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Thursday, 10 April 2025

Krafty Chicks Challenge #763 - Christmas

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far.  We're still enjoying the lovely sunny weather here in South Wales and Wesley the puppy is living his best life practically outside all day; he loves it out in the garden in the sunshine.  

Anyway enough of my waffle!  It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 2; and as always the theme is 'Christmas' and I am your hostess.  Another chance to add a card to the Christmas pile and we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.
I was pushed for time this week so made a clean and simple card but I did colour my image so that's something.  I made a 5" x 7" card for a change.  I hope you like it.
Here is my card:
A closer look at the cute hedgie:
Plus I decorated the inside (very simply this time):
I began by stamping the image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured it with Promarkers; I also added a few highlights with a white gelly roll pen.  I cut the panel down to 4 1/8" x 6 1/8" and stamped the sentiment in black ink in the top right corner.  I cut a piece of green dotty paper 4 5/8" x 6 5/8".  I added some extra scrap card behind the image panel for dimension instead of using foam tape and adhered this to the dotty paper with double sided tape.  I added the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  I finished off with a few gold sequins.  For the inside, as I was pressed for time, I simply cut a white panel 4 1/4" x 6 1/4" and added a 1/2" strip of the dotty paper to the top and bottom with double sided tape. I stamped a sentiment in black ink in the upper centre.  I adhered the panel to my card base with double sided tape.  I love the Penny Black hedgie stamps so I'm really happy with my card, even if it was made in a rush.  

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

The 12 months of Christmas Link Up challenge - ATG Christmas optional twist vintage
As You Like It challenge - cute or floral (I love cute images, especially the PB hedgies)
Christmas Crafts All Year 'round challenge - rockin' around the Christmas tree (deck the halls with boughs of holly)
The Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional clean and simple
Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal
Crafty Gals Corner challenge - adorable hedgehogs (I'm partial to the Penny Black hedgies)
Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter
Daisy Chain challenge - not square (my card is 5"x7")
I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or under the sea
My Time To Craft challenge - rectangle shaped cards (my card is 5"x7")
Peace On Earth Christmas challenge - anything Christmas themed optional inspiration board
Penny Black Saturday challenge - ATG optional Easter
Simply Clean and Simple challenge - ATG CAS optional theme umbrellas
Simply Create Too challenge - furry friends (hedgehogs have fur on their legs and stomach)
Sparkles Christmas challenge - Christmas foliage
Stamping Sensations challenge - birds, animals, flowers & nature
We Love Stamping challenge - favourite stamps (I love the PB hedgie stamps)

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 ingredients:
Promarkers
Clearly Besotted Stamps - simply said Christmas clear stamp - retired
Spellbinders - holiday besties clear stamp (for inside sentiment)
Versafine - onyx black ink pad
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here
dotty paper from stash
Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

Thursday, 3 April 2025

Krafty Chicks challenge #762 - Birthday

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. It's been another glorious week here in South Wales, with lots of sunshine but also a stiff breeze - perfect weather for drying clothes on the line lol! 

It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 1; and as always the theme is 'birthday' and Leanne is our hostess. It can't get any easier than this week's challenge so we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.
Today is my lovely mother's birthday so I'm sharing the card I made for her.  I always try to make her an extra special card and usually a larger than normal card (today's card is 6" x 7 3/4").  I hope you like it.
Here is my card:
A closer look at the florals:
Plus I decorated the inside:
I began by cutting my card base from a 12"x12" piece of white card.  I stamped all the florals in a light grey ink before colouring them using the coordinating stencils.  After all the stencilling was complete I then re-stamped the images using a black ink pad.  I used the matching dies to cut them out.  I created the stitched frame by die cutting 2 smaller frames (sized for an A2 card) from white card and used them horizontally instead of vertically. I laid them together and cut out the inside piece so that it would create one larger frame.  I cut a white panel to go behind the frame and using a stencil and light grey ink created a soft background.  I added thin foam strips behind the frame and adhered them together and then added a black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  For the panel behind the frame I used a pale purple piece of card and added a black mat layer with double sided tape.  This was added to the card base with double sided tape.  I fussed with the arrangement of my florals for quite some time but finally decided on adding them to the top right and bottom left corners going largest to smallest out from the corner.  I added them with a mixture of foam squares and liquid glue.  I also added a small leaf to the top left and bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I used a few different stamp sets to create my sentiments but I think the fonts really match.  I die cut all the sentiments except for the 'mother' which I had to fussy cut.  I added them all with teeny tiny slithers of foam squares.  I added a few black pearls for some bling and also added some white gelly roll highlights to the flowers.  For the inside I cut another purple card panel and added a black mat layer behind and also cut a white panel and adhered it with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink in the centre and as I had quite a few flowers left over replicated the arrangement from the front in the bottom right corner.  I also added a small leaf in the upper left corner.  The panel was then added to my card base with double sided tape.  I'm really happy with this card; I love the colour combo and the frame turned out exactly as I had hoped.

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

Allsorts challenge - spring flowers
As You Like It challenge - cute or floral (I like both but my mother loves florals so I always make a card with flowers for her)
Beautiful Blossoms challenge - Anything floral goes optional mood board
Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist bunnies, blooms or butterflies
Inkspirational challenge - use 2 or more sentiments
Little Red Wagon challenge - I guess that's why they call it the blues (include blue)
Papercraft challenges - spring blooms
Stencil Fun challenge - Anything stencil goes optional theme patterns
The Four Seasons challenge - ATG spring optional mood board
The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist things that begin with B (birthday, blooms, blue)
Triple B challenge - use at least one bird, blooms or butterflies optional inspiration board
Word Power challenge - make the sentiment the focus of your card

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 appreciate your lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card ingredients
(all Gina K Designs)
Master Layouts 18 (for the frame)
Elegant Thoughts stamp & die bundle (for happy birthday sentiment)
Lovely Ladies stamp set (for mother sentiment)
On the inside - birthday (for inside sentiment)
ink cube - light spruce

other supplies:
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here
Crafts UK Limited - 12"x12" white card (for card base)
Hobbycraft - A4 black card
Versafine - onyx black ink pad
purple card from stash

Tuesday, 1 April 2025

AAA Birthday challenge #72 - mythical

Good morning friends and welcome to April.  The weather is lovely here in South Wales and it's promised to be like this for the remainder of the week *yay*.  I'm not a sun worshipper but I definitely feel happier when the weather outside is nice and bright.  

I'm sharing my card for this month's AAA Birthday challenge and this month our theme is 'mythical'. So think unicorns, monsters, dragons, fairies, the list is endless.  I hope you will take on our challenge this month and get creating. Our guest designer this month is the lovely Silke so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.
I decided to make a fun fold card and went for a z-fold card.  I know there are quite a few variations of this fold but I went with the basic z-fold as it's simple to make but really packs a punch when displayed.  For my mythical element I went with a fairy image.  I hope you like it.  It was quite difficult to photograph so there are a few more photos than usual.  
Here is my card (from the front):
Here is the card (standing up):
View from above:
A close up of the adorable fairy:
A closer look at the inside:
I began by creating my card base which is 5 1/2" square.  On the front flap of the card I scored it in half at 2 3/4" and folded it towards the left to create the z fold shape.  I stamped the fairy onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured her with Promarkers and added some white gelly roll pen highlights.  Instead of fussy cutting her I used a decorative label die to cut her out.  I also have the matching scallop label die so cut that from pink card.  I decorated all the panels with a pretty pink gingham paper that I've had in my stash for years.  I adhered the labels together with double sided tape and then added foam squares to just the left side of the label and adhered it to the front half panel, making sure it was centred on the whole card.  I die cut a happy and birthday word from white card and the shadow layers from pink card and adhered them together with liquid glue.  Using a combination of liquid glue and foam squares I attached the die cut sentiments on the edge of the labels top left and bottom right.  I didn't add any further embellishments as I liked the clean look of the card.  For the inside I die cut another label and scalloped label as before and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I stamped two of the butterflies and coloured them with Promarkers and added white gelly roll highlights and stamped the sentiment in black ink in the centre.  I added double sided tape to the back of the label and carefully added it the inside of the card, making sure it lined up with the label on the front.  I hope I've explained it properly but if not there are lots of tutorials online to help you.  A really pretty card and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - any occasion (3rd entry)
Crafty Gals Corner challenge - fairy tale... mine is fairy
Creative Creases challenge - ATG with a fun fold
Girlz Creative Fun Art of Scrap challenge - ATG but must use patterned paper
Tic Tac Toe challenge - patterned paper/free/grass

The Design Team have created amazing cards as always so please pop over to the blog and check them out and perhaps leave them some love on their personal blogs. 

I hope you will be able to join in with the challenge this month but don't forget it has to be birthday themed. I can't wait to see your creations in the linky.

Have a great day.

Love and hugs,

card ingredients:
Lili of the Valley - woodland fairies polymer stamp set - not currently available
Promarkers
Spellbinders - labels one small die set - retired but loads on eBay
Spellbinders - scalloped labels one die set - retired but loads on eBay   
Tonic Studios - I love you fairy much stamp set (for inside greeting) - retired
Versafine - onyx black ink pad
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here
Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed
gingham and coordinating plain pink paper from stash

Sunday, 30 March 2025

AAA Cards challenge - guest designer

Good morning lovely friends.  Well can you believe we are almost at the end of March....where is the time going?  It only seems like 5 minutes ago I was wishing everyone a Happy New Year lol!  

I'm here today to share a card I made for the new AAA Cards challenge.  I won a challenge at the end of last year and was invited to be a guest designer, which I immediately accepted.  Their challenges are always 'anything CAS goes' but there is an optional theme, which this time is '1+1'; which means you use the centre prompt and choose 1 other prompt from the outer circles.  
here's a closer look at the graphic:
I wanted to make a card for a friend's birthday and had this fun stamp set in mind so I chose to pair silhouettes with geometric or organic shapes (although it would also fit pets) as my 1+1.  I hope you like it.
Here is my card:
A closer look at my funny cat:
Plus I decorated the inside:
I began by cutting a white panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and using a stencil and some cool ink colours created my organic shaped background.  I then stamped the cat image in black ink and the sentiment just below him.  I adhered the panel to the card base with foam tape.  I didn't add any embellishments or extras as I wanted to keep my card as CAS as possible.  For the inside I cut another white panel and stamped the sentiment in black ink in the centre (it's an inside joke as that is what my friend and I used to call each other) and also stamped another smaller cat in the bottom right corner.  I adhered the panel to my card base with double sided tape.  A super quick card but it turned out really fun.  

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

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional clean & simple
Fab 'n' Funky challenge - one for the boys/men
Just Us Girls challenge - ATG stencil week

I can't wait to see what you create for this challenge; there are lots of fun options for this one. I would like to thank Maaike and the Team at AAA Cards challenge for the opportunity to be a guest designer; please go and check out their amazing creations and leave them some love. 

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate you taking the time to visit me and leave me comments.  I'll be back on Tuesday with my card for the AAA Birthday challenge so I hope you can call back again and check it out.  

Love and hugs,

card ingredients:
Funky Fossil Designs - what meow? stamp set
MFT - smitten kitten stamp (for outside sentiment)
Neat & Tangled - kitty's favourite things (for inside sentiment) - store sadly closed
Gina K Designs - ink pads - lucky clover, ocean mist and blue raspberry
Versafine - onyx black ink 
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but this 250gsm smooth white card is an alternative in stock here)

Thursday, 27 March 2025

Krafty Chicks challenge #761 - Masculine

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. It's been a glorious week here in South Wales, although it's set for change today as we've been forecast rain.  

It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 4; as always the theme is 'masculine' and Lori is our hostess. I know it's not everyone's favourite theme but we do need to make these types of cards on occasion so get ahead and have some ready in your stash.  We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.
I didn't have anyone in mind when I made my card (although thinking about it now, it could come in useful in May when it's my BIL's birthday lol).  I went very clean and simple, which I think sometimes is best with masculine makes as most men don't do fussy.  I'm really happy with the finished result and I hope you like it too. 
Here is my card:
A closer look at the details:
I also decorated the inside:
I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and using an arrow die cut a row going down the left side of my panel.  I did draw a pencil line so that the centres would be in the same place but eye-balled the gaps between them.  I took another white panel the same size and using some ink cubes swiped them across horizontally to create my own faux patterned paper.  I stamped a simple happy birthday sentiment in black ink about 2/3rds of the way down on the right side.  I added foam squares behind the die cut panel and placed it over the ink swiped panel for some slight dimension.  This was then adhered to a black mat panel with double sided tape.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel instead of using foam tape and this was then adhered onto my card base with double sided tape.  To finish off I added 3 small black pearls around the sentiment.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and using the same ink cubes swiped them vertically along the bottom to create a border.  Using liquid glue I added two of the arrow pieces that were discarded when I cut the front panel over the border.  I stamped a sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I adhered the panel to a black mat panel with double sided tape and this was added to the card base with double sided tape.  A fun card but one that could easily be mass produced in lots of different colours.  

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

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional clean and simple
Fab 'n' Funky challenge - one for the boys/men

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'masculine' 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 ingredients:
Clearly Besotted Stamps - geometric style II (for arrow die) - retired
MFT - sweet 16 clear stamp (for outside sentiment) - retired
Gina K Designs - ink cubes from winter collection & dark lilac ink cube
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here
Hobbycraft - A4 black card
Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Thursday, 20 March 2025

Krafty Chicks challenge #760 - CAS

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 3. As always the theme is 'CAS' and Diane is our hostess. We want you to see all your clean and simple creations this week and we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.
It was my nephew's fiancee's birthday earlier this week and I used this opportunity to make her a card.  Her birthday is on St. Patrick's Day so of course I had to use green (again) as my starting point.   My card is 5" x 7" as always for family.  I hope you like it.
Here is my card:
A closer look at the details:
Plus I decorated the inside:
(I didn't realise my photo was out of focus until after I'd posted it)
I began by cutting my white panel 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and blended some green ink into the centre.  I took a speckle background stamp and used the same green ink to randomly stamp it over the blending (I used second generation stamping for a subtle look).  I smooshed some of the ink onto my glass mat and sprayed it with water and splattered it over the stamped and blended panel for some extra interest.  I die cut the outlined circles from white card and added it to the panel with liquid glue.  I used one of the inner portions that fell out of the die and stamped my sentiment using the same green ink pad and added it into the centre with foam squares.  I die cut two butterflies, which comes in two parts; the detail layer from white card and the backer piece from green card.  I adhered them together with liquid glue.  I also added some pencil highlights so that it wasn't a flat colour.  These were added over the top left and bottom right of the white die cut with liquid glue.  I didn't add any embellishments and I liked it as it was.  The inside photo is out of focus but I didn't realise until after I had posted the card but I think you can get the gist.  I cut another panel 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and ink blended the green ink at the very bottom, again using the speckle background and some splatters as before.  I die cut another butterfly and added it with liquid glue to the left lower corner.  I stamped my sentiment in the centre with green ink.  A really simple card but I think it's really pretty.  

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

AAA Cards challenge - follow my lead
AAA Colourful challenge - colour board #14
Aud Sentiments challenge - glitter & bling or St. Patrick's Day/Green + sentiment
Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist bunnies, blooms or butterflies
Colourful Options challenge - it's not easy being green
Craft Rocket challenge - for the girls
Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG option CAS
Get Creative challenge - happy birthday Barbie (card for a woman)
Make My Monday challenge - use a die or punch (3rd entry)
PINspirational challenge - spring greens optional inspiration photo
Triple B challenge - use at least one bird, bloom or butterfly optional mood 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 ingredients:
Waffle Flower - outlined circles die
Visible Image - speckle background clear stamp - no longer available
Clearly Besotted - butterfly duo die collection - retired
Gina K Designs - birthday cheer mini stamp
Gina K Designs - grass green ink pad
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - currently unavailable