Many Thanks

Here is a one layer card made with the challenges at AAA cards  in mind.

One layers are quite daunting to many, but with the advent of stamping platforms, lots of problems with poor impressions from stamps have been eradicated. Previously if a stamp had failed to give a complete image, the card had to be re-thought, re-vamped or even tossed. But now that there are second chances to stamp in exactly the same place, many first time poor impressions can be remedied.... as here! The flower heads (from Darkroom Door) were not cleanly stamped on the first try. The card, from Paper Mill Direct, has a linen texture and so there were tiny gaps in the ink impression. These were easily covered by second or third attempts. The same was the case for the sentiment. It's from a little set I got in Michael's on one our trips to the US some time ago. It says Art then a C in a circle. The set came with a little tag die too!.

For the background I made a stencil from Vellum, using a Sizzix die and brushed some Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide ink through it.

I am due to have my Covid vaccine tomorrow, Let's hope they have the supplies!

Stay safe everyone!

 

Back at "Less is More"

I was so delighted to have had a card selected as the winner in the challenge blog which I created with Mandi many moons ago! I'm speaking of course, of "Less is More".  It is some years now since I stepped down from running the challenge, but am happy to see that the the current designers are continuing with our original concept... albeit tweaked a little to keep up with the times!

The outcome of my win was a request to return as a Guest Designer for one of the challenges. 

When we began "Less is More", clean and simple was not a well known genre and many people found white space really scary! Since LIM's inception, CAS has become much more prevalent and there are some amazing exponents of the style around, the DT at LIM being a case in point.

The theme this time is Festive.

For my card I began by taking two, double dot/dash squares and dry embossing them, one the right way up and the other upside down, so that I got one dot/dash edge and one flat edge embossed in the centre of the card. I then stamped the image, which is a freebie from a Crafts Beautiful Mag, which was generously bought for me by my son's mother-in-law. I coloured it with Inktense pencils and blended with a water brush. This type of colouring doesn't show through onto the inside of a one layer card as alcohol markers would. When dry, I simply added some Nuvo Crystal Glaze.

It's kinda difficult to see the shine in this picture.

I thought that a holly spray was festive enough and didn't need any sentiment!

I'm trying to find an alternative to iPiccy (which I have been using to edit my photos and add my watermarks), as Flash, which it needs, will not be continuing after December. I have looked at several free editing programs, but  I don't seem to be able to get my head around any of them! It would be great if iPiccy could come up with a solution to their software so that it could continue, as I have really enjoyed using it! If anyone knows of an idiot proof editing program, I'd be glad to hear about it!

Thanks once more to the team at LIM for asking me to join them for this challenge!

 

Exhausting!

Here is a simple one layer card which I made for the challenge at The Paper Players

It's an image from Art Impressions, simply shaded with some watercolour pencils and blended with a water brush!

The sentiment was generated on the computer. 

In order to get it positioned just where I wanted it, I popped the two parts of the sentiment into text boxes and  stamped an image of the cat onto a piece of copy paper. 

I have my Word programme set to 105%  which makes the visible image on my screen exactly the size of a piece of A4 paper. I held the stamped image in front of my screen, and moved the text boxes around until I was satisfied with their location.  It's easy to see through the copy paper with the light of the screen behind it! Once the outlines of the text boxes were removed I printed the card and then cut it to size. With the help of my Stamp Easy I stamped the cat and coloured him!

AAA Birthday

 

5 o'clock

I hate this new fangled design section of Blogger!

Whereas previously I could simply click on the icon to centre the text  for example, I now have to go searching through drop down menus to find it. It's enough to make me wonder if I should switch to Wordpress or simply stop blogging!

Anyway rant over, here is a simple one layer card for the challenge at AAA Cards

 

During lockdown, our hobby, as pictured on my card has become a favourite. We certainly seem to have enjoyed many cocktails and have been keeping the wine merchants in business!

I simply made a sentiment on the computer, using a small stamped image on translucent paper to see where I wanted to place it, I held it in front of the computer screen, to check that the words were where I wanted them. Once printed, I used my old faithful, homemade stampamajig (using a right angled stack of Duplo) to position the old wooden Stampin' Up stamp. I guess I could take all my stamps off their wooden blocks to use in a stamping platform, but the Lego and a piece of acetate work just as well!

I coloured the image with water colour pencils, blended with a tiny amount of water and glazed with some Nuvo Crystal Glaze when it was dry. I added just a hint of shadow with a grey pencil!

 

Love Flowering

I haven't used this stamp from Penny Black for quite some time, but it is perfect for a one layer card. I stamped it in SU Crumb Cake and embossed the sentiment in gold. Simplicity itself. I can see where the manufacturer got the name of the stamp from... the blooms do look a little like hearts don't they!

It's my DT card for the Perfectly CAS One Layer challenge.

I added a little clear Wisp of  Stella over the image to add a little interest.

I'm sure that one layer cards are not as scary as they once were for many crafters, so do have a go and join us!

Totally excited

Those of you who are not new to my blog probably know of my penchant for chickens... in many forms and particularly those from Penny Black!

Here is a one layer card, coloured with watercolour pencils and a little water, (so as not to show through on the inside of the card). The sentiment, which also happens to be the name of the stamp, was done on the computer. I always try to match the font I use to the stamp... for style and weight of line etc. I think this one... Kristen ITC works quite well here.

The challenge at Happy Little Stampers CAS is for something with wings. So it doesn't have to be a one layer card, just something with lots of white space and .... wings of some sort!

Do come and join in the fun!

Exhausted!

My granddaughter said that I was awesome!

This last week we've had two of our grandkids staying with us for the first week of their Easter break.

At this time of year various National Trust properties hold Easter trails sponsored by Cadbury's Chocolate who provide Easter Eggs as prizes.  

We have done many trails this week! 

Granny is suitably exhausted, but with the amount of chocolate on tap you can see why I was thought to be awesome! It was however great fun! For the last one we did, we were joined by my littlest granddaughter Cleo and the three cousins all had great fun together!

Now to my card. It 's an Art Impressions stamp with a computer generated sentiment. I coloured it very gently so as not to show through on the inside of the card!

It's for the challenge at Addicted to CAS

Addicted to Stamps and More  - Anything Goes

One Layer for Happy Little Stampers

 Sometimes it's a little difficult to give definition to a one layer card, but a simple technique is to dry emboss a frame. Here I used a little pierced rectangle die to surround the Blockhead stamps image. As this is image has no defined edge I think it would look a little odd by itself on a one layer card. I had to emboss from both ends as the die was slighted shorter than the image itself. I coloured the flowers with watercolours as alcohol markers show through to the inside of just one layer.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted. I am very fond of combining script and printed fonts for sentiments and this set  does just that. It would be nice to know the name of these fonts so that I could use them on my computer! 

This is my DT card for the CAS challenge at Happy Little Stampers... if you don't often try one layer cards, now might be a good time to have a go!

We would love to see you join us!

Spring Flowers

It's always a little tricky when colouring a one layer card, as it looks horrid if the colour transfers to the inside of the card, which is why I have used watercolour here. Some times I use watercolour pencils and a brush and sometimes I use paints... here I used a combination of the two. I wasn't too pleased with the colours I had used from the pencils so I added a little warmth from the colours in my little paintbox.

The stamps are from Penny Black.

There's something a little odd about the bucket... There's a line around the back of the flowers which I think is supposed to be the rear  rim of the bucket, but the perspective is all wrong to my eye, so I ignored adding colour to the inside of the bucket as I thought that it would accentuate this anomaly!

The Paper Players - One Layer

Crazy for CAS - Watercolour

Addicted to stamps and More - Make your mark

Ike's World - Clean and Simple

Papercraft Challenges - Clean and Simple

Big Bold Sentiment

For the second challenge of LIM's birthday month it's time for a one layer card with the Focus on the Sentiment.

Rummaging through my Stampin' Up sets of stamps, (whilst searching for something else, which I still haven't located) I came across this stamp. It's from a set with the title as on this sentiment...' Love you much'. I wanted to have the flower part coloured and the rest of the sentiment in black, so rather than try to ink all of the stamp with markers, I popped it in the microwave for a few seconds to loosen it from the wood block so that I could use it in my MISTI, and thereby stamp it in 2 takes. I coloured the stem and the flower with SU markers and stamped it, then cleaned that off and inked the rest of the image with Versafine Onyx Black ink...  the stray bits of ink on the stem were wiped away with a Q tip and then it was stamped for a second time. 

All I did after that was to colour in the LOVE part with a Wisp of Stella pen in Silver.

It's simplicity itself, and as February is the month of love, what could be better!

It's been great fun being back at Less is More and thanks once more to the terrific bunch of girls continuing the tradition!

Wild Thing

For the CAS Challenge at Happy Little Stampers this time the theme is WILD!

I decided to make a simple one layer card using a Stampers Anonymous stamp and a sentiment from Clearly Besotted (I think). I love this really strong image of what is one of my favourite creatures. I don't think it needs anything more!

As the elephant is not supposed to forget, this sentiment seems somewhat of an oxymoron!

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE OUR RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

Just one layer

This card is a perfect design for mass production!

It's for the one layer CAS challenge at Happy Little Stampers  

Stamped using my MISTI so that any missed spots of ink could be over-stamped in exactly the same position... the sentiment is from Happy Little Stampers and the holly spray from Paper Smooches.

It was coloured with watercolour pencils, blended with a little water and  twinkled with Glamour dust.

We are just enjoying spending a week with my son and his family in Cornwall.

I am having problems trying to get my printer (which can or should be able to print card) to actually print anything!

Don't you just love technology!

I've tried both wirelessly and with a USB, but to no avail.
Hey HO!

Dreams

I don't often use LOTV images... I think I should use them more often as they are simply delightful. For this one I made the sentiment on the computer and then stamped the image in the appropriate position. When using Word, I have the size of the page set to 105%.  On my machine, that is just about the actual size of a piece of A4 card. I can then hold an image stamped on a piece of regular copy paper against the screen, letting the light shine through it, to see where I want the words placed to complement it. A bit Heath Robinson, but it works for me.

I have had this stamp from Art Impressions for quite some time, but hadn't quite figured out how to use it!

I decided to trawl the internet for a sentiment which would fit and I think that this one seems pretty good! Needless to say it was computer generated... in Brubeck AH font, I thought the style of script suited the lines of the image.

This little guy just about sums up how I feel after tearing around the country this week looking after grandkids... but I just love that fact that a) my kids want me to help out and b) that I'm still able to do it!

It's one layer week once more at Less is More so these are examples for that challenge!
The theme is Dreams!

Favourite flower

We have a simple 

One layer Challenge 

at 

Less is More 

this week.

Practically every month someone either forgets the one layer part or the actual theme for the card, which this time is a Favourite Flower. This time I remembered both!

I particularly love spring flowers, they always seem so fresh and new,.. a promise of things to come. Here is a favourite stamp of a favourite flower of mine... the tulip... from Stampin' Up.

It was simply coloured with water colour pencils, blended with a water brush and glazed with a layer of Glossy Accents... apart from the newspaper that is.

I don't think it needs any more!

LIM is feeling exotic

I tried to make this look like a tequila sunrise... I somehow associate fancy, colourful cocktails with exotic places as I like to try new ones when I go on cruises to warmer climes! I shall have to wait until January before the next one...cruise not cocktail that is!

Here is  one layer card with dry embossed frame and sentiment, a simply stamped and clear embossed image coloured with watercolour pencils, blended with a water brush and given a coat of Glossy Accents.

This rather exotic looking, showy flower was made from a pair of dies from Memory Box... it's quite a whopper!

It was cut from card coloured with the shaving foam technique and then inlaid. The centre was cut from black card and encrusted with Micro beads set into Glossy Accents. The sentiment was cut from an alphabet from PTI and all the coloured card was gentle twinkled with Glamour Dust although it doesn't show up much on this picture. 

Aloha!

More colours

Week three of my Guest Designer spot at CAS Colours and Sketches and it's round to another colour palette.

I find some combinations tricky, but this one feels a little jazzy and somewhat rock and roll so hence the drum kit. It was a downloadable image from the Internet with splats from inks as close to the designated colours as I could manage. The stamps are from Stampin' Up and Stamplorations and the sentiment was computer generated in VNI-Thufap2 font, which is freely downloadable.

It's a simple one layer card... very CAS!

Expectant Father

I haven't got around to making any Father's Day cards this year but this one is inspired by my son who falls into this category at the moment!

This is a simple, one layer, computer generated card using a digi image from Helen Laurence and using Caitlyn and Brubeck AH fonts. It's simply coloured with watercolour pencils blended with a water brush and with a little Wink of Stella added.

It's for the challenge at Paper Players

As you see it Challenge


Simon Says Stamp

FATHER’S DAY/FOR A GUY 

At Sea!

At "Less is More" it's time for  One Layer with the theme At Sea!

I love these sea birds from The Rubber Stamp Gallery. I began by stamping them and then covering them with some Elmers Rubber Cement, before Inking with various Distress Inks over a torn mask. I then over-stamped with a few Stamplorations grunge type stamps using some of the same Distress Inks.

The sentiment is from Happy Little Stampers!

Here I used an image from a kids downloadable colouring page, re-sized one and coloured them with watercolour pencils, blending the colours with a water brush and adding Glossy Accents when dry. The sentiment is computer generated.

This is another stamp from the Rubber Stamp Gallery. I embossed the circles, then masked them before stamping the image and again colouring with watercolour pencils.

The sentiment is from Imagine That.

Another sea picture similar to the first one, This time I stamped and clear embossed the waves using  a grunge stamp from Stamplorations, then inked with various shades of Distress Ink using sponge daubers.

I then stamped the sea bird from The Rubber Stamp Gallery and clear embossed that,  then cut a mask for his body before inking the sky, also using sponge daubers.

I wondered about a sentiment but thought I might leave that until it's needed!

Saints and Dragons

Today is St George's day!

Saint George is the patron saint of England and the colours of the flag are red and white!

For a little fun today at 'Less is More' we have chosen the theme Saints and dragons...or heroes, but the saints don't have to be St George. 

Of course St George needs a dragon and here he is!

This one was a freely downloadable, kid's colouring page image, which I coloured with watercolour pencils, blended with a water brush and then covered with Glossy Accents.

The sentiment was computer generated in  Sunshine Poppy font.

Geometric Shapes

The challenge at Less is More is to use Geometric shapes and at first I had a little head scratching to see what I could come up with. On looking though a drawer of stamps I saw this set from Simon Says Stamp and realised that the envelopes were merely triangles and rectangles, so my choice was made. 

I added a little Wink of Stella to them... but otherwise it's just a simply stamped one layered card!

Here I began by embossing the stitched line diagonally across the card and then masking off the upper section. I used a selection of Simon Says Stamp circles and stamped in 3 shades of blue... Ranger Dye inks in Blue Ribbon and Caribbean Coast (just booked another cruise for next January to the Caribbean!!!!) and Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted!