"Less is More" Challenge

Onto week 4 over at the Less is More Challenge, and this week the required element is "3 squares".

I'm feeling more relaxed about the challenge this week, so I've gone for something a little bit different to what I normally do.

Here is my entry:

I stamped the house images and coloured with promarkers and a touch of distress ink. Punched out the 3 houses using a 2" square punch, mounted them onto Kraft card and added some faux stitching.  The wording is stamped directly onto the card base.

The photo doesn't pick it up but the middle house is popped up and I've added glossy accents to the windows.

House Stamp - Woodware 'Home Sweet Home'
Letter stamps - Studio G Alphabet
Versafine vintage sepia, promarkers, distress ink, white sakura pen.
Kraft card

I'm off now to have a look at the 100 or so ladies who have already entered!

Happy Crafting

Suze x

"One Layer Wednesday" Challenge

Through looking at some of the other crafters' blogs via the Less is More Challenge, I've come across another 'minimal' blog challenge - One Layer Wednesday.

I really like the minimal style, I think it's really "me", so I've decided to enter into this week's challenge, which must have a musical theme (and of course, be a one layer card).

So here's my entry:

Now, I know it's not perfect.  The embossed lines in the top left corner are very messy - I don't have one of those dust buddy things and it's too late at night to do it again - so I hope you'll be forgiving!

I masked off a square and brayered the middle section, stamped and embossed the image in silver, and silver embossed the corner lines.

I'm off now to visit and comment on the other entries.

Stamp: Inkadinkado 'In the Groove'
Silver embossing powder
Kaleidacolor Autumn Leaves & Stampin Up Green Galore Inks

Happy Crafting

Suze x

Black & White

Amongst other things yesterday (including a not very successful encounter with shrink plastic - I'll tell you that story later), I decided to have a faff about to see if I could make some monochrome cards.

I have to say I'm not sure if I like them.  Think maybe black & white is just too boring!  The first one's okay but I'm not happy with the second one, it just doesn't seem balanced..  Think either the bling is too 'heavy' or I maybe should have coloured the bird?

Stamp - Hero Arts 'My Type' (clear embossed)
Patterned Paper - Paper Cellar
Embossing folders - Swiss Dots & Victorian Fleur

Silver Glitter Paper cut withTim Holtz Die - Caged Bird
Patterned Paper - Paper Cellar
Glossy Accents (on the bird) & Bling

So what do you think - please feel free to comment, sometimes it just needs a fresh pair of eyes.

EDIT: Have cut out another bird, coloured it and stuck it on top. Still not happy with it though, think the bird's too small (or the cage is too big)!!

Happy Crafting

Suze x

"Less is More" Challenge

It's week 3 over at the "Less is More" challenge and oh my goodness, this week has been even tougher than last week.  The theme is Spring.

I decided to go oriental and do cherry blossom (that was the easy bit!)  Oh my, trying to find a suitable sentiment to go with it.  I spent ages on the internet and eventually came across this quote by William Shakespeare (who'd have thought culture and crafting would blend together so nicely! Lol), then of course printing it out took a bit of time too!

The image is stamped and clear embossed, then coloured with promarkers and a touch of Sakura (Japanese for cherry blossom, don't you know!) Gelly Roll pen.

(Added Note: The image is the same stamp, stamped twice and it's a stamp which was purchased quite a few years ago from Lakeland (Kitchens) who I don't think do craft supplies anymore.)


(Further Note: I notice Beryl  (entry no 131) has used a blossom stamp from the same stamp set I've used.  She says hers is from the English Stamp Company, so I've checked their website and it's exactly the same stamp set and it's still available to purchase - obviously ESCo made it for Lakeland!).

Hope you like it.

Happy Crafting

Suze x

Promarker Challenge

Another first for me, I've decided to enter into this week's challenge over at the Promarker Challenge Blog.  The theme is 'Coffee and Cream'.

Here is my entry (sorry it's a bit squint - need to improve my photography skills!)

Stamps are 'Pillow Talk' by Sugar Nellie and 'Hot Chocolate' by Snag 'em Stamps
Sentiments Hero Arts
Images mounted onto 'rose' vellum & cream card, then mounted onto Kraft card
Pink Elastic Cord
Coloured with Promarkers
Little bit of diamond Stickles for added sparkle.

Happy Crafting

Suze x

Another Lovely Blog Award

The second award I received today was from Kelly over at The Pink Paper Palace.  Thank you so much Kelly.

The conditions of this award are:

Step 1 - Make a post linking back to the person who gave you the award!

Step 2 - Share 7 random things about yourself

Step 3 – Award 15 recently discovered bloggers with this award

Step 4 – Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won the award

Okay, 7 random things about me...

I wear contact lenses (short sighted)

I'm addicted to chocolate (who isn't!)

I'm a stay at home mum

Most fascinating place I've visited is Cambodia

I can say the alphabet backwards

First concert I ever went to was Haircut 100

I enjoy researching my family history and visiting cemeteries

Now for step 3, I am fairly new to this blogging lark, so here are some lovely blogs I've recently found (admittedly not 15 - think that's a bit excessive!)

http://simply-jane.blogspot.com/

http://crafty-bee.blogspot.com/
http://mandyscreations.blogspot.com/
http://ohmyprettypaperthings.blogspot.com/

http://butterflies-and-bees.blogspot.com/
http://justaddglueto.blogspot.com/
http://daffodil-faitha.blogspot.com/
http://josesjottings.blogspot.com/
http://daizy-mae-designs.blogspot.com/

Happy Crafting

Suze x

My first Lovely Blog Award

Today I have been contacted by two lovely ladies (who also partake in the Less is More challenge) who have given me my first Blog awards.

I have separated the awards into two separate postings for ease of reading ...

The first award was given to me by Viv over at http://daizy-mae-designs.blogspot.com/.  Thank you Viv, I am delighted to accept!

These are the conditions of accepting the award:

1) You have been tagged, do you want to accept? YES! then create a post on your blog and post the love blog photo.

2) Link back to the person who gave you the award and say if you accept.

3) Choose 3-5 of your favourite blogs to tag, link these in your post too and tell the lucky people they have been tagged.  As the aim of this award is to bring unknown good blogs to light, please don't tag somebody with 3000 followers.

So these are the blogs that I would like to pass on the award to (please pay them a visit - all have less than 20 followers)

Aileen at http://stampupyourcraft.blogspot.com/
Kathleen at http://myplainandsimple.blogspot.com/
Margaret at http://whimsicalcreationsunlimited.blogspot.com/

Happy Crafting

Suze x

Bargains

Get yourself down to BHS ladies, picked up these lovely bracelets today, original prices range from £8.50 to £12.50.  All were reduced to £2.00 but not only that, they were buy one get one free - i.e. £1.00 each!

Great for taking apart and adding embelishments to cards, canvases, boxes, etc.

Happy Crafting

Suze x

The Dreaded .... Male Card

Decided to have a go at making a masculine card and what a faff it turned out to be!

I had intended to use a candle border stamp and just layer it up for a quick card but the stamp tore ...

Never mind, I still could have gone ahead as I'd planned but the idea came into my head that I could use the smaller torn piece to stamp a circular image.  I managed to do this by drawing round a punched out circle to act as a guide:

But then of course I didn't have a big enough punch to cut it out so I had to make a quick online purchase for a set of circular nesties (I'd been eyeing them up for a while anyway!).

Then of course I had to fill in the centre, it took me ages (2 days on and off - trying all sorts of stamps, papers, inks) to get to this:

In the end, I'm quite happy with it as it's something different.  The card isn't overly masculine and could easily be 'feminised' by a change in colour scheme and a flower in the middle.

Candle image - Stampendous Fifteen Candles, coloured with Promarkers
Versafine Vintage Sepia & Kaleidacolor Autumn leaves
Sentiment - Hero Arts
Star - Stampin Up, Darling Dots
Stampin Up green cardstock
Designer paper

Happy Crafting

Suze x

"Less is More" Challenge

Well, it's week two over at the Less is More Challenge and this week it's a one layer card (i.e. stamping straight onto the card with minimal embellishment) and the theme is trees or flowers.

Well I don't know how some have found this an easy challenge because I've had to do a fair bit of playing around before I found something I was happy with, so here it is:

I stamped the first tree with Versamark then embossed it with copper embossing powder, masked it and then stamped the second tree and sentiment with Kaleidacolor ink.  I then framed it with a double embossed line.

I'm fairly happy with it, though the stamping isn't perfect (but maybe that's just the virgo in me!)

(Tree from Kanban Spring Silhouettes)

Happy Crafting

Suze x

Promarker Class

Had a great afternoon today colouring in with promarker queen  Debbie.  If you're a promarker fan please have a look at her blog as she has loads of great tutorials.

This is the image we did at the class

and this is me practising tonight whilst indulging in a malteser or two!

Happy Crafting

Suze x

Inchie Card

The layout for this card was inspired by the cards that Helen over at 'It's all Fiddle Fart' creates.

Images and sentiment have been heat embossed.  Although fairly detailed, I still think this card has the 'clean and simple' style!

Inkadinkado Inchies
Hero Arts Sentiment
Stampin Up coloured card
Dew Drop Purple Hydrangea ink & Clear Embossing Powder

This is another inchie card I made recently, this time a single image, mounted onto some DP, with a couple of gems for a bit of bling!

I'm off to a Promarker class tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some "professional" images to show you later! Lol!

Happy Crafting

Suze x

"Less is More" Challenge

This year my aim is to get more involved in "blog land".  I came across a new blog "Less is More" who are running a weekly challenge on clean and simple (CAS) cards.

For their first week, the theme is "black, white & pink".  Here is my entry.

Flower stamp is from Stampin Up "Itty Bitty Buds"
Sentiment is Hero Arts
Kanban black pearls

Why not join in the fun and try something different.

Happy Crafting

Suze x