Less is More week 77-Theme

"Hey there Mister Blue I'm so pleased to be with you

        Look around see what you do, everybody smiles at you"

This song is stuck in my head so apologies folks:)

At least it's true today!

The LIM challenge this week is a theme and it's

SEWING

For this it could be machine or hand sewing.. faux or stamped... you could even use sewing related images... just let your imagination roam!

I've never stitched on a card before although I can use a sewing machine but I remembered I had a little hand machine that I could use. Perhaps I should have got my big machine out the stitching would have been straighter:) Anyway I liked the final result, what do you think?

Recipe:

The poster found on a sewing blog

Digi stamp from Vintage Stamps

Green thread

Check out the amazing cards that Chrissie and Mandi have produced and thanks for taking the time to visit I appreciate any thoughts you may have:)

Make My Monday Colour Wheel Challenge

Afternoon everyone from a dull, drizzly London, although Mister Blue Sky is supposed to be here for the weekend! That song is driving me mad I love it but we have sung it so much this term and now it's on the British Gas advert!! Maybe we sang it too much and frightened him off:)
Anyway back to the challenge. I moaned about the colours last week and came in the Top 3 and I can't say I love this weeks colours either! This week it's complimentary colours of :

Now let me think, when was the last time I wore these colours? 1964 maybe:)

Just joking Mynnette! I quite liked it once I started thinking about what to do. Here is my card, what do you think?

Recipe:

White base card

Coredinations in purple and yellow

Anna Griffin punch

Free stamp from Creativity mag

Promarkers

SeeDee sentiment and brad

I masked the first stamped image and stamped the skirt again for extra fullness. I coloured with PM's and added gold glitter with my glue pen and fussy cut and mounted with pinflair.

Thanks for visiting and hopefully leaving a comment:)

Scrapbook Challenge #2 Holiday time!

Hi everyone and here we are with our 2nd scrapbook challenge at Addicted to Stamps.  Victoria has chosen this months theme and it is HOLIDAYS.  We want to encourage reluctant scrappers so it can be anything holiday related and either hand or digitally scrapped. Thanks goodness for that as digitally scrapping is all I do:)
Here is my layout showing a holiday last May in the South of France.

I used Craft Artist and the photos bring back lovely memories:) Hopefully you will be encouraged to give scrapping a go and join our challenge this month. Check out the link for the rest of the DT layouts:)
Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog and hopefully leaving a comment so that I can visit you.

Less is More week 76 - one layer

Wow huge freedom this week with the LIM challenge although it's a bit like a large menu when you have too much choice:) 

Everyone's favourite... the 
One Layer Challenge 

and this week it's really simple

Three of anything that is, three colours, three images, three stamps, three words, the number three.... it's up to you, but don't forget the white space, a simple design and just one layer!

I've gone for a butterfly theme using a set of stamps from Little Claire Designs. I used the tree and the cat and added a sentiment to the butterfly trail, so that's my three stamps.

I coloured the images with PM's and rounded the opposite corners.

I'm also entering this in the CASology challenge where the cue card is HAPPY. Happy is in my sentiment, a butterfly tree makes me happy and the cat is smiling!! Probably ate the only bird in the tree:)

Thanks for visiting me and be sure to leave a comment so I can repay the favour;)

Addicted to Stamps week 5

Morning everyone and welcome to week 5 at our new challenge blog, Addicted to Stamps. This week we'd like to see a CAS card, clean and simple with minimal layers or embellishments. This style of card works very well for male cards and  I know lots of us struggle with them:)
Here is my take on the challenge and I hope you like it!

 Recipe:

Square base card

Tim Holtz stamp

Freebie watch and sentiment stamp from Craft Stamper

Silver mirri mat

Black Memento ink

I do hope you'll join us this week I can't wait to see what you come up with. Don't forget to check out the blog to see what the rest of the DT have come up with for your inspiration.

Good luck!

A wedding card for one of my all time favourite students!!

One of my loveliest hairdressing students is marrying her fiancé, Dan, on Saturday and here is the card I made for her.

The stamp is La Blanche embossed in silver and with a few added pearls, blue gems and silver glitter. Also peeloffs for the names and royal blue ribbon to close the card.

The inside has a cut out heart and the BP is vellum with Martyina and Dan's photo printed in a heart frame. There is a silver heart charm hanging from the centre.
The butterflies ( a freebie by Indigoblu from Craft Stamper ) are stamped and decoupaged with a gem at the head.
I made a box with Centura pearl card and my Enveloplus board and added a little dry embossing .

Thanks for looking and I love to read your comments:)

CASology

A brand new challenge blog started this week called CASology and each week they will post a cue card containing a single word, for you to interpret as you wish, as long as you keep it CLEAN and SIMPLE.
One of my blogging friends, Rosemary, is on the DT and I'm always blown away by her cards so I thought I'd join in:)
The cue card this week is SUN. Hilarious or what? I don't think I can remember what it looks like!! I tell a lie it came out for about half an hour this afternoon before the thunder and rain:)
Anyway here is my offering for this challenge:

The colour is not as vivid in real life, it seemed to get brighter as I took the photo! The EF is a Tim Holtz one with Mustard Seed DI. The die is a Memory box one and the sentiment is created with my Xyron digital printer and cut out with an SU label punch. Hope it's CAS enough for the challenge!
Thanks for taking the time to look and I love to read any comments you may leave:)

MMM colour wheel challenge!

Hi everyone well I usually look forward to Mondays to see what the new challenge is over at
 Make My Monday but this month is proving difficult for me! The whole month is based around the colour wheel and this week we have to use secondary colours of PURPLE, ORANGE and GREEN. Not a colour combo that immediately springs to mind:) Well this is what I came up with and I'm afraid that there is only a hint of green to be seen!

Recipe:

Square base card

Coredinations card with punched edge

Little Claire Designs butterfly border with 2 decoupaged

Promarkers

Sentiment same stamp set

Green brad and glitter

Here is a close up of the butterflies with their green glitter!

Thanks for looking and please let me know what you think!

Addicted to Stamps week 4 colour

Hi everyone and welcome to week 4 of our new challenge blog Addicted to Stamps. This week it's a colour challenge and the colour is BLUE.  I hope my photo shows that my card is blue as my sister thought it was gold!

Recipe:

Base card covered with Anna Griffin paper

Edges distressed with Pumice Stone DI

Stamps: Mixed Bunch and punch

Su ink Pool Party and Baja Breeze

Marianne die

We'd love you to join us this week , there is plenty of inspiration from the DT so pop over to Addicted to Stamps and check it out. 

Less is More week75 colour

Wow the tennis was amazing!! I was listening to it all the time but kept popping into my craft room where I was rearranging everything, although at one point my desk was stacked about a foot high:)
It's a colour challenge this week at Less is More and Mandi and Chrissie have asked for 'Gold'.
I had quite a few ideas and I was able to create a card quicker than last week!
Here is what I came up with:

Recipe:

DL base card

Embossed gold mirri heart

embossed pearl heart

punched flowers

SU Live your dream stamp

SeeDee sentiment/gold ink

gold pearls

Thanks for taking the time to visit and I love to read your comments:)

Acetate!!

Hi everyone and welcome to this month's challenge at Creations by Gill McCall. The challenge is to use acetate on any project you like. Not my favourite medium to work with but here is what I came up with:)

Apologies for the poor photo quality but the acetate glares  in the exposure!
This is a sort of stepper card and the acetate is attached to the front and back which prevents it from collapsing!

the butterflies are from a  Joanna Sheen cottage garden cd and printed on acetate.
A couple of punched strips and a few punched flowers decorate the front edge.
The sentiment is stamped onto an SU label stamp

The large flower was punched out 3 times and layered up with a brad.
Pearls are added to the butterflies and the punched flowers.




Please check out the rest of the DT cards for inspiration and hopefully you will join us in this challenge. Just remember you need to be a follower of Gill's blog to be considered for the challenge, good luck!

Less is More week 75 Lucky dip

Afternoon from a sunny Enfield and some great tennis! Gosh I'm really late with the LIM challenge but nothing came to mind at all although each of the elements of the header were things I liked! Anyway the challenge was to create a card using the LIM header as inspiration and this is it:

I tried lots of ideas and they all ended up being too fussy and it's fatal to look at everyone else's cards as you end up plagiarising someone's creation! Trouble was I was trying to use all the elements in the header and I don't think that was the idea:)

Eventually I was playing around with Craft Artist and this is my final attempt. I was quite pleased with it although the background looks a bit yellow in the photo and it's definitely more kraft like IRL!

I printed out the ornate frame, cut out the centre, fussy cut it ,added a few pearls and popped it up with silicone glue.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and I love to read any comments you may leave:)

Addicted to Stamps week 3 Christmas in July

Welcome everyone to our third challenge at ADDICTED TO STAMPS! This week our challenge is Christmas in July and hopefully it will encourage you to start your Christmas cards early:)
Here is what I came up with:

Recipe

Darice EF

SU Pines and Poinsettias stamps

Little Vermilion stamp

Leaves from SU bird and branch punch

Shabby shutters DI

Please check out the wonderful creations from the DT and good luck with the challenge. Remember to check out the housekeeping rules to be in with a chance:)

Make my Monday week 55

Hi everyone it's a new month at MMM and Mynnette has chosen the Colour Wheel as the theme for this month's challenges.

 This week we are to use only these three primary colours with  white or cream as a neutral.
These are not colours I'm particularly comfortable with but I quite like my card now it's finished!

Recipe:

PB stamp

Promarkers

SU and Coredination cardstock

Martha Stewart punch

Gems

Thanks for taking the time to look and hopefully leaving a comment so I can visit you:)

Make My Monday week 54

Well it's lovely going away for long weekends but it shortens my crafty week  and then It's all a bit of a rush and I'm posting cards everyday!!
The continuing theme over at MMM is still June and Associated Events and this week Jacqueline wants to see RED WHITE/CREAM and GREEN to celebrate the start of Wimbledon.
I was a bit stumped for inspiration but eventually came up with this:

The main image is a very old Rubbadubbado stamp, stamped with Wild Wasabi and the lily is painted with a water brush and Rose Red. I added some glitter to the shading. The tree inside is a Papermania Oriental stamp as is the bird. The sentiment is an old SeeDee one. The dark card is actually green coredination card although it looks very dark in the photo.
I'd like to enter this for the Fashionable Stamping challenge this week which is 'nature', thanks to Lynne for telling me about it:)

Thanks for taking the time to visit I hope to return the favour:)

Less is More week 73 Recipe

Hi everyone, well I'm back for 3 days then we're off to Portsmouth again on Friday :)  Charlie is thriving and having found his voice he gurgles and squeals and has us in fits of laughter!
The LIM challenge this week is PAPER PIECING and I have chosen a Darkroom Door stamp for my image.

The image is stamped in black Memento three times, once on the base card and then on brown Anna Griffin and flowered paper from my stash. I paper pieced the jacket and the basket of flowers. Also the stamp in the corner.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, I love to read your thoughts on my cards:)

Addicted to Stamps week 2 Bingo!

Morning everyone and welcome back to ATS and our second challenge. We had some fantastic entries last week and Kylie will be posting the winners very soon.
This week we have a Bingo theme and it gives plenty of choice as you can choose any line, vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

Come and see what I chose to do, hope you like it! 

I picked the left vertical row, Flowers, gems and ribbon.

I've used Anna Griffin cardstock punched with one of her punches and attached to a white base card. 

The flower was stamped and punched out using my new SU Mixed Bunch stamp set and matching punch and with a brad to hold them together. The label is from the SU Labels stamp set and matching punch and they have all been inked with Perfect Plum. I've added a couple of pearls and threaded ribbon across the card.

We'd love you to join us in this challenge but do read the housekeeping rules! 

Good luck with the challenge and do check out the inspiration from the rest of the DT.

Scrapbook challenge

Morning all and welcome to our first scrapbook challenge at Addicted to Stamps. This will be a monthly challenge and they can be hand or digitally crafted.
This month the challenge is CELEBRATIONS with BUNTING. All my scrapbooking is done digitally with some decoupage and using Craft Artist. There is a free download HERE and it can become very addictive as it's a doddle to use:)
This is a layout with my grandson Charlie as he was waiting for his very first swimming lesson. He's just 14 weeks old!!

Hope you'll play along with us in these new challenges we'd love to see what you come up with and please check out the rest of the DT's wonderful layouts:)

Fantasy

Hi everyone, wow it's been a bit busy this week trying to get all my challenge cards  and a scrapbook project done as we are off  to Portsmouth tomorrow having just got back from Somerset on Monday!
The LIM challenge this week is to create "something shiny", although at first glance panic set in as I thought we were having a football theme ......aaaah! and over at MMM it is A Midsummer Night's Dream.
So I have combined the two and this is what I came up with:

It's difficult to photograph anything shiny or glittery so apologies if you can't see it!

I sponged Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade DI , stamped the fairy in grey versamark and embossed with clear EP. I stamped some Chapel Art ferns in the same DI and  added glitter from the wand and on her wings. Some dry embossed lines and a pearl in each corner finish it off. I have not added a sentiment as it's for one of my great nieces  and will have to have a few more embellies:)

Hopefully by now you will be thinking about joining in our first challenge at Addicted to Stamps, we'd love to see your cards and help us to make this challenge a success:)

Thanks for taking the time to visit me, I love to read your comments and visit your blogs.

Addicted to Stamps week 1 Make your Mark

APOLOGIES EVERYONE I HAVE POSTED THIS CHALLENGE 12 HOURS EARLY!!!!AT LEAST YOU HAVE A HEAD START:)

Morning everyone and welcome to our very first challenge at Addicted to Stamps. Our first challenge is called Make your Mark and we would like you to create a card using alcohol markers.
I decided to go with a fairy type theme using a Polkadoodle stamp and here it is:

Recipe:

Tim Holtz EF distressed with Pumice stone DI

Memory Box die cut so the window opens

Polkadoodle stamp

Promarkers

Flower punch

Pearls

We have a few housekeeping rules:0

1. Please make sure to link back to the POST your entry is contained in NOT your whole blog
2. Please mention Addicted to Stamps in your blog with a link back to the challenge so others may join in
3. In order to be considered for the awards, you must link your entry before Tuesday 11.59pm AEST
4. Please do not backlink - all entries must be new
5. You may combine up to 3 other challenges
6. You may enter more than once provided each entry is different and abides with the rules of the challenge
7. Please turn off Word Verification for ease of commenting on your blog :)
8. We reserve the right to remove any links that do not comply with the Challenge rules

Please pop over to see the rest of the DT cards  and hopefully you will be inspired to join us :)

Many thanks for taking the time to visit me and I really appreciate any comments you leave so that I can visit you.

Stampin Up extravaganza

Back today from a weekend in Somerset visiting my sister Karen, and I'm sure she won't mind me saying that the best bit was the Stampin Up extravaganza on Saturday! This is the 4th one I've been to and oh what a heady rush of craft it gives you:)  Jenny Moors is the Stampin Up demonstrater and she organises us to create three different projects during the day. We made three cards, decorated a tea caddy and made a fabulous (at least I think so) box frame and a small gift bag.

 The middle card is a diorama card and the tea caddy came with Dorset tea bags:)

The stamping in the box frame was all done with the Bright Blossoms set which we received as a gift from Jenny!

Check out Jenny's blog and you can see more photos of  our day and a display of her cards.  Can't wait for the next one in November:)

 Hope to see you all on Wednesday with the first challenge from  Addicted to Stamping.

Thanks for taking the time to visit me and I'd like to welcome my new followers, Jacqueline, Kylie and Sally.

New challenge on the block!

Hi everyone just a quick post to tell you about a new challenge that is starting next week called
ADDICTED TO STAMPS CHALLENGE and even more exciting KYLIE has asked me to join her on the DT!!!!! Please check out her blog and hopefully you will join us in this new venture:)

Crafty Cardmakers challenge no 70

Hi everyone this is a new challenge to me but there is some brilliant inspiration from the DT that I thought I'd have a go:) The criteria is to make anything as long as it's not a card, tag or ATC.
I was going to make a bookmark, love them don't you, except I'm reading a very long book on my Kindle at the moment so it wouldn't get used! So..... I suddenly remembered that I had instructions from the amazing Vicky on how to make a house album and decided to have a go and here it is:)

 The roof gets taken off and the greeting goes inside and when you undo the ribbon photos are on each side of the house.
I stamped the walls to have a faux clapboard effect and the flowers and grasses are an assortment of stamps and I trailed roses around the door.
Thanks for taking the time to visit, please leave a comment so that I can visit you:)

Make My Monday week 53

Wow Monday's come around real quick when you're retired and having fun!!  This is the second week of  MMM                          JUNE AND ASSOCIATED EVENTS 

This week the challenge is to create a Father's Day/ Masculine card.                         
I had already made two cards, one for my son Dom to give to his dad and one for Keir congratulating him on his first Father's Day. I'll post those further down just in case they see the post because they would not be bothered to read it all:)

I was going to make a card with ties on and then I saw a card on the CardMaker newsletter and decided to CASE their idea and here it is:)

All the instructions are available on their newsletter and are easy to follow as I have just proved :)

                                                                                   Recipe:

                                                                          White base card

                                                                        Anna Griffin paper

                                                                          Walnut stain DI

                                                             Freebie stamps from a  magazine

                                                    

Now here are the other two cards I mentioned earlier, both created on Craft Artist and personalise for the recipients.

This one is for my OH from Dom. Jim has been doing loads of decorating this past year and various odd jobs around the house and we thought this image was perfect and I just added his head on and decoupaged it!

This one is for Keir on his first Father's Day and he's doing a brilliant job! I love this photo of Charlie and I think the text matches his expression:)

Again crafted on Craft Artist with some decoupage.

Thanks for staying with me on this rather long post and hopefully you will leave me a comment so that I can visit you!

Less is More week 71 one layer

Morning everyone, wow 2 days without rain!! Is this a record?:) Anyway back to crafty things and the LIM challenge this week is a ONE LAYER one and Chrissie and Mandi want us to use FLOURISHES. I had a couple of ideas which turned out to be total rubbish and eventually came up with this which I'm reasonably happy with but it's not a wow moment:)

Recipe

Stamps are SU Everything Eleanor

Sentiment Darkroom Door

Inks: Baja Breeze, Marina Mist & Pretty in Pink

Liquid Pearls

Thanks for taking the time to visit me and please leave a comment so that I can visit you:)

Less is More week 70 Colour

It's the first LIM challenge of the month which means it must be a colour challenge.

On this day of all days in the UK, there could be only one choice of colour and that is...

RED WHITE AND BLUE

On this day all those years ago in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned... and Chrissie is not the only one to remember it! We didn't have a TV and watched it in my grandparents house, in her bedroom actually as she was unwell!

I bought a couple of craft magazines last weekend and they were full of freebies which had to be used and here is what I came up with.

recipe:

Freebie bunting stamp from Craft Stamper

Free Papermania BP

Free Papermania sentiment stamp

Anna Griifin crown stamp

Embossed edges

Pearls
I'm also entering this card into the One Stop Craft Challenge and
the MAWTT challenge

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog, it's much appreciated and I love to hear what you think!

MMM week 52

There's a new theme over at Make My Monday and this month it's

JUNE AND ASSOCIATED EVENTS 

Jacqueline has chosen it and this week she wants to see a

BIRTHDAY CARD WITH PEARLS.

I love pearls and have gone a bit mad ,certainly not down the CAS road!!!

Recipe:

Sweet Pea BP

Anna Griffin BP

Polkadoodle stamp

Punch

Hand rolled flowers

Marianne swirl die

SU inks

Pearls

Sweet pea diecut sentiment

Well it's 5pm here and the sun has just appeared. I succumbed this morning and had to turn the heating on, it was freezing!! So apart from a lovely Jubilee evening with friends on Saturday it's been a crafty weekend :)

St Luke's Charity Cards Challenge

Hi everyone hope you are all enjoying the Jubilee weekend, albeit a very cold, wet and windy one here in London! The St Luke's challenge is one that I keep meaning to join in with but have only managed it once. The challenge this month is FURRY ANIMALS. I have some House Mouse stamps that have hardly been used so I thought I'd use them and this is the result :)

I used PM's to colour the image and matted it onto blue card. The base card has a strip of paper from my stash and the sentiment is a diecut from Craftwork cards Sweet Pea pad.




Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday and I'd like to welcome Sally my latest follower.