Just Us Girls challenge #832 - mood board week

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. I am back to share my card for this week's Just Us Girls challenge and it's Mood Board Week and Bobby has a beautiful board to inspire us this week. There are so many gorgeous summer themed images and colours to choose from and I'm sure this is going to be a really popular week. I cannot wait to see all your gorgeous creations.

here is a better look at the board:

My eye was immediately drawn to the top left picture featuring pink and teal colours and jars filled with a yummy looking beverage.  I found a jar die in my stash and created a fun shaker card (I know another one lol!).  I think it turned out really girly and pretty and I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the jar:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and used three shades of teal ink and ink blended all over the panel; I also added some water droplets and white spatter.  Whilst that was drying I die cut the jar x 10 so that I could stack up the frame part to create my shaker window.  I ink blended one complete jar (frame and inner) using a pink ink pad and added some white spatter to the inner part.  I cut a piece of acetate and adhered that behind the ink blended frame and then adhered the rest of the white frames behind using liquid glue. I also die cut a straw from a different die set from white card and using masking tape created the stripes by ink blending some kraft ink over it and I think it turned out fantastic.  I cut a small piece of kraft card and swiped some brown ink over it to give it some dimension to look like wood (but I think it works as sand too).  I stamped both the sentiments onto white card using a teal ink pad and used sentiment strip dies to cut them out.  I was going to use sequins in my shaker but found some glitter snow which is quite chunky so I thought that would work as ice in my drink.  I added the ink blended background onto my card base using double sided tape and added the kraft card along the bottom with liquid glue.  I adhered the inner part of the jar onto the background and then adhered the straw onto this using liquid glue.  I added a few spoonfuls of the snow and then adhered the layered frames over top with liquid glue trapping the snow inside.  I added the smaller sentiment in the top left corner using liquid glue and the longer sentiment was added across the bottom of the jar using foam squares.  I finished off with some clear sequins.  For the inside I cut another white panel and ink blended along the bottom using the teal ink left on my brush.  I cut a thin strip of kraft card and again dragged the brown ink along it for dimension and attached this to the bottom with liquid glue.  I used another inner jar piece, ink blended over it with the pink ink and added some white spatters.  I adhered this in the bottom left corner, trimming off the bottom of the jar that overhung the panel.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre using the teal ink pad and adhered the panel to my card base with double sided tape. 

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge - make your mark (I ink blended my background)

Creative Inspirations challenge - summer sunshine 

Cut It Up challenge - create your own background (I ink blended my background)

Everybody Art challenge - summer time

First Cup challenge - anything beverage/drink related

INKspirational challenge - summer vibes

Let's Craft & Create challenge- fun in the sun (sipping cocktails is definitely fun)

Little Red Wagon challenge - P is for pink

The Four Seasons challenge - summer with optional inspiration board

The Pick 3 challenge - ink blending, sparkle, sentiment

I'm sure this will be a popular challenge as there is so much on the board to inspire you and I cannot wait to see what you create. Please pop over to the challenge blog and leave some love for our guest designer Bonnie and the rest of the design team.

I appreciate you stopping by.

Love and hugs,

Sizzix - jar of flowers die set (I only used the jar)

MFT - soda pop die-namics (for the straw)

Tonic Studios - bottoms up stamp

Gina K Designs - ink pads - innocent pink, kraft, blue lagoon, turquoise sea, tranquil teal

Gina K Designs - clear quartz solid sequins

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

The Works - glitter snow

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for spatters)

kraft card from my 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

Krafty Chicks challenge #823 - Birthday

Good morning lovely friends; I hope you're having a great week. 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. This is such an easy challenge as we always need birthday cards so we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

My mother asked me for another special 80th birthday card (all her friends are turning the big 8-0 this year!) and as I still had the blooming branches embossing folder bundle on my desk, and because I love it so much, I decided to use it again on this card. The card is 7" x 7" in size and I went with pinks this time.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by creating my card base; I cut one white panel 8" x 7" and scored it at 1" on the longer side and a second panel 7" x 7".  I used the 1" tab to adhere my two pieces together, using red line tape. I once again only used the embossing folder to emboss the two additional flowers; for the background I used the stencil and two shades of pink ink for the flowers and 2 shades of green ink for the leaves, I also added some yellow in the flower centres.  I coloured the two extra flowers in the exact same way.  It suited my layout better to turn the stencilled background 90 degrees so that the design was on horizontal instead of vertical.  I found a pretty green glitter card so used that as my mat layer.  I used a scrap piece of pretty pink paper that was loose in my stash and used that as my background panel, again matting it onto the green glitter card.  This was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  I added some scrap white card behind the stencilled panel and adhered that to the paper panel with double sided tape.  I added the extra flowers with foam tape.  The sentiments were created on the pc, printed out and cut out with a sentiment strips die.  I added some pink ink around the edges and adhered them above and below the stencilling with foam squares.  I finished off with some black pearls.  For the inside I cut a white panel and again matted it onto the green glitter card.  I had two thin strips left of the pink paper so added them to the top and bottom of the panel.  I found a free verse online and used my printer to print it directly onto the panel.  This was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

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 '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 want to say how much I appreciate your lovely comments, your support really does mean the world to me.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

*Gina K Designs - blooming branches embossing folder, die & stencil bundle

Gina K Designs - ink pads - innocent pink, dusty rose, lucky clover, grass green, lemon drop

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

Limetree Craft - 12" x 12" 300gsm smooth white card

The Works - A4 pastel glitter pad

pc and printer for my sentiments

patterned paper from my 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

Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop - Jan 26

Hello friends, I hope you're doing ok and that you've had a lovely day so far. It's time for the Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop, which takes place on the 5th of each month. You always have the option to go for anything goes but the extra prompt this month is 'Icy' and I can't wait to see what the rest of my fellow hoppers have made. I hope you can pop over to Instagram and join us.

As soon as I read the theme I wanted to use some cute critters and make a scene in the snow/ice.  I looked through my stash and found this un-loved set from Kraftin Kimmie stamps that was perfect. The polar bears are adorable and I loved the sentiment.  I don't have any dies for this set so had to fussy cut them out which I think looks ok.  I hope you like my icy, cool tag.  

Here is my tag:

A closer look at the cute polar bears:

I began by die cutting one tag from one white card and one from the snowy patterned paper.  I stamped the images onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured them with Promarkers (just some light shading around the edges and some pink on their cheeks and ears).  I fussy cut the images and added small foam squares behind the three polar bears.  I die cut a curved piece from white card for the bottom of my tag and stamped the sentiment with black ink.  I decided to add some snow hills above the sentiment so used some light grey ink and a piece of torn paper to give the hint of colour; I then adhered this to the tag with liquid glue.  Once I had decided on my layout I adhered the polar bears and added the snowballs and brrr sentiment with liquid glue.  I stamped the single snowball directly onto the tag with black ink.  I added the white tag behind for a bit more stability and for a space to write on and lightly ink blended the grey ink around the tag for some extra interest.  I finished off with some tulle ribbon and tied a bow with some white and grey striped twine.  A really fun tag and it really does look so much nicer in real life.  

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

Aud Sentiments challenge - ATG + sentiment

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line N - winter weather, blue, free

Colorful Options challenge - blue & white

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

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

Mix It Up challenge - ATG optional use ribbon

Paper Rocks Scissors - ATG (I used scissors to fussy cut my images)

Pearly Sparkles challenge - use patterned paper

Stamping Sensations challenge - something beginning with B (bears, blue)

Tag-along (& ATC's) challenge - love/romance or ATG

The Four Seasons challenge - winter season + inspiration board

We Love Stamping challenge - something new or ATG

We hope you will be inspired by our Gorgeous Gift Tags Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous tags along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #gorgeousgifttagsjan2026 and we will find your tags.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love,

 

tag supplies:

Kraftin Kimmie Stamps - shake it up polar bears stamp (retired)

Promarkers

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

Waffle Flower - nesting tags die set

Clearly Besotted - decorative edge shallow die collection (now retired)

The Works - snowy Christmas 12x12 paper pad 

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card

*Gina K Designs - soft stone ink pad

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

ribbon & twine from my 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

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

Krafty Chicks challenge #779 - ATG

Good morning lovely friends; it's Thursday so that means it's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge.  We have a 5 week month so that means we have an extra 'Anything Goes' challenge this week and Diane is our hostess.  It can't get any easier than ATG so come and join in the fun with us. 

The world's your oyster this week, you can make anything you like.  I wanted to share the anniversary card I made for my hubby (which was a few weeks ago).  I love the fun image and sentiment and went for a bright and cheery colour combo.  The card is 7" x 7" in size.  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 friendly card, coloured it with Promarkers and added some white gelly roll pen highlights.  I used the coordinating die to cut it out.  To create my card base I cut one piece of white card 8" x 7" and another piece 7" x 7"; on the larger piece I scored at 1" on the 8" side and used this 'tab' to attach the two panels together using double sided tape.  I cut a white panel 4 3/4" square and using a heart stencil and some light grey ink created a soft background for my images.  I matted this panel onto some gold mirri card with double sided tape.  I cut a piece of yellow patterned paper 5 3/4" square and again matted it onto the gold mirri card with double sided tape.  I then cut another white panel 6 3/4" square and matted it onto the gold mirri card again.  I adhered all the layers together with double sided tape.  I stamped the happy anniversary and husband words onto scrap white card and cut them out with a sentiment strip die.  I adhered the image into the centre of the stencilled panel using foam tape and stamped the 'me love you' sentiment in black ink below.  I added the other sentiments above the image with foam squares.  The whole panel was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  For a final finishing touch I die cut 5 hearts from the gold mirri card and added them around the image with liquid glue.  I kept the inside fairly simple this time; I cut I white panel 5 3/4" square and again added a gold mirri card mat.  I added a border of the patterned paper to the top and bottom with double sided tape and stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I added some more gold hearts in the left upper and right bottom corners.  The panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  Quite a few layers and dimension on this card but I knew I wouldn't be posting it so it didn't matter.  

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

Christmas BINGO (or not) challenge - Line G - square card, free, frame

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG

Crafty Gals Corner challenge - our anniversary in July

Cut It Up challenge - monochrome

Little Red Wagon challenge - masculine (anniversary card for hubby)

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends challenge - ATG

Make My Monday challenge - masculine (anniversary card for hubby)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist 'fun with stencils'

Tic Tac Toe challenge - any colour, free, sentiment

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

Stamping Bella - cave couple stamp & die

Uniko Stamps - everyday love sentiments stamp

Uniko Stamps - everyday family stamp

Gina K Designs - forever flowers stamp (for inside greeting)

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiment dies

Gina K Designs - soft stone ink pad

Time For Tea Designs - scattered hearts stencil

The Works - 12 x 12 paper pad - pastel basics

Limetree Crafts - 12 x 12 smooth white 250gsm card

Versafine - onyx black ink

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

MFT - tag builder blueprints 6

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

gold mirri card from stash

Patterned Paper Party IG Hop - July

Hello friends; I hope you're having a great weekend and are looking forward to the brand new week.

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 'bright' so if you have any super bright and fun papers now is the time to grab them and use them up.  I have to be honest I completely forgot about the twist and, even though my papers are quite fun and bright, that was a total fluke lol!  I hope you like it:

Here is my card:

A closer look at the papers:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" (although I will cut it down later).  I found a paper pad I wanted to use and selected 6 papers that I thought were fun and looked good together.  I used a rounded banner die and cut one from each of the papers.  I used a 'hello' die and cut it from brushed silver card 4 times and stacked them up with liquid glue.  I also stamped a sub-sentiment onto white card using black ink and cut it out with a sentiment strips die.  I arranged the banners in a pleasing arrangement and adhered them with liquid glue.  I also used liquid glue to add the hello and sub-sentiment across the banners.  It was at this point that I decided that I wanted a stitched edge around my panel.  This proved to be tricky because as the middle was raised due to the stacked sentiment it took about 4 goes through the die cutting machine to cut it out and even then I had to snip the sides with my scissors - next time I'll try to remember to cut the panel first or leave it as it is lol!  I finished off with some silver metallic pearls.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel for some slight dimension and then added it to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut the same sized white panel and added another set of the patterned paper banners at the bottom with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  Once again I used the stitched rectangle to cut the panel down but this time it was fine as there wasn't as much dimension to get through.  The panel was added to the card base with double sided tape.  A fun layout and it would be suitable for all ages and genders.  

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

Alphabet challenge - G is for girlfriend

Crafts Galore Encore challenge - ATG

Dream Valley challenge - ATG

Girlz Creative Fun Art of Scrap challenge - ATG must use design papers

Love Those Pretty Papers challenge - ATG must use patterned papers

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 #patternedpaperpartyhopjuly2025 and we will find you. 

Thanks for stopping by and take care. 

Lots of love

card supplies

MFT - blueprints 13 (for rounded banner)

MFT - hello there die set

Gina K Designs - thankful greenery stamp (for 'sweet friend' sentiment)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies

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

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 14 (for stitched rectangle die)

Clearly Besotted - sending love stamp (for inside sentiment)

The Works - pastel basics 12"x 12" paper pad

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - but they do have 280gsm silky smooth white card available here

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Christmas Kickstart challenge - reminder post

Good morning lovely friends and welcome to the weekend; I hope you had a great week.  I am back to share my second project as guest elf over at the Christmas Kickstart challenge for this month's theme of 'it's a gift'.  

As I made a card last time I thought I would shake it up a little and make a gift box.  I love decorating gift boxes and bags and I don't do it nearly often enough.  It's not much space to fill plus it's an adorable way of gifting something small.  

Here is my gift box:

A close look at the cute image:

I decorated the panels of the box:

I began by die cutting the gift box twice from kraft card and adhered them together with red line tape.  I forgot to decorate the box before I stuck it together so die cut the coordinating panels and stamped the present image in a light brown ink randomly all over to resemble patterned paper.  I attached all the panels with double sided tape.  I stamped the adorable image onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured it with Promarkers and added a few highlights with a white gel pen.  I fussy cut the image as I don't have the coordinating dies for this set.  I cut a white panel with the die, stamped a present in the bottom left corner (which I coloured with Promarkers) and a sentiment in the upper left corner.  I attached the white panel onto the box with double sided tape and then adhered the penguin with foam squares.  I found some small wooden embellishments recently in my stash and thought the candy cane would be the perfect finishing touch so I tied a length of natural twine around the candy cane and then tied it to the handle of the box (it's only a loose knot so can be undone when the time comes to fill the box).  A really cute box and very easy to mass produce, especially if you remember to decorate the box before glueing it together!

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

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

A Place to Start challenge - ATG optional twist anything but a card

Classic Design challenge - ATG option fancy fold (is a box a fancy fold?)

Craft Rocket challenge - no design paper 

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Crafty Gals Corner challenge - ATG option fancy fold (is a box a fancy fold?)

Creative Inspirations challenge - Christmas in June 

Creative Friday challenge - many layers

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG option use sepia colours

Moving Along With The Times challenge - early Christmas

My Time To Craft challenge - winter

Sparkles Christmas challenge - use dies

The Holly & Ivy Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

Triple B challenge - use at least one bird, bloom or butterfly (a penguin is a flightless bird)

I hope you can join in with the challenge; I can't wait to see your creations in the linky. Jo does a great job running the blog singlehandedly (with just her guest elves) so please pop over and check out her gorgeous card and leave her some love too.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jo for asking me to be a guest this month; it's been a delight being an elf and maybe one day I can join you again Jo.  

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for stopping by. 

Box ingredients:

Spellbinders - charming cottage box dies

Spellbinders - envelope of wonder sentiments

MFT - sweet holiday penguins stamps - retired

Crafter's Companion - Neenah desert storm card

Promarkers

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

The Works - box of Christmas wooden embellishments (bought last year)

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

twine from stash