Polka dots

The Less is More challenge this week is polka dots. As I've started making my Christmas cards I thought I would use this lovely stamp and punch set from Stampin Up. I embossed the dots in gold but kept the card clean and simple. 

I am also entering this card into challenge #311 on The Cat's Pajamas' blog where you have to use one or more dies.

Materials used:-
Stampin Up Festival of Trees stamps and punch
Sentiment - Scenic stamps from Papercraft Inspirations Magazine issue 143
Archival ink - Wendy Vecci fern green
Gold embossing powder
Lawn Fawn stitched hillside borders; large stitched rectangle stackables

Thanks for visiting my blog - now pop over to LIM to see what the other participants have created. Margaret

What's outside your window?

There is a very interesting challenge on Less is More this week.  Mandi and her team want us to think about what's outside our windows.  Although I live on an island I don't have a view of the sea so my view is an imaginary one! This theme needed a watercolour effect so I coloured the scene with distress markers. I made my own card to get it the size I wanted.

I'm also going to enter this card into Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #186 - Anything goes

Materials used:-
Stamp - Sheena Douglass "Peaceful Lakeside" (partly stamped)
Sentiment - Stampin Up "Sheltering Tree"
Distress markers - various
Archival ink - Wendy Vecci Potting Soil
Watercolour card - Westminster Bockingford

Thanks for visiting my blog - now hop over to LIM and see what the other participants could see from their windows.

Joy to the world

I really like silhouette Christmas cards so I was delighted to see Cornelia Wenokor's card on Muse Christmas Visions this week.  I was inspired by the ombre effect she created and tried to replicate this by blending distress inks.  I also liked the moon and the stars.

I am also going to enter this card into the Merry Monday Christmas challenge #197 which is entitled "Take me to the church"!  There are quite a few churches on my card.

           



















Materials used:-
Stamps - Winter Wonderland set from Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 142
Distress inks - shaded lilac, dusty concord, picked raspberry, ripe persimmon, mustard seed
Stars cut out with Paper Smooches dies
Glitter paper from stash

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments. Margaret

Don't lose hope

It's the one layer challenge this week on Less is More and Mandi and her team want to see the sentiment taking centre stage on our cards. I found this quite challenging - which sentiment stamp to choose? How much decoration to add? Finally I decided to mask and ink an area and added some stars using texture paste - this is the first time I've used this and was pleased with the result.

Materials used:-
Sentiment stamp - Lili of the valley Life's Journey set
Star stencil - Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine
Cosmic shimmer texture paste - gold pearl
DI - broken china and peacock feathers

Thanks for visiting - Margaret

Reindeer

The challenge on the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge this week is to create a card using black, white, silver/grey.  I kept my card clean and simple adding a few sequins to provide some sparkle.

Materials used:-

Reindeer stamp - Creative Stamping issue 27
Sentiment - Stampin Up Sassy Salutations
Pearl silver embossing powder - Papercraft
Sequins - Little Things from Lucy's Cards
Card and vellum from stash

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Muse sunflowers

This week's Muse is Anita Bowden who has created a lovely card to inspire us.  I really liked the way the sentiment stood out and tried to emulate this. I had difficulty finding a suitable flower stamp until I remembered I had this sunflower one which creates beautiful backgrounds. I stamped the sentiment and then masked it before stamping the flowers with 3 colours of distress inks. Finally I mounted the panel on foam tape and attached it to the card base.

Materials used:-
Sunflower stamp - Creative Stamping magazine issue 19
Sentiment - Stampin Up Sassy Salutations
DI - mustard seed, ripe persimmon, carved pumpkin

Thanks for visiting - I really appreciate your comments! Margaret

Holly card

This is my first Christmas card of 2016! I was inspired by Chriss Blagrave's lovely CAS card on Muse Christmas Visions. I liked the layout with the holly at the bottom of the card and the sentiment above it. I also liked the embossing.  I applied some gilding wax to the embossed panel and mounted it on some copper card to provide some definition. This is certainly a very clean and simple card!

 

The Muse card

Materials used:-
Embossing folder and stamp from Simply Homemade Magazine issue 48
Treasure gold gilding wax
Embossing powder - Stampendous copper

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Wire butterfly

The challenge on Less is More this week is to use some wire on your card.  This challenge nearly stumped me until I remembered I had some wire embellishments in my stash.  I created a background with distress inks and a new stamp and mask set from PaperArtsy - I hadn't used this before so it qualifies as an NBUS for Darnell's challenge.  For those of you who don't know what NBUS pop over to Darnell's blog - she has a wonderful way with words!

Materials used:-
Distress inks - cracked pistachio, twisted citron
Stamps and mask - PaperArtsy Sara Naumann set
Die-namics pierced rectangles dies
Wire butterfly from stash

Thanks for visiting my blog - I love to read your comments! Margaret