Circles

Another great theme at Less is More this week! Chrissie and Mandi want to see circles - lots of them! Or at least, more than one! I had quite a few ideas for this, but unfortunately I doubt I'll have time to make them all. Anyway, here's my first entry. I've counted 57 circles (58 if you count the scalloped circle), think that should be enough!

Stamps used: Owl - Inkadinkado; Branch - Stampscapes; Alphabet letters used to make sentiment - New Stamp On The Block (sadly no longer trading).

Legs is More!

Rushing around again at the last minute for Less is More this week. I'm exceptionally busy with work, coming up to the end of term and my final week (after 28 years and one term!) at school here, before I start my new job in Scotland after the summer hols.

The LIM week 23 theme is a one layer card to include something with legs. Had to make it quick, so I stamped this little sandpiper (Impression Obsession) and just added a bit of colour with watercolour pencils. Sentiment by Paula Pascual for Personal Impressions. All that white space - scary!!

Silhouettes

As part of my ongoing clearout, I'd been going through some of my old Take Ten mags, tearing out the pages I wanted to keep and filing them in a ring binder, so that I could get rid of the rest. In one of them was the most beautiful set of cards by Tilly McLeod, with gorgeous coloured backgrounds and silhouette details, exactly the sort of  style which really appeals to me. Tilly has very kindly allowed me to case her cards, and share the result here, although my method was slightly different from hers. Do go and have a look at Tilly's blog, her work is fabulous.

Tilly made her backgrounds by inking up a palette stamp with various colours and stamping straight on to the card, then adding definition with watercolour pencils or the edge of an inkpad, whereas I painted mine with a wash of distress inks and mounted it separately with a thin black border. The stamped couple (Stampscapes) and birds (part of a stamp by Inkylicious) were added, along with the sentiment (The Craft's Meow).

I really like this clean and simple style. Thanks for the inspiration, Tilly!

Shades of Blue

I'm loving the challenge from Less is More this week. It's Shades of Blue, and blue just happens to be my favourite colour! I was in a painting mood, so I painted a little landscape background and then stamped a few images on top. Shades of blue from navy right up to very pale - all done using just one Distress inkpad! The beauty of Distress ink is that it can be diluted with water but retains the colour integrity, in other words it just becomes a paler shade of the original according to how much water you add. I used Chipped Sapphire, my favourite of all the Distress colours.

The tree on its little mound with the grasses either side of it (all one stamp) is by Beeswax, all other stamps and the sentiment are by Hobby Art. There are some fantastic entries this week. I'm really enjoying looking at them all.

Sir Stampalot July Challenge

Time for a new challenge at Sir Stampalot. We've made it nice and easy for you this month, as the theme is

*ANYTHING GOES*

So you can make whatever you like! The design team decided that we would showcase the new summer Molly Blooms stamps, which are available right now, right here at Sir Stampalot. We were each given a Molly stamp to use however we wished. Mine is George on his hols.

Here he is on an easel card, taking a break from a hard day's surfing! The beach scene behind him was made with Hobby Art Scene-it stamps, also available from Sir Stampalot here. I coloured the beach scene with watercolour pencils, and the other elements with Promarkers. There is a little surfboard in the Hobby Art set, but it was too small for George, so I drew him one instead. The sentiment is by Hero Arts, stamped on to Nestie circles.

The wall (stamped three times to get the right length) came from Toomuchfun Rubber Stamps, bought when I was in the USA about 16 years ago, and would you believe, this is the first time I've used it! I visited the Toomuchfun shop, which was huge, and it was like being a child in a sweetie shop - I wanted everything! Back then there was all sorts of stuff you just couldn't get here, and of course it was before the days of easy internet shopping. I had taken an empty case with me (not a huge one, honest!) especially for the purpose and brought it back full of new stash! Somehow the wall must have got overlooked at the back of a drawer and I came across it again during my recent clearing out. Anyway, just the thing for George to sit on, I thought!

Of course, you want to know what the prize is for this month's challenge! Well, it's fabulous! Loads of the new Molly Blooms stamps, and much more besides to keep you busy with your summer crafting. Take a look at this lot:

With the theme of "Anything Goes" it shouldn't be too difficult to come up with a winner, so get those entries in! Just remember - to be eligible for the Stampalot Challenge, your entry may only be combined with 5 other challenges, ie. 6 challenges in total.