A couple of Christmas cards

I haven't really much been in the mood for Christmas cards, but here's a couple I've put together.

This is just such a simple one.  I love this Anna Griffin stamp and when I found I had some sparkly gold glitter powder I thought this would look lovely just mounted onto some gold mirror card. Unfortunately, the sparkle doesn't show up too well on the photo.

This next one I used an image from the Tatty Teddy cd.  I've glittered it up and used my Nesties to turn it into a Scalloped Easel card.  The sentiment was   punched with Stamping Up oval and scalloped oval punches.  The stars are also from a punch and the little bow was done with my Bow Easy.

That's all from me today folks. We're out to celebrate my sister's 50th birthday this evening.  We're going to an Abba tribute night at the West Midlands Golf Club (otherwise known as The Lakes at Barston), should be a good fun night. 

Have a good evening, whatever you're up to.

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 41 - Leaves

Brilliant! Chrissie and Mandi have done it again!  They've come up with a challenge this week which enables me to use another stamp (or should I say cube) which has been sadly neglected.

The challenge for this week is LEAVES and it just so happened that I had my Judikins Fall Leaves cube out on my desk which I intended to use on last week's card but didn't use in the end.

Looking at the card now, I wish I'd changed the direction of one of the centre leaves and stamped it a bit more 'off the page', but hey ho, never mind.

I coloured the leaves with Promarkers and sponged Distress Inks between masked lines.  I added some embossed lines and a HOTP sentiment.

Unfortunately, the quality of the cardstock is really poor.  It's from a stash of cream cards and envelopes I bought from Create and Craft a while ago for £4.95 for about 100 (I think).  You get what you pay for - it'll do for layering or even maybe a distressed card. It already has the distressed look without any effort.

Sue.x

I think I'm liking this....

...stenciling.  I bought another template from Imagination Crafts when I went to the NEC as well as another 8 pots of stencil paint so be prepared to be well and truly sick to the back teeth of this technique.

I saw a sample that one of the ladies had done and loved it. I thought it was soooo pretty I made one similar.

I used the Leaf Swirl template and lime green stencil paint and to add the lovely sparkle I used Magiglaze (finally gotten around to using this, I bought it at the NEC in the spring, again it's from Imagination Crafts) and some extra fine glitter.

I punched the tiny flowers with my EK Success punch and added a gold crystal to the centres.

That's when it went all wrong - I tried to stamp the sentiment directly onto the card and disaster - it smudged!  I was well miffed, as you can imagine so put Silhouette into action and created a mat and re-stamped the sentiment onto it and then mounted it onto foam pads.  Rescued, phew!

Sorry the photo's a bit dark - very gloomy day here in Solihull today.

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

Red and Orange

Hope you've been having a great weekend. What glorious weather it's been considering the time of year. Lovely for taking a walk and seeing all the beautiful colours nature gives us in autumn - stunning.

I've used some of those stunning colours for my card today; red and orange which also work for the two challenges I'm entering it into: bonfire/firework colours.

Here's what I used:

Shaped card cut out on my Silhouette

Lavinia leaves, Fairy and Toadstool stamps

Stamping Up Pocket Silhouettes

Versafine Onyx black inkpad

Fired Brick and Wild Honey Distress Inks

Tim Holtz blender applicator and sponges

Fine glitter

Liquid pearls

This was a lovely messy one to do. Inky fingers all over the place, great fun.

Here's the challenges I'm entering:

http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/2011/11/challenge-189-baby-youre-firework.html

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2011/11/week-40.html

That's it from me. I'm off to play with some of my NEC goodies this afternoon. 

Bye for now.

Sue.x

Less is more week 39 - Stars - take two

I've had a bit of time to spare this afternoon (all O/H's shirts are ironed and hanging in the wardrobe) so had time to make another quick card for lessismore's Stars challenge.

I used my Silhouette to cut out the star shape and numbers.  Added some glitter here and there and matted and layered a few times.

Sue.x