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

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 #825 - CAS

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 recently got this fun stamp set from Uniko and thought I would show it some love before I put it away.  I'm trying to do this more often as usually I get new products, organise them and put them away and then completely forget about them - please tell me I'm not the only one that does this!  I think it turned out super cute and I hope you like it too. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and ink blending all over with a light blue/teal ink pad.  I added some white spatter and also some spatter using the ink pad.  I stamped the images onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with Promarkers and fussy cut them out.  I stamped the sentiments directly onto the background with black ink and added the panel onto the card base with double sided tape.  I adhered the clouds with liquid glue and the hot air balloon with foam squares (so a tiny bit of dimension but not too bad for me lol!).  For the inside I cut another white panel and ink blended along the bottom, again adding spatters.  I stamped, coloured and fussy cut one more cloud and added that to the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and adhered the panel 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 '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 - up & away stamp

Uniko - floral vines stamp (for happy birthday)

Uniko - pure florals: cosmos stamp (for inside sentiment)

Promarkers

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)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card (store closed)

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for spatters)

*Gina K Designs - ocean mist 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

ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop February 26

Hello friends, I hope you're doing great and you've had a great start to your week. I'm sharing my creations for this month's ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop. We challenge you to use leftover die cuts, sentiments and card stock to create Artist Trading Cards (ATC's). You can send them in happy mail, save them on a ring to highlight your favorite creations, swap them with friends or add sweet notes to a lunchbox. Join us if you like; the only rules are to use scraps and create cards that are 2.5” x 3.5” in size. We share our little snippets of happiness on the third Tuesday of the month.

I had some ink smooshed backgrounds left over from a previous project so they were my starting point this month.  I won a recent challenge and one of the prizes was an ATC stamp set so I also used that.  I went very mixed media/grungy this time around and I think they turned out great.  I hope you like them too.

Here are my ATC's:

and a closer look at each individual ATC:

I decorated the backs very simply this time:

I began by stamping the ATC stamps on each of the ink smooshed backgrounds and roughly trimmed them down, I stamped and gold heat embossed a small butterfly in the top right corner and ink blended around the edge with a brown ink pad.  I took 4 plain white ATC's and created some distressed looking backgrounds using a stamp from MFT and again ink blended all around with the brown ink pad.  I stamped 4 of the floral images with a light brown ink onto white card and used the matching dies to cut them out.  As I didn't want too much colour I used 2 prismacolor pencils to lightly colour the florals.  The white was a little bright so again used the remainder of the brown ink on my blending brush to tone down the white.  I added some white and gold spatter over all of the backgrounds and also brushed some of the gold randomly around the edges of the ATC's.  Once dry I tied some twine around each of the smaller panels, adhered the florals with liquid glue and added foam squares behind.  I used some pre-printed sentiments and again coloured them by blending with the brown ink.  A stamped the ATC info stamp onto the back using black ink and lightly blended around the edges of the back of the ATC's.  I then added the smaller panels onto the ATC's and adhered the sentiments with liquid glue.  

I would like to enter my ATC's into the following challenges:

* to be updated * 

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #ATCscrapmakes2026 or #ATCscrapmakesfeb26 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

I really appreciate you stopping by today.

Love and hugs,

ATC supplies:

*Gina K Designs - floral friendship stamp & die (for flowers)

Gina K Designs - spring mountain stamp (for butterflies)

Gina K Designs - warm cocoa ink pad

MFT - distressed patterns stamp

Creative Expressions - wordies sentiment sheet - everyday

ATC silicone stamp won in a recent challenge

Kuretake - gansai tambi starry colors palette (for gold spatter)

Winsor & Newton - white gouache (for white spatter)

Prismacolor Premier pencils - light green & light aqua

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Versamark - embossing and watermark ink pad

Cosmic Shimmer - bright gold detail embossing powder

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

ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop - November 25

Hello friends, I hope you're doing great and you've had a great start to your week. I'm sharing my creations for this month's ATC Scrap Makes IG Hop. We challenge you to use leftover die cuts, sentiments and card stock to create Artist Trading Cards (ATC's). You can send them in happy mail, save them on a ring to highlight your favorite creations, swap them with friends or add sweet notes to a lunchbox. Join us if you like; the only rules are to use scraps and create cards that are 2.5” x 3.5” in size. We share our little snippets of happiness on the third Tuesday of the month.

I found some images that came free with a card making magazine (the copyright date is 2012 so I've had them a while lol!) and as they were cute Penny Black images, which I love, I decided to use them on my ATC's this month.  If you've visited my blog recently you may have seen my CASE IT card here where I recycled a birthday card and matching envelope; well I still had some small scraps left over of the envelope so thought I would use it up and make my ATC's matchy-matchy this month. I love all of them this month but I do have a soft spot for the hedgies - which one is your favourite?

Here are my ATC's:

a closer look at each ATC:

How I simply decorated the backs:

 

So I began by cutting up the scraps left from the envelope so that I could utilise as much of it as possible.  I was able to cut one whole ATC and then strips and corners on the others.  I found a background I had stamped previously with a gauze stamp and for the others I used some coordinating coloured card from my scraps bin.  I coloured the images with Promarkers and fussy cut each one before adding some white gelly roll pen and shimmer pen highlights.  I adhered the papers to the ATC's with liquid glue and splattered some white gouache mixed with perfect pearls for a little shimmer (although it is very subtle).  I inked around the edges with pink ink for some extra interest.  I added foam squares behind each image and added them to the ATC's.  I stamped some uplifting sentiments in black ink onto white card (except for one that I stamped directly onto the ATC) and used coordinating dies for two of them and my paper trimmer for the final one.  I added the sentiments with liquid glue.  For the backs I simply add a tiny scrap of the envelope just to tie it all together, again inking around the edges with the pink ink.  Very bright and cheerful ATC's this month and I hope you like them. 

I would like to enter my ATC's into the following challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Crafters Cafe challenge - ATG optional use some yellow

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Die Cut Divas challenge - critters (I die cut the sentiments)

The Neglected Stuff challenge - use old/neglected stuff (the images are from 2012)

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - must use paper and/or scissors (I used scissors to fussy cut the images)

Penny Black Saturday challenge - ATG optional music

Tag-along (& ATC's) challenge - add texture or ATG

Triple B challenge - birds, blooms and/or butterflies (I have floral paper and 1 small butterfly) 

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #ATCscrapmakes2025 or #ATCscrapmakesoct25 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

I really appreciate you stopping by today.

Love and hugs,

 

ATC supplies:

Penny Black images were magazine freebies from 2012!

Promarkers

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Tonic - Nuvo aqua shimmer pen

Gina K Designs - lovely notes stamp & die set

Gina K Designs - enjoyable greetings stamp

Gina K Designs - layered carnation stamp

Gina K Designs - gauze background stamp

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Ranger - perfect pearls in perfect pearl

Winsor & Newton - white gouache

recycled envelope for backgrounds

coloured card from scraps bin

*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