AAA Birthday Card challenge #83

 Hello,

How are you today? Ready for a new Birthday card challenge? I hope so! A new challenge is up and running at AAA Birthday Card challenges, and we would love it if you joined in the fun! The theme for the month of March was chosen by our talented DT member Vicki, and the theme is - 

Use Die Cuts

For my card I have used die cuts both to build the pattern on my card and for the birthday greeting. I started by die cutting the shapes to build the pattern for my card. I had some paper in different colours left since playing with my alcohol inks so I used that to die cut from. After cutting out all the pieces I mixed the colours up and pieced the shapes together and addhered them to a card panel. To make the panel pop from the card base I wanted to give it a border, but I had used up all my alcohol inked papers. I looked through my scraps and found a piece of paper, on which I had played with Distress sprays and stains, that matched the colours of my pattern pieces so I used thet for the border. The framed panel was addhered to a card base, and the die cut greeting added, and I called it done.

Products used for this card
Die sets: "Color Block Mini Petals" by Spellbinders and "HB2U D180204" by Gummiapan
Inks: Alcohol Inks by Pentart and Ranger
Paper: Neenah solar white, yupo paper, watercolour paper and Gold Pearl Mirror card.
Sprays: Distress Oxide Spray, Distress Spray Stains and Distress Mica Stains by Tim Holtz/ Ranger

I hope you are inspired to join us in this fun challenge! You have until the 31st of March to create, upload and link you Birthday card to the AAA Birthday Card challenge blog.

All the information on how to play along can be found on the challenge blog, where you will also find lots of cute, fun and beautiful inspiration by the Design Team and our special Guest Designer for the month, Caroline (KISS). Caroline's card is adorable, so don't forget to click on her name to go check it out and give her some love!

Hope to see your die cut birthday card on the challenge blog!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
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ATCs for Ukraine 2026

 Hello crafty Friends,

Today I am sharing four ATCs I created to show my support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

On the 24th of February, 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. The attack was a clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations, and is therefore illegal. In addition, the Russian war has resulted in serious war crimes, tens of thousands of deaths, and a terrible humanitarian situation for the civilian population.

Lets stand together and show Ukraine, and the world, that we are still standing by them, and that we don't condone invasions and war by foreign states in any country.

Take care, be brave and don't give up!
💙💛

Jane
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AAA Colourful - Colourboard #25

 Hello Crafty Friends,

It is the 15th of February and AAA Colourful colour themed challenges second birthday, Hip Hip Hooray! Can you believe it's been two years since our first challenge? Two years filled with colourful challenges, and today our 25th challenge goes live! So without further ado, here is our 25th colourboard for you to be inspired by

I have to confess, this has been a colourboard I've struggled with. I was staring myself blind looking at the board, to the point that I couldn't see the individual colours. In the end I sat down and broke it up into one colour at a time, and here are the colours I see on this vibrant board -

Purples, Pink, Blues, Green and Yellow

Here's what I came up with

I found the patterned paper in my stash and as it has the colours of the board I thought I'd use it for this challenge. I decided to make a card and chose a very simple design to show of the pattern and the colours. I die cut the paper and the word "hugs", and gave them both a frame in the same purple colour as one of the flowers of the pattern. I glued the word "hugs" to my panel and addhered the framed panel to a card base and my card was made.
To be honest I would not have had anything to show you had I not gone down the road of simplicity. Sometimes when I struggle I just have to scale it down to the bare minimum to be able to create anything. But... maybe I should at least have added a few enamel dots, and maybe I sholud have chosen a different colour for the card base ...

Now I am very curious to see how you are inspired by the colourboard, and what you will be creating..... maybe an art journal page or a scrapbooking spread or some ATCs...... well what ever you feel like and decide on I can't wait to see your creation, nor can my DT colleauges.

You have until the 14th of March to create, upload and link your paper craft project to the AAA Colourful challenge blog. The blog is filled with cute inspiration by the design team and our special guest designer for this challenge, Arlene (her card is so cute!). Don't forget to click on their names to visit their blogs, and show them some love. On the blog you can also find all the information you need on how to play along with our fun and colourful challenges. Hope you will join us!

Take care, keep crafting and get colourful!

Jane 

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Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop - February 2026

 Hello Crafty Friends,

It's time for a new Gorgeous Gift Tags Instagram Hop, and for the month of February we have the optional theme of - 

Hearts

As you can see I went with the theme, and created not one but three tags with hearts. They are all very different, but I like them all. 

For the first tag I had a play with alcohol inks on yupo paper. Once the ink had dried I die cut a tag from the paper, I also die cut the two interlocking hearts and adhered a second plain white tag behind the inked tag. I added one of my favourite quotes and some red ribbon to the tag and called it done.
 

ca

For the second tag I die cut a tag from some white cardstock, and a heart from a piece of alcohol inked paper. As there are two holes on the heart I added some thread and tied a bow. I partualy die cut a second tag, this time in a black and white strip, to add to the top of the tag to give it some more interest. I placed the heart at the top of the tag and stamped a Valentine's greeting.

My last tag was created using the same heart die as for my second tag, and a tag die that is the same as the one for the second tag but in a much smaller size. This time I simplified it even more. I ink blended the tag using distress inks, I also coloured the string for the tag using the same distress ink. The heart cut from the same paper as on the second tag, got a bow of paper ribbon, before being adhered to the tag. I sentiment was stamped and I called it a day.

I hope you like my tags, and that you are inspired to hop along with us at Gorgeous Gift Tags over at Instagram. Maybe even create some tags of your own, as you can see it doesn't have to be difficult or complicated.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and Happy Hopping over at IG!

Jane

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AAA Birthday Card challenge #82

 Hello Crafty friends,

It's the first of February and time for a new challenge over at AAA Birthday Card challenges. The theme for the month was choosen by our talented design team member, Janine, and the theme is - 

Slimline  

Here is my take on the challenge

I hope you like my slimline Birthday card and that you are inspired to join us in this fun challenge. You have until the 28th of february to create, upload and link your slimline Birthday Card to the AAA Birthday Card challenges blog. We can't wait to see your slimline creations! 

The Design Team and our special guest designer for the month, Cathy R (love her card!), have filled the challenge blog with fun, cute and beautiful slimline cards for you to be inspired by, so head on over and get inspired! Don't forget to click on their names to visit their blogs, and show them some love.
All the information you might need on how to play along with the AAA Birthday Card challenges can also be found on the challenge blog. Hope you'll join us!

Here's a little about my card and how I created it.

I hardly ever create slimline cards, and to be honest I don't know why, it's such a fun size to play with. I decided to go with a mini slimline card, using scraps, for this challenge.

I started by cutting my card panel and dry embossing it. I also cut the pieces for the flowers and the "string". I assembled the flowers and arranged them on the panel before gluing them in place. I placed the "string" on top of the "bouquet" and added a die cut circle in white, on which I had stamped my birthday greeting. The finished panel was addhered to a card base and my mini slimline was done. 

Products used

Embossing Folder: Luxurious Motifs by Altenew

Die sets: Sealed Blooms Etched Dies and Sealed Twine Etched Dies both by Spellbinders

Stamps set: Simply Celebrate Critters by Lawn Fawn

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
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AAA Colourful - Colourboard #24

Hello Crafty Friends,

It is time for the first colourboard challenge of 2026 over at AAA Colourful, and this month we have a lovely board in pink and white for you to draw inspiration from.

As soon as I saw the colours I knew exactly what I was going to create, a page in my art journal with a ballerina in pink and with lots of sparkle. Here is the end result....

Not a ballerina in sight and no art journaling either, what happened?
I blame the weather!😉With January came winter and snow, lots of snow. Every day I wake up there is more snow, so somehow my balleria turned into snowmen and my art journal page into ATCs.

I started by ink smooshing distress ink onto a sheet of watercolour paper, using three different shades of pink. Then I got my stencils out, found one with snowflakes, and some texture paste. After the paste had dried I cut the sheet of paper into four ATC sized pieces. I die cut all the parts for my snowmen, and coloured them before piecing the snowmen together. I went through my stamps and found winter/snow related sentiments, which I stamped and heat embossed on white cardstock. On one of the cards I have used a Swedish sentiment that reads "Snöflingor är kyssar från himlen/ Snowflakes are kisses from heaven". The sentiments where cut into word strips, at least most of them, and glued to the cards as were the snowmen. I hope you like my ATCs, and that you are inspired to join us in this colourful challenge!

The AAA Colourful challenge blog is filled with beautiful, fun and cute inspiration created by the talented design team and our special guest designer for the month, Patricia. Patricia's creation is beautiful, so head on over and show her, and the DT, some love.

All the information on how to play along with our challenges can also be found on the challenge blog. Best of all, we love all kinds of paper craft projects and in all styles too, so feel free to create whatever takes your fancy. Just remember the colours of the board must be the most prominent on your creation. You have until the 14th of february to create, upload and link your project to the challenge blog. Hope to see you there!

I would like to enter these ATCs to the following challenges:
A Cut Above January challenge - Anything Goes with a die cut
Creative Inspirations January challenge - Anything Goes
The Four Seasons challenge - Winter Seasons January

Take care, keep crafting and get colourful!

Jane
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Products used for my ATCs
Die set: "Chilly and Freeze" by Tim Holtz
Stencil: "Snowflake Background" by Lawn Fawn
Stamps: "Snow one like you" and "Making frosty friends" by Lawn Fawn, "Mr Frostie" by Stampers Anonymous/ Tim Holtz and "Vintermix" by hÄnglar & Wings
Inks: Distress Oxide inks "spun sugar", "kitsch flamingo" and "picked raspberry" by TimHoltz/Ranger and VersaFine "nocturne" by Tsukineko

Markers/pens: Copic Sketch Markers and Zig Clean Color real brush pens
Paste: Volume paste by Stamperia

My Creative Chaos 2026

 Welcome to my Creative Chaos 2026!

2026 is the year I hope to get my mojo back, it got lost somewhere along the way during the second half of 2025. I am hoping to be able to spend as much time as possible in my craftroom, maybe even dedicate one day a week to crafting. I want to play with paint, ink, dies, stamps, paper..... and try new techniques and styles when creating cards, ATCs, scrapbook pages, PL spreads, art journal pages...... Well, anything that takes my fancy!

So welcome 2026,
may it be a year of peace, love, happiness, good health and lots of creativity (and sailing)!

Jane
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