Clockwork

Last month when the One Layer Challenge came around at "Less is More" I merrily went ahead and made a Splatter card... forgetting that it was one layer week... this month ... guess what.. I did exactly the same thing. I was so anxious to use this Kaisercraft stamp that all thought of the one layer element left my mind. Anyway here is take 2!

The sentiment is from Paper Smooches which I think fits the theme beautifully!

Using my MISTI helps enormously to get the stamp square on to the card... always a tricky process!

Here is the version where I forgot about the one layer!

I really must be getting old!

I'm going to link this one to the the challenge at Twofers challenge as their theme is clocks/time

Why not join in the fun!

One Layer Time

Yesterday was my grandson's third birthday and we drove to Bath to celebrate it with him. It was lovely to see him. We paid a visit to the Bath City Farm. The pigs seemed to be enjoying their mud... and there was plenty of it! Here he is having a chat with the goats!

The journey in both directions was a nightmare with howling wind and rain and not inconsiderable traffic queues! Still, all's well that ends well.

It's One Layer week at Less is More and I have a few cards here to share.

This is a card I made as one of my experiments for one which is in this month's Craft Stamper magazine. The published one is very slightly different with a different sentiment, but is very similar in overall effect.

It's done with emboss resist with a Stampendous Acapanthus stamp. If you have the mag, you could play 'Spot the difference'.

I had several goes at this one too!

I tried with different card stock to see the what the finished effect would be.

This one is on hammered cardstock... you can see where the texture of the card prevented  total coverage of the large flower stamp. Sometimes this is a more pleasing effect!

In fact the first one was a second attempt and there is more stamping on the back of the card, so I re-jigged it and made a new card from it and it ended like this... don't want to waste anything do I!

Obviously not one layer any longer!

I may have some more to add later.

Have a great weekend.

One Layer Thank you!

I love making this type of card. Getting inky is such fun.

I masked a section of card, stamped the flowers in Versamark and then clear embossed. then the other inly colours were added and finally another image stamped in the deepest colour.

I added a few tiny bubble stamps here and there to add a little interest.

I'm not sure that zentangling is for me really... this is my second attempt, the first card was ruined by a smudged sentiment, although I thought that the patterns were slightly better in that one. At the NEC yesterday, I saw that you could buy books on how to zentangle, I felt that I really wasn't very inventive with my patterns, maybe I could do with a few lessons!

I hope to show you a pic of my haul from the show yesterday when I've unpacked it and been reminded of what I bought!

Wheels

The weather for the past couple of days has been glorious and I have enjoyed sitting in the garden with a good book! It was bliss!

I did make a couple of cards however and this one is for CASology's wheels challenge

The image is from Stampin' Up and the sentiment from Clearly Besotted... I thought it quite appropriate for this mode of transport! 

It must have been very tricky to mount, uncomfortable to ride and difficult to stay on!

I'm off to see my grandchildren tomorrow... it seems ages since I saw them, although it's probably only a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to it.

Cute One Layer

The other day I saw a cute image on someone's blog and so visited the Digi Stamp Boutique to get one for myself. I ended up not only buying the image I had seen, but a few more to go with it, of which this is one.

Hasn't this sheep got the sweetest face!

The Paper Players are requesting a one layer card this week and so here is one!

The sentiment is computer generated.

Let it snow!

This is the view which greeted us from our bedroom window this morning...

and this is the view out of my craft room window across the road!

Pretty or what?

Needless to say I shall not be venturing out today!

Here is a card I made because of the weather and inspired by this picture from ABC Challenges.

There are no cardinals in my garden here sadly, but this one, cut from Martha Stewart's birds on a wire punch, is perching in a Memory Box tree.

The snowflakes are cut with a cheapie punch and sadly I don't remember the make of the sentiment.

This one layer card using Stampin' Up's  Take a Sip wheel stamp was embossed in silver and coloured with Promarkers.

The sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

It's for One Layer Wednesday's Warm challenge hosted this week by the uber talented HeatherT.

Apologies for the rubbish picture. One of these days I'll sort out the formula for getting the right amount of light for my pics.

Stay warm and safe everyone!

One Layer Exercise!

This was fun!

The theme for our one layer challenge at "Less is More" is Sport or Exercise

I had to think a little creatively as I don't have an abundance of sporty images, but with a variety of different sentiments I think I got there!

My Penny Black chicken stamps came into their own this week!

Here are the girls doing a bunch of knitting... aren't they the cutest!

This one reads 'I would just exercise, but it makes me spill my drinks'... the image is part of a larger Penny Black stamp.

Another chicken!

Another part image... each of the last two cards feature just one chicken out of a total of four on the original stamps!

A simple Bugaboo digi image of a little chap with a soccer ball. He's a sweetie isn't he!

This last one is of Bugaboo's Gus! It made me laugh out loud when I read the sentiment.

All of the cards are coloured with Watercolour Pencils, blended with a water brush, as there is no chance of colour bleeding through the cardstock... reasonably important with a one layer card!

I hope you'll be creative this week... can't wait to see what appears!

Home from my holiday to LIM's One Layer Week!

I have just returned from nearly three weeks in France and Spain where we had a wonderful time. However, I would like to apologise to all those wonderful contributors to our Less is More challenges whose blogs I didn't manage to visit whilst I was away. Internet access wasn't always easy!

This picture shows me in  Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of  Miguel Cervantes, sitting on the lap of Don Quixote, the most famous character from his novels. We stayed in Paradors which are wonderful state owned hotels located in beautiful, often ancient buildings... palaces, castles, convents, universities etc. I would recommend anyone to try them.

Back to challenges at "Less is More" which this time is One Layer Week with the theme 'Three'!

Here is a card with three cats, three colours and a sentiment containing three words (well, sort of... one being an abbreviation of two words). Sadly I don't know the make of the polymer stamp which was bought on eBay quite some time ago.

This one is simplicity itself, an embossed square framing a simple stamp of three birds, accompanied with a three word sentiment from Personal Impressions.

Here we have a card composed of three stamps.This lady is a stamp which Mandi gave me, which I masked before adding the background stamp using two shades of Distress Inks ...  plus the Personal Impressions sentiment.

Today I bought myself a new iron... I had plenty of laundry to try it out on after my holiday too... it's really rather splendid, I steamed up my specs a few times trying to get used to using it!

Do join us this week, one layer holds no fear for LIMettes these days!

One Layer again at "Less is More"

I've made a similar card to this before but it wasn't a one layer card. I find it quite interesting to see if I can translate one version into another. You can see the previous version here. Details of how I made this are on the LIM blog.

This little card uses a script stamp from Choclolate Baroque and a little bird image from Local King stamps

The colour was added directly with a Tumbled Glass Distress Ink pad over the masked bird.

Neutral shades here again with lots of overstamping.

Woodgrain from Impression Obsession, French Script from Stampin' Up and flowers from Artemio.

Yesterday I simply turned to pick something up from the floor in my craft room and put my back out. I had surgery years ago to have a disc removed and consequently have a weakness there, but haven't had any problems for quite some years. 

It's pretty painful moving around at the moment, I hope that generally taking it easy and a good night's sleep may give it a chance to straighten out a little.






Lainey, one of our LIMettes has honoured me with this award and I feel really flattered. Sadly I am pressed for time to pass it on the the 15 other bloggers which I should do, but if you have not yet received this award then do please take it with my best wishes.
Like Mandi, a fellow recipient, I thought however, that I would share 7 things about myself which  are also in the terms of the award.

1. My son is a doctor (twice over... PhD and medical) and obviously gets his brains from me!
2. I have cut my husband's hair for the past 38 years (think of the money we've saved!)
3. I have recently lost 37lbs in weight (and still going)
4. I passed my driving test when I was a student and lessons were cheaper, on the first attempt after 6 lessons with no driving in between them.
5. I haven't seen my natural hair colour for 20 years.
6. I love pearls.
7. I have the most adorable grandchildren called Daisy and Sebastian.

Thanks Lainey!

Seeing Double at "Less is More"

It's a One Layer Card week at "Less is More" and from somewhere or other Mandi and I dreamed up the subject Seeing Double. Sometimes thinking of the themes is a lot easier than actually carrying them out. I had lots of ideas for my samples this week before realising that some of them weren't actually One Layer!
This is the first card I made with my lovely, small pear stamp. The method I used is on the challenge blog.

This one uses the medium sized pear, it's really quite fun to colour the stamp before making the impression. As I mentioned on "Less is More", these stamps are absolutely flat with no texture whatever etched into them, so any interest comes from the inking.

This one, although not for the challenge at "Less is More", was my first attempt at adding dimension to the stamp, merely by inking.
I am submitting this one to Sir Stampalot's Monthly Challenge   'In the frame' as this is where I bought these fabulous pear stamps. I've made quite a mess of the wooden blocks when trying to get the darker colour around the edge of the image with my ink pads. That doesn't worry me overly however, as I'm not that fastidious.

The last one is merely a double stamping without re-inking in between, to give the impression of a shadow.
Thank you to all those people who visited and tried to leave comments for me last week when either my blog or Blogger were being unco-operative and not allowing comments from some people to be left. Thanks for trying!
Have a lovely weekend, my husband and I will be singing in a 'Prom' type concert is a nearby village tonight. They are raising money for a Macmillan Hospice, a most worthy cause. I'd better go and take another look at the music.

Popularity for One Layer Cards

It seems to me that the appearance of Clean and Simple and One  Layer Cards in challenges around Blogland is on the increase. I would love to think that in some part it's due to the influence that our challenge site "Less is More", is having... but this may merely be wishful thinking! We're so grateful for its popularity in any case.
Here is a One Layer Card made by masking and sponging colour (Adirondack Caramel and Cranberry inks) using  sponge daubers and then over printing, both before and after the masks have been removed.
The stamp set used is Stampin' Up's French Foliage... I simply love it.
Yesterday the washing machine was doing trojan service after the suitcases had been emptied of laundry from our holiday. Ironing awaits!
Crafty Cardmakers - One Layer Card

Something with Legs

Isn't this Ted just the best!

He comes from Indigo Blu and reminds me of a teddy which sits in my conservatory and was given to me many years ago by one of my pupils at the end of a school year (I taught tiddlers don't forget).

He is for our one layer challenge at "Less is More" which this week asks for "Something with legs". It's implicit that he has them although they can't be seen.

He was stamped and masked to add the manuscript 'behind' him. The sentiment is from the Wild Rose Studio.
Alphabet Challenge - Just one Word

More stamps here from Indigo Blu.

My favourite masking technique was used to sponge the central panel in blue, amethyst and green and the  tree was stamped in Early Espresso both before and after the mask was removed. I chose the position for the sentiment by stamping it onto acetate and moving it around the card until I was happy with the chosen spot. then using my lego corner to guide my stamp into place. The legs are on the birds in this one!

Here's a final quickie with legs... this time it's a table from Stampin Up's Scene in a Garden, but the the bird has legs too I guess.

Nuff said!

Thanks

We had lunch with friends a short while ago and this was the card I sent to thank them. In fact there was an ulterior motive in making this as I wanted my friend to see this particular ribbon. She had asked me to make a wedding card for their son's wedding and I wondered if this colour ribbon would be suitable for it. In fact she said that she would prefer something a little more mauve. So the information gathering ploy worked. I was able to go ahead and make the Wedding card, with a slightly more mauve ribbon!
This was made by masking a circle in the centre of the card and over printing with one of my Pocket Silhouette stamps from Stampin' Up using  Rich Razzleberry ink, then adding the bow made with my bow maker.
Paper Pretties - Single Layer Card

One Layer for "Less is More"

I really like this colour combination... Stampin' Up's Baja Breeze plus some of the neutral shades... Sahara Sand , Crumb Cake and Soft Suede. You can see how I achieved this in one layer on the "Less is More" Blog. Needless to say, I got into a bit of a pickle on some of the preparatory attempts, the most annoying of which was spoiling practically finished cards with inky fingers... having only just washed my hands! I also wrecked another at the very last moment when adding the sentiment.

I tried to resurrect some of the images I'd done to make into non-one layer cards, but then I stuck one image on upside down.

This may look reasonable to you, but there is some music manuscript stamped in gold on this and if you were to look really closely you'd see it was upside down... plus I made it with the darker shade of ink at the bottom. These two are simply cut out and stuck on to look like the first card but are not in fact one layer! I used a little embossing powder on these, plus it's smoother card so the overall effect is shinier.

For this one I used 4 different clear cling stamps (a present some time ago from my bloggy friend Victoria, thanks again Victoria) and a couple of Embosslits butterflies, gently twinkled.
The theme this week at "Less is More" is In the Frame... there must be loads of ways of interpreting it, this last card uses an image from our sponsor at "Less is More" this month... Arielle of the Wax Fruit company and she has lots of images in or partly in frames...why don't you take a look and do come and join us in our challenge.

This last one is also for the CAS challenge at the Stampotique challenge blog this time.

Less is More - One Layer Card - Embossing

What a roller coaster of a couple of days we've had!
Blogger wobbling and then falling off the edge, I haven't really known if I was coming or going! Let's hope that this week will be better!
My lovely friend Mandi had to come to the mainland today and so we had chance to have lunch together, it was lovely to see her again so soon after the last time, albeit briefly.
Here is my card for the challenge at "Less is More" this week, which is for a one layer card using some form of embossing.
I decided to stamp the images with SU ink and emboss with clear embossing powder. The trees and frame are from Artemio, the bird from Inkylicious and the sentiment  from Hero Arts.
Do look on the "Less is More" blog for more details of how I got to this final process.
A friend asked me to make some chair backs for her as they've just bought some new furniture... I ought to try and do it before we have lunch with them on Sunday... maybe later today!

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!

Off the Edge with "Less is More"

For the last couple of days, we've had our grandchildren staying with us. My husband was so excited to have Daisy coming to stay as they have a very special relationship... they're 'best mates' and spend much time together when she comes to stay. My daughter is always glad of a hand  to help out with meals and bathtime etc. too. Last night her husband joined us and tomorrow Daisy is being taken to a Peppa Pig show at the theatre in Winchester. I think it may be Grandpops and Daddy who accompany her! Sebastian is not yet sleeping through the night, but hopefully he'll get there soon!
On to this card, for which I used a Rollagraph wheel, stamped in Versamark and embossed with white detail embossing powder.
I then coloured the flowers with Stampin' Up inks applied with a water brush.
You can see details of how I made it on my "Less is More" blog as this is my sample card for this week.
The challenge is a One Layer Card with a theme entitled Off the Edge!
Needless to say, not a lot of crafting has been done in the last couple of days, but my daughter has asked for a wedding card for a friend in Australia, so I'll have to find time to squeeze that in before they leave tomorrow!
Have a good weekend everyone.

OLW 42

I have been away from my desk quite a lot this week and only just got around to seeing what the challenge for One Layer Wednesday was. It had to have some musical reference.
I dug out these stamps with what turned out to be sad irony... the sentiment reads "Where words fail, music speaks". No sooner had I finished the card when the phone rang and a friend from the Isle of Wight, the conductor of a choir with whom we have sung many times, told us that her husband had passed away this morning.
The sentiment on this card was perfect for this occasion and I quickly wrote our message and rushed to the post box to catch the last post this morning.
Both the stamp and the sentiment are from Stampin' Up and I love them both. I stamped the image onto scrap and cut out the square shape to use the remainder as a mask for sponging colour onto the image. I used Old Paper and Spun Sugar distress inks.

As the last card was used so suddenly for a sad occasion, I thought I'd do another card for the challenge. The layout of this was inspired by Heather T ... simply masked and stamped, with addition of a touch of red in the form of a few tiny butterflies!

"Less is More " Week 3 Spring

Another astounding week for us at "Less is More" has just passed with no less than 195 fabulous entries and a following of 410 lovely crafters. We are elated!

This week the challenge has the theme of Spring... although mine is a One Layer card, that is not a requirement for the challenge this week, it just happened that this is what I chose to do.

I generated the sentiment on the computer and there's a tutorial on how I did it on the "Less is More" blog.

The image is a digi from Fred She Said, coloured with Distress Inks and a little Perfect Pearls powder in Interference Green, applied with a water brush.

I really hope that if you haven't joined us yet, you'll turn your hand to a little Clean and Simple card-making and have a go!

Mami Doodles - Flower Card

Charisma Cardz - Spring has sprung
Allsorts - Inspired by Nature