Less is More

 

I was delighted to see the first theme of 2021 at LIM was Fashion and Accessories and knew immediately which stamp I wanted to ink up.

Isn't this one a beaut? I've had it for ages. It's from Inkadinkado and I believe it's called My Mother's Dress, although I've seen it listed under other names too. Unfortunately, it's no longer available anywhere that I can find.

It's a while since I last used this stamp so I thought I'd bring things right up to date by using the Pantone Colours of 2021 and smooshy watercolouring.

The sentiment is from a Unity Grab bag and I love how well the image and the font style match. The embossing folder is from Crafts Too.

The LIM gallery and DT inspiration cards are a delight, so I'm grabbing a coffee and heading over to take a look! Take care and stay safe!

Less is More - Red and Green

Hi there, card friends!

I don't often get the opportunity to play along at Less is More, so was delighted to squeeze in some card making time this morning to create this little CAS kitty card for their latest challenge!

I found the words on Pinterest, and used one of my all time favourite cat images from MFT. The little hat comes from the head of one of the MFT Bitty Bears.

I simply can't believe that the LIM Crew are now on Challenge #357! Brilliant work ladies, your challenges are always such fun and so inspirational!


Have a happy day!

Less is More - Citrus Colour Week

It's a colour challenge over at Less is More this week and what a yummy colour challenge it is!

CITRUS COLOURS

Sadly, my camera and/or my PC seem to have washed-out my vibrant lime, tangerine and narcissus inks despite my best efforts with Picassa and PicMonkey.

I love this stamp set from The Ton, although I have to say I am a little disappointed with the sentiments. I decided to make my own and printed this on my PC and then die cut it.

I then made another card in shades of pink for one of my colleagues. My camera seems to have done a much better job with this one for some reason although it's still not quite right.

These cards were so quick and easy I think I'll make a few more and put them away in readiness for the Macmillan Coffee Morning. By just making one or two additional cards as I go, I should have quite a good stash to sell come September.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Less is more... And more, and more!

A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the girls over at Less is More!

I can't believe that this lovely blog has been going for five years! It only seems like five minutes ago I first stumbled across this lovely CAS challenge and was hooked! Congratulations to Chrissie and the gang!

To celebrate their birthday the girls have gone with a 'White-on-White theme, although metallic or black accents are perfectly acceptable.

To be perfectly honest I tried about three different ideas for this challenge and spent a lot of time surfing Pinterest! Talk about DIFFICULT. Eventually, I returned to my original idea and went with it. Very CAS and very simple.

The leaf stamp and die are from Paper Smooches while the sentiment was printed on my PC. I've recently switched over to creating white on black sentiments on my computer as it's so quick and easy.

Now, I really must dash as I have a very special card to make for a very special little boy and his family. Happy crafting everyone!

I've got your back...

I'm sorry not to have posted for a little while. I've been crazy, mad busy with work. Add a seemingly never ending sinus infection into the mix and you'll understand why crafting has temporarily taken a bit of a back seat.
So today its been a real treat, and an absolute tonic, to sit at my desk colouring, cutting and sticking again. And what a treat to play with the adorable clear stamp set BB Knead You from MFT.

You'll doubtless have noticed that there are some very cute cat sets around at the moment. I think Knead You has to be my current favourite as the images and sentiments are such fun. I can see myself coming back to this set again and again.

My card was very quick and easy to make. I stamped the front kitten and masked her (she looks like a girl-cat to me) and then stamped her buddy. After colouring, I fussy cut the feline friends and pop-dotted them against the stenciled background. I'd already printed the sentiment on my PC so had to be very careful when I stenciled with Distress Ink as I didn't wanted to smudge it. Finally, I matted and layered and added a star that I had leftover from a previous card. All very simple and all very sweet!

While I haven't felt up to crafting I have been cruising blogland and noticing some super fun challenges on offer. I feel a little dizzy linking up with so many challenges but here goes:

LIM Lucky Dip - Recipe 2 legs or 4

(Or in this case 8 legs!)

Addicted to CAS

(Or animalS)

CAS(E) this Sketch

(I know, little old me playing along with a sketch challenge!!!)

Wednesday Challenge; Anything Goes

CASology: Story

"I've got your back because..."

Now, I better go clear-up as I've been a very untidy crafter today!

Less is More - Splatters!

Now here's a technique I wouldn't have tried without a push from the lovely ladies over at Less is More!

For my simple, one layer card I stamped and coloured a LOTV image. Then I created a rough mask and covered the little girl before splattering matching Distress Inks across the whole card to create a 'background'. I used a small paint brush as I wanted to keep the splatters small and dainty to match the image.

I quite like the effect but will probably do less splattering or limit the effect to a specific area if I try it again. Mmmm, or perhaps I'll mask around the card to create a border... 

However, all-in-all a simple and fun technique!

Before I go I'll just remind you that the current Naughty Or Nice Challenge is still open. The theme is 'In Bloom' so any cards with flowers and floral designs are eligible to enter this month. Hope to see you there!

Predominantly Pandas!

It's colour challenge week over at Less is More and although you may have been expecting yellows, mauves and soft greens befitting the season the LIM girls are looking for Predominantly Black. 

Here's the advice we were given:
Your whole card doesn't have to be all black and you may use a little of another colour, but whatever you add to your design, even if it's minimal, should be mainly black.
So think silhouettes, monochrome, ombre, chalkboard technique... there doesn't have to be a lot of black... if your design is minimal, it just needs to be the predominant colour.


For me, for some reason, that means PANDAS!

And partying pandas at that!

I thought it would be fun to have a line of pandas doing the conga. Just thinking about the conga takes me back to my childhood: no family party was complete without a line of tipsy adults and overexcited children weaving their way around the furniture then out into the street and back.

I carefully stamped the line of little Mama Elephant pandas and added some pops of colour with party hats, blowers and a balloon from From the Herd by Stampin' Up. The words are also from this set.

I'm also linking-up over at Addicted to CAS as their current code word is CUTE and I think you'll agree that a line of dancing pandas is very cute!

Such a fun, quick and simple card to make, and one that I might tuck away to give to my hubby later in the year.

Happy crafting everyone!

Wishing you elf and happiness all year long.

I adore this little Stamping Bella elf. Isn't he cute?

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to try and play along at Less is More more often. Each Saturday I look for the challenge theme and come up with a few ideas but then real life gets in the way and before I know it, its Saturday again!

LIM Week 206 is all about 'New Beginnings' and even though its a dreaded 'one layer week' I'm playing along! I printed the greeting using my PC and cut the card to size before stamping this sweet little character in the bottom corner to balance with the text. I then coloured with Promarkers and pencils.

Finally, I'd like to welcome Sid as my newest follower! Its great to have you on board, Sid and I hope you'll enjoy visiting my blog as much as I always enjoy dropping by at Harpies Crafty Corner.

Happy crafting everyone!

A case of CASE-ing...

Boo hoo, I'm poorly again and have had to succumb and rest up for the day. Thankfully, I have my PC and Blogland to keep me company.

I thought I'd share a little card I made after seeing the super talented Jennifer Mullens' adorable make in the November Craft Stamper Magazine. I can't say this card is 'Inspired by...' as it is an out-and-out CASE but I thought I'd share it as it shows what you can achieve with similar sized stamps to the ones Jennifer used.

I'm loving my new Stitched Border dies as they give a beautifully professional finish. I printed the sentiment on the computer. The little cups are from Lawn Fawn's Love You A Latte set which is getting plenty of use right now.

I thought I'd used the colour palette from the current  Less is More Challenge  but having just opened the site to link up I'm disappointed to discover I've chosen the wrong shade of green. I hope the girl's will forgive me as I purposefully picked my Promarkers to enable me to play along. Doh!

Have a happy day everyone, I'm off to climb into my PJs and return to bed!

Less is More - Colour Challenge

After a busy Monday it's good to come home and indulge in a few minutes catching up with my crafty pals in Blogland!

Over at Less is More it's week #175 and the girls want to see cards featuring 'The colours in your bedrooms'. Anyone who visits my blog will not be surprised to discover that my bedroom, and therefore my card, is heavy on the turquoise! Such a wonderful colour and I love it in combination with other colours too, especially pink and lime.

I'm sorry about the quality of the picture. I've already given this card to my friend Claire (it's her birthday on Wednesday) so I can hardly ask for it back to photograph again!

I love the big Mama Elephant sentiment... just what my stamp collection needed. I coloured that adorable Saturated Canary image, fussy cut her and popped her up on dimensional tape to tuck alongside the sentiment. The card looked rather plain until I hit on the idea of colouring the doodled border. I think the additional 'pops' of colour really pull the card together.

I'm also linking up with the lovely girls over at Seize the Birthday. They have an optional 'topping' of Summertime for this challenge. I'm hoping that my vibrant colour combo simply shouts 'summer' for them like it does for me.

Have a great Monday evening everyone and happy crafting!

How I love half-term!

What a pleasant day... a little bit of a lie in, a quiet twenty minutes spent reading, a trip to the hairdressers followed by a catch-up with my cousin and now some blogging. I do love half-term breaks.

The Less is More Challenge for Week 173 is 'die-cut'. Seriously, how did we all manage before dies and die-cutting machines arrived on the scene? Although I never mind a bit of fussy cutting I do love feeding a die through my Cuttlebug and marveling at the crisp professional result that miraculously appears.

For this super simple card I coloured some off-cuts of watercolour paper with three different Distress Inks, smooshed with Glimmer mist and cut with a Spellbinders heart die. Using another scrap of card I cut three heart shaped 'holes'. I stamped and scored, inserted the heart shapes and then added this to a 5 x 5 card. Soooooooo easy.

I'm disappointed that this card hasn't photographed well as it looks really pretty and sparkly IRL.

I'm contemplating a possible second version of this card in kraft with star cut outs and pattern paper inserts. Might make a good masculine option methinks.

And now I feel the need to do a bit more relaxing... I'm so lazy!

Happy crafting everyone!

Multi-tasking...

Happy Wednesday everyone! I say that with great confidence having been corrected by my Mom when I told her it was Thursday this morning.

Meet Jean, she's one of the Art Impressions Clear Stamps Still Livin' series, and she always makes me smile whenever I see her.

I'm not sure where the 'sentiment' comes from, but its one I've been wanting to use for a little while. I hope nobody is offended and it makes you chuckle. I've made this card for a friend who will have a good laugh as she once did a little 'multi-tasking' herself... I can't name names for obvious reasons!!!

I'm linking up with:
Less is More Challenge #168 'Makes me smile' and Naughty or Nice Challenge #3 'For the Ladies'.
There are some great cards on both sites, so I'm going to grab a cuppa and go visiting... and smiling!

Happy crafting everyone!

Friends

 

What a nice theme for Week #103 over at LIM.

I was quite inspired and dashed off a few different cards. You can never have too many cards for the friends in your life! I'll share some of the others later in the week.

I had lot's of inky fun making this one. I'm really into emboss resist at the moment and am covered in ink as a result. My hubby says I look like a small child who has drawn on herself with felt pen!

This next card doesn't really fit the criteria for CAS, so I thought I'd just share it rather than entering it separately. The main image is an Emerson Quillin stamp and the words are from an Art Impressions quotes stamp. I think they're great in combination!

 

The first card is for my friend Karen's birthday, and the second card is part of a batch that I am making to raise money for Cancer Research in memory of my friend Shell.

Happy crafting everyone, and I hope that you are all managing to keep warm while it's so cold!

Less is more, unless you are Mario Balotelli!

The girls over at Less is More are starting the New Year in great style with a totally yummy colour challenge!

 

They've asking for BLACK and WHITE with 'a touch or a splash, a hint or suggestion, a dab or a patch of a colour of your choice'.

The idea being that the black and white are predominant and the added colour is subtle.
 

 

There are some amazing entries this week and I'm rather shy about adding my own little effort to such a collection of gorgeousness.    

I used a lovely Hero Arts stamp that I've had for ages. I decoupaged three layers to give it some dimension then added a Hero Arts pearl and matching some SU card. Very quick and easy, and great for making in multiples.





Finally, here's a conversation that I had at school today...

Cute child: 'Miss, I can't make my mind up what to be when I grow up... either a footballer or a librarian'

Me: 'Well, I think you'd earn more as a top professional footballer but librarianship is very interesting'

Cute child: 'So how much do YOU earn Miss?'

Me: 'Not as much as Mario Balotelli'

Cute Child (looking surprised): 'Really Miss?'

Me: 'No, he makes a little more per hour than I do'

Happy crafting everyone!

 

 

A ripping good time!

Morning guys, I hope you are all well and looking forward to the weekend.
I'm breezing in at the last minute with my LIM card for the current challenge which is 'Tearing'.

 

I've had this idea in my head for most of the week but didn't get the opportunity to get into the craft room until yesterday. The 'tearing' element is very subtle and forms the bands of colour on the centre panel. Nice and simple to do, especially if you use a long post-it note!

The image is Em's Mixed Media Flowers from Stampingbella and the 'sentiment' is a very old Technique Tuesday journalling stamp which I found on eBay. I coloured with Distress inks and added plenty of Stickles. IRL this looks lovely, but hasn't photographed well.

That's the end of the crafty bit of this post but if you want to stick around here are a few pictures from our mini-break in Somerset. We stayed at a lovely pub called The Woolpack in Beckington, near Frome.

Frome is pronounced Froom, to rhyme with broom, and is a pretty town with a gorgeous little arts/crafts centre and a great arty vibe.

One of the highlights of our break was a visit to Stourhead House.

The house and grounds are stunning... and the naughty cream tea wasn't bad either!



 

 

Another highlight of our few days away was an evening with Frank Turner and his band The Sleeping Souls. We hung around after the concert and were lucky enough to get to meet and greet with Frank!

And of all the things that I could have said when meeting one of my musical heroes what did I actually say?
'Ooooo, you're tall'

Have a good weekend everyone!



Blue and green - LIM

We've all heard the old adage 'blue and green should never be seen... '.
Whoever came up with this phrase obviously never got inky with Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters!

Apologies that this LIM entry is very similar to my previous card, but sometimes you get an idea in your head and want to develop it further!

The circles are from a Kelly Panacci Clear Stamp set called 360 degrees. I love the different circles in the set and have to hide it from myself to prevent the same images appearing on all my cards.

I coloured the centres of the circles using a water pen. This pen was on loan from my Mom, but today I went and bought her a replacement as I know that I'll be using it again and again!
The sentiment is by Papertrey ink and I added some scored lines and tiny gems to finish the card.

All very simple, but hey, 'less is more'!

I best go and organise our evening meal so that it's ready before the Olympics evening programme begins. I am so impressed by all of the sportsmen and women taking part in these games. Team GB has performed brilliantly and it breaks my heart when someone apologises for not winning gold. Most of us aren't even fit enough to run for the bus and so feel nothing but admiration and pride at their achievement.

Happy crafting everyone!

Beautiful Butterflies...

It's a sketch challenge this week over at Less is More, and what a lovely simple sketch it is too! This one really got all the LIMettes' creative juices flowing, and as always Chrissie and Mandi came up with some beautiful and inspirational work to get us in the mood.

I played around with a few different ideas for the challenge, but finally settled on this...

I love the butterflies on the Hero Arts Clear Design set: Birds and Butterflies. This was the first Clear Design set that I bought and it remains one of my most favourite. Just the perfect stamp for making the 'happy' card that I had in mind. I hope the girls over at The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge agree that there's nothing more cheery than a cloud of bright butterflies as it's a Bright and Cheery challenge this week.

I coloured with Distress Inks and used a water pen for the first time. I need to practise, but it certainly gives a nice effect. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I'll just add that those tiny splodges of ink aren't so obvious IRL - what is it about the computer screen that magnifies all your little errors and mistakes???

This card is for my darling 'big' goddaughter. Sarah is 30 tomorrow, which I find both wonderful and unbelievable!

I'm away to the postbox now, so happy crafting everyone!