4th Annual Sunshine IG Hop!

Hello friends; I hope you're having a great day. We're almost to the Bank Holiday weekend now (if you're in the UK at least) and the weather is supposed to be glorious (for a change)!  I'm taking part in the 4th annual Sunshine IG Hop hosted by lovely friend Kelly in honour of Skin Cancer Awareness Month. This hop was inspired by Kelly’s personal journey to raise awareness and remind everyone to prioritise skin checks. Join us as we celebrate with sunshine-themed projects, helpful tips, and important reminders about skin health. 

Hidden somewhere at one stop on the hop is a gift certificate to shop @prettypinkposh! To be eligible to win you must follow @prettypinkposh and @createwithkas and leave a comment and ❤️ at each stop.

🌞 It is important to stay in the shade between the hours of 10am and 4pm as that is when the sun is at its strongest; if you can’t stay under cover make sure you cover any exposed skin or add sunscreen regularly ⛱

For my card I created a fun beach scene using ink blending, cute stamps and my Promarkers. Hopefully it reinforces that you can enjoy the beach/outdoors but you have to take shade and look after yourself whilst having fun. 

Here is my card:

A close up of the images:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and ink blended my background using a cloud background stencil and using kraft ink to replicate the sand.  I did however completely forget about the sea lol so I took a strip of white card and ink blended some sea glass ink onto ink and using liquid glue adhered it below the clouds over some of my 'sand'.  I think it looks really good and you wouldn't really notice it was added afterwards.  I used a Promarker to add some dots to the sand for some texture.  I decided to die cut my panel using a stitched rectangle die for a little more interest.  I stamped all my images onto alcohol marker friendly card and coloured them with Promarkers.  I used the coordinating dies to cut them out and then added some white gelly roll pen highlights.  I also stamped the sentiment in black ink and die cut it out.  For the sun, deckchair and sentiment I cut 3 more plain white die cuts so that I could stack them up, which I did with liquid glue.  I decided on a rough placement of my images but before sticking them down I stamped a boat on the horizon and some birds in the sky using a mid grey ink.  I adhered all the images with liquid glue.  As a final finishing touch I added a shadow under the boat and some 'waves' in the sea with an aqua Promarker and some stickles over the sea to replicate the sun shining off the surface.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel before adhering it to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another stitched rectangle from white card.  I ink blended the kraft ink along the bottom and added some Promarker dots and adhered the flip flops image in the left bottom corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre in black ink and adhered the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

* to be updated *

Please pop over to my Instagram post to join the hop or use hashtag #SCASunshineHop2026 to find us.  Don't forget we have an amazing prize up for grabs so get hopping!

I hope you have a wonderful day. Thank you for stopping by and leaving me such lovely comments; I really appreciate them all. 

I'll be back later with another card so I hope you can pop back and check it out. 

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

*Gina K Designs - the good life stamp & die

Gina K Designs - ocean silhouette stamp (for boat & birds)

Gina K Designs - just keep swimming stamp & die (for bucket and sandcastle)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 2 (for stitched rectangle)

Gina K Designs - background builder stencil

Gina K Designs - ink pads - sea glass, kraft, stormy sky

Promarkers

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

Ranger - crystal stickles

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now 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 #822 - Christmas

Good morning lovely friends, I appreciate you stopping by and I hope you're all doing ok. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 2; as always the theme is 'Christmas' and I am your hostess. We are slowly adding to the Christmas pile, which really takes the stress off later in the year. We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.

For today's card I decided to dust off some LOTV polymer stamps. I know they are no longer available in this format as they are focusing on their digital images but I still love them and will keep using them.  I went fairly clean and simple with my layout and NO dimension - don't faint - but I think it turned out super cute.  I hope you like it. 

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I tried to capture the sparkle of the stickles:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and ink blended a strip of sea glass ink in the upper half of the card.  I stamped the image with memento black ink and once dry coloured it with my Promarkers.  I added some white gelly roll pen highlights and stickles to their hats.  I stamped the sentiment above the image with black ink.  Last year when I was mailing out my Christmas cards I realised that they had so much dimension I needed to add extra postage which really started to mount up.  This year I need to start making some flat, mailer friendly cards and this is the first one lol!  I simply added double sided tape behind the panel and adhered it to the card base.  For the inside I cut another white panel and stamped one of the birds from the stamp with some selective masking.  I again coloured it with Promarkers, adding white gelly roll pen highlights and stickles to his hat.  The sentiment was stamped in the centre with black ink and the panel was adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

The 12 months of Christmas Link Up challenge - ATG Christmas optional twist 'lanterns in the snow'

ABC Christmas challenge - J is for just enough (CAS)

Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line N - Christmas, free, glitter

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Creative Friday challenge - all animals

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter 

Dream Valley challenge - all creatures great and small

I Love Promarkers challenge - special occasions (Christmas)

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes

Peace On Earth Christmas challenge - anything Christmas themed optional mood board

Simply Clean and Simple challenge - ATG CAS optional theme 'things that fly'

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - things with wings

Stamping Sensations challenge - cute creatures

Sweet Stampin' challenge - things with wings

Triple B challenge - birds, blooms or butterflies optional mood board (entry 3)

We Love Stamping challenge - all creatures great and small 

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

LOTV - cute Christmas A5 polymer stamp (no longer available)

LOTV - verses A5 polymer stamp (no longer available)

Promarkers

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

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Memento - tuxedo black ink pad

Ranger - crystal stickles

Sakura - white no. 10 gelly roll pen

*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

Krafty Chicks challenge #741 - stamps

Good morning lovely friends.  I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far.  It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge.  This week we are back to Week 1 and as always the theme is 'stamps' and our hostess is Leanne.  We want to see all your stamps this week, whether that is clear, red rubber or digi, we don't mind.  We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us. 

I was in the mood to make something one layer and clean and simple this week.  I used a colour challenge that took my eye and got to work.  I'm not entirely happy with it but I think it turned out ok; let me know what you think.  

Here is my card:

A close up of the image:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 4" x 5 1/4".  I stamped the background stamp in a gradient of red inks and then decided to trim my panel down slightly to 3 7/8" x 5 1/8".  The dandelion clock stamps are two-step stamps so I began by stamping the stems and then the tops in black ink.  I then stamped the sentiment in the lower left corner and a few extra seeds above it to balance the layout.  For a final touch I added some stickles glitter glue onto the seeds for a bit of sparkle.  For dimension I added some scrap panels of off white card that I don't use instead of foam tape behind the panel with double sided tape.  I also added the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut the same size white panel and stamped part of the background stamp in the bottom left corner.  I also stamped the smaller dandelion clock and a few seeds.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre of the panel in black ink.  I added the panel to the card base with double sided tape.  A really quick and easy card today.

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

Aud Sentiments challenge - glitter and/or Christmas + sentiment

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board

Color Hues challenge - red and black

Colorful Options challenge - red optional mood board

Moving Along With The Times challenge - sparkle

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

Uniko Stamps - organic wishes clear stamp 

Uniko Stamps - BG blocks horizontal stripe clear stamp

Uniko Stamps - floral vines clear stamp (for sentiment)

Gina K Designs - red velvet ink pad, red hot ink pad, cherry red ink cube

Versafine - onyx black ink pad

Ranger - crystal stickles glitter glue 

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available)

Winter Wonderland IG Hop - Week 4

Hello friends; I hope your day is going well and you've had a great start to your week.  It's Wednesday so that means it's time to share my card for this week's Winter Wonderland IG Hop which has been organised by my lovely friend Kelly.  Can you believe this week is week 4 already!  Each Wednesday we will be sharing our cards with a winter theme.  

This week is the lovely theme of Santa!  I always reach for cutesy images so I thought I would mix it up this week and go for a traditional/vintage style image and actually used a red rubber wood mounted stamp!!  Here is my card:

a close up of the image:

I decorated the inside:

I apologise for the photos today but it's quite gloomy here and I struggled to get anything better, but they are better than horrible (maybe!). 

I began by stamping the gorgeous Santa image in Memento London Fog ink which is a lovely light grey.  There wasn't much colouring to do, I coloured his face, beard and glasses with a mix of Promarkers and SN Tri-blend markers and then went over the beard and snowflakes with some glitter glue.  I put the image to one side to dry and then created my background with a snowflake stencil using red ink on a white panel cut to 3 3/4" x 5".  I made an A2 card base from red cardstock and I adhered the stencilled panel with double sided tape.  I used a strip of white card and stamped my sentiment in Versafine Clair morning mist ink.  I added this strip onto a slightly larger strip of same red card as my card base and adhered this with double sided tape.  Once the image panel was dry I used a rectangle die and cut it out and then used the matching scalloped die to cut a red mat panel.  I added this to the card with foam tape.  I decided to add some glitter glue to the snowflakes in the background for some extra sparkle and finished off with 3 small sequins under my sentiment.  It really does look much nicer in real life and really sparkles when it catches the light.  

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

Allsorts challenge - Christmas time

Craft challenge - Christmas

Colourful Options challenge - red

Creative Knockouts challenge - lots of layers

Daisy Chain challenge - Christmas/winter

Inkspirational challenge - seasonal (obviously I've gone for Christmas)

Mix it Up challenge - ATG option stamping

My Time to Craft challenge - got to be Christmas

Scrapping4Fun challenge - traditional Christmas colours

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - make it sparkle

Stamping Sensations challenge - get ready for Christmas

Sweet Stampin' challenge - use red

Tic Tac Toe challenge - sparkle/free/monochromatic

We hope you will be able to join us over on Instagram and follow the hop.  Please use the hashtag #winterwonderlandcardhop2023 to find all our creations and, if we inspire you and you decide to join in, we can find yours too.  

Enjoy the rest of your day and thank you so much for stopping by. 

Love and hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Rubber Stampede - Santa collage wooden stamp (very old and probably no longer available)

Spellbinders - classic rectangles large & classic scalloped rectangles large

Spellbinders - colour essentials sequins - scarlet smooth disc

Funky Fossil Designs - snow flurry stencil

Stickles glitter glue - crystal 

Versafine Morning Mist ink pad (for sentiment)

Memento London Fog ink pad (to stamp image)

Gina K Designs - red velvet ink pad 

Paula Pascal - Christmas messages

Promarkers

Spectrum Noir Tri Blend markers

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

Stampin' Up! - red card from brights selection pack (again very old!)

Winter wonderland challenge–DT card

Good morning dear friends.  I hope you have all had a great week and are looking forward to the weekend.  Today is the final day of my week off from work so I’m taking my mother out for some lunch and a look around the shops, although she is suffering with her arthritis in her knee at the moment so we’ll probably be having lots of coffee breaks in between (but I’m not complaining as it will be more time to chat and people watch lol!)

I’m here this morning with my card for the new challenge over at winter wonderland challenge.  This week the lovely Marianne has set the theme and she has chosen “it takes two” so she would like to see 2 people/snowmen etc in one image – fairly simple I thought until I couldn’t find any image I had with only two characters!  I had lots with 1 and equally lots with 3 but none with 2 – typical!  So after a quick nip to Pollycraft and I found a super cute image to use and here is my card:

As I said the image is from pollycraft and is called ‘snow buds’ and I coloured it with promarkers and flex markers.  The papers are my mind’s eye from the ‘be merry’ paper pad and the kraft card is from dies to die for.  I punched the snowflakes with a MS punch and added cute little heart buttons from my stash.

Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp and one lucky winner will receive a £15.00 voucher to spend in their online store.

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples as always, so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out.  We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us.

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

The crazy challenge – add a sentiment

Bearly mine challenge – 3-2-1 (3 snowflakes, 2 papers, 1 image)

Crafty creations challenge – fun and games (playing in the snow)

Creative craft world challenge – blue theme

Digistamps4joy challenge – predominantly blue & include water (hope snow is ok!)

Divas by design challenge – stamp something

For fun challenge – buttons galore (3 tiny heart buttons)

Little darlings challenge – outside

The lollipop ladies challenge – fruit loops and glitter

Simon says stamp challenge – anything goes

I hope you will be able to join in with our challenge this week and I cannot wait to see what you create.  Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Card ingredients:

Image: pollycraft – ‘snow buds’

Papers: my mind’s eye – ‘be merry’ paper pad, kraft card from dies to die for

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, MS snowflake punch, buttons from stash, personal impressions sentiment stamp, stickles, SU scallop border punch, nesties label 1 small

Charisma cardz #8–DT card

** THIS IS MY SECOND POST FOR TODAY **

Please scroll down to see my PFP/Stamp with Fun DT card

Hello again dear friends.  I’m back with a very late DT card for charisma cardz challenge (I should have posted it last Thursday – what am I like – I’m getting worse I think lol!).  The theme is “masking” and if you’re not sure how to achieve this technique here is a link to a simple tutorial by Beate Johns on SCS, although if I can do it I think most people can haha!.   I decided to use two older stamps from sugar nellie from the gorjuss girls range, which are still firm favourites of mine.  Here is my card:

The images I used are ‘just a girl’ and ‘sitting’ and I coloured them with promarkers and flex markers,  The gorgeous papers are first edition from the ‘hideaway’ paper pad and I coloured the doily with a cats eye chalk ink pad to match my papers.  I added a memory box flourish and some lollipop flowers and I was done.  I really like the sunshine-y feel to this card, especially as they are not colours I would normally use.

Our sponsors this week are Simon Says stamp who are offering a $20.00 voucher to spend in their online store and Pink Cat Studio who are offering a prize of 5 digi images. 

The rest of the design team have created amazing cards as always (and Jenni and myself used the same images on our cards lol!).  Please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out.  We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us. 

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

The sugar bowl challenge – sketch & option kraft

Critter sketch challenge – buttons, buttons, I love buttons

Incy wincy designs challenge – something old/new (images old, papers new)

Kaboodle challenge – think spring

The pink elephant challenge – let’s see those layers

Pollycraft challenge – spring has sprung

Simon says stamp challenge – anything goes

Card makin’ mamas challenge – let’s see some green & coloured image

Stamping for the weekend challenge – BINGO (glitter/sparkles, lace – doily, butterflies)

One stop craft challenge – button it

I hope you will be able to join in with our challenge, although you’ll have to be quick as it ends in just over a day!!  I cannot wait to see what you create.  I would like to welcome my newest follower Isa – *waves hello* who left me lovely comments this morning – much appreciated hun and I hope you’ll pop by often.  I may be back later with another card so until then have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by today.

 

Card ingredients:

Images: sugar nellie stamps – gorjuss girls ‘sitting’ and ‘just a girl’

Papers: first edition – ‘hideaway’ paper pad, white digital stamping card from craftwork cards

Tools: promarkers, flex markers, die-namics butterfly die, SU circle punches, stickles, memory box flourish die, personal impressions sentiment stamp, doily from Joanna Sheen (I think!) tonic (Tim Holtz) distressing tool, buttons from fantastic ribbons, circle nesties

PFP #139/stamp with fun #151

Good morning dear friends.  I’m sorry for the long absence between posts, I wasn’t feeling 100% last week and had a really bad headache all week.  Fortunately I’m feeling better this week (so far) but that could have something to do with the fact that I have a week off work *woohoo*. 

However I’m still dis-organised and have had to combine two of my DT cards – stamp with fun challenge this week is “pink & green” and the new challenge over at passion for promarkers challenge (which I have chosen) is “for mum/female relative”.  I thought I would give you a head start in making your mother’s day cards as it’s only 12 days away!!  However I’m also aware that some of you sadly don’t have a mother to celebrate with so will accept cards for any female relative.  Here is my card:

 

I did have every intention of making a mother’s day card but when my auntie asked me to make her a 2nd birthday card for her great grand-daughter I used this card instead as time was against me (as usual)!  The image is from DigiStamp Boutique and is from the ‘Fairy Hattie collection’.  I coloured her with promarkers and added stickles to her wings.  The papers are do crafts from the gorgeous forever friends ‘new arrival’ designstax and the plain card is SU pink pirouette.  I used a Marianne die for the rolled roses and a die-namics die for the number 2.

Our sponsor this week is the lovely Emma from Crafty Emma’s store and she is offering one lucky winner a £10.00 voucher (excl. p&p) to spend in her online store. 

The rest of the design team have created amazing samples as always so please pop over to the challenge blog and check them out.  We really appreciate the lovely comments you leave for us. 

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

Birthday sundaes challenge – birthday card with sentiment

Dream valley challenge – mother’s day/female themed

Pile it on challenge – spots or stripes or both (I’ve gone with spots)

Stampin’ sisters in Christ challenge – things with wings (my fairy)

Stamptacular challenge – text me

Flutterby Wednesday challenge – open theme

Aud sentiments challenge – happy birthday

Do you stack up? challenge – things with wings

Simon says stamp challenge – anything goes

Crafty catz challenge – punches & dies

I hope you can join in with my challenge this week and I cannot wait to see what you create.  I would like to welcome my newest follower Kelly Smith *waves hello* – I hope you enjoy visiting my blog and will pop by often.  I will hopefully be back later with another card but until then thanks so much for stopping by.

Card ingredients:

Image: DigiStamp Boutique – ‘Fairy Hattie collection’

Papers: do crafts – forever friends ‘new arrival’ designstax, SU pink pirouette cardstock

Tools: promarkers, Marianne creatables rolled rose die, magnolia doo-hickey swirl die, die-namics by the numbers die set, butterflies die, brackets tab, circle nesties, MS border punch, MS frond punch, stickles, lace ribbon from stash