A Beachy Frame

      Don't limit yourself to making only cards. Get the most out of your stamp & die sets by using them in other ways. The challenge this month at A Place to Start is "Not a Card". This challenge might get you thinking in new ways. 

I had this frame lying around unused. The natural raffia material worked well with this seahorse set for a beach photo. 

Watercolor Background

Watercolors create an underwater feel for this background. This scrap of watercolor paper was just big enough to use. Painting and splattering the color gives is a more organic look. The sea weed is stamped in various shades of green and cut out. 

Seahorse 

This adorable seahorse is easy to assemble with the keyhole system and etched numbers in the die cuts. A little ink blending on her back and some glitter card stock for her fin and head make her extra special. 

Finish it up with a sentiment and some enamel dots. Now it's ready for displaying your favorite photo. 

Supplies:

Altenew Mini Delight Graceful Seahorse (May 2026), Little Starfish, Cool Summer Nights enamel dots, Fresh Dye Inks (terracotta, emerald, olive), 36 pan watercolor set

Gina K Designs Christmas Pine ink 

Challenges:

A Place to Start 6/1-7/3 Anything Goes, optional twist of anything but a card

Peaches and Cream

 

Peaches and Cream is the color theme at Cupcake Inspirations this month. Concord and 9th's Creamsicle ink was perfect with this peach cardstock for a tone on tone look in the background. It reminds me of the 90s, especially with this end table. 

Altenew's Mini Delight Timeless Glow comes with a stamp and die set. The dies are easy to layer. The lamp base can also be used as a vase with the flower spray die. 

                                                  

   A gold gel pen enhances the embossing on the table. 

              

     The lamp is easily customizable with the layering dies: entire lamp, base, shade, shade ribbing. Add some yellow ink for the glow of the light. 

Assembling the card with foam tape to pop up the background piece adds dimension. Gina K's Tiara Frame goes so well with this lamp and table. The sentiments in the stamp set are catchy and can be used for friends or anyone you want to cheer up. I chose "a little light to brighten your day" for a card I can send to Love For Our Elders this month. 

Supplies:

Altenew Timeless Glow Stamp and Die Set

Gina K Tiara Twin Frames, Tiny Tags

Concord & 9th Creamsicle ink

Gold gel pen, metallic gold cardstock, foam tape, gold thread

Challenges: 

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge: Peaches and Cream 5/11-6/8

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- use dies 5/13-5/20

Garden Stair Stepper

The May theme for A Place to Start challenge blog is Fancy Folds.  This "Easy Stair Stepper" base really was easy even though it is considered advanced! If your are not into folding, you can also play along with "Anything Goes". 

The Easy Stair Stepper Fold

I followed the Altnew You Tube video 10 Advanced Card Folds to make this fancy fold. 

The card base measures 9x 4.25 inches and is scored at: 1.25, 2.5, and 5.75 inches. Fold using mountain, valley, then mountain and your base is done! 

The green card portion is 11 x 3 inches and scored in the center at 5.5 inches. It will fit like a tent over the stair base. 

The Altenew Mini Delight Gardener's Corner was just released in April. It's perfect for the those who are looking forward to gardening this spring. The sentiments include hugs, hello, friendship and one for someone recovering from an illness (you're growing stronger every day).

The green panel was stamped with the foliage stamp in Fresh Asparagus ink (Gina K). The little trowel and hand spade stamp are cute additions. 

                   

The wooden box die has embossed wood lines that become more prominent with some ink blending. Fill the box with several shades of foliage and flowers. You can pop the box up with some foam tape. 

Using various shades of purple and lavender add interest. The dark Andromeda ink ties in with the purple also. Add some enamel dots to finish it off. Instead of tying a ribbon through the tag hole, you can cover it with a dot as well. 

Supplies: 

Altenew: Gardener's Corner Mini Delight stamp and die set (April 2026)

              Enchanted Garden Enamel Dots

              Fresh Dye Ink in Andromeda, Paper Bag

Gina K Designs: Tiny Tags die set, Fresh Asparagus & Stormy Sky inks

Challenges: 

A Place to Start- Playing the Fancy Folds Twist  5/4-6/4

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge SSS Mother's Day/Feminine 5/4-5/11

Stamps & Fun Use dies

A Cut Above. May challenge- Use dies 

The Paper Players. Feminine theme

Travel Time

 

Travel time is coming up, so why not wish someone safe travels or let them know they'll be missed while they are away?! Play along with the travel challenge at Cupcake Inspirations Challenge too. 

Stamp the Sunset

1. Using the stamp from Altnew's Enjoy the Flight set, ink the Warm Sunshine yellow first. Use a blending brush to soften the edges of the ink before stamping. Continue with each color you choose for your sunset, allowing a little overlap of colors. Cut the image out with a circle die and set aside. 

Assemble the Airplane

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Die cut the airplane pieces using metallic silver paper for the body and two shades of colored card stock for the wings, etc.  Assemble using the packaging as a guide. 

Easel Card Base

Cut an A2 top folding card base. Score and fold at the center. Then score the top in half again (2.75" mark. Fold it under. 

Sentiments

Cut a 4.25x 2.75 inch piece of light blue card stock. Use embossing ink to stamp the sentiment "flying by to say hi" in white embossing powder. Heat set, then ink the bottom of the panel in Tide Blue and blend up a bit towards the sentiment. Adhere this panel to the bottom half of the card base (that will fold under).

Put it Together

Open the card by pushing the blue panel back and popping up the center fold. Adhere the sunset circle and airplane. Be sure not to adhere the entire sunset circle to the card. Only adhere the bottom half. 

To hold the card open, you'll need something to act as a doorstop. Die cut a small tag from cream card stock and stamp "safe travels" in black. The small tag is backed in white to make it extra thick.  I fyou want to be sure it holds, use foam tape to give the tag more height. When the card is pushed open, the bottom edge rests on the tag. Add some twine or ribbon to the tag if you wish. 

Stamp some flowers on the bottom edge of the card if your recipient is going somewhere tropical. Use colors in your sunset to tie it all together. 

Supplies

Altenew: Enjoy the Flight stamp & die set, Warm Sunshine ink

Gina K Designs: Tiny Tags die sets, Hello Beautiful stamp set,  inks (Wild Lilac, Tangerine Twist)

Concord & 9th: Creamsicle ink

Brutus Monroe: Alabaster embossing powder 

Ombre Floral

 

Creating an ombre floral look with a stencil gives this background a different twist. Grab your ink families and get started! You can enter the April ombre challenge at A Place To Start or enter the Anything Goes category. 

The first layer of Altenew's Styled Backgrounds stencil set is inked with the Cherry Blossom ink set. Start with the lightest color, Pink Diamond, at the bottom and work up to the darkest shade, Rubellite. Starting with the lightest color will allow you to use the same brush and work darker, without changing brushes. I left out the darkest color of the set, Razzleberry. 

The second layer of florals is inked with shades of orange. I used a combination of inks from Gina K, Concord & 9th and Altenew. 

The leaf layer is inked with the Tropical Forest ink set, using all four colors.

To finish the card, cut a sentiment in white and ink it lightly from the top, leaving the bottom white. Cut the background layer in a medium pink and ink the top as well, for an ombre sentiment. Pop it up with a little foam tape to help it stand out more. Stamp a subsentiment and sequins for flower centers. 

Supplies:

Altenew: Stencil Art Styled Backgrounds (March 2026), Timeless Sentiments Dies, Blooming Thanks stamp, Inks (Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious, Rubelitte, Peachy Glow, Bamboo, Parrot, Olive, Moss)

Gina K: Disco Ball sequins, Tangerine Twist ink 

Concord & 9th: Creamsicle ink

Other: foam tape

Sweet Spring Nest

 This sweet spring nest card uses the colors brown, green, and rose for the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #335 this month. It's giving me hope that spring will come soon! 

My brown, green, and rose colors were all Gina K inks. I used Kraft ink to stencil the branches, Applemint for the stamped leaves and Dusty Rose for the flowers. The center of the flowers were stamped a little darker with Medium Cranberry

      

First, I stenciled on the branches, masking off the branches I didn't need for this card. Then I stamped the flower images, but didn't like how the branches showed through the flowers and leave! I started again with a little planning this time. 

I used my first attempt to plan where the flowers should be stamped first, then stenciled the branches in place. Small detail brushes help get into spaces near the stamping. 

The nest was cut from 3 different shades of brown with the darkest in the back. Some twigs and the eggs were shaded with some Kraft ink. Isn't the detailing on the eggs perfect?! The nest was elevated with foam tape. I love this sentiment and stamped it in Dark Chocolate ink. A few flower sequins finish it off. I left quite a bit of white space for more of a clean and simple look. 

Supplies: 

Altenew Nestled Whimsy layering stamp and die set (Mini Delight December)

Altenew Branching Out stencil

Gina K inks: Kraft, Applemint, Dusty Rose, Medium Cranberry, Dark Chocolate 

Gina K sequins from Advent Box

Foam Tape 

Hello Sunshine!

Wishing for the days of more sunshine here in the Midwest! This card uses sunny colors along with the glasses and sunny sentiment. Created in an arch shape for the A Place to Start "No Squares" challenge this month. Can't wait to brighten someone's day with this card. Check out the challenge and other design team inspiration here

Stenciled Background

              

The Altenew Stencil Art Bi-monthly subscription for March, Styled Backgrounds, includes stencils to make three backgrounds. One is a pretty floral and the other two are geometric. I'm sure I'll be making good use of these. 

 

To create this geometric background, just ink the first color, then rotate the stencil 90 degrees and match the etched lines to your first image and ink the next image. After rotating the image 4 times, you get this pattern. 

Assembling the Diecut

Assembling the die cut pair of glasses was easy by following the pictures on the packaging. The hardest part was deciding on the color to use for the frame. I did use a silver pen to add the little screw pieces on the corners. Honestly, I cut the tiny little pieces and lost one, twice!! These cute glasses are the Mini-Delight subscription for March. They come with a floral stamp set and two sentiment stamps. They will be available on the website without a subscription for a little higher price. 

The flowers are cut from the Pond Flowers dies. This is an older set and still so handy. The striped strip uses the Pinstripe background stamp. 

Arch Shaped Card

After cutting the geometric panel with an arch die, I chose a slightly larger arch die to cut the card. Just align the die so it is slightly to the left of the fold of your card. The die won't cut the folded edge as long as it's not touching the cardstock. Adhere elements in place and you have a card full of sunshine! 

Since I will be mailing this card, I outlined the geometric arch panel in gold pen instead of adding another layer. I did pop the glasses up with a lower loft foam tape. 

Supplies:

Altenew Stencil Art: Styled Backgrounds, Mini Delight: Stylish Shades, Pinstripe background stamp, Enamel Dots: Tea Party,  Fresh Dye inks: buttercream, warm sunshine, terracotta, blush rose.

Cardstocks unknown, metallic silver paper, gold gel pen

Challenges I'm entering:

A Place to Start- Anything Goes with a Twist of no squares (link above)

Little Red Wagon  L is for Leftovers (leftover yellow striped piece from my scrap box)

A Cut Above. Anything Goes with a Diecut