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!

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.

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 #367

Hello my crafty friends, I think I've missed a fortnight somewhere as it certainly only seems a minute since announcing our previous challenge over at Less is More but my diary says it's right so here goes with that ONE layer one that we love to terrorise you with!!!
All the details are on the main challenge blog HERE but here's the cue card to get you started and I've 2 cards to share with you today.

First up using one of my all-time favourite stencils from our sponsor STAMPlorations called Bold Florals. I've only used part of the stencil to leave a reasonable area of 'white' space and using Distress Oxides in Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Twisted Citron I've inked through the stencil adding some pencil detail too for extra shading. The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted, Brushed Greetings.

My next card uses another stunning stencil from ex Less is More teamie and super buddy Sarah of Funky Fossils and if you fancy this stencil too you can purchase it from her Folksy store HERE 

For this one I used standard Distress Inks in rainbow colours with sentiments from Neat & Tangled; Everyday Circles

I'd like to link this one up over at Timeout Challenges where they are celebrating their 4th birthday - Congratulations ladies and here's to many more. I hope my cheery rainbow colours make for a sunshine fun birthday feeling!

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies  over on the main blog HERE and as I mentioned earlier 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 play along in our and have some fun with us.
Thanks for calling by today

Less is More #365

Hi there friends, it's time to announce our second BIRTHDAY challenge over at Less is More to celebrate our 7th Birthay and we've got more delightful designs from some of our past Design Team members. 

We're also delighted to have Seven Hills Crafts kindly sponsoring the challenge and Tara (owner) is joining us as a Guest Designer too.
So let's get down to the latest Clean and Simple challenge for the next fortnight and here's the cue card  
There's often lots of debate in Blogland around the use of dry-embossing and how it can be used as a Clean and Simple element of a card so I can't wait to see what you come up with and I've 3 ideas to share with you today.
You'll find our guidelines and requirements for this technique over on the main Less is More blog HERE along with some superb ideas and inspiration from my talented teamies.

First up I've used a faux letterpress technique, as featured in an older video by Jennifer McGuire HERE which uses a detailed Tilda Flower die from Memory Box with a little ink to the edges then run through my Big Shot to 'emboss' the image onto watercolour card. 

Other Supplies Used:

Dies: Lil'Inkers: HI word die / Stamps: Avery Elle: Sentimental / Ink: Altenew

There's 2 challenges I'd like to pop this one into ... Addicted to Stamps and More, where they are looking for Clean and Simple Cards and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, where the requirement is to add a die-cut.

This card features a very subtle linear embossing technique where regular score lines have been marked using a folding board. I started out by inking up a beautiful stencil, which I received as a gift from my buddy and ex-DT member at Less is More, Sarah G of Funky Fossil Designs. Since stepping down from our challenge blog she's certainly not been sitting around but has set to work making various stencils, laser-cut MDF shapes and home decor/gifts. The stencil here, called Beautiful Mandala is available to purchase in Sarah's Folksy store HERE and she's also kindly offered 2 stencils as a gift to one of our birthday winners at Less is More this month. Why not head over HERE and look at what else is in store!

Other Supplies Used:

Dies: The Works: Stitched Square & Waffle Flower: Sentiment Strips

Stamps: Avery Elle: Sentimental / Ink: Distress Inks in Blueprint Sketch, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio 

 

Last but not least an underwater little scene using a circular die-cut piece of brusho-coloured card, which I then ran through a 'wave-effect' embossing folder from We R Memory Keepers. I've also used my 3 circular dies to create a de-bossed element to frame my focal image.

Other Supplies Used:

Dies: The Works: Stitched Squares & Sizzix Framelit Circles

Stamps: Paper Smooches: Briny Blue plus coordinating die & Create a Smile: Underwater Love

I'd like to pop this card in at Timeout Challenges where the theme is 'Hobbies' - Fishing is a popular hobby I believe although not one of mine!!! Hope it counts - sadly it's not twisted with a one layer.

I hope you've enjoyed my inspiration for this challenge and don't forget we've extra prizes this month with it being our Birthday. Our sponsor for the challenge is Seven Hills Crafts as well as a random mystery prize and Sarah's kind stencil for this month only so do play along for a chance, and we'll announce our winners at the start of next month. 


I hope you'll play along in our birthday challenges this month and have some fun with us.


Thanks for calling by today!