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 - cocktail

Mandi and Chrissie are challenging us to make a cocktail today at Less is More and I've played along with this girly happy card which is intended for an amazing young lady, Alice P who, as well as her sister Milly won an award at Inspirational Awards for women, they have raised a HUGE amount for charity and raised awareness of the bone marrow donor list.  I've been writing to Alice via Post Pals for a couple of years, please Limettes check out the link and think about sending some of  your cards to children who are ill. 

Anyhow, getting off my soap box, my card started with a DP, Basic Grey Out of Print.  Normally I avoid patterned papers when I'm trying to do LIM cards, but this paper reminded me of cocktail olives so in it went.  The image is matted and framed as I wanted to colour with Copics, it is a Stampinbella.  The sentiment is from Elzybells.  The ribbon and bow (colour matches fine in real life) just seemed to find their way on to the card, hope it's not too much for a LIM card:).  I've played along with the cocktail quiz and I am made up of uniqueness, wit and magnetism.  I only hope that is unique in a good way.

Finally, thank you everyone for their good wishes for Red-dog.  I'm sorry to say that yesterday we took the difficult decision to have him put to sleep; he had responded to treatment for a spinal cord infection at first  but things then deteriorated from Wednesday and he went downhill by the hour until it was clear it was not fair to him to carry on trying. 

A missing stamp found - but doesn't fit the card!

I made this card following this week's challenge from Friday Sketchers, the multiple layers appealed to me and I made the card before choosing the image to use.  The DP is My Mind's Eye, it came as a magazine freebie, the die cut shape is a Marianne Creatables shape, two ribbons are from Stamp Attic and the stamp is a Stampinbella Ketto.  Embossing folder by Crafts Too I think.

Shamefully, I came across a Ketto, uninked and still waiting to be cut out on a piece of EZMount, put it back where it came from and then decided to use it.  I couldn't find it anywhere!  I turned the shelves upside down and inside out before I found it beneath a storage box of inkpads and got it out to use on this card.  At this point I realised that it is a square shaped stamp that wasn't suited to the layout, which was not what I had remembered!  Oh well, I can make something next time with that one...  here's my other Ketto stamp which has only been used a couple of times before.

Challenges I'm entering:
Cute Card Thursday - out with the old - stamp is old and neglected, DP from last year, pearls so old I can't even remember buying them lol!
Friday Sketchers - sketch
Papertake Weekly - anything goes plus optional lacy (lacy ribbon?)
Pixie Dust Studio - 2 or more ribbons
Fab'n'Funky - anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown - embossing

Bellariffic Friday meets Totally Papercrafts Recipe

I'm not too sure how to enter Emily's Bellariffic Friday, the sketch was published last week.  Anyhow, here's a card for it it it's not too late:).   I used the Charlotte Ketto stamp that I bought at Craft Barn, coloured with Copics.  The blue DP is a K&K from a big box and the strips are a My Minds Eye magazine freebie.  I added some little gems and a ribbon for Charlotte's hair, which makes the card fit Totally Papercraft's Recipe Challenge of 1 image, 2 DPs, 1 ribbon, 3 embellishments.  Isn't she gorgeous?

Just a note...

When I got home from holiday a few new stamps from Stampinbella were waiting for me; this typewriter is one of them.  Comes with several sentiments, saw a sample card made with it at the Craft Barn weekend and couldn't resist!  One Stop Craft Challenge has a monochromatic theme this week and this very simple card fits their challenge.  I've coloured with Copics, edged with Distress Inks, and added some white faux stitching around the black square, which was just too plain:).  The DP is a from new Basic Grey pad that I bought at Craft Barn.  What do you think of the stamp?  It just looks so useful to me, had to get it...

Happy day!

Yesterday I had a wonderful day out, I travelled to my friend Val's house and then we went on to Lingfield, to the Craft Barn for their Open Day. It was a long way but the journey was really worthwhile, I had a wonderful time and I learnt so much from the demos that I watched. My only regret was that there were not enough hours in the day to see everything:). The first demo that I watched was by Beatrice Neumeister who creates the beautiful Katzelcraft stamps. Beatrice was really helpful and friendly (as were all the demonstrators) and between her English and my French I enjoyed wathcing her creating fabulous backgrounds with Distress Inks to showcase her gorgeous stamps. One of the things I picked up from her is to mix and match Nestie frames, I am going to ty to be more adventurous, instead of framing an oval with a scalloped oval. Of course this is a great justification to buy more Nesties... LOL!

Here I used a Nellie Snellen frame that I've owned for a while, and used foam pads to pop it up above the layer behind it. Also picked up from another crafter: add another layer of card when using the Nellies to get them to cut more cleanly - yes it worked!

The cute stamp is Charlotte Ketto, a Stampinbella, Emily had come all the way from Canada and was demo-ing her stamps. I like the Stampinbellas but they didn't call my name - until I saw the cards and samples that Emily had and also another of the demonstrators that is! I now have a long wish list for these:). I've coloured Charlotte with watercolour pencils and Copic on her face as well as some Stickles in her hair.

The DP is Basic Grey Kioshi, which is great for Papertake's Challenge this week. As ever, Dawny P's sketch is a lovely one to use, they have an optional theme of using lilac and lemon this week. Sentiment is Papermania. I'm also entering this for Stamp Something's Happy Challenge.

Happy Bella Birthday!

I've been playing with my Promarkers again and used a Stampinbella image that I got in a swap, to make a birthday card. I used a great sketch from Truly Scrumptious, but neglected to read the challenge first, which was to use black and white and one other colour :(. Hey, it's such a pretty sketch that I'll do another one, just not tonight...

Papers from K&K, bought at Newbury Art Stamps, which is also where the pearlescent blue card came from. The birthday sentiment is a clear Hero Arts one. Prima flowers from the Stamp Attic.

My Country - and some Midnight Madness

I began this card after noticing that today is Canada Day. My blogging "Sister" Janet, from Canada, kindly sent me a voucher to use with the Canadian company Stampinbella after I was on her blog design team. The stamps have been waiting for me to add Ezmount and to ink them up and I decided that today I really should use them and even better I should try to use them to enter Janet's Corrosive Challenge.

Hmm... this week the Challenge is "Your Country Rocks... to honour our countries your theme this week is to make something to represent your country, use the colours of your flag, something common in your country, anything you want really, just make it about your country." - and I got a cocktail drinking Bella and a Bella with wellies and a brolly. Tricky! I'm not a big fan of red, white and blue cards but I had an idea: what do we all know about England? Yup, it rains a lot! Mind you, it's very hot today and Bella would do better to use her brolly as a sunshade :). I hope this is ok as a card to represent England Janet, it's also doubling up as a Get Well card, I need to send one.

I've used a fun sketch from Midnight Madness Week 8, which has lots going on in it. I've slightly changed it to fit a square not an oblong card, as the papers I wanted to use are 6x6" and wouldn't work on anything but a small oblong.

I'm also making this my third Charisma Cardz rubbernecker challenge entry :)

The cards uses all Basic Grey DP, I've paper pieced Bella's dress, boots and brolly from it. There is ric-rac across the corners, the sentiment is also Stampinbella.

One card, three challenges

I really like the sketch at Mojo Monday this week and I've managed to continue with the CAS theme that I'm trying to stick to this week. The card is an Easter card which fits the challenge at Dutch Dare this week, it also has stripes, which are this week's theme at Secret Crafter. Phew! That makes three challenges :).

I've used a very pretty Stampinbella image sent to me by my blogging friend Anne, check out her blog and the wonderful backgrounds she's been making to stamp onto. She's coloured with watercolour pencils (Bella I mean, not Anne!). The papers are more magazine freebies, I'm finally beginning to dent the pile of these papers :). Ribbon comes from my SBS "sister" Vanja and the flower is a Prima flower from the Stamp Attic. As you can tell from the number of cards I'm making this week, I'm really enjoying coming up with "less is more" cards as a change from adding everything but the kitchen sink :). Hope they're not too dull to look at...