Simply less is More .........

Happy Wednesday ........

What's this, blogging two days in a row! What can I say, I'm really enjoying playing along with some blog challenges again.

Todays challenge is ..... Simply Less is More.  

This was the first ever blog challenge that I played along with all those years ago, when Life in the Craft Lane was started.

I've always loved the LIM (Less Is More) approach,  CAS (Clean and Simple) cards, lots of white space, minimal layers and minimal embellishments.  They're not always the easiest cards to make, but lots of fun to do.

The current challenge - #493, has a Theme to follow ....... and not forgetting to keep things CAS

So, I've made a start on my Christmas cards, with some cute little carol singing mice from an old Penny Black clear stamp set ......... Holly Day Critters

How cute are these guys!

I simply stamped the image onto white cardstock using Black Versafine Clair ink (Nocturne), and then loosely coloured it using Distress Inks and a water brush, building up the depth of colour slowly

I added a little touch of sky to the background, some glittery snow underfoot, and stamped my Christmas sentiment underneath ..... very quick and easy, and all one layer!!

I finished it all off with a few dots of white gel pen to give the look of falling snow.

Well, that's one for the festive box!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time.

Welcome to July! ........

Happy Friday ......

I hope you've had a lovely week.  We're sadly coming to the end of our Scottish motorhome adventure.  Just one more night, then it's time to catch the ferry back to the Isle of Man, and start planning for the next trip ...... six and a bit weeks and counting!

Can you believe we're in July already ........ half way through 2022!!!!  My goodness ...... it'll be Christmas before we know it ....... just saying!

A new month means a new CAS Mix Up Challenge.  

I'm hosting this month, and it's the turn of the Watercolour Challenge, with an added little twist ......

 I would like you to use 'Things with Wings' on your cards, as well as using the watercolour element of the challenge 

Things with Wings could be anything from birds, butterflies, bees, to fairies or even aeroplanes. As long as it's got wings you'll be fine.  Keep your cards CAS (Clean and Simple) and remember to use watercolouring on there too.

Here's a couple of ideas for you, both using very easy watercolouring techniques .......

Choose your image and stamp using a water reactive coloured ink.  Distress Oxides for example, are perfect for this, they stamp beautifully and react so well with water.  

Use a wet paintbrush to gently pull some of the colour out from the outline, trying to keeping as much of the stamped detail as possible.

I used Distess Oxides for my card, stamped onto watercolour card ........ Scattered Straw, Picked Raspberry and Dried Marigold  

I then used a wet paintbrush to gently move the ink ...... I found the more water on your brush the more the colour seemed to move, so don't have the brush too wet.

  

If you would rather add more colour over the top of your stamped image instead of taking colour from the outline, let your stamping dry,  smoosh the inkpad onto a craft mat, spritz with water and then use a paintbrush to watercolour your stamped image ..... hope that makes sense!

Some of the original stamped detail will disappear a little, but this gives more of a watercoloured effect I think

I stamped a sentiment underneath my butterflies, and finished off with a few ink splatters from the same colours of Oxides, over the butterflies

This next technique is really quick and easy to do .......

I stamped the butterflies all over a piece of white watercolour cardstock using Versamark Ink, and then sprinkled them with white embossing powder and heat set.

Once the embossing powder had cooled I then spritzed the cardstock with water and used Altenew Watercolour Paints to add the colour.

I spritzed the paints with water before I started, to get them into a liquid, and then used a paintbrush to pick up the colour and drop it onto the wet watercolour cardstock.  The water on the card helps to move the colour around but I did sprtiz again to make sure the colours blended together nicely

Repeat the process until you're happy with the depth of colour.   Use a paper towel to mop up any excess ink and water, this will also clean off your heat embossing, letting your stamped images show through.  

I prefer to leave this to air dry but you could use a heat tool, just be careful not to over heat the embossing.

The sentiment was added in two parts ...... one stamped and die cut (I do love the font on this stamp set from The Greetery!) and the second part simply stamped on a snippet of card and attached underneath

Check out the CAS Mix Up Blog for more inspiration for this months challenge from the rest of the Design Team.  There's also links to some videos using watercolour techniques.

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.

We've started our journey back to the Isle of Man today .... sigh!  

We had three lovely nights on Bunree Campsite. although the weather wasn't great.  I will share some pictures with you later.  

We really liked the site though, in fact we've already booked for next April.  I'm always ready for a trip to Scotland!

Tonight we're on a campsite called King Robert the Bruce's Cave Campsite in Kirkpatrick Flemming, not far from Lockerbie. Just the one night, then tomorrow we finish our drive to Heysham to catch the afternoon ferry back to the island.  Time to go home!

Cheerio until next time ........

Card 1

Supplies

Stamps: Watercolor stamp set CMS 217 (Tim Holtz); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamps) for the sentiment 

Inks: Distress Oxides -  Scattered Straw, Picked Raspberry, Dried Marigold; Versafine Clair - Nocturne (for the sentiment)

Other: Watercolour cardstock

Card 2

Supplies

Stamps: Antique Engravings (Hero Arts): Opposites Attract Sentiments (The Greetery)

Inks/Paints: Versamark ink; Versafine Clair - Nocturne for the sentiment

Other: White Embossing Powder (WOW!); Opposites Atttract Matching Sentiment Dies (The Greetery)

TAG time again ......

Happy Tuesday .......

Time for another Blog Challenge....... and guess what ..... it's another tag (I'm having great fun at the moment .... I love tags!) 
It's STAMPlorations this time with the second TAGplorations Challenge
Last month's launch was really popular ..... looks like you all enjoy making tags too, we had some fabulous entries.

This month the theme is All About Gratitude ....... and there's an optional twist ....... Polka Dots

This tag was so easy to do and it uses some of those pretty patterned papers that we all love to collect but never use!

I covered a piece of Kraft card with some pretty polka dot patterned paper and then die cut my tag using the largest die from the CUTplorations Manila Tags Nesting Dies

Blossom Spray #1 was stamped onto white watercolour card and then painted using Distress Inks

I fussy cut around the blooms and attached it to the front of my tag using foam pads for dimension

'Thank You' was stamped and heat embossed in gold across the bottom of the tag ......

and I finished it off by simply stamping the second part onto a snippet of card and cutting it into a banner shape before attaching it underneath ...... (sentiment from the STAMPlorations stamp set  For the Birds)

Check out the Blog for all the challenge details along with more gorgeous Tag inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, and then ........ why not join in the fun.

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by again ...... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off to make a start on the packing for our weekend away ...... important stuff first, my craft trolley!
Because we're on the ferry with the car, there's no big decisions to be made on what to take with me, and what to leave behind ...... I can take the lot!!!  Well ..... not everything of course, but you know what I mean.

Cheerio until next time ......