Krafty Chicks challenge #768 - 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; and as always the theme is 'CAS' and Diane is our hostess. I know clean and simple means different things to everyone, but generally we want to see an uncluttered design, lots of open space with little or no embellishments.  We hope you are up for the challenge and you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I saw an awesome card on Pinterest a little while ago and really wanted to try it out.  It doesn't have 'white' space but it's still open, uncluttered and no embellishments.  I literally used scraps from my scrap box and 1 stamp set and that was it.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a black panel 4" x 5 1/4" and then used pink, orange and yellow scraps from my scrap box to make my colour blocking layout.  The larger pink piece was cut to 1 5/8" x 5 1/8", the orange piece was cut to 2 1/4" x 2 7/8" and the yellow piece was cut to 2 1/4" x 2 1/4".  I added the coloured pieces onto the black panel using liquid glue and leaving a thin black border between each piece.  I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of white card using black ink and used my trimmer to cut it to 1 1/2" x 1 3/8" and then mat it onto a black layer with liquid glue.  It was adhered to the panel with liquid glue.  The panel was then added to my card base with double sided tape.  I shocked myself as this card has no dimension and no bling at all - but it means it will be super convenient for posting!  For the inside I simply cut a white panel 3 3/4" x 5" and stamped the sentiment in the upper centre with black ink.  I used the same coloured card and made a thin border 1"deep at the bottom of the panel, adding them with liquid glue.  In hindsight I should have left a gap between the pieces as I did on the front panel but too late now!  The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  A really graphic design and colours are very retro 80's but I think the layout almost looks comic book too.  

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 '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 (a very short list today):

Gina K Designs - birthday bash stamp set

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Limetree Crafts - 220gsm black card

coloured card from my scraps bin

Cards For All Seasons IG Hop - Week 10

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 10 and our theme is 'under the sea'. So think fish, whales, sharks, shipwrecks, whatever takes your fancy.  A really fun theme for you this week and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

I knew what stamp set I was going to use as soon as I saw the theme.  I've had this set in my stash for ages and hadn't given it any love yet so it was the right time to dig it out.  I decided to make a 5" x 7" card so that I had more room for my sea creatures.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at my sea creatures:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping all the sea creatures onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with Promarkers and used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I cut a white panel 5" x 7" and ink blended a sea bed and water for my background, also adding some water drops to mimic bubbles.  I used a stitched rectangle die to cut out my panel and a plain rectangle die for my black mat layer.  I adhered them together with double sided tape.  I added most of the creatures with foam squares except for 2 of the sea vines (can't remember their proper name lol), one fish and the shell; which were adhered with liquid glue.  I added some bubbles with a white gelly roll pen.  I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of white card and cut it out with a sentiment strip die.  I added this at the top of the panel with liquid glue.  The panel was then added to my card base with foam tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel using the same dies and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I created a mini sea again by ink blending and added a sea vine, fish and shell that I had leftover to the bottom of the card.  I added the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  A really fun card and suitable for all ages I think but especially a child.  

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

A Place to Start challenge - ATG optional twist for a child

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line I - free, stamped image and/or text, ink smears or blending

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal (if sea creatures not allowed please delete)

Crafty Calendar challenge - for a child

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - sea life

Everybody Art challenge - birthday

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - birthday

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or transport

Little Red Wagon challenge - D is for die cut

The Male Room challenge - under the sea

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 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 supplies:

Gina K Designs - just keep swimming stamp & die bundle

Promarkers

Gina K Designs - sentiment strip dies

Gina K Designs - ink pads - sandy beach, kraft, tranquil teal, turquoise sea, blue lagoon, blue denim, in the navy

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 8

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here

Limetree Crafts - 220gsm black card

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Mother's Day card 2

Hello again friends, I hope you had a great weekend and the weather is still lovely where you are.  We were forecast thunderstorms today but luckily they haven't appeared (yet anyway lol!).  I'm back to share the second Mother's Day card I made, this time for my MIL.   I made a 5" x 7" card as I usually do for my family cards.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the flowers:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began stamping the images onto alcohol marker friendly card using black ink.  I coloured them with Promarkers and used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I cut my background panel to 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and used an embossing folder for some extra interest; I matted this onto a black layer with double sided tape.  This was then adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  I stamped 4 small panels using the gauze background stamp from the same set as the flowers using a kraft colour ink.  I used a stitched rectangle die to cut each panel and matted them onto an orange layer using double sided tape.  I adhered the panels onto the embossed panel using foam squares.  The images were also added with foam squares.  For the bottom left panel I stamped and die cut my sentiment and again adhered it with foam squares.  As I had a slightly larger gap in the centre of the panel I die cut a decorative frilly die and cut a thin strip of the orange card and threaded it through the holes to resemble ribbon (as I didn't have any ribbon in the right colour).  I added this to the panel with liquid glue.  For a finishing touch I added some black pearls between the 'ribbon' border and also around my sentiment.  For the inside of my card I cut a white panel 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and partially embossed the lower third.  I then matted the panel onto a black card layer with double sided tape.  To cover the join between the embossing and plain portion of the panel I added another decorative 'ribbon' border die cut, again threaded with orange card and decorated with black pearls. I stamped my sentiments with black ink in the centre and then the panel was added to my card base with double sided tape.   

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

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - ATG must use an EF with a twist of florals

Cardz 4 Galz challenge - flowers

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist feminine 

Craft Rocket challenge - flowers

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG option May flowers

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - pretty flowers

Inspired by challenge - basket of flowers (I was inspired by the flowers and the texture on the door)

Simply Create Too challenge - anything for a woman

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - beautiful blooms

Stamping Sensations challenge - feminine

The Dream Factory challenge - flowers and/or Mother's Day

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

I hope you have a wonderful week.  I appreciate you stopping by and leaving me such lovely comments.   

Love and hugs

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - sending flowers stamp & die bundle 

Promarkers

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 19 die set

Gina K Designs - gentle silhouettes stamp

Gina K Designs - celebration wreath bundle (for outside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - petite flourish embossing folder

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

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 sadly closed

Mother's Day card

Hello lovely friends; I hope your week has been great and the weekend is nearly here *yay*.   Today I am sharing one of the Mother's Day cards I made back in March; when I saw that it was Mother's Day in the USA this weekend I realised that I hadn't shared my cards for this year.  Today I'm going to share the card I made for my mother and then in another post I will share the card I made for my MIL.  

I made a larger 6" x 8" card this time and even though it's quite a large space to fill I had a layout in mind when I made it.  I used a new (back in March) decorative die and some gorgeous flowers from Gina K Designs.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the flowers:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by creating my background panel using a clear background stamp.  I cut my white panel 5 3/4" x 7 3/4" but the stamp is only 4 x 6 so I turned it sideways and stamped it twice using a light brown ink so that it would fill my panel.  I used gold mirri card as my mat layer and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I cut two of the decorative panels from ML 19 and again added a gold mirror mat layer behind it with double sided tape.  I placed them on the panel at a jaunty angle, overlapping slightly.  For my focal point I used two flower images and coloured them with the layering stencils and die cut them out with the coordinating dies.  I added a few white hightlights with a gelly roll pen.  I cut a few extra white flowers so that I could add some dimension with using foam squares.  The flowers were adhered together with liquid glue and then added to the decorative panels with liquid glue.  For the sentiments I used a mix of stamp sets, stamped them in black ink and cut them out with the coordinating dies.  I also die cut extra white pieces of these and layered them together with liquid glue.  They were added to the card panel with liquid glue.  The panel was added to my card base with double sided tape.  For a finishing touch I added some gold pearl embellishments.  For the inside I used some leftover offcuts of the stamped background and placed them at the top and bottom of the panel, adding a thin strip of the gold mirri card to make it look more finished.  I adhered this onto a gold mirri mat layer with double sided tape.  The inside sentiment was made up of two separate stamps which I stamped in black ink.  I added the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  I was really happy with this card and it looked so much better in real life.  

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

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - Anything floral goes with optional mood board

Cardz 4 Galz challenge - flowers

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist feminine

Craft Rocket challenge - flowers

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional theme feminine

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG option May flowers

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - pretty flowers

Inkspirational challenge - seasonal - spring/Mother's Day

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - beautiful blooms

Stamping Sensations challenge - feminine

The Four Seasons challenge - think spring optional mood board

The Dream Factory challenge - flowers and/or Mother's Day

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

Word Art Wednesday challenge - ATG

I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and that you have a fun weekend. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and hugs, 

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - floral friendship stamp & die bundle & layering stencils

Gina K Designs - ML 19 die set

Gina K Designs - double BG 1/grip mat clear stamp

Gina K Designs - celebration wreath mini stamp

Gina K Designs - gentle silhouettes stamp & die bundle

Gina K Designs - a bit of spring mini stamp (inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - Sending flowers clear stamp (inside sentiment)

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

Gina K Designs - ink pads - butterscotch, sunkissed coral, jelly bean green, fresh asparagus

Craft UK Ltd - 12" x 12" 250gsm smooth white card

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Sakura - no. 10 white gelly roll pen

gold mirri card from stash

Krafty Chicks challenge #767 - Christmas

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 2; and as always the theme is 'Christmas' and I am our hostess.  It's always good to be prepared before the mad rush so we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I've made lots of masculine cards lately, this time of year I have my husband's, son's, FIL's, BIL's and of course Wesley's birthdays so I was in the mood for something pink and feminine this week lol!  I haven't stencilled for what seems like ages so grabbed one of my favourite snowflake stencils and got to work.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the snowflake:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I decided to make a 5" x 7" card for a change so cut my white panel to 4 1/2" x 6 1/2".  I took the stencil and using my sticky mat and two colours of pink ink stencilled the design in the top left and bottom right corners, leaving some white space in the opposite corners.  I added a silver mirror mat layer with double sided tape and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  For the sentiment I ink blended some of the darker pink ink onto a scrap piece of white card and die cut the word from that.  For the shadow I used white card and also cut another 3 layers for extra dimension.  I adhered all the layers of the sentiment together with liquid glue.  I added the sentiment in the centre of the card overlapping where the two stencilled snowflakes met.  For a final finishing touch I added some clear quartz sequins to enhance the design of the snowflakes.  A really pretty, girly Christmas card; I really like it and I think it would look great in lots of different colours.  

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

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up challenge - ATG optional twist blue/gold

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - Christmas

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line N - Christmas/pink/free

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist feminine

Girlz Creative Christmas challenge - ATG Christmas

Inkspirational challenge - seasonal (I went with Winter - Christmas)

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

Peace on Earth Christmas challenge - anything Christmas themed optional mood board

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - stencil fun

Stencil Fun challenge - ATG stencils optional bouquets

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 supplies:

Gina K Designs - stellar snowflake stencil

Gina K Designs - ink pads - bubblegum pink & passionate pink

Gina K Designs - Merry Christmas & shadow die 

Gina K Designs - winter terrain stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - clear quartz solid sequins

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here

Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop May 25

Hello friends and Happy Bank Holiday Monday. I hope you've had a lovely day and a chilled weekend. I am delighted to be joining a new Instagram Hop called Gorgeous Gift Tags, which not surprisingly is all about tags! I don't make them very often but think they are so useful to decorate a plain gift bag. I have joined a fantastic group of crafty friends who love to create gorgeous gift tags. We will be hopping on the 5th of each month to share our ideas.  Each month will be ATG but we will have an optional theme; however as it's our first month we are just going with ATG this time.  

I bought a tag die set from Spellbinders ages ago and hadn't used it so wanted to give it some love. My son and my BIL's birthdays are coming up soon so I went with blue as my colour scheme so one of them will be getting this tag on their present lol!. I hope you like it.

Here is my tag:

A closer look at the details:

I stamped a simple To: From: on the back:

I began by die cutting the tag twice from white card so that I could stamp the back separately in case I messed up lol! I die cut the fringed detail from 4 different shades of blue card and also cut 3 balloons, 2 from blue and one from white for some contrast. I also cut some balloon strings from white card. I added the fringed pieces, starting from the bottom from darkest to lightest, with double sided tape. The balloons were added with foam squares and I added some liquid glue to the strings. I stamped the sentiment onto some scrap white card using a dark blue ink pad and used the coordinating die to cut it out. I cut an additional 2 layers from white card and adhered them together with liquid glue. This was added over the balloon strings with liquid glue. For a finishing touch I added some clear quartz sequins. For the tag on the back I simply stamped a To: From: using the same dark blue ink pad and adhered them together with liquid glue. For decorating the top of the tag I used some white tulle ribbon (which was recycled from the box of my husband's birthday cake) and some blue/white twine which was tied around the tulle in a tiny bow. I'm really pleased with how my tag turned out.

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

Christmas (or not ) Bingo challenge - tag, monochrome, free

Colorful Options challenge - color palette (I was inspired by the blue colours)

Daisy Chain challenge - boys/men

Little Red Wagon challenge - use that stash (my tag die is old but never used)

The Neglected Stuff challenge - ATG but use neglected stuff (my tag is old but never used)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Tic Tac Toe challenge - die cut, birthday, stripes

We hope you will be inspired by our Gift Tag Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous tags along the way. If you would like to join us please use the hashtag #gorgeousgifttagshop2025 and we can find your tags.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

card supplies:

Spellbinders - create a decorative tag die set

Spellbinders - send & seal stamp & die set (released Apr but can't find it)

Spellbinders - balloons & birthday wishes die set - retired

Gina K Designs - sketched wreath builder stamp

Gina K Designs - in the navy ink pad

Gina K Designs - clear quartz solid sequins

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here

coloured card stock from scraps bin

twine from stash

tulle ribbon recycled from packaging