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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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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LIM DT: One layer card – flowers

A new one-layer card challenge this week at Less is More. You have to do 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

AAA Cards DT: Pink Birthday

Over at AAA Cards challenge blog we’re celebrating 9 years of clean and simple card-making. There’s even a money prize up for grabs! The challenge this time is ‘pink birthday’. I searched through my stash and remained uninspired by what I had on a generic birthday theme. Eventually, I settled on one of my flower stamps, coloured it pink and made it a birthday card with a stamped mini-sentiment:

floral pink birthday card with tiny sentiment Continue reading

AAA Cards DT: choose a side – Hot or Cold

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:

clean and simple card design with cold colour palette Continue reading

LIM DT: Anything Goes (#481)

Another ‘anything goes’ theme at the Less is More clean and simple challenge blog. This time it doesn’t have to be a one-layer card which leaves a little leeway for embellishments and matting to be added if needed. Remember that clean and simple requires a large amount of white space around your chosen elements. I’ve elected to add a little dimension to my card by lifting up the butterfly wings. I also added a little star dust to the wings which doesn’t completely show up in the pic. Here’s my finished inspiration piece for the challenge:

anything goes card featuring 'hello' sentiment and coloured butterfly on grey text background

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LIM DT: Black & Aquamarine (#480)

For the new clean and simple card challenge at Less is More for the next fortnight, we have a colour theme – black and aquamarine. I have to admit looking up what sort of shade aquamarine is and decided it was on the greenish side of turquoise/teal. I picked out a light and dark shade from my distress crayons and basically used them as watercolours to fill in the stamped image. Here’s the final result:

Aquamarine and black coloured tiles with happy birthday sentiment

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LIM DT: Anything Goes One Layer Card (#479)

The Less is More challenges are back from their Christmas/New Year break! The first this year is a one-layer card challenge – the image must be printed or stamped directly onto the card blank, with no additional layers and no embellishments. The theme is open – anything goes. Here’s my abstract design team card for your inspiration:

abstract happy birthday card with vertical stripes of colour

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AAA Cards DT: Circles

Check in at AAA Cards for their latest clean and simple card challenge: use circles in your design. The design team have interpreted this theme in numerous ways and it’s worth having a look for your inspiration. Here’s my take on the challenge:

Blended bokeh effect circles in distress oxides

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