Less is More #388 - 8th Birthday

Hey there friends

It's BIRTHDAY time ... YIPPEE and I'm delighted and highly honoured to have been invited back to my favourite Challenge blog; Less is More, of course, as a Guest Designer this month in celebration of this fabulous birthday!

Congratulations Girls and here's to the next one! 

It's COLOUR challenge time and the girls have chosen a really fun combo which I love

... and I've 2 cards to share with you; first up a silly fishy one using Briny Blue by Paper Smooches, a stencil from Uniko (Wonky Stripes) and a mish-mash of sentiments from the Briny Blue set and some Uniko sentiment stamps. I couldn't resist a couple of googlie eyes too and as the card is for my sister, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow - how about some superb lashes to those eyes!!

Next up, this one uses images and sentiments by Uniko, which is sponsoring the challenge. I've used the pre-Christmas released Pure Florals: Peony set, initially heat embossed in white powder on to the Navy cardstock before re-stamping in a no-line colouring effect. The bloom is coloured with promarkers then with some added detail using Polychromo pencils.

Ok that's all from me but I'm' in no doubt that there'll be plenty more inspiration from the regular Design Team as well as some other ex-DT members. Why not head over to the blog HERE to check them out too. 

Thanks as always for calling by and thanks for inviting me to join your birthday party girls!

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!

Crazy for MORE Stencils

Hi Friends, I'm zipping in with another 'just for the fun of it post' featuring a bunch of stencil inspired cards. If you visited my blog a few days ago HERE you'll see I was showcasing stencils by fellow blogger and friend Sarah G of Funky Fossil Designs and I've still got more of those to share once they are made up into cards BUT I was loving the colour combo I used on the previous post and decided to root out some older stencils in my stash and bring them back to life ... here goes:

This one uses a 'handmade' stencil - I die-cut several circles in some acetate then randomly inked through the shapes in my favoured colour combo using Distress Oxides (Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron and Blueprint Sketch). The die-cut 'happy' is by CUT-plorations and it's mounted on a stitched circle die by Simon Says Stamp with a 'birthday' sentiment from Uniko.

Next up using a trio of Bokeh stencils by Simon Says Stamp and using the same colour combo, I rotated each stencil 4 times to achieve the clusters in each corner. The Sentiment is heat embossed with clear embossing powder and is by Mama Elephant, mounted on a stitched square by MFT Die-namics

I think this has to be my all-time favourite stencil and one I frequently go back to. It's the Concentric Circles by My Favorite Things, with a sentiment strip featuring 'Fabulous' by Uniko: Explosion Additions and 'Friend' die-cut by Paper Smooches

If you follow the Uniko blog HERE you'll have seen a balloon stencil released with the last bundle of new goodies. I didn't buy it because I new I had this similar one from Neat & Tangled but I was inspired by the stencilled balloon creations from the DT and decided to give it a whirl with this one. The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment is by Impression Obsessions.

Thanks for calling by today and I hope you're having some crafty fun!

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!

Less is More #342

Woah! I don't know where that week went but it certainly doesn't seem like seven days since my last blog post for Less is More! This summer needs to SLOW down a little!
Anyway it's the turn of our Theme week and our theme should certainly fit in well with the time of year so have a little fun and I hope you'll join us in creating a CLEAN and SIMPLE card depicting 'your perfect holiday'

I've just the one card today and as Susan beat me to the 'caravan' image for last week's Vehicle challenge I was determined to use this cute little holiday home in my card this week. 

the images are from Avery Elle: Home Sweet Home, Lawn Fawn: Life is Good and Paper Smooches: Get Outta Town. I've used Promarkers to colour the images and the caravan is fuzzy cut and remounted in the little scene on 3d foam for added interest. 
There's some stunning ideas over on the main blog HERE - as always the Design Team have worked their magic and we are also joined by Pauline from Crafting with Cotnob (our winner for June) and she's created a super cute and clever holiday card for her Guest Designer spot. 
Once again our sponsor is Seven Hills Crafts and if you play along throughout this month you could be our lucky winner of a gift certificate to spend in the online store. 

Thanks for calling by and catch up soon

Less Is More #340

Morning friends, oh I have missed blogging and crafting! This is the first post I've 'written' since my 2 week holiday in France - anything that has appeared here was thanks for Mr Blogger and his scheduling expertise! So it's a pleasure to be back and introducing our latest challenge at Less is More
Being the first one of the month it's the turn of Colour week and here's our Cue Card

Hopefully that won't cause too many issues; there's no need to use actual fruit images - just whatever takes your fancy. I started imagining all those exotic fruits ... mango, pineapple, kiwi, watermelon, to name a few and took it from there.
I recently treated myself to the stunning 'Spring Blooms' set from WPlus9 so this is a first for inking up this beauty with some vivid ink colours from Altenew. I also added some extra detail to the images with coloured pencils before die-cutting the 'Friend' word die from Paper Smooches, mounting it on several layers of card before popping it back into it's negative space. The 'Good Luck' sentiment is from Uniko: Simply Said range.

The Muse Challenge blog is having an 'Anything Goes' week so I'd like to pop this card in over there. I used to play along there almost every week but the time just seems to fly these days so I couldn't pass up this opportunity!

Next up one of my friends is celebrating a BIG and special birthday plus she's addicted to sweeties, particularly wine gums although I didn't have a stamp with those so gummy bears will have to suffice! These are from the Avery Elle Pick n Mix set.

The bears are coloured with Promarkers, die-cut and arranged along a stitched curved border die from MFT with a 'celebrate' sentiment from Uniko: All Occasion Sentiments #6 and the smaller sentiment is Clearly Besotted: Laugh Out Loud! There's a teeny little pale blue inky blending behind the bears too and I've coated them with Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents.

I'd like to pop this one in over at CASology where the theme is 'Juicy'

Being the beginning of a new month we are also welcoming back Seven Hills Crafts as our Sponsor for August and I hope you'll play along this month to be in with a chance of winning a prize.

 

Don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and have some fun! 
Thanks for calling by today!

Less is More #333

Hi there crafty friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More and it's another fun one so hope you feel inspired to join us and play along. I've 3 cards for you today, with a couple of family birthdays coming up soon and several friends also it seemed the perfect opportunity to get ahead of myself.

I'm on a bit of a shaker roll at the moment and loving this curly 'friend' die-cut sentiment from Paper Smooches, which certainly works a treat in glitter cardstock and adhered directly on to the acetate window. Having tried brushos with cling wrap I was fascinated to see a video by the fabulous Jennifer McGuire HERE using watercolours with cling wrap. I need to get a little more practice in to make them as vibrant as JM's but for a first attempt I was pretty impressed and I've used a piece as the background to my shaker window. I used a stitched circle die from Simon Says Stamp for the window and the sprinkles from Little Things by Lucy.

It's an 'Anything Goes' week over at Addicted to Stamps and More so I'd like to head across there with this one.

... here's the family ones!

First up for my niece followed by her mum's below. Their birthdays fall on consecutive days next month. The images are from Clearly Besotted: Time to Party and Laugh Out Loud, plus the Basic Alphabet also by CBS. For a change I used my Memento dew drop inks, that have been neglected of late but I'm loving the colours and they were easy to blend for the 3 matching stripes behind the balloon panel.

Another example using Jennifer McGuire's Watercolour 'cling wrap' technique inside a die-cut heart shaped aperture from WPlus9. The inlaid 'sister' word die is from Clearly Besotted and 'Happy Birthday' by Avery Elle.

Ooooh! before I forget ... here's our Cue Card for the Less is More challenge and there's still time to be in with a chance of a prize from our generous sponsor for this month, STAMPlorations.

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

Less is More #326

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More
First of all I've a little sad news first as we are losing one of our teamies today! Work and life have taken over Jen's time leaving her totally lacking in energy as well as time to commit to Less is More. We hope it's only a 'Bye For Now' and she may rejoin the team at a later date as and when things settle down for her. I hope you'll drop by and leave her some love and good wishes this week too.
Ok time to announce our challenge and it's a 5-week month which means it's lucky dip time and we've a guest designer too! It's Jane of Purple Jet Loves Crafts she's a superb Clean and Simple Designer and a fellow teamie of mine at both AAA Cards and Uniko so I'm delighted she agreed to be our GD this week. Do pop along and visit her blog, I'm sure she'd appreciate it and you'll have a treat.

Here's what I've created to inspire ... I hope  

First up bold and vibrant! This silly shaped scrap of coloured watercolour card is a left over that has been sitting around for way too long! Do you keep all those odds and ends? I've not had chance to look back at the original card showing the other half but it's simply stripes of Zig Clear Brush Markers with a little water to blend. This 'smile' die, from Lil'Inkers was on my desk from another card that I'll be sharing on the blog later in the week and I decided to use it here as it's bold enough to take a 'white' shadow by die-cutting both black and white card pieces and adhering them together slightly to on side. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

I'd like to link this one up at Addicted to Stamps and More, where it's their Clean and Simple week plus Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

   

I'd like to hop across to Timeout Challenges with this second one as their theme is Flowers although I've not gone with the 'optional' KISSING technique! It's not a favourite stamping trick for me! ☺

From bold and brash to serene and subtle. This one uses the Paper Smooches Botanicals 2 set, inked up initially with Hero Arts white pigment ink then re-inked, slightly to the right, using Altenew Dye inks. The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted from the Simple Silhouettes set.

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!

Less is More #321

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at
Less is More
This week it's our Recipe week and here's the Cue Card

Not too difficult??? Here's my cards and I seem to be making a lot of 'teal' cards at the moment! Hee Hee ... I obviously can't move on from the 'mainly teal' challenge so here's another

Recipe: Inks: Altenew  Stamps: Paper Smooches: Botanicals 2 & Winnie & Walter: Big and Bold YOU Dies: Paper Smooches: Stitched Frame

It's a Clean and Simple week over at Addicted to Stamps and More so I'd like to pop my card in there 

Not so teal this time and going with an Easter theme in non-traditional colours.

This one uses:

Stamps: Mama Elephant - Carnival Cupcakes and CBS Cool Chicks

Promarkers and Filmstrip Frame die by Pretty Pink Posh

Don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the  main blog HERE and we also have a guest designer for you this week;  Nonni of Nonni's Handmade Cards who was the winner of Week 1  of our Birthday challenges. I hope you'll pay her a visit too.
Hope you'll play along and have some fun. Thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon!