Phew that's better!

 

 My second posting today is a Less is More card that I'm much happier with.  This is a mixture of stamps:  Bethleham is an Art Impressions stamp I've had for some years, my Wise Men are from Stamp Addicts and the hillside is a Hobby Art from one of the Scene-It sets.  Oh and the sentiment is Kaisercraft.  I tried inking my desert and didn't like the look, so I stamped just the village onto my card and then put it again onto textured sandy-brown paper, adding the dunes and the wise men.  Cut it and and stuck it down, trimmed the card and added some gold glitter to the star.  Not quite a one layer card but still not going to need more than a standard stamp, another Christmas card done:).

I'm also entering the Simon Says - anything goes challenge.

Have a heart

After a grotty week I was hell bent on having a quick Less is More fix before I went out today.  Ack the LIM ladies chose hearts!  Didn't think I had ANY heart stamps for one layer week and Mandi's card even showed you don't need heart stamps so that was no excuse!  I had a quick look round and got out this gem of a stamp which, after my first foray to a stamping show that saw me come home laden with Lavinia stamps, was the first one I ever bought.  I went to a free taster class at a shop that is now sadly closed, had a wonderful time and loved this Hero Arts stamp, which we used with another spiky one.  I still have both stamps but they have been uninked for ages.  Can you see the heart shaped petals?  Sentiment is Hobby Arts, I stretched one layer by adding some tiny pearls to the flower centres.

I'll be back later to hop around and check out the other heart cards, in the meantime our beloved greyhound, Red-dog is very poorly with a spinal infection and your positive thoughts would be appreciated.  Thanks!

Congratulations to Will (gulp!)

I've been absent from my crafting for a few days, we've had some difficult things to get through.  Today I've done a little bit of crafting and I've taken a photo of this card which was made at a Jenny Mayes workshop.  It had its finishing touch today, when I wrote W1LL on the number plate for older son, who passed his driving test yesterday.  The car is a Butterfly Kisses stamp, it was stamped in the middle of the card with Memento and coloured with Copics.  Another 3 layers were coloured and decoupaged on with Pinflair Glue when the card was completed.  The background stamps were various Hobby Art Scene-It stamps, these were stamped with Versafine and then watercoloured.

Big congratulations to Will, my car insurance has now gone up to over 5 times as much, yikes!

My card is for these challenges:
For Fun Challenges - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Heidi's Hobby - card for a man
Corrosive Challenges - manly

Through the garden gate

Through the garden gate is the name of this week's Stamps R Us Challenge and I've taken it literally with this new stamp of a gateway from Stamp Addicts, I've a few scenes waiting to be made into cards using this stamp, which may just be my absolute favourite rubber stamp at the moment:).  I've brayered and spritzed the background, adding a pale moon.  The other stamps are a dotty Stamp Addicts background, Clarity tree, and Hobby Art birds and branches.  I've mounted it onto some Artylicious paper and simply added a ribbon.
My card is for the following challenges:
Stamps R Us - through the garden gate
Little Claire - things with wings
By the Cute & Girly - things with wings
The Craft Garden - use a bird
Art Impressions Stamps - show me the bird
Paper Play - things with wings
Simon Says - anything  goes

Ooh La La - Guest Designer - Challenge #82 - Father's Day/ someone special

Welcome to this week's Ooh La La Challenge, which is to make a card for Father's Day or for someone special.  This card is for my father-in-law who has had several holidays to the Yorkshire Coast, so when I saw this scene on the Ooh La La Watercolour Memories CD I had to make it for him.  I printed it onto heavyweight watercolour paper which makes it look even better.  My printer doesn't like such heavy card so I printed the scene out a little way down a sheet of thin copy paper, then I used spray glue to attach cardstock cut to size.  Somehow this kids the printer into co-operating:).  I extended the picture using my Hobby Art Scene-It stamps, computer generated a sentiment and used a backing sheet from the same CD that goes with a different scene, Aldborough I think.
My card is for the following challenges:
Mark's Finest Papers - Father's Day
Delicious Doodles - Father's Day
One Stop Craft- Father's Day
Secret Crafter - masculine card
Stamp Scrap & Doodle - Father's Day
Polkadoodles - something for Dad
Simply Create - all about you Dad
Fussy & Fancy - man cards
Crazy 4 Challenges - masculine cards
Stamptacular Sunday - Dads or Grads

A bit more less is more

This is a second entry for the Less Is More Monochrome Challenge.  I've seen some lovely cards using Kraft lately, this is slightly darker than Kraft, I bought some card blanks in recycled card which will have to do for now!  I've used one of a much-loved discontinued Stampin' Up set, added some white highlights with Koh-i-Noor pencil and a Hobby Art quote which fits the card to perfection I think.  I know it's Less Is More but I hope I'll be forgiven the twine which finishes off this masculine card:)

Challenges for my card:
Less is More - monochrome
Art Impressions Stamps - monochrome
Craft us Crazy - father's day/ masculine
Digi Doodles - no backing papers
Paper Play - father's day/man's card

Father's Day Scene

I found it surprisingly hard to make this Father's Day card.  Last year Father's Day was on my Dad's birthday and we met for lunch, knowing that chances were it would be his last birthday.  Dad died in Spetember but I know my two teenage sons will still want cards without going to the shop and paying for them :) and of course DH still needs one for his Dad.  I think now I've made one the others will be easier... 

I used various Hobby Art SceneIt stamps to create a small picture which I'm quite pleased with.  I followed Sketch Saturday's layout, DP is Stampin' Up, I used a Martha Stewart punch and some garden twine.  The sentiment is Joanna Sheen.

This card is for the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Simon Says - Father's Day
Incy Wincy Designs - nature
Craft Your Days Away - Father's Day
Totally Gorjuss - string's the thing
Here Come the Boys - Father's Day
Crafting for all Seasons - Father's Day
Fresh Brewed Designs - for the guys
The Paper Shelter - glad for Dad
Craft Your Passion - what a guy
Lexi's Creations - Father's Day
Karen's Doodles - Father's Day
Crafty Ho's - twine

Less Is More - off centre a second attempt

This is something I've wanted to try for a while and I think it fits this week's LIM Challenge perfectly - hope the LIM ladies think so too:).   I've used my Hobby Art stamps and watercolours to make a Spring landscape with lambs growing in the field and I've extended the scene into the white space around it.  The card for the white space is from the back of a card I messed up, so it is exactly the same as the card.  I've matted both onto black and decided to leave the sentiment off in case it ends up too busy.

My card is for the following challenges:
Less Is More - off centre
Crafty Creations - white space
Party Time Tuesday - anything goes
Corrosive Challenges - use animals
Sparkles Forum - anything goes

Wish you were here?

  I got some new Jenny Mayes Hobbyart stamps at the NEC and here's the first card I made with them.  They are slightly bigger than the Scene-It sets and they are on unmounted rubber, not clear.  I found them a bit more of a challenge to use, I think I was trying to combine too many at once!  I masked the deckchairs and stamped the boats out once and used them again for a partial image and added the gulls.  I watercoloured my scene using Aquamarkers and made it up using the sketch at Midnight Madness.  I like the way the corners give it the look of a photo in an old album.  DP is flairdesigns.inc.

My card is for the following challenges:

Midnight Madness - sketch

Delightful Challenges - sun, sea and sand

Challenge Up Your Life - masking

My Time To Craft - nautical

Some Neglected Stash for a Sunday

 Happy Mothering Sunday to all Mums everywhere.  I'm having a quiet day without either son as one is still at University and the other has just started a part-time job and is at work.  Before he went he presented me with a large bottle of "Mother's Ruin" - gin - in this case a blackcurrant gin that is my favourite ever tipple:).

I've finished up a card for the Sketch 'n' Stash Challenge, really the only new stash is the baker's twine, but this is a "neglected" card even though it's not stash as such...  I stamped and watercoloured a seaside scene with my Hobby Arts Scene-It stamps but it just didn't look quite right and it's sat on my desk for months.  Yesterday I trimmed out large swathes of scene by using a Nestie circle on it and I'm much happier with it now and it has made it into a card.

The strip is My Mind's Eye 29th Avenue DP, sentiment is Elusive Images embossed in red, baker's twine is from Quixotic Paperie and I dry embossed a swirly white panel.

My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch'n'Stash - sketch
Tellen's Place - embossing
Totally Papercrafts - one for the boys
Stamping Vacation - pick 3 from a list (I chose circle, dry embossing, sentiment)
Sentimental Sundays - let's get wet
Cards for Men - embossing

Smooth sea never made a skilled mariner...

This is one of my favourite sentiments, it's from Elusive Images (sadly now defunct) and sums up life, doesn't it!  This is a fairly c&s masculine card, using my Hobby Art Scene-It stamps and coloured with Aquamarkers.  The blue map DP is from Joanna Sheen's Thomas Kincade CD and the others are My Minds Eye.  There are no embellies at all, I have some boat charms but they make it less of a masculine card to me.

My card is for the following challenges:
Sunday Sketch & Stamp - sketch
Creative Card Crew - for men
Let's Ink it Up - anything goes (no digi)
C.R.A.F.T. - martial arts/sport (yachting)
One Stop Craft - card for a male
Paper Sundaes - birthday celebration favourite theme - I always love Make A Scene challenges

Ewe can't have too much of a good thing

We've just got back from taking older son back to University, a very long drive.  This scene is typical of the area of Wales we drove through, made the card last night and didn't get round to blogging it.  I'm really enjoying playing with my scene stamps.  It's fairly clean and simple; the scene is built up with Hobby Art stamps and watercoloured.  No idea where the check card came from, the lined brown is recycled card from Stamp Attic.  Two small bronze brads and a couple of sheep from the same set complete the card.  Oh, the circle is raised up on gel glue.

I used the sketch from Card Positioning Systems for the card, nice and straightforward.  With the textured card, brads and dimension I'm also entering Secret Crafter's Tons of Texture Challenge.

Don't do New Year Resolutions...

I don't do crafting New Year Resolutions; my crafting is my relaxation and pleasure, not something to beat myself up over.  However I've made this card to scratch an itch!  I love my landscape stamps but don't get them out to play with as often as I'd like.  I don't have as many masculine cards as I'd like and it's not often that I make something without one or another challenge in mind.  This cards fits all of those:  I used my Jenny Mayes Hobby Art stamps, the background and scene together make a card that is more masculine than not and this followed no particular challenge.  The sentiment is a new Craftwork Cards one that was part of my Christmas present, the scene is watercoloured, the DP is from the Joanna Sheen CD Times Gone By and the card candy is also Craftwork Cards.

Of course now I've made it I've found a few challenges that it fits LOL!
CD Sunday - check it out
Paper Sundaes -  something new (sentiment)
Catch the Bug  - anything goes
Crafty Emmas - anything goes
Sew Many Challenges - new things

DT Posting - Corrosive Challenges - #83 - Masking

This week at Corrosive Challenges the theme is masking.  You can mask your images and create a scene, as I've done, or you can mask off areas of your card and create a frame.  I've used Hobbyart Scene-It stamps and both snowman and tree were masked when I stamped the houses and the tree.  I've used Aquamarkers and Marvy le Plume watercolour pens on watercolour cardstock, I've also added a bit of glitter to my snow and to the snowflake embossed card.
I'm entering my card for these challenges:
One Stop Craft Challenge - snowflakes in September
Totally Gorjuss - Christmas
ABC Christmas - T is for Tree

Autumn Landscape

I made this scene a few weeks back, using the Hobbyart Scene-It stamps.  It is very heavily based on a class sample that Jenny Mayes showed us when I took the class with her.  I've been looking for a sketch to fit it to but have decided that it's too big and won't work on a busy sketch, so I've simply matted it onto cardstock that I've embossed with a grid using my scoring board.  The ribbon is gorgeous silk ribbon, can't think why I bought it but it is a lovely Autumn shade:).  I've coloured it with Aquamarkers and Marvy le Plume pens.

My card is for the following challenges:
Stamptacular Sunday - grid challenge
Crafty Creations - falling leaves
Charisma Cardz Challenges - anything goes
Creative Inspirations - use 2 or more stamped images (I think I've used 7 stamps in here, some multiple times!)
Paper Sundaes - fabulous Fall
Pile It On - red, yellow, green and brown (are all in there!)

Cooking it up With Katie #29 - Autumn embossing and folding

This week's recipe at Cooking it up With Katie is a really fun one:  your ingredients are:  a fancy fold, embossing and Autumn.  I CASED my blogging friend Sylvia and made a zig-zag card which was easier to do than I expected!  Those HobbyArt Scene-It stamps came out again and I created an Autumn scene on watercolour paper,  using a mixture of Aquamarkers and Marvy le Plume pens.  Our trees haven't really changed colour yet but apart from that it is just how Lambourn looks in September.  I used a Crafts Too embossing folder and added a bit of raffia and a tree charm, just for fun.   Here's a side shot so you can see the shape of the card better:).
 I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Creative Card Crew Challenge - Autumn or Fall  
A Spoonful of Sugar - Autumn into Fall    
Allsorts Challenge - Colours of Autumn
ABC Challenge - C is for Charms
Incy Wincy Designs - Autumn Colours
Mark's Finest Papers - Autumn Colours
Fairy Fun Fridays - Embossing
Charisma Cardz - Try Something New (zig-zag card)
Digi Doodle Shop - Charm Me
Paper Play Challenges - Autumn

Home for Christmas

This is a tiny Christmas card, just 4" square, with another Hobby Art scene from the Jenny Mayes stamps.  I've matted and layered a few times and then simply used some embossed white card to follow this week's Challenge at Inspirational Card Sketches.  There's a HUGE holidays challenge and blog hop at Simon Says this week and I'm entering my card for their challenge.  Bah Humbug Christmas Challenge asks for a card using your favourite medium - mine is stamping and watercolouring.

Scene uses just 2 stamps and is watercoloured with some glitter added to the snow.

Autumn is on the way

Good grief it was cold this morning!  It may still be August according to the calender but it's get the woolies out time here.  This is another card from my class with Jenny Mayes, this was our first, "warm-up" card.  which again uses her SceneIt stamps.  This is very simple, though we used 6 different tiny stamps to build the scene would you believe!  Watercoloured with Tombow pens and mounted onto embossed card. It's a classic summer's end scene, hope you like it:).

This card is for the following challenges:
Totally Papercrafts  - clean & simple
Pile it On - farewell to Summer
Papertake Weekly - just the one (one piece of cardstock added to image)
Cards for Men - long Summer Days

For Ewe at Christmas

I had a wonderful time at Craft Barn on my class with Jenny Mayes, she worked us hard but no one was under pressure unless they wanted to be.  We mostly worked with her Hobby Art Scene-It stamps and I came away with 3 new sets!  This is a Christmas card that I've put together by cannibalising a few different projects:).  The tiny house has sparkle added and I put in some falling snow with a white gel pen.  There are, I think, 3 different sheep stamps used on the bottom scene along with skyline and grass.  The sheep have a little Fluffy Stuff on them and more glitter; both scenes are watercoloured with Aquamarkers as well as Tombow pens.  The card is dry embossed and the sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

This card is for the following Challenges:

Paper Sundaes - Christmas in August
Totally Gorjuss - Christmas in August
Crafty Cardmakers - Glitter & Sparkle 
Secret Crafter - Make a Start on Christmas

More Jenny inspired work later!

Seaside Town

Are you bored of the little seaside scenes I've been making yet?  I hope not because I'm really enjoying making them and here's another one!   The little stamps are made by Jenny Mays of Hobby Art; tomorrow I'm going to the Craft Barn to take a class with Jenny.  I'm really looking forward to it; what's the betting that I come home with some more Scene-Its? LOL  This uses the sketch from Card Positioning Systems Challenge.  It's very small scale to fit into the embossed frame, about 1 1/2" x 31/4".  The shells are Elusive Images stamps used on paper that I've sponged with Distress Inks and the net DP is My Mind's Eye.  Nothing else, no extra embellies as it's another man card for the stash.