Week 230 at Less is More - Sketch

It's time for a sketch again at Less is More and this time it's one that I have used before but find very satisfying!

With two shapes like this, either panels or apertures, it's always more pleasing to have them the same width even though the depths are different. Strangely, manufacturers don't seem to produce squares and rectangles with matching dimensions, so I use one shape and adapt it either shortening or lengthening  the die-cut. You can see a video of how I do this here. This one is in fact for extending dies, but conversely you can shorten dies too in a similar manner.

This one has apertures, cut with a Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle, the bottom aperture being much shortened.

The stamp is from Artemio with an olive image from the Internet. The sentiment is computer generated and the flourish from MFT.

For this I used a stitched square die from SSS and reduced it a little for the image panel and a lot more for the sentiment panel.

I was a little unsure how the stamp for adding the colour to this image should be used. It didn't seem to fit any way round, so I hope that this looks OK.  The stamp set is from Wplus9. I used Dried Marigold and Ripe Persimmon Distress inks on it, which I spritzed lightly with water after stamping, just to soften the edges.

Relaxing colouring

I find sitting to do a little colouring quite relaxing... unless it goes wrong of course... but this little Penny Black image from the Garden Critters set did the trick. I coloured him with Copics and enjoyed the process.

It's simply mounted on Nesties. Why don't they make the rectangles to fit as mounts? The length of the next largest size is always too long compared to the width. I have to run the mounts through the Cuttlebug twice in order to chop off the excess!

Anyway the sentiment is from Stampin' Up !

At Simon Says Stamp, the challenge is to use Kraft!

 

I used the sketch from another challenge which needless to say closed before I managed to get around to making the card!

One Layer Wednesday

To use the colour palette of Yellow, Orange and Aqua as required for One Layer Wednesday this week was a real challenge for me. None of these colours is a particular favourite with me and to put them all together took a little thought to say the least.
This little masked and sponged square with the stamped bits and pieces is what I finally decided upon.
The butterfly and the grasses are from Indigo Blu and the splodges from SU French Foliage (I love that set). The sentiment is a little clear stamp from Studio G.
Anything Goes - Here Comes Summer
I finally finished my Retirement cards and delivered then this morning, here are another couple... they are huge... A4 size (8.25 x 11.75 inches approx) and quite a challenge to fill!

I hope there will be enough room for all the signatures!

Retirement Cards

I have a friend who teaches in a secondary school and who is responsible for sourcing cards for members of staff for a variety of occasions. She has just asked me for 5 retirement cards for colleagues.
In the ordinary way this would have been fine fine except for the fact that she asked for these cards to be very large...A3 folded in half making A4 sized cards, which for me is very big!
I used a Bugaboo image of a teacher for this one... the joy of digital stamps being that they can be easily sized to fit whatever size card is required.
I actually used 2 sheets of A4 card and made a hinge to join the pieces together, adding the border punched edge with a contrasting layer underneath. The sentiment was computer generated and I drew the little apple to tie in with the image. It's coloured with Distress Inks and a length of ribbon was added as a finishing touch.
The layout is in line with the sketch challenge at the Clean and Simple Sunday Challenge.