Less is More – Scraps

Just a quick post from me as it’s been a long day and my bed is calling.

The challenge this week at Less is More is to use scraps. This is perfect for me as since the start of the New Year I’ve been making a conscious effort to use up some of my massive pile of scraps. Anyone who knows me well will tell you I like order and things to have their place so my scraps are actually very well organised (by plain or patterned card and then into colour groups…sad I know!) but there are just too many of them and I hate to throw something out when I know that something could be made from them.

My scraps are the flowers and the corrugated Kraft card. The paper the flowers are stamped onto was originally some scraps and the flowers themselves are scraps as they were left over from another card I made about six months ago.

The paper scraps were from a MME pad (I think) and the flowers stamps are the ‘Dotted Flowers’ by Hero Arts. I’ve added a couple of bits and bobs I picked up in Farnborough at the weekend, some Washi tape and some Card Candi as the flower centres. I’ve also added a sentiment written on my little Dymo Junior Label Maker.

Thanks for stopping by and again apologies if I don't get round to many of you, my laptop is still broken and Hubby thinks the restore disks that we need may have been packed up and be in storage.

By for now

Lisa

Less is More – Punches and Dies

I’m just going to make this weeks Less is More challenge by the skin of my teeth. It’s been a very busy, hectic, funny sort of week and as I type this I’m starting to feel a little shivery and below par, add that to the fact I’ve used half a box of Kleenex this afternoon wiping Little One’s nose and I think I may be coming down with something. Oh well, rather get it out the way now before my birthday in a couple of weeks.

I wanted to try using my plain circle dies to make something, rather than just die cut something and stick it on, so I thought what about a rainbow? Not too difficult really, just took a while lining up and running through my Cuttlebug.

I remembered the colours as ‘Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain’ or ROYGBIV as Hubby likes to say!

I added the rainbow to a scalloped nestie diecut which I sponged using chalk and a cloud mask (cut freehand from copy paper). I’ve then added a sentiment banner (stamp free from a magazine) and used a small X-Cut square punch to cut the ends of the banner.

Thanks for stopping by and sorry I’ve not visited anyone this week, not having my laptop has been a real pain in the bum.

Lisa

Playing Catch-up

I’m back again! Just popped Little One down for his nap and thought I would get this posted in peace and quiet. He’s been so tired this morning, bless him. I think he’s just worn out from a hectic few days, as he had his birthday party on Saturday, went to a Fun Factory on Sunday and it was his proper birthday yesterday.

Anyhoo, if you saw my earlier post you already knew I’m having major computer problems. I’m trying to get used to Hubby’s keyboard but I’m a touch typer and the keyboard layout is slightly wider so I keep hitting the Caps Lock Key by mistake instead of the A key, so if you see any random capital letters I apologise in advance.

So I’m a day late in sharing my card for this weeks Critter Sketch Challenge, which is a shame as it’s one of my favourite cards I have made.  It’s a sketch this week and it was a fabulous sketch to follow.

Here’s my card:

I don’t make boy cards that often, but I picked up these Pink Paislee Papers just after Christmas and thought that together with the gorgeous ‘Whatzup Dog’ image by Crissy Armstrong (Whimsy Stamps) they would make a perfect boys card. My image was coloured with ProMarkers and I’ve also added a sentiment written on the computer, some stars cut with Sizzix Framelit Dies, and the notched corners on the sentiment were done with the corner of a Square X-Cut Punch.

I would like to enter my card into the Sundays with Crissy challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to pop over to the challenge blog and see what the rest of the team have made.

Lisa

Better Late than Never

I won’t bore you with the details but my Laptop is very broken at the moment and my hubby is trying to fix it for me. I feel so very lost without it and I’ve got very behind in keeping up with all the lovely blogs I follow. I can view them all in Google reader on my phone but, it’s too difficult to look at anything for too long on a 3.5 inch screen!

So after a very hectic weekend, including my little boys 2nd birthday party we finally managed last night to at least backup some of the files onto an external hard drive which we’ve now hooked up to Hubby’s computer, which is what I’m using to type this post. Only trouble is there is something wrong with the graphics card on this PC so it’s likely to crash and restart without warning. Having said that better stop waffling and get to the point of this post.

Last Thursday saw the start of a new challenge over at Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog and we are lucky enough to be sponsored by

so the theme for this challenge is

DIE CUTS

I’ve used two dies from Tim Holtz/Sizzix, the Tattered Floral Die and the Wonky Scallop Border Die and paper from Sarah’s Vintage Halloween Digi Kit. I thought I would try something a bit different from my normal quite cute and sweet creations. So I’ve gone for a brown, gold and cream colour scheme and at the end went a bit over the top with the Bronze Mist, a couple of sprays to many me thinks!!

I started with the die cut on Kraft paper and then inked each piece with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and very quickly covered with gold detail embossing powder. Before heating I inked several different background stamps with VersaMark and stamped onto the die cuts to remove some of the embossing powder. I’m not sure what this technique is actually called but it gives a sort of reversed stamped effect. I struggle getting good pictures at the best of times and the effect doesn’t really show that well but IRL looks really pretty.

The button is one of several really old ones that I *borrowed* from my Mum’s button box, which I though went really well with the theme of this card.

Don’t forget to pop across to the challenge blog and see what the rest of the DT have made and I will be back later to catch up with my post for Critter Sketch Challenge.

Bye for now

Lisa

Get Well Soon at MAWTT

This is my second post today, please scroll down for my Paper Crafting Journey post.

This is my final post as GDT over at Moving Along with the Times and I just want to say thank you to the MAWTT girls for having me on board and making me feel very welcome.

The challenge this week is:

GET WELL SOON

A few weeks back (before I was GDT ) I was lucky enough to win a challenge at MAWTT and my prize was a voucher to Crafty Emma’s Store. I used my voucher to buy these gorgeous My Minds Eye – Everyday Flair papers and thought the soft muted colours suited a ‘Get Well Soon’ theme. I’ve teamed it with the sweetest little image from Lili of the Valley (coloured with ProMarkers), an MFT border die, some Sizzix Framelits Star diecuts and a handwritten sentiment.

Please pop across to MAWTT to see the details of the prize on offer from this weeks sponsor Di’s Digi Downloads and also to see what the other GDT and DT have made.

See you again later for my Sarah Hurley challenge blog post.

Lisa

Make it Cute at PCJ

It’s a busy post day for me, so as I will be back later with my final GDT post for Moving Along With the Times and my DT post for Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog I’ll keep the waffle to a minimum and get straight on with things.

Our challenge this fortnight over at Paper Crafting Journey is:

MAKE IT CUTE

We are being sponsored this challenge by Pink Cat Studio and I was lucky enough to be given this cute image to play with. She’s called Lily Butterfly and can be found here. Coloured up with ProMarkers, I’ve teamed her with some Dovecraft Teahouse patterned papers, some punched butterflies, a few pearls, some stickles and a sentiment stamp from Kaisercraft.

Don’t forget to stop by PCJ and see what the rest of the DT have made.

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

One Layer Stripes

The challenge Chrissie and Mandi have set us this week at LIM is One Layer Stripes. Unusual for me as I have managed to make a card already and not at the last minute like I normally do.

The stripes had the grey cells a bit stumped to start with but then I remembered a Hero Arts Set of Ribbon stamps I was given ages ago as Birthday Present. They are Wood Mounted and hidden away in a box so I tend to forget about them.

This was the first card I made. I started by stamping the sentiment and the flower image. Then I masked the circle and stamped the stripes. The mask was a bit thick so the edges of the stamping weren’t defined enough, so I added the faux stitching in black to match the sentiment but have decided both were to harsh in colour and I should have used a lighter brown colour. Me no like this card…

This is the second attempt and although better than the first I’m still not happy with it. I masked the square and stamped the stripes. Again the mask was a bit thick, so I added the stitching which on it’s own looked odd but looked better when I added the second row. I then over stamped circle sentiment and embossed in white. It looked too busy with the stripes showing through so I coloured it black to match the faux stitching and it shows off the detail on the white embossing much better, but I’m still not liking it…

So not happy with either card I had a another rummage in my bag of die offcuts that I keep for using as masks and I found a circle of corrugated card that I die cut and then never used. I have used corrugated card to stamp lines before but I had the idea to mask, ink and cover a circle with EP and use the corrugated circle inked with VersaMark to remove the EP. I then heated the remaining EP and it has left a lovely stripy effect that I’ve enhanced by rubbing a little Distress Ink Walnut Stain over the top.

On top of this I stamped the Flower Flourish (Kanban) and sentiment (Kaisercraft) in Brilliance Graphite Black, heat setting to dry the ink on top of the Embossed panel. A few gems added and probably one of my favourite one layer cards I’ve ever made.

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

 

Less is More - Aqua

Happy Birthday LIM. Chrissie and Mandi have now been challenging us for a whole year and a whole year of fun it has been too.

Now I’m going to apologise in advance for my pictures. I’m not having the best of weeks…a lot of things are breaking and stopping working for me. My camera being one of those things, so I have used my mobile to take these pictures.

The LIM challenge this week is Aqua and here is my first attempt.

I have stamped the Kanban flower flourish and embossed in white onto a piece of thick smooth white card. I then took a makeup sponge and covered it in a mix of Turquoise VersaColour Ink and Perfect Pearls Mist (which I smooshed about on my craft mat to completely saturate the sponge). I then stamped(?) the sponge onto the card to highlight the white image. I added a sentiment from Kaisercraft, along with a few stamped flowers and some pearls and gems. This has been added to an aqua base card using foam tape.

I love how soft and delicate this card turned out.

While I had these bits on my desk I used the scraps to make a little notelet and thought I might as well share that as well.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lisa

Cute Critters at MAWTT

Morning all. Another cold one here, but on the plus side we went and did a second viewing on a house today. It’s one that both Hubby and I like. We don’t usually agree but this one suits us both and I think we are going to put an offer in. It’s all quite exciting and I can’t wait to be in my own home again.

Anyhoo, let’s get down to business. I’m here to share my card as guest designer over at Moving Along with the Times where the challenge this week is

CUTE CRITTERS

So on your creations we’d like to see something cute. It could be cuddly bears, kittens, doggies, or even Mice…

This challenge we are sponsored by Digi My World and the winner of will win a $10.00 voucher to spend in the Digi My World shop.

We were very lucky to be given some very cute mice to play with.

When I made this card on Monday I was having some problems with my vision (I suffer from Visual Migraines) so I went for a CAS card and using the gorgeous pre-coloured little mouse was just perfect for me as I wouldn’t have been able to see to colour properly.

I printed the mouse and sentiment (created in word) onto smooth white card and then trimmed and added to a pink base card. Added a little shadow with ProMarkers to ground the image and some bling with some gems and Stickles.

Please pop over to MAWTT and see what the rest of the DT and GDT have created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lisa

Critter Sketch Challenge – #101

This week over at Critter Sketch Challenge it’s a colour inspiration challenge.

Special thanks to Design-Seeds for our colour palette. So this week you just need to make a project that reflects the colours and feel of this picture and colour palette.

I’ve used the colours as inspiration. and used an adorable image from Lili of the Valley.

Please pop by the Critter Sketch Challenge Blog and see what the rest of the DT have created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lisa

Critter Sketch Challenge Blog Hop – #100

Posted at 1pm Monday 30th January. This is a sticky post and will remain at the top until Sunday 5th February at 10pm.

Over at Critter Sketch Challenge Blog we are celebrating our 100th Challenge and we are having a blog hop to celebrate. There are some wonderful sponsors helping us celebrate and some designers from the sponsors are joining us on the hop.

If you have just popped by and want to take part you need to start at the beginning, so hop across to Justyna to begin.  If you hopped along from Jenn you are in the right place.

The blog hop will run for a week and will finish on 5th February at 5pm EST (10pm GMT) so you have plenty of time to hop along along and be in with a chance of winning one of three prizes from our sponsors.  To stand a chance of winning you need to comment on each post along the hop, complete a project using the following sketch and then link it to the Critter Sketch Blog.

Here's the sketch:

My sponsor is the fabulous Stamp and Create.

I was given the fabulous Fairy Iris Digi to use and she was a dream to colour.

I have stuck reasonably closely to the sketch, but as my papers are quite busy I didn’t want to clutter up the card so moved the two embellishments either side to become the lines across the corners and the text at the bottom I changed to bling on the corner (as I’d already placed my sentiment at the top of the card.

Thanks for hopping along to my blog, next you need to hop over to Crystal who is the final stop on our hop. Good luck and HAVE FUN!

Finally, in case you have lost your way here is the full line up to help you out:

1. Justyna 
2. Darsie
3. Vicky
4. Jacqui
5. Robin
6. Moira
7. Lacey
8. Jenn
9. Me - Lisa
10. Crystal

And just one more thing I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

• Stamping with the Dragon – Anything Goes
• Lollipop Crafts – Anything Goes
• One Stitch at a Time – Use a Digi

Thanks for stopping (and hopping) by.

Lisa

Love is All Around at Sarah Hurley

Are you bored of me yet? On second thoughts it’s probably best you don’t answer that.

At Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog our new challenge is:

LOVE IS ALL AROUND

Sarah released a new Digi Kit on Monday especially for Valentine’s day. The kit can be found here and it’s fabulous, so I’ve used it to give you just a hint of what can be made using it. Don’t forget to pop over to the challenge blog as more of the DT have made items using the new kit.

I knew immediately that I wanted to layer up and paper piece the heart topper and because of the depth (unfortunately it doesn’t show on the photo) I wanted to keep the rest of the card quite clean and simple, so I layered the backing papers, border strip, Kiss and XOXO embellishments and Kraft card digitally before printing out, adding just a few small hearts and the ‘I Love You’ sentiment. I’ve added some faux stitching with a brown and white fineline pen, a few pearls, Glossy Accents and a bit of Stickles for sparkle, before attaching to a scalloped card base and a simple white ribbon.

If you have read all three of todays posts ta very much and if not why not?…lol.

I’d also like to enter my card into the following challenges:

• Stamping with the Dragon – Anything Goes
• One Stop Craft Challenge – Stitching Faux or Real
• Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge – Ribbons
• Lollipop Crafts – Anything Goes
• One Stitch at a Time – Use a Digi
• By the Cute and Girly – Love is in the Air
• Joanna Sheen Challenge – Love is in the Air
• Crafty Purple Frog – Valentine’s Day/Show us some Love
• The Corrosive Challenge – I {Heart} You
• Anything Goes Challenge Blog – To the One I Love
• Ladybug Crafts Ink – He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
• Tuesday Throwdown – Use Hearts
• Divas By Design – Anything Goes
• The Paper Shelter – Love is in the Air

Thanks for popping in.

Lisa

Have a Heart at MAWTT

Me again! It’s my second post of the day and my second challenge as GDT with the MAWTT girls and I would like to thank them as they have made me feel very welcome. 

It’s time for a new challenge and this week it’s:

HAVE A HEART

The DT were lucky enough to be given some images from the sponsor for this challenge, Stitchy Bear Stamps, to work with and I’ve used two of them on my card LoveUBug and Heart Wreath.

I started off by inking the edges of four squares of red patterned paper (from a Forever Friends Xmas Pad) and mounting them onto brown parcel paper and then onto a scalloped 8x8 card blank. I coloured the digi images with ProMarkers and then cut them out. I decoupaged the little love bug (although it doesn’t show in the picture) before mounting onto a craft card die cut, adding both that and the wreath to the card base. Lastly a bit of stamping in the corners, a couple of metal charms, some liquid pearls and some Glossy Accents and that’s Hubby’s Valentine’s card finished.

Shame he will not like it…..he likes very CAS cards and this one will be a bit busy for him.

I’ll be back later with another Valentine’s card for the Sarah Hurley Challenge, but if the one above is for hubby who will I give the next one too, lol.

I’d also like to enter my card into the following challenges:

• Stamping with the Dragon – Anything Goes
• CES Challenge Blog – Check it Out
• Lollipop Crafts – Anything Goes
• One Stitch at a Time – Use a Digi
• Joanna Sheen Challenge – Love is in the Air
• Crafty Purple Frog – Valentine’s Day/Show us some Love
• The Corrosive Challenge – I {Heart} You
• Anything Goes Challenge Blog – To the One I Love
• Ladybug Crafts Ink – He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
• Tuesday Throwdown – Use Hearts
• The Paper Shelter – Love is in the Air

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Ps Don’t forget to pop across to MAWTT to see what the DT and GDT have created this week.

Fairies and Angels at PCJ

You are going to get bored of me today. I’ve got two DT posts and a GDT post to share with you. And if I get a few minutes peace and quiet to sneak off to my craft room this afternoon I’ll have one last idea for the LIM challenge to share with you.

Anyway back to the matter in hand it’s time for a new challenge over at Paper Crafting Journey and our theme this week is:

FAIRIES AND ANGELS

 

We were very very lucky to be given an image to play with from our sponsors Emerald Faerie and I chose the adorable Isabella. The winner of this challenge is going to be very lucky also and will receive a prize of two digis of their choice from the Emerald Faeries store.

This week I’ve kept CAS for my card to showcase the wonderful digi.  The digi has been coloured with ProMarkers with a dash of glitter on her wings and hat. I matted the image onto some Forever Friends patterned paper and some pale green card. The eagle eyed among you may notice that the sewing machine has taken a hammering from me (again!). I’ve added a simple border made from the same pale green card punched with a Martha Stewart half daisy border punch, two pieces of ribbon and a circular sentiment from Pink Gem, which I glossed up with some Glossy Accents and must not forget a gem in each corner for a bit more sparkle.

Please pop across to Paper Crafting Journey and take a peak at what the rest of the DT have made to inspire you.

I’ll be back a bit later with my MAWTT GDT card.

I’d also like to enter my card into the following challenges:

• Stamping with the Dragon – Anything Goes
• Card Makin Mamas – Something Old (Patterned Papers)
• Crafts and Me – Bright Colours
• One Stop Craft Challenge – Stitching Faux or Real
• Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge – Ribbons
• Totally Gorjuss – K.I.S.S.
• Lollipop Crafts – Anything Goes
• One Stitch at a Time – Use a Digi
• My Time to Craft – Adorable
• Divas By Design – Anything Goes
• Flutter By Wednesday – Open just have a butterfly/fairy/angel
• Southern Girls Challenge – Magic and Mystery

Thanks for popping in.

Lisa

 

Just a quick one..

I have made another card this evening for the sketch challenge over at LIM. I’m trying to build up a box of cards for hubby to sell at work and my LIM entries are perfect for this as they are quite quick (and inexpensive) to make. He used to sell them for me a few years back, but since I had Little One it came to a halt. How time flies? Little One is going to be two in a couple of weeks and he’s turning into a proper little boy. Although he does like to help Mummy ‘Press Press’ which is his name for stamping lol.

It’s another One Layer card and uses the same set by Stampin Up. This time I stamped one of the petals through a post it note mask in pink, yellow and orange and edged the panel with a gold fineliner. I then stamped the line petal stamp in navy to form the flower and stamped and embossed the flower centre in gold to make it stand out a little. The sentiment has also been stamped in Navy. I’m not sure what made me pick such bright colours, but I quite like the end result.

Night night

Lisa