Just a note!

I was inspired to make this card by the cue word MUSIC on CASology this week.  I tried to keep my card clean and simple with lots of white space.  I cut a mask using a Spellbinders die and then inked this with one of the new distress inks to create the look of old parchment paper.

I am also entering this card into Addicted to Stamps challenge #144 - CAS

Materials used:-
Violin stamp - Clarity stamps
Music stamp - crafty Individuals
Sentiment - Chocolate Baroque Mackintosh Sentiments
Distress ink - fossilised Amber
Archival ink - Wendy Vecchi potting soil
Inkylicious ink duster

Thanks for visiting my blog! Margaret

Splatters!

The Less is More challenge this week is to make a one layer card incorporating splatters. I found this quite difficult to do while keeping a clean and simple design.

I decided to make a watercolour card using the Tim Holtz distress marker spritzer to make the splatters.  I spritzed the blue splatters with water to create a more muted effect.

Materials used:-
Stamps - PaperArtsy JOFY 14
Versa fine onyx black ink
Distress inks - mustard seed, spiced marmalade and vintage photo for the flower
Distress markers - shabby shutters, tea dye and broken china
Watercolour card
Tim Holtz distress marker spritzer

Thanks for visiting my blog - now pop over to Less is More and see what the other participants have created. Margaret

On your special day

It's One Layer Week at Less is More this week and the theme is Love.  To create a small area for inking I used a die with a deckled edge to make a mask. I embossed the heart and then inked over this with distress ink. This card is certainly clean and simple with lots of white space!

Materials used:-
Distress ink - Victorian Velvet
Heart stamp - free stamp from Craft Stamper
Sentiment - Woodware tiny phrases
White embossing powder
Nestabilities die

Thanks for visiting my blog - now pop over to LIM to see how everyone interpreted the theme of love.

LIM colour challenge

This week's colour challenge on Less is More is to use black, metallic and one other colour. This is the card I made using the stencil and stamp set from Simply Homemade magazine. I really liked the feathers stamps. I used silver embossing powder for one feather and black ink for the others.

Materials used:-
HOTP stencil and stamp set from Simply Homemade magazine
Silver embossing powder - Stampendous
DI - broken china

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Congratulations!

This week's challenge on Less is More is to make a one layer card on the theme of beverages. I decided to use a wine glass stamp as I do enjoy the odd glass of wine! I made the heart mask then stamped the glasses with archival ink and then brushed distress ink through the mask. Finally I added some music and highlighted the glasses with Wink of Stella. I had difficulty getting this to show up in the photo.

I am also going to enter this card into a special challenge on Time Out entitled "Double the Joy" to celebrate the birth of Bev's beautiful twin boys.

Materials used:-
Stamps - Creative Stamping Magazine "The Celebration Collection"
Music - Crafty Individuals
Distress ink - tumbled glass
Archival ink - cornflower blue
Wink of Stella - clear

Thank you for visiting my blog - I really appreciate it! Margaret

Inspired by words!

Challenge #13 on Time Out is to use words for your inspiration. So here is my card inspired by the quotation from Twelfth Night, "If music be the food of love, play on". My emphasis was on love and music.

I stamped the music through a mask I made from copy paper as I didn't want harsh lines. The heart was embossed with white embossing powder and inked with distress ink. I put it on foam pads for extra dimension. I felt I managed to achieve the CAS look I was aiming for.

Materials used:-
Heart stamp - Chocolate Baroque "Music Fanfare" set
Sentiment - Chocolate Baroque "Mackintosh Sentiments"
Music stamp - Crafty Individuals
Distress ink - picked raspberry; Archival ink - watering can

Thanks for visiting my blog - I hope you pop over to Time Out and see how the words have inspired the other participants.

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.

Thinking of you

Challenge #38 on CAS on Sunday is to make a sympathy card. I wanted a watercolour effect for my card so I used watercolour card and distress ink to create a very simple card.

Materials used:-
Flower stamp - Penny Black Daisy Fields
Sentiment - Stampin Up
Distress ink - peacock feathers; some watercolour paint for the leaves

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

Singin' in the rain!

The theme at week 181 at Less is More is "Singin' in the rain" - this can be interpreted any way you choose. I am on holiday at the moment so have very limited supplies. In fact, I had to borrow the stamps from my sister! The end result is a very Clean and Simple card.

Materials used:-
Umbrella stamp and sentiment from a Clear Impressions set which was free with Creative Stamping magazine
Music notes - from stash
Spectrum Noir colouring pencils, Memento black ink and Peacock feathers distress ink

Thank you for visiting my blog - please pop over to Less is More and see how this theme inspired participants.

Earth Tones

The colour challenge for week 179 at Less is More is   Earth Tones.   I made a very simple card using the Kaleidocolor rainbow dye inkpad which has lots of earth tones. I thought the card looked quite bare so I inked the edges lightly with some distress ink, added machine stitching and some glitter stickles to the seed heads. I am feeling quite pleased with myself as the stamp and the inkpad both came from my NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff)!

Materials used:-
Woodware Grasses stamp
Kaleidocolor - Cappuccino Delight

Distress ink - Antique linen

Ranger Stickles - copper

Thank you for visiting my blog and for your comments.  Please pop over  and see what the other participants have created.

On your special day

I was delighted to see that the cue word for week 99 challenge on CASology was Anniversary as it gave me the opportunity to try out this new sentiment stamp from Stamps Away.  As I wanted to keep the sentiment the main focus of the card I refrained from adding any embellishments! The pink card has a subtle sheen which I hope shows up in the photo.

Materials used:-
Sentiment stamp - Stamps Away
Embossing folder - Tim Holtz Sizzix hearts border
Distress ink - picked raspberry
Background card - Blingalicious card from Create and Craft

Muse Challenge 65

The inspiration for this card came from the beautiful card by Gillian on the Muse blog - it was so clean and simple!





I decided to keep to the same colours for my baby card.  I was tempted to add a sentiment and ribbon but I refrained!  I added stitching around the card and embossed the larger circle to create some texture - I was pleased when I found an embossing folder which echoed the flowers on the baby's blanket. 

Materials used:-

Baby stamp - make unknown

Distress ink - picked raspberry

Promarker - ivory

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Thank you for visiting my blog - pop over to Muse to see the other lovely cards inspired by this challenge.

Makes me smile!

The theme for week 168 at Less is More is "Makes me Smile". I am submitting this card because I was so happy when I achieved the clean and simple look I was aiming for. This took 3 attempts as I smudged the other ones. CAS cards may look simple but making them involves a lot of work!

My card is based on a design by Joanne Allison in the April issue of Craft Stamper magazine. This very effective technique is done with an eraser on the end of a pencil! The ink is Salty Ocean distress ink and the stamps are from the Clearly Besotted Dandelion Dreams set.

Thank you for visiting my blog  - hop over to LIM to see how the other participants interpreted this challenge.

Far Away

I was inspired to make this card by challenge #36 on Addicted to CAS which is entitled Far Away. I immediately thought of the Tim Holtz globe stamp. I used this as the focus and coloured it with distress ink. I sanded the turquoise card to create a more muted effect.

Materials used:-

Broken china distress ink

Coffee archival ink

Stampin Up banner punch

Sentiment stamp from Clear Choice Journey stamps

Thanks for visiting!

Tim's April Tag

This is my entry for Tim's 12 Tags of 2014 Challenge. Although I have made tags before following Tim's instructions, I have never entered them into his challenge. You can see his original tag here.

Materials used:-

• Sizzix framework trellis die and spring greenery die (for the ivy)
• Distress paints and inks - peeled paint, spiced marmalade and vintage photo
• Tissue tape
• Paper from Tim Holtz Wallflower collection
• A paper flower which I made at a workshop with Jennie in Shetland - you can find instructions on her blog here