30 May 2015

Lucky Dip Week 226

May is another 5 Saturday month and so once more we have a treat for you.
A Guest Designer
We are lucky enough to have Rebecca (Melly Moo) to join us this week.
She contributes regularly to our challenges and I know that you are all inspired by her fabulous work.
Welcome Rebecca!

Our Lucky Dip theme is
2 or 4 Legs.
Here's what the team has come up with!

Rebecca
  
Details of how Rebecca made this are on  her blog, do pop over and pay her a friendly visit!

Anne

My two legs are busy getting legless!  I've coloured a favourite Art Impressions stamp with watercolour pencils on textured card, with some added paper piecing.  The sentiment is a Katy Sue Wine Buffs stamp.
When I was assembling my card I got a mark on the image - tiny wine coloured sequins came to the rescue!
Chrissie
The stamping on this is in fact deep brown, but looks almost  black in this picture. The fox and his matching die are from Clearly Besotted, as is the sentiment, all stamped with Ranger Java Bean dye ink.
The cloud embossing is from Stampin' Up and the tree from MFT. The panels were cut with Simon Says Stamp stitched squares and rectangles.

Sarah

Looking at these cuties, they don't appear to have legs but
I've just googled penguins and legs and apparently they do have very short ones!
Card Recipe:
Sheena Douglass: Falling Snow Embossing folder
Mama Elephant: Arctic Penguins
Clearly Besotted: Signature Christmas
Distress inks in Tumbled Glass & Broken China

Anita

I die cut a circle from white cardstock and trimmed off the edges so it would sit in the corner, and then stamped the sentiment from Clearly Besotted's 'Be Merry' set.  The sentiment was masked before spreading embossing paste through a Tim Holtz 'Speckles' stencil.  The reindeer was stamped and die cut using Clearly Besotted's 'In Stitches - Christmas' stamp and die set, then popped up on 3D foam.

It looks like Christmas is coming to Less is More with the last two cards... there's nothing quite like being prepared!

Please do visit the DT's personal blogs... there is always a little extra inspiration to be found there!

Join us with this  fun challenge and don't forget that creatures are not the only things with legs!

***



29 May 2015

ShowCASe Week 224

It's ShowCASe time again, this time from our 
Hello Sunshine Challenge
Week 224
It's our pleasure to present you with three fabulous cards from amongst a super selection of submissions, all guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.


Lots of lovely white space and terrific use of the stencil!

Wonderful shine and fabulous texture...to say nothing of a fab design!

Another beautiful scene created in her impeccable style! 

We hope you'll take the SHOWCASE  badge from the page at the top to add to your blogs!
Another challenge approaches so do join us tomorrow at 8am BST for more fun!

23 May 2015

Week 225 Recipe

First of all we have some really good news!
Following her Guest appearances over the last few weeks whilst I have been away, Anita has enjoyed herself so much, that she has agreed to stay on as a permanent member of the Design Team here at "Less is More" and we couldn't be more delighted!
I know how much we all appreciate her input and inspiration, to say nothing of her uplifting  comments to every participant in our challenges, so DO join me in giving her a huge, huge welcome on board. I know how much you all enjoy seeing her creations each week!
Do please visit her to add your congratulations!

Now onto this week's recipe which is to 
Use some Metal
You could use charms, brads, eyelets, photo anchors, wire, paper clips, metal embellishments or any of the ideas supplied by the DT. There are also lots of dies which are reputed to cut metal, so let's see what you can come up with!
Here are our cards to give you a few ideas!
Anita

I really struggle with masculine cards so I'm really pleased with this one.  On a strip of dark grey cardstock I used translucent embossing paste through a metal effect stencil by Dutch Doobadoo.  Once dry I added a hammer charm/brad (from my stash) to some co-ordinating grosgrain ribbon and wrapped this around, securing on the back.  This was then mounted on a strip of lighter grey cardstock and a simple sentiment was stamped to finish, this from Sentiment Sampler by Paper Smooches.


Stampin' Up Fritillary, stamped through an aperture with a space left for one wing.  Coloured with Inktense pencils, thin metal wire antennae threaded through tiny holes and secured at the back with tape.  Hobby Art sentiment.
This is simply a beautiful diamanté buckle threaded onto some grosgrain ribbon, which is in turn is mounted on a scored panel and accompanied by a die cut Congratulations sentiment. As ever, I added some double sided tape to the back of the card before cutting the word so that once cut, all I had to do was peel and press the sentiment in place. The simplicity of this design really pleases me!
Card Recipe:
Tin Can die-cut butterfly using Clearly Besotted Butterfly standalone duo
I've coloured the non-red side with some permanent markers 
Uniko Studio: Sentiment from Simply Said birthday
(heat-embossed with WOW metallic silver sparkle EP)
Vellum die-cut leaves, silver glitter card strip with gems 
silver pearls for a bit of glam

We're sure you'll come up with some cracking designs and we can't wait to see them!
PLEASE  remember to keep your cards CLEAN AND SIMPLE with lots of WHITE SPACE!
***


22 May 2015

ShowCASe Week 223

I enjoyed looking through all the water challenge submissions after my return from my holiday on the water... the Danube to be precise!
What lovely cards there were too and here are our
 ShowCASe choices.


What cute narwhals in this fabulous bubbly water.

Smiley goldfish in terrific swirly water.

What terrific colouring of these fab frogs, with really effective water.

These are all wonderful examples of CAS one layer cards...simply superb.
Thanks everyone!
DO take the showcase badge from the page at the top... and many congratulations!

Another challenge will begin tomorrow morning at 8am so do join us then!

16 May 2015

Week 224 Theme

It seems you had lots of fun with our watery theme last week 
sharing some awesome interpretations in the gallery!
Thank you so much.

So are you ready for a new challenge?
It's Theme week and the challenge is 
Hello Sunshine

Here's our examples and don't forget
to stop by our personal blogs for some extra inspiration!
Our holiday makers may be back but possibly not  
managed to ink up more than one this week!
You'll just have to hop across and see what 
they've been up to!


I've been struggling with this one and there's a few duds on my 
own blog! This one uses My Favourite Things Sun Ray stencil
Inked with Distress Inks: Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, 
Mustard Seed and Squeezed Lemonade and following my happy
mistake last week with the clear embossing powder over distress inks
I practically threw the stuff at my card this week 
to make the sunlight shimmer!
The sentiment is computer generated


My apologies for the lack of commenting, I have been away for a lovely holiday in the sun.  I wish I could say that this gorgeous Day for Daisies digi is me in the sun, but, ahem, sadly not!  She is coloured with Copics and simply layered up a few times, with the layers edged with Copics.

Anita


I started by softly blending a background in Scattered Straw Distress Ink 
before laying the MFT Sun Ray stencil over the top and blending 
with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.  
I cut this out with a rectangular die and also die cut the Scripty Hello 
from Lawn Fawn from the inked panel.  I then inlaid and stacked 
three more die cuts of the hello from white cardstock before adhering 
the inked word die to the top of the stack and accenting with some Wink of Stella.



I must apologise for my lack of commenting over the last couple of weeks, 
but I was having a wonderful time on a river cruise along the Danube. 
Amongst other places, I visited Budapest and Vienna and 
ended up in Prague for a few days. 
I met some wonderful people and enjoyed all aspects of the holiday... 
so I hope you'll forgive my lack of appearances at your blogs.

Here is a simple card for this week's challenge. 
All die cuts... from Lawn Fawn and Taylored Expressions, 
with a computer generated sentiment. 
In fact the font has stitching around the letters but is 
too small to have them show up!



We hope you enjoy this one!
We're looking forward to visiting you!
Don't forget everyone likes a comment so please try 
to share some encouragement amongst your fellow entrants


15 May 2015

ShowCASe Week 222

It's ShowCASe time again when we have the difficult 
task of selecting our favourites from the previous week!

You certainly make it impossible with your ingenious creations
which amaze us every week and we are most appreciative
that you take the time to join in and share your projects.

SO after much deliberation here are our choices 
(in number order)

Colour Week
'Use Opposite Colours on the Colour Wheel'

#23
A fun and fabulous water scene with a show-stopping
colour combo and some amazing colour smooshing and splattering! 


#4
A magnificent bloom dominating the otherwise white panel
of the card save for the stunning leaves.
Once again another brilliant colour combination. 


#57 
Such perfect stamping; crisp, clean and elegant lines;
 so pleasing on the eye and once again another eye-catching combo.


Please take your badges ladies.. you'll find them on the page at the top!

Thanks to everyone for taking part and there's still time to enter 
this week's One Layer Card challenge with a 'Water' theme
if you are quick!

Tomorrow it's time for a new challenge so do come by and see us!

09 May 2015

Week 223 One Layer

How quickly our One Layer challenges seem to come around !
This time the focus is 
WATER

You may interpret this how you wish, 
but we do need to see some obvious connection to the title!

Here are our examples for this week, 
although there are more cards on the personal blogs of the DT. 
(They love comments too)


Here I used a stamp from the rubber Stamp Gallery.
This sea bird is actually on a stand but I chose to have him standing in the water.
He was simply stamped and masked before gently inking the sky and then
stamping and inking and painting the sea.
It's got a bit of everything... acrylic paint, heat embossing, stamping, daubing
...I just had fun and stopped when I thought it was enough!
The bird was gently shaded with Mirage pens.


Sarah


This is a sneaky 'early' introduction of the soon to be released
Nautical Treasures set by Uniko Studio.
I've teamed it with the Sun Ray stencil from My Favourite Things
distress inked in Spiced Marmalade & Scattered Straw. 
The 'ocean' is inked in Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Faded Jeans.


This fun Acid Drops and WhatNots image was a freebie from a magazine, 
lightly coloured with Copics.  The Memory Box stencil waves
 are Mowed Lawn and Broken China Distress Inks.




After trying to think of an idea using water colours I ended up going 
in a completely different direction and used this bathtime digi!  
I printed this image, 'Lola Rose Bubbly' by Pink Petticoat and 
coloured it with ProMarkers.  I then, of course, added some Wink of Stella
 to the bubbles (there's a close up piccie on my blog).  
And, as she's showing off her teeth in this image I went with this funny sentiment, 
from the 'Laugh Out Loud' set by Clearly Besotted, 
and it fitted perfectly under the bath!



We hope you enjoy this one!
We're looking forward to visiting you!
Don't forget everyone likes a comment so please try 
to share some encouragement amongst your fellow entrants


***



08 May 2015

ShowCASe Week 221

It's ShowCASe time to share with you today!
This is getting harder and harder each week as 
your ingenuity and imagination never ceases to amaze us!

SO without further ado here are our choices 
(in number order)

'Use a TAG on your project' 

Janet #14

CAS perfection, crisp and clean with
the addition of the butterfly charm - simply adorable!


Karren #37

Another superb CAS perfect card with fabulous
colours and splattering with the added bonus
of making use of the negative and positive parts of the tag!


Elaine #59

Not one but three tags here and all mounted in
spectacular fashion adding interesting dimension.
Gorgeous hot pink colours and beautiful stamping!


Please take your badges ladies.. you'll find them on the page at the top!

Thanks to everyone for taking part and there's still 
time to enter this week's colour challenge - if you are quick!

Tomorrow it's time for a new challenge so do come by and see us!





06 May 2015

April Winner


We are delighted to announce the winner of our April prize, 
donated by


it's
Veerle
Veerle is one of our loyal regulars at Less is More 
and always takes the time to share some sweet 
comments amongst other participants.

Congratulations Veerle

Please contact us by email for details of how to 
receive your prize.
LIM2011@gmx.com

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

Congratulations!

Don't forget there's still time to enter our current challenge

Opposites on the Colour Wheel


02 May 2015

Week 222 Colour

Happy Month of May Limettes, Sarah here again.

We've a new month, a new challenge and of course a new sponsor
We are delighted to welcome back 

Uniko Studio 




and being on the Uniko Studio Design Team I can
also give you a little advance warning of a new release 
that will be introduced later this week.
I hope you'll join me for the sneak peeks and introductions from Thursday.

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.


Ok back to the challenge details and it's colour week
have we got a fun idea for you ...

Use opposite colours on the wheel 

here's a mini colour wheel to give you a clue



We can't wait to see what fabulous combinations you 
come up with - just remember to keep it clean and simple

The  two chosen colours should predominate and any additional shades should be minimal and limited to neutral colours only.

Guest Designer

Once again this week Anita from Neet and Crafty is joining us
so we'll begin with her fabulous card and for some extra inspiration
there's more on our personal blogs too



I masked off a horizontal panel and stamped the script background in pale green 
using 'En Francais' by Stampin' Up!  I then used another stamp set by Stampin' Up!, 
'Too Kind' to stamp the two-step flowers.  The sentiment by Woodware, 'Salutations' 
was stamped in the same green ink as the stems and I then scored double lines 
above and below the inked panel to add interest to this one layer card.



I've completely stepped out of my comfort zone here as I would
never put Orange and Turquoise together but I love it!

After heat-embossing the Uniko Studio Paradise Humming Bird & sentiment
in black I've water coloured the bird with Spiced Marmalade distress ink
The waves are added using the Memory Box Wave Stencil inked in 
Salty Ocean & Broken China then for a little detail in the background 
I've used the Card-io Oriental Whisper & Sakura Blooms stamp sets




Classic Christmas red and green here.  
The wreath is cut from a Poppystamps die that I've had for years 
and I've added tiny, dotted sequins that I bought at Ally Pally 
at a stitching show.  They are so small that I cannot imagine ever
 stitching them on as sequins but they do look cute!  
Sentiment is Stampin' Up and I scored a border onto 
my panel before popping it up on pads.




Here is one of Arielle's fabulous digi images from the Wax Fruit Company!
Simply coloured with alcohol pens and with a little Glamour Dust added 
to the sea to make it sparkle.
The die part of the sentiment is from Clearly Besotted and the word from Mama Elephant.
The image was cut by hand and mounted on pop dots.


We hope you enjoy this one!
We're looking forward to visiting you!
Don't forget everyone likes a comment so please try 
to share some encouragement amongst your fellow entrants
***





01 May 2015

ShowCASe Week 220

As ever we have a wonderful ShowCASe to share with you today!
Your ingenuity and imagination never ceases to amaze us!
SO without further ado here are our Up, Up and Away choices!

Heather's colouring is always amazing and this image is SUCH fun!

Perfect CAS!
So little... which says so much!

Great dimension, with a fabulous focal point!

What wonderful examples we have to choose from each week.
Please take your badges ladies.. you'll find them on the page at the top!
Tomorrow it's time for a new challenge so do come by and see us!