Summer

AAA Cards One layer challenge with hobby twist

Hi there!

It’s time for another challenge at AAA Cards!  This fortnight we’d like you to create a one-layer CAS card. Our optional twist this time is ‘my other hobby’. Joy Clair Designs is our sponsor.

One of my other hobbies is gardening – but I don’t do any baskets or pots of annuals and it’s been a few years since I went to Hampton Court Flower Show… so I guess gardening for me tends to be more like what I think our friends in the US call ‘yard work’ – you know, landscaping projects, weeding, pruning, shrub planting, mowing and watering. Oh my word, the watering this year….. I can’t be the only garden owner who is relieved that our heat wave finally broke at the end of the week!

Anyway, on to my card for this challenge! For AAA, one layer means just the card base, no additional die cuts unless it is inlaid into the card base. A one-layer challenge is mainly a stamping or stencilling challenge for me really. I’ve actually used clear stamp sets for a couple of gardening cards whilst I’ve been blogging (here and here), so I turned to my old wood-mounted rubber stamp collection this week! I used an old Funstamps stamp called Gardening Shelf which I felt was a good reflection of my yard work type of gardening!! I coloured the image with my Twinkling H2O paints… and yes, I do have purple gloves for gardening!! The sentiment is by Mama Elephant.

My team mates have come up with some beautiful cards which are on the AAA Cards challenge blog. We are also joined by a previous challenge winner, Coni, who has some fun inspiration on her blog!

Hope you can play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

Sunshiny Day

Hi there!

It’s time for a new challenge at AAA Cards! This fortnight we’re challenging you to use one edge of your card only and the optional twist is ‘inspired by a song’. Our sponsor is CASual Fridays

When I saw the optional twist, I thought of a set, called My Sunshine, that I bought on sale from Simon Says Stamp. It contains quite a few song lyrics  and I thought this lyric from ‘I can see clearly now’ would work well along the edge of my card. Who remembers that song? I know the Jimmy Cliff version and remember when it came out over 25 years ago!

I decided to use a light blue card base and inked up the large sun image from the set using a couple of Distress Oxide inks (Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey). I was so pleased with the ink coverage – the colours seem to be pretty vibrant and yellow, even though I didn’t use a white card base.

This card is super simple and came together so quickly! Once I stamped the image and sentiment, I added some sequins to help guide the eye along the edge! A few understated embellishments are fine, as long as they support a CAS design!

My team mates have come up with some beautiful cards which are on the AAA Cards challenge blog. We are also joined by the talented Angie from Cimba Creative Fun – I love her card – you must check them out!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

It’s summer!

Happy Friyay everyone!

Today I’m celebrating the return of British summer as I know it (ie rain, chilly etc). The heatwave lasted a little too long for me and the garden and I’m very happy that temperatures are much more bearable.

I’m also celebrating the three-week adoptoptoversary of my mum and dad’s new cat, Oscar. Their resident cat, Minnie, is adapting well and less feisty than we all expected her to be! To mark this occasion, I inked up my latest Newton’s Nook purchase and tried to replicate Minnie and Oscar. It’s fair to say Oscar has a VERY healthy appetite so guess which cat he is!!

I’m entering this into the current Inky Paws challenge which has the a summer/beach theme!

Have a great weekend!

LucieG.

Find Your Paradise

Happy Saturday everyone. Although looking at my card, maybe that should be Happy Caterday!

I finally managed to get my hands on some Distress blending brushes and couldn’t wait to use them on my more intricate stencils. I love that I was able to get great coverage without getting the brush caught in the plastic. Yep, I think I’m going to enjoy using these!

To create the background, I added a layer of Antique Linen distress oxide ink on my base card, applying it slightly heavier in the bottom right corner, near where I planned to stamp the image. Then I splattered some ink using a paint brush. After stamping Newton, I lifted the Antique Linen colour from the image and then coloured it in using regular distress ink.

I then use an Echo Park Paper Co stencil to create the palm tree background, applying regular distress in with the distress brush. I didn’t bother masking the image off as it was easy to avoid stencilling in that area – thanks to the precision of the brushes!

Anyway, I’m entering my one-layer card into the current Timeout Challenge. The theme is ‘holidays’ which really means ‘vacation’ to me (one layer is the optional twist)!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Life’s a Beach

Happy Sunday everyone!

It’s time for a new challenge over at AAA Cards. This fortnight’s theme is ‘Summer Fun’ and Happy Little Stampers is our sponsor.

For my card, I stamped and coloured images from the Avery Elle Beside the Sea set. I then masked off the images and created a blended background with regular distress ink and also distress oxide ink. I cut a frame from glitter paper and then added a sentiment from the set to finish it off!

My teammates have shared some gorgeous CAS cards on the AAA Cards blog and we are also joined by Guest Designer Ishani from Quillish. She has some amazing creations on her blog – her quilling is GORGEOUS – so please drop by her site!

Thanks for stopping by – I do hope you play along with us!

LucieG.

I Heart Summer!

Hi Everyone!

The theme for this month’s Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday is ‘Summer’ and so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to use my Sunny Studios layered popsicles. I find their layering stamps super easy to line up – and the popsicles are no exception!

Once I stamped the images several times using Altenew inks, I felt I needed ‘something’ to anchor the collection. I did a little controlled ink smooshing and then added a border die from Poppystamps – I think it almost looks like some sort of quirky popsicle holder! I added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp to complete the card

Thanks for looking!

LucieG.