The Crafty Den: 01/09/2025

Thursday, 4 September 2025

Krafty Chicks challenge #784 - 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 we are on Week 1; 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.

It was my sister's birthday last week and today I'm sharing the card I made for my boys to give to their auntie. I don't seem to use purple very often and I'm not sure why because I love it. I used a fairly simple layout and the card size is 5" x 7". I'm happy with this card and I think it turned out really pretty. I hope you like it too.

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, coloured it with Promarkers and cut it into a rectangle. I matted it onto a gold layer with double sided tape; I also added some scrap white card behind this layer for some dimension without using foam tape. I cut a piece of gorgeous patterned paper 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" and again matted it onto a gold layer with double sided tape. I stamped the sentiment using black ink and used a sentiment strip die to cut it out; I again added a gold mat layer. I die cut some leafy branches from the gold card and adhered them to the top left and bottom right corners of the purple panel. I then placed the image panel over top with double sided tape. The sentiment was placed across the lower part of the image panel with foam squares. The panel was then added to the card base with double sided tape. I didn't add any extra embellishments as I loved it as it was. For the inside I cut a white panel 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" and added a gold mat layer with double sided tape. I adhered a strip of the patterned paper to the top and bottom of the panel with liquid glue and also added two more of the leafy branches in the left lower corner. Finally I stamped a sentiment in the centre with black ink. The panel was added to the card base with double sided tape.

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 supplies:

Stamping Bella - curvy girl can buy herself flowers stamp

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store sadly closed

Promarkers

Uniko Stamps - floral vines stamp (for happy birthday)

Uniko Stamps - everyday family (for Auntie)

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

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments die

Gina K Designs - let's get started die set: intri-cut exclusive (for leafy branch)

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Verafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

paper pad from stash (can't remember where I bought it)

gold card from stash

Wednesday, 3 September 2025

Cards For All Seasons IG Hop - Week 18

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 are now on Week 18 and our theme is 'the great outdoors'. Such a fun theme this week; think camping, tents, campfires, bears, etc. There are going to be so many awesome creations along the hop this week and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

I managed to get my hands on this fun camper van stamp & die set from Heffy Doodle before it closed and had never used it so I thought it would be perfect for this week's theme. It's a tiny set that also includes a sentiment, a small tree and some silhouette flying birds (the 'tick' style ones). The layout was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest. I think it turned out super cute and I hope you like it too.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the camper van:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the camper van onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured it with Promarkers, added a few white gel pen highlights and cut it out with the coordinating die. I also stamped 9 of the trees in 2 shades of green ink and again used the matching die to cut them out. I cut a brown panel of card 3 15/16" x 5 3/16" and used a very old cuttlebug embossing folder for some texture. I added it to a kraft mat layer that was cut to 4" x 5 1/4" with liquid glue. I cut the orange patterned paper 3 1/16" x 4 1/4" and again adhered it to a kraft layer with liquid glue. The checked paper was cut to 1 9/16" x 4 15/16" and matted onto a kraft layer with liquid glue. I added the paper layers to the embossed panel with liquid glue. I die cut a circle from kraft card and stamped the sentiment at the very bottom using a dark brown ink pad (the birthday came from another set). I added the trees with liquid glue and the camper van with foam squares. The circle was adhered to the lower right corner of the panel with foam squares. For a final finishing touch I added some orange and green enamel dots. I added some scrap white card behind the panel for stability and dimension and then adhered it to the card base with double sided tape. For the inside I cut a white panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and adhered it to a kraft mat with liquid glue. I added a strip of orange paper to the top and a strip of the checked paper to the bottom of the panel with liquid glue. I added 2 of the trees and another camper van to the bottom left corner with liquid glue. Finally I stamped a sentiment in the centre with dark brown ink. The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.

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

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut (I die cut my camper van, trees and circle)

Allsorts challenge - birthdays

As You Like It challenge - favourite colouring medium (Promarkers, I've used them for over 15 years and love them. The blend well and I still have my original pens for the most part)

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line G - kraft, free, hand-coloured image

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist happy birthday

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional twist use patterned papers

Die Cut Divas challenge - ATG (I die cut my camper van, trees and circle)

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - lots of layers

Dream Valley challenge - 2 or more papers

Farm Quest challenge - camping

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or gnomes

Inspiration Station challenge - inspiration photo (I was inspired by the trees and colours)

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - stamp it in STAMPtember

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - stamp it

The Four Seasons challenge - fall/inspiration photo (I was inspired by the colours)

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #cfascardhop2025 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

I'll be back tomorrow 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 supplies:

Heffy Doodle - happy camper stamp & die set - store now sadly closed

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now sadly closed

Promarkers

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

LDRS Creative - happy fall 6x6 paper pad - no longer available

Honey Bee Stamps - swimming by stamp (for birthday word)

Spellbinders - standard circles large die set

Gina K Designs - dark chocolate ink pad

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Crafter's Companion - 280gsm kraft card

MFT - just roll with it stamp (for inside sentiment)

Provo Craft/Cuttlebug - forest branches embossing folder

Cratelier - mint rainbow enamel dots

Your Next Stamp - summer chill enamel dots

Monday, 1 September 2025

Stamptember 2025!

Hello again friends; I hope you've had a great day so far. I'm back again to share a card as part of this year's 16th celebration of STAMPtember from Simon Says Stamp. The stamp set I am using literally dropped on my mat this lunchtime so I excitedly made a quick card to share with you. I was lucky to be gifted the awesome stamp set called 'shiny baubles' which is part of Simon Says Stamp own STAMPtember release; this is not limited edition and will be restocked as needed.

Today we are revealing NEW Simon Says Stamp-branded products designed to inspire and delight you. All are available exclusively at SimonSaysStamp.com. You’ll see intriguing new stamps (of course), inks, dies, embossing folders, and stencils, as well as some other fun surprises.

During STAMPtember®, they will also be releasing EXCLUSIVE products made in partnership with many of the industry’s finest brands and ONLY available at SimonSaysStamp.com! Heidi is going live tomorrow (Tuesday 2nd September at 12 noon ET) with STAMPtember exclusives, news, inspiration, prizes and much more so pop over to YouTube and set up your notification as you won't want to miss it!

I stamped each bauble with two colours of ink and added some gold heat embossing. I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the baubles:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a panel from fog card 4" x 5 1/4" and created my own background with the small star stamps in the set. I stamped the larger bauble in two contrasting colours of red ink and the smaller bauble in two shades of green ink, adding the extra details in the darker shade of ink. I added the toppers and focal images in the centre with gold heat embossing. I don't have the dies so I fussy cut out the baubles. I also gold heat embossed the sentiment directly onto the bottom of the panel. I made a hole at the top of the baubles with my pokey tool and threaded some gold thread which I secured at the back with double sided tape. The baubles were added with foam squares. I added some scrap white card behind my panel for stability and dimension and added it to my card base with double sided tape. For the inside I simply stamped a strip of the fog card with the stars and added it to the bottom of my white panel with liquid glue. I gold heat embossed another sentiment from the stamp set in the centre. The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape. I'm hoping to create a few more cards throughout the month using this stamp set so stay tuned.

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

12 Months of Christmas Link Up challenge - ATG Christmas optional twist circles & squares

CRAFT challenge - Christmas

Creative Crafting Uncles challenge - ATG

Girlz Creative Christmas challenge - ATG Christmas

Merry Little Christmas challenge - ATG Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - stamp it in STAMPtember

Sweet Stampin' challenge - use your favourite colour (I love red/green for Christmas)

The Holly & Ivy Christmas challenge - anything goes Christmas

There is loads of inspiration over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog and also over on Instagram. Please use the hashtags #stamptember #stamptember2025 #sssstamptember to check out what everyone is making.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me such lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Simon Says Stamp - shiny baubles stamp set (gifted)

Simon Says Stamp - fog card stock

Gina K Designs - ink pads - red hot, faded brick, jelly bean green, fresh asparagus, soft stone

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Cosmic Shimmer - detail bright gold embossing powder

Versamark - watermark ink pad

gold thread from stash

AAA Birthday challenge #77 - snarky

Hello again friends and happy 1st of September. I hope you all had a wonderful summer and the kids are ready to go back to school soon. Let's hope the first of the 'ber' months isn't too bad and we have some crisp, dry days and not lots of rain!

I'm here today to share my card for this month's AAA Birthday challenge and this month our theme is 'snarky' which is such a fun challenge. The urban dictionary's definition is:

"Snarky" is used to describe speech with a specific emotional tone, typically a form of sarcasm informed by cheekiness and a mild, playful irreverence or impudence".

We all love playful, fun sentiments and there are loads of stamp companies that make these types of greetings. Dig through your stash, I'm sure you have some; even if it's just 'you're how old?' Our guest designer this month is the lovely Carol so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.

As you know I love MFT Stamps (so sad they are now closed) and I had the perfect set for this challenge. I don't think I will ever not grab for my MFT products as they are so fun. Anyway enough waffling, I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel using a stitched rectangle die. I cut the strip of striped patterned paper using a torn edge die and also the stitched rectangle die so that it would match up with the white panel (in hinsight I could have skipped the torn edge as I ended up covering most of it lol!). I adhered this to the left edge of the panel with liquid glue. I cut a small strip of spotty paper and added that to the bottom of the panel with liquid glue. I also die cut a stitched rounded rectangle from some grid paper and adhered that to the centre with double sided tape, overlapping the other patterned papers. I stamped the image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured it with Promarkers. I don't have the dies for this set so I fussy cut him out. I stamped the snarky sentiment onto orange card with Versamark ink and white heat embossed it, using my trimmer to cut it out. I added foam squares to the sentiment and image and adhered the sentiment just overlapping the spotty paper and the image on top so that he looked like he was standing on it. I finished off with some enamel dots (still trying to use them up). For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added a strip of orange card at the bottom with double sided tape and then a piece of the striped paper with liquid glue, which I again cut with the torn edge die. I fussy cut another image, but this time only the top half, coloured him with Promarkers and added him with liquid glue. I stamped the sentiment in the centre with navy ink. The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape. A really fun card and I think this will be perfect for any of my older relatives.

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

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut

Allsorts challenge - birthdays or ATG (it is a birthday card, it says HBD on the inside)

As You Like It challenge - favourite colouring medium (I have used Promarkers for over 15 years; they blend well and most of my pens are the original ones and are still going strong)

Cheerful Sketches challenge - sketch 148

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line N - stripes, free, stamped phrase

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional 'use patterned papers'

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - lots of layers

Dream Valley challenge - 2 or more papers

Girlz makes Guyz Cards challenge - ATG men

Little Red Wagon challenge - G is for gentlemen

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - stamp it in STAMPtember

Simon Says Stamp 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,