Home Down Under

One of my blogging buddies has recently moved down under and I needed to make her a new home card so I was very happy when I saw today's Less is More theme!  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/week-228-one-layer-card.html

She's waiting to pick up her dog from quarantine so I knew the set I wanted to use as it features the perfect doggie along with lots of bits and bobs to decorate the house and garden  - This Awesome House by Winnie and Walter.  I did a little masking to add the topiary by the front door, used glossy accents on the glass to keep the white space and then just did some soft water colouring with distress markers.

Thanks for coming up with the perfectly timed challenge ladies!

Gladys the Superhero

I've been falling back in love with my copics recently, mostly because I now have Sandy Allnock's hex chart which has revolutionised my colouring - it makes it soooo much easier to get colours to blend when you can see which ones are next to each other by shade rather than trying to work out the complex numbering scheme!

So I've had my pens out today to play in Less Is More's 2 or 4 legs theme http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/lucky-dip-week-226.html and now let me introduce you to Seniorita Gladys by Stamping Bella - I just LOVE her!

She is simply coloured with copics  - I gave her a slight blue rinse as she reminds me of my Nannan!  I deliberately had her cape just hanging over the edge of the card to add a little interest to an otherwise plain card.  To balance out all the red I highlighted the yellow by adding a matching strip of card to the left hand side.   Isn't she rocking those starry pants lol!

Catch you later :-)
Thanks for visiting

Tara

Metal Cakes

No I've not gone mad making inedible cakes - I'm just combing a couple of challenges - the photo inspiration at Fusion http://fusioncardchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/fusion-wedding-belles.html
with the theme of "add metal" at Less is more http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/week-225-recipe.html

I used the new Gardenia Blooms Journal stamp from Neat and Tangled and did some soft watercolouring with distress markers (focussing on fossilised amber the new shade) after embossing the whole image in white.  A quick trim with scissors and its the perfect panel to pop on a card.  I added my metal in the form of a die cut word using Clearly Besotted's birthday die and some soft craft metal backed with stick-it could just be glued straight down with no mess!  The wishes is from Wplus9, stamped and overwritten with a shimmer pen to match the metal.

This was the inspiration photo that kicked it all off for me.

Blue Tit of Friendship

I've been itching to ink up this lovely little birdie from WPlus9 since it was released a few weeks ago but I've not had time.  I have plans for it tomorrow on my store blog but I thought I'd get a head start by making an entry for this week's colour challenge from LIM too http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/week-222-colour.html

The challenge was to use opposite colours on the colour wheel so I went with blue and yellow and turned the bird into a blue tit.  I hope I can be forgiven the little hint of brown on the branch as he needed something to perch on.   He is lovely and simple to colour, even if you aren't a brilliant painter (I know cos I'm not an expert!)  I just used distress markers and some white acrylic paint.  I fussy cut him out and then extended the lines on the branch so I could pop him in a little die cut frame (Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Circle die) and I added a little blue distress ink around the edges of the frame to drawn your eye into the middle.  The sentiment is from Mama Elephant's Origami set and I just curved it on my block to match the frame before stamping it.

Up and Away

I'm a bit later than normal to the LIM party this week - I messed up my card so started again!  The theme is up and away which gave me the perfect excuse to break out some new balloon dies and to pair them with one of my all time favourite stamps - I think it came out super cute.  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/week-220-theme.html

The balloons were die cut from a sheet of card covered with stick-it thin sheet glue so I could foil them with rainbow foil before die cutting.  The letters are die cut from the balloons automatically so I can add those to another project later.   I added some sewing cotton around the balloons and tied them together around my favourite panda's arm so it looks like he is being carried up and away as per the theme.  Adding a couple of comic book style "zooms" under this feet shows he's moving pretty fast too!

Showering you with love

The LIM challenge this week - one layer splatters - gave me the perfect excuse to break out my new stamps from Wplus9's latest release - Love Showers - was made for this challenge!   It also fits this weeks' "shower" challenge at Addicted to CAS

I started with the umbrella and stamped it with Mama Elephant Winter ink and embossed it.  I arranged the sentiments around it and stamped those in black and then added the hearts with Mama Elephant Lollipop and clear embossed those too.

For my splatters I used a tumbled glass marker on an acrylic block and added a little water so I could get some spritzing action using a toothbrush from some fine dots and a paintbrush for some slightly larger ones.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tara

Take 3 Challenges

I'm taking advantage of the extra day off work to make a last minute entry to the Less is More challenge as I've been too busy to play for a couple of weeks.   The challenge which ends today is to combine 3 previous challenges and I chose:

Challenge 26 - Feeling Fruity
Challenge 37 - Cocktails
and Challenge 114 - Lime and Black

I combined a SSS glasses set with Reverse Confetti's Fresh n Fruity as I love the sassy sentiment!

Hope you're all have a great Easter break.

Hoppy Cake Bunny

It's LIM day again and it's One Layer Week and this month they want a one layer card featuring an animal which gave me the perfect opportunity to ink up one of my new stamps that arrived last week from my mate Elaine's store Quixotic Paperie which is where I get all my Stamping Bella goodies.   She is having a massive Spring Sale this weekend so perfect opportunity to do a little shopping!

This image is from the Hoppy Poppy Collection which is soooo cute!  I simply stamped and then coloured with polychromos pencils which blend with no bleeding on one layer cards.   Should have got my stampamajig out for the sentiment though - never mind I like quirky angles!

Right off to work on some Easter projects for my store blog tomorrow.

Catch you later.

Wings

The challenge this week at Less is More is "wings"  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/week-212-wings.html   There were already a lot of birds and insects in the gallery so I opted for something mechanical!

This is an as yet unreleased set from Avery Elle which will be on sale on Friday.  As I managed to get them early it will be on sale in my UK store at the same time as it gets released Stateside along with the rest of their release which is a stunning one.  There are so many sets I want myself!

This is called Fly By and comes with other sky writing sentiments which are such fun.  I heat embossed that in white and added some frosted lace stickles.  The clouds are outlines which I coloured in using grey and white ink with a cotton bud to get a fluffy feeling and added some stickles to the top too.  The plane is paper pieced using Avery Elle's Happy pad which is also out on Friday.

Catch you later!

Happy 4th Birthday Less is More!

I was really thrilled when Chrissie asked me to guest again over at Less is More today to celebrate their 4th Birthday.   I can hardly believe this challenge site has been running for 4 years.  I found it on week 2 and have played along as often as I can ever since and really found my CAS style through their challenges so I have a lot to thank them for!

The challenge today is a colour theme of pink and grey and I decide to give it a birthday twist in honour of the challenge with a host of pink balloons!

I stamped the balloons using one shape from the Whole Lotta Happy stamp from Wplus9 using Blush, Piggy Bank and Lollipop pigment inks by Mama Elephant.   I die cut the birthday from grey card using the birthday script die from Mama Elephant and stamped wishes from the Whole Lotta Happy stamp underneath using grey versafine.   I drew the balloon strings by hand using the pumice stone distress marker.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LESS IS MORE!

Little Ones

It's a five week month over at Less is More which you all know is my favourite challenge site so I was thrilled to be asked to be the guest designer this week and join in the fun.   The theme is little ones which had me head scratching for a bit before I hit on the idea of using some "little ones" to make a "big one"!

I used 5 shades of distress to colour a piece of card from deep red, through pink into orange and then used the super cute tiny hearts die set from Paper Smooches to die cut lots of little hearts.  I lightly drew a big heart on my base card and then arranged my little ones inside the line using the dark at the bottom and light at the top.  To get the effect right you need to make sure that the hearts touch the edge of your pencil line all the way around and then your eyes fill in the gaps between to create the shape once your rub out the line.

I finished with an appropriate sentiment heat embossed onto a strip of vellum so you can still see the hearts underneath.  This one comes from one of my favourite sentiment sets - Avery Elle's So Happy which is so very useful!

Simply love

A new year and a new challenge at my favourite challenge site.  If you come here often then you know that LIM is the challenge I play along with the most, particularly now crafting time is limited.  I'm such a fan in fact, that I am back as a sponsor this month with my Store so do play along this month as you get some vouchers to go on a little shopping spree if the LIM ladies pick you as their winner!  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/week-205-colour-challenge.html

This week's challenge is a colour one mo - to use black and metallics with a colour of your choice.  I went for red and a theme of love.  Classically simple.

I used the new scripty love die from Lawn Fawn which is great as it cuts as a whole word not fiddly individually letters and added it over the top of a red glittery heart cut with a Wplus 9 die.   The black background is unusual for a love themed card but it adds strength and drama and I really like it!

Santa's coming to town

I have loads of stuff I SHOULD be doing today, but in the true spirit of the procrastinating crafter, I'm doing stuff for fun instead!  So I made a card for this week's "anything Christmassy" challenge at Less is More  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/week-199.html

I just went really simple with the Joy to the World set from Avery Elle on a small square card.  Stamping the "santa" version of the globe in a nice bright red with the stark black santa silhoutte and sentiment really works for me.  The globe base had to be metal so I went for a cold silver.  I think I may be knocking up a few of these as I am badly behind on Christmas cards and these take about 30 seconds!

Right, I have an exciting gift project I need to finish for tomorrow - catch you later.

PJs and Trees

Today is Waltzingmouse PJ party day and I've managed to combine their sketch challenge with this week's LIM challenge which is to feature more than one tree  http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/week-198-theme.html

Here's my take on the sketch which I've included below for reference.

I used the row of trees from Flurries and a bit of inking with a dauber over scraps of torn paper to get some hills to ground them on.  I wanted to tie into the "warm" in the sentiment so decided to add a large low yellow sun rising behind the hills.  I put my die cut panel onto a soft background of snow created using texture paste and a SSS stencil.

I didn't manage to do all the challenges this month but I did have a go at the Scandi Tag too.

I decided to do a sparkly red snowflake - not traditional but I think it works - particularly with this spikey number from the last release.  I added a little scani-ribbon and a simple sentiment along with a dashed border and hey-presto - a quick and easy gift tag.   I really love to wrap with plain coloured papers at Christmas and let my trimmings do the talking so these are going to look great on my red wrapping with lots of natural hemp twine.

It's just the day for a PJ party here - cold, grey and foggy.  What could be better than staying in and getting inky!

Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

The challenge at Less is More this week is to make a Christmas card with no red or green http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/week-196-colour-challenge-non.html and Virginia's View challenge is "All About Metallics" http://virginiasviewchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/virginias-view-challenge-9.html so I combined the two for my card over on the store blog this week.

I die cut an ornament from Paper Smooches from double-sided adhesive sheet and then covered it in 3 shades of microfine blue glitter to get a shaded effect (I used Blue Purple, Royal Blue and Bluebell - all of which can be found here) and then added the ornament topper in grey and silver.  A bauble needs somewhere to hang and for that I used my new Spring and Berries die from Elizabeth Craft Designs and cut it from silver card and I used the matching embossing folder to add interest to the background.  A simple die cut "joy" sentiment in matching silver was the perfect finishing touch.

It was the first time I'd tried the microfine glitters and I really love them - you can colour with glitter like you do with copics - the shades blend so well together and a little goes such a long way.  I am going to be glittering everything this Christmas!!!!

It's 5 o'clock somewhere!

Very quick post for me today as I found 10 minutes to play with the current Less is more challenge - 
One Layer Beverages

I used the new Adult Beverages stamps from SSS - I know as a stamp shop owner I should use my own stuff, but I'm a crafter first and business woman second!  Also, this set just works for soooo many of my friends, it had to be done!

The card was simply done with masking and the drinks were coloured with polychromos pencils and blending solution.

Cheers!

Singing in the Rain

This week's challenge at LIM is to be inspired by the song "Singing in the Rain" - a much easier challenge than last week's finger print one!   Although I have to say thanks as I got so many lovely comments on my card last week and I hated it - just goes to show that we are our own worst critics!   This is what I did this week:

I'm sorry but I have no idea where I got the image - it's an old red-rubber stamp in my "misc" file so probably something I picked up at a fair at some point (but at least I knew I had it as it was the first stamp I thought of when I saw this challenge!)    I stamped it onto a mini card and then used watercolour paints to colour it and to add the downpour of rain around them.   I didn't have exactly the sentiment I wanted so I decided to just hand write my own.   I have to say I'm much happier with this one than last weeks' effort!

Er - well - less said the better......

You could be fooled into thinking that todlers have taken over my blog today, but no, I am afraid this is all my own work - I can't actually believe I'm sharing it but here goes my entry to this week's Less is More challenge of "adapt a fingerprint on a one layer card"...........

Now some people in the gallery have done some amazing cards (can't believe Gay and Birgit used fingers!!!) - mine, well as the title says less said the better, but at least I had a go!   I made finger prints with distress inks in a very vaguely peakcock shape and then added the eyes and feathery bits with sakura gel pens.  Sentiment is Kraftin Kimmie.

Right - time to run away..............

Can we have something easier next week PLEASE?????

Back on the watercolour...

The theme at LIM this week is watercolouring - well I don't need much of an excuse to play with that technique again!

I decided to have another go at the watercolour technique Dawn from Wplus9 showed on their blog a few weeks ago - stamping with 2nd generation distress ink and then using a brush and water to soften the stamping for a watercoloured look.  So naturally I went to my favourite Fresh Cut Florals set but needed something to put them in.   I used Joanna Sheen's trug, but instead of die cutting it, I used the die to emboss the shape into the watercolour card stock.  I then stamped the flowers and leaves using Dawn's technique, and then used the distress inks with the brush to colour in the trug - the embossed lines "hold" the ink so it's easy to paint ;-)   A little more ink underneath to ground it and a sentiment from the set and a thin blue mat to pull out the berries and its finished.

I have wedding invites to finish today so I'd best get cracking!

Off the edge

Going off the edge is the challenge at Less is More this week and I got the perfect new set of stamps and dies in my store this weekend to make a card with that theme!

I used the large die to cut the top of the big balloon off the top of the card base and then simply stamped the rest overlapping each other.  Added the strings from the set and finished with a wink of stella for shimmer.

It's been an exciting week in the store - we've had 7 big boxes of new stock arrive, so if you want something to distract you from the football, then we have the following:

• Lawn Fawn - latest release and restocks including the polka paper pad
• Papersmooches - latest release and restocks
• Neat and Tangled - SEQUINS (yeah!) and the latest release of stamps (the hope stamps is backordered)
• Newton's Nook - the last couple of releases PLUS all the Christmas stamps that have been oos for ages!
• Avery Elle - new release, restocks and storage panels!
• Wplus9 - ALL the floral sets are back in stock as is hand letter hello!
• and last but no means least - Lil Inkers - restocks where they had any left plus some more stuff I didn't get first time around.  They didn't have huge stocks but I will be ordering again soon.

Thanks for visiting

Tara