"Less is More" Lucky Dip ~ Thank You or Congratulations

I don't know about you but I thought that the wedding yesterday was a superb example of good old British organisation, history, pomp at the culmination of an eight year romance!
I watched all day until about 2.30pm when I picked up my son and daughter-in-law on completion of their sailing course and then we watched it all again, as I'd been recording it too!
I loved it!
Here is my card for this week's challenge at "Less is More". A thank you card using gilding flakes. I love this medium and you can see how  did it on the challenge blog!

This Congratulations card is such a simple one... a Stampin' Up image which I really love and a little bit of a Martha Stewart border peeping between the image and the sentiment!
Anyway I must cook some breakfast for the kids!
More anon!

OLW 51

 The challenge this week for One Layer Wednesday is to make three cards, each using the same stamp/stamps but with different sentiments and different ink/cardstock.
Here I have used a Stampin' Up set called Oh so Lovely.
The sentiments are from a clear set by Personal Impressions, which I bought very cheaply at the NEC last year and use very frequently.

I have my tissues at the ready, the TV is on and I shall be glued to the TV for most of the day. I hope everyone has a great day and that the weather is kind for the Royal Couple and all the thousands who have travelled to London to see the spectacle. God Bless them both!

Chocolate

Not edible, but a super rich chocolate colour, this card uses a super image from Crafter's Companions Men's Stamp set.
I think this stag looks so regal and would be a super image for a chap's card. It's mounted on a second piece of white card which in turn is on a background of leather effect chocolate brown card.
A simple Personal Impressions sentiment and a length of ribbon and the card is complete.
One Stop Crafts - Chocolate

Easel Wedding Card

There's nothing particularly special about this easel card except I thought I would show you what I did with the Spellbinders Fancy Tag.
I made the sentiment on the computer and wanted to mount it on the card using a fancy tag, but the sentiment was too long to fit in the space, so I did a little modification.

• I began by arranging the die around one end of the sentiment and rolling it just part-way through the machine cutting just one half it. 
• I then rolled it back out of the machine, lifted off the die and arranged it around the other end of the sentiment and again rolled it just half way though the machine, cutting the other half, before rolling it back out.

On the left, one half of the sentiment has been cut and the die arranged around the other end of the sentiment, ready to be run through the Cuttlebug to cut the other half.

On the right you can see the finished die-cut compared to the original die.

I thought it was quite a good idea. I have reduced the size of Spellbinders dies many times, but this is the first time that I have enlarged one!

Die Cut Dreams - Weddings 

Purrfect Pets

For this card I stamped my Rollagraph wheel across some card and decided on several of the images to cut out for mounting on the ribbon.
I decorated the edges of the horizontal panel with a Martha Stewart border punch and added a Stampn' Up sentiment and a tinkling bell.
It's my DT card for My Time to Craft this week, where the theme is Purrfect Pets.
Do join in with us this time and show us your furry babies!

Anniversary

I was looking at the Docrafts site, which I use to visit daily prior to starting my blog some years ago and spotted Clare Curd's challenge, which this week is a sketch.
The simplicity appealed to me and so I thought that I would make a card using it. I amalgamated a challenge from Mark's Finest papers and so made it an Anniversary card.
The base square is double embossed and inked using a Spellbinders Impressabilities stencil, together with a Nestie Square.

• I cut the square and left the card in the die
• I inked a section of the stencil large enough to cover the area of the square and placed the card, still in the die, onto to stencil cutting side uppermost
• I placed a piece of thin scrap paper over this to prevent any ink transferring to my tan mat.
• I then ran it through my Cuttlebug, using the following sandwich

1. B plate
2. Impressabilities stencil (inked side uppermost)
3. Die-cut square still in the die (cutting side uppermost)
4. Thin scrap paper
5. Tan Mat
6. 2 thin card shims
7. B Plate

The butterfly is double layered, matt silver card, then acetate, embossed, glued and glittered and die-cut with a Cuttlebug die.

The sentiment is stamped in Encore silver ink and mounted on Spellbinders tags.

A little bling just added to the interest!

I quite like it!

"Less is More" - Off Centre

Happy St George's Day everyone!

Here I have used red and white, the colours of St George's flag for our challenge at "Less is More", which this week is entitled 'Off Centre'.

I chose to make a card using the emboss resist technique. The precise method is described on our challenge blog, do pop over and have a look and hopefully join in with our challenge this week.

I made the sentiment ... a little quote from Shakespeare, on the computer.

It's possible to have balance within a card even if there is no axis of symmetry, but by careful positioning of the elements, balance can be achieved. I think this looks balanced don't you?

If you haven't tried a Clean and Simple challenge before maybe now's the time to try!

A Thank you

A friend of ours has just had a second CD of his religious songs published and was kind enough to give us this copy, so I made a card inspired by the cover of the CD to say thank you to him.
He writes such beautiful melodies and the whole CD gives a wonderful feeling of calm and serenity.
Thanks Geoff!
Alphabet challenge - Y -Yellow

The dress

As our challenge at "Less is More" this week has been about acetate, I decided to have a play myself and this is the first time that I have tried added gilding flakes to it. I stamped the acetate with Stazon and then after adding some glue, I applied the gilding flakes in Variegated Green to the back of the image.
The acetate is attached to the Laura Ashley (I think) under paper only at the top and the DST is concealed by the MS punched, decorated  flap.
The sentiment is Penny Black stamped on the paper not the acetate.
Sir Stampalot - Ladies and fashion (no lady here but it's obviously for one!)

OLW 50 Thanks

The challenge this week at One Layer Wednesday is to make a Thank you card using an old stamp.
This Hobby Art image is one of the first that I bought and has sadly lost condition due to a session using it with bleach!
Despite cleaning it immediately after use, the bleach seems to have reacted with the rubber and made it slightly tacky and I don't get such a crisp impression as I did when it was first purchased... but I can't bring myself to throw it away.
The sentiment is part of a polymer stamp from Heidi Swapp. It actually has another word of thanks at right angles to these, which I didn't need for this card, so I simply covered it with sticky tape whilst I inked the stamp and then pulled it off before stamping.
The rectangle was sponged with the same Crumb cake ink using a mask.
Have a great day!

.

Sparkle

One of the participants in our Clean and Simple challenges over at "Less is More" used these dies from Marianne Creatables and I thought they were lovely and so bought some straight away. I love the fact that they are circles but only symmetrical in one plane.
For this wedding card I cut and embossed them and added gems to the larger one and Glamour dust to the smaller. I added a computer sentiment and a silver heart charm attached to an organza bow.
I love white on white and usually I would have lots of texture,  but I thought that these embossed circles needed a plain backdrop, so they are simply double mounted onto squares of similar white card.
ABC Challenge  S - Sparkle
My Mum's Craft Shop - All that Glitters

My Time to Craft - Easter

The theme this week at My Time to Craft is Easter and here is a simple card. I'm not sure of the source of the stamps, I believe the sentiment was a cheapy from Hobbycraft.
Simply coloured with Distress Inks and a hint of a Sakura Gel pen, the image was from a stamp bought on eBay quite some time ago.
I'm off to see my daughter today, I'd better get my skates on!
Daring Cardmakers - Easter

For a Hen Party Book

I thought I'd show you this little lot, which I just made in answer to a request from a friend of my daughter's whose own wedding stationery I made some time ago.
She is to be chief  bridesmaid soon and is organising a 'Hen Do' for her friend. She wants to present the bride-to-be with a book of pictures, memories and recipes from the other 'hens'.
So she asked me to make cards for each of them to write their special memories in, which can in turn be stuck into the book.
The theme of the wedding black and white (you may have guessed).
The morning I received the request, a new set of grungy heart  stamps from Stempelglede arrived, so I decided to use them for the cards. I wanted to make each one different, so once I had used the individual ones from the set, I went rummaging through my stamps to find what other hearts I could find and then masked them after stamping to add the grungy flourishes from Stempelglede, to try to make them look as though they are part of the set.

Here is one of the cards where you can see the flourish that I have added behind the SU stamped image.
If you zoom in to the first picture you will probably be able to tell which are the adapted ones!
The largest card is for the front of the book!
I quite enjoyed doing this little lot!

Clean and Simple

Here is a quick card using the sketch from Clean and Simple no 136.
I have used some fabulous SU papers given to me by my lovely buddy Mandi. I've been stroking them for ages, not actually having the courage to cut into them as they're so lovely!
The sentiment was computer generated and the SU button has some of the backing card behind it to tone with the colour scheme.
Being really frugal, this card blank is made from the bottom sheet of the paper pack!

"Less is More" - Acetate

This week our challenge at "Less is More" is to use some acetate of some description. Here I have used  a piece for the front of my card, attaching it behind a flap which is an extension of the back of the card.
I lined the inner right hand side of the card with some brown  card and stamped on the acetate in white Stazon so that the image would show up.
Inside, I stamped the brown card with a larger version of the stamp using deep brown ink, so that it gave the impression of a shadow from the image on the front.

All that was left to do was to add a sentiment which I added in the corner on the front.

The images are a mixed bunch. Although the two  flower stamps are identical, apart from their size, one is from Inkylicious and the other from Magenta, at the moment I'm not sure which is which.
The sentiment is from Personal Impressions.





Finally here's another card, using a piece of scrap plastic which I punched with a Tonic butterfly punch, dabbed with alcohol ink, glued and glittered and added a few pearls. It's a simple way to use a little acetate (or like substance) even if you don't have any sheets of it.

The background of this card, uses a Stampin' Up background stamp and the flourish is from Inkylicious.


Do join in our challenge over at "Less is More" we love to see the inventiveness of our participants.

W for White +1

How clean and simple can you get?
This is probably just about as far as you could go.
A simple stamp and sentiment. The sentiment is a little clear stamp from Personal Impressions.
The image stamp is from Stampin' Up, I bought a couple of sets of retired stamps from an eBay seller in the US.
The package value was the equivalent of £18.43.
 It was selected by our Customs people and I had to pay £3.83 VAT and... wait for it ... £8 handling charge.  Apparently my package was worth 43p more than the accepted allowance and so the charge was incurred. On a different day, with the fluctuation of the exchange rate it may well have been within the parameters of acceptability, but not on this occasion. I did wonder about ringing them but decided to save myself the cost of the phone call, as I probably wouldn't have got anywhere anyway!
Hey Ho! I shall remember the limit the next time I make an overseas purchase!
Alphabet Challenge - W- White + 1

Look familiar?

For those who have seen my sample card for "Less is More" this week, this may seem rather familiar.
I made this card before I made the sample card and then converted it from this version to a one layered card.
I must say that this one was much easier to make, as the various components were stamped separately and then layered together. It does look very similar I must say!
Stempeltraume - Oval

Gilding the lily

I don' t think that this Penny Black stamp is of lilies, but it is certainly gilded. I used Stamp 'n' Bond with Versamark and then added the gilding flakes in the Autumn Rose blend.
I overstamped the image with an Inkylicious script stamp in regular gold pigment ink; the sentiment is from Personal Impressions and heat embossed in gold.
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots adds a little interest to the backing paper and the elements are mounted on a little gold weave textured paper.
Penny Black - Flowers
Crafty Catz - Embossing

Cards and Things

I was playing around with a set of stamps from Inkylicious, which I bought recently at the NEC.
I began by masking the card with Post its and sponging the background, then used this really versatile flourish stamp. It has so many differently shaped twiddly bits that it's easy to get the shape of outline I need for edging frames etc. The other two images from the set are the face and the background script. The flourish almost looks like the lady's hair doesn't it!
The challenge from Cards and Things this week is to use the colours Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Marina Mist, and  I just love this combination of shades.
This was just an experiment really, but I quite like it!
The sentiment is one from a clear set from Personal Impressions which I bought for £2.99 from the NEC on my previous visit. They are so useful!

On the Spot

A friend from my choir is quackers about ducks. I have used all of my PB duckling stamps on cards for her over the year and recently she asked me for some Easter cards for her kids, also using ducks, with this sentiment.
I think they're kinda cute.
The challenge from My Time to Craft this week is entitled On the Spot and this DT card has the Swiss Dots embossing folder providing the spots for it!
The sentiment was computer generated and the image coloured with Distress inks.
I was away at the weekend in Salisbury and had a super time shopping in the sunshine and singing in the cathedral on Saturday evening.
Yesterday I had a quick dash to Bath to pick up some gardening tools and appliances which we had given to my daughter, which she will no longer be needing, as they are having their back garden re-landscaped.
They will be on their way to my son's when next we visit them I think!
Today is another beautiful sunny day... I may just get a little weeding done!

"Less is More" One Layer Card Challenge

This card was trickier than I had originally envisaged, you can see the process I used on our "Less is More" challenge blog. I've had the sentiment stamp for ages, I bought it second hand on eBay I believe, and from time to time it comes in useful!
The challenge this week is a one layer card where the sentiment is the focus.
It's quite a difficult proposition to make a card attractive where the words are paramount.

Here's another one using a Heidi Swapp sentiment  stamp and Inkylicious  flourishes on the edges. The butterflies were to cover a little ink smudge! I'm not terribly pleased with this one, which is why I didn't put it on our challenge blog, but it may give someone an idea of what she might do.
The last time we went away for a concert, I forgot to take a black polo neck top, which we wear  under our dresses in draughty churches and I had to rush out and buy one... today I have remembered, but I wonder what else I'll forget!
Have a wonderful weekend and I hope you'll enjoy joining in with our rather tricky challenge this week.

Candy Stripes

I'm just waiting for my friend to arrive before setting off for Salisbury, where we will be singing in a concert in the cathedral on Saturday night. There's a rehearsal this evening, so we thought we'd go and make a weekend of it... a little shopping might just occur somewhere along the line.
We will be singing Beethoven's Missa Solemnis... and I have to say that there are some quite tricky passages in it.... you could tell he was deaf when he wrote it!
I was just testing to see if I had set up my printer driver correctly, so I printed off this stripy paper (Pink Petticoat) and then thought I would do a couple of challenges using the paper.
SU stamps and border punch, Cuddly Buddly yellow spotty paper.
Just add Ink - Picture Inspiration
Clean and Simple 135 Sketch

Making up for lost time!

I made this card a couple of days ago and it just happens to be an inverted version of the sketch at Cards and Things this week. Someone thinks on the same lines as me!
The flowers were stamped with a SU wheel and the butterfly is from the SU Punch Pot pourri, stamped with Soft Suede and then heat embossed with a little Crystal Sparkle embossing powder.
The border punch is also from SU but the sentiment is Personal Impressions I believe!
I kinda like it!
ABC Challenge - R is for Ribbon
Anything Goes - Pearls
Claudia & Company - Monochromatic

Trying times!

Last week I had a crisis when my laptop refused to connect to the internet. Despite various attempts to reinstall various bit and pieces (under the instruction of a techy guy on the end of the phone), the prognosis was that the wireless card was broken and my machine had to go back to Sony for repair!
They repaired it reasonably quickly all things considered, however upon its return I discovered that it had been totally reset and all my programs and files etc were no longer there. It was like a brand new computer!
Today I have spent nearly all my time adding essential programs like virus protection, printer drivers email details... my 'LIM' email address is still elusively keeping away from my Windows  Mail... it just doesn't want to join in the fun! I can't work out how to add it. I did it once before, but now I can't remember what I did exactly.
Anyway enough of my woes... well almost, I cant remember how I made my watermark either, so I'll have to do without until I manage to sort that little lot out too!
Hey Ho!
Here is a card made from the sketch at Clean and Simple, I feel quite pleased that I've managed to get it onto my blog at all!
I'm off to do a little more sorting out now!
Allsorts - Blooming Blossoms

"Less is More" Week 9 - Colour - A Touch of Red

This blog of ours at "Less is More" is nothing but astonishing to Mandi and I!
Last week we had an amazing 277 entries to our challenge... can you believe that? It's totally beyond anything we either expected or hoped for!
What a wonderful world of Bloggers there are out there, and we are so grateful for the support.
Today we have another challenge... it's challenging me too, as my laptop has had to go in for repair.... the wireless card has died and I shall be without my machine until the middle of next week.
I shall try to grab a few moments now and then when my husband isn't using his computer to comment on entries, but although more difficult than usual, I'll try my best!
This week we have a colour challenge and it is to use a 'Touch of Red'.
I used this Magenta stamp, heat embossed in gold and with paper pieced flowers. The flowers and the leaves have then been glazed with a Sakura pen.
The sentiment... also heat embossed in gold, was originally a horizontal stamp, but I chopped up the images to stick on the card in a vertical column.
I was quite pleased with this one... I don't often say that, but I hope you like it too.