AAA Birthday Card challenges Game #66 - Circle Shaped

 Hello Crafty Friends,

It's October 1st and time for a new Birthday Card challenge at AAA Birthday! The theme for the month was chosen by our talented DT member Deekshita and it's a real fun one - 

Circle Shaped

We want you to create birthday cards that are circle shaped, so no rectangular or square cards with circles on them. The card has to be circle shaped/ round.

Here's my take

I have made a circle shaped shaker card for my husband who is a sailor and diver, hence the nautical/ocean themed design.

I started by die cutting all the pieces I needed for the card, then I ink blended the ocean background. I coloured and assembled the pieces for the fish, sea weed and coral. I put together the ocean scene. I then decided to turn the card into a shaker card, so I die cut some more portholes to layer on top of each other to create some depth for my shaker elements, and I cut a piece of acetate for my shaker window. I assembled it all and glued it to my circular card base. I added a banner with a stamped birthday greeting, and an anchor, on top of the card. 

Product used for this card
Dies: Circle die by Craft Emotions, Coastal Escape View by Spellbinders
Embossing Folder: "Lumber" 3D folder by Tim Holtz
Stamps: "Reveal wheel circle sentiments" by lawn Fawn
Inks: Distress Oxides "Salvaged Patina", "Peacock Feathers" and "Salty Ocean" by Tim Holtz/Ranger
Markers: Copic
Embellishments: Glass Beads crystal by Finnabair


I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;
Allsorts challenge - ATG
Crafty Animals challenge - ATG, must include an animal
Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter
Die Cut Divas challenge - ATG on a card
Dragonfly Dreams challenge - Happy Birthday
(PIN)spirational Challenges - Shapes (shaded card)
Scrapping4funChallenges - ATG

Now it's your turn! I can't wait to see your circle shaped birthday card!

In need of more inspiration? Click on over to the AAA Birthday Cards challenge blog, which is filled with beautiful inspiration by our special guest designer for the month, Nancy, and the design team. Don't forget to show them all some love! 💕

You have until October 31st to create, upload and link your circle shaped birthday cards to the challenge blog. Hope to see you there!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
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AAA Colourful - Colourboard #8

 Hello Crafty Friends,

There is a new colourboard challenge up and running at AAA Colourful, colour themed challenges. 

We want you to take inspiration from the colours on the board and create a paper craft project of your choice. It can be a card, tag, art journal page, scrapbooking page, ATCs ... and it can be in any style you like as long as the colours of the challenge board are the most prominent on your creation. You don't have to match the colours exactly, and you may mix in neutrals like black, white, browns, greys and skin tones.

So what have I come up with this month? Like last month I have opted for ATCs, this time with an autumnal feel as I thought the colours lent themselves beautifully to the theme.

I started by cutting some ATC sized cards out of some white cardstock, I cut eight of them. I also cut out the parts for the leaves, which I coloured using inks and sprays. To give the background on the ATCs some interest I placed four of cards in an embossing folder and ran them through my die cutting machine. I trimmed the edges of the embossed cards to make them a little smaller. I inked the edges of the plain cards, and addhered the embossed ones on top of them. Now I had four ATCs with grey borders. The leaves were placed and glued on the cards, and to finish the cards I added some word strips to each of the cards. The sentiment on the forth cards reads "It is a consolation that autumn is so beautiful" (free translation from Swedish).

Now it's your turn! We can't wait to see how you are inspired by the colourboard. You have until the 14th of October to create, upload and link your project to the AAA Colourboard challenge blog. Hope to see you there!

The challenge blog is filled with colourful, fun and beautiful inspiration by the design team and our special guest designer for this challenge, Carol. Carol and I have been using the same die set for our projects but in different ways, so why not head on over and take a look at her beautiful creation. Don't forget to spread some love while you are there! 💕

Take care, keep crafting and get colourful!

Jane

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AAA Birthday Card challenges Game #65 - Background Focus

 Hello Crafty Friends,

It's the 1st of the month and you know what that means....... time for a new challenge at AAA Birthday. This month we have a fun theme for you, chosen by our talented  DT member Kateryna, we want to see birthday cards with - 

Background Focus

I tried quite a few different painting/colouring techniques and colour mediums when trying to come up with what to make for this challenge. Here is the end result of my play

I ended up using a panel I created playing with my alcohol inks, which I should do more often. It looks nothing like what I had envisioned, but as it's only the third time I've played with the inks I happy. Turning the panel into a card was difficult, at least to me, but I decided to keep it simple and only added a birthday greeting, a border in the same paper as the greeting and a few sequins. I added it all to a card base and voilà c'est tout.

Products used
Inks: Alcohol ink "Magenta" by Pentart (and Isopropyl alcohol)
Papers: Mirror Card "Holo Waves" by Tonic Studios, Yupo paper and Neenah Solar white cardstock

Die: Happy Birthday die from my stash
Embellishments: silver sequins from my stash

Now it's your turn! You have until the 30th of September to create, upload and link your background focused birthday cards to the AAA Birthday challenge blog. Hope to see you there!

The AAA Birthday Card Challenge blog is filled with beautiful birthday cards for you to be inspired by, created by our guest designer for this challenge, the talented Hanneke, and my awesome design team colleagues. So why not head on over and have a look round, and give them all some love while you are there. You can also find all the information you need on how to play along on the challenge blog.

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

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AAA Colourful - Colourboard #7

 Hello,

It's the 15th of August, and time for Colourboard No 7 at AAA Colourful. This month we have a colourboard filled with summery/beachy colours for you to draw inspiration from - sand, sea, sun and a hint of grass. Isn't it beautiful?!

I love the colours, and I love anything beach/sea related, but I decided to look beyond the gorgeous image and concentrate on the colours, so no beach/sea themed project from me....
Or so I thought. Somehow I ended up creating a set of three ATCs inspired not only by the colours of the board but very much by the beach/sea theme of the image. It must be the sailor in me, always drawn to the sea ;)

I started by ink blending the beach and the sea on my cards. I added some foam to the waves hitting the beach using embossing powder. Stamped the footprints in the sand and added a sentiment to each of the cards. Three very quick and easy cards, but very much me.


Products used
Inks: Distress Oxides "Antique Linen", "Salty Ocean" and "Peacock Feathers" by Tim Holtz/Ranger. VersaFine Clair "Nocturne" by Tsukineko
Stamp sets: "Ride the Waves", "Calm over Chaos" and "Affirmations" by Visible Image
Embossing powder: WOW! "Opaque Bright White"

The AAA Colourful challenge blog is filled with gorgeous inspiration by the amazing design team and our special guest designer for this challenge, the talented Denise. So head on over to the challenge blog for some more inspiration, and information on how to play along.

Remember we love, and welcome, all paper crafts; cards, tags, ATCs, scrapbook pages, journaling pages.... whatever takes your fancy. Can't wait to see what you create!
You have until the 14th of September to create, upload and link your project to the AAA Colourful challenge blog, Hope to see you there!
 

Take care, keep crafting and get colourful!

Jane
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AAA Birthday Card challenges Game #64 - Critters

 Hello Crafty Friends,

It's the 1st of August and time for challenge game #64 at AAA Birthday. For the month of August we want to see birthday cards with -

 

Critters

This fun theme was chosen by our talented DT member Maaike, the queen of CAS cards. Don't forget to pay her a visit, and show her some love!

So what have I come up with this time? Even though I have often used critters on my cards my mind went blank. What on earth should I make, and what kind of critter should I incorpurate? Does your mind ever go blank like this? 

Going through my stamps and dies my eyes were drawn to a stamp set I've never used before, even though I've had it for ages. So I just had to go with it, and here is what I came up with

The sentiment on the card reads " Holy Cow! Is it your birthday, again?" (free translation from Swedish).
I stamped and fussy cut the cow before colouring it. Then I die cut a background panel and gave it some colour. The cow was placed on top of the panel and addhered with some 3D foam. I stamped and cut out the sentiments, and gave the sentiment strips a black border using a black marker before gluing them to the panel. The panel was addhered to a card base and my card was done.

Products used for this card

Stamp sets both by hÄnglar & Wings; "Konny" and "Mer Grattis"
Markers: Copic
Paper: Neenah Solar White

Ink: Memento "Tuxedo Black" by Tsukineko and Distress Oxide by Tim Holtz/Ranger

  

I hope you are inspired to play along with this fun challenge. In need of more inspiration? Head on over to the AAA Birthday challenge blog, which is filled with lots of fun and cute birthday cards by the design team and our special guest designer for the month, the talented Karen. 

You have until the 31st of August to create, upload and link your critter filled birthday cards to the AAA Birthday card challenge blog. Hope to see you there!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

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AAA Colourful - Colourboard #6

 Hello Crafty Friends,

It's the 15th of the month and you know what that means....... time for a new Colourboard challenge at AAA Colourful, and do we have a beautiful board for you to be inspired by!

We want you to take inspiration from the board, and the most prominent colours on your creation should be the colours of the board. You may also use neutrals like black, white, greys, browns and skin tones. We welcome cards, tags, ATCs, scrapbook pages, journaling pages...... well any paper craft basically, in any style and for any occasion.

This time the colours of the colourboard inspired me to create a sunset birthday card for a cat lover. I hope you like it!

The AAA Colourful challenge blog is filled with beautiful, stunning and gorgeous inspiration by our special guest designers for the challenge, Helen and Tenia, and the amazing design team, so why not head on over to the AAA Colourful challenge blog for more inspiration and information about how to play along. 

You have until the 14th of August to create, upload and link your colourfilled creations to the AAA Colourful challenge blog. Hope to see you there!

I would like to enter this card to the following challenges;
Crafty Animals - ATG must include an animal
Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter
My Time To Craft - CAS Clean and Simple
The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist critter crazy

Take care, keep crafting and get colourful!

Jane
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Birthday Cheer

 Hello,

Inspired by the July challenge - Fabulous Flowers - at AAA Birthday, and a few other great challenges, I just had to create a second card on the theme.

I fell in love with this postage die as soon as I saw it, and all the cute, beautiful and fun creations I've seen on social media, so in the end I just had to get one for myself. This is my first time playing with the die, and I just love it! It's so versatile, and I have so many ideas on how to use it.

For this card I paired it with some beautiful die cut flowers, and a little bee. I started by die cutting all the pieces for the flowers and the postage background panel. I ink blended the postage panel in a soft blue using Distress oxide. Assembled the flowers, which I'd cut from coloured cardstock and added some ink to, and addhered them to the postage panel. I stamped a few post related images and a birthday greeting to the postage panel. I addhered the panel to a card base after giving it a frame/background in the same colour as the flowers. I felt there was something missing, so I die cut a bee, assembled it and added it to the card.

I hope you like it, and that you are inspired to play along with us at AAA Birthday. For more information on the challenge please see my previous post or the AAA Birthday Card challenge blog. 

I would like to enter this card to the following challenges;
Beautiful Blossoms challenge - Anything Florals Goes with optional Mood Board #18
My Time to Craft - Summer Florals
Scrapping4funChallenges - Birthday
Sweet Stampin' - Fabulous Flowers
The Sisterhood of Crafters - In the Garden

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

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