Scallops

This week was supposed to be chill out for me, but my grandson was unwell, my daughter was skiing in France with work and so at sparrow's on Monday morning I was in Bath picking him up and bringing him back here with us for the week! Fortunately, he is now fully recovered., his mum is home from a fabulous break, and they are all here (including my granddaughter) for the long weekend.

Maybe this coming week will be a little more restful!

The challenge at Less is More this week is for Scallops... something I often use, but frequently when it's necessary, it's hard to think of inspiration. 

Anyhow here are my samples for this challenge.

White and Antique linen are the basis for this Anniversary card. The background stamping is Artemio and the rest is die-cut and embossed with a little inking added for definition.

A double scalloped edge for this particular card with the dress coloured with Promarkers and twinkled with a little Glamour Dust before the image being cut out and added to the base with dimensional pads.

My favourite background was used here for the base of the butterfly... Squished leaves and flowers from the garden... the colours are always so subtle. The card was embossed with a scalloped Nestie Square and then superimposed with an embossed panel as a base for the butterfly.

I bought this Fiskars border punch at the NEC. I liked it as it was, but later realised that ribbon would look great threaded behind the daisies. I coloured all the blue elements of this card with a Promarker. The two daisies embellishing the sentiment were cut from a length of border.

I shall be going to the craft show at Alexandra Palace on Saturday 13th April with Anne (Stargroves)... if anyone else intends to be there it would be great to meet up!

Jenny (Crafting in the Country) and Val (Canonbury Creations) also hope to be there, it would be great to meet up with any other crafters who know me (via blogging)!!!!
Have a great week!

Beads

I'm hoping to be able to get a chance to play with some of the goodies I bought at the NEC this week, but things have been somewhat hectic and it doesn't look as though I'll get any time until next week.

I sang in a concert last night and I have another tonight, tomorrow I have to pop to London so maybe on Monday there'll be time!

In the meantime here are my cards for the challenge at Less is More this week.

The recipe is to use beads somewhere.

This card utilised a scrap of kraft card which I stamped, embossed and bleached before adding the tiny beads as the centre of the flower. This was mounted within a frame backed by a little script.

A couple of beads finish off the antennae of this Stampin' Up butterfly. The background stamp is also from SU, from the Confetti set and the punches used are from SU and Fiskars.

Yesterday was spent looking after my grandson in Bath, he is such a sweetie.

Two things he loves...TV and his thumb!

I also visited Mandi on the island this week, we had a lovely day catching up. Her shop looks amazing.

This is her latest window display! Sorry about the reflections in the glass, but I think you can see it reasonably enough!

Have a great week and do take care if you're in the grip of the latest bad weather.

Black and Yellow

A member of my choir saw a card similar to this one which I had made and promptly asked me to make half a dozen for him.

I think it's fun!

The colours fit with the challenge at Dynamic Duos this week.

For the last several weeks I have done cards for their challenge and failed to get them uploaded in time. Hopefully this time I'll be OK

The sentiment is computer generated.

Die by Memory Box (I think!)

Spring is in the air

One of my favourite background techniques is to squish some leaves and flowers from the garden, between pieces of card, by running them through my Cuttlebug. The colours which emerge are always so subtle and natural looking (obviously)!

Here I used a piece of this card for the base of the butterfly, twinkling it a little with some Glamour Dust. I cut a square of my leaf background card with a Nestie and framed it on a larger piece of card matching the base, but using the reverse side of it.

It's really simple but it pleases me!

The sentiment is computer generated.

This would also fit with the challenge at "Less is More" this week, but my main cards for that are in the post below this!

ABC Challenge - Spring is in the air

Addicted to CAS - Wings

Frame it!

The challenge at "Less is More" this week is to create a frame somewhere on the card.

Here are my samples!

This was really quick to make.

The background was sponged with inks and a simple die cut superimposed over it. A frame was placed over that and the card was completed with a Stampin' Up sentiment.

Here, a piece of black paper was stamped with Versamark and embossed with black powder. The image was then bleached using household bleach, applied with a brush and left to dry. The resultant colour matched SU's Sahara Sand perfectly. It's a really fun technique.

Another Blockhead stamps image here, stamped, embossed, coloured with Promarkers and covered with Glossy Accents before being surrounded by a simple frame.

A friend of mine who now lives in Massachusetts, is a travel agent who sends her clients on luxury holidays. She commissions me to make Welcome home  cards for them on their return home. This is for some who have had a wonderful cruising holiday!

It's a Quickcutz die and a computer generated sentiment.

I hope you can join in with our challenge this time... it should be fun!

Spots and Stripes

It's One Layer week at Less is More and here are my samples.

After rummaging through my stamps for stripes or spots I found this freeebie from a magazine by Hot off the Press. The deckchair on the right was plain, so I drew the spots and coloured them to match the stripy one.

The sentiment was made from a set of Sizzix alphabet stamps and the letter r fell on the floor when I was cleaning them. It took me ages to find it...it's amazing how things seem to disappear in my craft room!

Another stamp with spots and stripes here, this time from Artemio, coloured with SU markers and with a sentiment also from Stampin' Up.

Tim Holtz spots and stripes here with a plant image from Unity stamps, making a simple collage card. All in shades of green Distress inks.

Have a great weekend.

Watercolour Flowers

This week has completely flown!

Last weekend was spent in London, seeing Mamma Mia and indulging in a little retail therapy. I did manage to buy a super coat reduced by £50 which was wonderful and on returning home I was even more pleased with it than I was in the shop. Since then I don't know where the days have gone to and here we are approaching another weekend!

I made this card today using one of the Hero Arts watercolour flower stamps which I used for one of my cards which has been published in the latest Craft Stamper Magazine. I love the effect of them. I coloured the stamp with SU markers before stamping . I was also quite pleased with the evenness of the stitiching on this one. The sentiment and Embossing folder used were also from Stampin' Up.

Sketch - Seize the Birthday

In Stitches - Paper Players
Happy Birthday - CAS on Sunday

A delicious colour challenge

Less is More has a fab colour challenge this week. The inspiration picture is from Design Seeds and makes me feel peckish just looking at it!

This follows a sketch I saw on the web a while back. I used the banner stamp and die from SU Hearts a Flutter and a flower stamp and die from elsewhere. I didn't write the name on the clear carrier sheet for the stamps and so I don't remember the make! I used a variety of Cats Eye chalk inks to match the colours in the inspiration picture.

The colours in this next one is are a little strong, but I quite liked it so I thought I would show you!

The hearts are a stamp and die from Hearts a Flutter again, the paper from Pink Petticoat and the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp on a Spellbinder label.

More of the hearts, this time on a kraft base with a little piercing and some gingham paper scraps from the drawer. Some Itty Bitty flowers are used as embellishments.

The last one has no stamping whatsoever, but some die-cut words and a little embossing! More details are on the LIM blog!
Easy Peasy!
I'm going to see Mama Mia tonight in London, a celebration for a friend's birthday, there will be 4 of us... my daughter and two close friends. What fun!