Less is More Week #313

Good morning!

Wow, these weeks are just flying by, I can't believe we're back to another Saturday morning...they are always very welcome though!

So, as usual this marks the start of a new challenge over at Less is More and we're back with a Recipe challenge.  And this week, the ingredient we want to see is...

Balloons

(one or more)

And first things first, we have a Guest Designer joining us this week who was our December winner, and a fabulous artist I'm sure most of you are familiar with....the super talented Birgit!  She never fails to wow me with her creativity and her card this week is fabulous so, if you have time please do pop over and show your appreciation.

Right, onto my cards, and I have two for you this week, both of which have already been posted off for birthdays during this past week.

My first uses a stamp from a wonderful set by Katzelkraft which Santa very kindly brought to me.  I decided I needed some fun and quirky stamps in my stash and as a cat lover these were on my Christmas list.  The card was mailed off to a friend who is also a cat lover, and as she has four furbabies this had to be the theme for her card!

This week I wanted to make use of something I haven't used for ages.....patterned paper!  It was getting neglected in the bottom of my cupboard so I had a rummage and pulled out a colourful design to work with.  That was my starting point so, after stamping the cat in black I used some co-ordinating ink colours to stamp the balloons, and used a fine liner to draw the balloon string tying it to his tail.  The speech bubble was also stamped in black, and this is from a set I managed to buy from the lovely Michelle Short when she had a stash sale last year.  I then die cut the bottom of my white cardstock panel with a pierced border and adhered this over the patterned paper onto the card base.  I would have preferred to have the patterned paper section a little shallower but I had already die cut my panel so to preserve some white space I left the cat uncoloured.

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: Pebbles - Sunny Side
• Stamps: Katzelkraft - Les Chats Russes; Clearly Besotted - Let's Party; Lawn Fawn - Chit Chat
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versa Color - Rose Red, Bamboo, Lapislazuli, Orange
• Die: Avery Elle - Dotted Border Dies

Challenge entries:

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes (not played along with the toppings option this time)
Penny Black and More - January Challenge - Anything Goes
Darnell's NBUS Challenge #9 - Two NBU stamp sets (not played along with the optional theme this time)
Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #226 - Anything Goes



For my second card I used a great set of dies from MFT to make a masculine celebration card...

This was super easy to make.  I die cut the balloon base from some polka dot patterned paper, adhered it to the top of my card base and trimmed away the excess.  The bow and string were die cut from green cardstock, and the happy from blue.  These were adhered in position and the remainder of the sentiment was stamped at the base in green.

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: Pebbles - Sunny Side
• Coloured Cardstock: Papermania
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Blueprints 26
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Laugh Out Loud
• Ink: Versa Color - Bamboo

Challenge entries:

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #37 - Swirls and/or Curls

Happy Little Stampers - January Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies
Inkspirational - Challenge #127 - Polka Dots

Thanks so much for visiting my little space in blogland today.  For more inspiration please pop over to the main challenge blog where my teamies have worked their socks off this week to create some great cards to share.  I hope you find time to play along this week.

Less is More Week #312

Hi there

It's Saturday morning so I'm back to tell you about this week's new challenge at Less is More.  It's the turn of our Theme challenge and this week we would like to see...

New Beginnings

I've had a case of missing mojo this week but I did finally manage to make two cards to share with you.  For my first New Beginning theme I chose a wedding card...

This was a fairly easy make.  I started by die cutting the pierced square and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in platinum powder.  The panel was then adhered to the base on 3D foam.  I then die cut the two laurel cuts from pearlescent cardstock and adhered these to the panel and added a couple of glitter enamel dots.

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax; Poppy Stamps - Peppini Laurel
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Love Blossoms
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Platinum
• Accents: My Mind's Eye - Antique Enamel Dots

Challenge entries:

Time Out - Challenge #75 - CASE Ksenija
Uniko Challenge #39 - Anything Goes with Optional Twist of Love
Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #180 - New Beginnings
CASology - Challenge #232 - Cut
Happy Little Stampers - January Anything Goes with Dies
STAMPlorations - January CAS Challenge - Option of Silver/Grey





For my second card I chose a new home card...

Another simple make, this time a one layer card.  The sentiment and the image were both stamped in black and I coloured the image with Derwent Coloursoft pencils.  A glossy heart embellishment was added as smoke coming from the chimney.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Altenew - Succulents (sentiment); Woodware - Home Sweet Home
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Coloured with Derwent Coloursoft Pencils

Challenge entries:

Simply Create Too - Challenge #123 - New Beginnings
My Time to Craft - Challenge #337 - Something New

Thanks very much for popping by today and I hope you have the time this week to join us and take part in this challenge.

Less is More Week #311

Hi there

Well, as you're reading this I'll no doubt be nursing a hangover as it was my works Christmas Party last night!  Yes, we always have it in January which does feel a bit strange but it does make this month a little less dull so not a bad thing.  Hopefully, Blogger has done it's job and by now I should be tucking into a nice hotel brekkie of eggs and bacon to prepare me for travelling back down to Devon from Kent.

So, onto the reason for today's post, and that's the new challenge over at Less is More.  And this week it's our first One Layer challenge of 2017 (yikes!) and this time we want to see...

Favourite Drink

(alcoholic or otherwise)

I treated myself to some new stamp sets specifically for this challenge as I had very little to work with, and I think I'll get a lot of mileage out of these.

So for my first card I've chosen my favourite alcoholic drink, and that's wine, white or pink, sparkly or not, and usually in a pretty glass!

A fairly easy card to make.  The glasses and the black wording is basic stamping and the 'cheers' was stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed in platinum as I thought this picked up the pink tone of the glasses.  I added a few score lines to opposite corners top and bottom and finished off with a few sparkly gems for the fizz.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Reverse Confetti - Clink
• Ink: Altenew - Blush; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Platinum
• Gems from stash

Challenge entries:

Dream Valley - Challenge #147 - Something New (new stamp set)
The Card Concept - Challenge #64 - Pretty Things (style - clean and simple)
My Time to Craft - Challenge #337 - Something New

And my favourite non-alcoholic drink is without doubt...coffee.  I treated myself to a Nespresso machine in the post-Christmas sale and I'm loving it!

I started by masking off all four edges of the card base with Post-it notes and then gently blended some Distress Ink to create the central panel.  I then blended more Distress Ink through a splatters stencil which looks like cup rings and finished off by stamping the sentiment and coffee beans.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Gathered Twigs and Ground Espresso; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Pinecone
• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Splatters 
• Stamps: Sugar Pea Designs - Espresso Yourself

Challenge entries:

CAS on Sunday - Challenge #99 - Black and White with one colour of your choice

The Male Room - Challenge #51 - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - January Challenge - Coffee & Cream

Thanks so much for stopping by.  One layer cards can be very tricky so why not pop over to the main challenge blog and visit my teamies if you're after more inspiration, they've done an amazing job once again.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and I also hope my journey back home doesn't take too long today.  Luckily my boss is driving so I can have a little sleep!  haha  :)

Muse #198 - Yay! It's your birthday

Hi there

I'm thrilled to be back as your Designer for the first Muse challenge of 2017.

If you're new to Muse, the challenge is to draw any kind of inspiration from the designer's creation each week, so this could be the layout, technique, colours....whatever inspires you.

I decided to use some products which are new to my stash for this card...

I recently saw a card by the super talented Laura Bassen, here, and loved the blend of ink colours she used so that was my starting point.

I stamped the linen background stamp in VersaMark and heat embossed with clear powder before using the emboss resist technique to blend my colours.  I then die cut a section of this with a stitched circle die.  Next I stamped and heat embossed the 'yay' in white onto a strip of black cardstock and cut the edges to fit the circle before popping it up on 3D foam.  The circle was also popped up and I manipulated the rest of the sentiment to follow the curve of the circle and stamped this directly onto the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: MFT - Linen Background; Altenew - Celebrate
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss, Opaque Bright White
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Cracked Pistachio; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Double Stitched Circles

Challenge entries:

All these stamps are new to my stash so linking up to these:

Just Us Girls - Challenge #375 - Word Week 'New'

Sweet Stampin' - Something New

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - New Something

And I would also like to link up here:

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #164 - Celebrations

Thanks so much for popping by today, and I hope I've inspired you to play along at Muse this week.

Less is More Week #310

Hi there

Today marks the first challenge of 2017 at Less is More.  And as always on the first Saturday of the month it's the turn of our Colour challenge.  And this week we would like to see...

Ombre

(Any colour in an ombre effect)

And we have a great new sponsor for the month of January, Happy Little Stampers, and the gorgeous Kylie is our Guest Designer joining us this week.  I'm sure she would love a visit from you so please do if you have the time.

And now that I'm not frantically trying to finish Christmas cards I managed three cards to share with you this week!

So let's get to it, with my favourite one first...

I started by masking the edges with large Post-it notes to leave the central rectangle.  I heat embossed the 'balloon strings' stamp with clear embossing powder and used the emboss resist technique to blend the coral colour in an ombre effect before removing the masks. On a scrap of cardstock I blended more ink before die cutting the hugs with the ombre in reverse, and die cut two more for thickness before adhering to the card.

Materials used:

• Stamp: MFT - Balloon Strings background stamp
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Abandoned Coral
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss
• Die: Lawn Fawn - Scripty Hugs

Challenge entries:

Penny Black and More - January Challenge - Anything Goes

The Crafter's Cafe - Challenge #164 - Monochromatic

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Start Afresh (first use of my MFT Balloon Strings stamp!)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - New Something (first use of my MFT Balloon Strings stamp!)

For my next card I used the same stamp in different sizes and ink colours to create the gradient...

Simply stamped directly on the card base.  I started with the largest stamp in the orange, then filled in with the medium size stamp in the pale orange bringing it further down the card, and finished with the smaller stamp in yellow.  The sentiment was also stamped directly onto the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Sunburst
• Ink: Versa Color - Orange, Marigold, Canary; Versafine - Onyx Black

And a more masculine style for my third card...

I used the MISTI to position the 'happy' which was stamped in three shades of blue.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white onto a strip of black cardstock popped up on 3D foam.  I then accented with three sequins, also in an ombre effect.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Wplus9 - Whole Lotta Happy
• Ink: Versa Color - Baby Blue, Atlantic, Neptune; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Accents: sequins from stash

Challenge entries:

The Male Room - Challenge #51 - Anything Goes

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

I can just imagine how gorgeous our gallery will look this week with lots of lovely ombre designs so why not join in with your CAS creations.  

And if I don't see you before, I'll be back on Monday with the next Muse challenge.

Take care x

Happy Little Stampers January 2017 CAS Challenge

Hi guys

I hope you are all refreshed after your Christmas and New Year celebrations and ready to go with this year's challenges!  At Happy Little Stampers the January Watercolour challenge is already up and running and today marks the launch of this month's CAS challenge.  This is our theme for January...

As always, this challenge is being sponsored by Happy Little Stampers and there is a great prize for one lucky winner...

I love using stencils and bought quite a few last year, and it's great that they are an inexpensive addition to any stash.  One of my newer stencils had it's first inking to make this card...

On a panel of white cardstock I stamped the butterfly in black and then masked it before blending two shades of ink through the stencil off the edge.  I then used the negative of the butterfly mask to cover the background up before blending blue and green ink within the butterfly.  I think the masking really makes the butterfly pop even though the panel is completely flat.  The sentiment was stamped below in black and the panel was popped up using fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: The Crafter's Workshop - Mini Solace
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Butterfly Birthday, Everyday Sentiments

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #164 - Celebrations
Allsorts Challenge - Challenge #396 - Something New (stencil)
My Time to Craft - Challenge #337 - Something New (stencil)

Please pop over to the main challenge post to find more inspiration from my fellow teamies.  And we have some new Design Team members joining us too, so if you have the time please do visit their personal blogs and give them a big welcome.

The rest of our regular challenges will be launching in the next few days and all of them will be running until the end of the month, so plenty of time for you to get crafty and play along.