Twofer Card Challenge: January 2021

Hello!

We hope you are keeping well, staying safe, and starting to get your vaccines.

It's time to announce our Winners and Honorable Mentions for Twofer Card Challenge #34 ~ Flowers! It was fun and inspiring to see the ways you stretched your design skills and used the same stamp, stencil, or die in creative ways on your two different cards for two different occasions.

It is always hard to pick a winner but, ladies, you really made it hard this month! We had a tremendous turnout of players (including a lot of first-time players!) who did an amazing job with the concept of Twofer! Well done, everyone!

Here are the winners!

Congratulations to our Conventional Winner!

Nancy Littrell (scandinancy creates)

Well done, Nancy!

Congratulations to our Unconventional Winner!

[using tulips as Christmas bells on her second design]

Clara (My Favorite Day)

Well done, Clara!

Here is your Winner's Badge to proudly display on your blog!

I will be in touch with details about being our future Guest Designers.

Congratulations to our fabulous January Honorable Mentions!

#8 - Bonnie332002

#16 - Betty

#19 - Hilary

#50 - Mac Mable

#60 - Jill

Well done, ladies!

Here is your Honorable Mention badge to display with pride!

We look forward to seeing your creative Twofer Card Challenge designs next month! The next challenge will run from February 10 to February 24, 2021. We hope you can join us!!

Mwah!

Hello and welcome to the start of our 4th year as the Twofer Card Challenge!

I hope this finds you and your families doing well in these ongoing troubling times. Because this is an anniversary post and we may have new players joining us, this is a long exploratory post. I mean to say explanatory. Even if you've played often, you may find it useful. Thank you for your time!

Design Team

First, I want to let you know of some changes to our Design Team. We say a sad goodbye to Kara (Bright Hope Creations) who has been with TCC from the beginning. Thank you, Kara! Come back and play when you can! I'm delighted to let you know that Bonnie (Stamping With Klass) will be replacing Kara on the Team. I know you will be inspired by her creations!

In addition, Cat (Cat Luvs Paper) will be moving from her position as Designer to become our Social Media person. Thank you, Cat! And finally, Sonja (On a Visit to Old Girl) will be moving from her position as Facebook Coordinator to Designer. Thank you, Sonja!

I'd also like to thank Anita, Bev, and Marcia for continuing as talented Designers, and Loll, for continuing as Blog Administrator!

~~~

And now let's begin the 4th year of Twofer! This month our challenge prompt is:

Feel free to interpret the prompt however it inspires you to make two distinctly different design layouts for two different occasions. (If both occasions are not clear on the card fronts, please state the specific occasions in your post.)
Please remember that you must use the same stamp ~ as opposed to the same set of stamps. You may use digis for any elements of your Twofer designs, except for the prompt element.
You're welcome to make two conventional designs or a combination of one conventional and one unconventional design.
Please see the above tabs for more detailed rules, examples, and frequently asked questions.

TIPS

If Covid restrictions have crushed your mojo, I hope the challenge of TCC will get your juices flowing and inspire you to play along here and in other challenges. All of us enjoy bringing you these challenges and we love it when you participate!

As we start our 4th year, I want to try again to quell some of the misgivings and overthinking I still hear about the concept of the Twofer Card Challenge and the requirement to make two different design layouts.

Briefly, design in this case refers to the basic foundation/layout/sketch of your card. The techniques that you use thereafter to build your cards are not part of the underlying design and not considered in judging. What IS considered in judging is whether or not you have created two distinctly different design layouts. (Plus, of course, that you've used the same stamp, die, or stencil and you've made your two designs for two different occasions.)

Here are two examples of ways you can ensure you are creating two distinctly different design layouts:

You find the image you want to use for the prompt word and then you draw up two quick sketch ideas on a piece of scratch paper before starting. That way you can be sure you are using two different card design layouts. It works great. I love Kristina Werner's YouTube sketch videos and the years of design ideas you can find on her blog at k werner designs.
But if sketching out your card layouts is not your thing, here is another way to approach the concept:

Decide on the prompt stamp, die, or stencil that you will use on both design layouts.
Make one card any whichever way you want for any occasion you want. Absolutely anything goes at this point!
Now put your first card up on the window sill or counter and just take a moment to look at and ponder your second card design using the same prompt element.

You might start by making your second design the opposite way: i.e., if your first card is a vertical tent-type card, make your second card horizontal. That's your first design difference.
Now decide what your second occasion is. I throw this in here because the occasion might dictate how you layout your second card. If, say, your first card is a birthday card, your second might be sympathy, get well, hugs, Valentine, thinking of you, etc. We have a whole list on the side bar. That takes care of the two different occasions requirement.

Now you have the occasion and a horizontal blank card. Where can you place the same prompt image (say, a flower) which you used on your first card in a different way? If your flower is in the center of the card front on your first design layout with a sentiment underneath, then for your second layout, play with the flower image this way and that way with a sentiment also placed in a different location. Can you place the flower off-the-edge, or repeat it as a border, or place it inside an aperture near a corner?
If you are still stuck at this point, there are innumerable places on the interwebs where you can go look for design layout inspiration for your second card. Of course, the best place to get inspiration is right here from the Designers! Past challenges are all listed on the side bar for more inspiration from the Designers and from the galleries. Or there is Pinterest (your own saved cards or others), company blogs, YouTube videos, and galleries of other challenges.

I hope these tips are helpful. It really isn't that hard unless you are someone who literally uses the same one or two card layouts for every card you make. Most of us don't do that, which means you already routinely make distinctly different design layouts when making your cards from one week to another!

We very much appreciate your enthusiasm and support and we can't wait to see you stretch your stamps, stencils, dies, and design skills! Most importantly, have FUN making two different card designs for two special someones!

We'll start you off with these gorgeous design ideas:

Guest Designers:

Please welcome our October conventional winner Viv (Viv's Visuals) with her Twofer designs using the FLOWERS prompt to inspire you! Thank you, Viv!

And please welcome our October unconventional winner Brenda (Inkspired to Stamp) with her Twofer designs using the FLOWERS prompt to inspire you! Thank you, Brenda!

Design Team

We hope you will also be inspired by the example creations from the Design Team! You can find the details of all these inspirational Twofers on the designer's individual blogs. We hope you'll take a closer look!

Anita