Less in threes

It's Saturday so time for a new challenge at Less is More and it's the now "not so" dreaded One Layer week.  I did use to dread this challenge every month but now normally don't give it a second thought - not today though - I've really struggled.  I don't think it's the One Layer that's causing the issue - it's the breadth of opportunity - I always seem to struggle with challenges where you can use almost anything in your stash - I  never know where to start!

So - the result from me today is 4 very random cards - 3 of which I'm not particularly pleased with, and one which I think turned out pretty well.

For my first card I decided to use one of my new  PTI sets - I really like the seed packet.  For this one, my 3 was colours - pistachio, rose bud and peanut brittle momento inks.  It seemed like a good idea but it didn't really work out.

So I tried another PTI set - the harvest berries I've coveted for so long but have only inked up for the first time today.  I decided to use the same rose bud and pistachio inks (the new pistachio is my fave of the new colours) and my 3 this time is 3 multiples of the tripple berry stamps.  I finished with the jumbo birthday sentiment - also from PTI stamped in the rose bud.  I think this time the placement is off!

For this tiny 3 x 3 inch card I really wanted to use my super cute ants from Lawn Fawn - I bought this mini set for these 3 ants - which for anyone who knows me will seem very strange.  I HATE ANTS.  But for some reason, these ones really called out to me so I bought the set.  The problem this time was I wasn't really sure what to do with them - I went for a bit of a pun sentiment which I wrote by hand but it feels a bit meh...

So, I decided to go back to my comfort zone of a nice simple image which I can colour.  I dug out a There She Goes set this time - called Bomb Diggity.   I stamped the girl running with the bomb in the bottom right corner and coloured her with pencils so the colour wouldn't bleed through.  I added another couple of bombs from the set (my 3 element on this card) and added one of the sentiments in between.  I also used just 3 main colours - black, red and brown (you just have to ignore the skin colours and the tiny bits of yellow).

At last, one I think is successful - phew - I could have been sitting here all day and it's really time to do some laundry!

Laters ;-)

St Luke's Mid Month Reminder

Well it certainly seems like we've scared off our regulars over on the St Luke's Charity Cards Challenge Blog with our one layer challenge this month as we've hardly had any players.  So, as its one layer week over at Less is More I thought I'd combine their "use 3 stamps" with our "anything as long as its one layer" to see if we can prompt a few more players to join us.  We have a couple of lovely stamps from Lili of the Valley up for grabs....

My three stamps were from 2 sets - the flower and frame are both old ones from Elzybells whom I loved so much so am SOOOO pleased to see that she is now designing for Penny Black and that some of her old stamp sets (including the round flower set to match this one) are being re-released.  The sentiment is from a new set from Papermania by Lucy Cromwell.   I masked off a strip then stamped the flower and frame, removed the mask and added the sentiment into the gap - simples. 

See ONE LAYER DOESN'T HAVE TO BE SCARY.....................

Another bird

I started Jennifer McGuire's new online Clean and Simple Card Making class tonight and decided to use one of the techniques to have another crack at this weeks LIM One Layer Bird Challenge

I embossed the birdhouse stamp with black powder, masked off an area around it and then used small squares of foam with distress inks and pearlised water to create a patchwork effect watercolour background.

A murder of crows......

It's one-layer week over at Less is More this week, and we need to include birds.  My title for this post is reference to the fact that I've got a lot of birds, and because I've murdered a lot of card stock in the process trying to make something blogable..........

I'm not showing all the failures, but have shown one here in my first photo as I had a third attempt once the stencil had dried.  For the first I tried to apply flitter-glue through this nellie snellen stencil and then apply glitter - I got FAR too much glue on it and it bled - one murdered bird down!  I tried to use distress inks - same result - that one went in the bin.  I finally settled on pencil crayon and then once the stencil was removed I added some stickles to the dots.  I think I might add some bakers twine for him to stand on as now its in photo he needs grounding.

Next attempt - let's get back to simple stamping - it's safer ground!!  Can't remember who made these stamps - it's a set of love birds but I choose to do just one - I'm on a bit of a valentines kick at the minute - not sure this works very well in pink though - it's a tiny 3 inch square.

This set of birds is by Verve.  I bought the set because I loved the sentiment.  I live the strong colours, but I'm not sure about my placement on this one.

So we tried something more centrally aligned.  A waltzingmouse frame in Paris nights momento ink, with birds and a sentiment from a marion emerson set inside in grey and black.  I was using the longer sentiment from the set (which I bought today from the Ross Papercrafts Show) but the stamp is dodgy and needs to be replaced.  The shorter sentiment doesn't have the impact though unfortunately.

This was my final attempt, and I'm sort of happy with this one.  A stampendous stamp, simply coloured with pencils with a little added glitter.  The sentiment continues my valentines theme as inside it reads "I love you!"

I used to be in the YOC (Young Ornithologists Club) but after this weekend - I'm off birds for good!  Can we have an easier subject next week please ladies :(

Christmas leaves

Here is the entry for March's Waltzingmouse Christmas card challenge which was to make a minimum of 3 identical cards using kraft, red and white or cream as your colours.

I made 3, but my husband really likes them so thinks they should be "our" Christmas card for this year so I may make more.  I started with a square kraft base card and stamped 3 outline holly leaves from Waltzingmouse Festive Foliage and embossed it with white detail powder and embossed the berries over the top in red.  I continued this red and white theme into the sentiment which is from Say It Loud Winter Holiday, embossing the small "bring on the" in white and the larger "Merry" in red.  I think it's one of the most balance CAS cards I've ever made and really love it.

As it is a one-layer CAS card featuring leaves, I am also going to make it my second entry into this weeks Less is More challenge.

Thanks for visiting.