Patterned Paper Party IG Hop - August 26

Hello friends, I'm back again 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 'black and white' which I'm sure will be very popular. I found a really old A5 block of black & white papers and paired them with some hot pink flowers for a pop of colour and a great sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge.  I think it turned out so pretty and I hope you like it too.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting the dotty paper using a stitched rectangle die and also a black mat layer using a plain rectangle die, I used a stitched die to cut the flower paper and again a plain die to cut the mat layer and cut the stitched circle from white card and a fancy circle to cut the black layer and used liquid glue to adhere them together.  I die cut some small flowers from bright pink card so that I could have a pop of colour and assembled them using liquid glue; I also cut some leaves from green card.  I stamped the sentiment onto white card using black ink and used the coordinating die to cut it out (I also cut 3 plain white ones so that I could layer them).  It was now time to assemble my card.  I added the flower paper panel onto the dotty panel using double sided tape and added the circle with foam tape.  The flowers, leaves and sentiment were added with liquid glue.  I finished off with some white pearls.  The panel was added to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel using the stitched rectangle and a black mat layer using the plain rectangle and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I used some of the left over paper to create a border at the bottom and also added a thin strip of black card along the top.  I added one flower and one leaf to the bottom right corner with liquid glue and stamped the sentiment in the centre using black ink.  The panel was then adhered to my card base using double sided tape.  I really like the pop of pink against the black and white.  

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

* to be updated *

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 #patternedpaperpartyhopjune2026 and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and take care. 

Lots of love,

card supplies:

black & white paper block ? Joanna Sheen (but her store closed years ago)

John Next Door - daisy circle and leaves die set 

Gina K Designs - master layouts 01 (for plain rectangle)

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

Gina K Designs - master layouts 13 (for tall plain & stitched rectangle)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 15 (for circle dies)

Gina K Designs - sketched roses stamp & die set (for outside sentiment) ? retired

Gina K Designs - perfect posy stamp (for inside sentiment) *Bumbleberry Crafts

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

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for my card base)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Little Things From Lucy's Cards - soft snowball mix pearls (store closed)

pink and green card from my scraps bin

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

Thank you x

Just Us Girls challenge #837 - mood board

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. I am back to share my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge and it's Mood Board Week and Lisa has a beautiful board to inspire us this week. It is such a gorgeous image this week and I'm sure this is going to be a really popular week. I cannot wait to see all your gorgeous creations.

here is a better look at the mood board:

Isn't it a stunning picture?  Obviously you can be drawn to the sunflowers, butterflies or both or just use the colours as your inspiration.  I decided to use both on my card today and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I hope you like it too.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and blended all over the panel using Christmas pine ink. The sunflowers are a three step stamp and I used Gina K's tip on how to mass produce using a template (or 3 in this case) to get perfect alignment; and it really worked, they are all stamped perfectly.  Once they were all stamped I used the coordinating die to cut them out.  I also stamped the butterfly and coloured it with my Promarkers before using the coordinating die to cut it out.  I added the sunflowers using foam squares in a cluster in the centre of the panel and added the butterfly at the top again adding a thin piece of foam tape behind the body so that the wings could be lifted up a little.  The sentiment was stamped onto white card using black ink and cut out with the matching die (I also cut 3 more from plain white card to layer up).  The sentiment was adhered over the sunflowers using liquid glue.  The panel was then added to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and blended the Christmas pine ink along the bottom.  I had one sunflower and one butterfly left over so adhered them over the blended border using liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre using black ink and then adhered the panel to the card base using 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 it is such a beautiful board and I cannot wait to see what you create. Please pop over to the challenge blog and leave some love for our guest designer Betty and the rest of the design team.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - breath of sunshine stamp & die set (*Bumbleberry Crafts)

Gina K Designs - courage to fly mini stamp (current incentive - will be available next month)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - sweet corn, honey mustard, dark chocolate, Christmas pine

Promarkers

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

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

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

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 links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Krafty Chicks challenge #834 - CAS (clean and simple)

Good morning lovely friends and welcome to my little corner of blogland. 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 open space (doesn't have to be white), 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 created a fun stencil background and decided to cut it into strips so that I could make two cards this week; one birthday card and one get well card.  They turned out very clean and simple but perfect for mailing.  I hope you like them.

Here are my cards:

A closer look at the birthday card:

and the inside for this one:

A closer look at the get well card:

and the inside for this one:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and actually used the recently released Christmas star stencil from Uniko to create my background.  I masked off two of the sections and used one for the yellow ink and one for the lime green ink.  It was a bit time consuming and as I did it 'by eye' it has some imperfections but it shows how you can stretch your stencils to create something completely different.  When I cut down the card I didn't plan on making two cards so the strips are slightly different widths.  The birthday card strip is 1 5/8" x 5 1/4 and this was matted onto a black layer with just a tiny border of the black showing on the left side.  For the get well card the strip is 1 5/16" x 5 1/4" and again a black layer was added with a thin border on the right side.  I cut two more white panels 4" x 5 1/4" and adhered the strips with double sided tape.  I cut two stitched circles from white card and stamped the sentiments in black ink.  I also cut a black mat circle and adhered them together using liquid glue.  The sentiments were added over the strips with foam squares.  The panels were adhered to my card bases with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut the left over stencilled background into 1/2" strips and again added black mat layers.  I added them to the right side of my white panels using liquid glue and stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  The panels were adhered to the card base using double sided tape.  

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

* to be updated *

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:

Uniko - Ink & Flip: Christmas star, star stencil 

Uniko - everyday sentiments stamp

Uniko - wonderful day stamp (retired)

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

Gina K Designs - ink pads - wild dandelion and key lime

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

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

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

Thank you x

Card Clubhouse IG Hop - Week 17

Hello again lovely friends; I'm back to share my card for the Card Clubhouse IG hop organised by my sweet friend Kelly. We are on Week 17 and our theme is 'autumn/fall' so we want to see all your leaves, pumpkins, acorns etc.  I'm definitely ready for autumn and the cooler temperatures after the heatwaves we had this summer but I know some of you will miss the heat!  I'm sure this is going to be a great hop this week and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

I decided to go with leaves on my card this week and it sort of progressed to a shaker card and then I realised I could make a two-fer with the left over leaves.... so basically I had lots of fun this week lol! I think they both turned out great and I hope you like them too.  Sorry photo overload again!

Here are my cards:

Here is the shaker card:

I took a very short video to show the 'shake' but it won't play here so check out my IG if you want to see it

A closer look at the details:

Here is the second, simpler card:

and a closer look at the details:

I decorated the insides the same:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and using autumnal colours ink blended over the whole panel. I also added some extra interest with some water drops and white spatter.  I die cut the two leaves from the panel and then embossed it with the leaves folder.  I added acetate behind the openings of the leaves using double sided tape.  I die cut the top layer of the leaves from brown card and added them onto the acetate to fill the space of the die cut leaves.  I added lots of foam strips behind the panel and filled the shaker with seed beads (which I randomly found whilst looking for sequins).  I covered the back with a plain white panel trimmed a little smaller than my panel.  The panel was then adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment onto the same brown card using versamark ink and white heat embossed it, before using the coordinating die to cut it out (I also cut 3 more from the brown card so that I could layer it up).  The sentiment was added between the leaves using liquid glue.  For the second card I used the left over leaves that I cut from the first ink blended panel and added the top layer on top, again cut from brown card, using liquid glue.  I embossed a white panel using the leaves folder and added the die cut leaves in the centre using foam squares.  I stamped the sentiments onto white card using brown ink and used the coordinating dies to cut them out (I cut 3 more white layers for the longer sentiment).  I added the larger sentiment in the centre over the leaves using a combination of foam squares and liquid glue and the longer sentiment at the bottom of the panel using liquid glue.  For the insides (I did both the same) I ink blended the same colours at the bottom of the panels and added some water drops and white spatter and did some partial embossing just over the blending.  I die cut two of the top layer of the leaves and added them in the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiments in the centre with brown ink before adding the panels to my card base using double sided tape.  I love both versions but do you have a favourite?

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

* to be updated *

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:

Gina K Designs - falling leaves embossing folder

Gina K Designs - autumn leaves dies

Gina K Designs - elegant thoughts stamp & die (for sentiment on shaker card)

Gina K Designs - flower medley stamp & die (for sentiments on white card)

Gina K Designs - breath of sunshine stamp (for inside sentiment) *Bumbleberry Crafts

Gina K Designs - ink pads - honey mustard, grass green, cherry red, warm cocoa

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

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card bases)

Versamark - embossing & watermark ink pad

WOW! - opaque bright white super fine embossing powder

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for spatter)

seed beads and brown card from my stash

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

Thank you x

ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop - August 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 P, Q & R. I think it will be fun each month finding images/dies for each letter. I'm trying to stick to animals and food but we'll see how it goes. 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 (except for the Quokka stamp which is new to me) but I still love them so why not use them. I hope you like them; do you have a favourite from this month's trio?

Here are my three ATC's:

A closer look at 'P':

A closer look at 'Q':

A closer look at 'R':

I decorated the backs the same as usual:

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) along with some embossed panels and card strips left over from a previous project.  I also added some extra stamping and ink blending to make the ATC's match the images a little more. I finished the backgrounds with some white spatter.  I stamped all the images and coloured them with Promarkers and used the coordinating dies to cut out the quokka and raccoon but had to fussy cut the parrot. I decided to use the frames again this month as the images fit inside them nicer this time.  I die cut them from card to coordinate with my backgrounds and images and adhered them with liquid glue (I also added some vellum behind the black frame).  The images were added inside the frames with foam squares. I die cut the letters from the same card as the frames, stacking them x 3 and added them to the ATC's with liquid glue. For the backs I simply ink blended the matching colours around the edges and stamped one of the ATC info stamps (that I won a few months ago) in black ink. 

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

Allsorts challenge - embossing - dry or heat (I used an embossing folder on my green ATC)

As You Like It challenge - favourite colouring medium (Promarkers as they are budget friendly and blend so easily)

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - ATG embossing optional theme tie it up 

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist use die cuts

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Creative Moments challenge - make it cute

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Daisy Chain challenge - animals

Tag-along (& ATC's) challenge - fashion or ATG

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

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #ATCscrapmakes2026 or #ATCscrapmakesAugust26 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 - Polynesian paradise stamp (for parrot)

Lawn Fawn - Quokka my world stamp & die set

MFT - raving raccoons stamp & die set (for raccoon)

Promarkers

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

Hunkydory - moonstone scalloped edged picture frames dies

MFT - little letters dies

MFT - distressed patterns stamp

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for spatter)

ATC silicone stamp (won in a challenge)

Just Us Girls challenge #836 - Word Week

Hello again friends and welcome back to my blog. I am here to share my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge and it's Word Week and Bobby has chosen 'water'.  It could be a summer beach scene, a masculine river scene or even just a critter in a swimming/paddling pool.  I'm sure this is going to be a really popular week and I cannot wait to see all your gorgeous creations. 

I used an older, retired stamp set that has been in my stash for years but I don't think I've ever used it.  I love the clean lines and fun wavy sea, along with some fun clouds.  I'm even happy with my fussy cutting on this one!  I hope you like it too.  

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping all my images onto alcohol marker friendly card and used my Promarkers to colour them in.  I don't have the dies so I fussy cut them out.  I cut a white panel 3 5/8" x 4 7/8" and added a teal blue mat layer using liquid glue.  I wanted a fairly clean and simple layout so clustered all my images together in the lower right corner and added them with a mix of liquid glue and foam squares.  I also added two clouds in the upper half of the card using liquid glue.  I white heat embossed the sentiment onto a scrap of the teal blue card and cut it out using a sentiment strips die and added that below the cluster using liquid glue.  The panel was adhered to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added the wave image along the bottom and tucked the sailboat behind, using liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre using blue ink and the panel was adhered to the card base using double sided tape.  

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

Addicted to CAS challenge - water

As You Like It challenge - favourite colouring medium (it has to be Promarkers; I've been using them for 15+ years and they are reliable, blend well and are still going strong after all these years)

Craft Rocket challenge - transportation

CRAFT-alnica challenge - sea

Little Red Wagon challenge - we didn't start a fire (my card reminds me of my visit to Barcelona in Sept 24 when the America's Cup sailing competition was taking place; the little bit I saw was very exciting)

NBUS challenge - the stamp set is now retired and this is the first time I've used it :(

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - I fussy cut my images

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - summertime blues

The Male Room challenge - jobs or professions (sailor)

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - sports (sailing)

I'm sure our gallery will be full of watery delights this week and I cannot wait to see what you create. Please pop over to the challenge blog and leave some love for the rest of the design team.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Love & hugs,

card supplies:

Simon Says Stamp - sailing clear stamp (now retired)

Gina K Designs - just keep swimming stamp (for sentiments) 

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips die set

Gina K Designs - blue sky ink pad

Promarkers

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

WOW! - opaque bright white super fine embossing powder

Versamark - embossing and watermark ink pad

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

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

teal blue card from my stash

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 links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x