Less Is More Dry Embossing Birthday Month Challenge

I'm sponsoring the current challenge at Less is More so am playing along with the DT too on their fun dry embossing challenge.  Sometimes using dry embossing in a CAS was can be tricky but you can do it if you think outside the "embossing folder" box.

Here I've used the Full of Heart Stencil and run it through my Big Shot with a tan mat so you get a really subtle embossed effect of hearts all over the background.

For the focal element I've used the gorgeous Mosaic Dome die from AlteNew and embossed it using the tan mat again into some thick card.   I've then used an embossing pen to colour in the raised elements and used different embossing powders to get an enamelled look to the dome.  I really like the soft blue shade which came about by accident - the embossing pen has a slight blue hue and I used satin pearl embossing powder over the top and the blue showed through - one happy accident!

I added a blue glitter banner and then the two part sentiment using Waffle Flower Crafts really useful Congrats stamp and die sets.  All layered up with tiny bits of foam tape for dimension and interest.

Hope you like it and hope you are inspired to join in the challenge too - it's a really fun one!

Tara

Tropical Happy Hour

My store, Seven Hills Crafts, is sponsoring my favourite blog challenge again this month - Less is More - so I am guest blogging for their first challenge this month which is all about tropical colours.  When I thought tropical, the first thing that came to mind was cocktails (yeah I'm sure that came as a shock to those who know me lol!   I do love a drink with an umbrella!!!) so here's what I came up with.

I used the fabulous "cocktail mixer" set from Newton's Nook and coloured all the images with zig clean color pens and a waterbrush to get a bright but still translucent look.  I love colouring with zigs this way as you can layer the colour up to get a bolder/brighter look but also get a pale shading effect without having a million colours.

I added a couple of strips of citrus themed paper to ground the glasses and finished with one of the fun sentiments from the stamp set which is a pretty decent philosophy on life if you ask me ;-)

Have fun with the challenge this month.

Tara

Tin Anniversary

It's our 10th wedding anniversary today and as the traditional gift for 10 years is tin there was really only one way I could go with the card! 

I hand cut my tin from a sheet of thin metal I've had for longer than we've been married and used an embossing tool to score some lines into it from behind.

For the tin label I drew the shape and then cut it 3 times from white, red and blue going a tiny bit bigger each time so create layers.  I used red white and blue to fit the theme over at less is more this week - the colours of my flag.

I die cut the letters from MFT's Little Letters Dienamics in blue and a Lawn Fawn Heart in red - I die cut that 3 times for dimension and added a layer of glossy accents to finish it.   It needed something dark to stop the tin blending into the white base card so I added a layer in blue cut to size and embossed with the largest die in Lil' Inker Designs Silly Stitched set which just embosses the wonky lines.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stripes

I rarely get time to browse challenges and play along but I do try when I get a spare 10 minutes and when I saw the stripes theme come up on Less is More this weekend I had an immediate flash of inspiration and came up with this!

Simple embossed striped lines topped with a stripe of yellow stars and an "all stars" sentiment to go with them.  I used an MFT die called stitched strip to create the stripes and stars and scattered a few of the stars from the die around the card for fun.  The sentiment is from a discontinued MFT stamp set.

Thanks for visiting.

Tara

Less is More is 6!

Less is More was the first challenge blog I ever played in - I played along in Week 2, One Layer Botanicals, for the first time which is 6 years ago this week!   I am back to join in their month long birthday celebration and its fitting that I am playing along and sponsoring week 2 which is the dreaded one layer week (although actually I love making one layer cards - who doesn't love a bit of masking!)

My store, Seven Hills Crafts, is sponsoring this week with a £20 voucher to spend in store, so do make sure you play along - there will be 4 prizes in total this month so make sure you visit every week.

The challenge was to create a one layer card featuring opposites - now the one layer thing didn't phase me but I spent a long time head scratching about what opposites to use, but finally settled on rain and shine.

I used Chance of Rain by Mama Elephant and used masking to create a little scene with the girl and her teddy in matching macs and wellies - simply stamped and coloured with polychromos pencils (no colour shows on the inside this way which is handy for one layer cards).  The sun, clouds and rain came from Sending Sunshine from Wplus9. 

Do check out the rest of the lovely examples over on the Less is More Blog and link up your entries before Friday evening.

Shaker Bauble

I managed to have a quick play with a card for this week's Less is More challenge which is to use acetate or vellum so I've used the new acetate shaker cups from MFT to create a fun shaker bauble.

I used some papers from Echo Park's new Deck the Halls Paper pad and cut two circles, cutting a second circle out of one of them to create a frame to conceal the edge of the shaker cup.  I added some sequins and beads and then sealed the circles adding a gold ornament top die cut to turn the circles into a bauble.

Finished with some strips of paper and glitter paper and a sentiment from Mama Elephant.  I think I'll make a set of these from all the different papers in the pad as they come together quite quickly and everyone loves a shaker!

One Layer Florals

The Less is More challenge this week is to create a one layer card featuring your favourite flower.  This was a bit of a challenge for me as I don't really have a favourite flower - I like lots of them the key thing is I like them all in one colour so I went with that.  My hubby knows better than to send me red roses - if its going to be roses they have to be yellow, same goes for tulips, gerberas - as long as they're yellow (or pale green as I think green flowers are weird and interesting) then I will like them (unless they're sunflowers, I don't like sunflowers for some reason I can't explain)   Anyhow, enough for my waffling - on with the card!

I used the new layering set from Altenew called Remember This which pairs with their previously released Beautiful Day from where the larger leaves in the corner are taken.  I decided to go for grey leaves rather than green as I love grey and yellow as a colour combo and I wanted to try out the Altenew grey inks.  The outline stamping is done with the darkest shade (including the flowers) and then the colouring in is done with the paler two.   The yellows are MFT dye inks in lemon chiffon, sunshine and pineapple.  I added a tiny bit of pencil shading in ochre and brown.  I used my finger to hint at colour behind the flowers to suggest they are part of a bigger bush by dotting some yellow around - in hindsight that may have been better blended out more but hey ho its dry now!