Card Craft
LIM DT: Shades of Purple

Posted on 12th September 2020 by Neil

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…

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Jewellery
Jewellery: Chain Maille Swirls

Posted on 11th September 2020 by Neil

It’s been so long since I made any chain maille jewellery that it’s the first time I have written about it on this ‘ere blog. I bought a kit while in Canada – must have caught my eye whilst shopping for other crafty bits in Vancouver – which has languished on my shelves ever since. Today I decided to tackle it… and remembered why my interest in maille-work waned!

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Card Craft
LIM DT: Chalkboard Technique

Posted on 29th August 2020 by Neil

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…

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Card Craft
LIM DT: Doodles

Posted on 15th August 2020 by Neil

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.

Available to purchase
Laser cut: Pewter moulds

Posted on 7th August 2020 by Neil

My studio has amassed kit for just about every hobby over the years (except knitting). I was looking for lollipop sticks and came across my pewter moulding kit that I’ve had for ages but never properly used… Turns out you can use your laser cutter to make wooden moulds:

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Card Craft
LIM DT: Summer flowers

Posted on 1st August 2020 by Neil

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.

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Card Craft
LIM DT: Christmas in July

Posted on 18th July 2020 by Neil

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:

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Card Craft
LIM DT: Colour Challenge

Posted on 4th July 2020 by Neil

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!

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Card Craft
LIM DT: Solid and outline

Posted on 20th June 2020 by Neil

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.

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Card Craft
LIM DT: Borders

Posted on 6th June 2020 by Neil

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:

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