Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop - September 2026

 Hello,

It is time for a new Gorgeous Gift Tags Instagram Hop, and for the month of September the optional theme is - 

School Days

As always I have gone with the theme, and I had so much fun creating this school inspired tag. I knew right away that I wanted to create a pencil shaped tag, but I wasn't sure on how to decorate it. So I started by making the pencil by cutting out a rectangle in kraft cardstock for my pencil base. I also cut out a piece of pink cardstock for the rubber/eraser, a yellow rectangle out of patterned paper and a silver strip for the metal part between the rubber/eraser and pencil. To create the pencil shape I cut a point at one end of the kraft rectangle. The pink rubber/eraser and the yellow piece were glued to the pencil shape. Before adding the silver strip, two lines were embossed on it to make it look more authentic. Last but not least I coloured the tip of the pencil. Then it was time to decorate, but how?. I pulled out my hÄnglar&Wings stamps and looking through them I found this cute little guy from a stamp set called "Bokmalar" (bookworms) and I thought he was perfect. I stamped, coloured and fussy cut him out. For the colours I chose the colours of my children's old primary school uniforms (how both they and I missed their uniforms when we moved to Sweden). I gave the little cutie a pair of die cut glasses I found in my stash. I made a blackboard and added it and the boy to the pencil tag. I felt something was missing in the lower corner of the tag, so an apple, the fruit of knowledge, created using a pumpkin die were added. I used foam tape behind the apple to give it some dimention. I wrote on the blackboard with a white gell pen, adding the standard frase "LÅT STÅ!" (meaning: do not clean/erase!) which I know anyone gone to school in Sweden recognise. I hope you like my school days inspired tag!

Products used for my tag
Die sets: Pick of the Patch by Lawn Fawn 
Stamp set: Bokmalar by hÄnglar&Wings

Papers: scraps from my stash
Markers: Copic sketch and ciao

Pen: Gell Roll Bright White by Sakura

Instagram is filled with tags created by the talented members of the Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop, so why not hop on over end check them out, and see who has gone with the optional theme and who hasn't. 

Happy hopping!

Jane
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AAA Birthday Card challenge #89

 Hello Crafty Friends,

Are you like me and just have to have that cute, beautiful and/or fun patterned paper when you see it? If you are, I bet you have a stash full of unused patterned papers, even though you just had to have it when you first saw it. But fear not, over at AAA Birthday Cards we have the perfect challenge for you this month - 

Use Patterned Paper

So dig out your stash of papers and turn them into birthday cards, and join us in this fun challenge. You have the whole month of September to create, upload and link your creation to the AAA Birthday Card challenge blog.

For my card I have used a single sheet of dubble sided paper, 12" x 12". I started by cutting of a strip of paper and scored it at 1" and at 6,5". I folded the paper at 6,5" to create a card, then I folded at the 1" crease, but the other way so that the colour/pattern from the inside of the card showed on the front of the card creating the pink strip. I hope I am making sence.
I die cut a small tag, stamped it with a birthday greeting and added it to the front of the card using foam tape. I also added a bow to the tag, and a few clear enamel dots to the card. On the inside of the card I added a white rectangle to write on. A quick and easy card. You can get three 4" (high) cards from one piece of 12" x 12" paper, so perfect if you need to create a batch of cards at once.

I hope you are inspired to join in the fun! In need of some more inspiration? Click on over to the AAA Birthday cards challenge blog, it is filled with fun, creative and beautiful birthday cards created by the fabulous design team and Chris, our special guest designer for the month. Hope to see your creation there too! Remember you have until the 30th of September to create, upload and link your birthday card to the challenge blog.

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane
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Critter Crazy challenge #114 - Guest Designing

 Hello Crafty Friends,

I have been invited to guest design for the Critter Crazy challenges this month, which I happily accepted. The theme of the challenge is as always - 

 Anything Goes with featured Critter(s)

All kinds of animals; furry, feathered, fins, scales, insects (real or fantasy) are welcome and any kind of craft project too as long as there is an animal in focus.

I love animals, and we have shared our life with quite a few critters over the years. We have had dogs, birds, hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs, fish and a frog. At the moment we only have two cute little budgies, Rio and Rafiki, who lent the colours of their feathers to the birds on my card. 

Here's how I created my card:
I die cut and coloured the two birds for my card. A branch, some flowers and leaves were also die cut and coloured. I put all the pieces together and placed the birds on the branch and added the greenery. I inked a blue sky/background for the birds on a card base, and added a front panel with a cut out circle on it. The panel was attached with foam tape to give the card some depth. The birds sitting on the branch were added in front of the circle, and a greeting was stamped. The greeting reads "Det är bra mycket trevligare att vara två" (free translation:" It's so much nicer to be two").

Products used for this card;
Die sets: Pretty Birds Etched Dies and Flying High Etched Dies both by Spellbinders
Stamp set: Fint Sagt by hÄnglar&Wings
Inks: Distress Oxide Inks by Tim Holtz/Ranger

I hope you are inspired to join in this cute and fun challenge! All the information you need can be found at the Critter Crazy challenge blog, and don't forget to check out the adorable inspiration while you are there.

A big THANK YOU to Becca and the Critter Crazy Design Team for inviting me to guest with them this month. 

Take care, and have a fabulous day!

Jane
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I would like to enter my card to the following challenges:
Allsorts challenge 857 - All Creatures Great and Small or ATG
NBUS challenge 90 - Never-Before-Used-Schtuff (My NBUS: die sets and stamp)

Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop - August 2026

Hello,

Today I have got a cute little gift tag to share with you, a tag I created for the Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop. The optional theme for the month of August is -

Baby Shower

and here is my little tag

A cute little teddy showered with love/hearts.

After die cutting a tag, I stamped and embossed it with hearts using white embossing powder. Then I smooshed the tag in pink ink. I die cut the teddy and coloured it using Distress Oxide ink. A cloud with hearts and a small "shelf", for the teddy to sit on, were also die cut. I stamped a small greeting inside the cloud, assembled the pieces for the teddy and addhered all the elements on the tag. Last but not least I added some ribbon to my tag.

Isn't it cute? I must say I think so myself, and I hope you do too!

Like to see some more tags? Head on over to Instagram and hop along with us on the Gorgeous Gift Tags IG Hop, and see who has gone with the optional theme and who hasn't.

Happy Hopping!

Jane

x

Products used for this tag
Dies: "Stor Nalle", "Hjärtligt Moln", "Mini bård Mod.8" all by Gummiapan and "Tag collection Framlits" by Tim Holtz/ Sizzix

Stamp set: by Lawn Fawn
Inks: Distress Oxides by Tim Holtz/ Ranger
Embossing powder: WOW! Opaque Bright White 

AAA Birthday Card challenge #88

Hello Crafty Friends,

It's the 1st of August and time for the 88th challenge over at AAA Birthday Card challenges. We have a lovely theme, chosen by our talented DT Denise, for you to be inspired by, and the theme for the month is -

Flowers

Isn't it a lovely theme? Very fitting as we are in the midst of summer, at least here on the northern hemisfer. The design team and our special guest designer for the month, Susan aka Auntysue, have filled the challenge blog with beautiful birthday cards for you to draw inspiration from. So why not head on over to check them out, and spread a little love when you are there💖

We hope you will help us fill up the challenge blog with even more beautiful and flowery birthday cards. You have until the 31st of August to create, upload and link your card to the AAA Birthday Card challenge blog. Hope to see you there!

 
Here's how I created my card.
Inspired by the flowers, and colours, on the challenge card, I grabbed one of my favourite stencils, a card panel and some ink pads in cheerful colours. At first I was going to ink the flowers individually in one colour each and the leaves in green by masking them off, but feeling a bit lazy and in the mood for a rainbow I decided to ink blend my floral panel like a rainbow instead. Once I had ink blended my panel I gave it a black border and added a wavy sentiment strip. The panel was then addhered to a card base and a few little clear enamel dots where added to the finished card. Hope you like it!

Products used
Paper: Neenah Solar White cardstock
Stencil: "Fresh Stencils - Color Study" by Vicki Boutin
Inks: Distress Oxide Inks by Tim Holtz/ Ranger
Dies: "Small dotted rectangle stackables" and "Simple wavy banners" both by Lawn Fawn
Embossing powder: WOW! Opaque Bright White Super Fine

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:
Allsorts challenge - colours of summer or ATG
Beautiful Blossom challenge - anything florals goes optional mood board

Girlz & The Art of Letters challenge - letter F (Flowers)

The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge  - Flowers 

Take care and have a wonderful summer/ winter!

Jane
x

AAA Colourful - colourboard #30

Hello Crafty Friends,

It's the 15th of the month and time for a new colourboard challenge over at AAA Colourful, and for the month of July we have a board of - 

Blues, dusky pink and yellows

for you to be inspired by. The colours of the board must be the most prominent on your creation, but you may add neutrals like black, greys, browns, white and skin colours. Remember we love all kinds of paper craft projects - scrapbook spreads, art journaling pages, ATCs, cards, tags........ and in any style and technique too.

I hope you are inspired to play along with us in this fun and colourful challenge! You have until the 14th of August to create, upload and link your project to the AAA Colourful challenge blog, a blog filled with inspiration by the design team and our special guest designer for the month, Deanne. Deanne's card is absolutely stunning! Hope to see your creation there too!

Want to know how I created my card, and what products I've used? Please keep on reading.
I started by creating a stencil for my circles, using nesting circle dies and a scrap piece of paper. I die cut a panel out of white cardstock and marked out the middle on it. I placed the stencil with the largest circle on the panel and masked off half of it, so that I could ink blend one half at a time. After colouring the largest halfcircle in a light pink, I switched stencils and went on with ink blending the second largest one and so on. When I had used all four of my circle stencils on the top half of my circle (yes, there are four different colours, two pinks and two yellows, on the top even if they are a little difficult to see in the picture), I started on the lower half of the circle. In the same way as before I coloured the half circles one at a time but this time using shades of blue. I gave the panel a blue border and added a stamped and heat embossed sentiment strip over the circle before addhering it to my card base. 

Products used for this card

Inks: Distress Oxide Inks by Tim Holtz/ Ranger
Stencil: Homemade using dies
Dies: Nesting circle dies
Stamp set: "Little Line Agenda" by Mama Elephant
Embossing powder: WOW! Opaque Bright White Super Fine
Papers: Neenah Solar white and blue cardstock from my stash

I hope you like my card, and that you are inspired to play along with us as we can't wait to see your colourful creation!

Take care, keep crafting and get colourful!

Jane
x

AAA Birthday Card challenge #87

 Hello Crafty Friends,

It's the first of the month and time for a new challenge over at AAA Birthday. The theme for the month of July, chosen by me, is - 

For Girls

as last month was for boys I thought we should celebrate girls this month, and here is my card for a little cutie who loves unicorns

The AAA Birthday Cards challenge blog is filled with beautiful, cute and yummy inspiration created by the amazing design team and our special guest designer for this month, Brenda. Love Brenda's card, any birthday girl would. So head on over to the AAA Birthday blog to get inspired to join in this fun challenge, and while you are there don't forget to spread some love 💕

You have until the 31st of July to create, upload and link your girly birthday card to the AAA Birtday Cards challenge blog. Hope to see your creation there!

Want to know how I created my card and what products I have used? Please keep reading.

Since I knew I wanted to create a unicorn card, I started by stamping, die cutting and colouring the unicorn for my card. Now for the card itself; instead of decorating the front of the card I decided to make a see through card and decorate the inside. I die cut the front of my card base using a cloud border die, leaving an opening in the front panel of the card. To add an extra layer of clouds to the front I die cut a panel using the same border die and added it to the card base. The unicorn was adhered to the card front, making it hold the top and the lower part of front together. I also stamped a birthday greeting on the front of the card; the top one to cover up a mark I accidentally made on the card 😳

As I didn't want the backside of the coloured unicorn to show through from the inside of the card, I die cut out an extra unicorn from white cardstock and added it from the inside of the card to the back of the unicorn.
Using a cloud stencil, I blended a sky onto the inside of the card, a sky that is also a part of the front of the card as it is see through. I added a die cut greeting "Grattis" (congratulations in Swedish), and wrote a message, which I blocked out in the photo below.

Products used

Stamp sets: "Magical Day" by Neat and Tangled, "Grattiskombinationer#2" and "Ännu mer Grattis" both by hÄnglar & Wings
Die set: "Magical Day" by Neat and Tangled, "Puffy Cloud Borders" by lawn Fawn and "Grattis D240612" by Gummiapan
Stencil: "Mini Cloud Edge" by My Favorite Things
Inks: Distress Oxide "salty ocean" by Tim Holtz/ Ranger and Memento "Tuxedo Black" by Tsukineko
Markers & Pens: Copic sketch and ciao, Aqua Shimmer "glitter gloss" by nuvo and Gelly Roll "white" by Sakura

I hope you like my card, and that you are inspired to play along with us this month!


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

Addicted to Stamps & More! - challenge 520 Diecuts and/or Stencils (I have used both) 

Dream Valley Challenge - 364 Anything Goes

Just Us Girls - challenge 829 Anything Goes Stencil Week (stenciled background/sky)

Seize the Birthday - challenge 329 Anything goes

Stencil Fun Challenge - Use a Stencil Anything Goes (stenciled background/sky)

Take care, keep crafting and have fun!

Jane

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