LIM DT: Anything goes (as long as it’s CAS)

In the penultimate challenge of the year, we’re looking for your clean and simple cards over at Less is More. Anything goes this week as long as you keep it CAS. Don’t forget to look at our definitions for more guidance on what this entails. I searched through my stash and looked for a rubber stamp that had never been used and found this one featuring a poinsettia. I chopped a strip from it to keep it CAS rather than use the full image. Here’s the card I made for the design team inspiration gallery:

Christmas poinsettia image coloured with watercolour paints

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AAA Cards DT: Colour scheme – purples and blues

I’m occasionally accused of being monotone and predictable in the choice of colours I wear, typically blues and greys. The colour challenge at AAA Cards this week features tones of purples and blues, so I feel quite at home. I’ll also be picking the entries that we will be showcasing, so I look forward to seeing your makes based on the photo prompt below. Here’s my take on the clean and simple card challenge…

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LIM DT: Blue, pink and white colour challenge

We have a colour challenge over at Less is More this week… Your clean and simple card should feature blue, pink and white to enter our gallery. Now, my cards don’t necessarily fit the guidance for ‘simple’ or ‘easily reproducible’ but I find them rather pleasing and am running with them! Here’s my first card for the design team inspiration page and below is another I made:

Blue embossed mandala with pink and white shading to colour mounted onto white card blank using foam pads.
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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

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: 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

AAA Cards DT: Sketch for a teen card

Another sketch challenge has been set at AAA Cards this week. Use the design to guide your creation of a clean and simple card suitable for a teen. I struggled to find something to fit the theme and eventually raided a different stash for inspiration. With the popularity of proms, I thought this ‘couture’ stamp would be suitable. The guide sketch is below.

Card suitable for a teen - based on sketch Continue reading

LIM DT: Orange – colour challenge

A bit of an early autumnal colour palette challenge over at Less is More for the next fortnight… orange. I toyed with the idea of taking it literally and plonking a representation of the fruit onto the card. However, inspiration didn’t fully materialise and I decided to go with a technique-based card instead:

Mottled orange strip with white happy birthday sentiment on a white card blank. Continue reading

AAA Cards DT: Sketch ± baby card

Time for another clean and simple card challenge at AAA Cards. This week we have a sketch to work to (see below). This is a guide to a card layout rather than drawing your own. The optional extra is to make the theme suitable for a baby. Here’s my card as part of the design team’s inspirations:

Baby themed clean and simple card

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LIM DT: Photo inspiration – one layer card

You have a fortnight to join in the latest Less is More clean and simple card challenge. It’s a photo inspiration theme – take whatever elements you like from the provided photo prompt, whether it be colours, shapes, theme, words and so on. Oh, it’s also a one-layer card challenge – no embellishments, matting, die-cuts… Everything has to be on the card blank. Scroll down for the inspiration photo and description of how I made this design team card:

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