This is my 2nd entry for the no layer challenge at AAA Cards. I kept thinking about it and decided another card was in order. The sentiment and hearts stamps are from GKD and the swirl is from The Cats Pajama’s.

I stamped the swirl with Versamark and heat embossed with a glittery deep reddish brown powder from Recollections. The glitter is very pretty in R.L. but photos never pick up the sparkle well. Once this was set and cool I stamped the sentiment with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and clear heat embossed that. Then using the same ink I stamped the hearts. Instead of heat embossing these I chose to use a clear Sakura Glaze pen. There is a lot of shine in this card and I deliberately kept the colour to just one.

This card uses a stamp set by Lisa Hetrick (GKD) which is one I used a lot when first purchased and thought it was time to start using it again. I started by stamping the large sentiment and then the small one. After that I stamped the larger flower, masked it and stamped the smaller one. Masked that and stamped the leaves and berry piece. I went over the red image with a sparkle red pen. After stamping the centers to the flowersI used a copper glitter pen to add more depth. Inks used are from Distress Oxides but the sentiment uses a Hero Arts black ink.

There are certain days, like Valentines Day and Halloween for example, that I simply can’t be bothered with, although I know for others they are really important. That said, I do make one or two cards for these occasions and this card is one of them. Stamps used are from Penny Black, the Die cut frame is by Recollections. I used Sakura Glaze pens to colour the hearts, Inktense pencils along with Ohuhu pens to colour the hedgehog. I also used the fallout hearts as embellishments. The image was stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed in Champagne from Recollections. Hubby came in when I was finishing this and said he thought it really cute. The pink CS makes it quite vibrant.

It has been a while since I last played in an AAA challenge and decided it was past time I did. I used a new stamp set from Joy Clare that has this large sentiment and with TomBow pens I inked the words in different colours, huffed on it and stamped. Had to do it several times to get a reasonable impression. Found the tiny bee stamp in a Penny Black set and the seed head is a freebie by Lavinia Stamps that I received in an order some time ago. I added a bit of sparkle to the bee and a few sparkle dots here and there. In general, I’m not that great at CAS cards and don’t do one layer ones very often either, but this worked better than I expected.

A Valentine or a love theme challenge is pretty easy but a colour challenge is, for me, always a bit more problematic. Matching as close as possible to the colours is quite difficult but I think I’ve managed it. The background die is an unbranded one and I used a failed dry embossing attempt for this. I figured some of the poor embossing would show without it being busy and I was right. I added it to a gray card front to meet one of the grays on the colour swatch. Then I took a silver leftover heart die cut and added a smaller one cut in the gingham on top and tucked it under one of the stripes. Using a Divinity Design cute stamp set I stamped and coloured the little pigs keeping as close as possible to the challenge colours. After die cutting this I glued another piece to the back to give it a bit of dimension and added it as you can see. I had stamped the sentiment from the same set and I went over this with a glitter pen before adding it to the layer. Using a small xoxo stamp from Joy Clair I stamped this in several places for added interest and to increase the Love aspect of the theme challenge. This could have been a really busy card but I managed to keep it fairly simple thankfully. Getting a one card to fit two challenges is a nice bonus.

This is my take on the sketch challenge at Paper Players. I used a tulip die I bought in the Netherlands when visiting my sister and it is by Craft Emotions. After die cutting I coloured it with Inktense pencils. Did the flowers first then went over them with a clear Sakura glaze pen so I could do the leaves without worrying that I might mess up the flowers. Added some StampinUp DSP to a gray card front and then added a scrap that was cut into some grass at the join of the 2 pattern pieces. Added the die on top of that leaving a few flower heads loose so they would look more natural. The sentiment is from a Spellbinders set I’ve gotten this year. Decided it didn’t need any embellishments, although I may change my mind before it gets used.

My card uses a small Divinity Design die and stamp set that I got a couple of years ago. I stamped and heat embossed using a Champagne powder from Recollections. The embossed layer is a pre-embossed piece that I trimmed down just enough to give me room for the card front to show as a border. The heart uses a stitched set by Memory Box and a scrap piece of pearlized vellum that I coloured on the back with a pinkish Ohuhu pen. I used the same pens to colour in the image. I kept this card very simple but did add a few Studio Katja gems for embellishment.

There are times when I can feel truly stupid and making this card became one of them. After I had chosen my image and PP I proceeded to cut the PP. I cut several times and each time the orientation of the diagonal was wrong. Rather than continue to mess up some pretty papers I decided to go with the orientation that resulted and basically turned the sketch to the opposite of the sketch picture. I’m also craving the sign of spring which in my last house was the first snowdrops to appear. I don’t think there are any in this garden, but won’t know for sure until spring really does start to show up. My stamp is from the very first Polymer set I purchased but at that time I didn’t think about knowing the source of the stamp and today have no idea who created it. I can say that it came with a couple of Christmas images as well as an Amaryllis and the Snowdrops. I stamped it in green and clear heat embossed because Snowdrops usually have a slight tinge of green in the petal. I coloured with InkTense pencils and Sakura glaze pens adding a tiny bit of sparkle in one or two places. It was die cut using Hero Arts Infinity dies and a Sissix set of scalloped circles. The sentiment is from Joy Clair and cut with a banner die from an MFT set. I went around the edge of the sentiment with a gold glitter pen and added some Studio Katja gems too. PP is from StampinUp.

My entry for this challenge was inspired by both the gnomes and plaid as well as the colour red. The stamp used is new and I got it on sale at a local craft store and at the same time purchased the Echo Park Ephemera die cut package. Stamp is by Stampingbella and is called appropriately two gnomes on a log. I coloured it with a mix of Inktense pencils, and Sakura and Ohuhu pens. Firstly though, I stamped it with Versamark and heat embossed in black. I fussy cut it because I forgot to use the stamping buddy and ended up with product in places I didn’t want. Added it to the card using foam tape to give dimension. Used a scrap piece of white sparkle paper which I cut to give the illusion of snow. Added the Plaid sentiment to some white CS and fussy cut that prior to adhering to the card front. I also used the last of the small fallouts from my bird cuts to give the look of snow falling. I really like this fun stamp and may get more from this company down the road.

When I found and used one of the small Asian style dies the other day, another idea come into my head. I had a slimline piece already die cut using an MFT triple stitched circle die and I tested to see whether the small fancy circles would fit into it. As you can see, they fit beautifully so I layered the circle aperture piece onto some pale blue mirrored card and then paper pieced the fancy circles into it. To hide the marks the die left behind I used some white border strips that a good friend cut for me a long time ago. To me this gave the look of some snow. Prior to adding the fancy pieces I also used a tiny strip of white glitter and wove it between the openings of the die cut. Then with all the die cutting I did earlier with the border die that didn’t quite work, I used the fallouts to decorate and embellish. Some I coloured and some I left white. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment which is also from MFT. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. Whether it is wintery enough I don’t know but it is certainly cool (as in cold) looking.