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:

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional inspiration photo

Craft Rocket challenge - use dies

Creative Crafting Uncles challenge - males go feminine

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love challenge - BEWAS (anniversary)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - clean and simple

Unicorn challenge - not square

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

Krafty Chicks challenge #837 - 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 is Week 2, our theme is 'Christmas' and I am your hostess. We are in the 'ber months now so if you haven't already started your Christmas cards it's time to ramp up production.  We hope you will join us and build up your collection and take the pressure off in December.  So come on over and join in the fun with us.

I went fairly clean and simple this week and used a Penny Black wooden stamp that I got from a friend in her recent destash.  I found a tin of Arteza expert pencils (which I completely forgot I had) so thought I would try them out.  I think I need a little more practice but it turned out ok.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the adorable image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" from alcohol marker friendly card (although I will cut it down later) and stamped the image at the bottom using Memento ink.  I used the Arteza pencils and sansodor (similar to gamsol) to colour the image.  I did a test one first and I messed up the hedgie so the one on my card is my second try.  I die cut the panel using a stitched rectangle die and also die cut 2 more stitched rectangles in slightly increasing sizes to layer up.  I also die cut a red mat layer using a plain rectangle die and adhered all the layers together using liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment onto white card using black ink and used a stitched label die to cut it out.  I also die cut a flag banner from red card and layered them together using liquid glue.  I added the sentiment label to the top left of my panel using liquid glue.  I added the panel to my card base using double sided tape.  I didn't add any embellishments as I liked the CAS design.  For the inside I die cut the largest stitched rectangle from white and the plain rectangle from red and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I salvaged the snowman from my test run and fussy cut him out before adding him to the bottom left corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the bottom right corner with black ink.  The panel was adhered to the 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

ABC Christmas challenge - S is for snowman

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut

Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round challenge - S is for snowman

Craft Rocket challenge - use dies

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Let's Craft & Create challenge - frame it

Little Red Wagon challenge - use a stamp

Moving Along With The Times challenge - 4 legged friends

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

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

Penny Black Saturday challenge - ATG optional use a die

Simply Clean and Simple challenge - ATG CAS optional theme jungle animals

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - frame it

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.  I'll be back in a little while with my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge. 

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Penny Black - snowy & hedgy wood mounted stamp

Arteza- Expert 120 coloured pencils in tin

Winsor & Newton - sansodor low odour solvent

Clearly Besotted - mini messages clear stamp - retired 

LOTV - Christmas greetings A5 clear stamp (for inside) no longer available

Gina K Designs - master layouts 01 die set (for plain rectangle die)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 02 die set (for middle stitched rectangle die)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 05 die set (for smallest stitched rectangle, flag die and strip die)

Gian K Designs - master layouts 14 die set (for largest stitched rectangle die)

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 - persian red 200gsm card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now 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

Krafty Chicks challenge #836 - Birthday

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week is Week 1, our theme is 'birthday' and our hostess is Leanne. We always need birthday cards, gift packaging and decorations so I'm sure you will find this week a breeze!  We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I found a stamp and matching stencil in my stash that I don't think I've ever used so I thought it was time to show it some love.  I went with a pretty colour combo of purple, yellow and green and made a shaped card.  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 image using a sandy beach ink pad; I left my stamp in the Misti whilst I stencilled, and then re-stamped it with black ink at the end so that I wouldn't smudge the black ink when doing my blending.  I used 2 shades of lilac on the larger flowers and 2 shades of yellow on the smaller flowers and buds.  I used 2 shades of green for the leaves.  It's a really pretty, girly colour combo and not one I use very often but I should.  I die cut the panel using the notched corner frame die and decided to use the largest notched corner die to make a shaped card, which I cut from dark purple card.  I added the stencilled panel onto the card base with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment with black ink and used the coordinating die to cut it out (as well as 3 plain white ones so that I could layer it up) and then added that two thirds of the way down using liquid glue.  I finished off with some black pearls.  Apart from the sentiment there isn't much dimension on my card (for a change).  For the inside I cut a white panel using the notch corner frame die.  I would usually add some more stencilling on the bottom of my panel to coordinate with the front but to be honest I was pressed for time and had already cleaned my stencil so instead used a piece of yellow patterned paper, again cut with the die, and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I also added a thin strip of the purple card above the paper with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and added the panel onto my card base with liquid glue.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Color Dare challenge - #718 (I used purple, yellow and green)

Cupcake Inspirations challenge - in the garden (flowers)

Heart's Quest for Shaped Cards & Tags challenge - ATG

NBUS challenge - use new and unused stuff (my stamp/stencil)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - stamp it

Stencil Fun challenge - use a stencil optional theme: yellow

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

Unicorn challenge - not square

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'birthday' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori. 

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.  I'll be back in a little while with my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge. 

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Pinkfresh Studio - delicate floral print cling stamp & stencil

Spellbinders - notched corner frames die set

Gina K Designs - courtyard silhouettes stamp & die (for outside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - springy sketches mini stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - light lilac, medium lilac, lemon drop, wild dandelion, jelly bean green, fresh asparagus, sandy beach

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)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Teresa Collins - every day moments 6x6 paper pad - discontinued

purple card from my stash

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

Krafty Chicks challenge #834 - Masculine

Good morning lovely friends; I hope your week is going well so far and you've managed to fit in some crafting. I'm sharing my card for the 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. We know it's not everyone's favourite challenge, but we do have to make some masculine cards sometime and this challenge will hopefully help you get them done. We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I recently bought a few things from a friend's crafty de-stash and she sent me some lovely Hunkydory pre-printed images as a thank you.  I thought they would be perfect for a quick and easy masculine birthday card.  The images are so super cute and perfect for males of all ages.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the cute pre-printed image:

plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting the pre-printed image panel down using a stitched rectangle die and I also used the same die to cut a panel from lime green gingham paper.  I adhered the image onto the paper, using liquid glue, leaving an equal border at the top and bottom.  I also cut a mat black layer and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I used two pre-printed sentiments and die cut them out using a sentiment strips die.  I adhered the sentiments to the top right and bottom left along the border between the image and the paper using liquid glue.  I finished off with some stars die cut from gold mirror card.  I adhered the panel to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut a white panel with the stitched rectangle die and also a small piece from the lime gingham paper and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre using black ink and finished off with some gold stars.  The panel was adhered to a black mat layer and then added to my card base with double sided tape.    

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

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Creative Moments challenge - make it cute

Daisy Chain challenge - animals

Hearts Quest Celebrations of Love - BEWAS (birthday)

Little Red Wagon challenge - anything times three (3 cute animals, 3 balloons, 3 stars)

Love Those Pretty Papers challenge - use designer/patterned paper optional theme look to the skies

Paper Rocks Scissors - use paper or scissors (I used gingham paper)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Tic Tac Toe challenge - #tttc300 - die cut/punch, patterned paper, bright colours

Try It On Tuesday challenge - inspired by a song ('Celebrate' by Kool & the Gang)

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'll be back later with my card for the Just Us Girls challenge.  

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Hunkydory - smudge & mitten pre-printed images (can only find them on eBay)

Memory Box - key lime gingham paper - discontinued

Gina K Designs - master layouts 14 (for stitched rectangle die)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 01 (for plain rectangle die)

Gina K Designs - birthday babble sentiment sheets (for outside sentiments)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies

Gina K Designs - birthday cheer stamp (for inside sentiment) *Bumbleberry Crafts

MFT - tag builder blueprints 6 (for stars)

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

gold mirror card from my scraps bin

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

Krafty Chicks challenge #834 - 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.

I created a fun stencil background and decided to cut it into strips so that I could make two cards this week; one birthday card and one get well card.  They turned out very clean and simple but perfect for mailing.  I hope you like them.

Here are my cards:

A closer look at the birthday card:

and the inside for this one:

A closer look at the get well card:

and the inside for this one:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and actually used the recently released Christmas star stencil from Uniko to create my background.  I masked off two of the sections and used one for the yellow ink and one for the lime green ink.  It was a bit time consuming and as I did it 'by eye' it has some imperfections but it shows how you can stretch your stencils to create something completely different.  When I cut down the card I didn't plan on making two cards so the strips are slightly different widths.  The birthday card strip is 1 5/8" x 5 1/4 and this was matted onto a black layer with just a tiny border of the black showing on the left side.  For the get well card the strip is 1 5/16" x 5 1/4" and again a black layer was added with a thin border on the right side.  I cut two more white panels 4" x 5 1/4" and adhered the strips with double sided tape.  I cut two stitched circles from white card and stamped the sentiments in black ink.  I also cut a black mat circle and adhered them together using liquid glue.  The sentiments were added over the strips with foam squares.  The panels were adhered to my card bases with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut the left over stencilled background into 1/2" strips and again added black mat layers.  I added them to the right side of my white panels using liquid glue and stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  The panels were adhered to the card base using double sided tape.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - any occasion

Colorful Options challenge - lemongrass option 1 & 4

Creative Crafting Uncles challenge - ATG

Double D challenge - when life hands you lemons (inspired by the colours)

Papercraft challenges - back to basics

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:

Uniko - Ink & Flip: Christmas star, star stencil 

Uniko - everyday sentiments stamp

Uniko - wonderful day stamp (retired)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 03 (for circle dies)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - wild dandelion and key lime

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

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

Krafty Chicks challenge #833 - Christmas

Good morning lovely friends, I appreciate you stopping by and I hope you're all doing ok. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 2; as always the theme is 'Christmas' and I am your hostess. We are slowly adding to the Christmas pile, which really takes the stress off later in the year. We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I dug into the latest Gina K Designs 'Christmas in July' card kit for today's card.  I used some non-traditional colours and kept it fairly clean and simple but 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 began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and used the 'snowy' background stamp and some pink ink to create my fun splatter effect background.  I stamped the image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured it in with a combination of spectrum noir and Promarkers, also adding some white gelly roll pen highlights.  I used the coordinating die to cut it out (plus 3 more from plain white so that I could stack them).  I stamped the sentiment onto white card using black ink and again used the matching die to cut it out (plus another 3 from white to stack them up).  I adhered all the die cuts together using liquid glue.  As the sentiment was slightly too long for my card I fussy cut between the words so that I could them as two separate words.  I added the bauble image in the upper half of the card and the sentiments in the lower half of the card using liquid glue. I finished off with some black pearls.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel and adhered it to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added some of the snowy background in the bottom third of the panel using the same pink ink.  I stamped, coloured and die cut one more image as before but decided to cut it apart and just use two baubles in the bottom right corner, using liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink before adding my panel to the card base with double sided tape.  As I had part of the second image left over I decided to decorate the back of my envelope and added it with liquid glue.  

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

ABC Christmas challenge - P, Q & R - (R for rectangle)

As You Like It challenge - favourite colouring medium (I have primarily used Promarkers for over 15 years and like how easy they are to use; no refilling and mine are still going strong)

Cut It Up challenge - add a sentiment + must use a die cut

Girlz and the Art of Letters challenge - Letter G (garland, girly)

I Love Promarkers challenge - in the pink

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

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 will be back in a little while with my DT card for the Just Us Girls challenge.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - joyful borders stamp & die set (kit is sold out but will be available individually next release)

Gina K Designs - snowy background stamp

Gina K Designs - dusty rose ink pad

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

Versafine - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

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

Promarkers

Spectrum Noir tri-blend markers (bright pink blend & lavender blend)

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

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