Less is More #374

Hello my crafty friends, it's time to announce our latest challenge at Less is More but before that I have some news to share: this will be my last post for the Less is More design team; for a while anyway. 
I've decided it's time to take a break from the challenge - it's been 4 brilliant years and I've met lots of wonderful like-minded folk during that time, many of whom will remain life-long friends (I hope!). Unfortunately it's got to the point where I'm finding creating for the challenges more of a chore and less of the fun, hence my decision. 
I've been overwhelmed by the support from my fellow teamies and I'm delighted to hand the Less is More reins to Sharon, who has kindly agreed to stand in for as long as it takes. 

So let's get down to announcing this latest challenge, sponsored by Uniko and I'm using some their products in my cards below. It's our recipe challenge week and all the details you need are on the main challenge blog HERE
It's called 'Item from your 'bits' box and don't we all hoard loads of things in our bits boxes!!! Here's the cue card, which we'd love to see in your post, followed by my cards.

This was a great opportunity to have a good old sort out in my bits boxes. Yes I've more than one - they're little but some have sentiments, some have die-cut shapes, some have off-cuts of patterned paper and part made cards. Every now and again I like to go through them and chuck out some of it as I'll never use everything.
The other bonus in doing this was I found stuff I'd completely forgotten about so I hope you enjoy your adventure into your boxes of bits n pieces and I can't wait to see the results! 

The only thing NOT in my bits box on this card is the sentiment strip, only because I didn't have one already in a coordinating colour. I must have created this background some time ago when I was featuring this background block of doodle flowers from Uniko. It's heat embossed with a pearl embossing powder then blended over the top with Distress Inks. I found the balloons already coloured and miraculously they match the background, the pieces of twine were also in a bits box as well as the strip of purple patterned paper. I rather like this card and think I may have to play more often with items from my bits box!

Other than the sentiment and pearls everything else was in the bits box for this card. Uniko products again with a trio of rose buds, watercoloured with Distress Inks from the Pure Florals Rose set (left overs from release week), a doily which I'd completely forgotten about and was left over from a previous goody bag from the HISTK girls, a strip of design paper and the negative inner space of a die-cut scalloped circle, which is sitting on top of the doily! 

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies  over on the Less is More blog HERE and do play along for a chance to win our sponsor prize this month, from Uniko

I hope you'll feel inspired to play along with us and have some crafty fun along the way.


Thanks for all your visits and although I'll be missing from the Less is More line-up from now on, I'll hopefully catch you around blogland in the weeks ahead.

Uniko Revist - Beautiful Blooms I, II & III

Hi there friends, we're having a REVIST month over at Uniko where Bev asks us to 'dig out', dust down and bring a previously released set back into the spotlight! 
This month she's decided that all of the Beautiful Blooms range needs a little love and showcasing so she's asked if we'll select one of the sets to feature in our posts.
I pulled all three sets out onto my desk but realised I have used the Beautiful Blooms I a lot in it's time, as it's one of my favourite Uniko Bloom sets, especially as it has matching dies! So I went to work with the other 2 using the same colour combos.
First up it's BB III with sentiment from Organic Wishes, followed by BB II using a mix of sentiments from Birthday sentiments and the Simply Said range. Both cards use some brand new Altenew inks called 'Sweet Dreams' - (well new to me anyway from the Port Sunlight Happy Stampers show in early May) but this is the first time I've used them. As you'd expect it's delicious mix of colours too! 

As is the tradition there's a blog hop giveaway; the prize being a choice of one of the 3 sets featured.

You'll find all the details over at Uniko HERE and here's the list of blogs you need to visit on the hop! I wish you lots of luck!

Bev
Carol 

Deborah 
Izzy 

Jane 
Lindsey

Rahmat
Sarah G

Sarah P
 

Before I leave you to hop here's the images of the sets and as always thanks for visiting my blog today.

  

  

A Little Weekend Fun!

Hi friends, I'm just nipping in with 2 cards that I've created this morning with no real purpose or direction .... just to have some fun!

First up I received this stunning butterfly stamp and cutting die combo set, by Crafters Companion from my good friend Sarah of Funky Fossil Designs - unfortunately for Sarah, she received it as a freebie but already owned the set but I was more than happy to take it off her hands and I have been desperately waiting for a moment to ink it up and create ... so this morning that moment came. I've used Promarkers to colour it and a sentiment from Uniko Organics Additions.

This one is to add to the Muse Card Challenge this week - be it a little late in the day to enter but another of my super duper Craft Buddies, Anita, is the Muse this week so I simply had to join in. I also caught a You Tube video by Ardyth HERE which inspired me without actually realising she'd created her card for Muse too. 

The card uses an inlaid die by Paper Smooches, coloured with Promarkers, an inky background using Distress Oxides in Blueprint Sketch and Mermaid Lagoon then smothered in a mix of perfect pearls and water, then an 'One the Line' happy birthday word sentiment from Impression Obsessions. 

Here's Anita's CASE card - I think I'm a little more 'heavy handed' with my blending! 

Thanks for calling by today and I hope you're having a little crafty fun too. 

Less is More #373

Well hello my crafty friends, I cannot believe that it's almost a month since I posted something on my blog and I feel totally 'out of it'. 
May was a really crazy-hectic month for me work-wise but compensated with a very much deserved treat at the end of the month - a week in Portugal. I'm still trying to re-adjust to life back home, having been spoilt rotten in the sun. 
Fellow team buddy, Sharon, may beg to differ on the 'sun' as she lives out there and seemed to think the weather was a disgrace!!!  It was an absolute delight to meet up with her and her hubby for an afternoon of chit-chat over drinks and ice-cream! 
Anyway enough reminiscing and back to the reality of announcing our latest challenge at Less is More which is all about friends! Why not? They are so special and particularly those who share this beautiful hobby and keep boosting our confidence whenever the mojo has gone AWOL!  
All the challenge details are on the main challenge blog HERE but here's the Cue Card followed by my cards.


Our sponsor for this month is Uniko and my first card feature some of their products and Bev (owner/designer) is joining us as a Guest Designer for this challenge too.
... using the new Chrysanthemum stencil, inked with Distress Oxides in Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Mermaid Lagoon, followed by a camouflage die-cut 'friend' sentiment from Paper Smooches, which is  mounted on 3 layers of teal cardstock to add a little definition and dimension. The sentiment is from the Pure Florals Cosmos set.

next up ... and a little 'note to self' here - DO NOT try to be inspired by Jennifer McGuire after a month away from the craft room!!!! LOL! Did anyone else watch THIS? 

Well it took me much longer to create my card than dear JM and still I couldn't get the die to partially cut!!! It's a rose die-cut from Memory Box, mounted on 4 layers of white cardstock with a (previously prepared) brusho panel behind and a strip of glitter tape to 'hide' the mess of the failed partial die-cut! 

I'm not sure what company the 'friend' die-cut is from and to be honest I was just grabbing anything from my 'scraps' box to get this card finished at that point! The 'You are Awesome' is an Altenew sentiment from the Painted Butterfly set. 

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the Less is More blog HERE and please do visit them as they have definitely worked magic with the challenge! 
As mentioned above our sponsor for this challenge is Uniko so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we'll announce at the start of next month. 





Thanks for calling by today!

Uniko Reveal, Release and GIVEAWAY Blog Hop - May 2018

Hi there and thanks for visiting me again today!
So you've had the Sneaky Peeks and Introductions and now we have the BIG Reveal, Release and GIVEAWAY of this month's new goodies from Uniko
If you're lucky enough to have a ticket for the Happy Stampers Festival in Port Sunlight for today then be sure to pop along to the Uniko stand to say hello and all these new goodies, that we've been introducing you to in the last week or so, will be available to buy! Yeah!
Here's my cards showcasing these fabulous sets and they are now available in the shop HERE and waiting for you to buy!
This first one uses a combination of older mini images by Uniko along with the Natures Treasures II stencil, Simply Said Blocks II set and Originally Organics Additions Designer Dies, all of which are being released this time.

These two use the Stylised Flower stencil with the 'Have a ... Day' sentiment stamps above from the Celebrate with Cake set, 'Happy' below from the Festive Sentiments  and the bees and 'Day' from the Bee Happy set being released this month. I received my first pot of Nuvo Glimmer Paste this week and couldn't wait to play with it so I inked up 2 panels of water coloured cardstock with Distress Oxides (blue/green above and pink/yellow below) before adding the paste through the stencil. 

As we've got a 'bee' theme sort of going on this month I decided to use some Hexagan stitched dies by Die-namics to feature on these ones. 

As well as the regular Design Team we're also joined by Anna of urascrap who is the Uniko Guest Designer for May so do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word. 

So all that's left for me to do is set you off on the traditional Design Team Blog Hop and wish you luck. All the details you need are on the Uniko blog HERE so if you get lost along the way just head back there.

Bev
Carol 

Deborah 
Izzy 

Jane 
Julie
Linda

Lindsey

Rahmat
Sarah G

Sarah P - That's Me
Wiebke

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've enjoyed being introduced to these new goodies from Uniko and I've added the images of the various products below. 
Have fun and happy shopping.
   
               

Less is More #371

Hello my crafty friends, it's time to announce our latest challenge at Less is More and it's our COLOUR challenge for the next fortnight.
All the details are on the main challenge blog HERE so onto the challenge itself and here's our cue card followed my cards. 


I've 2 cards to share with you today, which both use the It's a Wonderful Pennant set by Winnie and Walter (our brand new sponsor for this month). I think it's supposed to be a Christmas Tree set if used as expected but I decided to 'think outside the box' and made little party/clown hats with pom-poms on top for the first one with a sentiment by Uniko. 

This one uses the same set but just one of the 'Christmas tree' images to create a geometric pattern. The sentiment is also by Winnie and Walter from the 'Big and Bold You' set. I coloured 2 strips of card with Promarkers in coordinating shades of yellow and blue for a little extra detail to the card.

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies  over on the Less is More blog HERE and as mentioned above our sponsor for this challenge is Winnie and Walter so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we'll announce next month. 


I hope you'll feel inspired to play along with and have some crafty fun along the way.
If you happen to be at the Happy Stampers Festival at Port Sunlight today then do pop along to say 'Hi' as I'm helping out on the Uniko stand with a few of the Design Team. It's a great day out and I love to see all those happy crafty folks who share this hobby. 
I'll also be back with another post in an hour (Mr Blogger dependent as he's on scheduling duty today) with the BIG reveal, release and GIVEAWAY of this month's new goodies from Uniko. 


Thanks for calling by today and catch up soon!

Uniko - Introducing Explosion! Collection Designer Dies

Hi there, 

Today is the final introduction to the latest products being released from Uniko this month and all these beautiful products will be available from 12th May, to coincide with the Happy Little Stampers Festival on Saturday and available to purchase in the online store too. 

This collection of dies coordinates with the previously released Explosion and Explosion Additions sets. Unfortunately I ran out of time to play with this one for long but there's endless options I thought of that I'll hopefully get around to in the next few weeks. 

So an explosion of Altenew inks teamed with the sets and some matching Promarkers to create this cartoon style card. Some elements are popped up on the 3d foam for added dimension and I love that we've now got the bold 'BAM' and 'WOW' as dies alongside the explosions. 

As well as the regular Design Team we're joined by Anna of urascrap who is the Uniko Guest Designer for May so do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word. 

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 BIG reveal, release and giveaway!
YIPPEE!

Uniko - Introducing Originally Organics Additions Designer Dies

Hi there, 

I'm back again today to introduce you to the first of the Designer Dies being released  this month from Uniko. All these beautiful products, which we've been teasing you with in the last few days will be available to coincide with the Happy Little Stampers Festival on Saturday, 12th May and available to purchase in the online store too. 

This collection of dies is an eagerly awaited set for me in particular as I love the set and it's not the easiest to fuzzy cut so having this little addition to my set makes life so much easier! I've 2 cards to share using the set and first up I've gone with a shaker card and a sentiment from the Just Because set, introduced on Monday.

To start with I embossed all of the images and sentiment in Sterling Silver embossing powder by Stampendous before colouring with Promarkers, then assembling the shaker card. Here's a close up as most of the sequins fell to the bottom for the photo above! 

I'd like to link this one up at the latest Flower Challenge where they are looking for 'Vellum or Acetate'

Next up I die-cut the heart image and some of the other little flowers from the set plus some bees from the Bee Happy set, also being released this time. Coloured all the images with Promarkers then added a 'bee' sentiment from the Bee Happy set. 

As well as the regular Design Team we're joined by Anna of urascrap who is the Uniko Guest Designer for May so do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word. 

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 final introductions before the BIG reveal, release and giveaway on Saturday!