Paper Hugs

A little late this week but here are my cards for Less is More challenge week #169   with a sketch and Addicted to CAS challenge #37 with the code word 'Grunge'.  Firstly here is the sketch: and my first card adheres pretty strictly to the sketch I think.  I made a circle from gold twine, added a die cut scroll, after sponging the background area using a Memory Box border die as the stencil, then overstamping with circles from Stampin' Up! Happy Watercolour to accentuate the circles - and to meet the 'grunge' criteria.  I also stamped the lines from Gorgeous Grunge by SU, after stamping off first.  The sentiment comes from another SU set, from their Sale-a-Bration catalogue, called See Ya Later.  I just masked off the clouds and raindrops above the words. and the line below, to keep the sentiment simple. After I had made this card I kept having a rainbow in mind, with it being an arc of a circle - a bit of a stretch maybe, but I'm giving it...

The theme at Less is More this week is 'what makes us smile'  - what a great theme!  Fortunately, I have a lot of scope with this one, as I often smile - or so people say!  Indeed I do feel very blessed and know I have so much to be happy for, but for this challenge, I have chosen a simple flower - Wild Blue (or maybe it's a thistle?) by A Day for Daisies.  It's a stunning digital image, and as I love my garden, and all flowers and plants, really, I thought what better than this! Here is my card: Simply coloured with a few Copics, and mounted behind a die cut circle by Lil' Inker Designs, with the Studio Calico sentiment stamped in Memento Paris Dusk.  I'm also smiling because I know this is CAS!  I'm itching to add a little blue heart, or maybe a gem or three, but I'm holding off ..... but maybe they can be added later lol!

The One Layer Challenge at Less is More this week is to use shadow stamping, and the theme for Addicted to CAS is 'Far Away'  so once again I have combined these two challenges with my card this week. I have used the very familiar stamp 'Regarding Dahlias' by Stampin' Up! (but the first time for me!) stamped in Memento Morocco, and with masking, stamped again without re-inking above and then after inking and stamping off, below.  Because of the masking, it was not possible to obtain a good image if I didn't re-ink and stamp off for the second 'shadow'.  I needed two dahlia masks to add the leaves, and the sentiment is by Simon Says.  I love flowers, and remember that when someone special is 'far away' a lovely flower is always comforting.  

Another delicious photo inspiration for this month's challenge over at Scrapbook Boutique . The delicate colours matched with the darker stripes of the cupcake wrappers were the inspiration for my project.  I used the little birdhouse image and sentiment from a newly-acquired stamp set by WPlus9, called Folk Art Florals, and added the branch die and birds, both by Memory Box.  Onto a Kraft card base I adhered the stamped Hardwood background by Stampin' Up!, and added a flower bloom image from the WPlus9 stamp set and a hand made rose.   I'm not sure you can see this in the photo, but after stamping the caramel coloured house, I clear embossed it, as a nod to the glistening topping on the cupcake.

This is the sketch over at Annabelle Stamps for their April challenge.  Very sweet, but open to lots of interpretations, judging by the beautiful inspirations provided by the design team.   For my card, I chose three stamp sets by Annabelle Stamps.  The floral stamp from the set 'Standing Tall'  with the sentiment taken from  'Flowers for You', and the strip at the side is from Backgrounds by Design 3.  I white embossed the flower image, then used some ink on a small acrylic block to create the faux watercolour effect.  Perhaps the colour is a little strong, but I still like the effect.  A few bright sequins for bling complete my card.

When I saw that the colour choice at Less is More this week is turquoise, I immediately thought of a Tiffany gift box!  Not that I have ever received one (wink!) but I can imagine the excitement one would feel by just seeing a Tiffany box waiting to be opened.  So with that in mind, here is my card for this week: Just a Sizzix die cut, a little heart charm, and a simple sentiment from Studio Calico. Off to visit some of the other entries - they all look so pretty with their various shades of turquoise!

Just a quick post to join in the celebrations for SSS - 5 years is an awesome milestone, so I felt I should enter this week's Wednesday challenge, in support of a great company.  I have been ordering the SSS card kit for a few months now, and love receiving it - my April kit arrived today! I sponged the sky/cloud background, stamped the happy sun from SSS last month's kit, and punched out 5 balloons for the birthday celebrant.  My numeral is made by adhering narrow strips of cardstock together (as demonstrated by the amazing Therese here ), then die cutting the number - I've been making several of these this week, and love the individuality of them.  The sentiment is also by SSS, but from different sets - I wish I had been able to get the words a little closer, but of course the '5' got in the way of my block!  (should have planned ahead lol!) Very best wishes to Simon Says Stamp, and may they continue for many years to come - at least while I'm still craft...