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

Krafty Chicks challenge #824 - 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 pulled out an oldie but goodie polymer stamp from LOTV for my card today and I think it turned out super cute. It's a shame that making polymer stamps is no longer financially viable for them but I'll continue to use the ones I have as they really do make adorable images.   I went with a traditional colour combo of red and green, but with a twist, as I used lime green for a different look. I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the cute image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping my image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured it with Promarkers. There are no dies so I fussy cut out the image (don't look too closely at the handle!).  I also added some white gelly roll pen highlights.  I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and also using my trimmer cut lots of strips from red, white and lime green card.  I adhered the strips to the panel using liquid glue but left the top and bottom plain white so that I could stamp my greetings there.  Before I stamped the greetings I cut down the panel slightly using a stitched rectangle die.  The greetings were then stamped in the top left and bottom right corners using black ink.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel and adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  I added the image with foam squares and finished off with a few black pearls.  I kept the inside fairly simple this time; I cut another white panel to 4" x 5 1/4" and added three strips to the bottom using liquid glue.  I used the stitched rectangle die to cut the panel down and stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink. The panel was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

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

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line N: Christmas, free, dots/gems

Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round challenge - K for Kris Kringle

CRAFT challenge - cute/ATG

Creative Inspirations challenge - Christmas in June

Farm Quest Grocery Game challenge - food and/or drink

First Cup challenge - anything beverage/drink related

Girlz Creative Christmas challenge - ATG Christmas

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - scissors (I fussy cut my image)

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

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - add a sentiment

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist polka dots and/or stripes

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:

LOTV - Christmas mugs A5 polymer stamp (now only available in digi format here)

Promarkers

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)

Krafty Chicks challenge #822 - 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.

For today's card I decided to dust off some LOTV polymer stamps. I know they are no longer available in this format as they are focusing on their digital images but I still love them and will keep using them.  I went fairly clean and simple with my layout and NO dimension - don't faint - but I think it turned out super cute.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I tried to capture the sparkle of the stickles:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and ink blended a strip of sea glass ink in the upper half of the card.  I stamped the image with memento black ink and once dry coloured it with my Promarkers.  I added some white gelly roll pen highlights and stickles to their hats.  I stamped the sentiment above the image with black ink.  Last year when I was mailing out my Christmas cards I realised that they had so much dimension I needed to add extra postage which really started to mount up.  This year I need to start making some flat, mailer friendly cards and this is the first one lol!  I simply added double sided tape behind the panel and adhered it to the card base.  For the inside I cut another white panel and stamped one of the birds from the stamp with some selective masking.  I again coloured it with Promarkers, adding white gelly roll pen highlights and stickles to his hat.  The sentiment was stamped in the centre with black ink and the panel was adhered to the card base with 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 'lanterns in the snow'

ABC Christmas challenge - J is for just enough (CAS)

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line N - Christmas, free, glitter

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Creative Friday challenge - all animals

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter 

Dream Valley challenge - all creatures great and small

I Love Promarkers challenge - special occasions (Christmas)

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

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

Simply Clean and Simple challenge - ATG CAS optional theme 'things that fly'

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - things with wings

Stamping Sensations challenge - cute creatures

Sweet Stampin' challenge - things with wings

Triple B challenge - birds, blooms or butterflies optional mood board (entry 3)

We Love Stamping challenge - all creatures great and small 

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:

LOTV - cute Christmas A5 polymer stamp (no longer available)

LOTV - verses A5 polymer stamp (no longer available)

Promarkers

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

Ranger - crystal stickles

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

*Gina K Designs - sea glass 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

AAA Birthday challenge #85 - May 26

Good morning lovely friends and welcome to May! Another month has bitten the dust as we roll on into 2026. It's a busy month for me as it's my father-in-law's birthday, my son's birthday and my brother-in-law's birthday (lots of masculine cards to make!!). 

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 'anything birthday goes' and we are also celebrating our 7th birthday.  There will be randomly picked surprise prizes so get your cards into our linky for a chance to win.  Our guest designer this month is Gundi (Papierelle) so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.

As I will be making lots of masculine cards this month I thought I would start off with a girly card.  I recently bought this stamp & die set (which came as a gift in a crafting magazine) from a destash group on FB and I thought it was perfect for this month's challenge.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting a stitched rectangle from white card.  I stamped the cake stand directly onto the panel using a light blue ink pad.  I die cut the top and bottom tiers of the cake from patterned paper and lightly inked around the edges with a slightly darker ink.  The middle tier was cut from white card.  I stamped the banner with blue ink and the sentiment in the centre with black ink and used the die to cut it out.  I stamped two of the flower arrangements, one in pink and one in blue and again die cut them out.  I also stamped three candles one each in pink, blue and black and cut them out.   I added the tiers above the cake stand using foam squares.  I added the flowers and candles with liquid glue and the sentiment banner was placed across the cake stand with foam squares.  At this point I thought the white panel looked a little bare so decided to add some light grey shading around the cake; unfortunately I didn't check my brush and the last ink I had used was a darker grey so it came out much darker than I wanted.  To try and mask it a little I used a tiny dot stencil and some white pigment ink and went over the grey.  The white turned a little off white but I think it looks ok.  I wanted to draw in a little more colour so I found a coordinating plaid paper in the same paper pack as the one I used for the tiers and cut a panel 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and adhered it to the front of my card with double sided tape.  I added some scrap white card behind the stitched panel and added that over the plaid paper with double sided tape.  I finished off with some pearls.  For the inside I cut another white stitched rectangle, adding some of the plaid paper to the bottom and stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I stamped out another flower and 3 more candles and added the flower to the top right corner and the candles to the bottom left corner.  I then adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - make your mark (ink blended and stencilled around the cake)

Allsorts challenge - anything but square

Creative Knockouts challenge - 2 or more papers (the pink & blue tiers are pp plus the BG paper)

Creative Friday challenge - decorate the inside of your card

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - pink, blue and/or yellow

Farm Quest Grocery Game challenge - anything food or drink goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

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 ingredients:

stamp & die set - free gift with craft magazine

LOTV - Nitwits collection; bonnets & bowties 8x8 paper pack

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*Gina K Designs - master layouts 02 (for stitched rectangle)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - blue sky & medium carnation 

Gina K Designs - ink cube - white pigment ink

Gina K Designs - masks & fillers stencil (for small dots in background)

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

*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

Krafty Chicks challenge #793 - 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 we are on Week 1; as always the theme is 'birthday' and Leanne is our hostess. We always need birthday cards so we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I'm actually sharing a card I made for my sister's birthday at the end of August but forgot to share with you.  She is known to like a drink or two so this die set was just perfect for her lol!  The card size is 7" x 7" as I like to make larger cards for my close family and also the die set I used it huge and needed a bigger card to fit it all on.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting all the elements from black, pink, yellow, gold glitter card and vellum and used liquid glue to adhere them together (except for the hearts which were added with foam squares).  I cut a panel of yellow patterned paper 6 3/4" square and matted it onto pink card.  I cut a white panel which I embossed with the fun streamers folder and again matted it onto pink card with double sided tape.  I added some scrap white card behind the embossed panel and then adhered it to the yellow panel with double sided tape.  The bottle and glasses were added with foam squares plus I also cut some stars from gold glitter card and adhered them above the glasses with liquid glue. I created the sentiment on my pc and printed out onto my usual white card and die cut it with an oval die; I again cut a pink mat from the same oval die set and adhered them together with liquid glue.  This was then added to the corner of the embossed panel with foam squares.  For the inside I cut a white panel 6 3/4" square and matted it onto a pink layer with double sided tape.  I added a strip of the yellow paper onto the top and bottom with liquid glue and stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I also added 3 more gold glitter stars next to the sentiment with liquid glue.  

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 - die cuts and/or stencils

Aud Sentiments challenge - glitter and/or Christmas + sentiment (I used glitter card)

Farm Quest Grocery Game challenge - ATG food (or drink) goes

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

Just Us Girls challenge - ATG

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. 

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Spellbinders - cheers to us die set

Spellbinders - essential stylish ovals die set

Spellbinders - cascading streamers embossing folder - on sale!

LOTV - verses polymer stamp set - no longer available

Stampin' Up! - card stock vellum - no longer available

Limetree Crafts - 12x12 smooth white 250gsm card

The Works - pastel watercolours 12x12 paper pad - no longer available

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

pink and gold glitter card from stash

pc & printer for sentiment

CASE IT IG Hop - October 25

Hello again friends. I hope you've had a great day so far. I'm back 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 that was inspired by that original. There are so many beautiful creations on Instagram the only difficult part is narrowing down which one to CASE (which means Copy And Share Everything).

This month I was inspired by Verena (@simple_stamper over on IG); her cards are beautiful and this one is so soft and instantly caught my eye.  I needed a birthday card for my sister in law so changed the snowflakes to butterflies and went with pink instead of blue.  You can definitely see that my card was inspired by hers!  Here is her card for my inspiration:

So if we use Ardyth's LIMES process (you can watch her video here) we list what we see - Verena has used blues and silver, snowflakes, soft ink blended background and a diagonal arrangement. So I included the ink blended background and diagonal arrangement but modified mine by using butterflies, pink and gold.  I excluded that the snowflakes fade to white, the water droplets and used gold splatter instead.  My spin is that my card is larger at 6" x 8" in size.  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 from a 12" x 12" piece of white card; this was cut to 12" x 8" and scored on the 12" side at 6".  I then cut a white panel 5 3/4" x 7 3/4" and ink blended the top 2/3rds using a pink ink; as in Verena's card I went heavier at the top and faded out to white towards the bottom.  I added gold and white splatter and set it aside to dry.  I then die cut my butterflies from light and dark pink card and cut the bodies from gold mirri card; I adhered them together with liquid glue. I stamped the sentiment using black ink (not sure why I didn't do gold but I think it looks ok) using a mixture of stamp sets and cut it out with my trimmer.  I can't tell you how much faffing I did with the butterflies to get an arrangement I was happy with but eventually I did and added the smaller ones with liquid glue and the 3 larger ones with foam squares.  I added the sentiment with foam squares overlapping the butterflies and finished off with some gold sequins.  I added some scrap card behind the panel for stability and dimension and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another piece of white card 5 3/4" x 7 3/4" and ink blended the lower third with the pink ink.  I again added some splatter as before.  I die cut two more butterflies and adhered them with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I decided to add a gold mirri mat layer to bring a bit more gold to the inside so trimmed my white panel down a little and adhered it to the gold layer with double sided tape.  This was then added to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

613 Avenue Create challenge - think pink

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut (3rd entry)

Aud Sentiments challenge - ink blending and/or fall/thanksgiving + sentiment

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG but must include an animal

Creative Moments challenge - things with wings

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Cut It Up challenge - use more than 1 die (3rd entry)

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love challenge - BEWAS optional Thanksgiving or appreciation

Let's Craft & Create challenge - things with wings

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - bright and colourful

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

Craft Addiction UK - wings of elegance

Gina K Designs - innocent pink ink pad

Uniko Stamps - floral vines stamp (for HBD)

Uniko Stamps - everyday family (for sister)

Clearly Besotted - friends & family stamp (for sub sentiment) - retired

Spellbinders - gold smooth discs color essential sequins

LOTV - verse polymer stamp (for inside greeting) - no longer available

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

gold mirri card from stash

pink card from scraps bin