Card Clubhouse IG Hop - Week 3 - Unexpected Valentine

Good morning friends; I'm back to share my card for the new Card Clubhouse IG hop organised by my lovely friend Kelly. We are on Week 3 and our theme is 'unexpected Valentine'. This could mean using unusual/bizarre colours, making a card for someone you wouldn't normally such as your boss/pet or even using an image not normally associated with Valentine; whatever it is we can't wait to see it. 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 make a loved themed card for my bff using colours I wouldn't normally use for a Valentine/Galentine's card.  I went with shades of blue for something different.  The card is really shimmery in real life as I spritzed my card with a perfect pearls & water mixture before die-cutting my leafery.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the die cuts:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I decided to make a square card for a change so cut my card 11" x 5 1/2" and scored on the long side at 5 1/2".  I cut a white panel 5" square and using a dark blue ink lightly ink blended around the edges leaving the centre white.  I die cut a large heart from navy card and a smaller heart from white card x 4 times so that I could layer it up using liquid glue.  I ink blended some dark blue and light blue ink onto a scrap of white card, spritzed it with a perfect pearls and water mixture and also added some white gouache spatter.  Once dry I die cut my leafery and also die cut some extras from white card.  I stamped the sentiment onto the smaller heart using navy ink and then adhered the hearts together with liquid glue.  I placed the heart into the centre of my blended panel with liquid glue.  I added the white leaf die cuts with liquid glue around the outside of the heart and then adhered the ink blended leaves with foam squares.  I die cut some tiny hearts from the leftover ink blended pieces and added them with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind the panel for some dimension and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another 5" square panel from white card and ink blended around the outside.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with navy ink and added one of the leaf die cuts to the bottom left corner with liquid glue (I actually took half of the dark blended and half of the light blended leaf and stuck them together).   I also added a few hearts around the leafery.  I added the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  I love this colour combo and I think the card turned out really pretty. 

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

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

Crafts Galore Encore challenge - ATG

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - happy hearts

The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist pastel colours

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 - foliage fillers die set

Gina K Designs - we go together stamp (for sentiments)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - in the navy & blue sky

Time For Tea Designs - heart nesting die set

MFT - tag builder blueprints 6 (for tiny hearts)

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

navy 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

CASE IT IG Hop - December 25

Hello again friends. I hope you've had a great day so far. I'm back to share this month's card for the CASE IT Instagram Hop where we find a project on Instagram that inspires us and we will share that project as well as the project we’ve created that was inspired by that original. There are so many beautiful creations on Instagram the only difficult part is narrowing down which one to CASE (which means Copy And Share Everything).

This month I was inspired by Mikaela (@thecraftyoinkpen over on IG); her cards are so rich and colourful and so beautiful and this one has everything I love - embossing, die cuts and a large sentiment.  I'm not sure I need any more Christmas cards but I decided to make my version a festive one.  I went with a white embossed background instead of her dark green and used snowflakes instead of leaves but I think you can definitely see that my card was inspired by hers!  Here is her card for my inspiration:

Isn't Mikaela's card just gorgeous.  The green is so rich and I love the beautiful leaves and fab sentiment.  You really need to check out her Instagram and give her a follow.  

Here is my card:

A closer look at my snowflake cluster:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and embossed it with a striped folder.  I decided to go with an icy monochrome colour scheme so cut my various sized snowflakes from a mix of white, grey, glitter and silver mirror card. I arranged them largest at the bottom to smallest at the top with liquid glue, leaving the ends free so that I could zhuzh them up a bit (as Laura Basson would say)!  I die cut the merry word from white card x 2 and the shadow layer from vellum also x 2 and adhered them together with liquid glue.  This was placed over the snowflakes again with liquid glue.  I stamped and white heat embossed the Christmas word onto grey card and used the coordinating strip sentiment die to cut it out.  This was adhered below the merry with foam squares.  I finished off with some solid clear sequins.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel for stability and dimension and adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and add a strip of white card to the bottom that I embossed to match the front, I also added a thin strip of silver mirror card above it.  I stamped the sentiment in a light grey ink in the centre and finished off with 2 snowflakes.  The panel was added to the card base with double sided tape.  It is such a pretty card in real life, with so much shimmer and shine.  

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

613 Avenue Create challenge - sparkle and shine

As You Like It challenge - free for all Christmas #3

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - must use and EF optional celebrate any holiday

Cardz 4 Galz challenge - Christmas sparkle #3

Classic Design challenge - make it merry

CRAFT challenge - Christmas/ATG

Cut It Up challenge - oldie but goodie from your stash/must use a die cut (every I used is older stuff)

Die Cut Divas challenge - Christmas/winter #4

If You Give A Crafter A Cookie challenge - time for Santa (inspiration photo) - inspired by snowflakes

Pearly Sparkles challenge - silver bells (use silver) - I used silver mirror card

The Four Seasons challenge - ATG winter

Tic Tac Toe challenge - texture/free/sparkle

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

We hope you will be inspired by our CASE IT Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous cards along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #caseithop and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Lots of love

card supplies:

*Gina K Designs - snowflake trio die set

Gina K Designs - clear quartz solid sequins

Gina K Designs - white pigment ink cube and soft stone ink pad

Clearly Besotted - snowflake trio die collection (I only used the smallest one)

Clearly Besotted - simply said Christmas stamp (for inside sentiment)

Spellbinders - peppermint stripes embossing folder

Kristina Werner with Concord & 9th - joyful and merry stamps & dies

WOW! - opaque bright white super fine embossing powder

Limetree Crafts - 280gsm silky smooth white card

Tonic Studios - sugar crystal 250gsm glitter card

Stampin' Up! - cardstock vellum - no longer available

silver mirror, grey shimmer and plain grey card from my stash

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop May 25

Hello friends and Happy Bank Holiday Monday. I hope you've had a lovely day and a chilled weekend. I am delighted to be joining a new Instagram Hop called Gorgeous Gift Tags, which not surprisingly is all about tags! I don't make them very often but think they are so useful to decorate a plain gift bag. I have joined a fantastic group of crafty friends who love to create gorgeous gift tags. We will be hopping on the 5th of each month to share our ideas.  Each month will be ATG but we will have an optional theme; however as it's our first month we are just going with ATG this time.  

I bought a tag die set from Spellbinders ages ago and hadn't used it so wanted to give it some love. My son and my BIL's birthdays are coming up soon so I went with blue as my colour scheme so one of them will be getting this tag on their present lol!. I hope you like it.

Here is my tag:

A closer look at the details:

I stamped a simple To: From: on the back:

I began by die cutting the tag twice from white card so that I could stamp the back separately in case I messed up lol! I die cut the fringed detail from 4 different shades of blue card and also cut 3 balloons, 2 from blue and one from white for some contrast. I also cut some balloon strings from white card. I added the fringed pieces, starting from the bottom from darkest to lightest, with double sided tape. The balloons were added with foam squares and I added some liquid glue to the strings. I stamped the sentiment onto some scrap white card using a dark blue ink pad and used the coordinating die to cut it out. I cut an additional 2 layers from white card and adhered them together with liquid glue. This was added over the balloon strings with liquid glue. For a finishing touch I added some clear quartz sequins. For the tag on the back I simply stamped a To: From: using the same dark blue ink pad and adhered them together with liquid glue. For decorating the top of the tag I used some white tulle ribbon (which was recycled from the box of my husband's birthday cake) and some blue/white twine which was tied around the tulle in a tiny bow. I'm really pleased with how my tag turned out.

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

Christmas (or not ) Bingo challenge - tag, monochrome, free

Colorful Options challenge - color palette (I was inspired by the blue colours)

Daisy Chain challenge - boys/men

Heart's Quest for Shaped Cards & Tags challenge - ATG shaped cards or tags

Little Red Wagon challenge - use that stash (my tag die is old but never used)

The Neglected Stuff challenge - ATG but use neglected stuff (my tag is old but never used)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Tic Tac Toe challenge - die cut, birthday, stripes

We hope you will be inspired by our Gift Tag Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous tags along the way. If you would like to join us please use the hashtag #gorgeousgifttagshop2025 and we can find your tags.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

card supplies:

Spellbinders - create a decorative tag die set

Spellbinders - send & seal stamp & die set (released Apr but can't find it)

Spellbinders - balloons & birthday wishes die set - retired

Gina K Designs - sketched wreath builder stamp

Gina K Designs - in the navy ink pad

Gina K Designs - clear quartz solid sequins

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here

coloured card stock from scraps bin

twine from stash

tulle ribbon recycled from packaging