Less is More Challenge #448

Good morning

At Less is More we have something a little different for you for this next challenge.  Today is my fellow teamie, Elaine's, birthday and we thought it would be a fun idea for her to create a card for us all to CASe.

Here's her gorgeous creation, which includes lots of elements and techniques from which to draw your inspiration.

Happy Birthday, Elaine.  I hope you have a fabulous day! x

Ok, for my card I focused on a few elements:

• Florals
• Shades of orange
• Tiled effect
• Tiny sentiment

I knew I had a yet to be used stencil of blocks in a tiled layout so that was my starting point.  I laid this down on a panel of white cardstock at an angle and off the edge, no idea why, I was obviously feeling very jaunty angle-ish!  I lightly blended the palest of my inks to give the blocks some definition.  I then used a set of floral layering stencils, laid over the top, and inked through with two more shades of orange.  I always love the reveal when you remove stencils, I wasn't sure how this would look but I was pleasantly surprised.  I then trimmed the panel down, stamped the sentiment along the diagonal edge of the stencilling and adhered it to my card base on fun foam.  A really quick make!

Materials used:

• Stencils: Clearly Besotted - Building Blocks; Altenew - Layered Dahlia
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Altenew - Flower Vine

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #410 - Die Cuts and/or Stencils

Happy Little Stampers - July Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

NBUS - Challenge #28 - (first time using the Building Blocks stencil)

Thanks for taking a look.  For lots more inspiration for this challenge please do pop on over to the main Less is More challenge post where my teamies are sharing their projects inspired by Elaine's card, so many great makes.  

Perfectly CAS July 2021 Challenge

Hi there

The July challenge at Perfectly CAS is now live.  Here's the cue card for this month's challenge...

I have recently purchased a couple of new 3D embossing folders so wanted to use one of those for my DT card.  I just had to figure out how best to use it while keeping to the challenge guidelines of one third or less.

Here it is...

On a panel of white cardstock I embossed just the corner with the embossing folder.  I then blended three shades of Distress Oxide to cover the embossed parts.  I used blending brushes here but in hindsight I should have used foam so the ink wouldn't transfer onto the background parts of the design as much.  I trimmed the panel down slightly and adhered it to my card base, before then embossing the sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock.

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder: Altenew - Scalloped Flowers
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Salvaged Patina, Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar; Versamark
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Mini Messages
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe

As always, the challenge link will remain open until a day or two before the next challenge starts next month, so plenty of time to play along.  And there's lots of inspiration from my teamies over at the main challenge blog too.

Thanks so much for visiting today.

Less is More Challenge #447

Good morning

I'm here this morning to introduce the next challenge at Less is More.  A super easy theme challenge...

Lots of scope for you here, just create a Christmas card, remembering to keep your design clean and simple.  

For my Design Team sample card I chose to use a new to me stamp set, and one which I recently purchased after winning a gift code with STAMPlorations.  Here it is...

This was so quick to make and, although this is a layering set, the solid images aren't designed to fit exactly within the outlines so this was so easy.  I stamped the outline images first, starting with the berries and then the leaves, then stamped their co-ordinating solid colours.  All that was left to do was stamp the sentiment, which is also from the set, then die cut the panel and adhere it to the card base.  I could have stamped the images directly on the card base but I had originally planned to use a red or green card base but decided it looked better on white after all.

Materials used:

• Stamps: STAMPlorations (The Bee's Knees) - Layered Holly
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Altenew - Hunter Green, Crimson
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles

Challenge entries:

NBUS - Challenge #28 - new stamp set

Just Add Ink - Challenge #562 - Inspiration Photo

The Male Room - Challenge #152 - Christmas in July

Happy Little Stampers - July Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #201 - Christmas

Thanks so much for taking a look.  I am terrible for leaving my Christmas card production so late in the year so, if you're like me, why not start now and get your first one made.  As you can see above, there are quite a few other challenges with a Christmas theme this month too.

Enjoy your weekend.

Happy Little Stampers July 2021 CAS Challenge

Hi there

Where on earth is this year going, I can't believe we're halfway though 2021 already!

It's new CAS Challenge day at Happy Little Stampers and we have a fun one for you for this month, here's the cue card...

Rather than use this as a theme, for my Design Team card I chose to use citrus colours as my inspiration.  I love how fresh this looks...

Apart from the sentiment, this card is made up entirely from die cuts.  To begin, I die cut the scalloped rectangle, before topping this with layered up die cut hibiscus flowers and leaves cut from orange, yellow and green cardstock.  The sentiment was simply stamped alongside before adhering the panel flat to the card base.

Materials used:

• Dies: Newton's Nook - Hibiscus Die Set; Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Scalloped Rectangles
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Mini Messages
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

AAA Birthday - Challenge #26 - Flowers

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #408 - Birthdays

Thanks so much for popping by.  If you need some Citrus and Zing inspiration there's plenty over at the Happy Little Stampers Challenge page so why not take a look.  And the challenge, as always, will remain open until the end of the month.

Less is More Challenge #446

Hi there

It's Saturday and time for a new challenge at Less is More, but I'm sure some of you won't be excited to hear that we're back to the dreaded One Layer week! lol

And this time we want to see your one layer creations combined with...

Oooh, this one's a toughy!

Monogram isn't an easy theme and then combined with only being able to use the card base makes it much more tricky.  I was scratching my head for quite a while thinking about what to do and how to produce what I wanted to do for my DT card but, with a little forward planning I managed to create the vision I had in my mind.  Here it is...

I knew I wanted to use this sentiment stamp saying 'friends forever' which has been in my stash, well, forever!  I just had to figure out a way of creating the 'FF' behind it and I certainly don't have any alphabet stamps this large!  So I printed the 'FF' onto some fairly thin paper then drew around the letters on the reverse with a pencil.  Then I scribbled over the front to trace it onto a sheet of masking paper.  I tried to cut the letters out with a craft knife but the masking paper dragged a little so I used some tiny decoupage scissors to cut away the negative space.  The rest was pretty straightforward.  With the masking paper over my card front I ink blended through the letters with light pink ink then stamped the ditsy flowers and leaves, keeping the colours fairly pale.  All that was left to do was remove the mask and stamp the sentiment.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up - Stacks of Wishes (sentiment); Wplus9 - Happy Wishes (tiny images)
• Ink: Distress Ink - Spun Sugar; Altenew - Sea Breeze, Soft Lilac, Minty Mint; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Other: Inkadinkado - Stamping Mask Paper

Please give this challenge a go, with a little forward planning it's not as difficult as you first think.

Ombre Birthday Balloons

Hi there

Another recent make from me today and this time it's a birthday card I made for a male colleague.

When I first started selecting the patterned papers for this I thought the colours would be a little too feminine but combined with the dark grey I think it makes it very gender neutral.

I began by die cutting the grey panel with a stitched rectangle die.  I adhered the panel to the card base, making sure there was plenty of adhesive within the negative space of the letters.  I then die cut the sentiment again from some ombre patterned paper and paper pieced the letters back in, including the grey centres.  To finish I die cut two balloons from some polka dot ombre papers, layered and adhered these off the edge of the card and trimmed away the edges.

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Happy Birthday To You, Blueprints 26; Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Stitched Rectangles
• Patterned Papers: Craft Sensations - Ombre Designs

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - June Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Uniko - Challenge #65 - Anything Goes (Optional twist: use die cuts)

It's not often I make a card which involves no stamping whatsoever, and it's a simple design I could replicate using more of my patterned papers which I don't reach for nearly enough.

Thanks for taking the time to visit.

Baby Shower Elephant

Hi there

Following on from my last post, I'm now sharing the second baby shower card I made which was requested by a friend.

Clearly Besotted really do create the cutest images so I've used more of their sets here.  And as the sex of the baby had not been revealed, I chose to use lemon and mint to keep it gender neutral...

I stamped all the images first, from various stamp sets, and die cut them with their co-ordinating dies.  'Mummy to be' was the requested sentiment so I printed this on white paper then adhered it to some cardstock.  Before die cutting the heart I used a polka dot background stamp inked up in yellow to co-ordinate with the elephant's ear, and stamped this over the sentiment.  I die cut a panel using a scalloped rectangle die and I was then faffing around with the placement of all the elements for ages.  The heart was causing me a problem but in the end I settled with tucking it under the banner. 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted (most are retired sets) - Baby Shower, April Showers, April Showers Additions, Mini Basic Banners (all with co-ordinating dies), Building Blocks II 
• Ink: Altenew - Silver Stone, Silver Lake, Mountain Mist, Buttercream
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Scalloped Rectangles; MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax

Thanks again for taking a look, your visits are always so appreciated :)