Krafty Chicks challenge #798 - 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. I can't believe that Christmas is only 2 weeks away; I'm sure most of you are done with your cards for this year so why not get ahead and start on next years.  We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I pulled out an older but un-used stamp from Uniko for my project today.  I did some basic colouring as the bulbs were so small but I think it turned out super cute.  I hope you like it too.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the string of lights:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured the bulbs with a rainbow of Promarkers.  As I said the bulbs were so small I couldn't really do any shading so it went pretty quickly.  I cut the panel down to 3 5/8" x 4 5/8" and matted it onto a gold mirror layer cut to 3 3/4" x 4 3/4".  As it was a slightly odd size my card base ended up being slightly shorter at 5 1/4" instead of 5 1/2".  I added some scrap white card behind my panel and then adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment onto white card with black ink and cut it out with a sentiment strip die; I again layered this onto a gold layer which I cut with my paper trimmer.  This was adhered to the panel with foam squares.  As a finishing touch I added some crystal glaze over the bulbs so that they would shine and look a bit like glass.  For the inside I cut another white panel 3 5/8" x 4 5/8" and stamped a portion of the image onto the bottom, again colouring it with my Promarkers.  I stamped the sentiment into the centre with black ink and then matted the panel onto a gold layer.  This was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

613 Avenue Create - ATG optional twist sparkle and shine (I used glaze on my baubles)

As You Like It challenge - free for all Christmas 

Aud Sentiments challenge - (non) traditional Christmas and/or winter + sentiment

Cardz 4 Galz challenge - Christmas sparkle

Colourful Options challenge - colour board (I went with rainbow)

Crafty Calendar challenge - winter/Christmas

Creative Inspirations challenge - tis the season

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or purple & yellow

Peace On Earth challenge - anything Christmas themed optional mood board

Sweet Stampin' challenge - it's Christmas!

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - anything Christmas 

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:

Uniko Stamps - framed - fairy lights stamp

Uniko Stamps - pure florals: poinsettia stamp (for inside greeting)

Promarkers

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments dies

Tonic Studios - nuvo crystal glaze 

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card

gold mirror card from stash

*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 #63 - fabulous flowers

Good morning lovely friends ; welcome to the start of a brand new week and also the start of a brand new month.  Can you believe we are already at the 1st of July.  I know I say it every month but June went by in a blur didn't it.  I'm here this morning to share my card for this month's brand new challenge over at the AAA Birthday challenge. This month Tristan is the hostess and she's chosen 'fabulous flowers' as our theme.  Our guest designer this month is Celeste from Crafting Junky.  

I recently won a voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp and I bought this lovely die set after seeing so many beautiful projects using it.  It was perfect for our theme this month.  

Here is my card:

A closer look at the die cuts:

I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white card panel 4" x 5 1/4" and ink blending in the centre with 3 shades of teal ink. I also added some water droplets to add some extra interest to the background.  I die cut the beautiful floral die which consisted of the main flower, 4 individual flowers and the flower centres.  I cut them all from white card and lightly ink blended the lightest shade of ink in the centre of each flower.  I added the large flower die cut over the ink blending with liquid glue.  I added the extra flowers to the large die cut with liquid glue and also added some crystal glaze to the centres.  I stamped the sentiment in the darker teal ink and die cut it with the matching die.  I also cut 2 more white die cuts and stacked them together with liquid glue for extra stability.  I added this panel onto my card base with foam tape.  I finished off the front of my card with a few enamel dots which perfectly matched my monochromatic colour scheme.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4" x  5 1/4" and lightly ink blended the bottom third.  I added die cut three flowers and stamped a sentiment in the centre with the darkest teal ink.  A fairly simple card but I think it is really pretty and elegant.  I hope you like it. 

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

Allsorts challenge - way to grow

A Place to Start challenge - ATG

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

CAS on Friday challenge - nature

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - always birthday

Moving Along With The Times challenge - CAS

My Time To Craft challenge - summer florals

Group of Seven Carmakers challenge - monochromatic

Scrapping4Fun challenge - birthday

Sweet Stampin' challenge - flowers (I stamped my sentiment)

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - in the garden

Tic Tac Toe challenge - #250 - ink blend, flowers, layers (I layered up my flowers)

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.

Enjoy the rest of your day and thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Simon Says Stamp - fine floral stem die set

Simon Says Stamp - birthday basics stamp & die set

Gina K Designs - ink pads - sea glass, turquoise sea, tranquil teal

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card

Tonic Studios - Nuvo crystal glaze

enamel dots - no packaging so unsure of brand

Summer Soiree IG Card Hop - Week 2

Hello friends; we've made it to the middle of the week *yay*. I hope the weather is good where you are; it's still sunny and warm here in South Wales but I think it's supposed to change for the end of the week. Let's hope that summer isn't over already lol!  

Talking of summer; it's week 2 of our Summer Soiree IG card hop, which has been organised by my lovely friend Kelly.  This week is all about 'The Great Outdoors'.

Believe it or not but in my vast stash of stamps, dies etc I did not have one item relating the camping or the great outdoors so for a while I was a little bit stumped.  I am no artist but I decided to have a go at drawing my own caravan as this is as close to camping as I'll ever get haha!  It's not perfect by any stretch but I think you know what it is at least!  

Here is my card:

A close up of my masterpiece!

I decorated the inside:

So I began by roughly drawing my little caravan in pencil and when I decided it was as good as it was going to be I went over it with a letraset fine line black marker (which is safe to use with markers).  I erased all the pencil marks and coloured the caravan with Promarkers.  I fussy cut the image,  added some glaze to the windows and the wheel to make them shine a little and put it aside to dry.  For my background I used a mountain image and stamped it in light grey ink onto a white panel.  I ink blended the grass but then went over it with my markers for some extra definition.  I also coloured the sky and mountains with markers and used the black marker to define the birds.  I cut this panel out with a stitched die and then cut a navy card mat using my paper trimmer.  I decided to heat emboss my sentiment with gold embossing powder in the lower right corner.  I added my caravan with foam squares.  The panels were adhered together with double sided tape and then added to the card base with foam tape.  I finished off with a few gold sequins.  For the inside I cut the same size panels and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I stamped a small portion of the mountain image, coloured it with markers and added that to the bottom of my white panel with double sided tape.  I didn't add a sentiment as the card could be used for quite a few occasions, so left it blank until I know what I'm using it for.  The panel was then added to my 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

Aud Sentiments challenge - shaker and/or summer + sentiment

Craft Rocket challenge - no design paper

Cupcake Inspirations challenge - ATG

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - the great outdoors

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG/pink, blue & yellow

Little Red Wagon challenge - layer it up

Make My Monday challenge - outdoor summer fun

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Try It On Tuesday challenge - here comes summer

Unicorn challenge - emboss it (I heat embossed my sentiment)

We Love Stamping challenge - fabulous florals or ATG

If you would like to follow the hop over on Instagram please use the hashtag #summersoireecardmakinghop2024 to find us or alternatively visit my profile and you will find the list of participants on my post.  We would love it if you would give the summer soiree challenges a try and again use the hashtag and we will find your projects.  

I'll be back tomorrow with my card for the Krafty Chicks challenge but until then enjoy the rest of your day and thank you for stopping by. 

Love and hugs,

card ingredients:

hand-drawn image

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card

Gina K Designs - spring mountain stamp set

Gina K Designs - grass green ink pad

Promarkers

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card

Spellbinders - gold smooth disc color essential sequins

Letraset - fineliner black 03 pen

Nuvo - crystal glaze

Versamark - embossing & watermark ink pad

Cosmic Shimmer - detail bright gold embossing powder

AAA Birthday challenge - shaker

Good morning lovely friends and welcome to April. I am so ready for the brighter, warmer days after all the rain we've had in South Wales over the winter. Let's hope it works out that way. I am back this morning for the start of a brand new challenge over at the AAA Birthday challenge. This month Swapna is our hostess and she has chosen 'shaker' as our theme. Our lovely guest for this month is Deborah Frings so pop over and leave her some love.

I haven't made a shaker card in a little while so it was a nice change to make one.  I didn't have anyone in mind when I made my card so had free rein with what I could do.  I decided to make a shaped shaker card.  

Here's my shaker card:

a closer look:

I decorated the inside too:

I began by using a coffee cup card die to cut out the basic card shape.  When I used this die last time I must have cut some pink frames and not used them as I found them in the packaging so decided to use them up this time.  I cut another 4 white frames and adhered them all together with liquid glue so I had a really sturdy frame to work with.  I cut some acetate with the coffee cup die and adhered it behind the frame with liquid glue.  I also discovered a background that I made last year (I think using Tonic shimmer powders) which was lovely and shimmery and had some pink in it so thought why no use it up too.  I cup the coffee lid and also the backing for my shaker from this shimmery card.  I added foam strips behind the frame, added some silver sequins to the cup and stuck it all together.  I added a double thickness of foam tape behind the lid to make it as dimensional as the frame and adhered it to the cup.  For the sleeve I wanted a sentiment that was a little punny but couldn't find anything suitable in my stash so made my own.  I stamped the 'happy birthday to' and then die cut some letters 4 times from pink card to spell the word BREW (I know technically brew is synonymous with tea but I think it works in this instance) and lightly ink blended them to give them a slight ombre look and added them to the sleeve with liquid glue.  I stamped a row of cocoa beans underneath to continue the coffee theme and ink blended around the whole sleeve in brown ink (I did try pink first but didn't like it so went over it with the brown).  The sleeve was added to the frame with liquid glue.  The front definitely didn't need anything else with all the sparkle and shimmer going on.  For the inside I used one of the inner parts that cut out when I die cut the frames, added a thin piece of the shimmery card to the bottom and again added a punny sentiment with black ink and a single cocoa bean.  A really fun card and I'm super happy with it.  I may decide to add a gift card holder on the inside depending on who I give it to.  

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

Creative Knockouts challenge - birthday wishes

Cut It Up challenge - happy birthday

Get Creative challenge - April Fool's Day (joke or punny sentiment)

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - the sprinkles made me think of a shaker 

Scrapping4Fun challenge - ATG

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Snippets Playground challenge - I used all pieces from my scrap bin/already die cut 

Sweet Stampin' challenge - birthday girls (Happy Birthday to Wendy)

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 our challenge this month but don't forget it has to be birthday themed.  I can't wait to see your creations in the linky.

Enjoy the rest of your day and thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Honey Bee Stamps - coffee cup card honey cuts

Honey Bee Stamps - perfect blend stamp set (for inside greeting & cocoa beans)

MFT - make a wish stamp set (for the partial outside greeting)

MFT - little letters die-namics

Taylored Expressions - foam sticky strips (for shaker)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - warm cocoa, bubblegum pink

acetate from packaging

pink card from stash

Pretty Pink Posh - sparkling clear sequin mix

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card

Tonic Nuvo Shimmer powders (not 100% sure what colours I used but they are all beautiful)

Krafty Chicks challenge - GDT card week 2

Hello again friends; I hope you're having a great week so far......it's nearly Friday *yay* (although luckily for me every day is Friday now I've retired lol).  I'm back with my second card for the Krafty Chicks challenge and week 2 is always Christmas.  My Christmas card making production is going as well as most years - this is my second card - but even though I have a last minute panic they always get done!  Here is my card:

and a close up of the cute penguin

I recently got my hands on the new cute Christmas stamps from LOTV so it was the perfect excuse to ink one of them up.  I decided on this cute penguin but they are all adorable.  I coloured him with Promarkers and fussy cut him out.  For the background I used a snowflake stencil and went with light grey ink for a subtle look.  To create his 'ice rink' I actually used a balloon stencil and just masked off the end and inked that in light blue.  I die cut the white panel using a rectangle die that punches the holes which is gorgeous and added a red panel behind it so that the red would peek out from the holes.  I stamped a sentiment in black ink below the ice rink.  I then adhered this to my card base with foam tape.  I added some shimmer pen to the ice rink and then added the penguin on top with thin foam squares.  For a finishing touch I added some clear raindrops around my penguin.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - any occasion

Allsorts challenge - ATG or use die cuts (I used a frame die)

Craft Rocket challenge - clean and simple

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - wings or scales (penguins can't fly but use their wings to swim)

Moving Along with The Times challenge - Christmas

NBUS - brand new penguin stamp

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - make it cute

Stencil Fun challenge - use stencils - option fall

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - die cuts/ATG (I used a die cut frame)

Use Your Stuff challenge - borders (my die cut frame has a decorative border) 

Please pop over to the Krafty Chicks challenge blog to get all the details of the challenge and to give some love to the Design Team - Leanne, Melanie, Diane and Lori.  I'll be back next Thursday with my card for Week 3 - CAS.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me such lovely comments; I appreciate you all.  

Love and hugs, 

Card ingredients:

LOTV - penguins and reindeer A5 stamp set

Funky Fossil Designs - snow is falling stencil

Uniko Stamps - balloon bash stencil (for the ice rink)

MFT stamps - my itty bitty holiday stamp set

Gina K Designs - sea glass and soft stone ink pads

Spellbinders - essential rectangles dies

Little Things from Lucy's Cards - clear raindrops

Promarkers

Nuvo - aqua shimmer pen (glitter gloss)

Limetree Crafts - 250 gsm white smooth card

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card

Sakura - white gelly roll 10 pen 

Versafine onyx black ink (for sentiment)

Memento tuxedo black ink (for stamping image)

Falling for Wednesdays IG Hop - week 4

Happy Wednesday friends; I hope you're having a wonderful week so far.  I'm back again for this week's instalment of Falling for Wednesdays IG Hop which has been organised by my lovely friend Kelly.  This week is our only technique week and we were challenged to create our own plaid.  It's not as scary as it sounds; there are loads of stamps, stencils etc that you can use or you can even freehand draw your plaid.  I remembered that I had a plaid stamp so used that on my card.

Here is my plaid card:

A close up of the my cute image:

I also decorated the inside:

and made a matching envelope:

here are all the Promarkers and pens I used:

I began by creating my plaid (as if I messed it up I could start again).  I wanted a multi colour plaid so used 3 ink pads to ink up my stamp.  I softened the edges of the ink with a blending brush so that the blend between each colour wasn't too harsh.  The stamp set also comes with the thin lines so that you can really make the background pop - I stamped my lines in black ink for some contrast.  I didn't want my plaid to cover all the background as I thought that would be too much so I cut a piece of white card for my image to stand out a little.  I matted the plaid and white onto some dark chocolate card and also added a thin strip of the dark chocolate card between the plaid and white for some definition.  I stamped my image and coloured with Promarkers, added some white highlights, and then fussy cut it out.  I stamped my sentiment with white pigment ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  It did warp my panel a bit so I let it sit under my Misti for a while before adding it to my card with double sided tape to make sure it was extra secure on my card base.  I added the image with foam squares and grounded them with a light grey Promarker.  At the last minute I decided I wanted some pumpkins around my image but I put so many foam squares behind the image that I couldn't really fit them in, however after a little surgery (i.e. cutting them in half) I managed to squeeze two onto my card.  I finished off with some gold sequins.  I'm really happy with my plaid and I think I will have to make some more in other colours.  The card size is 5"x7".

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

Addicted to Stamps challenge - any occasion

As You Like It challenge - autumn or winter (I love autumn, it's just so pretty with the changing leaves and the perfect weather for being outdoors)

Crafty Gals Corner challenge - signs of fall

Double D challenge - fall plaids

Get Creative challenge - pumpkin spice, please!

Incy Wincy Designs challenge - colours of autumn

Mix it Up challenge - ATG option make your own background (I stamped my background)

Retro Rubber challenge - fall scenes (my stamp is 6 years old)

Simply Create Too challenge - use stamps

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - make it cute

Tic Tac Toe challenge - stamping, brown and leaves (there are leaves on my image, hope this is ok)

Unicorn challenge - layer it up

We Love Stamping challenge - ATG option trees/leaves (there are leaves on my image)

I hope you will be able to pop over to Instagram and check out the hop.  Please usual the usual hashtag ffwcardgroup2023 and you will find all the participants cards and we will be able to see yours if you join in the fun.  

Enjoy the rest of your day and thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Concord & 9th - plaid background stamp

Honey Bee Stamps - acorn sisters

Promarkers

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm white smooth card

Limetree Crafts - 300gsm dark chocolate card

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card

Spellbinders - gold smooth disc sequins

Gina K Designs - faded brick, fresh asparagus, honey mustard, white pigment ink pads

Wow - fine detail white embossing powder

Nuvo aqua shimmer pen in glitter gloss

Sakura - white gelly roll 10 pen

Versafine onyx black ink (for lines on plaid)

Memento tuxedo black ink (for stamping image)