Less is More Challenge #413

Hi guys

I've never known two weeks to fly by so fast and can't believe we're back with another new challenge at Less is More.  And of course we're still celebrating our 9th Birthday this month!

Ok, this time we're back with a Recipe challenge.  You may remember that our last challenge was all about 'Less'.  So naturally, our new challenge has to be...

This time we want you to use lots of small images/sentiments but still keep your design clean and simple.

And don't forget that the awesome Uniko is our March sponsor.  As well as generously donating our monthly prize there's lots going on at Uniko too as they are celebrating their 8th Birthday.

Ok, here's my sample card for this challenge...

On a panel of white cardstock I drew a circle with pencil as a guideline off the edge and then stamped lots of small images from the same stamp set within the circle.  I then stamped the sentiment to follow the curve of the circle before erasing the pencil line.  I coloured the images with ProMarkers before die cutting the panel and adhering onto the card base popped up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Altenew - Doodle Blooms, Beautiful Lady
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles

As usual, the linky will be open for the next two weeks.  And for more inspiration from my teamies please do pop over to the main challenge post at Less is More and follow their links.

Perfectly CAS - February 2020 Challenge

Good evening

The February challenge over at Perfectly CAS is just launching and here's this month's cue card...

For some reason I chose to make a one layer card (I don't know why either!) and I opted to use a stencil featuring a triangular design for my sample card this time, one that is fairly new to my stash and not yet used.

I masked off a section and just ink blended through part of it.  I used three shades of Distress Ink and faded these out to follow the decreasing triangles.  I then stamped the sentiment and added the dots either side using just part of a stamp.  I thought I'd broken the rules here but after measuring the width of the stencilled area, it's exactly one third of the card width!  And I allowed a little leeway for my sentiment :D 

Materials used:

• Stencil: Clearly Besotted - Triangle Fade
• Ink: Distress Ink - Blueprint Sketch, Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Altenew - Beautiful Lady; Skull and Cross Buns - Planner Banner

Challenge entries:

Seize the Birthday - Challenge #183 - Anything Goes / White Space
Addicted to CAS - Challenge #177 - Ombre

There's lots of scope with this challenge so why not join us, just remember to keep your designs to roughly one third of your card base. 

Happy Little Stampers February 2020 CAS Challenge

Good evening, guys

The February CAS Challenge at Happy Little Stampers has just gone live and here's this month's cue card for you...

You can interpret this however you like, just remember to keep your designs clean and simple.  Here are the CAS guidelines for the challenge...

I took the word 'positive' in a humourous direction for my sample card...

On a rectangular die cut panel I used a stencil to ink blend some interest onto my background.  I stamped the sentiments and balloon strings next then stamped the balloons and used their co-ordinating dies to cut them out.  These were then adhered on 3D foam squares before mounting the panel onto the card base using fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: The Crafters Workshop - Webbing
• Ink: Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Lavender, Turquoise, Lime
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Laugh Out Loud, Got Your Number
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Clearly Besotted - Got Your Number

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #374 - CAS

Uniko - 8th Birthday Linky Party

Thanks so much for popping by.  As with all the HLS challenges, the linky will remain open for the entire month so lots of time to create and play along.

Same But Different

Good morning

Just popping by to share a couple of cards I made recently.

I needed to make two cards at short notice so I chose the same design idea, just changing up the products on each.

For both of these I masked the borders on the bottom right with tape and then stencilled a background, gently fading it out.  Both floral images were simply stamped in black and left as outline images.  And to finished I added black sentiment strips with the sentiments heat embossed in white.

For super quick last minute makes I love how these turned out.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Basketweave
• Stamps: Dina Wakley Media - Scribbly Flowers; S P & Co - Just a Note
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White

Challenge entries:

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #177 - Ombre

Materials used:

• Stencil: MFT - Fishnet
• Stamps: Altenew - Extra Special, Leaf Canopy (sentiment)
• Ink: Distress Ink - Shaded Lilac; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White

Challenge entries:

Stamping Sensations - February Challenge - Feminine
Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #374 - CAS




Thanks so much for visiting.  I'll be back this evening with details of the next CAS Challenge over at Happy Little Stampers.  Happy Sunday, everyone x

Less is More Challenge #412

Good morning

It's a brand new month and time for a brand new challenge at Less is More.  And can you believe that Less is More is 9 Years Old?!  And I feel so honoured to have been part of the Design Team for almost five years...where on earth has that time gone?

And our new sponsor for February, the fabulous Uniko, is also celebrating a birthday this month...8 years!  Huge congrats, Bev!  As well as a chance for the monthly prize by entering this challenge, Bev also has a discount code to celebrate, so check out the main LIM challenge post or visit Uniko for all the details.

This challenge is all about how small you can go with your images and sentiments and how few you can use.  So I'm expecting to see lots of super CAS designs in the gallery this time with all that lovely white space we love.

Here's my sample card, and I've used some lovely Uniko stamps here...

As Valentine's Day is coming up I thought I'd go for a love themed card.  This was so quick to make and I love it.  I revisited a previous design of layered up pierced square die cuts, and simply stamped the images on the upper panel before popping it up on 3D foam. 

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax
• Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders: Vines, Just Because
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Laurel Leaf, Rose Red, Grape

Challenge entries:

Time Out - Challenge #154 - Affectionate

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #374 - CAS

I hope you can join us for this challenge.  If you need more inspiration there's plenty from my fellow teamies with links over on the main LIM challenge blog.

Less is More Challenge #411

Good morning, everyone

Hopefully Blogger has scheduled this post for me on time this morning as I'm currently away.  I travelled up to Kent yesterday for our annual Christmas party last night (our company party is always in January) so I'll be travelling back down to Devon today.

I'm here to share the new challenge just starting over at Less is More and yes, shudder if you will, it's One Layer challenge time!  Here is the cue card, which you can interpret however you like...

Continuing as our sponsor for January is the generous Skull and Cross Buns, so please do play along as you'll automatically be in the running for the monthly prize.

I've used Skull and Cross Buns products on both of my sample cards this time.  And most of my makes usually have off centre designs anyway so this was a pretty easy challenge for me.

Here's the first, and I used the off centre rule for one of my techniques on this one...

I used a stencil to create the hearts, blending first in the pink shade, then placing the stencil 'off centre' and re-blending with the red shade.  Although this area of the stencil is fairly small, the design is continuous, allowing you to shift the stencil and continue inking with no break in the pattern.  Once the stencilling was complete I stamped the sentiment in black ink.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Heart Pattern
• Ink: Distress Ink - Worn Lipstick, Candied Apple; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Skull and Cross Buns - Brush Hearts

Challenge entries:

Always Fun Challenges - Challenge #145 - One Layer

STAMPlorations - January Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

For this card I used one of the newer stamp sets to the Skull and Cross Buns range, Christmas Foxes...

This set isn't just for Christmas, it's great for sending winter wishes too.  I stamped the fox and the sentiments in black ink and then coloured the fox using coloured pencils.  To finish I used a dotted stencil to create the snow, using embossing paste, just masking off to avoid the stamped areas.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Christmas Foxes
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos
• Stencil: Skull and Cross Buns - Dots and Spots Large
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver

Challenge entries:

CAS on Friday - Challenge #171 - Winter
Inkspirational - Challenge #204 - Fauna
Creative with Stamps - Challenge #46 - Scarf





As usual, this challenge will remain open for the next fortnight, so plenty of time to play along and link up.  I hope you can join us.

Honey Doo Crafts - January 2020 Release - Selection Two

Hi there

As promised, I'm back with the rest of my samples using the new dies from Honey Doo Crafts as well as some existing products in the range.

And don't forget, Amanda from Honey Doo will be showcasing the new dies, along with some of their existing products on Create & Craft TV tomorrow, Friday 17 January 2020 at 9am and 1pm.

Ok, let's get to it, and first up are two cards using the new Tartan die...

I die cut a rectangular aperture in the front of the card base and also in some cardstock to be used as the upper panel.  I then cut the tartan die cut in half and adhered these back to back so there were no raw edges.  These were then sandwiched between the card and panel and the panel was adhered to the base using 3D foam.  I stamped and heat embossed the flower twice on yellow vellum, fussy cut these and adhered them together.  I added some decorative crystals to the centre.  The sentiment was stamped on a die cut tag and adhered under the flower, and a bow added to finish.

Materials used:

• Dies: Honey Doo Crafts - Tartan; Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; MFT - Stitched Rectangles, Stitched Traditional Tags
• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Chrysanthemum, New Job
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels - Iced Crystals
• Vellum and ribbon from stash

Challenge entries:

Dream Valley - Challenge #216 - Something New (new crafty stash and new start)
My Time to Craft - Challenge #413 - New Stash

Happy Little Stampers - January Anything Goes with Dies
Moving Along with the Times - Challenge  #114 - All Things New (new crafty stash and new start)

Here I used the Tartan die again to partially cover the background...

I adhered some mid grey cardstock to the card base then used the tartan die on dark grey textured card.  I trimmed this on the diagonal and adhered it to the bottom corner.  I stamped and heat embossed the flowers and leaves on clear vellum and coloured on the reverse with Zig markers.  These were fussy cut and layered up and adhered in place.  The sentiment was also heat embossed on a die cut piece of vellum and adhered under the flower with a glue dot.

Materials used:

• Dies: Honey Doo Crafts - Tartan; Spellbinders Nestabilities - Reverse Wonky Rectangles
• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Chrysanthemum, Retirement
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Altenew - Pure White
• Vellum from stash coloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

Challenge entries:

Allsorts - Challenge #554 - Say It With Flowers
Penny Black and More - January Challenge - Make It Feminine

Next up I've used the new Encircle die...

I die cut a white panel with a stitched rectangle die and cut a circular aperture.  I die cut the Encircle die once from teal coloured cardstock and again from patterned paper.  I added some adhesive to the card base, trimmed down and adhered the positive part using the teal die cut.  I then inlaid the negative sections using the patterned paper die cuts.  I stamped the sentiment before adhering the upper panel on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Dies: Honey Doo Crafts - Encircle; Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Hero Arts - Infinity Circle dies
• Patterned Paper: First Edition - Wildflowers; teal cardstock from stash
• Stamp: Honey Doo Crafts - New Job
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black

And finally, I've used one of the existing stencils, Mosaic, along with two stamp sets, Budding Flourishes and Repot Rose...

I blended a die cut panel lightly with Distress Inks before adding the stencil and then deepening the colours.  I stamped the floral image in black ink directly over the blended background.  To finish I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in gold onto a strip of vellum, wrapped this around the panel and adhered it to the base.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Honey Doo Crafts - Mosaic
• Ink: Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Broken China; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Budding Flourishes, Repot Rose (sentiment)
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #372 - Make your Mark (ink blending and stencilling)
Sweet Stampin - Attitude of Gratitude
STAMPlorations - January Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes





Thanks again for visiting, I hope you can take a look at the products and demos on Create & Craft tomorrow.  If not, you can watch the shows on catch up on the website.  And don't forget, all the Honey Doo products are also available to purchase direct from their store, here.


(AD - some products kindly gifted for design team purposes)