Less is More - Geometric Shapes

As promised, my second card for the Less is More Challenge - Geometric Shapes; I love this challenge.

I got the inspiration for this card from Pinterest but used the stamps I had in my stash.

The stencil is from Clarity Stamps and is called Jo's Bubbles.  I used a blue ink for it one way and then turned it and used a yellow ink.

The stamps are from Craftwork Cards - Only Words.

Very easy to do but so much fun.

Thanks for 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

Silhouette Cameo Flowers

Hi all. Hope you're well and enjoying the weekend. Nice to see some sun for a change.

The flowers on the card I have to show today were made using my Cameo machine.

This is how it started off life:

I added colour using the Silhouette Studio software to create a Print and Cut project.  I just added an offset border around the edge and cut the blossoms out with the Cameo.  Here we have the finished result:

Other items I used:

Hero Arts Woodgrain Stamp

Clarity Sentiment Stamp

Memory Box Woven Circle die

Leaves cut out with the Cameo

Hope you like it and thanks for dropping by.

Sue.x

White on white butterflies

I made this some time ago and forgot to post it.

Butterfly stamp is from Hero Arts Antique Engravings set coloured with Promarkers

Nestabilities die

Clarity Stamps sentiment

Flourish cut out on my Cameo

A few crystals from stash

I managed to do a watermark on my card for the first time thanks to a post by Viv on the Do Crafts forum. So easy to do. I'm not sure I'll be bothered to put it on all my cards, I was just curious to see if I could do it and always enjoy having a play on the computer.  If you're interested in creating your own watermark here is the link to the post.

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 week 38 - Polka Dots

It's Wednesday, hubby's at footie, got my Less is More card done! Yeah!

And this week's challenge is:

"This week we have a really easy recipe which is simply

POLKA DOTS

As long as your design is Clean and Simple, has some white space (or its equivalent) and polka dots in evidence somewhere, it will be perfect for this challenge."

so here's my card:

Here's what I used:

Walzingmouse Gingham & Co background stamp for my Polka Dots

Anna Griffin sentiment stamp

Clarity stamps Art Deco lady

Spellbinders Nestie

Promarkers

Rose and leaves cut out on the Silhouette

Ribbon from stash

Hope you like it.

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

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

Less is more - Week 10 - Sentiment Focus

Hi everyone!  Sorry I've not been around much since last week.  I've been visiting my sister and nieces in Kent over the weekend and only got back last night.  I've got a lot of catching up to do, but before that I've managed to get my card done for this week's Less is More challenge - the theme is Sentiment Focus.

This is what I used:

Clarity Stamps sentiment

My Silhouette to cut the flower and leaves

Silver finding

Nesties Labels Four

Milled Lavender Distress Ink

(sorry the photos a bit dark - couldn't get a decent one, so this one will have to do.)

I'd like to just say thank you to Chrissie and Mandi for featuring one of my cards on the Showcase - I'm dead chuffed.

That's it for now, hope to be round to visit some blogs this evening. Have a good afternoon.

Sue.x

Less is more challenge - Masculine

Afternoon all! Hope you're having a lovely Sunday - well rested and looking forward to a new week! 

I'm quicker off the mark this week with my entry into the http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/ challenge.  The theme for this week is masculine, always a bit daunting for most of us I think. 

For my card I've used all Clarity stamps inked with Adirondack Pitch black and I've also used the same technique as in my last post - masking off an area and adding Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  A very easy, quick card.

I'm off now to visit as many entries into the Less is More challenge as I can this afternoon, before tucking into my lamb dinner. yummy, can't wait.

Sue.x

Less is more challenge 4 - 3 Squares

 3    S   Q   U   A   R   E   S  

This is the challenge Chrissie and Mandi at the lessismoore challenge has set for this week.

If you haven't yet visited the ladies at their challenge blog, please do, as they also have hints, tips and tutorials on a range of techniques. Worth a visit.

Well, I can't believe I've been so quick off the mark. I think this must be a record for me, getting a card in on the first day of a challenge.

For my card I've used a Nesties square and embossed it three times onto a piece of card and then stamped my images into the centre and added a bit of Distress Ink around the edges.  The card has been mounted onto a piece of black card which has been punced at the bottom with the Martha Stewart Doily punch. I've added some gold ribbon from my stash and mounted the whole lot onto some nice linen effect card.

The picture is a bit dark I'm afraid. I think I've spent more time trying to get a decent picture than it did to make the card, so this will have to do. 

Hubby is off to Wembley tomorrow to watch the cup final, so I have the whole day to myself - what joy!  I will be in my little craft room crafting away to my heart's content.

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

Simple but elegant

I recently went into one of those posh, elegant shops that always smells gorgeous as you walk through the door (pot pourri or scented candles) and they usually sell small but pretty pieces of furniture (usually in white or cream) and lots of little beautiful ornaments, I'm sure you know the type. I had a little browse through the cards they had on sale and loved the sketchy, tasteful looking simple cards they stocked.

I thought that this Rubber Romance stamp would be perfect for this style. I stamped her onto silver glitter card and just cut out the dress and pieced it onto the image. I added a couple of crystals for her necklace and earring.

The sentiment stamp is from Clarity Stamps, a great stamp for filling in a big space. And finally, the gorgeous tassle is from my new set of foam stamps from QVC.

A very simple card to do, but I think it looks quite elegant.

I'm off to enjoy the beautiful weather now, lots to do in the garden now it's sprung into life.

Hope you have a good weekend.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.

Vintage Birthday

Most men are difficult, I think you will agree (making cards for I mean, lol). For this card I used some lovely vintage papers I had, which I thought would go perfectly with the gentlemen stamp from claritystamp. The pocket watch stamp was a freebie from the Craft Stamper, I think. I added a few sizzix photocorners and a computer generated sentiment.