Less is More #362

Happy New Year Crafty Pals, I hope you are all well and enjoying 2018 so far.
I can't believe this is my first post since 23rd December ... here's me thinking I'd have been crafting and blogging non-stop over the festive period but other fun stuff got in the way!!!
Anyway I'm here to announce our latest challenge at Less is More and we are moving to a 2-weekly format from today, in the hope that it'll free up some extra time for the LIMettes and DT alike. All the details can be found on the main blog so I'll get straight down to sharing the Cue Card for our first challenge of the year! 

Surprisingly I've managed cards for you today, despite the festive fun!!! Each one featuring purples, of course and using the delicious Altenew range of inks.

This one uses the Painted Butterfly set from Altenew with a sentiment from Clearly Besotted; Brushed Greetings.

Next up another Altenew set, this time it's Beautiful Day combined with an inlaid die-cut 'happy' sentiment from STAMPlorations and the 'New Year' sentiment from Happy Little Stampers.

I'd like to link this one up at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where's it's 'Something New' so I'm going with the new Year!

... and last but not least here's the card featured over at Less is More and it uses the Bold Blooms set by My Favorite Things and a sentiment also by MFT. 

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and we've a brand new sponsor for 2018, it's Skull and Cross Buns for this month so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we announce at the start of next month.

I hope you'll play along and have some fun - you might even like to join us more than once this fortnight! Thanks for calling by and catch up with you soon. 

Uniko Challenge #42

Hello crafty friends it's that time again when we are announcing our latest challenge over at Uniko and the theme for this one is Flowers! What a super pretty challenge and I'm sure you'll have no problems with this one at all, especially if you are lucky enough to own many of the floral stamp sets by Uniko.
This month we have also been revisiting the Marvellous Mehndi set which isn't a floral set as such but when is a Mandala not a Mandala hey? Well when it's shaped like a flower as I've done here and added some leafy images to the background.

The leaves are from the Pure Florals: Gerbera set and left monochromatic. I thought this style worked well with the subtle colours of distress inks used to colour the mandala having first heat embossed it with a white pearl embossing powder. The sentiment is from the Simply Said range and I've added a little extra details with some sparkly gems.

Our Guest Designer for this challenge is fab-u-lous Cornelia who is one of our previous Uniko Challenge winners. I'm sure you'll all have visited Cornelia's blog in the past as she's on several design teams and creates the most eye-poppingly delightful cards always! Do pop along and visit her blog and leave a friendly word and some love.

You have until Friday, 25th August 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

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

Less is More #327

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at Less is More? Hopefully you've already visited the Less is More blog so you'll be up to speed on all the developments but just in case here's a brief summary ...
Last week we said our 'cheerios' to fellow teamie Jen as she stepped down from the team BUT we are delighted to reveal not ONE but THREE new Designers to our team. They're Izzy, Nonni and Trina and I hope you'll pop along to their blogs and leave a HUGE welcome. You're bound to feel inspired too by all their fantastic card designs and techniques. 

Onto this week's COLOUR challenge and we'd like to see YELLOW & GREY in any shade or tone. This week's colours were chosen by fellow teamie; Anita who is celebrating her birthday this weekend. Happy Birthday Neets and hope it's fabulous in every way! It's also the start of a new month and we're delighted to have Uniko back as our sponsor for this month of challenges. There's a whole new release of Uniko stamps on offer at 9am today and Bev (owner) is our super talented Guest Designer for this one so do pop along HERE to see what's in store and drool over all the inspiration. 

I've been given permission to showcase a couple of the sets early in my cards but there'll be more here on the blog a little later and if you happen to be in the Port Sunlight area today for the Happy Stampers Festival then please stop by the Uniko stand for a chat as I'll be helping Bev alongside some of the other Uniko DT. here's my cards ...

this one features 2 of the new Uniko sets: Pure Florals - Lily and Block Background Horizontal Stripe. The Lily is embossed onto water colour card then watercoloured using Distress inks with a little extra details using coloured pencils. The sentiments are also from this gorgeous set.

Next up another new Block Background set from Uniko - Doodle Flower and a sentiment from the All Occasions Sentiments #3 set. The flowers are coloured using promarkers then I sliced the panel in two using a basic stitched border die from MFT Die-namics with the sentiment popped up on a die-cut heart (also coloured in the same promarker) by WPlus9.

Don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and if you'd like to see more from the new Uniko sets then pop back at 9am! Hopefully Mr Blogger will be on time!

Hope you'll play along and have some fun and thanks for calling by - I'll be back soon!
Have a great weekend!

Uniko - Introducing Pure Florals: Lily

Hello there friends it's time for the final introductions for this month's release over at Uniko and I hope you've enjoyed what you've seen so far!
If you are a regular follower of Uniko you'll have an idea of what's in store for you today as we introduce the Pure Florals: Lily set. I think my favourite of the Pure Florals range has to be the Gerbera but I'm simply loving this one too and it's a great addition to the range. Lilys have to be my favourite bloom EVER - it's just a pity they make me sneeze so badly if I keep them in a vase inside. 

I wanted to focus on the lily head for this card so kept the rest of the stamping in monochrome. The flower head is embossed and watercoloured using Distress Inks. The sentiment is also from the set which includes several others in this large curly font with coordinating ones in a basic type font. 

This week's challenge over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday is 'A Touch of Pink' so I'd like to head over there with this one! 

This next one includes the horizontal stripe background block, introduced earlier this week plus some masking, fuzzy cutting and water-colouring with Distress Inks.

Ok that completes the sneaky peeks and introductions for the week and tomorrow is the BIG REVEAL, RELEASE and BLOG HOP HERE so I hope you'll join me again then as we show you the sets in their entirety and you'll be able to purchase them both online at Uniko and at the Happy Stampers Festival in Port Sunlight tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back tomorrow

AAA CAS Cards Challenge #87

Hello there friends, it's time for another challenge over at AAA CAS Cards and the theme for this one is Shiny Spring. Here's my card followed by a little photo inspiration for you too ...

I started out with brusho panel which I think has some fresh Spring like colours in it. I've then heat embossed the butterflies from the Happy Little Stampers Butterfly Birthday sentiment and added some shiny sequins and glitter tape as my shiny elements for the card.

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 Trina of My Crafting Closet, one of our previous winners, who is Guest Designing for this one. Do pop along and visit her blog - it's one not to be missed as her CAS style and striking designs are an inspiration. I'm sure she'd love a visit and a friendly word.

I'd like to link my card up at a couple of other challenges too: Addicted to Stamps and More - photo inspiration below:

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with HLS goodies

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

It just so happens that Happy Little Stampers is our sponsor for this challenge so it would be rude not to play along in their challenge! ... and one lucky winner will receive a $15 gift certificate to spend in the online store.

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

Less is More #283

Hey Happy Saturday friends! It's time for a new challenge at Less is More and we are back round to our colour week. We've chosen a fun little colour idea for you ...
Colours of your kitchen don't we all just love being a little nosey eh!
Here's mine and don't forget to head over and visit my teamies blogs as they've got some stunning ideas too.

This one uses a woodgrain background stamp from Winnie and Walter

which echos the style and colour (almost) of my units, there's a very 

dark grey floor (I simply have to with a dog trailing mud inside).

Curtains, blinds and accessories are in shades of teal, mint and lime

 green as shown in the strange-coloured apples from Clearly Besotted:

 Apple of My Eye and the Doodlebug Sprinkles

It's an Anything Goes week at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge

so I'd like to pop this one in there.

This one uses the same woodgrain background stamp from Winnie

& Walter with a sentiment from Altenew Brushstroke Sentiments

(thanks again Anita!) ;) plus the blooms are from the recently released 

stamp set Paradise by Uniko. The woodgrain embossed panel is

mounted on fun foam for added dimension and a couple of sparkly 

sequins from Pretty Pink Post to add a bit of bling.

Last but not least I couldn't resist using the Doodled Flowers stamp set 

from Happy Little Stampers; our generous sponsor for July.

I stamped the images from the set and coloured some of them with promarkers

leaving the others as outlines. The sentiment is by Winnie & Walter (thanks to 

a little de-stash purchase from Michelle Short) and I've added some coordinating

sequins from my stash around the edges.

I'd like to pop this card in at the Anything Goes with HLS Stamps

I hope you enjoy this one and thanks as always for calling by.

See you soon

Less is More #260

Hi there crafty friends I'm here with this week's challenge for 
Less is More
it's Recipe Week and we'd like to see you use a Silhouette on your cards,  here's what I came up - I was hoping to have another but you know how it is! Time just flies by! But there's more inspiration over on the main blog HERE so hope you'll hop across and check out my teamies' creations.
Now I've popped these together it looks like I'm having a blue moment! Change from the purple I've been addicted to for the last few posts though!

This one uses a stamp by Inkylicious called Toadstool Fairy - I think plus a sentiment from Clearly Besotted: Say it in Style. I started out by placing a circle of  masking paper onto a panel of watercolour card before inking and blending  various blue distress inks, whilst trying to keep the top left slightly in shadow.  Once I removed the mask I smeared a little ink over the 'moon' and flicked  some water onto it to create a 'starry' effect. To finish some sparkly sequins from Pretty Pink Posh - just because I can't resist a bit of fairy sparkle!

This one uses a freebie die-cut (sorry not sure where from) which I've

placed on a panel of watercoloured card, subtly painted using Tumbled Glass DI.

 Another Clearly Besotted sentiment from the In The Frame set, a few more sequins

 and sparkles plus a strip of dotty paper from Doodlebug to finish. 

I'm not entirely sure what the definition of a 'critter' is but that's the theme

this week over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge so I'll be

hopping across there with this card and hope my birdie counts!

As always I'm sure you'll WOW us with your fantastic designs and 

I'm looking forward to some mega inspiration! 

Thanks as always for stopping by and see you soon!

Less is More #246

Morning friends, it's time for a new challenge over at  Less is More  and it's Theme Week! Our theme is Masculine!
I can hear you groan ... me too! These are always tough to do as I automatically go for  my florals, girlie and butterfly sets which don't sit too well with the guys! But it's good to get out of our comfort zones now and again plus boost those masculine makes in the card box so hope you'll play along.

Here's my cards and first out I couldn't resist inking up this  fairly recent set, for the first time, from Clearly Besotted - Out of This World.

Using Distress inks in Ripe Persimmon & Wild Honey 

I inked a sun / planet. Then with Blueprint Sketch, Faded Jeans and Black Soot. 

I've added a few stars with a white gel pen, coloured the images with Stabilo markers

and mounted them on 3d foam, accented with wink of stella and glossy accents.

I'd like to head over to Inkspirational Challenges with this one and hope 

the glow from my spaceship and sun will pass the requirements!

It's always hard to make sympathy cards but particularly for a guy

so I thought I'd use this new set I picked up from my recent visit

to the Harrogate Showground Craft Fair. It's from Inkylicious and

I've used Dusty concord, Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass and Black Soot

to create what I hope looks like a watery / misty background before

stamping the images and adding a few highlights here and there with

my white gel pen.

It's a colour theme over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge

this week along the Halloween tones but I'm hoping my 

eerie Halloween purple tones will work ok there!

It's a new look cue card at CASology too this week and 

cue word 'You' so I'm dropping in there too with my

Thinking of YOU card!

 ... and last be not least it's silly season!

Well that was last week's theme at CASology and these

silly Face-it stamps from The Alley Way Stamps were still

on my desk so I decided to use them. Laura Bassen did a fabulous

video this week of a shaker card using mason jars and that gave me

the inspiration to go with the jars - they are from the Clearly Besotted

Spring blooms set and I've coloured them with Distress Inks. To accentuate

those silly eyes I've added glossy accents and the sentiments are from

Uniko: All Occasion Sentiments #6 and Simply Said - Birthday

I'd like to link this one up at ColourQ - quite ashamed as I used 

to play along almost every week and haven't joined in for ages.

Ok time for you to jump to it and see what you can come up with.

I'm sure you'll WOW us like you do every week but if you need more 

inspiration there's some fab designs by my fellow teamies HERE

Thanks for visiting today and if I get chance I may have a few

extra cards over the weekend otherwise same time next week!!!

New Year and Dramatic Colours

Hello friends ... Here's wishing you all a very Happy & Prosperous New Year and hoping you've had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas.
It's time for a new challenge and a new year at Less is More
and to kick things off we've a dramatic colour combo for you
Black, Metallic plus one other colour
Please remember to keep it clean and simple... difficult with all those scrumptious new goodies from  Santa that we simply want to throw in all at once!
Here's my cards and YIKES ... how difficult is it  not to make a Christmas card:

Black: Scalloped sentiment strip & Image 

(Clearly Besotted: Good Times - a newbie from Santa)

Metallic: Die cut basket in silver foil card then dry-embossed 

and

Sentiment (also Clearly Besotted: Good Times)

heat-embossed in WOW metallic silver sparkle EP

Other Colour: pink Butterflies & Gems

I'd like to enter this card at CAS(E) This Sketch 

it's a fantastic sketch so if you fancy joining the fun

 there's still a few more days left to enter

  

Also the wonderful Darnell Knauss is running another 

NBUS Challenge (Never-before-used-schtuff)

I seem to have missed it previously but as these are 

Santa goodies and fresh out of the packet I'm going to head 

on over there with my card

Black: Card base, Sentiment & Fairy die cut 

Metallic: WOW Gold metallic embossing powder & nail heads

Other Colour: White

Card Recipe:

Simon Says Stamp: Bauble stencil - used with versamark ink 

and embossing powder and masked as a circle rather than bauble

Clearly Besotted: Sweet Little Sentiments

Dies to Die For: Fairy freebie

Until recently I didn't own any Simon Says Stamp products;

mainly due to the cost of shipping to the UK but I was 

luck enough to win some Simon goodies in a blog hop 

at I'm in Haven so huge thanks Lisa.

So as I'm using a Simon Says Stamp product it would be 

uncharitable not to enter their current challenge

Anything Goes

I'd also like to try out a new challenge, for me, at

AAA Cards Challenge where it's a photo inspiration

  

Last but not least 

Black: Card base & panel

Metallic: Foil card stock

Other: shades of turquoise / teal

Card Recipe:

Clearly Besotted: Congrats word die

Memory Box: Mini Star Dies

Papermania: Gems

Ok it's your turn and I'll be dropping by your blogs to check out 

your creations later in the week.

Have fun and thanks for stopping by.

POPPY TIME

Hi there ... just zipping in with a very quick post to enter a few challenges.

Apologies that I've not been around this week but a week's holiday

seems to have zapped my mojo so really struggled to come up with something.

On the plus side I did receive some Clearly Besotted goodies today from 

the new release ... BUT I ended up getting my older stuff out!

Is it just me or does anyone else just want to stroke and admire

new stuff rather than actually use it! Weird eh!

Anyway enough blurb and on to my card ...

Card Recipe:

Clearly Besotted: Fancy Florals and Rounded Tag dies

plus 'Thinking of You' banner sentiment.

Cuttlebug: Embossing folder

DP: Echo Park

Twine and gems from my stash

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge: Thinking of You

Addicted to CAS: Tag

Pixies Snippet Challenge

  

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back tomorrow 

with a new challenge for Less is More