Less is More Challenge #479 – One layer

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Today is such a special day for me and I’m so excited to share some fantastic news with you all….drumroll……I’m officially a design team member for Less is More, I can’t believe it !!!

Many many years ago when I first started making cards I discovered Less is More and was amazed by the fabulous Clean and simple cards that I saw week after week by the DT and in the gallery, I have to admit I lurked in the shadows for months too scared to take part for fear of rejection until one day I finally took the plunge since then I haven’t looked back. Fast forward to 2023 and here I am a member of the Design Team !!!.

Today is our first challenge of the year which just so happens to be a one layer card and I have NEVER EVER made a one layer card before until now that is. To say it was a challenge would be an understatement and my messy desk and full bin are a testament to that. I’ve always shied away from them but there was no shying away this time but the sense of satisfaction I felt when I finally made something that I was happy with was well worth it.

I love this stamp but I have no idea for the life of me who it’s by, I’ve had it for more than 10 years and of course the packaging has long gone. If anyone knows who made this beauty please let me know. Stamped with archival black ink, the eyes and mouth coloured with watercolour pens. The sentiment is from Stampers Anonymous.

I do hope you will join us at Less is More the DT has some amazing cards to delight and inspire us all and I feel so lucky to be part of this oh so talented team.

Looking forward to seeing what you all come up with.

Take care

Marie

Hearts !

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It’s such a long time since I’ve posted due to Christmas shopping hours (we have a jewellery shop) and a very longggggggg bout of the flu I didn’t have the energy or the inclination to create. I’m back now with a card for a few challenges as I just adore hearts and this is the time of year when I get to use my favourite products and some new ones that have been sitting on my desk now for a few weeks.

I absolutely adore this Tim Holtz Robotics die I received it recently it’s quite an old one and I was amazed at the possibilities. There are lots of individual pieces so you can create your own cute or not so character. I used distress inks applied directly to my glass mat spritzed them with water and dragged my card through it. When dry I flicked on some gold paint and then embossed with clear embossing powder.

The Little heart is also by Tim Holtz called faceted heart I used the same colouring method as described above and then adhered it to my little robot’s chest. A couple of Pinkfresh gold blobs and A Tim Holtz sentiment and Ta-Dah! My cute (well I think so robot is born).

I’m entering the following challenges

Tic Tac Toe I used heart,free and die cut

Cardz for Guys A valentine for Guyz !!

The Sisterhood of Crafters Who are asking us to use hearts

NBUS Challenge #47 as neither of the above dies have been used before.

Do pop over to the fabulous blogs above to see the amazing creations by both design teams and the amazing entries in their galleries and I loof forward to catching up with you all.

Take care

Marie

Sparkle

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Just dropping in with a quick post and entering a few challenges new to me, well not actually new to me but I’ve never entered either before.

Tic Tac To is one of the challenges that I have wanted to enter for such a long time but by the time I get myself together, it’s either over or just like playing the lotto I’m one number short !!!! well, you know what I mean. Today I finally managed to get all three components required to play along.

I’m playing along with the centre line, layers, arctic animal and colouring. Does it matter that my arctic animal is blue? (could be from the cold) This cute bear is by Tim Holz for Sizzix lots of lovely fiddly, tiny pieces to get lost on my desk. My arctic bear was coloured with Distress Oxides in Aged Patina and Picked Rasberry spritzed with water. I decided he needed some fancy gloves and a scarf to give extra layers and of course a little glam I used some glitter card for those. The embossing folder is also courtesy of Mr Holtz coloured with Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide and embossed with Wow bonding powder and then sprinkled some chunky glitter on top. The bonding powder really helps the glitter to stick and stay put. I added some white Nuvo drops to give the impression of snow and there you have it!

Here is the same bear but just a tad of colouring on his scarf and funky Tree, die again by Mr Holtz for Sizzix.

I’m also entering into Simon Says Stamp “Add Some Sparkle” challenge first time playing along here I’ve always been intimidated by this challenge but why not it’s Christmas and I’m feeling adventurous!

Do pop over to Tic Tac To and Simon Says Stamp as they have amazing cards to inspire in their galleries and the DT’s have pulled out all of the stops.

Wishing those who celebrate a fabulous Christmas and Look forward to seeing you all in the new year.

Take care

Marie

Outdoors.

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Hello to one and all, I’m popping in with a quick post to share a clean and simple card for Less is More for their Outdoors challenge #478

A super easy card made using a fabulous die set from the Spellbinders series “Bird Houses Throughout the Seasons” I’ve chosen for my card Build a Winter Birdhouse by Vicky Papaioannou. I love this series so easy to use and added a couple of birdies from another Spellbinders set.

No stamping on this card just die cutting a sentiment sticker from Tim Holtz and some lovely gold blobs from Pinkfresh studio.

I’m also linking this card to Fab N Funky#562 as they are asking for cards with die cuts only no stamping allowed so this fits the build perfectly.

Also linking to NBUS #45 as this little birdhouse has never been used before.

Do pop over and check out the Design Teams of the above mentioned blogs they have some amazing cards to inspire us all and their galleries are jammed packed with gorgeousness.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend.

Marie

Addicted to CAS Challenge #233 – Present

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Welcome back, It’s our last challenge of 2022 at ATCAS so I do hope you will join in and play along with our current theme which has been chosen for us by the super-talented Raga.

Such a great theme and I’m sure you all have something present-related in your stash.

For my “borderline” CAS card I used this fantastic die by Spellbinders called shopping spree it’s in the series of kinetic dies her legs swing to and fro it’s so cute and you can dress her as you wish. It’s quite fiddly has lots of small pieces and if you have a messy desk like mine then you might need to die cut a few pieces again as they tend to go missing. I used distress oxide for her coat, mat gold, and silver card for the pressies, and a little glitter for her boots and mitts. The mini slimline frame is from Pinkfresh Studio. I had a great sentiment for this card “finders keepers” which I added after taking the photo as it was as I mentioned before borderline CAS so kept it as is.

I do hope you will be able to join us at ATCAS to CAS for our last challenge of the year my teamies have some fantastic cards to inspire you all and I can’t wait to see what you all come up with.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend and look forward to seeing you in the new year at ATCAS refreshed and revitalised.

Linking up to NBUS challenge # 44 as my little dancing lady is having her first shopping spree

Happy Little Stampers has an Anything Goes with Dies challenge and there are plenty of dies on this card

Until then….

Take care

Marie

Tags

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Hello lovely ladies and gents just popping in with a super quick post as I see one of my favourite challenge blogs Just Us Girls has a fantastic theme this week.

It’s been an absolute age since I made a tag and as I had just received a little package of goodies that seemed perfect for the challenge I thought I would give it a go.

Harvey is the name of this super royal guard by Tim Holtz and Sizzix , I absolutely love him there are so many options in the set so expect more non traditional flamboyant guards to follow. I chose traditional colours this time and added a few gold “blobs from Pinkfresh for buttons and a touch of Nuovo drops for his shiny boots. I used another new embossing folder from Tim Holtz for the sprigs and coloured it with Distress Oxide added a touch of chunky glitter embossing paste hither and thither, unfortunately, the glitter is a bit shy and decided it didn’t want to appear but I can assure you it’s there! A few gold splatters were added willy nilly hoping to add a touch of something a little more festive.

I used my Crop-o-dile to add the eyelet the poor thing has been shoved at the back of a drawer for many. a moon and was glad to see the light of day. The sentiment is courtesy of Mr Holtz.

So there you have it! A big thank you to Carol Mc from Just Us Girls for this great challenge it must be about 10 years since I last made a tag and I enjoyed it so much.BTW the tag was hand cut as I didn’t have a die and I couldn’t be bothered firing up the old Silhouette Cameo.

Do pop over to Just us Girls as the DT have some amazing tags to inspire and delight.

I’m also linking up to NBUS # 43 as Harvey is out on his first official engagement as is the embossing folder.

Take care.

Marie

Addicted to CAS #232 Sympathy

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Time once again for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS and for the next two weeks our hostess is the fabulously talented Vicki. So what has she chosen for her code word?

Well, it’s definitely a card no one wants to make and I have to say I really struggled trying to create something fitting for this sad occasion.

I used an old Memory Box rubber wooden stamp that I’ve had in my stash for about ten years. I first created a background with a couple of oxide inks in Twisted Citron and Salvaged Patina I splashed it with a little water and when it was dry I stamped the image using black archival ink. The sentiment is by Yana Smakula and foiled in silver although you wouldn’t know if from my terrible photo. A little silver blob from PinkFresh and a couple of leaves from one of my Spellbinders sets and there you have it.

We do hope you will play along with us at ATCAS and I look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery.

I’m off for a few days to our summer house with Mr.P the weather is glorious and now my cast is off I’m looking forward to having a swim.

Take care

Marie

Addicted to CAS #231 Layered

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Hello to one all, time for another new challenge at ATCAS and the theme for the next fortnight has been chosen by the lovely Nancy.

As soon as I saw the code word cake immediately came to mind, even without the code word cake often comes to mind. Having said that I didn’t have any cake related dies or stamps so ended up buying the Stiched Fringe Cake die by Spellbinders.

I used a variety of gold and silver mat card for my layers and stand,added a piece of shiny card behind (hence the second photo). A touch of Nuvo drops for my candle and some gold “blobs” from Pinkfresh Studio for decoration. The sentiment is computer generated. Apparently, this die is intended to be stitched but having the gammy hand didn’t lend well so I left as is.

We do hope you will join us at ATCAS the design team members once again have created amazing cards for your inspiration.

Linking up to the following challenges

I’m also linking up to NBUS # 43 as this die is fresh out of its packet.

Addicted to Stamps and More.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend.

Take care.

Marie

Just Us Girls #653 CAS

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Hello lovelies, just popping in with a quick card for one of my favourite challenge blogs Just Us Girls As soon as I saw this week’s theme I just couldn’t resist, the fabulous Sue has chosen CAS and I do like myself a bit of CAS.

I used this lovely ovalish die for my aperture I still haven’t found out who it belongs to, I really must be more careful with the packaging! The little birdie is from Spellbinders I think it’s called little chickadee. For the background, I used the bubble technique that I saw Chris Stokes using so much fun. I added Stamping Up Melon Mambo ink to a cup of water a few drops of washing up liquid and using a metal straw made lots of bubbles then swooshed (technical term) my paper gently across the bubbles let it dry and Ta-dah a bubbly background is born. I made it into a shaker just to add a touch of colour and a sticker sentiment from Mr Holtz.

Here’s a close-up for those of you who like myself suffer from bloggers’ blindness.

I’m also entering into Happy Little Stampers watercolour challenge as there was plenty of water and colour used in this card.

Do pop over to HLS and JUGS as both DT’s have some amazing cards to inspire us all.

Take care

Marie

Addicted to CAS #230 Autumn

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Welcome to one and all! Time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS and for the next fortnight our hostess with the mostest is the very talented Sue. So what has the lovely Sue chosen for us this time round…..

I

It’s a tad difficult to focus on Autumn here in Greece when the temperature is a lovely 28 but at least the nights are cooler so that’s something.

At the time of making this card, I was still wearing my splint and my wrist was quite painful so I decided to use my Silhouette Cameo . I printed the pumpkin image and created an aperture in another piece of card I added lots of foam tape under the aperture and placed the image below. I cut out the leaf and wedged it into the aperture(how many times can I write aperture in one paragraph lol ) I used Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink to add a touch of colour (how apt) the sentiment is also courtesy of my darling Cameo.

On another note, Mr. P and I had a few days away at a christening in Crete and it just so happened that we met 38 years ago there on holiday so we decided to revisit the scene of the crime

In front of the hotel that Mr.P worked at during his summer holidays 38 years ago

Mr. P looking fondly at the spot where he first laid eyes on me!

Here he decided it was enough of the romantic stuff and decided to wrestle with me regardless of my injured limb! There would have been more photos but our friend in charge of the camera couldn’t stop laughing so you’ve all had a lucky escape. I on the other hand decided I really must go to the hairdressers and have my roots done and Mr. P could do with a hair transplant.!!!!

We do hope you will join us at ATCAS for our Autumn challenge my team mates have some amazing cards to inspire.

Take care
Marie