Less is More - week #243 - recipe

 This week we have a recipe challenge at Less is More, to use something shiny.  I've opted to make a few Christmas cards with a bit of shine.  First up is a completely die cut card.  I've cut a blue panel with a Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle.  The Lawn Fawn stitched snowflakes are cut from glitter paper and I've also added some shiny sequins.  The words are Tim Holtz die cuts.

 My next card uses the same blue, with an old favourite Memory Box ornament die.  The top layer is cut from silver mirri card and I added some shiny silver cord behind it.  The sentiment is heat embossed with WOW Blueberry.

And my favourite of the three has a shiny lamp post, I've inked the background with a halo of Mustard Seed Distress Ink along with Weathered Wood and Stormy Sky.  There's some orange Stickles inside the lamp for more shininess.  The bench and lamp post are Penny Black and the sentiments are Stampin' Up Endless Wishes.

Less is More week 242 - theme

Our theme this week at Less is More is Technology.  After a difficult week I just have one card to show you.  It is based on a card I saw on Pinterest.  Computer generated, the switch logo was downloaded and I added a sentiment with Problem Secretary font.  The card is one layer on a linen textured card.

Less is More - Week 241 - One Layer

It is one layer challenge week at Less is More and this week our challenge is Wishing.  I have used kraft card, with just black and white added.  I used embossing paste and a Memory Box stencil for the stars, the heat embossed figures are Clarity Wee People stamps and the sentiment is from Unity.  I drew the hill in with a Pigma pen.

Less is More - week #240 - colour challenge

 I'm so sorry not to have been around in Blogdom this last week.  LIMettes will know that my mum died suddenly last week and this week has been a bit difficult.  I escaped into a bit of cardmaking last night which felt great and have some cards to show you for this week's Less is More Challenge - a colour challenge,  green and gold.  First up are some autumnal leaves, coloured with a load of different Distress Inks.  The leaf is an Inkylicious stamp, sentiment is Hero Arts and I've wrapped some gold machine embroidery thread round the panel.

 Next up I inked up a couple of House Meeces with a sunflower and coloured them with Inktense pencils and also made a Copic version which hasn't yet made it into a card.  Which do you prefer?

 

Next up is a traditional Christmas card made with Winnie & Walter pine branch and fircones.  I've gold embossed the cones and the sentiment and cunningly covered up a blob with some gold sequins :).

 

And finally I've added a silhouette cut on my Silhouette to a green card, with gold sentiment and mat.

I look forward to visiting as many LIMettes as possible this week.

Less is More #238 - sketch

This week at Less is More we have a sketch to challenge you with, which is very clean and simple, giving you lots of opportunity to make it your own!

 My first offering is a monochrome card, based on the idea of a wall with a climbing plant growing up it.  I've used Memory Box Chloe diecuts in gold, bronze and chocolate snippets for the flowers.

My second card uses a Clarity stamp with a hillside on it.  Gorgeous image, isn't it - yet more trees to add to my collection :).  Of course, when I stamped it out I remembered that it slopes the other way to the sketch...  I've extended the hillside lines with a Pigma pen and coloured with Copics.

Less is More - Week #237 - theme

We have a theme at Less is More this week - congratulations.  I've a couple of cards to show you, first up is a Stampin' Up balloon inked with Mint Macaron.  It's accented with gold  sequins, ribbon, heat embossing and a gold cardstock mat.

More heat embossing on my second card, on vellum this time.  The Hero Arts flower is white embossed and layered up on top of the dotty cardstock with the sentiment also on vellum.

Less is More - Week #236 - one layer

Welcome to one layer week at Less is More and this week our theme is "The eyes have it".  My first card uses a freebie Craft Stamper stamp, though not the one I was looking for!  I've repeat stamped it in Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Faded Jeans and added some Paper Smooches sentiments.



This card has lots of eyes to look at, I made this for a farmer friend of mine.  The stamp is from Stampin' Up and I've added some googly eyes (slightly cheating on the one layer, though they are a minimal embellie lol!) and a doodled border.

 Need to persevere with my Brushos, so I stamped, coloured and masked some Clarity hare stamps.  Sprinkled Prussian Blue, Light Brown and Leaf Green then gave it a light spritz.  The sentiment is a magazine freebie.  You can see that this one layer needs a long period under something heavy to flatten it!

Less is More - #235 - colour

 This week we have a colour challenge at Less is More - berry shades.  I'm still playing with those Stampers Anonymous Crazy Birds and this little chap is berry shaded with Copics right down to his pink tinged eyes - is it conjunctivitis or just a hangover?  He's grounded with an MFT stamp and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. 
I'm entering my bird for CAS-ology's Wings challenge and my Happy card for Simon Says - anything goes.

I used the same MFT stamp set with an assortment of inks for my second card, as well as a couple of dies.  I've raised up the 'happy' with extra die cuts behind it.

Looking forward to seeing lots of berry shades from the LIMettes this week :)

Less is More - Week #234 - recipe

Good morning!  It's the weekend and time for a new Less is More challenge.  This weekend sees a landmark birthday for Chrissie - Lady Limette herself.  Happy birthday Chrissie and have a wonderful day - I can't believe how old you are lol - you certainly don't look it!!!
Our theme is 'Snippets for Chrissie'. 

I've been wanting those quirky Tim Holtz Crazy Birds for ages and gave in a couple of weeks back, decided to use one and added some tail feathers cut from snippets of leftover Brusho painted card that came from a workshop I did back in the spring.  The feather stamp was a Craft Stamper freebie.  I grounded my birds with some dots from a Stamp Addicts dotty stamp, added a few stray sequins that were lurking on my craft mat and added a cheeky Woodware sentiment.

Shape and Line

This week's Simon Says challenge is to make a shaped card - other than square or rectangle.  I played about with some paper and reminded myself how to cut a 30 degree triangle.  Then when I saw that CAS-ology's key word is Line I knew that I wanted to add lines of stylised trees to my card.  The Waltzing Mouse stamp is gorgeous and I can't believe that I haven't used it more!  Inks are Memento:  Ladybug, Pear and Canteloupe with Versafine Olympia Green.

Less is More - Week 233 - Theme

This week our theme at Less is More is 'Life's a Beach' and I have a few cards to share with you.

 Stampin' Up Wetlands is one of my all-time favourite sets and I've made a one layer card using it with some Distress Inks (Scattered Straw, Mowed Grass, Stormy Sky) brushed through a circle mask. 

I've seen a few cards on Pinterest that use Coredinations card torn to make waves and here is my take on this, using a kraft card for the base.  The flip flops were cut from a Silohouette file and the flowers on them use an EK Success punch.  Sentiment is from a Joanna Sheen House Mouse set.

Finally I have some Pink Petticoat beach huts to show you.  I've coloured them with Copics and added an embossed panel behind the image edged with Copic pen and with a bit of twine added.

Furry Friends

I've made a few decoupage cards lately using Joanna Sheen card pads.  This one uses a Donald Zolan image and I've used the elements on some Anna Marie dotty cardstock.  I'm entering my card for the Simon Says Furry Friends challenge.

Repeat

I have made a couple of cards to play along at CAS-ology, where this week the cue word is Repeat.

I used a fun new Stampin' Up set which is called Sprinkles on Top.The four doughnuts are all close together in a row one one stamp, so I chose to stamp them in an assortment of colours and used a 1" circle punch to cut them out, giving a variety of colours.  The doughnuts are popped up on 3D dots to add depth to the cards and I've stamped the sentiments in matching inks, adding a bit of twine too.

Less is More - Week # - one layer

 This week is a one layer challenge at Less is More and this month the theme is masculine.  First up is a globe stamped onto cream hammered card and coloured with Distress Inks.  The sentiment is computer generated.  The stamp came from a grab bag of unmounteds that I bought at Ally Pally when I was out on a stash enhancement trip with Chrissie, I think it was from Creative Impressions.

 

My next card uses some JOFY Christmas star stamps, inked with Memento Ladybug and Dandelion inks. The sentiment is a magazine freebie.  This time the card is made from linen textured card.

I hope my final card gives you a giggle, this chap is an Acid Drops and What-Nots stamp, coloured with Copics and with a doodled border.

So many of us say that cards for chaps are hard to make, I'm looking forward to lots of inspiration from the LIMettes!

Less is More - Week #231 - colour

 Happy 4th of July and welcome to our colour challenge week at Less is More, which of course has to be red, white and blue!

My first card uses a Clarity stamp that came with my New Designs membership, this is Alice. Her dress is paper pieced from dotty blue paper. I used her with a card design cut by my Silhouette, there is a gramophone in the corner which I removed, just leaving the hearts emanating from the corner.  The insert behind is a pearlised red card.  The sentiment is Paper Smooches.
I'm entering my card for Simon Says we're going dotty  challenge.

Red, white and blue is a classic nautical colour combination to me and here I've used my much loved and used Memory Box waves stencil with Distress Inks to give a background that is framed with a Simon Says stitched square die.  The naive boat sits outside the frame and I've added a Hero Arts sentiment.

Less is More - Week #230 - sketch

This week at Less is More we have a simple sketch for you to follow.  I have made an almost white on white card from linen textured cardstock.  The panels have been embossed with an old Cuttlebug script folder and edged in grey with a Copic marker.  The die cut butterfly is from Memory Box, the base layer is a lovely sparkly cardstock.  Sentiment die and stamp are both Mama Elephant.

I'm entering my card for:
Simon Says - anything goes

Favourites...

This week the Simon Says Challenge is to use your favourite technique and/or product, which got me thinking...  after all there are so many!  I still love to stamp but these days I am colouring less.  Currently I love die cutting and especially all the dies with those stitched edges.  I love trees, whether stamps, dies or stencils and I like a restricted colour palette and also kraft card. And my favourite style, as you'll know if you've visited my blog before, is clean and simple.

So with all that in mind I made my card very early this morning.  The inlaid panel is cut with one of those fab SimonSays dies that has 'stitching' on the inside and the outside, the trees are Poppystamps dies and that dotty paper is Pink Petticoat.  The sentiment is also Simon Says.

Hope you like my Favourites card :)

Less is More Week #229 - Theme

 Welcome to the weekend and to a new challenge at Less is More.  This week your challenge is to make a clean and simple card using stencils.  My first card uses a gorgeous metal stencil from Sweet Poppy, designed by Lavinia Stamps. Black embossing paste, washi tape, ribbon, a bit of red ink.  Added some inked stencilling on the base card.  This has a few more embellies than I like to use, but it seemed to need them...

Health and Safety warning:  these metal stencils are blimmin' sharp!  I started by using another metal stencil (different maker) and wasn't happy with my card.  When I was washing the embossing paste off it under the tap I sliced open my thumb.  It was so sharp that it didn't hurt - at first!  There was a lot of bloodshed and crafting was abandoned for the evening lol!

And now for a less dangerous card!  I belong to Barbara Gray's Clarity Club and get a stencil and stamp each month.  This fab swirly effect is achieved by rotating a swirl on the spot, using different inks until no white card shows through.  Love it!  I added a Clarity figure and a Stampin' Up sentiment.

Less is More Week #228 - one layer

 It is one layer week at Less is More and this week our theme is "Home".  I had a lot of fun making my cards.  First up uses a Cuttlebug embossing border.  I stamped a Mama Elephant sentiment and doodled a couple of borders to the base of the card, using a Pigma pen and a watercolour pen.  The heats are coloured with the watercolour pen too.

 I masked a house from Stampin' Up's Holiday Home set and added a couple more to the 'street' behind.  The balloons come from From the Herd and the sentiment is Little Claire.  I coloured with Copics, following the  lovely, soft colour scheme from CAS on Sunday's current challenge.

My last card is my nod to all those gorgeous cards out there that use the Tim Holtz Crazy Birds stamps.  I don't have this set and I'm trying hard to resist!  In the meantime, when Stamp Attic closed recently I bought some fab Lin Brown bird stamps to use instead.  I doodled a nest for my bird's home, added a computer generated sentiment (problem secretary font) and watercoloured my card.

Look forward to seeing all the LIMette takes on home this week!

Addicted to CAS

I've been struggling a bit to get creative lately, for no good reason, so when inspiration for this card struck yesterday I couldn't wait to get started!  It's for Addicted to CAS's butterfly challenge and it's a shaker - something I rarely make!  The aperture is cut with my Silhouette and I've filled it with dozens of tiny butterflies made using a Woodware punch I've had for years.  Sentiment is Stampin' Up and that's about it.  Hope you like it