Monochrome Christmas

There is something so classy about a monochrome holiday card, isn't there? Well, I think there is. So it was a no-brainer for me to choose to make a monochrome card when the Visible Image Christmas stamps landed on my doorstep last August. I think this is one of my favourite cards that I made with that August release.

Here's how I made it.

I cut a rectangle aperture in some scrap paper using a die, then secured a textured linen card panel to the back and inked through the opening with two shades of grey ink. I set this aside to dry so that the embossing powder didn't stick to the wrong places in the next step.

Once dry, I heat embossed the fir tree with a gorgeous black embossing powder, placing the tree so that it was both partly over the inked part and over the white part of the panel.

Using a stamp positioner, and masking the edges of the inked rectangle I stamped the rooftop stamp in a dark grey ink.

Then I added some falling snow in the sky, and some snow on the rooftops with an opaque white pen. Next the reindeer were stamped in grey, again using a stamp positioner and this time masking the upper edge of the card. Then the sentiment was stamped into place using black ink.

Mat the panel onto a piece of silver grey card, and then mount it all onto a white card blank.

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
            

Other Supplies:

Distress Inks ( Iced Spruce, Hickory Smoke), Prism Ink (slate grey), Versafine onyx black ink, Versamark clear ink, WOW! Primary ebony embossing powder, White posca pen, MFT inside out stitched rectangles die, white linen card, silver grey card.

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

That's it from me for now. I hope you liked this card and thanks for stopping by.
Hugs,
Sharon xx

Less is More #406 - Rainbow

Hi there! Well, I'm still in the UK at the moment and I am probably suffering from a bit of a hangover at the precise moment this post goes live. It was my 60th birthday on Thursday, but I actually celebrated it last night with family and some friends. Hmmm...knowing me, I think copious amounts of the old falling-over-water may have been drunk! Hey-ho! You are only 60 once, eh?

As we had such a busy August and September, I only had time to make one card for the latest Less is More challenge before I left home. That is such a shame because rainbow coloured cards are my absolute favourite type of card to make.

Cue Card

Sponsor

The challenge is generously sponsored by Uniko again this month so I used some Uniko stamps on this card.

It's another card that was super fast to make. Just stamp the border and the sentiment in black ink and colour with zig pens. Add the panel with the border directly onto a card blank, then raise the sentiment up on fun foam. Quick and easy.

STAMPS: Uniko (background builders squared, all occasions sentiments 6)
INKS: Versafine onyx black
ZIGS: 029 geranium red, 070 orange, 051 lemon yellow, 041 light green, 032 persian blue, 080 violet
OTHER: white card, fun foam

Why not head on over to the challenge blog for some fantastic inspiration from the design team

LIM BLOG
LIM FACEBOOK PAGE
LIM INSTAGRAM

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Colourful Christmas

Hi! Well, today I am jetting off back to the UK to visit family for a couple of weeks so finger's crossed that blogger behaves itself and posts this when it is supposed to. I'm really looking forward to staying with my Mum and then travelling down to spend my birthday (eeek! 1 week today! A super-big birthday) with my girls and grandchildren. I've packed my jumpers because even if it is sunny while I am over there it will still be a LOT colder than it is in Portugal!

Anyway, it's my Visible Image DT make day today and I just couldn't resist playing with some of the Christmas stamps and making a non-traditional coloured, sparkly holiday card.

As always, this is super-simple to make and only uses a few supplies too.

First, cut a panel of water colour paper, sprinkle on some brushos and spritz with water to move the colours around. Let it dry completely (ideally leave it overnight). In the photo below I made 2 backgrounds, one where I wet the water colour paper first (on the left - that one was used on a different card) and the other made with a dry background and spritzed after adding the brusos (on the right) that I used on this card.

Once it is completely dry, heat emboss the main 'image' i.e. the sentiment panel with a sparkly silver embossing powder. Next rub some clear versamark ink around the outside edges of the panel, sprinkle on the same embossing powder, but before heat embossing, rough up the internal edges with your finger for a more natural distressed look.

Stamp and heat emboss the holly leaf from the Sentimental Christmas set, and fussy cut it out. Attach the water colour panel to a card blank and then add the holly leaf to the bottom right of the sentiments, making sure to curl the holly leaves.

On the inside of the card stamp the sentiment and stamp the holly leaf too, to tie it in with the front of the card.

This would be so easy to batch make too. I love that from a batch of brusho backgrounds, none of the cards would look identical, and if you changed the embossing powder too that would add even more variety.

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
            

Other Supplies:

Watercolour card, Brushos (purple and emerald green), Versamark clear ink pad, Heat It Up! silver tinsel embossing powder white card.

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

Well, I hope you liked this card. It was fab to see you here today, and I do hope you'll come back for a visit soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Less is More #405 - We pick / You Pick

Hi there. Well life continues in its busy vane for me at the moment. More friends arrived this week and they are staying with us for a week. Then I have one day to myself to pack and clean house after they leave, then I head over to the UK for a couple of weeks to spend my birthday with my girls and grandchildren. Yes it is another big birthday for me this year so I wanted to go home to spend it with loved ones.

Anyway, enough of that chatter, you are here to see the latest Less is More challenge card, aren't you? We have a good old recipe this time where we've picked sparkle and you need to add another element from the list provided (see below the cue card).

Cue Card

Sponsor    https://visibleimage.com/shop/

so all cards have sparkle plus another element from this list
sparkle + gloss, 
sparkle + matte, 
sparkle + pearl, 
sparkle + chalky

For my card I chose sparkle in the form of embossing glitter and pearl in the form of pearlescent texture paste (and the card base too!).

It was very, very easy to make....

Mask off a band on a pearlescent card blank and add pearlescent dimension paste through the geometric maze stencil. Set aside to dry completely. Ink the rose and the HOPE sentiment in worn lipstick DI and the stem in cracked pistachio, then heat emboss with WOW! clear sparkle embossing glitter. Water colour a little more distress ink (spun sugar) in the middle of the rose and behind the sentiment. Fussy cut everything out and attach to the card blank, raising the rose and sentiment up on 3d foam.

STAMPS: Visible Image (Random Act Of Kindness)
STENCILS: Visble Image (Geometric Maze)
INKS: Distress Inks (Cracked Pistachio, Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar)
OTHER: Pearlescent card, Sweet Poppy pearlescent dimensions paste, WOW! clear sparkle embossing glitter, 3d foam. 

The guest designer at Less is More this time is Maaike and she has made a gorgeous card. Head on over to the challenge blog to see that and also for some fantastic inspiration from the design team

LIM BLOG
LIM FACEBOOK PAGE
LIM INSTAGRAM

That's it from me for now. Thanks so much for topping by.
Hugs,
Sharon xx

Here Comes Halloween

Hi. Today I'm having a little early Halloween fun. I was delighted to receive the Mr Bone Jangles stamps from Visible Image because I didn't have a single skeleton stamp in my stash. So it was a no-brainer for me to make a card using that set. Hmmm....maybe the sentiment I made up from several words out of several stamp sets is a bit creepy....but what small boy wouldn't love to creep his sister out with a card like this, eh?

Here's how I made this one.

First find a decent white ink pad and stamp parts of the lines from the Shape It Up set onto some purple card.

Follow that up with some starbursts from the Rays Of Light set using a really black ink.

Let the inks dry, then add some circles from Shape It Up, embossed in a silver embossing powder.

Now take some vellum and heat emboss the skull from Mr Bone Jangles twice, once in white and once in black.

Fussy cut the skulls then stick the black one on top of the white one making sure to offset it a little like you can see in this photo.

Now have fun with words from different stamp sets. Here I stamped three words directly onto the card blank.

I added the purple panel to the top left corner of the card blank, then attached the vellum embossed skulls with 3d foam pads. I added 2 more words on 3d foam too to complete the sentiment.

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
           

  

 The sentiment was made of of words / part words from these stamp sets, as follows:

Have I Told You = I, after, soul (masked from 'soulmates')
No Regrets = your (masked from 'yourself')
Imagine, Dream, Inspire = Am (masked from 'dream')

            

   

Other Supplies:

Versacolor (ultimate white inkpad) Versafine (onyx black ink pad), Versamark (clear ink pad), WOW! embossing powders (metallic silver, primary ebony, opaque bright white), white card, purple card, vellum, post-it notes (for masking) 3d foam pads.

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

TI hope this will give you a little inspiration for some Halloween cards. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Less is More #404 - Typography

Hi there. Life continues to be incredibly busy with friends and family coming to stay with us. So my crafting/blogging/social media time is at an absolute premium at the moment. However I did make two cards last month for this particular challenge.

Cue Card

Sponsor https://visibleimage.com/shop/

1) Verdigris butterfly

This first card uses experimental typography in the sentiment.

According to Wikipedia  "Experimental typography" is defined as "the unconventional and more artistic approach to typeface selection". You can certainly see that in this beautiful sentiment.

Make a circle stencil using a die and ink through it with the distress inks. Stamp the writing stamp in distress oxide then remove the stencil.  Add 3 colours of distress ink onto some scrap card, also add them to the outside of the card blank and stamp some 'bits' of the writing in distress oxide. Set aside to dry. Stamp the butterfly onto the coloured scrap card and heat emboss with verdigris embossing powder then fussy cut it. Stamp some tiny butterflies around the edge of the card blank and also heat emboss with verdigris embossing powder. Stamp the sentiment using the 3 coloured distress inks and heat emboss with clear powder. Add the panel to the card blank and attach the butterfly.

STAMPS: Visible Image (scripted streets, wings of change, live life now)
INKS: Versamark clear, Distress Ink (old paper, wilted violet, tattered rose, tumbled glass), Distress Oxide (vintage photo)
OTHER: Ivory card, WOW embossing powders (Verdigris, clear super fine)

2) Perfectly beautiful

On this card I just love the different typeface fonts of the sentiment. This is more traditional than my first card.

This must be one of the easiest cards to make. Simply smash the 3 distress stains onto a card panel, dry them completely then heat emboss the sentiment with copper embossing powder and add some coordinating pearls. Easy peasy!

STAMPS: Visible Image (look forward with hope)
INKS: Versamark clear, Distress Stains (squeezed lemonade, wor lipstick, shabby shutters)
OTHER: WOW! metallic copper embossing powder, white card. 3 prima pearls.


If you head on over to the challenge blog you will find some fantastic inspiration from the design team.

LIM BLOG
LIM FACEBOOK PAGE
LIM INSTAGRAM

That's it from me for now. I hope you found something you like and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Butterfly Wall Art

Today I have some home decor for you in the shape of a picture that I made with some Visible Image stamps and a stencil. I hope this little project will make you look at your stamps and stencils in a different way so that you can create some art for your walls too.

This is such an easy make and as soon as you put it into a picture frame it focuses the eye into the little piece of art.

To make this:
Take some perspex and add some distress ink to it. Spritz with water and smoosh it down onto some white card. Dry the card with a heat tool, then mop up any inky drops left on the perspex and dry the card again.

Repeat the process and then on the last time you dry, add drops of water too.The card should end up looking something like this.

Now swap the distress ink for distress oxides in the same colours. Stamp the time swirl from the Ahead Of Our Time stamp set several times inking up different parts of the swirl with different colours of ink.

Repeat the process ( I ended up stamping it 3 times) and also stamp some of the birds from the same stamp set in random places too. Set aside to completely dry.

Once dried, attach the butterfly ink stencil over the top and ink through with clear versamark ink. Remove the stencil and heat emboss with a clear sparkly embossing powder.

Blend all over the card with black soot distress oxide ink. The sparkly embossing powder acts as a resist, and you can clean it up at the end by rubbing over it with a cloth.

Put it into a picture frame and proudly display it in your home. You can see from the 3 complete pictures that I have added to this post that it looks good against a black area, a white area or just displayed on top of a shelf/dresser.

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
            

Other Supplies:

Distress Ink and Distress Oxide ink in the same colours (peacock feathers, picked raspberry, wilted violet), Versamark clear ink, WOW! clear sparkle embossing glitter, white card, picture frame.

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

Thanks so much for stopping by. I do hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx