Less is More Challenge week 68

The LIM challenge this week is to make a card suitable for:

a BABY or a CHILD

I have kept it very simple this week as I am still recovering from a very hectic weekend in Edinburgh. 

I have chosen to use a Quickutz stork die that I remember that I spent months trying to buy at a reasonable cost from Ebay. It had been discontinued and was selling for ridiculous sums.  My patience paid off however, as Quickutz reintroduced it for a short period and I was able to purchase it at the recommended price.

The card stock is a pale blue.  I chose this so that the white of the stork and bundle would stand out. I also used a square frame die to cut a glittery base for the stork to sit on.  The sentiment was the last of a set of silver rub-ons that I have found invaluable .  I wonder if I will be able to find some more?





As a postscript, here are some photos that I took at the weekend.  I was invited to the hen weekend of a friend's daughter. It was game of her to invite some "oldies" to the celebrations.  The cupcakes were made during a cupcake decoration class.

In the style of....

I have attended many Stampin' Up classes / demos/ events over the years and have always found that most of the cards produced have a certain style. They are generally clean and unfussy, although they can be made of up several elements.
This card that I made today reminds me of that style.

The embossing folder is from Stampin' Up.  I turned it over to the debossed side before mounting it on the base card.  My colour palette was determined by one of my recently made cards - in other words the blue card and the ink pad were on my desk!

The stamped image is one from the Tim Holtz range and one which is a particular favourite of mine at the moment.  It sits happily on its own or as part of a larger collage, so I have found it really useful.
I used a  Fiskars border punch and a corner rounder to make the blue card mat.  It was with some trepidation that I stamped the sentiment on to the debossed surface. I knew that it could go horribly wrong at this stage and I would have to spend ages trying to save it from the bin.

NB. You can see that I used a brad to secure the ribbon tie. It took a great deal of courage to use this from my stash.  I have loads but I rarely use them.  Must be in some way related to my love of buttons and inability to let them go too.

Butterfy Wishes

The challenge over at Less is More this week is to create a:

ONE LAYER CARD

This time we have the stipulation to

USE THREE STAMPS

not four, not two... but 3!

  

So I delved into my stamp collection (isn't it frightening when you look at it in its entirety) and selected one of the butterflies from a set by Martha Stewart.  The second stamp that I chose was from Hero Arts and looks a bit like an abstract wave. Lastly I decided on another Hero Arts Sentiment.

I knew the end result that I had in mind but the execution was more difficult than I had originally thought.  I think that the root cause was that the butterfly stamp did not like the Distress Inks that I used.  ( Tim v Martha!)  I had several attempts at this and have decided to post two of these as well.  The inks used here are walnut stain, brushed corduroy and pumice stone.  I used a paint brush and pumice stone to fill in the majority of the wings.

Here are my "rejects" . I switched to Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip for the 6" by 6" card.  The final card is finished by "distressing" the edges with old paper.

Promarker Class with Debbi

 My Friend Susy and I attended a class at The Papeterie in Aberdeen today with Debbi Glennie. She is such a master of all things Letraset and we had decided that we needed a little more confidence when putting pen to paper with our Promarkers.

We were not disappointed.  What a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.  Tuition, great company, a sharing of knowledge with a little crafty gossip thrown in.  Who could ask for more on a Saturday afternoon?

Here are my efforts. 

The first image was stamped in  a light (forgotten colour) shade of Momento inkpad and the second was stamped in black. I found it quite tricky to keep with in the lines of the light coloured stamping.  Debbi says that success is due to practice (something that I have said thousands of times as a teacher) but I was a little annoyed with myself for not achieving perfection at the first attempt!

This close up view tells me that I need to go back over this to blend the bottom of the fringe.  Confession time - The second image was meant to be wholly coloured with greys.  I absentmindedly picked up the browns - told you we were chatting a lot!  However, I embraced my mistake and added a little accent of red on the heart hairslide. See - another one of those "mistakes" that  turn out to be "happy accidents".

So, for me, the class was a great success because I am now determined to "practice" to achieve "perfection". 

Been organising......

Organising  is really just my way of finding out what I already have.  It is so easy for me to forget purchases made even in recent months. OK ...it could be an age thing!  I found some Anita's stamps bought from QVC some years back and thought that I would reintroduce them to daylight.


Decided to go for a CAS approach with my next cards.  I have been really getting hung up with inks and mess of late so it is rather refreshing to revert to a cleaner style.  I also brought out a Martha Stewart border punch that I have only used once before (familiar?).

 
The card that I used with the border punch is dark green.  It really didn't want to let go after I had punched (300gsm - I'm sure) but it relinquished - with a little persuasion.{not a recommended approach}
I used TH Peeled Paint Distress Ink to stamp the flower, an acrylic gem and a HOTP sentiment to finish.

I have been asked for several sympathy cards of late  so I will repeat this design so that I have afew at hand.



The second card was made in the same way with a stamp from the same set. 

Now, when I look at these cards again, I detect the influence of Susan Raihala. I possibly have stored in my memory a similar card of hers.

Perfect Postage Stamp

I have lusted (Should I be using this word in this context?) over the Perfect Postage Stamp set and Postage Stamp Punch since using it at a Stampin' Up craft afternoon a couple of months back.  A very naughty friend knew this and gave them to me as a present last week. What can I say? - it wasn't even my birthday.  I know that she will read this so ........thank you again... you shouldn't have.(but I like it.)

I put this card together very quickly so it hasn't turned out well as I had intended. ( It will be a "prototype".) It is similar to one that we made at the above event.   The splattered background was created by flicking ink from a loaded brush.  I do have one of those air brush thingies somewhere which would have created a more refined effect but will have to search for it.  To be fair, it belonged to my son when he was about ten and he is now 34.  I love a good excuse for a tidy up!!!?  The stamped Crafty Individuals script was masked before the spattering took place.

I just love the blackberry stamp from this set. It is so clear. It reminds me of the times that we used to go blackberry picking. Mmmm..... blackberry and apple pie. The punch is a perfect accompaniment. 

Inks used: Adirondack -Currant and Denim. Sentiment - Hero Arts

Blog Revamp

I have been thinking about revamping my blog for some time now and have decided to "bite the bullet". I am adding pages and have started with a list of links to sites where I have found free downloads.  I am very aware of copyright issues and always read the terms and conditions attached to the use of such resources.  I trust that anyone who uses these links does so also.  The  layout is a bit of a mess at the moment but I will tidy it up. 

May last year.

The second page will have photos of my garden and also the orchids that give me so much pleasure in the house.  I had though of creating a seperate blog for this purpose  but it takes me all of my time to keep this one current!!

I am ruminating about the other pages.......

I have a card ready for upload but it will have to wait until tomorow now.