Less is More, Alpha and other bits!

Morning everyone, apologies for lack of commenting this week but it 's been very busy and I had lots of projects to complete as well as celebrating with Charlie:) So grab a cuppa and come and see what I've been up to.
Firstly a card for this week's LIM and MMM challenges which are Spots and Stripes and Heat embossing, respectively:

Dry embossed lines, punched holes, pearls and a very old freebie stamp from Craft Stamper that has been heat embossed with silver EP. WOW sentiment stamped in SU Perfectly Plum.

Next is my Altered dictionary for the Craft Barn Alpha challenge. This week the letters were MA-ME, see if you can guess what I chose:)

Inked page, Debbi Moore Venetian images and Liquid Pearls. Glitter and gems for bling and the letters are stamped from an old alphabet set.

My friend's daughter went to Paris for the weekend and came back engaged! So obviously a card had to be made for Elly and Richard:)

Embossed panel, Labels 18, Heartfelt sentiment, pearls and bling letters!

Finally blogger was playing up and wouldn't let me upload my pics of Charlie's birthday card on my previous post! So here it is, I was inspired by Anne's card and it's called a double dutch fold.

Tatty Ted holding 1st Birthday candle, cakes stamped for the background on denim paper.

You must be on your 2nd cuppa if you stayed with me:) At Rock Choir this week we were raising money for Comic Relief and I took along a box of cards, mostly DT ones that have been taking up room in my tiny craft room and everyone went mad for them and I raised over £100 pounds!  I feel I have done my bit for Comic Relief and was delighted that they were so well received, this is the first time I have ever sold anything!!
Thanks for taking the time to visit me and hopefully leaving a comment:)

Charlie's 1st birthday

Hi everyone, hope you're not suffering too much with this awful weather! We went down to Portsmouth on Saturday for Charlie's birthday which fell on Mother's Day:) We arrived to a lovely sunny day of 13 deg and left on Monday during a blizzard and  -2 deg! Charlie had a great day and loved us all singing to him and danced along with us! We stayed to look after him on Monday while Keir and Lara were at work, which gave his other Nana a day off, although Lara only works 2 days. Great fun was had by us all:) Just thought I'd post a couple of photos:

Train cake and teddy bear fairy cakes.




Crocodile cucumber with cheese and pineapple

Addicted to Stamps & More-sketch

Hi everyone and welcome to this week's challenge at ATSM which is a sketch. Now I always like these challenges as it gives me a head start but they haven't proved so popular with our followers. So as from next week Kylie has revamped them and I think you will like the new themes:)
Anyway back to this week and here is the sketch, a really simple one!

I was in our local craft shop last week and picked up a Debbi Moore Inspiration magazine which had some beautiful free stamps and loads of gorgeous papers of vintage birds. Now I do have a tendency to pore over lovely papers and shy away from using them but I had also treated myself to the Shabby Chic Vintage birds CD rom so there was no excuse, come and see:)

So everything was cut from the magazine and I added some liquid pearls! A very quick and easy card and I can't wait to see what you come up with. Check out the blog for the DT inspiration which is always fab. Good luck with the challenge and many thanks for your continuing support:)

Addicted to Stamps & More-CAS

Hi everyone and welcome to this week's challenge at ATSM which is to create a card that is CLEAN and SIMPLE with lots of white space and few embellies! I have used one of my favourite Memory Box dies for my card, come and see.

I die cut the base card and then cut out the same die in dark red coredinations. This then fitted into the base card and I just finished it off with an organza bow and a WOW sentiment. I always play around with my photos in Picasa but every time I cropped this image the die cut changed colour!! So I have included the uncropped version to show the correct colour:)

We had lots of entries last week and it's so difficult to choose a winner as they are all fab! Please check our housekeeping rules though as some entries are entered to an unbelievable amount of challenges and we only allow 10. Don't forget to check out the inspiration from the DT on the blog.
 So good luck with this week's challenge and I look forward to visiting your blogs:)

Less is More week 109-colour

Hi everyone, wow what a gorgeous spring day today and guess what we did? Yep went to the cinema!! I had booked tickets so we couldn't change the day but anyway it was worth it, we saw Les Mis and I loved it:) Back to this week's challenge at Less is More which is a colour theme:



Lovely photo but I found it quite difficult to match up the colours and then when I tried to edit my photo the colours became so much darker! So keeping that in mind come and see what I did:

I used a small square patterned stamp by Stampendous and stamped alternately with Brilliance Aurora  inks and ruched up some vintage ribbon across the top. The flower is from SU Bright Blossoms stamped and punched out with a lilac pearl in the centre.
Thanks for taking the time to visit and I love to read your comments:)

Addicted to Stamps & More

Posting on a blog every week just shows how fast my life is disappearing! How I ever found time to work I will never know:)
 Here we are again at ATSM and this week we want to see STAMPING and that includes DIGI / CLEAR or RUBBER.
This week we are sponsored once again by Joanna  who is offering this wonderful  prize to the winner of this challenge -

$20 GIFT VOUCHER

Stamping is my first love and it's how I started crafting:) Come and see what I created this week:

I used a CI stamp and a fern from Chapel Art. I was inspired by Becky who did a tutorial on creating depth with stamps. 

I stamped using the 2nd stamp image with Bundled Sage DI and stamped on top with Stormy Skies DI. I stamped the little butterfly from the stamp onto card and fussy cut them out and popped up on the card for dimension. The sentiment is a WOW one.

I do hope you'll check out the amazing inspiration from the DT on the ATSM blog and play along with us this week. I look forward to visiting your blogs:)

Less is More week 108-paper piercing

Well the snow didn't come to anything, thank goodness, I think it was too cold!!!! This week's challenge over at LIM towers is for PAPER PIERCING

We want to see some tiny holes dotted around on your creations this week ...

I have to admit to a struggle with this one, it was either very simplistic or definitely over egged!!

Anyway I settled on this although I'm not that happy with it.

 The EF is a Darice Christmas one but I made the robin into a blue tit:) I sponged a little Stormy Skies DI around the edges and matted onto dark blue card. I paper pierced some musical notes and the sentiment is an old  SeeDee one.
Thanks for popping in on such a cold night and I'd love to know what you think:)

The Crafty Crimper!

Hi there everyone from a very cold  London town! Hope you are all safe and warm and keeping well. The current letter for the Alpha challenge over at the Craft Barn is H. Now for those that know me this was a no brainer, come and see the word I chose:

Here is the definition but I have to say my clients usually turned out a little more stylish than these!!

I covered my page with acrylic paint and the stamp is a Judikins one that is part of a vintage set. I decided to add some texture and tried to create ribbon curls, not altogether successfully:) The hairdryer I drew on card and coloured and cut out and the scissors are a metal embellishment that I gilded. I am enjoying altering this dictionary but wish I had managed to get a hardback as it's so difficult to make it stay open for decorating and taking photos!

We popped down to Portsmouth yesterday for a lunch date with Charlie! He almost ran up the hallway with his new shoes on:) Doesn't seem 5 mins since he was only taking up half the Moses basket! He was in great form and we had a wonderful day, I can't believe he will be a year old next month.

Thanks for visiting and hopefully leaving your thoughts and I'd like to welcome Aussie Annie who has very kindly decided to follow my blog.

Addicted to Stamps & More-theme

Morning everyone and welcome to a new challenge here at ATSM. This week we want to see VINTAGE and  our fantastic sponsor and Guest Designer is

JOANNA MUNSTER FROM INSPIRED BY STAMPING

Joanna is offering this prize to the winner of this challenge -

$20 GIFT VOUCHER

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO READ OUR RULES HERE SO YOU ARE IN THE RUNNING FOR THIS FABULOUS PRIZE!!

Come and see my vintage card:)

Recipe:

Prima BP's

SU punch

Flourishes cut on my Silhouette

Stamped lady from vintage SeeDee

WOW sentiment

Embosslits buttons

Liquid pearls gold

paper pricking

Pop over to the blog to check out the DT inspiration and to read the housekeeping rules so that you are in with a chance to win Joanne's fabulous sponsor prize:)

Up, up and away!!

                                     Hi everyone just a quick post for this weeks LIM challenge:

For our theme this week we have chosen
Up in the air
For this we would love to see aircraft, rockets, balloons etc, although if you have none of this sort of image then we would like to see how inventive you can be with the theme.

                                                                  Come and see my card:

 I used a stamp from Stamp Addict vintage set which has images from Leonardo Da Vinci and I made a masterboard. I stamped using black memento and coloured with SU Crumb Cake and Marina Mist. I cut up the board into squares and mounted them onto my card and scored around them for definition. The top square is double embossed and popped up on foam pads. The sentiment is a freebie from Craft Stamper and I cut it into a flag shape and added a dotted trail with a pen.
Thanks for taking the time to visit it's always appreciated.

E is for ELEPHANT!

Hi everyone, just a quick post to show my altered dictionary page for the Craft Barn challenge. The letter this week is E and I have chosen ELEPHANT.

Recipe:

Distress inks

Indian cube from Judikins

Die cuts and gem 

Thanks for visiting, I'm off for quiz night at our local and a nice meal beforehand, Happy Valentine's to you all :)

Addicted to Stamps & More-Bingo!

Hi everyone and welcome to a new challenge at ATSM. This week we have a bingo challenge for you and are being sponsored by

Clear Dollar Stamps

There is an amazing range of goodies over here! The wonderful Cassie is offering the winner of our challenge an amazing $15 gift voucher!!! 

Here is our bingo card and you can choose any line, horizontal, vertical or diagonal, just let us know which one!

Come and see which line I chose:

 I chose Paper piece, Pearls and Love. The stamp is an old one and I have no name for it, but I stamped and paper pieced her with scraps and rolled a little rose for her hat. The swirls around the image are pieces fussy cut from an embossing folder, softly inked and with liquid pearls for highlights. I also added liquid pearls on the hat and as a necklace. The sentiment is a WOW one and finished with a heart gem
Please check out the ATSM blog for the DT inspiration and I look forward to visiting your blogs to see what you have created. Good luck with the challenge:)

Less is More week 106-one layer!

Oh no, it's snowing again!! I hope this is the last of it, every time I arrange a visit to my SIL in Kent it snows. Oh well better pack a shovel, blankets and some supplies:)
Anyway this week it's a one layer challenge over at LIM towers and they want to see music in some form or another. Unfortunately Mandi is no longer continuing as she has to concentrate on her new business but Jen is staying on full time with Chrissie and that is good news.
I wasn't sure what to do and sat for ages looking at a bare card knowing that I didn't have much in the way of musical stamps. Looking through my EF's I found this Darice one and inspiration struck!

 The sentiment is an old SeeDee one and I had a musical note stamp that I stamped on shrink plastic and used them as little embellishments. I added a tiny dot of gold on each of the candles.

Thanks for visiting me and hopefully leaving a comment:)

At last!

Hi everyone just thought I'd share a couple of pics of my completed kitchen and the extension which is being painted next week. That is going to be my dining room and with the tri fold doors I'm hoping for some good weather this summer:) The builders have been with us since 1st October, except for a short Xmas break so they are almost family now!

 We spent all day washing and finding new homes for all the kitchen paraphernalia that makes me think I have enough to start a catering college! Fabulous to have a dishwasher again and it's been going non stop since this morning:) And it's so quiet I had to stop and check it was working!

 My toaster and kettle are lime green and not yellow as they appear in the photo:)
At the moment it's pot luck if we open the right drawer or cupboard to find what we need:)




 Looking through to the new dining room, matching
 cupboards that house the freezer, washing machine,
 tumble dryer and boiler.

Doors open right back onto the garden.


See you soon with a LIM entry if I can get the creative juices flowing:) 

Happy Birthday!!

My favourite challenge, Less is More is celebrating it's 2nd birthday and apart from missing a few challenges while being on holiday, I've been there from day one:) I've made lots of blogging friends because of it and the feed back is always so encouraging. So many thanks to Chrissie, Mandi (sadly retired!) and Jen for all the challenges and the comments.
This week is a colour challenge and it's Kraft & Kreme.
This is what I came up with using two Memory Box dies and kraft and cream card.

I attached a piece of acetate to the bottom of the front, under the die cut houses and stamped the sentiment on the kraft card underneath.

My kitchen is just having the final finishing touches, it took a bit longer than anticipated but it's a Victorian town house and there were several challenges to overcome! I will post pics soon, at  the moment I just stand in the doorway and admire it:)

Thanks for taking the time to visit and you know I love to read your comments.

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