AAA birthday Game #50 - Water Colours

Hi,

It's the first of June, and time for a new challenge over at AAA Birthday.
The theme of the month is 

"Water Colours"

I found this challenge to be a bit tricky at first, should I use watercolours or should I use water colours/the colours of water, or should I paint water? I thought long and hard and decided to go with all three. So I used watercolours in the colours of water (and sand) and painted a water/sea scene. My very first watercolour "painting"! I cheated a little when it came to the sailboat and the birds, and stamped those. I also stamped the sentiment, that reads "One year older and one year better".

Products used
Papers: Watercolour paper (from my stash), "Blue Jay" cardstock by Lawn Fawn
Watercolours: "Distress Watercolor Pencils: set 2" by Tim Holtz/ Ranger
Stamp sets: "Födelsedag" by hÄnglar & Wings, "Ride the Waves" by Visible Image

I haven't played with watercolours since a was a little girl, but I had so much fun making this card. I hope you've been inspired to play along with us. I highly recommend a visit to AAA Birthday challenge blog, which is filled with fun and beautiful birthday cards by the design team and our special guest designer for the month of June, Ana. So head on over and check out their amazing work, and don't forget to give them some love. You can also find all the information on the challenge and how to play along on the blog. Can't wait to see your water colour birthday card creations!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

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

Jane

x

ATC - Visible Image May swap "Regal Purple"

 Hello Crafty Friends,

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. Life is very busy at the moment and I just haven't got the time to craft right now. But today I'd like to share an ATC and a card I created earlier this month. It was for the Visible Image ATC swap for the month of May, and the theme was -

"Regal Purple"

For this ATC I started of by inking my background using Distress Oxide ink, first in shaded lilac and then through a Visible Image stencil with wilted violet. I stamped and heat embossed the ballerina using sparkly embossing powder in purple. I also stamped and heat embossed the stars and the words "born to". I finished the sentiment by stamping the words "love", "dream" and "create.

I also created a card to send with my ATC to my swap partner, this month in Canada.

For the background of this card I've use a technique new to me, gel plate printing. This was so much fun. After printing my backgroun I stamped and heat embossed the ballerina and the stars on the background. To finish the card I stamped the sentiment.

Products used for the ATC and greeting card
Stamp sets: "Born to Perform", "Beautiful Soul" and "Affirmations" by Visible Image
Stencils: "Grungy Union Jack" and "Breakout" by Visible Image
Inks: Distress Oxides "Shaded Lilac", "Wilted Violet" and "Villanous potion" by Tim Holtz/ Ranger, VersaFine Clair "Monarch" by Tsukineko
Embossing powders: "Purple Tinsel" and "Silver" by Ranger
and a gel plate and brayer

I really enjoy creating these cards and the swapping them with new friends from all over the world. If you like to participate please visit Visible Image Facebook group where you'll find all the information on this monthly swap. The great thing is that you only sign up for one month at a time, so if you like to skip a month or two that's fine. Or if you don't enjoy it you just don't sign up for any more swaps, and that's fine too.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I really appreciate it!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

x

AAA Birthday Game #49 - Balloons

 Hip Hip Hooray

It's the 1st of May and the first day of AAA Birthday's birthday month!
AAA Birthday challenges is turning four this May

Happy 4th birthday, AAA Birthday!

So let's celebrate with a new challenge, 
and a surprise bundle of goodies for one lucky winner!
Winner to be picked at random amongst all entries to this challenge.

The theme for the month is a really fun one - 

Balloons!

You can't have a party without balloons, so we want to see birthday cards with balloons on them, in all shapes and sizes. It can be a balloon or as many balloons as you want. Or why not a balloon shaped card?

Here's my take on the challenge

The challenge is up and running and you have until the 31st of May to create, upload and link your balloon filled birthday cards to the AAA Birthday challenge blog.

On the blog you'll find more beautiful and fun inspiration by the design team and our talented guest designer for the month, Maria, don't forget to send them some love! You'll also find all the information you need on how to play along with this, and any upcoming, challenges.

I hope you've been inspired to play along with us as we would love for you to join in the celebrations, and we'd really love to see your balloon filled birthday cards!

Take care, keep crafting and most importantly have fun!

Jane
x

AAA Cards Challenge 239 - Choose a side

 Hello and Good Morning/afternoon/ evening,

Are you ready for a new CAS card challenge?
I hope you are, as today is the start of a new challenge over at AAA Cards.
This time we would like you to 

Choose a Side

Hot or cold, which side of the colour wheel do you prefer?
I love them both, but for this challenge I could only pick one

As you can see I picked the cold side for this card, purples and greens to be exact. I love both purple and green, and as I've been playing a lot with hot/warm colours lately I felt it was time for a "cool" card.

The challenge blog over at AAA Cards is filled with beautiful CAS cards in hot or cold colours, created by the amazing design team and our talented guest designer for this challenge, Hannelie. So why not head on over to AAA Cards challenge blog for some more inspiration for your own hot or cold CAS card?! You have until May 13th to create, upload and link your card to the challenge blog. Hope you'll join us! Remember we want to see CAS cards, for definition please see below

If you want to know what products I've used and how I created my card, please keep reading.

Products used for my card
Stamp sets: "Delicate Floral Print" by Pinkfresh Studio, "Ännu mer Grattis" by hÄnglar & Wings
Stencils: "Delicate Floral Print" by Pinkfresh Studio
Inks: Distress Oxides " Shaded Lilac", "Villainous potion", "Twisted Citron", "Evergreen Bough" by Tim Holtz/ Ranger and VeraFine Clair "Nocturne" by Tsukineko
Die: "Outside In Stitched Rectangle" by Lawn Fawn
Embellishments: Enamel Dots " transparent" by Nellie's choice

I started by die cutting my card panel out of some white cardstock before stamping my flowers and leaves. As the "Delicate Floral Print" stamp is a "background" stamp I had the to cover the flowers the stamp that I didn't want to stamp before inking it up. I removed the "mask" and stamped the flowers and leaves I'd inked in one corner of the panel. I got out the coordinating stencils and inked the flowers and leaves. So quick and easy with stamps and stencils that coordinate! I stamped the sentiment and added some enamel dots to the panel, adhered it to the card base and my card was done.

I hope you've been inspired to play along with the challenge as I would love to see your CAS card in hot or cold colours!

Thank you for taking the time to read all the way here, I really appreciate it!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

x

ATC - Visible Image April swap "I spy...."

Hello Crafty Friends,

The ATC swap at Visible Image is so much fun,
and for the April swap we were playing the game " I spy..." 

The theme was

"Something beginning with S"

I knew exactly what I wanted to make, but unfortunatelly the new stamps I had ordered were stuck in customs. So plan B it was. I had a look through my VI stamp sets and stencils, and here's what I came up with

a sparkly seahorse swimming in the sea with shiny "starfish" and shiny splatters with a few sun rays shining through the surface.

I had a hard time finding a sentiment or even a word to fit the challenge amongst my VI stamp sets, so in the end I "created" my own word. I found the word "see" on a sentiment stamp and masked it of so I only had the "se" and stamped that. Then I found an "a" in another word from a different set and stamped that to spell the word "sea". I wanted to write "Sea Beauty" but I couldn't find a "y" that fit anywhere, so I went with "beautiful sea" instead. I also created a card to send to my swap partner together with the ATC.

The sentiment on the card is also a compromise and one I had to "create" myself by mixing and matching different stamp sets. I did a little word play and used the word "sea" instead of "see" on my card to connect the two cards and to follow the "sea" theme.

Visible Image products used
Stamp sets:
"VI MINIs #1" - seahorse
"Born to Perform" - stars (starfish)
"Ride in the Wind" - splatters
"Believe in Unicorns" - splatters
"Affirmations" - for the "a" in the word "sea"
"Brighten the World" - for the "se" in the word "sea", and for most of the sentiment on the card
"Beautiful soul" - the word "beautiful"
Stencil:
"Strobes" - sun rays

Other products used
Distress Oxides for the background
Perfect Pearl for the starfish and splatters, and for the seahorse on the card
Sticky embossing powder and glitter for the seahorse on the ATC
VersaMark embossing ink for the seahorse and the sentiment on the ATC
White embossing powder for the sentiment on the ATC
VersaFine Clair ink for the sentiment on the card

I must say, I thoroughly enjoy these swaps! It's so much fun creating these small cards, sending them to new friends around the world, and then receiving beautiful cards from all over the globe. It's a win win! 

If you a curious about the swap, and mayby even want to have a go, visit Visible Image on Facebook. You only sign up for one swap at a time, so no commitment for more than that month if you don't like it. I can highly recomment it! The sign up for the following month usually runs between the 23rd - 28th of every month, you then have until the 23rd of the following month to create and send your ATC to your swap partner. You only have to create an ATC! I create a "matching" card just because I like to create cards, you don't have to.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by, I truly appreciate it!

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
x

Ooommm!

Hello Crafty Friends,

Today I'm sharing my last entry for the spring cybercrop at Pyssloteket.
This one is for challenge 1 - Babsans solnedgång/ Babsan's sunset.

 

Poor Dee, sitting in the sunset, has been trying to find her inner peace since sunrise.
I hope she finds it soon 😉 Ommm!

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

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
x

AAA Cards Challenge 238 - Ripped/Torn Edges

 Hello Crafty Friends,
It's time for a new CAS card challenge at AAA Cards,
and the theme for this fortnight is

Ripped/Torn Edges

We want you to create (fake) ripped/torn edge(s)
somewhere on your card using masking technique. 


I decided to go with a colourful square with ripped edges,
and here's how my card turned out.

For my card I ripped the edges of some post-it notes and taped them to my card with the torn sides facing inwards to create a square with ripped edges. I then ink blended the square using distress inks, and splattered some white acrylic paint before removing the post-it notes. To finish the card I stamped a flower and a sentiment. 

For more information and inspiration by the design team and our special guest designer for this challenge, Sandie Munro, please visit AAA Cards challenge blog.

I hope you'll join us!

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

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
x