Less is More Challenge #451

Hi guys

At Less is More this morning there is a Theme challenge just starting.  Here's the cue card for this fortnight's challenge...

A pretty simple theme, just add some sparkle to your clean and simple designs.

And joining us as a wonderful Guestie for this challenge is the super talented Viv of Daizy-Mae Designs.  Viv is a loyal participant at Less is More and I'm sure many of you are familiar with her beautiful work.  Please do pop over to take a look at her project and to say hello.

I've not even begun my Christmas cards for this year so thought it was good time to get at least one made!  Here's my DT card and I decided to make a shaker...

I started with a die cut rectangular panel and then die cut using the snowglobe to form an aperture.  A then cut a second snowglobe from white glitter cardstock and set this aside.  Next I stamped the sentiment in dark green ink.  I adhered some acetate behind the window and covered the rear of the panel with 3D foam.  Next I die cut some trees from green cardstock and added some 'snow' using a white pen.  I adhered these to the card base, positioned so they would show through the aperture.  I then piled some glitter jewels over the trees and spread it out slightly before then adhering the panel over the top, trapping the shaker filling inside.  To finish, I adhered the white glitter snowglobe die cut over the acetate to frame the scene.

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Clearly Besotted - Snowglobe Die; Craft Emotions - Pine Trees
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Mini Messages
• Ink: Altenew - Evergreen
• Accents: Cosmic Shimmer - Glitter Jewels: Iced Crystals; Signo Uniball pen - white
• Cardstocks and acetate from stash

For more inspiration, take a look at the main Less is More challenge post, where my teamies are sharing lots of different ways to use sparkle and, surprisingly, only one of my teamies has also made a Christmas card!  Sparkle isn't just for Christmas, eh!

Less is More Challenge #428

Hi guys

I can't honestly believe how fast the weeks are still flying by this year!  It's certainly been the strangest year hasn't it?

Ok, it's new challenge day at Less is More and this time we have a Colour challenge for you, here's the cue card...

For my sample card this time I decided to add the challenge colours to the background...

I die cut a rectangular panel then masked off around a rectangle in the centre before ink blending with Distress Oxide Inks.  I then shifted the masking tape a little to create a slightly larger rectangle and then blended the outer edge with a lighter shade.  With the tape still in place I added water droplets and then blotted these away.  Once dry I stamped the sentiment in black and adhered the white die cut over the focal area.  The panel was then adhered on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Craft Emotions - Hogweed
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - You Are Wonderful
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilac; Versafine - Onyx Black

The challenge linky will be open for two weeks as always, so as long as you use the challenge colours any CAS creation can be entered.  There is lots more inspiration from my teamies over at the main challenge blog.

Challenge Me a Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton

Hi there

I'm thrilled to have been asked by Michelle Lupton to join her in her Challenge Me a Christmas Card series. 

Michelle has asked lots of friends in blogland to challenge her to make a card using, for example, a specific theme, technique or product, etc., and for each of us to also share a card.  Michelle has had some big names from the crafting community joining her this month, so to be asked to take part is an absolute honour!

The theme I chose for Michelle was 'Christmas Night Sky'.  My card is below and you can click here to see what Michelle created.  I'm now off to have a look myself!

Here is my card...

I created the sky on the top half of my card base by blending Distress Inks.  I then stamped the sleigh and reindeer image in black.  Next I die cut the main white panel using a landscape die with a large expanse of white for the snow in the foreground.  I then stamped the bunny and the sentiment in black before adhering the panel flat to the base.  I added a further three die cut trees which were adhered on glue dots for a little dimension.  To finish I added some twinkle to the snowy trees using a shimmer pen.  The shimmer can be seen more clearly in the image below...

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Dusty Concord, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Card-io - Christmas Scenery 2; Uniko - Most Wonderful
• Dies: Memory Box - Quiet Cabin Landscape; Craft Emotions - Pine Trees
• Accents: Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen - Clear

Challenge entries:

Fab 'n' Funky - Challenge #420 - Cute Christmas

Happy Little Stampers - December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Happy Little Stampers - December Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes (Snow)

Stamping Sensations - December Challenge - Winter Sparkle

Thanks so much for joining me today, and a huge thank you to Michelle for inviting me to join in the fun :) x

Less is More Week #356

Hi guys

These weeks are flying by and we're back with another new challenge at Less is More this morning.  Our Recipe challenge this time is...

Anything that shines/glistens/sparkles/shimmers is perfect for our challenge this week.

One of the techniques Sarah, Sharon and myself were playing with at the Happy Little Stampers retreat earlier this month was making light up cards.  We had great fun making our circuits and it was perfect timing to make our samples for this week's challenge.

Here's mine...

You can find a tutorial on YouTube here by Kylie of Happy Little Stampers which will explain how the circuits are created.  All you need are LED circuit stickers, self-adhesive copper tape and a battery.  I used three white LEDs for my card shining through a snowscape trees die.  I heat embossed my sentiment in white which is the press location for my battery.  I then topped the black panel with the tree die and snow bank die.  The most difficult part is working out all the placement initially, but other than that it's pretty simple, and really effective.  I'll certainly be making more of these!

Materials used:

• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Christmas Joy
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Dies: Craft Emotions - Landscape Pines; Mama Elephant - Landscape Trio
• Tools: Chibitronics - White LED Circuit Stickers (plus adhesive copper tape and a CR2032 battery)

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #269 - Clean and Simple
Happy Little Stampers - November Anything Goes with Dies Challenge
Creative Inspirations - Challenge #283 - Sparkle
Daring Cardmakers - Trim the Tree





Please do check out all of my teamies' great creations this week, including the light up cards also made by Sarah and Sharon.

I'm looking forward to seeing lots of shine in the gallery this week.

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 #296

Hi there

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

I love that there's a special day dedicated to our great hobby and wonderful community.  I hope that you manage to find some time to get creative and no doubt there will be lots going on in blogland today to inspire you.

And as it's the first Saturday of the month, at Less is More we're back with our regular Colour challenge.  This week we'd like to see the following colour combo...

Turquoise and Lilac

I've got two cards to share with you this week.  For my first I decided to go with a subtle use of these colours and made a Christmas card...

On the top half of the card base I blended Distress Inks to create the winter sky.  I then die cut another panel of white cardstock with a tree landscape die.  I heat embossed the sentiment in silver before adhering the panel to my card base.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Broken China, Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord; VersaMark
• Die: Craft Emotions - Landscape Pines
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Brushed Greetings
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Powder Power
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #445 - CAS

I decided to use some gorgeous turquoise glitter cardstock on my second card but it was almost impossible to convey in a photograph, it's so much brighter and more sparkly in real life...

I die cut the floral image from lilac cardstock and the 'you' from glitter cardstock.  A panel of white cardstock was stamped with the sentiment and adhered to a slightly larger black panel and adhered to the card base.  The die cuts were then adhered to the panel, some shimmer added to the petals with some Wink of Stella and a few glitter enamel dots were added to finish.

Materials used:

• Dies: Memory Box- Gorgeous Gardenia Outline; MFT Die-namics - Twice the Thanks
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Thank You
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Cardstock: Bazzill Basics (lilac); Papermania (black); Glitter cardstock from stash
• Accents: Wink of Stella - Clear; Happy Little Stampers - Enamel Glitter Dots in Blue

Please do pop over to the main challenge blog to see what my teamies have created this week, you won't be disappointed.  And I'm looking forward to seeing this lovely colour combo filling up the gallery :)