Bold Minimalism with Justine’s Farm Collection

Hello crafters! Joan Bardee here. Today I’m using the fun and unique (check out the sentiments!!) Justine’s Farm Collection to explore a design trend called Bold Minimalism. Before we discuss Bold Minimalism, let’s review the Collection. It includes 5 sets of BetterPress LetterPress plates and dies that have farm animal themes – a farmscape, cow, sheep, rooster/hen, and pig. These sketched animals lend themselves beautifully to water coloring or using alcohol markers or colored pencils. But coloring is not my thing, and since I’ve been interested in exploring Bold Minimalism, I decided to experiment. Could I use sketched earthy images in a bold, minimalistic way? Let’s see!

What is Bold Minimalism?

I stumbled on this term when I was researching “modern colorful simple designs” in my never-ending effort to find inspiration. Apparently, it’s a fairly new design trend. Who knew? After reading several articles, I concluded that Bold Minimalism:

1. Is simple – strips away non-essential elements,
2. Has strong contrast (color, size of images),
3. Uses empty or “white” space,
4. Uses bold typography, and
5. Is my thing.

So, I got to work making these cards keeping these principles in mind. Remember, I have no design background or training, so we are learning together.

You’re My Favorite

Aww. This card is for the husband and was SO easy to make.

• Trim a piece of white cardstock a bit larger than A2 (so that if you are off center you can trim to place the focal point where you want it.)
• Using my beloved Glimmer Hot Foil Machine, hot foil with Opaque Black foil the large rooster from Feathered Friends BetterPress Plate & Die Set.
• Die cut a circle in vellum to make a stencil. (Note: buy circle stencils.)
• Ink blend a circle with Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Candied Apple Ranger Distress Oxide Inks onto the rooster as shown. You want the “sun” to be rising above the rooster. And, yes, I wanted the sun showing through the rooster – it’s art and we are the artists! If you don’t have those inks, use what you have.
• Hot foil with Opaque White foil on black cardstock a sentiment from Feathered Friends and pop up with foam tape.
• And that’s it!

Bold Minimalism: Simple (no embellishments, for example), strong color contrast, lots of empty space, and while the typography is small, foiling it in white on black and popping it up helps make the sentiment stand out. Plus, I think the see through rooster is just different enough to add to the bold label.

Rise & Shine

What’s a heart, a red and white hen, and “rise & shine” doing together? Well, they are forming a cute encouragement card.

• Hot foil the middle size hen from Feathered Friends with White Opaque foil onto red cardstock and die cut.
• Hot foil a sentiment from the same set with White Opaque foil onto black cardstock and die cut.
• Die cut a heart using the same red cardstock used for the hen.
• Trim a piece of black cardstock to an A2 size and add to a card made from the same cardstock.
• Adhere everything as shown with foam tape – that dimension is magic.

Bold Minimalism: Simple (only 4 elements), strong color contrast, lots of empty space –in this case the “white” space is black. Like the last card, while the typography is small, foiling it in white on black and popping it up in the center helps make the sentiment stand out.

Pink & Red Birthday

If I could only use 2 colors in cardmaking, they would be pink and red (and yellow and orange...) Here I use these colors in an “op art” way to make a fun birthday card.

• Trim a piece of scrap paper to an A2 size. This is to test out the placement of the BetterPress LetterPress plates before using cardstock.
• Set up the cow and sentiments from the Clover BetterPress Plate & Die Set onto your BetterPress machine as shown.
• Ink up the plates in red and roll through your BetterPress machine and check your placement.
• Once you are happy with the placement, trim a piece of bright pink cardstock and adhere to the BetterPress.
• Re-ink the BetterPress plates with red ink and roll everything through your BetterPress machine.
• If you are happy, repeat with the same or different colored pieces of cardstock. This is the perfect time to mass produce.
• Using a white gel pen, add a few accents to provide more contrast to the card.
• You’re done. If you have a bit more time, change up the colors and make a bunch of masculine cards.

Bold Minimalism: Simple? Yes -  no embellishments or layers. Strong color contrast? Yes, and the white brings out the intensity of the pink and red. Not a lot of white space, but the focal point is so dominant that I think it works. The typography doesn’t dominate, but the sub-sentiment brings it home! This experiment was beyond fun. Applying design principles to cardmaking forced me to think about what I was doing more carefully. For example, I noticed that Bold Minimalism looks better with one-layer cards – matted layers detract from the style. If you decide to try this style, please tag me on Instagram. I would love to check out your creations. Thanks to Spellbinders and thanks for reading along with me.

Other Supplies

Assorted cardstock; red ink