Wanderlust 2022: Watercolours – weeks 29-35

I’ve procrastinated a bit on my homework for this section as I and watercolours often do not get on well together. The lessons have been great on Wanderlust 2022, with each of the tutors carefully and patiently explaining the techniques they use so that they are, in the main, replicable. Here are my results from weeks 29-35…

Various mixed media techniques on papers other than watercolour paper have generally worked ok. I still haven’t fallen in love with watercolours as a medium, but am glad I have tried them. Oh, and buying decent tube watercolours made such a difference to the vibrancy of the colours over the student quality hard pan collections I normally use.

AAA Cards DT: Colour theme ± dots #224

A new challenge has just been published over at the AAA Cards challenge blog. This time, it is to create a clean and simple card using a colour theme set by a photo with the optional extra of using dots. I picked out the primary four colours from the inspiration photo and spent a bit of time matching them to archival ink colours before stamping them onto white card using the same dotty stamp. Now, I usually avoid layers on my CAS cards, but most guidelines specify no or few layers so I feel I can get away with two. I like the individual pieces’ drop shadows and the depth they provide.

dotty colour theme birthday card

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LIM DT: Black and white colour scheme

This ended up being a fast and simple card once I had chosen the stamps! The challenge over at Less is More for the next fortnight is to create a clean and simple card using just black and white. I was tempted to add shades of grey as shadows and to add some depth but decided it wouldn’t meet the challenge.

black and white folk art foliage card Continue reading

AAA Cards DT: Small and few #221

A little challenge over at AAA Cards this fortnight, with the main theme being ‘small and few’. The optional twist is to add (lady)bugs to your clean and simple card design. Here’s my take on the theme:

floral corner with added ladybugs

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LIM DT: Butterflies

Over at Less is More, there’s a new theme challenge for your clean and simple cards/makes – ‘butterflies’. Clean and simple means minimal layers, and lots of blank space, drawing attention to the stamping/colouring/sentiment. Here’s my one layer take on the theme, using watercolour pencils and a bit of distress ink over a mask to get the blue band across the middle:

butterflies themed card Continue reading

AAA Cards DT: 1/9th ± butterflies (#217)

The current challenge at AAA Cards blog is to use a rectangle just 1/9th of the card face. The optional twist is to add butterflies to your layout. The normal ratio of white space to an image on a clean and simple card is 2/3rds to 1/3rd, so reducing this again makes for an extremely clean card, though not necessarily simpler. Here’s my take on the theme:

1/9th butterfly card Continue reading

LIM DT: Rainbow colour challenge

I’m looking forward to a plethora of brightly coloured cards over the next fortnight in response to the latest clean and simple card challenge from Less is More. It’s a colour challenge: ‘rainbow’. It’s been a long time since I featured a rainbow on a card and I couldn’t think of a stamp that was in my stash that had a rainbow on it. So, I dumped one possible interpretation of the theme and went with just the colours:

rainbow coloured strip birthday card Continue reading

AAA Cards DT: No layers card (#215)

Another no layers card at AAA Cards in their latest challenge. There’s also the option of a ‘plant/grow/farm’ theme. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I don’t have any stamps featuring tractors or farmyard animals/birds, so went instead for another interpretation of ‘plant’ and featured a flower on my one layer card:

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LIM DT: Use a tag

It’s recipe time at Less is More, and your ingredient is ‘a tag’. Just make a clean and simple card featuring a tag, upload it to your blog and share the link over at the challenge blog. I’ve made this card for inspiration as part of the design team:

tag on kraft card blank Continue reading

AAA Cards DT: Birthday Moodboard (#214)

It’s time for a new challenge at AAA Cards… This time we’re to use a birthday moodboard as our theme (pic below), with the optional choice of ‘birthday’. The challenge has been running for 8 years and continues to go from strength to strength. I’ve used the balloon theme with colours from the bottom right to make my birthday card.

birthday balloons

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