Finally! A challenge for which I had a choice of stencils and stamps to use in my card design – dogs/puppies. This is this week’s theme over at AAA Cards‘ clean and simple card challenge blog. After using technology to make last time’s card, I thought I would go back to my card-making roots and go for something using basic techniques:
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:
Over at AAA Cards, there’s another colour challenge for a clean and simple card design. This time it’s my choice of scheme: teal and gold. A classy and classic combination in my opinion, with lots of potential choices for metallics and media. Here’s my card design:
Well, it’s mid-July and we’re in a Christmas mood. At least, the crafting world is celebrating Christmas in July as most of the manufacturers release their seasonal goodies. Over at Less is More clean and simple card challenge blog, we are entering into this spirit with a colour challenge of ‘traditional Christmas’. I guess, like the challenge at the beginning of the month, that this is open to interpretation! I’ve gone with a classic red, green and gold:
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.
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:
It’s a colour theme at our favourite Clean And Simple challenge blog, Less is More. I can’t remember who suggested them, but the colours this time around are pink, grey and gold. Here are two one layer cards using the colours, with the peacock being the one I chose for the DT post.
Time for another look at the First Edition North Star paper pad from Craft Label. As well as the glittered design, two foil designs and two pearlescent designs, half the pad is double-sided as well. It’s a 200gsm paper, so a decent weight for card making and also making 3D projects as well. Today, I used the grey-green papers which accompany the blue-silver colour scheme in the pad.
More Craft Label goodness, hopefully for your inspiration and inspired purchases! This time I’ve used the Christmas Sentiments decoupage paper for three decoupage cards. For the square card, I decoupaged a square piece of white card first before mounting on the gold mat. For the DL card, I just stuck a piece of the decoupage paper to the mat – it’s see-through and the clear tape sticky is just visible as a dark lines (subtle but there) so I’d not do that again. Finally, I decoupaged the paper direct to the A6 card. Of course, the card buckled and it took a fair bit of work to get it flat enough again. I needed to outline the gold heat embossed sentiment with Stickles to help it stand out against the decoupage paper. This helped tie the text to the embellishment as well.
Another challenge is live at Less is More. This time it is a one layer card with the theme ‘festive’. As before, one layer cards mean just that: no hiding behind layered papers or mats, perfect printing first time and minimal embellishments. Even die cuts aren’t allowed as they are an added layer. I normally paper-piece the stamp I chose to use, so that was not an option in a one layer card. Instead, I went with some colouring-in:
I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black using a stamp platform, and then again with Versamark as I then decided to heat emboss the outline with clear gloss to make it stand out a little. I then coloured in with ProMarkers adding lots of layers and then highlights with a correction pen and Posca markers. Finally, I added some stickles and liquid pearls to give a little more interest to the card.
