Butterflies!

Less is More has my favourite subject for Week 16's challenge - Butterflies! Great, I thought! But since butterflies tend to make an appearance on many of my cards, even if only tiny, coming up with something I haven't already done before wasn't so easy! Fortunately I hadn't yet got round to using my new Aspects of Design Framie 5 stamps bought a while ago from The Stamp Man, so this was the ideal opportunity.

Very simple, just cut out the stamped image with the matching Nestie (Labels 5) and coloured it with Cosmic Shimmer paints. Added the sentiment (Inkylicious).  Then stamped a flight of Crafty Individuals butterflies across the bottom.

Card number 2 is already in the making!

Less is More Week 15

This week's challenge at Less is More is for a one-layer card with embossing. I decided to use the embossing as a resist, which is one of my favourite techniques.

This is the first version of my card.

I stamped the grasses (Chocolate Baroque) with Versamark ink, embossed them with clear powder, and then sponged over them with Versacolor inks. The sentiment is by Prickly Pear, and it's one of my newest stamps. It really appeals to me. However, when I'd finished the card, I thought the sponging looked a bit messy. So I made another version, this time using a Nesties Label 10 as a stencil.

Now I can't decide which I prefer! The stencilled version is much tidier and more defined, but somehow it doesn't seem to fit quite so well with the sentiment, which suggests a free spirit! If I had to choose now, I'd probably stick with the first one. What do you think?

Little post with big news!

I said a few posts ago that I was busy! Well, when I was up in Dumfriesshire recently it was for an informal interview to discuss job possibilities. And the result was that from the end of August I will hopefully be working there as a peripatetic singing tutor in schools! Which means that in three months' time, our long-held dream of moving to live in Scotland, close to our daughter and family, will be coming true!

Needless to say, I am going to have very little spare time between now and September! We've got to get our house sorted out and sold (which will be a mammoth task - scary!), not to mention house hunting up north. I will be keeping up my DT commitments, and hopefully managing an entry for Less is More as often as I can, but I probably won't get to go blog visiting or commenting as often as I'd like to, so I hope you'll bear with me on that score!

The only drawback of a move north would seem to be the lack of good craft shops in the Dumfries area. But, given the current extent of my stash, maybe that's no bad thing.........

More Wow!

The white-on-white challenge this week at Less is More has really appealed to me, so I've made two more cards! For the first one I've made an arrangement of punched flowers and leaves on a Nestie lace circle, with a punched butterfly and white pearls for the flower centres. Recently I was given a complete set of alphabet punches, so I used those to make the word "Spring".

I was quite pleased with it, but then I wondered whether it might be a bit too fancy for Less is More, so I made another which is much more clean and simple.

This has a Marianne die-cut flourish with a Martha Stewart punched butterfly, and the same punched letters as the previous card. I think I actually prefer this one.

I've really enjoyed making all these white-on-white cards, but I'm feeling the need for a bit of colour now, so that will probably be the last one for the time being!

White on White

White on white is something I've never tried before. I don't know why not, because I really like the look of it. Anyway, it's the theme for Week 14 of Less is More. Two days in to the challenge and there are already lots of stunning entries, so on with the thinking cap!

White on white is all about texture, so it could have been tempting to go a bit overboard with it, but bearing in mind the clean and simple nature of LIM, this is what I came up with.

I dry-embossed the iris (American Traditional Stencils) and created a frame for it from two Nesties. Part embossed the base card with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, scored two lines below that with my Scor-Pal, attached a Nestie label with sheer white ribbon, and added a peel-off greeting.

I was reasonably pleased with the result, and it's whetted my appetite for more WoW, so if I get time there may be another entry forthcoming!

I've gained a couple of new followers this weekend, so hello and welcome to them, and thanks to everyone who looks at my blog, and for all your lovely comments. I do appreciate them all.

Less is More Week 13

Lucky dip this week at Less is More, with the theme of either Thank You or Congratulations. I'm just scraping in with my entry! I'm very busy at the moment, and haven't had time for much card making, let alone blogging. (I'll get there eventually, I hope!)  My hubby asked me to make him some simple thank you cards to send out after his father's funeral last December, and I haven't blogged them before, so I hope they'll be acceptable.

The first one has a vase of flowers by Penny Black, stamped on a Nestie label, using Versamagic dew drop inks, and attached with foam pads. The sentiment is by Anna Griffin.

The second is even more simple - the same Anna Griffin sentiment inside a frame also by Anna Griffin.








Phew! Just got them in in time! Sorry I haven't had chance to comment this week, but glancing at the thumbnails I can see lots of great entries. I haven't missed a week of LIM so far, and didn't want this to be the first one. Now what will tomorrow's be .........?

Camper vans and otters

It was my elder grandson's 6th birthday last Sunday, and his mum & dad have just bought a van to convert into a camper, which he's very excited about. So I knew just what to put on his birthday card. Lisa Jane very kindly sent me a camper van template, and here's what I made with it.

The camper van and signpost are coloured with Promarkers, and the signpost has a peel-off greeting. The background paper I found in an office supply store (it's made to print letters on). It just happened to fit the subject perfectly!

Ewan loved the card, but was particularly pleased to note that he, and not his little brother, was in the driving seat!

We had a wonderful time with them, and didn't want to come home, especially as the weather was so good. I could get used to daily walks by the river, in such beautiful surroundings! Here's another couple of photos.

And finally, as an update to my earlier post, I'm delighted to report that we saw the otters at last, and no early rising needed as it was in the middle of the day! In the next picture, you can just about see the head of one in the water, to the right of the branch and almost in the middle of the pic. Unfortunately my camera wasn't up to the distance, but we watched two of them swimming and then saw them come out on to the shore and trot off into the bushes. Magic!

It was a relaxing and refreshing break, but back now to work and reality! Lots to do, but I'll try and catch up with everyone's blogs as soon as I can.

Sir Stampalot May Challenge

This month at Sir Stampalot Challenge Brenda has chosen the theme of "Magical Worlds". That could mean anything from a single butterfly to a complete scene, so the scope is pretty wide! I'm really looking forward to seeing the entries for this one!

I decided to go with a scene, with reference to ancient Celtic myth and magic. Stamps used: Celtic circle with eagle, cross, mountain background - Non Sequitur; deer - Stampscapes; birds - Inkylicious; foreground foliage - Chocolate Baroque. Background sponged with pigment inks.

Here's the fantastic prize on offer this month!

Don't forget to hop over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at the wonderful samples my very talented teamies have made. Hope you can join in too, and good luck everyone!

Going back to the Stampalot Challenge Birthday competition last month, where you had to guess which DT member made which card, this was mine:

It didn't occur to me when I made it, but it too could fit this month's theme. All stamps by Chocolate Baroque. I used a rainbow Adirondack inkpad to swipe the background, and the same pad to stamp the butterfly. Martha Stewart punched border, and a peel-off sentiment.