Less is More - one layer doodling

 

The challenge this week at Less is More had me stumped for a while; it is to add doodling to a one-layer card.  I fiddled around with some stamps and didn't like the effect I got, I felt that they looked fine until I doodled on them!

In the end, I used a lovely new background stamp from Stamp Addicts, stamped in Bashful Blue onto a brayered strip of my card.  I dotted either side of the ink with a blue Pigma Pen and decided that was fine.  I then added a dot either side of the sentiment and didn't like it at all, so I added gems over the dots to rescue the card, as well as a few gems on the stamped part of the card too.

Three Shades of Green - plus one!

I don't know if those Lady Limettes will count this card, it has the three shades of green but I've added a sprinkling of flowers in Worn Lipstick, couldn't see anything in the challenges that said it had to be monochromatic!  The stamps are from a Dutch company called Ludiec, the sentiment is Waltzing Mouse again.  The leaves are stamped in SU Pear Pizzaz, the sentiment in Versafine Olympia Green and the dark green cardstock that I used to mat the image is the third green:).

Three Shades of Green

This week's Less is More is a colour challenge:  three shades of green.  This was a perfect challenge to use my reel of shaded ribbon from my stash; I was thinking over how to use it and sadly I need a sympathy card to send.  So I added a Waltzing Mouse sentiment and a Memory Box corner die to my ribbon.

Less is More Lucky Dip

Today's Less is More Challenge has a lovely spring photo for inspiration.  I've coloured in an image that was sitting on my workdesk, a Vase from Phindy's Place.   I inked through the Nestie before I cut it, with Spun Sugar and then Pumice Stone, but I think my brushes should have had a rinse through, I'm not very happy with the background colour...

The corner diecuts are Memory Box dies, I quite liked the look if I used 4 corners, but in the interests of LIM I've confined myself to two:)

A bit of Less is More

Edited:  better photo added Sun am :)
First of all:  apologies for such a poor photo, the card is bright white in real life!  I'm just home from a fab day at the NEC with the Lady Limette Chrissie herself.  We've had a great time and I wanted to blog my Less Is More card before she arrived home :).  This week we are challenged to combine at least 3 of the earlier challenges.  I missed the Aqua Challenge (53), so I bought some lovely aqua embossing powder from the WOW stand today, which of course added in Embossing (15).  The leaf and the sentiment stamps also came from the WOW stand, which added in (41) leaves and (58) script.  Finally I added a bit of bling (43) either side of the sentiment and I began by inking in a square (28).  I see that most of my challenges were one layers and I've chosen to stick to a one layer card.  I'll hop around and admire everyone elses Recipe entries tomorrow, tonight calls for a bit of vegetating by the telly with Mum:).
I'm also entering my card for One Stop Craft's Clean & Simple Challenge.

More masking

I've a different method of masking for a second Less is More card:   This has masking fluid flicked across an area of the card to give the impression of snow falling, then Bashful Blue was brayerd across the sky, with the snow masked off with a Post-It.  Then I added Stampin' Up Lovely as a Tree stamps, a clear sentiment from Kaiser (in real life this is straight, not curvy) and a few gems on top of my trees.

Less is More Masking

 

This week at Less is More the challenge is Masking.  This is my third attempt: I wanted to use my Lavinia Stamps and practice my brayering.  I started with a mare and foal, masked in front of the tall trees, but the scale wasn't right and I wasn't happy with it.  A second attempt ended up very smudged and messy so here is the third time lucky attempt.  At least this wasn't a one layer card :).  Background is brayered over a mask, sun used brushes over a circle in the masking paper.  I've Stickled the fairy's wings and added some sparkly bits around her.  The sentiment came free with a magazine.

 

Two cards for two clean & simple challenges

I'm very into my C&S cards just now and here I have two to show off.  The first one is for CAS-ual Friday which wants the sentiment to be the focal point.  Their challenges are shown with an old fashioned typewriter as their logo and this inspired me to ink up a Stampin' Bella stamp that I've had for ages and not used much.  I've added several layers of mat and frame but still left plenty of white space.

Card two is for Less is More, where the challenge is a one-layer card including script.  Similar theme but different card:  I masked off and brushed a background of Versafine Sepia, then inked an Impression Obsession newspaper script and stamped in on top.  The two sentiments I added are both Waltzing Mouse and I scored a line either side of the newsprint.  My stamp does not quite cover the whole of the card, I may trim it down to not-quite-a-square, but I wasn't sure so I have left it for now...

Less is More - neutrals and a new arrival

This week's Less is More Colour Challenge is Neutrals, one of my favourites for LIM.  The first card was nearly ready to blog around 9am, when the dishwasher decided to throw a wobbly and flood the kitchen, giving out an error message!  After mopping up the card took a back seat as I have friends visiting and we went to collect a new addition to the family.  Our beloved greyhound died in October and our elderly terrier has been an only dog since then.  My Mum gave me a rescue dog from the local Dogs Trust as a belated birthday present so here is Stella:

Doesn't she have the sweetest face?  I think she is mostly greyhound and staffordshire, what do you think?  OK back to the cards, I saw a stunning white on white card at Susan Raihala's blog which inspired me.  The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse and I added card candy stamped with a mini alphabet stamp first. 

 The second card uses jewellery tags and a bit of twine, I think this is my favourite.

I'm also entering Aud Sentiment's "use the sentiment Happy Birthday" challenge  and Everybody Art's Monochrome challenge.

Less is More - don't scrap it

Here's a second card for this week's Less is More Challenge, which is to use scraps for your card.  This one really hasn't made any impression on the scrap heaps in my craft room, the scraps are long thin pieces of card trimmed from cards.  The main image is stamped onto a card that was a one-layer card that went wrong.  Then I've added long skinny bits of card scraps to frame the image and embossed a line onto the card either side.  The stamp is from Little Claire, it is a birthday present from my dear blogging and real-life friend Val.  To keep the LIM look I haven't coloured all the image, just enough to give it a springtime look.
My card is also for:
Simon Says - anything goes
Stamp'n'Doodle - embossing
Crafty Bloggers Network - springtime
Squigglefly - spring is in the air

Less is More - don't scrap it

This week's Less is More challenge is to use up some of your paper scraps.  Great idea, I'm sure all of us have one (or more)  of those shameful avalanches of scraps.  I've picked the top paper from one of the heaps and used it with my new Waltzing Mouse Frame-It set, which has 2 frames, sentiments and a couple of motifs including this leaf.  I used Wow Gold embossing powder for my leaves then added a leaf border along the bottom of the card.  A scrap of gold mirri card is behind the border.
If you are wondering why the border is so close to the wsentiment, it's because the border was punched out to remove a tiny smear of ink :).

Less is More - diecuts and punches

 I think C&S cards lend themselves to showcasing diecuts and I made a couple more cards for this week's challenge.  I treated myself to a new set of stamps from Waltzing Mouse, 2 frames with words that fit the gap.  The first card uses a Sissix Daisy diecut in spotty and stripy Echo Park DP, I added buttons at the corners. 

Second card is white embossed onto Kraft and uses a Stampin' Up bird on a branch punch, I inked the body of the bird.

My cards are for the following challenges:

Less is More - diecuts and punches

 Cute Card Thursday - flower power (card 1)
Crafty Ann's - bold & bright (card 1)
Papertake Weekly - (card 2)
Kenny K's - emboss it (card 2)
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - feature a flower (card 1)
Crazy4 Challenges - dots and stripes (card 1)

Less is More - die cuts and punches

I've been into my craft room for the first time in a few weeks and of course the LIM challenge was first choice to create for, this week the challenge is to use dies or punches.  Chrissie's card reminded me I had bought 2 Memory Box ornament dies and not used them.  I punched the base layer from Basic Grey DP and the pattern from yellow cardstock, adding a border of the DP, a Stampin' Up sentiment and some tiny gems.  I drew in the red thread for the ornaments.  In real life, the sentiment, thread and DP all look the same red!

My card is for:

Less is More - diecut or punches

Winter Wonderland - a Christmas card

Christmas Inspirations - anything goes

Inky Impressions - punches or dies

Combination Headache

This week's CAS-ual Fridays has a black & white challenge with the very stern admonition "no other colours will be allowed, not even a speck!" lol!  I thought it would be fun to see if I could combine it with this week's Less Is More challenge, which turned out to be an aperture card.  Hmm...  it would have been far quicker to make two cards, but I got there in the end.

I have a Memory Box Christmas tree die and I remember Mustavacoffee, a LIM regular, making a gorgeous card where she had cut the aperture with her die and then added the swirly bit.  So I faffed and fiddled about and cut numerous trees with my die to no avail.  In the end I cut an aperture through the card and then through black card and lined them up and attached the tree to the inside so you can see it.  The false start here was when I sprayed the tree with glue but no matter how hard I tried it would not line up how it should.  Note to self:  if something is not totally symmetrical, always check which side you should be spray glueing...
I've added some punched snowflakes with black or white gems, a piece of lacy net and an Indigoblu sentiment.

I'd like to show you a couple of LIM related photos.  This week I was lucky enough to win the December prize from Lots of Lovely Ribbons, thank you to Mandi and Chrissie and also of course to Lots of Lovely Ribbons for this brilliant prize that came this morning.

 Also, Chrissie came to see me on Thursday and we enjoyed some retail therapy, she brought me these beautiful roses.  I love all flowers, but I do particularly love yellow flowers, these are really brightening my day.  Thanks Chrissie!

I'm entering my card for:
Less is More - cut it out
CAS-ual Fridays - penguin day (b&w)
Charisma Cardz - clean & simple

Less is more - one layer birds

Here is my entry for this week's Less is More.  I used a Crafty Individuals stamp that is perfect for long thin cards, with a Stampin' Up sentiment.  Worn Lipstick and Wild Honey Distress Inks were brushed on over a Post-it mask and I embossed a single line either side of the inked panel.  Looking through my stamps, I seem to have quite a few birds - some of which haven't yet seen ink - so I may be back with another card later in the week!
Other challenges entered:
Sarah Hurley - thank you
I Brake for Stamps - simple

Predominantly Purple

Here's my card for this week's Less is More which uses one of my favourite stamp from last year, a gate by Stamp Addicts.  The background was brushed with a mixture of purple inks and then heavily sprayed with water; the moon was masked off.  I inked my dotty stamp with the same purples and added some texture to the background.  The foliage either side comes from a branch stamp and the sentiment is embossed with Adirondack Eggplant.  The mirri layer is silver, it looks more gold here!

Just One Word

This week's Less is More Challenge is to use just one word.  Thank You cards are always useful at this time of year, however it's no good masking off the "you" on a sentiment when it needs the S adding.  I found this very chunky Elusive Images stamp and gave it quite a gentle inking so that it isn't too dominant.  Then I used the same ink and pearlised card with white embossed trees on it.  I added a dusting of silver and one piece of bling.  Sorry for the rubbish picture, will try again in daylight...

Less is More Music

I have been colouring an image from Mo Manning this week, all in E tones, and realised that it works for this week's Less is More.  I don't often use colored images for LIM but the colours are restrained and I like it on the white card.  I have no idea if the music is right way up or not, all I can say is that it is the way it is shown on the stamp:).  Main image is Mo Manning, music is Prima, sentiment is Indigo Blu.
My card is for:
Less is More - music
Heidi's Hobbystuggu - Christmas
Fairy Fun - Holly Jolly no red or green
ABC Christmas  - anything goes

Less is More let it snow

I had a real attack of random smudges with my one layer cards for Less is More this week, this is my final attempt which has a little cut off the bottom to remove some red ink.  Red?  Haven't used red for ages...   When I then got a blue smudge at the top right I could have either wept about it or covered it up.  In the end I did both and it is at least finished.  If you look closely at the ornaments, the stamp is made up of lots of tiny snowflakes, you may need to click on the pic.  They are white embossed and I drew in strings for them.  Do you think I should have extended the string to the ribbon?
My card is for:
Less is More - let it snow
Addicted to Stamps - snowflakes
Kenny K's - Christmas hues of blues
Let's Ink it Up - Christmas
Totally Gorjuss - let it snow

Less is More - green

This week the Limettes have given us a green challenge. This is a Memory Box die called grape wreath that isn't necessarily Christmassy but which I think can be.  Carrying on with making two cards at a time with whatever I pull out, the first card has the wreath off the edge with pearls for mistletoe berries, sentiment is Indigo Blu.  Second card is very conventional, wreath dead centre (I hope), red berries  and red Papermania sentiment.  You know there's almost too much white space here...