Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop - August 26

Hello and welcome back to my blog lovely friends. It's a busy day on my blog today as this is my third post!  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 'baby shower'. I was a little daunted when I saw this theme as I've never made a baby shower anything before but obviously it's the same as a welcome baby card just with a slightly different sentiment.  So get creating and let's see all your baby themed tags. I can't wait to see what the rest of my fellow hoppers have made and I hope you can pop over to Instagram and join us.

I thought it would be fun to create a onesie shaped tag and went with a gender neutral colour scheme so that it could be used for a boy or a girl.  I even did some paper piecing on this one!  I think it turned out super cute and I hope you like it.

Here is my tag:

A closer look at the cute image:

Plus I decorated the back of the tag:

I began by die cutting two of the onesies from white card and two from neutral patterned paper and I adhered one paper onesie to one white card onesie for each side of my tag.  I stamped the image on darker striped paper and also a light spotty paper and fussy cut them out.  I added some crystal glaze to the large heart and the cluster of smaller hearts.  I stamped the sentiment onto the same paper as the tag using brown ink and also fussy cut it out.  I also cut the hole reinforcer from the darker striped paper.  I decorated the background with some stars in various shades of brown ink before adding the image and sentiment with foam tape.   I inked the edges with the brown ink.  For the back of the tag I stamped the sentiment with brown ink and also added some stars around it in the lighter brown inks and again inked around the edges with the brown ink.  I adhered both tags together using liquid glue and tied a ribbon and some twine through the hole for a finishing touch.  

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

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut optional fall flowers

A Place to Start challenge - ATG optional twist no rectangles

As You Like It challenge - favourite safari animal (another favourite is the elephant, they are such intelligent and empathetic animals, caring for each one in the herd)

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Daisy Chain challenge - animals

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

Paper Rocks Scissors challenge - I used scraps of paper for my image and fussy cut it out

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - monochrome

Sweet Stampin' challenge - stripes or chevrons (I stamped my elephant onto striped paper)

Tag-along (& ATC'S) challenge - fashion or ATG 

The Little Things challenge - flamingo and/or elephant 

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 #gorgeousgifttagsaugust2026 and we will find your tags.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love,

tag supplies:

Creative Expressions - new arrival - baby onesie die set

Kraftin' Kimmie - baby love stamp - retired

Gina K Designs - ink pads - sandy beach, kraft, warm cocoa

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

Tonic Studios - Nuvo crystal glaze clear

Tonic Studios - craft perfect classic jute twine

Echo Park - dots & stripes Christmas collection 6x6 pad

Echo Park - dots & stripes summer 6x6 pad

Basic Grey - basics manila 6x6 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 links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

Card Clubhouse IG Hop - Week 16

Hello again lovely friends; I'm back to share my card for the Card Clubhouse IG hop organised by my sweet friend Kelly. We are on Week 16 and our theme is 'back to YOUR class' so we want you to make a card, not to be confused with back to school, YOU are the teacher so show us your speciality!  I'm sure this is going to be such much fun and such a varied hop this week and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

If I was ever going to teach a class it would be totally chaotic as I love so many things such as stamping, colouring, ink blending, die cutting....the list goes on. So I decided to include most of them on my card this week lol!  My husband was rolling his eyes when I told him I was making a card for our cat's birthday but they are still part of the family aren't they?  Willow is 5 and she has a favourite giraffe toy (appropriately called giraffio) so that was the focal point on my card.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

plus I decorated the inside:

Here is a photo of Willow with Giraffio

I began by cutting a kraft card panel 4" x 5 1/4" and used a 'crackle' embossing folder to add some texture.  I also ink blended around the edge with a brown ink pad for some extra interest.  I stamped the image, coloured it with Promarkers and used the coordinating die to cut it out (I also cut 2 more from white card so that I could stack them).  I die cut a tag from white card and ink blended around the edge with yellow ink.  I die cut the letters to spell Willow from brown card and the number 5 from a deep yellow pearlescent card (I also cut the hole reinforcer for the tag from this card).  I adhered everything to the tag using liquid glue.  I added some yellow ribbon to the tag with liquid glue and also made a bow and adhered that with strong red line tape.  I added some scrap white card behind the tag and adhered that over the embossed background with double sided tape.  The panel was then added to my card base using double sided tape.  For a final finishing touch I added some crystal glaze to the brown patches of the giraffe.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and embossed a small piece of the kraft card, again adding some brown ink over top and adhered it o the bottom of the panel with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with brown ink and added the panel to the card base using double sided tape.  

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

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut optional fall flowers

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - birthdays

As You Like It challenge - favourite safari animal (I think giraffes are a wonder of nature with their long necks; how do they keep their heads up?!  Also Willow loves giraffes too)

Creative Friday challenge - dry embossing

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Daisy Chain challenge - animals

Inspiration Station challenge - inspiration photo (I was inspired by the colours)

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - happy birthday

The Neglected Stuff challenge - I've had this stamp and EF for years and never used them

Tic Tac Toe challenge - board #298 - middle vertical line: ribbon/twine, free, yellow

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #cardclubhousehop2026 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I have one more post for you today so I hope you can pop back and check it out.  

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Doodlebug & Sizzix - baby boy clear stamp (for giraffe) - discontinued

Promarkers

Waffle Flower - nesting tags dies

Creative Expressions - crackle embossing folder

MFT - little letters die set

MFT - by the numbers die set

Gina K Designs - on the inside stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - dark chocolate ink pad

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)

kraft card and ribbon 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 links as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Card Clubhouse IG Hop - Week 11

Hello lovely friends; I'm back to share my card for the Card Clubhouse IG hop organised by my sweet friend Kelly. We are on Week 11 and our theme is 'mix it up' so we would like to see either your mixed media projects or even papers or seasons that wouldn't normally go together.  We can't wait to see what everyone makes. There are going to be so many awesome creations along the hop this week and I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.

I decided to go for a mixed media style card as I really like it when other people make them.  I'm not super confident with this theme as I don't like getting too messy but I did my own controlled version lol!.  I went with lilacs again and I really love how it turned out.  I hope you like it too. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and did some ink smooshing with my medium lilac ink pad.  I didn't use watercolour paper just my regular smooth white so didn't go overboard with the water.  After it had dried a little I blended over the smooshing with the same ink.  I also splattered some of the dark lilac ink and some white gouache for some extra interest.  Once the panel had completely dried I took a fun abstract design stencil and some sparkle texture paste and added the pattern somewhat randomly; I then left the panel to dry again.  I stamped the butterfly onto vellum with white pigment ink and heat embossed it with fine detail embossing powder.  I used the coordinating die to cut it out.  I did brush on some of the lilac ink on the back of the butterfly just to soften it slightly.  I found some papers that had bold words on a white background and used the inks again to colour them and tore them into two strips.  I also took a rectangle of vellum and tore the edges.  I added foam squares behind the paper strips and adhered them to the vellum. I did die cut a silver circle to go behind my butterfly but it's not that noticeable once it was all stuck together.  I added the circle with double sided tape and the butterfly with liquid glue.  The stack was then adhered to the background with foam squares.  Finally I cut out a pre-printed sentiment, lightly blended over with some ink and added it over the butterfly with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel to give it some stability and then adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel, ink smooshed at the very bottom with the lilac ink and stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I added a strip of vellum, a strip of paper, a silver circle and finally another vellum butterfly, all with liquid glue.  The panel was then adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  

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

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - birthdays

Allsorts challenge - ATG

Double D challenge - splatter (I used white gouache and purple ink to splatter)

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - use a stencil or embossing folder (I used a stencil & texture paste)

Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge - inspirational photo (I was inspired by the butterflies)

Little Red Wagon challenge - create your own background (I ink smooshed and stencilled my BG)

Moving Along With The Times challenge - one or more butterflies

Pearly Sparkles challenge - one or more butterflies

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

We Love Stamping challenge - all creatures great and small

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #cardclubhousehop2026 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you. 

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

*Gina K Designs - spring things stamp & die (for butterfly)

Gina K Designs - picture perfect greetings (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - medium & dark lilac

Gina K Designs - white pigment ink cube

Versamark - embossing and watermark ink pad

Spellbinders - hummingbird textures stencil

Cosmic Shimmer - frosty dawn sparkle texture paste (discontinued)

WOW! - opaque bright white super fine embossing powder

Creative Expressions - wordies sentiment sheet - birthday (for outside sentiment)

Waffle Flower - nesting circle dies

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

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