Art Journaling: Heat mouldable foam stamps

Posted on 4th March 2024 by perfectly4med

As I post, we’re having fun with thermoplastic memory foam here at The Studio. I have some heat mouldable foam blocks that once warmed with a heat tool and then pressed onto a textured surface will retain the texture once cool until they’re reheated. Using water-based inks, you can use the stamps to print a background in your art journal before a quick wipe clean and repeat the process with a new texture. I’ve got out all my pre-printed die-cut ephemera for a bit of decoration and came up with this sample layout to inspire attendees at the monthly art journal session:

Art journal page with background images stamped with heat mouldable foam.

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AAA Cards DT: Sketch and cold

Posted on 10th December 2023 by perfectly4med

The last theme of the year has been set out over at AAA Cards’ clean and simple card challenge blog. It has a wintery feel with ‘sketch and cold’ being the design features to include. If you need a reminder, the sketch is there as inspiration and doesn’t need to be literally followed (though a couple of the DT cards have done so). The colour palette does need to be from the cold side though.

Sadly, this card will also be my last design team card for AAA Cards. I’ve made a card every fortnight for them over the last two years and it’s time to move on to do something new/different. There are plans to take the challenges into next year, so do keep joining in the fun 🙂

Here’s my take on the challenge:

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AAA Cards DT: choose a side – Hot or Cold

Posted on 30th April 2023 by perfectly4med

It’s a colour challenge this week over at AAA Cards’ clean and simple challenge blog. Our task is to choose a side (of the colour wheel) – either hot or cold. Most of my art includes warm colours, so I thought this time I would take on the cold side. This meant choosing purples, blues and greens and I turned to the distress palette for my inspiration card:

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AAA Cards DT: Torn edges

Posted on 16th April 2023 by perfectly4med

One benefit of being on the AAA Cards design team is that the themes are set a year in advance. This allows me to work without last-minute deadlines – for instance, I’m writing this between Christmas and New Year 2022. It also means that you can get in early with your design so that there is minimal chance of duplicating ideas. On this occasion, one of my teamies had already posted a card using torn edges as a mask, so I have gone on a slightly different tack with my card.

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AAA Cards: A shaped card ± Easter

Posted on 2nd April 2023 by perfectly4med

So, Easter is an optional twist on this week’s clean and simple card challenge over at AAA Cards. The main challenge is to use a shaped card that isn’t square or rectangular, with the suggestion that egg-shaped cards might be fun. Well, Easter celebrations, for me, are more than chocolate eggs, fluffy bunnies and cute chicks so I came up with this card instead:

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AAA Cards DT: Sketch with flowers (#218)

Posted on 26th June 2022 by perfectly4med

For those unfamiliar with card making terms, a sketch refers to a predetermined layout as a guide for your card. The latest challenge at AAA Cards is for a clean and simple card following such a sketch (pic below). Sketches are great recipes for those new to, or not confident in, card making and scrapbooking. There’s the optional extra to use flowers. Here’s my take on the theme:

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LIM DT: Doodles

Posted on 15th August 2020 by perfectly4med

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.

LIM DT: Solid and outline

Posted on 20th June 2020 by perfectly4med

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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LIM DT Card: OLC Going Dotty

Posted on 23rd May 2020 by perfectly4med

Less Is More challenge time again… and the theme is ‘OLC Going Dotty’. This is a one layer card challenge, with artwork applied directly to the card. No matting or layering is allowed and no other embellishments either. It can be quite tricky and it’s not unknown for several attempts to be needed to get perfect stamping and other mark-making. Here’s my design team card, just one this time:

Quick and simple – stamp a sentiment first in jet black archival ink and then mask. Apply distress oxide inks through a Tim Holtz mini-stencil and take off the mask. All done!

Art Journal Pages: Butterflies

Posted on 26th January 2020 by perfectly4med

Next week’s Art Journal Session has the theme ‘butterflies’. I’ve three new pages to share, but there are several in my past library that you can find using the search facility.