Less is More week 65 - sketch

It's sketch week over at LIM towers and we have two to choose from.

"For this week's sketch we'd like you to keep to the proportions of this drawing so that there is considerable white space remaining in the finished card."
I decided to go with the square one and it's only now, seeing it in front of me, that I realise I have not placed the sentiment as the Lady Divas have specified! Drat! Well I'm posting it anyway and may do another tomorrow:)

I've used a Waltzing Mouse stamp that I won a couple of week's ago as part of Kate's blog candy. They come as semi circles that you have to match up and I stamped it 3 times so that I could fussy cut and decoupage. I added a small black bow to the centre and a gem on each corner. The sentiment is from a SeeDee set and now I just wait to get my wrist slapped:))


Last week I posted about the "fish and chip" babies and I thought I'd show you the finished jumper and beanie hat. Dead easy to make as it's made in one piece, as is the hat.

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

Less is More week 64 How Charming

Morning everyone, well if you read my previous post you'll know how late I am this week, I've hardly commented on anyone's blog so apologies for that! I'll try and catch up to see what everyone has been up to:)
This week's challenge for the LIMettes is to use a charm on a card. I wanted to use some of my new stamps especially the leaves and I eventually came up with this.

The stamp is by Chapel Art and I stamped the Judikins postage stamp in Memento black and masked off the inner square and sponged Bundled Sage, Mustard Seed and Victorian Velvet. I stamped the leaves in black, cut out the squares and pop dotted them on to the ivory square card. The sentiment is a Jenny Mayes one stamped in Victorian Velvet and the charm fell off a bracelet and is attached with a heart brad.

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

MMM week 46 Birds or Animals

I feel a bit like the White Rabbit this week, late for everything! I've missed three birthdays this week and had to get some cards done quickly:) I've put it down to Granny Amnesia!!!
 Anyway more importantly back to this week's MMM challenge. The continuing theme is Men and Boys but this week we are asked to include Animals or Birds. I think we all struggle with cards for men and I'm not sure I have succeeded but I like it:)

The EF is a Tim Holtz one, distressed with Pumice Stone DI and the birds highlighted with Marina Mist.
The bird stamp is SU Little Vermilion stamped in Chocolate Chip and coloured with DI's and a water brush. The leaves are a Darice EF that I fussy cut and coloured with Versamagic Spanish Olive and the birds were popped up with silicone glue.
The sentiment is an old SeeDee one.

Hope you like it, thanks for taking the time to visit me:)

A star is born!

Evening all, I got back from a little retail therapy this afternoon to find my lovely son Dominic had solved my printer problems!!! Yeay now I can print again!
Just want to draw your attention to a plea for help to anyone who knits. I've seen this on a couple of blogs, Vicky's was the latest and it is to make little jumpers and hats for the "fish and chip" babies - babies who are sent home wrapped in newspaper as they are born into such poverty there's nothing else.  Check out the info HERE.
I didn't have any brightly coloured wool but saw some in the Range and bought a ball this afternoon. I have now completed the first side so hopefully it will be finished tomorrow. I haven't knitted for over 20 years but this inspired me to get out my needles.
Welcome to my new followers, much appreciated Jenny!
Enjoy the rest of the weekend:)

MMM week 45 Men and Boys

A late posting this week from me as my printer is still not connecting to my laptop and it's driving me mad!! The continuing theme at MMM is still Men and Boys but this week they want to see Male sports or hobbies. I really need to use my printer for digi images but it's not playing ball and I only have one set of boys stamps, an old SeeDee set which is very limited. So I rummaged through my carrier bag of scraps and found a background paper and some seafaring images that I had printed out ages ago just off the internet.
Here's the finished result which I am quite pleased with especially as this month's sponsor is Marianne Designs and there are fabulous dies to be won:)

I distressed the edges of the BP with Stormy Sky and matted it onto black card and onto a pearl base card. I punched the ship image out and matted it onto the same BP which I distressed with Black Soot and rounded two opposite corners. The rope ladder and the cord around the compass is from when we cut down the length of a wooden blind! The anchor and the knot were cut out and mounted onto the card and the sentiment is from my xyron digital printer.
Thanks for visiting and hopefully leaving a comment so that I can visit you:)

Less is More week 63-One Layer

Howdy doodle everyone, are you all enjoying the free expression challenge over at Less is More? I love all the zentangles but lack the patience for it and I've been thinking about it for days now and over complicating the remit, when a few dots could possibly suffice:) Doodling is something I've always done in meetings and even during our weekly quiz night and it is always a variation on a theme. So here is my  regular doodle although I don't normally colour it!

I used a fine tip on a Slate PM and doodled the leaf shapes and the twirls and coloured with Victorian Velvet, Bundled Sage and a water brush. I added some green pearls and the sentiment is from my xyron digital printer. It looked a bit bare so I drew a wobbly line around the edge of the card to tie it all in.
Hope you like it, please leave a comment so I can visit you:)

More goodies!!

Hi everyone thought I'd post a photo of the blog candy that I received today from Kate. Kate's blog is The Sporadic Stamper  and she creates the most amazing stamped backgrounds and cards, do check her out. The nice thing about it is that Kate was my very first follower:) I was only expecting a set of Waltzing Mouse stamps but look what else I got:)

Can't wait to try them out!
Meanwhile can I just draw your attention to our ongoing colour challenge over at Creations by Gill McCall as we'd love to see a few more of you having a go:)

A very crafty day!!

Evening all just thought I'd do a quick post to show you all the goodies I came back with from Ally Pally today. It's always a very good fair but it was made extra special today because 6 of us met up for the first time although we chat all the time on Blogger! We are all LIMETTES and we had Lady Chrissie with us!

The little black box adorned with a butterfly was an unexpected gift from Gay. She had made each one of us a little box with Post It's inside, how thoughtful was that!

L to R it's me, Gay( http://mustavcoffee-craftymusings.blogspot.co.uk/ ), Vicky(Stampin' Up ideas and supplies from Vicky at Crafting Clare's Paper Moments), Chrissie(http://simply-one-of-a-kind.blogspot.co.uk/) and Jenny(http://craftinginthecountry.blogspot.co.uk/)      Sylvie(Gibmiss) had escaped!!
All in all a fabulous day:)

MMM week 44 Vintage

Evening all I'm trying to catch up after the Easter weekend, I don't know what day it is and I'm missing my Charlie cuddles:)
The continuing theme this month over at MMM is Men and Boys and this week's challenge is VINTAGE.
There are some fabulous cards to inspire you by the DT so do check out the MMM blog.
I decided to play around with my Darkroom Door stamps, Paris collection and some DI. Here is what I came up with:

My base card is centura pearl and the edges have been distressed with Pumice Stone DI. I stamped the postcard stamp from the set with grey Versafine and the main image with black Memento ink. The Louvre and the lamp post are pop dotted and I used a gold PM to add highlights to the lamp and the signage. The smart gent is stamped on photo card and the sentiment was printed onto digital ticket stubs. I used a pricking tool to add some interest to the edges.

I had a lovely photo of Charlie at the weekend fast asleep on my shoulder and I used Craft Artist to make a  scrap layout. Thought I'd share it with you and hope you like it:)

Thanks for taking the time to visit and I hope you'll leave a comment so that I can visit you:)

Less is More week 62 Colour

Hi everyone hope you've all had a lovely Easter regardless of the weather! I've had 4 days of bonding and cuddling Charlie and it was wonderful :)
This week Chrissie and Mandi  have set us a colour challenge and it's:
                           Three Shades of Green
I couldn't think of anything inspirational so stuck to a very simple layout!

 I punched three shades of green card with an Anna Griffin punch, layered them up and attached to the side of a card base. The sentiment is from a SeeD set and I stamped it in dark green from a Kaleidocolour ink pad and pop dotted it on top of the green card. Pale green gems complete the corners.
Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy it enough to leave a comment:)

DT challenge for CBGM-colour

Hi everyone and welcome to this month's challenge at Creations by Gill McCall.  The theme this month is a colour one and you can make anything using the colours in this photo.

 Here is my DT card that I made for the challenge.

 My base card is orange and I matted it with patterned paper that came free with a cardmaking magazine. I cut out some of the elements and popped them up with silicone glue and added little punched flowers and some pearls. The sentiment was also part of the freebies.
I hope you like it and will join us in this month's challenge. The only criteria is that you must be a follower of Gill's blog to be considered for the challenge.
Good luck:)

MMM week 43 Men and Boys

OMG thought I'd never get this card posted in time for this weeks challenge! We've had upgraded broadband etc and nothing would connect properly and my wireless printer wouldn't play ball :(  This months theme over at MMM is Men and Boys and the challenge this week is WHEELS. This is where I really needed my printer for a digi image as I didn't have anything suitable stamp wise. Anyway after a rummage I found a very old SeeDee set called boys toys and this is what I made:)

I cut a 5 x 5 card base and used the cutoff as a band edged with black and stamped with the finishing flag down the side. I stamped the car, coloured it red and silver and covered it with glossy accents. I mounted it on a black oval punched out and the sentiment is also from the same set.
Hope you like it and thanks for taking the time to visit. I may be a little busy this weekend as Charlie is visiting and I am having lots of cuddles:)

Less is More week 61 Lucky Dip

Another gorgeous day here today and perfect for the colour choice for the LIM challenge.
As it's the fifth week of the month we have a Lucky Dip and it is a Picture Inspiration using this beautiful colour combo:

I caught a little bit of the Spellbinder show with Sue Wilson this morning and was inspired by one of her creations. Here is my take on it, what do you think?                

A5 base card with rounded corners and a doily topper cut from my Silhouette. I used SU Pink Pirouette to sponge the edges and to stamp a frame. The sentiment is from my xyron digital runner. I punched out 10 branches from the SU bird and branch punch and laced them through the beaded edge of the doily. The flowers are from an xcut punch with a pink pearl in the centre. A pink heart gem finishes it off.

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

What a night!!

Morning everyone, what have you done with the sun? Typical just as the school holidays start:)
Just wanted to tell you about a lovely evening I had last night with one of my DT colleagues from Creations by Gill McCall. Naomi lives in Colorado and won a trip to London for the 3D showing of Titanic. She decided to make a holiday of it and brought her lovely family with her. We thought it would be great to meet up and take a photo for the other DT members.

We met at Brown's in Covent Garden and had a lovely meal and it was like we had been friends for ages:)







Naomi gave me a beautiful box with little gift cards inside that she had made especially for me:) Do checkout Naomi's blog as she is extremely creative and would love you to follow her.

Isn't it absolutely beautiful? I had a little gift for Naomi as well, it was not something I had created myself but a set of Papermania London stamps which I thought would come in handy as Naomi is a great scrapbooker!























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

MMM week 42

Hi everyone and here we are at the final MMM week on the  SPRING theme. I love these challenges with the same theme running through for a month but with a different twist each week. This week  the challenge is to create something involving

NEW LIFE OR BEGINNINGS

Now this could be a number of things: Easter (New Life in the church), New Baby (human or animal - think lambs, chicks or bunnies), A New Life Together or even a New Home. 

I was a bit stuck for inspiration for a while as I don't have any baby animals or religious images and my printer is playing up!! Anyway I eventually came up with this card for a new home which I hope you like:)

My base card is a pre patterned glossy card from my stash. I cut it down to 5" x 5" and folded a corner down, cut off the end and secured it with brads. I cut out a birdhouse shape, punched out flowers and the bird and branch from SU all in the piece of leftover card. I moulded the flowers and added a pearl to each centre and the sentiment is from my xyron digital runner. The little bird is from Everything Eleanor SU set.


Thanks for taking the time to visit:)

Less is More week 60-recipe

Help too much choice!! This week the LIM theme is  TAKE THREE CHALLENGES. There is a list of all the past challenges at the top of the LIM blog and you can take any three for your card.
58 to choose from help!
In the end I decided to have a rummage in my scraps bag and came up with this. I realised that whatever I created there would be at least 3 challenges that would be covered :)

The main image is a digital sentiment that I cut out and sponged the edges with Stormy Sky DI and painted the butterfly with Marina Mist SU ink. It is mounted onto card embossed with an SU EF and mounted onto blue card. The other butterflies are painted, moulded and popped up with silicone glue. All the pieces came from my scrap bag.

The challenges I used are:
1. Week 10-Sentiment only
2. Week 15-Embossing
3. Week 16-Butterflies
4. Week 56-Don't scrap it

     Thanks for dropping by, your comments are much appreciated:)     

Make My Monday week 41

Over at MMM the theme of SPRING is continuing but this week we've been asked to make a SPRING FOLD card. Coincidently I did a similar card for my DT challenge at the beginning of March.

I used mauve base card and matted some Anna Griffin paper on the base and on the topper. I cut out some of the flowers for decoupage and a large one for the centre which is two flowers moulded together with a gem in the centre. The four corners were stamped with a clarity corner stamp with versamark ink.

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

Less is More week 59-Theme

Evening all are you sitting comfortably, this is longer than usual!! Firstly this weeks's theme at Less is More is MASKING but still to be clean and simple with lots of white space. Lots of white space usually means an inky finger somewhere! Anyway here is what I came up with after a couple of other ideas went pear shaped:

The postage stamp is a very old one from Stamp Addicts as is the daisy, which is a four sided one called Carol's cube. I stamped the postage stamp in black onto the card base and then onto a post it. I cut out the centre panel and stamped the daisy in gold ink off the edge. I cut around the top of the mask and stamped another daisy. I used a water pen to colour in using SU Pretty Pirouette. I added gold glitter to the centre of the flowers. The sentiment is from a set by Sheena Douglass.
It looks slightly skewed in the photo but not IRL!





As some of you may have noticed I recently became a grandmother :)) and this resulted in us receiving congratulatory cards, two of which I'd like to show you. The first is from my sister Karen, whose blog you may be aware of, and it has a photo of Charlie on the front along with some lovely embellishments.

The next card was a lovely surprise from Christine, who lives in Belgium. We follow each others blogs and have exchanged cards once before, she creates beautiful cards and I was delighted to receive this one: Isn't it cute?

We went down to Portsmouth to see Charlie on Sunday for Mother's Day and as it was Lara's first Mother's Day I made her a card and here it is:

I've used SU papers and Everything Eleanor stamps. It resembles a shaped gate fold but when it opens the inside flap lifts up.





I used Anna Griffin punches on the green paper.

The window frame is a die and I cut the bottom off and popped it up to create a window box. The scenes is a Pilkington Lane stamp coloured with PM's. The flowers are a little punch with a pearly dot in the centre.

And here is the centre of our universe and the lovely flowers that he gave me for Mother's Day:)

Hope you managed to stay with me during this longer than usual post, if you did many thanks for your time:)

Leibster award

Since the "My Fair Lady" blog hop this morning my followers have risen to 101 and the person who tipped me over to 101 is Sharon, who has also awarded my blog the Leibster award. I'd like to thank Sharon for this award and encourage you to check out her blog as she was cardmaker of the year 2011 for the Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine!

How the Leibster blog award works.

The idea of this award is to spread love from one small blog (less than 200 followers) to another. This helps to spread knowledge and readership.

to accept the award you must:

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you and thank them.

2. Post the award on your blog.

3. Give the award to 5 bloggers whose work you admire.

4. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have been chosen.

I am passing this award on to:

1. Naomi--http://snipitytweetwhispers.blogspot.com/

2. Jenni--http://jennisjems.blogspot.co.uk/

3. Kate--http://sporadicstamper.blogspot.co.uk/

4. Ulina-http://apricotbubbles.blogspot.co.uk/

5. Val-http://aquarius-aquariusblog.blogspot.co.uk/

My Fair Lady blog hop

Welcome everyone to the My Fair Lady blog hop hosted by Gill McCall. If you have arrived here from .Linda S - http://lindasimpsoncraftypieceofheaven.blogspot.com/ then you are hopping in the right direction but if you have just happened upon my blog and would like to start from the beginning please start here.
I have made three cards for this hop and and they are all different and I hope you like them.

My first card is an iconic image from Debbi Moore which was free in her Inspirations magazine. So just a case of cutting out and sticking backing paper to black card stock! A few pearls for embellishment and I love this card:)

 

This card is made with images and background from a cd called Cocktail Dreams by Hinny Bop designs. The backdrop I have embellished with gold glitter and the lady is pop dotted and all the silver jewels on her gown are silver glittered.

This card is a download and I decoupaged the little girl and the wheelbarrow. I punched out some flowers for the barrow. The base card is SU card stock.




Thanks for hopping along with me today and the next crafty person to visit is
Jacki- http://scullduggery-cardsbyjacki.blogspot.com/

Less is more week 58 #2

Just had an idea for the waste that was left over  making the frame for Charlie, which you can see here.  
So here is my second card for the LIM challenge:

I sponged Marina Mist onto the footprints and the name and stamped the script from French Foliage in black through the stencils and down the side.
I hand wrote Welcome in slate PM. I added a couple of gems to the big toes, big being the operative word, Charlie has large feet!!
Apologies for the shadow and the baby obsession:)


Thanks for taking the time to visit:)

Make My Monday week 40

Just a quick post to show my card for this weeks challenge over at MMM. The theme is still Spring  but this week it is a Mother's Day card or a Thank you card.
I have chosen a thank you card using Anna Griffin papers and diecuts. Inspiration was sadly lacking and so I resorted to more of a put together card! Being a grandmother has addled my brain, what there was of it:)
Anyway here it is and hopefully it's suitable for the theme.

Less is More week 58-one layer

Evening all, well thought I'd better get on and produce a couple of challenge cards but inspiration is in short supply! I'm more interested in playing around with baby photos and making some brag books and can't get up any enthusiasm for cards:)
The challenge over at Less is More is a one layer card theme and we are to use SCRIPT in any form, even handwritten but there must be a sentiment as well.
This was my 3rd attempt as I kept stamping the text upside down!

The stamps are from a vintage set by Stamp Addicts and the sentiment is from an old seedee set The script is stamped in gold ink and the ruin scene is in black memento. The sentiment is wild wasabi overstamped with gold. I used PM's to colour the image.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and hopefully leaving a comment. Many thanks for all the lovely comments that have been left about Charlie, I loved them!!

Hope I'm not boring you!

Hi everyone, just got back this evening from Portsmouth and my first cuddles with Charlie:) He is gorgeous and a very contented baby and I've yet to hear him cry! I had made a box frame for Charlie's nursery and was waiting with all the numbers cut for every date eventuality and the two names that had been chosen for a boy or a girl!

All the pieces were cut with my Silhouette and coloured with PM's. It
looks really nice in the nursery.

I made a word card very quickly to take down with us using Funky Daze Paercraft cd. In such a hurry I forgot to take any photos, so this was in situ. There were lots of embellishments inside along with Charlie's first photo.

And now for my favourite photos:)

At Last!!!

Baby Charlie was born today at midday, he weighed 7lb 10ozs and mother and baby are very well!
                                                                
 Nanna Val is very excited and looking forward to my first cuddle :)  Off to make a card now and hopefully off to Portsmouth tomorrow!

Liebster Award

Hi everyone, well it's not the Oscars but awards are definitely in the air! The fabulous SASHA has awarded me with the Liebster Award and I was delighted to accept it:) do check out her blog she makes beautiful cards and projects and they always are embellished with a fabulous bow!

This award is for bloggers with less than 200 followers.

To accept this award there are a few rules...

Thank the person who gave the award and link back to their blog.

Reveal your five chosen bloggers and let them know.

Post the award on your blog.

Hope that those you honour pass it on to their favourite bloggers.

Here are my five chosen bloggers...

1. Karen-Serendipity Dragonfly

2. Yvonne-Meggys Way

3. Jacqueline-Deezines Art

4. Christine-Creative Christine

5. Gay-Crafty Musings

Thanks again to Sasha and I'm still waiting for the call:)

Less is More week 57 #2

What a horrible day very windy and loads of rain! The postie arrived with  a few eBay goodies and as I'm trying to keep busy I thought I'd have another go at this weeks LIM challenge which is using NEUTRALS.

I've used SU Botanical Blossoms, which is a duo stamp set matted onto core'dinations which I tore to match the shape of the topper. A couple of black gems and a sentiment to finish.
Off to Aquafit now and Rock choir later so that will keep me from thinking babies all the time!
Thanks for your time it's much appreciated:)

Less is More week 57 Colour

Evening all, well I'm still waiting for that phone call!! In the mean time I thought I'd better get on with the new LIM challenge which is a colour one and this time Chrissie and Mandi want us to use NEUTRALS.  That covers off white to black with any shade of beige, brown or grey in between.
This is what I came up with:
                                                                                                               

This is a cream pearlised base card with a strip of brown card stock across the centre. The small rectangles were distressed with Crumb Cake and Soft Suede and then the middle two were stamped with this month's freebie from Craft Stamper.  The other stamp is fennel seed heads by Craft Fairy.
The sentiment is from my xyron printer and finished with 2 black pearls.

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