Perfect Pear

Just a very quick and simple notecard to show you today.

I made this for the Less Is More, 'Feeling Fruity' Challenge.

After seeing Katina's fabulous 'Partridge in a Pear Tree' card,

I had 'pears' on the brain :-)

I found this image at The Graphics Fairy and just added a little sparkle to it.

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Going in circles

Here's my entry for this week's LIM challenge, where the theme is Circles.

Quite appropriate really, as I find myself going round and round in circles these days.

This was another tough challenge and you wouldn't believe the number of circles I ended up with :-) 
Just three made it onto my card though.

The DP is Kaiser Craft, La Di Da and some of the papers have that gorgeous embossing on them. The scalloped strip is a die cut from the same paper pad.

Sentiment is Wild Rose Studio - Girly Greetings.  You can get this, and other goodies at Crafty Emma's sale.
Cupcake is from the Simon Says, Savour Sweet Cupcakes stamp set.
Flower is an Xcut punch

Blue Day

Just a quick post from me today, before people turn up wanting to be fed!!

(When I win the lottery - 'chef ' - is at the top of my wanted list!!).

It's been a while since I've had time to join in with the LIM challenge, so I was determined to get to it this week.

Then I saw 'Shades of Blue'.    Aggghhhhhh!!!    I dont 'do' blue!! ;-)

Oh, well... I gave it a try, but it's not my best work !

Little Orphan Annie

I have two cards to show you today - using the same image.

This little girl is so cute - she just reminds me of my friend's daughter.

My first card is for Crafty Emma's Challenge - where the theme is 

'At the Movies'

My movie is -  little orphan Annie 

I wish the camera picked up the clouds better - it took me ages to get that effect. 

I followed several online tuts for using Copics, 

but I couldn't get it right.

Then I tried an old set of kids watercolour paints, 

that I found at the back of a drawer - no luck with those either.

Finally, I got out some chalks and leaving some areas white and going over others

to darken them up, worked perfectly. 

I will definitely be doing this again.

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The next card is for the Less Is More Challenge.

It's one layer week, plus a frame of some sort.

I do struggle with one layer cards - and several went in the bin!

This one is a bit of a cheat really - the image already had the frame around it,
I just printed it out.

 Being useless at printing the image just where I want it, 

meant I ended up with lots of white space on the left.

As it happened, this was the perfect place to add the sentiment!!

Image from The Graphics Fairy.

DP - Prima, Moulin Rouge.   Black adhesive gems

Sentiment stamps - Wild Rose Studio

Everything is All White!

EEK!!   White on White, is the LIM challenge this week, no colour allowed!
My first thought was to sit this one out, but I'm no quitter.. lol***
So here's my effort...

 

I wanted to add some texture to the card, but I don't have any embossing things, so I scoured my craft room and came across some white felt. After a couple of goes, it went through my Big Shot, with a nestie die and I stitched it in place.

I used a simple white bloom, with a white gem in the centre and the stem was cut down from a Martha Stewart punch (leaves & branch).

This challenge is also testing my photography skills (or lack of them) and, like last week (thanks for noticing Mandi xxx) I have tried using a coloured background  - just to make the white card stand out more. It's not ideal, but it is a little better, I think!

Thanks again to all you Limettes who leave messages and hints and tips on how I can improve - I appreciate every one of them.   xxx

Thankyou

Have you heard me screaming this afternoon?? I have been trying to change the background on my DT blog, and have got in a right pickle with it all. I think it's done now, but everything is in a different place - Ha! Ha! Hope my teamies are in a forgiving mood. :-))

I also managed to have a play for the LIM challenge - this week the theme is Thankyou OR Congratulations.

I rummaged around in my stamp drawer and came across a Stampin' Up set 'On A Pedestal'.  The letter stamp actually says - Amazing, thoughtful, sweet, wonderful, genuine - but it gave me the idea to make a digi with 'thankyou' in different languages.
You can grab this from my freebies page if you want it.

Challenges

LIM - Thankyou OR Congrats

A Spoon Full Of Sugar - White + 1 Colour

All You Need Is Love

Ok, hands up who was walking around on Saturday saying,
"Acetate! Where am I gonna find some Acetate??"    Those LIM girls have come up with another fantastic challenge.
I rummaged around in the garage and came up with something that I am hoping will pass for acetate - it was the packaging, from a perfume box.

  
Sorry for the awful photos, but you can at least get the gist of my card and it does look better IRL - honest!!

The  front panel is made from the acetate, stamped in silver with Catslife Press hearts.

Challenges
Less Is More - Acetate
Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes

I did have a problem with my 'acetate' being slightly curved - I had to add a little strip inside the card to stop it splaying apart.
How rigid is cardmakers acetate?? Would it stand up OK, if I used it like this?

The sentiment was made on my comp. :-))
Huge thanks to all you LIMettes that are visiting. I am having fun trying all these new and different challenges, and it's great to read your comments and ideas on how I can improve. Can't wait to see all your 'acetate'  cards   xxx

Dear Lord...

Hello, fellow LIMettes - hope you are all enjoying this glorious sunshine.

Here's my entry for this week's LIM challenge.

I'm not sure it really qualifies, it is one layer, but it's NOT a card,

so let me know ladies and I will delete it if necessary - no worries.

I had fun making it and, hanging in my kitchen, it has already made people giggle.

I saw the quote on a T-shirt, so I made it up on my comp, picking a fancy font for the 'Dear Lord' bit and printed it out. At the last minute something came over me and I added the 2 black gems - sorry, couldn't stop myself!! :D)

I'll put this in my Freebies section if anyone wants it.  xxx

Paint The Town Red

The Less is More challenge had me digging around in my stash again this week :-)  I finally came up with this Sizzix dress die, that I bought years ago and only used a couple of times.

 

A girl has to have at least one sparkly, party dress, doesn't she?? So I covered this one with fine red glitter and added a black ribbon and pearl belt.

I used silver ink for the sentiment and added the line with a silver pen.

Princess for a Day

Here's my 'tall, thin card' for this week's Less is More Challenge. 

I haven't made  a card this size before, and now I've done it, I am wondering how I am going to make an envelope for it!! lol**

Sorry the pictures aren't great, but the sunshine has left Yorkshire and it's a grey, overcast day today!

I made the 'princess for a day' text on my comp  - (if you like it,  you can grab it from my 'freebies' link at the top of the page, but it is small and I don't think it will enlarge very well). 
The crown was a freebie from SKhedrDesigns, that I printed out and covered with very fine silver glitter.
The DP is from Pink Petticoat, Little Big Dots.

Take Two !!

My girls and I have blackbelts in shopping, but we are long overdue a little trip, so I made this card as an invitation to them - time to get out that plastic!!!

Challenges - Less is More,  One Layer AND Off the Edge.   In my excitement to actually come up with an idea for my last card, I forgot that it needed to be one layer - hopefully this card qualifies. Awesome entries this week - sorry I haven't been able to comment on more, but installing/decorating the new bathroom is keeping me busy.

 Stamps from Kanban, Damask Divas, Let's Go Shopping. Coloured with Copics.

Eat more cake!

I really, really struggled with this week's 'Pastel' challenge at Less is More, and after several attempts went in the bin, I finally settled on this - still not too happy with it though!

I made the text on my computer. By the time I decided that the black outline was all wrong, it was too late to go back and change it. Next time, though!!  :D)

The little cupcake is from a Molly Blooms set, that came free in a craft mag.

I coloured it with Copics and a touch of glitter, and popped it up with foam tape.




*** I will add the text to my freebies at the top of the page, if anyone wants to grab it.***

Retail Therapy.

I am thinking of making a banner for my blog saying ' I welcome constructive criticism'  :D)  Just visiting some of the entries for the Less is More challenge, and not only are the cards fab, but all the tips and advice left in people's comments are really helpful.

I think Chrissie and Mandi have a phenomenon on their hands!!!

Here's my entry for this week's 3 Squares theme.

 I stamped my image onto white card (square 1) and then stamped it again and cut out 2 areas of the image (squares 2 and 3).  I wanted to go for strong, bold colour on my image, so I kept shading to a minimum. I struggled with the black hair - my first attempt was just too flat and using a white pen for the highlights didn't work. In the end, I left some small white lines as I was colouring and it seems to look a little better. Something to work on!
I agonised for ages about whether to run a black line around the card, in the end I went for it and I think it works. The image squares were then stuck on with tape, because I didn't want the shadows that sticky pads would have given.
 

I'm not sure now, if I should have only used colour on the small sqaures - like a spotlight technique. What do you think??

I think this card also fits the 'Fashion' challenge at Moving Along With the Times, so I am also entering it there.

Stamp is from Kanban - Damask Divas, Let's Go Shopping.

Spring Crocus

Here's my weekend's work for the Less is More challenge. This week the theme is SPRING.

What comes to mind when you think of Spring?   For me, it's the beautiful swathes of crocuses that appear on the fields where I walk Suzie. Catch them on a good year and they are stunning.

I cannot draw to save my life, so my daughter, Annabel, sketched me this crocus image and I paid her with a cooked dinner!!! I wanted to make it look like a postage stamp, so I played around with it in on my comp.

I'm not happy with the 'Spring' sentiment, I thought a  small text would look ok, but I couldn't get the card to go through the printer.

I used yellow chalk around the image, coloured it (not very well!) with Copics and added Sakura clear star pen to the 'crocus' text - IRL this glitters. The wavy lines were in a stamp set from Royal Brush ( It's a Boy).

Then I mounted it, with sticky pads, onto the stamp shape, which was cut on my slice machine (basics card).

The pearls are coloured deep purple with a Copic pen.

I would also like to enter my card for the Allsorts Challenge - Inspired by Nature

Here's some pics of the crocuses I took last year. 

A Tree of Words

In the words of Mutley...    "Sassafrassarassa Sassafrassarassum".   Please, don't anybody mention CAS cards to me for another week!!! I have racked my tiny brains to come up with this card, for the Less is More challenge.

To make it doubley difficult this week, the one layer theme also needed to include either flowers or trees.

NOW I realise I have NO flower or tree stamps-  but I didn't give up girls - are you proud of me?

I discovered the most A-Ma-zing website -   Tagxedo.   Which is where I 'made' my tree. Go and check it out and have a play - it's brilliant.

Then, after 4 hours staring at my tree, I added a little doodle and some black gems.  Simples.....NOT!

Can't wait to check out everyone elses cards.

*** I will add my tree to Kiss Freebies at the top of the page if anyone wants it ***