Stencil Fun IG Hop - February 2026

Happy 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 'oldie but goodie' and I'm excited to see what everyone has made.

I think my most used and loved stencil is the mini cloud edges stencil so that is what I used for this month's cards (yes more than one!) as it's definitely an oldie but a goodie.  I decided to create some panels of rainbow clouds but wanted to make something a little different so was inspired by a recent card of Cathy Zielske aka CZ Designs.  I hope you like them; sorry for the photo overload!

Here are my cards:

Card no. 1:

plus a closer look:

and I decorated the inside:

card no. 2:

plus a closer look:

and the inside:

Here are my panels after die cutting:

So I began by stencilling the cloud background in rainbow colours using 2 white panels.  I found two small dies that I thought would be perfect for my shapes; a square and a rectangle and cut them out from the two backgrounds.  After all my die cutting I realised I had enough pieces to make 2 cards and then spent an absolute age trying to figure out the best placement of the pieces.  Once I was happy I added foam squares behind each piece and attached them to a white panel cut to 4" x 5 1/4".  I wanted to use a black sentiment so that it would pop against the pastel rainbow backgrounds so die cut the word hello 6 times from black card (3 stacked for each card) and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I also die cut some tiny black hearts to use as embellishments.  I stamped two sub-sentiments in black onto white card and cut them out with sentiment strip dies.  Both sentiments and hearts were added to the card front with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and this was added to my A2 card base with double sided tape.  For the insides I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and stamped a sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I had a few of the die cut pieces left over so added two to the bottom of card 1 along with 3 hearts and 3 to the bottom of card 2 with 2 hearts; all adhered with liquid glue.  I then added the panels to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

* to be updated * 

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 #stencilfunfebruary2026 and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Lots of love

card supplies:

Clearly Besotted - geometric style (for the shape dies) - retired 

*Gina K Designs - ink pads - red velvet, tangerine twist, wild dandelion, lucky clover, blue sky, light lilac, medium carnation

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies

Gina K Designs - scripty quartet dies (for hello die)

Gina K Designs - corner blossoms stamp (for inside sentiment card 2)

Gina K Designs - a bit of spring stamp (for inside sentiment card 1)

Gina K Designs - fancy phrases stamp (for sub sentiments on both cards)

Lawn Fawn - hedgehugs die set (for tiny heart)

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

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

Just Us Girls challenge #810 - guest designer card

Hello again lovely friends. I'm back with my second card as guest designer for the Just Us Girls challenge and this week is 'Word Week' and unsurprising the word is Valentine.  

I decided to take the opportunity to make my Valentine's card for hubby.  I had picked up the cute Valentine mice from Lawn Fawn's recent release so had to use them; they are so adorable.  My card started out as 5" x 7" but to have an equal margin around the scalloped die I had to cut it down slightly so the finished card size is 5" x 6 3/8".  I think it turned out super cute and I hope you like it too.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

So as I say I originally cut my card base to 10" x 7" and scored it on the long side at 5" to create my 5" x 7" card but later on cut it down a little on the length.  I stamped the images in a light brown ink and used the coordinating stencils and brown and pink ink pads to colour them in.  I've never coloured images with stencils before; I'm not sure if for small images like this you really need them as it probably took just as long to colour them with the stencils as it would have with markers, but the effect is quite soft which is a nice look and something I struggle with using markers (I'm quite heavy handed lol).  I had left the stamps in the Misti so stamped over them with black ink to make the outlines bolder and then cut them out with the matching dies.  I also stamped all of the sentiments in black ink.  I had just received some heart dies that I ordered so cut two white hearts and the scallop layers from kraft coloured card and adhered them with liquid glue.  I die cut 3 of the sentiments with sentiment strips dies and the last one with a smaller heart.  I cut a piece of speckled patterned paper and adhered it onto the scalloped rectangle which was also die cut from the kraft coloured card.  I added the two mice onto the white hearts with foam squares and added the 'mwah' sentiment with liquid glue.  I stamped the 'luv u' sentiment directly onto the second heart.  I adhered the hearts onto the background with liquid glue and the strip sentiments were adhered with foam squares.  I decided to die cut some tiny hearts from white card and ink blended them with the same pink ink pads I used for the mice and added them onto the background with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind the scalloped rectangle and then this was adhered to the card base with double sided tape. As a finishing touch I added some crystal glaze to all the hearts, which looks really pretty in real life. For the inside I cut the next size down scalloped rectangle from kraft coloured card and added a white panel onto it with liquid glue.  I stamped part the sentiment directly in the centre with black ink and used a stamped and die cut 'happy' above it with liquid glue.  I adhered a strip of the patterned paper at the bottom of the panel and added the third mouse in the bottom right corner along with a few more hearts.  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'm sure this will be a popular challenge and I cannot wait to see what you create.  Please pop over to the challenge blog and check out all the amazing creations by the Design Team.  

I appreciate you stopping by. 

Love and hugs, 

card supplies:

Lawn Fawn - Valentine mice stamp, dies and coordinating stencils

Lawn Fawn - scalloped rectangle stackables dies

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

Lawn Fawn - happy happy happy add on family stamp (for inside sentiment)

Lawn Fawn - hedgehugs die (for tiny heart die)

Honey Bee Stamp - stacking hearts and scallop hearts honey cuts

*Gina K Designs - ink pads - sandy beach, kraft, bubblegum pink, passionate pink

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments dies

Tonic Studios - Nuvo crystal glaze

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

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

Krafty Chicks challenge #807 - Christmas

Good morning lovely friends, I hope you're having a good week so far. It's been rain, rain and more rain here in South Wales, which is miserable, but at least it gives me some time to catch up on crafty projects lol!  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.  It's time to start building up our Christmas card stash again so why not come over and join in the fun with us.

I've had this mittens die on my wish list for ages and finally caved and clicked 'add to cart' lol!  It has lots of extra dies that can be used with or without the mitten and the finished shaped card is about A2 sized.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I originally cut the mitten from a folded piece of white card to create my card base but then realised that I had cut it upside down (with the cuff at the bottom which is not what I wanted) so rather than waste it I cut the two pieces apart and scored a line on one of them, to act as a fold, as secured them together with red line tape.  I cut one more mitten from white card, ran it through my Intri-cut with a checkered argyle embossing folder and used my ink pads to add some colour all over the design, adding a slightly darker ink at the edges.  I die cut the cuff and scallop border from white card and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I die cut the holly leaves from white card and ink blended over them with spruce ink.  I also die cut some berries from white card and used cranberry inks to colour them.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink onto white card and used a stitched rectangle die to cut it out.  For assembly I used liquid glue to add the embossed mitten onto the card base and everything else was popped up with foam squares.  For the inside I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and also die cut an extra holly leaf and berry, inked them as before, and adhered them to the bottom of the card with liquid glue.  A fun shaped card with lots of texture and dimension. 

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:

Sunny Studio - woolen mitten dies

Spellbinders - checkered argyle embossing folder

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

Catherine Pooler - notecard postage dies (for stitched rectangle die)

*Gina K Designs - ink pads - medium and dark cranberry

Gina K Designs - ink cubes - medium and dark spruce

Gina K Designs - large, small and detail blending brushes

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

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 - February 2026

Hello again friends, I can't believe this is my third post for today! 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 'hearts' and I know this is going to be a popular theme. 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 decided to make some heart shaped tags this month and, even if I say so myself, I think they turned out super cute!  I used a fun cat and dog image from Gina K Designs and coloured them so that they looked vaguely like my Willow and Wesley.  Lots of ink blending, stamping, colouring and stencilling later and voila they were complete.  I hope you like them.

Here are my tags:

 

A closer look at the details:

 

I decorated the backs very simply this time:

I began by die cutting 4 of the larger pink hearts, so that I could adhere them back to back later, and 6 of the white smaller hearts, so that I could layer them up.   I used a heart stencil and using a pink ink pad created a subtle design to the pink hearts.   I used a romantic script background stamp to add some interest to the white hearts using a light grey ink pad.  I adhered the stencilled pink heart and the plain pink heart back to back with liquid glue and stacked 3 white hearts together, also with liquid glue.  I stamped, coloured and die cut the cute animals and also die cut one more from plain white card so that they could have a little dimension.  I stamped the same sentiment for both tags and die cut an additional 4 plain white ones so that I could layer each one 3 times.  Lots of subtle dimension on these tags.  I adhered everything together with liquid glue.  I die cut some tiny hearts from pink card that I ink blended over with the pink ink pad and added three to each tag.  For the backs I simply added a slightly smaller white tag with liquid glue and added a few of the ink blended hearts to the bottom of the tag.  I used my crop-a-dile to cut a hole through all the layers of my tag and threaded through some ribbon and twine.  

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

613 Avenue Create challenge - ATG optional twist animal magic

AAA Colourful challenge - colour board #24

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut

Allsorts challenge - create your own background (stencilled the heart BG and stamped the scripty BG)

A Place to Start challenge - ATG optional twist small critters

Aud Sentiments challenge - dies and/or love, anniversary, wedding + sentiment

CRAFT challenge - love/ATG

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Creative Inspirations challenge - think pink

Creative Moments challenge - love & romance

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Die Cut Divas challenge - red and/or pink colours

Everybody Art challenge - have a heart

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - love is all around 

Girlz & the Art of Letters challenge - T is for tags

Hearts Quest for Shaped Cards & Tags challenge - ATG

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - happy hearts

I Love Promarkers challenge - love & romance or ATG

Let's Craft & Create challenge - ATG optional theme from the heart

Little Red Wagon challenge - picturing love

Pearly Sparkles challenge - hearts

PINspirational challenge - colour challenge

Show Us Your Pussycat challenge - ATG/love must include a cat

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - add a heart

Stencil Fun challenge - create your own background

Sweet Stampin' challenge - all you need is love

Tag-along (& ATC's) challenge - add a number or ATG

The Dream Factory challenge - love actually

Try It On Tuesday challenge - all loved up

Unicorn challenge - animals

We Love Stamping challenge - hearts or ATG

 

Wow so many love/heart challenges around (not surprising I suppose)!

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 #gorgeousgifttagsfeb2026 and we will find your tags.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love,

tag supplies:

Spellbinders - essential heart dies

Scrapbook.com - hearts stencil

*Gina K Designs - a pocket full of sunshine stamps & die (for images & sentiment)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - dusty rose and soft stone

MFT - romantic script red rubber BG stamp

MFT - tag builder blueprints 6 (for hearts)

Promarker alcohol markers

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed 

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

pink 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

Just Us Girls challenge #809 - guest designer

Welcome back to my blog lovely friends.  I was honoured to be asked to be a guest designer for the Just Us Girls challenge for February and immediately said yes. They have fun weekly challenges and I hope you will join in.  

They have set themes for each week so it is always easy to play along.  Here is the schedule:

Week 1. Die Week

Week 2. Word Week

Week 3. Mood Board Week

Week 4. Anything Goes using a stencil Week

Week 5. Case a DT Member Week

Obviously I will only be sharing 4 cards with you as there are only 4 weeks this month.  

So as it's Week 1 the theme is Die Week and the prompt is 'use a heart'; here is the graphic:

I had just received my Gina K Designs kit when I sat down to make my card so of course I had to use the gorgeous heart frame die and matching stencils on my card; it was perfect timing!  I used a purple and green with a touch of black colour combo and made a 5 1/2" square card for a change.  I did go a bit wonky lining up the die on the stencilling but rectified that by using a green Promarker to colour in any missing areas and I think it looks ok.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by creating my card base by cutting a white piece of card cut to 11" x 5 1/2" and scoring on the long side at 5 1/2".  I cut the heart frame from white card and used the square die to cut it out.  I took another piece of white card and used the matching stencils and purple and green inks and created the beautiful design.  I adhered the stencilled panel and the die cut heart panel together with liquid glue but as I said I went a bit wrong and it was stuck good and proper so just grabbed a green Promarker and carefully filled in any gaps.  I added a black mat layer behind with double sided tape. I ink blended the heart from the centre with the same purple inks and popped it back in place with liquid glue.  I cut a purple piece of card 4 3/4" square and embossed it with the swiss dots embossing folder and again added a thin black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  I added the purple panel onto the card base with double sided tape, added some scrap white card behind the heart frame panel and also added that to the purple panel with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and used the coordinating die to cut it out.  I added the sentiment over the heart using foam squares.  I finished off with some black pearls.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 5/8" square, stamped the sentiment in the centre and stamped two corner images in the top right and bottom left corners; I used Promarkers to colour these in.  I added a thin purple mat layer and also a thin black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  This was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

* to be updated *

I'm sure this will be a popular challenge as we all love our dies don't we? Please pop over and check out the gorgeous creations by the talented design team. 

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - heart frame die & stencil (in current Mega Kit but will be available next month)

Gina K Designs - swiss dot embossing folder

Gina K Designs - graceful greetings stamp & die (for outside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - floral wishes stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - in the corner stamp (for inside decoration)

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

Gina K Designs - ink pads - lovely lavender, wild lilac, jelly bean green, fresh asparagus

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but they have alternatives here and here)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Green Promarker

purple card from 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

Krafty Chicks challenge #806 - 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.

I'm sharing the card I made for my niece's 21st birthday and although I've made something similar in the past I did step it up a little and I think it's an elegant card for a special birthday.  My card size is 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:

I began by taking some smooth white card and created my card base by cutting it to 11" x 7 1/2" and scoring on the long side at 5 1/2".  I used my score board to score 5 lines vertically for some texture and visual interest in the background and matted this panel onto a gold mirror card layer with double sided tape.  I also added some gold and black spatter.  I die cut some leaves from white card and also a couple from vellum and also die cut the happy birthday frame from vellum twice.  I cut a white circle to go behind the vellum frame and also used gold mirror card to die cut the 21, along with a few extra white ones so that I could layer them up with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment using black ink and die cut it out with a sentiment strips die.  I adhered the birthday frame together with liquid glue, putting it sparingly so that it would be less noticeable through the vellum and added the white circle behind it.  I added the leaves vertically along the score lines with liquid glue, adding the circle frame with foam squares.  I adhered the 21 with liquid glue into the centre of the circle and the sentiment on the bottom edge of the circle with foam squares.  I finished off with some gold and black metallic pearls.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and then adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and added it onto a gold mat panel with double sided tape.  I added some gold and black spatter to the bottom third and adhered a cluster of leaves in the left lower corner.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I adhered the panel onto 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 ingredients:

*Gina K Designs - foliage fillers die set

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 03 die set (for white circle)

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments die set

MFT - happy birthday circle frame die

MFT - by the numbers die set

Honey Bee Stamps - this one's for the girls stamp (for outside sentiment)

Clearly Besotted - simply said birthday stamp (for inside sentiment)

Stampin' Up! - card stock vellum

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available currently but other options can be found here and here)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

gold mirror card from stash

Kuretake - gansai tambi starry colours paint palette (for gold spatters)

MFT - black hybrid ink pad (for black spatters)

*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