Here’s a clean and simple card design for a no layer sympathy card. It’s the latest theme over at AAA Cards. No layers means exactly that – all the elements need to be on the card blank, no matting and no embellishments (which count as a layer). They are one of the trickiest challenges to do. My card is just about the simplest I have made!

Used for this sympathy card

• Stampers Anonymous / Tim Holtz cling rubber stamp: Botanical and Batik [CMS327]
• Stampers Anonymous / Tim Holtz cling rubber stamp: Crazy Talk [CMS236]
• Hero Arts Vintage Ombre ink pad

Making notes

The ombre ink pad is pigment ink and has three colour blocks in deepening shades (dark grey, mid-grey and a light silver/grey). The ink pad should be ‘jittered’ on the stamp so that there is a clean blend between the colours rather than an obvious edge. The sentiment was carefully inked with just the darkest grey to match the base of the botanical stamp. That’s it – a clean and very simple card once you know how to do the shading…