Krafty Chicks challenge #789 - Christmas

Good morning lovely friends, I appreciate you stopping by and I hope you're all doing ok. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 2; as always the theme is 'Christmas' and I am your hostess. Scarily Christmas is not that far away now so if you haven't started your cards yet this is the perfect opportunity to begin.  Obviously if you have joined in with us since January then it's another card to add to the pile, which really takes the stress off. We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I just received the latest kit from Gina K Designs yesterday so it was the perfect excuse to dig out my new goodies.  I made a US A6 sized card (4 1/2" x 6 1/4") and went for a soft lilac colour scheme and lots of bling.  I hope you like it.  

I'm sorry about the photos today; I must have taken 20 photos and they were all awful, my card is so soft and pretty in real life but the photos don't really show it off to it's full potential.  I think I will have to try and find my photo light box and see if that makes a difference!

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

The free gift in the kit was a 3D embossing folder/stencil/die bundle so I used this today.  I began by stencilling the background with a light and medium lilac ink and used the matching die to cut out the ornament.  I probably could have gone a little darker but I wanted it soft and light.  I then used the coordinating 3D embossing folder to emboss the pattern, which looks amazing in real life.  I cut a white panel with a stitched rectangle and also the mat layer from gold mirri card.  I stamped the snowy background onto the white panel using the darker lilac ink.  I die cut the ornament top and 'string' from the gold card.  I adhered the panels together with double sided tape, added the string with liquid glue and the ornament was added over top with foam squares.  I stamped and gold heat embossed the sentiment and cut it out with the coordinating die before adding it above the ornament with foam squares.  I used the lots of dots die and cut out loads of gold dots which I added to the ornament with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel and then this was adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white stitched panel and gold mat layer and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I had some of the ornament background and snowy background left over so added one to the top and one to the bottom of the panel with liquid glue.  Finally I stamped the sentiment in the darker lilac ink before adding the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

* to be updated * 

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'Christmas' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori.

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - a little something card kit (currently only available as a kit but everything will be available individually at the end of the month)

Gina K Designs - snowy background stamp

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 17 (for stitched and plain rectangle)

Gina K Designs - O Christmas tree stamp & die set (for sentiments)

Gina K Designs - lots of dots die set (for gold dots)

Gina K Designs - layering ink pads - light lilac & medium lilac

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Versamark - watermark ink pad

Cosmic Shimmer - detail bright gold embossing powder

gold mirri card from stash

Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop - October 25

Hello friends, I hope you're doing ok and that you've had a lovely day so far. It's time for a new theme for the Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop, which takes place on the 5th of each month. You always have the option to go for anything goes but the extra prompt this month is 'Halloween', which is great theme and with so many images to choose from such as ghosts, spiders, witches, or even cute trick or treaters, the world is your oyster! I can't wait to see what the rest of my fellow hoppers have made. I hope you can pop over to Instagram and join us. 

I don't make many Halloween things as a rule but as I had bought a new stamp I would have been rude not to use it lol!  I went for a bright lime green and black colour combo and I have to say I love how it turned out.  I hope you like it too. 

Here is my tag:

A closer look at the details:

I decorated the backs too:

I began by die cutting two tags from white card.  I used a lime green ink pad to ink blend over the front of one of them and I went with a heavier hand around the edge for some contrast.  I used my new background stamp and stamped it over the ink blending with black ink.  I also added some black ink around the edge of the tag.  I die cut a spider web from black card and adhered it to the top left corner of the tag with liquid glue.  I die cut a ghost from white card 4 times and adhered them together with liquid glue; I added some black card behind his eyes and mouth also with liquid glue.  I adhered the ghost to the tag with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment onto black card with watermark ink and white heat embossed it before cutting it out with a sentiment strips die.  I added that above the ghost with foam squares.  For the back of this tag I found some lime green paper almost the same colour as my ink blending and adhered that with liquid glue.  I had a little piece of the spider web die cut left over from the front so added that to the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I stamped a sentiment at the very bottom of the tag with black ink.  For the second tag I kept it really simple; I added a piece of striped paper to the front of the tag and adhered another spider web in the right bottom corner with liquid glue and for the back of the tag I simply covered it with black card to continue the spooky vibe.  I tied both the tags together with lime green spotty ribbon and then added some black twine which I tied into a bow for some extra decoration.  

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

AAA Colourful challenge - colour board #20 (I used lime green & black)

Craft Rocket challenge - autumn/Halloween

Crafty Calendar challenge - Halloween

Creative Inspirations challenge - autumn/something spooky

Cut It Up challenge - use more than one die (tag, web, ghost, sentiment strip die)

Double D challenge - trick or treat, smell my feet

Heart's Quest for Shaped Cards & Tags challenge - ATG on a shaped card or tag

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - spooky fun

Little Red Wagon challenge - H is for holidays (I chose Halloween)

Stamping Sensations challenge - autumn

Tag-along (+ ATC's) challenge - anything autumn

The Four Seasons challenge - ATG fall optional mood board

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional cute or creepy

Tic Tac Toe challenge - top row across: die cut/twine/embossing

We Love Stamping challenge - anything autumn

We hope you will be inspired by our Gorgeous Gift Tags Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous tags along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #gorgeousgifttagsOct2025 and we will find your tags.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

tag supplies:

Waffle Flower - nesting tag dies

Creative Expressions - ghostly manor rubber stamp

Gina K Designs - key lime ink pad

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments dies

Spellbinders - harvest magic die set (for ghost)

Marianne Design - spiderweb die

MFT - fab-boo-lous friends stamp (for sentiment)

MFT - black & white stripes 6x6 paper pack

WOW! - opaque bright white super fine embossing powder

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Limetree Crafts - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Versamark - watermark ink pad

lime paper from stash

Krafty Chicks challenge #788 - Birthday

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 1; as always the theme is 'birthday' and Leanne is our hostess. It can't get any easier than this week's challenge so we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

My mother asked me to make a 75th birthday card for her friend and this is the card I'm sharing today.  I actually ended up making 3 cards for the same lady as her friends also asked me to make cards for them, but they'll be shared another day.  I always stress when I have to make multiple cards for the same person as I don't want them to be too similar but it got done lol!   The card size is 7" x 7" as it was for a special occasion and I am really happy with how it turned out.  I hope you like it too (despite my terrible photos).

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began making my card base by cutting one panel 7" x 7" and one panel 7" x 8"; I scored at 1" on the 8" side and used that as a hinge to join my panels together with super strong red liner tape.  I cut a white panel 6 1/2" square and embossed it with a gorgeous leafy EF (I did have to use my larger electronic die cutting machine and move the panel and emboss the other edge as the folder wasn't quite large enough but it's such a busy pattern I don't think it's that noticeable.  I cut a mat layer from gold mirri card and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I die cut the gorgeous butterflies from glitter card and the bodies from the gold mirri card and assembled them with liquid glue.  I also die cut the large sentiment from glitter card and the shadow from gold and the 75 was cut from gold too.  Whilst I had the die cutting machine out I also cut some small gold circles to use as embellishments.  Once I decided on my layout I adhered the butterflies and large sentiment with foam squares and the 75 and gold circles with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel for stability and dimension before adhering it to the card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel 6 1/2" square and again matted it onto a gold layer with double sided tape.  I embossed another piece of white card and cut it into two strips for the top and bottom of the panel.  I die cut one more large butterfly and adhered that to the bottom right corner with liquid glue and finally stamped the sentiment in black ink in the bottom left corner as I thought it balanced the large butterfly really well and left more room for my mother to write her message.  It is so sparkly in real life and so pretty.  

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

As You Like It challenge - favourite: square or not (I mostly make rectangle cards but for special occasions I make larger 7x7 cards like this one)

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - anything embossing goes optional twist trees/leaves

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line B: white on white, free, scored or textured details

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG with a featured animal

Creative Crafting Uncles - males go feminine

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter 

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'birthday' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori. 

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Craft Addiction UK - wings of elegance die set

Spellbinders - colorful expressions sentiment dies - on sale at present!

Spellbinders - simply perfect alphabet dies (for the numbers)

Spellbinders - branching out embossing folder

Tonic Studios - sugar crystal glitter card

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm simply the best smooth white 12x12 card

Gina K Designs - lots of dots die set (for circle embellishments)

Gina K Designs - big birthday stamp (for inside sentiment)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

gold mirri card from my stash

Cards for All Seasons IG Hop Week 20 - anything pumpkin!

Hello again friends; I'm bombarding you with posts today - hopefully you don't mind!!  I'm back to share my card for this week's Cards for All Seasons IG hop organised by my lovely friend Kelly. We are now on Week 20 and our theme is 'anything pumpkin'. Such a fun theme this week and even if pumpkins are not your thing you could just use lots of orange instead.  There are going to be so many awesome creations along the hop this week and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

I was a bit short on time this week so went clean and simple for my layout and used ephemera and patterned paper for a quick card.  I really like how it turned out though and I hope you do too!

Here is my card:

A closer look at the pumpkins:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and mat it onto an orange layer cut to 4" x 5 1/4".  I cut a piece of the patterned paper 1 3/8" x 5 1/8" and adhered it to the right side of the white panel with double sided tape.  I know you can only just see it but I did add a thin strip of orange card along the edge of the paper with liquid glue.  I die cut the pumpkins from the ephemera sheet using the coordinating die, added foam squares and arranged them down the card along the join where the white card and paper meet.  I didn't have time to root around my stash for the perfect sentiment so made my own and printed it out.  I die cut the sentiment with a sentiment strips die and added it over the pumpkins with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel and adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  No embellishments this time as I liked the CAS design as it was.  For the inside I thought I would create a punny sentiment (as I'm hilarious in my own mind lol!) and thought this one was really fun.  I again used the computer and printed it out and used my master layouts to cut out the panel along with a panel from orange card.  I adhered the panels together with double sided tape.  I used the left over paper along the bottom of the panel and again added a thin strip of orange card along the edge.  I had two pumpkins left over too so added them in the left lower corner with liquid glue.  The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  A really fun card which took hardly any time to make - so win-win!  

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

Cardz 4 Guyz challenge - autumn/fall

CAS on Friday challenge - sketch

Color Throwdown challenge - green, red and orange

Crafty Gals Corner challenge - fall___ colours and pumpkins

Creative Inspirations challenge - autumn/something spooky

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG optional twist autumn/fall colours

Dream Valley challenge - autumn colours

Everybody Art challenge - clean and simple

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - spooky fun (inspired by the pumpkins)

Make My Monday challenge - autumnal festival/autumnal fall

Papercraft challenges - amazing autumn

Pearly Sparkles challenge - pumpkins and/or autumn leaves 

PINspirational challenge - pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere optional inspiration photo

The Four Seasons challenge - ATG fall optional mood board

Tic Tac Toe challenge - orange, plaid, pumpkin

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #cfascardhop2025 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

I'll be back tomorrow with my card for the Krafty Chicks challenge so I hope you will pop back and check it out. Until then thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - autumn splendor ephemera sheets & coordinating die plate

Gina K Designs - autumn splendor 6x6 patterned paper pack

Gina K Designs - master layouts 01 die set

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments dies

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

orange card from my stash

The Male Room challenge - GDT card

Hello again friends; I'm here again this morning to share my card as GDT for The Male Room challenge.  I was lucky enough to win one of their recent challenges and was honoured to be asked to be a guest designer for them.  The challenge this month is 'for a baby boy' which was perfect for me as one of my son's friends has just welcomed a new baby boy. 

I've seen lots of baby dresser shaped cards on Pinterest so was inspired to give one a go. I love making baby cards, especially shaped ones, but sadly don't seem to need them very often these days.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I made a 5" x 7" top folding card but cutting 1 panel 5" x 7" and one panel 5" x 8" and scoring at 1" on the 8" side.  I then adhered them together with strong red liner tape.  I cut 5 'drawers' from white card using a flag die and cut off the flag end and also cut a thinner 'top' for my dresser from white card.  To make the decorative detail on the bottom of the dresser I used a spellbinders scalloped die.  I added the top and drawers with foam squares.  I recently bought a super cute baby die set so of course I had to use it; I die cut two outfits, a teddy bear, a duck and a baby rattle using scraps of blue, yellow and kraft card.  I added some details with Promarkers, a white gel pen and black memento pen and adhered all the pieces together with liquid glue.  I also die cut the hello baby words, letters to spell out Isaac and a few white hearts.  I arranged the die cuts as I wanted and added them with liquid glue.  I finished off with some silver pearl embellishments for the drawer handles.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 1/2" x 5 1/4" and add a blue mat layer with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with blue ink and added a few more die cuts to match the front.  The panel was adhered with double sided tape. A really sweet card and even though it's not perfect, it is handmade after all, I love it and I hope Isaac's parents do too.  

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

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Girlz Creative Splash It With Colour challenge - blue

Moving Along With The Times challenge - sentiment as focus

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist cute or creepy

Try It On Tuesday challenge - animals: real or imaginary

Please pop over to The Male Room challenge blog for all the details/rules and to see the amazing creations from the design team.  I would like to thank Helen and the team for having me as a guest this month.  I hope you will find the time to enter the challenge and cannot wait to see all your projects in the linky.  

Thanks for stopping by and see you all soon.  

Love and hugs, 

card supplies:

Scrapbook.com - welcome baby die set

MFT - little letters die set - store now closed

Spellbinders - scalloped labels one die set - retired

Clearly Besotted - hello and baby word dies - retired

MFT - fishtail flag stax dies (for drawers) - store now closed

Kraftin' Kimmie - baby love stamps (for inside sentiment) - ? retired

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Gina K Designs - blue sky ink pad

Gina K Designs - gold, black and silver metallic pearl mix

coloured card from stash

AAA Birthday challenge #74 - Ombre

Hello again friends and welcome to October. I hope last month was good to you and you're ready to start a brand new month.  I'm here today to share my card for this month's AAA Birthday challenge and this month our theme is 'ombre' which is such a fun challenge and can be achieved in so many different ways.  I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone interprets the theme this month.  Our guest designer this month is the lovely Karen so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.

I was originally going to do an ink blended ombre background but changed my mind and decided to make an ombre birthday cake.  I love the finished card so much and it would look awesome in all the colours of the rainbow.  I hope you like it too.  

Here is my card:

A closer look at the cake:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the cake using a border stamp using light to dark purple ink pads.  I then trimmed it down to 2" x 2 1/2" and splattered it with white gouache.  I used a scalloped border die to create the cake stand and hand cut the base using scissors (it's a very dark purple but for some reason looks navy in my photos!).  I cut a white scalloped panel and using some of the darker purple ink I splattered the background; once dry I layered this onto a pale purple panel cut to 4" x 5 1/4" with double sided tape.  I added the cake and stand with foam squares and then stamped my sentiment with the palest purple ink I had used for the cake.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and then adhered this to my card base with double sided tape.  I finished off with some pearls and heart crystals.  For the inside I cut another white scalloped panel and purple layer and adhered them together with double sided tape.  To continue the cake theme I stamped and die cut two candles and added them to the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with one of the darker purple ink pads.  The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

Creative Crafting Uncles challenge - males go feminine

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - happy birthday

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - let them eat cake

Farm Quest Grocery Game challenge - anything food goes

Sweet Stampin' challenge - feature a sentiment

The Dream Factory challenge - ATG - use mainly purple (inspiration movie)

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 supplies:

Uniko Stamps - background builders: classic stamp (for cake layers)

Clearly Besotted - scalloped edges die collection (for cake stand) - retired

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 4 die set (for scalloped rectangle)

Gina K Designs - sketched flowers stamp (for outside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - birthday cheer stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - birthday bash stamp & die set (for candles)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - lovely lavender, medium lilac, wild lilac

Gina K Designs - light orchid ink cube

Little Things From Lucy's Cards - crystal collection hyacinth - store now closed

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for splatters)

purple card from stash

Krafty Chicks challenge #787 - Masculine

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 4; as always the theme is 'masculine' and Lori is our hostess (although she is currently taking a short break). I know masculine makes can be difficult but we always need them so why not join our challenge and get ahead. We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I started with a totally different vision of what my card was going to be - does this ever happen to you?  I stamped the notepaper background and was looking through my stash for my notebook edge die when I came across these fun stamps from Clearly Besotted and as I don't think I've ever used them, I changed my original idea and used these instead.  My card is 5" x 7" in size.  I love how it turned out and I hope you do too!

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the note paper background onto white card using a light blue ink pad.  I cut it out using a stitched rectangle.  I stamped the images onto white card; the phone was originally grey but I thought I looked a little drab so stamped over it with the same light blue ink that I used for the background which gave it more a teal colour.  I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I also stamped the emojis but there wasn't a die for those (luckily I found a die from Spellbinders that cut the exact circle that I needed even though it was supposed to cut some dancing legs lol!).  I cut a stitched blue panel and black mat panel from a slightly larger die set and adhered them together with liquid glue.  The note paper background was adhered with double sided tape at a wonky angle for a bit of interest.  I added the images with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and then adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  At the last moment I decided to stamp the two extra sentiments with black ink, which was a little scary but thankfully it turned out ok. For the inside I cut a white stitched panel and black mat layer and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I had a small piece of the background left so I adhered that to the bottom of the white panel with liquid glue, adding a small strip of the blue card above it.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and finished with another two emojis.  A fun card that I think any male would appreciate.  

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

Color Dare challenge - #670 use at least 3 colours (I used 2 different blues and yellow)

Colorful Options challenge - ATG

Craft Rocket challenge - dots and/or stripes

Double D challenge - make your own background (I used a stamp to make my note paper BG)

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - happy birthday

The Neglected Stuff challenge - must use at least one old neglected product (my stamp set has never been used and is at least 10 years old!)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Sweet Stampin' challenge - use die cuts

The Male Room challenge - create your own background (I used a stamp to make my note paper BG)

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - birthdays

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'masculine' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori.

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Clearly Besotted - text me stamp & die set - retired

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 8 (for larger panels)

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 17 (for smaller stitched panel)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - blue sky and wild dandelion

MFT - writing tablet background stamp

Spellbinders - I dance die set (for circle to cut my emojis) - retired

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Limetree Crafts - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

blue card from my stash