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.

Less is More #370

Hello my crafty friends, it's Sketch Time over at Less is More for the next fortnight and we can't wait to see what you do with this one! All the details are on the main challenge blog HERE but here's the cue card followed by the Sketch and my examples. 



If you've followed my blog recently you'll notice I've become a little 'hooked' on stencils, especially in this colour combo of Distress Oxides: Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet and Cracked Pistachio. I've used the Concentric Circles Stencil from MFT with a little masking around the circles and to finish a popped up sentiment from our sponsor; Happy Little Stampers. 

It's a clean and simple week over at Addicted to Stamps and More so I'd like to head across there with this one AND as I'm 'WILD' about stencils right now and that's the theme of the current challenge at Timeout Challenges I'd like to add this card there too. 





... and another MFT stencil below! This time the Rose Builder, again inked with Distress Oxides in Worn Lipstick and Candied Apple plus Cracked Pistachio and Lucky Clover. I must apologise I can't remember where the sentiment is from! It's from my bits box from one of those days when I'd heat embossed too many sentiments! 

Over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge it's their Anything Goes week so I'll pop this card in there.

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


I hope you'll feel inspired to play along with us and have some crafty fun along the way.
Thanks for calling by today!

Uniko Challenge #46

Hi there, I'm here with our latest challenge over at Uniko and here's the cue card to explain what's required, if you've been following the blog you'll have seen half of the design team announced the challenge a few weeks ago but I'm here with a reminder. 

... and here's my first card using the Uniko Style Floral set with a 'Happy' Sentiment from the Festive Sentiments set, released at the end of last year and the 'Some Bunny' set for the word 'Easter'. I've stamped the images and sentiments with Altenew Inks as they're great for layering in the colour families. 

For my second card I used the Organics Additions set and stamped the images in more Altenew Inks. They didn't stamp quite as brightly as I would have liked so I added some additional shading with Promarker pens in similar colours. The mini florals are mainly from the Background Builders: Vines set and Flower Power. It's amazing what you find that mixes and matches with Uniko sets when you flick through all the stamp sets. Having recently changed my storage set up into 2 large ringbinders with x-cut pocket inserts for my Uniko stamps, it's now so much easier to find what I'm looking for. 

I'd like to link this one up at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge as they are having one of their 'Anything Goes' weeks! 

Our Guest Designer for this challenge is Michele Ferguson, one of our previous Uniko Challenge winners. Do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word and some love.

You have until Friday, 20th April to link up to the challenge and all the details you need about prizes and how to play can be found over at Uniko HERE

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you feel inspired and will play along with us!

Uniko Revisit - March 2018

Hi there friends, it's 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 it's the turn of the Fun Flowers set, which as of last month now has a coordinating stencil.
Here's my cards and I ended up colouring a bigger panel than I needed so it's a 2-for-1 today and in the hope that the weather turns a little warmer now we've moved into spring I decided to use these bold, bright and cheery colours.
The first one has a raised die-cut butterfly camouflaged in the design and although it's not obvious in the photo I've layered it on 4 pieces of die-cut card in the colours of my panel.

It's a floral frenzy challenge over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge so I'd like to pop this one in there as well as The Flower Challenge where it's Anything Goes.

As is the tradition there's a blog hop giveaway; the prize being a £15 eGift Certificate and you have until Saturday 7th April 2018 to comment

You'll find all the details including 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 
Julie
Linda

Lindsey

Rahmat
Sarah G

Sarah P - that's me!
Wiebke 

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

   

Less is More #366

Hello my crafty friends, I've been hit with the dreaded flu bug this week so it's a teeny post from me to announce this fortnight's challenge over at Less is More. We've a new sponsor for the month and 2 guest designers but all the details are on the main challenge blog HERE - hope you understand!
So onto the challenge and it's colour week - hope the cue card is self explanatory and sorry just the one from me today. 

I've gone ultra simple and basic stamping using a stamp from our wonderful sponsor STAMPlorations. I bought it especially for this challenge and hoped to do something a little more exciting with it but energy and mojo are lacking. Naturally I'd like to add my card to the 'Anything Goes with Stamplorations' challenge HERE

Although I've flipped it ... I'm using a sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches so will add this card over there as well as Simon Says Stamp: Wednesday Challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More where they've both got their 'Anything Goes' weeks!

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies  over on the main blog HERE and 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 join us and have some fun! 

Thanks for calling by today!

Less is More #364

Hello my crafty friends, it's birthday time over at Less is More as we celebrate our 7th Birthday! 
We've a whole bunch of Guest Designers, 2 sponsors this month and a couple of extra prizes thrown in too - all the details are on the main challenge blog HERE
So onto the challenge it's self and here's our cue card followed my cards. 

First up sharing a teeny sneaky peek of some new sentiments from the 'yet-to-be released Uniko birthday sets' let's have some music. Life is so much better with it and a rainbow of course! 

Fellow Less is More teamie, Sharon has recently joined the Visible Image Design Team and I couldn't resist buying a couple of their music inspired sets with some Christmas pennies so first up using 'Music Speaks' on a panel of brusho coloured card. 

Next up, Sharon had this stunning 'Sing' set, when we met at the Happy Little Stampers retreat in Manchester back in November - so I had to have this one too. I've a couple of special birthdays coming up where this collection of cards will be so appropriate! I've stamped and masked the images then used the MFT Concentric Circle grid stencil with Distress inks in different colours.

I'd like to drop this little trio in at Simon Says Stamp: Wednesday Challenge where it's Anything Goes

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies plus our returning ex Design Team Members over on the main blog HERE and 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. Bev (Uniko) is also guest designing for this challenge and hopefully she'll be sneaking a little peek of the new sets too.

I hope you'll play along in our birthday challenges this month and have some fun with us.
Thanks for calling by today!

Uniko Challenge #45 - Reminder

Hi there, I'm back with a little reminder about our current challenge over at Uniko and here's the Cue card to show you what we're looking for
If you saw my initial post announcing the challenge you'll know I was drawn to both the rose and the heart in the image above although I skipped the heart in the first card.
This time I've teamed the Pure Florals Rose with the older 'Always and Forever' set which I've used as a delicate background to the rose cluster.

The rose/leaves are watercoloured using Distress Inks before popping up on 3d foam. The sentiments

are from the Flower Power range and Simply Said, using inks by Altenew.

Here's a couple of challenges I'd like to link up to:

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers - Watercolour: Anything Goes (optional twist Heart)

Addicted to Stamps & More - Make Your Mark

As always there's plenty of fantastic creations by my fellow teamies, so why not head over to the Uniko blog HERE to check out the links and pay them a visit! I'm sure they'd appreciate it!

Our Guest Designer for this challenge is my fellow craft buddie and teamie at Less is More! Big shout out please for Anita of Neet and Crafty, winner of our last Uniko Challenge. I'm delighted to see that she won our challenge with the Christmas card she sent me! So honoured Neets. Do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word and some love, you won't be disappointed - I'm always envious of her stash and how she utilises it. 

You have until 23rd February to link up to the challenge and all the details you need about prizes and how to play can be found over at Uniko HERE

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you feel inspired and will play along with us!

Gerbera DT Inspiration for Uniko

Hi friends I'm over on the Uniko blog this morning sharing a little Gerbara inspired combo. You'll find all my cards HERE but I wanted to feature 2 of them on my own blog to link up at a couple of challenges today so here goes:

First up to enter over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it's Layer it Up! Although I love some layering to cards I'm rather a 'clean and simple' girl so too many layers freak me out!!! I hope this one includes enough die-cut layers/panels/sentiment for the girls at SSS.

Using: Uniko - Pure Florals Gerbera, Festive Sentiments and Simply Said, Altenew Inks, WOW Silver Sparkle EP

Next up I'm heading over to the 'Ombre' challenge at Addicted to CAS and Anything Goes and Addicted to Stamps & More. Same colour combo and products but here's my 'clean and simple' version! 

Using: Uniko - Pure Florals Gerbera, All Occasion Sentiments, Altenew Inks, WOW Silver Sparkle EP

Thanks for calling by my blog today and for more details on my cards please head over to the Uniko blog where there's another 2 varieties! Catch up Soon! 

A Trio of Sunday Challenges

Hi there friends, I'm rather pleased with myself ... having a couple of non-design team specific cards to share with you today for a change! The benefit of our cold, snowy, wet English weather meant a good excuse to escape to my craft room.

First up, I'm super excited to have found time (just) to enter the new 'Twofer Card Challenge' with these cards. I thought I'd find this challenge a breeze as I love making TWO-fers on my blog but this took some thought to come up with 2 completely different designs and occasions. I hope these generalised ones count!

The theme, as you'll see from the Cue Card below is 'Feathers' ... Easy I thought, thinking of my gorgeous WPlus9 Fanciful Feathers stamp set and dies then I realised I'd have to get out of my comfort zone and whip up 2 completely different ways to use it. 

Here I created a very random pattern of the smaller feathers using Altenew Inks, in some cheery bright colours, to cover the whole card front ... yikes I'm used to more 'white' space than this but it's quite fun stepping outside of my usual 'box'. Using a Uniko Christmas set; Rustic Christmas I added the little birds randomly to the pattern. To finish a die-cut hugs from my stash, coloured with Promarkers and Winked with Stella on a stitched rectangle with a 'sending' sentiment also from Uniko.

This one uses a Brusho off-cut extravaganza! I just love these colours, yet when using Brusho you never quite know how it'll turn out. This time using the matching dies to the WPlus9 set I die-cut some feathers, adhered them to a stitched rectangle with a strip of the brusho panel to the right. The 'For Your Kindness' is from the Fanciful Florals stamp set and the die-cut Thanks also by WPlus9.

I'd also like to link these up in 2 Simon Says Stamp Challenges ... The SSS Monday one is Birds of a Feather, with the SSS Wednesday one 'Add a Sentiment'

Thanks for visiting my blog today and I hope you've had a fun crafty day too.

Uniko Challenge #45

Hey there, it's time to announce our latest challenge over at Uniko; here's the cue card showing what we're looking for.

I was drawn to the rose and heart in the photo but skipped the heart in the end for this card! You'll have to pop back when we showcase our reminder posts, on 2nd February for that addition! I've used an 'old' sentiment (or 2) from the All Occasions Sentiments #3 with the newly released Pure Florals Rose set. I've tried to colour this using a 'no-line colouring' technique by stamping the images with Memento inks then colouring with Promarkers. 

I think the sentiment on my card is pretty appropriate too as our Guest Designer for this challenge is  one of my best craft buddies EVER and fellow teamie at Less is More! It's Anita of Neet & Crafty who won the last challenge with none other than the Christmas card she sent me; to say I was thrilled is an understatement! Do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word and some love. She won't admit to owning loads of yummy stash but believe me she does and creates such beauties with it all! 

There's a couple of challenges I'd like to pop my card into, first up Simon Says Stamp: Wednesday Challenge is to 'Add a Sentiment' and I've done just that! Timeout Challenges is inspired by words "Each day is a gift, open it, celebrate it, enjoy it!" so my take is that fabulous friends are true gifts and it's great open up, celebrate and enjoy special times with them!

Also it's a photo inspiration week at Inkspirational and I couldn't resist adding this card there as I was drawn to those stunning flowers and leaves in the picture and my stitched border works well with the string of pearls and strings on the violin - hope it counts! 

You have until Friday, 23rd February to link up to the challenge and all the details you need about prizes and how to play can be found over at Uniko HERE

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you feel inspired and will play along