Homespun

Time seems to have been moving on apace and Christmas will soon be upon us. 

At Less is More the challenge is to run for two weeks and the theme this time is Homespun.

I love primitive art and some of the early American images are simply fabulous. I tend to think of samplers and gingham, lots of red and white and kraft too possibly. Here are a couple of cards which I managed to squeeze in time to make this week.

This is a Stampin' Up cross stitch heart, cut with a stitched square die and mounted on a little polka dot paper, framed by yet another stitched square.

A Little Claire image, partly paper pieced and partially coloured with alcohol pens. The sentiment is computer generated.

These Day for Daisies chickens are the cutest and make me think of primitive folksy art. Here her pinny is paper pieced and once more the sentiment is computer generated.

Finally a card for someone just embarking on cancer treatment. Once more a simple image, simply presented. This is another Day for Daisies image again combined with a computer generated sentiment!

  I have spent the last couple of days looking after my grandchildren and tonight I have a performance of Messiah with my choir! 

If I don't manage to post any more of my makes before the big day, I would like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

Happy Little Stampers' September Challenge

The Challenge at Happy Little Stampers this time is COLOURING!

Here I have a lovely Digi from A Day for Daisies, coloured with watercolour pencils and blended with a water brush. A little clear Wink of Stella was added to give a subtle touch of sheen.

The sentiment is a die cut from Simon Says Stamp. The front panel was cut with a SSS stitched rectangle, elongated a little to fit British dimensions.

There are so many different ways of colouring so do join in the fun.

The Happy Little Stampers shop has recently opened and HLS are also sponsoring this challenge

And one lucky winner of this challenge will win this stamp set

Going nautical

There's a sketch challenge at Just Us Girls this week!

My version uses an anchor die from My Creative Time within a die cut from Simon Says Stamp. A touch of DP and a Hero Arts sentiment and that's it!

Addicted to CAS - BLUE

This next card is for a couple of challenges.

A Day for Daisies and CASology each have the theme Plaid.

I paper pieced some Pink Petticoat paper onto the chicken and added a computer generated sentiment.

Now to work out a design for some orders of service for my DIL's sister's wedding!

Sweet Mermaid

This sweet little mermaid is a freebie from A Day for Daisies and I couldn't resist entering the current challenge, which is to use sequins. I bought these tiny, tiny sequins on eBay not really taking proper note of the actual size that I was purchasing... they are about 2-3mm...absolutely titchy and are really tricky to pick up. However they are really pretty.

This little lady was coloured with Mirage pens with a little glamour Dust added to her tail and bows. The sentiment is computer generated.

Lucky Dip week at "Less is More"

This week at "Less is More" we have a Lucky Dip week with a special Guest Designer. We have Rebecca (Melly Moo) as our Guest and the theme is 2 legs or 4!

I have one in each category for you today!

The little bird is from A Day for Daisies, coloured with watercolour pencils and a water brush.

It has a simple frame from SSS dies and a computer generated sentiment.

This little four legged creature is from Clearly Besotted, stamped with Ranger Java Bean dye ink  and die cut with its matching die.

The stitched dies are again from Simon Says Stamp and the tree from MFT, with an embossed sky from Stampin' Up.

My daughter-in-law is the chair of a really worthy charity called Petals, which offers counselling for trauma or loss during pregnancy and birth. Having benefited from their services is the past, it is very close to her heart. She wanted to be involved with me to devise a Thank you card to send to donors of substantial amounts to her charity... we spent the afternoon playing around yesterday... we're getting there but it's not sorted just yet,,..so watch this space!

If anyone feels they would like to contribute to this incredibly worthwhile service, I have added a link, just click here to go to their site.

As promised here it is. This is the card I finished up making!

Relax little bird

A Day for Daisies has a monochrome challenge at the moment, they also have a new set of images called Blue Birdie, which are so cute, but this is an earlier one and I love the touch of manuscript on his wings.

He is coloured with my new alcohol pens. They are called Mirage and I really like them, not just because they are a fraction of the price of other makes.

The sentiment is computer generated, in a font which is called KG Beneath your Beautiful Chunk!

The ONE LAYER challenge at Simplicity is to use the colours of your country's flag. This is a challenge we had at "Less is More" some time ago and for some can be quite tricky. I have to admit that I don't tend to use my combination of colours often!

I would be very sorry to see the blue disappear from our flag, I think it would be a great shame if Scotland left the union. 

The performance of The Dream of Gerontius on Saturday was simply amazing. I don't ever remember singing is a concert which was so atmospheric and it was incredibly well received. On to the next lot of music now. We will be embarking on Karl Jenkins, The Armed Man.

Easter Bunnies

This is a card for a few challenges.

I loved the free image from A Day for Daisies, and decided to use it for their Easter challenge.

This card also fits with the challenge from Casual Fridays where an oval is required!

As it could also be used as a birthday card, I decided to enter it for the challenge at CAS on Sunday, where a birthday card using a die-cut is the challenge!

They are such cute bunnies!

Yellow

The challenge at a Day for Daisies is to use yellow! There's quite a bit of it here.

The image was a freebie on their blog, I just love it!

Short and sweet!

CASology has the cue word DOT.

My card's dots are rather subtle... they are the music notes which are peeking through the circular aperture.
The butterflies are Memory Box with a base layer of my Squished flower paper. gently twinkled with Glamour Dust.

Pink and Blue

Here are a couple of cards I made yesterday, whilst waiting for the window replacement men to arrive... they were a little later than I expected!

This one uses a really cute image from a Day for Daisies. By the time I came to make the card after browsing through the fab images once again in the shop, I had forgotten what the challenge at ADFD was this week... and the ribbon was added because I thought my card needed it rather than because the challenge called for one. (It's Buttons and Bows).

I used the sketch from Mojo Monday

The frog was coloured with Spectrum Noir pens and glazed with Anita's 3D Gloss. I mde the sentiment on the computer and added the strip of Pink Petticoat DP.

Now for another card made employing my new Silhouette cutter. This little elephant was another of the files I chose with my $10 voucher. He's a cutie isn't he!

Again the sentiment was computer generated and I elongated a Stampin' Up die to accommodate the length of it. The eye of the elephant was one of the circles from the holey strip along the bottom of the card.

This is the sketch I used from Seize the Sketch!

More window fitters today, fingers crossed that all goes well!

Wild Bird

I thought I'd enter a couple of challenges, something I don't often have time to do these days it seems.
This is a digi image from a Day for Daisies... I love the quirkiness of the images. Those who know me well, will wonder why this branch isn't attached to something... a tree, the side of the page, etc., but it has twiddles at both ends so maybe the bird is carrying it (albeit rather large for him).
It has a simple masked and ink dusted background with a few over printed leaves from SU's Confetti set. The sentiment is from Kaisercraft and there's a bit of a Gina K text stamp on the left hand side.
Simples!
A Day for Daisies - Put a feather on it
The ABC Challenge - Neutrals
Just us girls - Technique challenge - Sponging a Layer