Less is More - Challenge #200 - Lucky Dip

 I would like to says a big CONGRATULATIONS!!! to Chrissie for starting off the Less is More blog with Mandi and for making it the brilliant challenge community it is today.  Of course our theme this week had to be Celebrations, which gives lots of scope to make Christmas cards or perhaps cards for another occasion.  My first card uses an Acid Drops & What-nots stamp, with computer generated sentiments, coloured with Copics.  Inside it says "As do Anne and Sarah of course".  We all comment on every entry to the challenge, we love it when you visit us and comment on our cards and we love it when you comment on each other's card.  Thank you for all of you for joining us and supporting our challenge.

 OK I've finished my Oscars speech now!  Second card uses a Clarity stencil that came from my NEC haul, with Distress Inks brushed across it.  I intended to cut a panel from it but liked it as it was.  So I ended up making a huge (8") card with it so there is still some white space.  The sentiment, gold embossed, is also Clarity from the Stamp of the Month Club and I added a few gold sequins.

 Next up is a very simple one layer card, using Stampin' Up Endless Wishes for the snowflakes and the sentiment.  The ink for the masked rectangle and the snowflakes is Frosted Spruce Distress Ink and I added a few dots of red Stickles to match the sentiment.

My final card CASES a LIMette's card from a few months back, please do let me know if it is you, so I can credit you properly!  The sentiment is by Magenta and the legs belong to a Julie Nutting Prima stamp.  As the red Stickles was still on my desk, it got added to the shoes.

Over to you, can't wait to see your Celebrations creations!

Playtime

 I had a bit of free time last night and played around with some of my NEC goodies:  a Clarity stencil and some Inkylicious raindrop stamps.  The stencil is of umbrellas but I can also see it as morning glory or even petunias.  A recent demo on Barbara Gray's website shows the technique I've used for the stencil, there is some amazing inspiration on her site.
Brushed a variety of Distress, Memento and Adirondack dye inks onto the stencil, then ran it through my embossing machine and got a subtle embossing of the white.  Next I used WOW chunky clear embossing crystals on it, maybe my embossing ink is a bit aged, I had problems with this failing to stick.  It has given it a good sheen, but the heat embossing removed the dry embossing!

Next I cut a panel and mounted it onto black cardstock.  I added a Lawn Fawn diecut sentiment and then remembered the raindrop stamps.  Using these with a touch of white ink gave my card a different look.

What to do with the other panel I wonder...

I'm entering my card for a few challenges:

Loves Rubber Stamps - thank you cards or gifts
Perfectly Rustics - embossing
Sentimental Sundays - heartfelt thanks
Simon Says - thanks or Thanksgiving
Ladybug Crafts - bright colours
One Stitch at a Time - anything goes giving thanks

Ooh La La Creations Challenge #170

Today we have a new challenge at Ooh La La Creations, our last until the New Year as we are taking a small break.  Our theme is Christmas and the Design Team has some wonderful inspiration for you.  I've used an image and papers from the Christmas Presence CD.  Some gold mats, a bit of Glamour Dust, some twine and a fussy cut bird complete my card.
I'm entering my card for:
Challenge up your Life - banner,  garland, wreath
Crafty Calendar - all about Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - getting ready for Christmas

Less is More - Week 199 - Recipe

Hooray it's the weekend!  Time for a recipe challenge at Less is More and our recipe this week is "Jingle all the Way".

 First up is a Bugaboo funny.  I have a lovely, gentle dog called Stella, nothing like the tough broad in this Stella digital image!  The sentiment is by Stampotique, I bought it in the post-Christmas sale at Stamp Attic a few years back and love it, it always makes me smile.  Stella is coloured with Copics, Glossy Accents on her specs and some Glamour Dust.

I'm entering my card for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stamper's P is for Profanity Challenge, though this is rather mild and, more typically, I swear like a trooper!

 
My second card uses an image from Google of the music for Jingle Bells.  I've added some Distress Ink to it and stamped on Tim Holtz trees.  The diecut word is from a Tim Holtz set of Christmas words that I bought at the NEC.

Joy

I had a bit of a disaster in the craftroom the other night, involving an (undrunk) glass of red.  I can't begin to tell you how far it spreads on a large blending mat...  I had to re-make this card, but I'm glad I did, I really like it!

Happy Birthday to ATCAS, I based it on their sketch.  The Inkylicious reindeer is silver embossed onto the linen card with a Pink Petticoat sentiment added.  The two stitched dies come from Simon Says.  The baubles and ribbon are both coloured with a Copic pen to make them a perfect match.
I'm entering my card for the following challenges:
Addicted to Clean & Simple - sketch
CAS on Sunday - ribbon or twine
4 Crafty Chicks - make it sparkle
Crafty Ribbons - animals, Christmas, ribbon
Love to Create - make it for Christmas
Ruby's Rainbow - non traditional Christmas
Crafting by Design - get ready for Christmas

Less is More - Week 198 - theme - More Than One Tree

 Today's theme at Less is More just may be my favourite ever!  I love tree stamps and probably have more of them than anything else...  Think I may have made more cards than needed too this week lol...
First card uses Waltzing Mouse set called Flurries, I used various shades of green ink, added some gems to the snowflakes and some ric-rac across the card.

 
Second card has Stampin' Up Festival of Trees stamps, punch and even embossing folder!  Blinged up with gold embossing and a few mats of gold card, as well as one of the stitched dies, got these at the NEC and love them!

 Christmas trees were cut with my Portrait, both positive and negative shapes used.  The DP behind is a very old Basic Grey, called Dasher.  The sentiment is Pink Petticoat.

 Digi from A Day for Daisies has been printed out for, umm, at least three years waiting to be coloured!  At least now it is finished and in a card.  I added some Glamour Dust to the snow and used one of those stitched rectangles again.

 More NEC stash, the stamp and sentiment are both from Inkylicious, Adirondack Stonewashed and Lake Mist inks brushed on to the centre panel.

And finally a Lawn Fawn creation, photographed in artificial light.  The background is grey, influenced by some very stylish cards submitted recently to LIM by the very talented regular Viv.Unfortunately it looks a rather muddy brown here, hope to get a chance to take another photo in daylight.

Thank you for looking at my forest of tree cards (assuming you've persevered to the end that is!) and I'm looking forward to seeing plenty more trees to add to my stash.

Ooh La La Creations Challenge - more than one fold

Morning!  It's time for a new Ooh La La Challenge and this week we are asking for cards with more than one fold.  I kept my card very simple, with just two folds, in order to showcase the fab-ewe-lous image, Winter Woolies, from the Carnival of Colour CD, which is filled with artwork from Beverly Morgan.  I computer generated my sentiment, matted and layered my layers onto gold and added a few punched stars.

Hope ewe like it!

Remembrance

 Like so many others, on Friday I made the journey to London to see for myself the beautiful and moving installation on poppies at the Tower of London, one for each British/Commonwealth life lost in WW1.  It is a very effective way to convey the huge scale of numbers and certainly puts life in perspective.
The day before I went to the NEC with my LIM friend Chrissie and bought some new stash to play with.  But somehow it seemed more appropriate to reach for existing stash and make this card.

The CAS colour challenge of real red, vanilla and metallic gold fitted it perfectly, though my red looks very dark in the photos.  My theme comes from Simon Says, which dedicated its Thinking of You challenge to Remembrance Day.  I gold embossed a SU sentiment onto a panel, cut a Memory Box sunburst from it (which to me symbolises hope) and mounted it on a tentfold card.  Added Memory Box poppies, diecut some gold pods for the flowers and tied my bunch with gold thread.
A quick look at Paper Playful shows another few challenges to enter:
Allsorts - poppies, remembrance
Sweet Stampin - poppies or red for remembrance
Delicious Doodles - remembrance, thinking of you

Less is More Week 197 - one layer card - Starry starry night

Wow the non traditional colours challenge was popular, I need to get back to get round nearly everyone's cards, it has been a rather hectic week at work and at home!   This week we are at the dreaded (by some!) one layer week for Less is More.  Our challenge is "Starry, starry night" and the three cards that I have done that have made it to the blog are all Christmassy in style.
First up is stencilled onto a gatefold card.  The stencil is Memory Box and I've added tiny, tiny matt silver sequins and a Hobby Arts sentiment.

 Second card uses the Inkylicious sheep, aren't they gorgeous!  They are white embossed, coloured with Inktense pencils and I've drawn a groundline in for them.

Another kraft card, this uses a fab Stampin Up set called White Christmas.  It is white embossed and the shading is done with an Inktense pencil.  No sentiment as this card was getting to be More rather than Less so I left it alone!  What I REALLY like about this set is that it's clear and the gap between the single tree and the group of trees is a long thin line which is easily shaped up or downhill to give a different look.

Less is More Week 196 - colour challenge

What a wonderful week of newsprint entries we had for last weeks' Less is More!  This week we have a colour challenge, to use non-traditional Christmas colours.  So many colours are used for Christmas cards these days, but I decided that, as long as I avoided red and green, it would be non-traditional!  My first card is a tentfold.  It uses some gorgeous Penny Black silhouette stamps against a Distress Inked background with a SU sentiment, I've created shadows with second generation stamp.
 
Second card uses pink and white, a very non-trad Christmas combi for me! The background paper and the sentiment are both from Pink Petticoat and I've diecut with a Memory Box die and added a few gems, like this CAS layout.

 
My third card is very Pinterest influenced, I've free-cut my tree trunk and branches and added them to a Kraft background cut with my Simon Says Stamp die and added a die cut bird and an SU sentiment.

I look forward to lots of CAS inspiration for Christmas!