2024 Crafty Kickoff IG Card Hop - Week 2

Hello again friends; I hope you've had a great start to your week and Storm Isha didn't cause you any problems.  It was really wet and windy here but thankfully no damage or power cuts , although I know some parts of the UK weren't so lucky.  Today we are onto Storm Jocelyn so another wet and windy day here although it is supposed to be short lived.  

Enough of the weather reporting lol!  I am here with my week 2 card for the 2024 Crafty Kickoff IG Card Hop, which has been organised by my lovely friend Kelly.  Each Wednesday we will share a themed card inspired by the new year and this week's theme is 'birthstones'.

and in case you want to participate here is a list of birthstones by month:

You can take the simple route and just use the colour of your birthstone i.e. my birthday is July, which is ruby, so I could make a card with red as my focal colour, or you can include gemstones or even ruby slippers!  There is no limit to your imagination...... oh I wish I had gone with ruby slippers now but it literally just came to me haha!  Here is my card:

A closer look:

I also decorated the inside:

I began by stamping lots of the tiny gemstones and coloured them with Promarkers.  There is no matching die so I fussy cut them out but they were super simple as it was all straight lines.  I cut a white card panel 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" and used a rectangle masking stencil to lightly ink a border using light grey ink.  I later decided to add some darker grey ink to the lower left corner as this was where my gemstones were going to be (as you would with press'n'seal but I don't have that).  I stamped the sentiments in black ink and used the matching dies to cut them out.  I arranged my gemstones in the left bottom corner of my inked rectangle and once I was happy with placement took a piece of wide masking tape and pressed it onto the gemstones to keep their position.  I added tiny foam squares onto 3 gemstones and liquid glue onto all the others and added them to my card.  The two die cut sentiments were added with foam squares and I also stamped the 'and' word directly onto the card panel.  For some extra interest I took a white gelly roll pen and added some dots around my gemstones and sentiment.  I adhered the white panel onto a grey scrap of card and this was added to my card with foam tape.  I decided to add some crystal glaze to my gemstones to make them shine.  For the inside I stamped a sentiment in black ink and used the same masking stencil but only inked the lower left corner of my white card panel before adding a few more gemstones with liquid glue.  Again I matted the white panel onto some grey card and this was adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  I'm really happy with how my card turned out and I hope you like it too. 

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

AAA Cards challenge - ATG CAS - optional love is in the air

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils (I have both)

Double D challenge - sparkle and/or shine (I added crystal glaze to my gems)

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - stamp it

Inkspirational challenge - use stencils (I used a masking stencil)

Pearly Sparkles challenge - CAS

Stamping Sensations challenge - mood board (inspired by the colours and gems on the butterfly)

Stencil Fun challenge - ATG stencils - optional birds theme

I would love it if you would pop over to Instagram and see the amazing work by all the other crafters taking part in the hop.  Please use the hashtag #2024CraftyKickoffIGCardHop to find the hop and also so that we can find your creation if you are inspired to take part.  

I'll be back tomorrow with my DT card for this week's Krafty Chicks challenge so please pop by and check it out.  As always I appreciate the comments you leave and thank you so much for stopping by. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Create a Smile - 29 Again stamp set (retired)

Taylored Expressions - masking stencils - rectangles

Gina K Designs - ink pads in soft stone and stormy sky

Gina K Designs - Succulent Spray stamp (for inside sentiment)

Honey Bee Stamps - Shine On stamp and die set (for outside sentiments) retired

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card (for card base and panels)

Tonic Studios - Nuvo crystal glaze

Sakura - white gelly roll no 10 pen

Promarkers

Grey card from scrap bin