gems

ABC Challenge – Elves, Foliage, Gems

Hello everyone. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters E, F, & G. We want to see your Christmas creations following the following three themes for this challenge:

E is for Elves, F is for Foliage, G is for Gems

Here are my cards:

I first decided on the background for this card, using a piece of light blue card stock and running it through with a Spellbinders embossing folder.

Before attaching that piece to the card base, I decided where I wanted the hat to be, then used the Waffle Flower ‘Elf Hat‘ die set, die cutting the hat out of Spellbinders glitter foam.

The face part of the elf was die cut with white and ink blended some light peach, attaching the the corner of the blue panel, then the hat pieces glued to fit. I trimmed the edges to make them square with the base piece.

This was then glued to the card base, and the sentiment added after stamping and trimming to fit.

For my second card, I stamped and silver heat embossed the image twice – a Pinkfresh Studio set called ‘Magical Holiday’.

I then used the matching layering stencils to colour the two images in, and then the matching die to cut them out.

The white background panel was created by using an old Stampin’ Up embossing folder, and attaching to the card base.

The silver frame was created by using two nesting rectangle dies, then two ink blended images attached to the back, then glued down onto the dry embossed panel.

The sentiment was also silver heat embossed and die cut, adding to the centre, then the silver gems glued as you see.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following one, two or all three of our themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Elf card:

CYHTP – embossing folder, option of sympathy not taken

Addicted To Stamps & More – Christmas

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

Mix It Up – anything goes, option of die cuts taken

Foliage & gems card:

Inkspirational – use stencils, option of plaid not taken

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Love To Craft – anything goes

I’m A Lucky Duck

Hello and welcome. Cardz 4 Galz has started anew challenge, this time the host is Helen, and she has chosen the theme of:

Wings – butterflies, fairies, dragons etc

Here is my card:

For this card, I created my own background panel using techniques learnt from a Jenn Shurkus virtual event and Distress water-colour pencils. I loved this particular technique, and made several panels with different colours.

The technique consists of using a wet small brush, taking colour from the Distress pencil, then just scribbling a patchwork of colour down onto a panel….that’s it……

After the panel was dry, I spritzed with the dirty water from my little water pot thingy (I know – but as per Jenn Shurkus – it works well!!), then added a stamp of musical notes to the top – no idea why I chose that stamp – and you also use a wet distress pencil to colour the stamp – then stamp it. It gives a faint and blurry image.

This was drying to one side, and I die cut the ducks from a Simon says Stamp set, layering them together and adding small black gems for their eyes.

The sentiment was stamped and die cut using s trip die – I think it is two sentiments I stamped to make one – but I can’t find the second half of the sentiment now – this first half is definitely Lawn Fawn.

The panel was adhered to a white card base, th3e sentiment and ducks arranged as you see.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our ‘wings’ theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Critter Crazy Challenge – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Addicted To Stamps & More – make your mark

Bunny Hugs & Kisses

Hello everyone. It is my turn to host at Cardz 4 Galz, and I have chosen the theme of:

Hugs & Kisses

Here is my card:

I first created the little bunny using a die set from The Greetery, which also included the little flower it is holding.

The florals to either side are a layering stamp and die set – also from The Greetery, and created using Pinkfresh Studio inks.

The background was created die cutting a panel out of white card stock using a cover plate die – I think from Pinkfresh Studio – then attaching that to a white card base.

The bunny and the florals were then added with thin 3D foam pieces.

The sentiment is from Heffy Doodle.

The final touch was to add some black gems as the eye for the bunny, and three more as you see.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Inkspirational – hugs & kisses

Critter Crazy – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

Friendly Pink Flowers

Hello everyone. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. This time the host is Billie A, and she has chosen the theme of :

add pink flowers

Here is my card:

I first stamped the Altenew images then used the matching layering stencils to colour them in. I added slightly more ink towards the centre of the flowers and the base of the leaves to create more dimension, die cutting them with the matching die set. This set also has an embossing folder to add details to the florals, but I didn’t use that this time.

To highlight the florals and the colours, I chose to use a mid grey coloured card stock, and embossed using an older We R Memory Keepers 3D embossing folder with the basket weave pattern.

The sentiment is gold foiled, and some gold gems were also added.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Triple B – birds and/or blooms and/or butterflies

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner Garden Party – anything in or from the garden

Beautiful Blossoms – florals anything goes – optional mood board

For Someone Special

Here is a card using items from the list provided by Festive Friday:

I chose to use the elements of silver, white, and rhinestones.

For this I used a new product from Waffle Flower Crafts – the ‘Happy Chevrons’ die. I first cut it out of white card, then silver glitter card, snipping the two edges so I could alternate the white with the silver.

I then started by placing the top white piece flat to a piece of card, adding the silver with 3D foam to raise the image and create some dimension, and on downwards to fill the panel.

This was then layered with another piece of silver glitter card, then attached to a card base, the gems added, and then the foiled sentiment.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Festive Friday – 3 items from the list – silver, white, rhinestones

Time Out – all that glitters

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and something new

Craft Rocket – something new

Purple Flowers

Hello yet again. When I didn’t have access to the internet last week for quite a few days I spent a lot of time crafting, and luckily had been able to access a few challenge pages on my phone whilst out and about.

This card was inspired by the current challenge at Pinspirational:

Here is the inspiration photo:

As soon as I saw all the purple and blue tones, I knew I wanted to make flowers, and this Concord & 9th set seemed perfect to me – large and bold flowers to go with the large and bold colours.

This die set is from their 2025 Winter Retreat and has a stitched background to enable you to match the layout they provide -but you know I went my own way with this….

I die cut flowers and foliage from card stock from Concord & 9th, Spellbinders and others from my stash.

I ink blended the larger flowers a little in the centre of each layer then glued them together. I did the same with the light blue die cuts – just a little extra interest.

The background panel is light grey, and I also used another of the products received for that same virtual event – the ‘Double Card Front‘ which adds some stitched lines. This creates stitched lines onto an A2 panel, but as this card is 5 x 7 inch, I did have to play around with the stitched die a little, some partial die cutting, so I could lengthen it to fill the whole size.

Once this stitched panel was adhered, I then played around with the layout, adding the flowers first with 3D foam, then adding each of the leaves and extra small flowers with glue and 3D foam as I felt was needed.

The final steps were to add the foiled sentiment and gems:

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Pinspirational – colour board

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Love To Craft – anything goes

Tulip Birthday

I have a card to share inspired by the current challenge at Festive Friday. When I saw their them was National Tulip Day, and aw the list to choose three items from the list, I remembered I had this die and stencil set from Waffle Flower that I have never used – time to play:

The first step was to die cut the panel, and then ink blend using the matching stencil set. I chose to use orange and yellow for the flowers, two colours from the provided list, but then I also added a backing piece of red paper which you can see behind the die cut panel.

Once all attached to a card base, I stamped and die cut the birthday sentiment – another item from the list – and adhered as you see.

I wanted the sentiment to be quite bold, which is why I chose black, so I also added some black enamel dots.

Quite a bright and cheery card to help get over this snow hump we are having in the UK at the moment. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Festive Friday – at least three items from inspiration list – orange, yellow, red, birthday, tulips,

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Black & White Christmas

Hello again. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the end of the alphabet, and therefore this challenge is for the letters ‘Y’ and ‘Z’. The Christmas themes for these letters are:

Y is for Yummy (food) and Z is for Zebra (black & white or stripes)

Here is my card:

I obviously followed the black and white Christmas theme, creating what I think is quite a dramatic card.

I took an A2 panel and stamped some Gina K Designs snowflakes on a random pattern all over it, then cut it down slightly and matting with a piece of black card to create the edge.

The black banner/label for the centre is from The Greetery, and the die cuts out this filigree frame – but I decided I wanted all the details of the frame to stay in place, so I placed them all back in and applied some double sided tape to the back – keeping them secure.

The sentiment was stamped, then die cut with the matching die.

The final touch was to add some black gems to the snowflake centres, and a couple of smaller gems in some of the white spaces.

I hope you can come and join us for our final challenge of the year with your Christmas creations following one or both of our themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Cupcake Inspirations – let it snow

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Addicted to Stamps & More – Christmas

Fab ‘n’ Funky – Christmas

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Poinsettia Season’s Greetings

Hello again. It is time for the new challenge at The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas‘. Here is my card:

I wanted a dramatic and different look for this die card, with a lot of dimension.

The background panel is a piece of black shimmery card stock, and dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder.

The main image is a Pinkfresh Studio die and layering stencil set, and as the background was black and dramatic, I also went with a different colour scheme.

The layering stencils were ink blended using Pinkfresh Studio inks, then die cut with the macthing die set. I added a couple more layers to the flower image, then attached to the black embossed panel.

I also added gold gems to the centre of the flowers as they are my favourite embellishments to use, and there is rarely a card I make without some sort of gem or jewel around it somewhere. I feel they add a certain interest and detail which doesn’t take over the card.

The sentiment is gold foiled.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our Christmas theme.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

As You Like It – favourite embellishment – gems/jewels/enamel dots

Stencil Fun – stencils – option to use some gold taken

Craft Rocket – Christmas/Winter

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Beautiful Blossoms – florals – optional mood board

Build Me A Snowman

Hello again. Caz is hosting the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and she has chosen the theme of:

Build Me A Snowman

Here is my card:

I wanted to try out the die set from The Greetery I had for a while, and finally managed to obtain a few of the honeycomb additions.

The snowman was die cut and assembled, then the honeycomb added. I used small black gems for the eyes. These honeycomb elements are fun, but I definitely have to hand this to the recipient…….

The background blue was embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, the silver foiled panel was created by using a background toner panel – I think from Picket Fence Studio, but I may be wrong there. It’s the first time I’ve used the toner panels with my Gina K Fuse machine – how quick and easy is that? I did have to watch one of her YouTube videos just to make sure I had the correct heat setting, but I did play with several panels on this machine and therefore have a few on hand for future projects.

I cut the snowflake foiled panel with a Pinkfresh Studio die, and cut the centre out – the snowman kinda got lost without die cutting that centre out.