Skull and Cross Buns - Hochanda Showcase Selection 1

Hi guys

As I mentioned in my last post, the lovely Emily of Skull and Cross Buns will be showcasing some of her lovely products in her very first show on Hochanda TV on Thursday 5 September at 4pm.

The Design Team have been crafting away behind the scenes to create some samples for the show and I'm sharing some of mine in this post and over the next few days ahead of the show.

There will be clear stamp sets, stencils and mini embellishment sets (mixes of acrylic and some wood) which co-ordinate with the sets.

I won't lie, because of my clean and simple card making style the embellishments did scare me at first, I had absolutely no clue what to do with them!  They are great for all types of crafting, scrapbooking, mixed media projects and journalling, etc. but by using them sparingly I managed to incorporate them into my CAS makes too.

So here you go, my first make is actually a tag, as I wanted to use one of the wooden embellishments...

I couldn't think of a way to use the 'handmade with love' on a card so I thought it could be used for a tag to add to a handmade gift.  These acrylic and wooden additions are from the Crafting Is My Super Power Embellish! Set which co-ordinates with the Crafting Is My Super Power clear stamp set, which I've used here for the stamped words.  I die cut two blue tags so I could adhere them back to back for a cleaner finish.  The words were stamped multiple times diagonally across the tag using grey ink.  I punched a hole in the top of the tags and tied the wooden element on using some jute twine.  I then finished by adhering two of the silver glittery acrylic embellishments.  I've found the best way to adhere these is by using Glossy Accents, once that's dry it's going nowhere!

Materials used:

• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Traditional Tag Stax
• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Crafting Is My Super Power
• Ink: Memento - London Fox
• Accents: Skull and Cross Buns - Crafting Is My Super Power Embellish! set

Challenge entry:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #356 - Anything Goes

And secondly...

I began with a piece of bright pink cardstock slightly smaller than the card base and stamped various hearts from the Brush Hearts clear stamp set using VersaMark ink, for a tone on tone effect.  I then used a heart die to cut two apertures.  I adhered the panel to the card base then adhered a few elements from the Brush Hearts Embellish! set.  Some of the acrylic elements in these sets are smooth and others have designs etched into them, like the lips and 'love you' here.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts
• Ink: VersaMark
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Hearts
• Accents: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts Embellish! set

And finally for this post...

I die cut a heart from some tan coloured cardstock and blended some slightly darker Distress Ink in from the edge.  I then used the fabulous Leopard Animal Print Large Stencil and blended through it over the top with black Distress Ink.  Before adhering to the card base I added some triple score lines for a little background interest.  To finish, I adhered two of the elements from the Brush Hearts Embellish set, the heart and the 'mwah', these both being smooth black acrylic.  So, still very CAS and not really any different from using stacked die-cuts :)

Materials used:

• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Hearts
• Ink: Distress Ink - Tea Dye, Black Soot
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Leopard Animal Print Large Stencil
• Accents: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts Embellish! set

Hopefully this gives you a taster of a few products Emily will be bringing to Hochanda next week.  I'll be back with more samples very soon.  Enjoy your weekend, whatever you're up to :)

(AD - some products kindly gifted for design team purposes)

Skull and Cross Buns Joining Hochanda!

Hi guys

If you follow my Facebook page you may have already seen this announcement but I thought I'd share it here too.

Skull and Cross Buns will be launching their range on Hochanda next week!

I'm so excited for Emily and the little company she has worked so hard to create and expand.  And I'm honoured to be a member of her lovely Design Team.  If you want to find out more about Emily and her business, she has recently posted a re-introduction over on her Facebook page, here.

The show will be aired in the UK on Thursday 5 September 2019 at 4pm.  You can find it on Sky 673, Freesat 817, Freeview 85, and also live and on demand on the HochandaTV website.

Emily will be showcasing and demonstrating items from the clear stamp, stencil and embellishment ranges, and sharing lots of samples from the Design Team too.  I'll be sharing some of mine here and on social media ahead of Thursday's show.

Thanks for reading and I wish Emily lots of success with her new venture.

Less is More Challenge #403

Hi there

Apologies for the lack of posts lately, I have been crafting away behind the scenes but haven't been able to share those makes yet.  Lots to come over the next few days though so stay tuned :)

Back to the purpose of today's post, and of course it's new challenge day over at Less is More.  And as August has an extra Satuday we have a Lucky Dip challenge for you this time.  Here is the cue card...

Funky Fossil Designs continues as our sponsor for this challenge so please do play along for a chance to win our monthly prize!

I only have one card to share with you this time but I'm excited to say...I have my first 2019 Christmas card in the bag! 

Here it is...

This was very simple to make.  I started with a stitched circle die cut and heat embossed the sentiment in copper.  This was then popped up on fun foam.  I then die cut the pine needles from green cardstock, the bells from silver mirri card and the bow from gold mirri card, and layered and adhered these in a cluster.

Materials used:

• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Mixed Christmas Sentiments
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Copper
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Double Stitched Circles; Clearly Besotted - Tag Along Die Collection (bow); Marianne Design Creatables - Petra's Larix Larch; Xcut - Jingle Bells
• Cardstock from stash

I really appreciate your visits, thanks so much for stopping by.  Please do pop over to the main Less is More challenge post for more inspiration from my teamies and to see how they've incorporated metallics into their CAS creations.  And the challenge, as always, is open for a fortnight so there's plenty of time to link up in our gallery.  Hope to see you there :)

Less is More Challenge #402

Good morning!

Yet another fortnight has passed since the last Less is More challenge, so we're back with a brand new one today, and it's One Layer time! 

Although some crafters find one layer cards a bit tricky, the criteria this time should make this one a little simpler.  This time we want to see..

And throughout August our generous sponsor is Funky Fossil Designs, and the super talented Sarah Gray, is joining us once again as a guest designer.  And by simply playing along you'll be in with a chance of being our monthly winner!

I've used Funky Fossil stencils on all of my sample cards for this challenge.

For my first card I stepped out of my comfort zone of using a white card base, and chose the complete opposite...

Some of Sarah's stencils in the Funky Fossil store are supplied with both the negative aperture and the positive image.  Here I used the positive of the owl stencil and used some low tack tape to hold it in place on my card base.  I wasn't sure how well the ink blending would work as I used white pigment ink, as opposed to normally using Distress or dye inks.  I just needed to blast the surface with my heat gun afterwards to ensure the ink was dry.  I then used a circle die to create an aperture in some scrap cardstock, and with the owl still in place I blended the moon through the mask using silver pigment ink. 

I didn't want to risk warping my base by heat embossing the sentiment so I stamped the image with white pigment ink multiple times using my MISTI to ensure exact placement. 

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Owl in Flight
• Ink: Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versa Color - Silver
• Die: Hero Arts - Circle Infinity Dies
• Stamp: MFT - Grand Peaceful Wildflowers

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #354 - CAS

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge - Anything CAS Goes

For my second card I revisited one of my favourite layouts for one layer cards and used the ghosting technique...

With the card base laid flat I added some masking tape down the spine and across the top third of the card.  I then ink blended with green shades of Distress Ink.  The leaf stencil was then laid across the surface before spritzing with water and blotting away the colour.  To finish, the masks were removed and the sentiment was stamped in black across the centre.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Forest Foliage
• Ink: Distress Ink - Pine Needles, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Beautiful Friend

Challenge entries:

The Male Room - Challenge #117 - 6th Birthday

STAMPlorations - Summer Theme & Sketch Challenge - Stamps and Anything Goes

Finally, a card which was really quick and simple to make...

For this one, rather than inking through the stencil, I roughly inked a section of the stencil directly from pink and blue ink pads.  I then spritzed lightly with water and transferred the design to my card base.  I blasted with my heat gun to ensure it was dry, then overstamped the sentiment in black.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Geometric Star
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Brushed Greetings II

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - CAS Game #146 - Made in Minutes

Please do pop over to the main Less is More challenge blog, here, for lots more inspiration from my teamies.  Just remember to keep your creations clean and simple, including the white space we love, and keeping to the LIM one layer rules.  I hope to see you in the gallery :)

Neet & Crafty Shop!

** ETA - Now Shipping Overseas as well as within the UK**

Hi guys!

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you may have already seen this news recently, and you may have also spotted a sneaky new link in my sidebar.

I've been a bit delayed announcing the news here, just due to life getting in the way, but I'm super excited to say...

My Neet & Crafty Shop is NOW OPEN!

I make so many cards for my Design Team roles and for challenges and there's no way on this earth that I would mail them all myself so I am now offering them to you.  

I have some makes already listed but so many more still to add to the store.  There has been a little delay due to requesting and awaiting the addition of some new categories more suited to some of my cards, but these are now available I will be adding more on a regular basis.

I'm using nuMonday as a platform for my shop, very similar to Etsy, but which is a site dedicated to British Makers.

The logo in this post will take you to the store, and the link in my sidebar will take you there too.

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your weekend :)

Less is More Challenge #401

Good morning!

It's two weeks since the last challenge at Less is More, so of course, we're back with a new one for you.  It's the turn of our regular Colour challenge, here are the details...

For a fresh new month we have a fresh new sponsor!  If you've followed Less is More for some time you'll no doubt be familiar with our previous Design Team member, Sarah Gray, of Funky Fossil Designs.  She is generously sponsoring our August challenges so just by playing along you'll be in with a chance of winning our monthly prize!

Not only is Sarah guest designing with us for this challenge, we also have Alli C joining us who was our June Winner.  Please do pop over to see what she's created and say hi.


Ok, I have two sample cards for you, here's the first...

For this design I die cut a circle and stamped the sentiment across the centre.  I then filled in the gaps using the leaves, flowers and a few smaller stamped elements.  I coloured the images with ProMarkers then popped the die cut up onto a slightly larger circle using fun foam.  The two die cuts were then adhered to the card base.  I felt it needed a little 'something' more, so I used a white pigment pen and added some dotty accents to the flowers.

Materials used:

• Dies: Hero Arts - Infinity Circle Dies
• Stamps: Altenew - Painted Greetings, Doodle Blooms
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Accents: Signo Uniball Pen - White

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #352 - Make Your Mark

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge - Anything CAS Goes

For my second card I used one of Sarah's fab stencils as a background...

I die cut a panel with a stitched rectangle die then blended two shades of Distress Ink just through the central area of the stencil.  I die cut a leaf from orange cardstock and added some detail with a ProMarker.  I stamped the sentiment in black onto a stitched die cut strip then slotted it between the leaves and trimmed it off before adhering to the panel on 3D foam squares.  The who panel was then adhered to the card base on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Geo Diamonds
• Ink: Distress Ink - Cracked Pistachio, Broken China; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Altenew - Leaf Canopy
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Creative Expressions - Laurel Leaves; Clearly Besotted - Frame It Die Collection (sentiment strip)

Thanks so much for stopping by.  My teamies are sharing some great projects over on the main challenge blog so please do pop over and take a look.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend :)

Happy Little Stampers August 2019 CAS Challenge

Hi there

Another month has whizzed by and we're back with new challenge week over at Happy Little Stampers.  Here is the cue card for the August CAS Challenge...

And don't forget to keep your entries clean an simple:

For my Design Team card I wanted to use the top third for my design so chose a balloon theme...

This was very simple to make.  On a white cardstock panel slightly smaller than the card base I used a balloon stencil and Distress Inks and blended them overlapping, perfect for balloons as they are transparent so no masking was required!  I added some light and shade to the blending too.  I die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle die and then stamped the sentiment banner in black.  To finish, the panel was simply popped up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: MFT - Big Balloons
• Stamp: Altenew - Label Love
• Ink: Distress Ink - Broken China, Crushed Olive, Dusty Concord; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles

Challenge entries:

Just Add Ink - Challenge #468 - Just add 'C' (congrats)

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #352 - Make Your Mark

CAS on Friday - Challenge #162 - Use a Stencil

STAMPlorations - Summer CAS Card Challenge - Anything CAS Goes

Don't forget to pop over to the main HLS challenge blog, here, for more inspiration from my teamies, and keep an eye out for the other August challenges, all starting over the next few days and which all run until the end of the month.

Thanks so much for visiting, I'll be back in the morning with details of the new Less is More challenge.