AAA

Cards created for the AAA Cards challenge

Along the Edge

Hi there!

It’s time for a new challenge at AAA Cards! The theme for this fortnight is ‘along the edge’ with the optional twist of sewing. Our sponsor is Stamplorations.

I had originally planned to use one of my pretty edge punches that I have been hoarding keeping hold of for the past decade. Although I happily moved to wafer-thin dies some time ago, I have never been able to part with my punch collection. I think it’s because I invested so much in them at the time. I remember how difficult it was for us in the UK to get hold of those Martha Stewart punches when they first came out…. and how I used to love looking at them in person whenever I went to craft stores in the US.

Yes. Well, that’s a nice memory…. because I very quickly remembered WHY I was so happy to move to wafer-thin dies.

Punches are a complete nightmare with thicker cardstock. I really tried with one beautiful edge punch which got stuck on multiple occasions… and accidentally fell into the bin at one point. I fished it out.. but it’s fair to say that my romantic memory of punches has been eroded and quite a few punches will be finding their way out of my house imminently!

So I turned to my die collection – lots of choice there and requiring MUCH less elbow grease! I chose the Cascading Hearts die from Technique Tuesday. I didn’t want to fill in all the hearts as I liked seeing the white of the back of the card through the open hearts. Instead I added some patterned vellum to just a few of them.

The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

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 Michelle from Seashell Creations – she has some beautiful cards on her blog!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Embossed butterflies

Happy Sunday!

It’s time for a new challenge over at AAA Cards! This fortnight we are challenging you to make a card in ‘minutes’ with the optional twist of one of my favourite techniques – dry embossing! Our sponsor is Heffydoodle who are offering a price of a £25 voucher to their store!

What do we mean by ‘made in minutes’? Well, after planning your card and gathering your supplies you card should take 15 – 30 minutes to complete!

Now, I confess, I was nervous about this challenge as I am not a fast cardmaker. I don’t like rushing the creative process, I enjoy it! Anyway, I knew I had to focus on die cutting as that’s a pretty quick technique and I wanted to case one of my older cards where I inlaid embossed die cuts.

I chose a simple die, some previously-rejected ink blending and a couple of embossing folders and got to work. It probably took me about 20 minutes to assemble this card, and then another 20 to find a stencil that I decided I needed for the card base once I’d assembled my die cut image!!

The sentiment is by Hero Arts and I used embossing folders by Cuttlebug and Crafts Too.

My team mates  have created some gorgeous CAS cards over at AAA Cards and we are joined by guest designer Kateryna who has some amazing cards on her Instagram feed.

Hope you can play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Welcome Spring

Hello everyone!

It’s time for a new challenge over at AAA Cards and this fortnight we have a very straightforward challenge!!

We’d like you to use just one image only (if you want to add a sentiment, that is fine too). The optional twist is ‘spring’ and our sponsor is Craftyscrappers.

I was placing an order with The Ton recently and I was aghast to realise that I had never used the gorgeous cherry blossom stamp set that I bought from them a couple of years ago. So, as soon as I saw the optional twist, I knew I had to use it!

I stamped and coloured the image using my Twinkling H2O paints and added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp to finish off my card.

My teammates have created some beautiful designs over at AAA Cards and this fortnight our guest designer is Aleksa who has a beautiful Instagram feed.

Looking forward to seeing all the entries!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Crafty friends are the best

Hello everyone!

It’s time for a new challenge over at AAA Cards and this fortnight we have something new for you!

We’d like you to choose a sentiment and three items only from our AAA Cards Wheel of Fortune! Perhaps we should call that our ‘Wheel of CAS Creativity’! Anyway,  we have an optional twist of ‘friends’ and our sponsor is Pink & Main.

I must confess I found it pretty challenging to select items from three separate segments as I was worried my CAS card would quickly become rather cluttered. Once I had chosen my sentiment (by Altenew), I selected quite a large image (Scrapbook Girls stamp by Denami Design) so I knew that the best way of achieving a CAS card would be to choose the colouring pens/pencils option plus something that wouldn’t compete with my large detailed image – so I chose the small embellishments. Three tiny sequins! Can you see them?!

While I really struggled with this card to begin with, I LOVE how this Wheel of CAS Creativity stretched me to think differently about supplies. Ordinarily I would never have coloured this image with my pencils, but I had to because ‘paints’ weren’t an option and so my beloved Twinkling H2Os had to stay in the cupboard! It certainly wasn’t the quickest card that I have ever made but I ended up feeling quite pleased… or maybe relieved… that my card was still CAS!

My teammates have created some beautiful designs over at AAA Cards and this fortnight our guest designer is Janet who has some wonderful cards on her blog, Swanlady Impressions – you must check it out!

Looking forward to seeing all the entries!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Broken Record

Hello everyone!

It’s time for a new challenge over at AAA Cards and this fortnight we want to see your CAS cards using one corner only, with the optional twist of ‘music’. Our sponsor is Uniko.

I have quite a few music stamps and dies and decided to use an older record die from Taylored Expressions, together with a very new stamp set from My Favorite Things.

As I was going to be using a corner I decided a longer sentiment would work quite nicely although I must confess I am a little bemused by it! A broken record never made me happy when I was a child! But I decided to just go with it and stamped it down after smooshing some distress ink on my base card. I then die cut three little records and cut into one of them to break it.

Et voila, a very quick CAS card!

My teammates have created some beautiful designs over at AAA Cards and this fortnight our guest designer is Karen who has some beautiful cards and photos on her blog, Random Reflections – you must check it out!

Looking forward to seeing all the entries!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Jade Heart

Hello Friends!

It’s time for a new challenge over at AAA Cards and this fortnight we want to see CAS one-layer cards. The optional twist is ‘love’ as this challenge runs through Valentine’s Day! Our sponsor is Stamplorations and Shery has come up with a fun bright one-layer card!

I love one-layer cards but sometimes my one-layer cards can become a little busy! So I had to be very careful not to overdo it when I was creating this card! As you know if you’ve read my post on 1 Feb, I am trying to use at least one of my old wood-mounted stamps every day during the 30 Day Colouring Challenge and today is no exception! I stamped an older wood-mounted Hero Arts heart stamp with Pearlescent Jade Brilliance ink and then masked it off before smooshing some distress ink in the background. This is where I got a bit carried away with my first take. My smooshing ended up covering most of my card front – not very CAS! So I started over and tried again!

Once I was happy with my limited/controlled smooshing, I removed the mask and coloured around the heart with grey water colour to create a faux shadow. To finish off the card, I added a Reverse Confetti sentiment.

My team mates have some wonderful one-layer cards over on the AAA Cards site. We are also joined by the talented Mac Mable from The Sweetest of Peas – she has some amazing creations on her blog – you must check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.