Guest Designer Fun: A Sweet Treat–Inspired Card at Time Out Challenge

 I recently won over at Time Out Challenge and was absolutely thrilled to be invited to join them as a Guest Designer for Challenge #310. Of course, I didn’t hesitate for a second — I said YES!

Today I’m sharing the card I created for this fortnight’s challenge, which is themed “Inspired by a Sweet Treat.”

Anyone who knows me, will know this challenge was made for me. I’m a self-confessed chocoholic, and I honestly don’t think a day goes by without at least a little chocolate… sometimes more! So naturally, chocolate became the inspiration for my card.

To begin, I embossed a piece of red cardstock using an older embossing folder to give it a lovely vintage feel. For the “chocolate,” I used a dark brown cardstock and embossed it with the Altenew Mod Squares folder. Cutting it on an angle allowed those squares to really resemble a block of chocolate. I then added some extra richness by swiping the surface with Gold and Redwood Ink.

The wrapper was created by tearing some silver cardstock along with a scrap of vintage patterned paper, adding texture and a slightly rustic feel. For the sentiment, I reached for an older (now discontinued) stamp from Quietfire Design, designed by Suzanne Cannon. I stamped it using Altenew Espresso Ink to keep the colour palette warm and chocolatey.

And of course, once I started, I couldn’t stop there! I had a little extra playtime and created more Sweet Treat–inspired cards, including a fun birthday cupcake and a celebration cake.

This challenge was such a joy to work on, and I loved letting my sweet tooth guide my creativity. Thanks so much for stopping by — I hope my chocolate-inspired card brings a smile to your day!

Spring Butterfly

It’s the end of March (where has the year gone), and here in New Zealand Autumn is starting to make itself know.  But it’s time to wrap up the Die Cut Divas March Challenge (Spring is Coming),so I’m sharing my final card for the month. We’re lucky to have Gina K Designs as our sponsor, so I pulled out one of my most-loved staples: the Gina K Master Layout dies.

I reach for the Gina K Master Layouts all the time—they make putting a card together feel simple For this one I’m featuring Master Layout 18, including that beautiful black frame that pulls everything together and gives the design a clean, finished look.

I started by cutting a rectangle panel with one of the dies from Master Layout 18, then ran it through the Tapestry embossing folder for that pretty texture in the background. Next, I stamped the butterfly and flowers from Blooming Butterfly, die cut them, and added soft colour with watercolour brush markers from K-Mart.

To pull everything together, I layered on that black frame from Master Layout 18 (it instantly makes the design feel crisp), and I even tucked the leftover centre piece behind the butterfly to give it a little spot to “land.” A white heat-embossed Woodware sentiment on black card was the final touch—simple, clean, and it balances the frame nicely.

If you’d like to join in, there’s still time to enter the Die Cut Divas MarchChallenge. You have until 9:00pm Pacific Time today, and we’d absolutely love to see what you create— remember to use your die cut machine to emboss or die cut!

Dawn and the Divas

Warm Spring Wishes

 Hi friends! Today it’s my turn to share over at Die Cut Divas, and I had fun playing along with our March challenge: “Spring Is Coming.”

Our fabulous sponsor this month is Gina K Designs.

For this challenge, we’re looking for projects that give us those lovely spring vibes and include either dry embossing or die cutting.

For my card, I pulled out two Gina K Designs stamp sets: Music to My Soul and Warm Spring Wishes (both retired). I die cut a square panel using Gina K Master Layout 3, and while the die was still in place, I softly blended some pink ink for a gentle pop of colour.

I stamped the guitar image from Music to My Soul, cut it out with my Scan’N’Cut, and coloured it with Prismacolor pencils. The sentiment comes from the Warm Spring Wishes set, and everything was mounted onto a 5-inch square card base to finish it off.

We’d absolutely love for you to join us! Head over to DieCut Divas, and share your own spring-inspired project. I can’t wait to see what you create!

Interactive birthday card with pop up surprise

 Last Friday was my son-in-law’s 40^th birthday, so I made him an interactive card inspired by a class from Therese Calvid at the Card Maker Success Summit. Therese used a Spellbinders car, but I used what I had: a Couture Creations Holden Commodore Ute.

I die-cut and assembled the car, then ink-blended a sunny background using a circle mask (and the negative mask for the glow), finishing with a few clouds and birds. The fun part is the folding mechanism—when the card slides out of the envelope, the car pops up from the base.

It arrived right on his birthday (thanks, NZ and Aussie Post!), and my daughter said Andrew was delighted—especially that I’d actually written a message inside. It’s a running family joke after the year I sent him a completely blank card.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Sending Love and Hugs

Hi there!

Last week I was inspired by two talented card makers, Natasha Foote and Christine Stokes. Natasha recently shared a slatted aperture technique using a die and cardstock strips, while Christine demonstrated a beautiful textured background using scrunched tissue paper. I couldn’t resist combining the two ideas into one card.

I created the aperture using a rectangle die from Gina K Designs and added 1/8” cardstock strips behind it for that slatted look. For the background, I scrunched pink tissue paper onto white cardstock and added Lindy’s Magical Powders with water to create soft, flowing colour. Once dry, I highlighted the texture with Slippery When Wet Lunar Paste.

From this panel, I die-cut tiny butterflies for added movement. The floral focal point was made using the Simon Says Stamp Fresh Daisies die, cut from patterned paper and layered for dimension. I finished the card with a simple sentiment from the Altenew Mini Stamp Set – Best Sentiments.

I loved mixing these techniques from different card makers in my projects.

Pink Plaid Birthday

 There's a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' Challenge today - and the challenge is to use Gingham/Plaid. 

I did a couple of cards in different colours.  This first one is the one that will be on the blog today.

The background was stamped with the Catherine Pooler Plaid Background using It’s a Girl ink, with fine black pen details added. A die-cut panel (Gina K Master Layout 2) features a large Elizabeth Craft Designs sentiment, which was  placed ear the top to allow for a small bouquet of Sizzix and Spellbinders flowers with gem centres. The panel was matted in dark pink and mounted on a white card base.

For the second card I used Concord and 9^th Plaid background stamp with Catherine Pooler Fiesta Blue ink and used the stripes stamp in black ink.  Die cut the oval from Gina K Master Layout 1 to highlight the focal floral.  Used the rosebud from Elizabeth Craft Design to cut some Scrapbbok.com watercolour patterned paper.  Happy Birthday sentiment by Memory Box was foiled in black and die cut. Finished with some gold dots.

Do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' Challenge

Embrace the simple joys of Nature

 Well… it’s Friday again! It feels like one of those weeks where I’ve been busy creating, but nothing has quite been ready to share publicly—until now.

My latest card for my local swap group has safely arrived with Maxine, so I can finally show it to you all. This month’s challenge was set by Carol, with the theme “Animals Framed.”

I chose to work with some sweet little birdies—because birds definitely count as animals in my book! For the framed element, I used my Tim Holtz diffuser with a Swiss Dot embossing folder to create a soft oval window. I really love how this technique adds interest while still keeping the focus on the centre of the card.

The birds were stamped using a Mangocraft set, then die‑cut and coloured with Prismacolor pencils. A sentiment from another Mangocraft stamp set tied everything together, and I added a touch of soft ink blending around the centre to give the design a little extra depth.

To finish, I popped the die‑cut birds up on 3D tape for some subtle dimension—simple, but effective.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope your creative week has treated you kindly. 

Make your own background.

 I got to choose the challenge for February for my local swap group... and went for an easy one... Make Your Own Background.   We got some great backgrounds.

My card panel combines ink smooshing with elegant gold foiling. I began by smooshing the Warm Lipstick and Wilted Violet Distress Oxide inks, then spritzed the panel with Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Spritz for added interest. Once everything was completely dry, I added gold foil using the Altenew Exquisite Marble foil plate, which gave the background a beautiful, deluxe finish.

The panel was die cut with a Gina K Master Layout die and matted with textured gold cardstock to enhance the shine. For the focal point, I used a floral image from the Altenew Build‑A‑Garden: Morning Asters stamp set. It was gold heat‑embossed, coloured with the coordinating stencils, and die cut before being added to the card. Finished with a Spellbinders foiled sentiment. The combination of foiling, soft colour, and gold accents makes this design feel both elegant and fresh. 

I can finally share as my recipient had been away and only recently got to see the card.