Less is More week 30 Recipe

Wow what a great challenge this week for the LIMs!

This week we are back to Sketch or Recipe

We have chosen a Recipe this time

Take 3 Challenges

We want you to choose 3 from any of our previous 29 and combine them in your design.
There is a list of our previous challenges under the tab heading at the top of our blog and you can also see the previous sketches under a separate tab.

Please state which 3 you have chosen.
NB There is no need to adhere to the One Layer if that is on the week you choose.

You may wish to go for your favourites or maybe your least...acetate springs to mind!

Most of all, be creative, have fun, remember our white space and the all important

"Less is More"

So much choice and such wonderful submissions on the Less is More blog that it is definitely worth visiting:)

I decided on:

A touch of Red

Something that moves

Embossing

I used a DL base card and dry embossed a flower shape from my Easi score board and added a red gem to the centre. The stamp I inked with black brilliance and stamped directly on to the card. I stamped again on to red card and paper pieced the dress. I added some red glitter and the sentiment I printed out and inserted randomly. Apologies for the poor picture quality but it was very dark here today and I always get a pinky glow on white card!

Thanks for looking and please leave a comment if you visit, I love to read them and visit you as well:)

Anything that Flies CBGM

Gill's challenge this week is to produce a card  basing it on "anything that flies" so that can be birds or beasties, air transport methods, myth & magic or anything that can fly.
I chose a backing paper and image from TLC where Paulette gives away amazing free digis, sentiments and papers nearly every day, so check her out:)


I matted the backing paper onto a ribbed pearlised card and mounted onto white card which I distressed with Antique Linen.
I mounted the topper on the same card and distressed the edges with ink and used a pen to create a faux line of stitching with 4 small brads in the corners. I added 3 square brads in opposite corners on the backing paper and the sentiment was produced on my xyron printer.
Good luck with the challenge

http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com/2011/08/cbgm-blog-challenge-14-anything-that.html

Less is More second attempt!

The men in my house are bonding over some sci-fi film so I thought I'd have a go at another card for this weeks LIM challenge.
I was sorting out my digi stamps into categories so that I can find them easily and came across this one from BTFC. Carmen gives out amazing free digis and vintage images so do go and have a look!
 I thought this image was perfect for the challenge and coloured it with PM's and added some glitter. Not sure where the sentiment came from apart from the internet:)
It reads: butterflies soar into the hearts of man, they sail boundless and free

Thanks for looking and as always please leave a comment so I can visit you:)

Less is More week 29 -things that move

The challenge over at Less is More this week is "things that move".

This week's challenge is a 'Theme' and we would like to see

Things that Move

This could be interpreted in a variety of ways...an actual moving component on your card, so a pop up, a shaker, a spinner, a charm, a tag... we could go on... 

On the other hand your card could have an image of something capable of movement, so the scope for that is almost infinitesimal!

So many things to choose from, what to do?!!! In the end I have gone with my little hummingbird stamp. This was my souvenir from our trip to Prince Edward Island last year that I found in Michael's.

I folded the card so that the front fold was shorter and stamped the floral branch from one of Sheena's sets and coloured with PM's. I then stamped the hummingbird 3 times and coloured the images and bent the wings and mounted them on the card. The sentiment is from the same set.

Thanks for looking and please leave a comment so that I can visit you:)

St Luke's Charity card challenge

The theme this month for the St Luke's charity card challenge is "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside".
Now I don't possess any suitable stamps so I created a card using Craft Artist. The picture in the photo frame is a photo of the entrance to Dartmouth that I took and I used software to turn it into a pencil sketch so that I could give it a colour wash. I decoupaged the starfish and the shell and added some gingham ribbon.
This is a challenge that is well worth supporting, check out the link and also look at the amazing DT cards:)
Thanks for looking and please leave a comment they are much appreciated.

Less is More week 28 one layer using INK no 2!

This weather is absolutely terrible so I had a little play again and and came up with 2 more cards for this week's LIM challenge. I've even had the lights on it's been so dark!!
Anyway 2 quick cards, the first one I brayered a band of Kaleidocolour Riviera ink and stamped my Venetian stamps set from Darkroom Door on top. Love this set!

The second one I used a watercolour paper with a honeycomb texture and sponged DI around and masked a sun so that I could stamp the butterfly from the SU Strength and Hope set across it.
Kept me busy while I was waiting for some silicone glue to dry on another card:)

Thanks for looking and I appreciate any comments you leave!

Less is More week 28 one layer using INK

This week's LIM challenge is :

The special feature we would like to see this week is for you to 

USE INK
** This does include ink pads **

...hopefully in a way you haven't tried before.... or using a favourite technique.

If you can avoid using the computer this week, that would be great, but we wouldn't want to to miss a week if the computer is your only method of card making.

I've made a couple of cards but may try again later in the week. My first card uses a resist technique, which is something I have only done a couple of times. The stamp is by Jenny May and is stamped in  versamark and embossed with clear EP. I then masked a square around the image and used DI in Bundled Sage and Worn Lipstick as the background and burnished the resist with a tissue to remove any ink. I stamped the corners with a clarity stamp.

My second card uses the same stamp but I inked it up with SU Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery and Wild Wasabi. I used a water brush to drag some of the colour around to create light and shade. The sentiment was inked with Wild Wasabi and I added just a touch of glitter to the centre of the flowers.

Thanks for looking and I love to read your reactions to my creations:))

Believe in the Magic! by CBGM

Gill's challenge this week is to create a project on the theme of "believe in the magic" based on the sketch below:

For this challenge I have used stamps from polkadoodles and coloured them with promarkers. On the left corner  I decoupaged some of the smaller elements and added a fairy that I shrunk down on shrink plastic. The butterfly is a 3D one from my stash and the sentiment was created with my xyron digital printer using Ballerina font. I added glitter to some of the images and some peel offs around the edge.

Good luck with the challenge:)

A new arrival!

A very good friend has just become a grandmother for the 3rd time, all boys! I love boys:)
The new arrival is Edward Joseph and I've been busy making congratulation cards for the parents and grandparents.
The first card is one that I cased from Chrissie Stokes and thought it was such a lovely idea which could be adapted for different occasions. Check out her blog as she creates some amazing cards (her latest post are more lovely baby cards) and with Mandi she is the founder of Less is More challenges.

I created a basic side stepper card and the stamp was a freebie from a Docrafts Creativity magazine. The edges are all sponged with blue ink and have  pearls for handles. The teddy stamp was coloured with PM's. He really should be a bluey grey colour but I didn't have the right PM so he is a more traditional colour:)

The 2nd card is a square scalloped base with some torn gingham paper and paper ribbon and the info is printed on to a memo note. These were all created on Craft Artist. The baby image was a free digi from Beyond the Fringe Crafts that I coloured with PM's. Carmen and her family create beautiful digis and they are all free so go check them out.

Please leave a comment if you are passing by as I love to read your reactions:)

Bah Humbug White on White

It's been ages since I partied with the ladies over at Humbug Hall and I thought I should remedy that:) The theme this week is white on white which is odd when you get together everything you think is white and find it's all different shades of white!
I used one of my new Tim Holtz embossing folders that Karen made me buy lol! this one is called Crackled and I thought it looked wintry. I cut around it to match the scalloped card base and I smeared versamark over the embossing and applied white glitter. The topper is a cuttlebug folder and I cut it out and used white ribbon for the bow and wrapping. I punched out small flowers and added them to the centre with a jewel in the middle. I used the waste from a sequin die to look as if it was snowing on the card

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

Less is More week 27 Colour

This week's challenge over at Less is More is to use the colours of your National Flag and I decided to use red and white, the colours of the flag of St George for England!
It's most unusual for me to come up with any ideas on the same day as the LIM challenge is posted but I had a couple of ideas and even stopped emptying the dishwasher to have a crafty go:))
I hope my first card has enough "white space" on it but I liked it anyway :o
 I used red linen card and my SU bird punch which I love and punched the edge of the white card with MS daisy punch. The sentiment I stamped with versamark and embossed with white EP. The birds and sentiment are raised with foam dots.

                                           My flag










My second card was very easy using red card and a doily as a topper with a rose made of the same card. the sentiment was stamped and embossed with versamark and white EP and 2 eyelets with red ribbon threaded through.
Thanks for looking and I love to read all your comments:)

RAK club

Hi everyone just a quick posting to showcase the beautiful card that I received today from Linda (Simpson that is). I'm assuming it's my July card as it's a summer theme but it's also a gorgeous shaped card which is this month's theme:))
There are lots of lovely decoupage layer which I hope show up in the photo.
For anyone interested in joining our group it's called the RAK club and stands for Random Acts of Kindness. It means that the lovely Gill, who hosts it sets the theme for the month and gives us the person to send a card to. Consequently we all get to receive something lovely in the post other than bills and junk mail! Checkout Gill's blog for more info.
Thanks Linda :)

Cocktails and Dreams

everyone and welcome to the Cocktails and Dreams blog hop hosted by Gill McCall. If you have just happened upon my blog and would like to join the hop from the beginning click here to go to Gill's blog.

If you have arrived from
 Alethea   http://lilodesign​s.blogspot.com/ then you are on track with the hop. 
I love cocktails and hopefully you do too and  I have created 2 projects to share with you.
The first is a scrap page that I made for my son and DIL with memories of their honeymoon in Cuba 3 years ago. I used Craft Artist, a digital programme, to create the page and decoupaged some of the elements to give depth.

My 2nd creation is a card .The background is printed with names of cocktails and the toppers are photos of various cocktails that have been framed. I glazed the glasses to create texture.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit and the next stop on this hop is 
jacki  http://cardsbyjacki.blogspot.​com
Thanks for looking andI love to read your comments they are always welcome:)

Less is More Week 26 - Lucky Dip

Ok, so we have our 'Lucky Dip' week as it's the fifth Saturday of July.

The challenge is 

FEELING FRUITY

Chrissie and Mandi would like to see fruit on our cards or fruit colours...easy peasy 'lemon' squeezy! Yeah yeah!!!

Well the one thing I don't have in my stamp collection is a fruity one! Having checked out some of the fantastic entries I think Susan has them all :)

I remembered having seen some fruit on Beccy's site and went to see the digi's in her archives. Sure enough there was a pear but I loved this basket of apples.

I printed the image out in Craft Artist so that I could bend the text and then I used my promarkers to colour in, heavens it sounds like I'm back at primary school!

I used a basic 7 x 5 white card and the apple on the text I drew, coloured and wrote the text on it and then used a little silicone glue to lift it slightly, hope that's ok with the "crafty duo".

So there we have my entry for this week, thanks for looking and your comments are always a joy and much appreciated!

Graduation collage

A collage I made with Smilebox to celebrate a special day :))

Free digital collage created with Smilebox

Design Team Blog Hop

Hi everyone I am part of Gill's CBGM DT and we are all taking part in a DT blog hop hosted by  

Dee of Vintageheartfeltdesigns blog.  The theme of the hop is birthdays and here is my card:

 The stamp is a Papermania Hydrangea stamp and I inked it up with SU Pretty in pink, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi and Certainly Celery. The flower and ribbons are from Meiflower and the border is punched with a Martha Stewart punch and embellished with pearls

  If you would like to see our teams entries then click HERE for CBGM blog or if you would like to take part in the hop then please start back at Dee's blog ......

Thank you for hopping and I hope that you enjoy our creations and maybe be inspired to join in on our future hops which are always advertised on my blog.

Please leave a comment as I love to read your reactions to my cards.

Thanks for looking;)

Graduation Day

Today we are in Southampton watching my darling DIL receive her degree, for which she achieved a 1st ! We have an early start as her graduation is at 9.30!!
I had already made Lara a card when we first got the news, but I forgot to take a picture for my blog, silly me!
Anyway I have made her a box which contains her favourite Lindor chocs and a small gift wallet.
The box was a printout from TLC and is most probably for graduates from primary education, check out the images, but Lara will be more interested in the chocolate!

The wallet is made for a gift card or money and I found it on Vicky's blog. As you will see they can be customised to suit anyone. I used navy card and stamped the front with versamark and the wrap is held together with a brad and has a topper decoupaged on the front. The images were from the Scrapbook Flair website.

Thanks for looking:)

Less is More week 25 "ribbon/button or both" no 2!

Getting ahead of myself this week with another card for the LIM challenge! Needed to get in early as we are off to sunny (I hope) Portsmouth on Tuesday for my darling DIL's graduation. This is a second degree through her work and the clever girl got a FIRST!! I have made a couple of graduation themed creations which I'll post tomorrow.
Meanwhile here is my 2nd LIM card. I made a ribbon flower with grosgrain ribbon and the centre is made with the SU die and the other buttons are from my stash. The stems are punched from my SU bird punch and inked with Bundled Sage.
Thanks for looking:)

Less is More week 25 "ribbon/button or both"

Well I must be psychic! I got so excited with my new embosslits button die that I rushed through another card for last week's LIM challenge and what did I find this morning? A ribbon and button challenge! Too quick for my own good:)
Lovely cards as usual from Lady and Diva LIM, I'm always inspired by the tips and techniques that they share with us.
Anyway on to my entry this week, I decided to use some alphabet stamps from The Stamp Man and do another Christmas card! I stamped the letters and coloured them with promarkers and used glitter to outline the shapes. They are mounted on gold mirri and the ribbon is from Meiflower. Of course I had to use a button:) which I overstamped and threaded purple cord through.
Thanks for looking:)

Beach scene - sketch challenge

Gill's challenge this week is a sketch, goody! and a beach scene.



 I had some stamps of palm trees and flip flops etc but I have just treated myself to my first house mouse stamps and decided to use them!
I used a square base card and covered it in some hot pink BP with flowers on that I got from
Jacki :)) I added some pink grosgrain ribbon down the side.
I stamped the scene in black Brilliance and coloured using promarkers. I mounted it onto some bright pink card and attached it with foam pads. The sentiment was part of the stamp set and will be a great card for my friend Caroline whose birthday is the end of this month. I cut out one of the small images and used it on the corner and finished off with pearls, my favourite!

Good luck with the challenge and thanks for looking:)

Less is More no 2

Just received my SU order from the weekend ( how quick was that!) and one of the items was the embosslits button die. I now have a box full of buttons all shapes, sizes and different colours!!! So I thought I'd make another card for LIM using the waste to sponge DI through and top with a few buttons. I'll have to restrain myself from putting buttons on all my cards:))
Thanks for looking:)

Create with TLC competition

Paulette over at TLC has a competition to create a card, layout or ATC using one of two images that you can download from her site. The test is to create your own sentiment to go with your submission and there will be 4 winners and the winner will have his or her sentiment created in word art by Paulette. She gives away amazing digi images and papers nearly every day and showcases bloggers that use her images.
I used Craft Artist to create a scrappy page using the cute crab image which reminded me of Mae West, hence the sentiment "Hey good looking come up and SEA me sometime!"
Claws crossed to win:))

Less is more week 24 Circles

Definitely running a bit late this week, I think I was all crafted out from the weekend and had no inspiration for this week's LIM challenge. The challenge being circles, which seems remarkably simple but hey ho, not so!!
Anyway I finally decided to do a Christmas card as I haven't done any for a while:)
I used a La Blanche stamp, which stamps in a semi circle and just used a gray pen to complete the circle. I glittered to enhance the snowy effect and mounted on to silver mirri. I punched circles out down the side and punched mirri with the same punch and adhered them under the cut outs. The sentiment was also mounted on to mirri. Not particularly happy with this submission but at least it's one more for Christmas!

A wonderful weekend!

We've just arrived home from a brilliant, albeit wet and windy, weekend in Somerset where I took part in a Stampin UP extravaganza Day!
My sister Karen and her friend Anne run a craft club and had booked Jenny Moors for a Stampin UP day.
I have not had any dealings with this company before and was looking forward to working with their products and crafting with like minded people. The day was held in a church hall and when we arrived Jenny had set up the room with tables of 5 and they were all beautifully decorated with handmade goodies for everyone.
Our first project was a waterfall photo album and followed in the second half of the morning with an owl bookmark and money box. There was also an owl card with a fence that stood away from the card but folded flat for posting.

In the afternoon session we made cards using a set of stamps called Strength and Hope which we given as a gift by Jenny and made 3 cards with them.

I had a WONDERFUL day and it was so nice to meet up with fellow bloggers who leave such nice comments on my blog:) As it was not a good weekend weather wise, Karen and I spent Sunday crafting as well:))
Guess what? There is another day in November for Christmas, woo hoo! B & B booked already with Karen:)

Welcome and a wedding

I just want to say welcome to my new followers that have now become a fab 50! Your comments are much appreciated and I enjoy visiting your blogs:)
On a Thursday evening we do a quiz night in a local pub with friends and I was asked by one of them to make a wedding card for a couple on another table, from all of us, commonly known as "Underneath the Dartboard"!!
Notice was short and I chose a vintage La Blanche image that I love and matted it on to silver mirri and added some glitter. I made a pop out card and cut a bell shape from the centre and used silver peel offs around the edge. I attached ribbon from each side before joining the cards together and hanging a metal heart with ribbon from the aperture. The sentiments were created on Craft Artist.

Apologies for photo quality as the request was very short notice and I forgot to take a photo at home and had to do it in the pub!!
Thanks for looking:)

Less is More week 23 One layer card " something with legs"

Well this week's challenge at Less is More will certainly bring in a mixed bag of entries! The theme is "something with legs" which covers a host of different images. Already there are so many cards up with loads of ideas.
I played around for a while and eventually came up with 2 cards. The first one uses an image of Leonardo da Vinci and his inventions which is from Stamp Addicts vintage range. I stamped the images with black brilliance ink and then sponged some colour on with chalks.The sentiment was created on my xyron printer.
The second one is a Judikins Indian cube and I stamped three elephants in black, masked them and stamped the palm trees  in grey ink. I coloured the elephants with promarkers and the sentiment is from my xyron printer.
Not sure Lady Lim should be allowed to fail in her duties just because she is on holiday, I see that Diane is on holiday but has still produced a submission as a dedicated LIM!!!!!!! Just joking Chrissie, hope you had a lovely time:)
Thanks for looking:)

Summer Holiday scrapbook challenge

Gill's challenge was to create a scrapbook page or mini album of a holiday that you have already had or a place you wish to go to. We had a lovely holiday last month in Rousillion half way up a mountain in the foothills of the Pyrenees so I thought I'd go for that.
Scrapbooking is not a craft I have much experience in except for using a digital package(Craft Artist) which I love, as it allows you to play around with all the embellishments before deciding on the finished look.
I set the page for 8" x 8" so that it prints out easily. When we opened our bedroom doors every morning the view of the pool was what we saw, brilliant eh?

So here is my finished result and embellished with a bit of string!!

Good luck with the challenge and thanks for looking:)

Less is More Week 22 Shades of Blue

The theme this week at Less is More is Shades of blue. 
Running a bit late this week as we are just back from  5 days in sunny Devon staying with friends overlooking Brixham harbour. Fantastic views and definitely shades of blue!
Catching up on my blog I found a digi stamp from Beyond the Fringe and immediately thought of Venice and that's where I went! Not literally, unfortunately, as it's my most favourite place, but theme wise!
I downloaded a drawing of the Venetian waterfront and coloured it blue. I printed out the digi stamp and overstamped with swirls and butterflies.I added some glitter to the mask and along the water. The sentiment was stamped with brilliance.
Hope it fits the brief:)

For the love of PINK blog hop

Today is Gill's birthday and we are all celebrating with a blog hop called "For the love of PINK".
If you have just come across this posting while browsing around in blog land then feel free to hop along but if you have arrived here from:
Faith http://faithfulecreations.com/ you are hopping perfectly pinkly!
To start from the beginning go to Gill-http://creationsbygillm.blogspot.com
For my project I have made a cross over card, which is two square cards joined together and each flap is cut in half diagonally so that the  decoration on the centre panel can be seen.
The BP is from a Dovecraft design pack and I used parts of it as decoupage and the stamped butterfly is a freebie from Craft Stamper.

Your next stop on this hop is Jenn P http://jennscrap2.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoy celebrating Gill's birthday with us on this PINK hop! Happy Birthday Gill!!