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.

Happy Little Stampers June 2016 CAS Challenge

Hi there

We're at the beginning of another month which means the beginning of another CAS challenge over at Happy Little Stampers, as well as other HLS challenges starting in the next few days too.  We have another technique for you to incorporate on your CAS creations this month...

There are some links to video tutorials included over on the challenge blog if you're new to this technique.

This challenge is sponsored by Happy Little Stampers and there is a great prize up for grabs too...

So, onto my card, and I used HLS Everyday Sentiments on this one...no idea why I decided to make a Christmas Card in May! lol

I blended three shades of Distress Ink on a panel of white cardstock before placing a snowflake stencil over it and spritzing with water.  This was left for a few seconds to lift the colour before blotting with a paper towel.  I then used some anti-static powder along the base before stamping the 'Merry' in VersaMark and heat embossing in white.  I stamped 'Christmas' in a co-ordinating pigment ink, adhered the panel to the card base on 3D foam and added a die cut snowflake to finish.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac, Tumbled Glass; VersaMark; VersaColor - Lavender
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Everyday Sentiments
• Stencil: Imagination Crafts
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Die: Uniko - Snowflakes

Challenge entries:

A Gem of a Challenge - Weather 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Challenge #283 - Use a Sentiment

Thanks so much for visiting today.  The challenge is ongoing until the end of June so there's plenty of time to join in. We would love for you to join us :)

Beautiful Jewel Colours

Hi there

It's new challenge time at Less is More and we have a wonderful challenge for you today.  We've whizzed back around to our regular Colour challenge and this week we'd like to see...

Jewel Colours

Predominant use of the challenge colours please, additional neutrals such as black, white, cream and kraft are allowed.  And please ensure you keep them CAS with that all important white space that we love.

I have two cards to share with you today.  I wanted to create more as I love these colours but it's been a crazy week and I couldn't find the time to make more.

So, here are my samples for you...

On a panel of kraft cardstock I stamped the flowers and the sentiment in VersaMark ink.  I then heat embossed in white embossing powder and coloured the image with ProMarkers.  The kraft panel was mounted onto purple cardstock before being popped up on 3D foam strips.

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Neenah - Desert Storm; Bazzill Basics - Purple
• Stamps: Stampin' Up - So Very Grateful; Clearly Besotted - Stylish Flowers (sentiment)
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: - Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Coloured with ProMarkers

Challenge entries:

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #329 - Anything Goes

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Ooh La La Creations - Challenge #190 - Let's Get Krafty
Virginia's View Challenge #19 - All Things Coloured

And my second card...

I sponged Distress Inks through a leaf stencil directly onto the card base.  I stamped the sentiment and die cut the butterfly from black cardstock.  I added some clear Wink of Stella to the butterfly and added two amber coloured gemstones to finish.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Mermaid Lagoon, Peeled Paint; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Leaf Swirl
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Pretty Petals
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Butterfly Due Die Collection
• Accents: Wink of Stella - Clear; Papermania - Adhesive Gems 'Sunshine'

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Ombre

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes (Clearly Besotted)

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Take Your Pick - Distress Inks

There is more inspiration on my teamies' blogs so, if you have the time please pay them a visit, you won't be disappointed.  I can't wait to see what you pop into the gallery this week, I think it's going to be a beautiful one!

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!

Two Ways With Stencils

Good morning crafters

Firstly, apologies that it's been a whole week since my last post.  Matt and I have had the week off work and I originally planned to do lots of crafting but the weather has been so lovely this week we have made the most of it and got out and about each day to make it feel like we've had a holiday.  Even though we live on the coast we are not really beach lovers (unless abroad where the sea isn't completely freezing!) so we've enjoyed some lunches al fresco, lovely sunny strolls, a trip to Dartmoor (where I spent most of the day trying to negotiate sheep, cattle and ponies that love standing in the middle of the road, and a deer that decided to leap across my path) and just generally getting out of the house!  Oh, and of course days out in Devon wouldn't be complete without enjoying a yummy cream tea :)  Yes, the diet has taken a serious battering this week!

Also, my week started last Sunday with a trip to the Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show in Taunton where I spent far too much money on some yummy goodies.  So, although I'm not looking forward to going back to work on Monday I certainly need to earn some money to be able to fund my hobby!

Right, back to today, and the reason for my post is to introduce another new challenge over at Less is More.  And, for this week's challenge we'd like to see you use some...

Stencilling

There are lots of ways that stencils are being used in the crafting world and I'm sharing two different techniques with you on today's cards.

I mixed some embossing paste with three different Distress Inks and spread these onto a white panel of cardstock through a stencil to create a pink ombre effect.  Once dry I adhered a die cut butterfly cut from black cardstock and also a black sentiment strip with the sentiment heat embossed in white.  I adhered the panel flat to the card base as the banner was popped up on 3D foam and I didn't want the card to end up too thick to send through the mail.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves; VersaMark
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver
• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Deco Branch (new purchase from the show)
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Butterfly Duo Die Collection
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Sweet Little Sentiments
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Ohh So Pretty

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Paste

Crafty Creations - Challenge #291 - Embossing

For my second card I used the Ghosting Technique shown brilliantly here by the super-talented Loll.  I didn't purposely CASE Loll's card but the image of her card must have been in my mind when I created this! 

Loll used watercolour sprays to create her background whereas I roughly blended three Distress Inks with my ink blending tool onto my white cardstock panel.  I then laid a stencil over the top and spritzed through it with a water spray.  I immediately removed the stencil, left it for approximately thirty seconds and then blotted the panel with a paper towel to remove the water which then removed some of the ink.  Once dry I stamped the sentiment in Black and adhered the panel flat to my card base.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stencil: Imagination Crafts - Leaf Swirl (new purchase from the show)
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Sweet Rose (sentiment) 

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - June CAS Challenge - Sprays/Mists

The Friday Mashup! - Challenge #214 - Stencils and a Monochromatic Theme

Well, hopefully I've inspired you to get creative with some stencils and if you don't have any you can always use the negative of a die cut as your stencil, or even cut from acetate.  My teamies at Less is More are also sharing some great projects today so why not pop by their blogs too.

Thanks for visiting as always.