Krafty Chicks challenge #816 - CAS

Good morning lovely friends, I hope you're having a good week so far. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 3; and as always the theme is 'CAS (clean and simple)' and Diane is our hostess. Now we know that CAS is subjective but generally it's lots of white/empty space, no embellishments (or very few) and an uncluttered design. It can be a difficult design to pull off but we hope you will take on the challenge and come over and join in the fun with us.

I'm trying to use stamps or dies that I've had in my stash for years and never used.  It's sad that I have so many unloved products that, although are now retired (or the stores have closed), are still usable and I'm determined to show them some love.  I know we all love new stuff to play with (I definitely do) but it's nice to dust off the old stuff too.  My card is almost a SIP card (I did use the coordinating dies to cut out the flowers) but apart from that it's just stamps, ink and paper (well white card).  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

When I made my CASE IT card on the weekend I had the panel left over that I cut the arch from; I had deliberately made sure it was centred in the panel so that I could use it on another card - and today is that card lol!  I took another white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and stamped the stem and leaves in dark green ink directly on the panel.  I stamped the three flowers onto a scrap piece of white card and used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I added foam squares behind the arch panel and placed it over the stamped panel for some dimension.  I then placed the flowers over the stems with foam squares.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and fussy cut it out and placed it in the top right of the arch using a mix of foam squares and liquid glue.  I finished off with some black pearls.  I adhered the panel onto my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another panel 4" x 5 1/4" and stamped the stems and leaves in the bottom right corner with green ink and again stamped and die cut the flowers and added them with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the upper centre in black ink before adhering the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

Allsorts challenge - in the garden

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional no squares

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - clean and simple

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - clean and simple

Girlz Rebel challenge - flowers

Neglected Stuff challenge - use your neglected stuff (my stamp & die set)

Pearly Sparkles challenge - something old, something new (stamp is very old, arch die is new)

Pick 3 challenge - CAS, text, die cuts/punches

Simply Clean & Simple challenge - ATG CAS optional baskets

Stamping Sensations challenge - inspired by nature

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

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'CAS' 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 - simply quilled stamp & die - retired

Clearly Besotted - mini calligraphy stamp (for inside sentiment) - retired

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 21 (for arch die)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - grass green, apple mint, blue raspberry, medium lilac

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

Card Clubhouse IG Hop - Week 8

Hello lovely friends; I'm back to share my card for the new Card Clubhouse IG hop organised by my sweet friend Kelly. We are on Week 8 and we have an awesome sketch to work with this week. It will be fun to see how everyone uses the sketch and 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.

It was my dog's 2nd birthday on Saturday so I decided to use the sketch to make a card for him (most of my family think I'm nuts making him a card but I know you'll all understand lol!).  I thought the sketch would work as a gate-fold card so that is what I made.  I hope you like it.

Here is the sketch:

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

Here is the card open (not the best photo but you get the gist):

To make my card base I cut a white piece of card 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored it at 2 1/8 and 6 3/8" to create the smaller panels for the gate-fold.  I cut some black and white paper for the larger panel on the sketch and adhered that the left side of the card with double sided tape.  For the smaller panel I decided to create my own 'paper' by stamping some cute dogs and dog related images randomly on a white piece of card and coloured them with my Promarkers.  I made the panel bigger than I need so that I could fussy cut out some extra dogs to decorate the front and inside.  For the middle strip I cut a plain piece of red card and I added both these pieces to the right side panel with double sided tape.  I created my personalised sentiment on the pc and printed it out before cutting it out with a stitched circle die.  I added the circle over the red strip with foam squares and placed one of the dogs I cut out next to it, again with foam squares.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added a strip of the black and white paper to the bottom the liquid glue.  I added another fussy cut dog above the paper (as if he was peeking over) and added a bone below him, both with liquid glue. I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and then adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  I'm really happy with my card and think it turned out super cute. 

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

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist furry friends

Craft Rocket challenge - layer it up

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional no squares

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Creative Creases challenge - ATG with a fun fold (my card is a gate fold)

Creative Moments challenge - gone but not forgotten (MFT stamps)

Creative Friday challenge - design your own background 

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Do-All Creative challenge - ATG optional repeated stamping

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love - BEWAS (birthday)

Little Red Wagon challenge - that song (Who let the dogs out?)

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - I fussy cut the dogs

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 #cardclubhousehop2026 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

MFT - puppy kisses stamp (for dog and large heart)

MFT - you have my heart stamp (for bone and paw print)

MFT - friends at first sip stamp (for smaller heart)

Promarkers

MFT - new best friend (for inside sentiment)

MFT - black & white stripes 6 x 6 paper pack

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

red card from my stash

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

*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

Stencil Fun IG Hop - April 26

Hello again friends; I am back to share my card for the Stencil Fun IG Hop organised by my lovely friend Jane. We a group of crafters who are determined to use their forgotten and neglected stencils. I'm definitely guilty of this; I have so many stencils but usually forget to reach for them so this hop is perfect for me. The theme is always anything goes but we will have an optional theme to use if we want to. This month's optional theme is new to you' and I'm excited to see what everyone has made.

I used a recent purchase from Uniko and a new addition to their 'ink & flip' stencil line and this one is a beautiful butterfly design.  I went with a bright and springy colour combo of pink and orange and used my dies to create a fun layout.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

The ink & flip stencil range is such a unique and clever idea; you literally ink half of the design, flip the stencil and ink the other half (in this case the butterflies).  It means you can use more than one colour on your design which makes it more fun and interesting.  As I said I went for two shades of pink and two shades of orange so that the edges of the butterflies could be a little darker for some extra interest.  The stencil is 6" x 6" so I blended a piece of white card 5 1/2" square so that I would some extra to use on the inside of my card and also fussy cut one of the butterflies.  I used dies to cut the triangle pieces from the stencilled panel and a stitched rectangle as my plain background.  I decided to fill the gap between the triangles with a sentiment but my longest stitched die wasn't quite long enough; I meant to do some partial die cutting but completely forgot and die cut the sentiment from the die I had so I had to get creative and cut another piece and glue them together.  Thankfully I had fussy cut the one butterfly so this could cover the join and no-one is any the wiser (except me and you, so don't tell anyone else!).  I added all the pieces onto the background with foam squares, even the butterfly so there is a fair amount of dimension on this card.  I cut a pink mat layer and adhered it with double sided tape and then added it onto the card base with double sided tape.  I felt the fussy cut butterfly needed 'something' so found a butterfly body from a memory box die set that fit perfectly, so die cut that from black card and added it with liquid glue.  I didn't add any embellishments as I thought the background was quite busy as it was.  For the inside I cut another white stitched rectangle, added the scrap of stencilled background to the bottom with liquid glue and stamped a sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I again mat this onto pink card and adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

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

Allsorts challenge - in the garden

Color Dare challenge - #698 shades of pink + 1 other colour

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Daisy Chain challenge - no design paper

Die Cut Divas challenge - birthday or anniversary card (4th entry)

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love challenge - BEWAS (birthday)

Let's Craft & Create challenge - beautiful butterflies

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - use paper or scissors (I fussy cut my butterfly)

Pick 3 challenge - wings, die cuts/punches, text

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

Tic Tac Toe challenge - pastel colours, free, stencil

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

We hope you will be inspired by our Stencil Fun Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous cards along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #stencilfunapril2026 and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and brightening my day.  Have a great week everyone.  

Lots of love, 

card supplies:

Uniko - ink & flip butterfly pattern stencil

Uniko - everyday love and everyday sentiments stamps (for outside greeting)

Uniko - organic wishes stamp (for inside greeting)

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memory Box - Pippi butterfly die (for body)

pink card from my stash

*Gina K Designs - master layouts 05 (for triangle die)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 14 (for stitched rectangle and strip die)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - passionate pink, medium carnation, tangerine twist, butterscotch 

*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

CASE IT IG Hop - April 26

Hello again friends. I hope you've had a great start to your weekend; after the glorious weather we had earlier in the week it's turned a bit overcast and chilly now but hey at least we had a taste of summer lol!  

I'm here to share this month's card for the CASE IT Instagram Hop where we find a project on Instagram that inspires us and we will share that project as well as the project we’ve created. There are so many beautiful creations on Instagram the only difficult part is narrowing down which one to CASE (which means Copy And Share Everything).

This month I was inspired by Brenda (@stampwithbrenda over on IG); as soon as I saw her card I was in love.  Her winter card is just gorgeous and I love all the different texture she uses.  I decided to make my card masculine but you can definitely see that my card was inspired by hers!  Here is her card for my inspiration:

Isn't her card just beautiful? Using Ardyth's LIMES process (you can watch her video here) we list what we see - Brenda has used white, kraft and green as her main colours, a cover plate die in the background, an arch panel, some smaller die cuts, twine, white spatter and a simple white sentiment. So I followed the layout but instead of her colours I used grey, white and black with a pop of colour for my candles.  I decided to add detail to my arch panel instead of the background and added my spatter there in the top left and bottom right corner.  I used the candles instead of her leaf die cuts and stars instead of snowflakes.  I didn't really omit anything this time and my spin is that my card is birthday instead of  winter themed.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I cut a grey panel 4" x 5 1/4" and stamped the 'spatter' in the top left and bottom right corners.  I die cut the arch panel and embossed it with a lattice embossing folder (I also die cut another 2 from white card so that I could stack them up).  I stamped three candles onto some coloured card scraps using black ink and used the coordinating die to cut them out.  I stamped the sentiment in black onto white card and used a rounded sentiment strip die to cut it out.  Now all my elements were ready it was time to assemble my card.  I adhered the three arch panels together with liquid glue and then added them onto the grey panel.  I used some black twine and looped it around my fingers to create a circular shape and adhered that behind my candles with liquid glue, I then adhered the candles with foam squares.  I added the sentiment across the candles with a mix of foam squares and liquid glue.  I found some stars in my stash that I had cut for a previous project so added them with liquid glue and then finished off with some silver pearls as I thought that using black ones would have been too much black, especially next to the stars.  I added some scrap white card behind the grey panel and then adhered this to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added a strip of white card that I again embossed with the lattice EF to the bottom with liquid glue.  I stamped and die cut another candle and adhered it over the embossed strip with liquid glue; I also added two stars.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

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

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - must use an EF optional theme blue on blue

Crafty Calendar challenge - dies and/or punches (3rd entry)

Creative Knockouts challenge - embossing delight

Daisy Chain challenge - no design paper

Die Cut Divas challenge - birthday or anniversary card

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love challenge - BEWAS (birthday)

Pick 3 challenge - text, die cut or punches, stripes

Unicorn challenge - use dies 

We hope you will be inspired by our CASE IT Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous cards along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #caseithop and we will find you. 

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend.  

Lots of love

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - birthday bash stamp & die set (retired but still available at her retailers)

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 21 (for arch die)

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 19 (for the rounded sentiment strip die)

Gina K Designs - lattice embossing folder

Gina K Designs - soft stone ink pad

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

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Simon Says Stamp - fog gray card

coloured card from scraps bin

*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 #815 - 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. We are slowly adding to the Christmas pile, which really takes the stress off later in the year. We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I wanted to use this super cute die set for my card this week.  I've had it in my stash for almost a year and hadn't used it so it was about time I showed it some love.  It actually makes three different character mugs so I will definitely pulling it out again soon as the penguin one turned out adorable.  I hope you like it.  

Here is my card:

A closer look at the cute penguin mug:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by grabbing lots of coloured card from my scraps bin and die cutting all the pieces for the adorable penguin mug.  I used liquid glue to adhere them together, apart from the face and belly that I added with foam squares.  Next I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and embossed it with a lovely snowflake folder and also die cut a rectangle which had some lovely dot details from vellum.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and cut it out with a rectangle die.  Now it was time to assemble my card.  I added some scrap white card behind the embossed panel and adhered it to the card base with double sided tape. I adhered the penguin mug onto the vellum with foam squares and then added the vellum panel onto the embossed background with double sided tape.  I added the sentiment in the top right corner with foam squares.  I finished off with some tiny snowflake embellishments.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added a left over piece of the embossed background to the bottom with liquid glue.  I die cut 1 more candy cane and snowflake and added them with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and then adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  After the initial die cutting the card was fairly quick to put together and I think it turned out super sweet.  

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

The 12 months of Christmas Link Up challenge - ATG Christmas optional twist nordic noel 

A Cut Above challenge - ATG use a die cut

As You Like It challenge - simple or fussy (I am a bit like Elaine and feel more comfortable in the 'middle' but can sometimes go full on fussy when the occasion calls for it)

Caffeinated Christmas challenge - anything Christmas/holiday with coffee/tea/cocoa theme #cccc52

CRAFT challenge - seasons/weather/ATG 

Craft Rocket challenge - layer it up

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Crafty Calendar challenge - die cuts/punches

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Daisy Chain challenge - no design paper

Farm Quest Grocery Game challenge - anything food (or drink) related

First Cup challenge - ATG beverage/drink

Girlz & the Art of Letters challenge - Letter X (for Xmas)

Girlz Creative Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

Neglected Stuff challenge - use your old, neglected stuff (I've had the die set for nearly a year and this is the first time I've used it)

NBUS challenge - never been used stuff (my die set)

Peace on Earth Christmas challenge - anything Christmas themed optional mood board

Pick 3 challenge - text, die cut, stripes (on scarf and mug handle)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - food and/or drink

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist dies/punches

Try It On Tuesday challenge - make it cute

Unicorn challenge - use dies

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:

Spellbinders - cocoa greetings die set (DOM-JUL25)

Spellbinders - nordic noel 2D embossing folder (EOM-JUL25)

Spellbinders - Santa's sippin' sayings clear stamp (for both sentiments)

Spellbinders - essential rectangles (for dotty panel)

Spellbinders - classic rectangles large die set (for small rectangle)

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Trinity Stamps - vanilla sugar snowflakes embellishment mix

coloured card from scraps bin