By the Sea Watercolour

I was delighted by this week's challenge on Less is More which was to create a card inspired by the song "I do like to be beside the seaside!"  I have always lived beside the sea and certainly miss it when I'm away. This theme also gave me a chance to do some more water colouring which is Game 8 at AAA cards. I used Hobby Art stamps to create a scene which I then watercoloured with distress markers. The design is a CASE of a design I saw on the Jenny Mayes' blog. I used a Clarity Mask for the clouds, brushing the distress ink on with an Inkylicious ink duster which created a subtle effect.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:-
Less is More week 187 - theme "I do like to be beside the seaside!"
AAA cards - Game #8 Watercolours

Materials used:-
Hobby Art stamps - Coastal Wildlife set, Harbour set (seagulls) and By the Sea set (sentiment)
Distress markers and inks - various
Clarity clouds mask
Inkylicious ink duster
Watercolour card

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Just for you

I'm running late with the Less is More challenge this week which is a sketch. I stamped the flowers with black archival ink and then used distress inks as watercolours to create the background.

Materials used:-
Stamps - Inkylicious "daisy fields"
Sentiment - Stampin Up "Just believe" set
Distress inks - mustard seed, spiced marmalade and rusty hinge
Watercolour card

Thank you for visiting my blog - I hope you will pop over to Less is More to see what the other participants created.

Baby card

Uniko Studio have recently released some lovely baby stamps which I used in this card. The stamps are so versatile and great for clean and simple cards.

I am going to enter this card into the following challenges:-
Uniko Studio Challenge no 13 - Special Occasions
CAS on Sunday - challenge #40 Rock a Bye Baby

Materials used:-
Uniko Studio "Sweet baby" stamps
"So cute" label - Lili of the Valley
Distress inks - broken china and tea dye
Lawn Fawn "stitched party banners" circle die

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Butterfly birthday wishes

I'm having fun playing with mask/stencils at the moment. In this card I tried to get an ombré effect by using various shades of distress inks. I then cut out the banner panel by hand and stitched around the edges to echo the circle die.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Keep it Simple - challenge #47 Ombré
AAA cards - challenge #17 CREATE stencil style
A Blog Named Hero - challenge #50 Ombré

Materials used:-
Lawn Fawn "stitched party banners" circle die
Butterfly - Sizzix framelits die
Stencil - Creative Expressions
Sentiment - Stampin Up "so happy for you" set
Distress inks - tumbled glass, broken china and peacock feathers
Coredinations card

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Geometric thanks

The code word for challenge #45 on Addicted to CAS is GEOMETRIC which provided the inspiration for this card. This is the first time I have used this mask making this an NBUS (never-before-used-schtuff)! Although I am not sure if this card qualifies as CAS, I am pleased with the end result.

Materials used:-
Mask - Creative Expressions
Ruler stamp - Kanban
Letters die - Memory Box Parker Upper Alphabet Set
Distress inks - broken china, spiced marmalade and evergreen bough
Coredinations card
Doodlebug sprinkles - swimming pool

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Muse butterfly

I was inspired to make this card by Marion Vagg's beautiful design at Challenge 81 on the Muse blog.

I used 3 layers of vellum for my butterfly and inked through a Tim Holtz stencil with 3 shades of distress ink as I wanted the colours to get darker towards the bottom of the card.

Materials used:-

Lawn Fawn "stitched party banners" circle die
Sizzix frame list butterfly die
Die-namics banner die
Tim Holtz layering stencil - Latticework
Distress inks - tumbled glass, broken china and peacock feathers  
Sentiment - Stampin Up "so happy for you set"

Thank you for visiting my blog - please pop over to Muse to see what the other participants have created.



Noel card

When I was blog hopping recently I found another Christmas card challenge blog.  This is the first year I have made my Christmas cards throughout the year and I'm finding I can take more time over these instead of rushing to make them in November!

Challenge 38 on Festive Friday is to use black, kraft and white on your card. The cards produced by the Design Team were inspirational! My style tends to be CAS and I think this style suits the colours of the challenge.

Materials used:-
Noel stamp - Stampendous
Music stamp - Stamps Away "Music Background"
White embossing powder

Thank you for visiting my blog - pop over to Festive Friday and see what the other participants have created.

Good luck cat

This weeks challenge on Less is More foxed me for some time as the theme is animals. (Excuse the pun!) I'm not an animal person so have very few animal stamps. However I remembered I had a cat stamp in my stash and thought it would be suitable for a good luck card.

Materials used:-
Cat stamp - free stamp from Craft Stamper
Sentiment stamp - Stampin Up So Happy for You set
Embossing folder - Stampin Up
Circle die - Lawn Fawn Stitched Party Banners
Banner die - Die-namicsLess is More

Foliage One Layer Card

I am late in posting my entry to Less is More this week as I am just back from holiday. Week 184 challenge on LIM is to make a foliage one layer card. I decided to use the maple leaf stamps by Clarity stamps as I love the effect they produce. I masked off a panel and then stamped the leaves with various distress inks. Finally I scored 3 lines but these don't show up very well on my photo.

Materials used:-
Clarity stamp set - Autumn Maple Leaves
Distress inks - squeezed lemonade, worn lipstick, spiced marmalade, wild honey and dried marigold
Archival ink - coffee

Watercolour butterfly

This week we are being asked to play with watercolours over at AAA cards. I love using distress inks to create a water coloured effect as I did on this card. For the background I painted 2 colours of distress ink on watercoloured card and then spritzed this so the colours blended. I then used the same distress inks to paint the butterfly.

Materials used:-
Butterfly - Uniko Studio "English Country Garden" set
Sentiment - Stampin Up
Distress inks - peacock feathers and mustard seed

Thank you for visiting my blog - now pop over to AAA cards and see what the other participants have created.

Butterfly card

Another CAS card today as I am still on holiday and so have limited crafting supplies. It is probably good to be challenged in this way! I stamped the butterfly and then coloured it with Spectrum Noir pencils - these blend beautifully. I pierced around the panel for added interest.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

• CAS on Sunday where challenge #39 is Butterfly
• Less is More week 183 which is a colour challenge
• Uniko Studio - #12 Anything Goes 

Materials used:-
Butterfly stamp - Uniko Studio "English Country Garden Butterflies"
Sentiment - Stampin Up
Spectrum Noir pencils
Stampin Up piercing mat