ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop February 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.

I had some ink smooshed backgrounds left over from a previous project so they were my starting point this month.  I won a recent challenge and one of the prizes was an ATC stamp set so I also used that.  I went very mixed media/grungy this time around and I think they turned out great.  I hope you like them too.

Here are my ATC's:

and a closer look at each individual ATC:

I decorated the backs very simply this time:

I began by stamping the ATC stamps on each of the ink smooshed backgrounds and roughly trimmed them down, I stamped and gold heat embossed a small butterfly in the top right corner and ink blended around the edge with a brown ink pad.  I took 4 plain white ATC's and created some distressed looking backgrounds using a stamp from MFT and again ink blended all around with the brown ink pad.  I stamped 4 of the floral images with a light brown ink onto white card and used the matching dies to cut them out.  As I didn't want too much colour I used 2 prismacolor pencils to lightly colour the florals.  The white was a little bright so again used the remainder of the brown ink on my blending brush to tone down the white.  I added some white and gold spatter over all of the backgrounds and also brushed some of the gold randomly around the edges of the ATC's.  Once dry I tied some twine around each of the smaller panels, adhered the florals with liquid glue and added foam squares behind.  I used some pre-printed sentiments and again coloured them by blending with the brown ink.  A stamped the ATC info stamp onto the back using black ink and lightly blended around the edges of the back of the ATC's.  I then added the smaller panels onto the ATC's and adhered the sentiments with liquid glue.  

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

* to be updated * 

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #ATCscrapmakes2026 or #ATCscrapmakesfeb26 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:

*Gina K Designs - floral friendship stamp & die (for flowers)

Gina K Designs - spring mountain stamp (for butterflies)

Gina K Designs - warm cocoa ink pad

MFT - distressed patterns stamp

Creative Expressions - wordies sentiment sheet - everyday

ATC silicone stamp won in a recent challenge

Kuretake - gansai tambi starry colors palette (for gold spatter)

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for white spatter)

Prismacolor Premier pencils - light green & light aqua

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Versamark - embossing and watermark ink pad

Cosmic Shimmer - bright gold detail embossing powder

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

CASE IT IG Hop - February 26

Hello again friends. I hope you've had a great start to your Saturday; it's actually been sunny here today but I think it's just a blip and we will be back to rain tomorrow lol!  I'm back 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 Stacey (@StaceysCreativeCorner over on IG); her cards are super cute and this one instantly called to me - a cute image, kraft and pretty papers. I don't have any baby cards in my stash so I changed it from Valentine's to new baby.  Here is her card for my inspiration:

Isn't Stacey's card just so adorable? I kept the scalloped layers but I went with white instead of kraft and my layout is vertical instead of horizontal although I think you can still see how I was inspired by Stacey's card! I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

a closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the cute llama onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured it with Promarkers and used the coordinating die to cut it out.  I die cut the scallop layer and a stitched layer from white card and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I cut three strips of patterned paper (not sure if you can tell but two of them have glittery highlights running through them) and adhered them onto the stitched panel with double sided tape.  I die cut a circle from vellum and adhered the llama on top with foam squares.  I stamped and white heat embossed the sentiment directly onto the vellum but it looked a little lost so I re-stamped it onto white card using sea glass ink and used a sentiments strips die to cut it out.  I then added this over the embossed sentiment with foam squares.  I added foam squares behind the vellum and adhered it onto the background in the bottom right.  I finished off with some mint sequins and also added some glitter accents to the centre so that they would match the papers.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and then adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut the same white layers, cut some small pieces of the papers and added them to the bottom of the panel with liquid glue.  I masked the papers and stamped the llama peeking over the top and stamped a sentiment 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:

* to be updated * 

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:

Taylored Expressions - llama love stamp & die - retired

Promarkers

MFT - blueprints 27 die set (for scalloped die)

MFT - itty bitty baby stamp (for sentiments)

DCWV - nana's nursery baby boy paper pad - discontinued

Spellbinders - fluted classic circles (for circle die)

*Gina K Designs - ML 14 (for stitched rectangle die)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies

Gina K Designs - sea glass ink pad (for sentiment)

Studio Katia - magic mint sequins

Tonic - nuvo glitter accents - fresh snowfall

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Stampin' Up! - card stock vellum - retired 

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

*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 - 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