Make My Monday: Autumn

Morning everyone, another gorgeous day here thank goodness as the roof is going on today! The builders have been pretty lucky, except when they had to dig the foundations, when it was pretty wet!
Good job I'm not hosting Christmas this year:)

Anyway back to this week's challenge over at MMM.

The theme this month is AUTUMN

and we are also having a

USE YOUR SUPPLIES

month.

This week we want to see your crafty projects incorporating

KRAFT AND STRING (TWINE)

Come and see what I came up with:

I bought a box of autumn leaves a few years ago at a local garden centre and this is the first time I've managed to use them! The base card is stamped with SU French Foliage using  Adirondak Cabin Fever and wrapped with string. I stapled two of the leaves together and added a button with a string knot. The sentiment is stamped on a leaf from French Foliage.

Must dash now as I need to practise TRUE COLOURS for Rock Choir tonight and I've got aquafit 

in between:)

Hope you've enjoyed your visit and leave a comment so that I can visit you:)

Addicted to Stamps & More

Morning everyone and welcome to another challenge at ATS&M. This week we want to see FLOWERS. I have chosen to use the SU Bright Blossoms set as I haven't used it very much but it's very versatile, come and see what I created:)

Recipe:

A6 base card

Bright Blossoms stamps

SU Bashful Blue & Sahara Sand

Blue cardstock for mats

Liquid pearls

SeeDee sentiment

Check out the blog for the rest of the DT cards, they are fabulous and I can't wait to see what you come up with  so that I can visit your blog:)

Less is More week 92-colour

Morning all from a glorious sunny day in London town, albeit a tad cold!! This weeks theme at LiM towers is a colour one and Chrissie wants to see PINK

Not a colour I normally go for but there are some lovely shades to choose from so here is what I came up with;

I tried several places to film it but I had used pearlescent card and it's a b....r to photograph! I used the stamps from SU Everything Eleanor and popped one up for dimension and added some liquid pearls for the stamens. The inks were Victorian velvet and Spun Sugar DI. I punched out the little bird and stamped the sentiment on him and put him in the flowers.

Just back from lots of Charlie cuddles in Portsmouth and a lovely lunch and some retail therapy with Chrissie in Gunwharf on Saturday which was also a lovely sunny day:)

Hope the weather is good wherever you are and I hope you leave a comment so I can return the visit.

A star is born!

Happy Halloween to all my blogging friends!

I'm back in Christmas mode as that is what the challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers is all about. They are asking for a shaped card with a reindeer or two but definitely not a square or rectangle.

I love making unusual folded cards and Marianne has some fabulous tutorials on her blog and I have chosen to make a STAR card, come and see:)

This takes 2 sheets of 6 x 6 paper,  I have used Bo Bunny, and the instructions on Marianne's blog are a doddle! I cut a doily with a fiskars punch and coloured it with gold paste. The topper was cut on my Silhouette and the stamp is from a set that I bought in Michaels  in Nova Scotia. I stamped it in SU Wild Wasabi and added glitter with my quickie glue pen. a few red gems and a peeloff finish it off.The greeting can be on the back on a die cut.

My Craft Stamper magazine arrived this morning and there I am in all my glory on page 59, or rather my card is!! Very exciting and it's one I did using Chrissiehttp://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/week-91-sketch-7.html?m=1's, of Less is More fame,  stamp she designed that came with the September issue. Because it was published I get a fab Crafty Individuals stamp of the London skyline! So that's my 15 minutes of fame over:)

I'd like to welcome Julia, my latest follower and thank you in anticipation of any comments you may leave:) I love to return the visit.

Addicted to Stamps & More-Bingo

Morning everyone and welcome to a new challenge here at ATS&More and this week we have a BINGO card for you to follow.

Choose any line, horizontally, vertically or diagonally and create a card incorporating those three elements. If you cross the middle square try to avoid replicating one of the other squares.

I chose the diagonal line of B'day, Free and Dies and here is my card.

Shana and I were obviously thinking alike as her card for last week's Make your Mark challenge uses the same triple layer technique:)  I wanted to create a monochrome card and using SU Everything Eleanor stamps inked them in Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip. The ribbon (free) was from my stash and the button is an SU Embosslits die (Die). The label is a Sizzix die which I inked and then used my Xyron runner to print the sentiment.  Love this technique and it is so simple to achieve but looks so impressive.
I hope you will join in the fun with us this week we love to see what you come up with and if you are struggling at all please go and check out the fabulous cards that the rest of the DT have made.

Make My Monday-French theme

Bonjour mes amis, ici la semaine derniere pour le French theme over at MMM and Fliss wants to see Feminine/Romance. This has been a 5 week month and boy have I struggled with stamps for these challenges. I have resorted to digital images again and hope my card covers the brief:)

 The BP is from Prima Botanicals and has french script all over it and is mounted onto a 6" square card. The images are all from the internet and I have used Spun Sugar and Antique Linen DI to add colour. I decoupaged some of the flowers on the frame and made some small flowers as embellishments. I added a little sparkle using mica powders and a water brush.
Thanks for looking, I hope any blogging friends in the path of Hurricane Sandy stay safe!
Were you impressed with my French? :o)

Less is More-week 91-sketch 7

Hi everyone, wow what a difference that hour has made, lights are on already! The challenge this week at LIM towers is a sketch and a fabulously simple one at that.

The problems begin when you have to decide what images, stamps, dies etc to use to create your card!! Choices, choices, choices:) Check out the cards that Chrissie has made they are fabulous!

Anyway I had in mind  an oriental theme and this is what I came up with:

Recipe:

Square 6" base card

Pink card

Papermania oriental flowering branch

Memento black ink

Spun Sugar DI

Promarker Dusky Pink

Pearls

SeeDee sentiment

Welcome to my new followers, thank you for choosing  me and thanks to anyone who visits and leaves a comment:)

Make My Monday- Tricoleur

     Hi everyone the continuing theme over at MMM is FRENCH and 

This week we want to see the 

TRICOLEUR

added to your projects - that would be the colours BLUE, WHITE AND RED.

 I struggled last week and resorted to a digital project and this week is a nightmare!
Red, White and Blue is not a colour combo that I use regularly and I'm very short on appropriate stamps. I was sorting through a box of small stamps and came across a set of small patterned squares, one of which was a fleur de lys design. So this is what I created, what do you think?

 Recipe:

4" square base card

Fleur de lys patterned tile stamp

SU Rose Red ink

Stormy Skies DI

SeeDee sentiment 

Red gem

Hopefully next week's challenge will be easier:)

We had a lovely day yesterday, we popped down to Portsmouth and took Charlie out for lunch:) 

 Cute eh? Very biased I'm afraid :-)

 Thanks for your visit, please leave a comment so that I can visit you.

Addicted to Stamps and More-make your mark

Hi everyone and welcome to our 4th Make your Mark challenge at ATS&M. You can submit any project as long as you use markers on it and now there is a huge selection to choose from.
I decided to make a card For Charlie's first Christmas. Who is Charlie you may ask, in which case you haven't been following a proud grandmother's constant bragging and posting of photos of the cutest little boy:)
Anyway come and see what I made:

Recipe:

Square 6 x 6 base card

Red core'dinations embossed with stars

Stamped image from Sheena Douglass ( Santa Baby)

Pine branches stamped in green and gold with added red dots

Whimsy snowflake die

Promarkers and glitter

Xyron created sentiment

Gold pen

Do check out the ATS&M blog for inspiration from the rest of the DT, some wonderful cards there!

I hope you'll join us this week we love to see what you create and to visit your blogs.

Good luck with the challenge:)

Less is More week 90-theme

Afternoon all from a grey, drizzly London! We had a lovely red sky last night and the barometer is still saying fair but where oh where is that lovely day I thought we were getting? Anyway at least I was able to create my LIM card a bit earlier this week and not leave it till Friday afternoon:)

Now onto our theme for this week which is

AUTUMN

This is what I've come up with:

I stamped a leaf from the French Foliage SU set using the Big and Juicy Spice pad, cut it into different sized banners and popped them up on foam pads. I cut out a couple of the leaves,  moulded them and used pinflair to decoupage them. The sentiment is from Jenny Mayes embossed in metallic bronze and I have added some pearls.
We're having a quiet day today after a very late night! We spent a fabulous evening at Bel Canto (Corus Hotel Hyde Park) where we had wonderful food,  amazing operatic waiters and a surfeit of Bellini's and red wine:)
Thanks for taking the time to visit and leaving a comment, I hope, so that I can visit you:) Off to see Charlie tomorrow, very excited!

Less is More week 89-one layer

OMG I'm really late this week! It's one layer week over at LIM towers and Chrissie and Mandi want to see something with wings.
I chose to do a very simple Christmas card using a stamp I got in Michael's in Nova Scotia.

I stamped with versamark and embossed with a colour called Jasper, sort of bronzy colour. I couldn't get a very good picture I'm afraid. I added some gold dots just to liven it up and the sentiment is an old freebie from goodness knows where! Apologies for not commenting on any LIM cards this week I promise to try harder next week:)
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment so that I can return the visit.

Make My Monday-Fleur de Lys

Hi everyone it seems a while since I posted as my last one was scheduled and with all the building work going on, looking for a new kitchen and busy making something special for Charlie's christening the week has got away from me! oh I forgot to mention girlie lunches and retail therapy:)
Over at MMM the French theme is in it's 3rd week and this time they want to see a Fleur de Lys included. I had to resort to using Craft Artist and some internet images as I've run out of French themed stamps!
This is what I came up with;

The background I created in Craft Artist and added in a couple of images of old French postcards and printed them out twice so that I could decoupage them. I put a plastic dome onto the word Paris and the fleur de lys I cut out and gilded  with marbled gilding flakes which I felt complimented the background.
The sentiment is an old seedee one that I mounted with a fleur de lys brad.

Thanks for any comments you leave I love to read them and before I forget a big welcome to Pia my new follower, thanks for choosing me:)

Addicted to Stamps & More-sketch

Morning everyone and its time for a new challenge here at ATS&M.  This week we have a sketch for you to follow and the DT have created some amazing cards.

Here is the sketch:

 This is my take on the sketch

Recipe:

Scalloped card base

Pink Paislee bp

Fleur de lis  die

sizzex stamp ef and matching die

SU Baja Breeze ink

Bow

I hope the DT have inspired you to play along this week, we love to see your cards and visit your blogs:)

Baby Boy!

Morning everyone another quick post as I'm off out to lunch with a friend. My god daughter gave birth to a little boy on Monday, great excitement as they have two gorgeous little girls already:)
I love these side stepper cards looking like chest of drawers so this is what I made for Maxwell.

Recipe:

Side stepper base card

All edges sponged with SU Marina Mist

House Mouse and Forever Friends stamps

Tiny onsie stamp

Brads

Promarkers

Thanks for visiting, I love to read your comments and visit your blogs in return:)

Make My Monday-theme-French

Hi everyone just a quick post as it's late and I need to go to bed! Over at MMM this week the continuing theme is FRENCH and this week it has to be VINTAGE FRENCH.
Here's my offering:)

Recipe;

Pearl card base

BP from stash

Script stamp & leaf from SU French Foliage

Graphic 45 image

Glitter

Hand rolled rose

Victorian Velvet DI

Sentiment created on Xyron runner

Thanks for visiting I'll be back tomorrow with a new baby card:)

Addicted to Stamps & More-CAS

Morning everyone and welcome to our 3rd CAS challenge at ATS&M. The response last week to our Halloween challenge was amazing and we hope you will play along with us again this week:)
For my card I have kept it simple with soft tones and here it is:

I started with a square base card and embossed the front with a sizzex EF which I fussy cut to show the inside of the card. The BP is from anna Griffin and the panel says Happy Birthday. I sponged a little SU River Rock over the embossing and around the sentiment panel. Three pearls as highlights.

Do check out the rest of the DT for inspiration at ATS&M and also the housekeeping rules are there to avoid your card not being eligible.
Good luck with the challenge:)

Less is More week 88-colour

This week's challenge over at LIM towers is a colour theme and Chrissie and Mandi are looking to see SILVER on our cards. It could be ink, paper, card, embossing powder, metal, a charm, whatever you can dream up as long as there's a touch of silver somewhere.

I had an idea in mind but it sadly came to a bad end! So this is what I came up with:

 How difficult is that to get a decent photo of something shiny? Not sure why there is a shadow on half of the birds face! This was the best I could get!

                                                                                Recipe:

                                                                   Square 6 x 6 card base

 Strip of embossed card with the stars glittered

SU bird & branch cut out from Debbi Moore metal magic

Peel offs

Thank goodness the rain has stopped, the builders have had to dig almost to Australia to put in pilings as the neighbours extension doesn't have any foundations!!! The footings now resemble a swimming pool, so hopefully we won't get any more rain until the cement has gone in:) Anyway it's all progress and I'm looking forward to the completed extension.

Welcome to my latest follower, thank you for choosing my blog and thanks to you all for visiting, I love to read your comments:)

Addicted to Stamps & More

Hi everyone you may have noticed that our blog title has got a little longer! It appears that there was another challenge blog with a very similar name and to avoid confusion Kylie consulted with the DT and we agreed to change it to Addicted to Stamps & More. We also have 7 fabulous new Dt members,

CAZRO

LOLL

SUE

NONNI

SHANA

FLORENCE

DANIELLE

Some you may recognise but do check out their blogs and the inspiration they are bringing to ATS&M.

Anyway back to this week's challenge which is Halloween. Lots of images around to choose from and here is what I came up with.

Recipe:

Base card sponged with Mustard Seed, Spiced  Marmalade and Black Soot

BP's are downloads

The topper is a stamped branch and digi owl coloured with Spiced  Marmalade and Black Soot

Scalloped circle mat

Sentiment created in Craft Artist

Do pop over to our challenge blog and check out the rest of the team for inspiration. Good luck with the challenge.

MMM-French theme

Hi everyone can you believe it's October already and a brand new theme starting today at Make My Monday. The theme is FRENCH chosen by Fliss and this week it's PARIS. I used the Paris collection from Darkroom Door for my card and two little stamps from the Venetian collection.

Recipe:

Darkroom Door Parisian Collection

Tim Holtz EF

Inks: Crumb Cake, Antique Linen & Stormy Sky

Check out the DT cards at MMM they are fabulous!

Just a little update on my building works, a large trench has appeared and in his excitement my OH nearly fell in taking me with him! He was a bit sad to see his homemade shed, known as the Tardis pulled down quicker than it went up:)

Thanks for taking the time to visit it's much appreciated:)

Less is More week 87 Lucky Dip

Does anyone remember the song "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire? I'm feeling a little like that song as my house feels like it's been turned into a grotty bed sit and worse to come tomorrow! I'm probably over exaggerating :) but we are having an extension which starts tomorrow and they are going to pull my utility room down to do it which houses my washing machine, tumble dryer and fridge freezer.  The dish washer I can live without, well I have two men in the house, but the washing machine is vital so that has been plumbed in where the dishwasher was and the fridge freezer stands proud in the middle of the kitchen! The dryer and dish washer are sitting on a board on top of the bath! Good job we're not short of bathroom facilities:) Roll on November.

Anyway I digress and here is my card for the LIM challenge this week which is Love and Marriage.
I tried a couple of things that I wasn't happy with and this is the final result which I feel is a bit ordinary but decided to post in case things get difficult during the building work:)

I couldn't get a decent photo to show the colour which was Spun Sugar would you believe! I think the close up shows it better.

Recipe:

Square card blank

Strip of swiss dots embossing

Sizzex hearts stamped with an old CS freebie, so old it's rubber with foam back!

Pearls

Sentiment is a bespoke stamp made for my son's wedding.

Thanks for taking the time to visit,I love to read your comments

Christening

My son Dominic sprung it on me today that he is to be godfather tomorrow to his friend's little boy, Dylan. So a card was needed pretty quick! His present to Dylan is a  complete set of the tales of  Beatrix Potter so I thought that could be my theme. This is what I came up with:

 I saw a pocket card on Jacqueline's blog with a tutorial and thought it would make a nice card. I printed out Peter Rabbit from some clip art that I found on the internet and also a matching BP. I cut the BP to cover the front and the back corner and cut two tags and popped the images up so that the ears can be used to pull the tags out. I used a sizzex alphabet die to cut the name and added glossy accents to Peter's jacket on the front.

   

 This photo is self explanatory and shows the inside and the tags in full view. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit it's much appreciated:)

MMM vintage theme week 4

Morning everyone from sunny north London:) This month's theme over at MMM has been vintage and this week they have asked to see vintage TRAVEL. I love anything vintage, including my OH! and find old postcards fascinating so I decided to base my card around them.

The BP is from K & Company and I have layered up some pieces and distressed them. The tag is distressed and torn and stamped with images from Darkroom Door. The ship is from a set of images that I downloaded ages ago and don't know where from!! I cut and shaped the image and covered it with glossy accents.
Thanks for taking the time to visit, I've got to run now as I'm off to aquafit:)

Less is More week 86-recipe

Oh dear tooooo much choice!! This week over at LIM TOWERS Chrissie and Mandi's theme is to Take 3 Challenges. This means we can look back to all 86 challenges and take any  3 and make a card. As I said too much choice so I decided to just make a birthday card for a friend knowing that it would be bound to cover the criteria, and so it did! Come and see:)

 I used the Tied together Couture EF to make a panel and I punched a strip for the edge with an Anna Griffin punch. The butterflies are a WOW build a butterfly stamp set stamped in SU Baja Breeze and with glitter added. the sentiment is also WOW and I added glitter to the edge of the punched strip and to the centres of the crosses on the EF.
So I covered:
Week 43 Bit of Bling
Week 15 Embossing
Week 16 Butterflies

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

Addicted to stamps-theme

Hi everyone, lordy, lordy what's happened to the temperature! It's freezing here but at least it's stopped raining and I've had a lovely weekend with Charlie who hadn't forgotten me since last week:)
Our challenge this week at ATS is a theme and we are asking to see cards depicting SPRING. The DT have created some fabulous cards and I hope you like my card this week:)

I decided to make a tri-fold shutter card and keep it fairly simple. I used cream cardstock and a piece of paper with butterflies and flowers which I think is quite spring like.  I cut out some of the butterflies and flowers and popped them up for dimension. The main flower is a stamp from SU Mixed Bunch, inked in Pretty Pirouette, Certainly Celery and Rose Red and punched out with leaves from the bird on a branch punch. The sentiment is by WOW.

I do hope you'll play along this week, we love to visit your blogs to see your cards.

I'd just like to welcome my latest follower, Jean and thank you for choosing to follow my blog:)

Good luck with this week's challenge!

Addicted to Stamps Bingo challenge

Hi everyone this is our 3rd BINGO challenge at ATS and I don't know about you but I really like them! There is so much choice, although I suppose that, in itself can cause problems:) Anyway here is the bingo grid :

So usual rules apply, you can create anything by choosing any line from the grid, either horizontal, vertical or diagonal. Just try to avoid using anything from the other lines.

Now come and see what I made by using the middle line of Grey (ink & card), Free (flower) and Square ( fleur de lis squares).

My base card is a very pale grey and I stamped the flourish from Everything Eleanor in versamark  Smokey Grey. The fleur de lis die is new and I had to have it having seen a lovely card on Lynne's blog. I cut two sizes and turned one on it's end and sponged pumice stone on the centre. I made the flower after being inspired by Vicky's post the other day, check it out, it's really clever:)
I hope you like my card and will want to play along with us at ATS this week.Check out the rest of the DT cards they are amazing:)

Make My Monday-vintage

Wow I was sorry to miss last week's theme which was vintage wedding at MMM. Did you see the cards, they were stunning! This week the theme is vintage childhood.

 Recipe:

Square base card

Coredinations embossed with Couture Creations EF

Digi image downloaded not sure where from and coloured with PM's

Fleur de Lis die
Anna Griffin hardware stamps

Distress inks
Pearls

Thanks for visiting I love to read your comments:)

Less is More week 85-theme

Well here I am, a little rusty after a fortnight of no crafting and hoping for some inspiration for the latest LIM challenge. Chrissie and Mandi have asked to see OVALS somewhere in a project.

Recipe:

White A6 base card

SU Crumb cake cardstock

Oval scallop punch

Papermania stamp from Japanese set

Promarkers

Pearls

WOW sentiment

Memento black ink

Off to do some perusing and commenting on the LIM entries, thanks for visiting me, I love to read your comments:)

Bonjour!

Hi everyone thought I'd just pop by to say hello having returned last night from holiday in Brittany. We had a wonderful time, being able to see Charlie all day, every day and the weather was pretty good too:) The pool and jacuzzi were a great hit with us all! I have been keeping an eye on blogger and checking out all your fabulous posts but didn't comment as I was a little busy:)

I had some fab news though as I won the wonderful card that Sylvie made for C&C with Joanna Sheen's stamps and I got a prize for my seaside postcard that I entered into Crafty Cardmakers challenge. I won $10 to spend at the Digi Doodle shop which was fab for me as all their stamps were reduced to $1 each because sadly they are closing. 

The last exciting news I had was that one of my cards is going to be published in Craft Stamper magazine in the readers gallery!! Not sure which month but you can be sure I'll let you know:)

Thought I'd throw in a couple of holiday photos before I make an attempt at the LIM challenge.

Bye for now:)

Addicted to Stamps - Make your Mark!

Here we are again (hopefully),another scheduled post as I'm still away! This week we are back to the Make your Mark theme at ATS and hoping to see more fabulous creations from you:)
I have just treated myself to a Michael Powell stamp and used brushmarkers and a water brush to create this card.

I stamped it twice and cut out the middle three beach huts and layered them up although it's not that visible in this photo. The centre panel was matted onto lilac card and the sentiment is from WOW.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with and good luck with the challenge:) Do check out the DT cards on the blog they are wonderful!

Addicted to Stamps- sketch challenge

Morning everyone, I hope this post is successful, cos as you read this I am on holiday in Brittany:)
Apologies for not commenting as usual but I'm probably relaxing in the pool or the jacuzzi with a glass of wine!
Anyway I digress, here is the sketch we'd like you to use for this week's Addicted to Stamps challenge:

I thought it would be an opportunity  to make another Christmas card so here is my take on this week's challenge:

Recipe:

Square green card blank

Papers form Bo Bunny

SU Pines & Poinsettia stamp set

I hope you'll pop over to the ATS blog for more inspiration from the DT and I'm looking forward to see your fabulous creations!

Less is More week 82-recipe

Hi everyone just a quick post as I'm busy getting ready for our trip to Brittany! The LIM challenge this week is a recipe and it's 3-2-1  So the idea is to have 3 of something, 2 of something and 1 of something on your card.
Here's what I came up with:)

My recipe is 1 girl, 2 words and 3 pearls. The stamp was a freebie with a magazine and I paper pieced the dress with Anna Griffin paper and added a little glitter. I popped up the flowers so technically I suppose that counts as 3 as well! The sentiment is a WOW one and the pearls are from Meiflower.

Thanks for visiting and I'd like to welcome my latest follower, Jean and hope you will continue to visit:)

Addicted to Stamps theme-CAS

Hi everyone and welcome to this week's challenge at ATS which is CAS. We want to see clean and simple designs with lots of clear space and minimal layers and embellies! For my card this week I was inspired by Vicky who makes the most amazing cards.

I masked off a central panel with post its and stamped the centre with Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip using a selection of stamps from the Spiced Paisley set. I stamped an extra image, added a brad and  popped it up for a little dimension ( shh.. mainly to cover a smudge)! The sentiment is a WOW stamp stamped in Crumb Cake.

Pop over to the ATS site for more inspiration from the DT and I do hope you'll play along with us this week:)