AAA Birthday Card challenge #72

 Hello,

It's the first of April and time for a new challenge at AAA Birthday card challenges. The theme for the month was chosen by our talented design team member, Maaike, and she has picked a magical theme for us to be inspired by this month. The theme for the month of April is -

Mythical

Here is my take on this fun, magical and mythical challenge

I just knew I had to use this stunning unicorn by Visible Image for this challenge. I stamp the unicorn on a card base that I had already die cut. I added a few circles to the design and stamped a birthday greeting on the panel. Using a rainbow of colours I coloured the mane and the horn of the unicorn, and the greeting. I also added some glossy accent to some of the circles on the panel. The panel was addhered to a card base, and my card was done.

I created this card with our granddaughter, Maja, in mind. She loves horses, and unicorns, and goes horse riding every week so I thought she would like this for her birthday, and she did... she loved it!

Now it is your turn to get creative! So bring out your dragons, unicorns, fairies, leprechauns, mermaids, cyclopes and so on, and start creating a magical mythical birthday card. You have until the 30th of April to create, upload and link your mythical birthday card to the AAA Birthday card challenge blog. Hope you will join us!

For more inspiration, and information, please visit the challenge blog which is filled with cute, fun and mythical inspiration by the talented design team and our special guest designer for this month, Silke, her card is adorable!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
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Products used for this card
Stamps: "Magical Unicorn" by Visible Image and "Ooops!" by hÄnglar & Wings
Dies: "Small Dotted Rectangle Stackables" by Lawn Fawn
Markers: Copic sketch and ciao

Visible Image October ATC swap

 Hello,

Hope you´re having a lovely Sunday. Today I´m sharing my ATC and accompanying card for the October ATC swap at the Visible Image FB group. The theme for the month was - 

Autumn Colours

and/or

Halloween

For my card(s) I was inspired by the autumn colours of the trees in our garden, and the gorgeous orangy-red evening skies we´ve been having. Here´s how my ATC turned out

As always all the stamps and stencils used are by Visible Image stamps. For the ATC I´ve used the "VI Minis #1" stamp set, and the "One Kind Word" stamp set for the sentiment.
Now for the accompanying card

Here I have used the "Branch Out" stencil, and the "One Kind Word" and the "Look Forward with Hope" stamp sets to make up the sentiment. I wanted a bit of a shadow or illusion of movement of the tree so I ink blended it twice through the stencil, first in reddish-brown colours and then a bit off set in black. For the falling leaves I used "Lunar Paste" by Simon Hurley and ranger. 

The two cards together

I hope you like my cards. Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the November swap, so hurry on over to the VI FB group page if you would like to play along.

Take care and happy crafting!

Jane

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Visible Image September ATC swap

 Hello Crafty friends,

Today it is time for me to share my ATC for the September ATC swap at Visible Image. The theme for the month was - 

Use Your Newest Visible Image Product

My newest VI product is the "Anyone for Bubbles?" stamp set, which I paired with the "Frosty" stencil. A stencil I think works perfect for a "fireworks" background. Obviously I created a card to go with the ATC. Can you spot what I have done differently (apart from the bottle instead of the glasses, and the sentiment)?

You see it? If not, maybe it is easier to see with the two cards together. 

Yes, that is right. I have used the stencil in two different ways, once as it was intended as a stencil and once as a "stamp" where I inked up the stencil before pressing it onto my card. Two for the price of one!

I hope you like my cards. If you would like to join the swap head on over to the Visible Image FB page where the sign up list for the month of November is open until October 28th. Maybe we get to be swap partners!

Have a fabulous weekend, and happy crafting!

Jane

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Visible Image August ACT swap

 Hello,

Hope you are having a lovely week! Today I am sharing my ATC for the August ATC swap at the Visible Image Facebook group. For those of you how have read my last posts I haven't forgotten about July, I didn't participate in that swap as I was away sailing. But now for my August card on the theme - 

Things with Wings

Even though it is not mandatory I often create a card to send with the ATC for my swap partner, just because I enjoy it. Here is a picture of my ATC, and accompanying card, for my August swap partner.

I have to admit this month I liked my card much better then my ATC. All stamps and stencils used are by Visible image. 

Happy crafting!

Jane
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Visible Image June ATC swap

 Hi,

Continguing to share my ATCs for the Visible Image ATC swaps this last spring and summer, todays card is from the June swap on the theme - 

How does your garden grow?

As I love daisies, and one of my favourite stamp sets by Visible Image is the " Dasy grunge" set I just had to use it for my card this time (and I grow daisies in my garden).

I also created a card to send to my swap partner for the month. Here is a picture of the card and ATC together.

Would you like to join the swaps? There is a new swap being launched tomorrow at the Visible Image FB page. You only sign up for one month at a time, and you only have to create a single ATC to send to your designated swap partner for the month. Greeting cards are not mandatory, that is just extra if one feels like it.

Happy crafting!

Jane
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Visible Image May ATC swap

 Hello,

Time to share another ATC for the Visible Image ATC swap, this time for the month of May. The VI ATC swap had been up and running for three years when the swap was launched and the theme was -

Celebrations

Three years of ATC swaps.... WOW! How amazing is that?!!! Jane Tyrrell who is organizing the swaps is doing a fabulous job! Thank you, Jane!

I only found the swap in January last year, so this is my second year playing along and I am having so much fun. A big bonus is all the new friends I am making across the world!

As I don't think you can have a celebration without music I added that to the theme of this swap. I used the following VI products; "Sing" stamp set, "One Kind Word" stamp set and two new stencils "Art Spheres #1 and #2".

Unfortunatelly I forgot to take a picture of the accompaning card I made, but never mind it's the ATC that matters. Hope you like it!

Happy crafting

Jane
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Visible Image April ATC swap

 Hello,

I know it's not April, but this past spring and summer life has been really busy and I have totally forgotten to share my ATCs for the Visible Image swap. So here is my card for the April swap on the theme - 

Mellow Yellow

I also created a card to accompany the ATC when I sent it to my swap partner for the month.

All stamps and stencils used by Visible Image stamps.

I hope you like the cards. I will try to share the rest in the days to follow.

Happy crafting!

Jane

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AAA Colourful - Colourboard #4

 Hello Crafty Friends,

It's time for colourbord #4 at AAA Colourful, and we have a beautiful palette of colours for you to be inspired by

Isn't the colourboard beautiful? I love it, and I love the softness and the flow of the tulle in the picture. In an attempt to create that softness and flow I went with colourful circles on my card. I tried to get the colours as close to the image as I could, but as the circles overlap they changed a little in colour, but that's ok with me.

I started by creating my background of colourful circles, using a set of stencils with circles in different sizes and Distress Oxide inks. After ink blending my panel of circles I stamped and heat embossed the image and the sentiment. I gave the panel a black border and adhered it to the card base. 

Products used
Stencils by Lavinia Stamps
Stamps by Visible Image
Inks by Tim Holtz/ Ranger 
Embossing powder by WOW!


I hope you've been inspired to play along with us as we would love to see your colourful creations! It doesn't have to be a card, it can be a tag, a journaling page, ATCs, a scrapbook page ..... we love all types of paper crafts. For more information, and colourful inspiration by the talented design team and our special guest designer for this challenge, Karen please head on over to the AAA Colourful challenge blog. Don't forget to show them all some love!

Take care, keep crafting and get colourful!

Jane
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Visible Image March ATC swap

 Hello,

My ATC, and accompanying card, for the March ATC swap at Visible Image have arrived safely at my swap partner's in the UK. The theme for the March swap was - 

Flora and Fauna

and here is how I interpreted the theme

I started by stamping and heat embossing the tulip and the bee on the ATC, then masked them off before ink blending and stamping the background. After removing the masks I coloured the images using my Copic markers. I stamped the sentiment and embossed it on a separate piece of paper, cut it out and adhered it to the ATC. The wings of the bee got a little sparkle to them.

Here is the accompanying card I sent to my swap partner, followed by a picture of the ATC and card together

Products used
Stamp sets: "Sketched Tulips" and "Bee Happy" both by Visible Image
Ink: Distress Oxide
Markers: Copic

Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate it!

Jane

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There is still time.....

Hello Friends, 

Have you played along with challenge No 1 at AAA Colourful yet? If not, or if you'd like to create something more, there is still time.

Inspired by the rainbow of colours on the first colourboard, see futher down, I created this card

Hope you are inspired to play along with us! You have until the 14th of March to create, upload and link your project to the AAA Colourful challenge blog, which is jam packed with colourful inspiration by the amazing design team. Remember all paper craft is welcome, scrapbook pages, art journaling pages, ATCs, tags, cards........

Take care, keep crafting and get colourful!

Jane

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ATCs for Ukraine

Hello Crafty Friends, 

The 24th of February 2022 was the day Ukraine was invaded by Russia, two years today.

Normally I'm not a person who likes to talk about politics etc, and I try to respect everyones believes and political opinions, as I think we all have the right to our believes and political opinions as long as they don't do harm to others. But when it comes to one country invading another, and not wanting to call it what it is, WAR, I just have to speak up. War harms people, and invading another country is doing harm to others and it is WAR and nothing else.

In support of the Ukrainian people I created four ATCs as a small sign of me letting them, and everybody else, know that they are not alone. There are a lot of us standing with the people of Ukraine, and we will do so until they have regained their country and are free from their invaders, Russia. 

Be kind to each other, and respect others whether they have the same beliefs and/or political opinions as you do. And to all of us living in democracies (true ones) think long and hard before you go to vote the next time, and most importantly VOTE, use your democratic right!

Jane
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Visible Image February ATC swap

 Hello Friends,

My ATC, and accompanying card, for the Visible Image February ATC swap has been received by my swap partner, this time in the UK. The theme for the swap was

All You Need Is Love

and here's my take

I had a clear picture in my head of what to do and what VI stamp sets to use, but I couldn't get the old Beatles tune out of my head. So in the end I just had to go with the lyrics instead.
I had the lyrics start on the accompanying card

Visible Image stamp sets used
"Sing" for the music
"One Kind Word" for the hearts
and a variety of sets to find words to create the sentiment on the ATC, and the word "LOVE" on the card.

The sign up for the March swap starts on the 23rd of February, so if you'd like to join in head on over to the Visible Image group on Facebook. You only sign up for one month at a time, and only to create a single ATC. So why not give it a go?

Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate it!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

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January 2024 ATC swap at Visible Image

 Hi Friends,

My ATC, and accompanying card, for the January ATC swap at Visible Image FB group has arrived at my swap partner's in the UK. The theme for the month of January was -

"Your favourite previous VI ATC swap theme"

and there were so many amazing themes to pick from. At first I was going to go with a theme from last year, my first year taking part in the swaps, but then I started looking at all the previous themes. There were so many themes I was inspired by, but in the end I went with the October 2021 theme "words and pictures". Here's how my card turned out

As you can see I ended up putting my emphasis on "words", VI has so many great word/text stamps. I really stepped out of my comfort zone when creating the cards, and tried ink smooshing, which I find so difficult to get a "good" result with. Here's a picture of the ATC and the accompanying card

Products used
Visible Image stamp sets: "Express Yourself" and "Love of ATCs" for the ATC, and "Brighten the World" for the card.
Inks: Distress Oxide inks "picked raspberry", "squeezed lemonade" and "tumbled glass" by Tim Holtz/ Ranger.

Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate it!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

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ATC - Visible Image January swap "3 of Something"

 Hello,

Today on the last day of the year I'm sharing the first ATC I created for the Visible Image ATC swap back in January. I didn't get to share the card at the time as my swap partner fell ill before she could create and send me a card. So out of respect for her I never shared my card, but now I've asked Jane T, who is hosting the swaps, if it's ok for me to share my cards on my social media, and she said yes. So here it is My January ATC on the theme  

3 of Something

The three things I picked were; three flowers, three colours and I used three different stamp sets by Visible Image. I also created a card to accompany my ATC. On the ATC I ink blended the background and left the flowers white, so for the card I decided to do the opposite and left the background white and coloured the flowers in the three colours I used for the backgroun on the ATC. Here's a picture of the ATC and card together

Now I'm going to start looking through the themes of previous ATC swaps at the Visible Image FB group as I need an idea for my next ATC, and the theme for the January 2024 swap is "Your Favourite Previous Theme". It's going to be so exciting!

Take care, keep crafting, have fun and have a

Happy New Years Eve!

Jane
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ATC - Visible Image December swap "The Big Chill"

 Hi Friends,

Today it's time to share my last make for the ATC swap at Visible Image, and my December swap partner Marion in Germany. The theme for the December swap was

The Big Chill

which was a perfect theme for the month as the big chill really hit Europe at the same time as the theme was announced. 

For this ATC I have used the beautiful stamp set "Let It Snow", which to me is absolutely perfect for the theme. I've stamped and heat embossed the big snowflake and the sentiment using white embossing powder. Then I ink blended the background using Distress Oxide. Added some smaller snowflakes which I stamped in different shades of blue and white ink. To give the card an extra touch of "chill" I added a little sparkly shimmer spray.

I also created a card to accompany the ATC, and here's a picture of how it turned out.

I have had so much fun this year taking part in the Visible Image FB group swaps hosted and run by the incredible Jane Tyrrell. I have "met" so many amazing crafters from all over the world, and received almost as many wonderful ATCs - Artist Trading Cards.

I have created and sent out 12 ATCs and received 10 throughout the year. Unfortunatelly my first (January) swap partner fell ill before being able to create a card (I do hope she is all well now), and one of the cards sent to me from a swap partner in Canada got lost in the mail. Some cards have arrived within a few days and some have taken ages to reach their destination, but over all it's been a fantastic experience taking part in the swaps. I will definitly join in the fun next year aswell!

If you'd like to join the swap, today's the last day to sign up for the January 2024 swap over at Visible Image FB group. When signing up you only commit to one month at a time, so you can take part in as many or as few swap as you like without having to cancel anything. The sign up closes at 3pm UK time, TODAY. If you've missed it, there is a new sign up for the February swap opening on the 23rd of January.

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

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ATC - Visible Image November swap "Shine Bright"

 Hello,

Today I'm sharing my ATC for the November ATC swap at the Visible Image FB group, and my swap partner Vicki in the UK. The theme for November was

Shine Bright

a theme I found to be a bit tricky, but here's my take

I started by "painting" my background with Lunar Paste using a brayer. This gave me a nice and shiny background. Then I stamped the beautiful chandelier using Transfer gel duo and added DecoFoil in silver on top of the gel. This gave the candelier a shiny and a bit distressed look. To add even more shine, and sparkle, I stamped some circles and heat embossed them in sparkly purple embossing powder. Then I attempted to stamp the word shine to my card, but I went terribly wrong, so either I had to start all over or I had to cover it up. I went with the cover up, not the most beautiful looking but I didn't have the energy to start over as I was in bed with a bad respiratory infection. 

For the accompanying card I decided to add the Lunar paste in a different way. I applied the paste in a circular motion using a domed sponge dobber. I must admit that I really like the effect it gave, it looks so good in real life. This time I stamped, and heat embossed, the chandelier in black. Added a sentiment and some rays in silver.

Products used
Stamp sets: "Hang In There", "Daisy Grunge", "Stay Weird" and "Jazz It Up" all by Visible Image
Paste: Lunar Paste "Crown Me" by Simon Hurley/ Ranger
Foil: deco foil "Silver" by Therm O Web

Embossing powder: "Purple Tinsel" by Ranger

I really appreciate you taking the time to stop by, thank you!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
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ATC - Visible Image October swap "Halloween Colours"

 Hello Crafty Friends,

I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas, or any other holiday/season you celebrate.
Today I'm sharing my ATC, and accompanying card, for the October ATC swap at Visible Image FB group. The theme for the month of October was

Halloween Colours

Here's my take on the theme

Since I don't have any "Halloween" products by Visible Image, I decided to focus on the colour theme, and the mystical and magical time of the year that Halloween is. I ink blended in my backgrounf in green, orange and purple, and stamped a unicorn, what's more mysterious and magical than a unicorn?!, in black ink and heat embossed it. I also stamped, and heat embossed, a sentiment in black and added some black ink to the edges of my ATC.

Before sending the ATC to my swap partner in the Netherlands I created a card to go with it, using the same products.

Products used
Stamp set: "Believe In Unicorns" by Visible Image
Stencil: "Seeing Stars" by Visible Image
Inks: Distress inks "spiced marmalade", "twisted citron", "wilted violet" and "black sooth" by Tim Holtz/ Ranger, VersaFine Clair "Nocturne" by Tsukineko
Embossing powder: "Clear Gloss Super Fine" by WOW!

I had so much fun creating these two cards, and tomorrow I'll be sharing the cards I created for the November swap.

If you would like to have a go at the swap, you only sign up for one month at a time, the sign up for January 2024 is now open at Visible Image FB group.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by, I really appreciate it!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

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ATC - Visible Image September swap "Rusty"

 Hello,

Today I'm sharing my ATC, and card, for the September ATC swap at Visible Image Facebook group. It finally arrived safely at my swap partner's home in the UK.

The theme for September was

Rusty

and here's what I came up with

This was a really tricky theme, in my opinion. I tried a few different ideas, but nothing worked. In the end I decided to go with a rusty little robot. I stamped and masked of the robot. Then ink blended the background, before removing the stencil I applied some crackle paste and Distress embossing glaze to the brick background. After removing the mask I coloured the robot with markers and added some crackle paste to the screen/ face.

I also created a card to send together with my ATC to my swap parter, this is not mandatory for the swap.

ATC and card together

Products used:
Stamp sets: "Beautiful Soul", "Robot Data" and "Looking Forward with Hope" by Visible Image
Stencil: "Distressed Brick" by Visible Image
Inks: Distress Ink "Rusty Hinge", "Antique Linen", "Black Soot" and "Vintage Photo" by Tim Holtz/ Ranger
Crackle Paste: "Translucent" by Tim Holtz/ Ranger
Embossing Glaze: "Fired Brick" by Tim Holtz/ Ranger
Markers: Copic

If you would like to join the swap, please visit Visible Image Facebook group. You only sign up for one month/swap at a time, so you can join as many, or few, as you like. 

Thank you for taking the time to stop by, I really appreciate it!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
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ATC - Visible Image August Swap "Summer Vibes"

 Hello,

It's been a long time since I posted anything here, or on my Instagram.
I've been fighting a rather nasty respiratory infection. I'm still not a 100%, but I'm slowly getting there. So as you can imagine I haven't had the energy to create, or upload anything.

But today I would like to share an ATC I created for the August swap at Visible Image's Facebook group. It's a monthly swap, and the good thing is that you only sign up for one month at the time. The only limitation is that you can only use stamps, dies and stencils by Visible Image, but even if you only own one VI product you can take part as the themes of the challenges are very "open". So for the month of August the theme of the swap was


Summer Vibes

and here's what I came up with

For this ATC I have used the following VI products; "Bee Happy" and "Flower Power" stamp sets and the "Honeycomb Hex" stencil. I also created a card to send to my swap partner, this time in the UK. This is not mandatory!

Here's the card

and here's a picture of the ATC and card together

If you would like to have a go and join the swap, the registration for the November swap is now open on Facebook. Just search for the Visible Image group and you'll find all the information you'll need to join in the fun. Maybe we'll be swap partners!

Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate you taking the time!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

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ATC - Visible Image July swap "The Holiday Season"

 Hello Everyone,

Today I'm sharing my ATC and accompanying card for the July ATC swap at Visible Image. The theme for the swap was

The Holiday Season

"The holiday season" didn't have to be interpreted as the Christmas season, it could also be interpreted as the summer holiday season, or a mix of both.

Here's what I came up with

My swap partner for the month of July lives in Australia, and I'm sure Santa takes off his big boots and dips his toes in the water when visiting down. Spending time on the water (sailing) or by the sea is a must for me during our summer holidays. I love the sea, and have just come back from a few weeks of sailing.

ATC and accompanying card

I have used the following products to create these two cards;

Stamps by Visible Image; "Ride the Waves" and "Affirmations"
other products: Distress Oxide Inks, Distress Embossing Glaze by Tim Holtz/ Ranger
Embossing powder by WOW!

Thank you for taking the time to stop by, I really appreciate it!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
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