AAA Birthday challenge #69 - winter birthday

Hello again friends; I'm sharing my card (although I'm almost a week late) for this month's AAA Birthday challenge.  I have been very sick since Christmas, as has most of the family, and I'm only now starting to feel better.  My main priority for the last week has been keeping the animals alive, everything else has gone on the back burner lol!  I'm still not running at 100% but hopefully things will start to get back to a normal routine now.   As always you must create a birthday themed project and this month it's all about 'winter birthdays'.  Our guest designer this month is the lovely Colien so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.

I decided to create a clean and simple winter birthday card featuring an adorable penguin image from Gina K Designs.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting my white panel to 4" x 5 1/4" and lightly ink blended some sea glass ink into the bottom left corner and using the same ink I stamped some tiny snowflakes randomly.  I stamped the cute image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured him with Promarkers and used the matching die to cut him out.  I also stamped and coloured two mugs from the same set, and also die cut them out.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink onto a piece of white card and die cut it out with a sentiment strip die.  I added the sentiment with liquid glue at the bottom of the panel and after adding foam squares to the penguin, added him above as if he was standing on the sentiment.  I also added foam squares to the mug and placed it so that it looked like the penguin was holding it.  The panel was added to my card base with foam tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and ink blended along the bottom and again stamped some snowflakes.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre using black ink and added the second mug to the bottom left with liquid glue.  The panel was added to the case base with double sided tape.  A really cute card and perfect for the icy, cold weather we're currently experiencing.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Addicted to CAS challenge - brrr

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge - birthdays

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Crafty Calendar challenge - add a die cut (entry 2)

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Daisy Chain challenge - no design paper

Double D challenge - 9th birthday/anniversary challenge

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - always birthday

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or use the sketch

Make My Monday challenge - your fave challenge of 2024 - #240 a CAS winter card

Simply Clean and Simple challenge - anything CAS goes option something new

Stamping Sensations challenge - ATG optional hand coloured image (entry 2)

The Male Room challenge - clean and simple (entry 2)

Triple B challenge - birds, blooms or butterflies

We Love Stamping challenge - anything but square (entry 2) 

The Design Team have created amazing cards as always so please pop over to the blog and check them out and perhaps leave them some love on their personal blogs.   

I hope you will be able to join in with the challenge this month but don't forget it has to be birthday themed.  I can't wait to see your creations in the linky.

Have a great day. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Gina K Designs - playful penguins stamp & die

Gina K Designs - hygge time (for both sentiments)

Gina K Designs - Christmas cheer stamp set (for snowflake)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies 

Gina K Designs - sea glass ink pad

Promarkers

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but this 250gsm smooth white card is an alternative in stock here)

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

AAA Cards challenge - guest designer

Good morning lovely friends.  Well can you believe we are in 2025; the time is just whizzing by isn't it?  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations.  We had a quiet one as always, but that's just the way we like it.  

I'm here today to share a card I made for the new AAA Cards challenge.  I won a challenge back in October last year and was invited to be a guest designer, which I immediately accepted.  Their challenges are always 'anything CAS goes' but there is an optional theme, which this time is 'flies in the air'.  

I had a dig through my stash and found this kite themed stamp & die set which I thought would be perfect for this challenge, although you could have birds, planes, balloons, spaceships etc.  This stamp/die combo is retired now but I don't think I've ever used it.  I am determined this year to try and not spend so much on new stuff when there are so many things in my stash that I haven't touched. Not sure how achievable this will be though.  Do you have any crafty resolutions this year?

Here is my card:

A close look at the kite:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping 2 kites onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured them with Promarkers; I also added some white highlights (I thought the dotty one was a bit busy so kept that one for the inside of my card).  I took a white panel and cut it to 4" x 5 1/4" and using my cloud stencil created a background for my kite.  I thought it was too much (as don't forget it's supposed to be a CAS challenge so cut down to 3 7/8" x 3" and adhered it onto another white panel cut to 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" with double side tape.  I did edge the cloud panel with 2 black card strips which were cut to 3 7/8' x 1/8" and these were added with liquid glue.  I stamped the string of the kite with black ink and added the kite over the end with foam squares.  I also cut 3 of the bows from white card and added them along the string with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the left lower section of the cloud panel using black ink.  The panel was then added to the card base with foam tape.  For the inside I used the same size white panel and added a strip of the cloud background to the bottom with double sided tape and another strip of black card above it with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and added the dotty kite overlapping the cloud panel with liquid glue.  The panel was added to the card base with double sided tape.  I think this card would be perfect for a new job or someone off on a new adventure. 

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Crafty Calendar challenge - add a die cut

Creative Inspirations challenge - something old or something new (my stamp/die are very old)

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - ATG

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or use the sketch

Just Us Girls challenge - die week - ATG

Scrapping4Fun challenge - ATG

Stamping Sensations challenge - ATG option hand coloured image 

The Male Room challenge - clean and simple

We Love Stamping challenge - anything but square

I can't wait to see what you create for this challenge; there are lots of fun options for this one.  I would like to thank Maaike and the Team at AAA Cards challenge for the opportunity to be a guest designer; please go and check out their amazing creations and leave them some love. 

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate you taking the time to visit me and leave me comments.  I look forward to sharing my creations with you again this year. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Clearly Besotted - sky's the limit stamp & die set, sky's the limit addition stamp set (retired)

MFT - mini cloud edges stencil (retired)

Promarkers

Gina K Designs - sea glass ink pad

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but they have 240gsm in stock here)

Hobbycraft - A4 black card

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen