Just Us Girls challenge #841 - Mood Board Week

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. I am back to share my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge and it's Mood Board Week and Vicki has a beautiful board to inspire us this week. There are so many gorgeous details on the mood board to choose from this week and I'm sure this is going to be a really popular week. I cannot wait to see all your gorgeous creations.

A closer look at the mood board:

Isn't it a beautiful mood board?  The neutral colours are gorgeous with lots of images to be inspired by; will it be the coffee cup, the houses, the cute dog or maybe the pumpkins.  I can't wait to see what you choose.  I decided to use neutral colours and a coffee theme for my card and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I hope you like it too.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I took a quick 9 sec video so you could see the legs 'dancing':

I began by cutting a cream card panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and a mat layer from brown card and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped three coffee rings using dark brown ink and some coffee beans using a lighter brown ink.  I decided to use this fun interactive 'dancing' die from Spellbinders and cut all the various pieces from coloured card from my scraps bin.  I cut the legs and hands from white card and coloured them with my Promarkers.  I adhered everything together and added it to my card panel using a mix of liquid glue and foam squares.  I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of the cream card using the lighter brown ink and fussy cut it out before adding it across the focal image using foam squares and liquid glue.  I finished off with some self adhesive pearls (although I never trust the self adhesive pads so I peeled them off and added liquid glue!).  The panel was adhered to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another cream panel and brown layer and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped one coffee ring in the bottom right corner and added a die cut coffee cup and a few leaves.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre using brown ink and adhered the panel to my card base using double sided tape.  

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

* to be updated *

I'm sure this will be a popular challenge as it is such a beautiful board and I cannot wait to see what you create. Please pop over to the challenge blog and leave some love for our guest designer Julia Aston and the rest of the design team.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Spellbinders - I dance die set

Spellbinders - sugar coated sentiments clear stamp (for outside sentiment)

Spellbinders - perfect pie sentiments & fillings clear stamp (for inside sentiment)

Spellbinders - fashion blush self adhesive embellishments

Altenew - coffee ring mini stamp 

Honey Bee - perfect blend clear stamp (for coffee beans)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

cream and brown card from The Papermill shop (many moons ago)

other card from my scraps bin

Gina K Designs - ink pads - warm cocoa & dark chocolate

Winsor & Newton - Promarkers

I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Krafty Chicks challenge #838 - CAS (clean and simple)

Good morning lovely friends and welcome 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 open space (doesn't have to be white), 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.

It was my sister & brother-in-law's anniversary recently so used this opportunity to make them a card.  It's not a one-layer CAS card but I made a 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" card (as it was a special family card) and I think the proportions work well with lots of uncluttered space around the focal image.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by making my card base by cutting a white piece of card 11" x 7 1/2" and scoring at 5 1/2".  I cut a white panel 5" x 7" and added a strip of black & white paper to the top and bottom with liquid glue before adding a black mat layer with double sided tape.  I die cut a plain heart from white card and a scalloped heart from black card and adhered them together using liquid glue.  I die cut the leafery and flowers using coloured card from my scraps bin and adhered them together and added them to the white heart using liquid glue.  I made the sentiment on my computer and printed it out onto my usual white card before die cutting it with a flag die.  I added the sentiment over the flower arrangement using a mix of foam squares and liquid glue.  The heart was then adhered to the background panel using foam squares.  The panel was added to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and black mat layer as well as a strip of the black and white paper and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I cut a small plain heart from white and scalloped heart from black and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I die cut two more of the flower/leafery and added them over the heart using liquid glue.  The heart was then added in the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre using black ink and adhered the panel to my card base using 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 '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:

Spellbinders - sealed bouquet die set

Honey Bee Stamps - stacking hearts and scallop hearts honey cuts

MFT - blueprints 27 (for flag end die)

MFT - black & white stripes 6x6 paper pack

LOTV - verses A5 polymer clear stamp - no longer available

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

computer & printer for front sentiment

coloured card from my scraps bin

Card Clubhouse IG Hop - Week 19

Hello lovely friends; I'm here to share my card for the Card Clubhouse IG hop organised by my sweet friend Kelly. We are on Week 19 and our theme is 'inspired by....' so we are all creating a project inspired by something or someone else.  This is going to be a great hop this week and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

I didn't really know what to do this week until I saw my pile of folded laundry on the table.  I have this really pretty short cotton nightie that I wear in the summer as it's so cool and the colours are beautiful.  I thought this would be the perfect inspiration for my card plus the colours are ones that I definitely wouldn't put together normally.  I'm apologising now for the very creased nightie but if you had waited for me to iron it, well let's say it would have been a while lol!  I hope you like it.

Here is my inspiration:

Aren't the colours just gorgeous?

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by hunting through my coloured card stock to try and find colours that matched.  Most of them were from Stampin' Up! (a really old pack) and one from Heffy Doodle and one from Lawn Fawn.  I went with a pink card panel to replicate the pattern and cut it to 4" x 5 1/4".  I found a die set that had lots of pretty flowers and leaves and die cut them from the coloured card.  I cut the centres of the flowers, along with some dots, from gold glitter card.  I used liquid glue to adhere everything together except I added a foam square between the small flower and the large flower for a little dimension.  It did take me a while to decide on a layout but once I was happy I added them to my background with liquid glue.  I used the glitter dots to fill in any obvious gaps.  I stamped the sentiments onto the light pink card using plum punch ink and used the coordinating dies to cut them out (I also cut 3 more for each from the light pink card so that I could stack them up).  I added the sentiments onto the background using liquid glue.  The panel was then adhered to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another light pink panel and stamped the sentiment in the centre using the plum punch ink.  I die cut a few more flowers and leaves and added them to the bottom of the panel using liquid glue.  I also added a few glitter dots.  

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 #cardclubhouse2026 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Spellbinders - family & friends vignette die set - on sale!

Spellbinders - nature's dance clear stamp & die (for hugs and inside greeting) - on sale!

Spellbinders - colorful expressions blossom clear stamp (for strip sentiment)

Gina K Designs - lots of dots die set

Gina K Designs - plum punch ink pad

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

Stampin' Up! - subtles collection pack

Heffy Doodle - variety card pack - store now closed

Lawn Fawn - rainbow card pack

Tonic Studios - craft perfect gold dust glitter card

 I have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop - September 26

Hello friends, I hope you're doing great and you've had a great start to your week. I'm sharing my creations for this month's ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop. We challenge you to use leftover die cuts, sentiments and card stock to create Artist Trading Cards (ATC's). You can send them in happy mail, save them on a ring to highlight your favorite creations, swap them with friends 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.

This month I am continuing my alphabet series of ATC's with S, T & U. I think it will be fun each month finding images/dies for each letter. I'm trying to stick to animals and food but we'll see how it goes. I'm excited to see them all at the end and I hope you are going to stick around to see them all too. I used mostly older, retired products but I still love them so why not use them. I hope you like them; do you have a favourite from this month's trio?

Here are my three ATC's:

A closer look at 'S':

A closer look at 'T':

and a closer look at 'U':

I decorated the backs the same as usual:

Once again I used my leftover ink blending scrap paper for my backgrounds (as they turn out really interesting and not something I would create myself) along with some embossed panels and card strips left over from a previous project.  I also added some extra stamping and ink blending to make the ATC's match the images a little more. I stamped all the images and coloured them with Promarkers and as I don't have the dies I fussy cut them all out.  I decided to use the frames again this month but just as edges for some extra interest and I die cut them from card to coordinate with my backgrounds and images and adhered them with liquid glue.  The images were added with foam squares (except for the tiger which was adhered with liquid glue).  I die cut the letters from the same card as the frames, stacking them x 3 and added them to the ATC's with liquid glue. For the backs I simply ink blended the matching colours around the edges and stamped one of the ATC info stamps (that I won a few months ago) in black ink. 

I would like to enter my ATC's in the following challenges:

* to be updated *

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #ATCscrapmakes2026 or #ATCscrapmakesSept26 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you. 

I really appreciate you stopping by today. 

Love and hugs,

ATC supplies:

MFT - squirrel stamp

MFT - fierce friends stamp (for tiger)

Jane's Doodles - unicorn stamp

MFT - distressed patterns stamp

MFT - little letters die set

Hunkydory - scalloped edged picture frames die set

Promarkers

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed 

ATC silicone stamp (won in a challenge)

coloured card all from my scraps bin

Stencil Fun IG Hop - Sept 26

Hello again friends; I am back to share my card for the Stencil Fun IG Hop organised by my lovely friend Jane. We a group of crafters who are determined to use their forgotten and neglected stencils. I'm definitely guilty of this; I have so many stencils but usually forget to reach for them so this hop is perfect for me. The theme is always anything goes but we will have an optional theme to use if we want to. This month's optional theme is 'butterflies', which I'm sure will be very popular, as most people like butterflies don't they?  I'm sure there will be lots of fantastic and colourful creations, and I'm excited to see what everyone has made.

I used an older ink & flip stencil from Uniko called 'geometric butterfly' which I actually forgot I had. It has two layers but I didn't use the background layer just the butterfly one.  I paired it with an old embossing folder and a stitched frame die and I think it turned out really pretty.  I hope you like it too. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the beautiful butterfly:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stencilling the butterfly onto some scrap white card using light blue and light green ink pads.  The great thing about these ink and flip stencils is that there is only one layer and you literally flip it over to do the other part of the design.  I decided to fussy cut the butterfly so that I could add some dimension behind it with foam squares.  I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and embossed it using a very old script folder.  I die cut a stitched frame from white card, as well as 2 more from 300gsm card, so that I could layer them up using liquid glue.  I added some blue and green spatter to the embossed background (it's quite subtle so a little hard to see in the photo) and then adhered the frame onto the panel with liquid glue.  I added the butterfly with foam squares in the upper part of the frame; I only added the foam squares behind the body of the butterfly so that the wings could be raised up.  I stamped the sentiment using the light blue ink pad and cut it out with a sentiment strips die.  I added the sentiment below the butterfly with foam squares.  I finished off with some blue and green sequins.  The panel was adhered to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and partially stencilled the butterfly along the bottom.  I partially embossed the script folder just over the butterfly and I think it looks really effective.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with blue ink and added the panel onto my 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

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - use an EF optional cloudy day

Craft Rocket challenge - use dies

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Let's Craft and Create challenge - frame it

Mix It Up challenge - ATG optional embossing

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - I fussy cut the butterfly

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - add some texture

Stencil Fun challenge - ATG use a stencil optional yellow

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - frame it

Triple B challenge - birds, blooms or butterflies optional inspiration photo

We hope you will be inspired by our Stencil Fun 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 #stencilfunSeptt2026 and we will find you.

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

Lots of love, 

card supplies:

Uniko - Ink & Flip geometric butterfly layering stencil

Uniko - floral vines clear stamp (for sentiments)

Provo Craft - cuttlebug script embossing folder

Gina K Designs - master layouts 18 die set (for frame die)

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments die set

Gina K Designs - ink pads - ocean mist and applemint

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base and extra frames)

sequins from Little Things by Lucy's Cards & Studio Katia - both sadly closed

I have Affiliate Links for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

CASE IT IG Hop - September 2026

Hello again friends. I hope you've had a great start to your weekend. I'm here to share this month's card for 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. 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).

This month I was inspired by @buzsy and as soon as I saw this card I was in love and asked her if I could CASE it right away.  I loved the blended leaf focal image with the silhouette stamping and how she kept the background very CAS and elegant.  I decided to make a Christmas card but you can definitely see that my card was inspired by hers! Here is her card for my inspiration:

Isn't her card just perfect? Using Ardyth's LIMES process (you can watch her video here) we list what we see - she has used yellow, orange, brown and green as her main colours, a subtle embossed white background, a large leaf die cut and simple black on white sentiment all layered on a brown panel. So I used a bauble die instead of the leaf, and used a monochromatic blue colour combo.  I skipped the embossed background and but kept the spatters.  I also added two strip sentiments instead of one and added some silver pearls.  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 added some spatter using my blue ink pads; I did decide to add a blue mat layer so trimmed my panel down slightly and layered them together with liquid glue.  I die cut the bauble from white card and the topper from silver mirror card.  I stamped the silhouette images onto the bauble using black ink, stamped the snowy background stamp in blue ink and used a few different blue ink pads plus a light grey ink pad to blend over the bauble.  I added the silver topper with liquid glue and added foam squares behind the bauble and added it onto the panel. I found some pre-printed Christmas sentiment sheets, die cut them with sentiment strips dies and added both with foam squares.  I added a white twine bow to the bauble topper and finished off with some silver pearls.  The panel was then adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and blue mat layer and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped the silhouette images at the bottom and ink blended some blue ink over them.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre using black ink before adding the panel to my card base using double sided tape.  

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

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up challenge - ATG Christmas optional twist stripes

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut

Craft Rocket challenge - use dies

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - monochromatic

Farm Quest Country Christmas challenge - anything goes country Christmas

Little Red Wagon challenge - use a stamp

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

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

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:

Gina K Designs - joyful ornament 3d embossing folder, stencil & die set (I only used the die)

Gina K Designs - holiday silhouettes stamp

Gina K Designs - snowy background stamp

Gina K Designs - ink pads - sea glass, blue sky, powder blue, blue raspberry, soft stone

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips die set

Gina K Designs - holiday greetings sentiment sheets

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

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

I have affiliate links for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Just Us Girls challenge #840 - Word Week

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. I am here to share my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge and this week is Word Week and Ina has given us the theme of 'bold'. You could go with a bold sentiment or image or even bold colours.  I can't wait to see that you create so come and join in the fun with us.  Our guest this month is Julia Aston so please pop over and show her some love.

I choose to go with bold colours and a bold background stamp so hopefully covered all the bases this week.  I used a rainbow of colours and a fun Uniko stamp which I stamped in black.  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 using my rainbow colours of ink pads blended my background.  I then used my Misti to stamp the birthday background stamp using black ink.  I also added some extra doodling using a white gelly roll pen, a yellow Posca pen and a gold metallic zig writer pen.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and then adhered it to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and blended the rainbow colours along the bottom (although I realised half way through that I started my rainbow from the wrong side oops!).  I stamped the present from the background and fussy cut it out and then blended over it with red and orange inks (using masking tape to try and keep the colours in the right place) and also added some white gelly roll pen dots.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and then adhered the panel to my card base using double sided tape.  

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

Colorful Options challenge - option 3 rainbow

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

Little Red Wagon challenge - use a stamp

Seize the Birthday challenge - add a sentiment strip (no topping this week)

Word Power challenge - sentiment as the focus of your card

I can't wait to see all your bold creations this week and look forward to seeing your entries in the linky. Please pop over to the challenge blog and leave some love for the rest of the design team.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Uniko - block party birthday background stamp

Uniko - pure florals: cosmos clear stamp (for inside sentiment)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Gina K Designs - ink pads - red hot, tangerine twist, wild dandelion, lucky clover, blue raspberry, wild lilac

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Posca - yellow 0.7mm bullet marker

Zig - writer gold metallic pen (can only find it in a 6 colour pack)

I have Affiliate Links for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x