About Me

"Hobbies of any kind are boring except to people who have the same hobby. " (Dave Barry, American writer and humourist)

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Less is More Week 112 - Use Beads

Hi Blog fans, I'm an early bird this week with an entry for Less is More's weekly challenge. I'm usually a Friday evening submitter so I don't know what's come over me this week! It might have been the excitement of going to the ICHF show at the NEC on Sunday. Living about a 20 minute motorway drive away, I go twice yearly without fail, but on Friday night Birmingham was engulfed in a very, very thick blanket of snow. I left it until Sunday to brave it and the most difficult part was getting off the drive and down our road.
Anyhow, here's my card for this week's challenge which is to 'use beads' on your CAS card.
 
       Stamps: SU 'Fabulous Florets', Kaisercraft 'Grid' , Personal Impressions sentiment  
            Ink: Staz-on 'Jet Black', Memento 'Angel Pink'     
                                    Beads: Black seed beads from Hobbycraft                              
 
                   
 And an extreme close up!!
 
I stamped the grid stamp first (a new NEC purchase) in a pale pink, then stamped the stem and leaves stamp over it in Staz-on for a strong black impression. I stamped the 2 poppy-like petals from the same set again in Staz-on onto a deep red card and fussy-cut them out. I popped foam squares on the smaller petal for a bit of dimension then added seed beads to the centre of each flower.
I'm not sure whether I should have done the stem in black embossing powder so it matched the glossiness of the beads, or am I being over fussy?
Off to start on a shamballa bracelet to go with a new grey floaty top I'm wearing on Thursday for our work's traditional Maundy Thursday pub crawl - there are some benefits of being a civil servant! Musn't forget to make sure the children are all sorted though lol!
                                                                                     

Friday, 8 March 2013

Less is More Week 109 - Colour Challenge

I've never been a fan of doughnuts, but these are so pretty!  It's Colour Challenge Week at Less is More this week and this is the colour palette for our inspiration.                          
  
                           donut dreams

So this is my card. I am loving Clearly Besotted's Blooming Marvellous stamps at the moment, especially since I got the matching dies. The orange of the rose is less bright in real life; alot closer to the 'doughnut colour'.
I bought a Xyron sticker creator years ago and used it for the first time ever to adhere the pink Contempo Circle border. I was quite pleased with how it worked and will use it again for sticking down those intricate border die cuts I seem to be collecting lol.

Stamps: Clearly Besotted's 'Blooming Marvellous', Inkyliscious 'Ornate Flourish',
Personal Impressions 'Mixed Sentiments'
Inks: Memento 'Angel Pink', 'Tangelo', 'Tuxedo Black
Dies: Clearly Besotted's 'Blooming Marvellous', Memory Box 'Contempo Circle Border'






Monday, 4 March 2013

Clearly Besotted's 'Framed Sentiments'

A post today to share two cards I made using Clearly Besotted's 'Framed Sentiments' stamps. I have to say, having many, many stamps by numerous different manufacturers Steph's stamps are of the highest quality, (much better than that infamous US catalogue based manufacturer!).
They stamp perfectly first time every time and I'm so excited when she announces new releases, if only I could afford them all!

This first card uses a number of different die-cuts together with the stamped sentiment image. I really like the layout and plan to make a few of these in different colour combos.
Dies: Memory Box 'Perched Reed Bird', Poppystamps 'Lorelai Leaf', MFT 'Fishtail Flag Stax'
Inks: Memento 'Rhubarb Stalk', 'Rich Cocoa'
Paper: First Edition 'Love Letters'
Stamps: Clearly Besotted 'Framed Sentiments'


My second card is for my hairdresser who recently gave birth to a little boy.
Again, an easy card to reproduce which I really must start doing if I'm going to sell more cards.
 Dies: Sizzix Bigz 'Star', Die-namics 'Simply Scallops Medium'
Inks: Memento 'Danube Blue', 'Tuxedo Black'
Stamps: Clearly Besotted 'Framed Sentiments', Personal Impressions 'Double Sayings Set'