Less is More Week #339

Good morning, crafters

Saturday morning means it's time for a new challenge to launch over at Less is More and as there are five Saturdays in this month we have a Lucky Dip challenge for you.

But first I have some sad news.  Our lovely Sarah G is stepping down from the Design Team.  Sarah has a busy working life, so with the added pressure of design team commitments, both have become difficult to accomplish.  We're all going to miss you on the team, Sarah.  Please do pop over and wish her well :)

So, onto the challenge, here are the details...

We'd like to see paper piercing, brads, eyelets, sewing, etc.

I have two cards to share with you and for my first I am revisiting one of my designs which was ShowCASed at this very challenge back in February 2014 as well as achieving a win at Addicted to Stamps and More!  This is pretty much a blatant copy of this card, I've just changed up the colours and the sentiment...

I covered the card base with some green striped paper and cut a panel slightly smaller than the card base.  The image was stamped in black and the sentiment in pink and black.  I then affixed eyelets to take the place of some of the rings of the design.  The panel was then adhered flat to the base.

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: Lawn Fawn - Let's Bokeh in the Snow
• Stamps: Marion Emberson - On Your Special Day; Altenew - Celebrate
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Opera Pink
• Eyelets from stash

Challenge entries:

The Color Throwdown - Challenge #453

House of Cards - July Challenge - Stripes and/or colours
Just Us Girls - Challenge #404 - Something Old and/or Something New (a new version of an old design and the eyelets in my stash are really old!)

For my second card I did some paper piercing as well as using a pierced die...

I started by stamping the ring in VersaMark and heat embossed in platinum.  I then added the pierced heart detail using a paper piercing template.  I die cut this out with a pierced square die and mounted it onto my card base using 3D foam.  I coloured the gemstone with a pale blue Zig marker and added some shimmer to the whole ring with some clear Wink of Stella.  The sentiment was stamped below the panel in black.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Lawn Fawn - Happy Wedding
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Platinum
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax
• Pierced heart using Stampin' Up Paper-Piercing Pack Essentials
• Accents: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker; Wink of Stella - Clear

Challenge entry:

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge

This might be an opportunity to revisit some oldie but goodie techniques so why not play along!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Less is More Week #338

Hi there

It's time for a fresh new challenge over at Less is More and we're back this week with a Recipe challenge.  I hope you all enjoyed our two week collaboration with AAA Cards, and we had a fantastic number of entries so thank you very much if you've played along over the last fortnight.

Right, back to this week, here are the details...

We want to see dies/stencils/CAS embellishments, etc, but NO stamps

Considering that when I first started cardmaking I didn't do much stamping at all, I actually found this one really tricky!  But I do have two cards for you today.

Ok, so here's my first sample for you...

I chose a linen cardstock for my base and blended three shades of Distress Ink down the right hand side.  I then splattered with some water drops and blotted away some colour.  Next I used a swirl design stencil and, after masking off a section of it which covered the blended area I spread some texture paste over it, removed the stencil and set aside to dry.  I then used a 'celebrate' word die to cut some turquoise glitter card and adhered this to the bottom right corner.  Hopefully I've captured the glitter and paste detail better in the next pic...

Materials used:

• Linen and glitter cardstock from stash
• Ink: Distress Ink - Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon
• Stencil: Stamposauras (no name)
• Die: Paper Smooches - Birthday Words
• Texture Paste: Ranger - Opaque Matte

Challenge entries:

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Surf's Up
STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge

I went with a shaker for my second card this week...

I used the shaker shapes die to cut the hello aperture from a panel of white cardstock.  I adhered some acetate behind, then used some Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels inside the shaker, trapped between the acetate and some patterned paper.  This was then mounted onto the card base using 3D foam strips.

Materials used:

• Die: Clearly Besotted - Shaker Shapes Square Hello Die
• Acetate from stash
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels - Iced Snow
• Patterned Paper: Free with a publication

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #251 - Anything Goes

Why not join in the challenge this week?  If you're looking for some inspiration please do pop over to the main LIM challenge blog where you will find links to my teamies' personal blogs.  They've created some great projects this week....and all without stamping :)

Thanks so much for popping by today, I appreciate every one of your visits.  

Less is More - Weeks #336 and #337

Good morning, crafters

As usual it's time for a new challenge over at Less is More, but we have something a little different for your this time.

As it's week two of the month we have our usual One Layer challenge (oh, please don't groan! lol) but this one will run for two weeks.  Here are the details...

We want to see you using any colour for your card base, except white.

And as well as this being a two week challenge, we're also linking up with AAA CAS Card Challenge.  So you can enter two challenges in one!

Please pop over to the main LIM challenge post, here, for the full details.  There will be one joint winner for this challenge and you must link up to both LIM and AAA to be in with a chance of winning.  The winner will also be invited to guest design for both challenges!

Happy Little Stampers are continuing as our Sponsor for the month of July, and we have the lovely Kylie joining us as a Guestie this week too, so please do pop over and show her some love.


Right, onto my cards, and I have two for you this week.  And both have just a single image and sentiment, and a similar layout too!

For my first I chose a pretty shade of lilac for my card base, in a textured cardstock...

I used pigment ink for this card as I especially needed the white to stand out.  I stamped the outline of the flower first in white, then used a lilac shade of ink to stamp the second layer.  As it was pigment I had the lilac ink sitting over the white which didn't look right so, once dry I went back over the original outline with more white pigment ink to define it.  Luckily I managed to line it back up ok! Next, using my MISTI I stamped the sentiment in the same lilac, then shifted my cardstock very slightly and re-stamped in white to create a shadow effect.  I finished by splattering some white and lilac watered down ink.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Premium Cardstock (assorted pack so shade not known)
• Stamps: Altenew - Golden Garden; Mama Elephant - Brushed Florals
• Ink: Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versa Color - Heliotrope

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge
Stamping Sensations - July Challenge - Anything with Flowers
CAS on Friday - Challenge #111 - Flowers




For my second card I made a Christmas card (two weeks running!) using stamps by our sponsor, Happy Little Stampers...

I stamped the sentiment and the poinsettia in VersaMark ink and heat embossed with copper powder.  I then used a gold coloured pencil to add the shading to the petals and leaves.  Gold Stickles was added to the centre.  To add some interest I included some score lines along two edges to help ground the image.

Materials used:

• Coloured Cardstock:  Bazzill Card Shoppe (assorted pack so shade not known)
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Christmas Joy
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Copper
• Accents: Faber Castell Polychromos - Gold; score lines; Stickles - Gold

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #249 - CAS

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #10 - Embossing Heat/Dry

So what are you waiting for?  You have two weeks to enter with your clean and simple one layer creations...simple, right?!  I don't work with coloured card bases often so it will be great to pick up some inspiration from our entries this week.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Muse Challenge #223 - Brushstrokes Butterfly

Hi there

I'm super happy to be your designer over at Muse this week.

I decided to go with a purely stamped card this time.  No complicated techniques at all, just layered stamping mounted onto a black frame.  I hope you can get some inspiration from it.  I chose bright colours and a black image and frame to add a little bit of drama.

I you're not familiar with Muse, the idea is to create your own interpretation of the designer's card each week and create your own version, using whatever inspiration you want; i.e. theme, colours, layout, techniques, etc.

I'm loving the whole turquoise/pink/purple colour combo at the moment and that was my starting point for this card.  I also wanted to use this butterfly stamp that I picked up recently at The Range (a store in the UK) and it cost just 99p...for a photopolymer stamp!

So I started by stamping the brushstroke images in three bright colours, then overstamped the butterfly and the sentiment in black ink.  The panel was then popped up on 3D foam over a black frame.  That was it....super simple!

Here's a close up of that fab butterfly design...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up - Work of Art; Dovecraft - Spiral Butterfly; Clearly Besotted - To You With Love
• Ink: Versa Color - Turquoise, Opera Pink, Violet; Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for visiting today, I hope you have a lovely week.

Happy Little Stampers July 2017 CAS Challenge

Good evening

Can you believe we're into a fresh new month already, and that also means it's time for the July challenges to start over at Happy Little Stampers.  Today is the turn of the CAS challenge, and our theme this month is a super easy one...

And, once again there is a prize of a $20 coupon to the HLS store up for grabs for one lucky winner!  You don't have to use HLS products to play along (although of course we'd love to see them!) so just link up your birthday creations, ensuring you keep within the challenge guidelines which you can find here and also follow our CAS guidelines:

I've used two of the HLS stamp sets for my DT card this month, Everyday Sentiments and Birthday Friends:

On a piece of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card base I started by stamping the 'Happy Birthday' in black pigment ink and heat embossed it in clear powder.  I then placed some masking tape across the centre and stamped the bubble circles in VersaMark ink before heat embossing in white.  I then blended three shades of Distress Ink out from the masking tape, fading it out towards the edges.  The panel was then popped up onto the card base using fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Everyday Sentiments, Birthday Friends
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark; Distress Ink - Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, Shaded Lilac
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss, Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Crafty Catz - Challenge #377 - Anything Goes with optional twist of Embossing

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #278 - Dots and/or Stripes

AAA Cards - CAS Game #93 - Words Take Centre Stage

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for popping by and I hope you can play along.  All of the challenges (some starting over the next few days) run until the end of the month so there's plenty of time to link up.  Please also pop over to the store for a browse, as well as the HLS stamps there are other bits and bobs available to purchase too.  If you want to get your hands on a MISTI or Mini MISTI, there are payment plans available too!

I'll be back tomorrow to introduce the next challenge over at Muse.  I hope to see you then :) x

Photography Backdrops on a Budget!

Hi guys

You may have noticed from my most recent posts that I've been using props and staging for my card photography.

For a while I wanted to purchase some photography backdrop boards but found them all very expensive....and I know absolutely nothing about photography so didn't want to spend too much on backboards if I couldn't bring out the best in them.  I take all my card photos on my mobile phone!

So, I ended up making my own...

Here's how I did them.

I was wondering around The Range (a UK home/garden/craft store, for my overseas friends who aren't familiar) as I often do as it's only a five minute drive from home, and was walking passed the DIY section when I saw some wood effect wallpaper.  So I stole ripped off some good amounts from the free sample rolls...you need a good amount to get the real effect on your wall, right?! :)

I then wandered around the art section looking for some kind of foam/mount board.  They did sell foam board in packs of two but these were only A3 size and quite expensive.  So I then stumbled across some mount board.  It was larger than I wanted but better to be too big than too small, eh.  And at 'Buy four boards for £10' it's rude not to!  It's 700gsm so nice and sturdy.  You can follow the link, here, for the details.

So I brought it all home and adhered the wallpaper to the boards...done!  As you can see I didn't quite steal acquire enough of the stone wall effect paper but it's still plenty big enough for it's purpose.  I have one more board to complete when I find some more paper that I think will work.  I might eventually cut these down slightly as they are quite bulky for the amount of space I have but at the moment I just slide them behind a cupboard for storage.

So in total these boards have cost me just £2.50 each!  And if I find more designs I can quite happily adhere them to the back of these instead of buying more boards....that will be £1.25 per board!

I love a bargain!!

Here's some examples of the boards in use:

I hope you found this useful if you are looking for something similar.  Apart from being a little on the large side, these certainly work for me!

Less is More Week #335

Hi there

Back with my second post of the morning, which of course is to announce this week's new challenge at Less is More.  It's week one of the month which means it's the turn of our Colour challenge, and this is what we want to see this week...

We have a fresh new sponsor for the month of July too, Happy Little Stampers, so be sure to play along throughout July for a chance to win our monthly prize!

Ok, onto the challenge.  I'm from the UK so obviously our flag, the Union Jack is red, white and blue.  But I really do struggle with this combo and so had a different idea, and that was to use the flag of England.  The red cross of St George on a white background also makes up the central cross of the Union Jack.

I've got two red and white CAS cards to share with you this week.  Here's the first...

I started by blending some red Distress Ink onto some cardstock before using the ghosting technique to create the faded pattern with a stencil.  The stencil is laid over the blended cardstock then spritzed with water before blotting with a paper towel.  Once dry I die cut with a stitched rectangle die.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in white before adhering a die cut flower onto the panel.  This was covered with some clear Wink of Stella and a single glitter dot added before the panel was popped up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Candied Apple; VersaMark
• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Mini Stencil Set 10
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Merci Beaucoup
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangles; Creative Expressions - Scribble Flower
• Accents: Doodlebug Sprinkles - Silver; Wink of Stella - clear

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stencil It

The Card Concept - Challenge #76 (Style: Clean and Simple)
CAS on Friday - Challenge #111 - Flowers

And for my second sample this week I got all festive with a Christmas card...

This was super easy to make but I messed about for ages trying to figure out the placement.  I started out with a portrait card base but it worked so much better on a landscape design.  I simply die cut two holly leaves from white cardstock and adhered these directly to the base, then added enamel dots for the 'berries'.  A bold sentiment in red ink finished the card.

Materials used:

• Die: Tonic - Holly Leaf
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Brushed Greetings
• Ink: Altenew - Velvet
• Accent: Doodlebug Sprinkles - Ladybug

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #114 - White on White

For more inspiration of our theme this week please do pop over to the main challenge blog and take a look at my super talented teamies' creations this week.  You won't be disappointed.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  I'll be back tomorrow evening with details of this month's CAS challenge over at Happy Little Stampers.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kit - July 2017

Good morning!

My fellow honeys and I have got together again and have been creating with another crafty bundle.  So, once again we bring you...

One of the gang puts together an envelope of the same secret crafty bits and sends it to each of us, and we then get creative with it. This time it was Hazel's turn to supply the kit.  The other fabulous honeys who take part are:

Sarah Platt - Sazzle Dazzle Crafts

Sarah Gray - Funky Fossil Designs

Shona Chambers - Twine Around

Anita Bowden - Neet & Crafty (That's me!)

Hazel named her kit 'Going Up' and this is the happy mail we received...

Kit contents:

Stamped images: Gerda Steiner Designs, STAMPlorations, Bella Stamps

Dies: MFT, Clearly Besotted, Spellbinders

Patterned paper: Stampin' Up!

Yellow twine and gems

I have five cards to share with you, and still have tonnes of bits and bobs left over to make more.  My cards this time are all very different, and I can't wait to see what the other honeys have created with the kit too :)


Card One

I coloured the koala images from the kit with ProMarkers and fussy cut them out.  I used a piece of cardstock die cut using Fluffy Cloud Borders by Lawn Fawn as a template to create a cloudy background on my card base blended with Distress Ink in Peacock Feathers.  I die cut a circle aperture from some green cardstock and stamped Clearly Besotted's Mini Leafy Accents in VersaMark around the aperture.  The koalas and green panel were adhered in place, and I then die cut two of the sentiments from the kit and adhered these on 3D foam.


Card Two

I covered my card base with a piece of blue patterned paper which has a mottled effect (it's been in my stash forever!), so I thought this would give a good impression of sky.  Along the base I added a piece of cardstock die cut using Fluffy Cloud Borders by Lawn Fawn, which I also stamped with a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Shine Bright set.  The sun die from the kit I coloured by blending Distress Ink in Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade, and I adhered this to create a scene, along with the two die cut clouds, also from the kit.


Card Three

On a panel of white linen cardstock I lightly blended a background with Distress Inks in Wilted Violet and Mermaid Lagoon.  I then splattered with water to add some detail.  I took a butterfly and the 'make a wish' die cuts from the kit, sprinkled these with Brushos in Purple and Turquoise before spritzing with water and leaving to dry.  I adhered the die cuts to the linen panel and popped it up on fun foam, then finished by adding the gems from the kit to create the butterfly trail.


Card Four

I've not coloured with my ProMarkers for ages and certainly need more colours, as well as more practice!  I wanted to pair the girl image with the patterned paper in the kit so coloured her in some co-ordinating colours.  I adhered a strip of the balloon paper to the card base and overlaid two white panels popped up on foam, one stamped with a sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Sentimental Type set.  I fussy cut out the girl and adhered her across the panels.  I then finished off with one of the die cut balloons from the kit, blended with Peach Perfect ink by Altenew


Card Five

For my final card I wanted to use more of the die cut balloons from the kit.  I watercoloured these with Zig markers and I'm really pleased with the shading.  I gently blended some Milled Lavender Distress Ink through a Diagonal Stripes stencil by MFT to add some interest to the background.  I die cut the sentiment from the kit using a stitched oval die by Lil' Inkers.  All the elements were popped up on 3D foam but I felt it needed something more so I stamped the little star clusters from Uniko's Balloon Bash set in silver pigment ink.

Challenge entries:

CASology - Week 255 - Fly
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stencil It




So there you have it, five very diverse cards using different techniques too...go me! :D

I'm now off to have a mooch around my fellow honeys' blogs to see where this kit took them.  Follow the links above if you want to do the same.

I'll be back in a short while with the details of this coming week's challenge at Less is More.