*AAA #147*

It's time for another Challenge on the AAA Cards blog!  If you are playing along, be sure to include a lot of white space on your card.  By white space, I don't mean just white space.... I mean clean space.... I mean areas of your card that are not stamped or decorated or patterned or embellished.  We'd love to see what you create using the idea of "Along the Edge" with the optional twist of being inspired by a song.

Link up a card you’ve created on the AAA Cards Blog for your chance to win a $25 shopping spree at CASual Friday!

I cheated big time on this card.... my "inspired by a song" is the Happy Birthday song LOL!

I was inspired by a recent blog post by Amy R at Prairie Paper and Ink....  you can see it HERE.  She created the inside of a card using a rainbow patterned paper and I just love the look for it.  I played with some Catherine Pooler inks and a stamp in my Stamparatus to create something similar on a one layer card.

Items Used;
*Cardstock:  white
*Images:  Catherine Pooler Amazing Floral; Avery Elle So Kind
*Ink:  Catherine Pooler in Party Dress, Samba, Orange Twist, Limoncello, Lime Rickey, Grass Skirt, All That Jazz, Suede Shoes, Grape Crush; VersaFine Clair Nocturne
*Tools:  Stamparatus
*Embellishments:  Frosted Lace Stickles

Head over to the BLOG to see what all of the design team has been up to and leave some love for Angie, our guest designer this challenge!

*You Make My Heart Happy*

I'm back today with another card using that great Weekend Doodles set from AlteNew.  I am SO glad I got this set and the matching dies!

For this card, I placed a piece of white cardstock in my Stamparatus and set up the stamp on the door.  I then stamped the image four times using Samba, Lime Rickey, Fiesta Blue and Tiki Torch Catherine Pooler inks to create the rainbow effect on the image.  I overlapped the colours a little bit to create some blending.  I then cut it out with the matching die.  I coloured a piece of white cardstock with Samba ink and once dry, used the MFT RicRak die to cut out the element along the right side of the card.  I put everything down with Lawn Fawn liquid glue and stamped the sentiment with Midnight Catherine Pooler ink.  I added a couple of clear gems around the wreath for a little dimension.

*Better In My Head*

You know how sometimes you have an idea in your head and it sits there for weeks and weeks and finally you decide to try it... and it sucks?

Well, this is that card for me.

I had an idea to use a sentiment stamp with my Gina K Wreath Builder set.  I grabbed a set by Stampendous and some Catherine Pooler ink...  and I just couldn't get this card to look right.

But hey, at least I finally tried the idea that's been floating in my head for a very long time

*Feel Better Soon*

A good friend of mine slipped and fell a few weeks ago after Calgary got hit with a spring snow storm... she managed to break her foot in four places.  I thought I'd create a card for her to brighten her day a little bit.

Back at the beginning of the month, the Scrap'n Stamp Design Team participated in a Floral Frenzy Blog Hop, and I had a lot of the flowers I had die cut left over.  I mean, a lot.  So I decided I'd use those flowers to create the other two cards for my design team posts as well!  Make it a sort of series, I suppose.

This card was really simple to do. I had already cut out the flowers from My Favorite Things Stitched Blooms in four different colours of cardstock. I have this set of dies for a very long time but have never cut the pieces apart, so I placed the all together die on a piece of white cardstock that I cut down to 4.75" X 3.5" and cut it out, allowing pieces to overlap. I took out the white pieces and placed regular scotch tape along the back of the white panel so that the sticky part of the tape showed through the front of each of the spaces. I then laid in the coloured die cuts and pushed them down to stick to the scotch tape. When I had them all down, I trimmed off the flower edges.

I then cut a slightly larger panel in the same green I had used for the die cuts and layered the floral panel on top of it before putting it all on to a white card. I then put the piece in to my stamp positioning tool so that I could stamp the sentiment from the My Favorite Things Essential Sentiments stamp set in VersaFine Claire ink in black. I did it in the stamp positioning tool so that I could restamp it a few times to ensure I got even coverage since I was working on a less than smooth surface.

To finish off the card, I added some of the circle elements from the die set to add a little more dimension.


I still have LOTS of those flowers to play with.... I'll be back at the end of the month with another card using these same flowers!

*The Best Ever*

I can't even think of the last time I used anything except a white card base.  I love the pop of colour between a front panel and a white card, but every single card seems to be a white card.  I guess I like the cleanliness of it... and I like that it's easy to write in when I go to give it to someone.

I got this Sale-A-Bration set from Stampin' Up a few weeks ago and decided to play with it.  I used my Stamparatus to get the two different images lined up perfectly to create the medallion.  I love this colour combination of Lime Rickey and All That Jazz Catherine Pooler inks.

I added a few black jewels to the medallion, pulled out my Perfect Layers Tool to create that awesome 1/16" border I love and put it all on to a white card.

For those that have asked, Perfect Layers Tools are no longer being made as Perfect Paper Crafting went out of business.  However, We R Memory Keepers sells something that looks (I can't say works as I've not used them) the exact same... they call them Layers Guides...  I've seen them at some local stamp and scrap stores as well as on Amazon.  They truly are, the best thing ever (see what I did there??!!)

*Moonstone Nuvo Paste*

It is finally warmer in Calgary... the sun is shining and we have been above the freezing mark for about a week or so.... and this coming week should only get better!

I ordered some Moonstone Nuvo Drops recently... I had two reasons....  (1) I haven't really played with stencils and texture pastes and (2) I loved the idea that this would add sparkle without blocking the colours I had already used.  It arrived the day before a day long crop I went to last week so it was the first thing I pulled out.

I took a white panel, cut 1/4" smaller on both sides than a full card front and I used my Post It Tape to tape off a strip down the centre of the card on a diagonal.  I attached the white panel to the door of my Stamparatus and then positioned the Catherine Pooler stamp under it on the base.  I find that when using these large background stamps, it helps to have the stamp on the base instead of the door.  I stamped it with black ink and then used my Life Changing Blender Brushes and some Catherine Pooler inks to blend over the  stamped image.  I set it aside to dry a little but I should have left it longer as the green colour smeared a little in the next step.  I used a palette knife and the Nuvo Paste and put a thin layer over the image.  Before it dried, I removed the Post It Tape and set it aside to dry again.  I added the MFT Cheers die cut out of purple cardstock and layered it all on to a white card.

Not bad for a first try... I have some other ideas in my head but need to find the time and energy to create!

*You Make Me Happy*

I am back on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog today with a card I created this past week. I had a tough creative week this past week... I spent a lot of time at my desk just shuffling things around.  I *wanted* to create but honestly, nothing was talking to me... nothing was getting me excited.  Finally, a few hours before I head to work on Wednesday (my work week starts around noon on Wednesdays), I had an idea in my head that took a while to come to fruition but I am thrilled with the card I ended up with.

For this card, I used stamps from Lawn Fawn, a rectangle die and floral dies by My Favorite Things, my copic markers and black Memento Ink.  I added a few clear gems for a little texture and voila!  I love how the black and white background creates such a crisp focal point for the card.

*Sending Smiles*

I keep trying to get these Turnabout stamps from Concord & 9th to work and I just keep messing them up.  I bought the alignment jig as well as the pieces of acetate with the images  printed on them to help line things up and still, every time I play, things aren't perfect.  Thankfully with this card it isn't glaringly obvious since I put the big gem in the centre of the flower.

This is a 4.25" square card, all the inks are Catherine Pooler.

*Rainbow Celebrate*

This past weekend, my friend Bonnie and I spent almost 12 hours at a crop with a group we found on Facebook.  It was a great day... good space, big tables for each person and a fun group of people.  They get together once a month and you can be guaranteed we'll go again.

For those that have followed my blog for a while, you know that I do NOT do well crafting away from home.  In about 10 hours of sitting at my table at the crop I made a total of 9 cards.  Not a bad day of creating, but certainly not as prolific as some people could be.  I have a tough time figuring out what I should pack.

This card uses the Gina K wreath builder template as well as one of the stamp sets, some Catherine Pooler inks and Stampin' Up! cardstock and die.  I also added some sparkle to the word celebrate with a clear glitter pen.

Please be patient with me as I get used to using my new light box... finding the right angles and stuff is tough, but I'm working on it!

*Thank You Card Series - 2*

Another in my Thank You Card Series from earlier in the month...  I used a Lawn Fawn stamp set in my Stampin' Up! Stamparatus, stamped in multiple colours of Catherine Pooler ink.  I love that with the Stamparatus I can move the hinged door to do multiple stamping like this.  You will also see I once again used my Perfect Layers Tools to create that perfect 1/16" border around the stamped layer.  I don't even know if you can buy these rulers any more, but they are my most used crafting tool (after paper trimmer, Scor Pal and ATG tape runner!)