Use Designer Paper in a CAS way!

That is the challenge at Less is More this week. I hadn't really thought of anything to make when the postman arrived with my April Simon Says Kit, which lent itself perfectly to the challenge.

I used one of the stamps and some of the sequins. The paper is snippets from my scrap box so I'm also going over to the Playground to see what everyone is doing there this week.
 

Purple Dragon.

The challenge this week over at Less is More is Saints and Dragons. It certainly had me thinking as I had nothin in my stash that fitted the bill.

In the end I found a cut file on the Silhouette site which Icut out in white card then coloured with Copics. The colouring looks very patchy in the photo but not IRL. I stamped a green splotchy stamp from SU's You Got This to represent green smoke, added a speech bubble and I was done. After I'd finished i remembered I had some Papernation decoupage of a dragon and knight, oh well no doubt it will come in useful another day.
 

Less is More - Geometric One Layer!

The ladies at Less is More are asking for a one layer card using geometric shapes! I went with hexagons and four shades of purple.

I masked off the card leaving a strip to stamp the hexagons on. It looked a bit unfinished with just the stamping so I drew two lines top and bottom of the panel to edge it.

I'm never terribly happy with my one layer cards, they always look a bit unfinished to me and invariably I end up cutting them down and adding a mat behind them. I may well do the same here!

And as I used purple will enter it as my 2nd entry over at the Allsorts challenge.
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Less is More - New baby card

Wonders will never cease! Two posts in one day from me! The reason is Roy went out with some former work colleagues so I had a whole FOUR hours to myself!!!

The theme this week at Less is More is to leave plenty of "white Space" but not white! I have a number of coloured card blanks, bought many years ago when I first started cardmaking, that are now sitting unloved at the botom of my card blank box, so a perfect opportunity to use one!

I diecut the little suit from some dsp and hand drew the seam lines then diecut the hanger.  Very simple card but I rather like it. No new babies to give it to though so it will go into my box of cards - just in case! I'd better make a blue one as well!

Less is More - One Layer!

Once again at Less is More it is the dreaded one layer week! The theme is to make the sentiment the focal point.

So this has given me the motivation to use another NBUS item. The stamp set Botanicals for You is one of this year's Sale-a-Bration items from Stampin'Up! For such a simple card it should have taken minutes to make but oh dear No! This is the ninth attempt and even now I can see I  have a  smudge in the top left hand corner! It just might have to become a more than one layer card before I use it.I stamped the sentiment in Mossy Meadow and added some Wink of Stella which sadly doesn't show up in the photo. The flowers were stamped in Watermelon Wonder and Crushed Curry and the leaves in  Cucumber Crush.
 

Less is More - Citrus

First of all I would like to say a warm welcome to my newest follower Karen and apologies for my lack of commenting - life is geting in the way!

 This week's challenge at Less is More is "Citrus". I chose to go with the colours rather than fruits as I'm not sure that I've got any citrusy stamps!

I used Stampin' Up!s  Awesomely Atistic stamp set and coloured it with a selection of Distress Inks and the new Distress crayons. As both the crayons and stamp set are NBUS items this is going to be my 2nd entry into Darnell's challenge. The yellow mat was out of the snippets box so I'm off to the Playground as well.
 

Less is More 5th Birthday!

It is Less is More's 5th birthday! Where did the time go? The theme is white on white. I had an idea in my head that I wanted to make but somehow it morphed into something totally different and this is what I ended up with.

The corner die is  a NBUS freebie with one of the Tattered Lace magazines. I have to say it was extremely fiddly to stick down ! I couldn't use a sticky sheet on the back as parts of the diecut lift up. Thank goodness for SU's fine tip glue. I cut the Happy Birthday twice, once in white and once in silver and layered them to give just a hint of silver showing.

I'm sorry my watermark is a bit big but I couldn't resize it today! It's the first time I've used my photo editing software since upgrading to Windows 10 and I don't think it's compatible! I'll have to have a play and see what I can do with it in slower time.
 

Less is More - Silhouette

The ladies at Less is More are asking for silhouettes this week. I had time for a quick play yesterday and here is my attempt.

I had a bit of trouble getting a really crisp image, and even tried embossing with black powder (something I rarely use, preferring clear) but a black pen solved the problem. Short and sweet post today!
 

Less is More - Green and Blue

When I read out what this week's Less is More challenge was to Roy last Saturday, he commented " I'll be interested to see what you do with that!" Well this is what I did.

I used a NBUS die from Simon Says Stamp and cut it out twice, once in blue and once in green then pieced the bits together. The blue paper was the backing paper from a Clarity stencil and the green was a snippet of holographic card. I'm off to make a second one with the remaining die pieces - obviously in reverse colours. Thee sentiment is a peel off coloured with a green copic pen. The snippets used mean that I get to have a go on the swings at the Playground!

Strawberries for LIM

Less is More is looking for fruit this week. Last week's card would have worked for this and I did think of using the same stamp, but then I remembered I had this strawberry stamp, which was a freebie from quite a few years ago.

I decided to have a change from my usual white card blanks and used Tip Top Taupe for my base with Watermelon Wonder and Cucumber Crush. These are three of the colours SU introduced this year and till now I hadn't even opened the packet of card or taken the cellophane of the ink pads. I coloured the strawberries with the matching markers then covered them in glossy accents. No sentiment yet as I'm not sure what I will use it for. I'm also going to the Playground as the strawberries were stamped on a small snippet of white. for the second time this week - it's beginning to get quite festive over there.
 

Happy Thanksgiving!! and Less is More

First of all I'd like to wish all my US bloggy friends a very happy Thanksgiving! I'd also like to extend a warm welcome to my new followers, Barb (sorry I can't find a blog to link for you) and Sylvia-Ann.

The card I have to show you today is for the Less is More challenge which is asking for "Numbers".  I didn't want to use 25 for Christmas and had no suitable birthdays or anniversaries coming up, so after some thought decided to go with this:

The stamp is a retired SU one and thesentiment was computer generated.  Originally I intended the image and sentiment to be one layer but I managed to stamp the tree just off centre but it looked far too obvious for me to leave as it was, so some dies were brought into use. I gold embossed the image and coloured it with copics. I continued the sentiment into the inside with the stamp that came from the set, and some additional pears.

That's it from me today - off to close the curtains and shut out the gloom even though it's only just 4pm.

 

Less is More - One Layer Santa

Less is More this week is the "dreaded" one layer card  with the theme of Santa. I was lucky enough to win the prize last week at the Snippets Playground and the Hobby Art stamp set I won had the perfect image.

I did the first one on a white card blank, embossed with a SU E/F. I covered the trim on the hat and collar with white flower soft. I wasn't too happy with the result as the card blank was a bit too wide for the E/F. So I made another one using Smoky Slate card.

This time I used a Snow-Writer pen which is similar to Fluffy Stuff and I like this one much better.

LIM 249 Colour Challenge

The colour challenge at Less is More this week is to use the colours of "Fire". I immediately thought of autumn leaves and started making a card on Sunday.

After stamping lots of leaves my mojo went for a walk so I didn't finish the card until yesterday  - then I saw that lots of others had used leaves as well. I thought of doing something else but as my crafting time is very limited these days and the creative juices seem to have gone into hiding, decided to stick with the original plan. I used SU's Vintage Leaves and I think the background is from the You've Got It set. I added some gold embossed splats to the background as well. The leaves are actually shiny as I covered them with Versamark and clear embossd them. I think my photography skills, which were never very good, have also gone for a walk.

Roy is making slow progress but every day he can do a little more. He does get very frustrated though and very irritable, which is so unlike him. Unfortunately encephalitis can cause changes in personality, so I'm hoping it is just the frustration which will get less as he improves.  I do find some time to craft but blogging has taken a bit of a back seat I'm afraid.  And some days I'm just too tired to do very much at all.

I'm also going to join in at the Playground as the leaves were snippets of white card.
 

Lim - Shiny!

The lajies at Less is More want "Shiny" this week. A few years ago I bought a couple of packs of pens that I think were from Creative Expressions, that are essentially coloured Glossy Accents. They have been lurking at the back of a drawer for a long time. The perfect challenge for them to see the light of day again!

The stamp is a retired SU one which I think was called Blessed Easter, I inked it up omitting the Easter sentiment , with Versafine Onyx Black then coloured the tulips with the pens. The sentiment is from the SU set Flower Patch.
 

Less is More Green and Gold and NBUS

Less is More has a colour theme this week of green and gold. My first thoughts were Christmas and set to making a card, but by the time I'd finished realised it wasn't very LIM. So it was put to one side and I started again. This time I did away with the Christmas theme and instead used a very new stamp, it had only arrived in the post an hour previously! This has to be some sort of record for me as new stuff tends to get looked at for a long time before I actually use it! This time I kept it very simple.

The image was stamped and embossed with gold embossing powder then coloured in with Spectrum Noir pencils. I added a little bit of grey shading to the candle to give it a rounded look. The mat was cut with a L'il Inkers die. The stamp is the latest Clarity Stamps club stamp.  After stamping and colouring it I decided it would work well as a sympathy card and these days I seem to need them more often. As well as Less is More I am also entering this into Darnell's 5th NBUS Challenge

and this time she has some fabulous sponsors.

The Blues!

I managed to find a little time to craft over the weekend and made this card for Less is More who want us to use sprays and mists.By a happy chance it also fits the theme for Addicted to Cas who want "Blue"

 Stampin' Royalty who want "circles" and as it was also a snippet used for the butterfly I'm going to take it over to the Playground as well. WOW - four challenges with one card, not sure I've ever managed that before.

Roy and I are slowly getting into a sort of routine between various outpatients appointments, but most of my time seems to be taken up now with food shopping (ugh!) and cooking! need to get it more organised!
 

Less is More - Life's a Beach!

I've managed to find time to make a card for this week's Less is More challenge and this is what I came up with.

I hope it's not cheating as I created the scene with Craft Artist - if it is ladies then please feel free to delete it. I cut the frame out with some Spellbinders dies, stamped it with SU's hardwood stamp then ran it through a wood embossing folder. I was trying to get the look of distressed wood that you see on pictures in seaside gift shops. I'm not sure if I succeeded though. The sentiment is a Simon Says Stamp one. 

Red White and Blue!

I found a little time to play yesterday and managed to finish a scrap book page and make a card.

I had just received the Simon Says Stamp monthly kit which was perfect for making a card for the Less is More challenge of red,white and blue. There is a cute little die of a yacht in the kit as well but sadly it doesn't match the stamp!

I have been following Jane's blog Onions and Paper for some time  and felt sure that I knew her from quite some time ago as her name was familiar to me. Anyway after she commented on my Rudolph Day post I decided to email her and I was right - we had both belonged to the local machine knitting club a lifetime ago!  So yesterday we met up for coffee at her house which is about a ten minute walk away and spent a pleasant morning chatting and catching up!


 

Today has been ....

.....a good day! I have had a day off from hospital visiting and for once have achieved what I wanted to do!! Other days off have either not gone to plan or I have just been too tired to do much.
But today I have done mundane things like changing the bed linen, getting it washed and dried (not ironed yet - my ironer (Roy) not being available I'm going to have to do it myself and I hate ironing), sorted out the fountain in the pond as it was clogged up and done the shopping. I also called in the garden centre for a couple of plants for the garden and some craft stuff just happened to fall in my trolley.One item was sa Sheena Doudlass stencil of hills and I've even managed to have a play with it and made a card for Less is More!!

It is more colourful IRL but the light wasn't very good when I took the photo. The house is a Clarity stamp, coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils. I stamped the sentiment in sepia but think it would have been better in black.

I'm pleased to say Roy is improving albeit VERY slowly. He has been assessed and put on the waiting list for a bed in the neurorehab centre in Woking. It's further away for me to visit but he will be getting the specialist rehab he needs, and hopefully will improve faster.

I am so grateful for all the positive vibes and good wishes I have had from fellow bloggers - you really are great!
 

Less is More - One Layer Week

Just popping in very quickly with a card for Less is More. Its one layer week with a theme of "Animals". I decided to go very simple and definitely not cutesy!

The Chimp stamp is from Clarity and was a NDC stamp which had never been inked before. I clear embossed it and IRL its lovely and glossy. I tried embossing a rectangle around the stamp with a Spellbinders die but it looked awful and was almost cut through so I doodled a frame instead. The sentiment is from an old Creative Expressions set and I had to doodle underneath it as well, as I had caught the edge of the stamp with ink, and I wasn't going to do it a third time!