LIM DT: Shades of Purple

It’s a colour challenge at Less is More for the next fortnight and the chosen theme is ‘shades of purple’. I had three goes at picking out the colours – it’s curious how when you put some colours together they show up different hues in adjacent colours that you didn’t notice before (and weren’t purple). One technique, in particular, showed this up perfectly (read below). Anyhoo, here’s my take on the challenge and two bonus cards…

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LIM DT: Chalkboard Technique

Over on the Less is More challenge blog this week is a lucky dip and from the pot came the chalkboard technique. In essence, this uses white pigment ink on black card, with the option of adding white heat embossing for even more contrast. An example video is available at the end of this post.

Three cards for you today in reverse order…

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LIM DT: Christmas in July

I know, I know, I mentioned the c-word in the middle of summer. It’s not my fault! The Less is More challenge theme this fortnight is ‘Christmas in July’ and it’s a one layer card. That is to say: one piece of folded card stock with no other layers or embellishments added and keep to the clean and simple rules as well. It’s not that easy and is one of the challenges that I usually need several attempts at to get my stamping and colouring all square and ‘perfect’ for the design team post.

Here’s my take on the theme:

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LIM DT: Colour Challenge

It’s a new theme over at Less is More Challenge blog – this time it’s a colour challenge. We’re looking for clean and simple cards with Fuchsia, Yellow and Grey as the colour combo. There’re plenty of cards from the design team to give you inspiration, and there’s a prize drawn from all the entries at the end of the challenge. I’ve done three cards this time – I hope you like them!

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LIM DT: Solid and outline

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: Scribbles, Drips and Splats

I’m delighted to be able to share that I have been accepted on to the Less Is More Challenge Design Team. You’ll all know that I have recently been taking part in their challenges after a long hiatus, and it’s an honour to join the DT. You can find the fortnightly challenges here, and a little more info on the card(s) I make following the theme here on my blog. You may even get to see the outtakes…

I’ve used one of my most favourite techniques for my card for the splats – get your Distress Stains out, make sure the tip is nice and juicy and then firmly tap against your page (actually, you thump it down with a bit of force). Watch where the spatter goes!

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LIM Challenge Card: Out of Focus

Here’s another clean and simple card for the Less Is More Challenge blog. This time the theme is ‘out of focus’ and suggestions were bokeh, airbrushed backgrounds and watercolour stamping. I chose to go down the alcohol ink background, a suitably defocused technique. Stamped over is a sentiment block of text, cut out to make a tag. Finally, a sentiment stamp direct to card finished off the design:

Less Is More: a CAS thank you card

CAS? It stands for ‘Clean And Simple’ and refers to a card that has plenty of whitespace around the elements. Ideally a one layer, no embellishment type of card, it is perfect for the Less Is More challenge site. And it usually is anything but simple to make. This time, the theme is ‘more’ – we did ‘less’ last time. Here’s my take on the challenge:

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Art Journal Pages: Butterflies

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.

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Less is More: One Layer Card

Another challenge blog, another challenge! This time, it’s the Less Is More challenge to do a one layer card with the focal point off centre. In card making, one layer cards are quite tricky – you have one time to get it right, and if you’re layering or positioning stamps it’s easy to misprint and have to start all over again! Of course, you only get to see the final take…

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