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

The Male Room challenge - guest designer

Hello friends; I'm here again this morning to share my card as GDT for The Male Room challenge.  I was lucky enough to win one of their recent challenges and was honoured to be asked to be a guest designer for them.  The challenge this month is 'the outdoors' so we want to see all your outdoor scenes but don't forget it has to be masculine themed.  

I recently bought a stamp set from a destash group as I thought it would be perfect for masculine cards; as it turned out it was perfect for this challenge.  I decided to make an easel card, as it's been so long since I made one.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

An angled view to show off the easel:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I made my easel card 6" square and scored the front panel at 3" to create the easel fold.  I covered each panel with a mixture of orange striped paper and green plaid paper, adding a black mat behind each paper.  I stamped the row of trees onto a piece of white card and initially coloured them with Zig markers but thought they looked a little pale so went over them with my Promarkers.  I made a mask for the trees and ink blended some sea glass ink around them for the sky and used lucky clover at the bottom of the panel for grass.  I also stamped some birds above the trees in black ink.  I cut the panel down to 4' square again added a black mat layer behind.  On a separate piece of white card I stamped the tent and fire, coloured them with Promarkers and fussy cut them out.  I added the tent in front of the trees using foam squares and then adhered the panel below the score line using foam squares.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 3/4" x 3" and added a black mat layer.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and added a thin strip of the plaid paper to the bottom.  I adhered this to the top of the inside panel with double sided tape.  I created a strip using the plaid paper 5 3/4" x 1" and added a black mat layer.  I stamped the sentiment to the right of centre and added that below the message panel using double sided tape.  I cut a small white circle and slightly larger black circle and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I then adhered the fire image onto the circle with a foam square.  I finished off with some solid black sequins.  

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

* to be updated *

Please pop over to The Male Room challenge blog for all the details/rules and to see the amazing creations from the design team. I would like to thank Helen and the team for having me as a guest this month. I hope you will find the time to enter the challenge and cannot wait to see all your projects in the linky.

Thanks for stopping by and see you all soon.

Love and hugs, 

card supplies:

summer holiday stamp set free with Creative Stamping magazine

Promarkers

Me to You - spring chic 6x6 paper pad (for plaid paper)

Echo Park - candy shoppe dots & stripes 6x6 paper pad (for orange striped paper)

Waffle Flower - nesting circle dies

Heffy Doodle - happy camper mini stamp (for part of the front sentiment)

Honey Bee Stamps - swimming by stamp (for birthday word)

Spellbinders - black color essential smooth disc sequins

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

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

*Gina K Designs - ink pads - sea glass and lucky clover

*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

AAA Birthday challenge #86 - for the boys

Good morning lovely friends and welcome to June! Another month has bitten the dust as we roll on into 2026. We had scorching temperatures last week but it's forecast back to rain and cooler temperatures this week, but we can't complain really.  

As it's the first of the month it means we have a brand new challenge over at AAA Birthday challenge. This month's theme is 'for the boys' and with Father's Day later in the month this could be your perfect opportunity to get ahead.  Our guest designer this month is Leslie so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.

I recently purchased this fun soda pop die set (even better it was on sale) and was itching to use it so that is what I used on this month's card.  I also got the coordinating bottle cap dies so they got some love too. 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 soda pop elements; I cut the bottle from white card, the straw and label from red card and the top from silver mirror card.  I wanted the bottle to look a bit like coke so firstly ink blended some red ink all over before going over with brown ink.  I white heat embossed a sentiment onto the label and assembled the bottle using liquid glue.  I die cut the bottle tops from silver mirror and white card and the letters from red card and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I found a sentiment that I could do some stamp surgery on to fit my theme and stamped it in black ink onto white card.  For my background I found two patterned papers that went well with my colour scheme and adhered them onto a white panel (4" x 5 1/4") with double sided tape.  All the elements were added with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel and this was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.   I finished off with some clear raindrops as I thought they looked a bit like bubbles.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added a strip of the red patterned paper along the bottom with double sided tape.  I die cut another bottle and assembled it the same way before adding it to the bottom of the panel with liquid glue and trimmed off the excess.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre of the panel with black ink before adhering it to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - birthdays (3rd entry)

Aud Sentiments challenge - monochrome and/or birthdays + sentiment

Creative Moments challenge - make it masculine

Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist anniversary/birthday

Die Cut Divas challenge - ATG must use a die cut

Inkspirational challenge - for the guys

Farm Quest Grocery Game challenge - food and/or drink

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Try It on Tuesday challenge - going round in circles (my bottle tops are circles)

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 personal blogs.

I hope you will be able to join in with the challenge this month but don't forget it has to be birthday themed. I can't wait to see your creations in the linky.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

MFT - soda pop dies

MFT - bottle cap dies

MFT - little letters die set

MFT - let's stick together stamp (for sentiment on front which I cut apart)

Lawn Fawn - simply summer sentiments stamp (for sentiments on labels and inside)

Echo Park - summer dots & stripes 6x6 paper pad (for beige paper)

Echo Park - metropolitan dots & stripes 6x6 paper pad (for red paper)

*Gina K Designs - large strip sentiments die set

Gina K Designs - ink pads - faded brick and dark chocolate (to colour bottle)

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Little Things From Lucy's Cards - clear raindrops (store 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 link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you x

Krafty Chicks challenge #817 - Masculine

Good morning lovely friends; I hope your week is going well so far. I'm sharing my card for the new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 4; as always the theme is 'Masculine' and Lori is our hostess. We know it's not everyone's favourite challenge, but we do have to make some masculine cards sometime and this challenge will hopefully help you get them done. We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

This challenge was perfect timing for me as it was my husband's birthday last week so I could get his card done and tick off my challenge too!!  If you think this card looks sort of familiar it's because I shared a card earlier in the week that I made using the scraps leftover from this card, so you are not going mad lol!  This one is the original, stepped up and enhanced version of that simple card and it's 5 1/2" x 7 1/2".  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

My husband loves bright colours and is more daring with his clothes than I am (I'm usually in black or grey lol!) so I decided to make a rainbow background using fun patterned papers.  I used a die from Spellbinders to cut all the papers and adhered them to a white panel cut to 5" x 7",  leaving a tiny gap so the white would peek through, using liquid glue.  I added a black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  I stamped the image onto alcohol marker friendly card; the image originally didn't have much hair and my husband has lots of hair so I used my memento marker to draw in some hair on the top, and I was quite chuffed with how it looked.  I used my Promarkers to colour the image and fussy cut him out as I don't have the dies.  I used my computer & printer to create the top, personalised sentiment and cut it out using a die from ML20 and added a black mat layer.  I stamped the fun sentiment at the bottom with black ink (we are both 60 next year so we're always teasing each other how old we are!).  I lightly ink blended some sea glass ink in the middle of the panel and added the image with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind the smaller panel and adhered it to the background with double sided tape.  I created my card base by cutting a white sheet to 11" x 7 1/2" and scoring on the long side at 5 1/2".  I then adhered the panel onto the card base with double sided tape.  I didn't add any embellishments as my hubby is not a fan, plus the background was quite busy as it was.  For the inside I cut another white panel 5" x 7" and added a black mat layer.  I used tiny pieces of the patterned paper to create a border at the bottom of the panel and added a thin strip of black card above with liquid glue.  I stamped, coloured and fussy cut another image and added it in the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I found a fun sentiment that I thought was perfect for us and stamped that in the centre with black ink.  I adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

AAA Colourful challenge - colour board #27

As You Like It challenge - brights or pastels (I think bright colours are so happy especially for birthday cards)

Colourful Options challenge - yellow or rainbow (I went with rainbow)

Craft Rocket challenge - layer it up

Creative Knockouts challenge - 2 or more pattern papers

HQCOL challenge - BEWAS (birthday)

Love Those Pretty Papers challenge - use pattern paper optional spring flowers

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge - H is for happy birthday

The Dream Factory challenge - code 3 (use at least 3 colours)

The Sisterhood of Crafters - make someone smile optional mood board

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

MFT - old friends stamp

Promarkers

MFT - sassy pants b-day greetings 3 stamp (for inside sentiment)

Spellbinders - color block slices die set

Echo park - summer dots & stripes 6x6 paper pad

Echo park - metropolitan dots & stripes 6x6 paper pad

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

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*Gina K Designs - ML 20 (for rectangle die)

Gina K Designs - sea glass 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

Patterned Paper Party IG Hop - April 26

Hello friends, welcome back to my little blog. 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 'Easter, which I know was a little while ago, but you can get ahead for next year if you follow the twist, so grab your patterned papers and join in the fun.  I needed a last minute Easter card for my in-laws so I'm sharing that today plus I have a bonus birthday card which I made with some leftover paper after making my hubby's birthday card (I'll be sharing that on Thursday).  I hope you like them.

Firstly here is the Easter card:

A closer look at the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

Here is the bonus birthday card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

For the Easter card I stamped the floral cross image onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured it with Promarkers, adding a few white gelly roll pen highlights.  I cut it out with a stitched rectangle and matted it onto some yellowy/peach patterned paper. I then cut a piece of wood grain paper to cover the front of my card base (4 1/14" x 5 1/2") and adhered it with double sided tape. I added some scrap white card behind the smaller panel and added that to the background with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and used a sentiments strip die to cut it out before adhering it to the centre of the image with foam squares.  I finished off with some gold pearls.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and added a strip of the wood grain paper to the bottom 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.  

For the birthday card I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" (but I will cut it down later) and used some leftover strips of patterned paper to create my background which I adhered with liquid glue.  Once dry I used a stitched rectangle die to cut it out and added a black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and used a stitched circle die to cut it out.  I added the sentiment to the lower left side of the panel with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel before adhering it to the card base with double sided tape.  I finished off with some black pearls around the sentiment.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4 " x 5 1/4" and added a strip of pink card to the bottom with double sided tape.  I stamped two presents onto the pink strip with black ink and added some details with a white gelly roll pen.  I then stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  I added a black mat layer before adhering the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

Two very different cards but both using up some of my vast collection of patterned paper.  Do you have a favourite?  I like them both; the Easter card is elegant and beautiful and the birthday card is just bright and fun.  

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

Easter card:

A Cut Above challenge - ATG with a die cut optional twist pastels

Aud Sentiments challenge - watercolour and/or spring + sentiment

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional inspiration photo

Crafty Gals Corner challenge - ATG optional spring

Creative Inspirations challenge - Easter/spring

Creative Moments challenge - gone but not forgotten (Studio Katia is no more)

Girlz Rebel challenge - flowers

Moving Along With The Times challenge - anything spring

Pick 3 challenge - rustic (paper), feminine, pastels

Stamping Sensations challenge - inspired by nature

The Four Seasons challenge - anything spring optional mood board

We Love Stamping challenge - spring 

Birthday card:

AAA Colourful challenge - colour board #27

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

As You Like It challenge - brights or pastels (I like both but I am drawn more to bright colours; they make me happy)

Colourful Options challenge - yellow or use rainbow colours (I went with rainbow)

Creative Knockouts challenge - 2 or more papers

The Dream Factory challenge - use at least 3 colours (I used all the colours of the rainbow)

Unicorn challenge - use dies

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 #patternedpaperpartyhopapril2026 and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

Easter card supplies:

Studio Katia - floral cross stamp

Promarkers

Lawn Fawn - 6x6 petite paper pack 'spiffy speckles'

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*Gina K Designs - friendly wishes mini stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips dies

Gina K Designs - master layouts 02 (for stitched rectangle)

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

birthday card supplies:

Spellbinders - color block slices die set

echo park - summer dots & stripes 6x6 paper pad

echo park - metropolitan dots & stripes 6x6 paper pad

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

*Gina K Designs - master layouts 02 die set (for stitched rectangle)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 03 (for stitched circle)

Gina K Designs - birthday cheer mini stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - sketched wreath builder stamp (for outside sentiment)

*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