Less is More Week #324

Good morning!

These Saturday mornings really do whizz around quickly!  It's time for another challenge at Less is More and this week we're back with our Theme challenge.  In the UK Spring has really sprung over the last couple of weeks so our new theme couldn't be more appropriate.

I have two cards for you this week.

I absolutely love seeing blossom on the trees so I've tried to replicate it on my first card...

I started by stamping the tiny flowers in pink pigment ink and I then heat embossed these in clear.  When stamping these I kept the branch stamp to hand so I could create the approximate shape with the flowers.  I then stamped the branches over the top with second generation stamping to keep them subtle and wiped away any ink that was over the embossed flowers.  Once dry I blended a subtle ombre effect in blue to create the sky.  Next I stamped the sentiment before popping the panel up on 3D foam.  To finish I added a tiny dot of darker pink to the centre of each of the flowers with a FlexMarker.

Here's a closer view of the embossed blossom...

Materials used:

• Stamps: Wplus9 - Fresh Cut Containers (3 tiny flowers); Card-io Combinations - Greenery 1; Clearly Besotted - Design a Tree (sentiment)
• Ink: Versa Color - Petal Pink, Cocoa; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink: Tumbled Glass
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss

Challenge entries:

Inkspirational - Challenge #132 - Spring

STAMPlorations - April CAS Card Challenge - Anything Goes (Option: any pastel colour)

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #272 - Spring Spectacular

Penny Black and More - April Challenge - Spring

AAA Cards - CAS Game#87 - Shiny Spring

For my second card I used my favourite Spring flowers, tulips...

The floral stamps here are wooden stamps so I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to assist with placement.  I stamped the stems and blooms in various colours of pigment ink.  This was simply finished off with a sentiment stamped in black.  I was going to add sequins but they seemed to overpower the images so I settled on a scattering of tiny clear gemstones.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up - Both Way Blossoms; Wplus9 - Happy Wishes
• Ink: Versa Color - Green Tea, Olive, Burgundy, Lilac, Lavender; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Clear gemstones from stash

Challenge entries:

Daring Cardmakers - Spring Garden

Stamping Sensations - April Challenge - Anything Goes

Uniko - Challenge #40 - Spring 

Thanks so much for popping by, and if you have time I'm sure my LIM teamies would love a visit from you too.  Their creations this week are fabulous and there could be more inspiration over on their personal blogs too.

I love Spring so I'm looking forward to seeing the gallery of entries this week.

Winter Reflection

Good morning

I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday and that your heads aren't too sore today!  I spent Christmas Day with my boyfriend's family and this morning I will be off to see my brother and sister-in-law for a few hours before they go away for a few days.

I thought I would pop by today to share another of my Christmas makes.

I love the scenes that can be created using Card-io stamps and I picked up a couple of new sets when I visited the Stitching, Sewing and Hobbycraft show back in September.  I watched some of the demonstrations again and, although nowhere near as fabulous as those on show, I gave it a good go!

I used a Post-It note cut with a curve to create the top snowbank and gently blended some ink to create the sky and the sunrise, before stamping the trees in first, second and even third generation stamping to create some distance.  I then used the straight edge of a Post-It and gently blended to create the waterline of the lake before stamping the deer.  To create the reflection of the deer I stamped it onto acetate before transferring the mirror image below.  Take care when doing this as your stamp will slide around on the acetate.  I then finished with some glitter adhered with a Quickie Glue pen and the sentiment stamped at the top.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Card-io - Mini Tall Trees, Festive Scene
• Ink: Versa Color - Neptune, Orange, Marigold; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Diamond Frost - Frosty Dawn

Challenge entries:

Crafty Creations - Challenge #331 - Any Holiday

CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #163 - Christmas and Hanukkah

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #264 - White Christmas
A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #184 - Anything Christmas Goes
The Male Room - Challenge #50 - Christmas/Winter Wishes/December Celebrations
Time Out - Challenge #73 - Inspired by Words "With each sunrise we are given a chance for a new beginning"

Thanks, as always, for visiting and I hope you all have a great time continuing with your festivities, whatever you're up to.

I hope to see you again soon.

Sending Lots of Love at Christmas

Good morning and Merry Christmas, everyone!

Well, yesterday turned out to be busier than I first envisaged and passed by a lot quicker so I didn't find the time to share more projects as promised.

But as it's now Christmas Day I just wanted to share another festive make and send you all very best wishes for a fabulous day with your nearest and dearest and hope that you all have a wonderful time (or perhaps already have, depending on where you are in the world!)

I also want to send you a massive THANK YOU for your visits and such uplifting comments.  Crafty blogland is a wonderful community to be part of and I appreciate each and every one of you so much.

So, on to my card for today.  I love seeing winter scenes with deer so here's one of my last Christmas makes for this year...

I stamped the birch trees in VersaMark and heat embossed in clear.  I then placed a post-it note, handcut with a slight curve, across the bottom to create a mask before using the emboss resist technique to blend the sky with Distress Ink.  I then stamped the deer in black.  I use a stitched rectangle die to create the panel and then used a Quickie Glue pen to add a little sparkly glitter to the snow at the base.

I then used a white pigment pen to add the falling snow, mounted the panel on 3D foam and stamped the sentiment below on the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Birch Trees and Eat, Drink, Be Merry; Card-io - Festive Scene
• Ink: VersaMark; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Distress Ink - Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Diamond Frost - Frosty Dawn; Signo Uniball pen

Challenge entries:

Crafty Creations - Challenge #331 - Any Holiday
CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #163 - Christmas and Hanukkah
Creative Inspirations - Challenge #264 - White Christmas
A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #184 - Anything Christmas Goes
The Male Room - Challenge #50 - Christmas/Winter Wishes/December Celebrations

Sending lots of love and I will be back over the Christmas break to share a few more projects but all that's left to say for now is.....

Less is More Week #304

Hi there

It's new challenge day at Less is More and this week we're back with our Recipe challenge.  This week we have a technique for you and it's one that can create some fabulous effects.  We would like to see you...

Use an Emboss Resist Technique

Apologies again, just one card for you this week.  I was away last weekend and have had two evening meetings this week as well as visiting a friend so I've struggled to make any more in the evenings.  Hopefully things will now slow down a little....I hope so, I've not really started my Christmas cards yet!  But here's one to add to my pathetically small collection so far!

I decided to use the work of the awesome Heather Telford as my inspiration.  Heather is an amazing artist and I particularly love her snowscape creations.  I've seen her previously create snow on branches using emboss resist so I decided to give it a go.  If you have time you really should pop over to her blog, you certainly won't be disappointed.

This look is created by stamping first in VersaMark, and then shifting very slightly, only a millimetre or two, before stamping again in coloured ink.  I used black here.  The MISTI was the perfect tool for this as I stamped and then just shifted my card up a touch before stamping again, you could use a stamp positioner for this too. All the stamping is then heat embossed in clear so that when you ink blend over the top the stamped images resist the ink.

I finished by stamping the sentiment and then adhering the panel to my card base on some fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Card-io - Branching Out; Paul Pascual - Christmas Messages
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Victorian Velvet
• Embossing Powder: Rubber Stampede - Clear

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #221 - Anything Goes
The Male Room - Challenge #49 - ????Scapes
Time Out - Challenge #71 - Christmas
Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #34 - Anything Goes Christmas
CASology - Challenge #225 - Soft
Inkspirational - Challenge #122 - Chill

I love how this turned out, although I shifted the card a little more on the lower branch than the upper  one...it was obviously snowing heavier lower down! lol :)

Thanks so much for joining me today, and please don't forget to visit my teamies over at the challenge blog for lots more emboss resist inspiration.

Less is More Week #260

Good morning

Where do the weeks go?  Can you believe it's time for another new challenge at Less is More?  Well, it is and this week we have a Recipe challenge for you which is to...

Include a Silhouette

Please remember to keep you creations clean and simple.

I have three sample cards to whet your appetite this morning so let's get to it.

Some Distress Ink blending for my first card...

I used a circle die to create a mask and then blended Distress Inks to create the sun.  I then stamped the bird and branch silhouette in black ink.  I then messed up with my sentiment stamping, I tried to re-stamp it to create a sharper impression but didn't line it up exactly right (can't wait to get my hands on a Misti!).  So to correct it I embossed the sentiment in white onto a strip of black cardstock, adhered this over my blunder and then added some smooth clear gems to finish.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, Abandoned Coral; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Stamps: Card-io Combinations - Christmas Scenery 2; Clearly Besotted - April Showers
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Creative Inspirations - Week 343 - Anything Goes

I tried a different approach with Distress Inks for this next card...

I masked off a horizontal section on a panel of white cardstock and used a circle mask for the moon.  I then blended with Distress Inks but instead of building up the colour to a smooth finish I kind of swiped back and forth horizontally to build up the blend.  I then removed the mask and used a wet wipe to swipe across, to gently remove some colour and to spread it across the moon to (hopefully) give the impression of a cloudy dusk sky.  I then simply stamped the dove and sentiment in black before matting and layering onto the card base with a black frame.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord, Faded Jeans; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Paired Up; Uniko - Flower Power #1

Challenge entries:

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #159 - Anything Goes

And my Brushos had a little outing for my third card...

On a piece of white cardstock I sparingly sprinkled some Brusho crystals (and I mean sparingly - you only need the lightest sprinkling), spritzed with water to reveal these gorgeous colours and left it to dry.  Next I die cut a section of the cardstock with a stitched rectangle die and also die cut the dragonfly, before placing some black cardstock behind the negative space.  I stamped the sentiment, added some small black gemstones to create the flight trail and then mounted to the card base using 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Ink: Brushos - Purple and Emerald Green; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangles; Clearly Besotted - Dragonfly Die
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Just Fabulous
• Accents: Hobbycraft - 2mm black gemstones

Challenge entries:

Stamping Sensations - January Challenge - Anything Goes with a Die(s)

Happy Little Stampers - January CASE the Designer

Inkspirational - Challenge #100 - Blast from the Past - Previous colour challenge (Purple, White, Green)

There are lots of solid stamps out there so I'm sure you have something in your stash that fits our challenge.  We'd love for you to join us this week.

Bye for now

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Hi guys

Welcome to my regular Saturday morning post to introduce the new challenge over at Less is More.  This week it's the turn of our One Layer Challenge.  And we would like you to make cards that depict...

Santa

Our guidelines can be found here.  Please remember to keep your creations clean and simple.

I have three cards to share with you this week, all very different.  I hope these will whet your appetite and inspire you to join us this week.

I was really pleased with the result on my first card, exactly how I had planned it (makes a change!)

This card took a bit of planning but was pretty simple to create.  I sketched a Santa hat onto a post-it note and cut it out from the inside to create a mask, firstly minus the white parts.  I used a grey card base as I wanted the white to eventually show up.  I blended red ink through the mask to add some light and shade.  I then cut two more masks for the fluffy white parts of the hat and swiped a VersaMark ink pad over the negative space onto my card base.  I then heat embossed these areas with white embossing powder.  I finished with a sentiment below in black.

Materials used:

• Cardstock from stash
• Ink: Distress Ink - Barn Door; VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Stamp: MFT - Christmas Cuteness

Challenge entries:

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #335 - Anything Goes
Crazy 4 Challenges - Challenge #310 - Christmas Theme



And my second...

I think the Santa image I used here has a very vintage feel so I started with a kraft card base, masked a central circle and blended in some Distress Ink.  With the mask still in place I then stamped the Santa image, and the sentiment was stamped below in the same ink. It looked like something was missing so I decided to turn the sphere into a bauble and heat embossed the hanger and bow with gold embossing powder.

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Neenah - Desert Storm
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Double Stitched Circles
• Ink: Distress Ink - Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain; VersaMark
• Stamps: Stampin' Up - Santa's List; Clearly Besotted - Ornamental Style
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich

Challenge entries:

The Crafter's Cafe - Challenge #136 - Inspired by a Song (Santa Claus is Coming to Town)
Brown Sugar Challenge - Challenge #172 - No Patterned Paper
CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #145 - Precious Metals

I decided to create an iconic Christmas scene for my third card...

I masked the hill and the moon with post-it notes and blended the night sky with purple inks, and with the mask still in place I stamped the fence and trees.  I stamped the deer and added a little shading at his feet, then stamped the sleigh image and sentiment. As a finishing touch I applied some glue to the brow of the hill and sprinkled with some fine glitter.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Card-io - Christmas Scenery 1, Christmas Scenery 2; Penny Black - Wonder Collection (sentiment)
• Ink: Versa Color - Hyacinth, Heliotrope, Sky Gray; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Accents: Stampin' Up Glitter - Dazzling Diamonds

Challenge entries:

Fantasy Stampers - Challenge #49 - Winter Wonderland

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #399 - Birds/Animals

Penny Black and More - November Challenge - Anything Christmas

The Friday Mashup - Challenge #234 - Baby It's Cold Outside

One Layer Christmas Card Challenge - Challenge #21 - Anything Goes (twist of Reindeer)

My teamies have made some lovely creations this week so please pop over the the Less is More challenge blog and pay them a visit if you have the time.  One layer cards don't have to be difficult, I think they just take a little more planning beforehand.  We would love for you to join us this week, I'm sure you still have Christmas cards to add to your stash, I know I certainly do!

Thanks for visiting today, I hope to see you again soon.

Addicted to Stamps and More #170

Hi guys

It's time for another new challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More and with winter and Christmas fast approaching we have a very seasonal Photo Inspiration Challenge for you this week.  Here's the pic to inspire you...

Kylie's fabulous company, Happy Little Stampers will be sponsoring this week's challenge and one lucky winner will receive a $15 gift certificate.

Here's my DT card, I used the colours, the twigs and the red spheres as my inspiration...

On a white cardstock panel I stamped the twiggy branch in the top left hand corner.  I then stamped the tiny bauble in red and its super tiny topper in black and then used a black fine liner pen and a ruler to draw in the string and tie.  Next I hand cut some post-it notes and used these as masks to create the snow banks, gently blending the ink upwards from each mask.  I then used a similar scripty sentiment which I stamped in red, and stamped the single star in silver.  The panel was mounted on 3D foam and finally I added some Glossy Accents to the bauble.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Inkylicious - Twiggy Branch; Card-io - Dotty Snowflakes; Clearly Besotted - Most Wonderful and Merry Little Christmas
• Ink: Versa Color - Pinecone, Scarlet, Silver, Smoke Blue; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Accents: Glossy Accents and Derwent Graphik Line Maker pen

Challenge entries:

Fantasy Stampers - Challenge #49 - Winter Wonderland

Crafty Catz - Challenge #300 - Winter

Crazy 4 Challenges - Challenge #310 - Christmas

Thanks so much for popping by, and if you can, please take a look at my teamies' creations this week and see how the photo inspired them too.  We would love for you to join in at ATSM this week.