20 December 2014

Week 203 Theme Family

Christmas is fast approaching!
We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.
Over the Christmas period when everyone is so busy, we have a challenge which will last for the next two weeks.

Lots of you may have noticed that on some blogs, Blogger has decided to add a 'Prove you're not a robot' feature.
In fact it is not necessary to fill in this box with the numerals indicated. For many, Word Verification is turned off and to alter the settings sometimes causes other problems within the blog, so don't worry and please leave your comments as usual and even without filling in the anti-robot box your comment will be published.

You may know that Jen started a new job some months ago which has taken her all over the world and crafting has had to be fitted in whenever she could. She had hoped to return to LIM after Christmas, but her job is going to continue to be as hectic as ever, so this will be
I'm sure that everyone would like to join with us to wish her all the best for the future and to thank her for all her wonderful inspiration since she has been a part of the Less is More team.
How appropriate that our challenge this week is

FAMILY!

Here are our cards.
Anne

No stamping! Memory Box deer dies, Sheena Douglass embossing folder topped with a Simon Says diecut snowy slope, computer generated sentiment.  
Here are a bunch of cute birds from Technique Tuesday, simply coloured with Mirage pens and die-cut with a Simon Says Stamp stitched circle die. The dry embossing is from a Couture Creations A4 embossing folder. (I think... I'm looking after a sick granddaughter at the moment so I can't check  my stash to make sure!)
The sentiment was computer generated in Architect's daughter and Love is a many complicated thing.

Jen

Just wanted to pop in for one lst challenge to thank you for being part of my crafting family.... I have made a little celebration card for today's theme.


I have used a cute Tiddlyinks Image and a sentiment from Clearly Besotted for this bright fun card.

To thank you all for your support over the last few years I have some candy on my blog for my LIM family.  All you need to do is comment on the Less Is More post for this challenge!!

For this one I've gone with the traditional Christmas family

Card Recipe: 
Paper Smooches: A Blessed Christmas image (heat-embossed in 
WOW pale gold embossing powder and coloured with Promarkers);
sentiment from the same set on a MFT Die-namics sentiment strip
DCWV Glitter card, Doodlebug sequins & gems from my stash
Have a wonderful Christmas !
From us all at "Less is More"
***


19 December 2014

ShowCASe WEEK 201

Colour ShowCASe
Week 201
This was our inspiration for this month's colour challenge  and what beautiful cards emerged.

Wonderful work!
Let's get straight on with showing you
What an amazing backdrop for this simple die-cut, the colours look wonderful!

What a beautiful inked and stamped scene, framed by the pelmet of branches... just lovely!

Another beautifully created backdrop for these bold flowers...gorgeous!

Please take our showcase badge, with many thanks for the inspiration your have provided!
Do join us again tomorrow , our next challenge will run for two weeks, to give everyone a breather over the Christmas period!
See you then!

13 December 2014

Week 202 One Layer

Week 202 
We have another One layer Challenge for you today.
This time the focus should be
SNOW
Your last chance for those final Christmas Cards should you need them!

Here are our cards to give you a few ideas... not that you will need many!

Here is a little snowman from Dearie Dolls digi images. Simply coloured with Mirage pens and twinkled with a little Glamour Dust.
The font is Love is a many complicated (thing) I presume!


From Clearly Besotted I've used the following products:
Signature Christmas Dies used as a mask
Christmas Sparkle: Tree image to create my snowflakes, which 
are heat embossed in white then inked with Peacock Feathers Distress ink.

The sentiment is from the Little Pudding set and I've hand-drawn 
(yes hand-drawn which was VERY scary)
the strings and bows to my ornaments with a Pilot silver marker
and to finish some turquoise pearls from my stash.

 Not bought any digis for a while, but couldn't resist this Mo Manning set, this is Valerie with pup.  Coloured with Copics and with some Glamour Dust added, the sentiment is a Sheena Douglass stamp
As ever, each of us has a few extra cards on our personal blogs so we'd love you to pop  by and pay us a visit too!

If you're not sure of our rules for one layer cards, do look at the guidelines on our side bar.
***


12 December 2014

Week 200 ShowCASe

It was lovely to receive so many good wishes from you on our special 200th challenge.
We couldn't continue without your support, for which was are most grateful!
There were some truly beautiful cards for this celebratory challenge... so here is our special 
SHOWCASE!

Such elegant simplicity and perfect placement!

Glorious colouring and such a fun simple card!

What beautiful WOW style!

showCASed
Here is our showCASe badge for you ladies!
Please take it with our thanks.

We hope you will all be back tomorrow for our new challenge!
See you then!

06 December 2014

Week 201 Colour Challenge

We would like to thank everyone for their kind comments about our 200th challenge last week. We were so happy to hear how much you enjoy our challenges... we certainly enjoy seeing all your fabulous creations.
Now we have a new month, a new challenge and of course, a new sponsor.
We welcome back Craft Mojo as our sponsor this month
As it is the first week of the month of course we have a colour challenge and this time we would like you to take your inspiration from this Design Seeds Picture,

Aren't these just gorgeous!
Here are our examples!


All JOFY stamps, embossed with WOW powders.  'Baubles' added to the wreath with Stickles, Perfect Pearls and Glossy accents.  I thought I was really clever to mix my own embossing powder with blue and sparkle.  But when I put it back in the drawer I had some sparkly blue in there already - doh!
I love this stamp of wading birds from The Stamp Gallery.
I stamped the birds and then used Elmers Rubber Cement as a mask to keep them white, whilst I inked the sea around them.
I assembled a few ink pads matching the Design Seed colours and with a mask ripped from a Post It note added the colours for the sea. I then overstamped with SU Gorgeous Grunge broken lines and then added a few random dots which I embossed with white EP.
The sentiment is from Paper Smooches.
(Sarah has been on a roll this week so here are a couple of her cards... the rest are on her blog)
Uniko Studio: Snowflake Dies & Sentiment (heat-embossed on vellum)
Cuttlebug: Embossing folder
Gems from my stash
I've used 'snippets' of glitter and textured cardstock to create the
diagonal striped panel, word die and sentiment from Clearly Besotted
with gems from my stash.

We hope you enjoy this one... they are gorgeous colours aren't they!

***


05 December 2014

ShowCASe Week 199

Week 199 ShowCASe

We had so many wonderful entries for out 
Jingle all the Way 
challenge.

Here are the fabulous showcase choices for this week...what a jingling joy it was to choose!

Darnell writes such fun posts and make wonderful creations... we just love her lines of jingling bells.

What a feast for the eyes this beautiful card from Connie is!
Love her jingle bells!

Gorgeous, elegant simplicity...just beautiful

All of these cards, really showcase the CAS style... lots of white space, beautiful elements.

Wonderful ladies, thank you so much. Please take our showcase badge with our congratulations
showCASed
Tomorrow there'll be another challenge, so do come bakc and join us!

29 November 2014

200th Challenge!

Can you believe?
"Less is More" is publishing its 200th Challenge!

Sarah here...
This week we are celebrating 200 challenges!
So have some fun with our
 
 CELEBRATIONS 
themed week
200 challenges to think up, write up, select winners,
create, comment, challenge others ...
that's one colossal task and my first card is in 
honour of our fabulous leader at Less is More ...
Congratulations and heartfelt thanks
Cheers and a toast to 
CHRISSIE
who literally is 'Simply One of a Kind'

... from day one at Less is More and 
she's still as keen, kind and encouraging as ever.
This used: 
My Favorite Things: Diagonal Background Stamp
which I've inked with chalk ink in sea breeze then covered with clear
embossing powder and heat set. Another Jennifer McGuire tone on tone tip.
Clearly Besotted: Congrats Word Die & You're A Star stamp set
Memory Box: Mini star dies
MFT Die-namics: Blueprints 15 & Fishtail Flag dies


Card recipe:
Pink Petticoat: Background DP
MFT Die-namics: Blueprints 15
Mama Elephant: Landscape trio dies
Uniko Studio: 'celebrate' sentiment - Flower Power 1
Clearly Besotted: 'the season' sentiment - Rockin' Robin
Winnie & Walter: It's a Wonderful Pennant stamps
Stampin' up: Candy Dots
~
In honour of our special week and as it's also a 5 Saturday month we have a 

Guest Designer 
and this time we are delighted to welcome a LIMette who has contributed to practically ALL of those 200 challenges ... it's 
(Daizy Mae) 


I layered some Pale Turquoise card over my White Linen base card.
I then added a few strips of spotty net,white embossed card and silver paper.
I stamped my Penny Black sentiment on more Turquoise card and added some
twine. I highlighted the first letter using my Glamour dust and quickie glue pen.
A few silver sequins completed my card.
~
More details are on Viv's blog... do visit her to leave a congratulatory comment!


This is a CASE of a card from a LIMette challenge a couple of months or so back, but I'm ashamed to say I can't remember whose card so I can credit her, please let me know if you're reading this!  Legs are from a Julie Nutting Prima stamp (the version I cased had a chap's legs in jeans), sentiment is by Magenta and the red Stickles came out again for the shoes.

Here is a really simple card. 
Black card base, white embossing powder, a little colour added to the champagne with watercolour pencils and given a little shine with Glossy Accents.
We managed to get half a dozen bottles of Champagne with a RRP of £25.99 each for £8 per bottle from Tesco... excellent value just in time for Christmas! It's probably what gave me the idea for this card.
Stamps by Stampin' Up

I received this card from Anne this week... I have been so blessed by the dedication and friendship of my two fellow designers (as this post is testament to)
Do please visit your co-contributors to leave a friendly word... it is SO appreciated!

As ever, the DT have additional cards on their personal blogs to give you further inspiration. They would ALL love to have you visit them and leave a comment too!
Over to you now and thank you so much for 
another bumper week of entries with the 'JINGLE' theme.
It really makes for an exciting and satisfying week just
seeing how popular the LIM challenges are.
Well done all of you and thanks for your continued support.
Here's to the next 200 challenges.
Please Note ALL SUBMISSIONS should be CLEAN AND SIMPLE CARDS with links to no more than 5 CHALLENGES in total.
***

28 November 2014

ShowCASe Week 198

We had the most fabulous response to our More Than One Tree, with some truly wonderful submissions and we could have showcased so many!
These are Anne's favourites this week!

SHOWCASE WEEK 198

Stunning tree scene, loads of white space, CAS perfection for me!

 Wonderful colouring of the trees and set in a fab CAS scene

Vibrant, opulent 'white space' and flawless stamping.

showCASed
Here is our ShowcCASe badge ladies... what wonderful work...and thank you!

Be sure to join us for our special 200th Challenge tomorrow.... and we have a Guest Designer joining us, a very special LIMette!

See you then!

22 November 2014

Week 199

Here's another chance for you to continue with your Christmas card preparations as our challenge this week is entitled
Jingle all the Way!
For this we would like to see some reference to any of these things.... bells, reindeer, Santa, elves, stockings, presents, decorations, Christmas songs/music/instruments... in fact anything Christmassy!

Before you see the cards from us, I would just like to say a huge 
THANK YOU 
on your behalf to both 
Sarah and Anne
for their tireless work in visiting and commenting on EVERY submission to our challenges.
Not many challenges can boast that the DT comment on SO many entries.
What very special people they are! True LIMettes!
Thank you girls, you are absolute stars!

Sarah
(Sarah has a link to the tutorial she used for this with other fab examples on her personal blog!)

The 'jingle bells' image is from Pink Petticoat; 
it's coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils,
drizzled with Wink of Stella, generously coated with glossy accents
then left to dry overnight.

Next day ... distress inking to the background before 
spritzing with water and Perfect Pearls.
I've used textured embossing paste on the panel behind the circle, 
Mama Elephant: Index card dies, sentiment from Uniko Studio 
with some gems and twine to finish
 (she has an hilarious card on her personal blog... you must visit to take a look!)
A DL card for a change.  I found an image of Jingle Bells music using Google and cut a strip including the margin.  Added a bit of Old Paper Distress Ink, stamped Tim Holtz trees and added a Tim Holtz diecut word.
I used a whole bunch of die-cuts for this card.
The wreath (x2) is Memory Box, the holly - Impression Obsession, the sentiment from WPlus9 and the jingle bells from Memory Box. The mounts were cut with Spellbinder square dies. 
As ever I have a few more cards for you to see, I love to see you on my personal blog too!

This is a week to have fun!
If you don't have stamps for this week,  there are various digi images which can be easily found!
SO go on... enjoy yourselves!
***



21 November 2014

ShowCASe week 197

We saw some WONDERFUL work last week for our Starry Starry Night Challenge.
As usual there were one or two submissions which missed the ONE LAYER stipulation but there was some terrific work.
We're sure you'll agree that the ShowCASe this week is truly spectacular!
Here they are!
Wonderful inking and perfect stamping!

Superb combination of stamps and perfect placement.

 
Just look at this jaw dropping scene!
That sky is just wonderful!
Another example of fabulous inking and stamping!

Please take our ShowCASe badge with our grateful thanks!

showCASed
Another challenge will begin tomorrow at 8am,  so do be sure to join us then!

15 November 2014

Week 198 Theme

We thought we would continue with a theme this week which would allow you to continue  increasing your stack of Christmas  cards... if you choose to take a seasonal take on the challenge, although it's not necessary.
So today we would like to see
MORE THAN ONE TREE
That should give you plenty of scope!
Remember to keep it clean and simple... a few cards seem to creep into our challenges which stray from our prime directive; one layer cards are ALWAYS welcome although not essential unless it's the second Saturday of the month!
Here are our examples, although as ever we've all prepared extra cards for you to see on our personal blogs, so do be sure to try to check them out!
THANK YOU!

 Perfect challenge for me, I love tree stamps!
Waltzing Mouse Flurries trees and snowflakes with a Lawn Fawn sentiment, some gems and ric-rac.


I imagine that some of you might have come to expect something a little like this from me with a topic like this. 
The stars (SU Gorgeous Grunge splats) were clear embossed and then the snow hills were inked with Distress inks using sponge daubers over a torn piece of Post it  used as a mask.
The stitched dies are from Lawn Fawn and the sentiment was computer generated in All things Pink font.

Using Clearly Besotted: Joy to the World set I've used 
silver and green inks with additional stamping for shadows
to create a snowy forest scene. 
I've used a sizzix embossing folder of mini dots to give the impression of snow, 
snow mounds die cut using Mama Elephant: Landscape trio dies,
Sentiment is CBS: Signature Christmas
and to finish some gems to the trees from my stash.

***


14 November 2014

ShowCASe Week 196

ShowCASe for our colour challenge 
Non-traditional Christmas
What an amazing number of fabulous entries we had for this Colour challenge, choosing was an absolute delight!
These are Sarah's favourites this time
 
I adore this one so much I've even had to hunt down the embossing folder! 
It's amazingly simple yet so sophisticated especially with the black ribbon and gems.
The silver version is fabulous too.
Several people have asked about this embossing folder which Loli used

CRAFTS TOO EMBOSSING FOLDER CARDMAKING DIE MACHINE SWIRL BAUBLES XMAS CTFD4006
I Googled it and discovered it was from Crafts Too!

I hope that helps everyone. If you haven't visited the winners please do, we're sure they'd love to hear from you!

Although gold - love it against the black for Christmas.
Striking, simple yet so elegant.

Love all the fun rainbow colours against the snowy backdrop.
On top of that the stunning die-cut 'merry' inked to match.
showCASed
Please take our ShowCASe badge for your blogs ladies and everyone please come back tomorrow for a new challenge!
Thank you all for fabulous entries last week!