White Rabbits! White Rabbits! White Rabbits!

Hello everyone, and a Happy February to you all!

Did you all say it this morning (White rabbits, that is) - good!  We're all going to be lucky now (yeah right!)

Another busy day ahead, so I'd better make this quick.  Stephen's home this evening (need to tidy the place up a bit) and I've still got crafty stuff to do.

I've just about made it in time for this weeks Less is More challenge.

It's Week 104 - Sketch week

Jen, from the DT has come up with Sketch #8

CAS, and the rules this week are very strict .........  the card must stay this way up, ie the horizontal band, in the lower part of the card, and take up no more than a third of the height of the cardbase .... hmmmm

This is my version ......

Another colour that I don't use a lot of - green.  I just thought this looked bright and cheery
The words stamp is from a Stampin Up! set called Happiest Birthday Wishes and I've used one of the latest In-Color ink pads - Gumball Green.  Some pretty co-ordinating striped ribbon from my stash finshes it all off.  This was so quick and simple, but I like how it's turned out.  I may just go back and do a batch all in different colours - when I have a minute!

Well, that's it! I said it would be quick.  Friday's my regular day to post on the Creative Studios DT Blog and I haven't come up with anything yet this week (eek!)  It's time I put on the old thinking cap and hope and pray that Mr Mojo is ready to play nice (please let my luck start now!)

Thanks for popping by today.  Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you again next week.

Cheerio for now

Linda

x

Happy Monday!

Morning everyone,

Hope you all had a nice weekend, and are raring to go on another crafty week.  As usual, I've loads to be getting on with, and I really want to make a start on some Christmas cards this week.
I was in town at the weekend and the shops are already starting to look that little bit festive - it's a bit early for me to be honest, we haven't had Halloween yet!
I must confess however,  I did look at a some Christmas card designs, just for inspiration.  They've given me a few ideas so hopefully I'll get some time later in the week to make a start.  I'll keep you posted.

I didn't spend as much time in the old craft room as I'd planned for this weekend, but I did manage some.  I had a play with my new Dylusions Inks that Lauren brought over for me.  It got a bit messy in there I can tell you.  But, I've got some lovely backgrounds ready to use.

Speaking of which, I used one on my In the Pink entry for their latest Blog Challenge. I thought I'd try the pink one first, it's such a fab colour.  In fact all 12 are simply stunning.  That had always been my problem, which ones do I go for first, so in the end I just got the lot! It had to be done!
I'd better get a move on as I'm just in the nick of time for this challenge, thank goodness.  Well, I couldn't miss doing this one could I,  seeing as I was one of the Perfect Pinkies in the last challenge.

Our recipe this time is ........ PINK PLUS ONE.
We have to use loads of Pink in our designs, plus one other colour.
I went for the PINK and BLACK combination - always very girlie I think.

Pink plus one - Black

The chandelier stamp is from Stamp Addicts and is a gorgeous large solid image.  I stamped it using Onyx Black Versafine and then quickly sprinkled it with a sparkly black embossing powder to make a real statement.  You can just about see the sparkle in the picture.
The white card was then cut to size and inked with Spun Sugar Distress Ink quite close to the stamped image.  The edges were then inked again using Picked Raspberry DI to give a little shading.
The pink background was created with Dylusions Bubblegum Pink spray ink sprayed onto a piece of white card that had already been spritzed with water.  Perfect Pearls was then spritzed over the top and a piece of
cling film scrunched over the whole thing, and left overnight to dry.
When you remove the cling film, all the mica from the Perfect Pearls has settled in the creases giving a lovely pearl effect to the card - really pretty.

All the stamping was done in Black Versafine, the flourish is from Baroque Motifs, a Stampin Up! set, and the word 'Dream' is from a Kaisercraft Clear stamp set.
Just to give it an even more feminine look I added some gorgeous paper roses and a piece of gathered black tulle.
There may be a few different shades of pink, but I think I've kept to the Pink Plus One rule, what do you think?

I suppose I'd better get back to the old craft room.  I'm determined to get loads done this week.

Thanks for popping by today.  And Thank You all for your lovely comments last week, you really make me smile. xx

See you soon

Linda

x

Is it Wednesday already?

Good morning,
I wish this week would slow down, too much to do, and not enough time to do it!  My list just keeps getting longer and longer.
My week got off to a good start, Monday morning saw the sunshine back again (yeah!) and my day proved to be very productive - 2 cards (well 3 in a way) done and ticked off, and I made a start on 2 more. I was definitely on a roll.
I'd seen a project in this months Craft Stamper Magazine - latest issue, and thought I would give it a go and do my version as part of a birthday present for a very special friend of mine. As usual I didn't have the exact products used but I improvised and went for my trusty Distress Inks.  I was pleased with the results I got.   I'll let you have a sneak peek of the finished item later.

First up on the list this week was my Less is More entry - LIM
It's Week 71 and it's a ONE LAYER week. 
(OLC One Layer CardOne piece of card folded in half with no additional layers and minimal embellishments, where the image is stamped or printed directly onto the cardstock.)

Now I don't normally do one layer cards (as you've probably guessed!)   Mine always tend to have a bit of matting and layering - some more than others, and embellishments of some description (usually ribbon or lace).  So not really my comfort zone.
Not only was it One Layer, but the challenge was to ..........

 USE A FLOURISH

Here's what I came up with.

Using a flourish wasn't a problem - I love 'em.  Finding one on the other hand proved a little difficult.  I have loads of flourish stamps but could I lay my hands on one - No.  Not until I'd been through every box of stamps nearly.   An addition to my ever growing list is now SORT OUT STAMPS!!! My system worked well up until now, but since we moved, everything had to have new homes and now I can't seem to just lay my hands on stuff.  Oh well, something else to keep me busy.

Back to the card ........  I remembered I had the beautiful Stampin Up! set Everything Eleanor which has the most gorgeous flourish.  I stamped it just off the edge of the card  in SU Certainly Celery ink, then added a cute little bird cage, again from an SU stamp set - Happy Moments (I think this is quite an old set and has now been retired). The colour was SU Rose Red, a nice bright contrast to the green.  I used a black fine liner to draw the 'chain' on the bird cage so that looked as if it was hanging off the flourish, and stamped the sentiment in black.  I've used this sentiment before on a LIM card, but it's one of my favourite's and fits so well with the little bird.  It's a clear stamp (I think from a small Hero Arts set) and I always like to shape it to follow my design.  The message inside reads 'it's your birthday'.

Well that's number one done.  I'll be back later with more.  But now I have to get back to 'work'.
The postman has just brought me a lovely parcel from Sarah at the Indigo Blu Design Team - it's a tough job I know, but someone's gotta do it!   I need to go and find my Christmas spirit for the rest of the week.  Yes, I know it's only June, but, I did say CHRISTMAS.  We crafters have to start planning early.  Kay's on TV again soon and the whole show is Christmas so I need to get a move one. 
HO! HO! HO!

Thanks for popping by. Have a good week, whatever you're up to, and I'll  see you all again later.

Bye for now

Linda

x

Second time today

Hello there,

Back again.  Just a short post this afternnoon as I really must get some serious packing done.  I'm starting in the kitchen today and it's going to be a BIG job. Lots of cupboards to empty, and clean, then there's the oven, but we won't go there just yet!   So I thought I'd have my crafty fix before going in there.
Here's my Less Is More challenge entry.  It's Week 65 and it's Sketches. LIM Blog Challenge  Pop over and see what all the LIMettes have come up with this week.  We had two to choose from ...


          
                                                                    
Nice simple sketches, lots of white space on the finished card. Love it!

What's a sketch?  It's a crafty term used to describe a card/scrapbook layout.  It gives inspiration/ideas on how to build up your design.  There's loads out there to choose from or, take the time and design your own.  Always keep a record of them then you can go back and use them time and time again.
Here's my LIM entry ....

I decided to go for a girly look this week, and used one of my favourite 'Tilda' stamps from Magnolia.  I think she is soooo cute.  She's been coloured using Copic pens and the white freckles added with a gel pen.  The background was done with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and a hand cut cloud stencil. You can just about see it in the photograph.

I like the way it looks like she's looking through a window at you, just stood 'thinking of you'.  The sentiment and the card she's layered onto are both from SU,  Perfect Plum cardstock, and the stamps are Curly Cute.
Hope you like her, I think she's sweet.

Well,  that's going to have to be it from me for this week.  Unless I can squeeeeeze another crafty session in, you never know.   Anyway I'll say have a lovely weekend everyone and I'll try and keep you posted on events next week.
Thanks for looking.
Bye for now

Linda

x

May already.

Good morning everyone,
Where is this year going?  I can't believe we've had 4 months already.  I'll be making Christmas cards next (oops, have I just used the dreaded 'c' word).

First off I'd like to say welcome to my latest followers.  It's so nice to know that you guys actually read and like to keep up to date with what I put on here. Thank you, it's much appreciated.

This week is just as chaotic as ever but, even though we move in 12 days, (and we're over in the UK for 3 and a bit of those - eeek!), I've managed to fit some craft time in.
Have all you Stampin' Up! fans seen the new Summer Mini Catalogue yet?  I was lucky enough to be invited to a launch night on Tuesday which I just had to attend (time off from packing).  I got to see the new cattie and play with some of the new products. All I can say is I want the lot!! The new stamp sets are gorgeous, the new tools are fab and the new papers, fabric, ribbons etc., are yummee .....  wait till you see them.  I'm lucky, I have 2 SU demonstrators, there's my good friend Sally-Jo over in the UK, check out her Blog stampin-sally-jo for great inspiration and details of products etc.  And,  I've also met Kirstie over here on the island, visit her FB page for more inspiration and ideas Kirstie's Facebook page.  I get a double helping of SU - yeah!  The other half isn't too happy though -  it costs him twice as much!!
I had a lovely evening and everybody there made a card using the new Up, Up and Away stamp set, which is so cute.

We did a bit of everything, stamping, embossing, paper tearing, punching and there was even cake!! What more can you ask for.

I've even managed to get a couple of Blog challenge entries done, with a whole day to spare.   This is the first one.  It's for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge PBSC.
This week's theme is May Day! with Spring themed cards.  As always there's only one rule ......  you must use at least one Penny Black image, large sentiment or stickeroo.
Here's my take on the challenge

Now I don't normally do frogs.  In fact, I don't like real ones, and I mean I DON'T LIKE FROGS!!!
One night, a few years ago a friend of ours came round and when I opened the door he said "there's a frog on the doorstep - no wait, it's in the hall"  There it was, large as life, hopping down my hallway, and it was huge.  Well you can imagine my reaction, Stephen said it was like something out of a Tom and Jerry cartoon.  I set off down the hall and ended up stood on a chair, screaming, in the kitchen.  This poor frog must have wondered what was going on - the kid's certainly did.  Eventually, after everyone had had a good giggle at me, Stephen put it back outside.  I can't help it, frogs just make me shiver. If I see one when we're out I literally can't move until it's gone - silly or what!  Saying that, I do enjoy eating frogs legs in a restaurant - they really do taste like chicken!
Anyway, back to the card.  I used the PB 'Jump for Joy' stamp (3702J) for the main image and coloured him using Copic pens. He was then cut out and embossed using Nestabilities, and inked around the edge with Distress Ink.   The rosette behind was made from 2 strips of Bo Bunny 'Love Bandit' paper, cut at 2 inches x 12, scored and concertina folded, then joined together to form the rosette. I also decided to add another layer to the flower for dimension, and a bit of glitter of course.

I made the easel card from a 6x6 card blank, scored and folded the front in half, and cut a semi-circle from the top half to make the easel part. A bit different from your standard easel card, but I like it. (This was a trick I picked up from the lovely Melanie Heaton)

The papers, again are from the 'Love Bandit' range layered with some 'Blush' Bo Bunny Double Dot paper. I like the green and pink together, very pretty for spring and summer.  I attached and ruched some matching ribbon and added a smaller image to make my stopper to hold up the easel.  The little guy was stamped from the PB 'Toadily' clear set and coloured with Copics again.  The sentiment is from the same set.  I used my Nesties to cut and layer these and then doodled around the edges. 
Even though I don't like frogs, these PB stamps are really cute.  At least these don't hop down my hallway!

Thanks for looking, and thank you to everyone who left me comments last week, I really appreciate you all  popping by.

See you later.

Linda

x

Oh my Doodle! LIM Blog Challenge

Hi everyone,
I hope you've all had a nice week and are looking forward to the weekend.
My first blog this week is my Less is More Blog challenge entry.
First off, I'd like to say Thank You to everyone that looks and leaves comments on these Blog posts.  I appreciate every single one of them. I enjoy doing the challenge each week and it's so nice to know that you enjoy reading my ramblings, and looking at my designs.  You are all such a nice bunch of Limettes, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
OK it's week 63, the second week in the month so it's a One Layer challenge, with a 'Doodling' theme.  Some of the entries on there this week are stunning, there's some great doodlers out there.  Check them out, you'll find some great blogs on there that are well worth a read  LIM
Now I don't mind a little bit of doodling, in fact, I do it quite a lot on my cards.  I like to doodle faux stitching around the edge of layers, or add groups of little dots to fill in empty space, but to doodle on one layer had me thinking a little. I must say though, once I 'd decided on the design, this is one of the quickest LIM cards I've done.  First attempt was just right.
Here's what I came up with, not as spectacular as some entries, but I doodled.  The sentiment was hand written too.

I used the fabulous Stampin Up! Pick a Petal stamp set, and decided to only stamp in one corner leaving lots of white space.  I didn't stamp by eye on this one either, the old stamp positioner came out of the drawer.  I stamped the flower with So Saffron and Rose Red inks (SU again) and then doodled around each petal in a fine black Sakura Micron pen.   
Now my handwriting is not good, so I took a chance and wrote the word 'Hello'.  Adding the little dots to the ends of the letters takes the 'handwritten' look off a little bit.  I think the finished card looks kind of cute.

Thank you for taking time to look, hope you like it.
I'll be back later with more on what I've been up to this week.
See you soon

Linda

x

LIM Blog Challenge

Good afternoon and a Happy Easter,
Just a quick post this Good Friday afternoon.
As usual I'm on the last minute with my Blog challenge entry.  I just haven't had time to settle down with it this week, I've been so busy working on other things.  I'm not going into detail at the moment, you'll just have to watch this space.  Hopefully, all will be revealed soon (Hmmm!?)

Over at Less is More it's Week 61 and it's Lucky Dip week. http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/
This week we have a Picture Inspiration to work from.  I love this colour combination, but then I always been a bit of a pink girl.
                                                   


This is what I've come up with this week

I've used a Hero Arts Cling stamp from the Wildflower Garden set and stamped it in the SU inks, Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery.  These are such pretty colours and look really nice together, very spring and summer. After using the Pretty in Pink ink to soften around the edge of the white card, it's been mat and layerd onto matching cardstock (SU again). I've punched a fancy edge to the bottom of the pink card (not very clear in the picture) and added a pretty ribbon and bow.  The sentiment was from a retired SU stamp set which I stamped using black ink, but as I didn't want it to look so harsh I did, in true Barbara Gray fashion, the ink, blot, plot technique. I then made it into a small tag, inked the edges and attached it to the ribbon.
It's quite a simple card for me (I hadn't got a lot of time), but I think it's quite pretty, and it's one of those that could be used for any occasion.
Sorry about the picture quality, number one job for this weekend is to get to grips with my new camera.  We've taken loads of pictures with it, need to get them onto the computer now.  By Monday I will have it sorted!

Hope you have a lovely bank holiday weekend, whatever it is you're doing.
Thanks for popping by.

Linda

x