Krafty Chicks challenge #787 - 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; as always the theme is 'masculine' and Lori is our hostess (although she is currently taking a short break). I know masculine makes can be difficult but we always need them so why not join our challenge and get ahead. We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I started with a totally different vision of what my card was going to be - does this ever happen to you?  I stamped the notepaper background and was looking through my stash for my notebook edge die when I came across these fun stamps from Clearly Besotted and as I don't think I've ever used them, I changed my original idea and used these instead.  My card is 5" x 7" in size.  I love how it turned out and I hope you do too!

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the note paper background onto white card using a light blue ink pad.  I cut it out using a stitched rectangle.  I stamped the images onto white card; the phone was originally grey but I thought I looked a little drab so stamped over it with the same light blue ink that I used for the background which gave it more a teal colour.  I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I also stamped the emojis but there wasn't a die for those (luckily I found a die from Spellbinders that cut the exact circle that I needed even though it was supposed to cut some dancing legs lol!).  I cut a stitched blue panel and black mat panel from a slightly larger die set and adhered them together with liquid glue.  The note paper background was adhered with double sided tape at a wonky angle for a bit of interest.  I added the images with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and then adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  At the last moment I decided to stamp the two extra sentiments with black ink, which was a little scary but thankfully it turned out ok. For the inside I cut a white stitched panel and black mat layer and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I had a small piece of the background left so I adhered that to the bottom of the white panel with liquid glue, adding a small strip of the blue card above it.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and finished with another two emojis.  A fun card that I think any male would appreciate.  

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

Color Dare challenge - #670 use at least 3 colours (I used 2 different blues and yellow)

Colorful Options challenge - ATG

Craft Rocket challenge - dots and/or stripes

Double D challenge - make your own background (I used a stamp to make my note paper BG)

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - happy birthday

The Neglected Stuff challenge - must use at least one old neglected product (my stamp set has never been used and is at least 10 years old!)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Sweet Stampin' challenge - use die cuts

The Male Room challenge - create your own background (I used a stamp to make my note paper BG)

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - birthdays

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 supplies:

Clearly Besotted - text me stamp & die set - retired

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 8 (for larger panels)

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 17 (for smaller stitched panel)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - blue sky and wild dandelion

MFT - writing tablet background stamp

Spellbinders - I dance die set (for circle to cut my emojis) - retired

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Limetree Crafts - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

blue card from my stash

Patterned Paper Party IG Hop - September

Hello friends; I hope you're having a great weekend so far, although it's definitely weather for cosying up and watching a movie as it's very wet here!  I'm back today 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 'autumn' so grab your patterned papers and have fun. I love this paper pad from Gina K Designs and pull it out each year lol!  I recently purchased a new Master Layouts die set which cuts layers for US A6 sized cards (4 1/2 x 6 1/4") which is a fab size so that was used for this card also.  The layout is fairly simple but I wanted to show off as much of the paper as I could.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting a white stitched panel and brown mat layer using the ML die set; I also used the stitched layer to cut my patterned papers.  There is a smaller strip stitched die and mat in the die set so cut a white stitched and brown mat layer to go across the middle of my card.  I used a leaf embossing folder (another favourite) to add some interest to the white stitched strip.  I adhered all the layers together with liquid glue.  I die cut the thanks word from white card 4 times and the shadow from brown card and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped the sub-sentiment in brown ink onto white card and cut a brown mat layer; again they were adhered with liquid glue.  I added the white embossed layer onto the patterned papers with foam squares and the thanks die was also adhered with foam squares.  The sub-sentiment was added below the thanks with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel with double sided tape for some stability and dimension and this was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  I finished off with some gold pearls.  For the inside I cut another white stitched and brown mat layer and added a strip of each of the papers to the top and bottom with liquid glue. I adhered the panels together with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with brown ink.  The panel was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

613 Avenue Create challenge - ATG optional twist lots of leaves

Allsorts challenge - trees, leaves and plants

Aud Sentiments challenge - tags and/or thank you + sentiment

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - ATG embossing optional twist lots of layers

Cardz 4 Galz challenge - dies/punches

Cardz 4 Guyz challenge - autumn/fall

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist trees and/or leaves

Cut It Up challenge - it looks like fall

Inspired By challenge - autumn

Love Those Pretty Papers challenge - ATG optional theme favourite brand of paper

Papercraft Challenges - amazing autumn

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - must use paper and/or scissors

Sweet Stampin' challenge - use die cuts

The Four Seasons challenge - fall optional mood board

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional theme changing seasons

Tic Tac Toe challenge - rectangle/large sentiment/metallics or rectangle/3 or more colours/embossing

Try It On Tuesday challenge - pretty papers

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

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 #patternedpaperpartyhopseptember2025 and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - autumn splendor 6x6 paper pad

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 17 die set

Gina K Designs - falling leaves embossing folder

Gina K Designs - thanks and shadow die set

Gina K Designs - fancy phrases stamp (for sub-sentiment) ? retired

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips die set

Gina K Designs - you are enough stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - dark chocolate ink pad 

Gina K Designs - pearl mix - metallic gold, black & silver

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

brown card from stash

Krafty Chicks challenge #786 - CAS

Good morning lovely friends and welcome back 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 white space, 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 wanted to use the gifted Stamptember set once again; you may remember it was a Christmas bauble set, but I wanted to make a birthday card.  I only used the scallop circle stamp from the set but as I stamped it in black I feel it is the focal image.  My card is VERY clean and simple this time but I hope you like it.

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 stamped the scalloped circle stamp 5 times across the top third of my panel using black ink.  I made sure to offset them and overlap them for some interest.  I die cut the word happy from scraps of card in rainbow colours and adhered them inside the circles using liquid glue.  I stamped the birthday sentiment below the circles on the right hand side.  At the last moment I decided to use my score board and add some scored lines above and below the stamped piece, although now I'm not sure if I should have left it as it was.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel for stability and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape. For the inside I cut another white panel and stamped two more scalloped circles in the bottom right corner using black ink.  Inside these circles I stamped a purple and pink heart to finish the rainbow from the front.  I stamped the sentiment in the upper centre with black ink and again added some scored lines around the stamping.  The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  I think this card would be suitable for anyone, any age or gender and the plus was it was super quick to make.

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

Addicted to CAS challenge - geometric

Colourful Options challenge - ATG

Craft Rocket challenge - dots and/or stripes

Double D challenge - make your own background

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - happy birthday

Simply Clean and Simple challenge - ATG CAS optional theme birthdays

Stamping Sensations challenge - CAS

The Male Room challenge - create your own background (I embossed the lines with a scoreboard)

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - birthday

Tic Tac Toe challenge - stripes, stamped image (the scalloped circles are stamped), embossing

Unicorn challenge - circles

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

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:

Simon Says Stamp - shiny baubles stamp

Simon Says Stamp - happy birthday die set

Simon Says Stamp - favourite puperoni stamp (for birthday and heart) - I think it's retired

Simon Says Stamp - birthday basics stamp (for inside greeting)

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

coloured card from scraps bin

Cards For All Seasons IG Hop Week 19 - autumn

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 19 and our theme is 'all things fall'. Such a fun theme this week; think pumpkins, leaves, hot drinks, even halloween.  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.

As the latest Spellbinders Club Kits had just landed on my desk it would have been rude not to use them right?  I ordered the small die of the month which had the fantastic pumpkin, cat and ghost and the 2D embossing folder which has a flowing leaves design which is gorgeous.  I decided to go all out autumn so didn't use the cat or ghost this time but they will definitely come in handy for Halloween.  My card is full of colour and dimension and I hope you like it. 

 Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting all the elements and ink blended over them for some extra definition.  I die cut the wavy rectangle from kraft card and then used the embossing folder.  I swiped over the embossing folder with some white pigment ink.  I adhered the pumpkin and lid with foam squares but everything else was added with liquid glue.  I white heat embossed the sentiment onto the same kraft card and cut it out with a sentiment strip die and added this above the die cuts with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind the kraft panel and then adhered this to the card base with double sided tape. I finished off with a few gold sequins.  For the inside I cut two white wavy rectangles and embossed one with the folder.  I cut the embossed one down to a strip and adhered that the bottom of the plain one with liquid glue.  I die cut a few more leaves and arranged them in the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I added the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  I will add a sentiment when I'm ready to send it out.  A really fun card with lots of interest and colour.  

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

613 Avenue Create challenge - ATG optional twist lots of leaves

A Cut Above challenge - ATG must use a die cut

Allsorts challenge - tree, leaves and plants

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - ATG optional twist lots of layers

Cardz 4 Guyz challenge - autumn/fall

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist trees or leaves

Crafty Calendar challenge - lots of layers

Crafty Gals Corner challenge - fall.....colours

Die Cut Divas challenge - ATG

Sweet Stampin' challenge - use die cuts

The Four Seasons challenge - fall optional mood board

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist changing seasons

Tic Tac Toe challenge - rectangle, three of more colours, embossing

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:

Spellbinders - harvest magic small die of the month Sept 25

Spellbinders - autumn breeze 2D embossing folder of the month Sept 25

Spellbinders - gold smooth disc color essentials sequins - on sale!

Scrapbook.com - nested wavy rectangles

Gina K Designs - harvest silhouettes stamp (for sentiment)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips die

Gina K Designs - white pigment ink cube

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm smooth white card

Crafter's Companion - 280gsm Kraft card

WOW! - opaque bright white super fine embossing powder

ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop September 25

Hello friends, I hope you're doing great and you've had a great start to your week. I'm back to share my ATCs for this months's ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop.  We challenge you to use leftover die cuts, sentiments, and card stock to create Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). You can send them in happy mail, save them on a ring to highlight your favorite creations, swap them with friends, leave them on a co-worker’s desk, 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. Sounds like so much fun doesn't it. 

The theme is always 'anything goes', we just want to be creative and make ATC's using up our scraps or leftovers.  I went with a mixed media vibe this month and actually used a scrap of copy paper that I keep on my desk when I'm ink blending or splattering etc to mop up the mess.  It looked really interesting and I thought it would make a great background for my ATCs.  I did add more ink blending to make the pieces darker but it was a great starting point.  I hope you like my ATCs this month (I made 4!).

Here are my ATCs:

I made them so that they could 'join' together:

A closer look at one of the ATCs:

Plus I decorated the backs:

This is the scrap of paper that was my starting point:

I began by cutting the background in 2 1/2" x 3/12" pieces; some were made up of smaller pieces but when they were glued together and all the extra details added it was hard to tell that there was a join. As I said I did add some extra ink blending to the backgrounds and also made some areas extra dark.  I found some vintage text paper in my stash and used that to add some interest to the corners and edges of the ATCs, I also added some pink ink blending to these areas.  I used a post card stamp set to add some black details and used a stencil and a damp wet wipe to take off the colour in some areas.  For my focal images I stamped 2 butterflies onto the paper and coloured the inside with 2 promarkers, one purple and one pink, before using the coordinating die to cut them out.  I lightly taped two of the ATCs together along the back with masking tape and glued the butterfly along the join with liquid glue.  Once dry I then cut them apart so that half of the butterfly was on each ATC. I repeated this step on the other two ATCs.  I finished with some white gouache splatters. For the reverse of the ATCs I used some of the text paper which I added with liquid glue.  I ink blended some of the pink and blue inks around the edge and added an ATC info sticker in the middle.  I'm really enjoying the mixed media look as it can be a little messy and still look good.

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - make your mark (ink blending/splatters)

Craft Rocket challenge - dots and/or stripes (stencilled dots in my background)

Girlz and the Art of Letters challenge - Letter I (ink blending)

Moving Along With The Times challenge - butterflies or dragonflies

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - use paper and/or scissors (text paper for butterflies and background, scissors to cut paper and butterflies in half)

Sweet Stampin' challenge - use die cuts (die cut my butterflies)

Tag-along (& ATCs) challenge - things with wings

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

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #ATCscrapmakes2025 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 Cards for All Seasons IG Hop so I hope you will pop back and check it out. Until then thank you so much for stopping by. 

Love and hugs,

ATC supplies:

Gina K Designs - you give me butterflies stamp & die

Gina K Designs - post cards & more stamp

Gina K Designs - ink pads - dusty rose, in the navy, blue denim

Hunkydorky - essential paper pack - vintage newspapers

Promarkers (trick or treat & violet)

Winsor & Newton - white gouache

Pre-made ATCs from stash

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

CASE IT IG Hop - September

Hello again friends.  I hope you've had a great day so far.  I'm back to share a card I made for another new IG Hop I've joined.  This one is called the CASE IT Instagram Hop where we find a project on Instagram that inspires us and we will share that project as well as the project we’ve created that was inspired by that original.  There are so many beautiful creations on Instagram the only difficult part is narrowing down which one to CASE (which means Copy And Share Everything).

I was inspired by Galina (@galachko over on IG); her cards are beautiful and so well designed.  I actually didn't change too much from her original as I loved it so much.  Here is her card for my inspiration:

As you can see she has a pretty quilted background, a die cut circle, some gorgeous butterflies, heat embossed sentiment and a few dew drop type embellishments.  I loved the CAS layout so stuck to that pretty closely.  I also had the same quilted background die so used mine too.  In place of the butterflies I used some cute images and added pearl embellishments.  

Here is my card: 

A closer look at the cute images:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and die cut it using the quilted background die.  I stamped the images onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with Promarkers, added white gel pen highlights and used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I stamped the sentiment using versamark onto black card and white heat embossed it before using a sentiments strip die to cut it out.  I die cut a decorative circle from white card and added some scrap white card behind it for dimension.  The quilted background was adhered to the card front with double sided tape and the circle placed on top also with double sided tape.  I arranged the images and sentiment over the circle with foam squares and finished off with some pearl embellishments.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added a strip of white card again cut with the quilted background to the bottom with liquid glue.  I stamped, coloured and die cut another plaster (or band-aid) image and adhered that in the left lower corner with liquid glue. I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  I know my card follows Galina's card quite closely but I loved it so much but I did make a few slight changes to make it my own.  

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

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - cute as a button (something cute and/or a button)

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or gnomes

Simply Clean and Simple challenge - CAS optional theme 'birthdays'

Stamping Sensations challenge - CAS

Sweet Stampin' challenge - use die cuts

Tic Tac Toe challenge - large sentiment, 3 or more colours, stamped image

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

Unicorn challenge - circles

We Love Stamping challenge - make it cute

We hope you will be inspired by our CASE IT Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous cards along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #caseithop and we will find you. 

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

Lots of love

card supplies:

Waffle Flower - dashed rombus panel die

Lawn Fawn - get well soon stamp & die

Spellbinders - fluted classic circles die

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments die

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Versamark - watermark ink pad

WOW! - opaque bright white super fine embossing powder

Heffy Doodle - everyday sentiment duos stamp - store now closed

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

Little Things From Lucy's Cards - beach dreams crystal collection - store now closed