Less is More #363

Hello my crafty friends, 
Another fortnight has zipped by and I'm here to announce our latest challenge over at Less is More - and it's that dreaded one! Although we've moved to fortnightly challenges we are still using the same rotation of 'themes' so it's our ONE layer week!
Here's the cue card, which is self-explanatory, I hope, followed by my cards and I've 2 to share today.

First up, using a James Bear image from LOTV is the card I made for Kylie of Happy Little Stampers when she became a Nana for the first time at the end of last year. Having seen the photos of her adorable grandson I couldn't resist stamping this little cutie on the card. The 'Hey' sentiment is from Uniko with the 'Nanny' from Clearly Besotted Stamps.

Loads of masking and stamping on this second one using a mixture of pandas, as they're super cute ... yes? The sets are by Mama Elephant and it's Incoming Mail and Pandamonium. I've added a couple of score lines at the bottom for some extra interest and a little bit of shading and colour with Promarkers

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and if you missed the first challenge this month, we introduced a brand new sponsor for January; Skull and Cross Buns! Why not head on over and check out their gorgeous range of stamps and do make sure you 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 and thanks for calling by today!

Less is More #325

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More? Here I've used another digi image supplied by our wonderful sponsor for this month, LOTV. I love this bold sectioned sentiment and there's really not much else needed as it says it all. I've simply die-cut the sentiment panel using a Mama Elephant Index Card die, added a coloured sentiment 'friend' by Winnie & Walter: Big & Bold You, a panel of striped design paper then a few sequins for a little bit of the old bling!

I managed to make a quick extra card too and this has to be one of the fastest cards I've made EVER! That's what CAS is all about though and if you follow me regularly you'll know I adore vibrant fun colours; especially rainbows so when I spotted a rainbow challenge over at Addicted to CAS this week I decided I'd incorporate a striped pattern in rainbow colours. This one uses stamps from Uniko: BG Builders - Squares and sentiments from Simply Said Birthday and All Occasion Sentiments #2

Don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and we are also joined by our Week 4 birthday winner TaeEun of Rainbow in NovemberHope you'll play along and have some fun.Thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon!

Less is More #324

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More

You can really let you imagination run away with you here. 
I've gone with a traditional Spring like image using a digi-stamp from our sponsor LOTV. Having said that I'm not sure I've ever seen a rabbit on a swing out in the countryside but there's a first time for everything!

The image is coloured with Promarkers then adhered to a die-cut panel by MFT Blueprints 15 with a 'Hoppy Easter' sentiment from Uniko.

The theme over at Inkspirational this week is 'Spring' so I'm heading overthere with this card too as well as the Make Your Mark challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More

It was going to be just the one from me for this week and then I discovered a little stash of arty sketchbooks also by LOTV and these are pre-coloured so a really quick and easy card. Cropped the image, matted onto a deep purple then onto the card base. A quick Anniversary sentiment by Avery Elle and done!

There's plenty more ideas over on the main blog HERE as my fellow teamies have been working their magic again this week and we are joined by our Week 3 Birthday Winner; Wendy of Pink & Dotty. I do hope you'll pop along and visit her too this week.

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

Less is More #323

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More and can you believe we are back round to that 'unpopular' challenge again?

YES! I'm afraid it's the one layer week and here's what I've created for you and I hope you'll feel inspired to play along. As always there's loads of fun ideas by my fellow teamies over on the LIM blog HERE with links to their own blogs so do pop over and visit them if you get chance.

This first one uses a stamp by this month's sponsor LOTV - I think he's called James Bear but not sure what the name of the stamp is. He's sat in a frame which I managed to mask around before stamping. In fact rather a bit of masking happened here as I had to mask James then the curved panels at the top and bottom.

After last week's pastel colours sent me out of my comfort zone I decided to get straight back in with those vibrant rainbow shades using Ranger Die inks. The bear is coloured with Promarkers and the sentiment is by Create a Smile.

I'd like to enter this one over at TimeOut Challenges as it's a play on words and I just can't resist a rainbow! 'When it rains look for rainbows, when its dark look for stars'

The first card is my second attempt because ... would you believe I splashed water by accident on the first one and my sentiment went all blurry! OMG the air was blue!

Anyway I've managed to rescue it but sadly no longer a one layer but just to show that you don't have to toss every mess up in the bin ... I fuzzy cut around the base of the rainbow, added a piece of cardstock behind and stamped a new bold sentiment with a hand-drawn edge to the curve for added detail. 

One more very simple card for you and this one uses the Fairytale stamp set by Clearly Besotted, heat-embossed in WOW metallic silver sparkle EP and coloured with Promarkers. The floral spray is on a slight curve so I think I can get away with that plus I used a corner punch on 2 corners! 

Ok that's all I have for today and I hope you'll play along and have some fun.

Thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon!

Less is More #322

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More and it's a new month already and we've a new sponsor for this month too. We are delighted to announce that Lili of The Valley will be offering a prize for our April winner so I hope you'll keep playing along!
The first week of the month means ...

and I've two cards to share with you today with the first one using a wonderful digi stamp sentiment collection, by our sponsor, called Fabulous!

I've created a background of dreamy butterflies over half of the card, using a Clearly Besotted set and stamped in the most delicate of inks by Altenew: Rose Quartz, Mountain Mist and Soft Lilac. The sentiment panel is die-cut using a stitched square stax from MFT Die-Namics which is lightly inked in lilac along the edges. To finish a few gems and 2 die-cut butterflies hanging off the panel.

A slightly bolder use of pastel shades here using the following:

Stamps

Uniko: Simply Said & Celebrate with Cake (Have a & Mother's Day)

Altenew: Daisy and Simple flowers (Beautiful sentiment)

Dies: Clearly Besotted Trellis 

Inks: Altenew Crisp inks

It's an anything Goes week at Simon Says Stamp so I'd like to pop this one across to their Wednesday Challenge.

Don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and i hope you'll play along and have some fun.
Thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon!

AAA CAS Cards Challenge #83

Hello there friends, it's time for another challenge over at 
AAA CAS Cards
The theme for this one is ' Shape Your Love' so it's a card featuring LOVE with the  optional twist to shape your card in some way! Here's my card, which didn't exactly turn  out how I'd planned but when time is precious you have to go with what you've got!

I've used the 'Love' word die from Impression Obsession but the negative portion, then I fuzzy cut around it, die-cut a stitched border along the base before popping onto a red card panel. To finish a little strip of red under the word to balance with the base of the card and some silver pearls for added interest.
Here's our photo inspiration for you and as always there's plenty more super CAS  creations by my fellow teamies, with links to their blogs on the AAA Cards blog HERE

We are also joined by Kylie, our sponsor for this one along with one of my super 

talented friends and teamies from Less is More; Sharon of From my Craft Desk

Sharon is a whizz on techniques and always comes up with clever CAS designs.

I'm sure she'd love a visit, Kylie too, so don't forget to head along to their

blogs for inspiration and to leave some friendly encouragement.

As mentioned above our sponsor for this challenge is Happy Little Stampers 

and our lucky winner will receive a $15 gift certificate.

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope 

you feel inspired and will play along with us!

A Little Sunday Trio

Happy Sunday all and hope you are enjoying a sunny crafty day. I've 3 cards to share and I'm not entirely sure about them ...  I'm struggling with toothache which hasn't helped my mojo today but as I've made the effort I'm going to drop them in for a few challenges.
So first up is for a new challenge to me; having seen a fair amount of red, white, black and umbrellas in blogland  I had to check out what was going on!!!  
Here's my first play over at The Challenge #31

Card Recipe:

Stamplorations: Vignette - Ever After

Clearly Besotted: Je T'aime, Baby Shower & Notebook die

(I didn't have an umbrella small enough so accented the card with red

hearts from the baby shower set & Doodlebug Twine)

My Favourite Things: On the diagonal stencil - tone on tone

to add little interest to the card base.

I've also linked this card up at the never-ending

Anything Goes Challenge at Stamplorations

Next up is to enter the Merry Monday Challenge

sorry ladies I missed last week as I couldn't find vintage

Then I found this little artpad from Lili of The Valley!

So I'm using one of their gorgeous images including a little dog.

He looks just like my own dog but mine has more black and white.

The sentiments are from Uniko Studio: Simply Said Christmas

and Peace on Each stamp sets

Design paper is American Crafts

Last one for today is a second entry to Inkspirational

where it's a space theme.

I couldn't resist inking up this 'Blast Off' set from Clearly Besotted

on a moon effect circle created with distress ink in faded jeans

then spritzed with water and perfect pearls to make a shimmer-effect.

   ]

I'd also like to link this up at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday challenge

where it's Clean and Simple this week.

Ok, thanks as always for stopping by my blog

and I'll catch up with you again soon

Less is More #210

*** This is my first post of the day but please pop back at 9am for Day1 of Uniko Studio Introductions ***
Morning All and have I got a post for you today! Hope you're sitting comfortably and grab yourself a brew as it's CELEBRATION TIME ... oh yeah!
Less is More is 4 years old!
Can you believe that and what an achievement especially for Chrissie who has been there from the start. Chrissie you are a STAR!
What's more ... to help us celebrate we have some super duper  hugely talented guest designers for one week only! ... and not only that but our lovely sponsors have offered some FABULOUS special birthday prizes!  Winners will be chosen by Random.org 
I'm in shock that my little card is sitting amongst theirs.
So what have we got to challenge you with this week ... well what else ... it's a BIRTHDAY week
with a colour scheme of Pinks & Greys
If you've been following my blog for the last few days you'll know that Uniko Studio is gearing up for their latest stamp release  and Beverley has kindly given me special permission to  introduce today's set early, here on my Less is More post  ... and I'll be back later with another one



This uses a beautiful birthday set called: Balloon Bash along with some sentiments from the new sets too. More will be revealed this week!
A little sneaky crafty trick here to create my grey stripes  (may not be new to you talented folk) but I used the back of one of the Uniko Studio background builders stamps  to create them and I like how it's turned out.

AND ... guess what ... it's birthdays all round as    Uniko Studio is 3 years old this month!
The gorgeous Beverley (owner of Uniko Studio) is a regular sponsor of LIM  and also one of our super guest designers this week  (in fact I still can't believe she agreed when I asked her)
If you haven't already visited the Uniko Studio blog showcasing Beverley's amazing talent then you are missing a treat! So please pay her a visit and leave some loving feedback.

Drum roll please as I'm still squealing inside having received a 'Yes' from this lovely rock-star of crafty talent .... Michelle from The Card Grotto.
I'm sure you'll have come across Michelle but if not check out her AMAZING blog too with video tutorials plus details of what products she's  used on her GDT card today.
She is one lucky lady too ... being on the Design Team of another of my favourite  stamp companies - Clearly Besotted Stamps, and another of our fab sponsors. 

Today Michelle is representing Clearly Besotted in her guest designer post at LIM and you may have spotted that I also have my own little stash of their products  so it would be rude not to use some on my card.

I'm loving BOLD blocks of colour at the moment!

From Clearly Besotted:

'Happy' word die ... layered up 3 times on glossy black card

'birthday' sentiment: Happy Birthday stamp set

Diagonal stripes stamps: inked in silver pigment ink then clear embossed

To finish a candy dots from Stampin' Up and gems from The Hobby House

Last but not least I've re-discovered some of my Lili Of The Valley

pre-coloured art pads recently and whoopie it just so 

happens to matches our colour challenge perfectly.

The 'shocking pink' card is from Papermania 

Paper Smooches: sentiment from Free Spirits set

Clearly Besotted: Scalloped dies

Well I hope you are still with me because if you haven't 

already done so you NEED to hop across to the 

Less is More blog to discover which other 

amazing crafters are guest designing for us

plus be in with a shout of winning some mega prizes

from the generous sponsors who are offering extra birthday goodies.

So off you go, have fun, craft until you are dizzy

and if you remember please pop back later for 

my Uniko Studio post with another card

from this same set.

Thanks as always for stopping by.

Late Night Skating & Carol Singing!

Hi there ... another late posting for me before I head off to bed and two cards to share with you First up it's for the latest Muse Challenge

So all through December I resisted buying this GORGEOUS

Mama Elephant penguin set ... why? Can't answer that!

I love it and couldn't wait to ink it up.

To be honest I only need a maximum of one Valentine card

and even then Hubby and I don't always go in for cards

... it's for the youngsters really isn't it!

So I didn't want to make a card specific to Valentine's Day

but still wanted little critters in a shape with some embossing

in line with Julie's stunning creation below:

Card Recipe:

Obviously the Mama Elephant stamp set but also 

the stitched rectangle from the Index Card dies from ME

Sheena Douglas Embossing Folder

Distress ink in Evergreen Bough

MFT Die-Namics Sentiment Strips

Clearly Besotted: Say it in Style 

I'd also like to link this up at Simon Says Stamp 

where it's 'Anything Goes' this week.

Next up another challenge combo ...

I'm trying to keep to my New Year's Resolution of joining the 

Merry Monday Challenge every week but when I saw

we had to include Carol Singers this time I cringed.

UNTIL ... sifting through some of my stash I found

a little pre-coloured art pad from Lili of the Valley

and guess what ... a perfect little image!

I've teamed it up with the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch

using some washi tape from good old M&S!

Amazing what they sell to wrap up those Christmas goodies.

It's silver snowflakes and I was quite impressed with the look 

against the grey cardstock.

The sentiment is Uniko Studio: Simply Said Christmas

and it's glistening with Wink of Stella but perhaps not obvious in the photo.

Right that's all for now but thanks so much for stopping by 

and hope you are all keeping warm and cosy.

LET'S DANCE

Morning Blog buddies and thanks for stopping by today.

We are back round to Saturday again and another

theme challenge at Less is More

Face the Music & Dance

For this card I've used a digi-stamp from Delicious Doodles - Charleston,

teamed with a Frame-it die from My favourite things to make a shaker card.

The 'Happy' word die and Anniversary sentiment are both Clearly Besotted.

The sequins in my shaker are from Doodlebug with hearts from my stash.

To finish off a strip of DP from Echo Park and some gems for sparkle!

I'd like to enter this over at CAS on Sunday where the theme is

'Sequins Celebration'

Does ''You Rock' count?!?!? Hope so as the die-cut sentiment was a lucky freebie 

ages ago from Dies to Die for and I've been hanging on to it waiting for 

the ideal opportunity to use it ... and here it is.

It's adhered to the card on 3d adhesive to add some dimension.

The guitar has been in my stash for about 10 years! 

I can't remember where it's from it's so old.

 AND for that bit of dazzle ... I've added some nail heads from Josy Rose.

And last but not least ....

Here's two little girl cuties using Lili of the Valley images with the addition

of twine and DP from my stash, sentiments from Paper Smooches and 

Clearly Besotted plus Wink of Stella and Glamour Dust.

Ok as is the norm I'm handing over to you talented crafters

to join in the challenge and have some musical fun.

You've all done a fantastic job on the 'Beverages' challenge 

last week and I know you'll do brilliantly with this one too.

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Happy crafting!