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

Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop - October 25

Hello friends, I hope you're doing ok and that you've had a lovely day so far. It's time for a new theme 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 'Halloween', which is great theme and with so many images to choose from such as ghosts, spiders, witches, or even cute trick or treaters, the world is your oyster! 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. 

I don't make many Halloween things as a rule but as I had bought a new stamp I would have been rude not to use it lol!  I went for a bright lime green and black colour combo and I have to say I love how it turned out.  I hope you like it too. 

Here is my tag:

A closer look at the details:

I decorated the backs too:

I began by die cutting two tags from white card.  I used a lime green ink pad to ink blend over the front of one of them and I went with a heavier hand around the edge for some contrast.  I used my new background stamp and stamped it over the ink blending with black ink.  I also added some black ink around the edge of the tag.  I die cut a spider web from black card and adhered it to the top left corner of the tag with liquid glue.  I die cut a ghost from white card 4 times and adhered them together with liquid glue; I added some black card behind his eyes and mouth also with liquid glue.  I adhered the ghost to the tag with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment onto black card with watermark ink and white heat embossed it before cutting it out with a sentiment strips die.  I added that above the ghost with foam squares.  For the back of this tag I found some lime green paper almost the same colour as my ink blending and adhered that with liquid glue.  I had a little piece of the spider web die cut left over from the front so added that to the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I stamped a sentiment at the very bottom of the tag with black ink.  For the second tag I kept it really simple; I added a piece of striped paper to the front of the tag and adhered another spider web in the right bottom corner with liquid glue and for the back of the tag I simply covered it with black card to continue the spooky vibe.  I tied both the tags together with lime green spotty ribbon and then added some black twine which I tied into a bow for some extra decoration.  

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

AAA Colourful challenge - colour board #20 (I used lime green & black)

Craft Rocket challenge - autumn/Halloween

Crafty Calendar challenge - Halloween

Creative Inspirations challenge - autumn/something spooky

Cut It Up challenge - use more than one die (tag, web, ghost, sentiment strip die)

Double D challenge - trick or treat, smell my feet

Heart's Quest for Shaped Cards & Tags challenge - ATG on a shaped card or tag

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - spooky fun

Little Red Wagon challenge - H is for holidays (I chose Halloween)

Stamping Sensations challenge - autumn

Tag-along (+ ATC's) challenge - anything autumn

The Four Seasons challenge - ATG fall optional mood board

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional cute or creepy

Tic Tac Toe challenge - top row across: die cut/twine/embossing

We Love Stamping challenge - anything autumn

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 #gorgeousgifttagsOct2025 and we will find your tags.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

tag supplies:

Waffle Flower - nesting tag dies

Creative Expressions - ghostly manor rubber stamp

Gina K Designs - key lime ink pad

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments dies

Spellbinders - harvest magic die set (for ghost)

Marianne Design - spiderweb die

MFT - fab-boo-lous friends stamp (for sentiment)

MFT - black & white stripes 6x6 paper pack

WOW! - opaque bright white super fine embossing powder

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Limetree Crafts - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Versamark - watermark ink pad

lime paper from stash

Summer Soiree IG Card Hop - Week 4

Hello friends; we've made it to the middle of the week *yay*. The weather has really gone downhill here in South Wales and I think summer has been and gone unfortunately.  We'll have to keep our fingers crossed that it decides to come back again soon.  

It's week 4 of our Summer Soiree IG card hop, which has been organised by my lovely friend Kelly. This week is all about 'summer books & blockbuster movies' which is pretty straightforward; there are so many to choose from.  

I decided to base my inspiration on one of my favourite Disney movies (although most of them are favourites) but this one is funny but also tugs at the heart strings.  

Here is my inspiration photo:

Here is my card:

A close up of the cute image:

I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping my house image onto alcohol marker friendly card and colouring it with Promarkers.  The house isn't exactly the same as the film version but I used the same colours to colour it with.  There is no matching die so I fussy cut it out; although it was quite a basic shape to cut around.  I grabbed lots of scraps of card from my scraps bin and die cut lots of balloons and balloon strings.  I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and used a cloud stencil to create my sky background.  I added the strings with a small strip of sellotape and added the house over top with foam squares.  I arranged the balloons and once I was happy with the placement took some masking tape and held them in place before turning over and adding liquid glue to the backs.  I then carefully placed them over the balloon strings and added some clear blocks on top to make sure they adhered securely.  I cut off any edges of the balloons that went over the card panel.  I added the card panel onto my card base with foam tape.  I found a pre-printed sentiment that worked really well with the style and theme of my card and die cut it out with a sentiment strip die.  I added this over the balloons with foam squares.  No extra embellishments this time as I liked the card as it was.  For the inside I cut another panel 4" x 5 1/4" and again ink blended a cloud background.  I stamped, coloured and fussy cut another house and die cut 2 more balloons/strings and added them onto the panel with liquid glue.  I didn't add a sentiment as I will add that when I come to use the card.  I think you can see that my card was inspired by UP and I hope you like it. 

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

A Place to Start challenge - ATG

Classic Design challenge - ATG option fancy fold

Crafty Calendar challenge - add a sentiment

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG/masculine

Inkspirational challenge - use a stencil optional use paste

Little Red Wagon challenge - something you love (I love the film UP)

Stencil Fun challenge - must use a stencil option shades of blue

The Cutie Pie challenge - beginning with B (balloons)

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:

Jane's Doodles - home sweet home stamp set - sadly now closed

Promarkers

Spellbinders - balloons & birthday wishes die set (for balloons & strings)

Creative Expressions - wordies sentiment sheet - inspirational

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies

Gina K Designs - sea glass ink pad

MFT - mini cloud edges stencil - retired

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - sadly now closed

coloured card all from my scraps bin 

AAA Birthday challenge - DT card

Hello again friends, I'm back with my final card for today (I'm like buses and all my posts come together lol!).  

I'm sharing my DT card for this month's AAA Birthday challenge.  Our hostess this month is Jane D. and she has chosen 'hearts' as her theme.  I know it's very topical with Valentine's Day coming up but don't forget you have to make a birthday themed project for our challenge.   

Isn't that a yummy photo; I could eat those cookies right about now!  I went all rainbow again this month and fairly clean and simple - here is my card:

a closer look at the hearts:

and as always I decorated the inside:

I began by grabbing some card from my 'scraps bin' and cut some strips in rainbow colours.  I adhered them to some copy paper with double sided tape just to give them some extra stability.  I then added them to my white card panel (which was cut to 3 3/4" x 5") again with double sided tape.  I die cut the heart border 3 times from white card and stuck them together with liquid glue.  I like the extra dimension this gives and it always makes them sturdier.  I added the heart border to the strips with liquid glue.  The sentiment was from a pre-printed pack which I cut out with some sentiment strip dies (it was originally a longer sentiment that said 'sending love and hugs on your birthday' but I die cut it into 2 separate pieces and took out the hugs part).  The sentiments were also added with liquid glue over the heart border.  I saved a few of the solid hearts and arranged them around the heart border for some extra interest.  The white panel was then added to my card base with foam tape.  No extra bling as I didn't think it needed anything else.  For the inside I cut more strips, duplicating the same process as above, added them to my white card panel at the bottom and added more solid white hearts.  I stamped a sentiment in black ink and then adhered the panel onto my card base with double sided tape.  

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

Craft Rocket challenge - birthday

Moving Along With The Times challenge - love hearts

Pearly Sparkles challenge - love/have a heart

Scrapping 4 Fun challenge - ATG (3rd entry)

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - have a heart (2nd entry)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (3rd entry)

Snippets Playground challenge - use your snippets (I used pieces from my scrap bin to create my rainbow)

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 blogs.   Our guest designer for this month is Karen so please pop over and check out her gorgeous card too. 

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:

Simon Says Stamp - heart parade die

Creative Expressions - wordies sentiment sheet - birthday

MFT - inside & out birthday greetings (for inside my card)

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card (for panels and card blank)

Versafine onyx black ink 

All coloured card from my scraps bin

Tonic - Nuvo deluxe glue

The Works - double sided tape & foam tape

Just Us Girls challenge - guest designer

Good Morning lovely friends and welcome to February.  I have a busy day on my blog today; this is the first of 3 cards that I will be sharing with you!  I was honoured to be asked to be a guest designer for the Just Us Girls challenge for February and immediately said yes.  They have fun weekly challenges and I hope you will join in.  

They have set themes for each week so it is always easy to play along.  Here is the schedule:

Week 1. Color theme

Week 2. Word prompt

Week 3. Mood Board

Week 4. Anything Goes using a stencil

Week 5. Case a DT Member

Obviously I will only be sharing 4 cards with you (as I'm only a guest) but I will definitely playing along on Week 5 and casing a DT members card. 

So as it's Week 1 we have a colour theme for you to use; here is the graphic:

This is the perfect colour scheme for the upcoming Valentine celebration; however I wanted to make a card for a crafty friend, so used the colours as my starting point.  Here is my card:

a close look at my cute coffee cups:

plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting the sweet coffee cups from white card, the sleeve from pink card, the tops from black card and the hearts from red card.  I added the sleeve with foam squares and the top and hearts with liquid glue.  I also added crystal glaze onto the hearts for some extra shine.  I took a white card panel cut to 3 3/4" x 5" and ink blended some red ink into the centre and then using the same ink I stencilled some hearts over top.  I die cut the friend word from the red card and used a pre-printed sentiment which I die cut with a strip die.  I arranged the coffee cups in the centre of my card, added the strip sentiment overlapping them slightly and placed the friend word below (all were added with liquid glue).  The panel was then added to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I lightly blended the red ink at the very bottom of my panel and again stencilled the hearts over top.  I stamped the greeting in black ink and then adhered the panel into the card with double sided tape.  I kept the layers to a minimum as I knew I would be posting my card overseas.   I'm really happy with my card and think it turned out really cute.

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

AAA Cards challenge - anything CAS goes option Valentine's Day

Cardz for Galz challenge - red and/or pink hearts

Cut It Up challenge - this makes me happy (coffee makes me happy!)

Moving Along With The Times challenge - love hearts

Pearly Sparkles challenge - love/have a heart

Scrapping 4 Fun challenge - ATG

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - have a heart

Tic Tac Toe challenge - heart, red, die cut

The Color Hues challenge - red and pink

I hope this colour scheme inspires you to create something for the challenge and I cannot wait to see what you make.  I will be back in a little while with another card so don't go too far away!

I really appreciate all your lovely comments and thank you so much for visiting me today. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Spellbinders - I dance die set (for coffee cups)

Spellbinders - sweet treat box die set (for stitched heart)

Clearly Besotted Stamps - friend word die

Creative Expressions - Wordies sentiment sheet - birthday

Simon Says Stamp - falling hearts stencil

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips die

Gina K Designs - cherry red ink cube

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

CC Designs - happy day stamp set (for inside greeting)

Happy birthday Hubby!

Hello friends; I hope you've had a great day so far.  

It was my hubby's birthday earlier in the week and this was the card I made for him.  He doesn't really 'do' cards (I know, can you believe it!) but I thought this would be perfect for him as he is car mad.   

I began by stamping the 3 cars with memento tuxedo black ink and coloured them with Promarkers.  I thought the background was too plain so added some 'splatter' with stamps in matching ink colours and I was much happier.  The husband sentiment was stamped in Versafine onyx black ink and the strip sentiment was a pre-made one that I die cut with a sentiment strip die.   

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

Allsorts challenge - create your own background

Seize the birthday - I didn't use the topping so just went for anything birthday goes

I know my posts have been a bit sporadic the last year or so but (without promising anything) I hope I can try and get back into the swing of blogging, even if it's just once a week.  We'll see how that goes lol!  I really do appreciate you still following my blog and hopefully you will continue to stick with me.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Honey Bee Stamps - car show

Gina K Designs - grand gentlemen sentiment set

MFT - distressed patterns

Creative  Expressions - wordies sentiment sheets - birthday

Gina K Designs - ink pads for background (I used soft stone, red velvet and blue raspberry)

Gina K Designs - large sentiment dies 

Memento tuxedo black ink pad

Versafine onyx black ink pad

Cupcake craft challenge #145–DT project

** THIS IS MY SECOND POST FOR TODAY **

Please scroll down to see my Stamp with Fun DT card

Here I am again, playing catch-up!!  I’m back to share my project for this week’s cupcake craft challenge.  The lovely Donna has set the theme this week and she has chosen “things with tails”, which is pretty self explanatory I think haha!  I decided to make something other than a card this week and attempted to make a tissue box cover, which I’ve admired on many talented crafter’s blogs.  It’s ok for a first try but there are things I would do differently next time.  Here is my project:

I’m sorry for the mega amount of photo’s but I wanted you to see the box from all angles.  I followed a tutorial on splitcoast stampers and you can see it here if you’d like to try it yourselves.  I have used two super cute images from DigiStamp Boutique, the cute kitties are ‘Olivia & Archie’ and the cute mouse is part of a set  called ‘cat accent doodles’.  For a change I haven’t used any designer paper but embossed all the surfaces with 3 different embossing folders.  I added a ‘lace’ punched edge and some punched flowers for a finishing touch.  I have to say that my poor photography skills haven’t helped me show it off to it’s best as it looks quite pretty IRL and I think I’ll be making more of these in the future.

Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp and the lucky winner will receive a $20.00 gift voucher to spend in their online store.

  

Don’t forget we also have our ‘icing on the cupcake’ prize and our sponsor for June is Little Claire Designs and one lucky winner, chosen at random, will win a fab 6 x 6 paper pad and two stamps.

The rest of the cupcakes have created gorgeous samples once again this week, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out.  We really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave for us each week.

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

Stampin’ sisters in Christ challenge – use something new (new technique)

Critter sketch challenge – let’s get krafty

The shabby tea room challenge – inspirational photo + embossing

Stamps & fun = creativity challenge – friends (I made this for my friend’s birthday)

Digital Tuesday challenge – animal friends

Creative inspirations challenge – cute bears/animals only

The pixie cottage challenge – sketch and/or anything but a card

Stampavie and more challenge – more than one fold

Crafty sentiments challenge – neutral colours

Moving along with the times challenge – no designer papers

Sassy studio designs challenge – no patterned papers

Crafty Ann’s challenge – use more than 1 image

Fairy tale challenge – anything but a card

Stamp something challenge – June digi day

Catch the bug challenge – anything goes

Mark’s finest papers challenge – flowers

One stop craft challenge – texture

Stamp magic challenge – no design paper

Claudia and company challenge – fancy folds

Tip top Tuesday challenge – more than 1 fold

Ok, so that’s my lot for now but please check back later to see my passion for promarkers challenge DT card.  I hope you will have a chance to join in with our challenge this week and I look forward to seeing what you create.  Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by.

 

Ingredients:

Images: DigiStamp Boutique – ‘Olivia & Archie’ and ‘cat accent doodles’

Papers: none, kraft cardstock from elzybells, SU whisper white cardstock, purple card from the papermill shop

Tools: promarkers, MS border punch, ek success retro flower punch, MS frond punch, nesties – ovals and circles, cuttlebug embossing folders – swiss dots and daisy pattern, creative expressions embossing folder – lattice, SU basic rhinestones