the largest leaf and two acorns using first generation inking and die cut these.  They were then popped onto the card using d/s foam and then Crystal Lacquered.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

We did two projects at club on Wednesday.  The first was a lovely parchment card which can be used for all occasions be it birthday or Christmas, depending on the colours you use.  After completion the outlines have been traced in a Quickie glue pen (or in my case a Martha Stewart glue pen as all my Quickie glue pens refuse to work!!!  I've got about 6 and none of them work despite trying everything I can think of..........so any suggestions would be welcome!!!) and then glittered.

The second project was a three step card and my cards show a left and a right hand step card and also a four step card.  Must admit these aren't the easiest of cards to make and adding the backing paper inside is pretty fiddly, but they do look nice.

 

On these cards I've used a variety of materials from Kanban Steampunk die cuts, Stampin Up Language of Friendship and Papillon Potpourri stamps and punches and a Sizzix stamp and die set 657780 (not sure of the name as it's not stated on the packaging but it's the Reindeer and Christmas Tree set).

Right, that's enough from me for today but don't forget to pop by tomorrow to see what the latest challenge at Addicted to CAS is.

Hope you all have a great weekend.........weather forecast in Somerset doesn't look great and we have a huge Fun Day fund raiser on Sunday so think we will be dripping as we're cooking the BBQ!!!

Happy crafting.