Setting a precedent!!

Hello everyone, well I think I'm setting myself a record by posting 4 days running! But while I was creating the last card I came across another stamp that I wanted to use for the LIM challenge, come and see;

This lovely hibiscus stamp is from a very old SeeDee set called tropical that I came across last night. Karen bought me 9 sets years ago and the happy birthday set is one I go to regularly and I hadn't looked at this set for ages but realised it had a grunge type stamp in it, result!! and a lovely sentiment font. I stamped using grey versafine and used Su inks on an acrylic block and added them with a water brush.

Off to relax again in the garden, strange how having been retired for 4 years I still enjoy the weekends:)

Ooh just found out my last tag with the mermaid on is in the hall of fame over at the Q&Lchallenge:)

Less is More week 177-theme

Help I'm on a roll, 3 posts in 3 days, I think I may have sunstroke!!

Well it's Saturday and time for a new Less is More challenge and this is what the team want:

Our challenge is to use

WATERCOLOUR

It doesn't have to be a complete work of art (although we know that many will be just that), but if you could  include water when adding colour to your project that would be wonderful.

There are many watercolour stamps around, where colour is added directly to the stamp  rather than adding colour to an outline image. Distress Inks can be used, watercolour pencils, background washes whatever your imagination dictates.

Please remember to keep it CLEAN & SIMPLE and don't forget that
WHITE SPACE

I have used a Jenny Mayes sketchy stamp, stamped with grey Versafine and watercoloured with DI's. I stamped a strip of card with the grey ink and left it without colour. The sentiment is an old SeeDee one and the topper was diecut with a spellbinders die.

I have another stamp ready to use so I may be back sooner than you think!!

I've had a very relaxing day swinging on the garden sofa reading my book:)

Q&L challenge

Well there you go no posts for ten days and then 2 in two days! This time it's my tag for the latest Craft Barn challenge and the two words they gave us are PROUD and VINTAGE. Again I am going with lyrics rather than quotes and I suppose the most obvious song was Proud sung by Heather Small at the 2012 Olympics.
We sing this a lot at Rock Choir but the first song that came into my  head was Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival which was a huge hit in my youth, January 1969 to be precise:) You can hear it here.
Once more I've used Craft Artist to create my tag as I find it's the easiest way to print my lyrics, come and see:

I couldn't find  a song with both words in but the paddle steamer on my tag is very vintage;)

The weather is set fine for the weekend so enjoy.

Less is More week 176-one layer

Evening all, gosh it seems ages since I posted a card but the days have just whooshed by, as Darnell would say :)
Last week I was busy practising for our show at the Highgate summer fair which was a great success. We were very well received, a large audience and lots of people coming up afterwards saying how much they had enjoyed our set :) We are busy practising again now for our big concert on July 5th at St Mary's uni in East London.
Tuesday I had a dental appointment as a crown had fallen out and I was a bit worried that my wisdom tooth was loose.Anyway to cut a long story short I am now minus two teeth!!! A complete medieval practice but it didn't hurt and have not been in pain since although I had to have a couple of days on baby food! Back to normal today.
This week's challenge over at Less is More is as follows:

Once more it's One Layer Card time and

 the title of our challenge is 

OFF THE EDGE

I used some old SU two step stamps but I don't know the name and the reeds from the Wetlands set. The sentiment and dragonfly are from a SeeDee set. The lighting wasn't good so I've shown two photos as the dragonfly with the glitter looks a totally different colour!

I've been busy playing with Craft Artist and making some scrapbook pages of Charlie using an out of the frame technique which is cool, come and see:

I also made a card for Dom to give Jim for Father's day and as he is into his shed and gardening I went with this:

I had a beach chalet stamp and used it to create the shed adding the side to give perspective and embossed it for texture. This is where the SU hardwood stamp would have come in useful :) The wall is a TH ef.

Sorry for the overlong post I should have told you to settle down with a cuppa or a glass of vino:)

Ooh and I nearly forgot, I was showcased this week at Less is More, so exciting!! 

See you all soon

A LIM card using NBUS!!

Hi everyone from a very hot and sunny London:) It's got very cloudy now and we are forecast some light rain this evening but the rest of the week looks fab! I hope it lasts for Saturday as we are singing at a summer fair in Highgate and I don't like getting wet!
Anyway back to my card which I am entering in two challenges this week, the first being Less is More, come and see:

For our Colour Challenge this time we have

The colours in your bedroom!

 That should give you the chance to work with colours you love!

 My bedroom is taupe and turquoise and I have used a NBUS stamp set from Artemio. I used an SU punch to create a partial aperture and then punched out the whole flower and added a WOW sentiment.

There is a new challenge on the block originating from Darnell of the fabulous djkardkreations and it is to make a card using at least one NBUS which is her acronym for "never before used schtuff ". The theme is Anything goes but with friendship in mind. Although my card doesn't have friend on it it is for a friend's birthday next month. Do pop over and check out the criteria and the wonderful cards that Darnell creates. There are prizes to be won as well:)

Q&L challenge

Hi there, wow what a beautiful day we've had, perfect temperature and a lovely breeze:) if only this would continue for the next 3 months!
I'm in plenty of time this fortnight for the Craft Barns's Q&L challenge where the words are MOUNTAIN and MISTAKE. Lots of choice for lyrics with mountain in them but I've gone for a song by Savage Garden that I hear a lot in the car, come and see:

I created the background in Craft Artist and cut out the mermaid, added some glitter to her tail and popped her up with pinflair. I inked the edges and used a swirly stamp to over stamp for more depth. I stapled the ribbon on for a change:)

If you aren't familiar with the song you can check it out here.

Hope you all have a good weekend with some sunshine!

Less is More week 174-Lucky dip

Evening all and I'm back with a card or rather two for this week's challenge over at Less is More:

As it is another 5 Saturday month we have another Lucky Dip Challenge.

Our Guest this month is 

Margaret K 

well known to so many of your for her fabulous cards.

Our challenge for this time's Lucky Dip is to use 

MORE THAN ONE STAMP

It seemed such a simple challenge but I hate too much choice:) Just think how many stamps we own and then to choose more than one but with no theme to inspire, OMG Chrissie don't do this to me!!!
Anyway having calmed down my first idea is my 2nd card but I'm not that happy with it as the idea in my head didn't seem to translate to the card so I had to resort to my favourite stamp set SU's Everything Eleanor. I was inspired by a card I saw on Rosie's blog ( amazing cards ) using this set and so this is my CASE of it, come and see:

Stamped with SU Soft Suede and Marina Mist and the label and flowers are popped up on foam pads. Sentiment is a WOW one.

The freebie stamp this month from Craft Stamper is from Chocolate Baroque and is Rennie Mackintosh inspired. I have a set of Ali Reeves templates and this one looked perfect for this style and I just sponged some Shabby Shutters DI into the panels and cut out 2 circles popped up to display the stamp coloured with Copics. My first attempt I used a black pen to outline through the template but the finish was too harsh and so I went back to the DI's.

Enjoy your week:)