Less is More Challenge #431

Good morning

And just like that it's the start of another new challenge over at Less is More!  I honestly don't know where the time is going this year.  Here in the UK we'll be putting our clocks back tomorrow, I can't get my head around it at all!

Anyhoooo, back to the challenge, and this time it's a Recipe challenge...

And continuing as our super generous sponsor for the month of October is

My crafty mojo has been a bit absent lately but I enjoyed making this one and I'm really pleased with the result, and I put some some of my Uniko products to use here too...

I began by stamping the pinstripes and then stencilled the largest leaves image in two shades of green ink.  I then stamped two more leaf images, in dark green and dark purple shades.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in white on a sentiment flag die cut from green cardstock.  This was then popped up on 3D foam, securing two leaf die cuts, one cut from dark green cardstock and the other from vellum.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Blocks: Pinstripe II, Nature's Treasures I, Flower Power #1
• Stencil: Uniko - Nature's Treasures II
• Ink: Altenew - Limestone, Evergreen, Andromeda; Distress Ink - Shabby Shutters, Iced Spruce; VersaMark
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Blueprints 26; Creative Expressions - Olive Branch; Britannia Dies - Leaf Strip
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

NBUS Challenge #19 - This is the first use of the pinstripe background stamp and the sentiment strip die

STAMPlorations - October CAS Challenge - Anything CAS Goes

Thanks so much for taking a look today.  I hope you'll be inspired to play along over at Less is More, and you can find lots more inspiration on the main challenge blog, where my teamies are also sharing their projects for this foliage challenge.  As always, the link will remain open for two weeks.

Christmas Card Multiples - Festive Foliage

Hi guys

Here are more of my Christmas card multiples.

For these I used some linen textured card bases I've had in my stash for years.

These were time consuming due to all the die cutting but once done the cards were really quick to put together.  The only stamping was the sentiment which was embossed in gold and die cut with the co-ordinating die.  The rest of the die cuts were cut from coloured and metallic cardstock, layered up and adhered with liquid glue.

Materials used:

• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Tag Along Die Collection (bow); Britannia Dies - Fern Strip; Marianne Creatables - Petra's Larix Larch; Xcut - Woodland Stag Wreath
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Christmas Calligraphy (and co-ordinating die)
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich

Challenge entry:

Happy Little Stampers - December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

I'll have more of my Christmas makes to share this weekend, thanks for stopping by.

Happy Little Stampers September 2016 CAS Challenge

Hi there

As it's the beginning of another month Happy Little Stampers have started their monthly flurry of new challenges and today marks the start of September's CAS Challenge.

Every month we have a new technique we would like you to use on your clean and simple creations and this month we would like to see...

There are some video tutorials over on the challenge blog to give you some inspiration.

This month's challenge is once again sponsored by Happy Little Stampers

My DT card is actually a card I made at the Happy Little Stampers Craft Retreat which took place just over a month ago (where on earth does the time go, only seems like yesterday I was getting very inky with some lovely crafty pals!)

I used Brusho colours to create this card...

On some watercolour cardstock I sprinkled some Brushos in Leaf Green and Lemon, spritzed with water and left it to dry.  I then die cut two ivy sprigs from the panel.  The butterfly was taken from another piece of cardstock created with Brushos but for that background I sprinkled the Brushos in Purple onto a craft sheet, spritzed that with water and then smooshed my cardstock into it.  I took a panel of white cardstock and created some splatters with a mix of Distress Ink and water, then adhered my die cuts.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white onto some black cardstock and adhered to the panel before the main panel was popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Ink: Brusho - Leaf Green, Lemon, Purple; Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean; VersaMark
• Dies:Britannia Dies - Small Ivy; Clearly Besotted - Butterfly Duo Die Collection
• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Mix Mash
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Virginia's View - Challenge #23 - Spray, Mist and Splatter

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #209 - CAS

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #28 - All Kinds of Everything (Butterflies)

My Time to Craft - Challenge #328 - Something that Flies

My teamies have created some lovely projects to inspire you this month which you can find over at the challenge post together with links to their personal blogs for more information.

The challenge will run until the end of the month so there's plenty of time for you to get spritzing!

Happy Birthday, Chrissie!

Hi there

At Less is More this week we have a very special challenge.  Our lovely 'boss', Chrissie, is celebrating her birthday this weekend and will be 70 years young tomorrow!

So our challenge this week is dedicated to her and our theme is...

Snippets for Chrissie!

We want you to use bits and pieces, leftovers on your cards this week.  We all have those sitting on our craft desk or popped in a box somewhere so here's a great opportunity to put them to good use.

We also have a fabulous Guest Designer joining us this week, and who better for this challenge than the wonderful Di of Pixie's Crafty Workshop.  Over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop Di runs a regular challenge called Pixie's Snippets Playground where the idea is exactly this, to create something by using up any little bits from your stash.


So onto my card...

I matted and layered a white cardstock panel onto some bright pink to create a frame.  I also stamped a banner in pink on a snippet of white cardstock and die cut this using it's co-ordinating die.  The 'flower' actually started its life as a butterfly die!  I saw this die at a craft show last month and loved how intricate it was.  I've die cut the butterfly four times from snippets of silver mirri card I've had in my stash for as long as I can remember.  The lower wings were then snipped off and arranged before being adhered together to create the flower petals.

This is what the two part die cut looked like before I trimmed it up...

This took quite some time to figure out the best layout but I'm really happy with the final result.  Each set of two lower wings were then adhered to the card base to create the flower and the banner was popped up on 3D foam over the top.

Materials used:

• Dies: Britannia Dies - Large Elvendene Butterfly; Clearly Besotted - Mini Basic Banners Die
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Mini Banners
• Ink: Versa Color - Raspberry

I'd like to link up at the following challenges:

CAS(E) this Sketch - Challenge #133

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #149 - Birthday Wishes
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Edit:
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 186 (I wasn't sure on the timings of Di's challenge but I can just about sneak in the door before this week's linky closes. Phew!)


I hope you'll join us this week to celebrate Chrissie's special day and I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow, Chrissie xx

CAS(E) this Sketch! Guest Designer!

Hi there

I'm absolutely thrilled to be joining the fantastic CAS(E) this Sketch! team this week as a Guest Designer.  When Chrissy invited me I was so excited, how could I refuse?  This is such a well loved challenge so I'm delighted to be part of it.

So, I won't waffle on any longer, here is this week's sketch to get the brain cogs going...

And here is my card...

I began by drawing a faint pencil line around a circular die onto the card base.  I then stamped the three baubles.  The tops of the baubles are also stamps and I drew the strings using a silver gel pen and a ruler.  Next I die cut five each of two different leaf dies from white cardstock.  I then laid these down on some scrap paper and sprayed them with Cosmic Shimmer Mist and left them to dry overnight.  Then came the fiddly bit!  I arranged the first leaf dies evenly around the circle and once in position began sticking these down with Tombow liquid glue, just on the first four or so leaves so the uppermost part remained unstuck, erasing the pencil lines as I worked my way around.  I then adhered the remaining fern leaf dies in between, adhering under and over the previous die cuts, all following the same direction.  I stamped the bold sentiment in silver ink and the finishing touch was some Glossy Accents on the baubles.  I love the shimmer and shine on this card, the pearl shimmer of the wreath just adds that little something to the white on white.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Card-io Majestix - Dotty Snowflakes; Clearly Besotted - Holiday Sentiments
• Ink: Versa Color - Orchid, Seafoam, Sky Blue, Silver
• Pen: Sakura Gelly Roll - Silver
• Dies: Britannia Dies - Leaf Strip and Fern Strip
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Mist - Pearl; Glossy Accents

Challenge entries:

Inkspirational - Challenge #69 - Word prompt 'Shine'

Dream Valley - Challenge #95 - Anything Goes

Love to Create - Challenge #142 - Make it for Christmas

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #98 - Anything Goes

I can't wait to see what the rest of the Design Team were inspired to create from this sketch, their cards and the challenge details can be found at the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge blog, here.  

I seem to have been on a little Guest Designer sprint this week and you're probably sick of seeing me popping up here and there in blogland!  But I've had a great time joining in with these fabulous teams.  The craft blogging community is such a wonderful place to be, don't you think?

That's all for the moment, bye for now...