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.

Perfectly CAS March 2021 Challenge

Good evening

My goodness, where does the time go?  It only seems like a week ago I was sharing my last DT card for Perfectly CAS and here we are a month on and starting another challenge!

This one is super easy, just remember the challenge rule to only use one third of the card or less for your design...

Here's my sample card for this one and all I used was cardstock, dies and adhesive...

On a scrap of paper I used my glue runner to lay down some adhesive and then adhered various strips of coloured cardstock in rainbow order.  I die cut the word birthday from this and then die cut four of the word happy from white cardstock.  These were simply adhered to the cardbase and the overhanging edges trimmed away.  Simple!

Materials used:

• Dies: Paper Smooches - Happy Birthday Word Die; Wplus9 - Happy Wishes Words Die
• Cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - March Anything Goes with Dies Challenges

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #400 - Die Cuts and/or Stencils

This challenge will close a couple of days before the April challenge begins, so plenty of time to play along and link up.  Who doesn't need a stock of birthday cards?!

Masculine Happy Birthday

Hi there

Today I'm sharing the birthday card I made for my boyfriend.  It was his birthday yesterday which was really bad timing as yesterday was the start of the second lockdown in England, this time for four weeks.  So, unfortunately, we weren't able to go out and celebrate anywhere or with anyone else.  Both of us have had lockdown birthdays this year so we'll be making up for it next year for sure (hopefully!!)

I wanted to make a masculine card, but wanted a change from the usual blues, browns or bold colours I usually reach for when making cards for guys.

My lovely crafty friend, Sarah from Sazzle Dazzle Crafts, kindly recently sent me some coloured cardstock samples for me to try and the grey that I used here for the background was one of those samples and I love it!

I began by covering the card base with the grey cardstock.  I then die cut the 'happy' from various shades of cardstock from my scraps folders: mint, dark slate blue, light blue and white.  I layered them up slightly offset, with the white at the back to create the most contrast with the grey.  Before adhering in position I die cut a balloon string from black glitter cardstock and then adhered the 'happy' over the top.  I die cut a heart balloon from polka dot paper and popped this up on 3D foam, then finished by stamping the remainder of the sentiment.

Materials used:

• Dies: Wplus9 - Happy Trio, Whole Lotta Happy; MFT Die-namics - Blueprints 26
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - A Little Sentimental
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Patterned paper: Doodlebug - Kraft in Color: Color

Thank you for visiting, I'll be back in the morning to share the new challenge over at Less is More.

Less is More Challenge #430

Hi there

We have a different type of challenge for you over at Less is More starting this morning.  It is a Theme challenge but with a twist.  Our lovely leading LIM lady, Sharon, has a birthday today so our challenge is to CASe one of her lovely creations!

Happy Birthday, and wishing you a lovely day, Sharon xx

And here is her fantastic design...

There are so many elements to Sharon's creation: stars, flowers, warm shades, gold, foliage, die cutting, repeat stamping, banner sentiment strip, the layout...and lots more!  Just take any of these elements as inspiration for your own make.

And as we've whizzed into a new month, we also have the fabulous Uniko as our sponsor for the whole of October. 

Ok, onto my card.  I focussed on the colours, stars, flowers, gold die cuts, heat embossing, faux stitched edging, focal point trio and the banner sentiment.  I also used stamps from our sponsor...

I began by stamping some repeats of the flower stamps on a scrap of white cardstock and heat embossing these in gold before ink blending over them with the three different shades.  I then used some star dies to cut these out.  I die cut the balloon strings and bow from gold mirri card and adhered these to a die cut panel together with the stars.  I used one of the same inks to colour a sentiment strip and stamped and embossed the sentiment in gold.  This was popped up on glue dots before adhering the panel to the card base on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders: Flower Power, Flower Power #2
• Ink: Distress Ink - Abandoned Coral, Carved Pumpkin, Mustard Seed; VersaMark
• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Wplus9 - Whole Lotta Happy; MFT Die-namics - Blueprints 26, Stitched Sentiment Strips
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich
• Mirri card from stash

The teamies have provided lots more inspiration which you can find over at the main challenge page.  Why not play along?  I'd love to see your twists on Sharon's design, and as always, the linky will be open for two weeks :)

Less is More Challenge #410

Hello

I'm back today to introduce the first of this year's challenges at Less is More.  We're continuing with our sequence of challenges and this time we're back with a Colour challenge.  Here are the details...

It's an 'out with the old, in with the new' challenge.

Living Coral was the Pantone colour for 2019, and True Blue is the Pantone colour for 2020.

(The colours are detailed over on the main Less is More challenge post)

And for the month of January we have the fabulous Skull and Cross Buns back as our sponsor.  So just by playing along in this month's challenges will mean you're in with a chance of winning our monthly prize!

Here goes, and I'll admit, I did struggle with this colour combo.  But I did get a couple of sample cards made for you.  Here's the first...

This was very simple to make.  I crossed over two strips of washi tape on the card base, topped with a trellis die cut and then overlaid with a flower die cut.  I didn't like how the trellis showed through the flower head so I die cut it again from some textured coral cardstock and inlaid the inner parts of the flower head, securing on the reverse, before adhering the flower in place.  I stamped a simple sentiment vertically as I think it nestled along the edge quite nicely.

Materials used:

• Dies: Clearly Besotted - Trellis Die; Wplus9 - Flower Doodles
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Tiny Type
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Washi tape from stash

And for this next make I used stamps by our Sponsor, Skull and Cross Buns...

Not the best photos of this card I'm afraid, for some reason my camera was having an off day!

I used a stitched rectangle die to create my top panel then stamped the bunting and confetti in blue and coral inks.  I stamped the sentiment in blue to balance out the design the popped the panel onto the card base using fun foam.  As a finishing touch I added some smooth silver gems amongst the confetti.  Not my go to colours for this type of card but I think it's turned out quite gender neutral here.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Skull and Cross Buns - Modern Wedding; Celebrate Script
• Ink: Altenew - Starlight; Versa Magic - Pink Grapefruit
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles
• Accents: Smooth silver gems from stash

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - CAS Game #155 - Along the Edge

The challenge linky will stay open for the next fortnight so why not have a go with this colour combo, you never know what might materialise.  I struggled then ended up with two cards :)

Less is More Challenge #396

Good morning, crafters!

New challenge day is upon us once again over at Less is More, and today we're back with a Recipe challenge.  Here's the cue card with details of what we want to see you creating and sharing with us...

We're specifying less than one third to be true to our challenge guidelines and our love of unpatterned/untextured white space.

Continuing as our sponsor for this month is the fabulous and generous CAS-ual Fridays Stamps

and don't forget, as well as our monthly prize, they are also offering the discount code below

So, without further ado, I'll move on to my sample cards.  And it appears my mojo has returned, I have four cards for you!!!

Here's the first, and my favourite of this batch of makes...

I began with the dragonfly die cut, cut from white cardstock.  I squidged my VersaMark pad over it, held it with tweezers and poured two different embossing powders over it.  I heated it to melt the powders then repeated the process twice more to create the glossy effect.  On the card base I blended through a leaf stencil with Distress Ink and stamped the sentiment in metallic pigment ink.  To finish I adhered the body of the dragonfly only, and manipulated the wings upwards for some dimension.

Materials used:

• Die: Clearly Besotted - Dragonfly Die Collection
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Peppermint Tea, Metallic Copper
• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Forest Foliage
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Make a Wish
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Lucky Clover; Versa Color - Bronze

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - CAS Game #140 - Up to One Third (not twisting this time)

Onto my second card, and some simple stamping and heat embossing...

I chose a teal card base and panel for this one.  Before stamping the images with VersaMark I treated the surface with an anti-static powder tool to avoid the embossing powder clinging to unstamped areas of the panel.  I used parts of the same floral image at the top and base of my panel, and heat embossed these along with the sentiment in white embossing powder.  Once cooled I used a soft cloth to ensure no anti-static powder remained on the panel.  It was then adhered using fun foam.

Materials used:

• Cardstock from stash
• Stamps: Honey Doo Crafts - Roses and Lilies; MFT - Grand Peaceful Wildflowers (sentiment)
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #98 - Monochrome Colour

I'm not loving this next one but thought I'd share it anyway..

I used a floral corner embossing folder on a white cardstock panel here and stamped the sentiment in pigment ink.  I adhered the panel flat to the card base then added some Nuvo drops to the centre of the flowers.  My drops weren't behaving and weren't coming out evenly so the look isn't really what I was going for but it's still quite a cute card.  I thought the embossing alone wasn't enough but perhaps it needed embellishing in a different way.  I might revisit this one :)

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder: Craft Concepts - Florette
• Stamp: Wplus9 - Strictly Sentiments
• Ink: Versa Color - Lagoon Blue
• Accents: Nuvo Crystal Drops - Carnation Pink

Challenge entries:

Alphabet Challenge - E is for Embossing Folder

For my final card I embossed a panel using a die set...

I used a set of dies, a tulip square and pierced frame, to emboss a panel using an embossing mat in my Big Shot.  I trimmed around the edge of the frame then die cut a slightly larger pierced square from purple mirri card.  I adhered the mirri square flat to the base then popped up the tulip square on 3D foam strips.  I used a bold sentiment below the focal point to finish the card.

Materials used:

• Dies: Creative Expressions - Tulip Flower Square; MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax
• White and mirri card from stash
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Brushed Greetings II
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

Allsorts Challenge - Week 520/1 - Happy Birthday 

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #32 - Embossing

There are so many ways to add embossed details to your cards.  If you need some inspiration please do visit the main Less is More challenge blog, here, to see what my teamies have been creating.  I'm looking forward to seeing your creations in our gallery, and don't forget, the linky is open for a fortnight so plenty of time to play along.

Happy Little Stampers May 2019 CAS Challenge

Hi there

I'm here tonight to introduce the new CAS challenge for May over at Happy Little Stampers.

We'd like to see just a sentiment on your clean and simple creations, minimal embellishments and inking are allowed, but no images.


Here's my DT card...

I began by masking my card base leaving a horizontal strip which I ink blended with Distress Oxides to create an ombre effect.  I also ink blended a spare piece of cardstock and die cut the hello from it so it was in the opposite direction.  I adhered this onto the card base and stamped the 'birthday' alongside.  It looked like something was missing so I used a ruler and drew some dash lines with a black fineliner pen.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Oxide - Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Wplus9 - Happy Trio
• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Bold Birthday Sentiments

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #339 - CAS

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #158 - Contrast

Alphabet Challenge - C is for Clean and Simple

Don't forget that this challenge, along with the other challenges over at Happy Little Stampers (some still to start) are open to enter until the end of the month.

Thanks for visiting.

Less is More Challenge #393

Good morning folks!

It's Saturday morning and it's been two weeks since our last challenge over at Less is More which can only mean one thing...we've got a new one for you :)

It's the turn of our Colour challenge and this time we want to see...

The awesome Seven Hills Crafts returns as our sponsor for this month so make sure you play along during this and the next challenge to be in with a chance of winning the LIM monthly prize!

We have a wonderful designer joining us for this challenge, the super talented Milla who was one of our birthday month winners.  Please do pop over to her blog to say hi.


Ok, onto my samples and I have two for you today.  I was obviously in a friendly mood as both feature friend sentiments.  Here's the first...

This was super easy to make.  On a panel of white cardstock I blended two shades of Distress Ink in from the corner.  I very rarely use either of these colours but I adore how great they look together here.  I then used a doily die which is new to my stash to cut a white die cut and adhered it over the edge of the panel and trimmed off the excess.  To finish I stamped the sentiment before adhering the panel on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Iced Spruce, Milled Lavender; Versa Color - Laurel Leaf
• Stamp: Wplus9 - All Year Cheer (available from our sponsor's store)
• Die: Sweet Dixie - Doily Five

For my next card I chose coloured cardstock for my top panel...

I chose this soft green shade and began by inking through a leaf stencil using white chalk ink.  I then found a teeny flower stamp and stamped these around the leaves with a peachy shade.  I chose a slightly darker soft green shade to stamp my sentiment and adhered the panel flat to my card base.

Materials used:

• Coloured cardstock from stash
• Stencil: Uniko - Natures Treasures II
• Ink: Versa Magic - Cloud White; Versa Color - Cinnamon, Olive
• Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Vines; Altenew - Thinking of You (available from our sponsor's store)

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #336 - Anything Goes

AAA Cards - CAS Game #137 - Made in Minutes

Uniko - Challenge #52 - Spring

Thanks so much for popping by.  Looking forward to seeing all your subtle colour creations.  And don't forget to pop over to the main LIM challenge post for more inspiration from my fellow teamies.