Less is More Challenge #452

Good morning

It's Saturday and another new challenge day over at Less is More.  Today it's the turn of our Recipe challenge and here's the cue card...

For my sample card I almost went for a honeycomb theme, then contemplated going for a geometric design, but then I remembered I have a stencil called Chicken Wire, so that was my starting point for this fun card...

I absolutely love a stamp set I have by Gerda Steiner called Chicken Scratch so wanted to combine that with the stencil.  I die cut a panel with a scalloped rectangle die and then added as post-it note to the left side as I wanted to mask off the edge.  I stamped the chicken and coloured her with Copics then, with the mask still in place, I treated the area with anti-static powder before then inking through part of the stencil with VersaMark ink.  I removed the stencil and the mask and then heat embossed with silver embossing powder, brushing away any stray areas of powder which clung to where the mask had been.  To finish I heat embossed the sentiment on a black die cut strip and mounted the panel on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Gerda Steiner - Chicken Scratch
• Stencil: The Crafters Workshop - Chicken Wire
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Scalloped Rectangles; MFT Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; VersaMark
• Coloured with Copics
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver; Brutus Monroe - Alabaster White

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - September Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

AAA Cards - Game #198 - Up to One Third

My Time to Craft - Challenge #466 - Embossing

CAS on Friday - Challenge #214 - Sketch (I've flipped it right to left)

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll join in with this challenge.  There's plenty of inspiration over at the main LIM challenge blog from my teamies, go take a look :)

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.

Muse Challenge #219 - Delicious Dahlia

Hi there

It's new challenge time over at Muse and I'm delighted that it's my turn to be your designer this week.  I hope my card will give you some inspiration to play along this week and I'm looking forward to seeing your interpretations of it.

Hopefully there are a few elements you can take from my design; the colours, the bold blooms, the layout, embossed image, masking and faded out stencilling,


I wanted to make another card using the Delicious Dahlia set I used recently, but I wanted it to look completely different.  My previous make where I embossed the image in a pearl embossing powder on a pastel card base you can find here.  And this is how dramatic it looks stamped in black...

So, I began on a panel of white cardstock and stamped the image in black.  This was then embossed with a clear embossing powder.  I made a couple of masks for the flower heads and then blended through a scribble design stencil in coral ink, fading it out from dark to light.  I embossed the stamped sentiment in white on some coral cardstock and adhered the strip to the panel, before then adhering the panel to the base using fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Delicious Dahlia; Clearly Besotted - Message Me
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Abandoned Coral
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss and Opaque Bright White
• Stencil: The Crafters Workshop - Mini Webbing

Challenge entries:

Penny Black & More - June Challenge - Anything Goes

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #9 - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #244 - Clean and Simple

Time Out - Challenge #84 Inspired by Words - 'Flowers and Friends make Life a Garden'

Thanks so much for dropping by, and I hope you can find time during the next week to play along at Muse :)

Less is More Week #329

Hi guys

Firstly, apologies that it's been a whole week since my last post.  I have been really busy making....but not cards.  I've been busy building my Ikea furniture and filling it with my stash!  Woohoo!!  I'm still trying to get everything in its ideal place and have a good tidy up of my existing cupboard so once that's done I'll share some pics with you.  It's a small area so it's taking some organising but I'm getting there! :)

So, that said, I'll move on to the real reason for today's post.

It's week three of May so this week at Less is More it's the turn of our regular Theme challenge.  Here is what we want to see...

We have another Guest Designer joining us this week, our lovely April winner, Julie Beech.  Please do pop over to her blog to see her inspiration project :)


After going back to basics last week I really struggled this week and I think I was trying too hard again.  They are a little busier than I would have liked but I have managed two card samples for you.


I recently picked up a lovely card pack called Midnight Blush and I wanted to use it on this first card.  The pack contains cardstock in four shades of grey and some sheets in a lovely blush colour.  The photos don't really do it justice but I think it's a gorgeous combination.

The cardstock in the pack isn't thick enough to use for card bases so I started by covering a card base with the blush card.  I then cut a dark grey piece slightly smaller than the base and used some transparent gloss texture paste through a squares stencil.  Once dry I mounted the panel onto the card base using fun foam.  I then die cut the doily from the blush cardstock and a sentiment strip onto which I stamped the sentiment in charcoal ink.

Here's a better view of the glossy paste, I need to get a better spatula/scraper to avoid the line marks...

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Papermania (DoCrafts) - Midnight Blush Capsule Collection
• Stencil: STAMPlorations - Just Squares
• Texture Paste: Ranger - Transparent Gloss
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Geometric Doily
• Stamp: Personal Impressions - Mix and Match
• Ink: Versa Color - Charcoal

Challenge entries:

Daring Cardmakers - Two Colours
Crafty Catz - Challenge #371 - Anything Goes with twist of more than two layers

Freshly Made Sketches - Challenge #288 (flipped it to the right)

I went for a rainbow on my second card...

I used some dark grey cardstock to cover my card base and then cut a white piece slightly smaller.  I die cut some circles from a scrap of cardstock and placed this over my white panel.  I then placed a stencil over the top and blended ink through the circles in rainbow colours, placing the stencil in different directions for each circle.  I finished off with a bold sentiment in charcoal ink and mounted the white panel on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: The Crafter's Workshop - Mini Solace
• Ink: Distress Ink - Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin, Festive Berries, Wilted Violent, Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Lucky Clover, Twisted Citron; Versa Color - Charcoal
• Stamp: Paper Smooches - Bold Buzzwords

My teamies, as always have created an array of wonderful inspiration for you this week so please do pop over to the challenge blog and follow the links to their personal blogs.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Muse Challenge #214 - Stencilled Daisies

Good afternoon

It's time for a new a challenge over at Muse and this week it's my turn to be your designer.

The idea at Muse is to draw inspiration from the designer's creation each week.  Hopefully I've given you some scope with this one....stencilling, ink blending, the colours, floral design, bold sentiment, etc.

I used to think stencils were quite boring until I discovered that they can be used to create some fabulous effects with numerous techniques.  They are an inexpensive product to add to your stash too, so that's a good enough reason for me and I've bought quite a few now.

For this one I chose three Distress Inks that I thought would blend together well, taped my stencil to a white cardstock panel and blended through with my sponge blending tools.  Using my mini MISTI I then stamped the bold sentiment in black, twice to ensure a good impression.  I then mounted the stencilled panel onto a piece of plum coloured cardstock to co-ordinate with the colour in the centre of the design.  This was then adhered flat to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stencil: The Crafters Workshop - Mini Daisy Chain
• Ink: Distress Ink - Seedless Preserves, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: MFT - Brushstroke Birthday
• Coloured cardstock from stash

Thanks so much for popping by, and hopefully I've inspired you to play along at Muse this week.  It's a great little challenge as it is voted for by your fellow participants.

If you're in the UK I hope you've been enjoying a nice bank holiday weekend.  The weather down here in Devon has gone downhill since the lovely day we had on Saturday so I hope it's better where you are, or you're managing to make the most of the long weekend.

I'll be back tomorrow evening with information about the next CAS challenge at Happy Little Stampers so I hope to see you then.

Less is More Week #323

Hi there

Well, are you ready?  Yes, you've guessed it, it's time for One Layer week over at Less is More.  I think there's lots of scope for this one this week, see what you think...

I'll get straight to my cards, I have two for you this week (I did plan to have a third but it didn't go to plan so got filed under bin!)...

I started by stamping the flower, the flower head being stamped in two shades of orange to give it some depth at the centre.  I left it a few minutes to ensure it was dry before masking off a curved section and blending with two shades of Distress Ink.  After removing the masks I splattered some water drops to remove some colour, and finished with the sentiment, which was manipulated slightly to follow the curve.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Penny Black - Dreamy; Clearly Besotted - With Love
• Ink: Altenew - Olive, Sunkissed, Orange Cream; Distress Ink - Scattered Straw, Wild Honey; Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #236 - Anything Goes

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Speckled

Stamping Sensations - April Challenge - Anything Goes

Penny Black - April Challenge - Spring

I decided to do some faded out ghosting on my second card.  Not entirely happy with it, not sure why.  Perhaps it's the colour, hmmm...but makes it gender neutral I suppose.

I die cut a curve from a scrap of card and used it to mask off the base of my card.  I then blended some green Distress Ink, gently fading it out upwards.  A leafy stencil was then placed over the inking, spritzed with water and then blotted away.  I curved the sentiment stamps to follow the curve of the design.  I think this one needs something else, but left it alone for now before I went ahead and ruined it :)

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Bundled Sage; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stencil: The Crafters Workshop - Mini Vineyard
• Stamps: Wplus9 - That is All

Challenge entries:

CAS on Sunday - Challenge #105 - Leaves and/or Trees

The Male Room - Challenge #57 - Black and white and one other colour

Thanks so much for popping in to see me today.  I hope you'll have a go at our one layer challenge this week, they really aren't that daunting, just sometimes take a little more planning.  Good luck!

Happy Little Stampers January 2017 CAS Challenge

Hi guys

I hope you are all refreshed after your Christmas and New Year celebrations and ready to go with this year's challenges!  At Happy Little Stampers the January Watercolour challenge is already up and running and today marks the launch of this month's CAS challenge.  This is our theme for January...

As always, this challenge is being sponsored by Happy Little Stampers and there is a great prize for one lucky winner...

I love using stencils and bought quite a few last year, and it's great that they are an inexpensive addition to any stash.  One of my newer stencils had it's first inking to make this card...

On a panel of white cardstock I stamped the butterfly in black and then masked it before blending two shades of ink through the stencil off the edge.  I then used the negative of the butterfly mask to cover the background up before blending blue and green ink within the butterfly.  I think the masking really makes the butterfly pop even though the panel is completely flat.  The sentiment was stamped below in black and the panel was popped up using fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stencil: The Crafter's Workshop - Mini Solace
• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Butterfly Birthday, Everyday Sentiments

Challenge entries:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #164 - Celebrations
Allsorts Challenge - Challenge #396 - Something New (stencil)
My Time to Craft - Challenge #337 - Something New (stencil)

Please pop over to the main challenge post to find more inspiration from my fellow teamies.  And we have some new Design Team members joining us too, so if you have the time please do visit their personal blogs and give them a big welcome.

The rest of our regular challenges will be launching in the next few days and all of them will be running until the end of the month, so plenty of time for you to get crafty and play along.

Less is More Week 278

Good morning

I'm here today to tell you about the new challenge at Less is More, and this week we've got a Sketch challenge for you.  I struggle with sketch challenges more than any other but this one is fab and after seeing my teamies' samples this week, it's proving to be a really versatile design.  Here it is...

I made two very different cards this week, the first is super bright and fun...

On a panel of white cardstock I positioned a stencil and masked off the diagonal edge before blending through some red, orange and yellow Distress Inks.  I was originally going to stencil directly onto the card base but the stencil was slightly too small.  Next I die cut some balloons, these also blended with Distress Inks.  On a strip of black cardstock I stamped the sentiment (made up from a multiple word stamp set) in VersaMark and heat embossed in white before adhering to the panel with the balloons.  The panel was then adhered on 3D foam and some accents were added to the balloons with a white pen.

Materials used:

• Stencil: The Crafters Workshop - Mini Webbing
• Ink: Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries, Seedless Preserves, Broken China, Mowed Lawn; VersaMark
• Stamps: Winnie & Walter - Big, Bold & Party
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Dies: Wplus9 - Whole Lotta Happy
• Accent: Uni-ball Signo pen - White

Challenge entries:

Just Add Ink - Challenge #313 - 'B' (bright/balloons)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
AAA Cards - Game #65 - The 2nd Big Birthday Bash




And a more subtle design for my second card...

I blended some embossing paste with two neutral shades of Distress Ink before spreading through a brick effect stencil.  I then die cut the leaves from a scrap of cardstock blended with two shades of green Distress Ink.  This was simply adhered over the paste when dry, the die-cut 'Happy Wishes' then adhered and some smooth silver gems finished off the card.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Bricked
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver
• Ink: Distress Ink: Pumice Stone, Tea Dye, Iced Spruce, Evergreen Bough
• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Leafy Accents; Wplus9 - Happy Wishes
• Accents: Gems from stash

Challenge entry:

Seize the Birthday - Adding Dimension

If you have the time please pop over to my teamies' blogs for more inspiration, they won't disappoint.  Thanks so much for visiting today and I hope to see your creations in the LIM gallery!

Clearly Besotted May Release - Cool Dude & All In Onesie (Guest Designer!)

Hi there

Welcome to Day 3 of my teaser cards for the upcoming Clearly Besotted May Release.  All the sets will be available to purchase from the Clearly Besotted store on 5 May at 10pm BST.

Today my cards have been made using two great sets, Cool Dude and All In Onesie.


Cool Dude
This mini set features the most adorable turtle images with fun sentiments.  I think this is my favourite from the whole release this month.

I started by blending some blue Distress Inks up from the bottom corner.  I then inked through a stencil to create the seaweed using two shades of green.  This is a stencil I recently purchased at a papercraft show and is actually hanging vines, so I flipped it and used it upside down.  I then stamped the turtle, fish and bubbles in waterproof ink before watercolouring with Distress Inks.  I finished by heat embossing the sentiment in white onto a green die cut flag from Clearly Besotted's Tag Along set and mounted my panel on 3D foam to the base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Cool Dude
• Stencil: The Crafters Workshop - Mini Moving Vines
• Ink: Distress Ink - Salty Ocean, Tumbled Glass, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Gathered Twigs, Brushed Corduroy, Crushed Olive, Spiced Marmalade; Archival - Jet Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Tag Along (discontinued)

Challenge entries:

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #174 - Anything Goes (optional Beach/Nautical elements)
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Water theme
Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #423 - No Patterned Papers
Dream Valley - Challenge #130 - All Creatures Great and Small

All In Onesie

This cute set features charactors wearing animal onesies and birthday sentiments for ages one, two and three.

I decided to use the little character wearing the penguin onesie and made it into a Christmas card!  I used a pierced square die to cut the snowy background from patterned paper, and also cut a white square and used the Clearly Besotted Tree Landscape die to create the foreground.  I don't have any dark enough grey ProMarkers so I stamped the image in waterproof ink and watercoloured with my Zig pens.  I then masked the onesie image to stamp the present, also from this new set, which was also watercoloured with Zig pens.  I then used the sentiment from the Clearly Besotted Santa Baby set.  The two layers were adhered together and mounted on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - All In Onesie, Santa Baby
• Ink: Archival - Jet Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Coloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens
• Patterned Paper: Lawn Fawn - Let's Bokeh In the Snow
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Tree Landscape Die

Challenge entries:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #279 - Anything Goes

Of course, the amazing Design Team and my fellow guesties are sharing more teasers with you today which you can find linked from here.

Thanks so much for popping by.  I'll be back tomorrow with my final two teaser cards ahead of the launch tomorrow night.  Hope to see you soon!

Less is More Week #273

Hi there

Happy Saturday and Happy St George's Day!  There's a new Recipe challenge just starting over at Less is More this morning and to celebrate St George's Day we have a very fitting theme for you this week which is...

Saints and Dragons or Heroes

Wow, this was a complete toughie for me this week!  I had very little in my stash that was leaping out at me.  I do have a digi which I was possibly going to use but my printer decided to throw a wobbly and not work for some reason so it was back to my stash to see what I could muster.  All I can say is 'Hallelujah' for Clearly Besotted! haha

So, just one card for you this week and I went down the cutie path...

I started by stamping the little dragon and then masking him apart from his right hand (paw, claw?!).  As a nod to St George's Day I decided to create him holding a red rose, as wearing a red rose is one of the old traditions to celebrate today.  I then completely masked him and the rose before stencilling the burst design to appear behind him (one of my new purchases from the Sincerely Yours papercraft show last weekend!).  I then watercoloured him with some Distress Inks.  This actually started out as a one layer card but I wasn't happy as the dragon and stencil were off centre so I die cut with a stitched rectangle before stamping the sentiment (with my Mini MISTI of course so as not to mess it up!) and then mounted the panel on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Hot Stuff, Je T'aime and Petite Plushies
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Scattered Straw, Cracked Pistachio, Shaded Lilac; Memento - Cottage Ivy, Lady Bug
• Stencil: The Crafters Workshop - Mini Burst
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangles

A tough challenge this week but knowing you fabulous LIMettes, you'll smash it and come up with some fabulous creations.  There is more inspiration from my teamies over at the main challenge page.  I hope to see you over in the gallery.