Less Is More Challenge Number 17

This week over at the ever so popular Less Is More our challenge is to  PICK A SQUARE. Have just looked on the site and there are more than 250 entries so far this week, most of them are amazing and i’m not too sure if i should even post my not very good cards…

Went on a crafting day to learn how to make Millifiori polymer clay canes last week and my hands were so sore afterwards. They had swelled and bruised and have made it difficult to craft this last few days.  Started making the cards last Sunday during the Monaco F1 race and only just finished. Hands haven’t felt comfortable typing until now. I found this quite a tricky challenge but here are my entries …

If you have the time to leave a comment it will be greatly appreciated and will pop by and leave one on yours.  Feedback is always welcome good or bad but i must say you might find it hard to find anything positive to say as i don’t feel the cards are that good.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by:-)

Less Is More Challenge Week 16

Where has the time gone, only seems like last week when i entered my first LIM challenge.  Really have enjoyed playing and learning over the last few weeks so when you see today's offerings please be kind…Not posted for one week as was away on a crafting weekend. Been so very tired since then and got another cold so not feeling the floaty butterfly vibe at the minute but i have tried…

Managed to make five butterfly cards but am only posting four here as the last one was so far from the LIM brief it got moved to the Play Date Cafe challenge instead.   Here are the four offerings for this week, as always i welcome your feedback good or bad as i love to hear what you have to say. 

This pink butterfly is a decoupage sheet from House of Zandra which i purchased from one of my local craft shows around 2009. Didn’t use the main image as it wouldn’t have been a plain and simple card so used the other 5 layers. Cut out by hand and kept in place with Pinflair Glue, added Stickles glitter glue for a touch of bling.  Cut down the lines of the wings to add shape and dimension to the butterfly.

You can see from this shot how much dimension i managed to get just by cutting and shaping the wings.   The pink square that the butterfly rests on is from my stash but have used a Martha Stewart border punch ‘Daisy’ to decorate.  Needed to add antennas  and used the waste from a border punch called ‘Flourish’ by Fiskers to provide them.  Both of these punches can punch through card stock up to around 250gsm.

 

The next  card is also made from a House of Zandra decoupage sheet following the same principles as above to add dimension and shape.

This time i used a border punch that was from another craft show but can’t remember the name as they were made in China and brought over especially for all the shows.  Punch works well on lightweight card, tried it on this 230gsm and it worked very well. A close up shows how ornate this punch is.  The sentiment is from my stash and it was one of the first wood mounted rubber stamps i ever purchased.

Thought it would be a good idea to add a swirly tail to the butterfly so used one of the flourish stamps from Creative Expressions. Used Adirondack ink pad Slate to colour match the main image. Added a little touch of bling by using Stickles glitter  glue on the top wings.

This next card has no sentiment as one of my friends asked me for a card that she could put on her wall.  Used a stencil from Imagination Crafts and spritzed a Dawn Bibby Gold mica spray through the stencil. Not too sure if this card is clean and simple enough to qualify but have shown it anyway. Stickles glitter glue provides the flower centres.

A macro shot of the mica and how it shines…

Finally my favourite, a card made from Paper Artsy stamps and Adirondack ink Eggplant. Clean and simple with lots of white space and one of my favourite sentiments.

Love this macro shot showing the details on the butterfly stamp.

Going to try and get around to comment but probably make you all, apologies if i don’t make it as you all deserve a visit and a comment. Hope you all have a safe and healthy week.

Thanks for dropping by:-)

Less Is More Challenge Number 14

This weeks theme over at the amazing Less Is More site is to use White on White.  Just reading this made me break out in a sweat. I’ve never made a white on white or ‘wow’ card before. It has taken me a while to come up with any ideas and i have to admit to being slightly stressed about these entries.  I watched the Formula 1 from Turkey and then Dr. Who before i started to attempt this weeks challenge.  Have to say i think this is my least favourite challenge so far.  Here are the three terrible and badly photographed cards.  Tried to take the pictures using shadow and low light as hoped this would show off certain aspects of the hard work that has been put into them. 
All three of the cards are A6 size. Have used funky foam, lace, ribbon, faux pearls, hand embossing, punches and Cuttlebug folder and finally a white border from Dunhelm Mill.  Oh yes i forgot a pricking tool and foam mat.  The images are not as good as they could have been but i hope you are able to see the detail where possible.






As you can see  there is nothing interesting about these cards, i am hopeful for your feedback as i really do need to improve in this area.  Thanks to both Chrissie and Mandi for really challenging me … AGAIN, for their fantastic feedback and for creating a space where we can all learn and make new cyber friends.
Won’t be doing much commenting this week as i am preparing for a weekend workshop next week and have got to make some pressies to take with me.  Been experimenting with Shrink Plastic and Stewart Gill paints as i want to get a suede effect on the main piece i am making.  Also need to make a couple of pieces of jewellery and some ATC’s to share so a busy few days ahead.  If i do enter next weeks challenge it will be very late and again won’t be able to comment much.  Hope i will be forgiven…
Thank you and welcome to my lovely new followers.  It is always a surprise when i see a new face but i am happy you chose to drop by and check out what i’ve been making.
Hope you all have a fantastic week and manage to stay healthy and smiley. Thanks for dropping by:-)

Stylish Blogger Award

Earlier in the week mustavcoffee very kindly gave me a Stylish Blogger award and now it is time to pass it on to five six other Bloggers.  As you know a lot of Blogs don’t accept these awards and so tried to find ones that didn’t have any objections.  I hope you will all be happy to receive and pass on this award BUT if you don’t have the time  mustavcoffee says she found  “so much inspiration but please don't feel you have to participate, it's good to give you a shout out” and these awards are also posted in the same spirit. So here goes and i hope all six enjoy.

The terms of the Award are (if you wish to pass it on), tell five things about yourself and pass onto five other Bloggers. I’ve already done my five things in an earlier post and so in no particular order here are the lucky five six:

Dolly Daydreams 

Mandi

Chrissie

Suze Bain

Aileen

Nellie

ALL of the above Blogs are fantastic and i would heartily recommend that you pop by to check them out.  Would like to say THANK YOU to all of the above blogs as i have found lots of creativity, lovely people and some fabulous creations.

Thanks again mustavcoffee :-) xxx

Thanks for dropping by and have a great week:-)

Less Is More Challenge Number 13

Over at the Less Is More site this week is a ‘lucky dip’, we get to choose between using the two sentiments Thank You or Congratulations.Haven’t been able to sleep so have made a few cards, well five… Am entering them all in one post for ease of commenting. A couple of them are good and a couple need slight adjustments.  Hoping that you will tell me what you think they should be.

Just a quick note to say that if any of the images don’t look right please click on them as they open correctly.  Sorry if this causes any of you problems.

Card One

 

DL sized card, used a smaller netbook cover for the flowers. The stamp is from Elusive Images and was stamped using Brilliance Ink Starlight Black. The bling was already placed in position.  I think that the sentiment should have been stamped horizontally and not diagonally and possibly in Black ink to match the vibrancy of the flowers.

Card Two

The heart was die cut using my Pazzle Inspiration then run through the Swirls Cuttlebug Embossing folder.  Used mirri card and then coloured using alcohol inks and bling from stash.  The stamp is from CD stamp set and used Versafine Black ink.  Here is a macro of the embellishment where i hope you can see the ink colours a little better.Something is missing on this card but not too sure what…

Card Three

Hoping this is CAS as have used a lovely green cardstock but have left enough space for it to work.  Rounded the bottom corners on this card and have added some lovely tie dyed ribbon of orange and yellow.  The green cardstock has calmed down the vibrant colour of the ribbon which i like.  The image is from Kanban and have mounted it onto a plain cream paper.  The sentiment is from CD Stamp set and again used Versafine ink, the bling is from stash.

 Card Four

Rounded the top corners using a WRMK Corner Rounder half inch size.  The birds were dies cut using my Pazzle Inspiration and are different sizes, added pearls for their eyes.  The flower sentiment is from a set by Craftword Cards, they colour up beautifully and are pearlised, used Peeled Paint DI to colour round the edge.  The border was made from using the lime green cardstock and painting some Verro Paste colour 903 through a stencil from Creative Imaginations called swirls. This paste is amazing, this is the first time i have used it. You only  need a small amount to add dimension and sparkle to your cards etc. This macros shot shows how it looks up close.

Card Five This card has to be one of my favourites but i’m not too sure it is CAS as it doesn’t leave much white space at all… Maybe on reflection i should have used a larger sized base card. Loving the colour combinations here and the simple message of Congratulations. Used Kanban Kit of Frames and sentiments, layered up two of the different frames using similar tones of the same colour.  The aqua and copper background swirl card was made by me using the Cuttlebug Embossing folder and then using Ranger Ink Dabbers to add the colour. Here is another and i promise the last macro of this post lol.

So, there are the five very tired creations and i am off to get some sleep if i can as my eyelids are now drooping.  Hope the post isn’t too long and you can leave me some feedback.  Love to learn this way and won’t get upset if you don’t like anything  i’ve produced this week so feel free to say what you will.

 

 

Award

This week the fabulous mustavcoffee sent me notice of an award. Popped over to her blog she has very kindly awarded me this:

 

Conditions are i must tell you five things about myself and pass this onto five other Bloggers. I have already told you things about me but in the spirit of the award am going to try for five new ones, here goes:

1.     Like to craft in the night or early morning

2.     Known my best friend for over 25 years

3.     Don’t like pink or any pink crafting tools

4.     Just started designing cutting files on my PI, they are free and are on my Wordpress Blog

5.     Have already started making my xmas presents

Hope these facts aren’t too boring…

The Five People i would like to pass this onto will be chosen when i go and comment on this weeks entries.  Will post the names on here over the next few days. As mustavcoffee says if you don’t want to pass the award on it’s fine.

Will add the Badge onto my Blog very soon and once again THANK YOU mustavcoffee. If you haven’t already found this fabulous Blog please click HERE . You will not be disappointed by this lively, funny and very inspirational Blog.

Thanks for dropping by and i hope you have all enjoyed your long weekend off and the sunshine:-)