Simply Less is More #387, Sketch

Hello there,

It's Saturday and time for a new challenge at Less is More. This time it's a sketch.

I tried really hard to put my own slant on it, turned it round and upside down, Tried a die cut with the sentiment across it but nothing worked better than the sketch so I just went with it.

I found a piece of card that I'd marbled a few months ago that I was happy with and used that for my background.
I had to use my brain to get the triangles cut right because measuring and maths are NOT my strong point but it worked really well so I'm giving myself a pat on the back.
The marbling is hot pink, lime green and a bit of orange so I picked out the pink for my sentiment.
The stamp is Avery Elle Valentine set stamped in Magenta Versa color and heat embossed with clear EP.
I used a scrap piece of hot pink card to punch out the 3 tiny hearts to finish.

We're taking my dad for a Sunday meal tomorrow for his 87th birthday. I think I'm looking forward to it as much as he is, no cooking and no pots to wash, yippee!

Thanks for popping in X

Less is More #383

Hi there,

It's time for a brand new challenge at Less is More and this time we are asked for Dimension on our cards.

We have an upmarket general store in a posh part of the city centre that my son works weekends at and they are looking to stock produce exclusively to them. Mainly craft beers and foods but greetings cards have been mentioned and I've been asked to submit some samples with a view to selling. I've explained it's a bit late for this Christmas but maybe I could do some for Valentines day.
I'm a bit scared to tell the truth but I'm going to give it go. Anyway I've had an idea going around my head all week and as soon as I saw the challenge details for LIM I decided to use it to put my idea to the test.

 Lots of dimension with homemade texture paste and a layered heart.

I cut out seven hearts and glued them together to give lots of depth.

A close up of the heart and tag.

So I started by making my own texture paste (I'll put the recipe at the bottom of this post) and using that on a heart stencil. from Studio 75.
While that was drying I cut out seven hearts, 4 red and 3 white using a Sizzix nesting die and glued them together alternately.
I stamped my tag with a sentiment from Flourishes and made a tag.
Once dry I cut the heart panel to size and backed it onto some red card leaving a very narrow border along the inside and bottom edges.
Then it was just a case of placing everything where I wanted them and adding a few small clear gems.
I'm quite pleased with it but if you all think it's awful, please tell me before I embarrass myself :)


Texture Paste,

1/4 cup of talcum powder. ( I used cheap baby powder and it smells lovely for quite a while)
1 TBS PVA glue
1 TBS white acrylic paint
A little water.

Mix all together adding a tiny bit of water until it has the consistency of toothpaste.

If you want coloured paste you can substitute white paint for whatever colour you need.

Right, it's back to the Christmas cards for me, thanks for popping in X

Parisian Romance.

Good Afternoon All!
It`s a cold and frosty day here today but we do have sunshine, yaay. My thoughts go out to those of you in the south of the country where there are terrible floods and no let up from the weather.

Do you sometimes despair at the rate trends change in papercrafting? I often don`t bother with some things, thinking I`ll have no need for them and then, when I get asked for a certain thing I have a heck of a job finding the right stamp or whatever. I was asked by a friend to make a Paris themed Valentine card for her partner last week. Ofcouse I had nothing relating to Paris so had to trawl through dozens of sites to find one and then panic set in incase it didn`t arrive on time. Luckily it arrived on saturday, thank you so much Craft Emporium for your prompt service.

I used the Tim Holtz Paris Memoir set from Stampers Anonymous.
The backing papers are Pink Petticoat 
Swiss dots and Brocade.
I made a tag using a Die-namics die and covered it with 2 papers, 1 from Pink Petticoat Lola Black and pink collection and the other I stamped with the background stamp from the Paris set in London Fog, then tore it at an angle.
I stamped and embossed the Eiffel tower in Versafine black and clear EP then fussy cut it and added it to my tag with foam pads.
I cut a Spellbinders Fleur de Lis circle in white and added a red circle to the centre then stamped and embossed the large Fleur de Lis and fussy cut that too.
I`ve added a red heart shaped gem and some fine black ribbon to the tag to finish.
My friend can`t pick it up until tomorrow so I hope she likes it.

Thanks for popping in..Lynne xxx

Valentine Roses

Good Morning All.
We have some very nasty weather in the UK today although not too bad in the north east just yet. I hope you`re all keeping warm and safe.
I have a Valantine card to share today, just to show I can do romantically sloppy when I put my mind to it although the sentimentis a bit ` to the point`lol.

I`ve used Pink Petticoat 
Swiss Dots and Brocade papers in silver that I`ve faded slightly on the PC.
The heart is cut out with 2 Sizzix dies and embossed with a Swiss Dots EF.
The sentiment is by Avery Elle stamped and embossed in Detail Silver EP and cut out with a fishtail edge, then curved slightly to lift off the card.
The roses are from Wild Orchid crafts and the Range and I`ve cut some leaves from Memory box and added some red stamen.
I added some beads to a red topped stick pin using Glossy accents and finished with some randomly placed red gems.

Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx

Happy 3rd Birthday Less is More

Yippee! Simply Less is More is 3 years old this week. Although the time has gone past so quickly I can`t believe how much I`ve learned about CaS cards in the 3 years I`ve been playing along and how much better my designs are compared with the beginning. I must thank Chrissie, Mandi and ofcourse Jen for all their inspiration and guidance over the years.
Heres to the next 3 years :)

So...onto this weeks challenge. As it`s the first saturday of the month, it`s a colour challenge and boy what a challenge. The colour for this week is....
                                                           

RAINBOW

I must admit I did struggle for a while before coming up with this design. Although I`m not in the least a sloppy romantic, I do seem to be in Valentine mode at the moment so I thought I`d go with a non traditional Valentine heart.
I started with a 6x6 base card using White Linen Card from The Papermill, and made a panel slightly smaller.
I simply cut out the heart shape using Sizzix Die and after masking with post its I coloured using decorative chalks using more post its to get my lines sharp.
I then placed the panel using foam pads.
I finished off with a smaller heart cut from red Pearlised card run through with a CB EF.
The sentiment is computer generated.

                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Thanks for popping in...Lynne xxx