AAA Cards DT: Anything spooky goes

It’s the time of year that Halloween stuff seems to have taken over. As mentioned in previous annual posts, I’m not a fan but inevitably there are ‘spooky’ themes for card maker challenges. This week sees AAA Cards asking for spooky cards as long as they are kept clean and simple. I did my best for my design team card, but I can’t see a use for the finished sample…

spooky stencilled card Continue reading →

LIM DT: One layer card – ‘hello sunshine’

It’s a one-layer challenge over at Less is More clean and simple card-making challenge blog. Don’t forget that one layer means just that… everything has to be on the card blank. No die cuts, no matting and very minimal, if any, embellishments. The theme is ‘hello sunshine’. I have tried to emulate a sunrise with my design team card:

hello sunshine card with blended stencilled sunrise
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Bible Journaling; Jeremiah (BJ-25)

It’s time for another Bible Journaling session at The Studio. In a change to the published programme, there is no session tonight – it has been moved to next week (16th Oct) so that more can attend. There are still spaces available: just let me know if you’d like to come. We’ll be working on verses from Jeremiah. As always, the session is suitable for complete beginners to accomplished artists, with templates available for those that aren’t brave enough to do their own thing from the start. I’m setting a ‘one colour challenge’ and there’s the opportunity to add some sparkle to your pages. Here are the examples for the evening:

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AAA Cards DT: ink blending 3 or more colours

There are a lot of choices when it comes to crafting ink – pigment, water-based, hybrids, dye, oil-based. The challenge over at AAA Cards for the next fortnight is to make a clean and simple card featuring ink blending. My go-to when ink blending is mentioned is distress inks. They are pretty much specifically engineered to blend with the secondary benefit of being water-reactive. Here’s my take on the theme:

ink blending on birthday card

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LIM DT: Music

Theme week at Less is More, and we’ve been set ‘music’. Despite the fact I play the clarinet, massacre a tenor sax piece and know where the notes are on a piano, I’d not say I was a musician! (Just ask how well I can play a syncopated rhythm…) I’m also not an avid listener of music – it is on in the background for most of my working day but I don’t choose to listen to it in my down time. So this theme was a bit of a challenge until I realised just how many ‘classic’ music-themed stamps and embellishments I had in my stash. This is my design team card for your inspiration, but don’t forget to check out the rest of the cards the team have created.

music themed card with rubber stamped background, rusty quaver embellishment and a quote sentiment

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Art Journal: Maps

It has been a little while since I have shared one of my art journal spreads, so I thought I would do so today as a plug for next week’s art journaling session here at The Studio. I’m also sharing the stages the layout went through to get from where I started to the finished article. ‘Maps’ is the theme this month and you’re very welcome to join us on Monday at 7:30pm for the session where you will create your own take on the theme. All materials are provided, and you can get a suitable journal from me for just £2 if you don’t have one already. Just let me know if you’d like to attend. Here’s my finished layout:

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AAA Cards DT: Skies, planets & galaxies

This week’s theme at AAA Cards blog is quite broad. So broad, it’s almost universal. We want to see your clean and simple cards featuring skies, planets or galaxies. I considered blatant advertising by using a chocolate bar wrapper on my card but thought better of it and raided my stash instead. Here’s my design team card for the challenge…

planets birthday card
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LIM DT: Alphabet – C is for celebrate

Less is More clean and simple card challenge blog has a new theme for the next fortnight… We’re working through the alphabet and this week it’s the turn of C – make card for something to celebrate. I had various ideas and ended up going with this one:

Celebrate wedding day clean and simple card

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AAA Cards DT: Add a tag or ticket

A new theme starts at AAA Cards clean and simple card challenge blog today and runs for the next two weeks. This time we are asking for cards that feature a tag or a ticket. There are some great inspiration cards from the design team, and here’s my take on the theme:

card with a stamped tag

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LIM DT: Anything CAS goes – a sympathy card

Dear reader, you may recall that I’m not a fan of ‘anything goes’ card challenges. Many entries to the two challenges I contribute to are not clean and simple, despite this remaining a requirement of the ‘anything goes’ theme. Well, this week at Less is More, we have our monthly ‘anything goes’ challenge – do play along with us, but keep your design clean and simple! Without a defined subject matter, I struggled to get inspiration but came up with this sympathy card after rummaging through some unused die sets:

Sympathy card with black frame and white dove. Sentiment reads 'thinking of you'. Continue reading →