JUST ONE WORD

                                  












 Hi everyone hope that you had a really great Christmas!! 
 This week at  Less is More the one word -easy peasy i thought well know that saying famous last words??  and by the end of the week had thought of some more one words as effort after effort ended up in the bin - but we won't go there!                                                        
Think I would have been still trying if I hadn't popped into Asda and picked this freebie up with a magazine while looking for inspiration- it's great think it might become one of my favourites!
The one word is 'Wishing...' and in the card it says 'you a birthday as special as you are !' and is perfect for a friends birthday that just happens to be on the 2nd of January.(Now just need 4 more for January birthdays ....)
now off to check that we have everything for our Hogmanay party in case i need to brave the shops again. 
To Mandi and Chrissie would like to say a big thank you ,the site has been a font of ideas, inspiration and tips that I for one have taken full advantage of, and a huge thank you to everyone who takes the time to comment and share their expertise, looking forward to the challenges in 2012!! x

Music

                                                                                                                This week the theme at Less is more is Music ,and I just happened to have this freebie Robin stamp sitting waiting to be used!it also means the very LAST of my cards made - yippee!
Sorry about the quality of the picture but after 25 tries gave up hee he.(I intend to try out Picasa in the hols to see if that will help.)
The song was computer was generated and the robins coloured in with promarkers.The holly was meant to go where the word holly is but those blasted inky fingers got in the way.
Off now to do some commenting but before I do  just wanted to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a big thank you to all that take the time to leave me a comment - it is greatly appreciated!! x

Let it Snow!

The challenge this week at Less is more is Let it Snow! (Not sure if this will qualify but  this is the only snow/snowflake stamp set that I have and not sure that it meets the let it snow  theme ???).Just finished writing my cards to-day and realised that it was this time last year  that armed with a stamping up holly roller and card blanks that I made my first cards took a few months after that to start in earnest and by summer I tried entering into the less is more challenge and it's been great getting inspiration and comments (so thank you all ).Speaking of which just want to say sorry haven't been commenting so much lately but been a bit busy with work and decorating.In fact had to post a picture of my finished wall I think the card making has now gone on to take over my life!!

      Thought the wall needed something so added the stencil then thought there was still something missing and went and got some jewels from my stash and added them to the wall!!Even my husband and boys agreed that it just finished it - well it will be when we paint over the filled in holes that you can just see hee he.

A bit of bling

This week on the Less is More site the challenge is right up my street -a bit of bling!
It also tied in with a friend asking me to make an easel card for her mum-in law that can be a combined Christmas and birthday card and this is what I came up with.- and  I know the star is slightly off centre in the photo but honestly it wasn't noticable in RL, must be the new way I'm trying for my posting of photographs shows up everything!!! hee he
My bling you can see, but the paper also has a bit of sparkle too.
Hope you like it!

Pale yellow/grey and bare branches

 This week on the Craft barn Calendar Challenge it's week 11 can you believe that  tomorrow will be the last week of the challenge and I have really enjoyed it. Hope you do it again next year!they asked for pale yellow/grey and bare branches  and that meant for me  a look round  all the crafty shops  - such a hardship :-) but did manage to find a bare branches stamp and that's why this week it's been a bit of a rush and know the photo's not really great, but under advice will be trying out picasa next time.

But must say love doing little scenes like this find them very relaxing after a hard days work

Have a great weekend everyone x

Autumn leaves and shades

This week at the Craft barn calendar challenge it is autumn leaves and colours. Didn't think that I would make it this week don't really have autumn leaves and have been trying different ideas but kept going back to the nursery favourite at this time of the year.... leaf printing and so that's what I did, into the garden and picked up 3 leaves pressed them into the ink pads and then printed them onto the page.Because at this time of year I love when the frost comes and sticks to the leaves I added some snow/frosty glitter to add a bit of texture and sparkle!and there you have it my entry for this weeks calendar page. 

Leaves

               
This weeks challenge is leaves and though i do have leaves,they're not suitable for a one layer challenge.Came up with an idea and was all set to go with a bauble with holly leaves when browsing the site came across one already done!(and beautifully done may i add) So have had a glass of wine -always helps with the thought processes don't you think - and came up with the same idea as before but using a tag rather than the bauble !
 Cut out the shape and then using mellow moss ink from the roller ink blended round the edge of the mask to get the shape ,rolled the holly leaves .Punched a hole and threaded the ribbon through and used red stickles for the holly berries.Very simple but actually quite happy with it.
      Now off to see what everyone else has came up with .x                                                                 

Old paper and red lines

 This weeks challenge at the Craft Barn should have been an easy one for me ,I work in a school (albeit in the nursery) right ? wrong, think I was over thinking it.So thanks to another blogger who kindly shared her knowledge and reminded me it's about having fun ,this is what i came up with .pretty self explanatory I think ,stained the paper with tea ( thanks Anne) and then had fun doodling.!

Sorry about the picture, rushing to do this, as just about to go out the door but wanted it done before I went back to work,and thanks to all that have left comments enjoy reading them all  especially those that give me tips x

Dark/deep colour and circles

                                                                                       


                                                                                                  This weeks challenge at the Craft Barn is to use dark / deep colours and circles/ dots.How can this be difficult I thought, but to me August is bright and colourful as it's still summer, so I have taken the liberty of using the deepest shade of pink that I have  - hope that's o.k? and rolled the flowery pattern that is covered in little dots and circles all through it (The close up hopeful shows this better) and then spent two days trying to jazz it up!Added more circles than these but it was too busy so just added the ones that showed the different shades that the ink made and of course buttons are circles .....P.s sorry it's not your eyes the close up is fuzzy (should have worn my glasses !) but  you can see the dots better :-) x

Stars

                                                                              This week at the Less is More site the challenge is stars,which tied in nicely with something I have been mulling over this week.so off I go this morning and 20 mins later all made ....3 hours later finally posting it ! The ice blue paper (which just looks white in the photo) has a sheen, the mirri card has a sheen and the embossed tree reflected the light as well, Oh and lets not forget the stars they twinkled too !! so this is the best I could do and yes the corner had to be trimmed as with all the faffing about I bent it.But think these being so simple to make might be my cards for this year !
You can't really see the organza ribbon at the side or the glittery merry Christmas in the photo as you can in RL  but sorry had had enough,Hee he now off to get ready going out for a meal with friends ..... so will have a proper look 2morro (oops too much texting) at all your fabulous creations and will be working all week next week so apologies if I am slow with my commenting and a big thank you to all that left kind comments last week x x

Purple and embossing calendar week 7

 This weeks challenge at the Craft Barn is purple and embossing and had an idea but couldn't decide which way to go so did them both! (Though must say that on the blog the dark purple background looks much better while in real life it's the paler one- it also shows the embossing better too)
July always reminds me of the holidays- 6 weeks in my case!So decided to do a calendar of the men in my life with pics from this years holiday as this will probably be the last with our oldest as he's now at uni.  

Lastly thank you very much for your kind comments on last weeks calendar page they were very much appreciated x

Polka Dots

This weeks challenge at Less is more of polka dots fitted in perfectly with me this week as had intended to make an anniversary card for a friend but because it was an easel card decided that it might not fit the challenge so I made the top one instead very similar as you can see!
The polka dots were with the cuttlebug and the images and ink(sahara sand) are  SU ones.The wedding rings were given to me by someone who has given up card making(can you believe that!!) and of course just had to add a little bit of bling on the flowers and butterfly sooo not like me lol.
Thanks again to all who commented on my take of the cocktail challenge love reading them and appreciate all the tips that you give me x

Lace and turquoise

 Just like to say to all the people that are taking part in the Craft Barn calendar challenge a big thank you for all  the lovely comments that you have given me and this week please take pity on me :-) this page is pretty dire!! but really did struggle with the Lace and Turquoise(can't even get the spelling of the word right!) theme.Actually until I found the lace vellum paper was going to give it a miss So here it is, used lace vellum over the turquoise card and that made me think of weddings don't know why,and before I knew it I had added pearls and flowers and butterflies and because you couldn't see the butterflies in the photograph very well added the smaller ones to make them stand out a bit and more.Then a bit of bling - can't have a wedding without bling can you ...and that's it.Lets hope next weeks challenge is a bit easier hee he x 

cocktails

Quiz time ...

3 parts Courage 2 parts Talent 1 part Intellect And a Splash of Impishness Finish off with an olive (this part i agree with love olives!!) The rest well not too sure but would love to think so! :-0

Gosh ladies you don't half know how to stump us!This week the Less is more Challenge is to make a card with cocktails as the theme -  of course I don't have anything to do with cocktails ( meaning card wise i hasten to add) animal or even as some of you clever people have done, dresses ,so thought I'd download an image - this one with all my scribbles on it,.Then while the boys and hubby were busy building flat pack units for one of the boy's rooms (and I would just be in the way) I decided to have a bash at drawing it,coloured it with promarkers and chalks though in real life it is much paler any one else find that happens when it comes up on the screen ?? .Then printed out a list of some cocktails,stuck on a big fat gem and some stickles for fizz and there you have it,my take on this weeks challenge
            ... hope you like it! and once more thank you for all your lovely comments last week and a big thank you to Liz for becoming my 14th follower x
  

Calendar challenge 1

This was one was a real struggle for me as when I saw week 1 at the Craft Barn calendar challenge I hadn't a clue what crackle was (still don't if I'm honest!)but after getting suggestions from Isa had a look around and what I came up with was crackle nail polish!and it worked believe it or not but only on shiny paper, you might have to zoom in to see it ,ended up putting it round the edges of the mirror card tried everywhere but couldn't be seen clearly enough.So not really happy with it but hey ho it's done now and if you really stretch your imagination we could pretend its frost around the card lol
So this is my take on Blue and crackle. x

Calendar challenge Pink and Birds

Really got into the swing of this calendar challenge at the Craft Barn and think this is my favourite  so far,though will be honest at first the bird part stumped me until I remembered the humming bird that was a free download from a magazine and have never used -but  will from now on I think it looks great and so easy to make..Stamp was once again a bargain basket one.
Well hope you like it x


P.s off to have a play with new stamps etc that I bought with my voucher from The Craft Barn many thanks again to them x

Hearts

    


                                                                            




Hi everyone a really grotty day here in Aberdeen (if you're reading Suze while toasting in Malaysia- lucky you!)so spent most of the day making this card what a faff though, I'd either get the words right or the heart not both together and I still haven't! This week at Less is  More the card is a one layer with hearts as the theme.
This is my offering for this week-
The colour is rich razzleberry, love this colour because it looks good dark or light and the images are fast becoming a favourite too bought them at  half price and one of my best buys! Added some gems to finish off and think it would suit friends that will soon be celebrating their ruby wedding.
Hope you like it x

yellow and masks

I am so pleased and delighted to say that I was the lucky winner of the £10 voucher this week and will be checking out the Craft Barn goodies as soon as I've finished posting this:-0 so a big thank you to all at the Craft Barn!
I masked my favourite dandelion stamp with my favourite ink(Japanese bamboo, bought from a bargain basket) and this is my offering for this weeks calendar challenge. x

The colour of your eyes

This week the challenge at the Less is More site is the colour of your eyes.This one made me chuckle, as it brought back the memory of how in a "romantic moment" (after a wedding) in which my husband described the shade of my brown eyes as reminding him of ...  muddy puddles!!! -I kid you not!Not the most romantic of men my hubby ..
But back to the cards ,wasn't sure if the 18th birthday card would qualify as a muddy puddle colour but as I had just made it for one of my oldest son's friends thought that it sort of made the challenge criteria ,but if not hopefully the other one will, it has the muddy colour but embossed it by mistake with snow glitter so that will just have to be the twinkle in my eye .... and once again a huge thank you to all those that took the time to leave a comment last week .Looking forward to viewing all your  wonderful creations ! x

calendar challege 2

This week at the Craft Barn calendar challenge it's red and embossing and once again I have went for a very traditional  style. Then  embossed everything but the butterfly .I also wanted the panel to curve out the way in a 3D effect and does this in real life but not so clear in the photo,in fact the shadows make it look like it's been cut squint! (One of these days I'll master the art of taking photos, think I might put a daylight lamp on my list to Santa!)                                 The sentiment reads "Love doesn't make the world go round.Love is what makes the ride worthwhile"

Calendar challenge

 Hi there well decided to join in the Craft Barn Calendar challenge eventually saw it the very first week but didn't have any crackle?? but have been persuaded to try and I am even going to have a go at the previous two months - when i work out what crackle is!! seems to be a fun challenge and this is my offering for this weeks- green with flowers
Must admit find chalking backgrounds very relaxing and love making up little scenes.Think it's a bit on the boring side but it is meant to make you think of a cool dawn morning,and after the carry on that I had getting the photo!! .... one question if i do do the previous months-Jan ,Feb do I put them in the correct weeks1 or 2 or do I add them to whatever month that we are on e.g March/april ?

sketch

Well that was some challenge last week and some amount of entries!!

This weeks Less is more challenge found me covered in chalk and black ink as well as the desk ,chair ...I think you get the idea.

Sorry as well about the quality of the photo have been told that my pictures tend to be a bit fuzzy but think it's my shaky hand not the camera's fault.

But back to this weeks entry, used chalk for the background stamped the images in black memento and the sentiment -which went on straight first time I'm glad to say,not like the butterfly which is I know slightly out of kinter even using my homemade stamp a jig!

And thanks again to everyone that stopped by and left a comment they are all very much appreciated x x

Anything Goes! no.3

Picked this stamp up for a pound and love it,confess that this one is the practice one but apart from a few minor tweaks (3 berries and lose the ribbon to make it hang) really like this one. 

Anything Goes! no2

Had a play with some of my new goodies for Chrismas and here they are!

Anything Goes!

 Anything Goes!

After the carry on I had last week to meet the challenge I just had to prove that I could do a double image and so this weeks offering is just that !
Good luck on reaching the 1000 - might post another cos the postman has just delivered some new stamps he he x

Seeing double no.2

I have never entered two cards in to the challenge but this time I just had to -although technically I'm not entering two just double of the same card ,if that makes sense!.
I have lived and breathed this challenge this week and finally hallejulah think I've done it lol,got up this morning a thought to pot with the housework I'm going to try again and first go this was the outcome and was so busy admiring that it was finally like what i saw in my head that never noticed my inky fingers .... so if you see a smudge it's on your computer screen not my card ha ha,and Ann if your looking tried to get a clearer picture for you but think it might be our camera,but thanks for the comments and Chrissie and Mandi you were both right it was a learning experience and it really did make me think !See you all next week x

Seeing double

Well this week Chrissie and Mandi set us a challenge that I thought easy peasy! How wrong could I be!!
First off can I say that neither of these cards are really good enough for the challenge but just had to post them as how come the card on the right took 4 and I mean 4 full size cards to make that 1 incy wincy thing beside it??The one on the left took 3! (and it's still not right made a lot of mistakes and kinda  hid some but just had to share, because I'm still a bit bemused about where and how it all went SO wrong! lol)...ah well there's always next week x x
P.s Please don't worry about commenting unless you want to sympathise as Chrissie has or cheer me up hee he x

Mettalics

Well must admit this one had me scratching my head most of the morning! But then I spied a bangle that I use for the handles of my bags,so looked for red mettalic ribbon but none of course so used ordinary wrapped it round the bangle -(holly wreath I thought but nothing seemed to work until I remembered the glitter paper so hard to cut that hardly used but the trusty cuttlebug did the job!)
Then it started to look more like a Christmas bauble.(or a medal as my hubby said??)
Then came choosing the card and honestly the card isn't
grey it's silver!!Not too happy with that but that's all I had Computer generated the sentiment and stuck it all on and must admit with all the bits done it took minutes to do.Think I might even do some for Chrisrmas -those that I don't post! though would use something different than silver for the card.
Well that's me but before I go just like to a thank you to all for the comments and a special thank you to Viv for sharing -what a generous bunch you are!
See you next week x

More male birthdays!!

Made this card for my nephew  who turns 38!! next month.Find male cards hard to do (but think I sure get enough practice because we have lots  of males in my family!) but liked the colours on this one.(The pink is much paler IRL - though have seen him wear a pink tee shirt before...albeit a golfing one  hee he!)think the  lime green and brown are near enough the same as the one in the paper to be a good match so fairly happy with this one.x

Take 3 Challenges

 Hi there another week another challenge and how I loved this one!-what fun I had,new stuff from my stamper 6 and trying a new technique of rolling roses (although only one was usable!)


I choose to do wk24 - circles, wk15 - embossing, and wk16 - butterflies... again!, and the reason for the anniversary card is our next one will be our 25th, struggling once again getting a decent photo ,think it's time to invest in a new camera,because I have used lights, mirrors stood on chairs,lay on the floor - you name it I think I did it this morning all in the name of less is more! 

And forgive me if I didn't get round to posting as many comments as I would have liked last week, but being back to work after 6 weeks holiday takes a bit of getting used to again lol x

Happy Birthday Russell

My baby turns 15 on the 21st of this month and as he is motor bike and car crazy made him this card, have ordered through our stampin'up rep  the motor bike stamp but pretty sure it won't make it here in time so downloaded the picture but sure he will be happy with it! P.s just realised that it would fit into the less is more challenge as  something that moves!!

Inky

Hi everyone, just back from sunnier climes and feeling relaxed and ready to take part in this weeks challenge! Wanted to get it done as soon as possible because this is the last weekend of the Scottish school holidays so back to work on Monday groan- though looking forward to meeting the new children in our class. But back to the challenge -had multiple ideas and all ended in the bin as usual,eventually decided to use blending chalks - and ink of course.The 2nd one worked better( although the photo doesn't do it justice I feel ) and is my favourite, but forgot to spray it with hairspray before lifting it and the more eagle eye of you will see that a couple of  very faint smudgey marks were the result ( but think this shows that it is handmade hee he ) The first well I'll let you decide what you think of it ,both were made using the dry brushing method which I quite like instead of daubers.
P.s Is this better Chrissie think I've managed not to link it to my blog now!

Feeling fruity

Hi there a very quick card this week(cause I'm really meant to be packing, as we go on holiday on Monday and that's no.2 son home from his camp complete with washing !! so decided while it's on to sneak upstairs and do this.
First of all may I thank you all for your lovely comments once more and special thanks to those that helped out with my bags of problems.And yes it is solved -  you were right Bostick is wonderful Joanne! and sorry in advance if I don't manage to leave comments on many of your cards as I will be sunning myself in Portugal(Yippee sun and heat at last). 
Found this weeks challenge from Less is More really hard , but got on my thinking cap and came up with this ( and in case your wondering it's a get well card .)Drew the apple free hand then used it as a template for the larger one.The sentiment outside reads "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" and yes it is hiding something tried about 20 times to print it off the computer and mucked it up 20 times :-) and inside reads "Get well soon!"
Well best get back to the job of packing .... well after I've had a quick look at all your lovely cards of course!!! x

Ribbons or buttons

Hi there,first I would like to thank you all for the lovely comments you gave me for my very first entry to the less is more challenges and blogging.No wonder this challenge site is so popular! It has encouraged me to try this weeks challenge.Although not sure if I'm happy with it to be honest.(and the quality of the picture is poor too but this was the best of the lot - sorry ) No.1 son said it was a bit boring done in black and white,and no.2 son is away to cadet camp(missing him heaps he's the chatterbox along with me and it is SO quiet!!!!)so can't get his opinion,but maybe one of you will tell me.Think maybe I should have added some pink gems to the flowers to brighten it up???? , ah well too late now...
   Can I also ask if you could spare some time to check out an older post called "bags of problems "and would be grateful for any suggestions. Thanks. x

Bags of problems!!

Hi there hoping for some help! But before I do anything else,I would like to thank you for all the lovely comments that you wrote me. I really appreciated them and have encouraged me to try my hand at these hand/giftbags. These are the rough drafts of the bags  (that's one of the reasons that they look so grubby)Got my idea from the hand bag cards that I made,but have ran into a little problem as you will see as you scroll down and the the second reason that they're so grubby!!    
 ( Plus what do you think one handle .......                                                          

....or two? )                                                                   The problem is when finished either the back pops off or the front wont stay down! Grrrr I have tried red tape at the back -nope as you can see and velcro dots at the front.Please can anybody give me any suggestions where I'm going wrong? It is so frustrating !!!!!
If it wasn't for this problem they look really cute (well i think so hee he )


 I am so chuffed this the first time I managed to post this  all by myself no help from hubby or boys YES!! and thanks to all those that said, they too needed help good to know that I'm not alone! x

                                                       

circles

This is my first official post on the Less is More site (although I have been playing along for a few weeks unofficially!) Being a newbie to card making I don't have a lot of stamps or a vast array of inks etc - although as you can see my first purchase was the cuttlebug - but on this site you don't need it, as it says less is more!
For this card I used a scrap of embossed card die cut some circles and there you have it .the gem is rather large but thought that if I used this one it would show up better in the photo.Gems seemed to be my trademark as every card ends up with one somewhere :-)
hence the name of my blog!Please feel free to give me some feed back x