A Simple Sketch at Less is More

Good morning lovelies

There is a new challenge just starting at Less is More and this week we have something for you that we haven't seen for a while....

A Sketch!

All we need you to do is create a project using this sketch as your inspiration...

I have two cards to share with you today using the sketch as my starting point...

I die cut a curved rectangle from the top panel which was popped up on 3D foam strips after adhering some hot pink cardstock to the card base to show through the aperture.  I die cut the flower from white cardstock, adhered this over the aperture and accented with some clear Wink of Stella.  I then used the 'Thanks' word die to cut the sentiment from the same hot pink cardstock.

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Dienamics - Stitched Rounded Rectangles (negative); Poppy Stamps - Small Posh Outline; Paper Smooches - Thanks Word Die
• Cardstock: Anna Marie Designs (white); Bazzill Card Shoppe (pink)
• Accents: Wink of Stella - clear

Challenge entry:

Creative Card Crew - Challenge #90 - Clean and Simple

My second card didn't translate exactly how I envisioned it would but I'm fairly pleased with it...

I cut two small rectangular masks from a post-it note.  Once placed on the card base I stamped a brush stroke image in rainbow colours over the top.  I then removed the masks and stamped the sentiments in black where the masks had been.  I finished by accenting with co-ordinating Doodle Sprinkles.

Materials used:

• Die: Clearly Besotted - Geometric Style
• Stamps: Inkylicious - Brush Strokes; Woodware - Salutations
• Ink: Versa Color - Scarlet, Orange, Marigold, Fresh Green, Cyan, Heliotrope, Pink; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Accents: Doodlebug Sprinkles

Challenge entries:

CAS on Sunday - Challenge #61 - One Layer
Loves Rubberstamps - Challenge #157 - Use a Die Cut (I used a die to create my masks!)
Ooh La La Creations - Challenge #183 - Happy Birthday

We'd love to see how you interpret our sketch this week and hope to see you in the gallery.  My fellow teamies have some great projects to share so I'd love for you to pop by their personal blogs and leave some love.

I hope to seen you again soon.

Addicted to Stamps and More #150

Hi guys

It's time for a brand new challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More and for this week's challenge we have a fabulous photo to inspire you.  Here it is...

You may take any element(s) of this photo to inspire you; colours, theme, etc.

This week's challenge sponsor is Sweet Pea Stamps who are offering a prize of 4 digis to our lucky winner.

Here is my DT card using the photo as my inspiration, I used the green background and the white flowers. This isn't very recognisable as my usual style but I wanted to try something different and I'm really pleased with the result.

I cut a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card base and then squished some distress inks onto my craft mat and spritzed with water before smooshing them onto my card.  Kristina Werner shows this technique in her video, here.  Once this was dry I used my EK Success Powder Tool to swish over the area before stamping my large dahlia stamp in VersaMark and then heat embossed this in white.  I also heat embossed the sentiment in white on a scrap of dark green cardstock before trimming down to a small banner which I adhered flat.  The panel was slightly warped from the heating so I used lots of 3D foam strips to adhere the panel to my card base to ensure it was flat.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Evergreen Bough and Mowed Lawn; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Delicious Dahlia; Clearly Besotted - Many Mini Messages

Challenge entries:

The Friday Mashup - Challenge #214 - Monochromatic Theme
Brown Sugar - Challenge #151 - Monochromatic
Happy Little Stampers - June CAS Challenge - Sprays/Mists (technically only spritzed onto my craft mat not my card!)


Please swing by the ATSM challenge blog as my teamies have created some wonderful cards this week, all using this photo to inspire in different ways.

Thanks for visiting today, I appreciate you taking the time to look.

Happy News!

Hi there

I'm currently in the middle of my working day so hopefully the lovely Blogger has done it's job and you're now reading about my happy news!

A while ago I received a totally unexpected email from the lovely and super-talented Ardyth inviting me....yes, little old me....to join the Design Team at Muse!  O.M.G!!!  I was so gobsmacked but totally ecstatic to be asked so, of course, what else could I say but a big fat YES!  So, starting next month I am officially a...

There are also a couple more fabulous ladies joining the team starting in July and I'm so happy to be part of this fantastic line up. Please click here to go to the Muse challenge blog where Ardyth is introducing the new members.  

Those that follow Muse will know that the wonderful Marion Vagg and Vicki Dutcher are sadly stepping down from the team so I hope that I can follow in their fabulous footsteps and provide you with some inspiration with my designs.  

My first Muse post will be on 20 July so I hope you'll join me then and feel inspired to play along.

Yay!!

You Brighten My Day

Hi there

As promised, I'm back with another card which I made last night.

It's been a gorgeous sunny week in my part of the world so I decided to make a bright and summery card, using a few challenges as my inspiration.  I also used a new stamp I bought at the Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show last weekend, this beautiful butterfly.

I stamped the butterfly in VersaMark on some watercolour paper and heat embossed in white.  I then watercoloured the remaining parts of the butterfly, and the surrounding area using Distress Inks.  I used a pierced die to cut out the square which I then mounted on 3D foam.  Then I stamped the sentiment in a co-ordinating colour and also mounted this strip on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: IndigoBlu (Dinkies range) - Flutterby; Clearly Besotted - Sunshine & Smiles (sentiment)
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Inks - Shaded Lilac, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn and Mustard Seed; Versa Color - Peony
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax

I would like to link up at the following challenges:

The Card Concept - Challenge #37 - The Butterfly Effect (clean and layered style)

Fusion - Bright Butterfly (just using the photo as my inspiration)

Papertake Weekly - Ohh So Pretty


I may be back with more later although I really must do some housework today.  Although I've been off work this past week the weather has been so nice I've been out and about so the chores have taken a back seat!

I'll definitely be back tomorrow though when I'll be sharing some exciting news! ;)

For You, Dad

Hi guys

It's Father's Day today here in the UK.  I sadly lost my dear Dad in 2005 after a short battle with cancer so I always find special days like this pretty tough, especially as he was taken from us at only 57 years of age :(  He was such a lovely man so the happy memories always make it a little easier.


But, although my Dad is no longer here I did make a card for Matt's dad for Father's Day.  Here it is...

On a panel of kraft cardstock I stamped the little gardening image and coloured this with FlexMarkers.  I then stamped the sentiment, the Dad part then die cut with its co-ordinating die and popped up on 3D foam.  I matted the panel onto some striped patterned paper and then adhered flat to the kraft card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Little Claire - one of their Dinkies stamps (unknown name); Clearly Besotted - My Hero (with co-ordinating die) and Happy Everything
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versa Color - Bark
• Patterned Paper: Lawn Fawn - Let's Polka
• Cardstock: Neenah - Desert Storm

Challenge entries:

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #318 - Male Creations

Loves Rubberstamps - Challenge #156 - Masculine Theme

Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #141 - For a Man or Boy

Crazy 4 Challenges - Challenge #290 - Masculine Card

I'll be back again in a while with another card I made last night.

Happy Father's Day to all the lovely dads out there :)

Seaside Love

Hi guys

If you are looking for my Less is More stencil cards please scroll down to my previous post.

I'm just swinging by to quickly share a card I've made for the current challenge at Curtain Call.  Here is the fab inspiration pic they have given us...

I knew without looking I didn't have anything flip floppy in my stash but the first thing I saw when looking at this picture was of course a beach scene, but also two wonky open hearts.  So that's the direction I went in to create this card.

The blue panel was leftover from this card, where I watercoloured with Distress Inks before spritzing with water to remove the colour. So I cut the panel down using a wavy dotted border die.  This represented the water in the photo so I then used a scrap of kraft cardstock and created the same wave to represent the sand, stamped the sentiment and adhered this behind the blue panel before adhering to my card base.  I used some quirky heart dies to create the open hearts from turquoise cardstock.  These were solid hearts so I used the smaller dies too to create the apertures in the centres.  I snipped one heart so I could link them together, and adhered to the panel before smothering them with Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - A Little Something
• Dies: Avery Elle - Dotted Borders Die (new from the show last week); Clearly Besotted - Love Hearts and Mini Love Hearts
• Accents: Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents

I am also going to link up at the following challenges:

A Gem of A Challenge - Challenge #147 - Summer Time (beach
Daring Cardmakers - Bokeh Technique (I used water to remove the colour instead of adding detail with white ink)
Happy Little Stampers - June CAS Challenge - Sprays Mists


That's all for now, must dash, we're off out to lunch with Matt's parents and I've still got wet hair!

Two Ways With Stencils

Good morning crafters

Firstly, apologies that it's been a whole week since my last post.  Matt and I have had the week off work and I originally planned to do lots of crafting but the weather has been so lovely this week we have made the most of it and got out and about each day to make it feel like we've had a holiday.  Even though we live on the coast we are not really beach lovers (unless abroad where the sea isn't completely freezing!) so we've enjoyed some lunches al fresco, lovely sunny strolls, a trip to Dartmoor (where I spent most of the day trying to negotiate sheep, cattle and ponies that love standing in the middle of the road, and a deer that decided to leap across my path) and just generally getting out of the house!  Oh, and of course days out in Devon wouldn't be complete without enjoying a yummy cream tea :)  Yes, the diet has taken a serious battering this week!

Also, my week started last Sunday with a trip to the Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show in Taunton where I spent far too much money on some yummy goodies.  So, although I'm not looking forward to going back to work on Monday I certainly need to earn some money to be able to fund my hobby!

Right, back to today, and the reason for my post is to introduce another new challenge over at Less is More.  And, for this week's challenge we'd like to see you use some...

Stencilling

There are lots of ways that stencils are being used in the crafting world and I'm sharing two different techniques with you on today's cards.

I mixed some embossing paste with three different Distress Inks and spread these onto a white panel of cardstock through a stencil to create a pink ombre effect.  Once dry I adhered a die cut butterfly cut from black cardstock and also a black sentiment strip with the sentiment heat embossed in white.  I adhered the panel flat to the card base as the banner was popped up on 3D foam and I didn't want the card to end up too thick to send through the mail.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves; VersaMark
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver
• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Deco Branch (new purchase from the show)
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Butterfly Duo Die Collection
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Sweet Little Sentiments
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Ohh So Pretty

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Paste

Crafty Creations - Challenge #291 - Embossing

For my second card I used the Ghosting Technique shown brilliantly here by the super-talented Loll.  I didn't purposely CASE Loll's card but the image of her card must have been in my mind when I created this! 

Loll used watercolour sprays to create her background whereas I roughly blended three Distress Inks with my ink blending tool onto my white cardstock panel.  I then laid a stencil over the top and spritzed through it with a water spray.  I immediately removed the stencil, left it for approximately thirty seconds and then blotted the panel with a paper towel to remove the water which then removed some of the ink.  Once dry I stamped the sentiment in Black and adhered the panel flat to my card base.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Leaf Swirl (new purchase from the show)
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Sweet Rose (sentiment) 

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - June CAS Challenge - Sprays/Mists

The Friday Mashup! - Challenge #214 - Stencils and a Monochromatic Theme

Well, hopefully I've inspired you to get creative with some stencils and if you don't have any you can always use the negative of a die cut as your stencil, or even cut from acetate.  My teamies at Less is More are also sharing some great projects today so why not pop by their blogs too.

Thanks for visiting as always.

One Layer Home

Hi guys

Well, 8.00am on a Saturday means there is a brand new challenge over at Less is More.  And, just to cheer you all up, we are back with our dreaded (by some!) One Layer Challenge.  Our theme this week is...

Home

I'll admit I did struggle with this one, I love one layer cards but my stash was a bit thin on the ground for this theme but I managed to create two cards.  Here they are...

Lots of masking was involved with this card.  I started by stamping the curtains then masked these off before stamping the window frame in VersaMark ink and embossing with clear embossing powder.  The mask was put back in place so I could blend the sky through the window with Distress Ink in Salty Ocean.  I then stamped the vase and flowers and the sentiment below.  The sentiment is from the 'Home Sweet Home' stamp set by Woodware and all the other images are from Clearly Besotted's 'Window Dressing' set.

Here's the embossing detail...

I'm going to link this one up at the following challenges:

Crafty Creations - Challenge #291 - Embossing
Happy Little Stampers - June Sketch Challenge

And my second card...

I started by using an MFT Die-namics Stitched Rectangle die to emboss the central frame, using an embossing mat with my Big Shot.  I then simply stamped all the image elements and sentiment using Clearly Besotted's 'So Tweet' stamp set and Versa Color ink.

Challenge entries for this one are:

Crafty Catz - Challenge #283 - Clean and Simple

Brown Sugar - Challenge #150 - In the Garden

Thanks for all your wonderful entries last week, the gallery was so pretty filled with sunset colours.  I hope you'll be able to join us this week.

Addicted to Stamps and More #148

Hi there

This post marks the beginning of another new challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.  And this week we're back with another of our regular themes which is...

Holiday

So, go ahead and create any holiday themed project such as Christmas, Easter, a National holiday or, of course, a holiday/vacation theme.

Our sponsor this week is Stitchy Bear and the lucky winner will receive 3 digi images up to the value of $10!

Here's my DT card...

I started by using a circle die to create a mask from some spare cardstock and secured this over my card base.  I then cut a wavy snow bank by hand from a post-it and placed this over the bottom half of the mask.  I also used a smaller circle die to cut a circle, also from the post-it and used this to mask the moon.  I blended the sky with distress inks, removed the moon mask and then used white pigment ink through a stencil to create the falling snow.  I then removed the snow bank mask and gently blended a little blue ink around the bottom of the circle.  The card was finished by stamping the tree and sentiment.

Materials used:

• Dies: Xcut - Nested Circles
• Ink: Distress Ink - Salty Ocean and Faded Jeans; Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versa Color - Neptune
• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Speckles
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Little Pudding (sentiment); Card-io - Winter Walks

Challenge Entries:

One Layer Simplicity - Challenge #17 - Round and Round (two circles)

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Challenge #232 - Use Some Blue

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #146 - Something Blue

Virginia's View - Challenge #15 - Ombre/Monochromatic

We would love for you to take part in our challenge this week and if you need a little inspiration, my teamies have some fab creations over at ATSM to get your creative mojo going.

Thanks for visiting!

Pretty Pink Posh Watercolour Blog Hop

Hi guys

Well, I couldn't let this weekend pass by without making a card for the Pretty Pink Posh Watercolour Blog Hop, I'm so late to the party already!

The cards created by the Design Team, Guests and Sponsors are amazing and I've only had chance to glance at them so far, it's such a colourful gallery!  And the entries so far look amazing too, I'll be off there shortly to have a proper wander through the gallery.

So, without further ado, here's my card.  This is very different to what I'm used to creating but I wanted to have a proper go at watercolouring with my Distress Inks and I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.

Using some Daler Rowney Mixed Media card I created a wash of Distress Inks, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean, smooshed together. Once dry I flicked over some water droplets and mopped these up with a paper towel to remove the ink in these areas.  On the same card I stamped the flowers in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with some gold embossing powder.  I then watercoloured these before fussy cutting them out.  I bought these stamps from eBay ages ago but I have no idea what brand they are.  I thought about making the sentiment embossed gold too but I thought this may be a bit too much so I stayed with black and then remembered a little technique I saw the wonderful Kristina Werner use a while back, I think it was on a Christmas card, where she ran a VersaMark pad along the edges of her panel and then heat embossed it.  My lines are a bit wobbly but I like the gold edging to bring it all together.  The flowers were finally adhered using 3D foam and glue dots.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Emobssing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich
• Stamps: Flowers - unknown; Clearly Besotted - Happy Birthday

I'm also going to link up at the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #146 - Something Blue

Loves Rubberstamps - Challenge #154 - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes

Moving Along with the Times - Happy Birthday

Just Us Girls - Challenge #296 - Summer (Blue skies and bright flowers)

That's all for now folks, I hope to be creating more in the next few days as there are so many fab challenges around at the moment, I want to try to catch them before the doors close!

I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend.

Sunset Colours

Good morning, crafters

Firstly, I apologise that my last post was a whole week ago.  Life just seems to get in the way of crafting some times and time has just flown by without finding a window to create anything, other than what I'm sharing today.

There is a new challenge over at Less is More this morning and for Week 227 we are back with a Colour Challenge and we would like you to use the colours of a...

Sunset

So, without further ado, here are my cards to hopefully give you some inspiration.

For my first card I chose the colours you automatically visualise when you first think of a sunset, reds, oranges and yellows.

I started by die cutting a panel using a diagonal stitched rectangle die.  I then stamped the sentiment and the gorgeous bloom.  I then chose some FlexMarkers and coloured each petal blending a red, orange and yellow.  I don't have tonnes of colours to chose from but with some perseverance I think I managed to blend them ok.  This took quite some time to colour but I think the effect was worth it! I was going to mount this white panel alone on my card base but it looked a little lost so I cut a smaller rectangle of orange cardstock using the same die set and layered this underneath one corner.

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - In & Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangles Stax
• Stamps: Visible Image - sentiment (unknown set); Clearly Besotted - Sketched Blooms
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Cardstock: Anna Marie Designs - White; Bazzill Basics- Orange
• Coloured with FlexMarkers

Challenge entries:

Crazy 4 Challenges - Challenge #289 - Sunshine
Brown Sugar - Challenge #149 - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz - Challenge #282 - Stitching
Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #140 - Stitching

Now, sunsets can be all sorts of colours when you think about it, so for my next card I chose softer pinks and lilacs.

On a small piece of white cardstock I blended four different Distress Inks to create my sunset and then stamped over with a single birch tree image.  I then used a stitched rectangle die to create my panel and mounted this on 3D foam with the sentiment stamped vertically alongside it.  Simple but I love how this turned out.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Birch Trees
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangle Stax

The Friday Mashup! - Challenge #212 - Let's Ombre
Virginia's View - Challenge #15 - Ombre
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes
Loves Rubberstamps - Challenge #154 - Anything Goes

I've used loads of NBUS (never before used schtuff) on these two cards, both stamp sets and the dies so, Darnell, I hope you'll be proud of me! lol

I hope you have some fun with this challenge and expect glancing at the gallery this week will be a beautiful sight, hope to see you there.