Things That Move - Less Is More

Hiya!!!  Lots of problems with my internet this week but hopefully now sorted (fingers crossed) - AND IT'S THE WEEKEND!  I've made this card (by the skin of my teeth!) for this week's Less Is More Challenge, "Things That Move", as well as a couple of others.  I entered LIM last week (twice!) for the first time and quite enjoyed myself!

This actually has to be the quickest card I've ever made, but I really like how it's turned out! 

I wanted the background ink to look like heavy rain (although I'm well aware that rain isn't blue, lol) so I used a bit of Cut n Dry foam to drag some ink (Heritage Sea Foam) from the top of the piece of white card to the bottom, then stamped the TH man with the brolley in Versafine Onyx Black.  I then masked him and stamped the car in the same ink as the background.  I matted it onto black card and then onto the white card base.  A couple of stamps(all stamps from the same TH set) in opposite corners of the card and it was finished! 

I'm also going to enter this into a few other challenges:

Do You Stack Up is looking for cards for boys and/or men, More Than Favours are looking for travel themed creations,  Cards For Men have an Anything Goes theme, and The Artistic Stamper Creative Team has a theme of Men/All Things Male Themed.

Enjoy your weekend!

Maria x

Masking - Craft-Room Challenge DT Card

Hiya everyone!  The Craft-Room Challenge #7 is here already!  To be eligible for the £10 draw to spend in the Craft-Room shop, just link your card up in the usual way and pop the shop's logo in your side bar - check out the Pesky Rules page for full details of the rules.  Last week's entries for the White on White challenge were stunning - as always, it's very difficult to pick a top 3.  Thank you to all who took part.

This time, lovely Esther has chosen the theme of Masking (ready made or stamped)!  This is something I don't do too much of, and cutting out by hand is definitely not one of my strong points, so it threw me a bit.  After much deliberation, and a fair amount of panic, I decided to do a "moving home" card:

The stamps are from American Crafts, and the whole of the image is coloured with Promarkers.  I stamped the front set of boxes first, then masked it and stamped the second, which I also masked.  I then stamped the sofa and the vacuum cleaner, masked the sofa and stamped the lamp and vase of flowers.  I then added the retro clock and sentiment.  I wanted to stamp a cat either on, or in front of, the sofa but didn't have one big enough, lol, so no cat!  The spotty paper is from Desert Sands paper pack (Trimcraft), which I thought was a bit on the retro side as well, and the card is a canvas style card from Create and Craft.

So, get your scissors out and have a go!  I look forward to seeing your inspiring creations, and I hope you like mine!

I'm entering this into: 

Make It Monday - Always Anything Goes #51
There's Magic in the Air - Make A Scene

Maria x

Coloursoft

Hiya, I hope you've all had a great weekend!  This morning, I tried out some Coloursoft pencils for the first time, which I bought a couple of months ago, so this is a bit of a trial run really to see how they turned out.

 

and with some corners which I added to the image a bit later

The image is a digi from Funky Kits, which I thought was a good one to try the pencils out on, as there is some shading already on the image, although I did use darker colours for the shaded parts as well.  I blended the colours with some Sansador.  I'm fairly happy with her hair and the teddy bears, however not too happy with the bottom part which is coloured brown - I struggled to blend completely.  If you've used these pencils before, then all tips and techniques very welcome!!!  I've used pink shimmer chalk around the edge, and the die-cut roses are Marianne English Rose, which I bought from Craft-Room - I've dropped a pearl into the centre of each.  The card base is made from Kraft cardstock, and the paper I've had for a while.

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

Birthday Sundaes - Challenge #23 - Pink, Green & White

Corrosive Challenges - #130 Girlie

Cardmakin' Mamas Challenge Blog - #27 Use Pink

The Poodles Parlour - Anything Goes

Paper-Crafting Journey - #17 Anything Goes

I hope you like it, and have a good week!

Maria x 

Another LIM Card

Hi!  Having entered the Less Is More Challenge (one layer card using ink) for the first time yesterday (and I don't recall having made a one layer card before either!), I thought I'd have another go - particularly as my OH is drilling walls downstairs! 

I stamped it in black archival ink and it is coloured with distress inks and waterbrush - I did struggle with the skin colour.  I tried antique linen first but that looked a bit too yellow so used pumice stone.  The eyes are faded jeans and weathered wood, cheeks have a bit of tattered rose, and the lips are fired brick.  A sparkly blue gem just above the lip to finish it off, inspired by my daughter just having had her lip pierced.

Maria x

"Less Is More" Card

Hello everyone.  I've not uploaded much over the last couple of weeks as I've had to relocate my little craft room.  I'm finally set up at the bottom of the bedroom and everything more or less has a home, so I've finally got to make something!

I decided that I was going to make something specifically for the "Less is More" challenge, and enter for the first time, as it seems to be really popular.  I had a look at the new challenge and thought "that should be ok - one layer card using ink".  How wrong I was!  Firstly, I generally don't make one layer cards and secondly, I struggled to get the effect I wanted using the distress inks with the acrylic block, lol.  Not one to give up, and after what seemed like a couple of thousand attempts, I decided to try some walnut inks I bought a while ago but haven't yet used, and finally got a result I was fairly happy with.

That's what a challenge is all about, right?  I used the willow and lilac walnut inks, although the lilac looks more brown after mixing with the green (I love the depth of colour of these).  The stamps are by Lavinia and I have used Jet Black archival ink to stamp with.

I'm also going to enter Inspire Me Fridays - Always Anything Goes (#19)

Now I can put my roasties in, lol.

Hope you like it.

Maria x

White on White

Craft-Room Challenge # 6 -  DT Card

Hello everyone, it's that time again already (two weeks goes ever so fast)!!!  Challenge No 6 over at Craft-Room, 'White on White', is now open, and the theme has been chosen by lovely Nikki.  For one random lucky winner, there will be a £10 voucher to spend on goodies in the Craft-Room Online Shop - to be in with a chance, just put the shop logo in your side bar with a link back to the shop, and then link up your entry as usual.  You could also be chosen as one of the top 3, so pop over to the challenge and have a look at what the rest of design team have made!

I have to admit, this challenge threw me a little at first, but I am going to a wedding this Friday so I decided to go for a wedding card:

Using white pearlescent card throughout, I decided that embossing was the way for me to go.  I used a swiss dots embossing folder on the top and bottom tiers of the cake and some ribbon around the centre and bottom.  As the bride is having a pearl spray on her cake, I tried to tie this in, so I threaded some beads onto flowersoft wire and used them as a topper.  I also embossed the sides of the card with a cuttlebug border embossing folder, and added a white strip of flower trim on each side.  To finish it off, I did the sentiment (LOTV) in white embossing powder, and attached a circular easel with a wedding ring embellishment.

I hope you like it (and I hope the bride & groom do too, lol!)

I'm going to enter this card into:

Bunny Zoe's Crafts- (15) Easel Card
The Crazy Challenge - (79) Embossing
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Maria x