26 November 2016

Challenge #304 - Recipe

Hey can you believe that's another week ticked off and we're back with another challenge for you.
 We certainly had lots of Vintage inspiration from you so we're guessing you enjoyed that one!

Today we have our RECIPE week and we'd like you to use an
EMBOSS RESIST TECHNIQUE on your projects

There's various ways to achieve this look but from a quick internet search here's
 a little definition for you!

"Pour clear / white embossing powder over stamped images
Heat emboss and allow to cool
Using light inks / watercolours, begin blending colour onto the
card stock to reveal the embossed images"


So without further ado here's what our Design Team have created
to inspire you and there could be a couple of bonus cards on their
personal blogs if you'd like to pop along and visit them!









As always please keep your designs Clean and Simple with lots of 'white / blank space' and do check our 'Challenge Guidelines at the top right of the blog along with our page 'How to Play'.

We hope you feel inspired to play along and have some fun.

Don't forget to check our our Facebook Page slideshows, throughout the week HERE especially on Wednesday, when we showcase our random selection of early entries to the challenge and Fridays, when we'll be revealing our favourites from the previous week's challenge.


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25 November 2016

ShowCASe # 302

Hi there LIMettes it's time for our weekly ShowCASe post.


It's never an easy job to select our favourites but we do love seeing 
all your stunning takes on the challenge in our gallery each week.

So here goes with our choices, in order of entry for 
Week #302 - OLC: Books / Literature

Hannelie

 The peaceful words from Psalm 23 inspired Hannelie to make this stunning creation.  And the gentle sponging of the open book image in calming green envelop the sentiment beautifully.


Helen

This wonderful image was perfect for our challenge and Helen has watercoloured it to perfection.  The dimension achieved through some clever shading is fantastic.


Ma-Mi
The brown inking on kraft with the white touches looks amazing. And the layered effect Ma-Mi has achieved with clever die embossing and marker detail is terrific.


Congratulations ladies and please help yourself to a ShowCASe badge
 from the page at the top of the blog with our thanks. 
We hope you'll display it proudly on your individual blogs.

We're sure you'll agree these are a wonderful trio and worthy of
our ShowCASe badge this week. 
Do pop along and congratulate them on their win.

We'll also be showCASing their cards on our Facebook page
so why not hop on over and give us a 'thumbs up'!
Here's the link you need to take you there.




As always there's still time to enter our current challenge 
#303 - Theme: Vintage

which ends at 10pm GMT this evening before we announce
the new one at 8am GMT tomorrow morning.

19 November 2016

Challenge #303 - Theme

Hi there LIMettes, can you believe that's another week ticked off?
Time for another challenge to get your teeth into and did we 
give you a tough one last week? Some of the Design Team struggled
too so let's put that one behind us and move on to our

THEME week which is VINTAGE

Remember to keep your design CLEAN & SIMPLE and you can take
the Vintage theme wherever it takes you ... it could be a pattern, image,
implied in the sentiment ... we can't wait to see what you come up with
and to get those creative juices flowing here's what the team have for you
and if you're lucky there could be a few extras on our personal blogs too!

You'll just have to pay us a visit to find out!





Susan: Taking a break this week





Once again Esther has worked her technical magic to perfection 
to create another perfect slideshow for you on our Facebook page 
HERE and we hope you'll pop by with a 'thumbs up'!

There'll be another slideshow on Wednesday featuring some
of the cards linked to this week's challenge and it's all
randomly selected so get your card in early for a chance 
to be featured there. 

If for any reason you would prefer NOT to be featured on 
our Facebook page then please drop us a quick email.

***






18 November 2016

ShowCASe # 301

Hi there LIMettes it's time for our weekly ShowCASe post.


You gave us a wonderful selection of luxurious purple and gold cards to choose from. As always, i
t's never an easy job to select our favourites but we do love seeing 
all your stunning takes on the challenge in our gallery each week.

So here goes with our choices, in order of entry for 
Week #301 - Purple and Gold


Steffi
 
The bold and intricate snowflake has been beautifully balanced by Steffi with a super soft splattery background. This give the card a wonderfully light and airy feel.


LucieG

Lucie has achieved a real touch of luxury and glamour with the use of sparkling glitter in the bauble. The hints of gold give her card a really classy and elegant look.



Aileen


Aileen's crisp and clean gold embossing is beautifully echoed in the gold strip at the side.  The simple purple colouring of the letters are a stunning backdrop for the embossing. Wonderfully CAS.
 
 

Congratulations ladies and please help yourself to a ShowCASe badge
 from the page at the top of the blog with our thanks. 
We hope you'll display it proudly on your individual blogs.

We're sure you'll agree these are a wonderful trio and worthy of
our ShowCASe badge this week. 
Do pop along and congratulate them on their win.

We'll also be showCASing their cards on our Facebook page
so why not hop on over and give us a 'thumbs up'!
Here's the link you need to take you there.

 
As always there's still time to enter our current challenge 
#302 - OLC: Books/Literature

which ends at 10pm GMT this evening before we announce
the new one at 8am GMT tomorrow morning.

17 November 2016

STAMPlorations Giving Thanks Blog Hop

Hello LIMettes, we have an extra-ordinary post for you today in support of a 
special blog hop over at STAMPlorations and we are delighted to be participating
 along with a group 38 super talented designers and 15 Guest Designers.

The title of the Blog Hop is Giving Thanks and if you'd like to create a card
with a 'thankful or grateful' theme then why not play along and hop!
What's more there's lots of prizes up for grabs along the way! 

The gallery to link up your projects can be found on the main HOP post over at 
STAMPlorations HERE along with all the participants and prize details.



Here's some 'Giving Thanks' inspiration from the Less is More
Design Team and if you check the Inlinkz at the end you'll see 
all the designers who are taking part so hop along and have some fun!


Anita

Chrissie

 Sarah G


Sarah P

Sharon


So if you'd like to play along or leave some comments and in be in with a chance 
of some prizes you'll need to follow this link to the STAMPlorations Blog Hop
Have Fun and thanks for calling by today!


***


12 November 2016

Challenge #302 - One Layer

Good Morning and Happy Saturday LIMettes.

WOW! You certainly made us swoon with all your
purple and gold last week and we've so many luxurious
ideas in the bag for the future, particularly Christmas themed

This week it's the turn

of the dreaded ONE LAYER CARD week but we know
you love it really and put your hearts and souls into
whatever we throw at you!

This week our theme is Books / Literature
... you can feature an image of books, a book title,
story-line, character, theme - just wherever it takes you.

You may need to drop a teeny explanation in your post
to help us out if it's a little obscure.

Here's what the brilliantly talented Design Team have
to whet your appetite and there could be an odd extra bonus
one if you'd like to hop long to our personal blogs too!


Jen

 Breakfast at Tiffany's Book by Truman Capote


Esther
Inspired by Terry Pratchett's novel "Guards! Guards!"


We can't wait to see what you make of this challenge and hope you
have a lot of fun in the process!

Did you enjoy our slide-shows last week on our Facebook page
here? We certainly had lots of visits and thank Esther enormously
for her technical knowledge to make this happen!

We've more slide-shows, more cards and more showcases
this week and you can view them over the week by following
the link HERE


***








11 November 2016

ShowCASe #300



Hi there LIMettes it's time for our weekly ShowCASe post.


Well, you certainly WOWed us with your fantastic Celebrations and Festivals creations.  What a wonderful way to celebrate that milestone 300th challenge.

 It's never an easy job to select our favourites and this week was no exception. However, we do love seeing all your stunning takes on the challenge in our gallery each week.


So here goes with our choices, in order of entry for 
Week #300 - Celebrations / Festivals

Maaike
http://cardsbymaaike.blogspot.pt/2016/11/village-with-church.html
A crisp, stylish and wonderfully festive card from Maaike
which uses a suitably frosty colour pallet.  Superb depth and interest
have been created with the clever use of apertures to view the wintery scene.

Agi
http://hildenkraft.blogspot.pt/2016/11/skandinav-karacsony-scandinavian.html
Agi's stunning example of a card with a Scandinavian feel to it uses a combination
of Kraft, red & cream and geometric patterns to excellent effect.
The diagonal bands are beautifully balanced by the sentiment and dots.


Claire has created such a sophisticated and eye-catching layout
with this perfectly CAS design.  The wavy white stitched panels
convey a great sense of movement which beautifully complements the snowflake panel 

Congratulations ladies and please help yourself to a ShowCASe badge
 from the page at the top of the blog with our thanks. 
We hope you'll display it proudly on your individual blogs.


 
We're sure you'll agree these are a wonderful trio and worthy of
our ShowCASe badge this week. 
Do pop along and congratulate them on their win.

We'll also be showCASing their cards on our Facebook page
so why not hop on over and give us a 'thumbs up'!
Here's the link you need to take you there.




As always there's still time to enter our current challenge 
#301 - Colour: Purple and Gold

which ends at 10pm GMT this evening before we announce
the new one at 8am GMT tomorrow morning.

09 November 2016

October Winner & Spot Prizes #300

Morning LIMettes, it's time for us to announce not just the lucky winner
for the month of October but also our spot prize winners from our
Celebrations Challenge #300!

Grab yourselves a drink and read on ...
Our generous sponsor for the month was Dies to Die For

Logo


Thank you to everyone who has taken part this month and we've 
thoroughly enjoyed seeing your beautiful cards in our gallery. 

It's always a tough decision to select just one monthly winner 
but here goes with our winner for this month.

KathyK Of  Purple Princess Diaries


Kathy is a regular contributor at Less is More and rarely misses a week.
Her designs are always, CAS and full of elegant detail,
 which work perfectly in our challenges.
 Congratulations Kathy and many thanks so much for all your support.

We'd also like to offer you the opportunity to Guest Design for one
of our future challenges and details of how to claim your prize can
be found at the bottom of the post.

***

So without further ado let's get down to those 300th Challenge
spot prizes generously donated by some of our designers:

Prize 1: £20 gift voucher for Seven Hills Crafts to



Prize 2: £15 / $15 Gift Voucher to a store of the winner's choice to

masculine celebration card


Prize 3: $25 Gift Voucher to Joann goes to

Merry Christmas - photo by Deborah Frings - Deborah's Gems


Prize 4: Apple Blossom Dies to



Prize 5: Uniko Christmas stamp set to


Please can all of our winners contact Sarah by email at 
LIM2011@gmx.com
 for details of how to claim your prizes


Congratulations ladies and thanks for taking part and your support.
Please take a Prize Winner badge from the page at the top of the blog! 
We hope you'll display it with pride on your blog with our thanks.

We'll be showcasing all of our winners cards over on our 
Facebook page so please hop on over and give us a 'thumbs up'!
Here's the link you need to take you there.


05 November 2016

Challenge #301 - Colour

Well hello LIMettes and Happy Firework night ... if you're in the UK

We've a bumper post for you today with lots of news so why not
grab yourselves a brew and let's get started.

Our faithful followers will know that Less is More has been a fun
and extremely popular weekly challenge for Clean & Simple Cards
for almost 6 years, 301 challenges to be exact! Many of our regulars
have almost become family as you visit us every Saturday or Sunday!

At the head of Less is More for all of those many challenges is our
AWESOME Queen of CAS Leader and 'Mum' - Chrissie!
Behind the scenes she works tirelessly for Less is More and at the
same time juggling her role as Super Gran to her 3 grandchildren
as well as holidays, hobbies and life in general.

With such a busy and hectic lifestyle Chrissie has decided to scale down her role
at Less is More BUT before you reach for the tissues ... she isn't leaving us;
merely dipping in and out, here and there rather than committing to a regular spot!


A message from Chrissie!
For some time I have been struggling to keep up with blogging, following the arrival of our latest grandchild and an ever increasing vacation schedule. Both of these things are awesome, but sadly something had to go!
I am immensely proud of "Less is More", which has been a trail blazer for many new CAS challenge sites and I love the community which has built up and remained over the years... which is why I can't seem to let go altogether! 
I am delighted to be able to hand over the reins to Sarah and the rest of the team, who all produce stunning work as I'm sure you will agree. I hope to pop in every so often to add a card and visit a few people but for the moment I will be taking a little break!
I would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who takes part either weekly or now and again, because it is your support which has helped make LIM what it is today!
I would also like to think that in some way, we have influenced more crafters to embrace the
Clean and Simple genre!

THANK YOU ALL
***

Ok so on the flip side and to soften the blow we are delighted to welcome back to the
 team, our much missed and super talented former teamie, Jen, who is jumping
straight back in this week and I hope you'll make her feel loved and welcome!



... and now let's get down to the job in hand with our latest challenge!
First week of the month means it's Colour Week and the return of 

Seven Hills Crafts Logo

as our sponsor for November!

The colour combo we've chosen for you is  


Purple & Gold


and here's what the Design Team have to inspire you.


Jen


We can't wait to see what you make of this one and please remember to 
leave some crisp and clean 'white' space on your designs. Everyone loves
a comment too so please pop around a couple of your fellow participants
with a friendly word or two!

Enjoy the challenge and don't forget we've a bumper winners post 
on Wednesday, this week featuring our October winner plus
a bundle of spot prizes from the Design Team following last week's
300th Challenge!

We're also making a few changes to our Facebook posts and 
starting today we'll be showcasing our DT projects on the page so
we hope you'll hop on over and give us a 'thumbs up'!
Here's the link you need to take you there.

During the week we're hoping to trial a mini showcase of randomly selected
 entries, Friday ShowCASe and monthly winners on the Facebook page and 
we hope you'll enjoy seeing your projects featured in this way



***