4th Annual Shark Week IG Card Hop

Hello friends, I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. I'm taking part in the 4th annual IG hop to celebrate Shark Week. The card hop is hosted by my good friend Kelly and today's hop will showcase some fintastic cards featuring all things shark to celebrate Shark Week. Our theme this year is “Making Waves”; and our goal is designed to take you on an ocean voyage of jaw-some shark themed cards and share important facts about the marine life that call it home! Dive in and enjoy the creativity and inspiration!

I always try to find a shark set that I haven't used before, even if it's retired, so when I found this fun set from Sunny Studio Stamps on eBay, I grabbed it for this year's hop.  There are so many fun shark stamps available and I cannot wait to see what my fellow hoppers have used this year. I created a cute under the sea scene and I hope you like my card.

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 the gorgeous bubble coral frame from the centre.  I took another white panel and ink blended some ocean mist ink in the centre, adding some water droplets and white spatter for extra interest.  There is also a single coral die in the set which I cut 3 times from white card and ink blended over with ocean mist and tranquil teal ink pads.  I stamped the images onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with my Promarkers and added some white gelly roll pen highlights.  I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I cut off one of the corals from the frame and replaced it with one of the larger ink blended ones using liquid glue. I added the fish and octopus with liquid glue and the shark was added with foam squares.  I added foam strips behind my frame panel and adhered it over the background.  I stamped the sentiment from a few different sets and cut them out using sentiment strips dies.  I adhered them at the top of the frame using liquid glue.  I finished off with some clear raindrops, which I think look like bubbles!  I adhered the panel to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and ink blended the ocean mist ink along the bottom, again adding water droplets and white spatter. I stamped, coloured and die cut another shark and 2 fish and also die cut and ink blended two more corals.  I adhered everything to the bottom of the panel using liquid glue.  I also stamped and die cut two sentiments and adhered them with liquid glue.  I adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  I'm really happy with the inside and feel it's equally as cute as the outside.  

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

Allsorts challenge - at the seaside or ATG

Cardz 4 Guyz challenge - summer theme

Craft-alnica challenge - children

Dream Valley challenge - hand coloured image

Girlz and the Art of Letters challenge - letter F (for fish)

I love Promarkers challenge - children (I think kids would love a shark card)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Sweet Stampin' challenge - for the children  

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist summer splash

Please swim on over to IG to see the amazing shark creations. Please use the hashtag #4thsharkweekigcardhop to find all the cards in the hop.

Enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for stopping by.  I'll be back tomorrow with my cards for the Krafty Chicks challenge and also the Just Us Girls challenge, so I hope you will be able to pop back and check them out.  

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Sunny Studio - sea you soon stamp & die (got mine from eBay)

Memory Box - bubble coral collage die set (94562) (got mine from a FB destash page)

Lawn Fawn - duh-nuh stamp & simply summer sentiments stamp (for sentiments)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - ocean mist & tranquil teal

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments dies

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies 

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

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for spatters)

Little Things From Lucy's Cards - clear raindrops - store now closed

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

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

ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop - July 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 M, N & O.  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 (except for the Narwhal which is new to me) 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 'M':

A closer look at 'N':

and a closer look at 'O':

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 and 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 used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  The images were added to the backgrounds with foam squares. I die cut the letters from coloured card, stacking them x 3 and added them to the ATC's with liquid glue. For a little continuity through the series I once again used the frame dies that I had used on previous month's ATC's, cut them from coloured card and added full frames to the 'M' and 'O' ATC's but only parts of it to the edges of the 'N' ATC. 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:

Craft Rocket challenge - animals

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Tag-along (& ATC's) challenge - favourite colours (I'm playing the ATG option)

The Little Things challenge - flamingo and/or elephant (I'm playing the ATG option)

Triple B challenge - birds, blooms or butterflies and optional inspiration board

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #ATCscrapmakes2026 or #ATCscrapmakesjuly26 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,

card supplies:

Sizzix - love you tons stamp & die (bought mine from eBay)

Heffy Doodle - chimply the best stamp & die (store now closed)

Clearly Besotted - still a hoot stamp & die (retired)

Promarkers

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

Hunkydory - moonstone scalloped edged picture frames dies

MFT - little letters dies

MFT - distressed patterns stamp

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

ATC silicone stamp (won in a challenge)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - ocean mist, blue lagoon, warm cocoa, jelly bean green, grass green, red hot

coloured card from my scraps bin

*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 link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Card Clubhouse IG Hop - Week 14

Hello lovely friends; I'm back to share my card for the Card Clubhouse IG hop organised by my sweet friend Kelly. We are on Week 14 and our theme is 'where I'm from' so we you to create something depicting where you live; it could be the famous landmarks, the ocean, the mountains etc. We can't wait to see what everyone makes. 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.

If you are a regular you know I come from a small town in the South Wales Valleys (about 18 miles away from Cardiff).  We are so lucky to be surrounded by lush greenery, mountains and of course valleys and although it means we do have more than our fair share of rain it's so beautiful to look out of our windows and see them on our doorstep.  I took a few photos from my garden this morning to show you how lush it is at the moment.  I also wanted to incorporate the red dragon from our flag as we are a proud and patriotic lot and we love our heritage.  My dragon turned out a little cuter that the one on the flag but I think it's adorable.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

A few photos of my valley:

 

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and then die cut all my hills and tree borders from different scraps of green card.  I added them to the bottom of the white panel using liquid glue.  I stamped the dragon and three clouds onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with Promarkers and used the coordinating dies to cut them out; I also added some white gelly roll pen highlights.  I took another white panel and cut out an oval from the centre and added foam tape behind it and laid it on top of the hill panel to look like a frame.  I used foam squares and liquid glue to add the dragon and one of the smaller clouds and liquid glue for the other two clouds.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink onto white card and used a sentiment strips die to cut it out, again using a combination of foam squares and liquid glue to add it to the bottom of the frame.  It was at this point that I decided I wanted to add a little house in my background so found a die that was the right size, used some scraps of card to die cut it and added it with liquid glue.  The panel was then adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel 3 3/4" x 5" and added some left over die cut hills/trees to the bottom with liquid glue.  I stamped, coloured and die cut a small dragon and added it to the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment using black ink onto white card and die cut it using the sentiment strips die and adhered it to the centre to the panel with liquid glue.  The panel was then 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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - make your mark (I used alcohol markers)

Craft Rocket challenge - animals (hope my dragon is allowed)

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal (hope my dragon is ok)

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Little Red Wagon challenge - piano man (inspired by the green green grass of home)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - 4 legged friends (my dragon is friendly)

Try It On Tuesday challenge - animals - real/imaginary 

Unicorn challenge - no design paper

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #cardclubhousehop2026 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:

MFT - magical dragons stamp & die

Promarkers

Lawn Fawn - stitched hillside borders dies

Lawn Fawn - forest border die

Spellbinders - essential stylish ovals dies

Sugar Pea Designs - home sweet home die 

Clearly Besotted - home sweet home stamp (retired)

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

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

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

coloured card from my scraps bin

AAA Birthday challenge #87 - for the girls

Good morning lovely friends and welcome to July which is my favourite month as it's my birthday month lol!  I can't believe we are already more than half way through this year.  A cooler week this week (thank goodness) but it's forecast hot again next week I believe.  

As it's the first of the month it means we have a brand new challenge over at AAA Birthday challenge. This month's theme is 'for the girls' and we all love our flowers and girly images so I'm sure it will be a popular challenge. Our guest designer this month is Brenda so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.

I decided to go with flowers for my card as there was a recent incentive stamp & die set from Gina K that I hadn't used yet and wanted to show some love.  I went with a bright and happy yellow, grey and black colour combo that I think would brighten anyone's day.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the image onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured it with my Promarkers and used the coordinating die to cut it out.  I also cut three more from white card so that I could stack them up using liquid glue.  I used some patterned paper from an older GKD 6x6 pad and cut it out using the plain rectangle from master layouts 21 and I also cut 2 arches from white card from the same ML set.  I added a black mat layer to the paper panel and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment using black ink onto the smaller arch and glued both the arches together using liquid glue.  I added the flower image to the bottom right of the arch using liquid glue. I added some scrap white card behind the arch and adhered into the paper panel with double sided tape.  The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape and I finished off with some yellow pearls.  For the inside I cut a white panel, again using the rectangle from ML21 and added a black mat layer.  I added a strip of the patterned paper to the bottom of the panel with liquid glue and stamped a sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I stamped, coloured and die cut another flower spray but felt it was a little too large for the inside so decided to trim the bottom leaves off and also the top bud flower (although I did re-use the bud and one of the leaves but re-arranged them) and adhered it to the bottom right corner of the arch.  The panel was then added to the card base with double sided tape. 

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

Allsorts challenge - bees, blooms and/or birds

Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge - sketch #688

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Crafter's Cafe challenge - ATG optional blooms

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - something beginning with B (blooms)

Moving Along with the Times challenge - use a colouring medium (I used alcohol markers)

The Pick 3 challenge - yellow, frame & sentiment

Try It On Tuesday challenge - in the garden

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.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

*Gina K Designs - holding you close stamp & die

Gina K Designs - perfect posy stamp (for outside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - watercolour floral 6x6 paper pad

Gina K Designs - master layouts 21

Gina K Designs - wild dandelion card stock (for card base)

Gina K Designs - rainbow pearl mix

Promarkers

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

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink

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

*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 link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

Uniko June release: Day 1 introduction

Good morning friends and welcome back to my blog. It's day one of introductions for Uniko's June release.  Our first introduction is 'Background Blocks: Thank You Scramble'.  Bev has previously released a Birthday scramble and also one for Christmas and this one is along the same lines; perfect for a quick and easy card just by colouring the letters or ink blending/smooshing the background.  

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a larger panel than I needed so that I could save a little piece for the inside.  I stamped the image into the centre and then rotated it and randomly stamped it all around to fill the panel.  I coloured the image in the centre using my Promarkers in rainbow colours. I trimmed down the panel to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  I decided to do a faux eclipse look so die cut 4 frames using nesting rectangles from black card and layered them together with liquid glue.  I adhered the frame to the panel with liquid glue.  A fairly simple design but I think the black frame and rainbow coloured letters really pack a punch.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added the leftover strip of the background I created to the bottom with liquid glue; I also added a thin strip of black card along the edge.  I again coloured the letters on the strip with my Promarkers.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and added the panel to my card base with double sided tape.  

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

* to be updated * 

Please check out what Bev and the rest of the team have created by clicking the links below:

Bev

Izzy

Julie 

Natalie

Vinita

Please pop back tomorrow at the same time to see the day 2 of the introductions.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Uniko - Background Blocks: Thank You scramble stamp (releasing Sat 27/06/26)

Uniko - doodle flowers clear stamp (for inside sentiment)

Promarkers

Hero Arts - nesting rectangle dies (to create my frames)

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

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

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

Memento - tuxedo black ink

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Patterned Paper IG Hop - June 26

Hello friends, welcome back to my little blog. I'm here 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 'chevrons' which are so fun, especially for masculine cards. I made a Father's Day card for my FIL and it's 5" x 7" in size.  Surprisingly I didn't use chevron patterned paper but instead die cut some chevrons from patterned paper for my background.  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 card, coloured it with Promarkers and fussy cut it out.  I did add some white highlights with a gelly roll pen too.  I found this fun paper pad from DCWV and although it's hard to tell in the photo but the orange/bronze stripe has some foiling detail.  All the papers are from the pad including the brown mat layers and the chevrons were cut from it too.  I cut the main panel 4 1/4" x 6 1/4" and matted it onto the brown layer with double sided tape.  I cut a white panel 3 1/2" x 2 7/8" and again matted it onto a brown layer; I also added some thin cream strips of paper to the top and bottom of the white panel with liquid glue.  I added the image onto the white panel with foam squares.  I stamped the sentiment onto the cream paper with brown ink and die cut the DAD letters from the brown paper and stacked them x3 with liquid glue; the letters were then adhered to a cream piece with liquid glue.  I cut 4 x chevrons for my background and adhered them with liquid glue.  The image panel was added to the centre of the panel with double sided tape and the sentiments were added to the top right and bottom left with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 3/8" x 6 3/8" and stamped the sentiment in the centre with brown ink.  I cut some of the papers and layered them together with double sided tape and also cut another chevron and placed that across the centre with liquid glue.  the panel was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape (oops I forgot my brown layer but it still looks ok I think). 

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

* to be updated *

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 #patternedpaperpartyhopjune2026 and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

card supplies:

LOTV - vintage boys - mr fixit A5 polymer stamps (available in digi only now)

MFT - stepped up chevon die

MFT - little letters die set

Woodware - one for the boys stamp (for inside sentiment although I did some stamp surgery to remove the happy birthday)

DCWV - the natural stack 8" x 8" pad

Promarkers

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

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

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

*Gina K Designs - dark chocolate ink pad

*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 link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop June 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 J, K & L. 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 'J':

A closer look at 'K':

And a closer look at 'L':

The backs are simply decorated with the ATC info stamp and some blending:

Once again I used my leftover ink blending scrap paper for two of my backgrounds as they turn out really interesting and not something I would create myself. I did add some stamping on 'K', a little stencilling on 'J' and ink blended around the edges. For the 'L' ATC I used part of a die cut panel that I cut but never used.  I stamped, coloured with Promarkers and die cut all my images and also die cut extra white layers for the images and adhered them together with liquid glue.  The images were added to the backgrounds with liquid glue.  I die cut the letters from coloured card, again stacking them x 3 and added them to the ATC's with liquid glue.  I once again used part of the frames that I had used on previous month's ATC's, cut them from the same coloured card and added parts of it to the edges of the ATC. I added white spatter to all three ATC's.  For the backs I simply ink blended the matching colours around the edges and stamped one 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 #ATCscrapmakesjune26 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,

card supplies:

MFT - kangaroo crew stamp & die

Lawn Fawn - you're the zest stamp & die

Promarkers

MFT - little letters die set

Hunkydory - Moonstone dies - scalloped edged picture frames

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

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

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for spatters)

*Gina K Designs - just keep swimming stamp & die

Gina K Designs - fizzy stencil (used on 'J' ATC)

Gina K Designs - ocean mist ink pad

*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 link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x