Yesterday I tried to make a thank-you card which ended up in the bin. This sketchfrom Less is More though, lent itself beautifully to something sweet and pretty. It's such a simple idea but could be interpreted in so many ways as will, no doubt, be demonstrated over the next week.
I used a mish mash of stamps from various sets and was very pleased that they all worked together.
I think it would work as a Christmas wreath which I intend to try out. I've interpreted it very literally but I think bows and Holly or mistletoe would work. I really shouldn't be thinking about the Winter Festival in spring.
The stamps were from Kanban, Inkadinkado, Hobby Art, Majestix and Kaiser craft.
The Less is More challenge this week is what Makes me smile. Lots to smile about here. It's spring and the sun is shining and everything is fresh and green in the garden. No sunflowers yet but some tiny plants are growing my greenhouse where I spilt some bird seed. Also though I bought this stamp set for £2 in my local art shop. That definitely makes me smile.
I even considered it for a week (I wasn't sure how good they'd be) but you can spend more on a cup of coffee can't you? So I went back and bought two sets!
Today it is three years since i bought my first stamps. They should really have come with a warning. I had no idea what I was getting into. I have been back to the Shepton Mallet Creative Crafts Show today, where I bought the first ones, and didn't spend nearly as much as I could have done.
This is a card I made for a sketch challenge. I realised I hadn't got the sketch quite right and then didn't finish it in time anyway so it was never entered but I think it is very cheerful. It's not my usual style it's all about challenging yourself isn't it.
The background is masked, inked with Lake Mist and stamped with Papermania sunflowers. The layer is Inky Doodles. Almost my favourite stamps. They are fabric strips which come from the Primitive Angel set. Stamped in Meadow and Sunshine. You can make beautiful fabric checks and tartans with them. Getting it straight is the tricky bit but I have mounted them on small rulers with helps. Then the sunflower is coloured and cut out and a tag added.
After I made the last card I thought how the same style would make a pretty easter egg.
I made these as little tag cards to go on goody bags for my children. The bows were added in a hurry but I like the effect.I see now I should have added a black edge to the ribbons.
All stamps are Inky Doodles.
This week the challenge at Less is More is A Touch of Turquoise. One of my favourite colours. So why was it so hard to get the card looking the way I wanted it?
Once again I've used my Inky Doodles Print Backgrounds 2. Stamped through a mask and then dusted with a little Lake Mist. I think it looks like an old ceramic tile. It was very difficult to photograph to show the detail.
I added some tiny stickers to accentuate the detail in the pattern. I never tire of these stamps and have used them in many different ways. Though they are billed as background stamps, I don't see why they shouldn't come to the foreground.
Here is a card I made for the Less is More challeng Round and Round.I think it looks quite scruffy compared to all the georgous and very professional looking cards posted but I am so pleased that I have created this blog and made a card that I am going to post it anyway.
I cut out the aperture and then inked and stamped a circle the same size and glued it to the back of the card. My plan was to add a smaller circle highlighting one of the grasses, offset to the right but it didn't look right so I embossed a frame instead. As usual, the card didn't really turn out as I envisaged!
Stamps: Inkylicious
Sentiment: Hobby Art
