Saturday 26 March 2016

Less Is More #269

Hello,

I hope you are having a fabulous Easter weekend and are ready to play along with our latest challenge at Less Is More :) This week we are challenging you to use polka dots!


I have used a strawberry stamp from Waltzingmouse Stamps for my polka dot element and teamed it with some stripy paper.  A bit of pencil shading grounds the strawberry and that is it!

Next up I have made a very simple card which is aimed at a masculine birthday.  The patterned paper is combined with a graphic birthday sentiment from PaperTrey Ink.

 
 
Finally I have used some sweet new baby stamps from MFT.  The elephants have polka dot ears and I have stamped them in pale pink combined with grey stripy paper and hearts.
 


Polka dots work for all occasions so I hope you get dotty with us this week :)

The fabulous DT have lots of inspiration for you as always and we are joined by the lovely Kay Wallace from Art from the Main House - her blog is an absolute treasure trove of gorgeous design - definitely worth checking out!

See you again soon,

Sarah x

Saturday 19 March 2016

Less Is More #268

Hello!

Another weekend has come around and we are back with our next challenge at Less Is More :)  This is a theme week and the theme is What's Outside Your Window?

This should be lots of fun!

We have lots of birds in the garden at the moment and that was an excuse to use my new set from Avery Elle:


I used watercolour pencils to lightly colour the image and combined it with a sentiment from Paper Smooches.

Continuing with the bird theme I also made this:

 

I die cut a Memory Box bird out of the white card panel and layered it up over some vintage text paper.  I used a sentiment from Stamplorations.

However, to be honest it seems to be raining most often when I look out of my window so I made this one layer card:




I inked through a Stamplorations stencil in Bluepring Sketch, Salty Ocean and Tumbled Glass distress inks and added a sentiment from Hero Arts.

I look forward to seeing the view from your window :)  Check out the fabulous inspiration from my LIM teamies too!

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x

Friday 18 March 2016

Uniko Challenge

Hello!

Thank goodness its Friday :)  What better way to celebrate the arrival of the weekend than with another Uniko challenge?  We have been having some blue skies recently so this month's Uniko theme of Spring/Easter is just what we need to enjoy the longer days and spring flowers....

I have made a very simple, CAS design:


I simply stamped the flowers from Flower Power #7 in bright colours and combined them with a few Uniko sentiments.  I think the happy is discontinued and the easter is from the recently released bunny set.  The white card panel is popped up over a strip of green. 

I went for fresh and happy! 

The challenge runs until 8 April so there is plenty of time to get inky and play along. Head on over to the Uniko blog to see the fab spring/easter inspiration that the rest of the fab DT have created for you :) 

While I am here, I will also link up at AAA Cards Challenge where the theme is Easter.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by,

Sarah x

Sunday 13 March 2016

Shark Attack

Hello!

I hope you have been having a good weekend.  I have got a bit of a cold....nothing too bad but just enough to make me feel sorry for myself :)  This week the cue card at CASology is Laugh so I decided to get out a new stamp set to put a smile back on my face!


 



I love this shark by Avery Elle - he is so fun.  I die cut the waves in different shades of blue and coloured the shark in with coloured pencils.  The sentiment is from Mama Elephant.

It is a simple card but I hope it qualifies for this week's challenge :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x

Saturday 12 March 2016

Less Is More #267

Hello!

I'm back again for my second outing as part of the Less Is More DT :)  This week is one layer week and I have to say that I am slowly starting to really enjoy making one layer designs! 

We are asking you to make the sentiment centre stage this time and here are a few of the ideas that I had:

 
I gold embossed the frame from Paper Smooches and masked it before using versamark through a polka dot stencil (Simon Says Stamp, I think).  I used clear embossing powder and sprinkled glamour dust glitter over the dots before melting.  The photo doesn't really do it justice but I really like the texture and shine that this gives.

 
I used this fabulous Altenew sentiment to take centre stage for my second card.  I watercoloured the lettering with distress inks and added a bit of wink of stella for some shimmer.  There is a bit of pencil shading too.



Finally, I gold embossed this sentiment from Mama Elephant and then inked through a Hero Arts confetti stencil in spun sugar and cracked pistachio.  I dusted gold perfect pearls over the ink to accentuate the gold tones.

I look forward to seeing which sentiments you will make centre stage on your cards.  Do check out the rest of the inspiration from the fab DT over at Less Is More.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x

Friday 11 March 2016

Uniko Revisited

Hello!

Happy Friday to you :)  Its downhill to the weekend and we are revisiting one of my favourite Uniko stamp sets....Pure Florals: Cosmos.  I have a couple of cards to share with you.



First up I stamped the flowers out multiple times and watercoloured them with distress inks - Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserve and Picked Raspberry.  I cute them all out and adhered to the card base along with some of the Natures Treasures leaves.  The main sentiment is from All Occasions Sentiments #6 with the little 'you are' coming from the super useful Simply Said from the last release.  I added wink of stella to the flowers too.

For my next card I went with some sunny, fresh yellows stamping the flower on the card base and colouring in the flowers on the panel with pencils. 


 
I hope you like these Cosmos creations.  They are lovely fresh floral images which are so versatile.  Just check out what the rest of the fab DT have made with them on the Uniko blog and you will see what I mean!
 
Thanks for stopping by,
 
Sarah x

Tuesday 8 March 2016

Daffodils

Hello!

I am seeing lots of cheerful daffodils starting to appear out and about which put me in mind of a lovely daffodil stamp that I have from Stamplorations.  This is what I made with it:


 

I stamped and masked the daffodil and coloured with pencils.  I also used a stamplorations stencil in the background to add a bit of interest and the sentiment is from stamplorations too!  I think this looks very spring-y!

I will link up at Time Out for a second time where the theme is spring with the optional twist of masking and I will also link up at Just Us Girls where the theme is flowers.  Finally, I shall link up at Stamplorations CAS Challenge for March which is Anything Goes with the optional twist of yellow.


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Just a quick post from me - I hope your week is going well!

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x

Saturday 5 March 2016

Spring and Spin

Hello!

Just a quick post from me to share a few creations that I have been able to put together today. 

First up is a card for Time Out where they are celebrating their 2nd birthday.  Sandie and Nonni have created a really fun challenge blog with fab inspiration.  Happy Birthday!  This time the challenge is spring with the optional twist of masking. 


I have used my favourite spring flowers on this one layer design - the tulips are from Penny Black and I have masked them to create a colourful border.  They are watercoloured with distress inks.  The sentiment is from Altenew.

Secondly I have made a card to play along at CASology where the cue card is Spin.  It gave me the opportunity to play with a new die for me from Memory Box combined with a new stamp from MFT. 

 
As the die and stamp are new I will play along with Darnell's NBUS Challenge for a 2nd time.
 
Never-Before-Used-Schtuff (Stamps, Dies, EFs, etc.)
 
That's it for tonight.  I hope you stop by again soon!
 
Sarah x

Less Is More Challenge #266

Hello!

At last I can share my first card with you as a member of the DT over at my favourite weekly challenge - Less Is More :)  I hope that I can do justice to LIM's CAS spirit and the fabulous inspiration that the DT serve up every week!

This week it is a colour challenge and we want you to use CITRUS colours.  I immediately thought of lemons and limes and spring blossoms.



I used this beautiful freesia stamp from Altenew and coloured it with watercolour pencils.  The sentiment is a die cut from Penny Black.

Whilst I had this stamp out I decided to try it as an outline on a coloured card base:


I white embossed the freesia on a green card panel and popped that over a strip of yellow card.  I added a bit of white pencil shading to add a bit of depth to the image.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp die cut from white and yellow.  I shall link this card up at AAA cards as well where the theme is embossing.

Finally, I tried using these colours to make a zingy card:


I used stamps from Waltzingmouse Stamps and the sentiment is from WPlus9, the panel is popped up over a strip of black glitter card.

AND, as it is the first Saturday of the month we are delighted to have a new sponsor at Less Is More:

Picture

I look forward to seeing your zingy and zesty creations!

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah x

Tuesday 1 March 2016

NBUS!

Hello!

Here we are at the beginning of a new month....I always feel hopeful that spring is nearly here once we get to March (although there is a forecast of sleet and snow on the way!).  And to make it even better, the super lovely Darnell has opened another of her legendary NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) challenges

Here is a card made using my new Tim Holtz Flower Garden stamps:


I simply coloured the poppy in with pencils....I think my pencil colouring is gradually improving!  I combined it with a dotty stencil in pale blue as a background.  The sentiment is from WPlus9.

I will also play along for a final time at Simon's Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes.

I will see you over at NBUS :)


Sarah x