Guest designing for Less is More

Hello, yes I know that I don't often blog on a Saturday but I was delighted to be contacted my fellow Visible Image DT buddy Sharon, who leads the Less is More Challenge, and asked to be one of their Guest Designers in March. 

 For my non paper crafting friends Less is More is a challenge where the nature of the challenge is to make clean and simple or (CAS as they are known) cards with minimal or no embellishments and lots of white space. Now I am a girl who loves creating in all genres, from CAS right through to full on mixed media. I also find that a lot of my customer's at Dotty's Tea House where I sell my card like CAS cards too so I make quite a few of these. 

Visible Image ( I am on their DT) are sponsoring the challenge so there is a really good reason to try your hand at a CAS card and enter. 

The theme for this new challenge is horoscopes and before you throw your hands up in the air to say that you don't have any horoscope stamps, you can also use anything to do with the theme...i.e constellations, stars, zodiac signs and their associated animal or characters; lions (Leo), scorpions (Scorpio) etc etc. Just let your imagination run wild! You can find all the details here

Now I am lucky enough to own some fantastic Visible Image Zodiac stamps so I knew just what I would use for my card.

I used the zodiac cancer set as I love the crab in this set.

I did a bit of brainstorming and woke up with an idea for my design...what I call my light bulb moments...my brain obviously designs in the night while I am asleep!

I know from previous projects I have made that the zodiac stamps work really well with a galaxy background so I got out my Distress oxides and made a background on black card.

I use a star die and cut out some stars (in the final design you will see that I didn't use the medium size one).

I also stamped the large crab using some sparkly embossing powder and cut him out. It looks white below but IRL it is very sparkly.  I embossed the words in gold onto the large star.

 I also stamped the small and large constellations from the set in gold ink.

Here is my finished card.

with a close up.

and one last shot.

I would also like to link my card up to the following challenges;

Simon says stamp Wednesday anything goes
Happy Little stampers watercolour challenge anything goes
 Craft stamper Take it make it 1/3 anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today and if you are a first time visitor to my blog it's lovely to see you here. Have a lovely weekend and I will be back as usual on Monday with my Visible Image design team Monday make.  

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

************PS I would like to also give a little heads up that I also have a post up today over on the Country View projects blog showcasing the new Visible Image Wizard of Oz collection. I would really love it if you would pop over and even say hello. I have lots of photos of my projects, including some ATCs and coins made using the Tin Man set. Here is a tiny sneak peek

just click here if you would like to see more********

New beginnings

When I was driving home last night I noticed how much lighter it is getting already. Also this morning I saw the same thing....the daylight is returning...bliss. Although it has been quite chilly today here in Surrey we have really escaped any wintry weather so far. The north has seen quite a lot of snow but none here so far.

As I walked home this afternoon I actually did a double take as I saw 2 daffodils, yes daffodils in full flower. I grabbed my camera and walked back and took this shot,

 How astonishing is that! They were quite a way up someone's drive so I couldn't really go any closer I just zoomed my camera.

I decided to check how my own bulbs are going and this is what I found

daffodils springing up here in my front garden, the flower head nearly ready to burst open

 and plenty of shoots in my pots in my back garden.

Wow amazing new beginnings.

At the weekend I also decided to try something new with my card making. As I am sure you have all worked out by now I am a crafter who constantly love to try new ideas. I don't have a fixed style with my crafting and I love to use lots of different ones. The one style of card I have never made is what is know as CAS or clean and simple. I know some very clever CAS card makers who make this style of crafting look easy but it certainly isn't . The key is a very clear design and lots of white space. Less is most definitely more. Whilst having some crafty play the other day I decided to try my hand at my first CAS style card.

I came across a left over butterfly from my 2015 wall hanging, which if you have not seen is here. These are the butterflies which I stamped and embossed onto distress inked card and then cut out. The stamp is by Visible Image and is one of my favourite stamps



I decided that I would use my left over butterfly as part of the focal of my CAS card. So then it was time to think of a very simple but eye catching design for my card. Now this really does take some time and patience.
I was looking through my Craft Stamper magazines and I saw on the front of one of them the free stamp from last year still attached. I thought it would be perfect, just a simple flower. The sentiment is a Clearly Besotted stamp.
So this is what I came up with.




I was pleased with this, my first attempt at CAS
here is a close up

I also thought that this would work well in other colourways too.

So today, inspired by the wonderful daffodils I spied on my walk home,I decided to make a yellow version. I stamped and embossed some more butterflies onto some other card which I had made using various Distress inks

 ....what do you think?

I have put this card up for sale in my Etsy shop here and if it sells well I may well reproduce it in different colours.  I may also put different sentiments on as it would work for many different occasions, get well, engagement, anniversary etc. I will also try different embossed backgrounds too...............hmmm lots of possibilities. 

I really enjoyed my first dabble into CAS.

I would like to enter my yellow happy birthday card into the following challenges;

Pan Pastels clean and simple

Craft stamper Take it make it Take a stamp

Fashionable stamping something new my something new is my first attempt at CAS and the flower stamp is new.

Country View use something new to you this is a new style I have attempted...CAS and my flower stamp is new.

Natalie and Amy all things new my style and flower stamp are new

Crafty boots out with the old in with the new  it's old butterfly stamp, new CAS style and flower stamp

Winter wonderland things with wings

Papertake weekly It's all new

Addicted to stamps and more make a mark 

Creative Inspirations anything goes 

So there are lots of new beginnings going on around here...Mother Nature certainly gives me so much inspiration and she has also reminded me that spring is not so far away. 

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x