AAA

Cards created for the AAA Cards challenge

AAA Up to one third with leaves twist

Hi there!

It’s time for a new challenge at AAA Cards – and it’s one of my favourites as we’d like you to create a card using up to one third of your card base. Our optional twist is leaves.

Well I was quite spoilt for choice with this one as I have a lot of leafy dies. In the end I chose the Simon Says Stamp Berkshire Leaves Outline die – it’s dated 2013. but I think I got it later than that when it was one of their ‘deals and steals’.

I used the die to cut an old inky panel that I had created with distress inks and mica spray and put all the little leaf pieces to one side. I adhered the die cut to my card base and then added a Hero Arts sentiment to complete my card.

For the second card, I cut the die from some white card and after adhering it to another card base, I inlaid the little die cut leaf pieces that I has set aside earlier. Again, I added a Hero Arts sentiment to finish my card.

My team mates have come up with some beautiful cards which are on the AAA Cards challenge blog. We are also joined by Milla, who creates some beautiful cards.

Hope you can play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

AAA Cards One Inch Strip

Hi there!

It’s time for another challenge at AAA Cards!  This fortnight we’d like you to create a CAS card using a one inch strip only. Our optional twist for this challenge is ‘coloured card base’!

I wanted to use one of my border dies for this card – quite a few were wider than an inch but this old Poppystamps Bubble Daisy Border die was well under an inch, which meant I’d have room for a sentiment too. Yay!

I decided to do some inlaid die cutting so I cut the image four times – once in white then once again in the colours for this week’s Color Throwdown challenge (red, yellow and blue). I originally wanted to adhere it to a kraft card base, to follow the optional twist, but I actually preferred the daisy chain on a white background. The colours popped a little more! To complete my card, I added a sentiment by Clearly Besotted.

My team mates have come up with some beautiful cards which are on the AAA Cards challenge blog. We are also joined a previous challenge winner, and another of my favourite cardmakers, Janet – go check out her blog, it’s so inspiring!!

Hope you can play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Altenew Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop

Hi there!

I’m excited to say that the AAA Cards Challenge was invited to join a fun blog hop that Altenew is hosting. A total of 12 challenge blogs are participating and you have the chance to win one of 10 $25 Altenew gift certificates. Full details are on the Altenew blog.

Some of the AAA Cards DT have already joined in with the fun and created some cards using Altenew products – check them out on the AAA Cards blog!

I love Altenew products and have all their ink cubes – they are my go-to whenever I do layered stamping! I also have so many of their floral stamps but as my cardmaking preferences are leaning more towards die-cutting nowadays, I decided to pull out some of my beautiful Altenew dies for my card.

I cut and coloured some foliage from the Branches and Berries die set using my Twinkling H2O paints – can you see that shimmer?! Next I cut the vases from the Mantel Decor – Spring Die Set. You would not believe how I stalked UK retailers waiting for this set! I just love the size of those vases!

I wanted to use the Textured Burlap die to ground my vase cluster but felt that the whole die cut competed with the delicate florals. I toyed with embossing it on the card base but in the end I decided to use part of the die cut to ground the vases. Finally I added a sentiment from the Flower Vine stamp set.

Hope you enjoy the blog hop and can join the fun by sharing your own cards on the Altenew link up!!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

AAA Two Quarters with Favourite Colours Twist

Hi there!

It’s time for a new challenge at AAA Cards!  This fortnight we’d like you to create a CAS card using two quarters of your card. Lots of rules with this one:

  • there needs to be two distinct quarters on your CAS card
  • two quarters could be one half, but we’d like to see a space between the quarters if this is the layout you opt for
  • ideally we’d like to see all images and the sentiment confined to the two quarters, but we will allow a sentiment to straddle the two quarters or even a sentiment outside of the two quarters as long as it’s not too big or dominant
  • the rest of the card should be plain empty ‘white’ space without any pattern, texture or embossing

The optional twist is ‘favourite colours’.

I must confess, this is my least favourite challenge theme! I know DT members have to stick to the rules and I’ve really struggled with designs for this one. Luckily, I remembered that the last time we had this theme, there was some AMAZING inspiration in our gallery – I particularly loved the designs that Sent Sue and Darnell came up with. Many thanks to all of you for inspiring me with this challenge theme!

I chose the elegant Bali corner die by Memory Box for my take. At first I tried the design on a UK A6 card base but it looked like each die cut took up more than a quarter. So I tried it with a larger (7″x5″) base. It looked perfect! However, like Sue, I got out my ruler and calculator and got measuring. Turns out each die covers exactly one quarter of the card base! Amazing!

I used to say my favourite colour was purple but I don’t really have a favourite colour at the moment. I have lots of favourite colour combos but in the end I decided to keep the colouring very simple and just blended some wilted violet distress ink on the flowers.

To complete my card, I added a Clearly Besotted sentiment.

My team mates have come up with some beautiful cards which are on the AAA Cards challenge blog. We are also joined a previous challenge winner and one of my favourite cardmakers, Trina, who always comes up with the most beautiful cards. I’m guessing blue will make an appearance on her card!! You know, I still think Tim Holtz should have named his latest colour Trina Blue!

Hope you can play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Christmas in July 2021 – Day 25

Hello everyone and welcome to Day 25 of Christmas in July 2021!

It’s also time for another challenge at AAA Cards!  This fortnight we’d like you to create a CAS card using just an edge of your card. Our optional twist is one of my favourites, dry embossing, which is finally seeing a bit of a resurgence in popularity! Hurrah!

I have lots of embossing folders and last month, I spent some time creating a new system for organising them. I used some cheap cardstock to emboss each folder, added a label with the folder name and the plate sandwich needed to get the best impression and stored them on a book ring. It was totally worth it – I’m already using my folders more!

So this was actually the second card I created for this challenge. The first one looked fine in real life but I could not photograph it properly! So annoying as the image was perfect for along the edge challenge. A lot of my other festive folders create more of a focus on a corner, which is one of our other challenge themes and you know I’m a stickler for rules!!! In the end I embossed a section of a Gemini snowflake background embossing folder and added that to my card base after applying a bit of silver gilding wax. I also adhered a tiny strip of cardstock to the edge of the embossed strip. Finally I added a sentiment from my go-to Mama Elephant set!

And just in case you were wondering about the card I had to replace, here it is! This Darice embossing folder is fabulous but sadly I just couldn’t get a decent photo!

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

Hope you can play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

Christmas in July 2021 – Day 11

Hello everyone and welcome to Day 11 of Christmas in July 2021!

It’s also time for another challenge at AAA Cards!  This fortnight we’d like you to create a CAS card using a ‘twinchie’. Our optional twist is Christmas in July! Yay!

What is a twinchie I hear you ask? Luckily our lovely admin Jane has provided a description –  “a square or circle up to 2″. Everything should be contained in it, (no added mat or layer outside the twinchie). It’s ok not to use all of the 2″ allowed, but nothing should spill over”.

I have to confess, I was very tempted to go with an inchie again as I really enjoyed the challenge of just using a square inch, and we had some AMAZING cards in our gallery for the last inchie challenge. I don’t use imperial so I was really surprised at how big a twinchie seemed after planning for an inchie. Nevertheless, in the end I went with the challenge theme as the larger size means I can use my beloved dies!

I used the fabulous Poppystamps Modern Wreath die which has a diameter of 44mm which is perfect for the challenge theme. I cut the wreath from various glitter papers and then inlaid the die cut pieces.

To complete my card I added a sentiment from my go-to Mama Elephant set – I was so pleased to find that it fit the centre of the wreath!

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

Hope you can play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.