Krafty Chicks challenge #819 - birthday

Good morning lovely friends; I hope you're having a great week. 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. This is such an easy challenge as we always need birthday cards so we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

It was my mother's birthday a few weeks ago and of course I wanted to make a special card for her; it's a fun fold card that I saw Gina K make called an interlocking fancy fold card but mine is super sized at 7" x 7" so my panels are slightly different to hers as I had to make mine bigger to suit the card size.  I hope you like it.  Apologies but there is photo overload today; skip through after the first few if you like :)

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

A look at the images:

Plus I decorated the inside:

Finally; this is the card from above to show the fold:

To create my card base I cut three separate panels and joined them together.  First I cut the back piece 7" x 7" and then I cut the two front pieces 6" x 7" and scored these at 1" and 3 1/2".  The 1" tabs were adhered to the back of the 7" square panel on each side using strong red liner tape.  I then folded and creased the other scored lines to create a backward Z on the left side and a Z fold on the right side.  I then die cut two stitched squares from white and the mat layers from black and adhered them together with double sided tape.  The squares were added to the card base with double sided tape (but only to the one side; the piece in the middle was left clear of adhesive).  Now that my card base was ready I started on my stamped and coloured elements.  I used a beautiful stamp, die and stencil bundle from Gina K Designs and used bright and cheerful yellow and green with a hint of black for my colours.  Once the images were stencilled and cut out I adhered them with foam squares to the front of the card.  I also stamped and stencilled two butterflies and added them in the white space on the side panels.  I stamped and die cut the sentiments (but I had to fussy cut the mother word) and again adhered them with foam squares - lots of dimension on this card.  I didn't add any embellishments as I felt there was lots going on already.  For the inside I cut a white panel 6 1/2" square and a slightly larger black mat layer and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I used a stencil and some light grey ink to add some soft detail to the centre of the panel and stamped my sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I had some left over stamped pieces so I added them to the top left and bottom right corners with liquid glue.  The panel was adhered 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 '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 want to say how much I appreciate your lovely comments, your support really does mean the world to me.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

*Gina K Designs

delicate flowers stamp, die & layering stencils bundle

create friendship stamp, die and stencils (for butterflies)

lovely ladies stamp (for mother word)

modern roses stamp & die (for sentiment)

on the inside: birthday (for inside sentiment)

ornamental fans stencil (for inside panel)

sentiment strips die set 

master layouts 3 (for stitched squares and mat layer dies)

ink pads - soft stone, jelly bean green, fresh asparagus, marigold, honey mustard

other supplies:

Limetree Craft - 12" x 12" smooth white card 300gsm

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop - May 26

Hello and welcome lovely friends. I hope my UK peeps enjoyed their Bank Holiday weekend and everyone else had a good normal weekend lol!  It's time 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 'lacy' and you can use real lace, lace stamps, dies etc.  I know this is going to be a popular theme and 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.

When I planned my tag I really thought I had a lace background stamp but do you think I could find it - in a word no!  So plan B was to use a decorative border die which to me looks a bit lacy.  It turned out super girly and really pretty.  I hope you like it.

Here is my tag:

A closer look at the details:

I tried to capture the embossed detail of one of the butterflies:

Plus I decorated the back:

I began by die cutting two white tags using a stitched tag die.  I also die cut a strip of the decorative border die from white card.  I ink blended with a cloud stencil onto both tags using sea glass ink.  I decided to use the beautiful butterflies as I thought they looked a little lacy on the edges too. They are part of an embossing folder, die & stencil bundle.  I die cut the butterflies, embossed them in the folder and then used the stencils to colour them with bright, girly colours.  Aren't they so pretty.  I worked out roughly where I wanted the butterflies to go on the front of my tag and stamped my sentiment in the gap between them using black ink.  I also stamped the to: and from: on the second tag (which will be the back) again with black ink. I adhered the border strip to the back of the front tag with liquid glue and then added the second tag to the back with double sided tape.  I added the two larger butterflies to the front of the tag with foam squares and finished off with some black sequins.  For the back I adhered the smaller butterfly with liquid glue.  I added some pink tulle through the hole of the tag and tied a bow around it using yellow twine.  

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

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut

Allsorts challenge - anything but square

Alphabet challenge - A is for the air

Aud Sentiments challenge - embossing wet/dry and/or flowers + sentiment (my butterflies are embossed)

Cut It Up challenge - something with wings

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - use die cuts

Dream Valley challenge - all creatures great and small

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - use pink, blue and/or yellow

Heart's Quest for Shaped Cards & Tags - ATG

Let's Craft & Create challenge - tag you're it

Moving Along With The Times challenge - 1 or more butterflies

Pearly Sparkles challenge - 1 or more butterflies

Simply Clean & Simple challenge - CAS optional theme things that fly

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - Mother's Day/feminine

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Stencil Fun challenge - must use a stencil optional see thru it! (I stencilled the clouds & butterflies)

Tag-along (& ATC's) challenge - add some pink

Triple B challenge - birds, blooms or butterflies optional mood board

Unicorn challenge - something new (my butterfly bundle is new)

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 #gorgeousgifttagsmay2026 and we will find your tags.
Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love,

tag supplies:

*Gina K Designs - delicate butterflies bundle 

Gina K Designs - tag trio die set (I used the largest tag die)

Gina K Designs - corner blossoms mini stamp (for front sentiment)

Gina K Designs - create-a-tag holiday mini stamp (for to: and from:)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - sea glass, marigold, sweet mango, petunia

Spellbinders - create a slimline border die set

Spellbinders - color essentials sequins - black smooth disc

MFT - mini cloud edges stencil

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

tulle and twine from my stash

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

AAA Birthday challenge #85 - May 26

Good morning lovely friends and welcome to May! Another month has bitten the dust as we roll on into 2026. It's a busy month for me as it's my father-in-law's birthday, my son's birthday and my brother-in-law's birthday (lots of masculine cards to make!!). 

As it's the first of the month it means we have a brand new challenge over at AAA Birthday challenge. This month's theme is 'anything birthday goes' and we are also celebrating our 7th birthday.  There will be randomly picked surprise prizes so get your cards into our linky for a chance to win.  Our guest designer this month is Gundi (Papierelle) so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.

As I will be making lots of masculine cards this month I thought I would start off with a girly card.  I recently bought this stamp & die set (which came as a gift in a crafting magazine) from a destash group on FB and I thought it was perfect for this month's challenge.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting a stitched rectangle from white card.  I stamped the cake stand directly onto the panel using a light blue ink pad.  I die cut the top and bottom tiers of the cake from patterned paper and lightly inked around the edges with a slightly darker ink.  The middle tier was cut from white card.  I stamped the banner with blue ink and the sentiment in the centre with black ink and used the die to cut it out.  I stamped two of the flower arrangements, one in pink and one in blue and again die cut them out.  I also stamped three candles one each in pink, blue and black and cut them out.   I added the tiers above the cake stand using foam squares.  I added the flowers and candles with liquid glue and the sentiment banner was placed across the cake stand with foam squares.  At this point I thought the white panel looked a little bare so decided to add some light grey shading around the cake; unfortunately I didn't check my brush and the last ink I had used was a darker grey so it came out much darker than I wanted.  To try and mask it a little I used a tiny dot stencil and some white pigment ink and went over the grey.  The white turned a little off white but I think it looks ok.  I wanted to draw in a little more colour so I found a coordinating plaid paper in the same paper pack as the one I used for the tiers and cut a panel 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and adhered it to the front of my card with double sided tape.  I added some scrap white card behind the stitched panel and added that over the plaid paper with double sided tape.  I finished off with some pearls.  For the inside I cut another white stitched rectangle, adding some of the plaid paper to the bottom and stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I stamped out another flower and 3 more candles and added the flower to the top right corner and the candles to the bottom left corner.  I then adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - make your mark (ink blended and stencilled around the cake)

Allsorts challenge - anything but square

Creative Knockouts challenge - 2 or more papers (the pink & blue tiers are pp plus the BG paper)

Creative Friday challenge - decorate the inside of your card

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - pink, blue and/or yellow

Farm Quest Grocery Game challenge - anything food or drink goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

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.

Love and hugs,

card ingredients:

stamp & die set - free gift with craft magazine

LOTV - Nitwits collection; bonnets & bowties 8x8 paper pack

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*Gina K Designs - master layouts 02 (for stitched rectangle)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - blue sky & medium carnation 

Gina K Designs - ink cube - white pigment ink

Gina K Designs - masks & fillers stencil (for small dots in background)

Gina K Designs - pearl mix: rainbow & pearl mix: gold, black & silver metallic

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

Krafty Chicks challenge #818 - ATG with a twist

Good morning lovely friends; I hope your week is going well so far. I'm sharing my card for the new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 5; and as it's an extra week this month we have an anything goes theme and I am your hostess. However we are mixing it up this year and adding an optional twist and the twist this time is 'colour an image'. Such a fun and easy theme and we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I was pushed for time this week so went fairly clean and simple.  I've used this fun image before and I love it; such a punny sentiment to go with it too.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting a stitched rectangle from white card and using some yellow ink and a circle stencil created my background (I wanted it to resemble cheese lol!).  I stamped the image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured it with my Promarkers.  I don't have any dies for this image so I fussy cut it out.  I stamped the matching sentiment onto white card using black ink and used a sentiment strips die to cut it out.  I die cut a vellum circle to ground the image and adhered them together with foam squares.  I also added foam square to the back of the vellum so that the circle would have some clearance from the background.  I placed it on the left side of the card and trimmed off any of the circle that was overhanging the rectangle.  I also adhered the sentiment with foam squares and finished off with some silver pearls.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and this was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  A fairly simple design but perfect for those difficult males!  For the inside I cut another stitched rectangle and stencilled the circles in the lower third.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and added another stamped, coloured and fussy cut image to the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

Allsorts challenge - anything but square

Cardz 4 Guyz challenge - CAS

Creative Crafting Uncles challenge - circles

Creative Friday challenge - decorate the inside of your card

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - CAS

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - pink, blue and/or yellow

Farm Quest Grocery Game challenge - food and/or drink

Girlz Makes Guyz Cardz challenge - food or drink

Girlz Creative Splash it with Colour challenge - yellow and/or pink

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge - h is for happy birthday

Stencil Fun challenge - must use a stencil optional twist rainbow colours

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - make someone smile

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'ATG with a twist of colour an image' 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:

Sweet Stamp Shop - cheesy card stamp (store closed many years ago)

Promarkers

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card (store now closed)

MFT - basic shapes: circles stencil 

MFT - you wow me stamp (for inside sentiment)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*Gina K Designs - master layouts 02 (for stitched rectangle)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 05 (for circle die)

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments die

Gina K Designs - sweet corn ink pad

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

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Krafty Chicks challenge #817 - Masculine

Good morning lovely friends; I hope your week is going well so far. I'm sharing my card for the 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. We know it's not everyone's favourite challenge, but we do have to make some masculine cards sometime and this challenge will hopefully help you get them done. We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

This challenge was perfect timing for me as it was my husband's birthday last week so I could get his card done and tick off my challenge too!!  If you think this card looks sort of familiar it's because I shared a card earlier in the week that I made using the scraps leftover from this card, so you are not going mad lol!  This one is the original, stepped up and enhanced version of that simple card and it's 5 1/2" x 7 1/2".  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

My husband loves bright colours and is more daring with his clothes than I am (I'm usually in black or grey lol!) so I decided to make a rainbow background using fun patterned papers.  I used a die from Spellbinders to cut all the papers and adhered them to a white panel cut to 5" x 7",  leaving a tiny gap so the white would peek through, using liquid glue.  I added a black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  I stamped the image onto alcohol marker friendly card; the image originally didn't have much hair and my husband has lots of hair so I used my memento marker to draw in some hair on the top, and I was quite chuffed with how it looked.  I used my Promarkers to colour the image and fussy cut him out as I don't have the dies.  I used my computer & printer to create the top, personalised sentiment and cut it out using a die from ML20 and added a black mat layer.  I stamped the fun sentiment at the bottom with black ink (we are both 60 next year so we're always teasing each other how old we are!).  I lightly ink blended some sea glass ink in the middle of the panel and added the image with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind the smaller panel and adhered it to the background with double sided tape.  I created my card base by cutting a white sheet to 11" x 7 1/2" and scoring on the long side at 5 1/2".  I then adhered the panel onto the card base with double sided tape.  I didn't add any embellishments as my hubby is not a fan, plus the background was quite busy as it was.  For the inside I cut another white panel 5" x 7" and added a black mat layer.  I used tiny pieces of the patterned paper to create a border at the bottom of the panel and added a thin strip of black card above with liquid glue.  I stamped, coloured and fussy cut another image and added it in the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I found a fun sentiment that I thought was perfect for us and stamped that in the centre with black ink.  I adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

AAA Colourful challenge - colour board #27

As You Like It challenge - brights or pastels (I think bright colours are so happy especially for birthday cards)

Colourful Options challenge - yellow or rainbow (I went with rainbow)

Craft Rocket challenge - layer it up

Creative Knockouts challenge - 2 or more pattern papers

HQCOL challenge - BEWAS (birthday)

Love Those Pretty Papers challenge - use pattern paper optional spring flowers

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge - H is for happy birthday

The Dream Factory challenge - code 3 (use at least 3 colours)

The Sisterhood of Crafters - make someone smile optional mood board

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:

MFT - old friends stamp

Promarkers

MFT - sassy pants b-day greetings 3 stamp (for inside sentiment)

Spellbinders - color block slices die set

Echo park - summer dots & stripes 6x6 paper pad

Echo park - metropolitan dots & stripes 6x6 paper pad

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*Gina K Designs - ML 20 (for rectangle die)

Gina K Designs - sea glass ink pad

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Earth Day 2026 IG Hop

Happy Earth Day friends and welcome to the 2026 Earth Day IG card hop! We’re so excited to have you join us as we celebrate creativity and our beautiful planet. Today, each stop along the hop is sharing handmade cards inspired by keeping the Earth green - think nature, recycling, sustainability, and all things eco-friendly!  As you hop along, we hope you feel inspired to create with purpose and spread a little love for our environment.  Be sure to visit every stop, leave some love, and enjoy the journey!  Let’s celebrate Earth Day together - one card at a time! 

I am a big believer in recycling and in our area we recycle an amazing 70% of our household waste. The benefits of recycling includes: Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators, Conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals, Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials, Saves energy, Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change, Helps sustain the environment for future generations, Helps fight climate change, which in my book is a win-win! 

For my card today I used an amazing earth die, did some ink blending and I created my sentiment after being inspired by some art on Pinterest.  It turned out exactly as I planned and I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside (albeit very simply):

I began by ink blending onto white card using two shades of green ink, I then die cut the earth die from this.  I also ink blended another piece of white card using two shades of blue ink, which will be my oceans.  I used two nesting circle dies to create a frame from black card and also used the larger circle to die cut my earth and ocean background.  I adhered all the layers with liquid glue.  I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4".  For the stamped portion of the sentiment I took a stamp that was much longer and did some stamp surgery to cut apart the 'there's no' portion and curved it slightly in my Misti to match the curve of the earth and stamped it with black ink.  I die cut the 'planet' letters from black card and the B from red card, along with a small heart.  I adhered the earth with foam squares in the centre and then added the letters below with liquid glue.  I added the red heart onto the earth with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  I loved the clean, crisp look and felt I didn't need to add any embellishments. For the inside I cut another white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and blended some green ink along the bottom and blue ink along the top.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and added a tiny red heart in the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts/stencils

Cardz 4 Guyz challenge - clean and simple

Creative Crafting Uncles challenge - circle(s)

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - clean and simple

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - clean and simple

NBUS challenge - use new or neglected stuff (my world die is new to me)

Simply Clean & Simple challenge - CAS optional baskets

The Dream Factory challenge - code 3 (use at least 3 colours)

Unicorn challenge - use dies

Word Power challenge - make the sentiment the focus of your card

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #earthday2026ighop to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

I really appreciate you stopping by today.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Hero Arts - world window fancy die

Waffle Flower - nesting circle dies

MFT - little letters die set

MFT - make a wish stamp

MFT - tag builder blueprints 6 (for hearts)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card 

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*Gina K Designs - never lose hope mini stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - blue denim, in the navy, grass green, fresh asparagus

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x