31 October 2015

Lucky Dip Week 248

As this is a five Saturday month it's time for another

Lucky Dip Challenge 
and another 
Guest DESIGNER

This month we are delighted to welcome a well known LIMette
(Canonbury Creations)

for our challenge, which is
PAPER PIECING
 Here are our examples


Val used Acid Drops and Whatnots stamps for her fabulous card!


Sarah

My puppy image, accessories and sentiment are from 
Mama Elephant: Playful Pups with the trees from Winnie & Walter:
It's a Wonderful Pennant. These are stamped on DP from Doodlebug
and Pink Petticoat before fuzzy cutting and adhering to the stamped images.
The background sky is embossed using a Sheena Douglass EF: Snowfall,
although it's not too obvious in the photograph and I've used a Mama Elephant:
Landscape Trio die to create a bank of snow.

Anita

I used a stamp by Woodware called Sprig of Holly to stamp onto a white 
cardstock panel, off the edge.  I then stamped the leaves onto the polka dot 
green paper and the berries onto the red tiny heart paper,
both of these from Santa Express by Doodlebug.  
The bow was stamped onto a piece of gold shimmer paper from my stash. 
 Once cut out, I positioned and adhered the papers over my stamped image 
and then added the sentiment below in black from Most Wonderful 
by Clearly Besotted.  The panel was popped up on 3D foam strips.

Technique Tuesday birdies paper pieced onto kraft card using some Basic Grey DP and a Whiff of Joy sentiment.  I don't have any enamel dots, so I used some tiny brads instead for food for my birdies (remember when every card had to have great big brads impaled upon it?!).

Chrissie
Mama Elephant stamps and Simon Says Stamp dies were used for this simple card.
The paper was a snippet from the depths of my paper drawer!


***



30 October 2015

ShowCASe Week 246


MASCULINE SHOWCASE
Lots of us find masculine cards a little more challenging to create, however we still had a splendid gallery of cards last week with some great ideas to inspire future makes.
Here are our choices


 
Such clever use of linking the hexagon backdrop with the shapes on the ball... so eye-catching and perfectly CAS!


Laurie's colour choice and simple use of the dies and sentiment  says it all. The personification of  "Less is More".

The perfect clean and simple one layer, masculine card... great placement and super neat stamping!

Please take the ShowCASe badge from the page at the top with our compliments!
There's still a smidgen of time left to join in  this week's sketch challenge but do come back tomorrow for our Lucky Dip Challenge, with a Guest Designer!!
Who will it be?

24 October 2015

Sketch Time Week 247

Week 247

It's time for a 
SKETCH



Very straightforward  once again, so let's see lots of white space and a
 really clean and simple design. You may rotate the sketch as you wish but we
should be able to see the the partial panel somewhere in the design.

Here are our samples for you!


Here is a pennant cut from a piece of card which had been given the Inka Gold
smooshing treatment. I put small amounts of Rose Quartz and Graphite pastes
onto a craft mat and spritzed with water. I then took prints using pieces of absorbent card.
When completely dry they were buffed to a beautiful lustre using a paper towel.
The flower is from a  die which was free with a magazine and the sentiment
from Art Impressions!


Sarah
I started out by die-cutting the smallest snowflake die from 
the Uniko Studio Snowflake trio dies then adhered them to my 
card base. Using MFT Die-namics fishtail flags I've die-cut a 
narrow flag, with a die-cut 'happy' word die from Hero Art and a 
'Christmas' sentiment from Uniko: Simply Said Christmas.
It looked a bit bland for the festive season so I added mini gems 
for a bit of Christmas cheer and sparkle!


Anita

 A super simple one layer card.  I stamped the Holly Bough by 
Lili of the Valley in Jet Black Archival Ink off the edge of the card and 
coloured it in with some Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens.  The sentiment 
from Mixed Christmas Sentiments by Happy Little Stampers was 
stamped below in Versafine Onyx Black.  I was going to add some 
bling but I felt as the stamp was very detailed it looked best left alone.


A Christmas take on the sketch here, I have stamped a Winnie & Walter
 tree branch a couple of times and added a sentiment in Pear Pizazz.  
I inked a Stampin Up bird punched from kraft card and made 
it into a robin.  Job done.

We hope you enjoy the sketch this week and can't wait
to see what you come up with. Have fun !


***

23 October 2015

ShowCASe Week #245

Hi there, it's time for another
  Less is More ShowCASe
following our one layer AUTUMN themed challenge.

Once again you rocked it but after much debate here's our choices:


 Daizy-Mae (Viv)  
Autumn, Tree, CAS

We were literally swooning over the masking off to the corner, 
fabulous autumn colours, lots of lovely white space and 
hand drawn detail too!


 Sidan  

Using a slightly more restricted colour palette to capture autumn, 
wonderful combination of stamps gives lots of detail and interest, 
balanced by the white space above!


Linda W  

A real depth of colour, using the same inks for the background circle 
and for the beautiful leaves. Once again, the all important white space 
really makes the focal point work well.


Another brilliant selection and we're sure agree these cards are simply 
awesome and worthy of our ShowCASe this week.

Please take our showcase badge from the page at the top and 
we hope you'll display it with pride and our thanks.

If you are quick there's still time to join in this week's MASCULINE challenge, 
before we share details of the new one tomorrow at 8am BST, so join us then!

17 October 2015

Week 246 Theme

Good morning all!

Autumn has decidedly started to make an appearance here in the UK.
There's a definite nip in the air and the trees are really starting to show off their autumnal beauty! 
There were some lovely cards in our gallery reflecting this last week too.

On to this week and our theme is simply
MASCULINE

Here are our cards to give a little inspiration!


Anne

I've a die cut masculine card, with a Memory Box digger against a Memory Box sentiment.  The background was sprinkled with Brusho greens and then spritzed with water.  I coloured the digger with Copics and filled in its window with some Glossy Accents.

Here is a sweet Lili of the Valley image, gently coloured, set within a die cut frame and accompanied by a triple layered Penny Black die-cut sentiment. Although a masculine image, this card could be for either gender.
As I use double sided tape to adhere die-cuts, once stuck down, I sprinkled a little talc behind the part of the sentiment which overlaps the aperture so that it wouldn't get stuck to the picture when squished in the envelope.


Sarah
I can't resist a little space travel for guy cards and it's a first time use, 
for me, of this gorgeous Out of This World set from Clearly Besotted. 
Fun and Sci-fi! Using Distress inks in Ripe Persimmon & Wild Honey 
I inked a sun / planet. Then with Blueprint Sketch, Faded Jeans and Black Soot. 
I've added a few stars with a white gel pen, coloured the images with Stabilo markers
and mounted them on 3d foam, accented with wink of stella and glossy accents.


Anita

One for the younger men, as I'm always lacking in my stock of these cards. 
 I used a Nestabilities Rectangle die to cut out a piece of patterned paper from
 the Doodlebug Kraft in Color paper pad and adhered this flat to my card base. 
 I stamped the train from Clearly Besotted's Going Places set, die cut with its 
co-ordinating die, and then coloured it in with ProMarkers.  
The train was then popped up on 3D foam and the sentiment from the same set stamped below.


***


16 October 2015

Jewel Colours ShowCASe


SHOWCASE 
Week 244
We had some beautiful submissions for our jewel colour challenge and our showcase this week reflects the wonderful talents of our participants! 
As always it was a difficult choice!


Such a classy creation with touches of gold and the faceted heart was a perfect choice to showcase the ruby tones.


The abstract background stamp was ideal to create the diamond, and the embossing with the ink sprinkling created a wonderful result.


Christine created such a beautiful marbled effect with her alcohol ink technique which just popped against the wonderful white frame and die cuts.
We're sure you'll agree that all of these cards are simply stunning and so worthy of our ShowCASe this week.
Please take our showcase badge from the page at the top and display it with our thanks.
There's still a smidgen of time left to join in this week's one layer challenge, but a completely new one will begin tomorrow at 8am BST, so join us then!

10 October 2015

Week 245

Would you believe it... it's One Layer time again!
These months really seem to roll around quickly.

We have a really seasonal theme for your ONE LAYER creations this time and it's

AUTUMN

The leaves in our part of the world are just starting to change colour and when
we have clear skies and a little sunshine, nothing looks finer!

Anita

I masked a horizontal panel and blended various Distress Inks in autumnal tones.  I then took a leaf image from the Autumn Silhouettes set by Kanban, spritzed the stamp with water and then stamped on my panel one at a time, leaving the water to settle for a short while and then blotted with a paper towel to remove the colour.  Then, using second generation stamping I randomly stamped a small linear leaf image from the Mini Shadows set by Honey Doo Crafts in Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  After removing the masks I finished by stamping the tree and sentiment from the same Kanban set in Versa Color Pine Cone ink.



This Unity stamp is all about autumn to me:  wrapped up against the chill and with a warm cuppa!  She's coloured in autumn shades using Copics and I've added a House Mouse sentiment.


Here is a simple masked card, stamped with Stampin' Up's French Foliage stamps in a variety of Distress Ink autumnal shades. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Autumn always make me think of thankfulness!


For this one I've gone with Autumnal colours rather than the usual 'leafy' images.
I started out by stamping and watercolouring my jug using distress inks in Peeled Paint
and Mowed Lawn before masking. Using my inky blending tools I've created the background
using: Autumn toned Distress Inks and to finish I stamped the floral silhouettes and
sentiment in Versafine black ink from Clearly Besotted: Simple Silhouettes.

We hope you enjoy the challenge and please remember to keep to the
Clean and Simple rules which are shown at the top right of the page.

***

09 October 2015

ShowCASe Week 243

Morning Limettes it's time to announce our 
'SHINE' showCASe 
and it was extremely difficult for us to agree on 
just three choices - so we've got FOUR this week!

Here we go in order of entry:

So who can resist a cute Christmas card with a 
red-nosed Rudolph? The perfect way to add some shine!


A classy and chic Christmas card with 
superb inlaid shiny die-cuts!


Christmas sophistication here, brilliant placement of the elements 
on the card with the perfect shiny ornament and sentiment!


Those stars in the night sky certainly shine brightly
and what an adorable little image and design!


Thank you all!
There's a ShowCASe badge to collect from the page at the top 
and we'd love to see you display it on your blogs

If you've not already joined our 'jewel' coloured challenge then you have 
until 10pm BST tonight to enter before a new one starts at 8am tomorrow!

07 October 2015

September Winner

It's that time again!
We've another winner to announce here at 
Less is More

The prize for September was kindly donated by a new sponsor
to us ... Dies to Die For




and after much deliberation - because you are all winners - we have chosen
Mac Mable of The Sweetest of Peas

Mac Mable is a regular here at Less is More producing some fantastic
CAS cards and always keen to get into the spirit of the challenge
by leaving lots of friendly comments along the way!

A very worthy winner Mac Mable and we certainly appreciate 
your contribution to our challenges and hope you enjoy your prize.

Please contact us by email for details of how to claim it.
LIM2011@gmx.com

There's a winner's badge waiting for you at the top of our blog, 
which we'd love to see displayed on your blog with our thanks!

Congratulations!

If you haven't already entered our current 'jewel' coloured challenge
runs until Friday 10pm BST

03 October 2015

Week #244 Colour

Morning Limettes
Have you got that Saturday Morning feeling?

Well we hope so as it's a new challenge and a new month too
so first up let us introduce you to our sponsor for October.


As our sponsor for this month Beverley will be offering a prize
of a £15 gift voucher to spend in the Uniko Studio online store.
Do check out the shop HERE to see the brilliant collections.

Onto our challenge and the first week of the month means
Colour week and we are looking for Jewel colours

Here's what the design team came up with and we're looking forward to seeing
your wonderful creations but please remember to keep your designs clean and simple.

 Still with the shiny stuff on my desk from last week I used 'jewel' coloured foil 
card to die-cut 5 butterflies using the Clearly Besotted: Butterfly Duo die
I've inlaid the mini jewel pieces of topaz, sapphire, ruby, emerald 
and amethyst ... that's my thinking anyway! then die-cut a further butterfly
outline to sit on top for added dimension. The sentiment is also CBS:
Sweet Little Sentiments and I've used Simon Says Stamp stitched circle die
which is also inlaid and the Paper Smooches Dots and Dashes to add some
interest to the sides of the purple panel. To finish a couple of sparkly jewel sequins!


 On a panel of Neenah Desert Storm cardstock I stamped the flowers from
 Stampin' Up's So Very Grateful set and the sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Stylish Flowers set, both in VersaMark ink.  I then heat embossed in Wow! 
Opaque Bright White embossing powder and coloured the image with 
ProMarkers.  The kraft panel was mounted onto purple cardstock 
before being popped up on 3D foam strips.


Back to those Crazy Birds again!  This time I've used shades of amethyst 
and gold.  He sits in a Simon Says stitched diecut frame, 
The sentiment is from Stampin' Up Age Awareness.


Some time ago I saw a card made with a Crealie Patchwork die and I thought I could do something similar without using that specific die. This Penny Black image was paper pieced using some card I had coloured by smooching Distress Ink and Inka Gold paste. This ruby colour looks really rich and intense. After paper piecing the petals I cut the image with an octagon die and then chopped it into pieces, mounting them with dimensional  pads. The sentiment from Lily of the Valley was attached with a length of twine and an eyelet.

We hope you enjoy the luxurious and opulent colour challenge
and please remember to leave a few encouraging words
for your fellow Limettes - we all love comments!






02 October 2015

ShowCASe Week 242

Our Technology challenge had a few people scratching their heads trying to think of ideas, but some really super cards emerged... it certainly was a challenge,  well done everyone who entered.
Here is our 
ShowCASe


Following another sketch but perfect for our techy challenge!

Pink Petticoat, LIM, CAS
Often tricky subjects can be overcome  by using computer generated sentiments as Viv did here... this is a really fun one!

Heather
We love the simplicity of Heather's card. Lots of fabulous white space really makes the image pop!

Thank you all!
Do take the ShowCASe badge from the page at the top to display on your blogs, with our thanks.

You have until 10pm BST tonight to enter this week's challenge and a then new one will begin at 8am BST tomorrow!
DO join us then!