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

OLS#33 Details

Many thanks to all who participated in the November One-Layer Simplicity Challenge, Peace Be with You. All the entries were lovely and so peaceful! Below the DT members have highlighted details of entries that particularly caught our eyes. After all, clean-and-simple stamping is all about the little details that elevate good design to greatness!

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!

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.

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! 

An InLinkz Link-up

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.

Ardyth's Details:



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.

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!

An InLinkz Link-up

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!

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

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.

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!!!

Altenew

Virginia’s View Challenge

CASology Challenge

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge

Ellen Hutson Pin Sight Challenge

CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge

Tag You're It Challenge

The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge

Less is More Challenge

Muse Challenge

Simon Says Stamp Challenge

Color Q Challenge

One-Layer Simplicity Challenge

Seize the Birthday Challenge

Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge

Time Out Challenge

Color Throwdown Challenge

CAS Mix Up Challenge

Pretty Pink Posh 10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge

An InLinkz Link-up

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