Less is More #255 & #256

Hello LIMettes!
We've reached our final challenge of 2015 as this one runs for 2 weeks to  give us all time to enjoy the festivities and still sneak a little bit of crafting in!!!
So I would like to wish you all  a Wonderful Christmas & Festive Holiday Season!
 I can't wait to see what you make of this challenge ... it's theme week 
Homespun
This one completely floored me and I'm still not sure I've 'hit the nail on the head'  so to speak but Chrissie has kindly offered up the dictionary definition on the main Less is More blog site HERE
I've gone with a few ideas so hope you feel inspired to play along - my first one  is quite literally 'spun' having tipped up all my boxes of bits and bobs to find my  flower 'spinning' loom and using Hemp twine I've fashioned this  flower with a button threaded to the centre. 

It's not exactly postage-friendly hence the circular aperture and mounting on funky  foam to allow the flower to be stitched to the card base. The striped design paper  matches pretty well and adds a little more interest to the card. To finish a birthday  sentiment from Happy Little Stampers - a refreshing change from all the  Christmas sentiments I've been using these last few weeks!

BUT back to those old 'winter' wishes here with a random stamping of 

'knitted' hats and scarves from the Clearly Besotted: Let it Snow set.

The sentiment is from Uniko: Pure Florals - Poinsettia which is heat

embossed in Hero Arts White EP and to finish a wrap around of bakers twine!

Last but not least and it seams that Anita, Chrissie and I were sharing

the same 'homespun' book this week as we've gone with a similar theme!

If I'm honest this one didn't turn out how I anticipated and I almost scrapped it!

Using the WPlus9 stacking hearts dies I've die-cut several layers of cardstock in

both sizes, topped with some 'old English country garden - style' design paper.

 The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted: Home Sweet Home and stamped in grey to 

give that dull / rustic / primitive look (I hope) along with the grey textured panel! 

BUT ... I just couldn't resist the pop of colour from the ribbon scrap I found in my stash 

which picks out the centre of the bloom brilliantly. 

It's Die Crazy over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

this week and having used 5 layers of each size of the Wplus9 heart dies

and a pierced rectangle from MFT Die-Namics I'm hoping this will work there!

Ok I'll hand over to you talented crafters and please pop over to see what 

my teamies have been up to too - I'm sure you'll love their takes on this theme.

Thanks as always for stopping by and catch up with you again soon!

Less is More #254

Happy Saturday friends!
Are you well? Ready for a Less is More challenge? ... and  are you ready for Christmas?
Well I might be ahead of you on this challenge but I'm certainly  panicking at the unhealthy speed of Christmas of approaching!
Anyway onto our challenge and unlucky for some maybe it's the turn of the ONE LAYER CARD week! and the theme is 'What's in My Stocking'

For me ... I've not got a clue what will be in my stocking so I've  made a couple of cards showing items I'd quite happily like to find!!! First up neatly wrapped surprise pressies!

I was inspired by Therese Calvird's cards and video this week HERE so I  decided to have a go at heat-embossing some simple images in white EP onto  coloured cardstock. The images are from Clearly Besotted: It's Your Birthday and sentiment from Rockin' Robin (also CBS). To finish a few mini gems

Next up is also to enter at Merry Monday Christmas Challenge as I  adore their photo inspiration below and I'm quite partial to a few sweeties in my Christmas stocking - shhhh don't tell the dentist!

The images are from Clearly Besotted: Naughty or Nice, coated in 

glossy accents and left to dry overnight before inking with distress ink

in Blueprint Sketch. The curve detail is created using the MFT Die-namics stitched 

border dies to emboss the card base. The sentiment is from CAS-ual Fridays

Last but not least I do love having flowers around at Christmas but whether

 they'll be peeping out of my stocking on Christmas morning remains to be seen!

The flower stamps are from Altenew Vintage Flowers and I'm still trying

to get to grips with stamping these intricate flowers. They are beautiful but

quite tricky and time-consuming to line up accurately. Once stamped I masked

the blooms then used some Evergreen Bough Distress Ink to create a wintry 

background. The sentiment is from Uniko: All Occasion Sentiments #6

Ok hope you enjoy the challenge and have some fun!

Check out those wish lists and see if you can re-create on card!

If you need more inspiration then please head over to the Less is More

blog HERE where my teamies have worked their little socks (stockings) off!

As always thanks for stopping by and catch up with you soon.

CASology Week #176

Hello friends - WOW! I cannot remember the last time I just entered a challenge for the fun of it! Life just rushes by and mostly I only find the time to  create for my DT commitments but here's one that started out as a Blue & Green card for this week's Less is More Challenge!
THEN ... I messed up and added red! Only just got around to photographing it but thought it would fit in  well at the current 'TREE' Cue Card at CASology

I started out by inking the sky in Chipped Sapphire, Blueprint Sketch and

Tumbled Glass Distress Inks before spritzing with water and perfect pearls.

The snow bank was created with a snowdrift die from MFT Die-Namics and the 

trees are heat-embossed in white then inked with Twisted Citron & Mowed Lawn.

The stamp set is Winnie & Walter: It's a Wonderful Pennant. The sentiment is

from Uniko: Simply Said - Christmas and to finish a few red nailheads.

Thanks so much for calling by and I'll catch up again tomorrow!

Uniko: Revisit Background Builders Christmas

Hi Everyone, it's time for a little more festive fun with a revisit post from 
Uniko.
This month we've dusted down, re-hashed, and re-vamped  the Background Builders Christmas set! 
It's got lots of fun and festive background stamps so here's my creation with  the snowflake stamp heat embossed in alternate white and silver EP then  covered with distress inks. The snowflake is the medium size from Uniko's  Decorative snowflake dies and the sentiment came as a little freebie in last  months release stamps! To finish a few sparkly gems from my stash.

I hope you feel inspired and please head over to the Uniko blog HERE 

to check our my teamies creations with this set. Also as tradition holds

there's a Giveaway blog hop with  the lucky winner receiving this set or 

an e-gift voucher to spend in the Uniko shop. To be in with a chance, 

please stop and leave a comment at each of the following blogs:

Bev (Uniko)

Deborah

Jane

Nicki

Sarah P (That's me)

The theme over at Inkspirational is 'Flake' so I'm going to 

skip across there with this card too.

Thanks as always for stopping by and I hope you'll 

call by tomorrow when I'll be sharing the latest challenge

details over at Less is More.

AAA Cards Challenge #54

Morning blog buddies, I'm here with details of our last challenge before Christmas over at AAA Cards and the theme for this one is  'Silent Night, Holy Night' ... you can't get more festive than that!

I've created a night-time sky with distress inks before stamping my favourite tree stamp - can't remember where it's from as it's been in my stash forever and it's one of the only wooden stamps I use! The sentiment is from Happy Little Stampers and to add some extra festive snowy  detail to my sky I've flicked and spritzed a mixture of water and perfect pearls,  left it to sit for about 20 seconds then blotted it with a paper towel.  I seem to have had a weekend of snowy cards so it would be wrong not to   link this one up at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge too: 'Let it Snow'  ... and it's another inky blend, favourite technique of mine so I'll hop over to Happy Little Stampers - CAS challenge too! Here's our inspiration photo below and before you race off  to your craft rooms please check out the main AAA Cards blog  where my teamies have created some fabulous cards.
Thanks as always for stopping by and we'll be back with more  challenges in the New Year.

Less is More #253

Hi there friends and apologies for my lack of posts this week which is 

basically down to crazy Christmas time chores which are creeping

up a little too quickly for my liking along with a lack of mojo! 

It's time to announce this week's challenge over at 

Less is More

... and we are back round to our colour week! 

This time, looking for Green & Blue on your cards.

Here's what I've come up with - Christmas all the way at the minute!

Using a piece of blue textured cardstock from Papermania I've die-cut

snowflakes with the Lawn Fawn snowflakes die before mounting the card panel

on 3d foam. The sentiment is from Happy Little Stampers and I've added

subtle green with some gems from my stash to the centres of the snowflakes.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge it's: 'Let it Snow' 

so I'm heading across there with this one, plus

Time Out Challenges have a word theme 'Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies'

so I'll stop off there too!

  

 

Next up uses one of my favourite techniques which has to be inky blending

with distress inks followed by a spritz of perfect pearls and water as I've done here!

The Christmas tree image is from Inkylicious and it's heat embossed 

in Hero Arts Clear EP before inking with Twisted Citron and Blueprint Sketch

distress inks. To add a little festive bling I've used coordinating gems from my stash!

The panel is die-cut using MFT Die-Namics pierced rectangles and the sentiment 

is from Stamplorations: Christmas Flower

I'd like to enter this one at Happy Little Stampers - CAS Challenge

where it's 'favourite technique' - Has to be done!

... and what a bonus my image features lots of stars so how about a  skip across to Happy Little Stampers - Christmas Challenge if that's allowed!

... and what's more it's 'holiday' themed at Addicted to Stamps and More  so it would be rude not to pop in there too!

I hope you enjoy this challenge and find time to play along! Thanks for calling by and I'll be back very soon if not already  (depending who Mr Blogger favours this morning)  with my Addicted to CAS challenge post!

Addicted to CAS #78

Morning friends it's time to announce our last challenge before  Christmas here at Addicted to CAS and my super talented fellow teamie both here and at Uniko has chosen the codeword 'Joy' for this one!
Here's my card using an emboss-resist technique with Distress Inks. The snowflakes are from Uniko: Stunning Snowflakes and the sentiments are from Hero Arts Stamp and Cut.

I hope you feel inspired to play along and don't forget to check out the main 

ATCAS blog HERE for more superb creations by my fellow teamies.

As I'm featuring snowflakes here I'd like to skip across to 

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where it's 'Let it Snow'

and Time Out Challenges - 'Snowflakes are Winters Butterflies'

Once again Kylie is sponsoring this challenge with a $15

gift certificate to The Happy Little Stampers Store

Thanks as always for calling in and hope to catch you again tomorrow

when I'll be back with the latest challenge details for AAA Cards.

Less is More #252

Hi there! Are we ready to play Less is More? We've got an easy one for you this week
Fruit
I mean there's loads of them to choose from isn't there? Sadly I don't have many in my stash so made my own  tangerines on the card below ....

It's Christmas at every opportunity for me so satsumas are festive - yeah?

 I started out by stamping a wood grain background from Winnie & Walter  

followed by the embossed sentiment from Happy Little Stampers. The rest of the elements

 are die-cut using circles for the 'satsumas' and Clearly Besotted Autumn Foliage for the 

leaves and pine-cones. For added interest and definition I've inked with distress inks 

plus Wink of stella and glossy accents to some to them. 

It's 'Anything Goes' this week over at 

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday so I'm zipping across with this one!

For this one I've used the Simply Scrumptious stamp and die set from

Clearly Besotted, I love this elegant circle of strawberries and once again

the berries are coated with glossy accents. I've used an MFT Die-Namics

stitched basic border die to curve the white panel then added some design

paper from my stash for added interest.

Hope you enjoy this one and don't forget to check out the main 

Less is More blog for the stunning designs from my teamies.

Thanks for calling by and happy crafting.

Uniko Challeng #27 Reminder

Morning friends, it's time for a quick reminder about this month's Uniko  Challenge where the theme is Christmas with the optional twist of CAS
Despite my love of CAS I went a bit OTT last week so back in the Clean and Simple swing for this one using a combination of mini images from various Uniko sets: Background Builders: Vines Winter Additions,  Essentially Christmas, Jingle Bells and Simply Said: Christmas

As well as some fantastic cards from the DT HERE we have two  super talented guest designers with us this month;
Our winner of last month's challenge, Jen of The Other Fickle Pixie plus Shona of Twine Around. I hope you'll stop by their blogs and check out their fantastic creations and leave some friendly comments.
You'll find all the details of prizes and closing dates on the Uniko blog and as always I really appreciate your visit to my little blog!

It's an 'Anything Goes' week over at  Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday so I'd like to link this up there!

I'll be back tomorrow with the Uniko Christmas Blog Hop so  more prizes up for grabs and more superb inspiration from the team! Hope to see you then!

AAA Cards Challenge #53

Morning friends it's time for us to announce the latest challenge over at AAA Cards, which will run for the next 2 weeks! Our theme is: Anything Goes but please keep your cards Clean and Simple  in line with the challenge guidelines, which can be found on the blog HERE Here's my card and at this time of year I can't resist incorporating a few extra Christmas cards! This one is ultra CAS and I'm playing along at a few other challenges which you might also like to link to - details below!

A super quick and simple card which is great for mass production!

I've used the Signature Christmas stamp set from Clearly Besotted,

it's an oldie but certainly a goodie and one of my Go To sets for Christmas!

I'd like to link up to the following challenges:

CAS Colours & Sketches: I've gone as close to the colours as my stash allows!

CAS(E) This Sketch (I've flipped the sketch on it's head)

CASology: Pretty (I'm hoping the pretty delicate colours will wing it!)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Theme is Christmas

I hope you feel inspired to play along this time and there's more

stunning creations from my fellow teamies over on the AAA Cards Blog

Thanks as always for stopping by my blog and hope you have  a fun and crafty-filled week!

Uniko Challenge #27

Hello friends, it's time to announce the last challenge for 2015 over at Uniko today and our theme is
Christmas with an optional twist ... CAS
The latest release of sets from Uniko was last week so what better way to showcase them a little more but use them for our challenge which is what I've done, using Jingle bells  and Labelled Christmas.

Despite being a CAS girl at heart I've not exactly twisted on this one

but I wanted to create a background using those gorgeous poinsettias 

from the set and accessorised with some gold foliage. 

I hope you feel inspired to create and don't forget there's loads 

more gorgeous designs from my fellow teamies at Uniko HERE

You'll also find details of the challenge prizes too! 

Edit: You can tell it's THAT time of year ... I forgot to mention

our fantastic Guest Designer Duo for this challenge ...

I'm so excited to announce them ... we have Shona from Twine Around along 

with our winner from last month's challenge; Jen from The Other Fickle Pixie.

They've both made super-cool CAS cards for today so hope you'll 

pop along and leave some love on their blogs!

Finally I'm heading over to Simon Says Stamps - Wednesday Challenge

with this card as the theme is Christmas this week

Thanks as always for calling in today and I'll be back tomorrow

with challenge details for Less is More and Addicted to CAS a little later!

Uniko Sponsoring 25 Days of Christmas Tags!

Morning friends, today I'm delighted to be a part of

... hosted annually by the super talented Tracey McNeely. This year is the 5th in a row and in the last few years I have swooned and admired all the stunning tags on display by a bunch of fabulous crafters, in the hope that I might be able to join in to ... unfortunately I've never managed it as I'm usually awash with Christmas card making!
So I was super EXCITED to say the least when Bev, (Uniko) told us that, along with a some of the other A* craft companies she would be  sponsoring Tracey's event this year and did I/we want to play along -  well I didn't need asking twice!!! 
Here's what I came up with ... 

... using my favourite snowflake dies from Uniko, with a Background Builders:  Christmas set and a little sentiment I received from Bev this weekend -  she's such a generous lady and I love promoting Uniko products.  I hope you feel inspired and please pop along to the main Uniko blog HERE as there's more goodies to look at from my fellow teamies!   ... and if you fancy playing along at Tracey's event then click HERE for all the event information and link up.
Almost forgot! I'd like to link this up at Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - where the theme this month is TAG!

Thanks as always for stopping by and hope to see you soon!