28 July 2012

Sketch - Week 78

It seems that sewing has a similar effect on some people as acetate does on others!
Some loathe it, others love it, but all in all we had some super creative contributions. Thanks to you all.
For your delectation this week, we have another sketch. Simplicity itself, it's merely a horizontal band in the upper section of the card, plus a sentiment.

SKETCH 


I made the coloured band on this card by squishing flowers and leaves between two pieces of card and running them through the Cuttlebug. I scraped off the remains of the plants and allowed the card to dry. I love the effect this gives. The background layer of the butterfly was die-cut from a section of the treated card and then gently twinkled with Glamour Dust. The border was punched with a Martha Stewart punch.
The ribbon and sentiment are from Stampin' Up.

This is my first Christmas card of 2012... I used a stamp wheel for the pine leaves, I'm not sure if it was Rollograph or Stampin' Up, but I inked it with Iced Spruce DI and then embossed it with with Holographic Embossing powder. I coloured the base layers with the same ink directly from the pad.
The punch and the sentiment used on this card are from Stampin' Up.
The tree image is from All Night Media, which I coloured with the ink pad plus a marker for the trunk.
This super simple card uses a stamp from Local King and was coloured with an ink pad and an SU marker. I added a little detail to the centre of the flower with a fine pen.
It's the Martha Stewart punch again and a little ribbon. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

Mandi

My card is a slightly different take on the sketch and SO simple....well "Less is More"..right?
The bride and groom I've had for years... it's Stampendous and I LOVE it. Added a little detailing, but I love it left as a stick drawing!
Punched hearts are Stampin Up as is the sentiment.


Meanwhile enjoy this week's sketch and we'll look forward to seeing all your interpretations of it!



One Layer ShowCASe - Three

It seems that One Layer Cards, hold little fear for LIMettes these days and many of our number have often chosen to produce one layer cards even when they are not a specific requirement.
We were blessed with some beauties this week, so without further ado here are our choices.
(What an amazing watercolour technique)

(Computer paper piecing...how clever is that)

(Three Gorgeous images)

(Three beautiful shades)

(Perfect CAS)

(What fun)
We're sure you'll agree that these are all totally splendid!
DO please take the ShowCASe banner from the page at the top to display on your blogs and watch out for a new challenge tomorrow!

21 July 2012

Week 77 Theme

Week 77
Theme week once more and this time it's
SEWING
For this it could be machine or hand sewing.. faux or stamped... you could even use sewing related images... just let your imagination roam!

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

There used to be a game show on UK TV in the late 90's called Can't Cook, Won't Cook. You can have a glance here if you haven't seen it
Well by the same token, I am
Can't Sew, Won't Sew!! Who does choose these challenges!


So my feeble offering is just this. Hand drawn and cut hearts, hand drawn swirl and pierced with a paper piercer, then stitched.....which took me over an hour!
Acrylic flower to finish and 'Just for you' Stampin' Sentiment.

Now quickly skip down to Chrissie's that are A-MAY-ZIN this week!!!

This is the first time that I can remember ever using my machine to stitch on a card. I've admired the technique for so long from so many different crafters, but I finally got on with it. 
The stamp is from The Rubber Stamp Gallery and I love it! 
I simply meandered back and forth with the machine to create the water and then gently coloured in some of the 'wave' sections with markers applied with a water brush. I decided on the addition of a little Glamour Dust too.
It began as one layer but a smudge put paid to that idea, however it's probably better without the back of the stitching showing on the inside of the card.
The sentiment is from SU.
I simply love using dies and this card illustrates three of my latest purchases. The Flowers and the holes are by Memory Box from Simon Says Stamp and the sentiment panel is from my Spellbinders Twisted Metal tags and Accents set. 
I used the holes in the die which make the embossed notches, as a piercing guide to add my faux stitching. I used my Tim Holtz ruler to pierce the horizontal line of holes for the faux stitching, which I drew with an SU Marker.
I stamped the card for the flowers with a script stamp before die-cutting and as ever with fiddly die-cuts like this one, I added some Double Sided  adhesive sheet to the back of the card before running it through my Cuttlebug, so all I had to do was peel and stick, once it was cut.


'Sew' it's over to you....have fun!

Golden ShowCASe

What wonderful cards we had for our GOLD week and choosing our ShowCASe was such a pleasure.
We're sure that lots of mutual inspiration was gathered from amongst our number.
In no particular order here are our choices.







Please take the showcase banner from the page at the top to display on your blogs and remember to check in tomorrow for our new challenge!
Well done everyone!

14 July 2012

Week 76 - One Layer Challenge

Everyone's favourite... the 
One Layer Challenge 
and this week it's really simple


Three of anything that is, three colours, three images, three stamps, three words, the number three.... it's up to you, but don't forget the white space, a simple design and just one layer!


Chrissie
Firstly I must apologise for my lack of comments over the last few weeks, but I have been away on holiday in France and Spain and I don't like to advertise on the Internet, the fact that I'm not at home. 
Many thanks to my lovely buddy Mandi for holding the fort in my absence.. no mean feat with all the wedding commissions and regular card orders she has had to cope with. Ever the star... thanks so much my friend!

This is a small card, simply embossed with a Nestie to frame the tiny stamp with three bird silhouettes, accompanied with a three word sentiment. I don't know if the fact that we returned home to find a dead pigeon in the fireplace, had anything to do with my choice of stamp subject. It had fallen down the chimney, but fortunately there was no mess on the carpet!
Three cats, three colours, three words.
Unknown image stamp with a Personal Impression sentiment! This was going to be a square card, but I got a smudge of  Distress ink which I used to colour the cats at the bottom of the card and so I reduced the size. I must admit that I prefer the proportions of it now!


Mandi


This stamp is a part of set from Gina K I love this branch shape. I stamped the first branch with Versamark and clear embossed. The second I stamped in Worn Lipstick Distress ink, the third in Versafine Onyx black. Using a sponge dauber I inked around the spine edge, blending inwardly. I chose to stamp the sentiment in the same Worn Lipstick as I wanted it to be more subtle, It's hard to tell from the photo, but, I added liquid pearls and glamour dust to the white branch,
The sentiment is a Stampin Up set
I have put an alternative colourway on my personal blog, if you'd like to have a look.




For my second card I just stamped this superb stamp from Stampotique Chairs.
I colouredwith pastel coloured pencils [Pink, mint and blue] 
I glittered the pastel chairs.
The sentiment is computer generated, the font is called
Gigi.

We do appreciate the comments we receive on our personal blogs,
 where we often add additional samples for each challenge. 
Thank you all those who visit us.
We like receiving comments just like everyone else!
Have a great week, we look forward to seeing all your submissions!

LIM Header Showcase

We thought that this challenge would certainly bring out the creativeness amongst LIMettes... and boy were we right!
What amazing creations. 
Choosing a showCASe is always difficult, but here are our choices for this week.




Jen
(what an original take on the header!)


All wonderful cards and we would have loved to have chosen more from so many wonderful submissions.

We would ask however, that when you link your card to our challenge that you link directly to the card and not to your entire blog. Some cards we wanted to choose were very difficult to find, as we had to trawl through pages (in some cases) of posts before we found the one we needed to select for the showcase. 
In future, cards not directly linked, may not be selected for our showcase. I'm sure you will understand the time restraints concerned. Thanks so much.
Do please take the showcase banner from the page at the top, to display on your blogs and well done everyone.
Join us tomorrow for our next One Layer Challenge!

12 July 2012

June Winner!

We know that the winner we have chosen for the month of June is going to be such a popular choice.
This lady has submitted such fabulous contributions to our challenges, with unfailing style and superb dedication.
So without further ado here's our Stampotique winner for June.

Rosemary

If you'd care to send us your contact details we'll pass them on to Stampotique for them to send your prize.
Very many congratulations Rosemary. Long may we continue to see your fabulous work.

We'd also like to thank the DT at Stampotique for joining in with our challenges throughout the month of their sponsorship and for those who have continued to enter since!

07 July 2012

"Week 75" Colour

It's amazing that we've managed to come up with different shades for each of our colour challenges without resorting to bizarre combinations and here is yet another simple choice... it's
'Gold'
It can be shiny or matt, but we'd like it to be unmistakably gold!

WOW Embossing Powder
In July we are fortunate to have WOW Embossing Powders as our sponsor once more. The prize is a fabulous caddy of 12 powders. This time WOW have also offered a special offer of purchasing the caddy at half price when buying 12 powders.
Any of their range of gold powders would be perfect for this challenge!!!


Mandi


This stamp is one I love! Embossed with WOW  Sparkle. Said it before but WOW powders are SO fine, they are brilliant and SO sparkly! I printed the sentiment from the computer as I wanted birthday wishes, as this is a wish 'blowy flower' - dandelion

My second card, is slighly more embellished, but, still plenty of blank white space.
The embossing panel is from a Cuttlebug 5" x 7" folder Deb Divine
I printed the sentiment on the somputer Murray Hill font in gold I like to use RGB colours of 175/140/69 for my gold printing. Chrissie and I didn't know we'd each chosen to give our preferred 'gold' print colour.
Do try them out, see which works for you.,
 I cut the sentiment using a labels die from Stampin Up, then arranged a bunch of punched and shaped flowers and leaves.
Pearls and liquid pearls to finish.

Chrissie
I think that my most indispensable crafting tool is my Cuttlebug. I would be lost without it. Here is evidence of its use...an impression from a Sizzix border embossing folder, I think it's terrific. The edging was done with a Martha Stewart border punch. As I didn't have a gold charm to add to the ribbon, I embossed a silver one with some WOW gold embossing powder, with a little flower shaped brad added in the centre. The sentiment is from SU punched with a Stampin' Up punch.


More Cuttlebugging... letters from Dienamics and a heart from Nellie Snellen, with a base layer of gold card embossed with a Cuttlebug  heart folder. Simples!

06 July 2012

ShowCASe Week 73 Paper Piecing

As usual SO many wonderful entries. 
We are amazed at the depths of your creativity week after week.
Thank you for making our challenge blog the success it is

Without further ado, here are a few of our favourites from

We are sure you will agree they are all wonderful


Jane W  from Stampotique
[ Mandi purchased this stamp on the strength of your card]




As always ladies, please grab our showCASe banner from our page at the top


See you tomorrow for our 'new month' Colour challenge