It’s a colour challenge at Less is More for the next fortnight and the chosen theme is ‘shades of purple’. I had three goes at picking out the colours – it’s curious how when you put some colours together they show up different hues in adjacent colours that you didn’t notice before (and weren’t purple). One technique, in particular, showed this up perfectly (read below). Anyhoo, here’s my take on the challenge and two bonus cards…
Over on the Less is More challenge blog this week is a lucky dip and from the pot came the chalkboard technique. In essence, this uses white pigment ink on black card, with the option of adding white heat embossing for even more contrast. An example video is available at the end of this post.
Three cards for you today in reverse order…
Here’s another design team card for Less is More challenge blog. This time the theme is ‘doodles’ which is a pretty open-ended challenge allowing all sorts of artwork to be included. I’ve chosen to use a stencil for the main element of the card, doodling over the top with a Sakura Gelly Roll black pen.
Another thematic challenge over at Less is More challenge blog – ‘summer flowers’. As I write, my garden has all colours of roses, some of them smelling divine (especially Gertrude Jekyll). Thus was my colour palette inspired and it was handy having the stamp from Stampendous to use (from 2013!). I think some of my ProMarkers are older than that, but are still in perfect condition thanks to my airtight storage solution.
I know, I know, I mentioned the c-word in the middle of summer. It’s not my fault! The Less is More challenge theme this fortnight is ‘Christmas in July’ and it’s a one layer card. That is to say: one piece of folded card stock with no other layers or embellishments added and keep to the clean and simple rules as well. It’s not that easy and is one of the challenges that I usually need several attempts at to get my stamping and colouring all square and ‘perfect’ for the design team post.
Here’s my take on the theme:
It’s a new theme over at Less is More Challenge blog – this time it’s a colour challenge. We’re looking for clean and simple cards with Fuchsia, Yellow and Grey as the colour combo. There’re plenty of cards from the design team to give you inspiration, and there’s a prize drawn from all the entries at the end of the challenge. I’ve done three cards this time – I hope you like them!
It’s a new challenge over at Less is More, to use both a solid and an outline. I made two cards, and it was a close toss-up as to which I was going to feature as my design team card. This one won out eventually:
I could have lined up the outlines perfectly (using a stamp positioner) but I liked the offset look that occurred when I did it all by eye. I think it emphasises the solid and outline as distinct elements.
It’s challenge time again at Less Is More, and the theme this time is ‘borders’. Now then… I know I have a stamp set of numerous borders. Could I find it? Nope. However, while I was trawling through my stamps, I found a couple that I thought would work as a border and sentiment, so here’s my DT card:
Less Is More challenge time again… and the theme is ‘OLC Going Dotty’. This is a one layer card challenge, with artwork applied directly to the card. No matting or layering is allowed and no other embellishments either. It can be quite tricky and it’s not unknown for several attempts to be needed to get perfect stamping and other mark-making. Here’s my design team card, just one this time:
Quick and simple – stamp a sentiment first in jet black archival ink and then mask. Apply distress oxide inks through a Tim Holtz mini-stencil and take off the mask. All done!
I’m delighted to be able to share that I have been accepted on to the Less Is More Challenge Design Team. You’ll all know that I have recently been taking part in their challenges after a long hiatus, and it’s an honour to join the DT. You can find the fortnightly challenges here, and a little more info on the card(s) I make following the theme here on my blog. You may even get to see the outtakes…
I’ve used one of my most favourite techniques for my card for the splats – get your Distress Stains out, make sure the tip is nice and juicy and then firmly tap against your page (actually, you thump it down with a bit of force). Watch where the spatter goes!
