Jane's birthday card...

Isn't it soooo helpful when you go looking for inspiration and find a challenge that provides a perfect light bulb moment! A big thank you to the gals at AAA Birthday Card Challenge Game #83 for the creative nudge.

Here's what I made to play along...

I do love working with this big die cut from MFT - it just makes everything so easy! I thought it would be fun to add some die-cut kitties from Mini Cats by Impression Obsession and bingo, my card was made. 

I'm also going to link to SUYP Challenge #121 as I love this sweet little furry challenge.

Have a happy day, folks!

Dani Doodles meets AAA Birthday

There's a fun challenge over at AAA Birthday: Game #70 is Ink Smooshing and I knew I wanted to play along. I do love a bit of smooshing and the DT inspiration is gorgeous!

My 'go to' background of the moment is this beauty from Dani Doodles and I had loads of fun heat embossing in white and then getting smooshy with some dye inks. The sentiment is from another of Dani's sets: More Narky Birthday Sentiments. 

BTW, Dani now has a Challenge running on Facebook which you can find here... And she's offering a fun stamp set prize for each challenge!

Happy crafting everyone!

AAA Birthday

 

I'm thrilled to be the Guest Designer for December over at AAA Birthday. I had a win back in October with this little card and was tickled pink when Jane got in touch to invite me to play along with the very talented DT girls.

Challenge #68 is all about Lovely Layers and is open all month. To be honest, as a CAS card maker I wasn't quite sure how to tackle this theme. More than two layers on a card and I begin to get dizzy and worry about nosebleeds! However, I did a little Pinterest search and found a gorgeous layering technique with which to make my card.

There are a few different ways in which you can layer your half-circles and I went for this 'wave' layering as I like the slightly 'Yin and Yang' look it gives. If you take a look at this lovely video you can see how different layering patterns can give a variety of looks to a card.

I decided to go retro for my colour palette, although I do wish the green of the smallest circles had photographed closer to the grass green colour that it appears IRL. This was such a fun, simple make and I think it'll be great as a design for those tricky masculine makes we all struggle with. I finished with a simple banner and four Stampin' Up! gems. I can imagine this card style would look great in festive colour combos too. 

Thanks for dropping by today, and thanks to Jane and the DT for inviting me along. There are some gorgeous cards on show on the AAA Birthday site, please head on over and take a look!

Now where's my cake?

 Another day, another card...I know, it surprised me too. 

Just look at this little cross-patch from Visible Image - so cute! I paired him with a sentiment from Purrfect Sentiments by Waffle Flower plus a stenciled and splattered background so I could play a few different challenges. 

AAA Birthday are playing Background Focus for Game #65.

Time Out Challenges are getting Snarky! 

And the lovely folk over at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity would like to see Animals.

BTW, there are some fabulous new Animal images at Lost Coast - you can find them here.

Here's hoping your Thursday is going well and like mine, includes some crafting time.
 

With a Cherry on Top!

I had the chance to sit down and make a card this morning! Oh, the joy and relaxation of colouring, stamping, cutting...

And this is what I made:

I needed a little inspiration to get the creative cogs turning and was delighted to find this challenge over at AAA Birthday Game #65 - Background Focus. 

I knew which stamp would be perfect for this challenge: Darkroom Door Word Block Stamp -  Birthday and I stamped in two different Altenew inks to add a little interest. The tiny Penny Black mice were a joy to colour, and I love how they are bustling along to bring the fun.

My card is rectangular in shape, so I'm linking-up at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where their Anything Goes Challenge has an Anything but a Square option. Nice!

Take care and Happy Tuesday to you all. 

Let's Get Floral...

 The very talented folk over at AAA Birthday have a lovely challenge on offer:

My mom's cousin will be celebrating her birthday next week. I thought I'd break out my set of Sizzix Thinlets 664164, a Hero Arts Woodblock plus some Distress Oxides, and create her card to join the fun at AAA Birthday. 

I do love a quick and easy card, don't you?

The DT have created some beautiful cards, so why not go take a look - they have so  much inspiration on offer.

Have a happy day, folks. 

It's a Celebration...

 

Congratulations to Fikreta over at Show US Your Pussycats as she reaches Challenge #100! 

Well done, Fiki, this is a brilliant milestone to have achieved. I don't know if you guys remember, but Fiki continued this challenge after Ike/Sue sadly passed away in April 2022. 

I decided to to break out this sweet little set to join the fun...

These super-cute stamps are from Sunny Studio - Birthday Cat. I had great fun colouring the cats - can you see Fiki's kitty hiding in the frosting at the top of this card? It's so nice to have joined Fiki's celebrations, and it feels like a lovely reunion for some of The Cat Lovers and Janis's Helpful Hoppers too. 

I'm also linking my card at AAA Cards Challenge who are celebrating their 10th Birthday and at AAA Birthday where Game #61 is Clean and Simple. 

Happy Friday, everyone!