Less is More #344

Hi There friends another week has flown by and I'm back with the details for his week's challenge at Less is More. It's the start of a new month which means we're back round to our COLOUR challenge and here's this week's Cue Card so nice and easy ...



We are delighted to welcome back Happy Little Stampers, our generous sponsor for challenges in September so do play along each week to be in with a shout of a prize! What's more Kylie, owner of HLS is our Guest Designer for this one and I'm sure she'd love a visit if you have the time. She's got a never-ending repertoire of stunning techniques to try so why not grab a brew and spend some time swooning!

I've two cards for you today and the first one uses one of my favourite stamp sets from HLS: Mix Mash with a large 'Happy' sentiment from the Everyday greetings set. The inks are Altenew and I masked the bottom section of my card base before stamping then added the 'birthday' greeting once the tape was removed. For a little added interest I stamped the happy on a stitched circle die cut and sliced the bottom off then popped it up on fun foam. 

I rarely make square cards but this greeting from Mama Elephant was just too big when die-cut from a circle to add on my normal rectangular card base. I used Zig Clear Brush pens to colour my sentiment and repeat stamped a few times. While the sentiment and card were still in place in my Misti I used Versamark ink then heat embossed the sentiment with clear embossing powder to add some extra shine. I couldn't resist matting my cardbase with lime green and royal blue papers and I think it sets off the circular greeting quite well. To finish a few coordinating enamel dots. 

That's all of my examples but do pop along to the main blog HERE where my teamies, as always, have worked their magic to provide even more inspiration. 

I hope you'll play along with us, have some fun and thanks for stopping by today.

AAA CAS Cards Challenge #95

Hello there friends, it's time for another challenge over at AAA CAS Cards and this post is tinged with a little sadness as I'm stepping down from the Design Team at AAA Cards following this challenge. It's been a brilliant opportunity, creating alongside such fantastic talent and I've loved every minute. I've also made some wonderful friends who I hope to meet up with in the near future and definitely keep in touch with them via social media. 
The demands of being on a Design Team are challenging and unfortunately being on several design teams, alongside work certainly eats into precious family time, which has led me to this decision. I do hope to play along in the challenges now and again and I'd like to thank everyone at AAA CAS cards for being such perfect teamies!
The theme for this one is Rainbow and it's one of my favourite themes so  here's my card followed by a little photo inspiration for you too

This was a very quick and easy card to make using rainbow coloured strips adhered at an angle to a panel of white card-stock. This was die-cut using a stitched rectangle die before adding a die-cut 'happy' sentiment and stamped 'birthday' greeting. To finish I couldn't resist a few enamel dots in rainbow colours.

As always there's plenty more super CAS creations by my fellow teamies, with links to their blogs on the AAA Cards blog HERE

Our Guest Designer for this challenge is a formidable Queen of CAS and creator of the ever-popular Less is More Challenge. It's Chrissie of Simply One of a Kind! She is a whizz at Clean and Simple designs and I hope you'll pop along and visit her blog this week.

Our sponsor for this challenge is STAMPlorations and I hope you'll feel inspired to join us and play along.

Less is More #335

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More? It's the start of a new month which means it's colour week and also time to introduce our sponsor for the month. We are delighted to welcome back Happy Little Stampers, who will be providing the prize for this month. 
Here's our cue card and I've 2 cards to share with your this week using our Union Jack colour combo 



This one uses bold blocks of coloured card stock with the bottom half dry-embossed using one of the We R Memory Keepers Next Level embossing folders. The sentiment is from My Favourite things and I've added a couple of enamel dots to add a little extra interest. 
It's an Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge so I'd like to head across there with this one. 

Here's one using images by our sponsor Happy Little Stampers from the Wish You Were Here and Mix Mash sets for the sentiment. 

I hope you'll play along with us this week and don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE where you'll find some fantastic inspiration.

Thanks for calling by my blog and I'll be back soon. 

Less is More #334

Hi there, can you believe another week has just zipped by and it's time to announce our latest weekly challenge at Less is More - these weeks need to slow down as I can't keep up!!!
So on to the challenge and it's time for a sketch this week, I've got a few examples for you and I've got to admit I was pretty pleased with myself having made a Christmas card during the hottest week so far this year! I was desperate to use the CBS landscape die but having photographed my card and popped it on the Less is More blog I'm not sure it adheres to our sketch quite as much as it should so here's a few more examples .... but first up the sketch!

Using Distress inks in Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon and Faded Jeans I've created a loose watercolour effect in the shape of the sketch - a little tricky when the ink wants to run beyond the 'lines'! Once dry I splattered some water on top for extra interest then stamped the magnolia blooms by Altenew, added a die-cut sentiment from Impression Obsessions. 
I was inspired by the photo challenge over at Inkspirational this week so I'd like to pop this card in there as well as Addicted to Stamps and More, where they're celebrating a massive 5 years worth of challenges with a 'Make Your Mark' challenge and lastly, another entry to this month's Flower Challenge where it's 'Anything Goes'





Next up and using some striking and vibrant design papers from Doodlebug plus their sprinkles too I've created 2 cards, as close as possible to the sketch, but flipped on the second one. 

This one uses another 'on the line' die-cut sentiment from Impression Obsessions and I'd like to pop this one in at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it's 'Use Design Paper' and they are featuring products by Doodlebug! Pretty fortunate seen as I love their papers and accessories. 

Another set of papers from Doodlebug and this time accessorised with a die-cut sentiment by Waffle Flower and the 'your birthday' from Uniko: Simply Said

... and last but not least my 'dubious' make from the Less is More blog with a distress inky blended skyline, white gel pen snow drops plus some added glitter sparkles to the sky too and to finish a festive sentiment from Uniko: Most Wonderful.

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you feel inspired to join in with our sketch challenge this week. There's loads of fab makes from by fellow teamies at Less is More so don't forget to pay them a visit and the links to their blogs can be found HERE

Less is More #313

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More This week it's our Recipe week and the theme for this one is to use
1 or More balloons on your card
Here's mine and there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE with links to their own blogs. Do check them out and pay them a visit if you've time - they'd love it!

I have to admit I'm a bit of hoarder in the craft department and seem

to hang on to any little bit of die-cut scraps and off-cuts so this card

is made up of a lot of scraps that have been cluttering my desk!

The die-cut BG was a surplus piece from a previous card, the 

die-cut balloons were from a left-over scrap of distress-inked 

watercolour card and an off-cut of cardstock for the sentiment strip! 

Items used:

Neat & Tangled: Punchinella die

Sugar Pea Designs: Celebrate word die

Paper Smooches: Big Balloon dies

Distress inks and Doodlebug Sprinkles

It's an 'Anything Goes' week over at Addicted to Stamps and More

so I thought I'd pop this one in over there plus the 'Anything Goes with Dies'

at Happy Little Stampers.

This one uses some yummy Altenew inks to create a flurry of balloons.

The balloon and strings are from the Clearly Besotted set: Let's Party

with sentiments from our sponsor for this month, Happy Little Stampers;

Every Day Sentiments and Fun Birthday Sentiments

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

so I'd like to head over there plus 'Anything Goes with HLS'

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

12 Days of Christmas Cards with Kylie

Hello Friends, are we starting to feel that festive cheer?
Today I was invited to join the lovely Kylie Purtell by sharing a  Christmas card for her 12 Days of Christmas Card Challenge. I'm Day 9 and I couldn't wait to play along with some stamps from Happy Little Stampers and ended up making 2 cards!

For this one I've used the Mix Mash and Everyday Sentiments sets.

Having stamped the sentiment I masked the area off then stamped various

circles and star burst from Mix Mash. To finish I added some hand drawn

lines above and below the sentiment, a couple of sparkling sprinkles by

Doodlebug, die-cut the panel with and MFT pierced rectangle and mounted

it on my card base with bright red fun foam (sorry you can't see that bit)!

This one uses one of the newly released sets ... Wish You Were Here

and although it's not specifically Christmas I thought those birds in

cages could work as 'tree ornaments' or my 3 French Hens! Yes?

The sentiment is from the Mixed Christmas Sentiments set and I've

finished my stamped panel with a few gems and a stitched border die.

I hope you'll feel inspired to play along as there's prizes up for grabs

so why not head over to Kylie's blog HERE for all the details, linky

 and more of her stunning Christmas designs.

There are 3 sponsors for the challenge who are each offering a prize

of a $20 gift certificate to their online stores

Happy Little Stampers

STAMPlorations

Create a Smile

As always thanks for calling by and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas

Less is More #298

Hi friends are you ready for another challenge over at Less is More?

It's our THEME week and we've chosen 

Incy Wincy Spiders or Insects!

Now there's no need to go Halloween on this one but in the absence

of suitable insects and particularly spiders other than in Halloween 

sets I decided to go with that occasion. Fortunately my nieces and

nephews are still of an age where they'll accept Halloween Cards!

I think!!! Especially the sort with spiders!

This one uses the stitched filmstrip die by Pretty Pink Posh 

and I've re-cut it in the orange, green and purple (typically for Halloween)

to add my spiders web and spiders to each aperture. The card looked

a little bland when I'd finished so I decided to grab a stencil I've just

purchased by Tim Holtz and ink it through with Hickory Smoke Distress ink.

I still wasn't happy to decided to go full on distressing up the edges instead

then adding a few extra webs. The Happy sentiment is by Happy Little Stampers

and the reset of the images are by Clearly Besotted 'Halloween Spirit'

The theme over at CASology this week is 'Spooky' so I'd like to pop this card in there!

This one uses the 'In Print' set by Clearly besotted but couldn't resis

adding googlie eyes to the fingerprint spider! The sentiment is from

the Out of This World set also by Clearly Besotted and I was attempting

to CASE one of Jennifer McGuire's recent techniques shown HERE but

think I've not quite got my spacing right ... more practice needed!

So that's all of mine but please head over to the main blog HERE 

where there's links to my fellow teamies blogs and cards.

I'm sure they'd love a visit and they've worked their usual magic on 

the theme to inspire you!

Have a fab week and as always thanks for calling by my blog.

Less is More #297

Hello friends, hope you've had a good week; I certainly don't know where mine's gone - one minute it was Sunday, recovering from the  Happy Stampers Festival and WOAH! It's Saturday again!
... which means it's time for a new challenge over at  Less is More
and it's the 'dreaded one' - Yep all have a groan! Me too!
ONE LAYER card week with the theme DREAMS To be honest I've got very little in my stash for this theme so it's just the one card from me today and I've 'showcased' Dreamy sentiments.

I can't resist an excuse for a bit of inky blending with Distress inks

so the background features a bundle of my favourites and I've done the

irresistible (for me) spritzing and flicking with water and perfect pearls.

In fact I even brushed some gold perfect pearls over the top for added shimmer

but you can't see that in the photo. The sentiments are from Clearly Besotted:

Dandelion Dreams and they're heat embossed using Versafine Onxy and clear EP.

To finish there's a hand-drawn black border and some enamel dots; I'm regretting

adding those if I'm honest but daren't remove them for fear of the mess!

Edit: thanks again to Anita for suggesting I should enter this one over at

Virginia's View Challenge - Focus Point

I hope you'll stop by my fellow teamies blogs as their cards are just 

oozing magic, fun and dreamy inspiration for you - the links are on the

main Less is More blog here and I'm sure they'd love a visit!

As always thanks for stopping by my blog today and hope to 

catch up again soon. Have a good weekend.

Couple of Kylie Challenges

Hi Friends I've a card to share today which is the  'other half' / 'negative space' / 'alternate view' of a card I created for the Muse Card Challenge HERE when I was kindly invited to be their Guest Designer for the week.
I was actually torn with which card to post as I love this one too so decided I'd post this today and enter into a few challenges at the same time!

This uses Brushos to create the original panel (spritzed with water) from which I've 

die-cut the heart of gold by Neat & Tangled! I think this is currently my

absolute FAV die! Can't stop reaching for it. It's quite intricate and not

one of those little inner bits are the same size so it's a real puzzle to piece it back together

 - especially when you put masking paper on the back instead of stick-it!!! 

The sentiment is by Avery Elle and to pull the colours together I've used some coordinating 

gems and Doodlebug enamel dots. The front panel is die-cut using an MFT stitched

rectangle die which I've 'stretched' in die-cut machine to fit a standard UK A6 card!

This front panel is also mounted on 3d foam for added interest so the heart is set back

although it's not that obvious in the photo sadly! Always the case eh!

This card just so happens it fit's into lots of Kylie's challenges (hence the title of my post)

so here goes:

First up:

HLS - CAS challenge: Watercolour Spritz

HLS - Anything Goes with Dies

Addicted to Stamps & More - Anything Goes

I'd also like to stick my neck on the line and try my chances

at joining the HLS - CAS design team call

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

with the latest challenge details for Uniko - hope to see you then!

AAA Cards CAS Challenge #73

Hi there, it's time to announce our latest challenge over at  AAA Cards CAS Challenge Our theme for this one is 'Upcycling' so you've got 2 weeks to root around in all those boxes of 'schtuff' that you daren't throw away ('cos it might be useful sometime within the next 50 years!) I hope you have some fun with this one and I'm excited to see how you play it! Ok so my 'upcycled' item is my background panel which was originally a tissue box! How easy is that! I love geometrics on cards, especially for the guys and couldn't resist hanging on to this for just the right occasion! It's teamed with a circular sentiment from Neat and Tangled with a 'birthday' greeting by Winnie & Walter. Sorry it's so faint in the photo. To finish a  couple of matching Doodlebug sprinkles. Please remember to keep your design Clean and Simple and if you need more inspiration then please check out my fellow teamies creations HERE We've also got a Guest Designer and one of our previous winners Angie of Cimbacreativefun I'm sure she'd love a friendly visit or two! Our sponsor for this one is Happy Little Stampers and if you'd like to be in with a shout of $20 gift certificate to spend in their online store then please link up your entries by 24th September