31 January 2015

Lucky Dip Week

We have another 5 Saturday month, which means just one thing...
LUCKY DIP WEEK
...and Lucky Dip Week means a Guest Designer
We are delighted to welcome our Sponsor  for this month, the lovely 
Tara 

Our topic for this challenge is 
Little Ones
You may interpret this in any way you choose... babies, children, small elements on your card... whatever your imagination dictates.
Here are our examples!

 I made it using the Tiny Hearts die from Paper Smooches die cut from cardstock blended with 4 shades of distress ink for a gradient effect.  Lightly drawn large pencil heart was then filled with my "little ones" and erased before finishing with a sentiment from Oh Happy Day by Avery Elle on vellum.

This one uses a newly released stamp and die set from 
Clearly Besotted: Baby Shower
Uniko Studio: Sweet Baby sentiments
Ribbon & pearls from my stash

For a baby boy:  Kaisercraft stamps with an Avery Elle sentiment and some twine.

There are lots of 'little ones' on this card...the tiny hearts are the waste from a large die from Simon Says Stamp.
Even more are apparent here when the envelope is open.
There are lots of little gems too! The scalloped edging is from a Lawn Fawn die.
The envelope was created from a Spellbinder die, here's a little video showing how!
There are additional cards to inspire you on our personal blogs, just click on our names to be taken directly to them.
We are looking forward to seeing you!
***


30 January 2015

ShowCASe Week 207

FRIENDS ShowCASe
Week 207

We had a bumper bundle of contributions for our friends challenge with some terrific cards in the Gallery!
Thank you all
Here are our choices 

Look at the amazing colouring of these beautiful tulips! Gorgeous!

Another beautiful watercolour creation with a fabulous sentiment!

What a fabulous design Ardyth created... I'm sure this will be pinned and cased by many!
Brilliant!
Stamps from Simon Says Stamp, You are pawesome and border die from mama elephant. www.hartybyheart.com

What a cute little doggie, beautifully coloured and SO clean and simple!
showCASed

Here's our Showcase badge ladies!
Thank you so much!
Do come back for our Lucky dip challenge tomorrow!

24 January 2015

Week 208 Sketch time

My Goodness our challenge last week hit a chord with lots of you!
What an amazing number of entries!
Thank you all so much!
This time we have a sketch for you!
Sketch 14

Here it is!

Here is a card inspired by Lisa (I'm in Haven) who used a Memory Box die to make a flower. I loved it immediately and wanted to get the die for myself, but then thought that maybe I could adapt one I already had.
This is how I did it, I apologise for forgetting to turn the image the right way up for you!
There are more cards on my personal blog!
Firstly using Paper Smooches balloon dies I die-cut 2 heart shaped balloons
and inked them up with Distress Inks in Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry & Barn door.
The Eiffel Tower stamp is from the Je T'Aime set from Clearly Besotted
This is heat-embossed in Hero Arts white EP onto a panel of white cardstock
 which is also inked up using the same distress inks as above.
(In line with the sketch I promise I did die-cut half of the heart balloon 
from the panel at the top - before popping it up on 3d foam)
The sentiment is also Clearly Besotted: Paired Up and the balloon ties
from CBS: Build a bug set.
I've combined Avery Elle Storybook stamps with some washi tape for this fairly literal interpretation of the sketch.  The balloon is diecut from a scrap.

There are more examples on our personal blogs so we would be delighted if you could pop over via the links above our names to see what else we have done for you!
We hope you'll enjoy this simple sketch.
 ***


23 January 2015

ShowCASe Week 206

It seems that One Layer cards no longer hold such terror for LIMettes these days and we had a wonderful array of cards to choose from.

Here are our ShowCASe choices for 
Week 206 
New Beginnings

What a great effect of the contrast between the stamp and the stencil!

What an elegant, simple herald of spring!

Simple, yet striking!
Super!

What great cards yet again!
Here's our badge ladies and we hope to see everyone tomorrow for our new challenge.
showCASed

17 January 2015

Week 207 Theme

For our theme this week we have chosen
FRIENDS

You can choose any aspect of friendship for the subject of your design, but of course it needs to be clean and simple with lots of white space.

We also would like to remind you that we love it when you visit other contributors to our challenges to leave a friendly word!
Here are our examples
Anne
Stamps from Acid Drops and Whatnots, coloured with Copics and mounted on a stitched rectangle from a die by Simon Says Stamp.

This is a sweetie of a stamp from Penny Black. It was stamped then masked and over-stamped with a scratch stamp from Stampin' Up using Versamark. A few shades of Pan Pastels were applied directly over the Versamark using pieces of sponge.  Once the mask was removed, the ducks were coloured with Mirage Pens. It's cut with Die Namics pierced ovals The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley.

Supplies used:
Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry & Spiced Marmalade
Sentiment: Clearly Besotted - Say it In Style
Beautiful Blooms die from Uniko Studio
Wooden patterned button from my stash

We hope you'll have fun with this one!
***


16 January 2015

ShowCASe Week 205

We had some amazing contributions for our last colour challenge, what a hard job it was to choose our ShowCASe, but here they are!
What a dramatic effect the black cardstock has!
Wonderful design!

What a great CAS design... and superb composition!

 Judy
What a beautiful composition!
Darnell came to the rescue and copied the card pic for me.
Thanks Darnell you are an absolute star!

This freebie feather has been much in evidence on Blogland recently, nowhere more beautifully employed than here in Rebecca's card!

showCASed
Here is your ShowCASe badge ladies! Please take it with our thanks!
We'll see you tomorrow for another fun challenge!

10 January 2015

Week 206 One Layer Challenge


It's back to 
One Layer Cards 
once more and this time our theme for your cards is 
New Beginnings.
Anne is making a new beginning in her new home, but packing cases still surround her and she may not get a card posted for this challenge... also her camera cable is yet to be located! However she has internet coverage and hopes to be back visiting you and commenting again this week.
I wanted
to do something a bit 'off the wall' but was struggling if I'm honest.
So who better to ask ... the family!
My son decided a new leaf could be a new beginning so 
here's a card showing 'turning over a new leaf'
Now this is a bit too CAS even for me so couldn't resist adding a little bling!

Card Recipe:
Paper Smooches: Botanical Stamp set
Uniko Studio: All Occasion Sentiments #1 (NBUS)
Twine & gems from my stash


I wanted my little scene to appear as if the recipient was
leaving for a sunnier and brighter climate with the graduated sky colour
and clouds of course!

Card Recipe:
Paper Smooches: Metropolitan Stamp Set
Clearly Besotted: Say it In Style Sentiment stamps 
Derwent Coloursoft pencils and glossy accents


The  stamps here are from Stampin' Up. The tiny hearts from the Confetti set and the sentiment from Love and Laughter.
The frame was embossed with Sizzix dies and the 'minimal embellishments'... the tiny birds, cut from a Memory Box die.
Here are stamps from Clearly Besotted, surrounded by a Simon Says Stamp embossed frame.
One Layer Cards are so useful these days when postal costs are so high... for even smallish envelopes which exceed a certain thickness, so the better we become at them, the more economic it will be!

***

09 January 2015

ShowCASe Week 203/204

We had some beautiful entries for our Family challenge and here are the ones chosen for our Showcase 
from that 2 week challenge.

created in craft artist with a masking and painting technique
What an ethereal effect Chris has achieved with this herd of deer!

The placement and stamping are simply fab... made all the more effective in monochrome!


What a beautifully calm portrayal of the Holy Family!

It seems that this week's ShowCASe is a rhapsody in blue!
All beautiful!
Thanks you ladies, please take our ShowCASe badge for your blogs!
showCASed
See you tomorrow for another one Layer Challenge!

08 January 2015

Two Winners


With all the preparations for Christmas, we failed to announce the winner for November, so now we have two winners to announce today for November and December.

We are delighted that Mary from Ribbon Girl has continued to sponsor our challenges. If you haven't yet checked out the amazing range of beautiful embellishments she stocks, I would  certainly recommend that you take a look!

This winner is
(Crafting with Cotnob)
She makes the most beautiful cards and is a faithful LIMette !

Wonderful papercrafting supplies, with a 25% off sale at the moment so do be sure to check this out!

This winner is
(Purplejet Loves Crafts)
Jane too is a superb source of inspiration and a faithful participant in our challenges.

If you will let us have your contact details, we will pass them on to the sponsors to arrange your prizes.
Do take our winner's badge for your blogs and thank you!
Winner....

03 January 2015

Week 205 Colour Challenge

Another year has begun and "Less is More" is approaching its fourth anniversary... where has that time disappeared to?
We are DELIGHTED to welcome back our own LIMette Tara from

Make the Day Special 
as our sponsor this month!
She carries the most amazing array of crafty products from the USA and gives superb service too!
Do check out her stock!
We have a super
  Colour Challenge
for you this time... with a little personal choice for you too!

BLACK, METALLIC + ONE

DO  keep your designs uncluttered and remember to include that white space!

This week Anne will be moving to her new home and we are delighted that she has managed to get some cards made for this week's challenge, however, she will find commenting difficult (or even impossible if she doesn't manage to get her internet established in her new house.)
I'm sure you will all want to join with Sarah and me in wishing her every happiness in her new abode!

Lots of die-cuts here. Treble clef die from Cheery Lynne. 'Love'& 'you' from WPlus 9 and small hearts from a larger Impression Obsession heart.
The stitched panel is from Simon Says Stamp, extended slightly to fit British card dimensions. (There is a short video on my personal blog showing how I do this!)
Other colour is RED 
Black: Scalloped sentiment strip & Image 
(Clearly Besotted: Good Times - a newbie from Santa)
Metallic: Die cut basket in silver foil card then dry-embossed 
and
Sentiment (also Clearly Besotted: Good Times)
 heat-embossed in WOW metallic silver sparkle EP
Other Colour: pink Butterflies & Gems

Two favourite Memory Box dies used on a gorgeous textured, dull gold cardstock bought at one of those 'stuff your box for £..' stands at a craft show.
As ever, there are additional cards on our personal blogs, so we hope you will stop by and take a look at those too!
There are two winners to be announced this week, so keep watching to see who has been chosen this time.
***


02 January 2015

Show case Week 202

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and now we would like to wish you a
HAPPY NEW YEAR
We had some lovely one layer cards for our SNOW challenge and here is the ShowCASe for that week.
Hannelie has really made a trompe l'oeil with this one! A one layer card which looks for all the world as though there are layers. Fabulous stamping and a simply gorgeous card.

woodware stamp  in masked oval
What a super little snowy scene! 

This really is the epitome of clean and simple... beautiful!

Please take our badge for your blogs... thank you ladies!
showCASed
We'll have another challenge for you tomorrow, so do join us then!