May Card Chain Challenge

 Hello,

Its time for the Card Chain Challenge May cards reveal and the cards that went around the world in May 2026 can all be seen HERE.

To join in the chain add your link to the list - you will send a card to the person who signed up before you. then wait to receive one from the person who signed up after you.  Don't worry, instructions are sent out to everyone who joins the chain 

 It's a worldwide chain and 25 people made up the chain this time.  It turned out that I was the link between two lovely German cardmakers this time; I sent my card to Gundi in Michendorf and received this beautiful flower card from Imke

 

  All the cards exchanged in May used at least one of the following options:

 

Colour Palette Option

(Exact matching is not required.)

Sketch Option

(Orient as desired.)

Theme Options: Floral / Postal / Friendship

Product / Technique Options: Twine or Thread / Spinner Card

 

 

My card for Gundi

I chose the Floral theme and Friendship from the options, as a new link in the chain, I'm sending and receiving from new friends every time!

I'd made a similar card  a week or two earlier, I liked how it worked out so thought I'd make another in the same vein.  I chose a different flower from the same set and went with sunny yellows rather than pinks

 I used a couple of favourite die sets. 

The slatted square set from Craft Addiction uk  

I cut the 2nd largest die directly into the card front  

One of the lovely flowers from a Spellbinders set of a year or so ago - you can still find it, I've given the name and die number below 

I used Susan Tierney's special flower-making cardstock for the flowers and leaves, inked with various shades of green and yellow 

Inside was partially inked in a few shades of blue ink so that the colour would show through the slats and I added an extra leaf inside for interest. 

To finish I made a set of white on green sentiments using my graphics program and used one of them - the rest will come in handy later. I use Paint Shop Pro and we've just bought the latest version and I don't find it nearly as easy to use as our ancient version!

 Materials

from Spellbinders;

 

Susan's Garden Speciality Cardstock SCS-122 

 

 Simon Hurley Floral Stems Etched Dies S6-215

 Other

Slatted Squares die set: Craft Addiction uk 

Inks 

pc generated sentiment

 

 

If you buy paper craft goodies, such as dies, stencils, stamps etc you may like to use my Spellbinders link 

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

 

 Kathy xx

Make it Shiny! (Wax Seal Group)

 Hello

Wishing you a warm welcome to my little crafting place, thank you so much for coming by!

I've been busy with things I can't share yet so it's been a while since I had some papercrafting to add here. but I did manage to spend some time last weekend with my wax seals and the latest theme for our Wax Seal Social group on Instagram.  This time it's about glitter, glimmer, shiny and all things 'Bling'.  

I thought I'd try using gold leaf on mine. I do love the effect you get with gilding flakes and larger pieces of the leafing stuff on lots of different kinds of crafting projects but its a bit of a mare to work with - it's so fine and breaks at the merest touch and of course will fly all over the place given the chance!

The first stamp I tried was a new one, so obviously had to be tried out. I thought there was a chance that a piece of gold leaf might simply stick itself to the stamp head - after all if you've ever used the stuff you'll know it will stick everywhere you don't want it to stick! But that didn't work at all

So my next method was to get tweezers and a piece of leaf big enough (hopefully) to cober the etching ready  while the wax was melting. Pour the wax and quickly use the tweezers to lay the leaf over the wax, then press the stamp down.

This sort of worked, but the rose image was indistinct and the leaf broke at its edges.  However the leaf on the background area looked great so I made a 'pour and scrape' version of the rosebud to glue over the gold one.  I use Gorilla glue to add things to wax seals which is the most effective I've tried.

The bow on this seal is just part of the seal - I had a failure with getting the whole of the poured wax covered with leaf quick enough and missed the horizontal and vertical ribbon sections! But the bow looked fine and remonded me of those big crikly gold foil bows you see at Christmas so I cut it out with scissors, poured more wax and popped it on top - I used a round blank stamp to press it down.

I have a couple more to share but I'll save them for another post!

Do you buy paper craft goodies, such as dies, stencils, stamps etc?    It would be wonderful if you'd click through to the store using my Spellbinders link.

 There's also all you need to start making wax seals!

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

 

 Kathy xx

Wine Bar Birthday

 

 Hello, 

welcome to my little crafting place - today I'm sharing a shaped card, made with a new die set which is going to get loads of use - it's got me thinking about so many cards I can use it for! 

I've used the Pink Lemonade Die Bundle from Spellbinders which includes S4-1532 and S6-269

This time I've onl;y used the chalkboard dies to make a birthday card with a Wine Bar theme.  I knew I had the perfect set to make this card.  Its also by  but its a really old die set, but you can still find it if you do a bit of searching! The sentiment is also an old Spellbinders loopy text one split into the two words

I made the basic shaped card by folding my card in half then lining up the fold with where the lower edge of  hand hold gap in the wooden frame would be.  I found that a couple of passes through my electric cutting machine cut through both layers of card.

That gives a card with a folded straight top edge and the shaped 'feet' at the bottom.  Youcould cut the base in black but I went with white and added a black rectangle before positioning the wood border sections - I love the woodgrain effect - I didn't even need to use an embossing mat!

The sentiment was cut in gold card and adhered in place, then there was lots of inklng to colour the leaves etc. 

 The grapes and bottle were cut from wine-coloured card.

I do love combining old and new die sets and it's pretty easy to do with Spellbinders, because the sizes tend to work and I do have quite a lot!  

 Materials

from Spellbinders;

 

Pink Lemonade Die Bundle  

 

Wine Coloured card from

 Full 48 ColorWheel Cardstock Pack 8.5" x 11"

 

Wine Charms from Wine Country by Stacey Caron

(do a search, it's still around in some places) 

 Other

White card for base and for inking

Black, brown, gold card (for sentiment and bottle top)

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

 

 Kathy xx

'Food' Wax Seal theme

 Hello

Wishing you a warm welcome to my little crafting place, thank you so much for coming by!

Our Wax Seal Social group on Instagram is a great place to chat and get advice, but as well as that, every week or so we choose a new seal-making theme then make and share our creations.

Today I've some of the seals I made recently during our 'Food' themed week 

Tiny Cupcakes 

 

Grapes and Strawberries

 

 

A set of ice lolly and cones from earlier in the year - inspired by the first warm days of the year.

These last ones are some I made a year or so ago

 

Ice Cream Cones

 

 

Fried Egg on Toast

This wasn't made using a stamp, I just mixed and poured wax freehand! 

Do you buy paper craft goodies, such as dies, stencils, stamps etc?    It would be wonderful if you'd click through to the store using my Spellbinders link.

 There's also all you need to start making wax seals!

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

 

 Kathy xx

Pink Flower Birthday

 Hello, 

welcome to my little crafting place - today I've a birthday card to share, and for this one I used a couple of favourite die sets. A lovely Spellbinders flower set from a year or so ago - you can still find it, I've given the name and die number beloand the slatted square set from Craft Addiction uk 

I used Susan Tierney's special flower-making xardstock for the flowers and leaves, inked with various shades of green and pink. 

The slatted die was used directly onto the card front, then I made a frame using some other square dies (I wanted one a bit wider that those in the slatted set) to fit on the outside for some dimension

 

Inside was partially inked in a few shades of blue ink so that the colour would show through the slats and added an extra leaf inside for interest.

To finish I made a set of white on green sentiments using my graphics program and used one of them - the rest will come in handy later. I use Paint Shop Pro and we've just bought the latest version.  I'm very used to the old one, so have a tendency to go back and use that when I'm in a hurry or stuck as to how to do things in the new one!

 Materials

from Spellbinders;

 

Susan's Garden Specialty Cardstock SCS-122 

 

 Simon Hurley Floral Stems Etched Dies S6-215

 

 Other

Slatted Squares die set: Craft Addiction uk 

Inks 

pc generated sentiment

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

 

 Kathy xx

'Random Colours' Wax Seal theme

 Hello

Wishing you a warm welcome to my little crafting place, thank you so much for coming by!

I'm in a Wax Seal group on Instagram, and apart from the chat and advice, every week or so we choose a new seal-making theme then make and share our creations.

Today I've some of the seals I made recently during our Random Colours themed week 

This was quite a tricky one and a lot of the resulting seals turned out a revolting shade of sludge! Maybe I took the 'random' word too literally when I made a pile of bits of wax 'junk' to use as a starting point

I thought these two were actually quite interesting with the tiny specks of different colours in them.  Perhaps a bit reminiscent of beach pebbles? 

The next two were so sludgy that I highlighted the stamp design with a gold pen, but the mottled wax still looks a bit like some marble types I think

Next I changed tack and was more selective about the colours! I set up 3 ovens and 3 colours then poured the wax from them in stripes before stamping

Again using 3 colours and a different pouring pattern I made this, making any kind of tidy shape is tough though.  Good thing I tend to prefer 'organic' shapes most of the time!

 

All in all it was an interesting challenge with plenty of surprising (good and not so) results!

Do you buy paper craft goodies, such as dies, stencils, stamps etc?    It would be wonderful if you'd click through to the store using my Spellbinders link.

 There's also all you need to start making wax seals!

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

 

 Kathy xx

'Patterns' Wax Seal theme

Hello

Wishing you a warm welcome to my little crafting place, thank you so much for coming by!

I'm in a Wax Seal group on Instagram, which has really helped in all sorts of ways.  The support, advice and encouragement when you're struggling to get something new are just a few reasons to love being part of this group! 

Every week or so we choose a new seal-making theme then make and share our creations.

So here are some of the seals I made recently during our Patterns themed week 

These first ones are a new stamp, it's quite large and getting to know the right amount of wax needed has been a bit tricky - but I do like the patchwork blanket pattern!

 

I love these next stamps, they remind me of Moroccan tiles

and these last ones made using my current favourite stamp

Do you buy paper craft goodies, such as dies, stencils, stamps etc?    It would be wonderful if you'd click through to the store using my Spellbinders link.

 There's also all you need to start making wax seals!

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

 

 Kathy xx

April 2026 Card Chain Reveal

 

Hello,

I enjoyed taking part in the Card Chain Challenge for the first time last month, so I signed up again for the next one, and the cards that went around the world in April 2026 can be seen HERE.

To join in the chain, you sign up to send at the end of the list and once the list closes make and send a card to the person before you. then wait to receive a card from the person who signed up after you 

 It's a worldwide chain and 22 people made up the chain this time.  I sent my card to Brenda, a fellow Brit and my card came from Gail, who lives in Norway

 

All the cards exchanged this month used at least one of the following options:

 

Colour Palette Option

(Exact matching is not required.)

Sketch Option

 

(Orient as desired.)

Theme Options: Long Ears / Spring / Friendship

Product / Technique Options: Bookpaper / Fancy Edges (ripped, die cut, embossed etc)

 

My card for Brenda

 

 

I chose Spring, Fancy Edges and Friendship from the options.

 Friendship is the perfect theme for meeting new card-making friends!  

The Spring bit is obvious with the daffodil yellow stripes, the tulip wax seal and the fresh green leafy sprigs.  The fancy edge is the postage stamp punched shape.

 

The yellow striped backgroun is a digital design printed directly onto the lower half of a sheet oif A4 linen card.  I trimmed it down to make this card and and the remainder I can use to make a 'scrapling' or for a background for something else.

The wax seal was made a few weeks ago and you can see more about it HERE.

I printed some plain coloured card to perfectly match using the Hex codes of the stripes, adding a sentiment to part of it, and leaving some to use for matting.  Then I chose some green and blue cardstock to match the shades on the wax seal for the punched background and the leaves, for which I used some Spellbinders dies

 

And here is the cutie that landed on my doormat, from Gail, in Norway

 

If you buy paper craft goodies, such as dies, stencils, stamps etc you may like to use my Spellbinders link 

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

 

 Kathy xx