Less is More - Week 290 - Theme - Exotic

Hi visitor - thanks for dropping by to see my entry to this week's Less is More challenge which is:

SOMETHING EXOTIC!

Here's my card:

This beautiful tiger stamp is from Sheena's Taste of India range.  I just stamped the image and masked him off.  I them used a circle stencil to create the background.  The sentiment stamp is also from the same set.

A really quick CAS card.

Thanks once again from dropping by.

Sue.x

Less is more - OLC Film

A very quick post!  I have a new fur baby and don't want to leave him on his own for too long this evening (husband out with mates, eldest daughter in Dubai - alright for some, and youngest at theatre so just me and him tonight).

Here he is:

Isn't he just the most adorable thing you ever did see?  He's a 16 week old Lhasa Apso and he's hilarious - we're all smitten with him.

Anyway, here's my card for this week's lessismoore challenge which is a OLC with a theme of 'Film'.

Can you guess my film?

'Memoirs of a Geisha'

I cut a circle from the centre of a piece of paper and laid it over my card and then used ink dusters to create the background - a mix of Adirondack and Distress inks.  The stamps are mainly Kanban but the Geisha is a miniature Clarity Stamp. She's just the right size to go with this set of stamps.  I drew the birds using a fine tip marker.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sue.x

Less is more week 42 - Silhouettes

Well there's another week flown by - and here we are again for another lessismore challenge.  This week the theme is Silhouettes.

Another great choice from Chrissie and Mandi which has given me a chance to do bit more practise with my brayer - and I do believe I'm getting the hang of it.  This little piece of equipment has had me stumped for years.  I could never manage a lovely background like Barbara - mine were always full of lumps, bumps and stripes - but they do say practise makes perfect.  One tip I would give to any else who's not managing to master this little blighter is to place a thick layer of copy paper under your card - it seems to stop all those nasty lumps and bumps appearing.

Anyway, enough waffle, here's my card:

All the stamps are Clarity.  The lovers in the boat stamp is a miniature, but all the others are full size stamps. 

I used Stained Glass Adirondack inkpad for the background - you can't get these anymore, Rangers discontinued them a while ago. And I used Adirondack Pitch Black for the images.

The moon was done with a small circle punch which was used as a mask.

Well I have to say I'm quite pleased with how this turned out.  Maybe my brayer may stay out of the box for a bit longer.

Sue.x

Less is more - red and orange

As I'm already messy with very inky fingers from my last card I thought I'd do another card for this week's lessismore challenge.

I've used a stamp I've had in my collection for years and this is the first time I've used it - sorry don't know who makes it, no name on the wooden block, but it's perfect for the red and orange theme.  I stamped it with a black Stazon inkpad onto glossy card.

I've used the photo above which shows a reflection so you can see that the card is glossy.  I used Adirondack inks (Lettuce, Cranberry and Butterscotch) to colour the image and then sponge around the background. I've used black card to mat the image onto which makes it pop.

Here it is without the reflection:

Let's see what else I can ink!

Sue.x

THE COLOUR OF YOUR EYES

is the theme for this week's lessismore challenge.  This took a bit of thinking about cause I have green eyes and it's not a colour I use often.

Here's what I came up with:

Green definitely is not my favourite colour, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

Here's what I used:

Clarity large leaf swirl stamp

Hero Arts Antique Engravings butterflies

Stampin Up Scalloped punch

Stampin Up oval punch

Stampin Up sentiment stamp

Adirondack Mountain Sky inkpad

I scored a couple of lines at the top and bottom of the card and decoupaged the butterflies.

While I'm at it (I've been a very bad blogger lately), here are a few other things I've been doing this week:

I thought it was time to get cracking on some Christmas cards, I know a lot of you will have started months ago, but I always leave it to the last minute.


I've used Milly from digistampboutique and coloured her with Promarkers
Cuttlebug embossing folder
A bit of stitching
Ribbon and brad from stash


You may have read in previous posts that my daughter was off to Australia for 6 months for part of her gap year.  Well she's gone. Sob, sob!  She's au pairing for a family with an 8 year old girl so I made her as couple of items to give to the little girl when she arrived:

The base card was printed using my Tatty Teddy cd and then the box shape cut out on my Silhouette.  The image is also from the cd.  Lauren intended to fill it with sweets but had to do it when she arrived at the airport in Melbourne because of strict rules the Aussie's have about bringing foodstuff into the country.


And this little bookmark, again using my Tatty Teddy cd and a scalloped nestie.

This is the back:



and here's how it looks on the corner of a book page:

Quite fun little projects, I hope Nina liked them.


Ok, that's enough from me.  Sorry about the long post, but I had a bit of catching up to do.

Sue.x

Less is more week 34 - Sketch

The girls are out shopping and O/H has gone to the footie, so I'm taking advantage of some time in my craft room and I've had such a lovely afternoon. I've been stamping, messing with inks and embossing - heaven.

As usual, the lessismore challenge has encouraged me to dig into all those items of stash that get sadly neglected - that includes another one of those stamps that has never been inked.  It's from the Stamp Man's Aspect of Design 01 plate and some of my Adirondack rainbow pads.


The challenge is a sketch:

and here's my card:

I had such fun playing with the inks I did two. I'm not sure which I prefer, but I think it's probably the pink and green.

Both images were embossed although you can't tell from the photo.  I stamped the image onto a piece of copy paper first and cut out the frame to create a mask and used my brushes to add ink to the backgroun.  The sentiment stamps are both from my Paula Pascual set.  I mounted the finished pieces onto some Stamping Up card.

Sue.x

A bit of brayering

After a weekend of Barbara Grey on C&C I got the brayering bug again (it happens every time I see Barbara at work).  

I've had this stamp called Woven Silk for ages but been stuck with ideas of what to do with her.  So, I had a mooch through the clarity gallery and found a card by Emma Williams I was inspired by.

Here's what I did:

I stamped the image and masked her off and then created the sky background with a cloud template I cut out with my Silhouette and sponged around it with Adirondack Winter Sky ink pad.  I brayered the grass with Adirondack Lettuce and Bottle ink again using a torn piece of paper to create the hills and then stamped the Clarity grasses stamp using Bottle.   I brayered the sun using a cut out circle from a piece of copy paper and Adirondack Butterscotch and Red Pepper ink.  

I coloured the image with Promarkers and mounted onto black card.  To finish I added some sheer ribbon.  

Next time I think I will be brave enough to use my Clarity shiny card - I've been keeping safe until I feel confident enough it won't end up in the bin.  

Sue.x

Here comes summer

Hi folks.  I expect you think I've gone nuts with the title of this post with the miserable weather we're having at the moment. I'm forever the optimist that the sun will come out to stay at some point.

I made this card to go into the secretcrafter challenge which is 'here comes summer', but I'm also going to enter it into a few more challenges who have an anything goes theme:

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/07/week-110-free-and-easy-july.html

http://oldiebutagoodiechallenge.blogspot.com/2011/06/oldie-but-goodie-22.html

http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/2011/07/anything-goes.html

I created the sky background using a template cut out on my Silhouette and Adirondack Stonewashed ink.

The waves and palm tree were also cut out on my Silhouette.

The image is Surfabella from Stamping Bella and coloured with Promarkers

The coconuts are Card Candy from Craftwork Cards.

A bit of Kraft paper has been used for the sand.

Those waves look a bit terrifying to me, but I'm sure the fearless Surfafella will love them.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great weekend.

Sue.x

Forever Friends Birthday

Hi folks. Hope you're enjoying the weekend so far.  I was hoping to get into the garden this weekend (I've got some Lupins to plant), but it's so cold I've decided to give it a miss and stay in my little craft room instead.

Here's what I've been up to so far.  It's quite a simple layout again. Here's what I used:

Forever Friends stamp

Adirondack Ink: Espresso

Promarkers: Ivory, Satin, Vanilla and Oatmeal

Crafts Too embossing folder

Rectangel and circle Nesties

Paula Pascual sentiment stamp

Anita's ribbon

I stamped the image with Espresso ink and am much happier with the result. I think black is a bit harsh for some images.

Thanks for dropping by and for any comments you may leave.  Bye for now.

Sue.x

Been brayering again..............

...so I could enter a card into the oldiebutagoodie challenge. The theme is to make a card featuring a fairy, mermaid, dragon, or any other mythical being.  You must use a stamp that you've owned for at least 6 months and you can't use a digi image to be eligible to win the prize on offer.


I only own two stamps that fall into this category and both are fairies from Lavinia stamps which cry out for a brayered background.  This is what I used:


Adirondack eggplant and butterscotch  ink pads
Versafine onyx black to stamp the images
Lavinia fairy and toadstool stamps
Clarity grass stamp
Habico vine and pebbles stamps
Brayer


I used a punch out circle to mask the moon and matted onto some SU purple cardstock and then  onto a white A5 card blank.


This was such a fun card to make, \nd although my hands were covered in ink by the time I'd finished,  I think I'll be doing more of this technique!


 Hope you enjoy your weekend.Bye for now.x

Let it snow.........

Every time I go to the NEC and see Barbara Grey demonstrating, I'm so in awe that I really feel the need to drag my brayer out.  I've tried and tried to master the art of brayering, but I've never really managed it and the box of lovely shiney postcards that I bought along with the brayer is slowly emptying with most of them ending up in the bin.

But, I've given it another go and I'm actually quite pleased with the result.  I don't know what I did differently this time and I'm sure I won't be able to do it again, but this is what I used and how I did it:

I tore a piece of copy paper to form snowdrifts and put a 2p sized circle at the top of my card where the moon was going to be.  I placed the copy paper at the bottom of the card and inked up my brayer with Adirondack Winter Sky.  I used a Clarity stamp to put the clouds in place in front of the moon.  I then stamped the trees in place.  The stamp is called 'A grove of trees' and it's by Art Impressions.  I added a bit of glitter to the trees but I don't think this shows up on the photo.  To give the impression of snow peaks I used my torn piece of copy paper and a make up sponge.  The sentiment stamp is from Elzybells. I mounted the picture onto some dark blue card and then onto a 6 x 6 white card blank.

Well, that's it - nothing like the cards Barbara makes, but I did enjoy making it.  I'm sure the brayer'll now go back into the drawer now until Barbara's next show on C&C or the NEC in March.

Bye for now.x

Clarity Stamps - Velvet

I bought this stamp way back in March at the NEC Hobbycraft show and this is the first time I've used it. Don't know why it's taken so long really, maybe I just needed a bit of inspiration.

The design is pretty similar to a sample of Barbara's. I masked off an area of the white background card and stamped the Maple leaf using the Cabin Fever Adirondack Rainbow pad. I then lightly sponged the ink along the edges of the masking tape.

I wrapped some brown ribbon around the card and added some faux pearls which I coloured brown with a Stazon pad. The image 'Velvet' was stamped onto white card and paper pieced with some K&Co paper. I added a punched out maple leaf which has been stamped with the Maple leaf stamp. The sentiment is from on of the Stamp Man's plates, can't remember which one though. It was a very easy card to make, I think I will definitely be using this technique again.