Less is More #339 - Pierce

Hello my crafty friends. Hope you are all well. Things are good here and at the time of typing this post (on Friday morning) my daughter was in labour and before I finished typing we had a new grandson! Yippee. Time for lots of Nanny cuddles!

But first, it is the 5th Saturday in the month and that means we have a lucky dip challenge at Less is More this week and it is time to get piercing. So get out those brads, eyelets or sewing needles, or simply use a pokey tool to pierce your project. There's lots of scope for this one and I can't wait to see how you interpret it.

A short post from me today as I only had time to complete one project, but I hope you like this one.

Rainbow Stitching

I used a very old piercing template that I've had for years and pierced the holes into a piece of card I made with distress ink blending. After stitching the design I simply finished the panel with some pearl bead centres and the tiniest bling gem.

DIES: Tattered Lace sentiment
DISTRESS INKS: Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin, Picked Raspberry, Candied Apple.
OTHER: KARS bling bling doodles piercing template, White card, Black card, Black thread, Pearl centres, Gems

I'm entering this one into:
Double D Challenge - Black and White with a pop of colour


Unstampabelles Challenge #70 - Every Day is Special - twist lots of colour

Dare2Be Artzy July Challenge - Bright Colours

I'm sure if you visit my other team mates they will not disappoint and will probably have a few extra cards on their personal blogs. You can get to the main challenge by clicking HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Have a great week and hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,

Sharon xx

Less is More #338 - No Stamps

Hi there. How are you? I'm enjoying a little break in the UK at the moment.....still waiting for grandchild #3 to be born. It was due on 20th so we are a couple of days overdue at the moment but I have everything crossed that it will make an appearance very soon now.

Anyway, on to this week's Less is More challenge and it is recipe week.

Gulp! It has been ages since I have not stamped on a project but not to be deterred I have 2 cards and a picture to share with you today. So let's take a look at them.

1) Stencils

My very first thought was to use just stencils on my project. So I created this colourful card with stencil laid on top of stencil. The colourful background was created first then the leafy stencil applied on top of it and inked with deep black for a bit of drama.  It has been finished off with a couple of die cuts as I wasn't quite happy with the layout - it looked a little unbalanced but I'm much happier with the finished result.

I'm going to enter this one into the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiments - Clean and Simple of Fussy and Fancy. This is a Clean and Simple entry
Incy Wincy Designs - 1 paper layer
Unstampabelles #70 - Every Day is Special with a twist of lots of colour

STENCILS: The abstract background is Clarity Stamps, Imagination Crafts leaf swirl
DIES: Concord & 9th Butterfly Card Dies, Tattered lace sentiment.

DISTRESS INKS: Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Black Soot.

OTHER: Liquid Pearls in gold and lavender lace, White linen card, Water Spritzer.

2) Hot Glue

I saw this hot glue technique on Lilian's blog a short while ago and I have been smitten with this technique ever since. It is a great way to add to your stack of masculine cards.

This one is for :

The Male Room Challenge #65 - Mixed Media technique

Watercooler Wednesdays Challenge #128 - Heidi's Masculine Challenge

DIE: Whimsy Stamps Birthday Sentimentables

DISTRESS STAINS: Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans

OTHER: Hot Glue Gun, Watercolour Card, Copper Embossing Powder Water Spritzer, Pokey Tool, White Hammered Card, Foam Tape.

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3) Summer Sunset Abstract

As an aside, I am making abstract pictures with this technique which I sell. Here is one of the ones I have kept for myself because the colours remind me so much of beautiful summertime sunsets where the rays of the sun hit waves on the sea. I used a sparkle gold embossing powder which looks incredible when the sun hits it.

I'd like to enter this into:
Artisitc Inspirations Challenge #183 - Summer Colours
Oh La La Challenge #233 - Landscapes

Stinkin' Inkers - Summer Heat

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Don't forget to take a peek at the amazing inspiration from the rest of the design team and if you visit their personal blogs you may find some additional cards too.


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Well I'm off to enjoy some quality time visiting friends and having a lovely meal out with my two daughters this evening (providing the baby doesn't time its birth to coincide! )

See you again soon and thank you so much for stopping by.

Hugs,

Sharon xx

Less is More #336 & 337 - One Layer Coloured Card Base

Hello there my crafty friends. At Less is More we have a great challenge for you this week, and we are also linking up with AAA Cards. It's a challenge that runs for TWO WEEKS!
Our guest designer this week is our July sponsor, Kylie from Happy Little Stampers and she's made a fab card for us. Please pop over to see her and give her some lovely comments.

I have 3 cards to share with you today.

1) Raspberry Birthday

I work around 2 months ahead with my DT makes and this was my original offering for the LIM blog for this challenge, however, I ended up removing it  because Kylie had the same idea as me - same colour card and same stamp set! Great minds, eh Kylie?  But I loved this card so much that I am sharing it anyway.

It's a less than10 minute make; simple stamping on a one layer card. (This is my favourite HLS stamp set!)

This one is for:
Addicted to Stamps and More! #249 - Clean and Simple
Crafty Creations #345 - Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination #131 - Anything Goes
Through the Purple Haze #128 - Spots and/or Stripes (Thank you for selecting my card as the winner for your challenge #127)

STAMPS: Happy Little Stampers Mix Mash stamp set
INKS: Archival jet black ink, VersaColor ultimate white pigment ink.
OTHER: Raspberry coloured card base.

2) Black Sympathy

Here's the card that I substituted on the LIM blog. I love the sophisticated and elegant way this card looks.  Lilies are one of my favourite flowers (along with freesia) so I use these stamps at every opportunity. They are versatile enough for most occasions.

AND this card only uses 5 supplies in total so it is a very inexpensive card to make.

This one is for:
4 Crafty Chicks #358 - Stamping, no digis
Craft Rocket Challenge #39 - Anything Goes
Crafting by Designs - July - Anything Goes
International Art and Soul #11 - Flowers

STAMPS: Uniko Pure Florals: Lily
OTHER: Black Card, Detail Gold Embossing Powder, Versamark clear ink, China White pencil

3) Lilac Spread Your Wings

I wanted one of my cards to have a bit of glitz on it, so I used some embossing glitter on this one.

This one is for:
Art Impressions Challenge #212 - Bling, Glitter or Glossy
Cards4Galz challenge #51 - Butterflies
Watercooler Wednesday Challenge WWC#126 - Fiona's feminine anything goes challenge (Thank you for selecting my Christmas card in your honourable mentions for challenge WWC125)

STAMPS: Clearly Besotted everything changes II
DISTRESS MARKERS: Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet, Cracked Pistachio, Hickory Smoke
EMBOSSING: WOW! Royal Crush embossing glitter, WOW! Opaque bright white embossing powder
OTHER: Versamark Clear Ink and Embossing pen, Sequins, Lilac Card.

Don't forget to take a look at the gorgeous cards that both the LIM DT and the AAA Cards DT have made.

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Today is my 34th wedding anniversary so my hubby and I have a day planned out where we'll be enjoying some serious sunbathing and swimming around (and in) both the pool and the beach at a gorgeous club, then this evening we'll be enjoying a fabulous meal somewhere local. Ahhh! relaxation time.

Thanks for stopping by today and if you left me a comment - double thanks! I read and appreciate them all.

Hope you'll get the time to join in with us on this challenge.
See you again in two weeks.
Hugs,
Sharon xx

Less is More #335 - Your Country's Flag Colours

Hi thare!

Time for a new Less is More challenge and as it is the first challenge of the month we have a new sponsor.

And it is our colour week challenge

As I am now based in Portugal I have used the colours of the Portuguese flag on both my creations.

1) Christmas in July

Well, I suppose it is traditional for us to start making our Christmas cards in June and July so seeing as the Portuguese flag is red, green and a bit of white, blue and gold, the colours are ideally suited to a Christmas card. I must say that my blue was a bit too dark and it looks black in the photo.

This one is for:
Addicted to Stamps and More! #246 - Holiday
Crafting By Designs - Get Ready for Christmas - June Edition
Fab n Funky #357 - Christmas Crackers
QKR Stampede Challenge #250 - Christmas in July or Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesdays #125 - Kath's Christmas Challenge

STAMPS: Clearly Besotted laugh out loud Christmas
OTHER: Colouring pencils, Brads , inverted corner punch, red and white card, 3d foam pads

2) Scribble Birthday

Here I've used one of the stamps I received for winning the Lost Coast Designs challenge a few weeks back. Love this border and can see I'll use it a lot.

Once again, my blue splatters look black!

This one is for:
Crafty Creations #344 - Anything Goes
Sieze The Birthday - Anything Goes (birthday related)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
That's Crafty Challenge - Keep It Simple

STAMPS: Lost Coast Designs pencil tops border
OTHER: Mermaid Lagoon Re-inker and a splatter brush, Coloured Pencils, 3d foam.

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That's it from me,
Please take a peek at the fabulous cards that the design team have created for your inspiration this week over on the challenge blog HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by,
See you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx