Saturday 30 September 2017

Less is More #348

Hello there friends, time for my regular Saturday morning post to announce our latest challenge over at Less is More and it's a 5-week month, which means it's a lucky dip one. We've also got Jane of Purplejetlovescrafts joining us as our Guest Designer for this one so I hope you'll head on over to her blog too and leave some lovely feedback for her.

Here's the cue card and I can't wait to see how you play this week 


I've 2 cards for you today and first up a watercoloured hummingbird from the Uniko set: Paradise Hummingbird. The image was stamped and heat embossed then coloured using my Zig Clear Brush pens with water. The background is a dis-continued Background Builders set from Uniko called Lattice and the sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.


It's an Anything Goes week over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More so I'd like to drop this card in at both of those challenges.

Next up I've blended Distress inks over some watercolour cardstock before spritzing with water and perfect pearls to add some interest to the panel. Using a faceted heart die from Neat and Tangled I die-cut the panel and mounted it on 3d foam. I've also used a multi-faceted embossing folder to add some detail behind the top of the heart. The sentiments are from Clearly Besotted: Happy Anniversary set. 


As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and our sponsor for this month is Happy Little Stampers so do play along, it's the last week, for a chance of a prize, which we'll announce at the start of next month.


Hope you'll play along and have some fun and thanks for calling by 

Sarah

Saturday 23 September 2017

Less is More #347

Morning friends!

Saturday is back and time for another challenge over at Less is More! What's more it's SKETCH time and I can't wait to see how you play along with this one. 

Here's the cue card and sketch followed by my 2 examples on a Christmas theme for you ... looks like fellow teamie, Anita and I had the same idea! I, for one, need to up my game in Christmas card -making department!


and here's the sketch ...



First up using a wonderful ornament die by Simon Says Stamp from a destash sale by the lovely Laura Sterckx of Making Cards is Fun I die-cut the ornaments in 3 shades of foiled cardstock before adhering them to white cardstock. 2 of them are mounted directly onto the 'wonky-stitched' die-cut panel with the middle one mounted on 3d foam. the sentiment is by this month's sponsor ... Happy Little Stampers. The silver 'strings' are hand drawn with a gelly roll pen and I've added a couple of clear gems for some extra sparkle. 


This one uses another Christmas sentiment by Happy Little Stampers with a layered stamp set by Altenew: Bows and Bells. Again hand-drawn strings but with a black copic marker this time and little gems in the centre of the bows. 




As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and our sponsor for this month is Happy Little Stampers so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we announce at the start of next month.


Hope you'll play along, have some fun and thanks for calling by 

Sarah

Friday 22 September 2017

Uniko Challenge #43

Hello crafty friends it's that time again when we are announcing our latest challenge over at Uniko and the theme for this one is Autumn/Fall with the optional twist of Halloween and here's my card using the following Uniko sets; Rustic Wreath, Background Builders Vines Winter Additions and Simply Said Blocks

I decided to try a little twist with a 'Christmas wreath' stamp but in using Autumn/Fall colours I think it still works perfectly. The images are stamped with Altenew inks and I've used a textured orange panel from Papermill Shop for the card front to pull those colours together.




Here's the cue card and if you hop on over to the main blog HERE there's plenty more magical seasonal creations by my fellow teamies. We are also joined by Vijaylaxmi of All By Heart Creations and I hope you'll take a visit to her blog and make her welcome whilst swooning at her delightful cards on the way. 



You have until Friday, 27th October to link up to the challenge and all the details you need about prizes and how to play can be found over at Uniko HERE

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I hope you feel inspired and will play along with us!

Sarah

Saturday 16 September 2017

Less is More #346


Morning friends!

At the start of this week I never imagined the possibility of one card for this week's challenge at Less is More let alone 2! It's been one crazy, busy and stressful week and I'm not sure these are great examples for the theme but do head over to visit my fellow teamies who I'm sure will have you swooning at their gorgeous ideas!

Here's the Cue Card for the week and hopefully you'll find it simple enough ...


It's a 'his n hers' TWO-fer from me today both using the newly released Background Block Scattered dots stamp from Uniko. The first one shows it heat-embossed in white on black cardstock ... I'm hoping it gives the impression of lots of stars in space!!! 

I grabbed stash from whatever first came into my head for speed and it's the Blast Off II set from Clearly Besotted on the first one with a little artistic licence for the colours of the rocket and flame ... I obviously haven't got the blue and green colours out of my head from 2 weeks ago! 


For this one I've inked the same background block stamp in Tuxedo Black by Memento adding a die-cut butterfly by Happy Little Stampers (our sponsor) with sentiments from Hero Arts Cut and Stamp Happy set. There's wink of stella added to both of these cards but not particularly visible in the photo and a couple of gems on the 'female' version for added bling!
 


Don't forget to check out the fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and our sponsor for this month is Happy Little Stampers so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we announce at the start of next month.





Hope you'll play along and have some fun and thanks for calling by 

Sarah

Saturday 9 September 2017

Uniko - Reveal, Release & GIVEAWAY September 2017

Hi there and thanks for visiting me again today!

So you've had the Sneaky Peeks and Introductions and now we have the BIG Reveal, Release and GIVEAWAY of this month's new stamp sets from Uniko

Here's my cards showcasing the new sets and they are now available in the shop HERE and waiting for you to buy! As I said I'm having a rainbow frenzy so here's the finale with a riot of rainbow colours! Grab your sunglasses ...

These first 2 use star images from the BG Builders: Seeing Stars set; the first one coloured with Promarkers and the second one stamped with Altenew Inks. I've also added sentiments from the Simply Said Block set and teamed them with my latest favourite word die from Neat & Tangled. 



Over at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge it's a 'Stamp-it' theme so this one is heading over there - I've certainly filled every little bit of the card front with stamping so hope they appreciate it over there! 

Next up a double stamped panel of the Background Block: stars, coloured in rainbow theme again with Promarkers. The bold sentiments on the strip of white cardstock are from older sets: All Occasion Sentiments #2 and Simply Said Birthday. The wide strip gives the impression that the block is bigger than it actually is ... just a little neat trick I think! 


... and last but not least we are back with the Background Block - Scattered Polka Dots from the beginning of the week. Inked using Altenew Inks, in Rainbow order, with a Birthday sentiment from the Simply Said Blocks. I've gone with balloons instead of stars for a real party card and these are from the older 'Balloon Bash' set.


I hope you've enjoyed seeing my creations with these new sets this week and all that's left for me to do is set you off on the traditional Design Team Blog Hop , wishing you lots of luck. 

All the details are over on the Uniko blog HERE so if you get lost along the way just head back there and here's the order.
Deborah
Izzy
Sarah P - that's me!

Thanks for stopping by and here's the FULL images of the sets we've been showcasing which are ready in the store to buy NOW!


 
 





Sarah

Less is More #345

Morning friends!

I'm back, with my second post of the day, although this one's the regular Saturday morning post to announce the latest challenge from Less is More 

The second week of the month signals the 'dreaded' ONE layer card week but hopefully you'll have no trouble whatsoever with this one! Here's the cue card and I've just the one example this week as it's a busy morning on the blog with the BIG reveal and release of the new stamp sets at Uniko coming up in an hour too!



I couldn't resist featuring one of the new sets I've been playing with from Uniko this week so it's a starry one with images from the Background Builders: Seeing Stars set and sentiments from the 'Reach for the Stars' set. If you've followed me this week you'll see I've gone a bit overboard on rainbow colours ... not wanting to disappoint anyone - here's another!!! 


The stars are coloured with Promarkers and a little twinkling of Wink of Stella. The 'stars' sentiment is stamped with Altenew ink then overstamped with Versamark in order to apply some sparkling clear embossing powder over the top. 

This week's challenge at Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday is 'Stamp It' so I think I'll pop in there with this one.

As always there's loads of fabulous designs from my fellow teamies over on the main blog HERE and
our sponsor for this month is Happy Little Stampers so do play along for a chance of a prize, which we announce at the start of next month.


Hope you'll play along and have some fun and thanks for calling by and I'll be back soon with more from Uniko!


Sarah

Honey I Shrunk The Kit #13

Hey there friends, I'm so excited to be sharing another day out with my fellow Honey Babes for another HISTK post and our lovely host for this outing is none other than my F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S teamie and right-hand girl over at Less is More .... drum-roll please for Anita!

What a magnificent bundle of summer beauty she packed into one small envelope before dispatching around the world for us all to play. It wasn't so much a case of where to Start this time but when to STOP! Read on for all the details.

Honey I Shrunk the Kit logo


Here's the line up

Hazel Hodgkins: Hazel's Paper Designs
Sarah Gray: Funky Fossil Designs
Shona Chambers: Twine Around
Anita Bowden: Neet & Crafty
Sarah Platt: Sazzle Dazzle Crafts ... that's ME!

and here's a picture of Anita's goody bag followed by an impressive list of contents 



As well as various patterned / plain coloured, gems and ribbons here's the list of stamps and dies Anita packed into this kit! 

Your Next Stamp - Flippin' Fabulous (crab/sentiments), Clearly Besotted - Life's a Beach (flip flops/sentiments), So Sweet II (ice cream), Hung Up on You (mini cocktail/sentiments), Good Times II (sentiments), Petite Plushies (lolly/pinwheel), Hero Arts - Let's Chill (palm/hibiscus/cocktail/beachball/sentiment), Avery Elle - Sip Sip Hooray (sentiments), The Greeting Farm - Rain Snow Shine (girl), Little Claire (beach huts), Clear Impressions - Sea Breeze (deck chair), Paper Smooches - Warm Wishes, Birthday Words (cheers), Echo Park - Flamingo Palm die set, Newton's Nook - Hibiscus, Clearly Besotted - Scalloped Edges die collection

and here's my cards - I messed up the beach huts and couldn't think what to do with the deck chair image so hope you'll forgive me ... I managed 6 anyway!


I absolutely love this crazy crab image and the reverse of the patterned paper inspired my colour-way for this one. The image is coloured with promarkers and I added some glossy accents to the straps of the flip flops and his eyes!


Well what better way to retire than under a palm tree on a desolate beach sipping a cocktail! How many years must I work!!! LOL! Anyway a little scene created with the images, coloured with promarkers and a teeny piece of the plain coloured paper to create my 'beach'.


I grabbed my ziggys to colour these gorgeous die-cuts although having stuck everything down I do wish I'd positioned those leaves a little better. A little sentiment from my CBS stash and mounted on a little more of the plain papers from the kit.


Colouring isn't my strong point and I think that's why I started off with a stencilled/inky background! Distraction works a treat eh! Having said that this rather cute and sassy chick didn't need much distraction and I really enjoyed colouring her and setting this little scene. The card is on it's way to one of my daughter's friends who's nickname is 'CHill'


Once again inspired by those gorgeous patterned papers in the kit and this ice-cream card was born. I went with the mint, pink and chocolate colour scheme and coloured everything with promarkers. A little wink of stella on the ice cream and some glossy accents for the beach ball. 


Are you still with me? I promise this IS the last one. Another ziggy coloured couple of die-cuts. The flamingo and palm tree weren't really in proportion so I scrapped the bottom half of the tree and found this little strip of Brusho coloured cardstock, left over from a previous project, and thought it set the scene quite well. I just couldn't decide what sentiment to use or where to put it so it's 'blank' for now! 

Thanks for this adorable pack of goodies Anita! I'm now absolutely terrified as it's my turn next ... I guess someone has to be last! I'm off to check out what the rest of my teamies have made with this fantastic bundle and thanks for popping by today!


Sarah

Friday 8 September 2017

Uniko - Background Blocks: Stars & Background Builders: Seeing Stars

Hey, I'm back with the final day of introductions featuring this month's stamp release by Uniko and today it's the final 2 sets in the release, offering more fun and magic with stars!

Here's my first one and if you've been following me this week you'll realise I've got a little rainbow theme going on - it's going to get MUCH worse! So here we go again with those bold and vibrant colours. This card uses the latest BG Builder set along with a block sentiment from the set introduced earlier in the week.




Here the Background block is stamped in black memento ink before colouring with Promarkers in a rainbow inspired colour scheme. The 'star - embellishments' are die-cuts from my stash with a another from the Simple Said Blocks set. 

The release schedule can be found over on the Uniko blog HERE as well as links and peeks at how my fellow teamies have worked their magic!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back tomorrow for the BIG reveal, release and GIVEAWAY! 
Sarah

Thursday 7 September 2017

Uniko - Introducing Reach For The Stars

Hi again, it's Day 2 of our introductions to the new stamp sets being released by Uniko this month and today it's the turn of 'Reach for the Stars' - definitely a constellation of elegance with so many possibilities. 

I find both rainbows and stars rather magical and inspired by one of the sentiments from the set I decided to incorporate both of these elements in my card; in fact I've gone pretty much rainbow mad with these new sets but you'll have to keep popping back to see them all!


The inks are from Altenew and using the Misti it was relatively easy to slide the cardstock up after each star cluster was stamped to do the next coloured line. The 'Stars' sentiment is inked in black then heat set with a sparkly clear embossing powder, which sadly can't be seen in the photo but does glisten in real life. There's also some mini clear gems among the rainbow of stars. 



This next one is a little calmer and uses another fantastic sentiment from the set which is OH! SO very true! This time I've inked the stars in a deep blue to match the panel on the card base, followed by a slightly overlapping of silver embossed stars. 


As ever my fellow teamies have worked their magic with this set so why not head on over to the Uniko blog HERE where you'll find the links to their blogs and the full release schedule. 

Thanks for stopping by and tomorrow is our final day of introductions before the BIG reveal, release and giveaway so I' hope you'll join me again! 

Sarah

Wednesday 6 September 2017

Uniko - Background Blocks: Scattered Polka Dots & Simply Said Blocks

Hi there, I'm so pleased you've joined me again today as it's Introduction time ... over at Uniko as we get ready for this month's release of new stamps!

Today we are introducing 2 sets: Background Blocks: Scattered Dots and Simply Said Blocks. I hope you like how I've played with these newbies!


First up; embossed in WOW gold embossing powder onto two pieces of card stock before die-cutting with a stitched circle die from Simon Says Stamp. A die-cut 'congrats' greeting from Lawn Fawn in glittered paper, mounted on acetate to create a floating sentiment then a little block sentiment from the new set! All mounted on 3d foam and a few sequins for added interest.


This time stamped in an Ombre style of lilacs and purples using the Altenew range of inks, framed by the aperture of a stitched rectangle die from MFT with some block sentiments mounted on 3d foam. 

I hope this has whet your appetite for more and why not head on over to the Uniko blog HERE to check out the full release schedule as well as find the links to peep at how may fellow teamies on the Design Team have used this set. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back tomorrow for the next introduction.

Sarah