After a small hiatus, I’m back with some Craft Label goodies and design team inspiration. This week, I’m concentrating on using clear stamps and alcohol markers to make three cards with a minimum of other items needed. This is an intellectual exercise as much as anything else but showcases what you can do with a minimal set of media.
One Layer Cards (OLCs) are often the trickiest of the Less is More challenges. All the elements must be directly on the cardstock used for the card itself. No die cuts, matting layers, or indeed most embellishments are allowed. The card itself must retain the clean and simple rule as well. This week’s theme is ‘autumnal’ and I’ve used a previous art journal page as inspiration for my card, which I think would be suitable for a sympathy card.
Ok, so this latest challenge from Less is More is going to cause all sorts of consternation as it is notoriously difficult to photograph glittery things. I’ve tried multiple light sources, but still haven’t managed to avoid shadows or overexposure. So, it’s left up to you to imagine the sparkle in these two cards!
This one-layer card challenge is a little easier than the last one. The theme is ‘spots’ over at Less is More. I’ve previously used a stencil for making a multi-coloured spotty card, so wanted to do something different this time. After digging through my rubber stamp collection I found a semicircular spotty pattern by Magenta. It just so happens that after having it for years, this was the first time it had been used. I made two cards:
A really quick clean and simple card for this week’s ‘shades of blue’ colour challenge over at Less is More. Blended blues, in Salty Ocean/Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire distress inks, make for the main element of the card with a delicate sentiment to finish. Cut pieces on a diagonal, space them out and mount them on sticky foam for an added bit of depth. That’s all there is to it…
Lots of abbreviations today in my post title: LIM – Less is More, a challenge blog for CAS – clean and simple cards or projects. DT is short for design team – a number of crafters who publish inspiration for the challenges every fortnight. Finally, we have CASe which isn’t really an abbreviation as such but comes to mean copy elements/everything from a starter card. This time, Elaine has given us our starter for ten with a lovely watercoloured rose theme. Alongside is my take on her card…
Challenge time again at Less is More, the clean and simple challenge blog. This time, it’s a colour challenge: use pale blue and yellow, and black and white are allowed. It took me a little while to come up with my design – a couple of the design team had already posted their cards and I didn’t want to do the same or a similar card. Here’s my final take on the challenge:
One of the joys (and tribulations) of being a mixed media artist is that you have a great deal of choice when coming to the question of a favourite technique. The fact that the latest challenge at Less is More is conventionally a card craft project helpful narrows down the choice. I found it hard to pick a favourite, so here are two cards based on the effects I most like the results of.
The thing with a 6×6″ paper pad is that when you’re using the papers to make cards, the pad doesn’t last very long – go with the 12×12″ pad! This also gives you the opportunity to do scrapbook layouts. The paper pad, stamps and embellishments I have revisited are from Dovecraft – Butterfly Kisses – available from Craft Label. Here are the five additional card designs…
As well as the paper pad and embellishments, I used two coordinating Distress Oxide colours to stamp with: Dusty Concord and Bundled Sage. Top tip: give the clear stamps a good wash before first use to remove the manufacturing film that can cause the ink to bead up rather than lay flat.
For the unfamiliar, a sketch challenge starts with a block drawing which you then adapt with added elements to make your card. Over at Less is More, the clean and simple card challenge blog, we have set sketch 26. Here are two cards based on the sketch.
