Less is More card challenge

I came across this sketch challenge on the Less is More blog - closing date 1st July so I had better be quick with the uploading! Though I am quite intimidated by the 200 plus other entries ..... :-)

I had a robo-cut vine left over from a scrapbook page and decided to use that as a base for the flowers, which I overstamped with Green Tea versamark and added green crystal centres. I die-cut a scalloped oval for the sentiment and finished off with two peel off lines.

Simple but effective, hopefully :-)

Serendipity Squares

I decided to see what I could do with an old sheet of paper that I was never going to use otherwise - not sure why I bought it, apart from the fact that it was 10p in a sale........ forgot the 'before' picture unfortunately! It started out as a dingy beige with an all over pattern in darker beige...... I sprayed it with a green mica mist and then used the waste from a swirl die-cut as a stencil, spraying copper mist through it. It stayed like that for a while before I thought of using a swirly background stamp all over it in a pearlescent brown ink. I started to punch out squares, then remembered to take a photo!



Here are the punched squares, 28 of them plus 7 inchies. Not quite sure what I will do with them yet, though I do have a vague idea for a layout, the rest will probably go on cards!



I am really pleased with the way these have turned out, I shall be rummaging through my stash for some more unloved papers I think!

Red Poppy card

Back to the poppy stamp ..... this time I have embossed it using claret embossing powder (Personal Impressions?), cut the image into three, matted each section individually and then mounted all three onto a larger mat. I can't take any credit for this idea, there was a card on an Ally Pally stand just like it (Samuel Taylor, I am fairly sure) and that card was the reason I bought the stamp!

The embossed panel was run through the Bigshot, I die cut the sentiment tag and added ribbon, bow and pearls. Oh and there is an eyelet at each end of the tag .... I will use up all my eyelets, I will (said through gritted teeth) .... I have hundreds of the things LOL.

One stamp, three cards - Part Three

The third attempt at the stamp and finally a perfect image!

I matted it onto brown, added pearls and a bow and used the angled square in a frame idea again. This time, I have put the sentiment within the frame, I like the way it has come out, so that's another idea to use again! The bow is a brooch from Primark with the pin mechanism removed from the back - I have had it some time, so don't know if they are still available but I am sure there will be something similar!

One stamp, three cards - Part Two

Here is the card made from the second mis-stamped poppy image. I had managed to have a un-inked patch right in the middle of the largest poppy, and it took me a while to work out how to cover the error!

I matted the poppies onto gold mirri, then die cut a tag for the sentiment, added eyelets at each end and attached it to the image to cover the bare spot. Then I added some die cut flourishes, but they weren't quite enough to make it look as though the placing of the tag was by design rather than necessity! Something extra was needed ....... so I put the flowers on and used buttons for the centres. A few pearls and a peel off frame complete the card.

I am not quite so fond of this one as I am of yesterday's card ...... but I do like the angled square within the frame, will use that idea again :-)

One stamp, three cards - Part One

Whilst at Krafty Karen's craft day at the beginning of the month, I stamped loads of images in sepia versafine, to be used on cards at a later date. I didn't have much luck with this poppy stamp from Hero Arts - I hadn't used it before and out of my three attempts, only the third came out as a perfect impression, the first two had patches missing......

I decided to see what I could do with the two mis-stamped images and here is the first. The 'missing' bit is all along the base of the image so I matted it onto brown, then wrapped lace and ribbon around it. I embossed some cardstock through the Big Shot for the second panel, then added a bow, two pearls and a sentiment.

I am rather pleased with this - I really like the effect of the lace and ribbon and will probably use the idea again!

Incidentally, I decided to give this card to a work colleague for her birthday. She is on holiday at the moment, but one of the other office girlies had her address so we all posted our cards to her. Having copied the address onto my envelope I carefully slid the card inside taking care to not crinkle the lacy bit and tried to seal it up - the envelope however wasn't that sticky and didn't want to co-operate with the lumpy card inside, so I had to sellotape it up quite thoroughly before taking it down to the post tray. A couple of hours later....... I realised that I had concentrated so thoroughly on getting the card into the envelope that I hadn't actually written anything inside!!! So I had to rush down to Reception, slit open the sellotape, write in the card and tape it back up again!!!

It's now a really nice card in a really botched envelope....... she'll know it's from me...... LOL.

Another day, another brown card

I do seem to be going for the browns lately!

Now I have this habit of starting things off, deciding they need "something else" and putting them away half finished until I can think of the next thing to do. You may or may not have noticed this....... :-)

This card is a 3-stager! I started off months ago with the swirly paper, the gold mirri and the flocked panel. Then it went back into the box, awaiting inspiration. A few weeks ago, I die cut the fancy tag (Nestie) and flourish (Sizzix) and added those. Hmmm...... no, still not right, back in the box it went. Yesterday, I added a frame made from a peel off line border, cut a pale strip for the tag and added the sentiment.

If I do this design again, I think I might use an embossing folder on the mirri card, but for now, I am happy :-) Although ..... having said that ..... I am now considering three pearls in the bottom left corner and one at the top left ..... what do you think? should it become a 4-stage card? LOL.

Another Butterfly card

I'm not that into butterflies, but here is the second one in two days! This is a Crafty Individuals stamp which I probably wouldn't have bought, it was a free gift with an order, and has been sitting in the "new stamps I must use" box for ages.

Well it just goes to show, one shouldn't jump to conclusions! It stamps really well, giving a lovely impression even when using embossing powder - I have used detail gold here, but it works in 'ordinary' colours as well, I had a mass stamping and embossing session over last weekend and did quite a few of this stamp. I think, though, having looked at the photo, that I will stamp it again, cut out the butterfly and put it on top to add a bit of dimension.

The paper is from a pack by Craftwork Cards which I bought at Ally Pally, 8x8 sheets which cut nicely into four 4x4 squares to fit these particular card blanks, so there are three more similar cards on the way! I rounded the corners of paper, mat and card, then added ribbon and a bow, matted the stamped image onto gold mirri and attached it with foam pads. The sentiment is a stamp, either Hobby Art or Personal Expressions, stamped and embossed then punched out with a circle punch.... though I didn't line that up quite right and there was a 'gap' at the edge of the circle.... I had to smear it with embossing ink, dip it into powder, than heat...... I'm sure you could never tell...... :-)

Oh and to add to the catalogue of mistakes I seem to be racking up over the last few days - the card was supposed to open at the right hand side, but I stuck the be-ribboned mat on the wrong way, so had to rotate the card and have it opening at the base as a tent card instead!!!!

Butterfly and Swirl card

This card originally had a circular stamped motif on top of the stripy square.... but I wasn't happy with it. So I took it off, which was tricky, because it was attached with foam pads, luckily the paper is quite shiny so didn't tear off when the foam was removed! I found the applique butterfly buried amongst stash but it was too overpowering on its own so I die cut various swirls in copper to balance it and added a peel off sentiment and frame. The blue die cut square is a Nestie - fleur de lys square - I do like the effect of the square and the frame on this size card blank (about 5"), so I think I will try it again in different colour combinations :-)

A bit brighter than I usually make, but I quite like it!

Four patch card

This card from Dan99 the other day inspired me - or should that be shamed me! - into digging out a set of four stamps I had lusted after and bought when I really couldn't afford to, only for me to promptly stick them into a box and forget them........

The set is from Hero Arts, I stamped in sepia Versafine, matted each image onto brown, then placed all four onto one large gold mat. I embossed some cardstock (Bazzill Cocoa) through the Big Shot with a swiss dot embossing folder and inked the edges. Some ribbon, a bow and a die cut tag (Nestie) for the sentiment to finish off. I found my box of bows over the weekend, so you'll be seeing a lot of them on cards for a while!

For those of you with long memories, I spent a lot of last year trying to use up old card blanks ........ the 'ugly' ones are almost gone and this card is from the 'well-intentioned-gift-from-friend' pastel set, of which I also only have a few left - mostly in green and this peachy colour which does lend itself rather well to this vintage-y brown colour scheme I seem to be using a lot of lately!

Father's Day Cards

That time of year again! Two cards to be finished and posted in time....... Apologies for the not-so-great photo, the light was appalling, to say nothing of my camera skills :-)

The first one is a bit of a retro card for me. I haven't plonked - er, artistically placed - a topper direct onto a card blank without a mat for years! I found the medallions I had so painstakingly cut and coloured when we went to visit Lyn in Devon in 2009 and I already had the Nestie die cut amongst my bits and pieces ....... and I really like the way it looks when the two are put together and the way the die cut edges contrast with the white card - hence the lack of a mat of any kind! I cut a ribbon banner, initially to put the sentiment on, but tried it attached to the back of the medallion and I think it looks really effective. Corners are also something I haven't used for a long time, but I cut these from the same Nestie set as the motif (Nestie Parisian) and again really like the contrast.

The second card topper has a background mat done with smooshy inks and a marble stamp, matted onto brown (Bazzill Mud Pie, my favourite brown). It was supposed to have eyelets in the corners but I messed up the hole punching so they got covered with brown corners instead! The border strip is done with an EK Success punch, the flourish with a Sizzix die. I added ribbon and a bow, I have so much ribbon and yet hardly ever use it! A stamped image on a scalloped circle mat and a sentiment complete the card.

Bride and Groom

I mentioned yesterday that I was waiting for permission to share something..... and here it is, our friends' wedding :-) The ceremony was Hindu, we were all given a beautiful little booklet to explain the meaning of the different rituals and blessings - though they had to shorten the proceedings a little as the bride was late and when she did arrive, they couldn't find the groom!

A lot of die cutting and punching going on here - the border around the edges is done with an EK Success punch and I used an inverted corner rounder on all the photos and mats. The corner flourishes are cut with a Sizzix die and the long gold border, the corner motifs, and the journalling mat are all die cut with Nesties. The title is cut on the robo, in gold, then brown offset on top to leave a gold 'shadow'.

There were circular spaces between the photos created by using the corner rounder so I filled those with some embellishments I have had for ages, which I believe are called shisha mirrors? Someone correct me if that's wrong! There are also a few pearls here and there ....... :-) The journalling is printed onto Safmat, stuck onto gold card - I only had limited room for it, so had to pick a font the right size to fit all the words into that exact space!

The paper is called 'Mantra' from Prima and the cardstock was run through the Big Shot in an embossing folder. I managed to draw an arch template freehand for the paper and embossed cardstock and cut out two small arches in paper and one larger in the card .... but then covered most of the shape with the photos!

I think this and the Venice page from yesterday are my favourites from 2009 - here's to 2010 :-)

Venice

This is the last LO I did for 2009 - though not the last I have to share with you, I am waiting for permission to blog another one.

Back to my favourite straight lines and big blocks of patterned paper for this one! It's also one of my favourite colour combinations - Bazzill Aqua with Bluegrass and a burgundy-ish purple which can be either Juneberry, Brocade or Gypsy Rose depending on the rest of the LO - in this case it is Gypsy Rose. The purple paper is an old one and the green paper is from 7 Gypsies and is actually called Venice, though I didn't realise it when I pulled it from stash LOL.

The title is done on the Robo, the swirly flourish is die cut and the side scroll borders are done with an EK Success punch - they looked a bit too much when I put them on so I punched out some purple diamonds to break them up a bit and it has come out really well. Journalling on safmat. The hardest part was picking the photos, trying to sum up our wonderful trip in two pages .... very tricky!

Are we there yet?

I started this 2009 LO quite some time ago and it has been hanging around waiting for title and journalling...... so nothing new there then! DS1 sitting patiently (!) on Tower Bridge on a visit to London with our Romanian friends.

The die cut is possibly from the Mamarazzi collection, which may or may not be Bo Bunny?! My memory is terrible when it comes to brands ..... The swirly mat is one I made whilst practising with distress inks and overstamping, the title is cut on the robo - while I was sticking it down, I managed to brush the dot at the base of the question mark onto the floor at the crop ....... could I find it?? Could I heck! Oh well, I thought, I can cut another one at home. The title mat is punched with an EK Success border punch and the journalling is on safmat.

Later that day, when I got home ....... I found the dot. It was in my shoe!!!!!!! I cut another one ........ :-)

When in Yorkshire

The 2009 album is finished!!! I will be sharing the last pages over the next few days, providing Blogger doesn't keep playing up - this is my third attempt :-(

This is DH on a visit to family in Hull - they all went out for a meal and had yorkshire puddings :-) The papers are from stash and I found a scrap of the right green Bazzill for the zig-zags, which were done with an EK Success punch. I cut the title on the robo, then ran the letters through the Big Shot in an embossing folder to give them a nice texture - one of the letters just nicely covers up the inky blotch caused by my dropping an inkpad onto the page, so that worked out well :-) The journalling is done on Safmat and I stamped the top and base border using a 12" border stamp.

I always find it hard to scrapbook events at which I was not present - but I am quite pleased with this one :-)

May Scrapology Challenge

Here is my entry for the May Scrapology Challenge - almost missed the deadline!!!

Little Girl with Big Sister and Baby Cousin playing in the garden - I took the picture before adding journalling in the scalloped circle as I don't put the names up here.

The vines are cut on the robo, as is the title. More Two Scoops papers used up, there are five of them on this page :-) Edges are done with various border punches. Some punched flowers and a bird-on-branch bling to finish off.

Barcelona

Quite a busy LO for me ........ several papers from the same range (Paper Salon's 'Enamoured'), pieced together for a symmetrical background with a group of pennants at the base of each page. It was quite hard to pick just a few photos from the trip - I am going to be making a mini album at some stage so that I can use more pictures, I will probably use these papers again too, they are perfect!

The medallion strip is done with a border punch, the flourishes, journalling frame and motifs are diecuts (Sizzix and Nesties). I printed the journalling onto safmat. The title is done on the robo.

Simple Birthday Card

A pink, flowery card ...... I need to lie down in a darkened room!

However the recipient does love pink and flowers, so it was perfect for her :-) The floral background (and harlequin border) are stamped with a pearlescent pink ink, the mat is from the pack of silver mirri cards bought soooo long ago - yes, I am still trying to use those up! The flourish and banner are diecuts, Sissix and Nesties respectively, then a few pearls and a peel off sentiment complete a nice simple card. These ribbon banner dies are going to be really useful for sentiments, so glad I bought them :-)