Less is More - take three challenges

I had a session getting very inky last night and came up with two cards for this week's Less is More challenge. I selected the following three challenges:
Three Squares (Week 4)
Use ink (week 28) - I swiped distress ink across my craft mat and sprayed with Iridescent gold glimmer mist before laying my paper on top
Embossing (week 15) - I stamped in black and heat embossed in clear. I also dry embossed borders across both cards.

Both sets of squares came from the same sheet. The colours I used were Mustard seed, Worn lipstick, Broken china and Spiced marmalade. I had forgotten how vibrant these colours were, and had hardly used the worn lipstick and Spiced marmalade.
I haven't added a sentiment, because I will use them as and when. I suppose I didn't need to mat them onto the black metallic card, but it made it easier to get them straight that way. The squares on the stamp are not quite equal in size!
thanks for looking!

Photos from my holiday

Well, I've been back from holiday for 3 weeks and have realised I haven't shared many photos with you, so I'll do a quick post today and then maybe share some cards with you tomorrow.
Whilst in Suffolk we visited Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, and got up close to some beautiful birds of prey. There was the Red Kite...

and the Buzzard...

and so many owls!

Great Grey owls,

Eagle owls,

barn owls

and spectacled owls, that have the most beautiful soft hoot you could imagine. Thanks for looking!

Brayer or dusters?

I know there are lots of  people who prefer either dusters or brayers, but I have to say I love both and have no particular preference. I love the way I can create shafts of light in woodland using a brayer, like these two examples a la Barbara Gray, but inspired by Crafty Linby's cards here.

For the first I used the Clarity silver birch and 2 sizes of Birch leaves with big and juicy waterfall. The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse.

For the second, I used the same stamps as above, but also added two Lavinia ferns. The ink was Adirondack Butterscotch, Lettuce, Meadow and Bottle. Both examples were done on Silk Art card.

However, I also love the versatility of Ink Dusters with which I find I can create softer landscapes and add patches of colour and shading. I've had another play with my ink dusters and 'flight of dreams' stamps from Inkylicious, using my Creole Spice Kaleidacolor ink pad.

I am entering this card into this week's Allsorts challenge where the theme is 'You've been Framed'.  

I've also had another go at a beach scene, this time trying for a more sunset/ evening feel - I don't know how successfully though!

 I used a mixture of Big and Juicy soothing sunset, Memento desert sand and rich cocoa, and a touch or two of walnut stain and dusty concord distress inks. I used the Seascape memories and essential grasses stamps (Inkylicious). I used white gel pen to add a few little highlights where the sun is catching the water. The lovely little shells on the base card are also from the seascape memories set, stamped in chalk ink and brilliance inks. I'm entering this card into the latest challenge at Stamping for the Weekend where the theme is holidays.

So, there is definitely room in my crafting world for both brayers and dusters. Thanks for looking!

A lovely day

Yesterday Meg and I went to another Blog Girl day at Sir Stampalot. We met some lovely new people like Nikki, Lynn, and Tracy and really got to grips with our brayers, led of course by the lovely Brenda. Here are a few of my cards.

It is always lovely to meet up and enjoy a bit of social crafting whilst developing those skills, and trying new things. Thanks for a fabulous day!

Less is More - one layer and ink

The challenge this week at Less is More is a one layer card using ink, preferably in a way that is new or different to usual. I've spent several days thinking about it, and finally came up with this:

I stamped and clear embossed the agapanthus cluster (Stampendous) and then 'swiped' memento ink in angel pink, lulu lavender and summer sky. I've not done much swiping before, and to be honest, that random edge of ink makes me feel just a little bit uncomfortable! I then ironed the image using a sheet of kitchen towel to remove the embossing and leave a batik effect image. Finally I added the sentiment (Inkylicious).
Thanks for looking!

A quiet Sunday

Well, I've been indulging myself a bit today, and this is the result.

The card was the first thing I made. I began by colouring a piece of card with a mixture of distress inks in mustard seed, dried marigold and spiced marmalade. I stamped the daisy (Inkylicious) onto the coloured card with versafine and then bleached the petals. I was quite please with how the petals were left with a hint of pink - much like real daisies. The background was created with my ink dusters and big and juicy soothing sunset, which I overstamped with a script stamp (Inkylicious) and the sentiment is from a set by Hobby Art called Scene-it sentiments. Here is a close up of the card.

I'm entering this into the Stampman challenge where the theme is Anything goes with summer colours.
Now here is a closer look at the box.

I covered a 21cm square piece of thin card with colour (Soothing sunset B&J) using my ink dusters and the script and a small daisy stamp all from Inkylicious. I followed Elaine's fabulous origami box tutorial. for the folding and then decorated the lid with the stamped daisy, this time masked whilst I used cut and dry with distress inks to make the background. I finished it off with icicle stickles on the centre of the daisy. I'm entering the box into the challenge at Allsorts where  the challenge is anything but a card and Stamptacular Sunday, where the challenge is Fancy folds (Hope my origami box fits the bill).

Finally I'm going to share with you a card that very nearly ended up in the bin.

There I was happily stamping the base card with the leaves (Inkylicious) when I dropped the inked stamp, which seemed to bounce about 4 times and leave marks and splodges all over! I walked away and left it for a while, as it was going so well up till then! I decided to use part of a die cut to cover it up in the end and thankfully it doesn't look too bad. The main image was one of those I created and painted whilst on holiday with Hobby Art stamps and aqua markers. Thanks for looking!

I'm here - honest!

How quickly is this week going?  I can't believe it's Thursday already. Well, here is my 'red' card for this week's Allsorts challenge. Hope you like my interpretation! Stamps for the main image from the Hobby Art Tuscany set and the sentiment is an old Elusive images stamp. I coloured it with aqua markers and distress inks. The paper is one I have had a while and it was just a scrap so not sure who it is by. 

Yesterday I had a fabulous day with Lisa Jane, Lynne and Megan at Batley. We spent a while in Inkylicious where the lovely Deby demonstrated her fab beach scenes just for us. Needless to say I did add to my stash rather! I came home and had a little go myself and this is the result.

Not bad for a first attempt, but I'm not sure the photo does it justice! I'm entering this into this Month's By the Cute and Girly where the theme is the Sea (Thanks Lisa!). All stamps from the Inkylicious seascape memories set and I used my ink dusters too. After craft shopping we had lunch and then had a wander round 'the Mill' shopping village. It was a great day and we will definitely be doing it again - might need to save up first though! 

I have finished off a couple of cards today and made some scones too. Whilst we were on holiday I bought some rhubarb and ginger jam, so we made ginger scones to go with it...  

There is nothing quite like a warm scone. Thanks for looking!

Back from my hols

Firstly can I thank all those lovely peeps who have left me comments over the past fortnight. Sorry I haven't returned them, but I've been enjoying a little break in the depths of Suffolk. I saw my first marsh harriers and bittern at Minsmere, along with butterflies, deer, hares, green woodpeckers, kestrels, buzzards, terns, gulls and avocets to name but a few. Anyway, here are a few photos I thought I would share with you.

I'll hopefully catch up with you over the next week, as well as making some cards from the images I coloured whilst I was away. Yes, I took my aqua markers with me, but I missed my distress inks!!!

A bit of Lavinia

 Now my friend Milena has received her birthday card, I am safe to post it. Back in June I went to Stamp magic at Doncaster and bought a pile of Lavinia stamps. I bought the cat and the owl with Milena in mind as I know she loves both.
I began by using promarkers to make the background like I have seen done by Nikki Hall of Polkadoodles fame. You can see an example in different colours here. then I used chipped Sapphire distress ink to make the surface of the water. All of the stamps are by Lavinia, although it was the owl, the cat and the water lily that were my most recent purchases. I made the reflection of the cat and the ripples nearest the cat with a black promarker. In hindsight I would use a finer tipped marker to do this, although it didn't spoil it.
Finally I added a few spots of diamond stickles in the sky. I will have a brayering session to use these stamps again very soon, but I was quite pleased with the promarker background on this one.Here is a close up of the glitter glue and background.

Thanks for looking!

What ever you fancy at Sir Stampalot

This month at Sir Stampalot we have a theme of 'Whatever you fancy' . For my DT card this month I used one of the new Woodware singles stamps - a rather lovely rose available here. A bargain at £3.99 I think you will agree.

The background was created with Wild Honey and Victorian Velvet distress inks, over stamped with Old french writing (Hero Arts) in the same colours. The label and corner die (Spellbinders) were cut from ivory pearlised card. The rose was also stamped onto the pearlised card and given a hint of colour using sponges and the same distress inks. I stamped the rose three times, decoupaged it and used pinflair glue to glue it some dimension. The stem was painted with shabby shutters distress ink. The sentiment is from
Rubber stamp tapestry.
Now, on to the prize...

What a lot of lovely stash! 

Make sure you are in with a chance of winning it by entering a card, but do make sure you stick to the rules and don't enter more than 6 challenges including Sir Stampalot with that project. Well, thanks for looking and please go and visit the challenge blog for more fabulous inspiration!