At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

(Laurence Binyon, "For The Fallen").

Today is Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day), a day originally set aside to commemorate the signing of the Armistice at the end of the First World War in 1918, but today an occasion to remember the sacrifice of the fallen in many conflicts around the world. This year is a once-in-a-lifetime Remembrance Day, as it falls at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the 11th year - 11-11-11-11.

I have made a card today to enter into some challenges that are marking this occasion. I will be at work this morning, but am scheduling this post for 11:00am.  I will pause at that time to remember all those who gave their lives or were injured in conflicts over the years so that we can live today in a democracy.

Stamps: poppy from Penny Black transparent set "flowers and wishes"; sentiment from PB transparent set "hugs!";

Media: Promarkers;

Supplies: ribbon and tiny heart gems from my stash.

Challenges:

Simon Says - Photo inspiration (poppy field)

Cute Card Thursday # 190 - Red is for Remembrance

Less Is More #40 - Red & Orange

Creative Craft - Minimalist

My Partner In Crafting Crime #35 - Use A Freebie

(I won the transparent set of stamps including the poppy)

Thanks very much for visiting today. I'll be back tomorrow with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Ol' Blue Eyes

The theme this week over at Less Is More is the colour of your eyes .... and mine are blue (see profile pic!). So after I'd caught up with various DT work this afternoon I made time to make a quick monochrome card ... and here it is.

Recipe:

Main image: Inkadinkado "Tin Can Mail" stamped with fluid chalk ink, and distressed using TH "faded jeans" and "tumbled glass" distress inks;

Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations".

Challenges:

Less Is More #35 - The Colour Of Your Eyes

Dream Valley #17 - Monochrome

Crafty Creations #137 - Clean & Simple
Truly Scrumptious #66 - Clean & Simple

Simon Says - Anything Goes

 (3rd entry .... trying to help SS get to 1000 entries this week!!)

That's all for now ... enjoy the rest of the weekend!

I Love Pickle!

No, this isn't an exhortation to "bring out the Branston's", but a declaration of adoration for this cute little guy who features on Wild Rose Studio's latest release of stamps - isn't he the cutest ever?? As soon as I saw these stamps I had to order two ... I'm currently waiting for the lovely ladies at The Glitterpot to send me the second one as some naughty person must have popped the last one into their basket at the same time as me, but I'm sure it will soon be here. Meanwhile I just HAD to make a card with this adorable stamp "Pickle With Presents".

This stamp is really quite big, so I decided to keep the whole thing simple and make a card for this week's Less Is More challenge - Things That Move. I'm sure you'll agree that Pickle is putting his best foot forward dragging along that sleigh, even though the vehicle would also move of its own accord if it was given just the teeniest push downhill in the snow !  I know that the general LIM style is arty rather than cute but I thought this one ticks the boxes, so I couldn't resist!

I'm very pleased with this stamp as it is very simple to colour, which I'm sure will be a godsend when it gets nearer to Christmas!!

Recipe:

Main image: Wild Rose Studio "Pickle With Presents", coloured with Promarkers and dusted with glamour dust on his hat :-);

Sentiment: Pink Gem Designs;

Supplies: dotty ribbon from a box of Christmas goodies sent to me by Helen;

Tools: background white pearlescent card embossed with Cuttlebug "snowflakes" folder.

Challenges:

Less Is More #29 - Things That Move

Totally Gorjuss #94 - Cute and Cuddly

Passion for Promarkers #114 - No Patterned Paper

Ooh-La-La #87 - No Backing Paper

Charisma #34 - Glitter It!

That's all for now ... back on Saturday with another Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

Getting inky!

What with one thing and another I haven't had a lot of time for crafting outside of my DT cards over the past few weeks, but I was determined that I would join in with this week's Less Is More Challenge to use ink in a new or favourite way on a one-layer card..

Over the past few months I have been starting to get into distress inks .. I'd never much bothered with them in the past, but now I really love making a mess on my non-stick craft mat!!  I decided that rather than using themn to sponge or brush a masked square, I would have a go at splodging inks onto an acrylic block and spritzing them with water before "stamping" onto my base card.

Approx ten attempts later this is what I ended up with ...

This is a card that I love in concept, but I have to admit that the execution leaves a bit to be desired ... I got rather impatient and as a result my text stamp is a little smudged, but my story is that that is all part of the grungy look ... and I'm sticking to it lol!

Recipe:

Main image: Unity set "Insighful Meadows" flowers stamped with TH "Chipped Sapphire" distress ink;

Background: text stamp by Crafty Individuals; background rectangle stamped using Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint distress inks;

Sentiment: Unity set as above.

Challenges:

Less Is More #28 - OLC - Use Ink

Crafts & Me #48 - Blues/Greens

Pile It On #33 - Three Shades of Blue

(Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Tumbled Glass)

Off to catch up with my DT work now ...

LIM #14 – White on White

I really love white on white cards although I think they are quite hard to make … and this one for this week’s Less Is More Challenge #14 particularly so, as it is TOTALLY white on white rather than being a coloured image.  However i started to get a few ideas straight away, and here’s what I’ve had time to make so far …

I used the embossing folder from my Cuttlebug "Friends Forever” cut ‘n’ emboss set to emboss the flowers onto highly pearlescent white card, and dusted all the floral dots and the edges of the image with glamour dust. I then mounted this onto more of the same pearlescent white card – if I had mounted it straight onto linen base cardstock then the background would have looked quite “dirty” as the pearlescent card is ultra white.

The background card was also embossed using a second Cuttlebug folder “Snowflakes”. I punched two small butterflies using my Martha Stewart punch and also covered these in glamour dust; and finally cut a sentiment using my Cuttlebug cut ‘n’ emboss set. The outlines of the sentiment are the only colour on the card, and I kept this as colourless as possible by using iridescent silver paper.  This card is actually incredibly sparkly – I hope the picture captures it to some degree, but it definitely doesn’t completely

Challenges:
Less Is More #14 – White On White
Everybody-Art #141 - Flowers
Creative Inspirations #59 – Glitz and Bling
Papertake Weekly – Fancy A Punch?
Sentimental Sundays #54 – Anything Goes

Don’t forget you’ve still got plenty of time to enter my Big Birthday Blog Candy, where you could win not only a selection of yummy Tatty Teddy stamps, papers and ribbons; but also a £10 LotV gift voucher :-)

LIM – OMG!

Last week I bottled out of the Less is More challenge, ‘cos none of my sentiment stamps seemed to fit and I’m no good at generating fancy ones on the computer … so this week I just had to face my demons. But acetate ?? ACETATE??

Initially I thought I needn’t concern myself with this challenge, as I was under the impression I didn’t have any of the pesky material … but then it occurred to me that actually I once bought a pack to make a shaker card with (and what a disaster that was … the quicker we draw a veil over that little episode the better!!)

Anyhow there was nothing else for it but to get stuck in! Now I don’t go much on apertures and I don’t have many inks that can stamp onto acetate, so to my mind there was only one way to  go …  I made the most of the space on the inside of the card, and produced an acetate front cover with only a sentiment stamped on it … voila! I also used this as an opportunity to have a go with a Tim Holtz distressing technique as per his video tutorial here ... so that I could also enter this card for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.

Recipe:
Main image: various stamps from Unity set “Insightful Meadows” stamped onto a wet distressed background using Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans distress inks;
Sentiment: same set as above;
Tools: Martha Stewart “scalloped dots” edge punch.

And here’s a pic of the card open – just to prove I did actually use acetate on the front lol!!  I have to admit I had several goes before I was (vaguely) satisfied … so please Chrissie and Mandi don’t ask us to use acetate again, as I’ve not got much left now lol!!

Challenges:
Less Is More #11 – Acetate
Simon Says Stamp and Show – A Lord Tim of Holtz Technique
Pile It on #16 – Smells Like Rubber
Incy Wincy #90 – Bright and Bold
Top Tip Tuesday #30 – Open Challenge

Phew … mission accomplished! Think I need to lie down now!! 

More Less Is More

Oh Chrissie and Mandi ... what have you started?? I've now got a real bad dose of Less Is More -itis, and just had to make a second card this week ... the idea just came to me and I had to execute it in a spare half hour before bedtime (and that included getting my stuff out and putting it away again!!)!!

This time I have flipped the sketch horizontally so the feature circle is on the top half of the card. I just stamped a long image, masked and sponged a sun using Colorbox Queue fluid chalk inks, masked the sun and stamped a band of text background stamp using distress ink, and stamped my sentiment. Job done!! It's a bit rough and ready I grant you, but I was on a mission and I have now given this card to a colleague who has left work today..

Recipe:

Main image: Unity Stamps "Insightful Meadows" stamped in Walnut stain distress ink;

Background text stamp: Butterfly Kisses;

Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations";

Papers: None!

Tools: None!

Supplies: Papermania teeny gold gems.

Challenges:

Less Is More #8 - Sketch

Fab 'n' Funky #66 - Shabby Chic

That's all for now ... back on Saturday with the latest Penny Black Saturday Challenge and April's Crafty Calendar challenges :-)

Less Is More #8

Like so many people I eagerly await Saturday morning to see what the challenge theme is going to be over at Less Is More .. and this week didn't disappoint with a fabby sketch to follow.

Last week I mentioned that I felt a little foolish as I fired off on all barrels and made a "masculine" card featuring flowers - it was gratifying though to receive kind comments that indicated it wasn't a totally idiotic thing to do lol!!

Anyhow I sat down on Saturday afternoon and had another go for this week ... this time I am actually quite pleased with how it turned out and it was rather quicker than some I have made :-). I decided to go with a statement flower - I considered making one but I had quite a few cards to make so was on a bit of a mission and didn't really have time to mess ... so I brought into play a fabulous Prima sparkly velvety rose that was part of a pack I won a while ago. These flowers really are scrummy and well deserving of being a focal point on a card. As luck would have it I very soon found a piece of perfectly co-ordinating paper that was also sparkly, and a piece of co-ordinating ribbon almost leapt out of my ribbon bag (not often that happens!!). I decided to pull the whole thing together by placing my sentiment on a tag, and I chose the sentiment as it seemed the best size and style to go with everything else I had assembled so far.

Last week Chrissie helpfully suggested that I didn't really need the pearls on a "masculine" card ... so I really tried not to use any this week. But here's the thing ... I really LOVE pearls ... and even if I tie my hands together they somehow free themselves and reach for the pearl pack. I guess I just can't help myself lol!! However I am quite pleased with the placement of the pearls this week and actually have a vast white space that they don't interfere with ... scary but I think I like it!!

Recipe:

Sentiment: Penny Black transparent set "Salutations";

Paper: Papermania "Henbury Lane";

Supplies: Prima velvet rose; pearls from The Hobby House; ribbon and lace from my stash; Tools: Magnolia "vintage tag" die.

Challenges:

Less Is More #8 - Sketch

Creatalicious #20 - Two Tone

CES #29 - Die Cut Crazy

Truly Scrumptious #53 - Tag It!

I'm going to be a bit busy this week with work stuff, so don't forsee a lot of crafting going on before next weekend. So that's all for now - have a nice week !

PS - anyone else having trouble editing in blogger?? This is the second post where I have found that it keeps removing my html edits and either creating huge spaces or running all the text together!

Starry, starry night

I have never gone much on distress inks, probably because I have spent the past year building up my marker pen collection, and I didn't want to get embroiled in yet another money pit obsession. However the advent of the "Less Is More" style has sparked my interest in distressed and shaded backgrounds, and I was further inspired when I saw Debby's wonderful distress backgrounds with resist and stamped images using the fabulous Unity wildflower stamps here (I am as we speak eagerly waiting for a set to arrive from America!)

Anyhow, I pulled out the very limited collection of distress inks I own (grand total of 7!) and decided to have a go at a "nightime sky" background as a precursor to some silhouette stamping with my beautiful but neglected Lavinia stamps (again, the only ones I own).

This exercise, in conjunction with some very kind tips and comments I received from Debby and Lisa, taught me that I needed several things:

a) a non-stick craft mat (bought one today :-) )

b) some more distress inks (likewise ... bought 4 new ones today ;-) )

c) a blending tool - haven't managed to get my hands on one yet, but in the meantime I have bought some cut'n'dry foam to keep me going.

Here's a card I made BEFORE buying my new bits & pieces ... watch this space for my experiments in the near future with my new stash!!

I actually made his card for this week's Less Is More Challenge - masculine - and then I felt foolish when I looked on the blog and saw no one else had used a flower!! I think my mind was full of the drama of silhouette flowers against the masculine colours of a night sky ... though I can see the overall effect isn't necessarily masculine in the sense of giving the card to a man. However it's done now, so I might as well blog it and move on lol!!

Recipe:
Main image: various stamps from the Lavinia "dandelions" set;
Sentiment: Penny Black;
Background: "Dusty Concord" and "Faded Jeans" distress inks;
Supplies: Papermania "sparkly trims" black frayed ribbon; pearls from The Hobby House;

Challenges:
Less Is More #7 - Masculine
PaperPlay #12 - Distressing
Spoon Full Of Sugar #144 - Ribbon + Pearls/Rhinestones + Flowers
CES #28 - Inspired By A Song

Crafts & Me #27 - Anything Goes
Scrapbook Sisters #28 - Anything Goes

That's all for now. Hope to have chance to play with my new toys and get my fingers inky later ;-)

Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall ...

I have decided to try to keep up with the new Less Is More Challenge each week - I find it really interesting as when working with white space the main challenge is to keep finding something "different" as the main focus. This week the theme is a one layer card (eek!!) with flowers or trees ... so I decided to try a "four seasons" friendship card, to convey the idea that friendship lasts forever.

Now although I say so myself I was pretty pleased with the concept, though I'm not so sure about the execution. It doesn't help that for some reason this card was very difficult to photograph, and the light here is really dull today. But never mind - today's the last day of this week's Less is More challenge so I thought I'd better bung it up here and hope for the best :-) I'm really hoping that my "white space" cards will improve as the weeks go on!

Recipe:
Main image: Art Impressions bare branch tree, stamped four times. First three trees coloured by stippling with watercolour ink from Marvey brushstroke pens, last tree decorated with Art Institute Pee Wee Fine Art glitter;
Sentiment: Penny Black "Salutations" transparent set;
Supplies: coloured gems from my stash.

Challenges:
Less Is More #2 - One Layer Card with Flower or Tree
Creative Card Crew - Friendship
Dutch Dare #100 - Sparkle, Glitter and/or Bling
Cute Card Thursday #152 - Shiny Happy Cards
PaperPlay #7 - Add Shine

That's it for today :-)

Less is More

Over the weekend I stumbled across a brand new challenge blog called Less is More, whose aim is to promote clean and simple cards. I don't generally do CAS, in fact it's probably fair to say that my thinking is along the lines of "more is more ... and even more is even better" lol! However despite this mental blind spot I thought I would give it a go!!

The theme for the first challenge is black, white and pink. I decided to fill a large white space with a focal point sentiment in black, surrounded by some randomly stamped pink flowers. I actually found this really tough and had quite a few goes before I was satisfied, but I hope I got there in the end. I had a lookee at the creations already linked to this cahllenge and there were some really brilliant and original ones, which made me unsure whether this is really and truly a CAS card ... but it's my best attempt for week one lol!

Recipe:
Main image: Stampendous "Agapanthus" stamped a couple of times using Brilliance pearlescent pink ink;
Sentiment: Penny Black "...dreams..."(2711F);
Supplies: pearls from The Hobby House;
Tools: Martha Stewart small monarch butterfly punch.

I would also like to enter this card for

Penny Black at Allsorts (February) - Say it With Flowers

Hope you're having a great weekend, whatever you're doing.