Less is More #318

Morning friends, are you ready for this week's challenge at
Less is More
After all those birthday shenanigans last month, sadly we are back to our normal routine.  The first week of the month signals the return of our COLOUR challenge and we welcome back our very generous sponsor: Dies to Die For


Here's mine and there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE with links to their own blogs. Do check them out and pay them a visit if you've time - they'd love it!

I simply can't get enough of this stunning foliage heart from the newest sets from Uniko  (Originally Organics Additions) which was released last weekend. I've coloured the  image with Promarkers and used silver embossed hearts and 'congratulations' sentiment by Uniko.  The 'Mr & Mrs' is by CBS and I've used a stitched basic border die from MFT Die-Namics

Teal has to be one of my favourite colours EVER so I've a second card for you; 

using a die by Tim Holtz / Sizzix Mixed Media. Behind the die-cut I've inky blended 

distress inks in various teal shades then popped both panels on 3d fun foam for extra dimension.

The sentiment is by Altenew and I've rounded one corner of both my panel and card base.

Hope you'll play along and have some fun. Thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon

Less is More #298

Hi friends are you ready for another challenge over at Less is More?

It's our THEME week and we've chosen 

Incy Wincy Spiders or Insects!

Now there's no need to go Halloween on this one but in the absence

of suitable insects and particularly spiders other than in Halloween 

sets I decided to go with that occasion. Fortunately my nieces and

nephews are still of an age where they'll accept Halloween Cards!

I think!!! Especially the sort with spiders!

This one uses the stitched filmstrip die by Pretty Pink Posh 

and I've re-cut it in the orange, green and purple (typically for Halloween)

to add my spiders web and spiders to each aperture. The card looked

a little bland when I'd finished so I decided to grab a stencil I've just

purchased by Tim Holtz and ink it through with Hickory Smoke Distress ink.

I still wasn't happy to decided to go full on distressing up the edges instead

then adding a few extra webs. The Happy sentiment is by Happy Little Stampers

and the reset of the images are by Clearly Besotted 'Halloween Spirit'

The theme over at CASology this week is 'Spooky' so I'd like to pop this card in there!

This one uses the 'In Print' set by Clearly besotted but couldn't resis

adding googlie eyes to the fingerprint spider! The sentiment is from

the Out of This World set also by Clearly Besotted and I was attempting

to CASE one of Jennifer McGuire's recent techniques shown HERE but

think I've not quite got my spacing right ... more practice needed!

So that's all of mine but please head over to the main blog HERE 

where there's links to my fellow teamies blogs and cards.

I'm sure they'd love a visit and they've worked their usual magic on 

the theme to inspire you!

Have a fab week and as always thanks for calling by my blog.

Less is More #284

Hi again friends. I don't know about you but our dreaded ONE Layer card weeks at Less is More seem to come around awfully fast from where I'm standing  and here we are again with one of THOSE challenges. The theme is 
Time / Clockwork
Just two from me for this week as I was a bit short on time and inspiration but I'm sure if you pop across to my fellow teamies' blogs there'll be plenty more magical, fun and unique designs to inspire you!

This one uses a clockwork stencil from Tim Holtz which is inked with

Distress Inks in Blueprint Sketch and Broken China. The sentiment 'thanks'

is from Winnie and Walter with the 'For a lovely time' from Clearly Besotted.

There's a hand-drawn black line to divide the 2 sections of the card and 

a few Doodlebug Sprinkles which cover a little smudge quite nicely. 

It's an Anything Goes week over at Addicted to Stamps and More

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

This one uses the Party Animal set from Avery Elle, with hand-drawn strings, 

the 'celebrate' sentiment is also Avery Elle and the 'Time To' from Clearly Besotted.

Over at Inkspirational they'd like to see Anything Goes with 'Red'

so as I've used pink and red inks for the balloons I'd like to pop this one in there.

That's all from me but hope you have a lot of fun with this one and please

remember to keep it clean and simple plus on ONE layer only.

Thanks for stopping by and catch up again soon.

Addicted to CAS #88

Hello again crafty buddies I'm back with the latest challenge details for Addicted CAS  where our super duper teamie, Carolyn is hosting and she's chosen 'Midnight'

Items Used:

Stencil: Tim Holtz

Stamps: Mama Elephant - Make a Wish, Clearly Besotted - Happy Travels

Avery Elle - Sentimental

the stencilled panel is popped up on fun foam for added dimension and my clock

is striking 'midnight' - I hope!

Our sponsor for this one is Sami Stamps and our lucky winner will receive a $12 gift card to spend in store

There's plenty more stunning inspiration over on the ATCAS blog HERE plus we have an AWESOME A* talented crafter guest designing for this one
Rahmat of Cards and Cooking Corner
I'm sure you'll have come across Rahmat on blogland but if not please head over and check out her talent plus leave her a little love!
Thanks as always for calling by and I do hope you'll feel inspired to play along!
Have Fun!
Before I skip off for the day there's another birthday girl in blogland who will be partying on Monday - Sandie of London Days and as she's a London lass and a 'purple' addict I couldn't resist making this card for her so it'll be winging it's way to her as we speak! Have a FAN-TAS-TIC day Sandie and HUGE birthday wishes. Hope it's a celebration to remember!

Addicted to CAS #83

Hello again friends, it's time to announce our latest challenge over at
Addicted to CAS
and our new-mum Deepti is the host for this one; She's definitely the proud owner of one perfect little gift!

Here's my card and it was inspired by THIS card by Laura Bassen!  Her inky-blending is second to none and I couldn't wait to try it out with these  mini 'gifts' from Clearly Besotted: Out of This World stamp & die set.

I started out with the idea of making it a shaker but some of those gifts try to get 3-deep behind the acetate and will not budge despite a rather fierce shake! Laura's cards are always so vibrant and cheery so hope I've replicated that a little here! The sentiments are Uniko and I've used a Photo frame die from MFT Die-namics and a little stencilling to add interest to the base of the card with a dotty-type stencil by Tim Holtz
There's more inspiration from my fellow teamies over on the main blog and I hope you'll find time to play along with us.
Our sponsor for this one is STAMPlorations and our lucky winner will receive a $10 voucher to spend in the store.
Have fun and thanks for calling by!

Uniko Introducing Some Bunny

Hi again friends!
Well we have made it to the final day of introductions to Uniko's 4th Birthday release and let me show you the cute and adorable Some Bunny set! There's loads of  fun possibilities and occasions for this little fella with a  selection of typed and hand-written fonts included in the set.


First up with Valentine's Day around the corner I couldn't resist  having bunny 'hold' a glittery heart! He's stamped with Archival black ink from  Ranger, then masked to allow for the stencilling behind which is by Tim Holtz.  He's coloured with various neutral shades of distress inks and water.

The next one uses a technique by Jennifer McGuire HERE which I 

had to try out, using a Distress Inked background, and a sentiment from

the Simply Said set, released yesterday. A little strip of Doodlebug 

patterned paper adds a little extra interest to the base of the card.

Ok that is the final introduction! 

Please head back at the same time tomorrow 

where there's the full REVEAL, RELEASE, BLOG HOP and GIVEAWAY!

Everything you need to know about prizes and how to claim them 

is over on the main Uniko Blog HERE and there's more stunning designs by 

my fellow teamies too - I'm sure they'd love you to pay them a visit!

What's more we have another ex-Uniko Design Team member,

showcasing this set today too ... Aimes of Crafting Confessions

Thanks for calling by!

Less is More #261

Morning friends it's that time on a Saturday for us to reveal this week's challenge at Less Is More! What's more it's a 5-Saturday month which means it's a Lucky Dip and we have a guest designer too.
Kylie (Happy Little Stampers) who is generously sponsoring our  challenges this month has agreed to be our guest designer and being an Aussie, we decided to honour Kylie with a Down Under theme!
Please keep your design clean and simple and explain your inspiration  for 'Down Under' unless it's kind of obvious like mine!

Ok probably the most recognisable Australian skyline ... but in the 

absence of other 'Down Under' symbols in my stash I had to go with it!

It's from the Bon Voyage set by Clearly Besotted and I've masked the image

before stencilling the sun rays using a Tim Holtz stencil with distress inks.

The panel is die-cut using an MFT Die-Namics Stitched Square die and the 

sentiment is from the same Clearly Besotted set.

I'd like to link this one up at Simon Says stamp: Wednesday Challenge

where it's an Anything Goes theme.

Having never been to Australia despite having long-standing friends who 

constantly ask us to visit, I imagine it's one big beach, with beautiful blue seas,

 bright sunlight every day. Basically summer all year round with lines of flip-flops 

(or thongs as the Aussie's call them) lining the beaches! Idyllic YEP!

  

So with that picture in mind my card uses the Clearly Besotted: On The Beach set, 

with a sentiment from Design a Tree and the Rounded Tag die, also CBS.

The die-cut sun is from Lil'Inkers and distress inks to create the 'sea' with a

 torn frothy / wavy edge. The flip-flops are watercoloured with Distress inks and 

drizzled with glossy accents. I couldn't resist adding a couple of sequins for added sparkle.

That's all I've got for Down Under but I've no doubt you'll WOW us 

with your creations this week and I can't wait to see what you've got!

There's more inspiration from Kylie and the Design Team on the main blog HERE

and I'm sure they'd love you to visit them at their own blogs too. 

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

latest challenge details for AAA Cards.

Super Quick Sunday Post

Hi Friends zipping in with one card to share with you which I'm entering over at Muse Card Challenge and CAS(E) This Sketch
My super blog buddy and LIM teamie, Anita, is the MUSE this week and I can't resist 'caseing' her cards! Always super elegant and full of beautiful elements so here's my take on it. I've stuck with similar colours,  stencilling, embossing and a die-cut 'Thanks' sentiment but teamed it with the sketch from CASE(E) This Sketch where there's some awesome  inspirational cards from the DT there too.

Card Recipe:

Distress Inks: Cracked Pistachio, Broken China & Peacock Feathers

inked through a Burlap Stencil by Tim Holtz

WPlus9: Thanks You die

Clearly Besotted: Everything Changes butterfly image 

embossed using WOW Metallic Brass Sparkle on vellum and 

to finish a few gold gems from Papermania.

Here's Anita's card and the sketch I've followed.

That's all for now and not sure if I'll have time to craft or share

until later in the week so thanks for calling by and have a great week.

AAA Cards #46

Hello there it's time to announce the latest challenge details over at  AAA Cards  The theme for this one is Maskerade (masking and/or masquerade theme) I've gone with plain old pure masking as I didn't have any 'masquerade' style stash!

Using a brand new stamp set from Clearly Besotted called Cute as a Bug, I started by stamping the caterpillar then masking it whilst stamping the flower head. The flower was also masked then to add the stem and the 2 other blooms. The images are coloured using my Zig Clear Brush pens with some white gel dots and Zig Wink of Stella for added interest. I then re-masked all the images and used a Tim Holtz: burlap stencil, inking through with Distress Ink in Cracked Pistachio. Finally the sentiment is from the Clearly Besotted: Say it Style set. I'd like to enter this card at a few challenges too Time Out Challenges - Inspired by Words 'Friendship is Golden' Happy Little Stampers - CAS Challenge: Masking Thanks as always for calling by and I hope you get the chance to play along  in our 'Maskerade' challenge and there's loads more fantastic inspiration over on  the AAA Cards Blog HERE from my fellow teamies.