"Less is More" - Challenge #269 - Recipe

 

Welcome to this week's "Less is More" Challenge.  This week we have a recipe challenge, to use polka dots.  I love dots and really enjoyed making a few cards for this one, hope you will too.  First card showcases diecutting and I've used Memory Box dies.  It is hard to see in the photo, but I have embossed a Simon Says stitched hillside die onto my card base and the trees are all grounded on this.  The sentiment is Winnie & Walter.

 My second card has paper piecing, the umbrella is pieced from Pink Petticoat digital paper in Raspberry Coulis.  The image and sentiment are both by Unity, her dress also has dots on.  When I'd finished this it just looked a bit too stark, so I used a Stampin Up die to edge the tent folded card and added a strip of the dotty paper underneath.
I'm entering this card for:
Simon Says - come rain or shine
CAS-ology - weather

My final card was made for a young pianist's birthday and  the dots are on the ribbon.  Embossed notes sit behind a Memory Box Grand Happy Birthday die and the piano was cut using my Silhouette.
I'm entering this card for Cute Card Thursday - To die for

Happy Easter to everyone and enjoy a bit of dottiness :).

"Less is More" Challenge #268 - Theme

Welcome to this week's "Less is More" challenge.  This week our them is:  What's outside your window?  Now you may be looking at my card and thinking what on earth has this duckling with attitude got to do with this?

OK...  bear with me:).   I moved house just over a year ago and now I have a largeish front garden on a cul de sac close to the river.  The other morning I came down to make a cuppa, as it was getting light, without my contacts in.  There was something moving around on the lawn - in fact several somethings - I had been invaded by ducks!   I've used a bit of artistic licence, there were no ducklings, just adults ducks and drakes but I hope to see some youngsters soon now it is spring.

My Copic coloured stamp is by Impression Obsession, the sentiment is Joanna Sheen.  I've masked him and inked some Peeled Paint through a Clarity stencil to ground him.

I'm entering my card for:
Simon Says - cute and cuddly
Brown Sugar - spring
CCE Stampers - poultry day
Creative Knockouts - spring is on the way

Star

I'm sneaking in a second card that follows CAS Colours & Sketches layout.  As a quilter I couldn't resist the WPlus9 dies, this card is for a quilting friend who is currently fighting cancer.   I cut it from my white panel and again from gold.  Coloured the star with Copics and assembled it all as an inlaid diecut.  The embossed sentiment is Clarity.  My card looked a little stark so I added a few tiny gold sequins.  Usually they are a cover up for a smudge but this time the card needed them :).

I'm also entering:
Fresh Brewed Challenges - anything goes
Sisterhood of Crafters - dies and/or punches

It's Hip to be Square

CAS Colours and Sketches has a super simple pared down sketch which has given me lots of ideas.  I am fast running out of time to make and blog them, however here is one of them to show you, a masculine card I'm pretty pleased with.  I am going through a bit of a kraft phase and also seem to keep reaching for my Mama Elephant Happy stamps.

I've diecut a Simon Says square from my card and inserted white.  Then I diecut my Memory Box tree and inserted a black tree back in.  Sentiment is black embossed.

I'm also entering:
Challenge up your Life - die cutting
Sweet Stampin - boys to men  (the sentiment is stamped)

"Less is More" Challenge #267 - one layer

It is time for a new challenge at "Less is More" and this week our one layer challenge is to give the sentiment centre stage.  I have chosen to use nothing but text for my card, kind of the opposite of leaving the sentiment off the card until you know who you're sending it to!

I've combined an Inkylicious sentiment with a big bold Clarity Stamps one.  I have no recollection at all of when or why I bought the Inkylicious stamp but feel that it works well with the extra words.  What do you think?  I've inked with a mixture of Mermaid Lagoon and Faded Jeans Distress markers with a touch of red Whisper marker.

A Bit of NBUS

I'm sneaking in a second entry to Darnell's NBUS Challenge here - obviously the decoupage Gorjuss Girl is NBUS but it is the background die that I am really entering!  I fell for the Hero Arts? triangle background last year but couldn't get it to cut properly so it languished unloved in the die basket.  This week I remembered to try it again, now I have a thin metal shim - success!  The background paper from the decoupage pack is mounted behind it, with the border showing.  The sentiment die and stamp are Mama Elephant.

A Wise Old Owl

From time to time I get suckered in by craft programmes.  The very talented Pollyanna Pickering has released her work on CD and also as a papercraft kit.  There is often a deal if one buys both.  However I tend not to use the papercraft and the pile of unloved stash grows.  Trying to redress the balance here, I have added a some texture and interest with Joanna Sheen ivy leaf dies, shaded with white and green Inktense pencils.  Image is matted and layered, polka dot paper and a Craftwork Cards sentiment added.
I'm entering Simon Says - add some texture

"Less is More" - Week #266 - colour

Another week has rushed by and it is time for the weekend - phew - and time for the "Less is More" challenge.  This week is a colour challenge and our theme is citrus.  I coloured a super orangey image and took it to the sale basket at work - and of course now I realise that I forgot to take a photo - doh!  Edited to add my second card - A Day for Daisies image coloured with Copics, small gem to match on the hat.

So I have one card to show you, which uses a Little Claire stamp that I bought at Portsmouth last year when out on some retail therapy with Chrissie.  It's stamped paper pieced several times over, the sentiment is Paper Smooches.  I bought lots of Little Claire stamps and, shamefully, they are all NBUS, so I'm entering the lovely Darnell's NBUS Six - click on the link to read all about it and to have a lot of fun :)

New Home

This card was made for the son of some dear friends.  He is still into black and more black, hence the background!  The house is a SU stamp and die, hillside die is Simon Says and the sentiment is Little Claire.  I've added some washi tape and a few die cut SU sentiments.
My card is for:
Addicted to CAS - home
Simon Says - anything goes
The Crazy Challenge - use the colour red
Eureka Stamps - CAS