AAA Cards DT: Small and few #221

A little challenge over at AAA Cards this fortnight, with the main theme being ‘small and few’. The optional twist is to add (lady)bugs to your clean and simple card design. Here’s my take on the theme:

floral corner with added ladybugs

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LIM DT: Butterflies

Over at Less is More, there’s a new theme challenge for your clean and simple cards/makes – ‘butterflies’. Clean and simple means minimal layers, and lots of blank space, drawing attention to the stamping/colouring/sentiment. Here’s my one layer take on the theme, using watercolour pencils and a bit of distress ink over a mask to get the blue band across the middle:

butterflies themed card Continue reading

AAA Cards DT: Along the edge #220

Challenge time again over at AAA Cards and the theme for the fortnight is ‘along the edge’ with the optional twist of ‘under the sea’. As always, the card should be clean and simple – minimum layers and embellishments and lots of empty/white space. Here’s my design team card for your inspiration:

CAS card with under the sea theme

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AAA Cards DT: Christmas pets in July (#219)

As previously mentioned, Christmas in July is a thing in the crafting community. This week at AAA Cards challenge blog, the theme is ‘anything CAS goes’ with the optional twist of Christmas (pets) in July. I’m not a fan of the whole Christmas thing, especially starting in July, and am renowned for being a little bah humbug about the whole thing! So this card suitably sums up my state of mind…

bah humbug bulldog card Continue reading

AAA Cards DT: 1/9th ± butterflies (#217)

The current challenge at AAA Cards blog is to use a rectangle just 1/9th of the card face. The optional twist is to add butterflies to your layout. The normal ratio of white space to an image on a clean and simple card is 2/3rds to 1/3rd, so reducing this again makes for an extremely clean card, though not necessarily simpler. Here’s my take on the theme:

1/9th butterfly card Continue reading

LIM DT: Masculine

What makes a card masculine? It’s a perennial problem for card makers, and I’m no exception. So when the theme came up at Less is More this week, I wasn’t overly impressed! I found a set of clear stamps of tags that I bought several years ago and have barely used, and came up with this card:

masculine card with top hat on a tag Continue reading

LIM DT: Rainbow colour challenge

I’m looking forward to a plethora of brightly coloured cards over the next fortnight in response to the latest clean and simple card challenge from Less is More. It’s a colour challenge: ‘rainbow’. It’s been a long time since I featured a rainbow on a card and I couldn’t think of a stamp that was in my stash that had a rainbow on it. So, I dumped one possible interpretation of the theme and went with just the colours:

rainbow coloured strip birthday card Continue reading

AAA Cards DT: No layers card (#215)

Another no layers card at AAA Cards in their latest challenge. There’s also the option of a ‘plant/grow/farm’ theme. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I don’t have any stamps featuring tractors or farmyard animals/birds, so went instead for another interpretation of ‘plant’ and featured a flower on my one layer card:

no layer card Continue reading

LIM DT: Use a tag

It’s recipe time at Less is More, and your ingredient is ‘a tag’. Just make a clean and simple card featuring a tag, upload it to your blog and share the link over at the challenge blog. I’ve made this card for inspiration as part of the design team:

tag on kraft card blank Continue reading

LIM DT: Off-centre, a one layer card

Less is More challenge blog has just published their next clean and simple card challenge – a one layer card with the stipulation of being ‘off-centre’. The one layer bit is the challenge, as it negates the use of die cuts, embellishments and rather obviously, layers. I’ve used masking to ‘layer’ my one layer card…

off-centre card design with music notes and pen nibs Continue reading