Just Us Girls challenge - guest designer

Good Morning lovely friends and welcome to February.  I have a busy day on my blog today; this is the first of 3 cards that I will be sharing with you!  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. Color theme

Week 2. Word prompt

Week 3. Mood Board

Week 4. Anything Goes using a stencil

Week 5. Case a DT Member

Obviously I will only be sharing 4 cards with you (as I'm only a guest) but I will definitely playing along on Week 5 and casing a DT members card. 

So as it's Week 1 we have a colour theme for you to use; here is the graphic:

This is the perfect colour scheme for the upcoming Valentine celebration; however I wanted to make a card for a crafty friend, so used the colours as my starting point.  Here is my card:

a close look at my cute coffee cups:

plus I decorated the inside:

I began by die cutting the sweet coffee cups from white card, the sleeve from pink card, the tops from black card and the hearts from red card.  I added the sleeve with foam squares and the top and hearts with liquid glue.  I also added crystal glaze onto the hearts for some extra shine.  I took a white card panel cut to 3 3/4" x 5" and ink blended some red ink into the centre and then using the same ink I stencilled some hearts over top.  I die cut the friend word from the red card and used a pre-printed sentiment which I die cut with a strip die.  I arranged the coffee cups in the centre of my card, added the strip sentiment overlapping them slightly and placed the friend word below (all were added with liquid glue).  The panel was then added to my card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I lightly blended the red ink at the very bottom of my panel and again stencilled the hearts over top.  I stamped the greeting in black ink and then adhered the panel into the card with double sided tape.  I kept the layers to a minimum as I knew I would be posting my card overseas.   I'm really happy with my card and think it turned out really cute.

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

AAA Cards challenge - anything CAS goes option Valentine's Day

Cardz for Galz challenge - red and/or pink hearts

Cut It Up challenge - this makes me happy (coffee makes me happy!)

Moving Along With The Times challenge - love hearts

Pearly Sparkles challenge - love/have a heart

Scrapping 4 Fun challenge - ATG

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - have a heart

Tic Tac Toe challenge - heart, red, die cut

The Color Hues challenge - red and pink

I hope this colour scheme inspires you to create something for the challenge and I cannot wait to see what you make.  I will be back in a little while with another card so don't go too far away!

I really appreciate all your lovely comments and thank you so much for visiting me today. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Spellbinders - I dance die set (for coffee cups)

Spellbinders - sweet treat box die set (for stitched heart)

Clearly Besotted Stamps - friend word die

Creative Expressions - Wordies sentiment sheet - birthday

Simon Says Stamp - falling hearts stencil

Gina K Designs - sentiment strips die

Gina K Designs - cherry red ink cube

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

CC Designs - happy day stamp set (for inside greeting)

2024 Crafty Kickoff IG Card Hop - Week 3

Hello friends and happy Hump Day.  I hope you've all had a great week so far.  I'm back to share my card for this week's Crafty Kickoff IG Card Hop, which has been organised by my lovely friend Kelly. Each Wednesday we will shared a themed card and this week's theme is a colour challenge:

What a fun colour palette to work with.  Even though the image is of a winter scene you don't have to make a winter card or even include a bird, just be inspired by the colours.  Here is my card:

A close up look for you:

I decorated the inside:

I was inspired to use the red, orange and green colours from the graphic and went very geometric and clean and simple on my card.  I began by cutting a white card panel 3 3/4" x 5" and stamped the images randomly in the upper centre of my panel using the 3 colours I had chosen.  I've had this stamp set for years but this is the first time I've used it and I love it, so will definitely be pulling it out again.  I then simply stamped a black sentiment within the triangle pattern. I attached the card panel onto my card base with foam tape for some dimension as there was no other bulk on my card. For the inside I cut the same size card panel, stamped my sentiment in black ink and added 3 triangles, one in each of the colours, in the bottom left.  This panel was added to my card blank with double sided tape.   I think this was the fastest card I have ever made (once I'd faffed about thinking where to place my triangles).  I love the colours together and I think it would be a great card for anyone.  

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

AAA Cards challenge - Anything CAS goes optional twist Valentine

Allsorts challenge - anything but square

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG option make me smile

NBUS challenge - first time using this very old stamp set

Seize the Birthday challenge - no topping this time

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - ATG

I would love it if you would pop over to Instagram and see the amazing work by all the other crafters taking part in the hop.  Please use the hashtag #2024CraftyKickoffIGCardHop to find the hop and also so that we can find your creation if you are inspired to take part.  

I've got lots of cards to share with you tomorrow so please pop by and check them out.  As always I appreciate the comments you leave and thank you so much for stopping by. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Altenew - Sohcahtoa stamp set (retired)

Gina K Designs - birthday cheer (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - jelly bean green, red hot, sweet mango

Versafine - onyx black ink (for sentiments)

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card (for card base and panels)

Krafty Chicks challenge - All Occasions

Hello and happy Thursday lovely friends.  I hope you're having a great week.  I'm here today to share my DT card for this week's Krafty Chicks challenge.  We are on week 4 which is always 'All Occasions' i.e. birthday, sympathy, new baby, Valentine's, the world's your oyster lol!

I made this card for a crafty friend who had her birthday recently and was inspired by a technique I saw by Gina K Designs.  Here is my card:

A closer look:

Of course I decorated the inside:

I began by cutting a white panel 3 3 /4" x 5" and used a circle stencil to mask the area I wanted to ink blend.  I used an orange for my sky and a light green for my grass.  I went over my ink blending with a cloud stencil using the same orange ink but with a slightly heavier hand and a grass stencil using a slightly darker green ink.  I did go over the clouds with a pink ink but I don't think I added enough as you can't really see it.  I removed the stencils and stamped the silhouette image in black ink using my Misti tool.  I also stamped my sentiment below the image and a small butterfly to the upper left side.  I added the panel onto a black card mat with double sided tape and this was also added to my card base with double sided tape.  A few black pearls and my card was complete.  For the inside I cut the same size panels and on the white panel I stamped my sentiment in black ink and added a portion of the silhouette stamp in the lower left corner.  I blended some of the orange ink around it for some added interest.  Again I matted the panels with double sided tape and again adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  A very calm and elegant card which I think would also be suitable as a sympathy card by changing out the sentiment. 

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

Addicted to CAS challenge - sky (I stencilled my sky)

Addicted to Stamps & More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils (I used a cloud and grass stencil)

As You Like It challenge - What's your fave: pearls or gems and why (I like both but mostly grab for my pearls as they are great for all types of cards

Inkspirational challenge - use stencils (I used a cloud and grass stencil)

Just Us Girls challenge - ATG stencil week (I used a cloud and grass stencil)

Make My Monday challenge - happy birthday

Triple B challenge - must have either birds, blooms or butterflies (I have silhouette blooms and a butterfly)

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'All Occasions' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky.  Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori and also our guest designer for January, Helen.  

Thanks for stopping by. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Gina K Designs - Natural Silhouettes stamp

Gina K Designs - Spring Mountain stamp (for butterfly)

Gina K Designs - Birthday Cheer stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - ink pads - sweet mango, bubblegum pink, lucky clover, jelly bean green

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

MFT - grassy edges stencil

MFT - mini cloud edges stencil

Taylored Expressions - masking circles stencil

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card (for panels and card blank)

Hobbycraft - A4 luxury black card

Versafine - onyx black ink

2024 Crafty Kickoff IG Card Hop - Week 2

Hello again friends; I hope you've had a great start to your week and Storm Isha didn't cause you any problems.  It was really wet and windy here but thankfully no damage or power cuts , although I know some parts of the UK weren't so lucky.  Today we are onto Storm Jocelyn so another wet and windy day here although it is supposed to be short lived.  

Enough of the weather reporting lol!  I am here with my week 2 card for the 2024 Crafty Kickoff IG Card Hop, which has been organised by my lovely friend Kelly.  Each Wednesday we will share a themed card inspired by the new year and this week's theme is 'birthstones'.

and in case you want to participate here is a list of birthstones by month:

You can take the simple route and just use the colour of your birthstone i.e. my birthday is July, which is ruby, so I could make a card with red as my focal colour, or you can include gemstones or even ruby slippers!  There is no limit to your imagination...... oh I wish I had gone with ruby slippers now but it literally just came to me haha!  Here is my card:

A closer look:

I also decorated the inside:

I began by stamping lots of the tiny gemstones and coloured them with Promarkers.  There is no matching die so I fussy cut them out but they were super simple as it was all straight lines.  I cut a white card panel 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" and used a rectangle masking stencil to lightly ink a border using light grey ink.  I later decided to add some darker grey ink to the lower left corner as this was where my gemstones were going to be (as you would with press'n'seal but I don't have that).  I stamped the sentiments in black ink and used the matching dies to cut them out.  I arranged my gemstones in the left bottom corner of my inked rectangle and once I was happy with placement took a piece of wide masking tape and pressed it onto the gemstones to keep their position.  I added tiny foam squares onto 3 gemstones and liquid glue onto all the others and added them to my card.  The two die cut sentiments were added with foam squares and I also stamped the 'and' word directly onto the card panel.  For some extra interest I took a white gelly roll pen and added some dots around my gemstones and sentiment.  I adhered the white panel onto a grey scrap of card and this was added to my card with foam tape.  I decided to add some crystal glaze to my gemstones to make them shine.  For the inside I stamped a sentiment in black ink and used the same masking stencil but only inked the lower left corner of my white card panel before adding a few more gemstones with liquid glue.  Again I matted the white panel onto some grey card and this was adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  I'm really happy with how my card turned out and I hope you like it too. 

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

AAA Cards challenge - ATG CAS - optional love is in the air

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge - die cuts and/or stencils (I have both)

Double D challenge - sparkle and/or shine (I added crystal glaze to my gems)

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - stamp it

Inkspirational challenge - use stencils (I used a masking stencil)

Pearly Sparkles challenge - CAS

Stamping Sensations challenge - mood board (inspired by the colours and gems on the butterfly)

Stencil Fun challenge - ATG stencils - optional birds theme

I would love it if you would pop over to Instagram and see the amazing work by all the other crafters taking part in the hop.  Please use the hashtag #2024CraftyKickoffIGCardHop to find the hop and also so that we can find your creation if you are inspired to take part.  

I'll be back tomorrow with my DT card for this week's Krafty Chicks challenge so please pop by and check it out.  As always I appreciate the comments you leave and thank you so much for stopping by. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Create a Smile - 29 Again stamp set (retired)

Taylored Expressions - masking stencils - rectangles

Gina K Designs - ink pads in soft stone and stormy sky

Gina K Designs - Succulent Spray stamp (for inside sentiment)

Honey Bee Stamps - Shine On stamp and die set (for outside sentiments) retired

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card (for card base and panels)

Tonic Studios - Nuvo crystal glaze

Sakura - white gelly roll no 10 pen

Promarkers

Grey card from scrap bin

Krafty Chicks challenge - CAS

Hello friends and happy Thursday.  Well the weeks are certainly flying by aren't they?  I can't believe I'm sharing my week 3 card for the Krafty Chicks challenge already.  Week 3 is always CAS, which I know a lot of people struggle with (me included), but I think it does get easier the more you make them.  

I like the look of clean and simple but honestly don't always know when to stop but I've made quite a few CAS cards in the last few weeks and I'm liking them more.  I decided to make a sympathy card as I'm always usually rushing to make them so here is my card for today:

a closer look:

and I decorated the inside:

I recently watched a video on YouTube that reminded me about partial embossing, which is something I have done before, but completely forgot about so wanted to try again.  I grabbed 2 different embossing folders and embossed them onto white card leaving a gap large enough to fit my sentiment.  I scored each edge of the embossing to define them and make them look more 'finished'.  I stamped the sentiment with versamark and heat emboss with gold detail embossing powder.   I cut a leafy die 3 times from white and once from a matte gold speciality card and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I added the die cut to the embossed panel with liquid glue.  The white panel was then added to the same matte gold card with double sided tape.  I also added it to my card base with double sided tape.  I didn't add any embellishments as I wanted to try and keep it as clean and simple as possible.  For the inside I cut another white panel and stamped my sentiment with black ink.  I added a smaller sprig of the die cut in the bottom right corner.  Again the panel was matted onto the gold card and adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

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

Can You Handle the Pressure challenge - ATG with embossing option - snow people

Craft Rocket challenge - use embossing

Crafty Catz Challenge - ATG optional twist - no designer paper

Double D challenge - sparkle and/or shine (shimmer card and heat embossing)

Just Us Girls challenge - mood board week (inspired by the colours and textures)

Pearly Sparkles challenge - CAS

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - sparkle and shine (shimmer card and heat embossing)

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:

Gina K Designs - Swiss dot embossing folder

Gina K Designs - Tapestry embossing folder

Gina K Designs - Botanical duo die set

Gina K Designs - Fresh Florals stamp set (for main sentiment)

Gina K Designs - So Many Sentiments stamp set (for inside sentiment)

Tonic Studios - Craft Perfect 6 x 6 card pack - gold hearted

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card

Versafine onyx black ink

Versamark

Cosmic Shimmer - bright gold detail embossing powder

Tonic Studios - Nuvo deluxe glue

2024 Crafty Kickoff IG Card Hop - Week 1

Hello again friends and Happy Hump Day.  I'm joining in with a new Instagram Hop organised by my lovely friend Kelly called 2024 Crafty Kickoff and each Wednesday we will share a themed card inspired by the New Year.  This week's theme is 'what's new to you'.   

You can interpret this theme any way you like; whatever inspires you.  I went literal and used a new background stamp that I got recently as the starting point.  Here is my card:  

A closer look:

I decorated the inside:

I also decorated the envelope:

I began by stamping the background stamp twice with navy ink onto white card to make a panel for my card.  I ink blended the same navy ink all over so that the white parts became a lighter blue.  I die cut a circle from the upper centre and added acetate behind so that I could create a shaker window.  I die cut some lighter blue card using the same circle die and one size larger to make a frame for my shaker window.  I added this with liquid glue.  I added foam tape behind my panel and around the window, poured clear sequins onto my card base and removed the foam tape backing and placed it over my sequins to seal them in.  I stamped and coloured a cute bunny image using my Promarkers, added some white highlights with a gel pen and fussy cut him out.  I added him to the bottom right of the shaker window with foam squares.  I used the same light blue card and stamped my sentiment in navy ink and die cut it with a banner die; I also added this to the panel with foam squares.  I added a few more sequins to the front of the card for some extra bling.  

For the inside I cut a white panel and stamped a sentiment in navy ink.  As I had some spare background pieces (as I did a test run before making my card) I added a thin strip at the top and bottom of the panel.  This was added to my card base with double sided tape.   I also decorated the envelope with the extra background pieces.  

I love making shaker cards and don't know why I don't do it more often.  I could have put a few more sequins in my shaker but it shakes and looks ok so no worries.  

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

Allsorts challenge - make your own background

CRAFT challenge - new (new BG stamp)

Cardz for Guyz challenge - something new from stash (BG stamp)

Colourful Options challenge - blue lagoon

Crafty Animals challenge - ATG include an animal

Crafty Catz challenge - ATG optional twist - no design paper

Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter

Cut It Up challenge - use something new (BG stamp)

Fab 'n' Funky challenge - stamp it

I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG/animals

Make My Monday challenge - happy birthday

My Time To Craft challenge - something new in your stash (BG stamp)

Sweet Stampin' challenge - what's new with you? (BG stamp)

Try It On Tuesday challenge - winter blues

We Love Stamping challenge - something new (BG stamp)

I would love it if you would pop over to Instagram and see the amazing work by all the other crafters taking part in the hop.  Please use the hashtag #2024CraftyKickoffIGCardHop to find the hop and also so that we can find your creation if you are inspired to take part.  

I'll be back tomorrow with my DT card for this week's Krafty Chicks challenge so please pop by and check it out.  As always I appreciate the comments you leave and thank you so much for stopping by. 

Love and hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Uniko Stamps - Background Blocks Layered Stripes stamp

MFT - Sending sweet celebration wishes stamp set

MFT - Old friends stamp set (for HB sentiment)

MFT - Blueprints 27 (for banner die)

Gina K Designs - Birthday cheer (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - In the navy ink pad

Spellbinders - Standard circles large die set

Little Things From Lucy's Cards - sprinkles - crystal circles

Limetree Crafts - 250gsm smooth white card (for panels and card base)

Sakura - white gelly roll 10 pen