Just Us Girls challenge #809 - guest designer

Welcome back to my blog lovely friends.  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. Die Week

Week 2. Word Week

Week 3. Mood Board Week

Week 4. Anything Goes using a stencil Week

Week 5. Case a DT Member Week

Obviously I will only be sharing 4 cards with you as there are only 4 weeks this month.  

So as it's Week 1 the theme is Die Week and the prompt is 'use a heart'; here is the graphic:

I had just received my Gina K Designs kit when I sat down to make my card so of course I had to use the gorgeous heart frame die and matching stencils on my card; it was perfect timing!  I used a purple and green with a touch of black colour combo and made a 5 1/2" square card for a change.  I did go a bit wonky lining up the die on the stencilling but rectified that by using a green Promarker to colour in any missing areas and I think it looks ok.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by creating my card base by cutting a white piece of card cut to 11" x 5 1/2" and scoring on the long side at 5 1/2".  I cut the heart frame from white card and used the square die to cut it out.  I took another piece of white card and used the matching stencils and purple and green inks and created the beautiful design.  I adhered the stencilled panel and the die cut heart panel together with liquid glue but as I said I went a bit wrong and it was stuck good and proper so just grabbed a green Promarker and carefully filled in any gaps.  I added a black mat layer behind with double sided tape. I ink blended the heart from the centre with the same purple inks and popped it back in place with liquid glue.  I cut a purple piece of card 4 3/4" square and embossed it with the swiss dots embossing folder and again added a thin black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  I added the purple panel onto the card base with double sided tape, added some scrap white card behind the heart frame panel and also added that to the purple panel with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and used the coordinating die to cut it out.  I added the sentiment over the heart using foam squares.  I finished off with some black pearls.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 5/8" square, stamped the sentiment in the centre and stamped two corner images in the top right and bottom left corners; I used Promarkers to colour these in.  I added a thin purple mat layer and also a thin black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  This was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

* to be updated *

I'm sure this will be a popular challenge as we all love our dies don't we? Please pop over and check out the gorgeous creations by the talented design team. 

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - heart frame die & stencil (in current Mega Kit but will be available next month)

Gina K Designs - swiss dot embossing folder

Gina K Designs - graceful greetings stamp & die (for outside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - floral wishes stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - in the corner stamp (for inside decoration)

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

Gina K Designs - ink pads - lovely lavender, wild lilac, jelly bean green, fresh asparagus

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but they have alternatives here and here)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Green Promarker

purple card from 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

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love - Guest Designer

Hello friends, welcome back to my blog.  I was lucky enough to win a recent challenge so I am guest designing for the Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love challenge blog this month.  Every month they have a BEWAS theme (Birthday, Engagement, Wedding, Anniversary and Sympathy) with an optional theme, which this month is 'Valentines/Love'.  

I decided to make a birthday card as I have a few birthdays coming up this month and used a new die set from Spellbinders (DOM Jan 26).  I used the die to make a shaped card and I think it turned out really pretty.  I hope you like it too. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

It is such a pretty die set and ideal for a shaped card.  I folded a piece of A4 white card in half and ran the die through my die cutting machine with the top of the die just protruding slightly over the fold of the card; this way I created the shaped card.  I die cut one extra white piece to place on the front of the card so that it would be the full design, die cut the 'frame' from black card and adhered that the white panel with liquid glue.  I decided I wanted a rainbow background with the flower die cuts being in a silhouette style.  I cut the 'petals' from coloured card from my scraps bin and cut each flower from black card.  I did decide to add the details with white card to make them pop a little.  I adhered all the flowers together with liquid glue and also added the petals into the frame with liquid glue.  I added the flowers onto the panel with a mix of foam squares and liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment onto the white half circle and adhered it into the frame with liquid glue.  I finished off with a few black pearls.  For the inside I simply stamped a sentiment in black ink in the centre and added one of the die cut flowers in the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I wanted the back of the card to be a bit more sturdy so I die cut another white panel and adhered it to the back of the card with liquid glue.  

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

Aud Sentiments challenge - dies and/or love/anniversary/wedding + sentiment

Colorful Options challenge - pink & purple or alternatively rainbow inspired

Hearts Quest for Shaped Cards and Tags challenge - ATG shaped card or tag

Moving Along With The Times challenge - floral

Triple B challenge - birds, blooms or butterflies optional inspiration board

I would like to thank Becca and the Team at HQCOL for inviting me to be a guest for this fun challenge and I hope you will pop over and leave them some love. I'm sure this will be a popular challenge as it's all the themes that we create for our friends and loved ones.  

Enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Spellbinders - sunny stems die set (DOM Jan 26)

Spellbinders - be bold blooms die set (for the smallest flower)

Spellbinders - envelope of wonder sentiments stamp (for outside sentiment)

Spellbinders - stylish ovals birthday wishes stamp (for inside sentiment)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available currently but other options can be found here and here)

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

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

coloured card from my 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

The Male Room challenge - GDT card

Hello again 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 'for a baby boy' which was perfect for me as one of my son's friends has just welcomed a new baby boy. 

I've seen lots of baby dresser shaped cards on Pinterest so was inspired to give one a go. I love making baby cards, especially shaped ones, but sadly don't seem to need them very often these days.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I made a 5" x 7" top folding card but cutting 1 panel 5" x 7" and one panel 5" x 8" and scoring at 1" on the 8" side.  I then adhered them together with strong red liner tape.  I cut 5 'drawers' from white card using a flag die and cut off the flag end and also cut a thinner 'top' for my dresser from white card.  To make the decorative detail on the bottom of the dresser I used a spellbinders scalloped die.  I added the top and drawers with foam squares.  I recently bought a super cute baby die set so of course I had to use it; I die cut two outfits, a teddy bear, a duck and a baby rattle using scraps of blue, yellow and kraft card.  I added some details with Promarkers, a white gel pen and black memento pen and adhered all the pieces together with liquid glue.  I also die cut the hello baby words, letters to spell out Isaac and a few white hearts.  I arranged the die cuts as I wanted and added them with liquid glue.  I finished off with some silver pearl embellishments for the drawer handles.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 1/2" x 5 1/4" and add a blue mat layer with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with blue ink and added a few more die cuts to match the front.  The panel was adhered with double sided tape. A really sweet card and even though it's not perfect, it is handmade after all, I love it and I hope Isaac's parents do too.  

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

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Girlz Creative Splash It With Colour challenge - blue

Moving Along With The Times challenge - sentiment as focus

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist cute or creepy

Try It On Tuesday challenge - animals: real or imaginary

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:

Scrapbook.com - welcome baby die set

MFT - little letters die set - store now closed

Spellbinders - scalloped labels one die set - retired

Clearly Besotted - hello and baby word dies - retired

MFT - fishtail flag stax dies (for drawers) - store now closed

Kraftin' Kimmie - baby love stamps (for inside sentiment) - ? retired

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Gina K Designs - blue sky ink pad

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

coloured card from stash

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - guest designer

Good morning and happy Sunday lovely friends. I hope you are all doing ok and finding lots of time to get crafty.  Well the weather has taken a turn for the worse and we had quite a bit of rain yesterday, although it was still really humid.  Let's hope it's only a blip and the sun will return soon.  

I am delighted to be a guest designer over at Dragonfly Dreams challenge this month and they have a fantastic theme of 'use polygons'.  It's such a unique challenge but don't be put off by the name as it's easier than it sounds.  So many shapes are polygons so you won't have to think too hard to take part. 

For my card I decided to go with a diamond shape as I wanted to use a Uniko stencil which was a recent purchase.  It is such a clever stencil and the results are gorgeous.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the background:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 5 1/2" square as I wanted some extra for the inside of my card.  I used a pink and orange colour combo, which is one of my faves, along with kraft card as my neutral.  I grabbed the Uniko stencil and firstly inked the pink part, once that is complete you clean the stencil and then flip it over so that you can ink the orange part.  It's such a clever stencil and even a messy crafter like me was impressed at how well it lines up and looks so crisp.  I cut a scalloped panel from the kraft card and then cut down my stencilled panel to fit inside and also used my corner rounder to match the stitching on the kraft panel.  I adhered them together with liquid glue.  I decided to make my sentiment panel a diamond shape also as I didn't think it would look right with a square or circle so hand cut the white diamond and also a mat layer from vellum.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and then layered the two diamonds with foam squares.  It was also added to the panel with foam squares for lots of dimension.  I finished off with some black pearls.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel for some thin dimension and stability and then added it to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another kraft panel and layered a white panel on top with liquid glue.  I fussy cut some diamonds from the left over stencilled panel and added them to the top left and bottom right corners with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink in the upper centre of the panel.  I adhered the panel to my card base with double sided tape.  

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

Color Throwdown challenge - kraft, fuchsia and orange

Creative Inspirations challenge - stars and/or stripes (there are stripes in my background)

Creative Moments challenge - use a die cut

Creative Friday challenge - neon colours or bold colours

Die Cut Divas challenge - birthday cards

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - birthday

Inkspirational challenge - three of the same (3 pearl embellishments)

Stencil Fun challenge - anything stencil goes optional twist your flag colours

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist fun with stencils

Tic Tac Toe challenge - layers, free, summer colours

Word Power challenge - make the sentiment the focus of your card

I hope you can join in with this fun challenge. Please pop over to the blog to find out all the details and to check out the gorgeous creations by the Design Team too.

I hope you enjoy the last bit of your weekend and thanks so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Uniko Stamps - ink & flip delightful diamonds stencil

Gina K Designs - ink pads - passionate pink and tangerine twist

Gina K Designs - star flower stamp (for outside sentiment)

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

Clearly Besotted Stamps - simply said birthday stamp (for inside sentiment) - retired

W Plus 9 - sunshine layers die set - retired

Crafter's Companion - kraft cardstock

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

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Pearly Sparkles challenge - guest designer

Hello again friends; here I am again back with my second post for today!  I am delighted to be a guest designer over at Pearly Sparkles challenge this month and their theme is 'shaped card' so we want you to make a fun shaped card - no squares or rectangles allowed.  I hope you have fun with the challenge and I can't wait to see what you create.

I decided to make a circle card but with a fun twist - I made it into a doughnut shaped card.  It is so much fun and because my son loves pink sprinkled doughnuts I had to make it pink lol!  It's only a dinky 4 1/4" diameter but it makes it even more adorable.  I hope you love it too.

Here is my shaped card:

A closer look:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by making a 5" x 5" card base from white card and used the largest of my new nesting circle die set to cut out my circle card base.  I also cut a circle from kraft card to place on the front on my card.  I cut out the next circle down from the die set from pink card and traced a wobbly outline with pencil and cut it out with my scissors for the icing of my doughnut (I should have cut it a little bigger so that the kraft card wasn't showing quite so much but I still think it looks great).  I took one of the smaller circles in the set (approx 1 1/2" diameter) and cut the doughnut hole from the card base, the kraft circle and the pink circle. I adhered the kraft circle with liquid glue and the 'icing' with foam squares.  I was thinking about what to use for the sprinkles when I saw a die on my desk from a previous project that I thought would be perfect - a film strip die - the bits that fell out of the die cut were the perfect size and shape.  I cut out multiples from pink, blue, yellow and white card and added them randomly on the icing with liquid glue.  I added some crystal glaze to the sprinkles so that they would stand out and look dimensional.  I stamped the sentiment onto white card and cut it out with a sentiment strip die, adhered it with foam squares and then added a cute twine bow above it with liquid glue.  For the inside I cut another smaller circle from white card, again cutting the doughnut centre, stamped a small sentiment on either side in black ink and then adhered this to my card base with liquid glue.  I added a few of the sprinkles around the sentiment too.  I did cut a small piece off the back of the card base so that my card would stand up straight without toppling over.  This card really makes me smile and I hope it makes you smile too.  

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

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line I - circle or oval card shape, free, button or knot

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG

Dream Valley challenge - ATG

Halloween & Other Occasions challenge - birthday

Seize The Birthday challenge - ATG birthday/no topping

I would like to thank Helen and everyone at Pearly Sparkles challenge for having me as a guest this month. I hope you will be able to play along with the challenge and I cannot wait to see all your shaped card projects.

Ok, that is it from me for today, but thank you for stopping by and visiting my corner of blogland.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Waffle Flower - nesting circle die set

MFT - sweet birthday wishes stamp (for outside sentiment) - no longer available

MFT - sweet 16 stamp (for inside sentiment) - no longer available

Funky Fossil Designs - filmstrip dies (for sprinkles)

Crafter's Companion - kraft cardstock 

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Tonic Studios - Nuvo crystal glaze 

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

pink card from stash

twine from stash

AAA Cards challenge - guest designer

Good morning lovely friends.  Well can you believe we are in 2025; the time is just whizzing by isn't it?  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations.  We had a quiet one as always, but that's just the way we like it.  

I'm here today to share a card I made for the new AAA Cards challenge.  I won a challenge back in October last year and was invited to be a guest designer, which I immediately accepted.  Their challenges are always 'anything CAS goes' but there is an optional theme, which this time is 'flies in the air'.  

I had a dig through my stash and found this kite themed stamp & die set which I thought would be perfect for this challenge, although you could have birds, planes, balloons, spaceships etc.  This stamp/die combo is retired now but I don't think I've ever used it.  I am determined this year to try and not spend so much on new stuff when there are so many things in my stash that I haven't touched. Not sure how achievable this will be though.  Do you have any crafty resolutions this year?

Here is my card:

A close look at the kite:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by stamping 2 kites onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured them with Promarkers; I also added some white highlights (I thought the dotty one was a bit busy so kept that one for the inside of my card).  I took a white panel and cut it to 4" x 5 1/4" and using my cloud stencil created a background for my kite.  I thought it was too much (as don't forget it's supposed to be a CAS challenge so cut down to 3 7/8" x 3" and adhered it onto another white panel cut to 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" with double side tape.  I did edge the cloud panel with 2 black card strips which were cut to 3 7/8' x 1/8" and these were added with liquid glue.  I stamped the string of the kite with black ink and added the kite over the end with foam squares.  I also cut 3 of the bows from white card and added them along the string with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the left lower section of the cloud panel using black ink.  The panel was then added to the card base with foam tape.  For the inside I used the same size white panel and added a strip of the cloud background to the bottom with double sided tape and another strip of black card above it with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and added the dotty kite overlapping the cloud panel with liquid glue.  The panel was added to the card base with double sided tape.  I think this card would be perfect for a new job or someone off on a new adventure. 

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

Crafty Calendar challenge - add a die cut

Creative Inspirations challenge - something old or something new (my stamp/die are very old)

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - ATG

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or use the sketch

Just Us Girls challenge - die week - ATG

Scrapping4Fun challenge - ATG

Stamping Sensations challenge - ATG option hand coloured image 

The Male Room challenge - clean and simple

We Love Stamping challenge - anything but square

I can't wait to see what you create for this challenge; there are lots of fun options for this one.  I would like to thank Maaike and the Team at AAA Cards challenge for the opportunity to be a guest designer; please go and check out their amazing creations and leave them some love. 

Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate you taking the time to visit me and leave me comments.  I look forward to sharing my creations with you again this year. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Clearly Besotted - sky's the limit stamp & die set, sky's the limit addition stamp set (retired)

MFT - mini cloud edges stencil (retired)

Promarkers

Gina K Designs - sea glass ink pad

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but they have 240gsm in stock here)

Hobbycraft - A4 black card

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Try It On Tuesday challenge - guest designer

Good morning lovely friends.  I know I don't normally post on a Tuesday but I was asked to be a guest designer for the Try It On Tuesday challenge and I happily accepted.  Their challenge starts today and runs for 2 weeks and the theme is 'sparkle all the way'.  

I was originally going to make a birthday card for a friend but sparkle at this time of year makes me think of snowflakes so I caved and made a Christmas card.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A close up of the snowflakes:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting my snowflakes from glitter card and also a further 2 times from white card.  I adhered them together with liquid glue.  I cut a white card panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and stamped a snowy background in a light grey ink.  I also cut a mat layer from silver mirri card 4" x 5 1/4" and adhered them together with double sided tape.  I cut the joy word from the silver mirri card and also a further 2 times from white card and again adhered them together with liquid glue.  I found a pre-printed sentiment strip that said wishing you joy so die cut with a sentiment strip die but cut off the word joy.  I added the snowflakes more towards the lower left corner with liquid glue and added the joy word and sentiment strip on top with liquid glue.  I finished with some silver sequins. I added the panel to the card base with foam tape. For the inside I cut the same white and silver panels and partially stamped the snowy background in just the bottom left corner.  I also added one snowflake with liquid glue.  I adhered the panels with double sided tape and also attached them to my card base with double sided tape.  It's hard to capture all the sparkle but hopefully you can see some of it; it's really sparkly in real life.  

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

The 12 months of Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes optional all stitched up

Addicted to CAS challenge - snow

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

Allsorts challenge - Christmas (full list of supplies at bottom of post)

Aud Sentiments challenge - glitter and/or Christmas + sentiment

Christmas Bingo challenge - Column I - make your own background, free, CAS, glitter

Craft Rocket challenge - Christmas and/or winter

Creative Friday challenge - Christmas

Daisy Chain challenge - Christmas and/or winter

Die Cut Divas challenge - any holiday of the year (I chose Christmas)

Little Red Wagon challenge - white lightning (I thought snow)

Moving Along With The Times challenge - sparkle

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

Peace On Earth challenge - anything Christmas related 

Simply Clean and Simple challenge - anything CAS goes optional theme: Christmas is coming 

Sparkles Christmas challenge - snowflakes

Tic Tac Toe - die cut/metallic element/festive sentiment

Unicorn challenge - Christmas and/or winter

Word Power - challenge #11 (make the sentiment the focus)

I know this will be a popular challenge as everyone likes a bit of sparkle don't they?  I can wait to see what you all come up with.  I would like to thank Jo and all the team at Try It On Tuesday for approaching me to be a guest designer and I would suggest you go and check out their amazing creations too.  

Have a wonderful day everyone; I appreciate you stopping by.  

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Clearly Besotted Stamps - snowflake trio die collection - retired

Funky Fossil Designs - festive word dies

Gina K Designs - snowy background clear stamp

Gina K Designs - winter cheer sentiment strips - not available

Gina K Designs - sentiment strip dies

Gina K Designs - soft stone ink pad

MFT - my bitty holiday clear stamp set (for inside sentiment) - not available

Tonic Studios - craft perfect sugar crystal 250gsm low shed card - on sale!

silver mirri card from stash (I've lost the packaging)

Spellbinders - color essentials sequins silver smooth disc

Versafine - onyx black ink pad