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

Krafty Chicks challenge #807 - Christmas

Good morning lovely friends, I hope you're having a good week so far. It's been rain, rain and more rain here in South Wales, which is miserable, but at least it gives me some time to catch up on crafty projects lol!  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.  It's time to start building up our Christmas card stash again so why not come over and join in the fun with us.

I've had this mittens die on my wish list for ages and finally caved and clicked 'add to cart' lol!  It has lots of extra dies that can be used with or without the mitten and the finished shaped card is about A2 sized.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I originally cut the mitten from a folded piece of white card to create my card base but then realised that I had cut it upside down (with the cuff at the bottom which is not what I wanted) so rather than waste it I cut the two pieces apart and scored a line on one of them, to act as a fold, as secured them together with red line tape.  I cut one more mitten from white card, ran it through my Intri-cut with a checkered argyle embossing folder and used my ink pads to add some colour all over the design, adding a slightly darker ink at the edges.  I die cut the cuff and scallop border from white card and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I die cut the holly leaves from white card and ink blended over them with spruce ink.  I also die cut some berries from white card and used cranberry inks to colour them.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink onto white card and used a stitched rectangle die to cut it out.  For assembly I used liquid glue to add the embossed mitten onto the card base and everything else was popped up with foam squares.  For the inside I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and also die cut an extra holly leaf and berry, inked them as before, and adhered them to the bottom of the card with liquid glue.  A fun shaped card with lots of texture and dimension. 

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

* to be updated * 

I hope you will be able to join us for our '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:

Sunny Studio - woolen mitten dies

Spellbinders - checkered argyle embossing folder

Spellbinders - Santa's sippin' sayings stamp (for both sentiments)

Catherine Pooler - notecard postage dies (for stitched rectangle die)

*Gina K Designs - ink pads - medium and dark cranberry

Gina K Designs - ink cubes - medium and dark spruce

Gina K Designs - large, small and detail blending brushes

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne 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 #805 - ATG with a twist!

Good morning lovely friends; I hope your week is going well so far. I'm sharing my card for the new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 5; and as it's an extra week this month we have an anything goes theme.  However we are mixing it up this year and adding an optional twist and the twist this time is embossing wet or dry.  Such a fun and easy theme and we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

I made my card at the end of December for my sister and brother-in-law's second wedding anniversary.  I don't know why but I always struggle with anniversary cards but I think this turned out super cute. For my embossing twist I used a gorgeous heart swag embossing folder.  The card was 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" as I like to make bigger cards for my family.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the cute image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel and used the beautiful heart swag embossing folder to create my background.  I also cut a gold mat layer and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I stamped the images onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with Promarkers and added some white gelly roll pen highlights.  I die cut the pretty heart wreath frame from the gold card, cut the image panel from a slightly smaller circle die so that it would fit behind the frame and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiments in black ink and cut them out using an oval die.  I adhered the heart frame in the centre of the embossed panel with foam squares and added the sentiments with double sided tape.  To embellish I used some of the hearts that fell out of the frame and adhered them with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel and then adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  A fairly clean and simple design but I was really happy with it.  For the inside I cut another white panel and gold mat layer and adhered them with double sided tape.  I embossed another panel of white card and cut two strips for the top and bottom of the panel, adhering them with liquid glue.  I also added thin strips of the gold card to the edges of the embossed pieces to make it look more 'finished' and a few gold hearts to match the front.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and 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 - any occasion

Alphabet challenge - T is for texture

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - must use an EF optional twist all white

Creative Moments challenge - love & romance

Cut It Up challenge - my heart

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

Shopping Our Stash challenge - love me do

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - have a heart

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

The Dream Factory challenge - love actually (love, hearts and/or Valentine's Day)

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'ATG with a twist of embossing' 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,

Sunny Studio - turtley awesome stamp

Promarkers

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store sadly closed 

Spellbinders - heart swag embossing folder - currently on clearance!

Spellbinders - essential stylish oval dies (to cut sentiments)

Poppy Crafts - heart wreath die

Taylored Expressions - flip the floral stamp (for anniversary sentiment)

Uniko - everyday family stamp

*Gina K Designs - succulent spray stamp (for inside sentiment)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

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

CASE IT IG Hop - January 26

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 Amy (@stampwithamyk over on IG); her cards are so beautiful and this one is so dreamy, calming and delicate.  I wasn't going to make a sympathy card, as hers is, but I really need some for my stash so went with it anyway.  I chose a pink colour scheme instead of blue, used one dove instead of two, used a rectangle panel instead of her arch panel and my card is 5" x 7".  I think you can definitely see that my card was inspired by hers!  Here is her card for my inspiration:

Isn't Amy's card just stunning.  I've literally had this photo in my camera roll since September last year and finally got around to CASE-ing it.  The colours, ink blending and paper are just amazing. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting my card base; I cut some white card 10" x 7" and scored it at 5" on the longer side.  I found this beautiful paper in my stash that I got in a Papercraft Society box; unfortunately I only had one sheet so a bit sad that I've used it but I think it was perfect for a sympathy card.  I cut the paper to 4 3/4" x 6 3/4".  The stitched panel was left over from die cutting a frame previously (it was the centre piece that fell out) and it was the perfect size for this card as I didn't want to cover all that beautiful paper.  I cut a beige mat layer as I felt it was soft enough for the muted colours in the paper.  I die cut the dove from white card and added a bit of orange to the beak piece and green to the leaf and adhered them all together with liquid glue.  I ink blended some light pink ink to the top half of the stitched rectangle and added the dove over it with foam squares.  I stamped the sentiment in a mid grey ink as I thought black may have been too harsh.  I adhered the paper directly to the card base with double sided tape. I added some scrap card behind the stitched panel and adhered it to the paper with double sided tape.  I finished off with some pink heart embellishments (not going to say how long it took me to decide where to put them lol!).  For the inside I cut a white layer and adhered it to a beige mat layer and added some left over strips of patterned paper to the top and bottom with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with the same mid grey ink and then adhered the panel 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

Aud Sentiments challenge - ATG + sentiment

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line O: rectangle, stitching, free, patterned paper

Craft Rocket challenge - something new (my dove die is new to me)

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Crafty Calendar challenge - anything new (my dove die is new to me)

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Daisy Chain challenge - use dies

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love challenge - BEWAS: sympathy

Little Red Wagon challenge - happy new...... I used a new dove die

Moving Along With The Times challenge - use stencils and/or dies

Pearly Sparkles challenge - use patterned paper

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - something new (my dove die is new to me)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - something new (my dove die is new to me)

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

We hope you will be inspired by our CASE IT Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous cards along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #caseithop and we will find you.

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

Lots of love

card supplies:

MFT - peaceful dove die currently on sale!

Sunny Studio - everyday greetings (for outside sentiment)

Sugar Pea Designs - heartfelt sympathy stamp (for inside sentiment) store now closed

*Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 20 die set (for stitched rectangle)

Gina K Designs - light carnation ink pad (for ink blending)

Versafine Clair - morning mist ink pad

Paper from the Textures by Lou Collins Papercraft Society Box 63 - no longer available

Little Things From Lucy's Cards - crystal collection - summer of love - store sadly closed

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

beige 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