Paper Hugs

I love the sketch at Less is More this week - and the inspiration from the DTs is amazing! I wanted to use my new Daisy flower stamp and die by Stampin' Up! and used some pattern paper to highlight the shape behind the split card front.  The shaped slice was created using a Spellbinders set - Borderabilities Card Creator - which includes six connecting dies but here I've used the simplest one!  Less is more after all! The die cut word is also by SU and the paper is the reverse of the paper used in the centre.  The daisy has been inked with Sweet Sugarplum - a perfect match for my paper:) 

A quick post of two cards I made, totally caseing a card I saw online by Brenda Keenan, but I can't find it again on her blog.  If I do, I'll post it later. PS.  I have just found a similar card on Pinterest and the link is here :   It is created by cutting a 'mask' from scrap paper, using the large leaflet framelet.  Inside the mask, you stamp a tree from Sheltering Tree.  And then have fun spongeing the colours inside the leaf!  This is similar to the card I saw online, which may have come from the SU itself.  You end up with a one-layer card, with lots of depth - of course I added layers beneath to show off the beautiful colours:) Now the next one, is my own invention, copying the same process.  I've used a large butterfly die to create the mask, and inside I stamped a Medallion by Stampin' Up!  I used aqua, purple and pinks for the butterfly colours to make a different look.

On the 10th of each month, Scrapbook Boutique opens a new challenge - and each time it is an inspiration picture.  This month it is no different - another yummy cup cake inspiration! I was taken firstly by the colour combination, of red, white and aqua - then I focussed on the circle and  'dots' - around the circle topper, and on the cupcake wrapper.  So there you have it - circles and dots, and red and aqua - with a little richness of brown thrown in, as per the photo! I have used the fox from the Stampin' Up! set Life's Adventure - he's only small but he packs a punch!  I cut the sentiment from the rubber stamp, to make it easier to stamp onto the banner by WPlus9, cut the circle with a stitched circle die by Lil' Inker, and mounted it on a tag and then onto the aqua strip dry embossed with SU large dots. I will link this card to the Scrapbook Boutique challenge, and also to  Addicted to CAS , where the theme word for Challenge #48 is 'Cuddl...

If you are like me, then you love stamping more than anything else when making a card!  I certainly love my dies, paper, and embellishments, but if there is little or no stamping on my card, I feel a bit of a fraud!  Well, if you feel like me, then this week at Less is More, is just for you.  Challenge 174 is a lucky dip, and it is to use more than one stamp. Here are my entries - yes, both of them! My first was created with a stamp by Acid Drops and Whatnots, which was a free gift in the Australian magazine, Simply Papercraft, and I used the sentiment from the same set.   I teamed this fun image with the wave stamp which is by Stamps of Life, and was part of last month's Stamp of the Month.  For the splashes, I used raindrop dies by Sweet 'n Sassy, a stitched sun die cut by Lil' Inker, and some washi tape for the side panels. For this more traditional card, I used a lovely flower from the Gina K set, A Year of Flowers, and the sentiment is by Stampin...

I have just discovered a new challenge blog:   Virginia's View and love what I have seen there.  I have only just started following Virginia, but her blog looks to be very interesting, and as she is so well-regarded in the card-making community, I am sure to find lots to inspire here. Challenge #3 (so a very new challenge blog, as I said) is all about Stitching.  Last night I finished a card I had prepped for my Probus Card Class the previous day, on which I had decided to use stitching around the image layer.  Perfect for this challenge!  With Mothers Day this month, the thanks could well be to all mums for all they do for us! I have coloured the flowers from the Stampin' Up! set So Very Grateful with Faber Castell Metallic pencils, blended slightly (I only had 4 pencils!) and finished with Gamsol.  I love the soft look these pencils have created.  I masked the sentiment strip to give the illusion of another layer and finally added liquid pearls...