Less is More Week #309

Hi there

Today marks the last Less is More challenge of 2016 and we're here with a Recipe challenge.  Today we would like to see you...

Use Dimension

Today, we also have a Guest Designer joining us, our November winner, Sandie of London Days.  If you have time please pop by Sandie's blog, I'm sure she would really appreciate a visit from you.


So, on to my card, and I've saved my final Christmas card of 2016 for today as I thought it fitted this challenge really well.  This is the card I made for my bestie this year...

I started with a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card base and stencilled the first parts of the two-step tree stencils in various green Distress Inks.  I then used the second part of the tree stencils to spread over some embossing paste to create the snowy layers.  While still wet I sprinkled over some fine glitter.  The photo below shows the glitter much better although in real life this is more silvery in colour, for some reason it looks a little more gold in these pics.

From a panel the same width I die cut a curve to create the snow bank for the trees to sit behind and stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment.  I then stamped the rest of the sentiment on the main panel and finished off with a glossy pink star.

Both panels were popped up on 3D foam to add dimension, and I think the embossing paste as well as one tree appearing to be behind the other also gives a dimensional effect.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Mini Stencils Set 21
• Ink: Distress Ink - Pine Needles, Forest Moss; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Paste: Ranger Texture Paste - Opaque Matte
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Christmas Sparkle, The Best
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Snow Drifts
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Diamond Frost - Frosty Dawn; Papermania - Sparkly Stars Assorted Brights

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - December Challenge - Theme and Sketch

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #184 - Anything Christmas Goes

Thanks so much for popping by today and now that the festivities are over I hope you may find some crafty time to play along this week.

And, however you are celebrating tonight to bring in 2017, I wish you a fantastic night.  So all that's left to say is...

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.....

Shimmery Winter Trees

Hi there

As there is no Less is More post from me today as we have a two-weeker, I thought I'd pop back to share another batch of Christmas cards I made earlier this month.

Some of these were sent overseas so I've held back on sharing these until most had been received.  I made a selection of these, 28 in total, using 4 different colours of Distress Inks...

Blueprint Sketch...

Spun Sugar...

Shaded Lilac...

Broken China,..

I die cut a circle from some scraps of thick cardstock and used these as masks to blend my backgrounds.  I then flicked water droplets onto the blending and blotted away to create the snow.  Then came the time consuming part...die cutting all the trees, 84 in total! Once cut I placed batches of them into a box (eventually found one as I didn't want mess all over my lounge!) and spritzed them with some Cosmic Shimmer mist.  Once dry these were adhered to the card bases and I then simply stamped the sentiment below in black...super easy and quick thanks to the MISTI!

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac, Broken China, Blueprint Sketch; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: Craft Emotions - Pine Trees
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - In-Stitches Christmas
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Mist - Pearl Mist

Challenge entries:

Crafty Creations - Challenge #331 - Any Holiday

My Time to Craft - Challenge #336 - Christmas but Non-Traditional Colours

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

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #264 - White Christmas

Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #179 - Christmas with a Twist (non-traditional colours)

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #184 - Anything Christmas Goes

The Male Room - Challenge #50 - Christmas/Winter Wishes/December Celebrations (linking up the blue versions)

Dream Valley - Challenge #146 - Christmas

Penny Black and More - December Challenge - Black and White plus one (all are B+W+1)

Thanks for popping by, I hope to be back with more posts today to share more Christmas creations.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas Eve and get all your final preparations completed ahead of the big day tomorrow!

Less is More Week #298

Hi there

It's new challenge time over at Less is More and this week we have a Theme for you which should give you lots of options.  We would like to see...

Incy Wincy Spiders / Insects

I've got two cards to share with you...

I chose this cute little bee for my first card and used it as part of my sentiment.  I stamped the bee, then masked it before gently blending the honeycomb background through a stencil.  I then positioned and stamped the sentiment in black.  The bee was then coloured with pencils and a little clear Wink of Stella added to its wings.  The panel was popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Cute as a Bug, Sugar & Spice
• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Hexagons
• Ink: Distress Ink - Wild Honey, Mustard Seed; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils
• Accents: Wink of Stella - Clear

Challenge entries:

CAS Colours & Sketches - Sketch Challenge #195

Virginia's View - Challenge #24 - Focal Point

And what better than a Halloween card for our spider theme...

I started with a panel of white cardstock and blended some purple Distress Ink fading out from one corner.  I then die cut this with a wonky rectangle die.  I stamped the spider and sentiment next in charcoal and black ink.  I wanted to add a spider web but didn't have a stamp or stencil in my stash so I used a Quickie glue pen to draw the web and then sprinkled over some fine glitter.  I then added some splatters in green and orange before mounting the panel on 3D foam onto a black card base.

I don't know why but very often my purples seem to look bluer in photographs.  And the glitter is super sparkly in real life which I really struggle to capture.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - In Print, Message Me
• Ink: Versa Color - Charcoal; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron, Carved Pumpkin
• Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Reverse Wonky Rectangles
• Accents: Quickie Glue Pen; Cosmic Shimmer Diamond Frost - Frosty Dawn

Challenge entries:

Simply Create Too - Challenge #120 - Halloween
The Male Room - Challenge #46 - Halloween
Just Add Ink - Challenge #333 - Just Add 'G' (Glue and Glitter)
CASology - Challenge #219 - Spooky
Fantasy Stampers - Challenge #73 - Black Magic





My teamies have created some wonderful projects this week so why not pop over to the challenge blog if you need some inspiration. This theme has great scope so I can't wait to see what you create this week.

It's Spray Time!

Morning lovelies

I'm back to introduce this week's new challenge just starting at Less is More.  As usual, when we have a five week month we have a Lucky Dip challenge, and this time we have a great one for you.  We want to see you use...

Sprays / Mists

And please remember to keep your creations clean and simple.

Also this week we have a Guest Designer joining us, the fabulous Elaine of Craft-E-Place.  Elaine participates every week at Less is More, often with more than one entry and she creates beautiful cards, often with a genius twist.  So we'd love for you to visit her and leave some love.  If you have the time why not browse her blog, you certainly won't be disappointed.

Ok, back to the challenge.  Apart from a water spray I only have one spray product in my stash.  So I was a bit limited with products but there are so many techniques where spraying/misting can be incorporated.  Here's what I came up with...

I started with a scrap of bright pink cardstock and laid a die cut heart over the cardstock before spraying with Cosmic Shimmer Mist. Once dry I die cut it using a pierced square die.  To make the heart stand out a little more I dotted around it using a silver pen to match the pierced edge and popped it up on 3D foam.  The sentiment was stamped in a matching pink and a single gem added to the heart.

Materials used:

• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Love Hearts; MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Love Blossoms
• Ink: Versa Color - Opera Pink
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Mist - Pearl Mist; Sakura Gelly Roll pen - Silver; Gem from stash

Challenge entries:

Simply Create Too - Challenge #93 - It's a Special Occasion

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #388 - Monochrome

I couldn't let spray/mists week pass by without using the ghosting technique again.  I masked three edges on a white cardstock panel and blended three Distress Inks and faded the colours out across the unmasked side.  With the masks still in place I laid down the harlequin stencil, spritzed with water, removed the stencil and left for a few moments before blotting with a paper towel to remove the colour.  Once dry I stamped the stem and sentiment in black and popped the panel up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Harlequin
• Stamps: MFT - Grand Peaceful Wildflowers

Challenge entries:

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #324 - Anything Goes

Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #146 - No Patterned Papers

AAA Cards - Challenge #46 - Maskerade/Masking

Happy Little Stampers - August CAS Challenge - Masking (playing along for fun - DT)

I find it impossible to get a great photo of a black card, when will I ever learn?!  I laid down the Fir Trees stencil by Imagination Crafts on some black cardstock and then sprayed through it with some Cosmic Shimmer Mist in Pearl Mist. Some of the mist landed in blobs but I think this looks like snow so quite happy with it!  The sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Little Pudding set was heat embossed in Wow Metallic Silver embossing powder and the panel was matted onto some silver shimmer card before being adhered to the card base.  The star is a silver glitter Doodlebug Sprinkle.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Fir Trees
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Little Pudding
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Mist - Pearl Mist; Doodlebug Sprinkle - Red, White and Blue star assortment

There's lots of ways sprays can be used so we can't wait to see what you create this week.  Have fun!

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...