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Thursday, 12 June 2025

Krafty Chicks challenge #772 - 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; and as always the theme is 'Christmas' and I am our hostess. Another card to add 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.
I used a few polymer stamps from Lili of the Valley on my card and I was sad to read recently that they are no longer going to be making them.  I understand the reasons why, and they will be continuing with their digital images, but you know how much I love my clear stamps.  Never mind I will continue to use them as they are timeless images and super cute to boot.  I went with a fairly clean and simple layout for my card but there are a few layers going on too!  I hope you like it. 
Here is my card:
A closer look at the adorable image:
Plus I decorated the inside:
I began by cutting my white panel using a stitched rectangle die and cut a mat layer from blue glitter card with a plain rectangle die.  I adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped a simple sentiment in black ink in the lower right corner.  I cut a thin strip of snowflake patterned card, which I cut with the stitched rectangle and again matted it onto the blue glitter card with liquid glue.  I adhered it to my panel with liquid glue.  I found the images already stamped out so coloured them with my Promarkers and added some white gelly roll highlights.  I cut out the penguin for the front of my card with a circle die and also used a larger circle die to cut out a mat layer from the blue glitter card.  I didn't like how big the gap was between the circles so trimmed the blue layer down with scissors (it's a little wonky but I think it looks ok).  I added the circle over the patterned panel with foam squares.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel for stability and dimension and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  I didn't add any embellishments as I loved the clean look as it was.  For the inside I cut another white stitched panel and blue glitter panel and adhered them with liquid glue.  I cut another strip of the snowflake card with the stitched die and again matted it onto the blue glitter card.  I added this to the panel with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink and added the second image (which I coloured with Promarkers and fussy cut) to the bottom left corner with liquid glue.  I adhered the panel with double sided tape.  I'm really happy with this card and the images are so super cute aren't they?  

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

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up challenge - ATG optional twist one or 2 layers
Allsorts challenge - what makes you happy (super cute critters)
As You Like It challenge - add a sentiment or not (I always add a sentiment to the front as I don't think it looks finished without one)
Colorful Options challenge - inspiration photo (I was inspired by the colours)
CRAFT challenge - cute/ATG
Crafty Animals challenge - ATG but must include an animal
Crafty Calendar challenge - add a sentiment
Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter
I love Promarkers challenge - ATG or summertime
Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything Christmas goes
Simply Clean & Simple challenge - anything CAS goes optional theme pretty pinks
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - fur, feathers and/or flowers
The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge - anything Christmas goes

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:
Lili of the Valley - penguins & reindeer polymer stamp - no longer available
Lili of the Valley - Christmas Greetings polymer stamp - no longer available
Lili of the Valley - verses polymer stamp - no longer available 
Promarkers
Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 14 (for stitched rectangle die)
Gina K Designs - Master Layouts 1 (for plain rectangle die)
Craft ID - Christmas paper pad (bought from TK Maxx a few years ago)
Versafine - onyx black ink pad
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here

Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Cards For All Seasons IG Hop - Week 12

Hello friends; I hope you're having a great week so far. I'm back today to share my card for this week's Cards for All Seasons IG hop organised by my lovely friend Kelly. We are now on Week 12 and our theme is 'movies, books or music'.  So quite an easy theme this week; just run with whatever springs to mind in either of these subjects. I can't wait to see what sparks your imagination.
I recently got some stamps from a friend who was selling some of her older stamps and you know how much I love MFT stamps so I grabbed a few.  They are all retired but new to me and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to ink them up.  The stamps are music themed but as they are also birds I kept humming the 'Birdie Song' all the time I was making my card.  For all you young people this song was a terrible novelty song from 1981 which had an equally awful dance that went with it. Look it up on YouTube if you're feeling brave lol!.  I think the card turned out super cute and I hope you like it too. 
Here is my card:
A closer look at the images:
Plus I decorated the inside:
I began by stamping my images onto alcohol marker friendly card, coloured them with Promarkers and added some white highlights with a gelly roll pen.  I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and stamped the scene builder stamp at the bottom and again coloured it with Promarkers.  Unfortunately my blue pen started to run out about half way through so it's a little patchy but I think it looks ok (I can't complain as I've had my Promarkers for about 15 years and only had to replace about 2 so far!).  I stamped the sentiment with black ink onto some scrap white card and cut it out with a sentiment strip die.  Once I'd figured out where I wanted my images to go and before I adhered them I stamped the musical notes directly onto the background with black ink.  I added both birds and the sentiment with foam squares and the toadstool and flower with liquid glue.  I added some scrap white card behind my panel for stability and dimension and then adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  No embellishments as I didn't think it needed anything else.  For the inside I cut another white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and stamped the same scene at the bottom of my panel.  I coloured the grass and another flower with Promarkers but left the top plain so that I could write my message.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre with black ink.  The flower was cut out with the coordinating die and added with liquid glue.  The panel was adhered to my card base with double sided tape.  

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

Allsorts challenge - what makes you happy (cute critters)
Craft Rocket challenge - no design paper
Crafty Animals challenge - ATG must include an animal
Crafty Calendar challenge - add a sentiment
Critter Crazy challenge - ATG with a featured critter
I Love Promarkers challenge - ATG or summertime
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - fur, feathers and/or flowers
Triple B challenge - birds, blooms or butterflies optional inspiration board

I hope you will pop over to Instagram and check out the hop; please use the hashtag #cfascardhop2025 to see all the gorgeous creations and also if you want to participate we will be able to find you.

I'll be back in the morning with my card for the Krafty Chicks challenge so I hope you will pop back and check it out. Until then thank you so much for stopping by.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:
MFT - SY tweet friends stamp & die set - retired
MFT - SY scene builder stamp - retired 
MFT - friends forever stamp (for inside greeting) - retired
Promarkers
Limetree Crafts - - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here
Versafine - onyx black ink pad
Heffy Doodle - alcohol marker friendly card - store now closed

Thursday, 5 June 2025

Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop June 25

Hello friends, I hope you're doing ok and that you've had a lovely day so far.  It's time for a new theme for the Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop, which takes place on the 5th of each month.  You always have the option to go for anything goes but the extra prompt this month is 'flowers', which is such a lovely and easy theme.  I expect the rest of the hop will be adorned with enough flowers to fill a garden lol!  I hope you can pop over to Instagram and join us.  
I love flowers and it's so easy to make a project that includes them.  I grabbed some coloured card from my scraps bin (still trying to use it up) and went to work.  I hope you like it.
Here is my tag:
A closer look the flowers:
Plus I decorated the other side of the tag:
I began by die cutting my tag from white card and using a stencil and some sea glass ink created a soft stencilled background.  I die cut the flowers from a teal coloured card and layered them up with foam squares adding a gold mirri card centre with liquid glue.  I also cut some leaves from the gold mirri card.  At this point I decided I wanted to mat my tag onto some of the teal card but I didn't have a larger tag so I simply trimmed down the white one every so slightly so that I had a thin border.  I adhered them together with liquid glue.  I stamped a sentiment with versamark ink and embossed it with gold detail embossing powder.  I used a sentiment strip die to cut it out.  I arranged my flowers and leaves on the tag and adhered them with liquid glue.  The sentiment was added with a mix of foam tape and liquid glue and I finished with a few gold pearls.  For the other side of the tag I cut another white tag and heat embossed the To: and From with the gold embossing powder and added a few gold leaves to the top left and bottom right corners with liquid glue.  I adhered the tags together with liquid glue.  I added some white tulle ribbon (recycled from packaging) and tied it with some twine.  It's such a pretty tag in real life and will really jazz up a plain white gift bag.  

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

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board
Cardz 4 Galz challenge - floral frenzy
Christmas (or not) BINGO challenge - Line B - tag, free, fibres (I used ribbon & twine)
Colorful Options challenge - inspiration photo
Craft Rocket challenge - no design paper
Fab 'n' Funky challenge - use your die cuts
Just Us Girls challenge - die cut week - layers
Stencil Fun challenge - ATG optional summertime fun
Tag-along (& ATC's) challenge - ATG with the option of drinks
The Paper Funday challenge - ATG optional twist embossing heat and/or dry
Tic Tac Toe challenge - layers, free, floral/foliage
Triple B challenge - birds, blooms or butterflies optional inspiration photo
Unicorn challenge - not square

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

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Lots of love

card supplies:
Creative Dies Plus - wonky stitches nesting tags - ? retired
Spellbinders - I dance die set (for flowers and leaves)
Spellbinders - Santa's sippin' sayings stamp (for sentiment)
Gina K Designs - sketched wreath builder (for To:/From:)
Gina K Designs - sea glass ink pad
MFT - skinny strips dies - oos ? retired
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here
coloured card & mirri card from scraps bin

Krafty Chicks challenge #771 - Birthday

Good morning lovely friends. I hope you're all doing ok and having a great week so far. We're back to our usual weather in South Wales; lots of rain showers and cloudy skies but that's the price we pay for lush green valleys!  

It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 1; as always the theme is 'birthday' and Leanne is our hostess. It can't get any easier than this week's challenge so we hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.
My son asked me to make a card for one of his friend's birthdays so this challenge was just the right time for me this week.  I used a couple of fun stamp sets and made an almost one layer card (I just can't work directly to my card base so I always have one layer lol!).  The card is 5" x 7" in size.  I hope you like it.
Here is my card:
A closer look at the pattern:
Plus I decorated the inside:
I began by cutting my white panel 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and using 4 colours of ink pads and 2 fun stamp sets, randomly stamped my background with no rhyme or reason.  I did manage to get ink in the right hand corner which I didn't intend so that's where my sentiment ended up.  Once I'd finished the background I matted it onto a black card layer with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment and used the coordinating die to cut it out.  As I mentioned I added to the top right corner with foam squares.  I also decided to add a little more interest and dimension so die cut some circles from matching card from my scraps bin and added them with foam squares.  I added some scrap card behind my panel for stability and adhered it to the card base with double sided tape.  For the inside I cut the same size white panel and replicated the front with a pattern in the lower left corner, I also added a splodge to the top right corner so that it matched the front.  I die cut a few more circles and added them with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink in the centre of the panel and then adhered the panel to a black layer with double sided tape.  I then added it to the card base with double sided tape.  I know it's a bit random and messy (I didn't know when to stop which is always the way with these types of backgrounds) but I really love how it turned out.  It would be fun in lots of colour ways I think.  

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

613 Avenue Create challenge - ATG optional twist for the guys
Classic Design challenge - ATG optional twist masculine
Craft Rocket challenge - no design paper
Fab 'n' Funky challenge - use your die cuts
Sweet Stampin' challenge - boys, boys, boys

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'birthday' 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:
MFT - party patterns stamp - retired
MFT - distressed patterns stamp - oos ? retired
MFT - all star dynamics die set (for circles) - retired
Gina K Designs - spring clusters stamp & die bundle (for sentiment)
Gina K Designs - on the inside - birthday stamp (for inside sentiment)
Gina K Designs - lots of dots die set (for smaller circles)
Gina K Designs - ink pads - red hot, soft stone, blue raspberry
Versafine - onyx black ink pad
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here
Limetree Crafts - 220gsm black card
coloured card from scraps bin

Sunday, 1 June 2025

AAA Birthday challenge #74 - no stamping

Hello again friends and happy 1st of June; can you believe we are already at the 6 month mark of 2025!!  This year needs to seriously slow down lol!  I'm here today to share my card for this month's AAA Birthday challenge and this month our theme is 'no stamping' which is harder than it sounds!  I hope you will take on our challenge this month and get creating. Our guest designer this month is the lovely Wendy so please pop over to her blog and leave her some love.
I make lots of cards that are purely die cutting or stencilling but they usually involve a stamped sentiment or something stamped so I actually did find this a challenge this month.  I used a new die set and I have to say I'm really happy with the finished result.  I hope you like it too.  
Here is my card:
A closer look at the die cuts:
Plus I decorated the inside:
I began by creating my flowers; die cutting them from coloured card from my scraps bin.  For the background I used a piece of white faded gradient paper so that it looked like sky and cut it out with a stitched rectangle die.  I also cut a grass border, using the same die.  The curved edge was made using a die from the same set as the flowers.  I adhered the papers with liquid glue leaving a gap so that I could tuck in my greenery.  I added the leaves with liquid glue and the flowers were adhered on top with foam squares.  I die cut 2 little butterflies from vellum and layered them together with liquid glue, leaving the wings free on the top butterfly.  I die cut the birthday wishes words from white card and the shadows from vellum and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I adhered them to the card panel with liquid glue.  For some dimension and stability I added a few scraps of white card behind my panel and adhered it to my card base with double sided tape.  I finished off with a few tiny white pearls.   For the inside I cut the same stitched rectangle from white card and a grass border again with the curve die and the stitched rectangle and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I cut one more flower and leaves and adhered them with liquid glue.  As I couldn't stamp a sentiment I left it blank until I need to send it out.  The panel was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  A really fun card and the tulips are so pretty.  

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

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board
Cardz 4 Galz challenge - floral frenzy
Dragonfly Dreams challenge - use one or more butterflies
PINspirational challenge - summer sky inspiration photo
Triple B challenge - use at least one birds, blooms or butterflies optional inspiration photo

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 personal blogs.

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

Have a great day.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:
Simon Says Stamp - stitched rectangle die
Clearly Besotted - happy everything stamp & die set (for butterfly) - retired
Studio Light - slimline paper pad - white faded gradients ? retired
Stampin' Up! - card stock vellum - retired
Little Things From Lucy's Cards - crystal collection - summer of love - store now closed
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here
coloured card from scraps bin

Thursday, 29 May 2025

Krafty Chicks Challenge #770 - Anything Goes

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 and this week as it's a 5 week month our theme is 'anything goes' and I am your hostess.   Feel free to create anything you like, the world is your oyster lol! We hope you will come over and join in the fun with us.
I needed a sympathy card unfortunately so this week's challenge was just the ticket for me.  I found a lovely smooshed background that I made a little while ago so decided to use this for my card.  I hope you like it.
Here is my card:
A closer look at the florals:
Plus I decorated the inside:
The ink smooshed panel may look familiar as I made a card in February and decided to make two panels at the same time (you can see my original card here if you like).  I thought I would use the panel differently this time and stamped my floral image directly onto it and die cut it out so that all the colour was the focus and then I kept the card background simple.  I cut a white panel 4" x 5 1/4" and used a lattice embossing folder to create a subtle background.  I added the panel with foam tape and also adhered the floral die cut with foam squares.  I stamped my sentiment in black ink and die cut it with the matching die; this was adhered with liquid glue.  I finished off with a few black pearls.  For the inside I had tiny pieces of the smooshed panel left so cut them into triangles and added them into the corners of a white panel cut to 4" x 5 1/4".  I stamped a sentiment in the centre with black ink and then adhered the panel to my card base with double sided tape.  I'm really happy with how this turned out and I think the pop of colour against the white background really works.  

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

Allsorts challenge - ATG (happy 16th birthday Allsorts)
As You Like It challenge - embossing wet or dry (I love the look of heat embossing but never seem to get it perfect so I prefer using embossing folders; you can get so many awesome designs these days too)
Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional mood board
Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - anything embossing goes optional zoo/jungle animals
Cardz 4 Galz challenge - floral frenzy
Fab 'n' Funky challenge - add a sentiment
Simply Create Too challenge - anything for a woman

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'anything goes' 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:
Gina K Designs - delicate dahlias stamp & die bundle (for sentiments)
Gina K Designs - lattice embossing folder
Gina K Designs - pearl mix - black, gold & silver metallic
Limetree Crafts - 250gsm silky smooth white card - not currently available - they do have 300gsm bright white card available here
Versafine - onyx black ink pad
ink smooshed background created previously using GKD ink pads - passionate pink & dark lilac