Less is More Challenge #417

Good morning

It's new challenge day at Less is More and we're back with a theme challenge.  Here's our cue card...

We have a super talented Guest Designer joining us for this challenge, Helen of Helen's Craft Haven, who was our lucky February winner.  I do hope you'll can take a minute to pop on over to her blog to see her take on this challenge theme and say hi.


I have two sample cards for you this time, both with a wild flowers/foliage kinda theme for some reason, and also a bonus card as my second card turned into a twofer!

Here's card one, using a technique that I love, the ghosting technique, as this creates a delicate version of the image and generally out of focus...

On a piece of white cardstock I made a sunset blend of inks using Distress Oxides.  I then used the ghosting technique which involves laying a stencil over the top, spritzing with water and then blotting away the colour.  Once dry I die cut a section of it and popped it up onto another panel using a larger die from the same set.  After adhering to the card base I finished with a small black sentiment.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Oxide - Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stencil: STAMPlorations - ARTlorations Bloom Silhouettes
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax
• Stamp: Altenew - Thinking of You

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - April Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

Next up I used a stencil again, but this time grabbed my Brushos...

I've only tried this technique once or twice but it has lovely results.  I laid a stencil onto some watercolour paper and very gently sprinkled a mix of Brusho powders, very sparingly, into the gaps in the stencil.  Without moving the stencil I then spritzed a mist of water over it, which activates the pigment powders.  I then carefully removed the stencil and left the image to dry completely.  I trimmed a section of it down and mounted it onto some teal cardstock. Before adhering to the card base I stamped a sentiment flag vertically to look like a tag when the panel was adhered along its edge.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Bay Leaf
• Ink: Brushos - Emerald Green, Turquoise, Leaf Green; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Flag It
• Cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #384 - CAS

And my 'twofer' is made from the remaining part of the Brusho panel.  This one doesn't follow the Less is More guidelines as there isn't really enough white space but I thought I'd share it with you anyway in this post.  Materials used here are as the card above, with the addition of a stitched die by Create a Smile.

Challenge entries:

Fab 'n' Funky - Challenge #476 - Birthday



Thanks so much for visiting, I hope you'll join us for this 'out of focus' challenge.

And in the meantime, please do stay safe :) xx

Christmas Card Multiples - Stencilled Baubles

Good morning!

I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas and hopefully some relaxation following the madness that usually occurs in the lead up to the festivities!

Ok, back to it, and I'm sharing more of my Christmas card makes today.

These were super quick one layers...

I used part of a festive stencil to ink my hanging baubles and graduated the ink blend using three colours of Distress Ink.  The sentiment was stamped alongside in black ink.  To finish, I added some dots with a glue pen in the stripes of the baubles and sprinkled on some fine glitter to add some Christmas sparkle (see the last photo for a detailed view).

Materials used:

• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Christmas Holly (the holly is the top part of the stencil I didn't use here!)
• Ink: Distress Ink - Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch, Peacock Feathers; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Christmas Poinsettia
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Diamond Frost - Frosty Dawn

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - December Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting, I'll be back a little later with more of my 2019 Christmas cards.

Less is More Challenge #409

Happy Saturday, folks!

We have a new Recipe challenge for you just starting over at Less is More, and it's an interesting one.  Here are the details...

For this challenge we are looking for you to use only one triangle from either of the following 2 layouts for your design.

 i.e. your whole design should be contained in the one triangle you select to use

The fabulous Catherine Pooler is our November sponsor...

...and just by playing along will put you in the running for our monthly prize :)

Our September winner, Tristan Dawes (Tinstar) is joining us for this challenge as our Guest Designer, please do pop over to her blog to check out her project and say hi.


For my first card I've contained my design in the top triangle of the first layout...

On a die cut rectangular panel I stamped the baubles image in black ink and coloured with ProMarkers.  The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed in silver.  After adhering the panel on fun foam I then added some glue to the baubles using a slim glue pen and added some fine glitter for some sparkle.

Materials used:

• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Stamps: Woodware - Reindeer Bells; Clearly Besotted - Ornamental Style
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; VersaMark
• Accents: ProMarkers; Cosmic Shimmer Diamond Frost - Frosty Dawn

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #368 - Holiday

{PIN}spirational - Challenge #252 - Photo challenge

Penny Black and More - November Challenge - Christmas

My next two cards are basically the same design, just using different colour palettes.  I have used the second layout, turned 90 degrees...

On a panel of black cardstock I spread some translucent paste through a tree stencil and sprinkled over with some fine green glitter.  Once dry I cut the panel down and added some red glitter glue to the 'baubles'.  The panel was adhered flat to a green card base and a sentiment strip added across the centre.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Merry Christmas Trio
• Embossing Paste: Sweet Poppy - Stencil Dimensions Translucent
• Glitter: Sweet Poppy - Super Fine Satin Glitter in Moss Green
• Stamp: Paula Pascual - Christmas Messages
• Accents: Dovecraft Glitter Glue - Ruby

Challenge entries:

Just Add Ink - Challenge #483 - 'Choose Two' (I chose spots and sparkle)

Uniko - Challenge #56 - Christmas (option: tree)

STAMPlorations - November Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

And the second card with a similar design...

For this card I used a panel of teal textured cardstock and used the same stencil but this time added iridescent glitter....and I can honestly say it was a nightmare to photograph! :D  It sparkles beautifully in real life.  I adhered the panel flat over the entire surface of the card base then added the sentiment at the base using white pigment ink.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Merry Christmas Trio
• Embossing Paste: Sweet Poppy - Stencil Dimensions Translucent
• Glitter: Sweet Poppy - Super Fine Satin Glitter in Crystalina Rainbow
• Stamp: Paula Pascual - Christmas Messages
• Ink: Hero Arts - Unicorn

I'm looking forward to seeing your creations in our gallery using the different triangles of these layouts.  And for info, this will be the last challenge at Less is More for 2019 to give the Design Team a little break in the lead up to Christmas.  

Hidden Sentiment Splats

Hi guys

Apologies for the silence here for almost two weeks.  I've been creating lots behind the scenes but haven't been able to share those yet, but they'll be up on here very soon.

On top of that I was unwell for a while, after finally fighting off my cold I then had chronic sinusitis so for about ten days I felt like I'd been kicked in the face.  But it's finally subsided and I'm feeling much better now.  I kind of lost almost the whole of March!

So, until I can share my DT makes, in the meantime I thought I'd pop in to share a card I made last week for my godson's 13th birthday, it only seems like a couple of years since I was at his Christening and now he's a teenager!  Where does the time go?

I really struggle with masculine cards and even more so when they are for teenagers, so I went with bright colours and splats!  Who knows why?! :D

On a panel of white cardstock the same size as the card base I blended ink through a splats stencil with Distress Inks.  I then die cut the happy birthday from the panel, being sure to save all the little in-betweeny bits.  I then die cut it twice more from some black cardstock.  I added adhesive all over the card base and adhered the panel.  I then adhered one of the black die cuts into the negative space, filling in the spaces with the bits saved from the first cut.  The second black die cut and the original layer were then stacked and adhered on top.  You can see the dimension in the next photo...

To finish I die cut two balloons from black cardstock, and also stamped and die cut the numbers.  These were adhered together and affixed to the card, and I hand drew the balloon strings.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Splats
• Ink: Distress Ink - Blueprint Sketch, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: Paper Smooches - Happy Birthday Words; Clearly Besotted - Got Your Number
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Got Your Number

Thanks so much for stopping by, I'll try not to leave it so long next time!

Less is More Challenge #376

Good morning!

Firstly, apologies that it's been two weeks since my last post, life's just been busy and I've not found much time to craft.  However, I did have a little free time last weekend and decided to give my blog a facelift.  I hope you like my new design, I'd love to know what you think.

So, let's get back to the main reason for this post, it's new challenge day at Less is More and I'm here to introduce the challenge for the fortnight ahead.

Woohoo, it's that genre that fills some of us with dread...yes, it's One Layer challenge time!  Here's what we want to see...

Continuing as our July sponsor is Seven Hills Crafts so please do play along for a chance to win our monthly prize.

I have just the one card for you this time.  I was looking for something stripey in my stash and came across a stencil I've had for a while but never used.  Stencils are a great choice for one layer cards.  So, as you do in the summer heat, I made a Christmas card, never too early is it! 

Here it is...

This was pretty simple to create.  I taped the stencil down to my card base, with the large bauble off the right edge and masked off the rest.  I then blended with Distress Oxide ink in Wilted Violet, and the hanger part with silver pigment ink.  With the stencil still in place I spritzed with some shimmer mist.  I then repeated the process with the smaller bauble, but this time blending with Distress Oxide ink in Mermaid Lagoon.  I then used a silver pigment ink pen to draw the string.  To finish I stamped the sentiment in black which I shaped to follow the curve of the bauble.

The shimmer mist can be seen better in the photo below...

Materials used:

• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Candy Stripe Medium
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon; Versa Color - Silver; Versafine - Onyx Black; Signo Uniball pen in Silver
• Stamp: Paula Pascual - Christmas Messages
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Mist - Pearl Mist

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #301 - Anything Goes

CAS on Friday - Challenge #137 - Christmas in July

AAA Cards - CAS Game #119 - Christmas in July

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Add a Little Sparkle

Thanks so much for visiting.  There is a great mix of design ideas created by my teamies so please do pop over and take a look if you have time, and if you need inspiration.  Don't let the one layer theme scare you, why not have a go and link up :)

Less is More Challenge #367

Good morning!

At Less is More it's new challenge day and we're back with a One Layer challenge for the next fortnight.  I'll get straight to it with the details...

Our March sponsor is STAMPlorations and the fabulous Shery is joining in the fun as our Guest Designer for this challenge, so please do pop over and say hi!

I have two sample cards for you, here is the first...

For this one I used watercolour card as my card base.  I laid the stencil over it and very gently sprinkled some Brusho pigment crystals over the apertures of the stencil.  I then spritzed with a mist of water and immediately removed the stencil to stop the water running underneath.  Once dry I stamped the sentiment alongside in black ink.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Hydrangea - free with Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Brushed Greetings II
• Ink: Brusho - Purple, Leaf Green; Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

Color Throwdown - Challenge #484 - Green, Eggplant and White

I chose a coloured card base for my second card...

I placed a daisy stencil along the base of the card base and inked through with white pigment ink.  Then just on the flower centres I inked over with an orange/yellow ink.  After removing the stencil the sentiment was then overstamped in black.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Butterfy and Daisy
• Ink: Hero Arts - Unicorn; Versa Color - Marigold; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Concord & 9th - Hello Lovely

Challenge entries:

Cards in Envy - Green Things Card Challenge
CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #195 - Going Green

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #18 - Anything Goes

Over on the main challenge blog my teamies are sharing some great projects and there may also be more inspiration if you follow the links to their blogs too.  I hope you play along with us.

To My Amazing Mother & Friend

Happy Sunday, lovely crafters

This morning I'm sharing a card I made for my lovely Mum for her birthday earlier this month.  I used stamps and a stencil that were new to my stash, bought from a show I visited last month.

I started by stamping the flowers from this beautiful Altenew set, stamped using Altenew Inks.  I then inked through a daisy background stencil with some grey pigment ink, dabbing through with a sponge blender tool, avoiding the floral area (which could be seen through the stencil).  I then stamped the sentiment, from the same stamp set, die cut it with a stitched rectangle die and popped up on 3D foam.  For a little interest I added a few trios of Nuvo drops, and also to the flower centres, which you can see more clearly below.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Altenew - Extra Special
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Altenew - Puffy Heart, Purple Wine, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades; Versa Color - Sky Gray
• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Daisy Diamond
• Die: MFT-Dienamics - Stitched Rectangle Stax
• Accents: Nuvo Jewel Drops - Grey Mist

Challenge entries:

CASology - Week 272 - Cherish

STAMPlorations - October Theme and Sketch Challenge - Stamps and Two Colors
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for popping by, and I hope you're having a lovely weekend.