Sunday Challenges January 2019

Hi Friends,

Unbelievably I've found some crafty mojo today with the help of the latest challenge at Less is More and a fabulous sketch the girls have created, so here's 2 cards I've created - both baby ones as I'd run out in my 'handy to have in' box!

They use the Uniko: Sweet Baby set along with a sentiment from a Clearly Besotted baby set (sorry can't remember the name of the set) and the background stencil is by Funky Fossil; shooting stars

Here's the sketch / Cue Card for Less is More

I'd also like to enter over at AAA Cards; here's their cue card. and the 'blue' card features masking!

Thanks for calling by my blog and have a fun week!

Uniko - Introducing Birthday Sentiments & Background Blocks Party Confetti

Hi There,
We've had 3 days of Sneaky Peeks from Uniko to tease you with this week and now let's get down to the serious business of Introductions as we get ready for this month's release of new stamps on 28th!
You may have noticed we introduced the new Stencil Design Team at the weekend so you'll find various new goodies showcased from the extended team. 
Today I'm sharing some introductions to the Birthday Sentiments, which is on a similar theme to the Festive Sentiments set released last year plus another one for the Background Blocks range; this one is Party Confetti!

First up let's go all out vivid and bold multi-colours using an old Kaleidoscope ink pad I found in my stash. As it's a pigment ink and stays wet for a little while I managed to throw some clear embossing powder over the top to give a glossy sheen. The sentiment is from the new sentiment set and the balloons are fuzzy cut from the older Balloon Bash set!

Who says it's got to be a birthday party celebration with this confetti set? So 2 baby cards where the confetti background was stamped with Versamark, heat embossed with white EP then Distress Inked in Salty Ocean (for the Boys) and Worn Lipstick (for the Girls)! I've teamed it with more sentiments from the new set plus a 'New Baby' one from the Simply Said range and that super cute teddy bear from Sweet Baby 

I hope this has whet your appetite for more!
The release schedule can be found over on the Uniko blog HERE as well as links and peeks at how my fellow teamies have worked their magic!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back tomorrow for the next introduction.

Uniko Challenge #41

Hello crafty friends it's that time again when we are announcing our latest challenge over at Uniko and The theme for this one is Masculine with the optional twist of  'Father's Day' and here's my card using the following Uniko sets; but not twisting this time:
Sweet Baby, BG Block - Half Tone and Simply Said for the 'welcome' sentiment

Over at Addicted to Stamps and More it's their 'Make Your Mark' challenge so I'd like to pop this on in there as well as Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where it's a little bit of sparkle so hopefully my sequins will count!

... and I can't resist a two-fer so while the sets were out I did a girlie one ... NOT for the challenge at all; just for the fun of it. I replaced the half-tone BG with the Doodle Flower one and coloured the centres with Promarkers.

... and it's a 'PINK' challenge over at Addicted to CAS so I'm popping this little feminine version in over there!

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 Hannelie of Desert Diva who is one of our previous Uniko Challenge winners and an OUT-standing card maker. Do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word and some love.

You have until Friday, 23rd June 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!

Uniko REVIST Some Bunny - March 2017

Hello there fellow crafters it's a REVIST month over at
Uniko 
where Bev askes us to 'dig out', dust down and bring a previously released set back into the spotlight! This month it's the Spring favourite 'Some Bunny' In fact I haven't used it as a spring-like card at all instead a Baby Welcome.

I've used the recently released Half-tone Background stamp behind my heart shaped window, coloured the bunny with promarkers and added  a simple sentiment from the Simply Said range. The heart dies are by WPlus9.

As is the tradition there's a blog hop giveaway; the prize being the 

featured set or a gift card to the same value if you already own it.

You'll find all the details including the links to to my teamies blogs

and a sneaky peek at what they've created over at Uniko HERE

Before I leave you to hop here's the image of the sets and as always thanks

for visiting my blog today and I wish you lots of luck on the hop!

Less is More #312

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at
Less is More
It's our THEME week and we've chosen
New Beginnings
I have to admit I was struggling with ideas and mojo this week and everything I tried didn't quite work and ended up in the 'you know where'! So pretty basic examples here but I'm sure if you skip across to the main blog HERE  my fellow teamies haven't let you down and as ever their cards are simply oozing with classy and elegant designs.


I fancied making a distressed sky using purples and pinks and I  quite like how it turned our with a little spritz of perfect pearls for added interest and sparkle. I've used a border die by Clearly Besotted along with sentiments from their 'Home Sweet Home' set too.
Next up a couple of Baby congrats cards for my 'good to have in' box! These use the Just Hatched set from Mama Elephant and design paperby Lawn Fawn.

Hope you'll play along and have some fun. Thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon!

Uniko Challenge #35 - Reminder

Hi there friends, I'm back with sneaky little nudge and reminder for the current challenge over at Uniko! This month we'd like you to be inspired by songs when creating your cards and explain the connection.
I love making Baby congrats cards as it's such a happy and exciting event. I've used the images from Sweet Baby here and had the song  '(Let me be) Your Teddy Bear' by Elvis Presley in my head! Yes a bit of an easy one to guess I imagine but hey-ho! 

To create the background I used my Zig Clear Brush pens and water the

heat embossed the images once it was dry. The teddy is coloured with 

Promarkers and the sentiment is from the Simply Said set.

There's plenty more inspiration over on the Uniko blog HERE plus

we are also joined by one of our previous challenge winners;

Glenda of My Paper Cat so I do hope you'll pop along to her blog

and leave her a friendly word and compliment her creations.

The details of prizes that are up for grabs can also be found on the 

Uniko blog and you have until midnight (BST) on Friday 9th September

to link up your card(s) and join in the fun.

Thanks so much for calling by and I'll catch up with you tomorrow

morning when we'll be announcing our latest challenge over at Less is More.

Late Night Challenges

Hi there friends I'm literally flying in with a couple of cards as I'm off to bed ASAP! Back to work tomorrow after a superb week off with fantastic weather (for the UK)
So CASology are celebrating a whopping 200 challenges so here's a CAS Birthday card to enter using a brand new set (to me) Altenew Daisy along with a sentiment also from Altenew Brushstroke Sentiments.


I've also used masking on both of these cards so heading over to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it's Mask IT

and I'd like to pop my second one in at Addicted to Stamps & More  where they are having an Anything Goes week.

This one is for another of my cousins who's partner has just given birth

to their second child ... a little girl. A quick make here as my mum told 

me in the week it was going to be a boy!!! Using stamps from Mama Elephant:

Just hatched to make a cute shaker card with distress inks for the background 

spritzed with Perfect Pearls, a stitched circle frame using dies from Simon Says Stamp 

and the chick is coloured with Promarkers.

Right short and sweet and thanks as always for calling by

Catch up with you all soon

Uniko Challenge #32 - Reminder

Hi there friends I'm back with a little reminder for you as you've still time to enter our latest challenge at Uniko where the theme is 
Masculine Cards - With the option of Father's Day

Here's my card and I've used some inky blending with Distress Ink

in Peacock Feathers, a frame from Paper Smooches and the Sweet Baby

and Simply Said sets from Uniko to create my shaker card.

I hope you'll play along with us and all the links to my fellow teamies blogs

and details of prizes and how to win them can be found on the main 

Uniko blog HERE

We also have Tanya of Little Art Cottage who is our Guest Designer

for this challenge having won last month's challenge. I do hope you'll

head over to her blog and check out her awesome creations. 

It's an Anything Goes week at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

so I'd like to pop my card in there too.

Thanks as always for calling by and I'll be back tomorrow morning

with details of the latest challenge from Less is More. 

Less is More #274

Morning Limettes ... do you have that Saturday morning feeling? Ready to get your teeth into a new challenge over at Less is More? Hopefully this one won't be as difficult as last week - easy in fact!
It's the 5th Saturday in the month which means it's 'Lucky Dip' Time! We'd like to see you use Design Paper in a Clean and Simple way!
If you haven't already popped across to see what my fellow teamies have created  then be sure to do so! As usual they've worked their magic wands to perfect! 
What's more we have an AWESOME, super-talented guest designer with us for this week so please head over to see how Esther of Carnelian Wood has worded with design paper.

Here's mine:

 

One for the box here as I'm short on Baby Congrats cards and there's

a few cousins about to have little ones any time soon!

This card uses the Sweet Baby set from Uniko plus the 'New Baby' 

from Simply Said, also Uniko. I started out by inking the top left corner

with distress in in Wild Honey, a little spritz of water and perfect pearls,

a die-cut 'diagonal-stitched' rectangle and a few Doodlebug sequins to finish!

OH and my Design paper is Doodlebug too and I've paper-pieced the little vests.

... and it's still Celebrations with the optional twist of fuzzy / die cutting
over at Time Out challenges so I'd like to head over there with this one.
You can't find much more to celebrate than a new baby can you!

... and I guessed wrong! Did the boy congrats card first and one of the

cousins wives had a baby girl this week so I've quickly zipped this one 

together with some design paper from Echo Park and images from

CBS Baby Shower and Mama Elephant sentiments from Just Hatched.

I'd like to enter this one over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

where it's an Anything Goes week!

Ok that's it for my post but I'll be back in a little while with a new
challenge over at Addicted to CAS so hope you'll pop back then!

Thanks as always for stopping by and have a fun Bank Holiday
weekend if you are in the UK - let's hope the sun shines!

AAA Cards Challenge #35

Hi there it's time for another new challenge over at  AAA Cards Cas Challenges So what are we looking for .... VERY white space and you'll be fine.  You can do a layer or two- just Clean & Simple. Using the photo for inspiration What a cute little new baby image - I can almost smell that Johnson's baby powder! What better inspiration for a New Baby congrats card using the baby shower set  from Clearly Besotted with a stencil from My Favourite Things.

Before you head off to your craft desk don't forget to stop HERE

to see the stunning creations by the rest of the design team.

Thanks as always for stopping by and can't wait to see what you come up with.

Less is More #209

Happy Saturday blog friends and I'm guessing you are here to see what's in store for you this week at 
Less is More
It's a 5-week month so we've a Lucky Dip Challenge  Themed: Little Ones 
Not only that but as a special treat this week we have  Tara of Craftilicious (aka: Make The Day Special) guest designing for us so please pop across to her blog and you might like to buy some crafty goodies too!
Here's my cards and first of all I've gone with a couple of new 'little uns' congrat's / welcome cards 

Card Recipe: My Favourite Things: Sun Ray stencil Die-namics: Snow Drift & Blueprints 15 Mama Elephant: Just Hatched stamps  Distress Inks: Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed  & Scattered Straw Promarkers & Wink of Stella

This one uses a newly released stamp and die set from 

Clearly Besotted: Baby Shower

Uniko Studio: Sweet Baby sentiments

Ribbon & pearls from my stash

I'm also going to head over to Simon Says Stamp

where it's an Anything Goes week 

and lucky for me they are featuring CBS products

although not a necessity for entering the challenge

Is there anyone else out there who seems to spend more time watching

other folks crafty videos rather than getting down to some proper crafting???

Or is that just me!!!

So having watched plenty of YouTube videos on blending pencils I've been playing with 

my own Derwent coloursoft ones using artist clear and odourless spirit,

 which I have to say is much easier than the blending pencils I'd already purchased.

Then seeing the videos it seems you can also use baby oil!

Hmmm! my cards would smell divine using that!

Anyway ... enough of that!

Supplies Used:

Mama Elephant: Just Hatched stamp set - coloured as above then fussy cut

WPlus9: Conversation Bubble dies with inset coloured as above

Clearly Besotted: Sentiments from Honeycomb & Geometric I

MFT Die-Namics: Fishtail Flags using Papermania textured card

To finish coordinating sprinkles from Doodlebug

I've loosely used the sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches

challenge so I'd like to pop my card in there too.

Ok crafters it's that time when I hand over to you talented people

So have fun, keep warm and thanks as always for stopping by.

Less is More Challenge #206

Hello friends ... it's Saturday morning and  time for a new challenge at 
Less is More
You certainly had fun with last week's colour challenge and it was great to see you all back and crafting after the Christmas break.
Ok for today it's the return of the  One Layer Card and the theme is - New Beginnings
As luck would have it this week I have 2 real-life new beginning occasions  where cards were needed ... love it when that happens!
The first one being one of my cousins and his wife  had a new addition to the family just before New Year and this card will be winging it's way over to them in Hawaii.

I seem to have an addiction to Distress Inking at the moment

and I wanted a graduated look from left to right.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Uniko Studio - Sweet Baby

Dies: Paper Smooches - Dots and Dashes (NBUS)

To finish I've added some Doodlebug sequins which I've reduced in size using a 

Provo Craft Silent Setter - it was pretty tough going 

so I wasn't particularly silent during this process!

Worth it though as I find some sequins too big for some of my cards.

This week's theme at Simon Says Stamp is also 'Something New' 

so I simply have to enter this card over there.

Next up you may remember from last week's post that 

our fabulous design team member, Anne was moving house this week.

This card is for her and it's ended up taking on a somewhat

child-type interpretation of a house and garden in the summertime.

Card Recipe:

Clearly Besotted: Diagonal Stripe Stamps (NBUS)

Clearly Besotted: Home Sweet Home, Sweet Little Sentiments,

Happy Birthday (NBUS) & Baby Shower stamps (hearts from the chimney) (NBUS)

Lil Inkers: Stitched Sunshine Die (NBUS)

Doodlebug Sprinkles and a sponging of memento ink

Now you'll notice my post is awash with new santa goodies (NBUS)

so I'll be heading over to Darnell's blog to enter this card.

There's another new challenge, for me too, that I'd like to try this week

Virginia's View Challenge #11 - Clean Slate

this card seems appropriate: it's a 'clean slate' and a one layer card.

Having created two fairly 'obvious' new beginning cards I wanted

to do something a bit 'off the wall' but was struggling if I'm honest.

So who better to ask ... the family!

My son decided a new leaf could be a new beginning so 

here's a card showing 'turning over a new leaf'

Now this is a bit too CAS even for me so couldn't resist adding a little bling!

Card Recipe:

Paper Smooches: Botanical Stamp set

Uniko Studio: All Occasion Sentiments #1 (NBUS)

Twine & gems from my stash

Oh and what another stroke of luck as the current prompt word at 

Inkspirational Challenges is 'Note' so guess where else I'm heading!

Ok last but not least a little bit more distressed inking ...

I wanted my little scene to appear as if the recipient was

leaving for a sunnier and brighter climate with the graduated sky colour

and clouds of course!

Card Recipe:

Paper Smooches: Metropolitan Stamp Set

Clearly Besotted: Say it In Style Sentiment stamps 

Derwent Coloursoft pencils and glossy accents

Now I'm handing the baton to you crafty pals as I'm all out of ideas

but I'm confident you'll shine with some super fun creations.

Thanks as always for stopping by it's much appreciated 

and have a superb and crafty time.