Yet More Stencils

Hi Friends, I've a couple more stencil-themed cards to share today that I've completely forgotten about! Once again I'm showcasing some brand new ones by Funky Fossil Designs and you can find them in Sarah's Folksy Shop HERE

I tend to forget about stencils when crafting but they really are so versatile - just wish I could get a little more adventurous with them but perhaps when I've a spell off work I'll play with some new techniques.

Here goes

First up I'm thrilled with how this one turned out using the Beautiful Mandala Stencil and inked in Distress Oxides: Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade and Squeezed Lemonade. The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted and die-cut with the coordinating die although it may be a retired one - I've lots of their older sets in my stash!

It's 'Anything Goes' at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday so I'd like to pop this one in there.

Next up a smeared inky background of Distress Oxide in Mermaid Lagoon, spritzed with a shimmery mix of water and perfect pearls. Once dry I inked through the Indian Flower stencil with Versafine Onyx Black ink (made quite a mess of the stencil) then quickly covered with Clear Embossing powder to add some shine and texture to the image. The sentiment is by Happy Little Stampers.

Last but not least an elegant Peacock, this time inked with Blueprint Sketch, Peacock Feathers (of course) and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxides. Once the ink was dry I used a Versafine pen to 'paint over' the gold sections then sprinkled gold embossing powder on the top. The same powder was used for the sentiment by Clearly Besotted. 

I'd like to add this card to the 'Clean and Simple' themed challenge at Addicted to Stamps & More.

That's all for me for today but hope you are enjoying some crafty fun today.

Less is More #370

Hello my crafty friends, it's Sketch Time over at Less is More for the next fortnight and we can't wait to see what you do with this one! All the details are on the main challenge blog HERE but here's the cue card followed by the Sketch and my examples. 



If you've followed my blog recently you'll notice I've become a little 'hooked' on stencils, especially in this colour combo of Distress Oxides: Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet and Cracked Pistachio. I've used the Concentric Circles Stencil from MFT with a little masking around the circles and to finish a popped up sentiment from our sponsor; Happy Little Stampers. 

It's a clean and simple week over at Addicted to Stamps and More so I'd like to head across there with this one AND as I'm 'WILD' about stencils right now and that's the theme of the current challenge at Timeout Challenges I'd like to add this card there too. 





... and another MFT stencil below! This time the Rose Builder, again inked with Distress Oxides in Worn Lipstick and Candied Apple plus Cracked Pistachio and Lucky Clover. I must apologise I can't remember where the sentiment is from! It's from my bits box from one of those days when I'd heat embossed too many sentiments! 

Over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge it's their Anything Goes week so I'll pop this card in there.

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies  over on the Less is More blog HERE and our sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we'll announce at the start of next month. 


I hope you'll feel inspired to play along with us and have some crafty fun along the way.
Thanks for calling by today!

In Love with Stencils

Hi Friends, I can't remember the last time I got round to posting on my blog just for the fun of it BUT today I have some cards to share featuring STENCILS! 

These little beauties seem to have slipped into the back of my stash for far too long but with the stunning inspiration from my super duper blog buddy Sarah of Funky Fossils Designs and her new stencil creation venture (sold HERE) I just can't get enough of them! I just wish there were more hours in the day to play! 

So teamed with a bundle of Distress Oxide inks here's my creations and if you follow my blog regularly you'll notice I get fixated with colour combos and just can't stop myself when I find a combo I love! 

This one uses the Totally Triangular Stencil and I've been fascinated with the 'turn-around' stamps and stencils by other companies so decided to give it a go with this stencil although it's not necessarily designed to work that way. The die-cut sentiment is from Neat and Tangled with a 'birthday' greeting from Clearly Besotted

 

Using the same colour combo and Triangular stencil but this time with a cropped section of the stencilled panel a 'Smile' die-cut by Lil'inker Designs with a 'You Passed' sentiment by Clearly Besotted. 

The die-cut sentiments and strips of coloured card on all of these cards are coloured using coordinating promarkers. 

 

Ok a tad early for Father's Day but there's nothing like getting organised and I just love geometric designs for the guys so this one worked a treat. Remarkably the stencil is called 'geometric' too! The die-cut Happy is from CUT-plorations with the 'Father's Day' from Happy Little Stampers.

Next up a male / female 2-Fer of sorts! I masked off part of the stencil (called Triangle Grid) and inked through it with blues and teal colours and the other half adding some purple tones too. Can you tell I just love the 'Hooray' die-cut by Neat and Tangled? Coloured again with Promarkers to coordinate with the stencilling and a Clearly Besotted mini 'so to speak' sentiment on the first one and 'It's your day' on the second card is by Neat and Tangled.

I'm heading over to Addicted to Stamps and More for their Make your Mark week. I hope stencils are accepted along with Promarker painted sentiments!

As always thanks for calling by and if you feel inspired by these stencil designs and fancy purchasing a few, very reasonably priced ones then pop across to Sarah's Folksy shop HERE. Super efficient service and beautifully packaged too.

Less is More #366

Hello my crafty friends, I've been hit with the dreaded flu bug this week so it's a teeny post from me to announce this fortnight's challenge over at Less is More. We've a new sponsor for the month and 2 guest designers but all the details are on the main challenge blog HERE - hope you understand!
So onto the challenge and it's colour week - hope the cue card is self explanatory and sorry just the one from me today. 

I've gone ultra simple and basic stamping using a stamp from our wonderful sponsor STAMPlorations. I bought it especially for this challenge and hoped to do something a little more exciting with it but energy and mojo are lacking. Naturally I'd like to add my card to the 'Anything Goes with Stamplorations' challenge HERE

Although I've flipped it ... I'm using a sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches so will add this card over there as well as Simon Says Stamp: Wednesday Challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More where they've both got their 'Anything Goes' weeks!

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies  over on the main blog HERE and our sponsor for this challenge is STAMPlorations so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we'll announce at the start of next month. 


I hope you'll join us and have some fun! 

Thanks for calling by today!

Uniko Challenge #45 - Reminder

Hi there, I'm back with a little reminder about our current challenge over at Uniko and here's the Cue card to show you what we're looking for
If you saw my initial post announcing the challenge you'll know I was drawn to both the rose and the heart in the image above although I skipped the heart in the first card.
This time I've teamed the Pure Florals Rose with the older 'Always and Forever' set which I've used as a delicate background to the rose cluster.

The rose/leaves are watercoloured using Distress Inks before popping up on 3d foam. The sentiments

are from the Flower Power range and Simply Said, using inks by Altenew.

Here's a couple of challenges I'd like to link up to:

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers - Watercolour: Anything Goes (optional twist Heart)

Addicted to Stamps & More - Make Your Mark

As always there's plenty of fantastic creations by my fellow teamies, so why not head over to the Uniko blog HERE to check out the links and pay them a visit! I'm sure they'd appreciate it!

Our Guest Designer for this challenge is my fellow craft buddie and teamie at Less is More! Big shout out please for Anita of Neet and Crafty, winner of our last Uniko Challenge. I'm delighted to see that she won our challenge with the Christmas card she sent me! So honoured Neets. Do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word and some love, you won't be disappointed - I'm always envious of her stash and how she utilises it. 

You have until 23rd February to link up to the challenge and all the details you need about prizes and how to play can be found over at Uniko HERE

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you feel inspired and will play along with us!

Gerbera DT Inspiration for Uniko

Hi friends I'm over on the Uniko blog this morning sharing a little Gerbara inspired combo. You'll find all my cards HERE but I wanted to feature 2 of them on my own blog to link up at a couple of challenges today so here goes:

First up to enter over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it's Layer it Up! Although I love some layering to cards I'm rather a 'clean and simple' girl so too many layers freak me out!!! I hope this one includes enough die-cut layers/panels/sentiment for the girls at SSS.

Using: Uniko - Pure Florals Gerbera, Festive Sentiments and Simply Said, Altenew Inks, WOW Silver Sparkle EP

Next up I'm heading over to the 'Ombre' challenge at Addicted to CAS and Anything Goes and Addicted to Stamps & More. Same colour combo and products but here's my 'clean and simple' version! 

Using: Uniko - Pure Florals Gerbera, All Occasion Sentiments, Altenew Inks, WOW Silver Sparkle EP

Thanks for calling by my blog today and for more details on my cards please head over to the Uniko blog where there's another 2 varieties! Catch up Soon! 

Less is More #358

Morning friends!
Oh my goodness we really are getting extremely close to Christmas and I feel so disorganised and lacking in handmade Christmas cards that I feel a shop bought pack may be required this year to bolster my stock! 
It's time to announce the latest challenge from Less is More and in true festive style we've a challenge that could be 'twisted' towards that Christmas theme if, like me, you're struggling with cards.
Sadly I've only the one today as there's one more stamp release from Uniko to sneak in before Christmas so that has also kept me out of mischief and away from my Christmas card production line! I feel my hand delivered ones will be still wet with glue when I deliver them on Christmas Eve!!!
Anyway here's this week's CUE CARD and it's that dreaded ONE layer week too!

... and here's my card using a cheap and cheerful stamp I picked up from The Works (UK book / stationary / craft shop). It's a little living room scene in itself featuring a roaring toasty fire and lights on a Christmas Tree so as soon as I saw it I knew which challenge it would be heading towards!

I stamped the image in black then heat embossed with clear embossing powder over the top before colouring the images with Promarkers. There's a little wink of stella and glossy accents on those stockings and a sentiment from Uniko to finish. Oh and I hand drew the border to frame the image. 

It's an Anything Goes week over at Addicted to Stamps and More so I'd like to pop this one in there, plus over at Timeout Challenges there's a photo inspiration and I couldn't resist not joining in when I saw the cute little stockings against the wood background. 

As always there'll be loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and no doubt a few extras on their own blogs so do pay them a visit this week.
Our fantastic sponsor for this month is Happy Little Stampers and if you want to be in with a chance of a prize, then do play along each week, We'll announce our monthly winner at the start of next month.


Hope you'll play along and have some fun and thanks for calling by. 

Less is More #348

Hello there friends, time for my regular Saturday morning post to announce our latest challenge over at Less is More and it's a 5-week month, which means it's a lucky dip one. We've also got Jane of Purplejetlovescrafts joining us as our Guest Designer for this one so I hope you'll head on over to her blog too and leave some lovely feedback for her.
Here's the cue card and I can't wait to see how you play this week 

I've 2 cards for you today and first up a watercoloured hummingbird from the Uniko set: Paradise Hummingbird. The image was stamped and heat embossed then coloured using my Zig Clear Brush pens with water. The background is a dis-continued Background Builders set from Uniko called Lattice and the sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

It's an Anything Goes week over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More so I'd like to drop this card in at both of those challenges.

Next up I've blended Distress inks over some watercolour cardstock before spritzing with water and perfect pearls to add some interest to the panel. Using a faceted heart die from Neat and Tangled I die-cut the panel and mounted it on 3d foam. I've also used a multi-faceted embossing folder to add some detail behind the top of the heart. The sentiments are from Clearly Besotted: Happy Anniversary set. 

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and our sponsor for this month is Happy Little Stampers so do play along, it's the last week, for a chance of a prize, which we'll announce at the start of next month.

Hope you'll play along and have some fun and thanks for calling by 

Less is More #343

Hi there friends it's time to announce our latest challenge at Less is More and it's the turn of our recipe week. Here's the cue card and I can't wait to see what ideas you come up with for this one!

I've 2 cards for you this week but there's loads more inspiring and interesting creations by my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE - We're also joined by our July winner; Viv of Daizy Mae's Crafty Blog as our guest designer so I hope you'll pop along and leave her some lovely comments this week. 

First up a little silly scene using 'Hang in There' by Stampendous. I bought this in a destash sale ages ago from Michelle Short and this is the first time it's been used! Just needed the right opportunity and my Brother in Law is celebrating a BIG birthday next month so I've got my mind set on sending him this one! The little rings are my 'real item' and they are recycled from some clothing. The images are coloured with Promarkers and there's a little wink of stella / glossy accents used for extra interest. 

It's an 'Anything Goes' week over at Addicted to Stamps and More this week so I'm heading over there with this Monkey card! 

So simple with this one and I never even knew I possessed a 'Sheep' shaped button until I went searching through that 'Must Keep for a Rainy Day' box. I cut the loop off the back that you'd sew through and added a 'thank' sentiment from Winnie & Walter (another destash item from the lovely Michelle). The kraft panel was die-cut with an inside out diagonal stitched rectangle die from MFT Die-Namics and to finish a little piece of hemp cord. 

I hope you'll feel inspired to play along and have some fun with this one. 
Thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon!

Less is More #341

Hi there crafty friends another week has slipped by and here we go again with our weekly challenge for you at Less is More. AND ... it's that 'dreaded' ONE layer week! Don't you just love it but it's an easy enough theme ... I think, so here's the Cue Card and let's hope you have fun too.

Hopefully that won't cause too many issues and here's my cards. I've 2 for you this week and I was having a play about with some pencils on the first one but I've not really mastered the art of colouring with them! The images are from Create a Smile 'Underwater Love' and I thought they'd be rather cute - hoping that a submarine is classed as a vehicle though! I've also distressed the edges and added some splatters of Distress ink in Mermaid Lagoon.

My second one uses a brand new birthday goodie, sentiment set from Neat & Tangled, which is part of their 5 year birthday release. I just love that swirly 'Hooray' and I've teamed it with a little cute train, coloured with Promarkers, from Clearly Besotted 'Going Places' with the 'Birthday Boy' sentiment from that same set. The 'track / road' stamp is by Stampin' Up - Rev up the Fun. I did intend to make a card using either the car or motorbike in that set but it just didn't happen for me! 
I've spotted 3 challenges in blogland, where my card should fit in so I'll be dropping by at Addicted to Stamps and More where it's a Clean and Simple Challenge, Addicted to CAS is ONE layer week too and at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday it's 'For a Child' so I simply couldn't resist popping this one over there too.
I hope you'll feel inspired to play along and don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE 
Thanks for stopping by