It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

a simple but a bit different red and green Christmas card....

Platinum embossed stamp, partly coloured in red and green (and I resisted the temptation to add some glitter!).  With a simple stamped Script Merry Christmas with a little tiny holly leaf for the dot on the i ....

Entered in this weeks LiM challenge red and green

Let it shine...

and they really do (but a nightmare to photograph 😂🙏🤣....my Christmas cards made especially for my son and daughter and their respective families....

The first one is stamped with my all time favourite ( I’m finding this stamp so versatile!) it’s the Altenew Sketch Floral  stamp.   Simply embossed with Wow Jingle Bells (it looks a little more gold than the old silver it really is) and to keep it cas I used a glue pen to colour in some of the flowers and sprinkled with  Glamour Glitter.  It was then mounted on some red sparkle card and a plain white A5 card.   I die cut the word Noel from red glitter card and another 3 Sets from white scraps of card,  these were all adhered together so that they stood proud of the stamping.

The second card was simply die cut ( an MFT script word) with the word Joy - keeping the tiny bits from the diecut, I placed a piece of silver behind the word and then carefully glued. the tiny bits back.  To finish I added a small diecut poinsettia in silver...hope you like them!

Entered into;simply less is more...let it shine 
Aaa cards-christmas.  Addicted to stamps clean-and-simple 

Watercolour card

After an extremely busy and wonderful summer with family and all the grandchildren (& shock horror- internet problems which are now sorted!! Haha). Back to some card crafting, not that I haven't been busy on that scene too having made a start on my Christmas cards!  Rekindled my crocheting (is that a word?) and Crocheted a beautiful little amigurumi penguin at a knit and natter group etc etc...

Anyway here's my card for this weeks challenges - Altenew image stamped on watercolour card, heat embossed with platinum powder, watercoloured with zig clean colour watercolour pens which I found to be so easy I have ordered a few more as I really love them...not so easy to see is that the card is layered with deep blue card and grey onto a blue card base....to enhance the colours and because water colour card/paper is usually creamier than plain white card and usually needs something more than a plain white card background. Enjoy

Entered into Less is more , All the little things , Addicted to CAS

Centre stage wording

That's the challenge over at AAA card challenge and that gave me the idea for a birthday card for one of my grandchildren using birthday word power..., can't believe my gorgeous Grandson is 14yrs old!!

After stamping the different words and heat embossing in silver, I've simply layered the black card with silver card to enhance the silver embossing and added a red smile diecut which was stamped with red ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder to give the ink staying power

Ice cream

Namely the old fashioned Neapolitan ice cream and that's the challenge this week at Less is More, sooooo I thought I'd try to do a 70's theme using a bit of feather and these super ice cream colours...


I've used a stencil of trailing leaves and flowers and used a selection of colours in Sahara sand pumice stone for the chocolates shades and frosty pink and coral berry for the strawberry ice cream shades...For the bird I stamped him on cream card in Saharan sand - fussy cut him and added some dusky pink feathers to his tail for a vintages/70's look.  Topped off with a simple gold embossed phrase on a strip of Vellum that I thought went well with the theme and a few 70's sequins that are again now fashionable in the card world and on clothes.  What goes round comes round so the saying goes.....

Also fits in with Fairy tale - Things with Wings challenge

Some family time on holiday last week on the Yorkshire Coast (some beautiful stretches of beach there were too) and had to show my youngest enjoying his ice cream in the sunshine we were lucky enough to have!

Geometry,,,,,

Well not quite thank goodness but the beautiful geometric shapes for a card design, so here goes.

Various geometric shapes stamped and heat embossed in detail gold for a bit of bling, the centres of the stamps coloured with  promarkers inspired by some lovely feathers I have glimpsed in bottom right of photo

The sentiment I decided to create using a geometric font in keeping with the card design, the geometric letters too were coloured lightly in places.  All backed onto a lovely rose gold coloured card I found.

Entering into Less is More Geometric challenge

Spots and Stripes

Are on the menu this week over at....LiM

And I decided to send everyone a simple smile....to make my card I mixed up a few different stamps to create a clean and simple design focussing on the sentiment highlighted with some stripes and spots...I added a few extra spots with a black pen around the 'S' of smile to give a bit more balance.

I went to a couple of beautiful gardens last Sunday that were open for charity, these are a couple of the photos I took

A splash of yellow

is all I felt was needed for my flower border....

The flowers and leaves etc were first stamped in soft granite and then to highlight just a couple of the flowers I used a warm sunshine inkpad (I love this warm sunshiny yellow inkpad)?

A simple grey sentiment stamped in charcoal grey onto a silver grey card-stock was all that was needed to complete my card, lifted with some foam tape...oh and a couple of clear dewdrops....enjoy.

The challenge this week from Less is More is grey and yellow, also entering this card for the Paper Shelter, flowers theme

Shadows...

I've linked this card to the Less is More, Lucky Dip Shadow challenge

Last week I went with a friend for a walk in a local bluebell wood, what can I say,  it was beautiful! So I knew I wanted to make this card using flowers and blue! I've posted a collage photo below....

 For the shadows I simply used a stencil and some light blue Ink creating a background garden of shadows, using a deeper blue I stamped some different flower and leaf outline stamps over the stencilling. I decided to use Vellum as an overlay so I heat embossed a sentiment using sparkling snow for a bit of glam onto a piece of Vellum,! The addition of the Vellum rather than just a simple sentiment I felt created even more shadow effect...And to finish I added a sequin and a couple of Swarovski crystals.  Enjoy x

Spring walk

thats the theme this week at Less is more.

Spring evokes many colours but for me yellow has to be the most prominent one and of course it's the start of beautiful swathes of flowers,

So for this weeks Less is more challenge - Spring Walk here is my take on the theme. (Have to make a confession here ....but my positioning of the frame and vellum wasn't great but ....I've run out of Vellum so needs must...( I have limited supplies at the moment as I'm visiting my daughter and Grandaughters in Dubai... and, Its only really visible when looking from a certain angle...hope I'm forgiven..!)

Happy Birthday

This week I have made a birthday card for one of my nieces.

  I wanted a gold and white card with a tiny pop of colour, then found I onky had scraps of gold card so I cut and then coloured the outer layer of the white diecut frame with a gold leaf pen ( they are so useful!) et voila one gold frame. I water coloured a bit of watercolour card for the coloured birds and and used the scraps to cut the other birds. The sentiments are simply stamped and gold embossed.

Washi and die cut....

card today. I covered a piece of scrap card in wash tapes that were differing widths and designs but coordinated colours...I then die cut a simple butterfly to show off the colours and designs and cut a coordinating heart shape in turquoise to pick up the lovely shades of turquoise in the washi tapes, ( having just got back from Cuba I still have the bright colours of the classic old cars and buildings and turquoise sea in mind!!)

To pull the card together  I decided to cut off a half inch strip on the front ( as I love to see and make off the edge cards) and I covered the piece that showed behind the heart in a 1/2" strip of one of the washi's. Simple but effective, I hope you'll agree....and a card that will cover numerous occasions....

I am entering this card in the following challenges

Less is More Washi tape,  and AAA  die cuts

Sketch time...

keeping it clean and simple and following the less is more sketch this week, here is my take on it

A simple retirement card for a friend - I simply stamped and embossed in platinum once on watercolour card and once on Vellum. I watercoloured the pink flower added the sentiment in grey to match the grey layer then cut the card with a stitched rectangle to look like a photo frame added the fussy cut vellum flower falling off the edge of the card and a few gold sequins...not very good at photographing my cards ...but...I think I might have done a bit better with this one haha!

Hydrangeas

my first try at watercolouring using a clear embossed stamp image. Loving this hydrangea stamp and I have tried to capture the delicate lavender pink shading some of ours have..I just added a few clear dewdrops, and a Vellum stamped tag hope you like.  I am entering into the aaa card challenge which is watercolour s and Case this Sketch

Hello....

 It's been a while, but I now have some free time once more..lots going on including some special times with my grandchildren both abroad and here in the U.K. 

I've also actually made some inroad into cataloging my stamps and dies...they are mostly now neatly filed in a couple of great little wooden boxes  my husband made and painted for me......but what a job - so time consuming and I don't really have that many!.and  what a lot of changes too over at "Less is More", I still take a peek nearly every week. 

 This weeks challenge is perfect as I have 3 male cards to make for my brothers in law. And the theme this week made me think of this...Alphabets at Less is more challenge