Less is more -Week 13 -Thank you/Congratulations

Ok so today's challenge is 'Thank you' or 'Congratulations'. Checked this out before OH and I went out this morning and so the brain was churning out ideas and then chucking them away - much like I do most Saturdays!!!After a light lunch on the terrace (sun shining - not to much to eat -it clogs the brain cells) I came up to my craft room and ......................yup, you guessed it - blank!Does this only happen to me? I usually come up here and can whizz off a couple of cards, no problem.But Saturdays ..... AARRRGH!
Then a light bulb moment and I remembered a cuttlebug die that I've had a couple of years and found really useful when I had loads of thank you cards to do quickly when I retired (and was showered with pressies). Although this card is supposed to be CAS, just putting the die cut on the base card was TOO plain. So I've punched out the edges of the base card with  Martha Stewart corner and edger punches (can't remember the name) and just touched the edge with TH tattered rose for a bit of colour. I did the same with the diecut 'Thanks' (love the way the letters are arranged on this) and placed it in the centre of the card (no 'off centre' for me this week! - sorry Mandi and Chrissie). Three tiny pearls finished it off.
It's not so bad once you start is it - my brain's in gear now and ideas are flowing so watchout I may do another one.
Right now I'm going to look at the other cards and leave a few comments and then it's off to bed!
Thank you for looking
http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-13-lucky-dip-thank-you-or.html

Less is more - Week 12 - Off Centre

Right, so today it's 'Off Centre' at the http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/. Mmmm sounds easy, but it took me all morning to think this one up. A friend of mine has just become a grandma so the reason for the card was an obvious choice.

So, after doing a bit of shopping and a trip to B & Q, I cracked it! (I hope)

The base card is a pale blue dotty embossed card (that I found in the local garden centre who're selling all their card off, so it would have been rude not to buy it wouldn't it?), the ribbon and little brad (called a 'onesie' in USA) I found in a drawer just waiting to be used.

Right, now I'm off back into the sunshine to power up my batteries (I think I must be solar powered because I have more energy in the summer months!) Then it's a BBQ for tea and definitely break open the Pimms.Enjoy your day wherever you are and thank you for looking.

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-12-recipe-off-centre.html

             

Less is More - week 11 acetate - card number 2

Well after seeing all the amazing cards I realised that my first card was clean and just too simple so here's another attempt. Found some packaging from a crafty item I'd obviously bought ages ago and kept 'just in case' and embossed it with a swirly flourishy embossing folder - sorry I can't remember what make it is but no doubt someone out there will know.
I  cut out a section of a 5inch square peppermint green card and inset the embossed acetate between two embossed lines.Then I found a dark green swirly leafy flourish that I'd cut from an SVG file on my Cricut and 'filed to be used later'.
A white rub on sentiment and three white pearls (did I really need those - not sure, but I do like a bit of bling) finished it off.
I'm almost beginning to like acetate, so thank you Mandi and Chrissie for making me think 'outside the box'!!

Close up of the embossing,sentiment and pearls

Another 'exploding' box card.

I was asked a couple of weeks ago for another exploding box card. I'd already done one for this friend's daughter for her 40th so I needed to do something different.
The card was for a lady's 60th birthday and I'd had some old photos e-mailed to me to use. They were mainly a sort of grey/ browny colour so I decided to make the colour scheme pale blue and brown.
Base card is a pale blue pearl card and I used different embossing folders for each layer. Flowers on second layer are from Joanna Sheen (had these for ages but hardly used them) and the pale blue roses I made using the Sizzix die with pale blue paper. The 60 is cut out twice (once in reverse) and acetate stuck between the layers to make it 'wobbly'! All the other bits are from my stash.

Off to do some gardening in the sunshine now!

Less is More - Week 11 - Acetate

Well I'm back from my week of cat and house sitting for my daughter and her fiance. They were down in sunny Cornwall while I tended to the wants of their gorgeous ginger cat, Jaffa - food on demand, a lap to sleep on whenever he wanted and a nice warm bed to cuddle up on at night! Not that I spoilt him, of course!
I missed the week before last's challenge on Less is More but kept in touch with all the beautiful cards that everyone did using my ancient laptop. (I loved the touch of red theme.) Managed just one card for last week because I had my sister and her husband over from France staying with us. We had a lovely time for didn't manage much crafting so apologies that I didn't get time to visit other blogs to comment on.
Right, so this week it's ACETATE! Only ever managed one card using this stuff! I did a Christmas card for my daughter about 3 years ago but can't really remember what I did!I'm going to have to give this some thought.

Well I did it! Had a chat with big sis (now back in France) on MSN  and she reminded me about some printed acetate I'd bought at a craft show earlier this year. So put my thinking cap on and voila! Used a 5inch square card in mauve, cut out the centre with a nestie and then embossed the outside edge to give a bit of definition. I then cut a square of the patterned acetate (which is lilac flowers and sort of glittery) and put it in the aperture, and wrote a teeny tiny message in the corner in white. I did faux stitching around the message so it wouldn't get 'lost'!

Thanks to anyone who visits and comments. Hopefully I should get time to visit other blogs this week.

Less is More Challenge Week 10

Just a very quick post tonight for the Less is more challenge. A pale blue pearlised card with the sentiment (inspired by a card found on this blog It's All Fiddle Fart - Helen is genius! ) generated in Publisher (as usual) and printed on my old faithful Epson printer. As soon as it comes out of the printer I covered it in embossing powder, shook off the excess and then heat embossed it. The daisy is an old Quickutz die cut out in a patterned vellum I've had for ages.

*****I've been asked in the comments section about the heat embossing. I use a pearlised card and the ink then stays wet enough to throw the embossing powder over it as soon as it comes out of the printer (I only have an old Epson inkjet printer) Might work with a coated card too but I haven't tried that yet.It doesn't work with ordinary matt card because the ink has already soaked in and dried by the time it's come out of the printer. Hope this helps. *****