Less is More #222

Hi there, it's Saturday ... Yippee What's more it's a bank holiday weekend in the UK! so a little bit more crafty time - and I'm MEGA excited!!!
WHY? ... I'll tell you .... 
Super duper A* talent Jen (ex-LIM DT) and I have arranged a  first time meet up and crafty session this weekend!
I cannot wait! I'm hoping to learn some tricks and tips and  so looking forward to watching a complete pro at work.
Ok ... back to this week's challenge over at  Less is More
It's colour week this week and we'd like you to use opposites on the colour wheel; here's my cards.

 

I've completely stepped out of my comfort zone here as I would

never put Orange and Turquoise together but I love it!

Card Recipe:

Uniko Studio: Paradise Humming Bird

It's heat-embossed in Black then water coloured using DI in Spiced Marmalade

Memory Box: Wave Stencil inked in Salty Ocean & Broken China DIs
Card-io: Oriental Whisper & Sakura blooms stamp sets
(incidentally, I've NEVER watched Create & Craft TV until 2 weeks ago
when I heard Card-io were being featured and having met Wendy at a couple
of craft shows I simply had to watch ... and buy of course!)

I'd like to enter this card over at CASology - theme 'Flight'
and Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

   

My second card is one for the Christmas box stash ... 

you guessed I've gone with traditional red & green!

Card Recipe: Clearly Besotted: Joy to the World - dies Autumn Flowers stamps & dies Stamplorations: Christmas Flower (believe sentiment) MFT Die-Namics: Basic Stitched borders Ranger Enamel Accents and Doodlebug Sprinkles to finish Polka dot DP is from Pink Petticoat
I'd like to link this one up at Merry Monday and The Challenge

Thanks as always for stopping by and don't forget to  head across to the Less is More blog HERE to see what the other  DT members have been up to, as well as Anita from Neet and Crafty who is our Guest Designer again this week so hope you'll leave  her lots of lovely comments.

Christmas is Here!

Yeah ... well almost!  Just a few hours away until midnight here in the UK.
My card today is to for all my AMAZING Blog buddies, DT buddies and wonderful followers. Here's wishing each one of you, in whatever part of the world you live,  a Fantastic Christmas and New Year
 I've met but a few of you yet feel I've known you all forever. Your comments, inspiration and friendship are hugely valued and I'm certainly looking forward to more fun and crafting with you next year!

I was going to go with a crazy, silly card but went for the 

heartfelt one instead ... and it wouldn't be a blog post 

if I didn't enter a few challenges - so here goes ...

Addicted to Stamps & More: Anything Goes 

(optional twist 'Love')

Whoops! Quick edit here - I missed the boat at 

Addicted to Stamps & More but as luck would have it

I realised this could definitely fit in at 

Pixies Snippet Challenge

CAS on Sunday: Christmas

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Time Out Challenge: Word inspiration

(Christmas is Love with all the Trimmings)

   

Card Recipe:

Impression Obsession: Heart Die

Pink Petticoat: Sentiment

DP: Papermania & DCWV

So if you find yourselves a little bored and stuck for something to do 

over the next week then head off to your craft space!!!

You could join in some of these challenges too.

Thanks as always for stopping by my blog and

Happy Christmas

*******

Christmas is a Time for Families

Whether we are ready or not ... we have reached the final challenge of 2014  at Less is More and the theme is 'Family' It's a 2 week challenge in the hope that you'll have a little crafty time amongst the festivities ... maybe with some new goodies to share! So here's my cards

Well nobody said it had to show a 'human' family!

 and this card is going to my sister and family.

Card Recipe:

Lawn Fawn: Tweet birds & sentiment stamps

Clearly Besotted: Birch Trees stamps & dies

Pink Petticoat: snowflake DP behind a layer of vellum

Brads and twine from my stash and to finish 

Winks of Stella and Glossy Accents

Other Challenges I'd like to enter:

CASology: Snow

Simon Says Stamp: Photo inspiration

 

  

For this one I've gone with the traditional Christmas family

Card Recipe: 

Paper Smooches: A Blessed Christmas image (heat-embossed in 

WOW pale gold embossing powder and coloured with Promarkers);

sentiment from the same set on a MFT Die-namics sentiment strip

DCWV Glitter card, Doodlebug sequins & gems from my stash

Another Challenge I'd like to enter:

Addicted to CAS: Coincidentally the theme is also 'Family'

Card Recipe:

Clearly Besotted: Naughty or Nice stamps and dies

Clearly Besotted: On The Line die collection

Pink Petticoat DP plus gems and pearls from my stash.

I've gone crazy for Gingerbread on this one but I decided it

could represent the Less is More DT 'family'!

Although looks like Chrissie, Anne & I have joined 

some weird cabaret dancing troupe or a marching band!!!

A quick edit here as I hadn't appreciated that today would be Jen's

farewell post as she leaves the DT at Less is More and I wouldn't 

want to exclude her from My LIM DT 'family' card...so

Chrissie, Anne and I are wishing you well for the future

(whether you be Naughty or Nice!!! :-) )

and sending you on your way with hugs, hearts and very best wishes.

Cheers Jen, thanks for your fabulous inspiration and

hope to see more in blogland as your talent is immense.

Other Challenges I'd like to enter:

Merry Monday Christmas Challenge: Photo Inspiration

Time Out Challenge: Word inspiration

Christmas is Love with all the Trimmings

Ok over to you now to wave some magic over this week's challenge.

Thanks for all your snowy creations last week - I think it did

the trick for me as I managed to get a bit more focussed on

Christmas cards, pressies and decorations!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year

Thanks for your continued support at Less is More and

See you all in 2015 for lots more challenges

CELEBRATIONS ... NO. 200

WOWZERS! Can you believe we will be in DECEMBER next week! For today though we have a new challenge at  Less is More This week we are celebrating 200 challenges! So have some fun with our CELEBRATIONS themed week 200 challenges to think up, write up, select winners, create, comment, challenge others ... that's one colossal task and my first card is in  honour of our fabulous leader at Less is More ... Congratulations and heartfelt thanks Cheers and a toast to  CHRISSIE who literally is 'Simply One of a Kind' ... from day one at Less is More and  she's still as keen, kind and encouraging as ever.

This used: 

My Favorite Things: Diagonal Background Stamp

which I've inked with chalk ink in sea breeze then covered with clear

embossing powder and heat set. Another Jennifer McGuire tone on tone tip.

Clearly Besotted: Congrats Word Die & You're A Star stamp set

Memory Box: Mini star dies

MFT Die-namics: Blueprints 15 & Fishtail Flag dies

I'm also linking this up at the Color Throwdown Challenge

and although I've skipped the Christmas photo inspiration I thought

the colour combination was stunning and a bit different.

More good news this week ... I'm going to be an Auntie for the 6th time! My 3 year old niece has been asking for a 'boy-sister' for so long and her wish should be granted on Tuesday when mum has a c-section! Here's the card I've made for them and I'm sure I'll be safe posting this as they'll be far too busy to check out my blog this week!

Mama Elephant: Just Hatched sentiments Uniko Studio: Sweet Baby vest image Doodlebug: design papers & sprinkles Mama Elephant: Trio landscape dies (so versatile) gems and twine from my stash

I'm still short on Christmas cards so went for some more to add to 

my collection - I mean Christmas is a celebration after all isn't it ;-)

This one uses distress inks for this sky line with a spritzing of 

water mixed with perfect pearls

Paper Smooches: City Scape die & Metropolis 

stamps heat-embossed with Hero Arts white EP 

Clearly Besotted: sentiments from Rockin' Robin & It's Your Birthday

I'd like to link it up at Addicted to Stamps where the theme is 

HOLIDAYS

This card is to link up at the Merry Monday Challenge too

where the colour theme is Red, Green & White

A quick edit here as Kylie at Addicted to CAS pointed me

In the direction of their latest challenge (dots) so heading 

across there too with this card.

. 

Card recipe:

Pink Petticoat: Background DP

MFT Die-namics: Blueprints 15

Mama Elephant: Landscape trio dies

Uniko Studio: 'celebrate' sentiment - Flower Power 1

Clearly Besotted: 'the season' sentiment - Rockin' Robin

Winnie & Walter: It's a Wonderful Pennant stamps Stampin' up: Candy Dots Over to you now and thank you so much for  another bumper week of entries with the 'JINGLE' theme. It really makes for an exciting and satisfying week just seeing how popular the LIM challenges are. Well done all of you and thanks for your continued support. Here's to the next 200 challenges.

SHARE THE JOYS OF CHRISTMAS

Hi all just zipping in with another Christmas make to share and looking at my lack of cards for the festive season I'm  going to have to give every opportunity a huge push to boost the numbers!
I mean come - on I can't go buying shop bought ones!!!

I'd like to share this one at a few challenges:

CAS(E) This Sketch

Inkspirational: Christmas Cards with the option of no red / green

(a new challenge discovery for me - don't know how I've missed it before!)

Timeout Challenge: Embossing with an optional twist of sparkle

(I've embossed the berries on my wreath in white EP and used sparkle cardstock behind 

the 'window', with Wink of Stella & Glossy Accents to the bow)

      

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Joy to the World

My Favourite Things: Diagonal Stripes

Sentiment: Pink Petticoat

Memory Box Countryside die

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back tomorrow with 

another Christmas make.

JINGLE ALL THE WAY

Morning all - there goes another week and here comes the start of another with this week's challenge at Less is More and it's a recipe week  'Jingle All The Way' Another excuse to tick off more Christmas cards I've got the 'builders' in at the moment re-vamping my main bathroom as it was put to shame after the ensuite was done earlier this year. There may not be much time for blogging this week and I need to catch  up on some challenges so there's a couple of link ups here. Maybe you'd like to join them too. Ok onto my examples and I've got to hold my hand up and admit I stuggled!  Amongst my stash of goodies I could NOT find  a bell, sleigh or jingle stamp anywhere!!! So off to the digi shops for me .... This one uses a pre-coloured digi-stamp from Digistamp Boutique which is embellished with glossy accents. The scalloped edge border is from Clearly Besotted and the ribbon from my stash. I've used the sketch from this week's Freshly Made Sketches but rotated clockwise so hope that'll be allowed. Fingers-crossed I'm not too late to pop my card in at  Pixies Snippet Playground before the gates swing in my face... I've dredged the snippets for this card with ribbon too that fit just perfect. For these next 2 I've used a technique by the AMAZING  Jennifer McGuire which you can find here I'm sure you'll admit that Jennifer makes everything look so  quick and easy but for these cards they really did need to be done in stages and left to dry in between. Not a great plan when I'm so impatient!

The digi-stamps for both of these are from Pink Petticoat

and after printing the images onto Neena White Cardstock

I've coloured them with Derwent Coloursoft pencils,

drizzled with Wink of Stella, generously coated with glossy accents

then left to dry overnight.

Next day ... distress inking to the background before 

spritzing with water and Perfect Pearls.

For the Jingle Bells card I've used textured embossing paste 

on the panel behind the circle, Mama Elephant: Index card dies, 

sentiment from Uniko Studio with some gems and twine to finish

I've tried to stick loosely to this weeks sketch challenge at

Addicted to CAS so I'll be heading over there.

Last but not least another digi-stamp from Pink Petticoat using

the same technique as above then to finish I've used

Mama Elephant: Landscape Trio dies

Clearly Besotted: Rockin Robin sentiment

and twine from Hobbycraft.

I'd like to link this card to the challenge at 

Addicted to Stamps where it's a 'Make Your Mark' week.

MAKE YOUR MARK

Before I sign off for today I wonder if you've noticed a few 

changes to my blog ... if you have well-spotted and if not then 

please check out my Blog header, signature and watermarks.

They've all been designed by the wonderful and talented Kylie Purtell

Ok time for you happy crafters to have some fun now.

A fabulous array of trees last week and such 

superb inspiration so looking forward to 

what's in store from you this week.

Thanks for stopping by and catch up with you soon.

LET'S HAVE A NON-TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS

Ok it's Saturday morning ... are you ready for another 

Less is More Challenge

It's a Colour Theme this week

Non-traditional Christmas

Now you may wonder why I've underlined the word 'colour'

Well I've had all sorts of headaches trying to come up with 

a non-traditional card that I can actually send as a 

Christmas card and it wasn't until I posted this on my blog

that I realised it's a colour week and I needn't have tried too hard!

Basically non-traditional Christmas colours so have some fun!

What a dummy I am ... think I need another holiday!!!

So here's my cards

To start with I stamped 2 brown trees from 

Clearly Besotted: Design A Tree set onto

'falling snow' DP from Pink Petticoat, which

is adhered to a panel of DCWV Glitter card.

On top of the DP is a layer of vellum and a snowy hill

die-cut using one of the landscape stitched dies from Mama Elephant.

The panels have been die-cut using Mama Elephant Index card dies.

The sentiment is from Uniko Studio - Stunning snowflakes

and to finish lots of little non-traditional coloured gems 

A bit button & bling-mad on this one!

Last year I made Christmas cards with buttons and gems 

attached to die-cut triangles to create trees but I fancied

heart-shaped ornaments for this one with a pink & grey theme.

The 'cloud pelmet' is from Mama Elephant: stitched landscape dies

The hearts are die-cut using Clearly Besotted: love hearts set

with Christmas sentiments also Clearly Besotted: Signature Christmas

which are heat-embossed with WOW sparkling silver EP.

To finish some twine from my stash.

Last but not least a very simple design using 

Uniko Studio: Stunning Snowflakes set

stamped in non-traditional coloured chalk inks

The sentiment is from the Christmas Sparkle set by Clearly Besotted,

panels are die-cut using Mama Elephant Index Card set

and to finish some mini gems and pearls.

Ok once again thanks for stopping by today

and I'm looking forward to seeing some wonderful

colours amongst your cards this week.

Happy crafting.

                                                             

OH I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE

Morning All and thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Still not 100% or jumping around but here in spirit with this week's

Less is More Challenge

This week it's 'Lucky Dip' and the theme is 

'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside'

So without further ado here's what I've got

 I've used Promarkers to colour a digi-image from Pink Petticoat 

(Happy Camper) and loving the cute little caravan image  

I think the sentiment works a treat with this week's theme.

Also used Mama Elephant stitched cloud dies and 

Doodlebug sequins and pearls for added detail.

I'm going to enter this over at Simon Says Stamp where it's

'Anything Goes'

Next up I've used this week's sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and 

it's a very random collection of equipment from my stash 

to make this 'nautical/seaside' themed card

Materials / Tools Used:

 Dies: 

Paper Smooches - Anchor

 MFT Die-namics - Blueprints 15 & Sentiment Strips

Mama Elephant - Index Card

Embossing Folder:

 Cuttlebug - Retro Circles

 Wave stencil from Memory Box inked with Distress Inks in Salty Ocean

Sentiment from Uniko Studio - A Gift for you

 and to finish some Doodlebug sprinkles and bakers twine.

Last but not least I've another using a digi-stamp from Pink Petticoat;
this time the beach huts set. Again coloured with Promarkers.

The DP is from Echo Park and it's matted using dies from
Mama Elephant - Index Card
with a couple of gems from my stash and some glossy accents.

Ok it's over to you now and I must say you all did a fantastic job with

last week's sketch with some stunning creations.

Have a good weekend and see you soon.