Krafty Chicks challenge #754 - birthday

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 is Week 1, our theme is 'birthday' and our hostess is Leanne. We always need birthday cards, gift packaging and decorations so I'm sure you will find this week a breeze!  We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I always need birthday cards but didn't have anyone in mind when I made my card so I just had fun.  I haven't used this die set for ages so decided to give it some love.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A close look at the die cut:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting the large word die which comes in three separate dies.  The background was cut from white card, the happy from red card and the birthday from pink card.  I added some shading to the happy and birthday words with a slightly darker ink for some extra interest.  I adhered them together with liquid glue.  I cut a white panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and once again grabbed the snowy background stamp (as it really looks like splatter to me) and used the same red and pink inks to create a fun and playful background for my sentiment to rest on.  I matted this onto a pink layer with double sided tape.  I added the die cut sentiment with foam tape.  I finished by added a few clear sequins around the word and added shimmer pen all over the happy and birthday words.  The panel was added to my card base with foam tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and used some left over pieces from the background, adding them at the top and bottom of the panel.  I also added a thin strip of pink card to cover the join.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre of the panel with black ink.  The panel was added to the card base with double sided tape.  A really fun card and you could make it in every colour of the rainbow and it would still look fab.  

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 appreciate your lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card ingredients:

Gina K Designs - birthday trio die set

Gina K Designs - snowy BG stamp

Gina K Designs - on the inside - birthday stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - red hot & passionate pink

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but this 250gsm smooth white card is an alternative in stock here)

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Tonic Studios - Nuvo aqua shimmer pen in glitter gloss

Cards for all seasons IG Hop - Week 3

Hello friends; I hope you're having a great week so far. I'm back today to share my card for this week's Cards for All Seasons IG hop organised by my lovely friend Kelly. We're back with Week 3 and this week our theme is 'I love.......'. which means you can go to town and make a card using things you love, or incorporate an occasion you love or simply make a love themed card.  A really fun theme and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

I knew I wanted to incorporate chocolate into my card as I love it and I'm a serious chocolate addict! I decided to give it a twist and make it a Valentine's card for hubby as I think he will find it funny (as he knows if I had to choose I probably would take chocolate over him lol!).  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the fun image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured her with Promarkers.  I also stamped a full background with the cute chocolate image and also a few extra chocolates and again coloured them all with Promarkers.  I used a shaped die to cut out the girl and slightly larger matching shaped die to cut a red mat.  I added them together with double sided tape.  I was originally going to use the full background that I created on the front on my card but it was a little busy so I decided to cut a strip for the centre and matted this onto red card with double sided tape.  I cut a white panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and again matted it onto red card with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiments in black ink and die cut them with some sentiment strip dies.  I added the background strip into the centre of the panel with double sided tape and adhered the image over top with foam squares.  I added the chocolate word with foam squares and as I had fussy cut two chocolates added them under each side with liquid glue.  I added the other two sentiments above and below the image with liquid glue.  The panel was then added to my card base with foam tape.  No embellishments this time as there was already a lot going on.  For the inside I cut a white panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and matted it onto a red panel with double sided tape. I added a strip of left over background to the bottom with double sided tape and a thin strip of red card above that with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink in the centre and added one more fussy cut chocolate image next to it.  I added my panel to the card base with double sided tape.  A really fun card and I'm sure my husband will appreciate the joke.  

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

* to be updated * 

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #cardsforallseasonshop2025 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it last time but our challenges are now every other week, so we will be back with our next card in 2 weeks time.  

I'll be back in the morning with my card for the Krafty Chicks challenge so I hope you will pop back and check it out. Until then thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card ingredients:

Elzybells - sweet like chocolate stamp (store closed many years ago sadly)

Promarkers

Casual Friday - coffee talk stamp (sadly closed a few years ago)

Spellbinders - labels one small & scalloped labels one (I got mine from eBay)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies & large sentiment strip dies

CC Designs - elegant Valentine red rubber stamp set

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but this 250gsm smooth white card is an alternative in stock here)

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

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

red card from stash

AAA Birthday challenge #70 - ink smooshing

Good morning friends and happy 1st February.  I'm sharing my card for this month's AAA Birthday challenge and this month we have a fun challenge for you of 'ink smooshing'.  I love the look of ink smooshing but sometimes I struggle to get the effect I want.  As I mentioned a little while ago since I made a homemade smoosher (inspired by Natalie Bowers or NB Cards on YouTube) I get great results; she has a video on her channel showing how to make it if you're interested.  Our guest designer this month is the lovely Ashwini Rao so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.

I love pink and purple together but don't use it often enough so that was the starting point of my card.   I decided to use some die cut flowers on top but kept them white so that they would stand out against the busy background.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A close up look at the flowers and ink smooshing:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I also had a small strip left over so decorated my envelope to match:

I began by cutting my white panel 4" x 5 1/4" from smooth white card.  I didn't feel the need to use watercolour card as I didn't use very much water.  I smooshed my ink down onto my glass mat, sprayed some water on top and picked it up with my homemade smoosher.  I initially tried ink smooshing through a stencil but I don't think I choose an 'open' enough stencil so it didn't really achieve anything, except for a few blobs, so I just went over it with the ink smoosher, direct to paper, to create my panel.  Obviously I didn't want a full ink smooshed background so decided to cut it down into strips.  I cut the front strip to be 1 7/8" and added it to a strip of black card with double sided tape.  I then adhered that to another white panel with foam squares (I could have added it directly to my card base but didn't want to mess it up lol).  I die cut the flowers from the same smooth white card and the centres from black card.  I added the stems and leaves with liquid glue and the flower heads with foam tape.  I stamped a sentiment in black ink in the bottom right corner.  The panel was then added to my card base with double sided tape.  No embellishments this time as I didn't think it needed anything.  For the inside I cut a strip of the smooshed panel to 7/8" and again adhered it to black card with double sided tape.  It was added to a white panel with double sided tape. I cut an extra one of the smaller flower and adhered that with liquid glue onto the strip.  I stamped a sentiment in black ink in the centre.  I added the panel onto my card base with double sided tape.  As I had a small strip left over and not wanting to waste it I decided to adhere it to my envelope so that everything was matching.  This was added with double sided tape.  I really like the organic effect you can achieve with ink smooshing and I hope you will give it a try.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes (optional mood board)

Cardz 4 Galz challenge - anything but square

CAS on Friday challenge - flowers

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional birthdays

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - always birthday

Little Red Wagon challenge - A is for anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Word Art Wednesday challenge - ATG

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:

Spellbinders - layered anemone dies

Spellbinders - stylish oval birthday wishes stamp set

Gina K Designs - ink pads - passionate pink & dark lilac

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but this 250gsm smooth white card is an alternative in stock here)

Hobbycraft - A4 black card

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Krafty Chicks challenge #753 - anything goes

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 as it's a 5 week month our theme is 'anything goes' and our hostess is Leanne.  Feel free to create anything you like, the world is your oyster lol! We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

It was my sister and brother-in law's 1st wedding anniversary recently (even though they've been together for 35 year lol!) so I took the opportunity to make them a card and I even bought a new stamp set especially for them.  I hope you like it:

Here is my card:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the image onto alcohol marker friendly card with memento ink.  I coloured it with Promarkers and then created a mask so that I could ink blend around it using a kraft coloured ink.  As always I made a 5" x 7" card as it was a family card so I cut the panel to 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" and matted it onto a black panel with double sided tape.  I stamped the sister & brother in law sentiment onto a piece of white card and then die cut it using a heart shaped die.  I also stamped the happy anniversary sentiment onto scrap white card and die cut it with a rectangle die.  The 1st sentiment was stamped and cut out with a small heart die.  I inked all the edges of the die cuts with the kraft ink and added them to the panel with foam squares.  For a finishing touch I die cut some small hearts from glitter card and arranged them around the image with liquid glue.  The panel was then added to my card base with foam tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" and matted it onto a black panel with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and added two strips of the glitter card to the top and bottom with double sided tape.  The panel was then added to the card base with double sided tape.  I'm really happy with the finished result and my sister & BIL loved it thankfully.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils

Cardz 4 Galz challenge - anything but square

Creative Inspirations challenge - something old or something new (new to me stamp set)

Creative Knockouts challenge - something to say

Cut It Up challenge - something new (new to me stamp set)

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - include a stamped image

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or springtime

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - have a heart

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'anything goes' 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:

Colorado Craft Company - lovely legs anniversary stamp set (currently oos)

Promarkers

Clearly Besotted Stamps - friends & family stamp set (retired)

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

Presscut - heart nesting dies

Gina K Designs - kraft ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but this 250gsm smooth white card is an alternative in stock here)

Hobbycraft - A4 black card

glitter card from stash

Krafty Chicks challenge #752 - Masculine

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 4.  This year we have changed the themes up a little and week 4 is now 'masculine'.  I know it's not a theme that everyone enjoys but we all have some males in our lives that we have to create for so let's bite the bullet and get creating.  Our hostess this week is Lori and we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

My brother-in-law's birthday is coming up soon so it was the perfect opportunity for me to make him a card.  He is into motorbikes so when I found this image I knew it would be ideal for him.  It's not my favourite card ever but I think it's ok and I'm sure my brother-in-law will love it, which is the most important thing.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the motorbike:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the bike onto alcohol marker friendly card using black ink and coloured it with my Promarkers (I didn't do a lot of shading but it looks ok).  I was going to make a 5" x 7" card but I had a little mishap with my image panel (I cut it too small lol) so my card ended up being 5 1/2" square.  I stamped the distressed lines stamp onto some red card using black ink and adhered it to the image panel using double sided tape.  I matted it onto a black panel again with double sided tape.  To make the join look more finished I added a thin strip of black card with liquid glue.  I stamped the happy birthday sentiment onto white card and cut it out with a sentiment strip die.  I die cut the letters from black card 3 x times and adhered them together with liquid glue.  Unfortunately I had something sticky on my paper trimmer which left little marks on my image panel that I couldn't remove; to salvage the panel I decided to add dots around the bike with black, grey and red markers.  I added the birthday strip in the top right corner with foam squares and the letters to the bottom left corner with liquid glue.  I had an area under the bike that looked a little bare so I punched 3 different circles from white, red and black card and adhered them with liquid glue.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 1/2" square and matted it onto a black panel with double sided tape.  I stamped part of the bike image into the left lower corner using a mid grey ink and added some more dots to coordinate with the front of the card.   I stamped the sentiment in black ink in the centre of the panel.  The panel was then added to my card base with double sided tape.  

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

Christmas (or not) Bingo challenge - Line I - square, layers, stamped images

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional twist birthdays

Crafty Calendar challenge - add a die cut (3rd entry)

Creative Knockouts challenge - something to say (10 challenges max)

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - always birthday

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or springtime

Scrapping4Fun challenge - ATG

Stamping Sensations challenge - hand coloured image (3rd entry)

Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge - sketch #294

Unicorn challenge - birthday

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:

Clear Impressions - for the boys stamp set (free in a magazine)

Promarkers

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments dies

Gina K Designs - on the inside - birthday stamp set

MFT - little letters die-namics - retired

Limetree Crafts -  250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but this 250gsm smooth white card is an alternative in stock here)

Hobbycraft - A4 black card 

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

red card from stash

Cards for all seasons IG Hop - Week 2

Hello friends; I hope you're having a great week so far. I'm back today to share my card for this week's Cards for All Seasons IG hop organised by my lovely friend Kelly. Unfortunately I missed Week 1 because I was ill with the 'flu that was going around over Christmas but I'm happy to be joining in again for Week 2.  This week is hosted by Kelly and she has chosen 'frosted florals or winter birds'. A really fun theme and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

This is the first card I've made this year as I was really rough with the flu and didn't feel like crafting.  It was lovely to get back into my craft room (although I left it in such a mess after Christmas that I seriously need to tidy up now).  I was going to go with birds but changed my mind at the last minute as I love florals.  I used a blue colour combo to make it feel more frosty.  I hope you like my card.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the images:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the florals in black ink, used the coordinating stencils to colour them in and die cut them with the matching dies.  I die cut the stitched panel from white card and the mat layer from teal card.  I used a snowy background stamp to create my soft background using teal and applemint inks.  I adhered the panels together with double sided tape.  I cut a smaller stitched panel from white card and again the coordinating mat layer from teal and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I thought this smaller panel would make a good grounding spot for my florals.  I added foam squares to both of the florals and added the large one to the top and the smaller one to the bottom right.  I stamped the sentiment with black ink and die cut it out.  I again added foam squares and added it to the centre of the smaller panel nestled between the flowers.  I added some Nuvo glitter accents to the centres of the flowers and finished off with a few silver pearls.  For the inside I again cut a white stitched panel and a mat teal panel and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I used the snowy background but only around the edges of the panel, leaving some white for my sentiment and personal message.  I had one more floral left over so added that the bottom right of the panel with double sided tape.  I messed up stamping my sentiment so re-stamped it in black ink and used the matching die to cut it out and adhered it over my mis-stamping with liquid glue.  The panel was adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  I love this colour combo and it was inspired by a card I saw by Karen Day Hightower over on the Gina K Designs & StampTV Friends FaceBook page.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - any occasion

Allsorts challenge - close to nature

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - letter O - rectangle, stitching, free

Creative Moments challenge - winter blues

Daisy Chain challenge - no design paper

My Time To Craft Christmas challenge - rectangle card base (please delete if winter not allowed)

Papercraft challenge - winter wonders

Stencil Fun challenge - use stencils optional hello and/or winter 

The Four Seasons challenge - winter optional mood board

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

We Love Stamping challenge - anything but square

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #cardsforallseasonshop2025 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

I'll be back in the morning with my card for the Krafty Chicks challenge so I hope you will pop back and check it out. Until then thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card ingredients:

Gina K Designs - holiday floral stamp & die bundle

Gina K Designs - holiday floral coordinating stencils

Gina K Designs - ink pads - sea glass, tranquil teal, turquoise sea, Christmas pine, applemint, lucky clover

Gina K Designs - snowy background stamp

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 8 (for stitched & mat panels)

Gina K Designs - black, gold and silver pearl mix

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - currently oos but this is available as an alternative

Tonic Studios - Nuvo glitter accents (fresh snowfall)

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

teal card from stash

Krafty Chicks challenge #751 - 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' (clean and simple) and Diane is our hostess.  Everyone interprets CAS very differently but as long as there is some 'white' space and not too many embellishments you're all good.  We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I wanted to make a thank you card for our kitchen fitter and feel that most men prefer clean and simple cards (in my family they do anyway) so this was perfect timing for me.  I went with a large sentiment over some card strips for a bold card.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A close up look at the sentiment:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting the large thank you sentiment from black shimmer card 4 x times and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I cut 7 strips of coloured card in rainbow order and adhered them to some thin copy paper using double sided tape so that they could be attached to my card panel in one piece.  I cut my white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added the rainbow strips with double sided tape into the centre.  I added the large sentiment die cut with a mix of liquid glue (to the middle section) and some thin foam squares (to the top and bottom) so that it would all be on the same level.  I used a die to cut the tiny circles from the same black card and added them with liquid glue.  I didn't add anything else as I liked it the way it was.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and another rainbow of strips and adhered them to the bottom with double sided tape.  I stamped the simple sentiment in the upper centre with black ink and finished off with a few more die cut circles.  The panel was added to the card base with double sided tape.  A bright and cheerful card but perfectly CAS I think.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - any occasion

Alphabet challenge - T for thank you 

Colorful Options challenge - yellow, purple, green or rainbow inspired

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG optional twist clean and simple

Daisy Chain challenge - no design paper

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - all things bright and beautiful

Moving Along with the Times challenge - thank you 

My Time To Craft challenge - use a sentiment 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - clean and simple

The Male Room challenge - clean and simple

Word Power challenge - make the sentiment the focus of your creation

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:

Lawn Fawn - giant thanks so much die

Gina K Designs - lots of dots die set

Clearly Besotted - sugar and spice clear stamp (for inside sentiment) - retired

All card from my scraps bin 

Versafine - onyx black ink pad