Congratulations

Pinkfresh Studio Create and Connect February 2025

Hi everyone!

Last weekend, I took part in the Pinkfresh Studio Create and Connect ‘Cards by Theme’ event. I signed up for this event back in November after watching the unboxing video, knowing that it would be nice to have something to look forward to after Christmas – and it was such a happy January day when the box arrived at my door!

Class One – Birthday Balloons product suite

Yana Smakula’s class was up first and her theme was happy birthday. There was only one birthday stamp in the whole kit, but I have plenty of birthday stamps already! I love the balloons and the delicate coordinating die. I thought it was very clever to include floral stamps/die cuts separately as the balloons can be used with or without flowers. I switched up my colours to make it more me.

I also used the set for my interpretation of Dawn Woleslage’s Make and Take press plate/foil card. I just used the stamp with an older daisy Pinkfresh coverplate that I’ve had for a while. but still love!

 

 

Class Two – Altenew Briar Blossoms product suite

 

Next up was Bridget Casey for the guest company, Altenew. It’s been a long while since I bought Altenew stamps and I loved using the product suite they provided, which included an embossing folder. I ‘went rogue’ with my first card! The inspiration was delicate peach/pastel tones, with these amazing gold gel pen centres. I thought they would really stand out if I used vibrant colours and a black background! For the second card, I learnt a new-to-me technique to trap ink colour on vellum using adhesive sheets – I’ve already tried it out on another card.

Class Three – Pretty Blooms product suite

 

 

The theme of the final class of the day was ‘hello’ and Heather Hoffman used a fabulous floral product suite that included washi tape! I love these products as I have the ‘quick and easy’ route with washi or I can really put my own spin on it with the stamp and stencil combo.

 

 

 

 

Class Four – Majestic Swan product suite

 

 

First up on Day 2 was one of my favourite cardmakers, Raquel Arribas. We used my favourite product suite from the event, called Majestic Swan. So versatile and easy to use! I’ve already used it on other cards. I did another Make and Take with this set using Isha Gupta’s press plate/foil card as inspiration. Isha also designed this product suite.

 

 

 

 

Class Five – Butterflies in a Cloche product suite

 

 

Lea Lawson was up next with the ‘hello’ theme using the Butterflies in a Cloche set. I love how quickly I could create with this set! Another very versatile set! Once again I used Isha Gupta’s press plate/foil card as inspiration for my Make & Take card.

 

 

 

Class Six – Mix It all up!!

 

 

Final class of the day, and always the most involved, was Jennifer Maguire who focusses on ‘stretching’ our kits. I’m not an interactive cardmaker but I could be converted after making the amazing pop up balloon card. The second card was simpler, using that wonderful Majestic Swan product suite.

I’m not sure if I will sign up for the next class which is ‘Cards for Him’ but I will definitely be hitting that ‘buy’ button when registration for the August event opens up!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Stencilled embossed butterflies

Hello everyone!

Today I’m playing along with this week’s Just Us Girls challenge – this week is trend week and the challenge is to use a stencil.

I decided to use the Simon Says Stamp Dimensional Stars embossing folder and stencil set that I picked up on sale a few weeks ago. After embossing the stars, I coloured them using the three stencils in the kit and distress oxide inks (Salvaged Patina, Saltwater Taffy and Squeezed Lemonade).

I love the sentiment ‘You’re a Star’, but it’s not a very common sentiment in stamp sets. Maybe it isn’t used much in the US? Anyway, I know I have a few stamps… it took me a while to track one down but in the end I used part of a Poppystamps older stamp set. The ‘you’ die is also by Simon Says Stamp.

I used the Simon Says Stamp Floral Centrepiece embossing folder but then got a bit stuck with the positioning of the butterfly. In the end, I cut a heart from some ‘special vellum’ and used that to ground the butterfly. Can you see the pretty dots in the vellum? I bought this sheet MANY years ago, but knew it would be perfect to add very subtle interest to the heart!

To complete my card, I added a My Favorite Things sentiment and a few sequins.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

New Home Heart

Hello Everyone!

Today I’m playing along with clean and simple challenge at The Paper Players where the theme is ‘house’.

I started by embossing a heart to my card base using a die from the Pinpoint Hearts set by Poppystamps. I then cut a section of the Sugar Pea Designs Homescape die, adhered it to a strip of glitter card and added it to the card base.

Finally I stamped a Taylored Expressions sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

AAA Challenge no. 200 – Let’s celebrate!

 

Hi there!

It’s time for a new challenge at AAA Cards – and we’re celebrating our 200th Game! 200 challenges! Isn’t that amazing! I love the card challenge community and I am particularly thankful to all the DTs and especially team administrators who make it all possible! Our lead admin, Jane, has been on this DT since the very first game; I’m not sure how long she’s been our admin, at least 5 years I think. So Jane, I dedicate this card to you!

My team mates have come up with some beautiful cards which are on the AAA Cards challenge blog. Head on over there to see what prizes we have on offer for this special challenge!

As part of the celebrations, I’m giving away a brand-new Penny Black cling stamp called ‘Fur and feathers’ (40-771). Please comment on this post if you would like a chance to win and I’ll draw a winner on 17 October. Please note the stamp doesn’t have its original branded packaging but I haven’t used it at all! Giveaway open to UK commenters only…. sorry internationals, but overseas postage still seems unreliable.

 

 

 

Now, on to the details of my card…. I was originally going to go for a balloon-based card, but as I was looking through my dies, I spotted this fun ‘Party Crowd’ die by Die-versions which I knew it would be great for this card.

This card came together very quickly – I simply blended some distress ink on my card base, adhered the die cut and then added a Tonic die cut sentiment cut from holographic paper (so difficult to photograph!) and a few little stars!

 

 

Hope you can play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Mew did it!

Hi Everyone!

Happy Monday! Today I’m playing along with the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge!

I love this sketch – so many possibilities! I started by creating a background with Color Bursts, but I couldn’t decide on a die cut to go with it… so I left my card for a while and did other things.

When I got back to my craft table, I decided to get out my gilding flakes and try to create a background using them. I ‘painted’ some water on to my card base and then applied some Ranger sticky powder which I heated before applying the flakes. I really like how the background turned out but I knew I needed a bold die cut on top of that! I tried SO MANY different dies – foliage, butterflies, flowers. Nothing seed right until I stumbled upon this Cat Silhouette die by Birch Press Design. I love how bold it is! I adhered it to my card base and added a My Favorite Things sentiment together with a few stars to complete my take! I’m so glad I persevered!

Thank for stopping by!

LucieG.