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

ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop - April 26

Hello friends, I hope you're doing great and you've had a great start to your week. I'm sharing my creations for this month's ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop. We challenge you to use leftover die cuts, sentiments and card stock to create Artist Trading Cards (ATC's). You can send them in happy mail, save them on a ring to highlight your favorite creations, swap them with friends or add sweet notes to a lunchbox. Join us if you like; the only rules are to use scraps and create cards that are 2.5” x 3.5” in size. We share our little snippets of happiness on the third Tuesday of the month.

This month I am continuing my alphabet series of ATC's with D, E & F.  I think it will be fun each month finding images/dies for each letter (although I did struggle with F this month and breathed a sigh of relief when I found the fairy stamp lol!).  I'm excited to see them all at the end and I hope you are going to stick around to see them all too.  I used mostly older, retired products but I still love them so why not use them. I hope you like them.

Here are my three ATC's:

Here's a closer look at 'D':

Here's 'E':

and here's 'F':

The backs are simply decorated with the ATC info stamp and some blending:

Once again I used my leftover ink blending scrap paper for my backgrounds as they turn out really interesting and not something I would create myself.  I did add some stamping and ink blending over them to tie them into the image a little more and I think they turned out great.  I stamped the dog, elephant and fairy images and coloured them with Promarkers.  I had the dies for the dog and elephant but had to fussy cut the fairy.  I die cut the three frames (the same die set that I used last month) from gold mirror card and adhered them to the backgrounds with liquid glue.  I die cut the letters 3 times in each colour and stacked them with liquid glue; these were then adhered to the top left corner with liquid glue.  I added each of the images with foam squares.  For the backs of the ATC's I simply ink blended the matching colours around the edges and stamped one the ATC info stamps (that I won a few months ago) in black ink.

I would like to enter my ATC's into the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts/stencils

Alphabet challenge - z is for zoology (any animal)

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist furry friends

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Dream Valley challenge - things with wings (my fairy ATC)

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - use paper and/or scissors (I fussy cut the fairy)

Tag-along (& ATC's) challenge - blossoms, butterflies & birds or ATG (I went ATG this time)

Try It On Tuesday challenge - make your own background 

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #ATCscrapmakes2026 or #ATCscrapmakesApril26 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,

ATC supplies:

MFT - puppy kisses stamp & die (for dog)

MFT - distressed patterns stamp

MFT - little letters die set

MFT - new best friend stamp (for paw stamp)

W Plus 9 - unforgettable stamp & die (for elephant)

Tonic Studios - I love you fairy much stamp (for fairy)

Hunkydory - Moonstone dies - scalloped edged picture frames

ATC silicone stamp won in a challenge

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Promarkers

Tsukineko - silver encore ultimate metallic ink pad (to stamp the stars)

coloured card and mirror card from scraps bin

*Gina K Designs - ink pads - dark chocolate, warm cocoa, slate, stormy sky, dark carnation

*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

Patterned Paper Party IG Hop - April 26

Hello friends, welcome back to my little blog. I'm here today to share my card for this month's Patterned Paper Party Instagram Hop. Do you love patterned paper? Do you have a huge stash that needs using? Well so do we and it's time to get it used! We will be hopping on the 20th of each month to share our ideas. We will definitely be creating cards, but maybe sometimes tags, ATCs, gift bags/boxes, mini albums and scrapbook pages too. We want our patterned paper to be used.

The theme is always 'anything goes' but each month we will have an optional twist that can be used if you like; this month the twist is 'Easter, which I know was a little while ago, but you can get ahead for next year if you follow the twist, so grab your patterned papers and join in the fun.  I needed a last minute Easter card for my in-laws so I'm sharing that today plus I have a bonus birthday card which I made with some leftover paper after making my hubby's birthday card (I'll be sharing that on Thursday).  I hope you like them.

Firstly here is the Easter card:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

Here is the bonus birthday card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

For the Easter card I stamped the floral cross image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured it with Promarkers, adding a few white gelly roll pen highlights.  I cut it out with a stitched rectangle and matted it onto some yellowy/peach patterned paper. I then cut a piece of wood grain paper to cover the front of my card base (4 1/14" x 5 1/2") and adhered it with double sided tape. I added some scrap white card behind the smaller panel and added that to the background with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and used a sentiments strip die to cut it out before adhering it to the centre of the image with foam squares.  I finished off with some gold pearls.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added a strip of the wood grain paper to the bottom with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

For the birthday card I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" (but I will cut it down later) and used some leftover strips of patterned paper to create my background which I adhered with liquid glue.  Once dry I used a stitched rectangle die to cut it out and added a black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and used a stitched circle die to cut it out.  I added the sentiment to the lower left side of the panel with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel before adhering it to the card base with double sided tape.  I finished off with some black pearls around the sentiment.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4 " x 5 1/4" and added a strip of pink card to the bottom with double sided tape.  I stamped two presents onto the pink strip with black ink and added some details with a white gelly roll pen.  I then stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I added a black mat layer before adhering the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

Two very different cards but both using up some of my vast collection of patterned paper.  Do you have a favourite?  I like them both; the Easter card is elegant and beautiful and the birthday card is just bright and fun.  

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

Easter card:

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut optional twist pastels

Aud Sentiments challenge - watercolour and/or spring + sentiment

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional inspiration photo

Crafty Gals Corner challenge - ATG optional spring

Creative Inspirations challenge - Easter/spring

Creative Moments challenge - gone but not forgotten (Studio Katia is no more)

Girlz Rebel challenge - flowers

Moving Along With The Times challenge - anything spring

Pick 3 challenge - rustic (paper), feminine, pastels

Stamping Sensations challenge - inspired by nature

The Four Seasons challenge - anything spring optional mood board

We Love Stamping challenge - spring 

Birthday card:

AAA Colourful challenge - colour board #27

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils

As You Like It challenge - brights or pastels (I like both but I am drawn more to bright colours; they make me happy)

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

Creative Knockouts challenge - 2 or more papers

The Dream Factory challenge - use at least 3 colours (I used all the colours of the rainbow)

Unicorn challenge - use dies

We hope you will be inspired by our Patterned Paper Party IG Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous creations along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #patternedpaperpartyhopapril2026 and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

Easter card supplies:

Studio Katia - floral cross stamp

Promarkers

Lawn Fawn - 6x6 petite paper pack 'spiffy speckles'

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*Gina K Designs - friendly wishes mini stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies

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

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

birthday card supplies:

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)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

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

Gina K Designs - master layouts 03 (for stitched circle)

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

Gina K Designs - sketched wreath builder stamp (for outside sentiment)

*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