Less is More #274

Hello!

Hurray for a bank holiday weekend here in the UK :)  I have got so many chores to do in the garden this weekend so I hope it stays dry!  Anyway, I am sure you are here for our weekly Less is More challenge and this week it is a really fun one to use patterned paper in a CAS way. 

Although, I have loads of patterned papers in my stash I rarely use them as I feel that the patterns will overwhelm my design.  However, I did get a few cards made using patterned paper this week:

First up I used one of my favourite Memory Box butterfly dies with some MFT papers.  I simply used the die several times on the different colours and on white to create the white outline and pieced in the different butterflies like a jigsaw.  The defined pops of colour on the white base look nice and clean!

While I had the MFT papers out, I decided to make a birthday card for my youngest.  He is not 11 until July so I am really planning ahead but he is unlikely to look at my blog :)  The cute panda is from MFT and I simply cut a strip of paper for the grass and used the paper with some number balloon dies from Avery Elle.  The sentiment is from Paper Smooches and a strip of paper down the edge completes the design. 

 

Finally, I have gone bold and graphic for a masculine card!  I die cute the 50 and stacked it up on several layers combined with a die cut frame from some striped patterned paper.

 

Hopefully these cards illustrate 3 different looks with patterned paper but you will have loads more ideas, I am sure!  Head over to the Less is More blog to see what the fab DT have been up to and this week we are also joined by the lovely Esther from The Carnelian Wood who is a great supporter of LIM and makes gorgeous CAS cards.  If you have not visited her blog before, you are in for a treat :)

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Sarah x

Less is More #273

Hello!

Happy St George's Day! Another week has flown by and hopefully we are edging closer to warmer weather.....I have certainly had enough of April showers :)  As today is St George's Day in England we are celebrating at Less is More with a theme of Saints and Dragons or Heroes.

I have to admit that I was a bit stumped by this one until I came across my Mama Elephant super hero stamps and made two cards with them:

 

First up I die cut a star shape and popped up my little flying girl hero.  I coloured the image with pencils and added a sentiment.

 

On this second card I decided to have my heroes floating on clouds and clear embossed a few clouds on the blue card base before adding a few die cut white clouds and the images popped up on them.  I think the sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

 

I hope you like my heroic cards and feel inspired to play along with our St George's day challenge!  The rest of the DT have lots of great inspiration to share with you over at Less is More :)

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Sarah x

Less Is More #272

Hello!

Are you ready for some more Saturday morning fun over at Less Is More?  This week's challenge is a real treat for stampers as we are asking you to use 3 stamps on your design.

Here is what I came up with:

I was trawling through my stamps and came across the Clarity wordchains.  I have hardly used them and decided to make them the focal point of the card.  It is ages since I made a chalkboard style card so that is what I did here by smudging some white pigment ink around the white embossed words.  A few die cut butterflies from MFT finish off the design.

 

I stamped three butterflies (I think they are from Artemio?) in bright colours on my second card and finished with a die cut sentiment from Clearly Besotted.  Only two cards from me this week as we have just come back from a week in Spain and I have fallen behind on my crafting.  I hope to catch up this weekend :)

 

I look forward to seeing your designs featuring 3 stamps and do check out the fab inspiration from the rest of the DT over at Less is More!

 

See you soon,

 

Sarah x

Honey I Shrunk the Kit

Hello!

I always love it when we come to post our cards from the latest mini kit in our little Honey I Shrunk the Kit card making club :)  This time the little bundle of loveliness was put together by Shona and she included some of the cutest spring stamps and dies!

I made 4 cards (and could have kept going) so will get straight on with showing you what I made:

 

 

First up is a tulip framed by a fab scalloped die.  Shona supplied the tulip, die, sentiment, ribbon and pink paper.  I thought the pink and yellow colour scheme would be right for spring.

 

 

Shona sent this amazing Waffle Flower die and I wanted that to be the star of the card so I coloured the base die with a range of distress inks and did the same on a base panel too.  I adhered the intricate white die cut over the top and popped it up for added dimension.  I added a sentiment from Altenew and that was it.

 

I used up the last piece of striped paper at the top of this card along with the two sweet fuschia flowers from Clearly Besotted along with a sentiment (all from the kit).  I die cut two rows of dots out of the top of the white panel for a bit of extra interest for the design.  I will also link this card up at CASology where the cue card is pink.

 

For my final card I have created a mini spring scene featuring rabbits and butterflies:

 

I used some Mama Elephant landscape dies to create the hills and popped a few of the hopping bunnies on to the scene.  I die cut the sentiment and added a few of the sweet butterflies.

 

This was an amazing kit to work with - packed full of images and products that I don't have so it was a real treat to get to play with them.  Huge thanks to Shona for putting together such a great combination of elements.  Here is what arrived through the door:

 

 

Do check out what the other Honeys have created with the kit!  I know there will be loads of inspiration from Sandie (London Days), Hazel (Hazel's Paper Designs), Sarah (Sazzle Dazzle Crafts) and Shona (Twine Around).  I am so lucky to have a chance to play along with such sweet blog friends :)

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

Sarah x

 

Uniko Challenge

Hello!

After all of the excitement of the April mini release we are back with our regular Uniko challenge.  This month the challenge is to use metallic on your design which is something that I love to do.

I went very clean and simple on this design and simply gold embossed the beautiful heart from Always and Forever in gold and backed it on some card that I had used my gold krylon pen on to create a border. 

 

I shall also link up at AAA Cards Anything Goes challenge where anything goes as long as it is CAS.

Head over to the Uniko blog to see lots of great metallic inspiration from the DT - we love it when you stop by!

See you again soon,

Sarah x

Uniko Release Day!

Hello!

It is great to be able to celebrate the release of Uniko's April designs - sweet cupcakes and fun florals - what more could we want?!

As you are probably hopping along to see what the DT have made here are my creations:

 

I paired the fun flowers with the graphic thanks sentiment from Uniko's All Occasion Sentiments #6.  The flowers are white embossed on patterned paper and cut out.  They add a pop of colour to a CAS design.

 

I love these cupcakes in mint and pink.  This time I coloured the cupcake in with pencil and added the cute stars with patterned paper in the background to add interest to the card base.  I combined the 'with cake' sentiment with a sentiment from Uniko's last release 'Simply Said'.  I just curved the words to echo the curve of the bottom sentiment.

 

Finally I went a bit arty on this card.  I stamped and masked the cupcakes in black and white and stencilled a star background in Squeezed Lemonade and Cracked Pistachio distress inks.  I added some of the mini star stamps and a sentiment from Simply Said Birthday.

 

That's it from me - I hope you like the cards I have made with Bev's latest designs. 

 

Hop along with us today and leave comments before 17 April to be in with a chance of winning a fab giveaway of both release sets plus a £10 store voucher!  All of the details can be found over at the Uniko blog.

 

Thank you for stopping by,

 

Sarah x

Uniko April Release - Fun Flowers

Hello!

Today is the second day of Uniko's fabulous April release and this time we are playing with fun florals.  Flowers work perfectly for every occasion and these florals are perfect for layering up.  Their open design also lends itself to lots of techniques too.

Here are a few examples of cards that I have made with this lovely set:

I masked and stamped the flowers in bright colours to create a cheerful floral corner and combined them with a sentiment from All Occasion Sentiments #1.

On a similar theme I randomly stamped the flowers on a card panel in this next card and popped it over some blue card with a sentiment white embossed from All Occasion Sentiments #6.

They create such fresh, summery designs and are lots of fun to play with!

This set and yesterday's cupcake designs will be available for purchase at Uniko tomorrow and we will be having a DT blog hop and giveaway to celebrate!  In the meantime check out all of the fab inspiration from the DT over at Uniko.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sarah x

Uniko April Release - Celebrate with Cake

Hello!

It is time to share some fabulous new designs from Uniko Studio and today we are celebrating with cake :)  Bev has designed the sweetest cupcake set and here is what I made with it:

I masked and paper pieced the cupcakes in mint and pink and white embossed the sentiment on dark grey.  The cupcake wrappers are pencil shaded.

Next up I stamped the full images to create a background pattern:

I used soft pinks, yellows and greys to create a light pattern and gold embossed a sentiment from Simply Said Birthday.

We have another set to share with you tomorrow and the new designs will be available from 11 April when we will have a design team blog hop and giveaway to celebrate! 

Check out the rest of the yummy inspiration from the DT over at Uniko and stop by tomorrow :)

See you soon,

Sarah x 

Less Is More #271

Hello!

Here at Less Is More this week we are challenging you to create a one layer card featuring a geometric pattern.  I love geometrics and there are lots of great products to work with.  Here are some of the ideas that I had:

I masked off a square and inked through a MFT stencil in Salty Ocean, Cracked Pistachio and Tumbled Glass distress inks.  A sentiment from Mama Elephant completes the design.

Next up I stamped the Hero Arts Tiny Flags background in pink on the top third of a card and added a black line to give it some definition.  The sentiment is from Altenew and I stamped a few single triangles from Uniko to soften the white space below the line.

 

I finished by stamping triangles from Uniko's Triangulate set in blues and greens.  I masked a strip for the sentiment and that was it.  I am beginning to really enjoy making one layer cards :)

 

 

 

I could have carried on making geometric cards but ran out of time!  I look forward to seeing all of your geometric designs.  The DT have lots more inspiration to share with you over at Less Is More.

 

Thank you for stopping by,

 

Sarah x

Less Is More #270

Hello!

As we head in to another weekend we are back with a new challenge from Less Is More.  This time we are looking for white space that is NOT white!  This was lots of fun and I was inspired to make several cards :)

First up I white embossed on to a navy card base:

I masked off a square and white embossed the lovely chrysanthemum stamp from Uniko Studio and combined it with a sentiment from Hero Arts.  I added some white ink around the mask to create a frame effect and used white pencil on the flower to give the image a bit more depth.  I quite like how this turned out!

 

I continued with the theme of white embossing on this card, embossing one of the fabulous Tim Holtz fashion stamps on a charcoal grey base.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.  A few white enamel dots finish that card off.

Finally I decided to use a kraft card as my not white space and embossed a Persian Motif stamp from Altenew which I coloured with pencils.  I love the look this gives on kraft.  A simple one layer card.

I hope these cards demonstrate that you can create a CAS design without white space!  Do check out the rest of the fabulous inspiration from the LIM DT.  To top things off we are joined by the lovely Liz from Crafty Sunflower - she is such a talented cardmaker!

Thanks as always for stopping by :)

Sarah x