Vibrant Flowers & Butterflies

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well.

My designs today feature vibrant colours with the gorgeous and versatile Briar Rose Butterfly and Harebell Butterfly sets by Chocolate Baroque .    I'm drawn to greens & blue but there are lots of other beautiful colours to play with.

I'm entering this first design below into this week's  Less is More Challenge as the theme is to 'use more than one stamp'  -  I've used 3 on this card.  I haven't had a chance to enter this challenge for a while, it's a great blog to see gorgeous CAS designs. 

The background above was created by blending Ripe Persimmon and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks over a circle cut in cardstock.  I stamped a fragment from Textured Fragments with the Picked Raspberry ink.  The flowers from Harebell Butterfly were stamped with black archival ink.  The sentiment is from the fabulous Mackintosh Sentiments.

And below is definately not CAS in the same vibrant colours:

The large background is Ripe Persimmon and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks that I stamped onto my craft mat and spritzed with water.   I dragged the cardstock through the ink and when dry I stamped the branch with both colours.

The smaller background is using the same technique but with Ripe Persimmon and Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.   I used the Harlequin stencil by TCW to add the diamond pattern.

I stamped the gorgeous image from Briar Rose Butterfly with Cobalt Archival Ink and coloured with Prisma Pencils.  I stamped the image a second time to decoupage the butterflies which are popped up over the background.   I added stickles to the butterfly wings.


Here is a look at the fabulous Briar Rose Butterfly and Harebell Butterfly sets

If you have time to visit the CB Design Team we have lots to show this month, my teammates have created beautiful designs.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,
Shirley

Less is More with One Layer & Wings

Hi everyone,

I'm back already as I have a card to enter into this week's Challenge at  Less is More.  It's One Layer week with the theme of "Wings".

I recently purchased a few Faerie stamps from  Lavinia through their on-line store.  I decided to use Tree Goddess "Luna" for this card.   I love this design and thought she would look good on a clean & simple card with a 'moon' behind her.     However these Faerie stamps work well with 'scenery' background that are shown at their gallery on their website.   Beautiful designs !  

I embossed the Faerie with black and used a piece of cardstock with a circle cut-out for a mask and blended Scattered Straw and Wild Honey Distress Inks to create the moon.   I coloured her wings and the few clear areas on the tree trunk with co-ordinating Distress Markers and added holograph glitter.   "Dream" is from a Kaisercraft set - Life Sentiments.    These colours make me think of Halloween.  

Thanks for your visit and have a great day,
Shirley

One Layer Card with Foliage and Gratitude

Hello everyone !

I'm back sooner that expected.   My craft room looked like a cyclone hit the last few days as I was putting together 85+ kits for my classes coming up at Crop Circles.    But I've finished most of the work ahead of schedule and had some time last night to create a quick card.   Single layer cards are not my 'regular' style, but I enjoy venturing into the world of clean & simple.   I admire the simple elegance of what I see out here in blogland and I had fun creating this card which I've combined for two challenges.  

The challenge this week at Less is More, where you will find inspiring creations by the DT & friendly participants, is to create a single layer card using foliage.

One of my blogger friends, Darnell, suggested that I use my IO C3541 "If you are grateful" quote that I used in my last blog post for this week's challenge at Simplicity.   The current challenge criteria is to create a single layer card expressing gratitude and here you will also find beautiful enteries.  

I used Designs by Ryn's beautiful Leaves Set - CM-F5 to create this card.   I love the movement in her leaves design (3 in the set).

I drew pencils lines to mark the area that I wanted to ink.   Next I embossed the three leaves with Metallic Bronze Embossing Powder.    I used cardstock as a mask and blended Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks to create the background for the leaves.   I carefully stamped the quote with Vintage Photo Distress Ink (hoping to get it straight) and it's done !    

Below is a close up that shows the shine of the metallic embossing. 

If you have a chance please visit  Eileen's Blog.  Eileen is a super talented lady who also designs for Designs by Ryn.  She has created the most gorgeous tag using Ryn's popular & unique Water Droplet stamp here at Eileen's Crafty Zone. 

Thanks for your visits & kind comments, they are always appreciated.  Have a great day !
Shirley

Less is More with a Twinchie

Happy Weekend everyone !

This week's #79 Colour Challenge over at Less is More  is to use Green & Blue on a Clean & Simple Card and the Challenge #3 over at Show us your Twinchie is to use bright colours on a 2 x 2 inch creation.   I decided to combine them.

Below is my Twinchie, with the background created by using the bright new colours in the Summer Limited Edition Distress Ink set:   Mowed Grass & Salty Ocean using the Acrylic Block Technique.  These also happen to be one of my favourite colour combos !  The Stamps are from a little Basic Grey Clear Set that don't have a name or number on it.     I added a little glitter to the wing & beak. 

Next is my LIM card created from my Twinchie.  Very simple design, but I like how the white highlights the colours and tiny creation !

These simple creations take less than 15 minutes to create, so here is another one using Blue & Yellow.   This time I used Salty Ocean & Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks with water on my craft mat.   The stamps on this one are from a small Technique Tuesday clear set - Pointed Perfection.

And here is another clean & simple card created from the Twinchie :

That's all for today !

Thanks for your visits & kind comments and enjoy the rest of the weekend.  It's HOT here, we will try to stay cool.

Shirley

Less is More #71

Hello Crafters !    I hope you had a great weekend.  We have been enjoying wonderful summer weather and spending lots of time outdoors.   I had a busy week with participating at a show and teaching a workshop at Crop Circles on Saturday.  I had a wonderful time again with crafty & fun ladies.

I created a quick card this morning to enter into Less is More Week #71 Challenge.   This week's guidelines:  just one layer card and use a Flourish.    Clean & simple is still a challenge for me, but I continue to be intrigued by the elegant & clean beauty of the DT & participant's creations.   

I folded quality smooth white cardstock and stamped with Impression Obsessions' D2145 Heart Flourish & B3552 'Just a Note' sentiment and embossed with Gold.   It's a delicate & pretty image.       I treated myself to a few new mediums this past week (I'm SO bad... ) including a set of Distress Markers.   I thought I might as well just buy the entire set, as I'll just be frustrated looking for missing colours.  I used my new markers to colour the image (broken china, peeled paint & forest moss),   I added a little water ...love them !     I blended Broken China ink around the card, hopefully I left enough white space for the LIM guidelines. 

I took a few photos of one of our many gardens this morning and thought I would share a few.   The bright sun washed out the colours, but there are lots of pinks, grey & mauve right now.  Later into the season it will change into bright yellows, white & purples.   

That's all for now.  I hope to be back soon with a card the For Your Inspiration photo challenge.   Thanks for your visit and have a great day !

Shirley 

Less is More - Sketch Challenge

Hello Crafters !  I hope you enjoyed your weekend !      We were working outside most of the day in our gardens !    We have lots to do, but it felt wonderful !  

I'm venturing again into the world of Clean & Simple and entering another challenge at Less is More.  I enjoy looking at the elegant creations by the DT & participants.  I'm intriqued by the challenge of this style which is different for me.    I like to 3D images and create colorful backgrounds with no white space,  but it is also fun to make cards that are CAS !   

This week's (#65) is a Sketch Challenge, but there is a choice of either a square or circle in the centre.

I've been playing a lot with Tombow markers, water & salt to create backgrounds so I have a lot of bits & pieces left over.   I decided to use a little orange/yellow one for my mini-background.  I stamped & embossed in gold, a small leafy branch from the Hero Art Set - CL477 Delicate Leaf Clusters and then adhered the piece onto a very narrow dark brown mat.   I popped up the 'mini scene' over the white square folded card stock.    I stamped the just a note sentiment that is from a little Kaiser Craft Set - CS921 Thinking of you with Memento Rich Cocoa Dye Ink.

This is the Sketch I chose:

Thanks for stopping by.  Your visits & kind comments make me smile !
Shirley

Just because... I love to Doodle !

Hello Crafters !   I hope you had a great weekend.

I've finally worked up the nerve to enter a card at Less is More.  The challenges there feature clean & simple card entries.   I've been enjoying looking at their blog where you will find beautiful & elegant card creations.    It's a popular challenge, last week had close to 200 entries. 

When I read last night that this week's (#63) challenge is to hand Doodle something on the card, I thought I need to jump in !   I love to Doodle as some of you know.     The other element of the challenge is to use a single layer, so no matting this time.    It's also suggested that you leave areas of white space and little or no bling etc.   This card features a doodle flower - one of my favourite subjects.

I hand doodled the flower onto watercolour cardstock using pigment pens and then added a little colour with Tom Bows and water.  I actually added too much water in a couple of areas.  Grrrrrrrr.  I decided to go ahead and enter this card vs starting over again as I'm running out of time this week, lots of things on my plate including getting ready for upcoming classes.   The sentiment "just because..." is from a little clear mini-stamp set from Basic Grey and was stamped with black Versafine Ink.  The package doesn't have a name or number on it. 

Well that's it for this evening.    Enjoy your week and thanks for visiting !
Shirley