Bible Journaling: Serve (BJ-23)

This month’s Bible journaling session used ‘serve’ as its theme, with five new illustration templates made available. It took me ages to find the right inspiration for the images, but it was worth the effort. I have also got hold of some new fonts, courtesy of Creative Fabrica’s daily gifts and freebies, so they snuck into the designs as well. Here are the five illustrations:

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AAA Cards DT: Outdoor activity

Another fortnight has flown by which means it’s time for another challenge over at AAA Cards. We’ve chosen a theme of ‘outdoor activity’ as our prompt for a clean and simple card make. I spent absolutely ages going through my stash and could not find a single stamp or piece of ephemera fitting the theme that I hadn’t used recently. Google stepped up to the challenge, however, and after tweaking my search criteria and a downloaded file I made this card:

Outdoor activity: angler at sunset Continue reading

LIM DT: Anything Goes – keep it CAS (#486)

Less is More challenge time again – anything goes but keep it CAS. This theme is therefore an open season, though keeping the design clean and simple is a necessity if you wish to be featured in our winner’s gallery at the end of the challenge (so many entries aren’t). I struggle with an open theme, much preferring a more specific challenge. As is normally the case, I had a rummage in my stash and found an abstract stamp design that I had not used before and came up with this:

keep it CAS - an abstract teal and brown birthday card

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Bible Journaling: By request (BJ-22)

I’m a bit behind on posting my Bible journaling templates, sorry about that. First up, last month’s session was based on verses that were ‘by request’. I received four nominated verses and chose the last to complete the set. I also admit to rejigging one of my older templates, so you may recognise it.

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Upcycled Glass Lantern

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been working in the garden for the last few weeks. The main effort has been to address 20 years of neglect and get the rest of the garden to match the clean lines of a new patio. As a result, several things had to go to the tip along with oodles of green waste and clippings. Three rusted IKEA tea light metal framed lanterns were consigned for metal recycling, but I took the opportunity to deglaze them before that happened. A bit of designing later and the upcycled glass lantern was born. Available in both beech and walnut veneer finishes.

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Why I should charge more…

I thought I would share some of the behind-the-scenes things that are going on at The Studio. I’ve been working on other projects (mainly in the garden) for the last few weeks which is why there have only really been the clean and simple cards published. By sharing this, you’ll also understand some of the processes that lead to a finished handcrafted product and why I should charge more…

why I should charge more - a layered backlit nativity sceneThis is the latest project I have been working on, ready for Christmas shows at the end of October and early December. Keep on reading for my observations, prototyping and a few more pics of the finished item.

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AAA Cards DT: Everything Beach

Summer is almost here, and in anticipation of a heatwave AAA Cards‘ latest challenge is to make a clean and simple card on the theme of ‘everything beach’. I’m a little more of a pragmatist, live in the UK and anticipate foul weather when I go to the coast. Foregoing buckets and spades and fancy parasols, I found this previously unused stamp deep in my stash and created this:

Stormy beach scene with seagulls and lighthouse Continue reading

LIM DT: Colour – black and light purple (#485)

Our monthly colour theme has come around again at Less is More clean and simple card challenge. This time it is ‘black and light purple’. I’ve taken the set palette literally and haven’t even used white (which is allowed). A top tip from the outset is to not try stamping an outline onto textured card stock… Here’s my make:

Black card with light purple stamped panel and sentiment

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AAA Cards DT: Hot/cold drinks

Lots of potential designs for the latest AAA Cards‘ clean and simple card challenge ‘hot/cold drinks’. I looked through my stamps for something suitable, thinking I had one from Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz – you know, the blueprint-style coffee cup – but I couldn’t find anything. Then I remembered I had some coffee-themed napkins that I would be able to decoupage. Unfortunately, the design was too large for a card, so that idea was binned too. Finally, an archived memory resurfaced and a quick rummage later allowed me to create this super simple card:

Super simple hot/cold drink card featuring a teacup on a yellow polka dot tablecloth Continue reading

LIM DT: One layer card – flowers

A new one-layer card challenge this week at Less is More. You have to doĀ everything on the card blank. No die cuts, no layers, and minimal embellishments (if at all). It’s quite a tough assignment for those that like plenty of frills on their cards, but it makes for the desired clean and simple card design. This time, the theme is ‘flowers’ and I came up with this:

Pink rose flowers on a French text background, one layer card Continue reading