New Challenge at Less Is More!

Hi guys!

We have a new challenge for you at Less Is More and it's time for a color challenge in our rota and we have chosen Royal Blue and Lime Green for you to work with.

It's already September now which means we have a new sponsor for the new month. We are proud to have Happy Little Stampers joining us so play along and you could win a coupon to their store! HLS owner and designer Kylie is also guest designing in this challenge. Don't miss her card or any inspiring work by our DT, click HERE!

I must apologize for my photo... It was taken on a rather gloomy day and my colors look a bit washed out... I wish you could see them IRL! I've heat embossed the two Concord &9th flowers with white powder, water colored them with Koi water colors, masked them and stamped the background patterns with two Marianne Design stamps. The sentiment is also from a Concord & 9th set. I added tiny black Nuvo drops for embellishment. I find Nuvo drops so much nicer to use than sequins or real enamel dots. Maybe it't the fun of making the drops yourself! :) 

I'd like to join

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/ Anything Goes

http://aaacards.blogspot.fi Masking

Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you joining us at Less Is More! This is a wonderful color combo, our DT is rocking it and so will you for sure! Happy crafting! 

Card for Challenges/ Time Out Challenges Reminder -Better Late Than Never! :)

Hi guys! 

I'm here to share a card I made with my new Concord &9th stamps. My wonderful friend Sandie sent this stamp set to me as a birthday gift and I absolutely love it. Thank you Sandie!

I missed the TIME OUT Challenges reminder post on Thursday due to hectic work stuff but our challenge is still running for a couple of days HERE. We are looking for autumn-themed cards with the option of speed stamping... Read all about the challenge from the link, I'm sure you'll be inspired by the work of our DT! 

I wanted to color these flowers with soft earthy autumn colors and I begun this with stamping them with Rich Cocoa Memento ink instead of black. My coloring is done with Copics an I've added details with white gel pen, Wink of Stella and Nuvo drops. You can't really see the Nuvo drops or WOS in the photo but the shine and dimension is there! :) The frame die comes from MFT.

I'd like to enter:

Where Creativity meets Concord & 9th: Anything Goes

CASology: Bud

AAA Cards: Masking

Thanks for popping by!

Time Out Challenge Reminder

Hi friends!

I'm here with a reminder for our current TIME OUT Challenge where we are CASEing this fantastic card by Hannelie from Desert Diva:

Click HERE for all the challenge details and prize info -we are sponsored by the fabulous Happy Little Stampers! The challenge blog is also, as always, filled with inspiring card by our DT. This time our guest designer is Susanne whose cards for this challenge have both been stunning. Thanks for joining us, Susanne! 

In my card I focused on many elements of Hannelie's card: the sponging, the warm color palette, the black and white flowers + I tried to mimic her cutting file design with the background stamp I heat embossed on my card base. Also my layout is very close to Hannelie's. I can thank my wonderful DT friend Anita for this PTI flower die cut I used -I own the stamp set but not dies and Anita was super friendly and sent me some die cuts to stamp on. Thank you so much dear Anita! I think this flower worked very well for this challenge and I loved the way this card turned out. The die cut stitched shape behind the flower is by MFT and the heat embossed sentiment is from a Concord & 9th set. 

Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you playing along! To me Hannelie's card was one of the most fantastic cards we've ever CASEd! 

I'm entering:

CASology: warm

I think this sponged sunset looks super warm! 

Playing Along in Challenges

Hi friends!

I'm here to share a card where I'm using a brusho background! I made it in a watercoloring + brushos class in a crafting event one week ago. This class was super inspiring and I don't feel so freaked out about water coloring anymore! The brushos were great... I don't own any yet but am going to! :) 

The technique we did involved adding water on the brushos and then using rock salt for creating extra texture and patterns. We wet the water color card, sprinkled some brushos on it, sprayed, splattered  and painted with water (everything was allowed pretty much) and after we were done playing with water we poured rock salt on the wet project. After that was all dry we just brushed away the salt and the final results were so fantastic... Everyone's bg looked different and in mine you can see the splatters and water movement pretty well + the salt has even left some sparkly texture on the bg. Love it! 

I heat embossed the Hello Lovely flower from Concord 6 9th on my bg and made it into a card. I framed the brusho + heat embossed panel and attached it on a card base I had covered with watercolor style patterned paper. I decided not to add a sentiment, I did not want to cover the pretty sparkle from the salt! I added even more sparkle by "coloring in" the flower with WOS.

Where Creativity Meets Concord & 9th: Florals

CAS Watercolor Card Challenge: Flowers

Mixed Media World: Anything Goes/Moodboard

Love to Create: Anything Goes

Thanks for popping by!

Floral Bliss with Altenew Take Two :)

Hi guys!

On Monday I posted my first ever card with Altenew Adore You-flowers and this is now the second one I talked about then. Adore You is a very good name for this stamp set... It's very easy to adore it! 

I've again used Copics for coloring. I made this card in a crafting event I went with my friend Milla and was able to borrow a couple of light YG-markers from her I don't have myself... Also the stitched die is from Milla . Thank you friend! Apart from stamping + masking, coloring in and die cutting there's not much to talk about this card, it's very self-explanatory. I used fun foam for popping up the center panel and stamped a greeting by Concord & 9th. Thanks for popping by, hope you like! 

The challenges I'm entering:

CASE this sketch

Simon Says Monday Challenge: It's a Frame Up

AAA Cards: Bright and Beautiful

Altenew May Inspiration Challenge

(inspired by flower theme + combination of reds and green)

Hello Lovely!

Hi friends!

I'm here to share my first ever card using the Concord &9th Hello Lovely stamp set. I've had this set for about a month now but I've been intimidated to stamp and color it -the big flower is not exactly easy to shade! I did enjoy coloring this a lot in the end and I think it's now easier to use this after I've had my first go with it! I colored the image with Copics and added white gel pen dots here and there. 

My color inspiration comes from the May color challenge at Seven Hills Crafts Blog. I chose the color palette on right. My Copic coloring ended up being a bit brighter than the colors in the photo but I hope it's ok! I managed to use all 5 colors which was fun and also helped a lot in choosing colors for this quite large image.  

I'm also entering:

The Paper Players: Tic Tac Toe

(pink, leaves, flowers)

Simon Says Monday Challenge: The Great Outdoors

AAA Cards: Bright and Beautiful

Thanks for popping by!

Quick Birthday Card for Challenges

Hi friends! 

Here's a CAS birthday card I made with some challenges in mind:

Less Is More: Stripes

(my 2nd entry)

The Heart Desires: Color Palette

Addicted to CAS: Rainbow

Sugar Pea Designs Challenge: Inspiration Photo

The design in my card is stamped with a PTI border stamp (from the same stamp set than my first card for LIM stripes) and is colored in with Copics. I added a simple stamped sentiment from Concord & 9th. I tried to add sequins and what not but nothing seemed to work so this is one of my no embellies, no nothing cards! The expression "no nothing" comes from a concert hall location where they don't want you to enter one particular door.... There's a sign "no backstage, no exit, no nothing" and it always makes me smile. They really don't want you to go trough that "no nothing" door. :) !

Thanks for popping by! 

Butterflies for Challenges

Hi friends, I hope you have a good Sunday evening!

I'm here to share a CAS card for three fun challenges:

Less Is More: Stripes

Inspired by All the Little Things: photo inspiration

CAS Mix Up: Inlaid die cutting, stamping + your choice (dry embossing, copics). My 2nd entry to this challenge!

I've used a Taylored Expressions embossing folder for creating the stripes in my card base. For the focal point I cut a white circle and stamped PTI butterflies on it. I then cut a black frame where I inlaid the white circle. I think inlaid die-cuts are so good for CAS! Less layers, more CAS, right. :) The butterflies are colored in with Copics and I've also coated them with Wink of Stella. I added white dots with white gel pen to perk up the frame a bit. My usual choice would have been to add a sentiment heat embossed with white powder on black card but I wanted to add some grey to the card (inspired by the silver in the photo inspiration) and I actually really like the outcome! 

Sorry for the shadows in the card (well they do show that I've popped up the circle with foam adhesive!), I had to photograph this in unnatural light. It's late here already. :)

Thanks for popping by and happy new week!

Concord & 9th Butterfly

Hi friends, Happy Easter!

Easter means free days from work and extra time for playing with stamps from my SSS haul a couple of weeks ago... I restrained myself from buying craft goodies from the beginning of January to the end of March but I don't think if it necessarily was a good thing -3 long months to have a look of everything you WILL buy when you shop again. ;) Anyway, the gorgeous Butterfly Beauty stamp set by Concord & 9th was one of those sets that found it's way to my shopping basket and today is my first time using it in a card. I used all the large 3 butterfly stamps on top of each other. The two bottom layers I stamped with Distress Inks and water (using MISTI let me stamp as many times I wanted to build up color) and the top layer I did with white pigment ink for a short of "ghosted" look. I added white gel pen dots. The splatters are made with DI:s, splatter stamp and water -I find this much easier and faster than using paintbrush. The sentiment is from the same stamp set. Do click the first photo larger to see all the details of the butterfly. She is very pretty, what a stamp!

I'd like to enter:

Where Creativity meets C9: One Layer. Flat cards (where one card panel is glued to a card base like in my card) also allowed! 

CASE This Sketch

Addicted to Stamps and More: Make Your Mark

(white gel pen)

Thanks for popping by!

Nonni's and Sandie's Kit, Second post with Sandie's Materials

Hi guys!

I'm here today sharing the next 2 card I made with materials that Sandie sent me! If you missed my cards from Wednesday, scroll down or click HERE. Here's a refresher of what Sandie sent to me:

Stamped, die cut Happy Little Stampers butterfly

Heat Embossed, die cut Happy Little Stampers butterfly

Heat Embossed Uniko butterflies

Heat Embossed Uniko hummingbird 

Stamped Penny Black bird

Die cut Concord and 9th butterfly

Stamped flower by Visible Images

Die Cut fun foam sentiments by STAMPlorations and W+9

Stamped sentiments by the Ton

Faux-stitched die cut panels and frame by L'il Inker

Glitter cardstock

Different colored fun foam for die cutting

That's a lot of wonderful crafty stuff, isn't it! I can still make at least 2 more cards out of the goodies... They are all great and I want to thank my lovely friend Sandie for treating me with these! The two cards I'm sharing today are pretty self-explanatory so I'll just show you the photos and list the ingredients. Thank you for popping by and biggest thank you to Sandie for this fun swap! I'll go and visit Sandie in June and I think I'm going to die cut at least 10 of these wonderful Concord & 9th butterflies... If she lets me! :) 

Orange Flower Card

From the kit:

Stamped flower

Blue glitter card 

From own stash:

MFT Jumbo Fishtail banner Die

Circle die (brand unknown)

PTI sentiment

Clear sequins

Card base

Blue Shaker Card

From the Kit:

Die Cut Butterfly (Concord & 9th)

Die cut Birthday-sentiment (STAMPlorations)

From own stash:

Blue and white card for the card base

Sequins for the shaker

Previously heat embossed sentiment (can't find this stamp from my stash and it's driving me crazy, can anyone help me, do you know where this sentiment could be from?!?) 

I'd like to enter Orange Flower card to:

City Crafter Challenge: In Bloom

I'd like to enter Blue Butterfly card to:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Things with wings

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes