Hubby's Christmas card

I hope you are all doing ok and having a great week so far.  It's flipping freezing here today and has been all week; plus it's been really windy, which is not a good combination.  Luckily I didn't have to go anywhere today so could stay inside and craft lol!  

I've got quite a few Christmas cards that I haven't shared with you yet so I thought today I would start with the card I made for my husband.  I was inspired by a card I saw from Mindy Eggen, although mine is not as good as hers.  Here is my card:

A closer look at my scene:

I decorated the inside:

plus I stamped the envelope:

I loved Mindy's card as soon as I saw it so followed along with her video using the same ink colours etc.  I began by stamping the row of houses in versamark and embossing with clear embossing powder.  I then ink blended the background using 3 different ink colours.  I stamped the trees in a mid grey ink behind the houses.  I'm not sure why but my embossing didn't resist the colour as well as Mindy's but I did use a clear gloss powder so not sure if that has something to do with it.  I splattered some water droplets onto the background and also added white gauche to replicate snow.  I took a white panel and cut it with a stitched hill die and then stamped my sentiment in black ink and adhered this over the bottom of my houses to create a snow bank.  The panel was then adhered to a black mat panel and this was added to my card base with foam tape.  No fussy embellishments as I loved it as it was.  The finished card size is 5" x 7".  For the inside I stamped my sentiment in black ink onto a white card panel and stamped a row of the trees at the bottom in the same mid grey ink.  This was then adhered to a black panel and added to my card with double sided tape.  I also stamped the trees again onto my envelope.  

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

Colourful Options challenge - blue lagoon 

Crafty Gals Corner challenge - winter fun

Daisy Chain challenge - no design paper

Get Creative challenge - snow much fun

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

Inspired By challenge - inspired by snowman (I was inspired by the colours)

Little Red Wagon challenge - show some snow

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - icy cold

Try It On Tuesday challenge - January blues

Word Art Wednesday challenge - ATG

I really appreciate you stopping by today.  I will be back tomorrow with my DT card for the Krafty Chicks challenge.  Have a great evening. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Gina K Designs - Winter whimsy stamp

Gina K Designs - ink pads - turquoise sea, tranquil teal, plum punch, stormy sky

LOTV - Christmas greetings A5 stamp set (for inside sentiment)

LOTV - Snow globes A5 stamp set (for Merry Christmas sentiment)

Stampin' Up - family party stamp set (bought from another crafter)

Lawn Fawn - stitched hillside borders die

Versamark ink pad

WOW! - clear gloss super fine embossing powder

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

Card for a sweet friend

Happy Monday friends; I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I was lucky enough to go to see Aladdin the show at Cardiff's Millennium Centre on Friday night with my mother, sister, niece and friends and it was amazing.  I have to admit I've never seen the Disney movies, although knew a few songs, so it was lovely to finally see it in live action.  The actors were amazing and the costumes were beautiful.  I would recommend you catching it if you get a chance. 

I'm sharing a card I made a little while ago but forgot to share.  My mother wanted a card for a special friend so this is what I made:

A close up of the flowers:

I decorated the inside:

and also the envelope:

I began by die cutting the flowers and used the matching stencils to colours them (my colour inspiration was from a Gina K Designs video I saw and loved).  I cut a white panel 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" and used a stencil and some light grey ink to give some interest to my background.  I cut a green panel 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and matted them together with double sided tape.  I die cut a white stitched circle and stamped the main sentiment in black and added a sub sentiment (cut with a sentiment strip) stamped in tomato soup ink.  I also die cut a plain layering circle from the green card and adhered them with double sided tape.  I arranged my flowers and added them with liquid glue and the circle was added with foam squares.  The smaller bud flowers were added onto the circle with foam squares also.  Finally I added some black pearls as a finishing touch.  The card size is 5" x 7".  I had some extra flowers so added one onto the envelope in the bottom left corner.  For the inside I stamped a sentiment in black ink and added a small piece of the stencilled background at the bottom of the panel.  I matted this onto a green card panel (same sizes as the front of my card).  To add some definition between the white card and the stencilled piece I added a thin strip of the green card.  My mother loved the card and so did her friend; I hope you do too.  

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

Crafter's Cafe challenge - feminine

Creative Knockouts challenge - celebrations (10 challenges max)

Creative Friday challenge - ATG

Cut It Up challenge - ATG but must include a die cut

Daisy Chain challenge - no design paper

Double D challenges - any birthday and/or anniversary

Stencil Fun challenge- must use stencils - option feed the birds

Triple B challenge - must use birds, blooms or butterflies

Unicorn challenge - birthday

I'll hopefully be back tomorrow or Wednesday with another card for you.  I appreciate you stopping by.  

Love and hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Gina K Designs - fancy florals stencil bundle (now available individually)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - jellybean green, fresh asparagus, peach Bellini, tomato soup, soft stone

Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 8 (for circle dies)

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

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

green card from stash

Versafine onyx black ink

My sister got married!

Hello crafty friends; I hope you're having a great weekend so far.  It's actually been quite a nice day today here in South Wales; chilly but at least it's been dry.  We've had so much rain here over the past few weeks, it makes such a difference to see some blue sky.  

Just before Christmas my sister (and now brother in law) decided to get married, completely unexpectedly, after being together for 36 years.  It was all arranged within a week as she didn't want any fuss and apart from my mother and his parents and friends of theirs who were also getting married, no-one else attended.  It was a quick registry office ceremony and then out for lunch.  She looked beautiful and my BIL scrubbed up quite well too.

I had to mark the occasion with a card and this is what I made:

I decorated the inside:

I began by embossing a white panel with a heart embossing folder and then mat that onto some gold mirri card.  I die cut the letters and ampersand from the same gold mirri card and the flowers and leaves from coloured card stock.  The sentiment was stamped with versamark and heat embossed with gold embossing powder and cut out with a stitched die.  I arranged all the die cuts and added them with liquid glue and then the sentiment was added on top with foam squares.  I didn't add any embellishments as there was lots of shiny gold on my card already.  For the inside I die cut an extra flower and some leaves and adhered them to the lower left corner.  A simple sentiment stamped in black ink and again the panel was matted onto the gold mirri card.  

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

Allsorts challenge - mood board or ATG

Alphabet challenge - T is for texture (embossing folder)

Can You Handle the Pressure challenge - Must use an embossing folder - option winter

Craft Rocket challenge - use embossing (embossing folder and heat embossing)

Crafters Cafe challenge - feminine

Creative Knockouts challenge - celebrations (10 challenges max)

Daisy Chain challenge - no design paper

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - a new start (newly married)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - something new (newly married)

Time Out challenge - new (newly married)

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Love and hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Spellbinders - sentimental ampersand (SDOM-Jan23)

Spellbinders - simply perfect alphabets 

Gina K Designs - happy hearts embossing folder

Gina K Designs - on the inside stamp set (for the greeting on the front)

Gina K Designs - succulent spray stamp set (for inside greeting)

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

Gold mirri card and coloured card from my stash

Versamark ink pad

Versafine onyx black ink pad

Cosmic Shimmer - gold detail embossing powder

Krafty Chicks Design Team card

Good morning friends, I have some exciting news to share with you today.  I am delighted and honoured to be joining the talented team over at Krafty Chicks challenge!  Today I am sharing my first card as a fully fledged chick in the hen house.  The themes are on a rotation so you always know what is coming up:

Week 1

Stamps (must have a stamp/digi image on card/project)

Week 2

Christmas (must have something with Christmas on it)

Week 3

CAS (Clean and Simple)

Week 4

All Occasions (Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's, etc.)

Week 5

When there are five Thursday's in the month,

Anything Goes

As we are on Week 1 this week the theme is 'Stamps' so we want to see some stamping on your card.  I went clean and simple again (I don't know what is happening to me lol) and here is my card:

A close up of the cute image:

I did a little ink blending on the inside to match the outside:

I began by stamping the cute critter and coloured him with a mix of Promarkers and Tri-blend markers and used the matching die to cut him out.  I also added some white highlights with a gel pen.  I cut a panel of white card 3 3/4" x 5" and ink blended some teal ink into the centre; for some added interest I also used a confetti stencil using the same ink but with a heavier hand.  I cut a mat panel from teal card and added the white panel with double sided tape.  I added my cute fox with foam squares to just slightly above the centre of the card and stamped the sentiment in black ink below him.  No embellishments at all but I think it looks cute just as it is.  For the inside I cut another white panel the same as the front and stamped a sentiment in the centre.  I added some light ink blending over and slightly extending out from the sentiment in the same teal ink.  Again matted the white panel onto a teal panel and adhered it to my card with double sided tape.  

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

Aud Sentiments challenge - make your own background and/or birthday + sentiment

CRAFT challenge - ATG

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Pearly Sparkles challenge - CAS

Stencil Fun challenge - Must use a stencil optional birds

Unicorn challenge - birthday

I hope you will be able to join us over at Krafty Chicks and I cannot wait to see all your gorgeous creations.   Check out the blog for all the rules and to see the amazing cards from the very talented design team - Leanne, Diane and Lori.  Helen is our guest designer for January so please leave her some love too.  

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Love and hugs,

Card ingredients:

MFT - sending sweet celebration wishes stamp & die

MFT - card sized confetti stencil set

MFT -inside and out birthday greetings stamp set

Promarkers & Spectrum Noir Tri-blend markers

Gina K Designs - tranquil teal ink pad

Altenew - lagoon card stock

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

Sakura - white gelly roll 10 pen

AAA Birthday challenge - DT card

Hello friends and happy 1st January.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Santa brought you everything you asked for.  We had a lovely Christmas dinner with my sister's family and my mother but apart from that it was a quiet time at home with my grown up sons.  Not too much fuss this year as they are older but it was lovely to spend time with them.   Well after all the build up it came and went super fast again this year and we are into a brand new year....have you made any resolutions?  I haven't, except for trying to be a better blogger (same as always) and make more cards.  We'll see how that goes!  

Anyway enough waffling I'm here to share my first card of 2024 and my DT card for this month's AAA Birthday challenge.  This month is Kati's choice and she went for rainbows or rainbow colours.  

I needed a card in a hurry and was in the middle of a last minute Christmas card panic making session so my card is super CAS but I think it turned out ok.  Here is my card:

I didn't have time to decorate the inside this time as I needed to catch the post, so no photo sorry!

I began by cutting a white panel 3 3/4" x 5" and stamped 3 flowers, equally spaced apart.  I then stamped the 2 small butterflies on either side.  I coloured them all with Promarkers in rainbow colours and added some white highlights with a gel pen.  To finish off I stamped a simple happy birthday sentiment below the flowers in black ink.  I matted the white panel onto a black panel using double sided tape and then this was adhered to the card blank again with double sided tape.  A very CAS card with no dimension at all - I must have been feeling ill lol!  Like I say not my usual style but I ended up liking it a lot.  

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 blogs.   Our guest designer for this month is Janet so please pop over and check out her gorgeous card too.  

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

Aud Sentiments challenge - make your own background and/or birthday + sentiment

Crafters Cafe challenge - feminine

Dream Valley challenge - ATG

Pearly Sparkles challenge - CAS

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - party time

Stamping Sensations challenge - favourite colours (I love rainbow colour schemes)

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

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

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Gina K Designs - Hello sunshine mini (can't find it on the site)

Gina K Designs - So many sentiments

Promarkers

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

Hobbycraft - A4 luxury black card

Winter Wonderland IG Hop - Week 6 bonus week!

Hello again friends; I hope you're having a fabulous day so far....one day closer to the weekend.  Sorry I'm a day late with my card for the final week of the Winter Wonderland IG Hop, organised by my lovely friend Kelly.  I went on a shopping trip yesterday to Bristol and it was such a long day and I was exhausted when I got home at almost 8pm so didn't post but I am finally here to share my card.  This week is our last and bonus week where we share cards with a winter theme.  

So our prompt for this week is 'sweater weather/winter at the beach' and obviously as the weather is really cold here at the moment I went for sweater weather as my inspiration.  Here is my card:

a close up of my sweaters (or jumpers as we call them in the UK):

I decorated the inside as usual:

I began by picking some red and green card from my scrap bin and stamping the cute sweaters in black ink and then used the matching dies to cut them out.  I also cut some plain sweaters to that I could add an extra layer behind each one.  I grabbed a stencil and using red and green ink created my background.  I also inked around the edges with the green ink as there was more red than green in my background.  I matted the panel onto a black panel and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  I created a small white panel, which I again matted onto black and added this onto my card base with foam squares at a jaunty angle for some interest.  I added the sweaters with double sided tape into each corner.  The fun sentiment was stamped onto a small piece of white card in black ink and I used a sentiment strip die to cut it out.  This was added to the centre of the panel with foam squares.  I finished off with a few gold pearls.  For the inside I stamped a sentiment in black ink and added a green sweater in the bottom left corner, again I added a black mat panel and adhered this to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

Creative Inspirations challenge - Happy Christmas/Happy New Year

Creative Knockouts challenge - Tis the season

Cut it Up challenge - use more than one die (sweater & sentiment strip dies)

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - use craft dies

Stamping Sensations challenge - favourite colours (I love traditional red & green for Christmas)

Stencil Fun challenge - ATG include a stencil option Christmas

The Male Room challenge - Christmas

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge - sweater weather

We hope you will be able to join us over on Instagram and follow the hop.  Please use the hashtag #winterwonderlandcardhop2023 to find all of our creations and we will be able to find yours if you feel inspired to join in.  

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

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Gina K Designs - a very silly season stamp & die set

Gina K Designs - sweater weather stencil

Gina K Designs - pearl mix (black, gold & silver)

Gina K Designs - large strip sentiment dies

Gina K Designs - red velvet and jellybean green ink pads

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

Limetree Crafts - 250gms smooth white card

Hobbycraft - A4 luxury black card

red and green card from scrap bin

Masculine birthday card

Hello lovely friends; I hope you've had a great start to your week.  Mine was lovely, I met a friend for breakfast and we talked and talked and put the world to rights lol!  Then I picked up my new Christmas tree - it's the first one we've had since we had Willow the wild cat so only went for a very basic pop up tree but for £30 I was pleasantly surprise at how good it looks (although she is very interested in it so don't hold out much hope that it will survive until next year!!).  Then a quick look around the shops and bought 2 Christmas gifts, but at least I can say I've officially started Christmas shopping now!  I'm going on a shopping trip to Bristol on Wednesday so hopefully will get a few more (fingers crossed).  

It was my son's birthday last week - my 'baby' is now 27 - and I can't believe where the time has gone, especially as I only look 25 myself hahahahaha!  Here is the card I made for him:

a close up of the hi-tops:

and I decorated the inside:

added a few stars to the envelope so everything was matching:

I began by die cutting the sneakers from patterned paper and the various add on pieces from white and black card.  I stuck them together with liquid glue and also added a couple of extra shoe pieces to make them more sturdy.  I then cut a white card panel 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" and used a stencil and some light grey ink to create my background; this was then added to a black card mat with double sided tape.  I cut a smaller white card panel 3 5/8" x 5 5/8" and stamped my sentiments in black ink.  This again was then added onto a black card mat with double sided tape.  The sneakers were added with a mixture of liquid glue (for the bottom sneaker) and foam squares for the top sneaker.  The stars were then added with liquid glue.  The whole thing was then added to a 5" x 7" card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white card panel 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" and again used the same stencil but this time leaving a white area in the middle so that I could stamp my greeting (and also write my message).  Again this was added to a black card mat with double sided tape.  Finally I die cut some extra stars and added them to the bottom left corner of my envelope.  I'm really happy with the final result, enough going on without being too fussy - and my son loved it too, especially as he has a pair of Converse shoes very similar to these!  

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

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG option make them smile

Cut It Up challenge - use more than one die (sneaker dies/star dies)

Dream Valley challenge - ATG

Krafty Chicks challenge - ATG

Little Red Wagon challenge - Bohemian Rhapsody (my 3 elements are stencilling, die-cutting and stamping)

Papercraft challenges - happy birthday

Seize the Birthday challenge - ATG birthday - no topping this time

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

Sweet Stampin' challenge - happy birthday (I stamped my sentiments, hope this is enough)

I really appreciate you stopping by.  I'll be back on Wednesday (a little later than normal) with my 'bonus' card for the Winter Wonderland IG Hop.  

Love and hugs, 

 

card ingredients:

MFT - all stars hi top die-namics *retired*

Echo Park - navy ombre essentials patterned paper (for sneakers)

Gina K Designs - star struck stencil

Gina K Designs - stormy sky ink pad

MFT - blueprints 13 (for stars) *retired*

Stampin' Up! - family party (for sentiments) *retired*

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

Hobbycraft - A4 luxury black card