Wednesday, November 30, 2016
It's Been a Great Run
Ardyth, Heather, Karen, and I want to thank you for your kind support for the One-Layer Simplicity Challenge over the three years we've been at it. We are sorry to announce that the November 2016 challenge will be our last.
This blog grew out of my inability to keep up the weekly One-Layer Wednesday challenge on my personal stamping blog. Jennifer Styles helped for a time, but she eventually had to step down, and that's when Ardyth, Heather, and Karen stepped up. They were delightfully committed to the idea, and eventually, Ardyth did the work setting up a separate OLS blog, creating our badges, and such. I so appreciate all her technical and creative support.
As the landscape of stamping has changed and as trends have moved toward more complicated, product-intensive design, we've noticed participation waning, especially in the past year.
We don't have a corporate sponsor and don't do giveaways, which would give us a competitive edge, so to speak, but I never wanted one-layer simplicity (note lower case!) to be about competition. And I know that the trends will shift back again eventually. That's after all what trends do.
Those who've known me for a while know that I make simple cards because I love them. So do Ardyth, Karen, and Heather...and you! I encourage you to explore other challenges and to look at them with fresh OLS-inspired eyes. Ask yourself, "Could I do this with one layer?" And give it a try.
That way, the spirit of what we've done here at OLS will live on. It's been a great run, and we thank everyone who has played along with our super-CAS philosophy. We hope you will continue to follow our individual blogs (see the links below!), because all four of us are still very committed to stamping.
Stamp with joy!
--Susan
Ardyth's Blog: MASKerade
Karen's Blog: Snippets
Heather's Blog: bits & pieces
Susan's Blog: Simplicity
Monday, November 28, 2016
OLS#33 Details
If your card is highlighted, please proudly display the badge below on your blog!
Susan's Details
Janet's sweetly angelic card has sparkly highlights of wink of stella and stickles on the angel's wings and stars.
Annie cleverly added snowflakes to her peaceful winter scene using Copic Opaque White and a stencil tool.
Hannelie made a stencil of an open book die to create the shading on her stunning 23rd Psalm card. She also designed the sentiment herself on her computer...and it's simply gorgeous!
Karen's Details:
Sundaystamper created a lovely, peaceful card using an old technique and a wonderful snowflake stencil.
Greta's scene is so wonderful for the holidays...love the monochromatic look of peace.
Melissa made a great snowflake card with beautiful blue ombre background.
Ardyth's Details:
Margaret's softly-sponged lotus with all that white space is the epitome of peace!
Sandie took a bold graphic approach to peace!
Marilyn's blue card base adds interest to a one-layer card!
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
One-Layer Simplicity #33: Peace Be with You
Susan here with a message of peace.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Keep hearing that message in your head until you relax, until you breathe slowly and deeply, until you feel it in your bones.
Then make a card that radiates that feeling and share it with OLS!
Let's spend November celebrating peace through our card art. Make a card with a peace theme. It doesn't have to have the word "peace" on it, but it needs to embody what peace means to you in a particular moment. Perhaps you'll make a holiday card, or an apology card, or a hippie '60s card, or a card with a scene that brings you peace, or a card with a quotation/verse that brings you peace.
Just remember to keep it to ONE single layer of card stock...no other layers allowed.
Here's my card, made for the holidays.
Peace on earth. Because we need more of that, don't we?
Rules for OLS33
1. A one-layer card is defined as a single piece of cardstock folded in half. No other layers allowed.
2. Make a card that represents peace. Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.
3. Post your card somewhere online and add it to the InLinkz button below. If you link to your blog, please be sure to link to the individual post, not to your blog's home page so we can find your work!
4. The challenge will run through November 24, 2016, at midnight Eastern Standard Time.
5. The most important rule of all...HAVE FUN!!!!
Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Masculine Motifs, Clearly Besotted Holiday Sentiments
ink: Hero Arts soft stone, Archival Ink cornflower
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: not a one!
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Keep hearing that message in your head until you relax, until you breathe slowly and deeply, until you feel it in your bones.
Then make a card that radiates that feeling and share it with OLS!
Let's spend November celebrating peace through our card art. Make a card with a peace theme. It doesn't have to have the word "peace" on it, but it needs to embody what peace means to you in a particular moment. Perhaps you'll make a holiday card, or an apology card, or a hippie '60s card, or a card with a scene that brings you peace, or a card with a quotation/verse that brings you peace.
Just remember to keep it to ONE single layer of card stock...no other layers allowed.
Here's my card, made for the holidays.
 |
| card size 4 7/8" x 3 3/8" |
Peace on earth. Because we need more of that, don't we?
Rules for OLS33
1. A one-layer card is defined as a single piece of cardstock folded in half. No other layers allowed.
2. Make a card that represents peace. Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.
3. Post your card somewhere online and add it to the InLinkz button below. If you link to your blog, please be sure to link to the individual post, not to your blog's home page so we can find your work!
4. The challenge will run through November 24, 2016, at midnight Eastern Standard Time.
5. The most important rule of all...HAVE FUN!!!!
Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Masculine Motifs, Clearly Besotted Holiday Sentiments
ink: Hero Arts soft stone, Archival Ink cornflower
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: not a one!
Sunday, October 30, 2016
OLS32- Details
Good Morning.
Thanks so much to everyone that played along with our Color Challenge this month.
So happy you were inspired by the colors that Fall has to offer.
Make sure you drop by November 1 for our next challenge which will be hosted by Susan. You will want to check it out.
Amazing cards this month. Here are a few that caught our attention with great details that made them shine! If your card is mentioned in this post, don't forget to add this badge to proudly display on your blog.
Karen's Details:
Bonnie's card was so gorgeous with all the shades of Autumn blended together.
Ashwini created this amazing one layer card using a masking technique and wow results.
Tasha created this lovely with such purity to it making it a great looking card.
Heather's Details
Marilyn's autumn colour scheme is made all the more interesting by the variety of patterns in her bold stamping.
Susan has created so much movement with splatter around these beautiful falling leaves
I am inspired to add gray to a bold colour scheme as Leigh has on her card. It makes the colours appear so vibrant.
Heather's Details
Marilyn's autumn colour scheme is made all the more interesting by the variety of patterns in her bold stamping.
Susan has created so much movement with splatter around these beautiful falling leaves
I am inspired to add gray to a bold colour scheme as Leigh has on her card. It makes the colours appear so vibrant.
Ardyth's Details:
Vicki's vibrant maple leaf speaks to me as a Canadian! So much interest in one solid image!
Vicki's vibrant maple leaf speaks to me as a Canadian! So much interest in one solid image!
Jane's frame of fall foliage creates movement and interest!
Susan's Details
Michelle's combination of uncolored outline images and beautifully shaded flowers is fabulous!
Harriet's gorgeous yellow poppies frame the focal point red poppy, which has gorgeous shading.
Loll made excellent use of masking to remove the tree's swing and make space for a sentiment nestled under the tree...not to mention her excellent use of the no-line watercoloring technique.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
OLS32, Colour Challenge
Karen here, as you hostess for this month's One Layer challenge.
This month it's all about the colours.
So, this month I am challenging you to use
Red, Orange and Yellow
on your one-layer card.
For my card, I applied the colours using Distress inks on a masked background.
I then stamped the flowers from Tim Holtz against the vibrant colours.
OLS32 Rules:
1. A one-layer card is defined as a single piece of card stock folded in half. No other layers of paper allowed.
2. Make a card using red, orange and yellow on your card. Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.
3. Post your card online somewhere and link to it using the InLinkz
button below. If linking to your blog, remember to link to the
individual post so we can find your entry easily. (Also note that some
people have been linking to Instagram but those of us without Instagram
accounts cannot comment.)
4. The challenge will run through October 24, 2016 at midnight eastern daylight time.
5. The most important rule of all, HAVE FUN!
Thursday, September 29, 2016
OLS31 Details
Thanks so much for joining us for our Back in Time challenge! We were really excited to see all the fun and clever ways you incorporated the theme into your one-layer cards!
Make sure you drop by on October 1 for our next monthly challenge! Karen's hosting and it's going to be a fun one!
Here are the details that stood out to us from this month's challenge - we love to see the little details that make your projects shine! If your card is mentioned in our details post, please proudly display this badge on your blog!
Susan's Details:
Marilyn made a border with markers and a hand-drawn design to unify it with the peace symbol...very clever!
Sandie used a very large image three times spread out and hanging off the card, which maximized white space and gives the whole card an explosive feel, as if it were larger than it is.
Make sure you drop by on October 1 for our next monthly challenge! Karen's hosting and it's going to be a fun one!
Here are the details that stood out to us from this month's challenge - we love to see the little details that make your projects shine! If your card is mentioned in our details post, please proudly display this badge on your blog!
Ardyth's Details:
Jane's nifty use of shape and colour definitely took me back to the 'space-age'!
Maria's unusual layout and gorgeous shading give this card an artistic feel!
Karen's Details:
Rahmat created this beautiful Fall card...love the variation of colours on the leaves.
Maria's reindeer card is so adorable. Love how she added just a hint of colour to his back.
Heather's Details:
Chrissy combined bright bold images with a subtle thematic background to make a clever co-ordinated card
Heather's Details:
Chrissy combined bright bold images with a subtle thematic background to make a clever co-ordinated card
Susan's Details:
Marilyn made a border with markers and a hand-drawn design to unify it with the peace symbol...very clever!
Sandie used a very large image three times spread out and hanging off the card, which maximized white space and gives the whole card an explosive feel, as if it were larger than it is.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Altenew Ultimate Blog Hop Challenge
Note: One-Layer Simplicity is pleased to be a part of the Altenew Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop ! Our OLS September Challenge: Back in Time continues until September 24th at midnight eastern time. We hope you'll play along with both challenges!
Hello and welcome to the Altenew Blog Hop Challenge! One-Layer Simplicity is joining 18 other blogs to celebrate the fun of doing challenges. Check out all these amazing challenges!
Challenge Details
1. The Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop runs September 13 through October 5.
2, Altenew is offering a free gift with every purchase through September 16...the Coffee Ring stamp set will be included with qualifying orders while supplies last.
3. Five $35 gift certificates will be awarded to winners chosen at random from comments on all blog posts in the hop listed below. The lucky winners will be announced on the Altenew Blog on October 17.
4. Five projects will be featured on the Altenew blog on October 17!
My project for the Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop also follows the rule of One-Layer Simplicity, which is to keep your project to one layer of cardstock, folded in half...no other layers allowed. I also used Altenew stamps because, you know, they are beautiful and it's the Altenew Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop. For our usual OLS challenge players, feel free to stick to one layer, or layer it up to your heart's content! If you have some Altenew stamps, great, but if not, play along anyway!
The main goal, as always, of our challenge is to HAVE FUN.
To make my card, I cut the curve freehand with a craft knife and edged it with a silver Prisamcolor metallic marker. After masking the inside of the card, I stamped the lovely butterfly image from Altenew's Botanical Garden in Impress Fresh Ink grass and surrounded it with roses in Memento Luxe rose bud.
The sentiment is from Altenew's versatile Sentiments and Quotes stamp set and was placed on the acrylic block to fit the curve of the paper edge.
A few silver beads unify the top and bottom of the card.
I hope you'll have fun playing along with the Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop. I did!!!
Pretty Pink Posh 10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge
Supplies
stamps: Altenew Botanical Garden, Sentiments and Quotes
ink: Impress Fresh Ink grass, Memento Luxe rose bud and espresso truffle
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: silver half beads, silver Prismacolor metallic marker, craft knife, post-its for mask
Hello and welcome to the Altenew Blog Hop Challenge! One-Layer Simplicity is joining 18 other blogs to celebrate the fun of doing challenges. Check out all these amazing challenges!
Challenge Details
1. The Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop runs September 13 through October 5.
2, Altenew is offering a free gift with every purchase through September 16...the Coffee Ring stamp set will be included with qualifying orders while supplies last.
3. Five $35 gift certificates will be awarded to winners chosen at random from comments on all blog posts in the hop listed below. The lucky winners will be announced on the Altenew Blog on October 17.
4. Five projects will be featured on the Altenew blog on October 17!
My project for the Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop also follows the rule of One-Layer Simplicity, which is to keep your project to one layer of cardstock, folded in half...no other layers allowed. I also used Altenew stamps because, you know, they are beautiful and it's the Altenew Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop. For our usual OLS challenge players, feel free to stick to one layer, or layer it up to your heart's content! If you have some Altenew stamps, great, but if not, play along anyway!
The main goal, as always, of our challenge is to HAVE FUN.
To make my card, I cut the curve freehand with a craft knife and edged it with a silver Prisamcolor metallic marker. After masking the inside of the card, I stamped the lovely butterfly image from Altenew's Botanical Garden in Impress Fresh Ink grass and surrounded it with roses in Memento Luxe rose bud.
The sentiment is from Altenew's versatile Sentiments and Quotes stamp set and was placed on the acrylic block to fit the curve of the paper edge.
A few silver beads unify the top and bottom of the card.
I hope you'll have fun playing along with the Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop. I did!!!
Pretty Pink Posh 10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge
Supplies
stamps: Altenew Botanical Garden, Sentiments and Quotes
ink: Impress Fresh Ink grass, Memento Luxe rose bud and espresso truffle
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: silver half beads, silver Prismacolor metallic marker, craft knife, post-its for mask
Thursday, September 1, 2016
OLS31 Back In Time
Ardyth here, your hostess for this month's OLS Challenge, Back In Time. The challenge is to make a one-layer card that is either old-fashioned in some way (think retro, vintage) or time-themed (watches, clocks).
I went with some 70s-feeling daisies in bright, groovy colours and the word 'time' in my sentiment. I used Papertrey Beautiful Blooms III dies as masks and SugarPea Designs' Celebrate All the Things.
I hope you'll have a great TIME with this challenge!
OLS31 Rules
1. A one-layer card is defined as a single piece of card stock folded in half. No other layers of paper allowed.
2. Make a one-layer card that is either 'old-fashioned' in some way or time-themed. Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.
3. Post your card online somewhere and link to it using the InLink button below. If linking to your blog, remember to link to the individual post so we can find your entry easily. (Also note that some people have been linking to Instagram but those of us without Instagram accounts cannot comment.)
4. The challenge will run through September 24, 2016, at midnight eastern daylight time.
5. The most important rule of all...HAVE FUN!
Monday, August 29, 2016
OLS30 Details
Many thanks to all who played along with the OLS30 August Art Challenge. We hope you had fun and will play along again with our OLS31 Challenge coming up September 1st. Ardyth will be hosting, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with!
Today's post will highlight some of the Design Team's favorite details from the August entries. On one-layer cards, it's all about those little details that elevate simple to spectacular. There was some gorgeous art shared this month, so please take time to check out all of it on this post. Also, remember if you're highlighted on a Details post, you are invited to include this badge on your blog!
Let's get to the good stuff!
Susan's Details
Bonnie added pretty, soft speckles, and her subtle debossed border perfectly puts her fruit in a basket, so to speak.
Shery caught my eye with her one-layer collage that leaves no room for white space but perfectly nails balance and harmony through color and perfect image placement.
Jasleen used a clear Wink of Stella pen to blend her watercolors...brilliant! Her gray shadowing here makes the colors pop beautifully as well.
Karen's Details
Deepti stamped this wonderful silhouette against what looks like a fire, red sunset...so pretty.
Marilyn created a beautiful 'art' card with flowing colors and a great artsy look.
Annie's mermaid looks wonderful done in these great green and blue tones.
Ardyth's Details
Foley's Friend's use of a stencil and bright colours captures the look and feel of modern art!
Buffy's clever technique creates artistic-feeling colour and texture!
Heather's Details
Debbie has created colourful splashes that appear to have just hit the canvas!
Jane made a visual impact with white against a bright colour.
Monday, August 1, 2016
OLS30 August Art
Susan here with the August One-Layer Simplicity Challenge. Summer break is almost over here in the northern hemisphere (school starts for us August 11!), but it sure doesn't feel like it in this Ohio heat. That makes it a perfect month to stay inside and make art.
August Art!
There are three ways to play along with our August Art challenge:
1. Use art-supply themed images or art-related sentiment stamps.
2. Be inspired by a work of art. (If you choose this, please include a link to your inspiration piece in your post.)
3. Use a fine-art supply or technique on your card. Supplies you might use include watercolors, watercolor pencils, acrylic paint, texture medium, pastels, gesso, charcoal, or some other fine-art supply. Techniques you might use include printmaking, stenciling, spatter painting, pointillism, mosaic, gilding, and so on.
Remember to keep your card to a single layer of cardstock (or watercolor paper).
My card combines two of the three ways to play along with this challenge. The sentiment is art-themed, and the supply and technique are watercolor pencil and wash. The card base is also watercolor paper.
To make the card, I masked the card base (made of watercolor paper) and stamped half the butterfly from Hero Arts Antique Engravings in Hero Arts intense black ink. Using a stamp positioner, I placed the sentiment (a wood-mounted rubber stamp from Inkadinkado) beside the butterfly.
After coloring in the image lightly with Prismacolor Copenhagen and Derwent sap green watercolor pencils, I wet a large wash brush in water, dabbed it on a Bounty paper towel to remove most of the water, and dragged it across the butterfly a few times to blend the pencil.
OLS30 Rules
1. A one-layer card is defined as a single piece of card stock folded in half. No other layers of paper allowed.
2. Make an art-themed card, an art-inspired card, a card using fine-art supplies, or a card using a fine-art technique. Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.
3. Post your card online somewhere and link to it using the InLink button below. If linking to your blog, remember to link to the individual post so we can find your entry easily. (Also note that some people have been linking to Instagram but those of us without Instagram accounts cannot comment.)
4. The challenge will run through August 24, 2016, at midnight eastern daylight time.
5. The most important rule of all...HAVE FUN!
August Art!
There are three ways to play along with our August Art challenge:
1. Use art-supply themed images or art-related sentiment stamps.
2. Be inspired by a work of art. (If you choose this, please include a link to your inspiration piece in your post.)
3. Use a fine-art supply or technique on your card. Supplies you might use include watercolors, watercolor pencils, acrylic paint, texture medium, pastels, gesso, charcoal, or some other fine-art supply. Techniques you might use include printmaking, stenciling, spatter painting, pointillism, mosaic, gilding, and so on.
Remember to keep your card to a single layer of cardstock (or watercolor paper).
My card combines two of the three ways to play along with this challenge. The sentiment is art-themed, and the supply and technique are watercolor pencil and wash. The card base is also watercolor paper.
To make the card, I masked the card base (made of watercolor paper) and stamped half the butterfly from Hero Arts Antique Engravings in Hero Arts intense black ink. Using a stamp positioner, I placed the sentiment (a wood-mounted rubber stamp from Inkadinkado) beside the butterfly.
After coloring in the image lightly with Prismacolor Copenhagen and Derwent sap green watercolor pencils, I wet a large wash brush in water, dabbed it on a Bounty paper towel to remove most of the water, and dragged it across the butterfly a few times to blend the pencil.
OLS30 Rules
1. A one-layer card is defined as a single piece of card stock folded in half. No other layers of paper allowed.
2. Make an art-themed card, an art-inspired card, a card using fine-art supplies, or a card using a fine-art technique. Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.
3. Post your card online somewhere and link to it using the InLink button below. If linking to your blog, remember to link to the individual post so we can find your entry easily. (Also note that some people have been linking to Instagram but those of us without Instagram accounts cannot comment.)
4. The challenge will run through August 24, 2016, at midnight eastern daylight time.
5. The most important rule of all...HAVE FUN!
Saturday, July 30, 2016
OLS29- Details
We hope you enjoyed making some Christmas cards in July with the One Layer Simplicity team. It was great to see your one layer entries and get some inspiration for more creating.
We loved seeing the variety of themes and styles and have chosen a few details that really stood out.
Remember to add our blog badge for those of you whose cards have been featured here.
Thanks for joining in; we hope to see you again next month.
Heather's details
Kylie created an eye-catching tree on her card with bold gold circles.
KT chose a simple turquoise and white colour scheme which really pops on kraft.
Some clever masking and planning by MacMable resulted in this amazing one layer card.
Ardyth's Details
Kimberly's vibrant watercolouring gives this fun (recognizable!) scene a ton of energy!
Karen's classic CAS layout and gorgeous colouring make this card stand out!
Jessie's gold embossing makes this elegant card shine!
Karen's Details
Greta created a winter wonderland on her elegant, lovely card.
Julie created such a sweet card. So delightful!
Chriss used some wonderful poinsettias and a masking technique to create this lovely.
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