Less is More gets sketchy

Hello again ,

I know it's a bit of a post overload at the moment but I'll be absent at the other end of the week so I'm making up for that fact :)

This card is for 'Less is More' this week , Chrissie and Mandi have given us a sketch to work from , after last weeks Monogram challenge I think we are more comfortable with this judging by number of entries so far

I remembered this lasting impressions stencil I have and I've used my lovely but depleting stash of LI card stock , oh I wish they still made it and sold it over here .

My new sewing machine has been in use again, a wonderful birthday pressie ... thanks Mum and Dad .

As you can see the lines are a little straighter this time compared to my previous card .... please note I will try not to sew everything within an inch of it's life from now on, but it's a technique I luuurve  so be warned :)

I hope this is ok as an interpretation of the sketch Mandi and Chrissie ??

 

Well we didn't get the promised thunder storm last night but it's certainly arrived today and bought fresher temperatures with it which is a welcome relief ..... sorry to be a party poop'er but I can't function in extreme heat :)

I'm off now to visit other Limettes and see what they've created , I hope to get round as many as possible before we are away uni visiting again :)

Thanks for your time today X



A late lullaby

Hi everyone ,

Maybe this is an indication of how I run my life but I seem to have missed the deadline on the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World , I thought the clue was in the title but the deadline was Sunday 26th :(

Hey ho I'll show you it anyway because I used my new sewing machine for the first time on paper having practised a bit on material first .

I have been quite literal with the photo inspiration and I'm quite chuffed with the sewing although I need to focus on straight lines now I think .... yep I went round twice so as the wonky lines looked intentional :)





It has been way too hot today ..... I like a bit of summer weather but this is the extreme and my craft room is like an oven , lets hope the storm arrives to break the heat .

Bye for now and thanks for visiting X

Flower Jars @ OLW

Hi Everyone ,

Ok I'm on a roll now with my cards again but this weeks OLW gave me trouble at first and a heap of rejects too until I decided to go literal with the photo inspiration .

I basically went back to stencilling again using a quickutz jar die and punched flower with a hand cut stem and leaf stencil too . I made the flower into a daffodil by stencilling through a star to make the trumpet face on .
A little bit of mending wool for twine and a hero arts sentiment .
I tend to use these 3.5 inch square cards for one layer cards as they seem less daunting and the texture works well with the ink and coloursoft pencils that I use to add extra definition to the images .

I'm off out shopping today as it's a certain young ladies birthday at the end of the week and we have another university to visit this week too ...... roll on the end of term :)

Thanks for looking and mind that hot sun today .... the Wimbledon effect has worn off all ready X 

Rainbow Stars

Morning everyone ,

I'm enjoying all the rainbow colour challenges at the moment in blogland so I thought I'd join in because I'm a sucker for the spectrum of colours together .
This card is for the embellish it challenge 'Rainbow Colour Trends' and I love that I got to try a white on white mat too :)

I've used a faux stitch stamp and matched up coloured card to die cut the stars with , the rainbow side tab is an off cut from the panel which I trimmed to fit the card blank :)

It's too hot for my liking already today which is why I'm indoors posting this instead , I may even get in the craftroom later .... another busy week again coming up so I need to get some cards made this end of the week :)

Thanks for visiting today, enjoy the sunshine X

Getting Edgy @ CASual Fridays

Hello everyone ,

No I haven't dropped off the planet ... It's been one of those weeks with no time to craft and oh boy have I suffered from withdrawal symptoms :)

I'm back with a card for CASual fridays and they are getting a little 'edgy' this week .

This card actually uses the off cuts from a Tim Holtz 'on the edge' die which I saved because they looked so much like waves , I drew faux stitching on them to match the stitching on the boat . The image is a Digi stamp from Digi Sparkle ( have ceased trading ) and the papers are Pink Petticoat .

The sentiment font is Quickutz Moxie and I've had to overlap the letters a little so as to fit it in the space but this hasn't photographed very well ,  it's a fun bright card ... ideal for a little boy or girl , have to be PC about this ( ooops would be better without Birthday boy on it though, lol )

Thank you so much for your birthday wishes , I had a lovely day on Tuesday and one of my pressies was a small sewing machine .... something I asked for but I haven't a clue how to use it yet but we all have to start somewhere . Look out for stitching on my cards and pages at some point in the future :)

On Thursday we went to Bath University Open Day with Hannah as one of three Uni's she is considering applying for . Having never gone to university myself it was quite an eye opener and I wonder if I actually missed out on something quite big by going straight into employment .... hmmmm , I wonder can mature students stay on campus ????

Thanks for popping by today and I'll try not to leave it so long next time . Have fun X

Less is More-Monogram

Hello folks ,

Saturday mornings for me include popping onto the LIM blog to see the new weeks challenge and then I can have maximum thinking time for a design , which usually pops into my head when I'm in the shower but that's another story , lol .
I was beginning to think I would never get a card idea for this weeks Monogram challenge as we have no weddings or anniversaries coming up then I thought about items that could be monogrammed and eventually arrived at this idea

I thought with a 'B' for baby, this card would be very usable in the future .
I used the cricut to cut the onesie and shaded the edges with Tattered Rose distress ink . The background pattern is an a.muse stamp I've had ages . I've used brads to attach some twine and used foam pads to attach the onesie to the card front :)
Sorry about picture quality, if you click on it , it looks clearer. Does anyone else have this problem or is it my camera skills ?

Hope this is acceptable for a monogram card .

I will get round to commenting as much as I can this week as I have a busy week with my birthday tomorrow ( yes 21 ..... again ) lol , and a university open day to go to which means overnight at  relatives .

Thanks for looking X

A ColourQ and CASual Block

Hello everyone ,

As it's Father's Day tomorrow I thought I'd better get a wiggle on and make a card for my ol' dad so when the I saw CASual Fridays had 'Colour Block' as there new challenge I knew it would be ideal for a father's day card .
Whilst blog hopping I had also spotted the delicious colours at Colour Q , so I had my ingredients and this is what I cooked up ...... not sure why I'm on a foody theme  ????

Now it's finished I'm not sure it's very obvious it's a shirt cuff and novelty cuff link , it looked different in my minds eye , what do you say ???
It's supposed to be one of those bold patterned shirts with the white cuffs and collar ....you know the smart ones , the 'DAD' cuff link is cut from shrink plastic with a Sizzlets die and then embossed with gold powder . Love the hand-stitched cuff and button hole :)

I even made a gift bag from a large Manila envelope to house his group of pressies in and decorated it to match the card too

Well we've had some good thunder storms here today and the garden is looking a healthy green colour again .

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend and thanks for calling in, I really appreciate your time X

OLW- Aqua,Yellow and Orange

Hi Everyone ,

After my exciting news earlier I thought I'd better come back and share the card I've made for One Layer Wednesday which is hosted Susan at Simplicity this week ....

....... we have to use the colours aqua , yellow and orange on our OL cards , I can only say these challenges highlight my "not very diverse" stamp collection as I never have the stamps to fit my initial idea so plan b was born .... I'm working on my stamp collection by the way :)

The paper lanterns are a stamp that came with a Scrapagogo kit from last year , I've used colorbox chalk ink to sponge on the colour and then added extra dimension with coloursoft pencils .
The sentiment is from one of my new Papertrey Ink stamp sets ..... love PTI , need 2nd mortgage to ship it here though , lol :)

Thanks for dropping in today , it's been quite an exciting one :)

I'm so Excited :D

Hi Everyone,

I can't contain my excitement any longer..... see the Paper Smooches blog here.

Yes I've been choosen as Guest designer for July, to say I'm thrilled is an understatement , I just love playing with the super cute stamps drawn by Kim ...... and I get a new GDT button for my blog too :)

Thanks for all your encouraging comments , they mean so much to me :)

Fathers Day TV

Hi Everyone ,

I'm back ..... I had a mojo dip , probably due to my head feeling like it's stuffed with cotton wool :(  Yep it's hayfever season and this year it's back with a vengeance and later than usual which is why it caught me unawares too , I thought I'd dodged it this year !

Still , I'm getting on top of it now although the anti-histamines take the stuffing out of me too ..... it's the old "devil and the deep blue sea" situation , right ???

I have a Fathers Day card to share today using the Paper Smooches 'Boob Tubes' set , this'll be for James to give to dad because he'll like the interactive part of this card .

I love the retro TV images in this stamp set so I found some groovy wallpaper in my DCVW retro prints stack and a piece of fawn vivelle to make the carpet .

I'm sure you've probably worked out that you turn the wheel at the side of the card to scroll through the three messages . I've had to chop and change with words from a few different sets and  FATHER'S is made up from selectively inking different letters from sentiments  :)

The TV aerial disguises the brad that holds the spinner in place which is sandwiched inside the card ...... this'll have to be a 'picture' style card with a card stand to prop it up .

I think I'll pop over and enter this into the GDT search at Paper Smooches too , the link closes today :)

I have been a bit slack in passing on an award from Stephanie at my-ink-well so I'm going to do it now .

Thank you for this lovely award Steph , it's heart warming to know you like what I do , I love visiting your blog too and in fact that's the hardest thing about these awards .... choosing who to pass it on to :)

...... so 5 things about me ( inc a crafty fact )
1. My craft room is only approx 7 foot sq but built on the 'use of vertical storage space' ethos at Ikea :)
2. I started horse riding at the age of seven but gave up in my late teens ..... never gone back as too many bits wobble now , lol
3. I had a pretend dog called spot when I was a child .... he was very real to me :)
4. I've never broken a bone in my body ...... perhaps I shouldn't have written that one , quick touch wood ;)
5. Oh I'm not superstitious at all , so scrap the touch wood thing :)
5a. I hate ironing - put in just for Stephanie ;)

I love all the blogs that I visit so this is hard to pass on so I've decided to leave it open for anyone I visit to take the award , your all so deserving :)

Thanks for keeping awake through that marathon post I'll hopefully be back again tomorrow X

CASual Tic Tac Toe

Hello peeps ,

I'm back again to share with you a card I made for my brother and sister-in-laws Wedding Anniversary today using the Tic Tac Toe challenge at CASual Fridays .

I chose the Buttons , Dies or punch , Emboss row and also took my inspiration from the tic tac toe game board . I've used the PTI 'Book Print' IP on the background and embossed the grid lines for the gameboard (not easy to see ) .

The picture quality isn't very good on my blog , but if you click on the card you can see the emboss detail a bit better . What size does everyone else re size there photos too before uploading to blogger as I'm not happy with my picture quality recently , they seem a bit fuzzy ? ... I know red isn't the easiest colour to photograph either .

This type of challenge is new to me and I loved the idea of picking your own mix of embellishments , why not hop over to the blog here and see the details for yourself and take in all the inspirational cards from the design team along with Guest designer Tami Mayberry this week .

Edit to add : I'm also entering this into Gallery Idol after a couple of suggestions from my fabby followers ( thanks for pointing me in the right direction Lynne and JenW ) , details can be found here if you want to join in too .... nothing ventured nothing gained and it looks like fun too :)

On a different note .... it's wet and windy here today , very chilly too but the garden is enjoying it . Despite the distinct lack of rain and the threat of a hosepipe ban this summer , the allotment is doing well .

This is the first proper year of having an allotment in the garden , meaning we can have veg from garden to plate in a matter of minutes in some cases . James loves helping too especially finding the new potatoes when we dig the roots for dinner and he's patiently waiting for the strawberry plants to start producing fruit and waiting patiently isn't an easy thing to do when you're Autistic :)

Thanks for calling in today I really appreciate your comments , they make my day X

A Summery One Layer Card

Hi Everyone ,

I thought this week I would combine OLW with my LIM card as it's the turn of the nervously anticipated

ONE LAYER WEEK

and the challenge is

IN THE FRAME

We would like to see a frame of some sort or something in a frame... we'd like you to be as inventive as you like.

You could doodle, draw, emboss, ink, paint, colour, print, stamp, emboss resist,  mask or any other method you can come up with to get a frame of sorts into your design.

Over at One Layer Wednesday the theme is summer hols/beach and this week is being hosted by Jennifer and she has a guest designer too :)

Now I do not have any suitable stamps for this theme apart from flip flops , which have been done already , so it was a case of thinking outside the box ....or inside the box when I saw the LIM challenge :)

The scene is actually peeking through an aperture in the card so I hope this still counts as one layer ??

The parasol is a sizzlets die that I've drawn around on the card front and then I used a rectangle nestie placed so as the image extends outside of inner frame and drew around the inside and outside of the nestie, all with pencil.

Then using my craft knife , I cut the aperture either side of the parasol and drew the outer frame in with pen allowing a gap for the sentiment .

I've used Coloursoft Pencils for the Parasol and chalks for the beach scene , adding highlights with pencils and a white gel pen .

Not sure how useful this card will be with a sentiment like that but it just fitted the image nicely and anyway , I really wish I was there so perhaps I'll just keep it to look at on miserable weather days :)

I actually made this card yesterday having spotted the accidental heads up from Chrissie this week on my blogger dashboard .... oops now I've let the cat out of the bag :)

All the challenge details can be found on the links above , why not click and have a go too :)
 

Thanks for calling in today X

Fun with a Free' Bee !

Hello Everyone ,

I have a fun card to share today using the FREE  'Bee' Digi stamp from Paper Smooches , available on the blog , it's a great way to start playing with the cute images drawn by Kim Hughes and being Digi they can be re-sized .

I needed to make a nest for the swarm to live in so a quick look at my stamps and the carrot from the 'Vegtastic' set jumped out at me .

I use a Memento marker pen to selectively ink the carrot without his face and top , then I used leaves to hide the un-inked edge and hung it from a branch .

The Hero Arts cloud background stamp works well with these fun images as does Kraft card .

The little bees were tricky to colour and even more of a nightmare to cut out but it was well worth all the fiddle :)

I'm so thrilled because over at Paper Smooches it's patrol day and this card is being featured

Pop over and see who else has been spotted on PS patrol too :)

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments about my cards they really make my day to read them all, glad you dropped by X

Monster Fun

Morning Everyone ,

Yep I've another Paper Smooches card this morning this time using the cute monster from the 'Falling for You' stamp set .

The middle monster is hand stamped with a floral pattern and oh boy was it a job to find a green ink to match the striped card ..... this is as close as I could get :)

I'm entering him into the Play Date Cafe Challenge and Julies Snippets challenge because , apart from the card base , I've used off cuts to make this card .

EDIT - oh dear, I've justed noticed I'm too late for the Play Date Cafe, never mind!!

I will use other stamp sets again , it's just that I'm a bit obsessed by these fun bold designs by Kim Hughes at the moment and you'll be pleased to know I have a couple more sets that should be arriving this week :)

Did you notice my blog header has changed ???
I decided to have a revamp after Hannah twisted my arm into buying some stash for her Digi scrapbooking and I fell in love with these crayon and felt images :)
She's such a whizz with the computer , designing and creating in Photoshop and it's the least she could do after good ole' Mum had treated her to some new stash :) I think it looks a lot better and matches the spotty paper very well , do you agree?

Thanks for stopping a while today X

A card for Fun

Morning everyone , on this wet Monday ...... the garden is loving it as we have had gentle steady rain all morning and I have every reason to stay inside and craft :)

Toady's card is not for any challenge but made for pure fun . I've used my Paper Smooches stamps again to make a happy smiley card

The cheeky squirrel is back and this time he's taking a ride with some balloons ...... or are they ?

I've used the pepper from the 'Vegtastic' set and with selective inking and paper piecing , they have become two bunches of balloons taking him for a ride :)

Paper Smooches are looking for a Guest Designer for the month of July so I'll pop over and enter him along with some other cards before he gets up to anymore mischief :)

EDIT: My friend Vicky has pointed out that this card would fit right in with the St Lukes Hospice Challenge this month so I'm going to pop it in over there :)

Thanks for joining me today and I hope he made you smile too X

Less is More#18 - Monochromatic

Hello on this breezy Sunday morning ,

My card today is for the LIM challenge , and it's a colour theme this week 

MONOCHROME

 

1. in shades of one color: using or displaying only shades of one color or black and white.

You may choose any colour you wish, but please keep all the shades you use within your chosen spectrum.

I've not tried this colour concept before so had a bit of a think about this one , then I remembered a card design on my list of things to make and it fitted in well with this weeks challenge

I've used my Cricut to cut the turtle from the 'Walk in my Garden' cartridge and a Die-namics die to cut the grass . The sentiment is from a Woodware set and as it is acrylic I was able to curve it so it could be stamped around the shell .

Everything on the card is green which isn't showing well and neither is the glossy accents on his shell ...... but it is nice and shiny IRL :)

I thought 'Take it easy..' was a fairly open sentiment so I've left the card blank inside for the moment .

Thank you all so much for your comments about my butterfly card and this week I had a lovely parcel of Stampin Up stamps arrive from Mandi and a card from the lady herself

As you can see I have already mounted them all and are ready to go with some ideas . Thanks so much Mandi and Chrissie :)

Well I'm off to catch up on housework and I'll check out the other Limettes cards later .

Thanks for joining me today X

PS ... hubbie has just been in to say he has sown rather more radish up the allotment than he intended , when the stiff breeze took the seed packet out of his hands and liberally scattered them everywhere ..... oh dear. Lol X

A Cas-ual sketch

It's the weekend ...... my turn to make the morning cuppa and have a little blog hop while it brews , oh and upload my latest card :)

My card this morning is another using Paper Smooches stamps and I just love trying to think of new ways to use them . This card fits in with the CAS-ual Fridays sketch this week , I've just flipped it upside down and used words instead of the trim .

I just adore this wacky little bat from the 'Falling for you' stamp set and wondered how he would look with his wings folded so he could hide .  They unfortunately have had to have there wings snipped off to create this shape but I'm sure they wont mind :)

Both fonts in the sentiment are by Kim Hughes and can be bought here , I've paper pieced 'BOO' in yellow Bazzill so as to match the bakers twine .

I'm certainly having fun with these stamps and they're great for CAS cards too  :)

Thanks for looking X

OLW-Fathers Day

Fantastic Friday everyone ,

...... yes fathers day is just around the corner and this week over on Susan's blog at OLW we are making cards for the men in our life . It can be a traditional Fathers day or for any male figure in your life who's in need of some recognition :)

I've used the tie from a Woodware set of stamps and cut one of them out so as to reveal the coloured paper insert underneath. The sentiment is another Woodware set called Retro words , love these , they get used a lot :)

I made the card blank myself as I do prefer landscape cards and get tired of the square or A6 size so I bought some thick (290gsm) A3 card to make these , I can get two DL and one slightly slimmer from one sheet :)

The ironing got done as did some house work so I felt justified in making this card yesterday evening :)

Thanks for stopping by and saying 'Hi' X

Make it special

Good morning everyone ,

..... the sun is shining and the ironing pile is growing so I decided to post a couple of cards, figure that one out !!!

This mornings card is for a couple of challenges that I've found whilst hopping about in blogland , that's what I love most about blogging , apart from seeing all your wonderful creations you gain inspiration and ideas from the challenges you come across too :)

Here's the card

I found a great picture inspiration challenge at Jay Gees Nook here which has some gorgeous images and colours to play with and as my newest Lawn Fawn stamp set has just arrived I knew what I wanted to do .

I've also followed the sketch from Lily pad cards which are running a Lawn Fawn challenge at the moment here , in fact it closes tomorrow .

I used my Houghie board to make some pleated paper and added a button tab to keep up the sewing theme even the sentiment has the word 'make' in it too ...... see , some thought has gone into this . Lol

I'd also like to share a card for my dad who retired yesterday after working for 47 years of his life ..... the last 40 being at the same company . I'm sure he'll really miss the routine but has lots of hobbies and interests to keep him occupied , I'm very proud of you Dad and here's to a happy retirement .

We had a day trip to the coast at the weekend I had the idea of writing a message in the sand and Hannah was in charge of the camera so took the picture . We had fun keeping the dog away as he thought we were playing in the sand with him and he nearly ended up in the shot a few times . I've simply matted it onto two layers of cardstock and then stuck it to a card base .

We had a great time until the Norfolk rain/mist set in for the day ..... something you get used to in that part of the country :)

That's all folks ..... better tackle the leaning tower of ironing.

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my recent posts , I really appreciate your kind words and thanks for popping by today X