Week 70 Colour Challenge

It's the first challenge of the month which means it must be a colour challenge.

On this day of all days in the UK, there could be only one choice of colour and that is...

RED WHITE AND BLUE

On this day all those years ago in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned... and Chrissie is old enough to remember it!

Celebrations are taking place countrywide to mark a remarkable achievement by a very gracious lady.

Long Live the Queen!

This month we are being sponsored by Stampotique who will be donating a $30 voucher to our winner at the end of the month!.

Do check out the stamps which they have available!
Apologies at this point to the Stampotique DT who so kindly decided to join in with our challenges during their sponsorship.
We originally chose Black, White plus one other for this challenge, but changed to Red, White and Blue when we realised it was the Jubilee Weekend.   Sadly we omitted to inform the Stampotique team of the change. It's onto the naughty step for us two!
 It will explain why some cards may apparently be using slightly different colours. 
Sorry Stampotique!

Chrissie

This simple card has an embossed panel (the white), a kiss image from part of an MSE stamp (the red) and a sentiment which I think is totally fab, from Stampotique... (the blue).

Another piece of simplicity.

This one incorporates a computer generated band which is the number 1 from a font called Maya tiles. It is adorned with a Memory Box butterfly in red and white with a touch of added twinkle.

Simples!

Red, white and blue is not the easiest of colour combinations, but it's one which had to be done this week!

Mandi

I am very patriotic and love anything royal! Our heritage is something I feel so proud of!

For my card I wanted to reflect our Jubilee weekend.

All stamps are Stampin Up. The flourishes and crown are Artistic Etchings, the blue is Versamark Imperial Blue although it looks slightly purple in the picture. I mounted the crown on 3d foam pads and added a few of gems to finish. The sentiment is from Wedding Sweet.

Do join us, we can't wait to see what you can come up with!!

Baby/Child ShowCASe Week 68

What super baby cards we had last week! I'm sure lots of us gained great inspiration from these beauties.

These are all so classically Clean and Simple, just gorgeous.

Michelle

Sally

Lililindsay

Lisa

Kimberley

Do please grab the ShowCASe badge from the page at the top which we hope you will display on your blogs with pride!

Thank you all SO much.

See you tomorrow for our new challenge!

Week 69 'Recipe'

We have a very simple recipe this week and that is simply to make a card which is

NOT A SQUARE

nor a rectangle for that matter.

What we're really trying to say is that we want a shaped card.

Mandi

For my 'Trapezium' shaped card I decided to show you a new range from my wedding stationery portfolio. A Bridesmaid thank you card., I have various styles, but this is the most minimal.
Pretty self explanatory. The base was cut from an A4 sheet and folded to make a DL card size. I then trimmed a little off diagonally from each side. I did 3 cm in at the folded spine, down to the original edge. I then printed the sentiment on the computer. Passions Conflict and Papyrus font and cut the strip to look like the front of a handbag and stuck using 3d foam. The flowers are just punched in a pearly white vellum using an X Cut Retro flower punch. The larger are double layered, with the smaller single one in the centre. .
I glittered the sentiment and added gems to finish the flowers.

I cut a large circle from my Grand Calibur, then scored and folded it in half. Knowing I wanted to emboss onto the black I dusted with my Static Remover pad from Stampin Up. There's no way you can emboss onto black card without one! [well I can't] The white leaves are Stampin Up Autumn Splendor, embossed with SU white embossing powder. The gold leaves are a clear set, the name of which escapes me [I never keep packets tut tut] Then the daisies are from Stampotique, I gold embossed onto a pink piece and orange piece. The centres are Stampin Up Silver Glass Glitter...lush!
I do think the 'white' space police may be on the look out for me, but, proportionally I think there is just enough...just!

Chrissie

Here is a card which could be used for a variety of occasions... Sympathy, Baptism, Confirmation/First Communion and is simplicity itself. The card base was made from two Sizzix arch shaped pieces of card. The back piece was scored a short distance from the  top before the two pieces were stuck together above the score line. This allowed the back section to hinge, in order to be able to open easily.
The cross is made of three Spellbinder crosses superimposed over each other popped onto foam pads to add a little dimension.

Here I made this onesie  from an A5 card blank. I simply cut the neck and leg holes using Nesties and decorated them with the scalloped version of similar dies. The buttons are made with the SU Sweet Buttons embosslits die. All of the decoration was twinkled with a touch of Glamour Dust.

Do join us this week, how imaginative can you be?

ShowCASe Week 66

Little later than usual, but, here is our showCASe for 

Week 66 Colour

Yellow

Seems yellow is not a colour favoured by many of us, but as usual you all rose to the challenge splendidly!

We are sure you will agree these are yellow-tastic!

Vicky

Lisa

Claudia

Ann

Kelly

Thank you again ladies, do grab your banner from our page at the top if you don't have it already!

Week 68 Theme

What stars LIMettes have become at One Layer Cards and we had some super submissions last week.

For our theme this week we have chosen a card for

a BABY or a CHILD

Remember to keep it simple but you may use more than just the one layer this week, should you so desire.

Chrissie

This is a simple layout using a scrap of Cuddly Buddly digi paper and a Penny Black stamp. The sentiment is from Paper Make up and it's fairly self explanatory.

This is a similar design but with NO stamping!
This is all die cut. The stork is Quickutz and the name is from Cuttlebug's  Babyface alphabet, with a couple of baby feet from a Dovecraft punch. I like the stork's knees!

Mandi

I don't tend to do that many children's cards. I do lots of new baby ones, which I blog often! My children's cards are the opposite of Less is More! with lots of bright colours. Most certainly I always include their name.
So my first birthday card is simply using a digital Me to You kit from Docrafts. It's a fabulous cd, you can resize the images, change their colour, move them around. I chose to make my teddy huge and off the edge. The sentiment is computer generated as is the 1, which I printed onto card and ran through my Big Shot to emboss. I decoupaged the bunny to give a bit of detail.

This should be theme which you all need cards for on a frequent basis!
If any of you don't have an appropriate image or would merely like to have it, there is a digi image of a baby's boot on Chrissie's blog, which you are welcome to take.

We'd love to see your contributions.

April Winner

I bet you thought we'd forgotten... but it was merely delayed so here is the announcement of our winner for April.

Remember that we like to choose LIMettes who are regular contributors to our challenges and who form part of our little community, visiting others to leave a friendly comment or two.

Ta da!

It's

 LINBY

of Crafty Linby

I'm sure you'll all join with us to congratulate her, she's really makes some cracking cards!

If you'll forward your contact details to us Lynn, we'll pass them on to 

The Ribbon Girl

Do please take the winner's badge from the page at the top, to display on your blog.

Well done!

Week 67 One Layer

We would like to say a big welcome to all the new people who have just found our challenge and decided to join us... we are very glad to have you with us and hope that you will find "Less is More" an integral part of your crafting week.

Here we are again with your favourite of all our challenges... the wonderful 

ONE LAYER CARD

This time we have the stipulation to

USE THREE STAMPS

not four, not two... but 3!

Mandi

Don't need to tell you how I did this!
Three stamps are the larger flower from Stampin UP 'Fruit & Flowers' the smaller is from 'Baroque Motifs' and the sentiment is Hobby Art 'Happy Birthday'
Colours are Versamark Black Onyx, which I stamped the HB first, then Stampin Up Pool Party and Melon Mambo for the flowers. Gems to finish. As I hadn't used one for a while I decided to add the crystal embellishment from Hobby House.

Chrissie

Here are two digital stamps from our sponsor this month, Arielle of the Wax Fruit Company. Aren't these poppy images simply stunning. They have been coloured with Promarkers and accompanied by a sentiment from a clear set by Imagine That purchased recently at Ally Pally. 

A very simple one this time... just three stamps from a Hero Arts set, simply framed by an embossed oval Nestie.

We DO hope to see lots of white space this week, hopefully ours will inspire you.

Week 66 Colour Challenge

What a popular pair of sketches we had last week..even if lots of people didn't seem to take on board that it was actually supposed to be either a square or a circle in the design... nevertheless the submissions were as awesome as ever.

This week we are back to a colour challenge and the chosen colour this time is 

Y E L L O W

Other colours may be in evidence as long as the main focus colour is yellow.

This month we are to be sponsored by the extremely talented Arielle at the Wax Fruit Company

Do check out the fabulous images available.

Chrissie

With the thought of yellow, this image jumped into my mind... sadly I don't remember the make... it was a win from a blog challenge from across the pond, but I just love it... a somersaulting duck.. whatever next!

With this thought in mind I decided to make a spinner card... the duck goes head over heels as the circle rotates along the channel.

The sentiment is from Paper Make Up and the grass embossed with a Sizzix folder.

Details of how to make a spinner card are on my personal blog here.

Here is another example of my tendency to inkyness!

I chose three yellow shades of Distress Ink... Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed and Wild Honey.

I began by embossing the teasel image from The Rubber Stamp Gallery and the random circles (another little gem from my £5 grab bag of Rubbernecker stamps from Ally Pally) with clear embossing powder, before applying the ink starting with the lightest shade at the top down to the deepest shade at the bottom of the panel, using Inkylicious Ink Duster Brushes.

I then overstamped with the darker shades of ink and buffed off the embossing with a paper towel to remove any surplus ink. The sentiment is another Rubbernecker bargain.

The little butterflies are of course the gorgeous Embosslits from Stampin' Up.

Mandi

On my list of favourite colours, yellow is right at the bottom! But I don't mind a splash.

If ever there was a stamp that suited me, it's this...not that I'm glam or wear a yellow hat...it would be pink lol

There is no name on this stamp, just the price! I stamped it slightly off the edge and then restamped the hat on yellow card and mounted it on 3d pads to give some dimension. To finish I stamped the DIVA Stampotique, it works perfectly I think.

This stamp is Hero Arts Woodland Grasses which would be green, but, I rather like them in yellow shades. Stampin' up So Saffron then a hint of More Mustard. I did add Glamour Dust, but cannot get a picture to show the sparkle. The sentiment is PTI stamped in Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip

I stamped the grasses slightly off centre, then once I added the sentiment the whole design is balanced and there is the same width either side.

I must say a HUGE apology for not commenting on everyone last week.

The winner of our April prize will be announced shortly, do keep an eye out for that!
We are looking forward to all your sunny yellow creations!

Week 65 Sketch

We don't often have a sketch, but whenever we do it is always simple.
There seem to have been lots of layers creeping into submissions of late and in some cases a considerable lack of white space.
For this week's sketch we'd like you to keep to the proportions of this drawing so that there is considerable white space remaining in the finished card.

You may choose either of these
SKETCHES.

Mandi

The Woodware 'Gerbera' stamp is large, approx 10cm square. I stamped it onto some card using Versafine Onyx black ink, then watercoloured with a plum colour pencil. I wanted the central panel approx 7cm sq and the middle of the gerbera slightly set towards the bottom. I kinda started it by eye and trimmed to the desired square size. Glittered with a Zig marker and Glamour Dust to finish. I did some extra black dots in the centre with a Stampin' Up pen. The sentiment is Penny Black.

Chrissie

For this card I decided to do a triple embossed square, but with a slight twist. I added my layers of silver embossing powder, but when cool I stamped the kiss image in Versamark over the silver and then sprinkled it with red embossing powder and then gently melted it.

After this was done I heated the top of the square until molten once more and stamped the music image from Prickley Pear into it, having first inked the stamp with Versamark. Although not obvious, I inked the mounting square with my brayer and a Big and Juicy ink pad. I need lots of practice with my brayer!!

The sentiment is from Paper Make Up.

This one is in tribute to Birgit, one of our faithful LIMettes and a consummate crafter. She has made similar cards by adding part layers of the same image superimposed over each other.

This image (Camelia) is from the Wax Fruit company and has been coloured with Promarkers and gently twinkled with Glamour Dust. The sentiment is from Kaisercraft.

 I think it's a great idea to add interest to a focal image.

I'm sure that we all gain inspiration from each other week after week... and we love to see so many wonderful submissions full of superb ideas.

Let's see what this sketch brings!

Showcase Week 63 - Doodling

Once more we had a really difficult job to choose, but without further ado here are our choices for this week's Doodling ShowCASe!

Birgit

Darnell

Klaartje

Valerie

Gay

Susan

What amazing talent!

Aren't we lucky to have such wonderful crafters submitting projects such as these each week.

Thank you everyone, please take the ShowCASe badge from the page at the top to place on your blogs.

DO join us again tomorrow for our new challenge!

Week 64 Theme - How Charming

 As we are being sponsored by The Ribbon Girl this month, we thought that we would have a challenge whereby you could use some of the products you might find in her store.

She has a mighty array of charms, perfect for that subtle embellishment on a Clean and Simple card, plus all manner of wonderful ribbons and trims.

Just as we don't always make One Layer Cards, we don't always want to make cards completely devoid of embellishment, the key is to keep it minimal... to enhance not overpower.

SO our theme this week is 

How Charming!

Make and/or use a charm on your project

Chrissie

The oval on this card was cut from a sheet which I made by squishing leaves and flowers from the garden between two pieces of card and running them through my Cuttlebug machine. I love the effect it gives, Sylvie one of our LIMettes whom I met at Alexandra Palace, used this process for one of her cards on Three shades of Green week. 

The branch is from a Memory Box die which I bought at the craft fair and the sentiment was one of the 40 odd unmounted stamps which came from my £5 grab bag! 

The colours in the paper leant towards gold rather than silver, but I only had silver charms, so I heat embossed this one with Gold Embossing powder. I dabbed it on the Versamark pad, then with my pokey tool through the hole, I dipped it in the EP and heated it. As this is a plastic or acrylic charm, I had to be careful not to melt the loop of the charm itself.

The WOW powder gave a wonderful finish to all the embossing.

I embossed the panel for this baby card with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder. In order to have no tell tale embossed lines from the edge of the folder, I use a different sandwich which is

A plate (base Plate)

Embossing folder with the card enclosed

Tan Mat

C Plate

Result... crisp embossing and NO Lines!

I hand embossed the very edges of the panel with an embossing stylus and a scoring board.

In order to get a colour match for the various elements on this card, I used the same SU marker to ink the stamp (Anita's) and to colour the edge of the scalloped circle and the ribbon.

The sentiment is from Paper Make Up punched with Stampin' Up's Label punch.

Mandi

I use charms a fair bit, although with peer pressure again I sat for a few hours wondering what to do! This is basically a DL card turned lenthways. I then cut Sizzix hearts in various ivory and black card, in different shapes and sizes. I then over stamped some and embossed the black primitive one in a Cuttlebug folder. I randomly placed them along the base of the card and attached them using 3d pads or PVA glue to give plenty of dimension.  The charm is suspended on some Stampin' Up Twine. I like the look of the twine, as this overall effect has a vintage feel. If you can see the heart has a tiny rose on there, it is SO cute.
Charms and mulberry rose are from Ribbon Girl
Not a great deal of white space, but there is in comparison to the shape of the card.

We do look forward to your entries....
Have a 'charming' week

Week 63 One Layer

It's Saturday once more and we know you are all ready for another challenge. You  all seemed to enjoy 'Going Green' last week, we had some fabulous entries. Thank you.

So the second week of the month and ONE LAYER, a genre lots of you seem to produce even when you don't have to! We are most impresssed!
We have chosen something a bit different for us and it's...

Doodling

This can be in any form you wish, faux stitching, hand written or drawn elements on your card, zentangle. As long as you create something with 'ink' by hand

Chrissie 

The doodling in this card may not be immediately obvious, but the stamp is just the four flower heads and the rest was my scrawling afterwards. The sentiment is from Gina K Designs Botanicals set.

I added some Glossy Accents to the flowers to look like dew... it may look better when it's completely dry.





Mandi

I chose to use the 'Zentangle' method, which is probably THE doodle art technique!

I made an A6 card from a aheet of A4 folded in half. I then stamped the flower, a really old Anita's stamp, then filled in the scribbled petals in lots of small patterns with a fine liner pen. Finished with a Penny Black 'Happy Birthday' stamp. 

I do intend adding further cards to my blog, if you could bear with me this week. 

All explained on my personal blog!


Chrissie will be going to the craft show on Sunday at Alexandra Palace with Gay (mustavcoffee) and is hoping to meet up with a whole bunch of LIMette chums  Jenny, Vicky and Sylvie... sounds like the start of a convention!
Anyone else going to be there? DO come and say hi!

Week 62 Colour Challenge

It seems you loved the picture we posted as inspiration for your cards last week, and there were some lovely, delicate interpretations submitted.

This week we have another Colour challenge for you and to give it a slightly different twist we would like to see 

Three Shades of Green.

For this you could use one ink but use it in different ways to create different shades, for example direct stamping, then secondary stamping, dusting, stencilling, maybe inking directly from the inkpad. This would create different shades of the same colour or you could simply use three different greens.
There is such a variety of mediums you could use too... paper, pencils, chalks, inks, paint, markers, etc., etc. It's not a one layer week, so let your imagination roam...but remember that WHITE SPACE!

We do like to be different!

We are sponsored this month by The Ribbon Girl
with a

for one lucky winner

If you haven't already shopped at the Ribbon Girl you need to pop along, there is much more than just ribbon.
Mary and Andrea give and excellent service and pack the goodies so beautifully you don't want to open them!

Mandi

I created my three shades of green using Stampin Up ink pads Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz and Certainly Celery. I cut a square of about 9cm and then used the emboss resist technique with WOW Clear Embossing Powder. I knew roughly how big I wanted the panels, so cut them to suit. Using a retired Stampin Up sentiment set I stamped in the darkest shade, Old Olive. The swirl is a new purchase for me - Cheery Lyn Tropical Flourish I got here
 Finsihing off with a couple of punched daises and pearls.

For my second card, also a 6" square I used a Crafters Workshop Dot Burst stencil and marked out the largest circle. I then stamped a dotty circle from Stampin Up's Circle Circus stamp set in Lucky Limeade. I then added the punched retro flowers to the largest circle dots in a mint card. Finally I marked out the middle circle and punched tiny flowers in a Teal card, then the same Stampin Up sentiment to finish off, also in Lucky Limeade.

Chrissie

For this I used one of the stamps I picked up at the NEC ...6 for £5, it's a terrific Rubber Stampede image of Eucalyptus leaves. I inked the stamp with SU Marker Pens in Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive and Always Artichoke and stamped it twice without reinking.
The sentiment from Woodware is mounted on one of SU's Four Frames in Pear Pizzazz and punched with the matching punch.

Here are three Hero Arts apples, this time inked with Distress inks in Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss. The two outer apples were simply stamped with the colour already added to the stamp, the centre one was coloured afterwards as it is simply a line image. For this one I applied the colour with a water brush, picking up the inks from a dab with the ink pads on my glass mat.
The border is made with a Spellbinders die and the sentiment is from Kaisercraft mounted on a Memory Box tag.
We hope that you will enjoy our slightly different colour challenge.
Look out for the March WOW Embossing Powders winner to be announced very soon!
We would like to wish you all a very
Happy Easter!